ASP.NET
The Rundown on ASP.NET MVC
by Joel Martinez - 31-Aug-09
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ASP.NET MVC is the latest web framework from Microsoft. This article will give an overview of the product, compare it with ASP.NET WebForms, and show you how easy it is to create functionality with the framework.
Rediscovering Microsoft
by Joel Martinez - 14-Aug-09
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When Adobe released Dreamweaver CS4, one of the features conspicuously missing from the feature list was the .NET server model. If you still use the Microsoft stack to develop and host web applications and sites and haven't looked at the latest tools from Microsoft, then this the perfect opportunity to get up to speed on the latest Microsoft tech.
In this article we will learn how to set up your development environment, and also about the latest frameworks that Microsoft has to offer, such as entity framework and asp.net mvc
Expression Web
by Heidi Bautista - 06-Feb-07
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Microsoft is seriously pursuing web designers these days, not just web developers. They already provide some pretty great authoring tools for developers. Visual Studio has been around forever but many designers find the design surface too ... minimal, shall we say. Visual Web Developer (VWD) Express Edition, the lighter-weight authoring tool introduced in 2005 is free, which is nice, but it's also targeted towards the developer audience.
Recently Microsoft launched a new initiative aimed at capturing the designer audience. Introducing Expression Studio: a suite of four products expressly designed for the web designer.
- Expression Web - web authoring design tool
- Expression Blend - user interface design tool that can incorporate multiple media types (vector and pixel art, video, audio, etc.)
- Expression Design - illustration and graphic design tool
- Expression Media - asset management tool, visually catalogues and organizes dozens of different media formats, based on the iView MediaPro product acquired by Microsoft in June, 2006.
This article reviews Expression Web - the web authoring tool included in Expression Studio.
Generate a Google Sitemap Using ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 17-Jan-07
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Google's Webmaster Tools include a way for you to specify a sitemap file. Then, when Google indexes your site, it includes all the pages listed in the sitemap. At first blush you're probably thinking that you'll just use an ASP.NET .sitemap. After all, it's easy to create. You may even already have a .sitemap file that lists all the pages that you would want Google to index. The bad news is that Google doesn't support the format of ASP.NET .sitemap files. Bertrand Le Roy to the rescue.
Read on to learn how to use Bertrand's HTTP handler to convert your ASP.NET .sitemap file to Google's own sitemap format. In addition, this article shows you how to modify the HTTP handler so that it can deal with any ASP.NET .sitemap file, not just the default Web.sitemap file. If your default Web.sitemap contains an incomplete list of site pages you'll want to modify Bertrand's HTTP handler and use it to tell Google about an alternate .sitemap file. Providing Google with a robust sitemap to your site increases your odds of having all pages from your site included in their index.
Are you Google-Friendly?
by Heidi Bautista - 05-Jan-07
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Is it possible to ensure that Google finds, crawls, and indexes your site? Well, no, there's no way to guarantee your site will be included in Google's index but you can make your site Google-friendly, thus improving your chances.
Google even provides the guidelines and tools. This article provides an overview of Google's Webmaster Tools and how you can use them to increase your Google-friendliness and in the process, hopefully, increase your ranking in the search results.
Added bonus for ASP.NET developers: learn about a freely available HTTP handler that converts your Web.sitemap to Google's preferred sitemap protocol.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 5
by Heidi Bautista - 27-Dec-06
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In this installment of the Using the asp:Calendar control series you'll build on the previous part that showed how to display information retrieved from a SQL Server database. In this part you'll learn how to add a OnSelectionChanged handler that displays additional details about the event(s) on the selected day.
Along the way, you'll learn about optimizing your application to enhancement its performance.
The asp:Calendar Control Series:
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 1 - introduction to the control, describes basic functions and defaults. Shows the control embedded on a page.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 2 - using the control in a popup page. Transferring the value from the popup to the main page.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 3 - allowing the user to select an entire week or month. Additional styling options to customize both the look of the calendar and how it functions.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 4 - displaying event data that's pulled from a database.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 5 - displaying additional details for event(s) on the selected day. Performance tuning, too.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 4
by Heidi Bautista - 08-Dec-06
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In this installment of the Using the asp:Calendar control series you'll learn how to add information retrieved from a SQL Server database to the Calendar control. Along the way, you'll learn how to use a parameter with the SqlDataSource control to refine the SELECT statement used to retrieve the data for the month currently displayed in the calendar. You'll also learn how to use a RowFilter to extract event data for a particular day. And, finally, you'll learn one technique for displaying the retrieved event data in your calendar.
There are lots of possibilities when it comes to displaying the data. This tutorial will show you how to use a Literal control to display and style the event title.
The asp:Calendar Control Series:
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 1 - introduction to the control, describes basic functions and defaults. Shows the control embedded on a page.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 2 - using the control in a popup page. Transferring the value from the popup to the main page.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 3 - allowing the user to select an entire week or month. Additional styling options to customize both the look of the calendar and how it functions.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 4 - displaying event data that's pulled from a database.
Why You Should Use HeaderTemplate and FooterTemplate in a Repeater
by Heidi Bautista - 08-Nov-06
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When it's possible to accomplish a goal in multiple ways, how do you decide which pattern to follow? In this article we'll explore one such conundrum: Let's say you have an asp:repeater than repeats the data using an unordered list. The question is: Where do you put the open and close ul elements? Do you really need a header and footer template? The answer is: yes! Sure, it sounds simple (and it is) but the example demonstrates an important coding practice that good programmers should recognize.
ColdFusion Code-Behind: Mimicking .NET's Page Directive
by Chaz Chumley - 19-Oct-06
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Microsoft's ASP.NET has given the development community a nice object oriented programming model with its introduction of Code-Behind files. Simply spoken, these are C# or VB.NET files that contain the physical code for wiring up events or actions such as Page Load, button clicks, etc. that the ASP.NET template calls from the very first line of code called a Page Directive.
The power of separating the presentational layout from the actual framework allows developers and designers to work separately from one another. This is very useful in large development teams. Taking a page from this concept we can achieve the same flexibility in ColdFusion by using CFCs and invoking them from the ColdFusion template on every page request.
Join me as I take you through an explanation of how this concept works and hopefully bridge the gap between any Microsoft .NET developers wanting to learn ColdFusion in creating a ColdFusion Code-Behind.
Atlas: UpdatePanel - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 11-Oct-06
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The UpdatePanel class, available in Atlas, enables partial page updates. That means that you can specify the portion of the page that needs updating, based on some event being fired. For example, let's say you have a paged GridView along with all sorts of text, graphics, and nav links on your page. When the user clicks one of the GridView's page links the page posts back to get the data. The ideal situation would be for the GridView to be updated but everything else on the page to stay exactly the same and not be repainted or flicker or change in the least. The Atlas UpdatePanel control provides this functionality. And, it's remarkably easy to use, too.
ASP.NET v2.0 - Using the SiteMapDataSource and Menu Controls
by Heidi Bautista - 15-Sep-06
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Constructing menus for navigation is a really common task. Version 2.0 of the ASP.NET Framework provides all sorts of tools to make this task easier. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create a multi-level menu using the
Getting Started with Atlas
by Heidi Bautista - 06-Sep-06
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Just about everyone has heard of AJAX, right? The acronym stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. One of the problems with AJAX is that many people found it difficult to use. Microsoft developed Atlas, in part, to address that issue. Atlas is an extension of ASP.NET. You don't have to use ASP.NET to leverage Atlas functionality, but I think you'll find that it's convenient to do so. In addition to the server-side controls, Atlas also comes with sophisticated client script libraries, saving you the labor of writing your own JavaScript.
In this first tutorial we'll download and install Atlas. Later tutorials will explore using Atlas to perform asynchronous postbacks (via the UpdatePanel). This is arguably the best feature of Atlas. You can have a form on your page and when the user hits the submit button, instead of the entire page posting back, just the form does. That means that the page's contents are still visible. The only disruption to the page is the contents of the form. A lot more user-friendly, eh? Atlas boasts other cool features, too, that will be explained in later installments.
ASP.NET Application Folders
by Heidi Bautista - 25-Aug-06
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If you've worked with ASP.NET version 2.0 sites, you've probably seen folders like App_Themes and App_Data. But what are they and how are they used? Read on to find out.
ASP.NET and Several Methods for Updating a Last Modified Date
by Joann Lavrich - 28-Jul-06
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"Created on" and "Last modified" dates are commonly included objects on web pages. This can be quite useful in determining when the last time content was added to a web site. On the other hand, determining when the page was modified may be specifically for the information within the page itself either being entered or modified from a database or some other data source. Tracking changes to a web page can be from a variety of sources. The following methods are discussed: setting the last modified in Dreamweaver; using SQL queries to return the last modified date or current date; using the DateTime object; and setting the file timestamps in code.
File Uploading in ASP.NET - Part 3
by Heidi Bautista - 12-Jul-06
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The File Uploading in ASP.NET series has covered the following aspects so far:
- Part 1 - upload three files at the same time and allow the user to change the filename before the upload occurs.
- Part 2 - upload a single file and then insert the name of the uploaded file into the database.
In Part 3 we'll upload a single file again but this time we'll automatically rename the file after uploading it. We'll use the Stored Procedure server behavior rather than the Insert Record server behavior (used in Part 2) so that we can insert the row and change the filename in a single round trip to the database.
Along the way you'll get a chance to use the File and Path classes, both from the System.IO namespace and you'll see another example of controlling the execute of the MM:DataSet using its Expression attribute.
The File Uploading in ASP.NET Series:
File Uploading in ASP.NET - Part 1
File Uploading in ASP.NET - Part 2
File Uploading in ASP.NET - Part 3
CMX SendEmail User Control for ASP.NET Sites
by Heidi Bautista - 05-Jul-06
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This article introduces you to the CMX SendEmail user control. Drop the control on your .aspx page and you immediately have a CSS-styleable contact form for your website.
The CMX SendEmail user control's ease of use is especially convenient when you're working with designers who are comfortable using tags but may not be familiar with code. Even if you're a hardcore programmer you may still find the control convenient since it effectively separates presentation from business/logic.
File Uploading in ASP.NET - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 16-Jun-06
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In this tutorial, we'll extend the file uploading paradigm to include simultaneously updating the database to record the name of the uploaded file. Of course, it only makes sense to update the database if the file upload was successful. So we'll first upload the file and then update the database, if appropriate, using the Insert Record server behavior.
Code is presented in C# and VB.
The File Uploading with .NET Series:
File Uploading with ASP.NET
File Uploading in ASP.NET - Part 2
File Uploading with ASP.NET - Part 3
Converting from C# to VB
by Heidi Bautista - 05-Jun-06
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Face it. All programmers have a favorite language. And, we're usually pretty vehement about why it's the best choice, too! But it can be a real problem when you're searching for examples and all you find is code written in the other language! This article introduces you to a free online (and downloadable) tool that does a pretty good job of converting C# code into VB. The article also includes general and DW-specific tips to keep in mind when converting code by hand.
Using the asp:Panel Control to Simplify Complex Forms
by Heidi Bautista - 26-May-06
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In this tutorial you'll learn an easy method to break up long, tedious forms so that the user finds them easier to fill out and you have just a single file to maintain. The form elements are nested inside of asp:Panel controls so that you can show one panel at a time and hide the rest. The best part of this approach is that you don't have to worry about maintaining state. The ASP.NET Framework takes care of that for you. Even across multiple post backs. That allows you to refer to controls nested in hidden panels. Very convenient.
Another CSS Picker in ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 10-May-06
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This article will show you an easy way to dynamically link to different CSS stylesheets based on practically any criteria you wish, for example, you can specify one stylesheet for IE users, another for FireFox users, and still another for all other browsers. This technique is particularly useful if your page renders differently in the various browsers and you need to make them consistent.
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
by Heidi Bautista - 01-May-06
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In this installment, we'll look at using the PasswordRecovery control. As you might guess this control is handy for users who have forgotten their passwords. The functionality baked into this control is fully integrated with the membership provider we've been working with all along. For example, the user registration page discussed in Parts 1 and 5 uses the CreateUserWizard control, which includes a security question and answer. The PasswordRecovery control uses that security question/answer in conjunction with the username to verify the identity of the user and then emails the password to the user.
This tutorial will show you how to use the PasswordRecovery control with passwords that hashed, encrypted, or stored as clear text. Along the way you'll learn how to how to set up the mail settings in the web.config so that the password can be emailed to the user.
The Exploring ASP.NET v2 Series:
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
Extending the ASP.NET AdRotator
by Joel Martinez - 24-Apr-06
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ASP.NET's ad rotator control allows you to easily implement an ad campaign on your site. Unfortunately,
the basic functionality of the built in control limits its uses because you can only have regular image-based
ads. So to get around the problem, this article shows you how to use the
In addition to instructions on how to use the custom server control, the article also offers insight
into the construction of the server control. You will learn concepts such as object oriented programming,
and software design patterns.
The code is presented in C# and ASP.NET 2.0 ... though some time is spent on discussion on how to get
it running under ASP.NET 1.1
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
by Heidi Bautista - 17-Apr-06
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The previous installment of this series described how to customize the
The Exploring ASP.NET v2 Series:
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
Creating a ZIP File Backup of Your Website in ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 05-Apr-06
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This tutorial will show you how to backup a web site by creating a zip file that contains all files in the site. This task is made considerably simpler because of a cool, open source library available from ICSharpCode called #ziplib (pronounced sharp zip lib). I originally used this library to automate the backup for a bank site but there are endless possibilities when you stop to consider that this library allows you to create and add to an archive, as well as unpack the archive. This tutorial creates a ZIP file, but the library supports other formats, too, including GZip, Tar and BZip2.
The sample application automatically creates the zip file such that it contains every file in the website. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use the DirectoryInfo and FileInfo classes to recurse through the site and then use the #ZipLib classes to add the files to zip archive.
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard Control
by Heidi Bautista - 28-Mar-06
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In this tutorial you'll learn about the CreateUserWizard control. Specifically, you'll see how this control is part of Microsoft's answer to handling navigation and state management in multi-step forms. You'll learn how to customize the contents in each of the two steps of the CreateUserWizard control, as well as how to customize the submit buttons in both steps. You'll see a real-life example of styling these forms using CSS. And you'll learn how to use many of the CreateUserWizard control's attributes; how to incorporate ASP.NET validator controls to ensure that the user enters proper information in each textbox; how to require a unique user name (a common feature of registration forms); how to automatically generate strong passwords (always a good idea); and how to create disabled user accounts and then enable those accounts using VWD's ASP.NET web site administration tool.
The Exploring ASP.NET v2 Series:
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
ASP.NET v2.0 - Using the SqlDataSource and GridView Controls
by Heidi Bautista - 17-Mar-06
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In this tutorial you'll learn how to connect to the SQL Server database using VWD and how to get the connection string needed for the web.config. You'll learn how to use the SqlDataSource control to retrieve data from a SQL Server database. You'll see how the SqlDataSource can be used with a SELECT statement and with a stored procedure. And you'll learn how to create a SqlDataSource with or without parameters. You'll learn how to tell data-bound controls (DropDownList and GridView) where to get the data with which to populate the controls. Last but not least you'll learn how the process of getting data and binding the data to controls in ASP.NET v2.0 (and VWD) differs from the way you did it in DW with ASP.NET v1.1.
Extending the ASP.NET URL Rewriter
by Joel Martinez - 09-Mar-06
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In this installment of the ASP.NET URL Rewriting series, we're going to extend the URL rewriting to
use Regular Expressions to evaluate and rewrite the URL. The regular expressions will be easily maintained
by editing the web.config file.
Code is presented in C#
The ASP.NET URL Rewriter Series:
Simple URL Rewriting with ASP.NET
Extending the ASP.NET URL Rewriter
Convert an Existing Site to Use ASP.NET Master Pages and Themes
by Heidi Bautista - 22-Feb-06
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One of the great advantages in ASP.NET v2.0 is the introduction of master pages and themes. This tutorial presents a practical example of converting an existing site to use master pages and themes. Our example site is the Community MX North Pole JumpStart. You'll learn how to chop up the code to create the master page, where to put the theme files and how to modify the existing css file so that it works well with the theme. It's actually a very quick process and one that can be adapted to any JumpStart offered by Community MX.
Approximate download size: 320k
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login Control
by Heidi Bautista - 16-Feb-06
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In this part of the Exploring ASP.NET v2 series you'll learn how to customize the asp:Login control using VWD's built-in "chrome" feature, which allows you to convert the control to use a layout template. This allows for much greater flexibility in the look of the login form. Plus you can replace the auto-generated table markup with more accessible and css-friendly code that you provide. This article also discusses several of the login control's attributes, such as the "Remember me next time" checkbox, pages to redirect to upon success of failure, and form validation error messages.
The Exploring ASP.NET v2 Series:
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
Simple URL Rewriting with ASP.NET
by Joel Martinez - 15-Feb-06
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You've seen them before, the URLs with a querystring (the stuff after the ?) a mile long. There's no way the user will ever hope to remember that URL without bookmarking it. And what's worse, search engines don't seem to like following those links if they're too long. Ever since people started making dynamic websites, they have been in love with the querystring. But it's time to break free, take a stand, and start making our URLs simple, and easy to remember.
This article shows you how to create an ASP.NET HTTP Handler that will automatically redirect traffic from a nice URL, to one with querystring parameters behind the scenes without letting the user know what's going on. This allows you to use the same tried and true techniques for creating web applications that you've gotten used to, while at the same time giving your users the kind of URL Experience they deserve (did I just say URL Experience?).
Code is presented in C# and runs under ASP.NET 2.0
The ASP.NET URL Rewriter Series:
Simple URL Rewriting with ASP.NET
Extending the ASP.NET URL Rewriter
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
by Heidi Bautista - 03-Feb-06
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Ready to deploy your v2 app? This article will show you how to graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS.
In this part of the Exploring ASP.NET v2 series you'll learn how to use SQL Server 2000 instead of SQL Server 2005 Express to store the data needed for membership, roles, profiles, and personalization. The Express edition is great for development but it's not appropriate for deployment. This article shows you how to create the database, configure and populate it. In addition, you'll learn how to use IIS instead of Cassini to test and debug your pages.
The Exploring ASP.NET v2 Series:
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
Approximate download size: 506k
Creating A Swear Filter in ASP.NET
by Joel Martinez - 31-Jan-06
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Lets face it, the web is a jungle. If your site allows end users to supply content (such as message boards, or blog comments), you must assume that anything and everything will be supplied. This is obviously an issue depending on what/who your site is about. One of the most common solutions for this issue is to filter out swear words. Unfortunately, most of the implementations I've seen (and sadly, done) have mostly been hacked together at the last minute and certainly not reusable.
This article shows you how to create an ASP.NET control that is as simple to use as placing a tag around your content. Regardless of how your content was generated, whether dynamic, or a collection of other controls, anything. The filter is easily maintained in the web.config file so maintenance is a breeze.
Code is presented in C#.
Using ASP.NET 2.0's ObjectDataSource
by Joel Martinez - 26-Jan-06
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ASP.NET 2.0 has introduced a slew of new functionality. One of the most compelling features is the
new bindable DataSources. Using a declarative programming model that has in the past made ColdFusion developers
very popular, the new
DataSource controls allow you to expose data from various sources including Databases, XML, and the focus of this
article -- Custom objects.
The ObjectDataSource allows you to point at a custom object, which subsequently lets other bindable controls
such as DropDownList and GridView controls automatically bind and manipulate your objects just by setting
a few properties on a tag. The range of options available to you makes this declarative programming model
quite an attractive option.
This article will show you how to create a custom class, and subsequently link that to GridView and FormView
controls. These controls will give you full create, read, update, and delete functionality, all with just no code written.
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
by Heidi Bautista - 20-Jan-06
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Part 2 of the series exploring ASP.NET v2 membership tags, the MS Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, and the Cassini web server. The emphasis of this part is using the built-in ASP.NET Web Site Administration tool to enable roles and create access rules such that certain folders are protected from unauthorized access.
The Exploring ASP.NET v2 Series:
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
Running PHP under ASP.NET??
by Joel Martinez - 16-Jan-06
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I won't lie, I am a Microsoft lover. Their technology has been paying my salary for just about my entire career, and C# totally rocks in my quite humble opinion. But that being said, any programmer worth their salt knows that a specific technology is nothing more than a tool. If a given situation could be solved more efficiently with the use of non-Microsoft technology, then its your responsibility to investigate and (potentially) use said technology.
This article is going to review a nifty little project called Phalanger. Installing this on your ASP.NET web server allows you to deploy PHP code, even full applications like phpBB. Behind the scenes, the PHP code will be compiled to .NET code and run as an ASP.NET application.
The best thing about it is that you can, from PHP script, access .NET code (in your language of choice), and vice-versa. So if you have a nifty function written in PHP, you can use it in your .NET application. The Developers tout impressive performance improvements over the native PHP environement so this makes Phalanger an attractive target for your application platform.
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
by Heidi Bautista - 09-Jan-06
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This is the first article in what promises to be a long and fruitful series focusing on the ASP.NET 2.0 membership tags. Along the way you'll learn about Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition (VWD), the Cassini web server, and Sql Server 20005 Express.
The v2 membership tags greatly simplify what in v1.1 was a relatively complicated task. With a handful of controls you get the user interface, event handling, and database needed for all types of user authentication scenarios. This article includes registration and login pages written in C#.
The Exploring ASP.NET v2 Series:
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
ASP.NET Ad Manager
by Joel Martinez - 04-Jan-06
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ASP.NET has a really useful control, the <asp:AdRotator>, which allows you to specify a number of banner ads in an xml file. The control will then take care of the dirty work of displaying the banner ads. Unfortunately, the very fact that the configuration for the control is kept in an XML file
sort of discourages people from using it. I mean, who wants to break open the FTP connection just to update a small configuration file.
The download accompanied with this article is a web interface for this ad xml file. It dynamically builds the display from the contents of the XML file, and allows you to update existing ads, delete ads, or add new ones.
The code is written in C# and ASP.NET 2.0 so that we can take advantage of advanced features such as C# generics.
Creating a Simple Blog: Part 6
by Tom Muck - 22-Dec-05
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There have been five parts in the series on creating a simple blog. The first five parts focused on creating basic functionality to get a basic blog up and running using simple Dreamweaver design tools. This part will show how to incorporate the functionality into a more complex design — specifically, the latest CMX Jumpstart — Inverness. This tutorial will be equally applicable to ColdFusion, ASP, PHP, ASP.NET, or JSP because we will be using standard Dreamweaver server behaviors to create
the blog. In the course of merging the dynamic blog into the design, you'll learn the following about merging content with design in general — how to find repeating items and make them dynamic, how to separate parts of an existing design into a module.
- Creating a Simple Blog: Part 1 22-Mar-04
- Creating a Simple Blog: Part 2 30-Mar-04
- Creating a Simple Blog: Part 3 14-Apr-04
- Creating a Simple Blog: Part 4 25-May-04
- Creating a Simple Blog: Part 5 26-Apr-05
Writing an Online Compiler with ASP. NET 2.0
by Joel Martinez - 14-Dec-05
Reader Level:
Have you ever found yourself at your cousin's farm needing to recompile your .NET website over their Linux based 56k modem? Perhaps you don't have Visual Studio.NET? Or maybe, you simply want an easy way to give .NET a try.
Well, your problems are solved. The download accompanied by this article includes an ASP.NET page that will allow you to compile .net code in either C# or VB.NET. The resulting
binary file will reside in the web application's root directory where you can download it to your local computer.
The online compiler is written in C# and ASP.NET.
The Meaning of ~ (tilde)
by Heidi Bautista - 02-Dec-05
Reader Level:
The inventors of ASP.NET took a different approach to solving the problems
inherent in using absolute and relative URLs. They introduced the concept of
tilde. The simplest, briefest definition of tilde is that it is the root of
the application. The root of a website is, by definition an application
root, but not all application roots are site roots. Huh? Yeah, the
explanation gets a little hairy, but once the concept sinks in, I think
you'll agree you'll begin to wonder how you ever lived without tilde.
AJAX Auto-Save
by Joel Martinez - 29-Nov-05
Reader Level:
Imagine this ... you're working on typing out a large piece of text into a web form. Halfway through, you try to minimize the browser but instead close it instead. Congratulations, you've just lost all of your work.
One possible solution is to give the user a save button where they could periodically save their work. Unfortunately, when it comes to usability, you cannot assume or expect that the user will do anything. If the user doesn't remember to click save, then all of the development time you spent on that save feature will be wasted. But what if you could save it on their behalf?
AJAX To The Rescue!
Using AJAX.NET, this article will show you how to implement an auto-save feature that will periodically save their document. Other popular products already do this, just look at Microsoft Word, and Google's Gmail.
Sample code is presented in C#.
Bayesian Filtering for the Rest of Us
by Joel Martinez - 18-Nov-05
Reader Level: 
Math, I don't know about you guys, but I could not stand it when I was in school. Well, hindsight being 20/20 and all, I have now learned in my old age as a programmer that math plays a big part n modern systems. Specifically, I have recently been digging into the implementation of Bayesian Spam Filters, a statistical method of determining whether an incoming email is spam or not. To be more specific, here's what Wikipedia has to say about Bayesian Spam Filters:
Bayesian email filters take advantage of Bayes' theorem. Bayes' theorem, in the context of spam, says that the probability that an email is spam, given that it has certain words in it, is equal to the probability of finding those certain words in spam email, times the probability that any email is spam, divided by the probability of finding those words in any email
The interesting thing about this method of classification is that it learns over time. The more you train it in how to differentiate spam from "ham", the better it gets at doing its job. The very idea that an application can take a look at an arbitrary piece of data like an email, and know what to do with it intrigues me.
By writing applications that learn over time and make decisions based on context, the art of application development is taken to the proverbial next level. The purpose of this article is to abstract the messy details of the implementation and give you cold hard code that you can implement in your own projects.
Code is presented in C#
Using Disk Files As the Data Source for a DropDownList, ListBox, CheckBoxList, or RadioButtonList
by Heidi Bautista - 18-Nov-05
Reader Level:
This tutorial demonstrates how you can create a data source from a list of files on the server and bind that data source to four different controls: DropDownList, ListBox, CheckBoxList, or RadioButtonList.
Searching for Data Using Wildcards in a Stored Procedure
by Heidi Bautista - 09-Nov-05
Reader Level:
This tutorial demonstrates how to create an ASP.NET page that searches for data in specific columns of a table. The technique described has the added advantage that the user can enter just a fragment corresponding to the data that resides in the table. You'll learn how to use the LIKE keyword and % wildcard in a stored procedure. And you'll see how the use of three Dreamweaver server behaviors nearly eliminates the need for you to write any code yourself!
Using the MM:If Custom Control on ASP.NET pages
by Heidi Bautista - 20-Oct-05
Reader Level:
The <MM:If> custom control included in DreamweaverCtrls.dll is handy when you need a quick and dirty way to show/hide a section of your page. It has limitations, which we'll get into, but on the positive side, it's very easy to use. This article discusses how to use the <MM:If> control, where it works well and where it fails, and how the <asp:Panel> control can be used when the <MM:If> is unsuitable.
CSS Picker in ASP.NET
by Joel Martinez - 12-Oct-05
Reader Level:
The first time I came across a site that allowed you to select your own stylesheet, I was amazed at the stunning
simplicity of the technique, and the powerful effect it could have on the user experience. Seeing as how ASP.NET is
my server language of choice, I wanted to show how easy it was to implement this functionality in your very own site.
This article will show you how to create a CSS picker with ASP.NET using a Session variable and an HttpHandler. Code
is presented in C# and you do not need a compiler to run the sample provided with the article.
Reusing Code with AJAX.NET
by Joel Martinez - 07-Oct-05
Reader Level:
Asynchronous Javascript using XMLHttpRequest (AJAX) allows your client side code (i.e., Javascript) to make HTTP requests to the server. This opens up many opportunities to develop your software not only faster, but smarter. Code reuse has long been a tenet of Object Oriented programming. With AJAX, you can reuse code that you have written on the server-side which allows you to:
- Have less bugs since you only have to write the code once.
- Provide your users with more complex functionality.
- Access resources otherwise unavailable to your Javascript code
This article will show one such example of code-reuse. We will build a front-end to a fictional Paid Time Off (PTO) system. This system will have server-side code that takes two dates and figures out how many work hours are between the two dates -- taking into account holidays and weekends. We will then incorporate this into a client-side "hours preview" function that allows the employee to see how many work hours their request will span.
ASP.NET code will be written in C# and you will not need a compiler to run the samples.
Related Articles:
Try/Catch and Exception Handling
by Heidi Bautista - 16-Sep-05
Reader Level:
Using try/catch blocks in your code is easier than you might think. Plus, it's good coding practice. Pairing try/catch with proper exception handling can help to make your application more reliable, robust, and easier to maintain. This article introduces the concepts of exception handling and the try/catch using C#, but the principles apply to all .NET languages.
Visualizing Data with Google Maps
by Joel Martinez,CMX - 13-Sep-05
Reader Level:
"Where in the World is
Carmen Sandiego", "Where's Waldo" ... What do these childhood books/games/shows have in common? The desire to geographically locate someone (or something). Whether it's a customer trying to find a specific store location, or a business attempting to understand the demographics of its customer base,this is a problem domain that has long intrigued the human race.
Google Maps has succeeded in creating a fantastic mapping
product that arguably trumps the
others in the field. The best thing about Google Maps is that they have opened up their API
for people to innovate with. Several examples include Chicago Crime and
MyWikiMap (formerly Cheap Gas). These are sites that have some set of data that lends itself
well to geographic visualization.
This article will walk you through the process I took to write a Google Maps application that displays all of the members in
my .NET usergroup for the purpose of demographic
analysis. You will be able to download an easily customizable console application written in C# and instructions on how to integrate
the result into a fully functional Google map that you can deploy to your website.
Now, you might ask yourself, "Why a console application, why not a .NET page that could be run to generate the actual JavaScript Google needs?" ...
a fine question to be sure, unfortunately, the data retrieval process I describe in the tutorial involves contacting a third party website who's performance
does not lend itself to being used in a production environment ... especially if the amount of data you have to display is significant. With a console
application, you can run your data retrieval process manually and it doesn't matter how long it takes to grab all of the data.
Understanding ASP.NET's ViewState - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 31-Aug-05
Reader Level:
ViewState is one of the great things about ASP.NET. It is responsible for keeping track of the values of the controls in your form such that when the page is posted back to the server, the values in the controls are retained. To fully appreciate the usefulness of viewstate, cast your memory back to when you used classic ASP to code web pages with forms. You had to explicitly set the values for the form elements in order for them to display the same values they had when the form was submitted. ViewState automatically handles this chore for us. By default, no less!
Of course, it's not as simple as that. Nothing, it seems, in ASP.NET is. In this article, we'll begin exploring the nuances.
Getting Started with GotDotNet Workspaces
by Joel Martinez - 29-Aug-05
Reader Level:
Project management is a topic that can, and will, have volumes upon volumes written about it. In the software field, those with years of experience will tell you that one of the most basic and useful parts of the software development process is a good source control management system.
The topic has been covered before here on CMX by our very own Arman Danesh in his 5 part series:
Using Source Code Management Software
GotDotNet Workspaces) is a unique service offered by Microsoft. My aim with this article isn't to extoll the virtues of using source control software, it is to expose the masses to the fact that such a wonderful tool exists. A few short months ago (as of this writing), they revised the software behind it so it's even faster than before (a common complaint when they first came out).
In the past, when you thought of hosted source control, the first (and just about only) thing that popped to mind was Sourceforge. Now, there are two drawbacks there:
- You've got to use CVS which, while it works, I can't say it's the most userfriendly product on the market.
- Sourceforge has to review and approve your project ... so they might just say no.
With the Workspaces, a few short clicks and you've got yourself a workspace!
Uploading Files with ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 24-Aug-05
Reader Level:
In this article you'll learn how to upload files to your web server using ASP.NET. Back in the old classic ASP days, this was a fairly difficult job. Not anymore!
Read on to learn how to upload one or multiple files, all files types or just certain kinds (based on the MIME type), and how to save the file using the original name or a user-specified name.
The code is presented in C# and VB.
The File Uploading with .NET Series:
File Uploading with ASP.NET
File Uploading in ASP.NET - Part 2
File Uploading with ASP.NET - Part 3
ASP.NET 2.0 - Master Pages
by Joel Martinez - 18-Aug-05
Reader Level:
I remember the first website "job" I ever had. My uncle had a small sci-fi collectibles shop and wanted to sell his wares online. I jumped at the chance because I was quickly learning that without experience, I'd never be able to get a paid gig, and without a gig, I would never be able to get experience.
So there I was, webmaster of my very own website. I quickly set off creating product pages for every type of merch he sold: Star wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Comics ... he had quite the stock. Everything was going peachy until he wanted to change the layout of the site. That thrust me into a week long project of changing every page, for every product. It was hell. And To top it off, once I was done he happened to be moving his shop's location which meant I had to update the address on Every. Single. Page.
What does this have to do with anything you might care about? Well, fast forward a few years to the here and now. Microsoft is about to release v2.0 of it's ASP.NET platform. One of the new features, and star of this article, is Master Pages.
Well, perhaps "new" is a misnomer. Originally created by a third-party developer when ASP.NET was first released, Master pages is now baked into the platform proper. It works by allowing you to define templates. Within these templates you define zones which implementing pages will fill with gobs and gobs of wonderful content. One quick change to the template, and you can have that address updated in a matter of seconds.
The code presented in this article only requires that you have a webserver running the latest version of ASP.NET 2.0. No compilation is needed to get up and running.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 3
by Heidi Bautista - 16-Aug-05
Reader Level:
Further exploration of the asp:Calendar control. This part in the series shows you how to set up the calendar to allow the user to select a whole week or the entire month. You'll learn how to get the date(s) selected by the user. Plus, you'll learn quite a bit more about styling this versatile control.
The asp:Calendar Control Series:
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 1
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 2
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 3
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 4
ASP.NET Windows Authentication
by Joel Martinez - 03-Aug-05
Reader Level:
When ASP.NET was introduced, it brought with it a fantastic way of securing your applications; Forms authentication ... a topic CMX has written about often.This allows you to dictate what users and/or groups have access to what directories in your application. And the great thing about this was that it was very simple to set up. This article is going to cover one specific method of authentication that ASP.NET offers; Windows authentication. You will normally find this in an internal network environment using Active Directory to handle users. As the size of your organization grows, you will find this sort of thing is more common than in your smaller businesses. ASP.NET offers unprecedented support for this environment (after all, it's all Microsoft) and as such, I will show you just how easy it is to configure things to run in such an environment.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 25-Jul-05
Reader Level:
Further exploration of the asp:Calendar control. This part in the series places the calendar in a popup window and shows you how to transfer the selected date to the main window by handling the SelectionChanged event.
The asp:Calendar Control Series:
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 1
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 2
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 3
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 4
ASP.NET 2.0: Generic Collections
by Joel Martinez - 19-Jul-05
Reader Level:
One of the biggest problems that .NET 1.1 had was that its collections, for the sake of versatility, only dealt with the object data type. This way, you could store any data in there, from int to string, and the class would behave the same. Unfortunately, this created several issues ... from a usage perspective, it was unwieldy because you always had to cast the object back into usable form when you accessed it. And in some situations, this casting would cause performance issues, particularly when relating to value types.
With Generic collections, all of those problems go away because generics allow you to create customized "versions" of your generic template classes. So if you want your class to be able to interact with an int as easily as it interacts with a string, you can easily create a generic class with a placeholder type.
This article will cover the new Generic collection features in C# 2.0 which will help reduce your development time and increase your application's performance.
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 13-Jul-05
Reader Level:
The asp:Calendar control provides tons of built-in functionality that's quick and easy to leverage. Make your web pages even more professional-looking by allowing your users to input dates by selecting from a user-friendly calendar. Here in Part 1 you'll get a solid introduction to the control: how to add it to your page, how to customize the look of it, and most importantly, how to use the selected date.
The asp:Calendar Control Series:
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 1
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 2
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 3
Using the asp:Calendar Control - Part 4
Base64 Encoding
by Joel Martinez - 12-Jul-05
Reader Level:
Your boss comes up to you, says that the requirements on the latest project have changed. You are now required to include an employee badge photo along with your company's replication feed. "But sir, the replication feed is an XML file ... how are we going to get an image into that?".
Enter Base64 Encoding. Though it doesn't come up every day, it's usefulness is undeniable, and your toolbox will be all the better for containing it. Code presented in this article will be in ASP.NET, Coldfusion, and PHP. We will discuss some situations where Base64 encoding will come in handy.
Sending Email From Your ASP.NET Application - Part 4
by Heidi Bautista - 28-Jun-05
Reader Level:
In this installment of the ASP.NET email series, you'll learn how to send messages that include text and/or binary attachments.
The Sending Email From Your ASP.NET Application Series
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Using the ASP.NET Insert Record Server Behavior - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 10-Jun-05
Reader Level:
This article picks up where Part 1 left off. You'll get a better understanding of how to use the Insert Record server behavior with datatypes other than just strings and you'll learn how to add the necessary modifications to the MM:Insert tag so that it handles the ASP.NET validators that have been added to the form. The sample pages are provided in C# and VB.NET.
Custom Objects with AJAX.NET
by Joel Martinez - 10-Jun-05
Reader Level:
Watching the development of the
AJAX.NET wrapper over the last few weeks has been a real treat. Many many new
features and enhancements have been added since
the last time I wrote about it. In this Tutorial, I'll show you how to pass custom business objects to and fro from server to client. By being able to move business objects back and forth from the server, AJAX.NET
allows you to design your application using object oriented techniques. If done
right, it could lead to tremendous productivity gains.
Code is presented in C# and no compiler is needed to use the techniques described within.
Using the ASP.NET Insert Record Server Behavior - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 31-May-05
Reader Level:
This article shows you how to use the Insert Record server behavior to take data collected with a form and insert it into a table in a SQL Server database. It's fast and easy. You're likely to spend more time styling the form than doing the coding!
ASP.NET Snippet - ShortenString
by Heidi Bautista - 13-May-05
Reader Level:
Snippets on ASP.NET pages are great time-savers. This tutorial uses a snippet called ShortenString. The snippet contains a function wrapped in a server-side script block. ShortenString takes a long string and shortens it to a practical length. The tutorial includes the snippet (in C# and VB.NET) plus sample pages that use the snippet in an editable DataGrid. Rather than displaying a long cumbersome text block, the DataGrid shows abbreviated versions of the strings. Thus, the DataGrid takes up less space on the page and is easier to read. In edit mode, the DataGrid shows the complete, unabbreviated string in a multi-line textbox.
AJAX.NET
by Joel Martinez - 06-May-05
Reader Level:
AJAX, it's the hottest thing since sliced bread right now. It stands for Asynchronous Javascript using XMLHttpRequest and the basic premise of it is that you can call serverside code from client side javascript without reloading the page. In essence, this gives almost limitless powers (as far as programming languages go) to the little script that could. The canonical example that started the whole craze was Google Suggest, where search results show up as you type.
In this article, I'm going to discuss a novel product (AJAX.NET) which is thankfully free, that takes all the guesswork out of creating AJAX applications. The code is presented in C# and you will not need a compiler to run it.
Verbatim Strings in ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 02-May-05
Reader Level:
Working with verbatim strings in your ASP.NET C# pages makes life a lot easier when you've got to deal with pathnames or long cumbersome strings. Read on to learn how. And at the same time, learn more about string escape sequences.
Tracking Newsletter Reads with .NET
by Joel Martinez - 25-Apr-05
Reader Level:
Do you maintain a newsletter? Are you a spammer with a heart so black it wilts flowers as you pass? If you answered yes to either of those questions then this article is for you. One of the biggest questions you will probably have when sending email to a large number of recipients is, "Is my email actually being read?" I will show you how to track whenever an email is opened (and by extension, read)
by using ASP.NET
This article will show you a technique you could use to track how many times an email is read by creating an image facade that ouputs an image, while at the same time running arbitrary code (a database update for example):
- Output an image using an HttpHandler
- Run two different pieces of code in parallel using Asynchronous Delegates.
Code is presented in C# and you do not need a compiler to use the code in the article download.
Podcasting: The ASP.NET Way
by Joel Martinez - 14-Apr-05
Reader Level:
Ok, now that you know the basics of Podcasting, I'm going to kick up the veritable notch a bit and show you how to publish a podcast the ASP.NET way. This application will automatically create a podcast feed and use the ID3 meta tags in the mp3 files to generate the content. The result is a fully working web application that you can deploy directly onto your web server (instructions included of course).
This application uses or references techniques covered in other CMX articles. If you wish to delve further into finding out exactly how something was done, you will find it in these articles.
- Podcasting 101 - Part 1 - Get the 411 on Podcasting
- Serializing and Deserializing XML with .NET - Learn advanced tricks on working XML.
- Load Balancing - The ASP.NET Way - Share bandwidth with other sites.
- Demystifying .NET Compilers - Learn how to compile .NET code.
Formatting Dates, Numeric Values, and Text on Your ASP.NET Pages - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 08-Apr-05
Reader Level:
Formatting strings in ASP.NET - without help from Dreamweaver. DW offers several built-in formatting options for many common formatting patterns for dates, numbers, and text, but sometimes you need uncommon formatting. That's when it's convenient to know how to apply your own standard and custom formats. In the second half of this two-part series, you'll learn how to create custom formatting for numbers and date/time values.
Formatting Dates, Numeric Values, and Text on Your ASP.NET Pages - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 30-Mar-05
Reader Level:
Formatting values on your ASP.NET pages is easier than you might think. Dreamweaver offers built-in formatting options for many common formatting patterns for dates, numbers, and text. But sometimes you need uncommon formatting or maybe it's just plain easier to bypass DW and do it yourself in code view.
Learn when and how to use DW's built-in formatting options in Part 1. Part 2 will explore customizing your own date/time, number, and text formats.
Sending Email From Your ASP.NET Application - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 07-Mar-05
Reader Level:
In this installment of the ASP.NET email series, you'll learn how to address your messages using friendly names in addition to the email addresses, use the MailMessage.UrlContentBase property to easily include images and links with relative paths, and send to a mailing list retrieved using a MM:DataSet tag.
Sample code in C# and VB.
The Sending Email From Your ASP.NET Application Series:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Serializing & Deserializing XML with .NET
by Joel Martinez - 04-Mar-05
Reader Level:
You will often have to deal with XML when writing .NET code. The .NET Framework SDK has a command line tool called XSD.exe which greatly facilitates this. With it, you can generate code that you can use to read and edit XML files. This tutorial shows you how to use XSD.exe to generate code straight from XML files.
The techniques discussed in the article works with any XML format. You can easily apply this methodology to an RSS file and create an application that easily interacts with RSS feeds for example; the possibilities are endless (as long as they involve XML ;-) ).
Sending Email From Your ASP.NET Application - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 24-Feb-05
Reader Level:
This is one of the most common tasks for an ASP.NET developer. Fortunately, it's quick and easy. In this series of tutorials, we'll walk through the process of creating and sending email messages for a variety of scenarios.
Part 1 introduces you to the two ASP.NET classes used (MailMessage and SmtpMail) and demonstrates how to
create a simple feedback form for your site. Later on we'll
explore how to create nice-looking HTML messages that include images, links, and attachments. Sample code
written in both C# and VB is included.
The Sending Email From Your ASP.NET Application Series:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Compiling with NAnt
by Joel Martinez - 16-Feb-05
Reader Level:
NAnt is an open source build tool that allows you to (amongst other things) compile .NET code using an XML script. From the XML build script, you specify tasks that run the gamut from the actual compilation of your code, to xcopy deployment, zip compression, even automatically running unit tests (using a tool such as NUnit).
Why Use NAnt Instead of something like Visual Studio?
Certainly, there are other options for compiling .NET code. Whether you have the budget for Visual Studio.NET, or use the open source #Develop, things are not always as simple as using the IDE to compile and deploy your projects. Often times, depending on the size of your team and scope of your project, it is beneficial to build the code on a clean machine where unknown depencies can lull you into a false sense of safety.
The benefits of such automation are rarely seen at the beginning of a project ... but as the timeline moves on, deadlines approach, feature creep sets in. All of a sudden, it's chaos as multiple developers are working on different parts of the program. One developer checks in his changes for the day, only to find that his changes have caused compilation errors in the project for other team members. Sadly, I've been subject to this very scenario more times than I'd like to remember.
NAnt could have solved the issues described above by allowing the team to set up automated daily builds. That is, a build script could have been written that would grab the latest version of the code from the source control server, attempt a build, and email the results to the team lead. Scheduling the task is easy enough through Windows scheduler, and the daily build could have been done before everyone goes home for the night to identify unknown issues.
Auto Zip Downloads with ASP.NET
by Joel Martinez - 11-Feb-05
Reader Level:
I once had a site that I helped to administer that, amongst other things, hosted a great deal of forms in .pdf format for their partners to download. In addition to the files being available separately, they were grouped together in zip files to ease several different tasks (these were insurance agents). Unfortunately (for me), these files were updated quite often so I had to spend a lot of time updating and uploading the individual pdf document and each and every zip file that included it.
As you can probably guess, this was kind of error prone as I would forget to update a zip file from time to time. Eventually, I decided I had enough so I decided to automate the process.
This article shows you how to create a self-maintaining file packaging service for your site. Code is provided in C#
Using DropdownLists, CheckBoxes, and TextBoxes in an Editable ASP.NET DataGrid
by Heidi Bautista - 09-Feb-05
Reader Level:
Learn how to easily add data-bound dropdown lists, checkboxes, and single and multi-line textboxes to your editable DataGrids. If you stick with these three types of controls you can still leverage Dreamweaver's built-in functionality provided by DreamweaverCtrls.dll to handle updating and deleting from your database. It's easier than you might think. Read on to learn this "trick of the trade."
Liverpool JumpStart with .NET
by Heidi Bautista - 31-Jan-05
Reader Level:
Ah yes, Liverpool, not only a great JumpStart, but now you can have it with ASP.NET support. In addition to a valid CSS2 and XHTML 1.0 Transitional, WAI and 508 Accessible CSS layout, you also get a dynamic ASP.NET login application. The original release of the Liverpool JumpStart comes bundled with ColdFusion, PHP, and ASP and uses Dreamweaver's built-in User Authentication Server Behaviors. Unfortunately, Dreamweaver doesn't boast similar server behaviors for ASP.NET. To help make up for that lack, here's a special tutorial just for you ASP.NET coders. I've taken the original Liverpool JumpStart pages and added the necessary ASP.NET code. The result: an out-of-the-box ASP.NET login solution combined with a versatile layout. What could be better? :-)
Included in the support files are the CF, ASP and PHP versions of the Liverpool JumpStart. There is a link at the end of the article that will allow you to download just the .NET version if you prefer, as well as a link to download the bundled tutorials that were included with the original Liverpool JumpStart.
The .NET version of Liverpool is available as a no charge upgrade to purchasers of the original Liverpool JumpStart.
If you would like to receive the .NET version, please send us an email and we will send you the .NET files. Please be sure to include your name and the email address that is associated with the PayPal account used to make the purchase.
Load Balancing - The ASP.NET Way
by Joel Martinez - 26-Jan-05
Reader Level:
This article will explain how to write an HTTP Handler to spread file requests amongst several mirrors. You will learn how to:
1) Create a custom config handler to read custom XML sections out of your web.config file
2) Create an HTTP Handler
Code is presented in C#
Creating Dependent Dropdown Lists with Dreamweaver MX04 and ASP.NET - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 11-Jan-05
Reader Level:
Make smarter ASP.NET pages by implementing data-bound dependent dropdown lists. The selection in the first dropdown list dictates the contents of the second dropdown list and the selection in the second dropdown list dictates the contents of the third dropdown list.
Part 1 showed how to make the data-bound dropdown lists plus how to make the second one dependent on the first.
Here in Part 2, we first extend the paradigm to three dropdown lists and then generalize the technique so that you can add as many dependent dropdown lists as you wish.
Creating Dependent Dropdown Lists with Dreamweaver MX04 and ASP.NET - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 30-Dec-04
Reader Level:
Make smarter ASP.NET pages by implementing data-bound dependent dropdown lists. The selection in the first dropdown list dictates the contents of the second dropdown list.
Here in Part 1 you'll learn how to make the data-bound dropdown lists plus how to make the second one dependent on the first.
In Part 2, we'll extend the paradigm to three or more dropdown lists. Along the way you'll get a better understanding of view state and the Dreamweaver MM:DataBind custom tag.
Transforming XML With XSLT Using ColdFusion and ASP.NET
by Danny Patterson - 15-Dec-04
Reader Level:
XML is a very powerful language that has many different uses. One of the most common uses of XML is for data storage. In this article I'll talk about how to transform data stored in XML format with the use of XSLT. Then I will demonstrate how to use ColdFusion and ASP.NET to perform the transformation.
Automatically Add Headers and Footers to Every Page Using ASP.NET - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 13-Dec-04
Reader Level:
Say it with me - "No more cloning!" That's right, you can add the same header and footer to every page in your ASP.NET website by modifying just the Global.asax. This article is the second in a series. You'll learn how to create a custom filter, which is used to insert the header and footer text in every .aspx page. This technique is better than the one described in Part 1 in that each page retains its own distinctive head section. And as an added bonus, you'll learn about a handy C# concept called verbatim literal strings.
Automatically Add Headers and Footers to Every Page Using ASP.NET - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 30-Nov-04
Reader Level:
Learn how to add the same header and footer to every page in your site. You're probably already aware of several techniques, including using server-side includes and Dreamweaver templates. The problem is they all require you to clone code, which oftentimes creates a maintenance nightmare. In this series of articles, you'll learn how to leverage the Context object in ASP.NET to accomplish the same goal - without having to clone any code!
Generating Random Strings With .NET
by Heidi Bautista - 17-Nov-04
Reader Level:
Learn how to create randomly generated usernames and passwords with .NET.
This article uses the the Random and RNGCryptoServiceProvider classes to generate random numbers, which in turn are used to create strings suitable for usernames and "strong" passwords. That is, passwords that pass the test of: at least eight characters long, containing letters, numbers, and special characters.
Pair this article with the series on Forms Authentication to help you create a truly secure site.
And, as an added attraction, this article uses the modulus operator. If you've never used it before, this article will give you a clearer idea of its usefulness.
eCommerce and ASP.NET - Part 1: Create a Product Catalog and Use PayPal's Shopping Cart
by Heidi Bautista - 02-Nov-04
Reader Level:
eCommerce is easier than you might think - when you have help from Dreamweaver and PayPal.
This is the first in a series of articles that describe how to use ASP.NET to develop eCommerce sites. In this installment, you'll learn how to build a simple, but effective, product catalog based on products in the Northwind sample database and hook your product catalog into PayPal to take advantage of their payment processing systems as well as their shopping cart.
In future articles we'll explore:
- Adding features to your catalog (e.g., displaying one or more product images and using a paged catalog),
- Taking advantage of other PayPal features (e.g., Instant Payment Notification and subscription services), and
- Building your own shopping cart instead of relying on PayPal's cart.
Protect .zip and .exe Files on Your Server Using an HttpHandler - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 18-Oct-04
Reader Level:
Forms authentication is a clever way to protect resources within specified folders of your web site. The problem is, by default only ASP.NET resources (e.g., .aspx, .asmx, .ascx, .asax, .config files plus a couple others) are protected. But what if you have .zip files or .exe files in those folders as well? If not explicitly protected, users who know the location and name of the .exe or .zip file can simply browse to the file and download it from your server. Not a happy situation. Fortunately, there's a solution. In this two-part article, you'll learn how to protect non-ASP.NET resources. By the end of Part 2, you should be able to extend the paradigm to protect other types of files as well.
Protect .zip and .exe Files on Your Server Using an HttpHandler - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 04-Oct-04
Reader Level:
Forms authentication is a clever way to protect resources within specified folders of your website. The problem is, by default only ASP.NET resources (e.g., .aspx, .asmx, .ascx, .asax, .config files plus a couple others) are protected. But what if you have .zip files or .exe files in those folders as well? If not explicitly protected, users who know the location and name of the .exe or .zip file can simply browse to the file and download it from your server. Not a happy situation. Fortunately, there's a solution. In this two-part article, you'll learn how to protect non-ASP.NET resources. By the end of Part 2, you should be able to extend the paradigm to protect other types of files, as well.
Fundamentally VB.NET: Part 5 - Conditional Branching
by Val Tobin - 28-Sep-04
Reader Level:
In Part 1 of this series, you were introduced to VB.NET built-in data types. In Part 2, you learned how to create variables for these data types. Part 3 in this series on VB.NET taught you about Enumerated Constants, what they are and how to use them. Part 4 discussed the operators at your disposal. This article, Part 5 in the series, will cover Conditional Branching using If...Else and Select Case.
Using ASPMail on ASP.NET pages
by Heidi Bautista - 20-Sep-04
Reader Level:
One of the problems developers can run into when convincing a client to upgrade to .NET is their client's investment in ActiveX controls. Depending on what they've purchased, the investment can be substantial. Wouldn't it be great if you could use those old ActiveX controls on your new ASP.NET pages? Well, you can. It takes an extra step or two, but the work is well worth the effort.
In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use the ever popular ASPMail ActiveX control from ServerObjects on an aspx page. After reading this tutorial, you'll be able to apply the information to any ActiveX control.
Fundamentally VB.NET - Part 4: VB.NET Operators
by Val Tobin - 15-Sep-04
Reader Level:
In Part 1 of this series, you were introduced to VB.NET built-in data types. In Part 2, you learned how to create variables for these data types. Part 3 in this series on VB.NET taught you about Enumerated constants, what they are and how to use them. Now, in Part 4, you will learn about the various types of operators VB.NET provides for your use. This series is meant to be a growing reference guide to VB.NET.
Nested Repeat Regions in ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 08-Sep-04
Reader Level:
Using nested repeat regions is a great way to display data in a highly organized fashion. In this tutorial you'll learn how to use Dreamweaver's DataSet and DataGrid server behaviors to display the products from the Northwind sample database, grouped by category. You'll learn how to selectively display the category name just a single time, at the beginning of the list of products in that category, thus avoiding unnecessary and messy replication of redundant data. Dreamweaver's ASP.NET implementation really is customizable! Read on to find out how.
Fundamentally VB.NET - Part 3: VB.NET Enumerations
by Val Tobin - 02-Sep-04
Reader Level:
An alternative to regular constants, enumerations allow you to declare a list of constants. This article explains how to create and use them in VB.NET and explains why they are so useful. This is Part 3 in a series of articles on the mechanics of using VB.NET. Part 1 of this series introduced VB .NET built-in data types. Part 2 discussed how to create variables for these data types. This series is meant to be a growing reference guide to VB.NET.
Fundamentally VB.NET - Part 2: VB.NET Variables and Constants
by Val Tobin - 20-Aug-04
Reader Level:
In Part
1 of this series, you were introduced to VB.NET
built-in data types. In this article, you'll learn
how to create variables for these data types.
You'll learn the syntax for declaring variables and
assigning
values to them. The entire series of articles will
take you through the VB.NET mechanics that you'll
need
in order to use it.
Once you've learned all the key concepts, we'll go
through tutorials that put all that learning to work.
Conditionally Show and Hide the Contents of a DataGrid Cell
by Heidi Bautista - 09-Aug-04
Reader Level:
Subscribers, thanks for giving us ideas for tutorials! This question popped up on the PL -.Net forum recently:
"Is it possible to conditionally show the contents of a cell? I have a cell that can be either true or false. I only want to show the contents of the cell if it is false."
Yes, indeed, that's possible, and this tutorial will explain how. Plus, you'll learn how to conditionally show the contents of one cell based on the true/false value in another cell.
Fundamentally VB.NET: Part I - VB .NET Built-in Data Types
by Val Tobin - 04-Aug-04
Reader Level:
Are you a Java developer wishing to expand your repertoire of skills to include VB .NET? It's easier than you might think. You have an understanding of the programming principles involved; you already know what try-catch-finally means, and garbage collection, and Object Oriented Programming. You only need to learn the syntax and a few incidentals, and you're there. This is the first in a series of articles that covers the fundamentals of VB .NET syntax. This theory will then be followed by a tutorial series that puts all your learning to practical use.
Batch Updates in ASP.NET - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 26-Jul-04
Reader Level: 
This tutorial explains how to perform a batch update in ASP.NET using strictly the .NET Framework. You can accomplish the same goal with Dreamweaver's Update Record server behavior, too. (See Using Dreamweaver and .NET For Batch Updates - Part 1.) Which method is best for you? Read both tutorials to learn the pros and cons of each approach.
Using Dreamweaver and .NET For Batch Updates - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 14-Jul-04
Reader Level:
The Update Record server behavior is convenient and easy to use when you need to update a single row of a table using values collected from a form. But what if you want to update many rows simultaneously and don't want to bother with filling out a form for each and every item? In this tutorial you'll learn how to modify Dreamweaver's Update Record server behavior to perform a batch update. With a bit of hand-coding you can still take advantage of Dreamweaver's built-in server behavior.
ASP.NET and Dreamweaver's Application Panel
by Heidi Bautista - 01-Jul-04
Reader Level:
As an ASP.NET developer, you've undoubtedly used the Application Panel. But if you're like me, you probably explored it only to the extent necessary to get the current job done. In this article, we'll explore the features in the Application panel more thoroughly. Perhaps you'll find something really useful that you didn't know about before.
SmartNavigation in ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 17-Jun-04
Reader Level:
Just how "smart" is Smart Navigation? Well, if you want to persist the page's scroll position, persist control focus and stop the page from flashing between post backs, or keep the history uncluttered, then this is the ASP.NET feature for you. Just beware the known pitfalls!
Cookieless Session State in ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 09-Jun-04
Reader Level:
Need to maintain session state but can't use client-side cookies? Read on to learn how to implement cookieless session state in ASP.NET.
ASP.NET Session State and the web.config - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 03-Jun-04
Reader Level:
ASP.NET session state made simple. In this 2-part article you'll learn how to set and use session variables; why session state management in ASP.NET is superior to classic ASP; and what to do with your web.config file to make it all work.
Part 2 covers how to enable StateServer and SQLServer session state storage and the pros and cons of all three types of session state management.
ASP.NET Session State and the web.config - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 21-May-04
Reader Level:
ASP.NET session state made simple. In this 2-part article you'll learn how to set and use session variables; why session state management in ASP.NET is superior to classic ASP; and what to do with your web.config file to make it all work.
Part 1 covers the basics of session state managment and the web.config.
Design Time Support for ASP.NET Custom Controls
by Heidi Bautista - 17-May-04
Reader Level:
Recognize the benefits of using custom controls, but bummed because they don't show up in Dreamweaver's design view? Well, start celebrating. It's actually pretty simple to enable design-time support for custom controls.
Working with the asp:ListBox
by Heidi Bautista - 14-May-04
Reader Level:
In this article, we are going to explore the
Creating a Simple Horizontal Looper in ASP.NET
by Tom Muck - 13-May-04
Reader Level:
There is no horizontal looper extension for Dreamweaver in ASP.NET, but there is no need for the extension because looping is built into the DataList Application object. This tutorial will show you how to create a simple Horizontal Looper using the DataList, including recordset navigation for the loop.
XML Parsing in .NET - Part 1
by Mustafa Basgun - 12-May-04
Reader Level:
ASP.NET provides various types of classes and objects that can be utilized to access and synchronize XML data. In this study, we are going to investigate the XmlDocument approach, which is a DOM (Document Object Model) based model. Using this approach, the XML data is manipulated without regard to the order in which the particular nodes appear.
Advanced User Authentication with .NET and Dreamweaver - Part 3
by Heidi Bautista - 04-May-04
Reader Level:
This is Part 3 of the Advanced User Authentication with .NET and Dreamweaver series. You've created a great two-role authentication scheme using the first two parts of this tutorial series, but now your boss says you actually need three roles. Well, maybe four or five, he's not really sure. No problem. This tutorial takes you through the process of how to store and use role information from a database. And, while you're at it, impress your boss by throwing in some nifty site personalization, which is also covered in this tutorial.
Toggle Between Showing All Rows and Showing a Paged View of Results
by Heidi Bautista - 22-Apr-04
Reader Level:
Learn how to enhance the usability of a page of data by including a link that the allows the user to toggle between showing all rows and showing a subset of rows over a series of pages. This tutorial uses the Macromedia custom Dataset tag as well as several server behaviors (repeat region, dataset paging, show region) and the DataGrid tag to display data on the page. Two sample pages written in C# are included.
Viewing SiteMaps via ASP.NET
by Mustafa Basgun - 20-Apr-04
Reader Level:
Before finalizing our web based applications, it's sometimes a good idea to review our site structure. A sitemap is a good way of seeing which files are are in which directories. In this article, we are going to write a utility that will allow us to automate the process of producing a sitemap. (Source code is provided in VB.NET.)
Using An asp:CheckBoxList Control With Dynamic Data - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 24-Mar-04
Reader Level:
In Part 1 of this series, we learned how to populate an asp:CheckBoxList control with data from a SQL Server database. Part 2 covers how to update the database using a stored procedure that takes as input the selections made in the CheckBoxList control.
Creating a Simple Blog Part 1
by Tom Muck - 22-Mar-04
Reader Level:
Many people ask "how can I build my own blog?" This tutorial will show how to create a simple blog using point-and-click features of Dreamweaver. For that reason, this tutorial can be followed for any server model that Dreamweaver supports.
Using An asp:CheckBoxList Control With Dynamic Data - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 17-Mar-04
Reader Level:
Learn how to populate an asp:CheckBoxList control with data from a SQL Server database in Part 1. Part 2 covers how to update the database using a stored procedure that takes as input the selections made in the CheckBoxList control.
Using the asp:CheckBoxList control and determining which items are selected
by Heidi Bautista - 04-Mar-04
Reader Level:
Learn how to create an asp:CheckBoxList control, configure its display characteristics, and determine which check boxes were selected. Along the way learn about creating an OnClick event handler and get a first hand look at the benefits of view state preservation in ASP.NET.
Server Behaviors: DataSet, Repeat Region, DataSet Paging, and Show Region
by Heidi Bautista - 27-Feb-04
Reader Level:
Harness the power of Dreamweaver's built-in server behaviors. In this tutorial you'll learn how to:
- retrieve data with the DataSet server behavior
- display it with the Repeat Region server behavior
- add paging links with the DataSet Paging server behavior
- and show/hide the paging links using the Show Region server behaviors
VB's IIf Function vs C#'s Ternary Operator
by Heidi Bautista - 23-Feb-04
Reader Level:
What's better? C# or VB? It depends on a lot of factors. You can nearly always accomplish your objectives in either language but sometimes one is better suited than the other. Read on to learn about the similarities and differences between VB's IIf function and C#'s ternary operator.
Utilizing Different Condition Structures in .NET
by Mustafa Basgun - 11-Feb-04
Reader Level:
This article explains how to utilize different condition structures in .NET, such as "If Then Else", "Try Catch" and "Select Case" statements, while developing a simple application named "Temperature Converter".
Customized ASP.NET DataGrid: Making One Column Dependent Upon Another
by Heidi Bautista - 10-Feb-04
Reader Level:
Learn how to use Dreamweaver to customize the display and functionality of your DataGrid. Along the way you'll learn about these other useful techniques:using the DataSet tag's Expression attribute to control when it gets executed; using a Free form column in a DataGrid; using a ternary expression (C#) / IIf function (VB) to control logic flow; using the MM:If server behavior to control what gets displayed.
Automatic Thumbnail Generation with ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 29-Jan-04
Reader Level:
Thumbnail generation is something all of us have to do at some time or another, so why not make it as simple and automated as possible? This ASP.NET tutorial shows you how to automatically generate and display thumbnail images.
Create a User Control in ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 20-Jan-04
Reader Level:
Dive into user controls! This tutorial shows you how to encapsulate the logic of an already-existing aspx page into a user control. Start taking advantage of the tag-based declarative syntax offered by user controls.
Dynamically Manipulate Images with ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 08-Jan-04
Reader Level:
Continue your education in graphics manipulation with ASP.NET. This tutorial walks you through image resizing given maximum width and height restrictions and how to add photo corners to your images to dress up your online photo albums. Along the way you'll learn more about working with the Graphics object, or canvas. (The code presented here is based on code developed in Dynamically Add a Watermark to an Image Using ASP.NET.)
Dynamically Add a Watermark to an Image Using ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 06-Jan-04
Reader Level:
Learn how to dynamically add a copyright notice (e.g., watermark) to an image before it's sent down to the browser. This technique is particularly useful when you have many, many images that you want copyright notices to appear on, but you don't want to take the time to add the notice to each and every image by hand.
Renaming Uploaded Files with ASP.NET
by Mustafa Basgun - 30-Dec-03
Reader Level:
How to rename uploaded files in ASP.NET using the HtmlInputFile server control.
Using the Stored Procedure Server Behavior on ASP.NET Pages
by Heidi Bautista - 29-Dec-03
Reader Level:
It's well known that using stored procedures is better practice over using embedded SELECT statements in your code. Dreamweaver has a built-in server behavior called Stored Procedure that makes this process much easier on ASP.NET pages. Read on to learn how.
Intro to Database Design
by Joel Martinez - 17-Dec-03
Reader Level:
Learn the basics of setting up your first database.
Deciphering ASP.NET's web.config File
by Heidi Bautista - 12-Dec-03
Reader Level:
Learn how to get the most out of the ASP.NET web.config file. Set up custom error handling, store connection information, get tracing information, and more ...
Reading From and Writing To Files Using ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 04-Dec-03
Reader Level:
Learn about file I/O with ASP.NET: using streams, the System.IO namespace, stream readers and writers, plus some security concerns to keep in mind when you're working with files.
Tracing - A Better Way to Debug Your ASP.NET Applications
by Heidi Bautista - 28-Nov-03
Reader Level:
Tracing: a debugging tool that's easy to enable and disable. Get information about your page's execution - control hierarchy, session state, and application state - as well as form values, query string variables, and header info.
Whidbey: New ASP.NET Tags for Member Management
by Heidi Bautista - 20-Nov-03
Reader Level:
Microsoft introduced the newest version of ASP.NET, code-named "Whidbey" at last month's PDC. Didn't attend? No problem. Read on for an overview of the new login, membership, and role classes. Get an early look at how Microsoft plans to simplify the ubiquitous task of member management.
Making asynchronous Web service calls in ASP.NET
by Heidi Bautista - 23-Oct-03
Reader Level:
Asynchronous web service calls aren't nearly as difficult to implement as they sound, which is nice because they offer the .NET developer a true performance boost. Read on to take advantage of this powerful technology.
Using Dreamweaver to access a web service from an ASP.NET page - Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 14-Oct-03
Reader Level:
Take the mystery of out web services - Dreamweaver's built-in functionality will help you quickly and easily use web services.
Part 1 is a no-frills tutorial demonstrating the use of a web service on an ASP.NET page.
Part 2 will include the details left out of Part 1 regarding implementing web services with Dreamweaver and how to extend your knowledge from this one example to all kinds of web services.
Using Dreamweaver to access a web service from an ASP.NET page - Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 07-Oct-03
Reader Level:
Take the mystery of out web services - Dreamweaver's built-in functionality will help you quickly and easily use web services.
Part 1 is a no-frills tutorial demonstrating the use of a web service on an ASP.NET page.
Part 2 will include the details left out of Part 1 regarding implementing web services with Dreamweaver and how to extend your knowledge from this one example to all kinds of web services.
Setting the SelectedIndex of an asp:DropdownList
by Heidi Bautista - 05-Sep-03
Reader Level:
Dive deeper into Dreamweaver MX and ASP.NET with this tutorial showing how to populate a DropdownList from a database, set the SelectedIndex of the dropdown, and retrieve specific information from the database based on either the dropdown's SelectedIndex or a query string. Throw in some additional info regarding order of events and data binding in ASP.NET and you've got one interesting ap!
New Property Inspectors for the ASP.NET form controls
by Heidi Bautista - 27-Aug-03
Reader Level:
Here's a sneak preview of the new property inspectors for the ASP.NET form controls in Dreamweaver MX 2004, and some of their more interesting features.
Fun with the DataGrid tag, Part 3
by Heidi Bautista - 19-Aug-03
Reader Level:
The ASP.NET DataGrid is a data-bound list control that uses a table to display and/or modify information. In this three-part tutorial, we'll take a look at creating DataGrids using Dreamweaver's DataGrid server behavior. You'll learn how to customize the look of the DataGrid and make it editable. In addition, you'll pick up some useful tips regarding the inter-relation between Dreamweaver's custom DataSet tag and the DataGrid control.
In part 1, we'll go over setting up your Dreamweaver site, connecting to the database, creating the data source for the DataGrid, and creating a simple DataGrid. Part 2 describes several techniques you can use to customize the appearance of the DataGrid. And Part 3 will cover making your DataGrid editable.
Protect Passwords Stored in the Database
by Joel Martinez - 15-Aug-03
Reader Level:
Learn how to protect passwords stored in your database from prying eyes by hashing them using the Cryptographic tools in the .NET framework
Learn about hashing algorithms such as
- MD5
- and SHA1
Code is presented in C# and VB.NET
Fun with the DataSet tag, Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 13-Aug-03
Reader Level:
Learn how to build your dynamic ASP.NET pages even faster by employing the power of the MM:DataSet tag to get and manipulate data prior to displaying it on your pages. In part one of this two-part article you'll learn the nuances of this custom tag's attributes and methods, including some performance tips. Part 2 will be all about examples; seeing the DataSet tag in action.
Demystifying .NET Compilers
by Joel Martinez - 08-Aug-03
Reader Level:
Learn the ins and outs of compiling .NET source code using:
- Notepad/Command Line compiler
- #Develop
- Visual Studio .NET
Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to create .dll's to encapsulate and modularize your code ... not to mention that you will be a hop and a skip away from writing desktop applications.
Fun with the DataGrid tag, Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 30-Jul-03
Reader Level:
The ASP.NET DataGrid is a data-bound list control that uses a table to display and/or modify information. In this three-part tutorial, we'll take a look at creating DataGrids using Dreamweaver's DataGrid server behavior. You'll learn how to customize the look of the DataGrid and make it editable. In addition, you'll pick up some useful tips regarding the inter-relation between Dreamweaver's custom DataSet tag and the DataGrid control.
In part 1, we'll go over setting up your Dreamweaver site, connecting to the database, creating the data source for the DataGrid, and creating a simple DataGrid. Part 2 describes several techniques you can use to customize the appearance of the DataGrid. And Part 3 will cover making your DataGrid editable.
ASP.NET Validator Controls
by Heidi Bautista - 25-Jul-03
Reader Level:
Form validation has never been easier thanks for the new validator server controls included in the ASP.NET framework. Learn how to check for required entries, the expected data type, values within a specified range, patterns, etc. Plus, learn Dreamweaver tips and tricks for dropping these controls on your aspx page.
Fun with the DataGrid tag, Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 17-Jul-03
Reader Level:
The ASP.NET DataGrid is a data-bound list control that uses a table to display and/or modify information. In this three-part tutorial, we'll take a look at creating DataGrids using Dreamweaver's DataGrid server behavior. You'll learn how to customize the look of the DataGrid and make it editable. In addition, you'll pick up some useful tips regarding the inter-relation between Dreamweaver's custom DataSet tag and the DataGrid control.
In part 1, we'll go over setting up your Dreamweaver site, connecting to the database, creating the data source for the DataGrid, and creating a simple DataGrid. Part 2 describes several techniques you can use to customize the appearance of the DataGrid. And Part 3 will cover making your DataGrid editable.
Fun With the DataSet Tag: Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 11-Jul-03
Reader Level:
Learn how to build your dynamic ASP.NET pages even faster by employing the power of the MM:DataSet tag to get and manipulate data prior to displaying it on your pages. In part one of this two-part article you'll learn the nuances of this custom tag's attributes and methods, including some performance tips. Part 2 will be all about examples; seeing the DataSet tag in action.
Creating the database connection for your ASP.NET application
by Heidi Bautista - 07-Jul-03
Reader Level:
One of the very first hurdles to cross when developing a new dynamic ASP.NET application is creating the connection to your database. In this tutorial you'll learn how to make both a SQL Server connectin and an OLE DB connection in Dreamweaver. You'll see how Dreamweaver takes you through a series of dialogs prompting you for information, provides a mechanism for you to test the connection, and writes the required code to your web.config file.
Using the Google search API from ASP.NET
by Jay Oliver - 04-Jul-03
Reader Level:
I'm sure just about everyone knows about the Google search engine by now. What everyone might not know is that you can utilize Google's search functionality right from within your own web applications.
Not only is this a possibility, it's actually quite easy to do.
In this tutorial, we will cover:
- Pre-requisites for using the Google API
- Preparing and compiling the web service for use in your application
- Invoking the web service
- Listing the results
Advanced User Authentication with .NET and Dreamweaver, Part 2
by Heidi Bautista - 27-Jun-03
Reader Level:
This tutorial takes you step-by-step through the implementation of Forms-based Authentication using ASP.NET, Macromedia's custom DataSet tag, SQL Server 2000, and C#. Part 1 shows you how to set up a simple authentication scheme with a single type of user. Part 2 goes further. You'll learn how to examine the user's role to enable/disable access to your site's protected content.
Advanced User Authentication with .NET and Dreamweaver, Part 1
by Heidi Bautista - 26-Jun-03
Reader Level:
This tutorial takes you step-by-step through the implementation of Forms-based Authentication using ASP.NET, Macromedia's custom DataSet tag, SQL Server 2000, and C#. Part 1 shows you how to set up a simple authentication scheme with a single type of user. Part 2 goes further. You'll learn how to examine the user's role to enable/disable access to your site's protected content.
Working with Files in ASP.NET
by Joel Martinez - 23-Jun-03
Reader Level:
File I/O operations has always been an integral part of any computing platform. The .NET framework gives you access to a very rich set of file capabilities. This short tutorial will give you the basic techniques for working with files and the file system in the .NET framework.
- Write text files
- Read text files
- Fortify your file I/O code with exception handling
Using CodeBehind in Dreamweaver
by Peter Ladka - 10-Jun-03
Reader Level:
Dreamweaver MX doesn't natively support ASP.NET codebehind and all of its inherent advantages. This article will help you understand all that is necessary to create codebehind files and wire them up for use in Dreamweaver MX.
Forms Authentication & Authorization Series: Part 3
by Peter Ladka - 04-Jun-03
Reader Level:
ASP.NET provides great built in functionality and tools for building secure web applications. In this article I will cover using Microsoft Access as the trusted source to authenticate against.
ADO.NET Overview
by Joel Martinez - 29-May-03
Reader Level:
Anytime you hear the term, "Dynamic Web Application", chances are that there will be a database involved. Database access has become almost synonymous with dynamic because it is simply the easiest way of automating the display and maintenance of large data stores. This article will attempt to demystify the .NET Framework's data access component, ADO.NET.
Flash Remoting 101
by Tom Muck - 23-May-03
Reader Level:
When you hear the term "Flash Remoting", you might be wondering what exactly is being referred to. Macromedia's latest push towards the Rich Internet Application has at its core the Flash Remoting technology. This article will give you a brief introduction and show you the necessary requirements to getting it up and running on your machine and your web server.
Flash Remoting with .NET - Using the Custom Control
by Peter Ladka - 19-May-03
Reader Level:
Flash Remoting for .NET provides a powerful tools to allow you to use .NET to power you "Rich Internet Applications". This article will show you how to use the Flash custom control when passing data back and forth between your flash movies and .NET applications.
Image Protection with Auto-Watermarking
by Joe Marini - 15-May-03
Reader Level:
There's not much you can do to keep someone from stealing content from your Web site, especially those beautiful graphics you worked so hard on. You can, however, at least deter would-be thieves with a copyright notice - one that is automatically imprinted on all of your valuable images without touching the originals.
Forms Authentication & Authorization Series: Part 2
by Peter Ladka - 28-Apr-03
Reader Level:
.NET has a bunch of excellent built in concepts and objects commonly needed in dynamic websites. Authentication and authorization is a big issue for many web designers and developers. This is an area in which ASP.NET provides many tools for the developer to sculpt their security strategies to take whatever form they desire.
In part 2 we will investigate using the web.config file as the trusted source as well as how to encrypt your passwords in the web.config file.
Forms Authentication & Authorization Series: Part 1
by Peter Ladka - 23-Apr-03
Reader Level:
.NET has a bunch of excellent built in concepts and objects commonly needed in dynamic websites. Authentication and authorization is a big issue for many web designers and developers. This is an area that ASP.NET provides many tools for the developer to sculpt their security stratgies to take whatever form they desire.
In this Part we cover setting up the web.config file properly so you can utilize ASP.NET forms authentication
Using the asp:xml Control
by Joel Martinez - 08-Apr-03
Reader Level:
Learn to use the asp:xml server control to process and display xml data
ASP.NET - Object Oriented Programming Basics
by Peter Ladka - 02-Apr-03
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ASP.NET brings Object Oriented Programming to web application development. This article explores the difference between interpreted languages like ASP, PHP and Cold Fusion and an true OOP language in ASP.NET
