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NET Framework and Visual Studio Terms and Definitions

Sl.No.

Term

Definition

.NET Compact
Framework

A hardware-independent environment for running programs

on resource-constrained computing devices. It inherits the
full .NET Framework architecture of the common language
runtime, supports a subset of the .NET Framework class
library, and contains classes designed exclusively for the
.NET Compact Framework. Supported devices include
personal data assistants (PDAs) (such as the Pocket PC),
mobile phones, set-top boxes, automotive computing
devices, and custom-designed embedded devices built with
the Microsoft Windows CE.NET operating system.

.NET Framework

An integral Windows component that supports building,

deploying, and running the next generation of applications
and XML Web services. It provides a highly productive,
standards-based, multilanguage environment for integrating
existing investments with next generation applications and
services, as well as the agility to solve the challenges of
deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications. The
.NET Framework consists of three main parts: the common
language runtime, a hierarchical set of unified class libraries,
and a componentized version of ASP called ASP.NET. See
also: .NET Framework class library, ASP.NET, common
language runtime, WCF, WPF.
A library of classes, interfaces, and value types that are
included in .NET Framework. This library provides access to
system functionality and is designed to be the foundation on
which .NET Framework applications, components, and
controls are built. See also: class, Common Language
Specification.
A component of ADO.NET that provides access to data from a
relational data source. A .NET Framework data provider
contains classes to connect to a data source, execute
commands at the data source, and return query results from
the data source, including the ability to execute commands
within transactions. A .NET Framework data provider also
contains classes to populate a DataSet with results from a
data source and propagate changes in a DataSet back to the
data source.

.NET Framework
class library

.NET Framework
data provider

accelerator editor

A resource editor that allows you to add, delete, change, or

browse the shortcut key assignments for your project.

access control list

(ACL)

In Windows-based systems, a list of access control entries

(ACE) that apply to an entire object, a set of the object's
properties, or an individual property of an object, and that
define the access granted to one or more security principals.

Active Template
Library (ATL)

A set of compact, template-based C++ classes that simplify

the programming of Component Object Model objects. ATL
provides the mechanism to use and create COM objects.

add-in

add-in view

10

add-in-side
adapter

11

add-on package

In the .NET Framework add-in programming model, the addin application assembly that communicates with a host
application over a communication pipeline. See also: host.
In the .NET Framework add-in programming model, an
assembly that contains interfaces or abstract base classes,
and represents the add-in's view of the methods and types
used to communicate with a host. See also: add-in, host.
In the .NET Framework add-in programming model, an
assembly that contains one or more classes, and converts
data to and from the add-in view and the contract.
Depending on the direction of the call, the adapter is either
converting from a view to a contract or from a contract to a
view. See also: add-in.
An XML file in the addons folder of the Datastore. Add-on
packages are used to deploy files or an application to a
device or emulator.
The suite of data access technologies included in the .NET
Framework class libraries that provide access to relational
data and XML. ADO.NET consists of classes that make up the
DataSet (such as tables, rows, columns, relations, and so
on), .NET Framework data providers, and custom type
definitions (such as SqlTypes for SQL Server).

12

ADO.NET

13

adorner

A special glyph on the design surface. Adorners are usually

attached to a target control, and they give the user a
graphical means of adjusting the control's properties.

14

aggregate event

A type of event that is generated after a series of events of

another type have occurred. An aggregate event is used to
represent a series of events to avoid flooding the event
consumer. See also: event, event consumer.

15

aggregate
function

16

alpha channel

17

anonymous
method

18

anonymous type

19

application base

A function that performs a calculation on multiple values and

returns a single value.
In GDI+, the portion of pixel color data reserved for
transparency information.
A practical language construct that allows programmers to
create code blocks that can be encapsulated in a delegate
and executed at a later time. They are based on a language
concept called a lambda function and are similar to those
found in Lisp and Python.
A class type whose name is generated by the compiler and
that inherits directly from Object. Members of an anonymous
type are properties that are inferred from the object
initializer that creates instances of the type.
The directory where the .exe file that loads into the initial or
default application domain is located. If you create your own
application domain, the application base is the location you
specify in the AppDomainSetup class.

20

21

22

23

application
domain
(AppDomain)

application
extension
services
application library
caching
application
service

A boundary that the common language runtime establishes

around objects created within the same application scope
(that is, anywhere along the sequence of object activations
beginning with the application entry point). Application
domains help isolate objects created in one application from
those created in other applications so that run-time behavior
is predictable. Multiple application domains can exist in a
single process.
In Silverlight, classes that extend the application model by
providing services that can participate in the application life
cycle.
In Silverlight, a feature that enables applications to use
external library assemblies retrieved from the server or from
the local browser cache.
In ASP.NET, built-in functionality for common application
tasks. ASP.NET includes application services for
authentication (ASP.NET membership), persistent per-user
information (profile properties), and more.

24

application state

In ASP.NET, a variable store that is created on the server for

the current application and is shared by all users. Application
state is typically used to store information that is used for all
users, such as application-wide settings.

25

application-level
add-in

A supplemental program that modifies or adds functionality

to an existing program or application. The modifications are
available to the application at all times.

26

ASP.NET

27

ASP.NET
application
services database

28

ASP.NET mobile
control

A set of technologies in the Microsoft .NET Framework for

building Web applications and XML Web services. ASP.NET
pages execute on the server and generate markup (such as
HTML, WML, or XML) that is sent to a desktop or mobile
browser. ASP.NET pages use a compiled, event-driven
programming model that improves performance and enables
the separation of application logic and user interface.
ASP.NET pages and XML Web services files created using
ASP.NET contain server-side (rather than client-side) logic
written in Visual Basic .NET, C# .NET, or any .NETcompatible language. Web applications and XML Web
services take advantage of the features of the common
language runtime, such as type safety, inheritance, language
interoperability, versioning, and integrated security.
In ASP.NET, a database that stores the data for several
ASP.NET application services, including membership, Web
Parts personalization, roles, and profiles. The database can
be a local database in the Web site's App_Data folder or a
SQL Server or other database, depending on how the site is
configured.
One of a set of ASP.NET controls designed for mobile Web
applications. ASP.NET mobile controls extend their ASP.NET
server control counterparts. See also: mobile user control.

29

ASP.NET mobile
Web Forms

An extension to the ASP.NET Web Forms framework that

targets mobile devices from cell phones to Pocket PCs.

30

ASP.NET page

A component of an ASP.NET application.

31

ASP.NET server
control

32

ASP.NET Web
application

33

assembly

34

assembly cache

A server-side component that encapsulates user-interface

and related functionality. An ASP.NET server control derives
directly or indirectly from the System.Web.UI.Control class.
The superset of ASP.NET server controls includes Web server
controls, HTML server controls, and ASP.NET mobile controls.
The page syntax for an ASP.NET server control includes a
runat="server" attribute on the control's tag. See also: HTML
server control, validation server control, Web server control.
An application that processes HTTP requests (Web requests)
and executes on top ASP.NET. An ASP.NET Web application
can include ASP.NET pages, XML Web services, HTTP
handlers, and HTTP modules.
A collection of one or more files that are versioned and
deployed as a unit. See also: friend assembly, private
assembly, shared assembly.
A machine-wide code cache used for side-by-side storage of
assemblies. There are two parts to the cache: the global
assembly cache contains assemblies that are explicitly
installed to be shared among many applications on the
computer; the download cache stores code downloaded from
Internet or intranet sites, isolated to the application that
triggered the download so that code downloaded on behalf of
one application/page does not impact other applications. See
also: global assembly cache.

35

assembly
manifest

An integral part of every assembly that renders the assembly

self-describing. The assembly manifest contains the
assembly's metadata. The manifest establishes the assembly
identity, specifies the files that make up the assembly
implementation, specifies the types and resources that make
up the assembly, itemizes the compile-time dependencies on
other assemblies, and specifies the set of permissions
required for the assembly to run properly. This information is
used at run time to resolve references, enforce version
binding policy, and validate the integrity of loaded
assemblies. The self-describing nature of assemblies also
helps makes zero-impact install and XCOPY deployment
feasible. See also: assembly, assembly metadata.

36

assembly
metadata

Metadata that is part of the assembly manifest. See also:

assembly manifest.

37

assertion

In .NET Framework security, a statement that helps ensure

that a method has access to a particular resource even if the
method's callers do not have the required permission. During
a stack walk, if a stack frame that asserts the required
permission is encountered, a security check for that
permission will succeed. Assertions can create security holes
and should be used only with extreme caution.

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association

39

association class

The definition of a relationship between entity types.

A class that describes a relationship between two classes or
between instances of two classes. The properties of an
association class include pointers, or references, to the two
classes or instances.

40

association line

41

association set

42

asynchronous
agent

43

asynchronous
communication
layer

44

asynchronous
method call

45

asynchronous
postback

46

atomic

47

attached
property

48

attribute

49

authentication

50

authorization

51

auto-hide button

52

autoimplemented
property

In Class Designer, a line that shows that two types are

related. The line represents a field or property and leads from
the type that contains the member to the field or propertys
type.
A logical container for instances of associations of the same
type.
A task that follows the actor pattern and uses an
asynchronous message queue to communicate with other
similar tasks. Agents let you take advantage of coarsegrained task parallelism in your applications.
The layer of AJAX functionality that takes care of
communication between the browser and the server.
A method call that returns to the caller immediately
regardless of whether processing has completed. The results
of processing are returned through another call on another
thread. Asynchronous methods free the caller from having to
wait until processing has finished. See also: semisynchronous
method call.
In ASP.NET, the process of sending Web page data (plus
viewstate and other necessary metadata) from the browser
to the server without a complete postback and without
blocking the user from continuing to work in the page.
Asynchronous postbacks are an important feature of AJAX
technology.
Pertaining to a threading or multiprocessing operation that is
performed in a single, uninterruptable step. Operations that
are atomic do not require a threading synchronization device
such as a critical section, mutex, or semaphore.
A property that is defined by XAML. An attached property can
be set on any object, not just on the type that defines the
property or its accessors. The attached property provider
must provide static Get(PropertyName) and
Set(PropertyName) methods as accessors for these attached
properties.
A descriptive declaration that can be applied to programming
elements such as types, fields, methods, and properties. See
also: custom attribute.
The process of verifying the identity of a user, computer,
process, or other entity by validating the credentials provided
by the entity. Common forms of credentials are digital
signatures, smart cards, biometric data, and a combination of
user names and passwords. See also: principal.
The process of granting a person, computer process, or
device access to certain information, services or functionality.
Authorization is derived from the identity of the person,
computer process, or device requesting access, which is
verified through authentication. See also: authentication,
principal.
A button that appears on the edge of a frame when a window
is in auto-hide mode. The hidden window pane appears when
the mouse cursor hovers over the button.
A Visual Basic and C# property that can be declared in a
single line of code.

53

autopostback

54

background
compilation

55

backing field

56

backing variable

57

Binary
Application
Markup Language
(BAML)

58

binding source

59

binding target

60

boxing

61

bubbling

62

build log

63

caption bar

64

caption button

65

card

A process in which the control submits the page when the

user interacts with the control. (By default, only button
controls cause a postback.) For example, if a DropDownList
control is set to perform autopostback, the page is submitted
as soon as a user selects an item from the list. See also:
ASP.NET server control.
Compilation that occurs while the developer is writing code,
before an explicit build command is made through the IDE.
Background compilation enables error reporting while the
developer is writing code.
A private variable that holds the value of a property. The
property's Get and Set procedures access the backing field.
See: backing field.

A binary representation of the objects and properties

declared in an Extensible Application Markup Language
(XAML) file.
In data binding, the object from which the value is obtained.
See also: binding target.
In data binding, the object that consumes the value of the
binding. See also: binding source.
The conversion of a value type instance to an object, which
implies that the instance will carry full type information at
run time and will be allocated in the heap. The Microsoft
intermediate language (MSIL) instruction set's box
instruction converts a value type to an object by making a
copy of the value type and embedding it in a newly allocated
object. See also: Common Intermediate Language, unboxing,
value type.
In Windows Presentation Foundation, an event routing
strategy where the event instance moves up the element tree
(starting with the source and ending at the root of the visual
tree). See also: event routing, tunneling.
The recorded text output of a Visual Studio build, often
indicating command lines issued and status of each step in
the build process. For a C++ build, this file is called
BuildLog.htm.
The horizontal bar at the top of a window that displays the
name of the window. Title bars can contain different buttons,
such the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons, so that you
can control how you want to view the window.
A button that is displayed on the caption bar of a dockable
pane or mini-frame window.
A Web page in WML. WML devices can either display the
contents of a card on a single screen or, when necessary,
provide scroll bars so that the entire contents of the card can
be viewed. Developers need not worry about manipulating
cards or decks because ASP.NET mobile controls handle
formatting, including pagination, for targeted devices. See
also: deck, WML.

A list of Web Parts controls (or other Web server, custom

server, or user controls), created by a
System.Web.UI.WebControls.CatalogPart control, that users
can add to a Web Parts page. See also: Web Parts control,
Web Parts page.
The double angle bracket denoting an overflow button
control.
A language used as the output of a number of compilers and
as the input to a just-in-time (JIT) compiler. The common
language runtime includes a JIT compiler for converting the
language to native code.
A component in the Windows Management Instrumentation
(WMI) infrastructure that handles the interaction between
management applications and providers. The CIM Object
Manager supports services such as event notification, remote
access, and query processing. The CIM Object Manager also
grants access to the WMI repository.

66

catalog

67

chevron

68

CIL

69

CIM Object
Manager

70

CIM schema

71

class

A named descriptor for a set of objects that share the same

attributes, operations, methods, relationships, and behaviors.
See also: encapsulation, indexer, property, reference type.

72

Class Designer

A visual design environment that enables you to visualize the

structure of classes and other types. The Class Designer also
enables you to edit the source code of classes and types
through these visual representations.

73

ClickOnce

A deployment method that enables you to publish Windowsbased applications to a Web server or network file share for
simplified installation.

74

client application
service

In Windows-based applications, built-in functionality to

access ASP.NET application services for common application
tasks, including remote login, roles, and application settings.

75

client area

76

closed generic
type

77

CLR metadata

78

CLS-compliant

A collection of class definitions used to represent managed

objects that occur in every management environment.

The portion of a Windows-based application excluding

toolbars, menus, and status bars.
A constructed generic type that has no unspecified generic
type parameters, either of its own or of any enclosing types
or methods. Closed generic types can be instantiated. See
also: generic type, generic type parameter, generics, open
generic type.
Information that describes every element managed by the
common language runtime: an assembly, loadable file, type,
method, and so on. This can include information required for
debugging and garbage collection, as well as security
attributes, marshaling data, extended class and member
definitions, version binding, and other information required
by the runtime. See also: common language runtime.
Pertaining to code that publicly exposes only language
features that are in the Common Language Specification. CLS
compliance can apply to classes, interfaces, components, and
tools. See also: Common Language Specification.

79

code access
security

80

code page

81

code point

A mechanism provided by the common language runtime

whereby managed code is granted permissions by security
policy and these permissions are enforced, helping to limit
the operations that the code will be allowed to perform.
A table that maps a particular character set to specific
character codes.
A 21-bit numeric value that represents a particular Unicode
character. See also: Unicode.

82

code-behind class

A class that is accessed by an .aspx file, but resides in a

separate file (such as a .dll or .cs file). For example, you can
write a code-behind class that creates an ASP.NET custom
server control, contains code that is called from an .aspx file,
but does not reside within the .aspx file.

83

code-behind file

A code file containing the page class that implements the

program logic of a Web Forms or ASP.NET mobile Web Forms
application.

84

code-behind page

See: code-behind file.

A transient dynamic assembly that you generate at run time
by using the classes in the System.Reflection.Emit
namespace, subject to certain restrictions. When you have
released all references to all instances of the types in the
collectible assembly and to all objects that were used to
create the assembly, the common language runtime unloads
the assembly from memory without unloading the application
domain. This is the only circumstance in which an assembly
can be unloaded without unloading the application domain.

85

collectible
assembly

86

collection
initializer

87

color menu
button

88

color picker

89

COM callable
wrapper (CCW)

90

COM interop

A service that enables .NET Framework objects to

communicate with COM objects.

91

Common
Information
Model (CIM)

The model that describes how to represent real-world

managed objects. CIM uses an object-oriented paradigm,
where managed objects are modeled using the concepts of
classes and instances. The CIM is divided into the metamodel
and the standard schema. The metamodel describes what
types of entities make up the schema. It also defines how
these entities can be combined into objects that represent
real-world devices.

92

Common
Intermediate
Language

A language used as the output of a number of compilers and

as the input to a just-in-time (JIT) compiler. The common
language runtime includes a JIT compiler for converting the
language to native code.

A sequence of object initializers that are assigned to the

collection elements in the same statement in which the
collection is constructed.
A button that drops down to expose a color palette when a
user clicks it.
An interface control for setting the color of a brush or the
color of a property on an object (such as Background).
A proxy object generated by the common language runtime
so that existing COM applications can use managed classes,
including .NET Framework classes, transparently.

common
language runtime
(CLR)

The engine at the core of managed code execution. The

runtime supplies managed code with services such as crosslanguage integration, code access security, object lifetime
management, and debugging and profiling support.

94

common
language runtime
host

An unmanaged application that uses a set of APIs, called the

hosting interfaces, to integrate managed code into the
application. Common language runtime hosts often require a
high degree of customization over the runtime that is loaded
into the process. See also: application domain, common
language runtime, managed code.

95

Common
Language
Specification
(CLS)

96

common object
file format
(COFF)

93

97
98

common type
system (CTS)
comparison
evaluator

99

component tray

100

composite control

A subset of language features supported by the common

language runtime, including features common to several
object-oriented programming languages. CLS-compliant
components and tools are guaranteed to interoperate with
other CLS-compliant components and tools. See also: CLScompliant.
A format in 32-bit programming for executable (image) and
object files that is portable across platforms. The Microsoft
implementation is called portable executable (PE) file format.
See also: portable executable file.
The specification that determines how the common language
runtime defines, uses, and manages types.
A filter that compares a device capability name to a value.
A rectangular region that appears at the bottom of the
Windows Forms Designer when it is in Design view. The
component tray is a container for components, which are
controls that are not visible. It appears only after a
component is added to the current form and provides a way
for users to access and set the properties of those
components.
A custom server control that consists of a custom collection
of other server controls as child controls.

101

conceptual model

An abstract specification for the entity types, associations,

entity containers, entity sets, and association sets in the
domain of an application built on an Entity Data Model.

102

conceptual
schema definition
language (CSDL)

An XML-based language that is used to define the entity

types, associations, entity containers, entity sets, and
association sets of a conceptual model.

103

configuration file

104

consumer

A file that contains machine-readable operating specifications

for a piece of hardware or software or that contains
information on another file or on a specific user, such as the
user's logon ID.
In a Web Parts connection, a server control that receives data
from a provider control and processes or displays it. A
consumer can be any type of server control, but must be
designed to function as a consumer. A consumer must have a
special callback method marked with a
ConnectionConsumerAttribute attribute in the source code.
This method receives data from the provider in the form of
an interface instance. See also: provider, Web Parts
connection.

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container control

106

content page

107

context

108

109

110

context property

contract

contravariance

111

control state

112

cooperative
blocking

113

covariance

114

cross-page
posting

115

custom attribute

116

custom build rule

A type of ASP.NET mobile control that contains other controls

and provides visual groupings of controls and content.
A page that contains the content to be merged with a master
page in order to render as complete web page. See also:
master page.
In the Concurrency Runtime, an abstraction of an operating
system thread.
The implicit state, and code to manage that state, held on
behalf of an object instance. For example, the transaction
context property holds the transaction identifier of the
transaction that the object is participating in.
The behavior and state that a class provides, which is
matched with what a client of that class can expect to hold. A
contract is expressed partly by the signatures for all public
fields, methods, properties, and events of that class. This is
augmented by a description (usually in simple descriptive
text) of what each field or property represents, together with
what each method does. In the .NET Framework add-in
programming model, a non-versioning interface that defines
the methods and specifies the data types for transferring
data over the communication pipeline between the host and
the add-in. The contract is in the middle of the
communication pipeline between the add-in and the host.
The contract assembly is loaded into the application domains
of both the add-in and the host. See also: add-in, host.
In programming languages, the ability to use a less derived
type than that originally specified. Contravariance in generic
interfaces and delegates allows for implicit conversion of
generic type parameters. Contravariance is also supported
for non-generic delegates for matching method signatures
with delegate types. See also: covariance.
A field in an ASP.NET Web page that stores the current
property settings for server controls on the page. Control
state is used to recreate the page and reestablish previous
settings on each postback. See also: ASP.NET page, ASP.NET
server control, postback.
In multithreading, the act of one task yielding processing
resources to other tasks.
In programming languages, the ability to use a more derived
type than that originally specified. Covariance in generic
interfaces and delegates allows for implicit conversion of
generic type parameters. Covariance is also supported for
non-generic delegates for matching method signatures with
delegate types. See also: contravariance.
In ASP.NET Web pages, the process of submitting a page to a
specified target page in contrast to submitting the page to
itself. See also: postback.
A class used to represent custom metadata. See also:
attribute.
A build rule defined by the user, typically to call a tool that is
not part of the normal Visual Studio build process.

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custom control

118

data binding

119

data source
control

120

Dataset Designer

121

deck

122

declarative
security check

123

decoupled
provider

124

Deep Zoom

125

deferred loading

126

deferred query

127

delegate

A control authored by a user or a third-party software

vendor.
The process of creating a link between a property and a
source. The source can be local or external.
An object that can be added to an ASP.NET Web page that
encapsulates the logic required to connect to a data source,
such as a database or XML file, and that can execute queries
or other data-access commands. A data source control can in
turn provide data to other controls on that page.
A set of visual tools for creating and editing typed datasets
and the individual items that make up datasets.
A group of one or more cards. See also: card, Wireless
Markup Language.
Declarative security information in metadata. Developers can
use such declarations, which are usually written as custom
attributes, to invoke several kinds of security functionality require permissions to bind reference to the code, require
permissions to derive a type, demand that callers have
certain permissions, and so on. See also: imperative security
check.
A provider hosted in a separate process from WMI. Decoupled
providers are the recommended way to instrument an
application because the provider can control its own lifetime
instead of being launched every time a user accesses the
provider through WMI. See also: provider.
In Silverlight, a technology that enables users to interactively
view high-resolution images. With Deep Zoom, users can
zoom in, zoom out, and pan images rapidly.
A pattern of data loading where related objects are not
loaded until a navigation property is accessed.
A LINQ query that is not evaluated until it is iterated over,
either with a foreach statement (C#) or a For Each statement
(Visual Basic), or by manually using the underlying
GetEnumerator and MoveNext methods.
A type that references a method. Once a delegate is assigned
a method, it behaves exactly like that method. Delegates are
roughly similar to function pointers in C++; however, they
are type-safe and secure.

128

denial

The event in which a permission is not granted. By denying a

permission, a method can prevent its callers from exercising
the privilege represented by that permission. If a method on
the call stack denies permission A, a stack walk checking for
permission A will fail unless a valid assertion is found on the
stack between the method doing the denial and the method
that initiated the check for permission A. See also: assertion.

129

denial-of-service
attack

An attempt by a malicious (or unwitting) user, process, or

system to prevent legitimate users from accessing a resource
(usually a network service) by exploiting a weakness or
design limitation in an information system.

130

dependency
property

In Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight, a

property represented by a DependencyProperty identifier that
is registered with the property system. Dependency
properties can be defined only by DependencyObject types,
which typically expose the identifier as a public static field.
The property system determines their effective value based
on a precedence evaluation of all possible value sources.

131

deployment
manifest

The file used in ClickOnce applications that describes the

current version of this deployment, and whether it should be
installed on the client computer or only run online.

132

desktop alert
window

A window that pops up on the Windows desktop in response

to an event, for example, receiving email.

133

device adapter

An ASP.NET page framework class that adapts the behavior

of mobile pages and controls based on the target device.

134

device agent

135

device capability

136

device coordinate

137

device definition

138

device filter

139

Device Security
Manager

140

direct access

141

discriminator
property

An application that a desktop application deploys and

executes on a smart device. Usually, a device agent
communicates or exchanges data with the desktop
application that deployed it.
A device functionality available through the HasCapability
method or the <Choice> element. See also: comparison
evaluator.
The coordinate used by the physical device being drawn on,
such as a screen or sheet of paper.
The characteristics of a device available through the
MobileCapabilities class and the DeviceSpecific control.
A section of the Web.config file where you specify values for
specific mobile devices. These values are used to create
device-specific content.
A feature in Visual Studio that allows you to configure device
security and manage certificates on Windows Mobile-based
devices.
A way of accessing properties and methods supplied by WMI
in a script as if they were automation properties and methods
of an object instance.
A column in a database table that contains a value that
determines which class any given record belongs to.
The mode in which a Web Parts page can be displayed. It
enables users to modify a page in specified ways. The states
that ship with the Web Parts control set are: catalog,
connect, design, edit, and browse. The default or normal
mode for a Web page is browse. Developers can extend this
display mode feature by adding custom display modes, which
requires extending the WebPartManager class. See also: Web
Parts control set, Web Parts page.

142

display mode

143

document colors

A portion of the color bar that allows the user to select one
color from the set of colors in the current document.

144

document-level
customization

A supplemental program that modifies or adds functionality

to an existing program or application, but only when a
specific document is open.

download cache

A cache that is part of the assembly cache and stores code

downloaded from Internet or intranet sites, isolated to the
application that caused the download so that code
downloaded on behalf of one application or page does not
impact other applications. See also: assembly cache.

dynamic binding

Binding (converting symbolic addresses in the program to

storage-related addresses) that occurs during program
execution. The term often refers to object-oriented
applications that determine, during run time, which software
routines to call for particular data objects.

dynamic control

A Web Parts control that is persisted in a personalization

store; it does not appear in the declarative markup of an
.aspx page. After it has been added to a page, the
WebPartManager control automatically creates an instance of
the control from the personaization store on future requests.
See also: Web Parts control.

148

Dynamic Data

In ASP.NET, a framework that facilitates the creation of datadriven Web applications. Dynamic Data uses customizable
page and field templates, scaffolding, user-definable
metadata, and convention-based naming to create UI that
displays data, lets users navigate relationships between
tables, and lets users edit and create data (create, read,
update and delete (CRUD) operations). See also: scaffolding.

149

dynamic method
invocation

A technique that defers until runtime the decision as to which

specific method to call. See also: dynamic binding.

150

eager loading

151

edit browse
control

152

elevated trust

153

embedded
resource

154

encapsulation

155

End

156

entity

157

entity container

158

Entity Data Model

159

Entity Framework

160

Entity SQL

145

146

147

A pattern of loading where a specific set of related objects

are loaded along with the objects that were explicitly
requested in the query.
An edit box control that allows the user to browse and select
files and directories.
In Silverlight, a security level that gives out-of-browser
applications greater access to the local system.
The files used by an application that are stored in binary
format in the compiled application.
The ability of an object to hide its internal data and methods,
making only the intended parts of the object
programmatically accessible.
A participating entity in an association.
A class or object that represents application data such as
customers, products, and orders.
A container of specified entity sets and association sets that
will be implemented in a specified namespace.
A data model for defining application data as sets of entities
and relationships to which CLR types and storage structures
can be mapped.
A set of technologies that supports development of dataoriented software applications by enabling developers to
work with conceptual models that are mapped to logical
schemas in data sources.
A storage-independent dialect of SQL that works directly with
conceptual entity schemas and that supports entity data
model features such as inheritance and relationships.

The specification for a data type that includes a named set of

properties and represents a top-level item in a data model.

161

entity type

162

enumeration

163

event

164

event consumer

165

event consumer
provider

166

event filter

167

event provider

168

event query

169

event routing

170

Event Tracing for

Windows (ETW)

A general-purpose, high-speed tracing feature of Windows.

171

event-based
asynchronous
pattern

A design pattern that uses events to expose asynchronous

features of a class.

172

evidence

The properties of code, such as a digital signature or the

zone or site of its origin, that are used by security policy to
grant permissions to code. See also: security policy.

173

Exception
Assistant

A Visual Studio debugging tool that provides information

about the cause of an exception in a Visual Basic or Visual
C# program.

174

executable file

175

explicit interface
implementation

A list of named constants.

An action or occurrence to which a program might respond.
Examples include state changes, data transfers, key presses,
and mouse movements.
A recipient of notifications that report an occurrence of an
event. An event consumer is either temporary or permanent.
See also: event, event consumer provider, permanent
consumer, temporary consumer.
A provider that determines which permanent event consumer
handles a given event. See also: event, event consumer,
permanent consumer, temporary consumer.
A filter that registers to receive notification of a specific type
of event. See also: event.
A provider that monitors a source of events and notifies the
event table when events occur. See also: event.
A WMI Query Language statement that event consumers use
to register to receive notification of specific events. An event
provider uses an event query to register to generate
notifications of specific events. See also: event, event
consumer.
In Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight, the
movement of an event in a tree of elements. There are three
types of event routing: direct, bubbling, and tunneling. With
direct routing, the event does not move in the tree. With
bubbling, the event moves up to the top of the tree. With
tunneling, the event starts at the top of the tree and moves
down to the source of the event. In Silverlight, event routing
and routed events are used, but tunneling is not
implemented. See also: bubbling, tunneling.

A file in portable executable (PE) file format that can be

loaded into memory and executed by the operating system
loader. It can be either an .exe or a .dll file. In the .NET
context, a PE file must be translated by the common
language runtime into code before it can be executed by the
operating system. See also: portable executable file.
The implementation of a class or structure member that is
accessible only through the interface that the class or
structure implements.

176

explicit loading

177

expression tree

178

extender control

A pattern of loading where related objects are not loaded

until explicitly requested by using the Load method on a
navigation property.
A tree-form data representation of the structure of languagelevel code expressions.
In ASP.NET, a control that encapsulates functionality that is
implemented in JavaScript and that defines behavior in the
browser. Extender controls are associated with existing Web
server controls to add the extender's behavior to that control.
For example, an extender control can add a watermark to
any TextBox control or drag-and-drop behavior to a variety
of ASP.NET Web server controls.
A markup language for declarative application programming.
XAML simplifies creating a UI for the Windows Presentation
Foundation programming model. You can create visible UI
elements in the declarative XAML markup, and then separate
the UI definition from the run-time logic by using codebehind files, which are joined to the markup through partial
class definitions.
A markup language for describing and exchanging structured
data in a format that is independent of operating systems
and applications. XML is a World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) specification and is a subset of Standard Generalized
Markup Language (SGML).

179

Extensible
Application
Markup Language
(XAML)

180

Extensible
Markup Language
(XML)

181

extension
method

A static method that can be invoked by using instance

method syntax. In effect, extension methods make it possible
to extend existing types and constructed types with
additional methods.

182

external context

In the Concurrency Runtime, a context that is created by an

application component that is external to the Task Scheduler.
An external context generates parallel work for a Task
Scheduler and participates in that work.

183

external style
external style
sheet

184
185

field

186

flow layout

187

foreign key

188

form region

189

friend assembly

A style in an external style sheet.

A style sheet defined in a user control in an .ascx file.
A member that represents a variable associated with an
object or class.
A way of designing a form in which all elements are
positioned one immediately after the other.
A key in a database table that comes from another table
(also know as the "referenced table") and whose values
match the primary key (PK) or unique key in the referenced
table.
A customizable extension to Microsoft Office Outlook forms.
An assembly that can access another assemblys internal
types and members. Ordinarily, types and members with
internal scope (in C#) and friend scope (in Visual Basic) are
visible only in the assembly in which they are defined. In the
.NET Framework, you can make the types and members
visible to additional (friend) assemblies by using the
InternalsVisibleToAttribute attribute. See also: assembly.

190

gamma
correction

191

garbage
collection (GC)

192

GDI+

193

generic method

194

generic type

195

generic type
argument

The process of adjusting an image input signal to correctly

display on a particular device.
A process for automatic recovery of heap memory. Blocks of
memory that had been allocated but are no longer in use are
freed, and blocks of memory still in use may be moved to
consolidate the free memory into larger blocks. See also:
heap.
A class-based API for C/C++ programmers that enables
applications to use graphics and formatted text on both the
video display and the printer. Applications based on the
Microsoft Win32 API do not access graphics hardware
directly. Instead, GDI+ interacts with device drivers on
behalf of applications. GDI+ is also supported by Microsoft
Win64.
A method whose definition has placeholders, called generic
type parameters, for one or more types used in the body of
the method or as the types of the method's parameters. A
user specifies real types (generic type arguments) for the
type parameters when calling the generic method. Note that
a method is not generic just because it is declared in a
generic type. A method is generic only if it has type
parameters of its own. See also: generic type, generics.
A class, interface, or structure whose definition has
placeholders, called generic type parameters, for one or more
types that are used in its member definitions. A user
specifies real types (generic type arguments) for the type
parameters when creating an instance of a generic type. See
also: generic method, generic type argument, generic type
definition, generic type parameter, generics, parameterized
type.
The type that the user specifies when creating instances of a
generic type or when calling a generic method. See also:
generic method, generic type, generics.

196

generic type
definition

The definition of a generic type, in which type parameters act

as placeholders for types that the user supplies when
creating instances to use. These instances are not instances
of the generic type definition, but of the constructed type
formed by specifying type arguments. See also: generic type,
generic type argument, generic type parameter, generics.

197

generic type
parameter

In a generic type definition, a placeholder for a type that the

user specifies (generic type argument) when creating
instances of a generic type or when calling a generic method.
See also: generic method, generic type, generics.

198

generic type
parameter
constraint

199

generic type
parameter list

A way of limiting the types that can be specified for a generic

type parameter. For example, types substituted for the type
parameter can be constrained to inherit from a particular
type, to implement a specific interface, to provide a
parameterless constructor, and so on. See also: generic type
parameter, generics.
The list of generic type parameters of a generic type or
method, specified as part of the definition of the generic type
or generic method. See also: generic type, generic type
parameter, generics.

200

generics

201

global assembly
cache

202

globalization

203

glyph

A feature of the common language runtime, conceptually

similar to C++ templates, that allows classes, structures,
interfaces, and methods to have placeholders (generic type
parameters) for the data types they store and manipulate.
Generic types are a form of parameterized types. See also:
generic method, generic type, parameterized type.
A computer-wide code cache that stores assemblies
specifically installed to be shared by many applications on
the computer. See also: assembly cache, strong name.
The process of designing and developing a software product
to function in multiple locales. Globalization involves
identifying the locales that must be supported, designing
features that support those locales, and writing code that
functions equally well in any of the supported locales. See
also: locale, localization.
A graphical representation of either a character, a part of a
character, or a sequence of characters.
The permissions, determined by security policy, that code will
be given, allowing it access to resources and giving it
identity. The granted permissions are determined by both the
requested permissions and what is allowed by the security
policy configuration. See also: security policy.

204

granted
permissions

205

hardware thread

206

heap

A portion of memory reserved for a program to use for the

temporary storage of data structures whose existence or size
cannot be determined until the program is running.

207

host

In the .NET Framework add-in programming model, a host

application assembly that communicates with an add-in over
the communication pipeline. See also: add-in.

208

host application

A hardware element that executes a stream of instructions.

An application that has some sort of customization, such as

an application-level add-in or a document-level
customization, for which the application acts as a host.

host control

An object that is native to a host application (such as

Microsoft Office Word or Microsoft Office Excel) to which data
binding and events have been added. Examples of host
controls include Bookmark controls and ListObject controls.

210

host item

An object that is native to a host application (such as

Microsoft Office Word or Microsoft Office Excel) to which you
can add host controls. Examples of host items include
Document and Worksheet.

211

host view of the

add-in

In the .NET Framework add-in programming model, an

assembly that contains interfaces or abstract base classes,
and represents the host's view of the methods and types
used to communicate with an add-in. See also: add-in, host.

209

212

hosting

213

HTML Bridge

In the .NET Framework, the loading and activation of the

common language runtime in a process, and the subsequent
communication between the loaded runtime and the host
application.
In Silverlight, an integrated set of types and methods that
enable you to expose managed types to JavaScript and call
JavaScript event handlers from managed types.

214

HTML server
control

215

HTTP handler

216

HTTP module

217

image codec

218

image well

219

imperative
security check

220

index

221

indexer

222

injected source

223

inline function

224

instrumentation

225

Integrated mode

226

integrated
pipeline

An ASP.NET server control that belongs to the

System.Web.UI.HtmlControls namespace. An HTML server
control maps directly to an HTML element and is declared on
an ASP.NET page as an HTML element marked by a
runat="server" attribute, for example <button
runat="server" />. In contrast to Web server controls, HTML
server controls do not have an asp tag prefix. See also:
ASP.NET server control, validation server control, Web server
control.
A component registered with ASP.NET (typically with an .axd
extension) that produces Web output dynamically.
A component that can be registered as part of the ASP.NET
request lifecycle and that can read or change the request or
response as it is processed. HttpModules are often used to
perform special tasks that need to monitor each request,
such as security or site statistics.
Software or an algorithm that converts images to a specified
file format (encoder) or from file format to displayed image
(decoder).
A collection of images of the same size and color depth that
are stored as a row of images in a single bitmap.
A security check that occurs when a security method is called
within the code that is being protected. This type of check
can be data-driven and can be isolated to a single location
within an object or method. For example, if the name of a file
to be protected is known only at run time, an imperative
security check can be invoked by passing the file name as a
parameter to a security method. See also: declarative
security check.
In programming, a scalar value that allows direct access into
a multi-element data structure such as an array without the
need for a sequential search through the collection of
elements.
A class member that permits instances of a class or structure
to be accessed in the same way as arrays. Indexers are
similar to properties, except that the get and set accessor
methods of indexers take parameters, whereas property
accessor methods do not. See also: class, property,
structure.
Code that is inserted into the symbol store by an attribute
provider or by another component of the compiler. Can also
refer to code that the compiler or linker generates
automatically.
In a program, a function whose code is inserted completely
within the code of the calling function.
A profiling technique that involves inserting diagnostic probes
into the program being profiled. See also: Common
Information Model.
A compatibility mode for managed content. When an
application pool is configured to use Integrated mode, the
server will use the integrated, request-processing pipelines of
IIS and ASP.NET to process the request.
A unified request processing pipeline that is running in
Integrated mode. In the integrated pipeline, custom modules
and handlers in a Web application can be configured to
subscribe to notifications for all requests to the application,
not just requests for ASP.NET-specific resources.

227

IntelliSense

228

interface

229

internal context

230

internal style

231

232

internal style
sheet
internationalized
domain name
(IDN)

A Microsoft technology that allows you to analyze your source

code by showing class definitions and comments when you
hover your cursor over a function. IntelliSense can also
complete function names when you type them in the IDE.
A reference type that defines a contract. Other types
implement an interface to guarantee that they support
certain operations. The interface specifies the members that
must be supplied by classes or other interfaces that
implement it. Like classes, interfaces can contain methods,
properties, indexers, and events as members. See also:
contract, indexer, property, reference type.
In the Concurrency Runtime, a context that the Task
Scheduler creates and uses to run tasks.
A style in an internal style sheet. See also: internal style
sheet.
A style sheet contained in an ASP.NET mobile Web Forms
page.
An Internet domain name that can accommodate non-ASCII
characters such as the diacritical marks of European
language or non-Latinate characters such as those found in
Chinese, Korean or Arabic.
An assembly containing definitions of COM types described in
metadata. An interop assembly is typically produced by the
Type Library Importer (Tlbimp.exe). See also: assembly,
primary interop assembly.
An event that occurs in response to a change in the standard
WMI data model. Each intrinsic event class represents a
specific type of change and occurs when WMI or a provider
creates, deletes, or modifies a namespace, class, or class
instance.
The portion of a DataRepeater control that is used to provide
a visual interface for the repeated items in the control. At
design time, controls can be added to the item template, and
properties can be set to modify the appearance of the
DataRepeater.

233

interop assembly

234

intrinsic event

235

item template

236

just-in-time
compilation (JIT
compilation)

The compilation that converts Microsoft intermediate

language (MSIL) into machine code at the point when the
code is required at run time.

237

languageintegrated query
(LINQ)

238

lazy initialization

239

lifetime

A query syntax that defines a set of query operators that

allow traversal, filter, and projection operations to be
expressed in a direct, declarative way in any .NET-based
programming language.
The deferral of object initialization or instantiation until the
first time the object is referenced.
The time period that begins when an object is allocated in
memory and ends when the garbage collector deletes the
object from memory.

240

lightweight task

241

LINQ pattern

In the Concurrency Runtime, an asynchronous function call.

A lightweight task is typically shorter-running and contains
less internal state than an asynchronous agent, and the
caller is not notified when the task is completed.
The set of standard query operators that is available in all
LINQ queries, and the rules that define the structure of a
LINQ query.

242

LINQ to DataSet

243

LINQ to Objects

244

LINQ to SQL

245

LINQ to XML

246

local messaging

247

local type
inference

248

locale

249

localization

250

logical tree

251

managed code

252

managed code
extension

A LINQ technology that makes it easier and faster to query

over data cached in a DataSet object. The queries are
expressed in the programming language itself and not as
string literals embedded in the application code.
The use of LINQ to query in-memory data such as arrays and
lists.
A LINQ technology that provides a run-time infrastructure for
managing relational data as objects. In LINQ to SQL, the
data model of a relational database is mapped to an object
model expressed in the programming language of the
developer.
An in-memory programming interface that makes it possible
to work with XML from within the .NET Framework
programming languages.
In Silverlight, a feature that enables communication between
two Silverlight-based applications running on the same
computer.
A process in which the compiler infers the type of a local
variable that is declared with the var keyword in C# or
without an As clause in Visual Basic. The compiler infers the
type of the variable from the type of the initializer
expression.
A collection of rules and data specific to a language and a
geographic area. Locales include information on sorting rules,
date and time formatting, numeric and monetary
conventions, and character classification. See also:
globalization, localization.
The process of adapting a product and/or content (including
text and non-text elements) to meet the language, cultural,
and political expectations and/or requirements of a specific
local market (locale). See also: globalization, locale.
In Windows Presentation Foundation, the tree containing all
the elements and content that are directly created by an
application and used for a user interface element. For the
specified element, the logical tree is not a strict subset of its
visual tree, because elements derived from the Visual base
class might contain elements that are not derived from the
Visual class. For example, the elements might contain a
String, a TextElement, or any other common language
runtime object. See also: visual tree.
Code that is executed by the common language runtime
environment rather than directly by the operating system.
Managed code applications gain common language runtime
services such as automatic garbage collection, runtime type
checking and security support, and so on. These services
help provide uniform platform- and language-independent
behavior of managed-code applications. See also:
unmanaged code.
An application-level add-in or document-level customization.
Generally, an extension to Microsoft Office that is created by
using Visual Studio Tools for Office.

253

managed data

254

Managed
Extensibility
Framework (MEF)

255

Managed Object
Format (MOF)

256

257
258

management
application

manifest
mapping
specification
language (MSL)

259

margin

260

mask placeholder

261

master page

262

263

264

Objects whose lifetimes are managed by the common

language runtime. The runtime automatically handles object
layout and manages references to these objects, releasing
them when they are no longer being used. See also: common
language runtime, garbage collection.
A composition layer for the .NET Framework that improves
the flexibility, maintainability, and testability of large
applications. MEF can be used for third-party plug-in
extensibility, or it can bring the benefits of a loosely coupled
architecture that is similar to a plug-in to regular
applications.
The file type, based on the Interface Definition Language
(IDL), that describes management information. The MOF
syntax is a way to describe object definitions in textual form.
An application or Windows 2000/Windows NT service that
uses information originating from one or more managed
objects in a managed environment. Management applications
retrieve this information through calls to the CIM Object
Manager API from the CIM Object Manager and from
providers. See also: CIM Object Manager, provider.
See: assembly manifest.
An XML-based language that is used to map items defined in
a conceptual model to items in a storage model.
The space between a control and the other, adjoining
controls on a form or page.
A character used in a masked control when there is no user
input to display.
A page that defines the layout and common elements for a
set of web pages. It is merged at run time with content
pages that define page-specific content.

media link entry

An entry in a data feed that contains a reference to a related

media resource. This is the Open Data Protocol (OData)
representation of an entity that has related binary large
object data that is not serialized in the data feed.

media resource

Any media item that can be transferred over any network as

a binary stream. One media item could have multiple binary
streams depending on the encoding features. For example,
some media items could have three streams (or resources):
WMV encoded stream for a 2 Mbps throughput, WMV
encoded stream for a 500 Kbps throughput, and MPEG-2
encoded stream for a 5 Mbps throughput.

MEF catalog

An object that provides a collection of MEF parts from a

specific source, such as a type, an assembly, or a directory,
to a MEF composition container. A catalog is responsible for
discovering MEF parts that a MEF composition container can
make available to MEF apps. See also: Managed Extensibility
Framework, MEF composition, MEF composition container,
MEF part.

The process of matching MEF imports to MEF exports,

performed by the MEF composition engine. See also:
Managed Extensibility Framework, MEF composition
container, MEF composition engine, MEF export, MEF import,
MEF part.
A MEF composition engine that is based on MEF catalogs and
MEF part instances. See also: Managed Extensibility
Framework, MEF catalog, MEF composition, MEF composition
engine.
An object that resolves a MEF parts dependencies and
exposes its capabilities to other MEF parts and apps through
composition, that is, by binding MEF imports to MEF exports.
See also: Managed Extensibility Framework, MEF
composition, MEF composition container, MEF export, MEF
import, MEF part.
An identifier that determines how MEF imports and exports
are matched. The contract consists of a name that identifies
the contract and a type, which specifies the exported type.
Both the contract name and the contract type can be either
automatically generated or specified. See also: Managed
Extensibility Framework, MEF export, MEF import, MEF part.

265

MEF composition

266

MEF composition
container

267

MEF composition
engine

268

MEF contract

269

MEF export

An object that a MEF part provides to make its services

available to other MEF parts. See also: Managed Extensibility
Framework, MEF contract, MEF import, MEF part.

MEF import

A dependency that a MEF part specifies and fulfills from

exports provided by other MEF parts. For example, common
services can be provided in a MEF part and declared as an
import by other MEF parts. See also: Managed Extensibility
Framework, MEF contract, MEF export, MEF part.

270

271

MEF part

272

membership

273

metadata
workspace

274

mobile code

275

mobile user
control

An object that is the basic building block of a MEF

application. Each MEF part declares its dependencies
(imports) and capabilities (exports), which are matched with
the imports and exports of other MEF parts and made
available to MEF apps. See also: Managed Extensibility
Framework, MEF export, MEF import.
In ASP.NET, an application feature that manages a store of
user credentials for a Web site. Membership can be
integrated with login controls or other ASP.NET
authentication features to provide login security for your site.
A class that represents the metadata runtime service
component that provides support for retrieving metadata.
Any code placed on a central server that is meant to be
downloaded and run by multiple clients. Mobile code can be
distributed using Web servers, FTP servers, file shares, and
so on. Typically, users run mobile code from the intranet and
Internet zones.
An ASP.NET mobile control derived from the
System.Web.UI.MobileControls.MobileUserControl class. User
controls provide containers for custom controls built from
other ASP.NET mobile controls. See also: ASP.NET mobile
control.

276

module

277

moniker

278

multitargeting

279

multithreading

280

naming container

281

native image
generation
(NGen)

282

native language

283

navigation
property

284

nested type

285

O notation

286

object path

287

Object Services

A loadable unit, which can contain type declarations and type

implementations. The module contains enough information to
enable the common language runtime to locate all
implementation bits when the module is loaded. The format
for modules is an extension of the Windows portable
executable (PE) file format. When deployed, a module is
always contained in an assembly.
A short name that locates a namespace, class, or instance in
WMI.
The ability to target code to specific versions (for example,
2.0, 3.5, 4, or 4.5) of the .NET Framework.
Running several processes in rapid sequence within a single
program, regardless of which logical method of multitasking
is being used by the operating system. Because the user's
sense of time is much slower than the processing speed of a
computer, multitasking appears to be simultaneous, even
though only one task at a time can use a computer
processing cycle.
Any ASP.NET control that implements the INamingContainer
interface. This is a marker interface that enables a control to
create a new naming scope under itself so that ID attributes
assigned to its child controls are unique within the entire
ASP.NET page that contains the control.
A pre-compilation technology for managed code that
compiles Common Intermediate Language (CIL) to native
code on the end-user computer prior to application run time.
It is an alternative to JIT compilation. See also: Common
Intermediate Language, JIT compilation.
Code that has been compiled to processor-specific machine
code.
A property of entity types that uses an association to
reference related entities.
A type defined within the scope of another type. A nested
type is typically used for encapsulating implementation
details of the top-level type.
An indication of the relative performance of an algorithm. An
algorithm or the method that implements it is said to be O(1)
if its execution is a constant, O(log n) if its execution is
proportional to the natural log of n, or O(n) if its execution is
proportional to n. O notation is frequently used as a way to
compare the relative performance of operations on
collections, in which case n is usually the number of elements
in the collection.
A formatted string used to access namespaces, classes, and
instances. Each object on the system has a unique path that
identifies it locally or over the network. Object paths are
conceptually similar to Universal Resource Locators (URL).
The services provided by the Entity Framework that enable
application code to operate on entities in terms of .NET
Framework objects.

288

289

OLE

A technology for transferring and sharing information among

applications. When an object, such as an image file created
with a paint program, is linked to a compound document,
such as a spreadsheet or a document created with a word
processing program, the document contains only a reference
to the object; any changes made to the contents of a linked
object will be seen in the compound document. When an
object is embedded in a compound document, the document
contains a copy of the object; any changes made to the
contents of the original object will not be seen in the
compound document unless the embedded object is updated.

one-click publish

A feature in Visual Studio that lets you deploy a Web

application from the development computer to a server by
clicking a button on a toolbar, and to deploy changes by
clicking the button again, without having to redeploy the full
application. You can create multiple publishing profiles to
define the settings for different publishing scenarios, such as
deploying to a test server, to a production server, and so on.

290

open generic
type

291

orientation

292

out-of-browser

293

owner draw
mode

294

package resource
index file (PRI)

295

padding

296

page coordinate

297

pagination

298

parameterized
type

299

parameterless
constructor
constraint

A constructed generic type in which one or more of the

generic type arguments substituted for its generic type
parameters is a type parameter of an enclosing generic type
or method. Open generic types cannot be instantiated. See
also: closed generic type, generic type argument, generic
type parameter, generics.
The alignment of an item, such as a control.
Pertaining to, or characteristic of, a Silverlight-based
application that a user installs from a Web page and runs
outside the browser.
A rendering mode in which you take responsibility for
drawing a control, rather than relying on the control's default
rendering behavior.
A binary file used in Windows Store apps to store resources
for all languages, cultures, and scale factors.
The space between the inside edge of a child element and its
content.
A coordinate used by a drawing surface, such as a form or
control. See also: world coordinate.
A mechanism that automatically separates the content in
ASP.NET mobile Web Forms into smaller groups of rendered
pages that are targeted to fit a specific device. It also renders
user interface elements that can be used to browse to other
pages.
A type whose definition has placeholders for actual types that
the user specifies when creating and using instances of the
type. C++ templates and common language runtime
generics are examples of parameterized types. See also:
generics.
A restriction on a generic type parameter, such that types
substituted for that type parameter must provide a
parameterless or default constructor. See also: generic type
parameter constraint, generics.

300

part control

301

partial-page
rendering

302

permanent
consumer

303

permission class

304

permission object

305

306

An event consumer whose registration lasts until it is

explicitly cancelled.
A class that defines access to a resource or defines an
indentity by supporting authorization checks.
An instance of a permission class that represents access
rights to resources or identity. A permission object can be
used to specify a request, demand, or a grant of permission.
See also: permission class.

personalization

A feature of the Web Parts control set that enables end users
to personalize (modify) Web Parts controls and save the
personalized settings. Personalization can apply to individual
users (user scope) or to all users (shared scope). See also:
Web Parts control, Web Parts control set.

personalization
scope

The state of a Web Parts page that determines the range of

users to which personalization changes apply. The
WebPartManager control determines the personalization
scope for a Web Parts page. The PersonalizationScope
enumeration provides two possible scopes (Shared and User)
that a page can be in at any given time. In shared scope,
personalization changes made to shared controls apply to all
users. In user scope, personalization changes made to shared
and per-user controls apply only to the specific user. See
also: personalization, Web Parts page.

307

per-user control

308

platform invoke

309

portable
executable file
(PE file)

310

postback

311

A control in the Web Parts control set that inherits directly or

indirectly from the
System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.Part class and is used
to create the primary user interface of Web Parts
applications. See also: Web Parts control set.
The process of refreshing only a region of a Web page during
an asynchronous postback. This is typically accomplished by
using UpdatePanel controls. Partial-page rendering is an
important feature of AJAX technology.

precompilation

A dynamic Web Parts control that can be personalized and

permanently deleted from a page for an individual user only.
A per-user control appears on the page only when the page is
in user scope. Note that a per-user control can have
properties that are both user-scope and shared-scope for
personalization purposes. See also: personalization, Web
Parts control.
The functionality provided by the common language runtime
to enable managed code to call unmanaged native DLL entry
points.
The file format used for executable programs and for files to
be linked together to form executable programs.
The process in which a Web page sends data back to the
same page on the server.
The process of submitting an entire Web site to a compiler.
The resulting Web site output runs without needing to be
compiled on first request and does not require source code to
be deployed to a production server.

312

primary interop
assembly

313

principal

314

private assembly

315

private view state

316

profiling

317

projection

318

prolog

319

property

An assembly containing definitions of COM types that is

distributed and digitally signed by the author of the COM
component. Visual Studio uses a registered primary interop
assembly by default when a developer references a type in
the corresponding type library. See also: assembly, interop
assembly.
In Windows-based computers, an account (such as a user,
security group, device, or computer) that can be granted or
denied access to resources. See also: role.
An assembly that is available only to clients in the same
directory structure as the assembly. See also: assembly,
shared assembly.
State information that is written as a hidden field, such as
the form that is currently active or the pagination information
for a form.
The collection of detailed performance data, such as memory,
stack frame, and CPU utilization, during application
execution. Analysis of the resulting data often leads to code
optimizations that substantially improve application run-time
behavior.
The selection in a query of a subset of the properties or
columns in the data source.
The machine code between the entry point for an assembly
language routine and the code for its first executable
statement. Prolog sets up the stack frame and preserves
certain register values.
Attribute or characteristic of an object that is used to define
its state, appearance, or value.

provider

In a Web Parts connection, a server control that sends data

to a consumer control. A provider can be a WebPart control
or any type of server control, but must be designed to
function as a provider. A provider must have a special
callback method marked with a ConnectionProviderAttribute
attribute in the source code. This method provides data to
consumer controls in the form of an interface instance. See
also: consumer, Web Parts connection.

321

Punycode

An ASCII Compatible Encoding (ACE) syntax that transforms

strings containing Unicode characters into strings consisting
of a limited set of ASCII characters allowable for DNS. Used
to transform internationalized domain names.

322

qualifier flavor

A flag that provides additional information about a qualifier,

such as whether a derived class or instance can override the
qualifier's original value.

323

query

320

324

query clause

325

query keyword

An expression in the form of a query expression or a

Standard Query Operator method call (or a combination of
the two) that extracts information from a data source.
A single clause of a query expression. There are several
different query clauses, each identified by its initiating query
keyword. For instance, the "from/From clause" refers to
clauses like "From c In customers" in Visual Basic, or "from c
in customers" in C#.
A contextual keyword in C# and Visual Basic that designates
the query clause of a query expression. For example, from,
join, and select are query keywords in C#, and From, Join,
and Select are query keywords in Visual basic.

The set of standard query operators that is available in all

LINQ queries, and the rules that define the structure of a
LINQ query.
A variable that stores a query, as opposed to the results of a
query.
The type of the query variable in a LINQ query. The type of
the variable that represents the data source is also a
queryable type. A queryable type can be implicitly or
explicitly typed, but in either case it must be a generic
IEnumerable or IQueryable type.
The pop-up window that displays the complete declaration
for an identifier when the pointer rests on the identifier in a
code editor window.
A condition in which two or more threads can reach and
execute a block of code, and the program outcome changes
radically depending on which thread reaches the code first. A
race condition is benign if all outcomes are valid. However,
race conditions can be associated with synchronization errors
that can result in one process interfering with another
process and possibly introduce a vulnerability. Frequently, a
potential outcome of a race condition leaves the program in
an unstable or invalid state.

326

query pattern

327

query variable

328

queryable type

329

Quick Info tooltip

330

race condition

331

range variable

A variable that provides access to each element in a

sequence in a LINQ query.

reference type

A data type that is represented by a reference (similar to a

pointer) to the type's actual value. If a reference type is
assigned to a variable, that variable references (or "points
to") the original value. No copy is made. Reference types
comprise classes, interfaces, delegates, and boxed value
types. See also: value type.

332

333

referential
constraint

334

reflection

335

regular
expression

336

relational model

337

relative virtual
address

338

remoting

An element of an SSDL schema that specifies the direction of

an association with FromRole and ToRole attributes. A
referential constraint corresponds to a CSDL navigation
property. See also: conceptual schema definition language,
store schema definition language.
The process of obtaining information about assemblies and
the types defined within them, and creating, invoking, and
accessing type instances at run time.
A concise and flexible notation for finding and replacing
patterns of text. The notation comprises two basic character
types: literal (normal) text characters, which indicate text
that must exist in the target string, and metacharacters,
which indicate the text that can vary in the target string. You
can use regular expressions to quickly parse large amounts
of text to find specific character patterns; extract, edit,
replace, or delete text substrings; or to add the extracted
strings to a collection in order to generate a report.
The logical model used to define the tables, columns, and
constraints in a relational database.
An offset from the address of a module that is loaded in
memory.
The process of communication between different operating
system processes, regardless of whether they are on the
same computer. See also: application domain, context.

339

rendering

340

requested
permissions

341

resource

The creation of an image containing geometric models, using

color and shading to give the image a realistic look. Usually
part of a geometric modeling package such as a CAD
program, rendering uses mathematics to describe the
location of a light source in relation to the object and to
calculate the way in which the light would create highlights,
shading, and variations in color. The degree of realism can
range from opaque, shaded polygons to images
approximating photographs in their complexity.
Optionally specified permissions in an assembly that
represent the minimum required, optionally desired, and
always refused permissions for all code in the assembly. If
there is no request, the code is granted the maximum that
security policy allows. See also: security policy.
Any nonexecutable data that is logically deployed with an
application. A resource might be displayed in an application
as error messages or as part of the user interface. Resources
can contain data in a number of forms, including strings,
images, and persisted objects.

retargetable
assembly

An assembly that belongs to more than one implementation

of the .NET Framework, or an assembly that has been built
on more than one implementation of the .NET Framework
with the same strong name and with appropriate attributes.
Applications that use retargetable assemblies can run on any
.NET Framework implementation where those assemblies
have been built. For example, applications that are built to
use the .NET Compact Framework can run on the desktop
implementation of the .NET Framework. See also: assembly.

343

ribbon

An area in a window in which commands and other controls

are displayed in functionally related groups. A ribbon can be
divided into multiple views, known as tabs, and every tab
can contain multiple groups of controls. Typically, a ribbon
appears at the top of a window.

344

ribbon launch
button

345

ribbon pane
default button

346

ribbon tab

347

right-to-left
(RTL)

342

348

role

The button at the bottom right corner of a ribbon group.

Typically, a click of the button opens a dialog box or other
element that is related to the group.
The button that appears when a ribbon is reduced to its
minimum size. A click of the button displays the ribbon
commands on a menu.
When a ribbon is divided into multiple views, any one of the
views. Every tab contains functionally related commands and
other controls that are organized in groups. Typically, ribbon
tabs are labeled.
Pertaining to keyboard settings, document views, user
interface objects, languages, etc. for which text is displayed
in a right-to-left direction.
A defined set of application access privileges. The security
role assigned to a user determines which tasks the user can
perform and which parts of the user interface the user can
view. All users must be assigned at least one security role in
order to access the system.

349

role-based
authorization

350

routed event

351

runtime
runtime callable
wrapper (RCW)

352

A type of authorization that uses roles to determine access

rights and privileges. A role is a symbolic category of users
that share the same security privilege. See also:
authentication, authorization, principal, role.
An event instance that propagates through a tree of related
elements rather than just targeting to a single element. See
also: bubbling, tunneling.
See: common language runtime.
A .NET Framework object that acts as a proxy for a referencecounted COM object.
A specific version policy that requests a given assembly be
run with the exact version of its dependencies that it was
compiled against.
In Silverlight, an in-browser application or an out-of-browser
application that has not been granted elevated trust. See
also: elevated trust, trusted application.
A .NET Framework assembly containing resources specific to
a given language. Using satellite assemblies, you can place
the resources for difference languages in different
assemblies, and the correct assembly is loaded into memory
only if the user elects to view that application in that
language.
The process of generating Web-page templates based on
database schemas. In ASP.NET, Dynamica Data uses
scaffolding to facilitate the generation of Web-based UI that
lets a user view and update a database.
In the Concurrency Runtime, a container for related tasks
that are queued to a Task Scheduler.

353

safe mode

354

sandboxed
application

355

satellite assembly

356

scaffolding

357

schedule group

358

security
descriptor

359

security hole

An unintentionally unprotected entry point into an otherwise

secure computer, component, application, or other online
resource.

360

security identifier
(SID)

In Windows-based systems, a unique value that identifies a

user, group, or computer account within an enterprise. Every
account is issued a SID when it is created.

361

security policy

362

security-critical

363

security-safecritical

364

securitytransparent

A data structure that contains security information associated

with a protected object. Security descriptors include
information about who owns the object, who can access it
and in what way, and what types of access are audited.

The active policy established by the administrator that

programmatically generates granted permissions for all
managed code based on the code's requested permissions.
Code that requires more permissions than policy will grant is
not allowed to run. See also: evidence, requested
permissions.
Pertaining to a type or member that accesses secure
resources and can only be used by fully trusted code in the
.NET Framework. See also: security-safe-critical, securitytransparent.
Pertaining to a type or member that accesses secure
resources and can be safely used by partially trusted code in
the .NET Framework. See also: security-critical, securitytransparent.
Pertaining to a type or member that is partially trusted and
that cannot expose access to any protected resources or
functionality. See also: security-critical, security-safe-critical.

365

semisynchronous
method call

366

sequence

367

serialization

368

session state

369

set difference

370

shared assembly

371

shared control

372

shared name

373

SharePoint
Object Model
Adapter

374

side-by-side
execution

375

side-by-side
hosting

376

377

A method call that returns immediately and allows the

application or script to enumerate the returned objects as a
collection. A semisynchronous method call does not require
setting up an object sink, but an asynchronous method call
does require setting up an object sink. See also:
asynchronous method call.
An instance of a queryable type.
The process of converting an object's state information into a
form that can be stored or transported. During serialization,
an object writes its current state to temporary or persistent
storage. Later, the object can be recreated by reading, or
deserializing, the object's state from storage.
In ASP.NET, a variable store created on the server for the
current user; each user maintains a separate Session state
on the server. Session state is typically used to store userspecific information between postbacks. See also: postback.
The collection of elements in one set that do not appear in
the other set.
An assembly that can be referenced by more than one
application. An assembly must be explicitly built to be shared
by giving it a cryptographically strong name. See also:
assembly, private assembly, strong name.
A Web Parts control that can appear on a Web page and be
personalized when the page is in either shared or user-level
personalization scope. Note that a shared control can have
properties that are both user-scope and shared-scope for
personalization purposes. See also: personalization,
personalization scope, Web Parts control.
See: strong name.
A component assembly that translates calls between 32-bit
SharePoint project code and 64-bit SharePoint Object Model
code, and helps maintain isolation between the two sides and
facilitate versioning.
The ability to install and use multiple versions of an assembly
in isolation at the same time. Side-by-side execution can
apply to applications and components as well as to the .NET
Framework. Allowing assemblies to coexist and to execute
simultaneously on the same computer is essential to support
robust versioning in the common language runtime.
The loading and activation of multiple versions of the
common language runtime within the same process.

signature

The list of types involved in the definition of a method, field,

property, or local variable. For a method, the signature
includes its name, number of parameters and their types, the
type it returns (if any), and its calling convention (default or
vararg). The signature for a property is similar to that of a
method. The signature for fields and local variables is simply
their type (for example, array [0..5] of int).

Silverlight plug-in

A plug-in that users download to run a Silverlight-based

application in their browser. This term also refers to the
component embedded in a Web page that renders Silverlight
content.

378

site navigation

379

skin file

380

SOAP

381

SOAP header

382

SOAP message

383

split stack layout

384

stack layout

385

standard
consumer

386

standard query
operator

387

static control

388

step clause

389

store schema
definition
language (SSDL)

390

stretch

In ASP.NET Web sites, the process of displaying controls such

as menus, a tree view, or SiteMapPath (breadcrumb) controls
that assist users in finding pages of interest. Site navigation
is typically driven from a sitemap.
A file containing one or more control properties that define
how the controls should look. Skin files are part of ASP.NET
themes. See also: theme.
A simple, XML-based protocol for exchanging structured data
and type information on the World Wide Web. The protocol is
currently the de facto standard for XML messaging.
The extensibility elements of a SOAP message. The SOAP
header allows additional information to be sent with a SOAP
request.
The data encapsulated in a SOAP envelope that flows back
and forth between a client and a Web service.
A layout style in which each end of the ToolStrip is the base
of a stack, with some items stacked at the head and other
items stacked at the tail. Items are stacked from the ends in.
A layout style in which adjacent items align against each
other as though they were stacked, always taking up the free
space in between the items.
One of several preinstalled permanent consumers that
perform an action, such as sending an e-mail or writing to a
log when configured by a managed object format (MOF) file
or a script. See also: permanent consumer.
A method that constitutes a query pattern and that is
implemented by a LINQ provider for a specific domain.
Standard query operators are defined in the
System.Linq.Enumerable class.
A Web Parts control that is part of the declarative "page
persistence" markup in an .aspx page; it exists only as part
of the .aspx page, not in a personalization store like a
dynamic Web Parts control. Unlike a dynamic control, a static
control is added to an .aspx page on every request. A static
Web Parts control is always a shared control, which means
that although users can both personalize and "close" the
control when the page is in either shared or user scope, the
control can never be permanently deleted. See also:
personalization, personalization scope, shared control, Web
Parts control.
A clause that specifies the amount by which the loop counter
is incremented each time a For...Next loop is traversed. In
the following example, "Step 2" is the step clause: For
loopCounter = 1 to 100 Step 2
An XML-based language that is used to define the entity
types, associations, entity containers, entity sets, and
association sets of a storage model, often corresponding to a
database schema.
To adjust the size of an item to fit its container.

strong name

A name that consists of an assembly's identity-its simple text

name, version number, and culture information (if provided)strengthened by a public key and a digital signature
generated over the assembly. Because the assembly
manifest contains file hashes for all the files that constitute
the assembly implementation, it is sufficient to generate the
digital signature over just the one file in the assembly that
contains the assembly manifest. Assemblies with the same
strong name are expected to be identical. See also:
assembly, assembly manifest.

392

structure

A user-defined value type that, similar to a class, can contain

constructors, constants, fields, methods, properties,
indexers, operators, and nested types. Unlike classes,
however, structures do not support inheritance. See also:
class, field, indexer, nested type, property, value type.

393

structured
parallelism

In the Concurrency Runtime, parallel code that is scheduled

and finished in the lexical scope from which it starts. Under
the structured parallelism model, a task does not finish until
its child tasks finish.

394

subexpression

391

395

system class

396

tabbed docking
bar

397

tabbed group

398

table layout

399

table-per
hierarchy (TPH)

400

table-per-type
(TPT)

401

target framework

In regular expressions, a concatenation or an alternation,

depending on the regular expression grammar being used.
A class that the CIM Object Manager defines to support core
features such as event notification, security, and localization.
A system class is automatically defined in each namespace.
See also: CIM Object Manager.
The host control for a group of dockable windows. Once
docked, each window changes form, becoming a tab.
In a multiple document interface (MDI) application, a set of
child windows that have tab borders and are docked together
in the client area of the application. To undock a child
window from the group, drag it by its tab.
The layout of a form in which all elements are positioned in
cells within a table.
A method of modeling a type hierarchy in a database that
includes the attributes of all the types in the hierarchy in one
table.
A method of modeling a type hierarchy in a database that
uses multiple tables with one-to-one relationships to model
the various types.
The version of the .NET Framework or of Silverlight for which
a particular application has been created.

402

task group

In the Concurrency Runtime, a construct that enables

related, fine-grained tasks to be queued to a Task Scheduler.
A task group can be used to schedule tasks, wait for tasks to
finish, and cancel tasks that have not started.

403

Task Scheduler

In the Concurrency Runtime, a component that schedules

and coordinates tasks at run time. Sometimes referred to as
a scheduler.

In ASP.NET: A declarative page fragment that is used to

provide a visual interface for a templated ASP.NET server
control. A template contains presentation elements that
include literal text, HTML, and data-binding expressions, as
well as declarative syntax elements that represent ASP.NET
server controls.
The design-time access point to the Items Collection Editor
for a ToolStrip, MenuStrip, ContextMenuStrip, or StatusStrip
control.
In ASP.NET mobile controls: A collection of templates
associated with a templated control. See also: template,
templated control.
An ASP.NET server control that does not itself provide a
visual interface but allows its users (page developers) to
supply templates that provide a visual interface. When the
ASP.NET page parser encounters a templated control, it
parses the control's template and dynamically creates child
controls that supply the visual interface. The Repeater and
DataList ASP.NET server controls are templated controls. The
DataGrid control is not strictly a templated control, but uses
templates to customize its user interface. See also: ASP.NET
server control, template.

404

template

405

template node

406

template set

407

templated control

408

temporary
consumer

An event consumer that receives event notifications only

while the consumer is active. See also: permanent consumer.

409

text writer

In ASP.NET mobile controls: A mechanism that allows device

adapters to write their output through an object. A text
writer object is created from the TextWriter base class. See
also: device adapter.

410

theme

In ASP.NET, a collection of control properties, stylesheets,

and images that can be applied as a unit to a page or Web
site to define an overall appearance. See also: skin file.

thunk

A small section of code that performs a translation or

conversion during a call or indirection. For example, a thunk
is used to change the size or type of function parameters
when calling between 16-bit and 32-bit code.

411

412

tracing

413

transparency

The process of capturing and displaying debugging

information about a Web page as the page is running.
Tracing information includes HTTP headers and control state.
You can display trace output in the page or in a separate
trace viewer.
A security model that helps developers write and deploy
secure libraries and applications by isolating code depending
on privilege. Level 1 transparency was introduced in the .NET
Framework version 2.0. It enables developers to annotate
code to declare which types and members can perform
security elevations and other trusted actions (securitycritical) and which cannot (security-transparent). Level 2
transparency, which was introduced in the .NET Framework
4, refines this model. It adds a third group of code, securitysafe-critical code, which are types or members that access
secure resources and can be safely used by partially-trusted
code in the .NET Framework.

414

trust license

415

trusted
application

416

tunneling

417

tuple

418

type inference

419

type-safe

420

unboxing

421

Unicode

422

unicode escape
sequence

423

Uniform Resource
Identifier (URI)

424

Universal
Description,
Discovery, and
Integration
(UDDI)

425

unmanaged code

The file used in ClickOnce applications to grant an elevated

level of trust to a managed application. Trust licenses must
be signed by trust license issuers, which must be installed on
a client computer prior to deploying the ClickOnce
application.
In Silverlight, an out-of-browser application to which a user
grants elevated trust upon installation, providing greater
access to the local system. See also: elevated trust,
sandboxed application.
In Windows Presentation Foundation, an event routing
strategy where the event instance moves down the element
tree (starting at the root of the visual tree and ending with
the source). The names of events that use this routing
strategy are prefixed with the word "Preview". These events
have the same signature as their counterparts that use the
bubbling event routing strategy. See also: bubbling, event
routing.
An ordered collection of members that uniquely identifies a
cell, based on a combination of attribute members from
every attribute hierarchy in the cube.
A process in which the compiler determines the data type of
a local variable that has been declared without an explicit
data type declaration. The type is inferred from the initial
value provided for the variable.
Pertaining to programming languages that can exchange
information through commonly agreed upon definitions and
usage patterns for types.
The conversion of an object instance to a value type. See
also: boxing, value type.
A character-encoding standard developed by the Unicode
Consortium that represents almost all of the written
languages of the world. The Unicode character repertoire has
multiple representation forms, including UTF-8, UTF-16, and
UTF-32. Most Windows interfaces use the UTF-16 form.
In regular expressions, a backslash followed by the letter 'u'
followed by four hexadecimal digits. It matches a character in
the target sequence that has the value that is specified by
the four digits.
A character string used to identify a resource (such as a file)
from anywhere on the Internet by type and location. The set
of Uniform Resource Identifiers includes both Uniform
Resource Names (URNs) and Uniform Resource Locators
(URLs).
A specification for publishing and locating information about
Web services. It defines a standards-based way to store and
retrieve information about services, service providers,
binding information, and technical interface definitions, all
classified using a set of standard or custom classification
schemes.
Code that is executed directly by the operating system,
outside the .NET Framework common language runtime.
Unmanaged code must provide its own memory
management, type checking, and security support, unlike
managed code, which receives these services from the
common language runtime. See also: managed code.

426

unstructured
parallelism

427

user interface
virtualization

428

validation server
control

429

validator

430

value type

431

verb

432

verbs menu

In the Concurrency Runtime, parallel code that can start in

one context and finish in a different context. For example, a
set of tasks in a task group can start in one context, and then
finish in a different context.
In Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight, a
technique by which a subset of UI elements are generated
from a larger number of data items based on which items are
visible on the screen. Virtualization is a performance
enhancement, because it is intensive, both in terms of
memory and processor, to generate a large number of UI
elements when only a few may be on the screen at a given
time.
A server control, included with ASP.NET, that verifies user
input. The input is checked as it comes from HTML server
controls and Web server controls (for example, a Web page
form) against programmer-defined requirements. Validation
controls perform input checking in server code. If the user is
working with a browser that supports DHTML, the validation
controls can also perform validation using client script. See
also: ASP.NET server control, HTML server control, Web
server control.
See: validation server control.
A data type that is represented by the type's actual value. If
a value type is assigned to a variable, that variable is given a
fresh copy of the value. (This is in contrast to a reference
type, where assignment does not create a copy.) Value types
are usually created on a method's stack frame, rather than in
the garbage-collected heap. A value type can be boxed,
which is a process that creates a corresponding reference
type.
A user interface element in a Web Parts application that an
end user can click to perform actions such as closing,
minimizing, restoring, editing, or deleting a Web Parts
control. Developers can also add custom verbs to controls.
Web Parts verbs are based on the
System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPartVerb class.
See also: Web Parts control.
A menu in the title bar of a part control that contains various
verbs (UI actions that apply to an individual control) such as
Close, Minimize, Restore, Delete, Export, Edit, Help, and
others, as well as custom verbs implemented by developers.
See also: part control, verb.

433

verification

A part of the compilation process in which code is checked for

conformance to a specific set of rules defined to allow proof
of certain security requirements. The common language
runtime can verify Common Intermediate Language (CIL).

434

version policy

The rules that specify which version of dependent assemblies

to bind to. Version polices are expressed using configuration
files.

viewport

A virtual window, used for controls that display content,

through which all or part of the content is visible. A viewport
is typically used to display a particular portion of content
when all of the content will not fit in the available display
space. Compare to the extent size, which is the total width
and height of the content.

435

436

virtual address

437

virtual processor

438

virtual processor
root

439

virtualization

440

virtual-mode
data binding

441

visual manager

In a virtual memory system, the address the application uses

to reference memory. The kernel and the memory
management unit (MMU) translate this address into a
physical address before the memory is actually read or
written.
In the Concurrency Runtime, in the Task Scheduler, an
abstraction of a physical processing resource. Just one
context executes at any given time on a virtual processor.
Every scheduler instance contains a collection of virtual
processors, and every virtual processor maps to a virtual
processor root in the Resource Manager.
In the Concurrency Runtime, in the Resource Manager, an
abstraction of a physical processing resource. To enable
oversubscription of hardware threads, multiple virtual
processor roots can map to one physical processing resource.
See: user interface virtualization.
A type of data binding in which a data-bound control
retrieves only as many rows from the database as the user
will be able to see on the screen.
A class that provides support for changing the appearance of
an application at a global level.

442

visual tree

In Windows Presentation Foundation, the element tree

containing all visual elements (elements that derive from the
type System.Windows.Media.Visual) used for a piece of the
user interface. This tree is the accumulation of all visual
elements created directly by the application (whether in code
or in markup) and all visual elements created by the
template expansion of elements such as controls and data
objects. See also: logical tree.

443

WCF Data
Services

A component of the .NET Framework that enables the user to

create services that use the Open Data Protocol (OData) to
expose and consume data over the Web or intranet by using
the semantics of representational state transfer (REST).

444

Web deployment
package

445

Web Forms

446

Web method

447

448

A compressed (.zip) file or a folder that contains web site

files, that is used to deploy a web site in IIS.
The ASP.NET page framework, which consists of
programmable Web pages (called Web Forms pages) that
contain reusable server controls. See also: ASP.NET server
control.
A procedure that is exposed to Web service clients as an
operation that can be called on the Web service.

Web Parts

An integrated set of controls for creating Web sites that

enable end users to modify the content, appearance, and
behavior of Web pages directly from a browser.

Web Parts
connection

An association between two server controls residing in a

WebPartZoneBase zone that enables them to share data,
with one control acting as the provider of data and the other
control acting as the consumer. A connection is encapsulated
within a
System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPartConnection
object. See also: consumer, provider, zone.

449

Web Parts control

450

Web Parts control

set

451

Web Parts page

452

Web server
control

453

Web Services
Description
Language
(WSDL)

454

455

Web-Based
Enterprise
Management
(WBEM)
Windows
Communication
Foundation
(WCF)

456

Windows Forms

457

Windows Forms
Designer

458

Windows
Management
Instrumentation
(WMI)

459

Windows
Presentation
Foundation
(WPF)

460

Windows
Runtime

461

Windows
Runtime
component

A control that is part of the Web Parts control set. See also:
Web Parts control set.
The integrated set of ASP.NET software components that
provide personalization, structural components such as zones
and the WebPartManager control, Web Parts UI controls, and
other components for building Web Parts controls and
applications. See also: personalization, Web Parts control,
zone.
An ASP.NET Web page that includes Web Parts controls that
let users personalize the page, such as selecting the
information to display. See also: Web Parts control set.
An ASP.NET server control that belongs to the
System.Web.UI.WebControls namespace. Web server
controls are richer and more abstract than HTML server
controls. A Web server control has an asp tag prefix on an
ASP.NET page, such as <asp:Button runat="server" />. See
also: ASP.NET server control, HTML server control, validation
server control.
An XML format for describing Web services. WSDL allows
Web service providers and users of such services to work
together easily by enabling the separation of the description
of the abstract functionality offered by a service from
concrete details of a service description such as "how" and
"where" that functionality is offered.
An initiative undertaken by the Distributed Management Task
Force (DMTF) to provide enterprise system managers with a
standard solution for management.

A managed technology that is used to build and manage

service-oriented Windows systems.
A Microsoft .NET Framework programming model for
developing graphical user interfaces.
A tool that enables the rapid development of Windows-based
applications. It allows you to add controls to a form, arrange
them, and write code for their events.
The Microsoft extension to the Distributed Management Task
Force (DMTF) Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM)
initiative.
A new strategic graphics subsystem in Windows Vista that
provides a unified approach to user interface, 2D and 3D
graphics, documents and media. Built on the .NET
Framework foundation and utilizing Direct3D for vector-based
rendering, it provides a powerful solution for building
immersive applications of all kinds.
An environment in which COM objects are activated using a
fully qualified namespace and a class name within the
namespace. Also refers to the set of APIs that is provided by
the Windows Runtime. See also: Windows Runtime
component.
A reusable software component that can be used in multiple
applications, regardless of the programming languages in
which the applications are written. See also: Windows
Runtime.

462

Wireless
Application
Protocol (WAP)

A standard protocol for providing Internet communications

and advanced telephony services on phones, pagers, PDAs,
and other wireless terminals.

463

Wireless Markup
Language (WML)

An XML-based markup language used to specify content and

the user interface for narrowband devices, including cellular
phones and pagers. WML is part of WAP.

WMI class

A template for a type of managed object. WMI classes define

the basic units of management. For example, the
Win32_LogicalDisk class is a template for all logical disks
that occur in the Windows environment. In this case, WMI
uses the class template to generate an instance of
Win32_LogicalDisk for each disk installed on a computer.

465

word boundary

In regular expressions, a boundary that occurs when the

current character is at the beginning of the target string and
is one of the word characters A-Za-z0-9_, or when the
current character position is past the end of the target string
and the last character in the string is one of the word
characters, or when the current character is one of the word
characters and the preceding character is not, or when the
current character is not one of the word characters and the
preceding character is.

466

word boundary
assert

In regular expressions, an assert that matches when the

current position in the target string is immediately after a
word boundary.

467

workflow
application

468

world coordinate

A coordinate used to model a particular graphic world. See

also: page coordinate.

469

world
transformation

The transformation that converts world coordinates to page

coordinates. See also: page coordinate, world coordinate.

470

XML literal

A Visual Basic coding construct that enables direct

incorporation of XML into code, instead of requiring that it be
stored in a string.

471

XML schema
(XSD)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard language

used for creating XML schema documents. The XML schema
contains two parts: a set of predefined types (for example,
string, dateTime, decimal), and an XML language for defining
new types (for example, complexType, minOccurs, element).

472

XML Schema
Document

A specification that describes the complex types used in a

Web method and thereby enables interoperability between
clients and Web services built on different platforms by
adhering to a common type system, as defined by the W3C.

473

XML Web service

474

XSD Browser

464

A set of programs that aids in the tracking and management

of all the activities in a project from start to finish.

A unit of application logic providing data and services to

other applications that can invoke Web protocols.
In Visual Studio, an object browser that displays the
structure of XML schema definitions (XSD).

475

zone

A region that contains Web Parts controls on a page, and

provides layout management and a consistent UI for the
contained controls. A zone in the Web Parts control set is a
composite control that contains other controls and is
rendered as an HTML table. All Web Parts zones inherit from
System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebZone. See also:
Web Parts control.