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Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications
2013-02-07 17:02:27 Jinal Desai

Microsoft Exam 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications intended to test candidates ability to design and develop ASP.NET MVC Web Application. It also coveres surrounding things like effective and user friendly User Interface design and development, develop and deploy multi-tier web applications, design and develop asynchronous solutions, come up with effective architectural solutions based on scenarios, implement proper security and attack proof solution and troubleshoot issues occurring at each stage of software development life cycle. It includes candidates knowledge on Javascript, HTML5, CSS3, ASP.NET MVC, Entity Framework, WCF, Windows Azure, many plugins and packages. If you study Skills Measured portion of Exam Details page at Microsoft Learning site you will find that the syllabus covered almost all aspects necessary to plan, design, develop, deploy and maintain enterprise level solution. So to minimize the effort in preparation of the exam I have prepared reference links covering each and every single topic covered in Skills Measured section. 1. Design the Application Architecture Plan the application layers. Plan data access. ASP.NET MVC 3 Models and Data Access Building a relational data model in ASP.NET MVC 3 w/EF Code First Building an ASP.NET MVC4 Application with EF and WebAPI (Step by step) EFMVC ASP.NET MVC 4, Entity Framework 5 Code First and Windows Azure (Demo App) Plan for separation of concerns. Clean Separation of Concerns in MVC Compatibility of ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC Separation of Concerns in ASP.NET MVC (In Short) Appropriate use of models, views, and controllers. Model View Controller Pattern Understanding ASP.NET MVC Architecture Choose between client-side and server side processing. MVC or WebForms: Its more about client side vs server side Server Side Verses Client Side Difference between Client Side and Server Side Design for scalability. Improving .NET Application Performance and Scalability

Improve scalability in ASP.NET MVC using Asynchronous requests Design a distributed application. Design a hybrid application (on premise vs. off premise, including Windows Azure). Building Hybrid Applications in the Cloud on Windows Azure .NET On-Premises/Cloud Hybrid Application Using Service Bus Relay From on-premise solutions to Azure with ASP.NET MVC 4 and SQL Azure Plan for session management in a distributed environment. Managing session state in Windows Azure: What are the options? Session State in Windows Azure Implementing Session State Management in Windows Azure with Azure Storage Plan web farms. Introducing the Microsoft Web Farm Framework Web Farm Load Balancing in ASP.NET Other Useful Links Planning Distributed Applications Designing Distributed Applications FoodMovers: Building Distributed Applications using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Design and implement the Windows Azure role life cycle. Identify and implement Start, Run, and Stop events. Real World: Startup Lifecycle of a Windows Azure Role How to Manage the Lifecycle of VM Role Instances in Windows Azure Identify startup tasks. Windows Azure Start-up Tasks Windows Azure Startup Tasks: Tips, Tricks, and Gotchas Windows Azure Startup Tasks Introduction Configure state management. Choose a state management mechanism (in-process and out of process state management, ViewState). ASP.NET State Management Overview Strongly Typed Session Variables in ASP.NET MVC ViewData, ViewBag and TempData in ASP.NET MVC Plan for scalability. Fast, Scalable, and Secure Session State Management for Your Web Applications Scalable Session State Management and Distributed Caching Use cookies or local storage to maintain state. ASP.Net MVC and Cookies ASP.NET MVC Working Smart With Cookies Custom ValueProvider Storage APIs and AppCache API in HTML5

Apply configuration settings in web.config file. sessionState Element in Web.Config Implement sessionless state (for example, QueryString). ASP.NET State Management Overview Session-less Controllers in ASP.NET MVC Design a caching strategy. Implement page output caching (performance oriented). Improving Performance with Output Caching Implement data caching. ASP.NET MVC Caching Data Caching with .Net 4.0 and Asp.Net MVC Implement HTTP caching. How To Optimize Your Site With HTTP Caching HTTP Caching Design and implement a Web Socket strategy. Read and write string and binary data asynchronously (longrunning data transfers). Whats New in ASP.NET 4.5(Support for WebSockets Protocol) Choose a connection loss strategy. Decide a strategy for when to use Web Sockets. HTML5 Web Sockets Can I use Web Sockets? Your users dont care if you use Web Sockets Design HTTP modules and handlers. Implement synchronous and asynchronous modules and handlers. HTTP Handlers and HTTP Modules Overview Choose between modules and handlers in IIS. HTTP Handler vs HTTP Module 2. Design the User Experience Apply the user interface design for a web application(I think this part is already covered in 70-480). Create and apply styles by using CSS. Structure and layout the user interface by using HTML. Implement dynamic page content based on a design. Design and implement UI behavior. Implement client validation. ASP.NET MVC Model Validation Custom Client Side Validation in ASP.NET MVC3 Use JavaScript and the DOM to control application behavior. Extend objects by using prototypal inheritance. Extending JavaScript Objects and Classes Extending Classes In Object Oriented Javascript Use AJAX to make partial page updates. Partial page updates with ASP.NET MVC and jQuery Enhancing Your Site with AJAX Implement the UI by using JQuery. jQuery UI

Compose the UI layout of an application. Implement partials for reuse in different areas of the application. Understanding Partial Views Design and implement pages by using Razor templates (Razor view engine). ASP.NET MVC 3 Razor Design layouts to provide visual structure. ASP.NET MVC Layouts ASP.NET MVC 3: Layouts with Razor Implement master/application pages. Working with Master Pages in ASP.NET MVC Enhance application behavior and style based on browser feature detection. Detect browser features and capabilities. Browser and Feature Detection Create a web application that runs across multiple browsers and mobile devices. Mobile Web Sites with ASP.NET MVC and the Mobile Browser Definition File Enhance application behavior and style by using vendor-specific extensions, for example, CSS. Plan an adaptive UI layout. Plan for running applications in browsers on multiple devices (screen resolution, CSS, HTML). Configuring a Web Application for Multiple Devices Plan for mobile web applications. ASP.NET MVC 4 Mobile Features 3. Develop the User Experience Plan for search engine optimization and accessibility. Use analytical tools to parse HTML. Web and Google scraper / HTML parser for data mining, SEO and business intelligence Check Web Sites (X)HTML & CSS, Accessibility & SEO View and evaluate conceptual structure by using plugs-in for browsers. Firefox Plugins Write semantic markup (HTML5 and ARIA) for accessibility, for example, screen readers. Accessibility in Visual Studio and ASP.NET What is HTML5 ARIA? Plan and implement globalization and localization. Plan a localization strategy. Create and apply resources to UI including JavaScript resources. Set cultures. Globalization, Internationalization and Localization in ASP.NET MVC 3, JavaScript and jQuery Create satellite resource assemblies. Satellite Assemblies Example in ASP.NET MVC

Design and implement MVC controllers and actions. Apply authorization attributes and global filters. Filtering in ASP.NET MVC Implement action behaviors. Actions in ASP.NET MVC 3 Implement action results. Types of ASP.NET MVC 3 Action Results Implement model binding. The Features and Foibles of ASP.NET MVC Model Binding Design and implement routes. Define a route to handle a URL pattern. Apply route constraints. Ignore URL patterns. Add custom route parameters. ASP.NET Routing Define areas. Walkthrough: Organizing an ASP.NET MVC Application using Areas Control application behavior by using MVC extensibility points. Implement MVC filters and controller factories. Custom Controller Factory in ASP.NET MVC Control application behavior by using action results, view engines, model binders, and route handlers. Reduce network bandwidth. Bundle and minify scripts (CSS and JavaScript). The Importance (and Ease) of Minifying your CSS and JavaScript and Optimizing PNGs for your Blog or Website Bundling and Minification Compress and decompress data (using gzip/deflate; storage). GZip/Deflate Compression in ASP.NET MVC Plan a content delivery network (CDN) strategy, for example, Windows Azure CDN. Using the CDN to Deliver Static Content Windows Azure CDN 4. Troubleshoot and Debug Web Applications Prevent and troubleshoot runtime issues. Troubleshoot performance, security, and errors. MVC Mini Profiler Implement secure ASP.NET MVC applications Securing your ASP.NET MVC 4 App and the new AllowAnonymous Attribute Implement tracing, logging (including using attributes for logging), and debugging (including IntelliTrace). NuGet Package of the Week #5 Debugging ASP.NET MVC applications with Glimpse Nuget Package ELMAH Getting Started with ASP.NET MVC 3, Logging, and Depency Injection IntelliTrace: Fast Track to Debug Microsoft .NET Applications in Visual Studio 2010

Diagnosing Issues in Production with IntelliTrace and Visual Studio 2012 Enable and configure health monitoring (including Performance Monitor). Health Monitoring and ASP.NET MVC Monitoring ASP.NET Application Performance Design an exception handling strategy. Handle exceptions across multiple layers. Exception Handling in ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET MVC Tutorial: Handling Errors and Exceptions Display custom error pages using global.asax or creating your own HTTPHandler or set web.config attributes. How To Create an ASP.NET HTTP Handler by Using Visual C# .NET How to handle errors in ASP.NET MVC Handle first chance exceptions. FIRST CHANCE Exceptions Test a web application. Create and run unit tests, for example, use the Assert class, create mocks. Testable MVC Automated Testing of ASP.NET MVC Applications Create and run web tests. Integration Testing Your ASP.NET MVC Application Debug a Windows Azure application. Collect diagnostic information by using Windows Azure Diagnostics API Implement on demand vs. scheduled. Digging into Windows Azure Diagnostics Collecting Logging Data by Using Windows Azure Diagnostics Choose log types, for example, event logs, performance counters, and crash dumps. Take Control of Logging and Tracing in Windows Azure Debug a Windows Azure application by using IntelliTrace and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Debugging Cloud Services Using Remote Desktop with Windows Azure Roles Remote Debugging a Windows Azure Role Instance 5. Design and Implement Security Configure authentication. Authenticate users. Enforce authentication settings. Choose between Windows, Forms, and custom authentication. Walkthrough: Using Forms Authentication in ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET MVC Custom Authentication How to implement windows authentication in ASP.NET MVC 3 Manage user session by using cookies. HowTo: create and remove Cookies with ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET MVC Tip #15 Pass Browser Cookies and Server Variables as Action Parameters

Configure membership providers. Introduction to Membership Introducing System.Web.Providers ASP.NET Universal Providers for Session, Membership, Roles and User Profile on SQL Compact and SQL Azure Create custom membership providers. Custom Membership Providers Build Your Own Membership System For ASP.NET MVC Configure and apply authorization. Create roles. Authorize roles by using configuration. Authorize roles programmatically. Membership and Authorization Role-Based Authorization (C#) Create custom role providers. Implementing a Role Provider Implement WCF service authorization. Authentication and Authorization in WCF Services Design and implement claims-based authentication across federated identity stores. Implement federated authentication by using Windows Azure Access Control Service. Federated Identity with Windows Azure Access Control Service Create a custom security token by using Windows Identity Foundation. What is Windows Identity Foundation? Write a custom security token and handler in Windows Identity Foundation Handle token formats (for example, oAuth, OpenID, LiveID, and Facebook) for SAML and SWT tokens. Access Ccontrol Service How Tos Manage data integrity. Apply encryption to application data. Encrypted Hidden Inputs in ASP.NET MVC Encrypting Data in MS SQL Database Without Breaking Asp.net MVC Application Apply encryption to the configuration sections of an application. Encrypting and Decrypting Configuration Sections Sign application data to prevent tampering. How to: Sign Assemblies for Precompiled Web Site Projects Implement a secure site with ASP.NET. Secure communication by applying SSL certificates. How To: Set Up SSL on a Web Server Tip/Trick: Enabling SSL on IIS 7.0 Using Self-Signed Certificates Salt and hash passwords for storage. Hashing Password with Salt using MD5 or SHA1 in ASP.NET MVC Use HTML encoding to prevent cross-site scripting attacks (ANTIXSS Library).

Securing Your ASP.NET Applications Anti-Cross Site Scripting Library Implement deferred validation and handle unvalidated requests, for example, form, querystring, and URL. Deferred Validation and Unvalidated Requests Prevent SQL injection attacks by parameterizing queries. Hack-Proofing Your ASP.NET Applications Prevent cross-site request forgeries (XSRF). Prevent Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) using ASP.NET MVCs AntiForgeryToken() helper Conclusion It is good to appear for this exam, but without preparation the exam proves tough. So better to be well prepared before appearing for the exam. All the best for all aspirants.