Beginning Web Development, Silverlight, and ASP.NET AJAX

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CHAPTER 2 ■ BASICS OF WEB DEVELOPMENT WITH ASP.NET
The Choose Toolbox Items dialog box will appear, as shown in Figure 2-7. This dialog
box enables you to add either .NET Framework components, which are components
written in managed code that will run anywhere you have the .NET Framework runtime,
or Component Object Model (COM) components. COM components are binary components
written in unmanaged code that may not necessarily run anywhere because all
their binary dependencies are necessary. Remember this limitation when using COM
components in a web application: You’ll need to provide installers for the COM components
so that your users can access them. Additionally, when COM components are used
in .NET applications, the IDE will generate an interoperability (interop) layer that is used
to communicate between the managed and the unmanaged worlds. If you are planning
to use the COM components only on the server side, you’ll still need to make sure that
the deployment server has the full COM component and all its dependencies installed
and versioned correctly, as well as the interop assemblies.
Figure 2-7. The Choose Toolbox Items dialog box
You can select any of the detected components from the Choose Toolbox Items
dialog box, or use the Browse button to browse to the assembly that contains the component
you want to add. To add the component to your Toolbox, simply select the check
box beside it and click OK.
Now, to use controls in your Toolbox, simply drag them from the Toolbox to the
design surface of your page. When we’ve finished the IDE tour, you’ll build a simple
application by doing just this.