.NET Development Foundation

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Application Development Foundation

Preface

Welcome to the 'Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation' module.

Please give us your feedback on the module so we can improve it (see discussion page).

The preface contains information relevant to the context of the document, authors, wikibooks, etc. You can skip to the Introduction if you are primarely interested in the module content.

Contributions

This module is far from over! Please do not hesitate to improve it as you see fit.

Just a couple of pointers though if you are a new contributor to wikibooks:

• Wikibooks are about textbooks not "standard" wikis. The project team is looking for continuous narratives that can be read from top to bottom. For somebody used to the MSDN type of documentation this can be a significant adjusment.

• Links only pages does not fit the above picture and are actively discouraged. If you create a page, be sure to have content to put on it :-)

• The administrators use templates to ask questions or notify of incomplete tasks. Those templates produce rather flashy notices that can be surprising at first. Don't worry about the look and ask for clarifications. The admins are very helpful and nice and will help you with whatever you may need.

• Code samples are very welcome and should be put in "hidden" sections to preserve the flow of the text. see example section. A sample should be kept as short as possible but the space limitations of printed material obviously do not apply here. We thus encourage you to have complete, yet clear and simple, programs so they can be directly tested and used.

• Use the discussion page for questions or comments.

Exam information and certifications

Current information on the exam can be found at MSDN Exam Information

This module is the study guide for the first exam (70-536) for obtaining many Microsoft certifications:

• Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications
• Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 2.0 Windows_Applications
• Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 2.0 Distributed Applications
• Microsoft Certified Professionnal Developer: Web development
• Microsoft Certified Professionnal Developer: Windows development
• Microsoft Certified Professionnal Developer: Enterprise application development

Authors

William "Scott" Baker (User:Scott98390)

If you contribute to this book, if you wish, please add your name here. The contributors for a specific article can be traced by its history.

Please note that it is not wikibook's policy to have link only pages or pages with very few text. The preferred way is to have continuous textbooks that can be read from start to finish. The first contributions to this module where in the form of separate pages for each third or forth level exam objectives. This gave way to numerous pages that are in the process of beeing merged into more consistent global pages. This process have the adverse side effect of losing references for the contributions to those detailed pages. We apologize if your texts or links have been moved in this way.

Introduction

Audience and other Wikibooks resources

The audience for this study guide are poeple professionaly interested in the .NET framework. Microsoft states in the Exam (70-536) preparation guide that "Candidates should have at least two to three years of experience developing Web-based, Microsoft Windows-based, or distributed applications by using the .NET Framework 1.0, the .NET Framework 1.1, and the .NET Framework 2.0. Candidates should have a working knowledge of Visual Studio 2005.".

We will thus assume that readers know at least one of the .NET languages (VB.NET, C#, etc.), have access to Visual Studio and have some experience working with it.

Wikibooks has other books both on VB, C# and .NET that are more introductory in nature.

Module objectives

This study guide does not aim at replacing the other resources that exists to get prepared to pass the 70-536 exam:

• we provide links to the MSDN library, we do not try to replace it. Poeple who pass the exam often note that the training kit does not cover every aspect of the exam and that consulting the MSDN documentation is a big plus.

• we provide links to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects where applicable

• we do not provide testing software or lists of questions

• we do not pretend that this module replaces the recommended training kit or any other recommended material from Microsoft.

What we do provide though, even at this document's grossly incomplete stage, is:

• an exhaustive list of the objectives of the exam as stated by Microsoft

• links from all exam objectives to the corresponding MSDN library article.

• "textbook like" explanations for a growing number or topics with links to related external sources.

• and most of all, a place to put your important notes and code examples for your revision before the exam and as a reference for your professional work afterward. No training kit or library provides that in a shared and controled environment.

The most difficult aspect of a book like this one is to keep a balance between having enough content to cover and explain every objective of the exam and not too much content because reading and studying time should be kept to a manageable level. Furthermore, there is no reason to cover content here that is not directly related to exam objectives.

Finally, as part of the Wikimedia family (Wikipedia and all) the Wikibooks project has very high ethics on copyrights and general quality. Do not hesitate to correct if you find anything "wrong" in any way.

Module structure

This module is structured around the objectives set by Microsoft for the 70-536 Exam. Chapters 3 to 9 represents each of the 7 major objective categories of the exam.

For each chapter a first section covers the major concepts (topics). A second section then details each of the second, third and fourth level exam objectives for that objective category.

Eventually, we would like to have:

• a "revision questions" section for each chapter where we could discuss the kind of questions that could be asked at the exam.

• an "advanced" section where we could put the more advanced material and keep the text flow of the basic sections at a level that corresponds to the knowledge required for the exam.

As of december 7th 2007:

• 24 subjects are detailed on separate pages (the subject title is the link). Most of those will eventually be integrated into the main page for a better flow of the text.

• all of the subjects are directly linked to the Microsoft Software Developers Network (MSDN) library, about 480 directly from the main page (the "MSDN" following the title is the link) and the others from their respective subpage.

• we just started to link the "topics" sections to wikipedia articles to give you a feel of how the concepts are defined and treated outside of Microsoft's world.

Some sections are relatively advanced and others are awaiting your contributions. The more advanced sections are not all at the beginning of the module.

The .NET Framework

In the certification paths where exam 70-536 "Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation" is present, it represents the first step of the cetification process. It is thus natural to start this first study guide with a short discussion of the framework as a whole.

The definition on MSDN .NET main page is: "The .NET Framework is Microsoft's managed code programming model for building applications on Windows clients, servers, and mobile or embedded devices. Developers use .NET to build applications of many types: Web applications, server applications, smart client applications, console applications, database applications, and more".

Wikipedia's definition is: "The Microsoft .NET Framework is a software component included with the Microsoft Windows operating system. It provides a large body of pre-coded solutions to common software development requirements, and manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework. The .NET Framework is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform"

The problem with Microsoft's definition is that it refers to a "managed code programming model" which is still Microsoft terminology. The best defintion for it: "Managed code is code that has its execution managed by the .NET Framework Common Language Runtime" (see Brad Adams blog on MSDN).

Wikipedia's definition points to the two more important aspects from a developper point of view:

• The presence of a huge set of class libraries that allows for all of the common programming tasks. Beside the sheer size of the those class libraries, they are also evolving at a rapid paste.
• The fact that the execution environment is specific to the framework. The term "virtual machine" is often used to qualify such an environment.

Those two main characteristics parallel those of the Java environment, which is the main comptetitor to the .NET framework. This module tries to help you learn the .NET framework. It will not address the .NET vs Java comparaisons and discussions.

Framework structure

Visual overview of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI)

The image on the right is taken from the wikipedia article on the .NET framework framework (see above).

It describes the process followed by a program written in a .NET compatible language from source code to execution. The important difference with that and more conventional programming languages (ex. C++) is the fact that the program is compiled twice. The first compilation is done from the original language to a "common intermediate language" (CIL). This is what actually goes "in" an assembly.

The second compilation is done from the CIL to machine code at execution time by the "common language runtime" (CLR). The second compilation is done "just-in-time" by the "just-in-time" compiler.

This architecture as many direct implications for the subjects of this book. Among them:

• The "source code" of the second compilation (the CIL code) is always available to the virtual machine at runtime. This means that this code can easily be analysed at runtime, contrary to conventional compiled environment. This characteristic is the base for the reflexion functionality of the platform. Not only can we analyse the "intermediate source code" but we can actually create (emit) some of it at runtime and then do the "just-in-time" compilation and execution.

• The execution is done in the context of the CLR (this is the "managed" code concept). Put another way, we can say that the runtime always "knows" what it sends for execution, contrary to a conventional environement where the code is executed directly by the operating system. This implies that you can tell the runtime to execute, or not, this or that type of code. This is the basis for code access security.

• Most of the features of the "NET languages (C#, VB, etc.) are direcly related to features of the intermediate language. Put another way, most of the time, the first compilation is pretty straightforward. Some of the constructs though do not have direct equivalents in the CIL (ex. properties in C# are mapped to class methods in the CIL).

We could continue like that for a long time. The point we want to make here is that a developer has much to gain from a detailed understanding of the platform, even if it is not directly mentioned as an objective of the exam.

If you want to read on the framework in Microsft documentation you can see MSDN.

The last thing we will note here is that the common language runtime (CLR) can execute in different contexts:

• ASP.NET for web applications, where it is directly linked to the Internet Information Server (IIS).
• Internet Explorer for client side web controls
• In a standalone host for console, service and windows applications.

By default, examples in this book will use standalone executables. This is just because they are more easy to deploy for very simple programs. This does not imply that Windows applications are preferable to web applications.

System types and collections

Exam objective: Developing applications that use system types and collections.

Topics

System types

This section will be obvious for experienced object oriented developers but some of the specific objectives of the exam are direcly related to the type system.

Types are a way to classifiy the concepts or objects of a language. The way this classification is organized is called a type system. The types themselves can also be categorized in diiferent ways by the type system.

The first way to categorize types in .NET is to make a difference between types that are part of the framework class libraries (System types) and types that will be constructed by the developer (custom types).

Writing object oriented programs can be seen as the process of defining one or more custom types. Those types are then packaged in some kind of execution unit (Assemblies in the case of .NET). The assemblies are compiled and then executed starting at some entry point that will be a specified method of one of the custom type.

Those custom types use:

• System types to execute "pre-programmed" instruction sequences
• other custom types

System types are also packaged in assemblies. The custom assemblies must reference the system assemblies in order to use the System types.

There are other ways to categorize types in .NET. One of them is by the way the objects created based on those types are mapped to the computer memory. This will give us Value types and Reference types.

Another way is by Reflection category (Class, Value types, Interfaces, Generics, etc.).

Yet another way is to distinguish the types that are directly supported by the runtime (built-in types) from those defined either in the class libraries or custom.

Those categories can also be intersected with one another, that will give us such things has "Built-in value types" or "System interfaces". Stay alert of the categorizations used when you encounter such combinations.

In the context of namaspaces the System types are the types included in the System namespace or one of its sub-namespace and Custom types (non system types) should use other namespaces.

For a peek at how Microsoft describes the .NET type system see MSDN. And then for an overview of the the class libraries (System types) see MSDN.

Most of the exam is in fact based on how to use the common parts of the type librairies (System types). This is why the list of exam objectives (and this book TOC) is so long.

Hello world

For the newcomers to .NET, you may want to take a little break from the concepts here and make sure that you see how the concepts discussed so far are used in a very simple example. The next concepts are not that trivial. We will put such an example here.

Value types

Value types represent one part of the Value / Reference classification of the type system.

An instance of a value type directly contains its data (value). For example an Int32 local variable has its memory allocated directly on the stack.

The value types are themselves split in 3 categories:

• The built-in value types
• User-defined value types
• Enumerations

Remember that built-in types are the types directly supported by the runtime.

All of the built-in types are value types except for Object and String.

The built-in value types consist of

• the integer types (Byte, SByte, Int16, Int32, Int64, UInt16, UInt32 and UInt64)
• the floating point types (Single and Double)
• the logical type (Boolean)
• other (Char, Decimal, InPtr and UInPtr)

All built-in value type are defined in the System namespace (ex. System.Int32) and have keywords that represent them in the .NET languages (ex. int in C#).

User-defined types are called structures (struct) in C#.

Enumerations are a way to name a set of values of an underlying integer type (signed or unsigned). As restrictions of an integer type they act as their underlying type.

User-defined value types and Enumerations both include System types and Custom types.

An example of a System structure would be the System.Drawing.Point structure used in drawing.

An example of a System enumeration would be the System.Data.CommandType enumeration that specifies if a table is a text command, a call to a stored procedure, etc.

Reference types

Reference types represent the other part of the Value / Reference classification of the type system.

Contrary to value types an instance of a reference type does not directly contains its data (value) but instead some kind of a reference to to the memory location of that value. For example a String local variable has memory allocated on the stack for a reference to the contained string not the string itself. In that case the string itself will be allocated on the heap and garbage collected (more on that later).

Two built-in types are considered reference types: Object and String and they are also directly referenced in the System libraries (ex. System.String) and have their own contructs in the .NET languages (ex. string in C#).

The reference types are themselves split in four categories :

• pointers
• interfaces
• arrays
• classes

We will not talk about pointers in this book because no exam objective reference them.

Classes are themselves split in three :

• user-defined classes
• boxed value types
• delegates

User-defined classes are the basic realizations of the object oriented concepts.

Obviously a lot can be said about classes but since no exam objective reference to them we will assume that the reader is already familiar with the concept and have already worked with them (in .NET or elsewhere).

You can have System classes (hundreds and hundereds of them) and custom classes (where you will code the essential of your porgram logic).

Boxed value types will be discussed a little later in the boxing / unboxing section.

Delegates will also be covered in their section alittle later.

For a comparaison of value / reference types you can try this.

Collections

For a tutorial see GotDotNet

For some "prescriptive guidance" see AspNetResources

Classes, Interfaces, and tools

System types

Exam objective: Manage data in a .NET Framework application by using the .NET Framework 2.0 system types.

(Refer System namespace)

Value types usage

Following are some "usage" oriented remarks about value types.

Value types contain the values they are assigned:

int a = 1;  // the variable "a" contains "1" of value type int

Value types can also be created by using the new keyword. Using the new keyword initializes the variable with the default value obtained from the type's default constructor:

int a = new int(); // using the default constructor via the new keyword
return a;          // returns "0" in the case of type Int.

Value types can be declared without being initialized, but they must be initialized to some value before being used:

int a;     // This is perfectly acceptable
return a;  // NOT acceptable!  You can't use "a" because "a" doesn't have a value!

Value types cannot equal null. .NET 2.0 provides a Nullable type to get around this limitation, which is discussed in the next section, but null is not a valid value for value types:

int a = null;  // Won't compile - throws an error.

If you copy a Value type to another Value type, the value is copied. Changing the value of the copy has no effect on the value of the original. The second is merely a copy of the first - they are in no way connected after assignment. This is fairly intuitive:

int var1 = 1;
int var2 = var1;  //the value of var1 (a "1" of type int) is copied to var2
var2 = 25;        // The "1" value in var2 is overwritten with "25"
Console.WriteLine("The value of var1 is {0}, the value of var2 is {1}", var1, var2);

Which would result in the output:

The value of var1 is 1, the value of var2 is 25

Changing the value of the copy (var2 in this instance) had no effect on the value of the original (var1). This is different from reference types which copy a reference to the value, not the value itself.

Nullable type

- Nullable type

Reference types

Attributes

Generic types

Exception classes

Some links to MSDN:

• Exceptions and exception handling - MSDN
• Handling and throwing exceptions - MSDN
• Exception Hierarchy - MSDN
• Exception Class and Properties - MSDN

Boxing and UnBoxing

TypeForwardedToAttribute Class - MSDN

For a discussion of TypeForwardToAttribute in the CLR see MSDN

Other possible links: Marcus' Blog, NotGartner

Collections

Exam objective: Manage a group of associated data in a .NET Framework application by using collections.

(Refer System.Collections namespace - MSDN)

ArrayList class

Collection interfaces

ICollection interface and IList interface

IComparer interface, IEqualityComparer interface, and IKeyComparer interface

IComparer interface - MSDN

IEqualityComparer interface - MSDN

IKeyComparer interface - IKeyComparer does not exist in .Net 2.0

IDictionary interface and IDictionaryEnumerator interface

IDictionary interface - MSDN

IDictionaryEnumerator interface - MSDN

IEnumerable interface and IEnumerator interface

IHashCodeProvider interface - MSDN - Interface is now obsolete (as of .NET 2.0)

Iterators

Hashtable class - MSDN

Used to represent a collection of key/value pairs.

CollectionBase class and ReadOnlyCollectionBase class

CollectionBase class - MSDN

ReadOnlyCollectionBase class -MSDN

DictionaryBase class and DictionaryEntry class

DictionaryBase class - MSDN

DictionaryEntry structure - MSDN

Comparer class - MSDN

Queue class - MSDN

SortedList class - MSDN

BitArray class - MSDN

Stack class - MSDN

Generic collections

Exam objective: Improve type safety and application performance in a .NET Framework application by using generic collections.

(Refer System.Collections.Generic namespace MSDN )

Collection.Generic interfaces

see also ONDotnet

Generic IComparable interface - MSND

(Refer System Namespace)

Generic ICollection interface and Generic IList interface

Generic ICollection interface - MSDN

Generic IList interface - MSDN

Generic IComparer interface and Generic IEqualityComparer interface

Generic IComparer interface - MSDN

Generic IEqualityComparer interface - MSDN

Generic IDictionary interface - MSDN

Generic IEnumerable interface and Generic IEnumerator interface

Generic IEnumerable interface - MSDN

Generic IEnumerator interface - MSDN

IHashCodeProvider interface - MSDN - Interface is now obsolete (as of .NET 2.0)

Generic Dictionary

Generic Dictionary class and Generic Dictionary.Enumerator structure

Generic Dictionary class - MSDN

Generic Dictionary.Enumerator structure - MSDN

Generic Dictionary.KeyCollection class and Dictionary.KeyCollection.Enumerator structure

Generic Dictionary.KeyCollection class - MSDN

Dictionary.KeyCollection.Enumerator structure - MSDN

Generic Dictionary.ValueCollection class and Dictionary.ValueCollection.Enumerator structure

Generic Dictionary.ValueCollection class - MSDN]

Dictionary.ValueCollection.Enumerator structure - MSDN]

Generic Comparer class and Generic EqualityComparer class

Generic Comparer class - MSDN

Generic EqualityComparer class - MSDN

Generic KeyValuePair structure - MSDN

Generic List class, Generic List.Enumerator structure, and Generic SortedList class

Generic List class - MSDN

A generic list class instance is simply declared using the List<T> syntax where T is the specific type.

Generic List.Enumerator structure - MSDN

Generic SortedList class - MSDN

Generic Queue class and Generic Queue.Enumerator structure

Generic Queue class - MSDN

Generic Queue.Enumerator structure - MSDN

Generic SortedDictionary class - MSDN

For differences between SortedList and SortedDictionary are explained see MSDN

Generic LinkedList

A Generic Linked List represents a doubly linked list and is a general-purpose linked list. It supports enumerators and implements the ICollection interface, consistent with other classes in the .NET Framework.

Generic LinkedList class - MSDN

Generic LinkedList.Enumerator structure - MSDN

Generic LinkedListNode class - MSDN

Generic Stack class and Generic Stack.Enumerator structure

Generic Stack class - MSDN

Generic Stack.Enumerator structure - MSDN

Specialized collections

Exam objective: Manage data in a .NET Framework application by using specialized collections.

(Refer System.Collections.Specialized namespace)

Specialized String classes

StringCollection class - MSDN

StringDictionary class - MSDN

StringEnumerator class - MSDN

Specialized Dictionary classes

HybridDictionary class - MSDN

IOrderedDictionary interface and OrderedDictionary class

IOrderedDictionary Interface - MSDN

OrderedDictionary class - MSDN

ListDictionary class - MSDN

Named collections

NameObjectCollectionBase class - MSDN

NameObjectCollectionBase.KeysCollection class - MSDN

NameValueCollection class - MSDN

CollectionsUtil class

CollectionsUtil class - MSDN

BitVector32 structure and BitVector32.Section structure

BitVector32 structure - MSDN

BitVector32.Section structure - MSDN

Standard interfaces

Exam objective: Implement .NET Framework interfaces to cause components to comply with standard contracts.

(Refer System namespace)

IComparable interface - MSDN

The IComparable interface defines a comparison method that a value type or class implements to create a type-specific comparison method

IDisposable interface - MSDN

The IDispose interface can be used to explicitly release unmanaged resources in custom classes. The consumer of an object can call this method when the object is no longer needed.

The .Net garbage collector releases memory allocated to managed objects when they are no longer used, however, it is not possible to predict when garbage collection will occur and it has no knowledge of unmanaged resources such as window handles, or open files and streams.

IConvertible interface - MSDN

ICloneable interface - MSDN

INullableValue interface - MSDN

IEquatable interface - MSDN

IFormattable interface - MSDN

Events and delegates

Exam objectives: Control interactions between .NET Framework application components by using events and delegates.

(Refer System namespace)

Delegate class

EventArgs class - MSDN

EventHandler delegates - MSDN

Services, threading, and application domains

Exam objective: Implementing service processes, threading, and application domains in a .NET Framework application

Classes, Interfaces, and tools

Implement, install, and control a service

Exam objective: Implement, install, and control a service

(Refer System.ServiceProcess namespace)

Inherit from ServiceBase class

ServiceController class and ServiceControllerPermission class

ServiceController class - MSDN

ServiceControllerPermission class - MSDN

ServiceInstaller and ServiceProcessInstaller class

ServiceInstaller - MSDN

ServiceProcessInstaller class - MSDN

ServiceChangeDescription structure and ServiceChangeReason enumeration

SessionChangeDescription structure - MSDN

SessionChangeReason enumeration - MSDN

Develop multithreaded applications

Exam objective: Develop multithreaded .NET Framework applications

(Refer System.Threading namespace)

Thread class - MSDN

ThreadPool class - MSDN

ThreadStart delegate, ParameterizedThreadStart delegate, and SynchronizationContext class

Timeout class, Timer class, TimerCallback delegate, WaitCallback delegate, WaitHandle class, and WaitOrTimerCallback delegate

Timeout class - MSDN

Timer class - MSDN

TimerCallback delegate - MSDN

WaitCallback delegate - MSDN

WaitHandle class - MSDN

WaitOrTimerCallback delegate - MSDN

ThreadExceptionEventArgs class and ThreadExceptionEventHanlder class

ThreadExceptionEventArgs class - MSDN

ThreadExceptionEventHandler class - MSDN

ThreadState enumeration and ThreadPriority enumeration

ThreadState enumeration - MSDN

ThreadPriority enumeration - MSDN

ReaderWriterLock class - MSDN

AutoResetEvent class and ManualResetEvent class

AutoResetEvent class - MSDN

ManualResetEvent class - MSDN

IAsyncResult interface and ICancelableAsyncResult interface

(Refer System namespace)

IAsyncResult interface - MSDN

ICancelableAsyncResult interface - MSDN

EventWaitHandle class, RegisterWaitHandle class, SendOrPostCallback delegate, and IOCompletionCallback delegate

EventWaitHandle class - MSDN

RegisterWaitHandle class - MSDN

This is a typo in the exam list of objectives and the training kit. The term RegisterWaitForSingleObject should be saerch instead (see KB)

SendOrPostCallback delegate - MSDN

IOCompletionCallback delegate - MSDN

Interlocked class, NativeOverlapped structure, and Overlapped class

Interlocked class - MSDN

NativeOverlapped structure - MSDN

Overlapped class - MSDN

ExecutionContext class, HostExecutionContext class, HostExecutionContext manager, and ContextCallback delegate

ExecutionContext class - MSDN

HostExecutionContext class - MSDN

HostExecutionContext manager - MSDN

In fact was is refered to here is the HostExecutionContextManager class

ContextCallback delegate - MSDN

LockCookie structure, Monitor class, Mutex class, and Semaphore class MSDN]

LockCookie structure - MSDN

Monitor class - MSDN

Mutex class - MSDN

Semaphore class - MSDN

Using applications domains

Exam objective: Create a unit of isolation for common language runtime in a .NET Framework application by using application domains

(Refer System namespace)

Create an application domain - MSDN

An application domain is a division of a process into multiple parts. Applications running in different application domains are as isolated as they would be in different processes.

Application domains are easier to maintain and are faster because it is easier to communicate between application domains than between processes. An application domain can hold multiple assemblies.

Unload an application domain - MSDN

Configure an application domain - MSDN

Retrieve setup information from an application domain - MSDN

Load assemblies into an application domain - MSDN

Configuration, diagnostic, management, and installation

Exam objective: Embedding configuration, diagnostic, management, and installation features into a .NET Framework application

Topics

Event log

MSDN's definition is "Windows event logs allow your applications and components to record information about important events. You can use these records to audit access to your system, troubleshoot problems, and re-create usage patterns"

For a general discussion see MSDN

For specifics on the EventLog class and some cautions about its use see MSDN

Classes, Interfaces, and tools

Embed configuration management

Exam objective: Embed configuration management functionality into a .NET Framework application.

(Refer System.Configuration namespace)

Configuration class and ConfigurationManager class

Configuration class - MSDN

ConfigurationManager class - MSDN

ConfigurationSettings class, ConfigurationElement class, ConfigurationElementCollection class, and ConfigurationElementProperty class

ConfigurationSettings class - MSDN

ConfigurationElement class - MSDN

ConfigurationElementCollection class - MSDN

ConfigurationElementProperty class - MSDN

Implement IConfigurationSectionHandler interface - MSDN

ConfigurationSection class, ConfigurationSectionCollection class, ConfigurationSectionGroup class, and ConfigurationSectionGroupCollection class

ConfigurationSection class - MSDN

ConfigurationSectionCollection class - MSDN

ConfigurationSectionGroup class - MSDN

ConfigurationSectionGroupCollection - MSDN

Implement ISettingsProviderService interface - MSDN

Implement IApplicationSettingsProvider interface - MSDN

ConfigurationValidationBase class

No direct result on MSDN - to be checked

Implement IConfigurationSystem interface - MSDN

Create custom installer and configure application

Exam objective: Create a custom Microsoft Windows Installer for .NET Framework components by using the System.Configuration.Install namespace, and configure the .NET Framework applications by using configuration files, environment variables, and the .NET Framework Configuration tool (Mscorcfg.msc).

For a "cookbook" on for the procedures discussed in this section see MSDN and the corresponding How-To section.

Installer class - MSDN

Configure which runtime version a .NET Framework application should use - MSDN

Configure where the runtime should search for an assembly - MSDN

Configure the location of an assembly and which version of the assembly to use - MSDN and MSDN

Direct the runtime to use the DEVPATH environment variable when searching for assemblies - MSDN

AssemblyInstaller class - MSDN

ComponentInstaller class - MSDN

Configure a .NET Framework application by using the .NET Framework Configuration tool (Mscorcfg.msc) - MSND

ManagedInstaller class - MSDN

InstallContext class - MSDN

InstallerCollection class - MSDN

Implement IManagedInstaller interface - MSDN

InstallEventHandler delegate - MSDN

Configure concurrent garbage collection - MSDN

Register remote objects by using configuration files - MSDN

Manage an event log

Exam objective: Manage an event log by using the System.Diagnostics namespace

EventLog class - MSDN

EventSourceCreationData class - MSDN

Create a new event log

You create an EventLog by creating the first event source that writes to that log.

The two simplest way to do this are:

• Use the EventLog.CreateEventSource method
• Create an EventLog instance, specify a source and then write to the log. The actual creation takes place on execution of the first write.

Note that there is no "EventSource" class in the System.Diagnostics namespace even thow an object representing the source is created in the registry.

C# Code sample

C# EventLog creation Example

   using System;
   using System.Collections.Generic;
   using System.Text;
   using System.Diagnostics;
   namespace EventLogLab1
   {
       class Program
       {
           static void Main(string[] args)
           {
               try
               {
                   EventLog log1 = new EventLog("EvtLab2Log");
                   log1.Source = "EvtLab2Source";
                   // Actual creation happens next
                   log1.WriteEntry("Example message", EventLogEntryType.Information,
                       123, 1);
               }
               catch (Exception e)
               {
                   Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
               }
               Console.WriteLine("Press ENTER to finish");
               Console.ReadLine();
           }
       }
   }

The recommended way, which does not seem to be covered on the Training Kit (so probably not on the exam) is to use the EventLogInstaller class during the installation of the application. For reference purposes see MSDN

Manage processes and monitor performance

Exam objective: Manage system processes and monitor the performance of a .NET Framework application by using the diagnostics functionality of the .NET Framework 2.0.

(Refer System.Diagnostics namespace)

Get a list of all running processes.

Process class - MSDN

For example code for GetCurrentProcess(), GetProcessesByName(), GetProcesses(), and GetProcessById() see MSDN

Retrieve information about the current process - MSDN

Get a list of all modules loaded by a process

The Process.Modules property returns a stronlgy-typed collection of ProcessModule objects that represent the Process' currently loaded modules.

For the Process.Modules property see MSDN

For the ProcessModule class see MSDN

PerformanceCounter class, PerformanceCounterCategory, and CounterCreationData class

PerformanceCounter class - MSDN

PerformanceCounterCategory - MSDN

CounterCreationData class - MSDN

Start a process both by using and by not using command-line arguments.

StackTrace class - MSDN

StackFrame class - MSDN

Debug and Trace

Exam objective: Debug and trace a .NET Framework application by using the System.Diagnostics namespace.

Debug class and Debugger class

Trace class - MSDN

CorrelationManager class - MSDN

TraceListener class - MSDN

TraceSource class - MSDN

TraceSwitch class - MSDN

XmlWriterTraceListener class - MSDN

DelimitedListTraceListener class - MSDN

EventlogTraceListener class - MSDN

Debugger attributes - MSDN

DebuggerBrowsableAttribute class - MSDN

DebuggerDisplayAttribute class - MSDN

DebuggerHiddenAttribute class - MSDN

DebuggerNonUserCodeAttribute class - MSDN

DebuggerStepperBoundaryAttribute class - MSDN

DebuggerStepThroughAttribute class - MSDN

DebuggerTypeProxyAttribute class - MSDN

DebuggerVisualizerAttribute class - MSDN

Embed management information

Exam objective: Embed management information and events into a .NET Framework application.

(Refer System.Management namespace - MSDN)

Retrieve a collection of Management objects by using the ManagementObjectSearcher class and its derived classes.

ManagementObjectSearcher class - MSDN

Enumerate all disk drivers, network adapters, and processes on a computer.

Retrieve information about all network connections

Example to be provided

Retrieve information about all services that are paused.

ManagementQuery class - MSDN

EventQuery class - MSDN

ObjectQuery class - MSDN

Subscribe to management events by using the ManagementEventWatcher class - MSDN

Serialization and Input/Output

Exam objective: Implementing serialization and input/output functionality in a .NET Framework application

Topics

Serialization

Wikipedia's definition for serialiation is : "in the context of data storage and transmission, serialization is the process of saving an object onto a storage medium (such as a file, or a memory buffer) or to transmit it across a network connection link in binary form".

The problem that is addressed here is that an object is created by a running process and is thus bound to the lifetime of that process instance. If for whatever reason, and there can be many, you want to "transport" the object in the context of another process instance you've got a problem, that you solve by "saving" the state of you object in the original process and "restoring" it in the destination process. This "saving" part is called serialization and the "restoring" part is caled deserialization.

Serializable attribute

An object is serializable if it's class name is be prefixed with the [Serializable] attribute.

Object Serialization

One can use the BinaryFormatter class to serialize an object. To serialize, use the BinaryFormatter's Serialize() method which takes a stream and a serializable object as parameters. To deserialize, use the BinaryFormatter's Deserialize() method which takes a stream as a parameter and returns a object that can be cast back to the original object type. Remember to close streams after you use them by calling the stream's Close() method.

XML Serialization

One can use the XmlSerializer class to serialize an object. To serialize, use the XmlSerializer's Sserialize() method which takes a stream and a serializable object as parameters. To deserialize, use the XmlSerializer's Deserialize() method which takes a stream as a parameter and returns a object that can be cast back to the original object type. Remember to close streams after you use them by calling the stream's Close() method.

For an overview of XML and SOAP serialization see MSDN

Custom Serialization

The ISerializable interface allows an object to control its own serialization and deserialization.

Formatters

A formatter is used to serialize objects into streams.

Isolated storage

For a general discussion on IsolatedStorage tasks see MSDN

Classes, Interfaces, and tools

Serialize and deserialize

Exam objective: Serialize or deserialize an object or an object graph by using runtime serialization techniques.

(Refer System.Runtime.Serialization namespace)

Serialization interfaces

IDeserializationCallback interface - MSDN

IFormatter interface and IFormatterConverter interface

IFormatter interface - MSDN

IFormatterConverter interface - MSDN

ISerializable interface - MSDN

Serilization attributes

For some serialization attributes exemple see MSDN

OnDeserializedAttribute class and OnDeserializingAttribute class

OnDeserializedAttribute class - MSDN

OnDeserializingAttribute class - MSDN

OnSerializedAttribute class and OnSerializingAttribute class

OnSerializedAttribute class - MSDN

OnSerializingAttribute class - MSDN

OptionalFieldAttribute class - MSDN

SerializationEntry structure and SerializationInfo class

SerializationEntry structure - MSDN

SerializationInfo class - MSDN

ObjectManager class

ObjectManager class - MSDN

Formatter class, FormatterConverter class, and FormatterServices class

Formatter class - MSDN

FormatterConverter class - MSDN

FormatterServices class - MSDN

StreamingContext structure

StreamingContext structure - MSDN

XML Serialization

Exam objective: Control the serialization of an object into XML format by using the System.Xml.Serialization namespace.

XmlSerializer class - MSDN

Exam objective: Serialize and deserialize objects into XML format by using the XmlSerializer class

Control serialization by using serialization attributes - MSDN

For a list of attributes for controlling serialization see MSDN

Implement XML Serialization interfaces to provide custom formatting for XML serialization - MSDN

Delegates and event handlers are provided by the System.Xml.Serialization namespace - MSDN

Custom serialization

Exam objective: Implement custom serialization formatting by using the Serialization Formatter classes.

SoapFormatter clas - MSDN

(Refer System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap namespace)

BinaryFormatter class - MSDN

(Refer System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary namespace

File system classes

Exam objective: Access files and folders by using the File System classes.

(Refer System.IO namespace)

File class and FileInfo class

For common IO tasks see MSDN

File class - MSDN

FileInfo class - MSDN

Directory class and DirectoryInfo class

Directory class - MSDN

DirectoryInfo class - MSDN

DriveInfo class and DriveType enumeration

DriveInfo class - MSDN

DriveType enumeration - MSDN

FileSystemInfo class and FileSystemWatcher class

Path class

ErrorEventArgs class and ErrorEventHandler delegate

ErrorEventArgs class - MSDN

ErrorEventHandler delegate - MSDN

RenamedEventArgs class and RenamedEventHandler delegate

RenamedEventArgs class - MSDN

RenamedEventHandler delegate - MSDN

Byte streams

Exam objective: Manage byte streams by using Stream classes.

(Refer System.IO namespace)

FileStream class - MSDN

Stream class - MSDN

System.IO.Stream is the abstract base class that all other streams inherit from. It is not possible in instantiate a Stream class. Instead use one of the other classes that derive from Stream.

In terms of the 70-536 exam objectives, the most important classes that inherit from Stream are:

• System.IO.FileStream
• System.IO.MemoryStream
• System.IO.Compression.DeflateStream
• System.IO.Compression.GZipStream
• System.Security.Cryptography.CryptoStream
• System.IO.BufferedStream

For a complete list of classes that inherit from Stream see MSDN.

For a discussion on File and Stream IO see MSDN.

MemoryStream class - MSDN

BufferedStream class - MSDN

Reader and Writer classes

Exam objective: Manage the .NET Framework application data by using Reader and Writer classes.

(Refer System.IO namespace)

StringReader class and StringWriter class

TextReader class and TextWriter class

StreamReader class and StreamWriter class

BinaryReader class and BinaryWriter class

BinaryReader class - MSDN

BinaryWriter class - MSDN

Compression and isolated storage

Exam objective: Compress or decompress stream information in a .NET Framework application and improve the security of application data by using isolated storage.

(Refer System.IO.Compression namespace)

(Refer System.IO.IsolatedStorage namespace)

IsolatedStorageFile class - MSDN

IsolatedStorageFileStream class - MSDN

DeflateStream class - MSDN

GZipStream class - MSDN

Security

Exam objective: Improving the security of the .NET Framework applications by using the .NET Framework 2.0 security features

Topics

Code access security

Code access security, CAS, allows the control of various permissions granted to specific managed applications. MSDN

Permissions allow access system resources. A permission set is a collection of permissions. A code group relates exactly one permission set to exactly one evidence type. Evidence is used to identify an assembly. Evidence types can include the application directory, cryptographic hash of the assembly, publisher's digital signature, site from which the assembly was downloaded, cryptographic strong name of the assembly, URL from which the assembly was downloaded, and the security zone in which the assembly is running. Security zones include the computer zone, local intranet zone, Internet zone, trusted site, and untrusted sites. See the Internet options security tab in Internet Explorer to view various security zones. An assembly can be associated with multiple code groups. Permission sets can be associated with multiple code groups.

A security policy is a logical grouping of code groups and permission sets. An untrusted managed assembly must pass through four security policies: The Enterprise security policy, machine security policy, user security policy, and application domain security policy. Any one of these security policies can deny an untrustrd managed assembly permissions.

Classes, interfaces, and tools

Implement code access security

Exam objective: Implement code access security to improve the security of a .NET Framework application.

(Refer System.Security namespace)

SecurityManager class - MSDN

CodeAccessPermission class - MSDN

Modify the Code Access security policy at the machine, user, and enterprise policy level by using the Code Access Security Policy tool (Caspol.exe) - MSDN

PermissionSet class, NamedPermissionSet class, and PermissionSetCollection class

PermissionSet class - MSDN

NamedPermissionSet class - MSDN

PermissionSetCollection class

There does not seem to be such a thing, to be investigated...

Standard Security interfaces

IEvidenceFactory interface - MSDN

IPermission interface - MSDN

Implement access control

Exam objective: Implement access control by using the System.Security.AccessControl classes.

DirectorySecurity class, FileSecurity class, FileSystemSecurity class, and RegistrySecurity class

DirectorySecurity class - MSDN

FileSecurity class - MSDN

FileSystemSecurity class - MSDN

RegistrySecurity class - MSDN

AccessRule class - MSDN

AuthorizationRule class and AuthorizationRuleCollection class

AuthorizationRule class - MSDN

AuthorizationRuleCollection class - MSDN

CommonAce class, CommonAcl class, CompoundAce class, GeneralAce class, and GeneralAcl class

CommonAce class - MSDN

CommonAcl class - MSDN

CompoundAce class - MSDN

GeneralAce class

Does not seem to be a class like that, to be investigated...

GeneralAcl class

Neither this one???

AuditRule class - MSDN

MutexSecurity class, ObjectSecurity class, and SemaphoreSecurity class

MutexSecurity class - MSDN

ObjectSecurity class - MSDN

SemaphoreSecurity class - MSDN

Implement custom authentication scheme

Exam objective: Implement a custom authentication scheme by using the System.Security.Authentication classes.

(Refer System.Security.Authentication namespace - MSDN)

For a refernece on custom authentification schemes see MSDN

Encrypt, decrypt and hash data

Exam objective: Encrypt, decrypt, and hash data by using the System.Security.Cryptography classes.

(Refer System.Security.Cryptography namespace)

DES class and DESCryptoServiceProvider class

DES class - MSDN

DESCryptoServiceProvider class - MSDN

HashAlgorithm class - MSDN

DSA class and DSACryptoServiceProvider class

DSA class - MSDN

DSACryptoServiceProvider class - MSDN

SHA1 class and SHA1CryptoServiceProvider class

SHA1 class - MSDN

SHA1CryptoServiceProvider class - MSDN

TripleDES and TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider class

TripleDES - MSDN

TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider class - MSDN

MD5 class and MD5CryptoServiceProvider class

MD5 class - MSDN

MD5CryptoServiceProvider class - MSDN

RSA class and RSACryptoServiceProvider class

RSA class - MSDN

RSACryptoServiceProvider class - MSDN

RandomNumberGenerator class - MSDN

CryptoStream class - MSDN

CryptoConfig class - MSDN

RC2 class and RC2CryptoServiceProvider class

RC2 class - MSDN

RC2CryptoServiceProvider class - [RC2CryptoServiceProvider class MSDN]

AssymetricAlgorithm class

Basically nothing found on MSDN under that name, an investigation is required...

ProtectedData class and ProtectedMemory class

ProtectedData class - MSDN

ProtectedMemory class - MSDN

RijndaelManaged class and RijndaelManagedTransform class

RijndaelManaged class - MSDN

RijndaelManagedTransform class - MSDN

CspParameters class - MSDN

CryptoAPITransform class - MSDN

Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC) - MSDN

HMACMD5 class - MSDN

HMACRIPEMD160 class - MSDN

HMACSHA1 class - MSDN

HMACSHA256 class - MSDN

HMACSHA384 class - MSDN

HMACSHA512 class - MSDN

Control permissions

Exam objective: Control permissions for resources by using the System.Security.Permission classes.

(Refer System.Security.Permission namespace)

SecurityPermission class - MSDN

PrincipalPermission class - MSDN

FileIOPermission class - MSDN

You can also set the FileIoPermisson attribute at assembly level or class level. Be then aware about the SecurityAction enumerations:

• SecurityAction.RequestRefuse: specifies the operations that should not be granted.
• SecurityAction.RequestMinumum: request for a minimum set of permissions. If not given, the app will not execute.

StrongNameIdentityPermission class - MSDN

UIPermission class - MSDN

UrlIdentityPermission class - MSDN

PublisherIdentityPermission class - MSDN

GacIdentityPermission class - MSDN

FileDialogPermission class - MSDN

DataProtectionPermission class - MSDN

EnvironmentPermission class - MSDN

IUnrestrictedPermission interface - MSDN

RegistryPermission class - MSDN

IsolatedStorageFilePermission class - MSDN

KeyContainerPermission class - MSDN

ReflectionPermission class - MSDN

StorePermission class - MSDN

SiteIdentityPermission class - MSDN

ZoneIdentityPermission class - MSDN

Control code privileges

Exam objective: Control code privileges by using System.Security.Policy classes.

(Refer System.Security.Policy namespace)

ApplicationSecurityInfo class and ApplicationSecurityManager class

ApplicationSecurityInfo class - MSDN

ApplicationSecurityManager class - MSDN

ApplicationTrust class and ApplicationTrustCollection class

ApplicationTrust class - MSDN

ApplicationTrustCollection class - MSDN

Evidence class and PermissionRequestEvidence class

Evidence class - MSDN

PermissionRequestEvidence class - MSDN

CodeGroup class, FileCodeGroup class, FirstMatchCodeGroup class, NetCodeGroup class, and UnionCodeGroup class

CodeGroup class - MSDN

FileCodeGroup class - MSDN

FirstMatchCodeGroup class - MSDN

NetCodeGroup class - MSDN

UnionCodeGroup class - MSDN

Condition classes

AllMembershipCondition class - MSDN

ApplicationDirectory class and ApplicationDirectoryMembershipCondition class

ApplicationDirectory class - MSDN

ApplicationDirectoryMembershipCondition class - MSDN

GacMembership class and GacMembershipCondition class

GacMembership class

No search results on MSDN!? a little investigation required here.

GacMembershipCondition class - MSDN

Hash class and HashMembershipCondition class

Hash class - MSDN

HashMembershipCondition class - MSDN

Publisher class and PublisherMembershipCondition class

Publisher class - MSDN

PublisherMembershipCondition class - MSDN

Site class and SiteMembershipCondition class

Site class - MSDN

SiteMembershipCondition class - MSDN

StrongName class and StrongNameMembershipCondition class

StrongName class - MSDN

StrongNameMembershipCondition class - MSDN

Url class and UrlMembershipConditon class

Url class - MSDN

UrlMembershipConditon class

To be investigated, no search result on MSDN except exam objective :-)

Zone class and ZoneMembershipCondition class

Zone class - MSDN

ZoneMembershipCondition class - MSDN

PolicyLevel class and PolicyStatement class

PolicyLevel class - MSDN

PolicyStatement class - MSDN

IApplicationTrustManager interface, IMembershipCondition interface, and IIdentityPermissionFactory interface

IApplicationTrustManager interface - MSDN

IMembershipCondition interface - MSDN

IIdentityPermissionFactory interface - MSDN

Access and modifiy identity information

Exam objective: Access and modify identity information by using the System.Security.Principal classes.

(Refer System.Security.Principal namespace)

GenericIdentity class and GenericPrincipal class

GenericIdentity class - MSDN

GenericPrincipal class - MSDN

WindowsIdentity class and WindowsPrincipal class

WindowsIdentity class - MSDN

WindowsPrincipal class - MSDN

NTAccount class and SecurityIdentifier class

NTAccount class - MSDN

SecurityIdentifier class - MSDN

IIdentity interface and IPrincipal interface

IIdentity interface - MSDN

IPrincipal interface - MSDN

WindowsImpersonationContext class - MSDN

IdentityReference class and IdentityReferenceCollection class

IdentityReference class - MSDN

IdentityReferenceCollection class - MSDN

Interoperability, Reflection, and Mailing

Exam objective: Implementing interoperability, reflection, and mailing functionality in a .NET Framework application

Topics

Reflection

The wikipedia definition for reflexion in computer science is: "The process by which a computer program of the appropriate type can be modified in the process of being executed".

The concept is implemented extensively in .NET because a lot of information is maintained at the intermediate language (MSIL) level.

Among other things you can:

• get information about running assembly or assembly constituants (modules, classes, methods, etc.), this is particularly usefull for dynamically loaded assemblies that are not known at compile time.
• put custom attributes in your code and retreive those attributes at run time
• dynamically invoke methods
• "emit" and execute MSIL code at run time

Classes, Interfaces, and tools

COM interoperability

Exam objective: Expose COM components to the .NET Framework and .NET Framework components to COM

(Refer System.Runtime.InteropServices namespace)

Exposing COM Components to the .NET Framework

First there is an article in the .NET developers guide that covers the first part of this section, see MSDN

Import a type library as an assembly - MSDN

Add references to type libraries

Same link as above, see second paragraph.

Type Library Importer (Tlbimp.exe) - MSDN

Generate interop assemblies from type libraries - MSDN

Imported Library Conversion - MSDN

Imported Module Conversion - MSDN

Imported Type Conversion - MSDN

Imported Member Conversion - MSDN

Imported Parameter Conversion - MSDN

TypeConverter class - MSDN

Create COM types in managed code - MSDN

Compile an interop project - MSDN

Deploy an interop application - MSDN

Exposing .NET Framework Components to COM

The rest of the objectives of that section directly refers to MSDN

Qualify the .NET Framework types for interoperation - MSDN

Apply Interop attributes, such as the ComVisibleAttribute class - MSDN

Package an assembly for COM - MSDN

Deploy an application for COM access - MSDN

Call DLL functions

Exam objective: Call unmanaged DLL functions in a .NET Framework application, and control the marshalling of data in a .NET Framework application.

(Refer System.Runtime.InteropServices namespace)

Platform Invoke - MSDN

Create a class to hold DLL functions - MSDN

Create prototypes in managed code - MSDN

DllImportAttribute class - MSND

Call a DLL function - MSDN

Look for "P/Invoke" on the internet.

A good reference is: http://www.pinvoke.net/

Some short hints:

• For the DllAttribute "CharSet", Logically, CharSet.Auto is the most secure way as this will autodetect the Charset used. The CharSet can be ANSI(Win95/Win98/ME) or Unicode (Win2000/WinXP)
• GetEntryPoint: There could be one tricky question as the EntryPoint states the method that should be called. In case the name of the method used differs from the method to be called, this flag is necessary.

Call a DLL function in special cases, such as passing structures and implementing callback functions

Same link as above

Passing structures - MSDN

Implementing callback functions - MSDN

Create a new Exception class and map it to an HRESULT - MSDN

Default marshaling behavior - MSDN

Marshal data with Platform Invoke - MSDN

Marshal data with COM Interop - MSDN

MarshalAsAttribute class and Marshal class

MarshalAsAttribute class - MSDN

Marshal class - MSDN

Implement Reflexion

Exam objective: Implement reflection functionality in a .NET Framework application (refer System.Reflection namespace), and create metadata, Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL), and a PE file by using the System.Reflection.Emit namespace.

Assembly class -MSDN

Assembly attributes - MSDN

AssemblyAlgorithmIdAttribute class - [AssemblyAlgorithmIdAttribute class MSDN]

AssemblyCompanyAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyConfigurationAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyCopyrightAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyCultureAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyDefaultAliasAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyDelaySignAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyDescriptionAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyFileVersionAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyFlagsAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyKeyFileAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyTitleAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyTrademarkAttribute class - MSDN

AssemblyVersionAttribute class - MSDN

Info classes

ConstructorInfo class - MSDN

MethodInfo class - MSDN

MemberInfo class - MSDN

PropertyInfo class - MSDN

FieldInfo class - MSDN

EventInfo class - MSDN

LocalVariableInfo class - MSDN

Binder class and BindingFlags - MSDN

MethodBase class and MethodBody class

MethodBase class - MSDN

MethodBody class - MSDN

Builder classes

AssemblyBuilder class - MSDN

ConstructorBuilder class - MSDN

EnumBuilder class - MSDN

EventBuilder class - MSDN

FieldBuilder class - MSDN

LocalBuilder class - MSDN

MethodBuilder class - MSDN

ModuleBuilder class - MSDN

ParameterBuilder class - MSDN

PropertyBuilder class - MSDN

TypeBuilder class - MSDN

Send Electronic mail

Exam objective: Send electronic mail to a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server for delivery from a .NET Framework application.

(Refer System.Net.Mail namespace)

MailMessage class - MSDN

MailAddress class and MailAddressCollection class

MailAddress class - MSDN

MailAddressCollection class - MSDN

SmtpClient class, SmtpPermission class, and SmtpPermissionAttribute class

SmtpClient class - MSDN

SmtpPermission class - MSDN

SmtpPermissionAttribute class - MSDN

Attachment class, AttachmentBase class, and AttachmentCollection class

Attachment class - MSDN

AttachmentBase class - MSDN

AttachmentCollection class - MSDN

SmtpException class, SmtpFailedReceipientException class, and SmtpFailedReceipientsException class

SmtpException class - MSDN

SmtpFailedReceipientException class - MSDN

Please note that there is a typo in the exam objective page here, they use SmtpFailedReceipientException insteand of SmtpFailedRecipientException.

SmtpFailedRecipientsException class - MSDN

Same typo then above

SendCompleteEventHandler delegate

Well MSDN does not seem to know about this one except for exam and course objective and a deprecated object in DirectX. A little investigation is needed.

LinkedResource class and LinkedResourceCollection class

LinkedResource class - MSDN

LinkedResourceCollection class - MSDN

AlternateView class and AlternateViewCollection class

AlternateView class - MSDN

AlternateViewCollection class - MSDN

Globalization, Drawing, and Text manipulation

Exam objective: Implementing globalization, drawing, and text manipulation functionality in a .NET Framework application

Topics

Text manipulation

Text manipulation, in the context of the exam objectives, covers 3 main subjects: string building, regular expressions and text encoding. We look at each in the follwing paragraphs.

String and StringBuilder classes

Text manipulation starts with the representation of a string which is done via the String class. No specific exam objective mentions the String class but we added a section for it because you must understand some of its specific caracteristics.

Next comes the StringBuilder class that serves for efficent construction.

Regular expressions

The Regex, Match and Group classes together implement the regular expressions support in the .NET framework.

Regular expressions are a world by themselves and have been around for quite some time.

There is a wikibook on regular expressions which, among other things, point to this Tutorial.

Regular expressions support in .NET basically allows for:

• testing the match of a string to a regex pattern (Regex.IsMatch method)
• extracting the substrings that "match" part of a pattern (Regex.Match method with Match and Group classes).

Classes, Interfaces, and tools

Format data based on culture information.

(Refer System.Globalization namespace)

Access culture and region information

Exam objective: Access culture and region information in a .NET Framework application

CultureInfo class - MSDN

CultureTypes enumeration - MSDN

RegionInfo class - MSDN

Format date and time values based on the culture.

DateTimeFormatInfo class - MSDN

Format number values based on the culture.

NumberFormatInfo class - MSDN

NumberStyles enumeration - MSDN

Perform culture-sensitive string comparison.

CompareInfo class - MSDN

CompareOptions enumeration - MSDN

Custom culture

Exam objective: Build a custom culture class based on existing culture and region classes

CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder class - MSDN

CultureAndRegionModifier enumeration

No result for search on MSDN?

System.Drawing namespace

Exam objective: Enhance the user interface of a .NET Framework application by using the System.Drawing namespace.

Brushes, Pens, Colors and Fonts

Exam objective: Enhance the user interface of a .NET Framework application by using brushes, pens, colors, and fonts

Brush class - MSDN

Brushes class - MSDN

SystemBrushes class - MSDN

TextureBrush class - MSDN

Pen class - MSDN

Pens class - MSDN

SystemPens class - MSDN

SolidBrush class - MSDN

Color structure - MSDN

ColorConverter class - MSDN

ColorTranslator class - MSDN

SystemColors class - MSDN

StringFormat class - MSDN

Font class - MSDN

FontConverter class - MSDN

FontFamily class - MSDN

SystemFonts class - MSDN

Graphics, Images, Bitmaps and Icons

Exam objective: Enhance the user interface of a .NET Framework application by using graphics, images, bitmaps, and icons

Graphics class - MSDN

BufferedGraphics class - MSDN

BufferedGraphicsManager class - MSDN

Image class - MSDN

ImageConverter class - MSDN

ImageAnimator class - MSDN

Bitmap class - MSDN

Icon class - MSDN

IconConverter class - MSDN

SystemIcons class - MSDN

Shapes and Sizes

Exam objective: Enhance the user interface of a .NET Framework application by using shapes and sizes

Point Structure - MSDN

PointConverter class - MSDN

Rectangle Structure - MSDN

RectangleConverter class - MSDN

Size Structure - MSDN

SizeConverter class - MSDN

Region class - MSDN

Text handling and regular expressions

Exam objective: Enhance the text handling capabilities of a .NET Framework application, and search, modify, and control text in a .NET Framework application by using regular expressions

(Refer System.Text namespace)

(Refer System.RegularExpressions namespace)

String class

The String class is not a specific exam objective but was added to have a place to discuss some of its caracteristics.

String class - MSDN

StringBuilder class

StringBuilder class

Regex class

Regex class - MSDN

Match class and MatchCollection class

Match class - MSDN

MatchCollection class - MSDN

Group class and GroupCollection class

Group class - MSDN

GroupCollection class - MSDN

Encode text by using Encoding classes

Encoding class - MSDN

EncodingInfo class - MSDN

ASCIIEncoding class - MSDN

UnicodeEncoding class - MSDN

UTF8Encoding class - MSDN

Encoding Fallback classes - MSDN

Decode text by using Decoding classes.

Decoder class - MSDN

Decoder Fallback classes - MSDN

Capture class and CaptureCollection class

Capture class - MSDN

CaptureCollection class - MSDN

See also

• Microsoft Certified Professional Developer

References

70-536 Training kit

.NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation Self-Paced Trainig Kit Tony Northrup and Shawn Wildermuth Microsoft Press

We reference that book as the "training kit" since it is recommended by Microsoft as a training aid for the 70-536 exam (for example see MCPD

C Sharp 2005

Visual C#: THe language - 2005 Edition Donis Marchall Microsoft Press

Also recommended as a traning aid for the 70-536 exam (for example see MCPD)

External links

• Exam 70-536 Preparation Guide