Here you can download the latest pre-release build, explore samples and screencasts that demonstrate this powerful new feature, report issues and log feedback to the product team, participate in discussions in the ASP.NET forums, and view spec proposals for future enhancements (coming soon).
*** 5/23 Update: A new release is available in the Releases section. This release requires that you first upgrade to Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 Beta or .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 Beta. For a list of changes in this release, refer to the Release Changes page. ***
Note: This project is a temporary home for ASP.NET Dynamic Data in order to gather feedback. When and if ASP.NET Dynamic Data appears in an 'official' release, we will remove the release from this site and redirect you to the new 'official' release.
These pre-release builds are being distributed in order to get early feedback on the feature, which we anticipate will ship in a future service pack for the .NET Framework version 3.5. Because these are early pre-release builds, they have not gone through the full QA process that a CTP or service pack goes through before it is released. Be forewarned that these releases are likely to contain bugs or regressions. Please refer to the license terms for the scope of use.
Introduction to ASP.NET Dynamic Data
ASP.NET Dynamic Data is a powerful new feature that provides two significant usability improvements to working with data controls in ASP.NET Web sites and Web applications.
The first improvement is for existing applications that use
DetailsView,
FormView,
GridView, or
ListView controls. The
DetailsView and
GridView controls have been extended to display fields by using templates instead of by using hard-coded rules that are programmed in the controls. These templates are part of the project, and you can customize them to change their appearance or to specify what controls they use for rendering. This makes it very easy to make a change in one place that specifies how to present dates for editing, as one example.
FormView and
ListView controls can implement similar behavior by using a
DynamicControl control in their templates and by specifying which field in the row to display. Dynamic Data will then automatically build the UI for these controls based on the templates that you specify.
The second improvement is that the controls look at the metadata for a LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework data model and provide automatic validation based on the model. For example, if a column in the database is limited to 50 characters, and if a column is marked as not nullable, a
RequiredFieldValidator control is automatically enabled for the column. (The controls also automatically support data-model-level validation.) You can apply other metadata to take further control over display and validation.
What Is Included in this Release
This release includes the Dynamic Data runtime assemblies as well as versions of the System.Web.dll and System.Web.Extensions.dll assemblies that have been updated from the versions in the .NET Framework 3.5. The release also installs Visual Basic and C# templates that you can use in Visual Studio 2008 for creating a Dynamic Data Web site.
Also included in this release is a “Dynamic Data Website Wizard” template for easily creating Dynamic Data Web sites. Although this wizard is not yet feature-complete, it is reasonably functional in its current form, so we have included it with this drop in order gather your feedback. For more information about the wizard, refer to the
Dynamic Data Website Wizard home page on this site.
Download and Install Instructions
5/12 Update: This release requires that you first upgrade to
Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 Beta or
.NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 Beta. We also recommend that you first uninstall any previously installed Dynamic Data Preview drop prior to installing Service Pack 1 Beta.
To install Dynamic Data, follow these steps:
- Go to the Releases tab on this site.
- Download the latest .zip package to your local machine.
- Unzip the .zip file into a folder on your computer.
- From either a VS 2008 command prompt or .NET Framework 2.0 SDK command prompt, move to that folder and run Install.cmd.
Note: If you are running Windows Vista, you must run the command as an administrator.
How to Provide Feedback
We highly encourage your feedback on this pre-release version, because it will help ensure that we deliver a great final version that meets your needs. There are two primary means for providing feedback:
- The Dynamic Data Forum on the ASP.NET Forums site allows you to engage in discussions with other customers and with the Dynamic Data product team. This is a great place to ask questions, post comments, and learn more about using the Dynamic Data feature.
- The Issue Tracker tab on this site allows you to file bugs to the product team for consideration. The Issue Tracker is voting-based, so bugs with the most votes are given priority. (However, the product team will consider each issue individually, and more votes does not necessarily guarantee acceptance.)
Tip: Please use "Issue" type for logging bugs and "Feature" type for logging new feature suggestions.
Additional Resources, Tutorials and Samples
Building ASP.NET Dynamic Data Applications MIX '08 Screencast Displaying Images from a Database Screencast Dynamic Data Website Wizard Screencast Various Dynamic Data Samples