processed ?
Following is the sequence in which the events occur :-
√ Page_Init.
√ Page_Load.
√ Control events
√ Page_Unload event.
Page_init event only occurs when first time the page is started , but Page_Load occurs in
subsequent request of the page.
(B) In which event are the controls fully loaded ?
Page_load event guarantees that all controls are fully loaded.Controls are also accessed in
Page_Init events but you will see that viewstate is not fully loaded during this event.
(B) How can we identify that the Page is PostBack ?
Page object has a “IsPostBack” property which can be checked to know that is the page
posted back.
(B) How does ASP.NET maintain state in between
subsequent request ?
Refer caching chapter.
(A) What is event bubbling ?
Server controls like Datagrid , DataList , Repeater can have other child controls inside
them.Example DataGrid can have combo box inside datagrid.These child control do not
raise there events by themselves , rather they pass the event to the container parent
(which can be a datagrid , datalist , repeater) , which passed to the page as “ItemCommand”
event.As the child control send there events to parent this is termed as event bubbling.
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(B) How do we assign page specific attributes ?
Page attributes are specified using the @Page directive.
(A) Administrator wants to make a security check that no
one has tampered with ViewState , how can he ensure this ?
Using the @Page directive EnableViewStateMac to True.
(B) What’s the use of @ Register directives ?
@Register directive informs the compiler of any custom server control added to the
page.
(B) What’s the use of SmartNavigation property ?
It’s a feature provided by ASP.NET to prevent flickering and redrawing when the page is
posted back.
Note:- This is only supported for IE browser.Project’s who have browser compatibility as
requirement have to think some other ways of avoiding flickering.
(B) What is AppSetting Section in “Web.Config” file ?
Web.config file defines configuration for a webproject.Using “AppSetting” section we can
define user defined values.Example below defined is “ConnectionString” section which
will be used through out the project for database connection.
(B) Where is ViewState information stored ?
In HTML Hidden Fields.
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(I) What’s the use of @ OutputCache directive in ASP.NET?
It’s basically used for caching.See more for Caching chapter.
(B) How can we create custom controls in ASP.NET ?
User controls are created using .ASCX in ASP.NET.After .ASCX file is created you need
to two things in order that the ASCX can be used in project:.
√ Register the ASCX control in page using the <%@ Register directive.Example
<%@ Register tagprefix="Accounting" Tagname="footer" Src="Footer.ascx" %>
√ Now to use the above accounting footer in page you can use the below directive.
(B) How many types of validation controls are provided by
ASP.NET ?
There are main six types of validation controls :-
RequiredFieldValidator
It checks does the control have any value.It's used when you want the control should not
be empty.
RangeValidator
Checks if the value in validated control is in that specific range.Example TxtCustomerCode
should not be more than eight length.
CompareValidator
Checks that the value in controls should match the value in other control.Example Textbox
TxtPie should be equal to 3.14.
RegularExpressionValidator
When we want the control value should match with a specific regular expression.
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CustomValidator
Used to define UserDefined validation.
ValidationSummary
Displays summary of all current validation errors.
Note:- It's rare that some one will ask step by step all the validation controls.Rather they
will ask for what type of validation which validator will be used.Example in one of the
interviews i was asked how do you display summary of all errors in the validation
control...So there goes the last one Validation summary.
(B) Can you explain what is “AutoPostBack” feature in
ASP.NET ?
If we want the control to automatically postback in case of any event , we will need to
check this attribute as true.Example on a ComboBox change we need to send the event
immediately to the server side then set the “AutoPostBack” attribute to true.
(B) How can you enable automatic paging in DataGrid ?
Following are the points to be done in order to enable paging in Datagrid :-
√ Set the “AllowPaging” to true.
√ In PageIndexChanged event set the current pageindex clicked.
Note:- The answers are very short , if you have implemented practically its just a
revision.If you are fresher just make sample code using Datagrid and try to implement this
functionality.
(B) What’s the use of “GLOBAL.ASAX” file ?
It allows to execute ASP.NET application level events and set application-level variables.
(B) What’s the difference between “Web.config” and
“Machine.Config” ?
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“Web.config” files apply settings to each web application , while “Machine.config” file
apply settings to all ASP.NET applications.
(B) What’s a SESSION and APPLICATION object ?
Session object store information between HTTP request for a particular user.While
application object are global across users.
(A) What’s difference between Server.Transfer and
response.Redirect ?
Following are the major differences between them:-
√ Response.Redirect sends message to the browser saying it to move to some
different page.While server.transfer does not send any message to the browser
but rather redirects the user directly from the server itself. So in server.transfer
there is no round trip while response.redirect has a round trip and hence puts
a load on server.
√ Using Server.Transfer you can not redirect to a different from the server itself.
Example If your server is www.yahoo.com you can use server.transfer to move
to www.microsoft.com but yes you can move to www.yahoo.com/travels , i.e.
within websites. This cross server redirect is possible only using
Response.redirect.
√ With server.transfer you can preserve your information. It has a parameter
called as “preserveForm”. So the existing query string etc. will be able in the
calling page. In response.redirect you can maintain the state. You can but has
lot of drawbacks.
If you are navigating with in the same website use “Server.transfer” or else go for
“response.redirect()”
(A)What’s difference between Authentication and
authorization?
This can be a tricky question. These two concepts seem altogether similar but there is
wide range of difference. Authentication is verifying the identity of a user and authorization
is process where we check does this identity have access rights to the system. In short we
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can say the following authentication is the process of obtaining some sort of credentials
from the users and using those credentials to verify the user’s identity. Authorization is
the process of allowing an authenticated user access to resources. Authentication is always
precedes to Authorization; even if your application lets anonymous users connect and
use the application, it still authenticates them as being anonymous.
(I) What is impersonation in ASP.NET ?
By default, ASP.NET executes in the security context of a restricted user account on the
local machine. Sometimes you need to access network resources such as a file on a shared
drive, which requires additional permissions. One way to overcome this restriction is to
use impersonation. With impersonation, ASP.NET can execute the request using the
identity of the client who is making the request, or ASP.NET can impersonate a specific
account you specify in web.config.
(B) Can you explain in brief how the ASP.NET authentication
process works?
ASP.NET does not run by itself it runs inside the process of IIS. So there are two
authentication layers which exist in ASP.NET system. First authentication happens at
the IIS level and then at the ASP.NET level depending on the WEB.CONFIG file.
Below is how the whole process works:-
√ IIS first checks to make sure the incoming request comes from an IP address
that is allowed access to the domain. If not it denies the request.
√ Next IIS performs its own user authentication if it is configured to do so. By
default IIS allows anonymous access, so requests are automatically
authenticated, but you can change this default on a per – application basis
with in IIS.
√ If the request is passed to ASP.net with an authenticated user, ASP.net checks
to see whether impersonation is enabled. If impersonation is enabled, ASP.net
acts as though it were the authenticated user. If not ASP.net acts with its own
configured account.
√ Finally the identity from step 3 is used to request resources from the operating
system. If ASP.net authentication can obtain all the necessary resources it
grants the users request otherwise it is denied. Resources can include much
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more than just the ASP.net page itself you can also use .Net’s code access
security features to extend this authorization step to disk files, Registry keys
and other resources.
(A) What are the various ways of authentication techniques
in ASP.NET?
Selecting an authentication provider is as simple as making an entry in the web.config file
for the application. You can use one of these entries to select the corresponding built in
authentication provider:
√
√
√
√ Custom authentication where you might install an ISAPI filter in IIS that
compares incoming requests to list of source IP addresses, and considers
requests to be authenticated if they come from an acceptable address. In that
case, you would set the authentication mode to none to prevent any of the
.net authentication providers from being triggered.
Windows authentication and IIS
If you select windows authentication for your ASP.NET application, you also have to
configure authentication within IIS. This is because IIS provides Windows authentication.
IIS gives you a choice for four different authentication methods:
Anonymous, basic digest and windows integrated
If you select anonymous authentication, IIS doesn’t perform any authentication, Any one
is allowed to access the ASP.NET application.
If you select basic authentication, users must provide a windows username and password
to connect. How ever this information is sent over the network in clear text, which makes
basic authentication very much insecure over the internet.
If you select digest authentication, users must still provide a windows user name and
password to connect. However the password is hashed before it is sent across the network.
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Digest authentication requires that all users be running Internet Explorer 5 or later and
that windows accounts to stored in active directory.
If you select windows integrated authentication, passwords never cross the network.
Users must still have a username and password, but the application uses either the Kerberos
or challenge/response protocols authenticate the user. Windows-integrated authentication
requires that all users be running internet explorer 3.01 or later Kerberos is a network
authentication protocol. It is designed to provide strong authentication for client/server
applications by using secret-key cryptography. Kerberos is a solution to network security
problems. It provides the tools of authentication and strong cryptography over the network
to help to secure information in systems across entire enterprise
Passport authentication
Passport authentication lets you to use Microsoft’s passport service to authenticate users
of your application. If your users have signed up with passport, and you configure the
authentication mode of the application to the passport authentication, all authentication
duties are off-loaded to the passport servers.
Passport uses an encrypted cookie mechanism to indicate authenticated users. If users
have already signed into passport when they visit your site, they’ll be considered
authenticated by ASP.NET. Otherwise they’ll be redirected to the passport servers to log
in. When they are successfully log in, they’ll be redirected back to your site
To use passport authentication you have to download the Passport Software Development
Kit (SDK) and install it on your server. The SDK can be found at http://
msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/downloads/list/websrvpass.aps.It includes
full details of implementing passport authentication in your own applications.
Forms authentication
Forms authentication provides you with a way to handle authentication using your own
custom logic with in an ASP.NET application. The following applies if you choose forms
authentication.
√ When a user requests a page for the application, ASP.NET checks for the
presence of a special session cookie. If the cookie is present, ASP.NET assumes
the user is authenticated and processes the request.
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√ If the cookie isn’t present, ASP.NET redirects the user to a web form you
provide
You can carry out whatever authentication, checks you like in your form. When the user
is authenticated, you indicate this to ASP.NET by setting a property, which creates the
special cookie to handle subsequent requests.
(A)How does authorization work in ASP.NET?
ASP.NET impersonation is controlled by entries in the applications web.config file. The
default setting is “no impersonation”. You can explicitly specify that ASP.NET shouldn’t
use impersonation by including the following code in the file
It means that ASP.NET will not perform any authentication and runs with its own
privileges. By default ASP.NET runs as an unprivileged account named ASPNET. You
can change this by making a setting in the processModel section of the machine.config
file. When you make this setting, it automatically applies to every site on the server. To
user a high-privileged system account instead of a low-privileged, set the userName
attribute of the processModel element to SYSTEM. Using this setting is a definite security
risk, as it elevates the privileges of the ASP.NET process to a point where it can do bad
things to the operating system.
When you disable impersonation, all the request will run in the context of the account
running ASP.NET: either the ASPNET account or the system account. This is true when
you are using anonymous access or authenticating users in some fashion. After the user
has been authenticated, ASP.NET uses it own identity to request access to resources.
The second possible setting is to turn on impersonation.
In this case, ASP.NET takes on the identity IIS passes to it. If you are allowing anonymous
access in IIS, this means ASP.NET will impersonate the IUSR_ComputerName account
that IIS itself uses. If you aren’t allowing anonymous access,ASP.NET will take on the
credentials of the authenticated user and make requests for resources as if it were that
user. Thus by turning impersonation on and using a non-anonymous method of
authentication in IIS, you can let users log on and use their identities within your ASP.NET
application.
Finally, you can specify a particular identity to use for all authenticated requests
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With this setting, all the requests are made as the specified user (Assuming the password
it correct in the configuration file). So, for example you could designate a user for a single
application, and use that user’s identity every time someone authenticates to the
application. The drawback to this technique is that you must embed the user’s password
in the web.config file in plain text. Although ASP.NET won’t allow anyone to download
this file, this is still a security risk if anyone can get the file by other means.
(B)What’s difference between Datagrid , Datalist and
repeater ?
A Datagrid, Datalist and Repeater are all ASP.NET data Web controls.
They have many things in common like DataSource Property , DataBind Method
ItemDataBound and ItemCreated.
When you assign the DataSource Property of a Datagrid to a DataSet then each DataRow
present in the DataRow Collection of DataTable is assigned to a corresponding
DataGridItem and this is same for the rest of the two controls also.But The HTML code
generated for a Datagrid has an HTML TABLE
DataRow and its a Table form representation with Columns and Rows.
For a Datalist its an Array of Rows and based on the Template Selected and the
RepeatColumn Property value We can specify how many DataSource records should
appear per HTML
Phase | What a control needs to do | Method or event to override |
Initialize | Initialize settings needed during the lifetime of the incoming Web request. | Init event (OnInit method) |
Load view state | At the end of this phase, the ViewState property of a control is automatically populated as described in | LoadViewState method |
Process postback data | Process incoming form data and update properties accordingly. See Processing Postback Data. Note Only controls that process postback data participate in this phase. | LoadPostData method (if IPostBackDataHandler is implemented) |
Load | Perform actions common to all requests, such as setting up a database query. At this point, server controls in the tree are created and initialized, the state is restored, and form controls reflect client-side data | Load event (OnLoad method) |
Send postback change notifications | Raise change events in response to state changes between the current and previous postbacks. Note Only controls that raise postback change events participate in this phase. | RaisePostDataChangedEvent method (if IPostBackDataHandler is implemented) |
Handle postback events | Handle the client-side event that caused the postback and raise appropriate events on the server Note Only controls that process postback events participate in this phase. | RaisePostBackEvent method (if IPostBackEventHandler is implemented) |
Prerender | Perform any updates before the output is rendered. Any changes made to the state of the control in the prerender phase can be saved, while changes made in the rendering phase are lost | PreRender event (OnPreRender method) |
Save state | The ViewState property of a control is automatically persisted to a string object after this stage. This string object is sent to the client and back as a hidden variable. For improving efficiency, a control can override the SaveViewState method to modify the ViewState property. | SaveViewState method |
Render | Generate output to be rendered to the client. | Render method |
Dispose | Perform any final cleanup before the control is torn down. References to expensive resources such as database connections must be released in this phase. | Dispose method |
Unload | Perform any final cleanup before the control is torn down. Control authors generally perform cleanup in Dispose and do not handle this event. | UnLoad event (On UnLoad method) |