What are the benefits of new membership features in ASP.NET 2.0?
The new membership features in ASP.NET 2.0 simplify user management in these ways:
They automatically create a data store. When you attempt to use membership features, ASP.NET 2.0 checks whether the specified data store is configured. If it is not, ASP.NET creates it.
They include server controls for creating and validating users and displaying user- specific information and login status. New controls such as the Login, LoginStatus, CreateUserWizard, and ChangePassword controls provide pre-built user-interface building blocks, including functionality for the most common membership-related tasks. These controls are highlighted in the New Web Controls application.
They provide an application programming interface (API) for programmatically manag- ing users. The Membership API is accessed via the Membership class and includes help- ful methods such as CreateUser, DeleteUser, and ValidateUser.
With ASP.NET 2.0 Membership, you can actually create a Web site with protected pages, automatic redirects to a login page, user creation (registration), and user login without writing any code.