How to set up and locate the QuickStart samples (316736)

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes the QuickStart Samples that are included with the .NET Framework SDK. You will learn how to set up and locate the Samples. This article also describes the key features of the Samples.

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Requirements

The following items describe the recommended hardware, software, network infrastructure, skills and knowledge, and service packs that you will need.

• Windows 2000 Professional (or Server), or Windows XP Professional (or Server) with the .NET Framework installed.

Prior knowledge required:

• None to set up the QuickStarts. However, to understand and to make best use of the QuickStarts, some prior knowledge of programming concepts relevant to the type of QuickStart (ASP.NET or Windows Forms) is required.

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Set up and locate the QuickStart samples

1. On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft .NET Framework SDK, and then click Samples and QuickStart Tutorials.
2. On the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK QuickStarts, Tutorials and Samples Web page, click QuickStarts.
3. The QuickStarts are not installed automatically with the .NET Framework SDK. In the "QuickStarts" section, follow step 1 to install the .NET Framework Samples database. When you receive the prompt to open or to save the file, click Open. This installs an instance of the SQL Server Desktop Engine that is specifically tailored for the QuickStarts. You may or may not have to restart your computer.
4. In step 2 of the "QuickStarts" section, click Setup the QuickStarts. When you receive the prompt to open or to save the file, click Open. When installation is completed, click Launch.
5. On the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK QuickStarts, Tutorials and Samples Web page, the first section contains three links to the various types of QuickStarts: ASP.NET, Windows Forms, and Common Tasks.
6. The page menu bar, near the top of each QuickStarts page, contains several useful items. From left to right, access to each of the three types of QuickStarts is available. How Do I corresponds to the Common Tasks. Also, you can click Hide TOC to hide the Table of Contents on the left side of each page. You can use the drop-down list on the right side of the page to change the default language that is used for the code samples.
7. In the Table of Contents, click Language Support. This page includes information to help you become rapidly adept at the more common coding tasks. If you want to use more than one of the three featured languages (Visual Basic, Visual C#, or Visual Jscript), this page makes it easy to switch between these languages. For example, in Variable Declarations, click either of the two darker gray rectangles that follow the lines of code. Note that the code changes to the language that you selected.
8. On the page menu bar, click ASP.NET. In ASP.NET Web Forms, click Server-Side Data Access. In the list of section links for this page, click Binding SQL Data to a DataGrid. The sample that appears is typical of most of the samples throughout the QuickStarts. It includes a screenshot, links to run the sample and to view the source code, and explanatory text that contains code samples.
9. Click View Source. Note that the top section contains links to all related source code for all three featured languages. This includes Solution and Project files for Visual Studio .NET. You can use this source code to build .NET solutions quickly and increase your productivity. Note that these samples do not use codebehind. Instead, they typically put all source code in the Web Form. Microsoft recommends that you use codebehind when you develop .NET Web Applications. However, most QuickStarts do not use codebehind.
10. Close the window that contains the source code, and then scroll to the top of the Server-Side Data Access page. Click Connections, Commands, and DataSets. This section includes a link to the ADO.NET Overview. This link is not available from the ASP.NET Table of Contents. However, this link is available in Section D of the Common Tasks QuickStart, which you can locate in How Do I? (for more information, see step 11).
11. On the page menu bar, click How Do I?. This QuickStart is arranged topically and alphabetically. This is not strictly a set of "How Do I" links. Several of the links give overviews of broad topics including Data and ADO.NET, XML Data, Remoting, and Interoperability.
12. The Windows Forms QuickStart is similar to the ASP.NET QuickStart.

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