Virtual-Essential's DotNetNuke, .NET, and SQL Tips For the Developer

I was playing around yesterday SQL cursors and began to play with a query to see what I could do with it. Before long, I had written some code that could produce VB.NET Classes for my database tables. This query is by no way complete or guaranteed to produce production quality code, but more to show you a concept and a good place to get started producing the class code you could potentially use. I know there are many good code generators out there, and this isn’t meant to compete with those…just a fun, innovative use for SQL. Feel free to post back with your enhancements and let me know what you think. 

Integrating the AjaxToolkit into DotNetNuke modules is super easy. But, can be frustrating if you're not sure how. Find out how to Ajax enable your modules in less than 5 minutes now!

 

The only difference between a regular web page and a DNN module control using the AjaxToolkit is that you DO NOT place a ScriptManager on the DNN UserControl. Instead you must modify the definition of the module like this:

   

Log In as the Superuser (HOST). *YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN AS THE HOST*

Go to:  Host >> Module Definitions

Edit the Module you want to Ajax Enable:



   

Find the control you want to ajax enable and edit the definition:



   

Click the "Supports Partial Rendering" checkbox:



   

What...

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If you've ever stumbled across a great piece of code that you wanted to integrate into your web app, but found it in the language that your NOT currently coding in,

there's an easy way to use it without having to rewrite the code in your current application's language.

In the web application file directory, create an additional folder for the other language. See in the image below that I have a folder for C# files and another for

VB.NET files.



Then, in your web.config modify the section so that it shows both of these elements....

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With the help of the .NET framework, it is simple to download files via FTP sessions programmatically. In this example, I am going to download a stylesheet from my FTP directory and display it in the console window. You'll see how easy it is to begin using FTP in your programs.

If you are working on a project in Visual Studio and are presented with the error: Name 'ConfigurationManager' is not declared you can easily resolve the error with a couple mouse clicks.

...But, if you want to create a drop down list instead of a textbox in the gridview you can easily do this. Click on the smart tag for the gridview and go to click on "Edit Columns". Find the column that you want to change from a textbox and click on "Convert this field into a TemplateField".  Close the box and return to the smart tag options and click on "Edit Templates" Any columns that you have turned into templateFields will show up as on option in the new view (you may have to click on the smart tag again). Each templated column will have a view for the Item {read only/default view}, Edit {what you see when the grid view is in edit mode...you can make things read only, or invisible here if you don't want them to be seen in edit mode}, also templates for Insert {insert view of the gridview insert mode}, the Footer and Header also.

While surfing the web, I found the most useful little snippet of code that can help quickly troubleshoot and track down session and application variables. Just throw the code on an .aspx page and view in browser while you have your application running. A little F5 here and there and you can easily keep up with what's going on with your session and application level variables.

It doesn't take long for a web.config file to get large and hard to read. But, there is one thing you can do to make managing multiple connection string a snap. Best of all, you can do this in less than 60 seconds.

I just wanted to share one quick and easy way to add a tooltip to a mouseover on a gridView. To show you how, I created a simple .aspx page with the following code (NOTE: this page was created using a simple query from the core DotNetNuke database. You can replace with a simple select statement from Northwind or whatever database you wish. I just use DNN and that's what this site is for, so why not...)

Here's a quick tip for any of you out there who are dealing with CSS and website layout hell due to all the browsers and their different rendering of our hard work. Check out BrowserShots.org, enter your URL and select the browsers that you want to see render your site. You'll have to wait a few minutes while it collects the info, but you needed to get something to drink anyway, right?