A Tale of Valentica

A class to upload files in ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC.

Introduction

Uploading files is a common scenario and an essential part of many web applications. Here I have created a class which can be used to upload files easily. The uploader class automatically validate all the necessities i.e. validation of upload directory, file extensions etc.

Background

There are plenty of resources on uploading a file in ASP.NET. But I have felt to have a class which would be easier and customizable as well as can perform validation, add prefix and/or suffix to file, encrypt filename, allow choice to overwrite existing file or not and so on. You have to just set the necessary properties you need. You can use it in your ASP.NET as well as ASP.NET MVC application.

Using this Class

Here I am giving an example to use this class.

    Uploader uploader = new Uploader();
 
    uploader.UploadPath     = Server.MapPath("~\Content\Uploads");
    uploader.IsLowerName    = true;
    uploader.IsEncryptName  = false;
 
    uploader.Prefix = "Hello_";
    uploader.Suffix = "_Boom";
 
    uploader.AllowedExtensions.Add(".jpg");
    uploader.AllowedExtensions.Add(".jpeg");
    uploader.AllowedExtensions.Add(".gif");
    uploader.AllowedExtensions.Add(".png");
 
    bool success = uploader.DoUpload("MyFile");
 
    if (success)
    {
        //TODO: Code to handle success
    }
    else
    {
        //TODO: Code to handle failure
    }

Here MyFile is the name of file input type.

 <!-- In Html -->
<input type="file" name="MyFile" id="MyFile" />

<%--In tradition ASP.NET --%>
<asp:FileUpload ID="MyFile" runat="server" />

There is an overload of DoUpload() method. You can either pass the name of the file input as above or HttpPostedFile file object as follows.

HttpPostedFile postedFile = HttpContext.Current.Request.Files["MyFile"] as HttpPostedFile;
uploader.DoUpload(postedFile);

There is also a method by which you can get the HttpPostedFile object by supplying the name of the file input.

HttpPostedFile postedFile = uploader.GetHttpPostedFile("MyFile");
uploader.DoUpload(postedFile);

Configuration Settings

If your upload is not succeded then you can get the error code and message by UploadError property. For example:

strring erroCode    = uploader.UploadError.Code;
string errorMessage = uploader.UploadError.Message;

Remember, here error code is not actual http error number. I have used numbers from 1 to 10 so that corresponding message can be customized.

On the other hand, if your upload attempt is succeeded, then you can use information related to the posted file as well as uploaded file by PostedFile and UploadedFile. For example:

string previousFilename = uploader.PostedFile.FileName;
string previousFilePath = uploader.PostedFile.FilePath;
 
string uploadedFilename = uploader.UploadedFile.FileName;
string uploadedFilePath = uploader.UploadedFile.FilePath;

Enjoy this!

Downloads

Download Uploader class here. Uploader Class

Download Uploader Sample In ASP.NET here. Uploader Sample In ASP.NET

Download Uploader Sample In ASP.NET MVC here. Uploader Sample In ASP.NET MVC

Here is the .Net 2.0 version of Uploader class. Uploader Class For ASP.NET 2.0 Application

A simple demonstration on how to create custom FCKeditor combo plugin.

Introduction:

FCKeditor is a widely used html based text editor. In an earlier post I have shown how to integrate FCKeditor in ASP.Net. You can easily create and install custom plugin for FCKeditor.

Here I have prepared a custom month combo plugin. User can select month from January to December and insert the selected month into the editor.

Complete Scenario

Description:

Step 1:

Create a folder named “monthcombo” in “\editor\plugins” folder. Create a javascript file named “fckplugin.js” in the folder “monthcombo”. Now open the “fckplugin.js” file by any editor.

Step 2:

Inititalize the month combo as follows.

// Initialize the Month Combo
var monthCombo = function (name)
{
  this.Name = name;
}

Step 3:

Create function for executing the command.

// Execute the Command
monthCombo.prototype.Execute = function(itemText, itemLabel) 
{
    if (itemText != "")
        FCK.InsertHtml("<span>" + itemText + "</span>");
}

Step 4:

Create function for managing the plugin behavior.

// Manage the plugin behavior
monthCombo.prototype.GetState = function()
{
    return FCK_TRISTATE_OFF; // FCK_TRISTATE_OFF or  FCK_TRISTATE_ON
}

Step 5:

Register the month combo command.

// Register the command.
FCKCommands.RegisterCommand( 'MonthCombo' ,  new  monthCombo('Month Combo') ) ;

Step 6:

Create the toolbar button and set its prototype as follows.

// Create the toolbar button.
var monthComboToolbar = function(tooltip,  style)
{
    this.CommandName   = 'MonthCombo';
    this.Label         = this.GetLabel();
    this.Tooltip       = tooltip?  tooltip : this.Label;
    this.Style         = style;  //FCK_TOOLBARITEM_ICONTEXT OR FCK_TOOLBARITEM_ONLYTEXT
}
 
// Set the toolbar prototype.
monthComboToolbar.prototype = new  FCKToolbarSpecialCombo;

Step 7:

Create function for the label of the toolbar that is to be appeared on the toolbar.

// Label to appear in the FCK toolbar
monthComboToolbar.prototype.GetLabel  = function()
{
    return "Month Combo";
}

Step 8:

Add items to the combo list.

//Add the items to the combo list
monthComboToolbar.prototype.CreateItems  =  function(A)
{
    var months = Array("January", "February", "March",  "April",
                       "May", "June", "July",  "August",
                       "September", "October", "November",  "December");
 
    for (var i = 0; i < months.length; i++)
    {
        this._Combo.AddItem(months[i],  months[i]);
    }
}

Step 9:

Register the combo with the FCKeditor.

//Register the combo with the FCKeditor
FCKToolbarItems.RegisterItem('MonthCombo' , new monthComboToolbar( 'Month Combo', FCK_TOOLBARITEM_ICONTEXT ) ) ; // FCK_TOOLBARITEM_ONLYICON or FCK_TOOLBARITEM_ONLYTEXT  or  FCK_TOOLBARITEM_ICONTEXT

Step 10:

Save the “fckplugin.js”. We are near the end. Now open the “fckconfig.js” file located in the root directory. Add the month combo plugin as follows:

//Add Month Combo Plugin
FCKConfig.Plugins.Add( 'monthcombo' );

Step 11:

Finally, add this combo [‘MonthCombo’] to FCKConfig.ToolbarSets["Default"] or FCKConfig.ToolbarSets["Basic"] settings as follows.

FCKConfig.ToolbarSets["Basic"] = [
	['Bold','Italic','-','OrderedList','UnorderedList','-','Link','Unlink','-','About', 'MonthCombo']
] ;

Reference:

Creating & Installing a Plugin in FCKeditor

Conclusion:

Download the plugin here. MonthCombo

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A class for creating different types of pagination link in Asp.Net Mvc.

Pagination For Asp.Net Mvc

Introduction

I was looking for a pagination class to use in Asp.Net Mvc. I found ASP.NET MVC: PagedList<T> and ASP.NET MVC – Pagination View User Control. But I felt for an easier and customizable pagination class. I have developed many projects using CodeIgniter framework and that time I found their pagination class is pretty better and easier. So, I have decided to prepare a pagination class like this for Asp.Net Mvc.

Using the Code

Controller

In your controller, to get your current (i.e. selected) page number put this code snippet.

string pageString = "";
 
try
{
    pageString = Request.Url.Segments[3];
}
catch (Exception)
{
    pageString = null;
}
 
int page = (String.IsNullOrEmpty(pageString)) ? 1 : Int32.Parse(pageString);

Here 3 is the segment which holds the page number. It can vary as per your URL.

Then use the pagination class as shown in the following example.

Pagination pagination = new Pagination();
 
pagination.BaseUrl      = "/Users/List/";
pagination.TotalRows    = totalRows;
pagination.CurPage      = page;
pagination.PerPage      = 10;
 
string pageLinks = pagination.GetPageLinks();
 
int start   = (page - 1) * pagination.PerPage;
int offset  = pagination.PerPage;

In BaseUrl you can write full path like "http://www.sitename.com/Controller/Action/" or relative path like "/Controller/Action/". Here "start" is the number from which row should be counted and "offset" is the number of rows should be returned. “totalRows” is the total number of rows.

Now you can use this "pageLinks" string which is the generated page link.

Next, set your data in the ViewData like the following.

ViewData["title"]       = "Pagination in Asp.Net Mvc";
ViewData["totalRows"]   = totalRows;
ViewData["result"]      = result;
ViewData["pageLinks"]   = pageLinks;

Here, "totalRows" is the total number of rows and "result" is the desired resultset.

View

In view page, you can show the page link as follows:

<% if ((string)ViewData["pageLinks"] != "")
   { %>
   <%= ViewData["pageLinks"] %>
   <br /><br />
<% } %>

Model

You can create a model and make two methods to get total rows and the data from table using LINQ, as shown in the following example.

public int GetTotalUsers()
{
    return new MyDataContext().Users.Count();
}
 
public List GetUsers(int start, int offset)
{
    var users = new MyDataContext().Users.Skip(start)
                                                 .Take(offset);
 
    return users.ToList();
}

Configuration Settings

You can set configuration settings in three ways.

1. Set as regular property is set. Example:

objPagination.PerPage  = 10;
objPagination.PrevLink = "Prev";
objPagination.NextLink = "Next";

2. Put a Pagination.xml file in "Content" folder and create object of Pagination class as:

Pagination objPagination = new Pagination(true);

Pagination.xml file should be as following pattern as example.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Pagination>
    <NumLinks><![CDATA[5]]></NumLinks>
    <FullTagOpen><![CDATA[<p class='pagination'>]]></FullTagOpen>
    <FullTagClose><![CDATA[</p>]]></FullTagClose>
    <CurTagOpen><![CDATA[<span class='current'>]]></CurTagOpen>
    <CurTagClose><![CDATA[</span>]]></CurTagClose>
</Pagination>

3. Create a any xml file like the above Pagination.xml file and call the method LoadPaginationXml with the file full path as argument. Example:

objPagination.LoadPaginationXml("C:\MyProject\MyPagination.xml");

Different types of pagination

By this pagination class you can build different types of page link for your page. Just call the method GetPageLinks with your desired PaginationType as argument. Example:

objPagination.GetPageLinks(PaginationType.FirstPreviousNextLastItemRight);

If you want to display item set item type as follows:

objPagination.ItemType = ItemTypes.Page;

Conclusion

I think thats enough to use this pagination class easily. Bye for this time.

Download

You can download the Pagination class from here.

PaginationClass

You can download sample project from here.

PaginationInAspNetMvc

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I found that, novice programmers always face problem while trying to run CakePHP for the first time. So, here I’m describing a “Hello World” program in CakePHP.

1. First download the CakePHP from http://www.cakephp.org. You can download Stable: 1.1.19.6305 package or Beta: 1.2.0.6311 package.

2. Make a folder in your htdocs folder named “hello” and unzip the CakePHP package in that folder. Your files and folders will be like:

htdocs/hello
           /app
           /cake
           /docs
           /vendors
           /index.php
           .htaccess

3. Now copy app_controller.php file from .cakelibscontrollerapp_controller.php to .app folder (.appapp_controller.php).

4. Copy .cakelibsmodelapp_model.php to .app folder (.appapp_model.php).

5. Make a controller hello_controller.php in .appcontrollers. Content of this controller.

<?php
 
class HelloController extends AppController {
  function index () {}
  function show () {
    $this->set('test', 'Hello World');
  }
}
?>

5. Make a model hello.php in .appmodels. Content of this model.

<?php
 
class Hello extends AppModel {
 
  function index () { }
}
?>

6. Create a folder “hello” in .appviews. Then make a view file "show.ctp". Content of this file.

<html>
<head><title>Hello World Program</title>
<head>
<body>
<h1><?php echo $test; ?></h1>
</body>
</html>

7. Open database.php in .appconfig folder and provide login, password, database etc. as your settings. Be sure that you have a table named “hello” in your provided database.

8. Enable mod_rewrite in your httpd.conf file. Uncomment (remove #).

LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

Then restart your apache service.

Now you are ready to run this program. http://localhost/hello/hello/show

It will show “Hello World” in your browser.

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