If you use one server to develop your applications and another to deploy them, you probably have to change your database connection settings each time you deploy your configuration files. Learn a quick fix for this problem.

In development scenarios where you make multiple changes to the database, consider using transactions and, optionally, nesting transactions.

One of the many new libraries included with .NET 2.0 allows for compression and decompression of files using the gzip file format. Find out how to use it.

Tracing down errors in web applications and services is no easy task. To make it simpler, learn how to add trace statements to your code. They appear only when tracing is enabled on the web page or the web site.

If you use a return statement within a Try/Catch block, there's a behavior you need to be aware of in your code.

With the new ASP.NET 2.0 ClientScript manager object, you can implement a JavaScript function that puts your web site user's cursor into the first input text box on a form.