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Microsoft Introduces WebMatrix

- by Rick Strahl

originally published in CoDe Magazine Editorial Microsoft recently released the first CTP of a new development environment called WebMatrix, which along with some of its supporting technologies are squarely aimed at making the Microsoft Web Platform more approachable for first-time developers and hobbyists. But in the process, it also provides some updated technologies that can make life easier for existing .NET developers. Let’s face it: ASP.NET development isn’t exactly trivial unless you already have a fair bit of familiarity with sophisticated development practices. Stick a non-developer in front of Visual Studio .NET or even the Visual Web Developer Express edition and it’s not likely that the person in front of the screen will be very productive or feel inspired. Yet other technologies like PHP and even classic ASP did provide the ability for non-developers and hobbyists to become reasonably proficient in creating basic web content quickly and efficiently. WebMatrix appears to be Microsoft’s attempt to bring back some of that simplicity with a number of technologies and tools. The key is to provide a friendly and fully self-contained development environment that provides all the tools needed to build an application in one place, as well as tools that allow publishing of content and databases easily to the web server. WebMatrix is made up of several components and technologies: IIS Developer Express IIS Developer Express is a new, self-contained development web server that is fully compatible with IIS 7.5 and based on the same codebase that IIS 7.5 uses. This new development server replaces the much less compatible Cassini web server that’s been used in Visual Studio and the Express editions. IIS Express addresses a few shortcomings of the Cassini server such as the inability to serve custom ISAPI extensions (i.e., things like PHP or ASP classic for example), as well as not supporting advanced authentication. IIS Developer Express provides most of the IIS 7.5 feature set providing much better compatibility between development and live deployment scenarios. SQL Server Compact 4.0 Database access is a key component for most web-driven applications, but on the Microsoft stack this has mostly meant you have to use SQL Server or SQL Server Express. SQL Server Compact is not new-it’s been around for a few years, but it’s been severely hobbled in the past by terrible tool support and the inability to support more than a single connection in Microsoft’s attempt to avoid losing SQL Server licensing. The new release of SQL Server Compact 4.0 supports multiple connections and you can run it in ASP.NET web applications simply by installing an assembly into the bin folder of the web application. In effect, you don’t have to install a special system configuration to run SQL Compact as it is a drop-in database engine: Copy the small assembly into your BIN folder (or from the GAC if installed fully), create a connection string against a local file-based database file, and then start firing SQL requests. Additionally WebMatrix includes nice tools to edit the database tables and files, along with tools to easily upsize (and hopefully downsize in the future) to full SQL Server. This is a big win, pending compatibility and performance limits. In my simple testing the data engine performed well enough for small data sets. This is not only useful for web applications, but also for desktop applications for which a fully installed SQL engine like SQL Server would be overkill. Having a local data store in those applications that can potentially be accessed by multiple users is a welcome feature. ASP.NET Razor View Engine What? Yet another native ASP.NET view engine? We already have Web Forms and various different flavors of using that view engine with Web Forms and MVC. Do we really need another? Microsoft thinks so, and Razor is an implementation of a lightweight, script-only view engine. Unlike the Web Forms view engine, Razor works only with inline code, snippets, and markup; therefore, it is more in line with current thinking of what a view engine should represent. There’s no support for a “page model” or any of the other Web Forms features of the full-page framework, but just a lightweight scripting engine that works with plain markup plus embedded expressions and code. The markup syntax for Razor is geared for minimal typing, plus some progressive detection of where a script block/expression starts and ends. This results in a much leaner syntax than the typical ASP.NET Web Forms alligator (<% %>) tags. Razor uses the @ sign plus standard C# (or Visual Basic) block syntax to delineate code snippets and expressions. Here’s a very simple example of what Razor markup looks like along with some comment annotations: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title></title> </head> <body> <h1>Razor Test</h1>  @DateTime.Now <hr />  @DateTime.Now.ToString("T")  @{ List<string> names = new List<string>(); names.Add("Rick"); names.Add("Markus"); names.Add("Claudio"); names.Add("Kevin"); }  <ul> @foreach(string name in names){ <li>@name</li> } </ul>  @if(true) {  <text> true </text>; } else {  <text> false </text>; } </body> </html> Like the Web Forms view engine, Razor parses pages into code, and then executes that run-time compiled code. Effectively a “page” becomes a code file with markup becoming literal text written into the Response stream, code snippets becoming raw code, and expressions being written out with Response.Write(). The code generated from Razor doesn’t look much different from similar Web Forms code that only uses script tags; so although the syntax may look different, the operational model is fairly similar to the Web Forms engine minus the overhead of the large Page object model. However, there are differences: -Razor pages are based on a new base class, Microsoft.WebPages.WebPage, which is hosted in the Microsoft.WebPages assembly that houses all the Razor engine parsing and processing logic. Browsing through the assembly (in the generated ASP.NET Temporary Files folder or GAC) will give you a good idea of the functionality that Razor provides. If you look closely, a lot of the feature set matches ASP.NET MVC’s view implementation as well as many of the helper classes found in MVC. It’s not hard to guess the motivation for this sort of view engine: For beginning developers the simple markup syntax is easier to work with, although you obviously still need to have some understanding of the .NET Framework in order to create dynamic content. The syntax is easier to read and grok and much shorter to type than ASP.NET alligator tags (<% %>) and also easier to understand aesthetically what’s happening in the markup code. Razor also is a better fit for Microsoft’s vision of ASP.NET MVC: It’s a new view engine without the baggage of Web Forms attached to it. The engine is more lightweight since it doesn’t carry all the features and object model of Web Forms with it and it can be instantiated directly outside of the HTTP environment, which has been rather tricky to do for the Web Forms view engine. Having a standalone script parser is a huge win for other applications as well – it makes it much easier to create script or meta driven output generators for many types of applications from code/screen generators, to simple form letters to data merging applications with user customizability. For me personally this is very useful side effect and who knows maybe Microsoft will actually standardize they’re scripting engines (die T4 die!) on this engine. Razor also better fits the “view-based” approach where the view is supposed to be mostly a visual representation that doesn’t hold much, if any, code. While you can still use code, the code you do write has to be self-contained. Overall I wouldn’t be surprised if Razor will become the new standard view engine for MVC in the future – and in fact there have been announcements recently that Razor will become the default script engine in ASP.NET MVC 3.0. Razor can also be used in existing Web Forms and MVC applications, although that’s not working currently unless you manually configure the script mappings and add the appropriate assemblies. It’s possible to do it, but it’s probably better to wait until Microsoft releases official support for Razor scripts in Visual Studio. Once that happens, you can simply drop .cshtml and .vbhtml pages into an existing ASP.NET project and they will work side by side with classic ASP.NET pages. WebMatrix Development Environment To tie all of these three technologies together, Microsoft is shipping WebMatrix with an integrated development environment. An integrated gallery manager makes it easy to download and load existing projects, and then extend them with custom functionality. It seems to be a prominent goal to provide community-oriented content that can act as a starting point, be it via a custom templates or a complete standard application. The IDE includes a project manager that works with a single project and provides an integrated IDE/editor for editing the .cshtml and .vbhtml pages. A run button allows you to quickly run pages in the project manager in a variety of browsers. There’s no debugging support for code at this time. Note that Razor pages don’t require explicit compilation, so making a change, saving, and then refreshing your page in the browser is all that’s needed to see changes while testing an application locally. It’s essentially using the auto-compiling Web Project that was introduced with .NET 2.0. All code is compiled during run time into dynamically created assemblies in the ASP.NET temp folder. WebMatrix also has PHP Editing support with syntax highlighting. You can load various PHP-based applications from the WebMatrix Web Gallery directly into the IDE. Most of the Web Gallery applications are ready to install and run without further configuration, with Wizards taking you through installation of tools, dependencies, and configuration of the database as needed. WebMatrix leverages the Web Platform installer to pull the pieces down from websites in a tight integration of tools that worked nicely for the four or five applications I tried this out on. Click a couple of check boxes and fill in a few simple configuration options and you end up with a running application that’s ready to be customized. Nice! You can easily deploy completed applications via WebDeploy (to an IIS server) or FTP directly from within the development environment. The deploy tool also can handle automatically uploading and installing the database and all related assemblies required, making deployment a simple one-click install step. Simplified Database Access The IDE contains a database editor that can edit SQL Compact and SQL Server databases. There is also a Database helper class that facilitates database access by providing easy-to-use, high-level query execution and iteration methods: @{ var db = Database.OpenFile("FirstApp.sdf"); string sql = "select * from customers where Id > @0"; } <ul> @foreach(var row in db.Query(sql,1)){ <li>@row.FirstName @row.LastName</li> } </ul> The query function takes a SQL statement plus any number of positional (@0,@1 etc.) SQL parameters by simple values. The result is returned as a collection of rows which in turn have a row object with dynamic properties for each of the columns giving easy (though untyped) access to each of the fields. Likewise Execute and ExecuteNonQuery allow execution of more complex queries using similar parameter passing schemes. Note these queries use string-based queries rather than LINQ or Entity Framework’s strongly typed LINQ queries. While this may seem like a step back, it’s also in line with the expectations of non .NET script developers who are quite used to writing and using SQL strings in code rather than using OR/M frameworks. The only question is why was something not included from the beginning in .NET and Microsoft made developers build custom implementations of these basic building blocks. The implementation looks a lot like a DataTable-style data access mechanism, but to be fair, this is a common approach in scripting languages. This type of syntax that uses simple, static, data object methods to perform simple data tasks with one line of code are common in scripting languages and are a good match for folks working in PHP/Python, etc. Seems like Microsoft has taken great advantage of .NET 4.0’s dynamic typing to provide this sort of interface for row iteration where each row has properties for each field. FWIW, all the examples demonstrate using local SQL Compact files - I was unable to get a SQL Server connection string to work with the Database class (the connection string wasn’t accepted). However, since the code in the page is still plain old .NET, you can easily use standard ADO.NET code or even LINQ or Entity Framework models that are created outside of WebMatrix in separate assemblies as required. The good the bad the obnoxious - It’s still .NET The beauty (or curse depending on how you look at it :)) of Razor and the compilation model is that, behind it all, it’s still .NET. Although the syntax may look foreign, it’s still all .NET behind the scenes. You can easily access existing tools, helpers, and utilities simply by adding them to the project as references or to the bin folder. Razor automatically recognizes any assembly reference from assemblies in the bin folder. In the default configuration, Microsoft provides a host of helper functions in a Microsoft.WebPages assembly (check it out in the ASP.NET temp folder for your application), which includes a host of HTML Helpers. If you’ve used ASP.NET MVC before, a lot of the helpers should look familiar. Documentation at the moment is sketchy-there’s a very rough API reference you can check out here: http://www.asp.net/webmatrix/tutorials/asp-net-web-pages-api-reference Who needs WebMatrix? Uhm… good Question Clearly Microsoft is trying hard to create an environment with WebMatrix that is easy to use for newbie developers. The goal seems to be simplicity in providing a minimal development environment and an easy-to-use script engine/language that makes it easy to get started with. There’s also some focus on community features that can be used as starting points, such as Web Gallery applications and templates. The community features in particular are very nice and something that would be nice to eventually see in Visual Studio as well. The question is whether this is too little too late. Developers who have been clamoring for a simpler development environment on the .NET stack have mostly left for other simpler platforms like PHP or Python which are catering to the down and dirty developer. Microsoft will be hard pressed to win those folks-and other hardcore PHP developers-back. Regardless of how much you dress up a script engine fronted by the .NET Framework, it’s still the .NET Framework and all the complexity that drives it. While .NET is a fine solution in its breadth and features once you get a basic handle on the core features, the bar of entry to being productive with the .NET Framework is still pretty high. The MVC style helpers Microsoft provides are a good step in the right direction, but I suspect it’s not enough to shield new developers from having to delve much deeper into the Framework to get even basic applications built. Razor and its helpers is trying to make .NET more accessible but the reality is that in order to do useful stuff that goes beyond the handful of simple helpers you still are going to have to write some C# or VB or other .NET code. If the target is a hobby/amateur/non-programmer the learning curve isn’t made any easier by WebMatrix it’s just been shifted a tad bit further along in your development endeavor when you run out of canned components that are supplied either by Microsoft or the community. The database helpers are interesting and actually I’ve heard a lot of discussion from various developers who’ve been resisting .NET for a really long time perking up at the prospect of easier data access in .NET than the ridiculous amount of code it takes to do even simple data access with raw ADO.NET. It seems sad that such a simple concept and implementation should trigger this sort of response (especially since it’s practically trivial to create helpers like these or pick them up from countless libraries available), but there it is. It also shows that there are plenty of developers out there who are more interested in ‘getting stuff done’ easily than necessarily following the latest and greatest practices which are overkill for many development scenarios. Sometimes it seems that all of .NET is focused on the big life changing issues of development, rather than the bread and butter scenarios that many developers are interested in to get their work accomplished. And that in the end may be WebMatrix’s main raison d'être: To bring some focus back at Microsoft that simpler and more high level solutions are actually needed to appeal to the non-high end developers as well as providing the necessary tools for the high end developers who want to follow the latest and greatest trends. The current version of WebMatrix hits many sweet spots, but it also feels like it has a long way to go before it really can be a tool that a beginning developer or an accomplished developer can feel comfortable with. Although there are some really good ideas in the environment (like the gallery for downloading apps and components) which would be a great addition for Visual Studio as well, the rest of the development environment just feels like crippleware with required functionality missing especially debugging and Intellisense, but also general editor support. It’s not clear whether these are because the product is still in an early alpha release or whether it’s simply designed that way to be a really limited development environment. While simple can be good, nobody wants to feel left out when it comes to necessary tool support and WebMatrix just has that left out feeling to it. If anything WebMatrix’s technology pieces (which are really independent of the WebMatrix product) are what are interesting to developers in general. The compact IIS implementation is a nice improvement for development scenarios and SQL Compact 4.0 seems to address a lot of concerns that people have had and have complained about for some time with previous SQL Compact implementations. By far the most interesting and useful technology though seems to be the Razor view engine for its light weight implementation and it’s decoupling from the ASP.NET/HTTP pipeline to provide a standalone scripting/view engine that is pluggable. The first winner of this is going to be ASP.NET MVC which can now have a cleaner view model that isn’t inconsistent due to the baggage of non-implemented WebForms features that don’t work in MVC. But I expect that Razor will end up in many other applications as a scripting and code generation engine eventually. Visual Studio integration for Razor is currently missing, but is promised for a later release. The ASP.NET MVC team has already mentioned that Razor will eventually become the default MVC view engine, which will guarantee continued growth and development of this tool along those lines. And the Razor engine and support tools actually inherit many of the features that MVC pioneered, so there’s some synergy flowing both ways between Razor and MVC. As an existing ASP.NET developer who’s already familiar with Visual Studio and ASP.NET development, the WebMatrix IDE doesn’t give you anything that you want. The tools provided are minimal and provide nothing that you can’t get in Visual Studio today, except the minimal Razor syntax highlighting, so there’s little need to take a step back. With Visual Studio integration coming later there’s little reason to look at WebMatrix for tooling. It’s good to see that Microsoft is giving some thought about the ease of use of .NET as a platform For so many years, we’ve been piling on more and more new features without trying to take a step back and see how complicated the development/configuration/deployment process has become. Sometimes it’s good to take a step - or several steps - back and take another look and realize just how far we’ve come. WebMatrix is one of those reminders and one that likely will result in some positive changes on the platform as a whole. © Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in ASP.NET IIS7

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Array structure returned by Yii's model

- by user1104955

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SQLAuthority News – TechEd India – April 12-14, 2010 Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – An Op

- by pinaldave

TechEd India was one of the largest Technology events in India led by Microsoft. This event was attended by more than 3,000 technology enthusiasts, making it one of the most well-organized events of the year. Though I attempted to attend almost all the technology events here, I have not seen any bigger or better event in Indian subcontinents other than this. There are 21 Technical Tracks at Tech·Ed India 2010 that span more than 745 learning opportunities. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this whole event as a speaker and a delegate, as well. TechEd India Speaker Badge and A Token of Lifetime Hotel Selection I presented three different sessions at TechEd India and was also a part of panel discussion. (The details of the sessions are given at the end of this blog post.) Due to extensive traveling, I stay away from my family occasionally. For this reason, I took my wife – Nupur and daughter Shaivi (8 months old) to the event along with me. We stayed at the same hotel where the event was organized so as to maximize my time bonding with my family and to have more time in networking with technology community, at the same time. The hotel Lalit Ashok is the largest and most luxurious venue one can find in Bangalore, located in the middle of the city. The cost of the hotel was a bit pricey, but looking at all the advantages, I had decided to ask for a booking there. Hotel Lalit Ashok Nupur Dave and Shaivi Dave Arrival Day – DAY 0 – April 11, 2010 I reached the event a day earlier, and that was one wise decision for I was able to relax a bit and go over my presentation for the next day’s course. I am a kind of person who likes to get everything ready ahead of time. I was also able to enjoy a pleasant evening with several Microsoft employees and my family friends. I even checked out the location where I would be doing presentations the next day. I was fortunate enough to meet Bijoy Singhal from Microsoft who helped me out with a few of the logistics issues that occured the day before. I was not aware of the fact that the very next day he was going to be “The Man” of the TechEd 2010 event. Vinod Kumar from Microsoft was really very kind as he talked to me regarding my subsequent session. He gave me some suggestions which were really helpful that I was able to incorporate them during my presentation. Finally, I was able to meet Abhishek Kant from Microsoft; his valuable suggestions and unlimited passion have inspired many people like me to work with the Community. Pradipta from Microsoft was also around, being extremely busy with logistics; however, in those busy times, he did find some good spare time to have a chat with me and the other Community leaders. I also met Harish Ranganathan and Sachin Rathi, both from Microsoft. It was so interesting to listen to both of them talking about SharePoint. I just have no words to express my overwhelmed spirit because of all these passionate young guys - Pradipta,Vinod, Bijoy, Harish, Sachin and Ahishek (of course!). Map of TechEd India 2010 Event Day 1 – April 12, 2010 From morning until night time, today was truly a very busy day for me. I had two presentations and one panel discussion for the day. Needless to say, I had a few meetings to attend as well. The day started with a keynote from S. Somaseger where he announced the launch of Visual Studio 2010. The keynote area was really eye-catching because of the very large, bigger-than- life uniform screen. This was truly one to show. The title music of the keynote was very interesting and it featured Bijoy Singhal as the model. It was interesting to talk to him afterwards, when we laughed at jokes together about his modeling assignment. TechEd India Keynote Opening Featuring Bijoy TechEd India 2010 Keynote – S. Somasegar Time: 11:15pm – 11:45pm Session 1: True Lies of SQL Server – SQL Myth Buster Following the excellent keynote, I had my very first session on the subject of SQL Server Myth Buster. At first, I was a bit nervous as right after the keynote, for this was my very first session and during my presentation I saw lots of Microsoft Product Team members. Well, it really went well and I had a really good discussion with attendees of the session. I felt that a well begin was half-done and my confidence was regained. Right after the session, I met a few of my Community friends and had meaningful discussions with them on many subjects. The abstract of the session is as follows: In this 30-minute demo session, I am going to briefly demonstrate few SQL Server Myths and their resolutions as I back them up with some demo. This demo presentation is a must-attend for all developers and administrators who would come to the event. This is going to be a very quick yet fun session. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Lunch with Somasegar After the session I went to see my daughter, and then I headed right away to the lunch with S. Somasegar – the keynote speaker and senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. I really thank to Abhishek who made it possible for us. Because of his efforts, all the MVPs had the opportunity to meet such a legendary person and had to talk with them on Microsoft Technology. Though Somasegar is currently holding such a high position in Microsoft, he is very polite and a real gentleman, and how I wish that everybody in industry is like him. Believe me, if you spread love and kindness, then that is what you will receive back. As soon as lunch time was over, I ran to the session hall as my second presentation was about to start. Time: 2:30pm – 3:30pm Session 2: Master Data Services in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence is a subject which was widely talked about at TechEd. Everybody was interested in this subject, and I did not excuse myself from this great concept as well. I consider myself fortunate as I was presenting on the subject of Master Data Services at TechEd. When I had initially learned this subject, I had a bit of confusion about the usage of this tool. Later on, I decided that I would tackle about how we all developers and DBAs are not able to understand something so simple such as this, and even worst, creating confusion about the technology. During system designing, it is very important to have a reference material or master lookup tables. Well, I talked about the same subject and presented the session keeping that as my center talk. The session went very well and I received lots of interesting questions. I got many compliments for talking about this subject on the real-life scenario. I really thank Rushabh Mehta (CEO, Solid Quality Mentors India) for his supportive suggestions that helped me prepare the slide deck, as well as the subject. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The abstract of the session is as follows: SQL Server Master Data Services will ship with SQL Server 2008 R2 and will improve Microsoft’s platform appeal. This session provides an in-depth demonstration of MDS features and highlights important usage scenarios. Master Data Services enables consistent decision-making process by allowing you to create, manage and propagate changes from a single master view of your business entities. Also, MDS – Master Data-hub which is a vital component, helps ensure the consistency of reporting across systems and deliver faster and more accurate results across the enterprise. We will talk about establishing the basis for a centralized approach to defining, deploying, and managing master data in the enterprise. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The day was still not over for me. I had ran into several friends but we were not able keep our enthusiasm under control about all the rumors saying that SQL Server 2008 R2 was about to be launched tomorrow in the keynote. I then ran to my third and final technical event for the day- a panel discussion with the top technologies of India. Time: 5:00pm – 6:00pm Panel Discussion: Harness the power of Web – SEO and Technical Blogging As I have delivered two technical sessions by this time, I was a bit tired but not less enthusiastic when I had to talk about Blog and Technology. We discussed many different topics there. I told them that the most important aspect for any blog is its content. We discussed in depth the issues with plagiarism and how to avoid it. Another topic of discussion was how we technology bloggers can create awareness in the Community about what the right kind of blogging is and what morally and technically wrong acts are. A couple of questions were raised about what type of liberty a person can have in terms of writing blogs. Well, it was generically agreed that a blog is mainly a representation of our ideas and thoughts; it should not be governed by external entities. As long as one is writing what they really want to say, but not providing incorrect information or not practicing plagiarism, a blogger should be allowed to express himself. This panel discussion was supposed to be over in an hour, but the interest of the participants was remarkable and so it was extended for 30 minutes more. Finally, we decided to bring to a close the discussion and agreed that we will continue the topic next year. TechEd India Panel Discussion on Web, Technology and SEO Surprisingly, the day was just beginning after doing all of these. By this time, I have almost met all the MVP who arrived at the event, as well as many Microsoft employees. There were lots of Community folks present, too. I decided that I would go to meet several friends from the Community and continue to communicate with me on SQLAuthority.com. I also met Abhishek Baxi and had a good talk with him regarding Win Mobile and Twitter. He also took a very quick video of me wherein I spoke in my mother’s tongue, Gujarati. It was funny that I talked in Gujarati almost all the day, but when I was talking in the interview I could not find the right Gujarati words to speak. I think we all think in English when we think about Technology, so as to address universality. After meeting them, I headed towards the Speakers’ Dinner. Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Speakers Dinner The Speakers’ dinner was indeed a wonderful opportunity for all the speakers to get together and relax. We talked so many different things, from XBOX to Hindi Movies, and from SQL to Samosas. I just could not express how much fun I had. After a long evening, when I returned tmy room and met Shaivi, I just felt instantly relaxed. Kids are really gifts from God. Today was a really long but exciting day. So many things happened in just one day: Visual Studio Lanch, lunch with Somasegar, 2 technical sessions, 1 panel discussion, community leaders meeting, speakers dinner and, last but not leas,t playing with my child! A perfect day! Day 2 – April 13, 2010 Today started with a bang with the excellent keynote by Kamal Hathi who launched SQL Server 2008 R2 in India and demonstrated the power of PowerPivot to all of us. 101 Million Rows in Excel brought lots of applause from the audience. Kamal Hathi Presenting Keynote at TechEd India 2010 The day was a bit easier one for me. I had no sessions today and no events planned. I had a few meetings planned for the second day of the event. I sat in the speaker’s lounge for half a day and met many people there. I attended nearly 9 different meetings today. The subjects of the meetings were very different. Here is a list of the topics of the Community-related meetings: SQL PASS and its involvement in India and subcontinents How to start community blogging Forums and developing aptitude towards technology Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar User Groups and their developments SharePoint and SQL Business Meeting – a client meeting Business Meeting – a potential performance tuning project Business Meeting – Solid Quality Mentors (SolidQ) And family friends Pinal Dave at TechEd India The day passed by so quickly during this meeting. In the evening, I headed to Partners Expo with friends and checked out few of the booths. I really wanted to talk about some of the products, but due to the freebies there was so much crowd that I finally decided to just take the contact details of the partner. I will now start sending them with my queries and, hopefully, I will have my questions answered. Nupur and Shaivi had also one meeting to attend; it was with our family friend Vijay Raj. Vijay is also a person who loves Technology and loves it more than anybody. I see him growing and learning every day, but still remaining as a ‘human’. I believe that if someone acquires as much knowledge as him, that person will become either a computer or cyborg. Here, Vijay is still a kind gentleman and is able to stay as our close family friend. Shaivi was really happy to play with Uncle Vijay. Pinal Dave and Vijay Raj Renuka Prasad, a Microsoft MVP, impressed me with his passion and knowledge of SQL. Every time he gives me credit for his success, I believe that he is very humble. He has way more certifications than me and has worked many more years with SQL compared to me. He is an excellent photographer as well. Most of the photos in this blog post have been taken by him. I told him if ever he wants to do a part time job, he can do the photography very well. Pinal Dave and Renuka Prasad I also met L Srividya from Microsoft, whom I was looking forward to meet. She is a bundle of knowledge that everyone would surely learn a lot from her. I was able to get a few minutes from her and well, I felt confident. She enlightened me with SQL Server BI concepts, domain management and SQL Server security and few other interesting details. I also had a wonderful time talking about SharePoint with fellow Solid Quality Mentor Joy Rathnayake. He is very passionate about SharePoint but when you talk .NET and SQL with him, he is still overwhelmingly knowledgeable. In fact, while talking to him, I figured out that the recent training he delivered was on SQL Server 2008 R2. I told him a joke that it hurts my ego as he is more popular now in SQL training and consulting than me. I am sure all of you agree that working with good people is a gift from God. I am fortunate enough to work with the best of the best Industry experts. It was a great pleasure to hang out with my Community friends – Ahswin Kini, HimaBindu Vejella, Vasudev G, Suprotim Agrawal, Dhananjay, Vikram Pendse, Mahesh Dhola, Mahesh Mitkari, Manu Zacharia, Shobhan, Hardik Shah, Ashish Mohta, Manan, Subodh Sohani and Sanjay Shetty (of course!) . (Please let me know if I have met you at the event and forgot your name to list here). Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Community Leaders Dinner After lots of meetings, I headed towards the Community Leaders dinner meeting and met almost all the folks I met in morning. The discussion was almost the same but the real good thing was that we were enjoying it. The food was really good. Nupur was invited in the event, but Shaivi could not come. When Nupur tried to enter the event, she was stopped as Shaivi did not have the pass to enter the dinner. Nupur expressed that Shaivi is only 8 months old and does not eat outside food as well and could not stay by herself at this age, but the door keeper did not agree and asked that without the entry details Shaivi could not go in, but Nupur could. Nupur called me on phone and asked me to help her out. By the time, I was outside; the organizer of the event reached to the door and happily approved Shaivi to join the party. Once in the party, Shaivi had lots of fun meeting so many people. Shaivi Dave and Abhishek Kant Dean Guida (Infragistics President and CEO) and Pinal Dave (SQLAuthority.com) Day 3 – April 14, 2010 Though, it was last day, I was very much excited today as I was about to present my very favorite session. Query Optimization and Performance Tuning is my domain expertise and I make my leaving by consulting and training the same. Today’s session was on the same subject and as an additional twist, another subject about Spatial Database was presented. I was always intrigued with Spatial Database and I have enjoyed learning about it; however, I have never thought about Spatial Indexing before it was decided that I will do this session. I really thank Solid Quality Mentor Dr. Greg Low for his assistance in helping me prepare the slide deck and also review the content. Furthermore, today was really what I call my ‘learning day’ . So far I had not attended any session in TechEd and I felt a bit down for that. Everybody spends their valuable time & money to learn something new and exciting in TechEd and I had not attended a single session at the moment thinking that it was already last day of the event. I did have a plan for the day and I attended two technical sessions before my session of spatial database. I attended 2 sessions of Vinod Kumar. Vinod is a natural storyteller and there was no doubt that his sessions would be jam-packed. People attended his sessions simply because Vinod is syhe speaker. He did not have a single time disappointed audience; he is truly a good speaker. He knows his stuff very well. I personally do not think that in India he can be compared to anyone for SQL. Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm SQL Server Query Optimization, Execution and Debugging Query Performance I really had a fun time attending this session. Vinod made this session very interactive. The entire audience really got into the presentation and started participating in the event. Vinod was presenting a small problem with Query Tuning, which any developer would have encountered and solved with their help in such a fashion that a developer feels he or she have already resolved it. In one question, I was the only one who was ready to answer and Vinod told me in a light tone that I am now allowed to answer it! The audience really found it very amusing. There was a huge crowd around Vinod after the session. Vinod – A master storyteller! Time: 3:45pm-4:45pm Data Recovery / consistency with CheckDB This session was much heavier than the earlier one, and I must say this is my most favorite session I EVER attended in India. In this TechEd I have only attended two sessions, but in my career, I have attended numerous technical sessions not only in India, but all over the world. This session had taken my breath away. One by one, Vinod took the different databases, and started to corrupt them in different ways. Each database has some unique ways to get corrupted. Once that was done, Vinod started to show the DBCC CEHCKDB and demonstrated how it can solve your problem. He finally fixed all the databases with this single tool. I do have a good knowledge of this subject, but let me honestly admit that I have learned a lot from this session. I enjoyed and cheered during this session along with other attendees. I had total satisfaction that, just like everyone, I took advantage of the event and learned something. I am now TECHnically EDucated. Pinal Dave and Vinod Kumar After two very interactive and informative SQL Sessions from Vinod Kumar, the next turn me presenting on Spatial Database and Indexing. I got once again nervous but Vinod told me to stay natural and do my presentation. Well, once I got a huge stage with a total of four projectors and a large crowd, I felt better. Time: 5:00pm-6:00pm Session 3: Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spatial Indexing Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 I kicked off this session with Michael J Swart‘s beautiful spatial image. This session was the last one for the day but, to my surprise, I had more than 200+ attendees. Slowly, the rain was starting outside and I was worried that the hall would not be full; despite this, there was not a single seat available in the first five minutes of the session. Thanks to all of you for attending my presentation. I had demonstrated the map of world (and India) and quickly explained what Geographic and Geometry data types in Spatial Database are. This session had interesting story of Indexing and Comparison, as well as how different traditional indexes are from spatial indexing. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Due to the heavy rain during this event, the power went off for about 22 minutes (just an accident – nobodies fault). During these minutes, there were no audio, no video and no light. I continued to address the mass of 200+ people without any audio device and PowerPoint. I must thank the audience because not a single person left from the session. They all stayed in their place, some moved closure to listen to me properly. I noticed that the curiosity and eagerness to learn new things was at the peak even though it was the very last session of the TechEd. Everybody wanted get the maximum knowledge out of this whole event. I was touched by the support from audience. They listened and participated in my session even without any kinds of technology (no ppt, no mike, no AC, nothing). During these 22 minutes, I had completed my theory verbally. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 After a while, we got the projector back online and we continued with some exciting demos. Many thanks to Microsoft people who worked energetically in background to get the backup power for project up. I had a very interesting demo wherein I overlaid Bangalore and Hyderabad on the India Map and find their aerial distance between them. After finding the aerial distance, we browsed online and found that SQL Server estimates the exact aerial distance between these two cities, as compared to the factual distance. There was a huge applause from the crowd on the subject that SQL Server takes into the count of the curvature of the earth and finds the precise distances based on details. During the process of finding the distance, I demonstrated a few examples of the indexes where I expressed how one can use those indexes to find these distances and how they can improve the performance of similar query. I also demonstrated few examples wherein we were able to see in which data type the Index is most useful. We finished the demos with a few more internal stuff. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Despite all issues, I was mostly satisfied with my presentation. I think it was the best session I have ever presented at any conference. There was no help from Technology for a while, but I still got lots of appreciation at the end. When we ended the session, the applause from the audience was so loud that for a moment, the rain was not audible. I was truly moved by the dedication of the Technology enthusiasts. Pinal Dave After Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The abstract of the session is as follows: The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 delivers new spatial data types that enable you to consume, use, and extend location-based data through spatial-enabled applications. Attend this session to learn how to use spatial functionality in next version of SQL Server to build and optimize spatial queries. This session outlines the new geography data type to store geodetic spatial data and perform operations on it, use the new geometry data type to store planar spatial data and perform operations on it, take advantage of new spatial indexes for high performance queries, use the new spatial results tab to quickly and easily view spatial query results directly from within Management Studio, extend spatial data capabilities by building or integrating location-enabled applications through support for spatial standards and specifications and much more. Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Dinner by Sponsors After the lively session during the day, there was another dinner party courtesy of one of the sponsors of TechEd. All the MVPs and several Community leaders were present at the dinner. I would like to express my gratitude to Abhishek Kant for organizing this wonderful event for us. It was a blast and really relaxing in all angles. We all stayed there for a long time and talked about our sweet and unforgettable memories of the event. Pinal Dave and Bijoy Singhal It was really one wonderful event. After writing this much, I say that I have no words to express about how much I enjoyed TechEd. However, it is true that I shared with you only 1% of the total activities I have done at the event. There were so many people I have met, yet were not mentioned here although I wanted to write their names here, too . Anyway, I have learned so many things and up until now, I am not able to get over all the fun I had in this event. Pinal Dave at TechEd India 2010 The Next Days – April 15, 2010 – till today I am still not able to get my mind out of the whole experience I had at TechEd India 2010. It was like a whole Microsoft Family working together to celebrate a happy occasion. TechEd India – Truly An Unforgettable Experience! Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology Tagged: TechEd, TechEdIn

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Capturing and Transforming ASP.NET Output with Response.Filter

- by Rick Strahl

During one of my Handlers and Modules session at DevConnections this week one of the attendees asked a question that I didn’t have an immediate answer for. Basically he wanted to capture response output completely and then apply some filtering to the output – effectively injecting some additional content into the page AFTER the page had completely rendered. Specifically the output should be captured from anywhere – not just a page and have this code injected into the page. Some time ago I posted some code that allows you to capture ASP.NET Page output by overriding the Render() method, capturing the HtmlTextWriter() and reading its content, modifying the rendered data as text then writing it back out. I’ve actually used this approach on a few occasions and it works fine for ASP.NET pages. But this obviously won’t work outside of the Page class environment and it’s not really generic – you have to create a custom page class in order to handle the output capture. [updated 11/16/2009 – updated ResponseFilterStream implementation and a few additional notes based on comments] Enter Response.Filter However, ASP.NET includes a Response.Filter which can be used – well to filter output. Basically Response.Filter is a stream through which the OutputStream is piped back to the Web Server (indirectly). As content is written into the Response object, the filter stream receives the appropriate Stream commands like Write, Flush and Close as well as read operations although for a Response.Filter that’s uncommon to be hit. The Response.Filter can be programmatically replaced at runtime which allows you to effectively intercept all output generation that runs through ASP.NET. A common Example: Dynamic GZip Encoding A rather common use of Response.Filter hooking up code based, dynamic GZip compression for requests which is dead simple by applying a GZipStream (or DeflateStream) to Response.Filter. The following generic routines can be used very easily to detect GZip capability of the client and compress response output with a single line of code and a couple of library helper routines: WebUtils.GZipEncodePage(); which is handled with a few lines of reusable code and a couple of static helper methods: /// <summary> ///Sets up the current page or handler to use GZip through a Response.Filter ///IMPORTANT: ///You have to call this method before any output is generated! /// </summary> public static void GZipEncodePage() { HttpResponse Response = HttpContext.Current.Response; if(IsGZipSupported()) { stringAcceptEncoding = HttpContext.Current.Request.Headers["Accept-Encoding"]; if(AcceptEncoding.Contains("deflate")) { Response.Filter = newSystem.IO.Compression.DeflateStream(Response.Filter, System.IO.Compression.CompressionMode.Compress); Response.AppendHeader("Content-Encoding", "deflate"); } else { Response.Filter = newSystem.IO.Compression.GZipStream(Response.Filter, System.IO.Compression.CompressionMode.Compress); Response.AppendHeader("Content-Encoding", "gzip"); } } // Allow proxy servers to cache encoded and unencoded versions separately Response.AppendHeader("Vary", "Content-Encoding"); } /// <summary> /// Determines if GZip is supported /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public static bool IsGZipSupported() { string AcceptEncoding = HttpContext.Current.Request.Headers["Accept-Encoding"]; if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(AcceptEncoding) && (AcceptEncoding.Contains("gzip") || AcceptEncoding.Contains("deflate"))) return true; return false; } GZipStream and DeflateStream are streams that are assigned to Response.Filter and by doing so apply the appropriate compression on the active Response. Response.Filter content is chunked So to implement a Response.Filter effectively requires only that you implement a custom stream and handle the Write() method to capture Response output as it’s written. At first blush this seems very simple – you capture the output in Write, transform it and write out the transformed content in one pass. And that indeed works for small amounts of content. But you see, the problem is that output is written in small buffer chunks (a little less than 16k it appears) rather than just a single Write() statement into the stream, which makes perfect sense for ASP.NET to stream data back to IIS in smaller chunks to minimize memory usage en route. Unfortunately this also makes it a more difficult to implement any filtering routines since you don’t directly get access to all of the response content which is problematic especially if those filtering routines require you to look at the ENTIRE response in order to transform or capture the output as is needed for the solution the gentleman in my session asked for. So in order to address this a slightly different approach is required that basically captures all the Write() buffers passed into a cached stream and then making the stream available only when it’s complete and ready to be flushed. As I was thinking about the implementation I also started thinking about the few instances when I’ve used Response.Filter implementations. Each time I had to create a new Stream subclass and create my custom functionality but in the end each implementation did the same thing – capturing output and transforming it. I thought there should be an easier way to do this by creating a re-usable Stream class that can handle stream transformations that are common to Response.Filter implementations. Creating a semi-generic Response Filter Stream Class What I ended up with is a ResponseFilterStream class that provides a handful of Events that allow you to capture and/or transform Response content. The class implements a subclass of Stream and then overrides Write() and Flush() to handle capturing and transformation operations. By exposing events it’s easy to hook up capture or transformation operations via single focused methods. ResponseFilterStream exposes the following events: CaptureStream, CaptureString Captures the output only and provides either a MemoryStream or String with the final page output. Capture is hooked to the Flush() operation of the stream. TransformStream, TransformString Allows you to transform the complete response output with events that receive a MemoryStream or String respectively and can you modify the output then return it back as a return value. The transformed output is then written back out in a single chunk to the response output stream. These events capture all output internally first then write the entire buffer into the response. TransformWrite, TransformWriteString Allows you to transform the Response data as it is written in its original chunk size in the Stream’s Write() method. Unlike TransformStream/TransformString which operate on the complete output, these events only see the current chunk of data written. This is more efficient as there’s no caching involved, but can cause problems due to searched content splitting over multiple chunks. Using this implementation, creating a custom Response.Filter transformation becomes as simple as the following code. To hook up the Response.Filter using the MemoryStream version event: ResponseFilterStream filter = new ResponseFilterStream(Response.Filter); filter.TransformStream += filter_TransformStream; Response.Filter = filter; and the event handler to do the transformation: MemoryStream filter_TransformStream(MemoryStream ms) { Encoding encoding = HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentEncoding; string output = encoding.GetString(ms.ToArray()); output = FixPaths(output); ms = new MemoryStream(output.Length); byte[] buffer = encoding.GetBytes(output); ms.Write(buffer,0,buffer.Length); return ms; } private string FixPaths(string output) { string path = HttpContext.Current.Request.ApplicationPath; // override root path wonkiness if (path == "/") path = ""; output = output.Replace("\"~/", "\"" + path + "/").Replace("'~/", "'" + path + "/"); return output; } The idea of the event handler is that you can do whatever you want to the stream and return back a stream – either the same one that’s been modified or a brand new one – which is then sent back to as the final response. The above code can be simplified even more by using the string version events which handle the stream to string conversions for you: ResponseFilterStream filter = new ResponseFilterStream(Response.Filter); filter.TransformString += filter_TransformString; Response.Filter = filter; and the event handler to do the transformation calling the same FixPaths method shown above: string filter_TransformString(string output) { return FixPaths(output); } The events for capturing output and capturing and transforming chunks work in a very similar way. By using events to handle the transformations ResponseFilterStream becomes a reusable component and we don’t have to create a new stream class or subclass an existing Stream based classed. By the way, the example used here is kind of a cool trick which transforms “~/” expressions inside of the final generated HTML output – even in plain HTML controls not HTML controls – and transforms them into the appropriate application relative path in the same way that ResolveUrl would do. So you can write plain old HTML like this: <a href=”~/default.aspx”>Home</a> and have it turned into: <a href=”/myVirtual/default.aspx”>Home</a> without having to use an ASP.NET control like Hyperlink or Image or having to constantly use: <img src=”<%= ResolveUrl(“~/images/home.gif”) %>” /> in MVC applications (which frankly is one of the most annoying things about MVC especially given the path hell that extension-less and endpoint-less URLs impose). I can’t take credit for this idea. While discussing the Response.Filter issues on Twitter a hint from Dylan Beattie who pointed me at one of his examples which does something similar. I thought the idea was cool enough to use an example for future demos of Response.Filter functionality in ASP.NET next I time I do the Modules and Handlers talk (which was great fun BTW). How practical this is is debatable however since there’s definitely some overhead to using a Response.Filter in general and especially on one that caches the output and the re-writes it later. Make sure to test for performance anytime you use Response.Filter hookup and make sure it' doesn’t end up killing perf on you. You’ve been warned :-}. How does ResponseFilterStream work? The big win of this implementation IMHO is that it’s a reusable component – so for implementation there’s no new class, no subclassing – you simply attach to an event to implement an event handler method with a straight forward signature to retrieve the stream or string you’re interested in. The implementation is based on a subclass of Stream as is required in order to handle the Response.Filter requirements. What’s different than other implementations I’ve seen in various places is that it supports capturing output as a whole to allow retrieving the full response output for capture or modification. The exception are the TransformWrite and TransformWrite events which operate only active chunk of data written by the Response. For captured output, the Write() method captures output into an internal MemoryStream that is cached until writing is complete. So Write() is called when ASP.NET writes to the Response stream, but the filter doesn’t pass on the Write immediately to the filter’s internal stream. The data is cached and only when the Flush() method is called to finalize the Stream’s output do we actually send the cached stream off for transformation (if the events are hooked up) and THEN finally write out the returned content in one big chunk. Here’s the implementation of ResponseFilterStream: /// <summary> /// A semi-generic Stream implementation for Response.Filter with /// an event interface for handling Content transformations via /// Stream or String. /// <remarks> /// Use with care for large output as this implementation copies /// the output into a memory stream and so increases memory usage. /// </remarks> /// </summary> public class ResponseFilterStream : Stream { /// <summary> /// The original stream /// </summary> Stream _stream; /// <summary> /// Current position in the original stream /// </summary> long _position; /// <summary> /// Stream that original content is read into /// and then passed to TransformStream function /// </summary> MemoryStream _cacheStream = new MemoryStream(5000); /// <summary> /// Internal pointer that that keeps track of the size /// of the cacheStream /// </summary> int _cachePointer = 0; /// <summary> /// /// </summary> /// <param name="responseStream"></param> public ResponseFilterStream(Stream responseStream) { _stream = responseStream; } /// <summary> /// Determines whether the stream is captured /// </summary> private bool IsCaptured { get { if (CaptureStream != null || CaptureString != null || TransformStream != null || TransformString != null) return true; return false; } } /// <summary> /// Determines whether the Write method is outputting data immediately /// or delaying output until Flush() is fired. /// </summary> private bool IsOutputDelayed { get { if (TransformStream != null || TransformString != null) return true; return false; } } /// <summary> /// Event that captures Response output and makes it available /// as a MemoryStream instance. Output is captured but won't /// affect Response output. /// </summary> public event Action<MemoryStream> CaptureStream; /// <summary> /// Event that captures Response output and makes it available /// as a string. Output is captured but won't affect Response output. /// </summary> public event Action<string> CaptureString; /// <summary> /// Event that allows you transform the stream as each chunk of /// the output is written in the Write() operation of the stream. /// This means that that it's possible/likely that the input /// buffer will not contain the full response output but only /// one of potentially many chunks. /// /// This event is called as part of the filter stream's Write() /// operation. /// </summary> public event Func<byte[], byte[]> TransformWrite; /// <summary> /// Event that allows you to transform the response stream as /// each chunk of bytep[] output is written during the stream's write /// operation. This means it's possibly/likely that the string /// passed to the handler only contains a portion of the full /// output. Typical buffer chunks are around 16k a piece. /// /// This event is called as part of the stream's Write operation. /// </summary> public event Func<string, string> TransformWriteString; /// <summary> /// This event allows capturing and transformation of the entire /// output stream by caching all write operations and delaying final /// response output until Flush() is called on the stream. /// </summary> public event Func<MemoryStream, MemoryStream> TransformStream; /// <summary> /// Event that can be hooked up to handle Response.Filter /// Transformation. Passed a string that you can modify and /// return back as a return value. The modified content /// will become the final output. /// </summary> public event Func<string, string> TransformString; protected virtual void OnCaptureStream(MemoryStream ms) { if (CaptureStream != null) CaptureStream(ms); } private void OnCaptureStringInternal(MemoryStream ms) { if (CaptureString != null) { string content = HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentEncoding.GetString(ms.ToArray()); OnCaptureString(content); } } protected virtual void OnCaptureString(string output) { if (CaptureString != null) CaptureString(output); } protected virtual byte[] OnTransformWrite(byte[] buffer) { if (TransformWrite != null) return TransformWrite(buffer); return buffer; } private byte[] OnTransformWriteStringInternal(byte[] buffer) { Encoding encoding = HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentEncoding; string output = OnTransformWriteString(encoding.GetString(buffer)); return encoding.GetBytes(output); } private string OnTransformWriteString(string value) { if (TransformWriteString != null) return TransformWriteString(value); return value; } protected virtual MemoryStream OnTransformCompleteStream(MemoryStream ms) { if (TransformStream != null) return TransformStream(ms); return ms; } /// <summary> /// Allows transforming of strings /// /// Note this handler is internal and not meant to be overridden /// as the TransformString Event has to be hooked up in order /// for this handler to even fire to avoid the overhead of string /// conversion on every pass through. /// </summary> /// <param name="responseText"></param> /// <returns></returns> private string OnTransformCompleteString(string responseText) { if (TransformString != null) TransformString(responseText); return responseText; } /// <summary> /// Wrapper method form OnTransformString that handles /// stream to string and vice versa conversions /// </summary> /// <param name="ms"></param> /// <returns></returns> internal MemoryStream OnTransformCompleteStringInternal(MemoryStream ms) { if (TransformString == null) return ms; //string content = ms.GetAsString(); string content = HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentEncoding.GetString(ms.ToArray()); content = TransformString(content); byte[] buffer = HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentEncoding.GetBytes(content); ms = new MemoryStream(); ms.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length); //ms.WriteString(content); return ms; } /// <summary> /// /// </summary> public override bool CanRead { get { return true; } } public override bool CanSeek { get { return true; } } /// <summary> /// /// </summary> public override bool CanWrite { get { return true; } } /// <summary> /// /// </summary> public override long Length { get { return 0; } } /// <summary> /// /// </summary> public override long Position { get { return _position; } set { _position = value; } } /// <summary> /// /// </summary> /// <param name="offset"></param> /// <param name="direction"></param> /// <returns></returns> public override long Seek(long offset, System.IO.SeekOrigin direction) { return _stream.Seek(offset, direction); } /// <summary> /// /// </summary> /// <param name="length"></param> public override void SetLength(long length) { _stream.SetLength(length); } /// <summary> /// /// </summary> public override void Close() { _stream.Close(); } /// <summary> /// Override flush by writing out the cached stream data /// </summary> public override void Flush() { if (IsCaptured && _cacheStream.Length > 0) { // Check for transform implementations _cacheStream = OnTransformCompleteStream(_cacheStream); _cacheStream = OnTransformCompleteStringInternal(_cacheStream); OnCaptureStream(_cacheStream); OnCaptureStringInternal(_cacheStream); // write the stream back out if output was delayed if (IsOutputDelayed) _stream.Write(_cacheStream.ToArray(), 0, (int)_cacheStream.Length); // Clear the cache once we've written it out _cacheStream.SetLength(0); } // default flush behavior _stream.Flush(); } /// <summary> /// /// </summary> /// <param name="buffer"></param> /// <param name="offset"></param> /// <param name="count"></param> /// <returns></returns> public override int Read(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) { return _stream.Read(buffer, offset, count); } /// <summary> /// Overriden to capture output written by ASP.NET and captured /// into a cached stream that is written out later when Flush() /// is called. /// </summary> /// <param name="buffer"></param> /// <param name="offset"></param> /// <param name="count"></param> public override void Write(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) { if ( IsCaptured ) { // copy to holding buffer only - we'll write out later _cacheStream.Write(buffer, 0, count); _cachePointer += count; } // just transform this buffer if (TransformWrite != null) buffer = OnTransformWrite(buffer); if (TransformWriteString != null) buffer = OnTransformWriteStringInternal(buffer); if (!IsOutputDelayed) _stream.Write(buffer, offset, buffer.Length); } } The key features are the events and corresponding OnXXX methods that handle the event hookups, and the Write() and Flush() methods of the stream implementation. All the rest of the members tend to be plain jane passthrough stream implementation code without much consequence. I do love the way Action<t> and Func<T> make it so easy to create the event signatures for the various events – sweet. A few Things to consider Performance Response.Filter is not great for performance in general as it adds another layer of indirection to the ASP.NET output pipeline, and this implementation in particular adds a memory hit as it basically duplicates the response output into the cached memory stream which is necessary since you may have to look at the entire response. If you have large pages in particular this can cause potentially serious memory pressure in your server application. So be careful of wholesale adoption of this (or other) Response.Filters. Make sure to do some performance testing to ensure it’s not killing your app’s performance. Response.Filter works everywhere A few questions came up in comments and discussion as to capturing ALL output hitting the site and – yes you can definitely do that by assigning a Response.Filter inside of a module. If you do this however you’ll want to be very careful and decide which content you actually want to capture especially in IIS 7 which passes ALL content – including static images/CSS etc. through the ASP.NET pipeline. So it is important to filter only on what you’re looking for – like the page extension or maybe more effectively the Response.ContentType. Response.Filter Chaining Originally I thought that filter chaining doesn’t work at all due to a bug in the stream implementation code. But it’s quite possible to assign multiple filters to the Response.Filter property. So the following actually works to both compress the output and apply the transformed content: WebUtils.GZipEncodePage(); ResponseFilterStream filter = new ResponseFilterStream(Response.Filter); filter.TransformString += filter_TransformString; Response.Filter = filter; However the following does not work resulting in invalid content encoding errors: ResponseFilterStream filter = new ResponseFilterStream(Response.Filter); filter.TransformString += filter_TransformString; Response.Filter = filter; WebUtils.GZipEncodePage(); In other words multiple Response filters can work together but it depends entirely on the implementation whether they can be chained or in which order they can be chained. In this case running the GZip/Deflate stream filters apparently relies on the original content length of the output and chokes when the content is modified. But if attaching the compression first it works fine as unintuitive as that may seem. Resources Download example code Capture Output from ASP.NET Pages © Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in ASP.NET

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SQLAuthority News – TechEd India – April 12-14, 2010 Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – An Op

- by pinaldave

TechEd India was one of the largest Technology events in India led by Microsoft. This event was attended by more than 3,000 technology enthusiasts, making it one of the most well-organized events of the year. Though I attempted to attend almost all the technology events here, I have not seen any bigger or better event in Indian subcontinents other than this. There are 21 Technical Tracks at Tech·Ed India 2010 that span more than 745 learning opportunities. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this whole event as a speaker and a delegate, as well. TechEd India Speaker Badge and A Token of Lifetime Hotel Selection I presented three different sessions at TechEd India and was also a part of panel discussion. (The details of the sessions are given at the end of this blog post.) Due to extensive traveling, I stay away from my family occasionally. For this reason, I took my wife – Nupur and daughter Shaivi (8 months old) to the event along with me. We stayed at the same hotel where the event was organized so as to maximize my time bonding with my family and to have more time in networking with technology community, at the same time. The hotel Lalit Ashok is the largest and most luxurious venue one can find in Bangalore, located in the middle of the city. The cost of the hotel was a bit pricey, but looking at all the advantages, I had decided to ask for a booking there. Hotel Lalit Ashok Nupur Dave and Shaivi Dave Arrival Day – DAY 0 – April 11, 2010 I reached the event a day earlier, and that was one wise decision for I was able to relax a bit and go over my presentation for the next day’s course. I am a kind of person who likes to get everything ready ahead of time. I was also able to enjoy a pleasant evening with several Microsoft employees and my family friends. I even checked out the location where I would be doing presentations the next day. I was fortunate enough to meet Bijoy Singhal from Microsoft who helped me out with a few of the logistics issues that occured the day before. I was not aware of the fact that the very next day he was going to be “The Man” of the TechEd 2010 event. Vinod Kumar from Microsoft was really very kind as he talked to me regarding my subsequent session. He gave me some suggestions which were really helpful that I was able to incorporate them during my presentation. Finally, I was able to meet Abhishek Kant from Microsoft; his valuable suggestions and unlimited passion have inspired many people like me to work with the Community. Pradipta from Microsoft was also around, being extremely busy with logistics; however, in those busy times, he did find some good spare time to have a chat with me and the other Community leaders. I also met Harish Ranganathan and Sachin Rathi, both from Microsoft. It was so interesting to listen to both of them talking about SharePoint. I just have no words to express my overwhelmed spirit because of all these passionate young guys - Pradipta,Vinod, Bijoy, Harish, Sachin and Ahishek (of course!). Map of TechEd India 2010 Event Day 1 – April 12, 2010 From morning until night time, today was truly a very busy day for me. I had two presentations and one panel discussion for the day. Needless to say, I had a few meetings to attend as well. The day started with a keynote from S. Somaseger where he announced the launch of Visual Studio 2010. The keynote area was really eye-catching because of the very large, bigger-than- life uniform screen. This was truly one to show. The title music of the keynote was very interesting and it featured Bijoy Singhal as the model. It was interesting to talk to him afterwards, when we laughed at jokes together about his modeling assignment. TechEd India Keynote Opening Featuring Bijoy TechEd India 2010 Keynote – S. Somasegar Time: 11:15pm – 11:45pm Session 1: True Lies of SQL Server – SQL Myth Buster Following the excellent keynote, I had my very first session on the subject of SQL Server Myth Buster. At first, I was a bit nervous as right after the keynote, for this was my very first session and during my presentation I saw lots of Microsoft Product Team members. Well, it really went well and I had a really good discussion with attendees of the session. I felt that a well begin was half-done and my confidence was regained. Right after the session, I met a few of my Community friends and had meaningful discussions with them on many subjects. The abstract of the session is as follows: In this 30-minute demo session, I am going to briefly demonstrate few SQL Server Myths and their resolutions as I back them up with some demo. This demo presentation is a must-attend for all developers and administrators who would come to the event. This is going to be a very quick yet fun session. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Lunch with Somasegar After the session I went to see my daughter, and then I headed right away to the lunch with S. Somasegar – the keynote speaker and senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. I really thank to Abhishek who made it possible for us. Because of his efforts, all the MVPs had the opportunity to meet such a legendary person and had to talk with them on Microsoft Technology. Though Somasegar is currently holding such a high position in Microsoft, he is very polite and a real gentleman, and how I wish that everybody in industry is like him. Believe me, if you spread love and kindness, then that is what you will receive back. As soon as lunch time was over, I ran to the session hall as my second presentation was about to start. Time: 2:30pm – 3:30pm Session 2: Master Data Services in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence is a subject which was widely talked about at TechEd. Everybody was interested in this subject, and I did not excuse myself from this great concept as well. I consider myself fortunate as I was presenting on the subject of Master Data Services at TechEd. When I had initially learned this subject, I had a bit of confusion about the usage of this tool. Later on, I decided that I would tackle about how we all developers and DBAs are not able to understand something so simple such as this, and even worst, creating confusion about the technology. During system designing, it is very important to have a reference material or master lookup tables. Well, I talked about the same subject and presented the session keeping that as my center talk. The session went very well and I received lots of interesting questions. I got many compliments for talking about this subject on the real-life scenario. I really thank Rushabh Mehta (CEO, Solid Quality Mentors India) for his supportive suggestions that helped me prepare the slide deck, as well as the subject. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The abstract of the session is as follows: SQL Server Master Data Services will ship with SQL Server 2008 R2 and will improve Microsoft’s platform appeal. This session provides an in-depth demonstration of MDS features and highlights important usage scenarios. Master Data Services enables consistent decision-making process by allowing you to create, manage and propagate changes from a single master view of your business entities. Also, MDS – Master Data-hub which is a vital component, helps ensure the consistency of reporting across systems and deliver faster and more accurate results across the enterprise. We will talk about establishing the basis for a centralized approach to defining, deploying, and managing master data in the enterprise. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The day was still not over for me. I had ran into several friends but we were not able keep our enthusiasm under control about all the rumors saying that SQL Server 2008 R2 was about to be launched tomorrow in the keynote. I then ran to my third and final technical event for the day- a panel discussion with the top technologies of India. Time: 5:00pm – 6:00pm Panel Discussion: Harness the power of Web – SEO and Technical Blogging As I have delivered two technical sessions by this time, I was a bit tired but not less enthusiastic when I had to talk about Blog and Technology. We discussed many different topics there. I told them that the most important aspect for any blog is its content. We discussed in depth the issues with plagiarism and how to avoid it. Another topic of discussion was how we technology bloggers can create awareness in the Community about what the right kind of blogging is and what morally and technically wrong acts are. A couple of questions were raised about what type of liberty a person can have in terms of writing blogs. Well, it was generically agreed that a blog is mainly a representation of our ideas and thoughts; it should not be governed by external entities. As long as one is writing what they really want to say, but not providing incorrect information or not practicing plagiarism, a blogger should be allowed to express himself. This panel discussion was supposed to be over in an hour, but the interest of the participants was remarkable and so it was extended for 30 minutes more. Finally, we decided to bring to a close the discussion and agreed that we will continue the topic next year. TechEd India Panel Discussion on Web, Technology and SEO Surprisingly, the day was just beginning after doing all of these. By this time, I have almost met all the MVP who arrived at the event, as well as many Microsoft employees. There were lots of Community folks present, too. I decided that I would go to meet several friends from the Community and continue to communicate with me on SQLAuthority.com. I also met Abhishek Baxi and had a good talk with him regarding Win Mobile and Twitter. He also took a very quick video of me wherein I spoke in my mother’s tongue, Gujarati. It was funny that I talked in Gujarati almost all the day, but when I was talking in the interview I could not find the right Gujarati words to speak. I think we all think in English when we think about Technology, so as to address universality. After meeting them, I headed towards the Speakers’ Dinner. Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Speakers Dinner The Speakers’ dinner was indeed a wonderful opportunity for all the speakers to get together and relax. We talked so many different things, from XBOX to Hindi Movies, and from SQL to Samosas. I just could not express how much fun I had. After a long evening, when I returned tmy room and met Shaivi, I just felt instantly relaxed. Kids are really gifts from God. Today was a really long but exciting day. So many things happened in just one day: Visual Studio Lanch, lunch with Somasegar, 2 technical sessions, 1 panel discussion, community leaders meeting, speakers dinner and, last but not leas,t playing with my child! A perfect day! Day 2 – April 13, 2010 Today started with a bang with the excellent keynote by Kamal Hathi who launched SQL Server 2008 R2 in India and demonstrated the power of PowerPivot to all of us. 101 Million Rows in Excel brought lots of applause from the audience. Kamal Hathi Presenting Keynote at TechEd India 2010 The day was a bit easier one for me. I had no sessions today and no events planned. I had a few meetings planned for the second day of the event. I sat in the speaker’s lounge for half a day and met many people there. I attended nearly 9 different meetings today. The subjects of the meetings were very different. Here is a list of the topics of the Community-related meetings: SQL PASS and its involvement in India and subcontinents How to start community blogging Forums and developing aptitude towards technology Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar User Groups and their developments SharePoint and SQL Business Meeting – a client meeting Business Meeting – a potential performance tuning project Business Meeting – Solid Quality Mentors (SolidQ) And family friends Pinal Dave at TechEd India The day passed by so quickly during this meeting. In the evening, I headed to Partners Expo with friends and checked out few of the booths. I really wanted to talk about some of the products, but due to the freebies there was so much crowd that I finally decided to just take the contact details of the partner. I will now start sending them with my queries and, hopefully, I will have my questions answered. Nupur and Shaivi had also one meeting to attend; it was with our family friend Vijay Raj. Vijay is also a person who loves Technology and loves it more than anybody. I see him growing and learning every day, but still remaining as a ‘human’. I believe that if someone acquires as much knowledge as him, that person will become either a computer or cyborg. Here, Vijay is still a kind gentleman and is able to stay as our close family friend. Shaivi was really happy to play with Uncle Vijay. Pinal Dave and Vijay Raj Renuka Prasad, a Microsoft MVP, impressed me with his passion and knowledge of SQL. Every time he gives me credit for his success, I believe that he is very humble. He has way more certifications than me and has worked many more years with SQL compared to me. He is an excellent photographer as well. Most of the photos in this blog post have been taken by him. I told him if ever he wants to do a part time job, he can do the photography very well. Pinal Dave and Renuka Prasad I also met L Srividya from Microsoft, whom I was looking forward to meet. She is a bundle of knowledge that everyone would surely learn a lot from her. I was able to get a few minutes from her and well, I felt confident. She enlightened me with SQL Server BI concepts, domain management and SQL Server security and few other interesting details. I also had a wonderful time talking about SharePoint with fellow Solid Quality Mentor Joy Rathnayake. He is very passionate about SharePoint but when you talk .NET and SQL with him, he is still overwhelmingly knowledgeable. In fact, while talking to him, I figured out that the recent training he delivered was on SQL Server 2008 R2. I told him a joke that it hurts my ego as he is more popular now in SQL training and consulting than me. I am sure all of you agree that working with good people is a gift from God. I am fortunate enough to work with the best of the best Industry experts. It was a great pleasure to hang out with my Community friends – Ahswin Kini, HimaBindu Vejella, Vasudev G, Suprotim Agrawal, Dhananjay, Vikram Pendse, Mahesh Dhola, Mahesh Mitkari, Manu Zacharia, Shobhan, Hardik Shah, Ashish Mohta, Manan, Subodh Sohani and Sanjay Shetty (of course!) . (Please let me know if I have met you at the event and forgot your name to list here). Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Community Leaders Dinner After lots of meetings, I headed towards the Community Leaders dinner meeting and met almost all the folks I met in morning. The discussion was almost the same but the real good thing was that we were enjoying it. The food was really good. Nupur was invited in the event, but Shaivi could not come. When Nupur tried to enter the event, she was stopped as Shaivi did not have the pass to enter the dinner. Nupur expressed that Shaivi is only 8 months old and does not eat outside food as well and could not stay by herself at this age, but the door keeper did not agree and asked that without the entry details Shaivi could not go in, but Nupur could. Nupur called me on phone and asked me to help her out. By the time, I was outside; the organizer of the event reached to the door and happily approved Shaivi to join the party. Once in the party, Shaivi had lots of fun meeting so many people. Shaivi Dave and Abhishek Kant Dean Guida (Infragistics President and CEO) and Pinal Dave (SQLAuthority.com) Day 3 – April 14, 2010 Though, it was last day, I was very much excited today as I was about to present my very favorite session. Query Optimization and Performance Tuning is my domain expertise and I make my leaving by consulting and training the same. Today’s session was on the same subject and as an additional twist, another subject about Spatial Database was presented. I was always intrigued with Spatial Database and I have enjoyed learning about it; however, I have never thought about Spatial Indexing before it was decided that I will do this session. I really thank Solid Quality Mentor Dr. Greg Low for his assistance in helping me prepare the slide deck and also review the content. Furthermore, today was really what I call my ‘learning day’ . So far I had not attended any session in TechEd and I felt a bit down for that. Everybody spends their valuable time & money to learn something new and exciting in TechEd and I had not attended a single session at the moment thinking that it was already last day of the event. I did have a plan for the day and I attended two technical sessions before my session of spatial database. I attended 2 sessions of Vinod Kumar. Vinod is a natural storyteller and there was no doubt that his sessions would be jam-packed. People attended his sessions simply because Vinod is syhe speaker. He did not have a single time disappointed audience; he is truly a good speaker. He knows his stuff very well. I personally do not think that in India he can be compared to anyone for SQL. Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm SQL Server Query Optimization, Execution and Debugging Query Performance I really had a fun time attending this session. Vinod made this session very interactive. The entire audience really got into the presentation and started participating in the event. Vinod was presenting a small problem with Query Tuning, which any developer would have encountered and solved with their help in such a fashion that a developer feels he or she have already resolved it. In one question, I was the only one who was ready to answer and Vinod told me in a light tone that I am now allowed to answer it! The audience really found it very amusing. There was a huge crowd around Vinod after the session. Vinod – A master storyteller! Time: 3:45pm-4:45pm Data Recovery / consistency with CheckDB This session was much heavier than the earlier one, and I must say this is my most favorite session I EVER attended in India. In this TechEd I have only attended two sessions, but in my career, I have attended numerous technical sessions not only in India, but all over the world. This session had taken my breath away. One by one, Vinod took the different databases, and started to corrupt them in different ways. Each database has some unique ways to get corrupted. Once that was done, Vinod started to show the DBCC CEHCKDB and demonstrated how it can solve your problem. He finally fixed all the databases with this single tool. I do have a good knowledge of this subject, but let me honestly admit that I have learned a lot from this session. I enjoyed and cheered during this session along with other attendees. I had total satisfaction that, just like everyone, I took advantage of the event and learned something. I am now TECHnically EDucated. Pinal Dave and Vinod Kumar After two very interactive and informative SQL Sessions from Vinod Kumar, the next turn me presenting on Spatial Database and Indexing. I got once again nervous but Vinod told me to stay natural and do my presentation. Well, once I got a huge stage with a total of four projectors and a large crowd, I felt better. Time: 5:00pm-6:00pm Session 3: Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spatial Indexing Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 I kicked off this session with Michael J Swart‘s beautiful spatial image. This session was the last one for the day but, to my surprise, I had more than 200+ attendees. Slowly, the rain was starting outside and I was worried that the hall would not be full; despite this, there was not a single seat available in the first five minutes of the session. Thanks to all of you for attending my presentation. I had demonstrated the map of world (and India) and quickly explained what Geographic and Geometry data types in Spatial Database are. This session had interesting story of Indexing and Comparison, as well as how different traditional indexes are from spatial indexing. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Due to the heavy rain during this event, the power went off for about 22 minutes (just an accident – nobodies fault). During these minutes, there were no audio, no video and no light. I continued to address the mass of 200+ people without any audio device and PowerPoint. I must thank the audience because not a single person left from the session. They all stayed in their place, some moved closure to listen to me properly. I noticed that the curiosity and eagerness to learn new things was at the peak even though it was the very last session of the TechEd. Everybody wanted get the maximum knowledge out of this whole event. I was touched by the support from audience. They listened and participated in my session even without any kinds of technology (no ppt, no mike, no AC, nothing). During these 22 minutes, I had completed my theory verbally. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 After a while, we got the projector back online and we continued with some exciting demos. Many thanks to Microsoft people who worked energetically in background to get the backup power for project up. I had a very interesting demo wherein I overlaid Bangalore and Hyderabad on the India Map and find their aerial distance between them. After finding the aerial distance, we browsed online and found that SQL Server estimates the exact aerial distance between these two cities, as compared to the factual distance. There was a huge applause from the crowd on the subject that SQL Server takes into the count of the curvature of the earth and finds the precise distances based on details. During the process of finding the distance, I demonstrated a few examples of the indexes where I expressed how one can use those indexes to find these distances and how they can improve the performance of similar query. I also demonstrated few examples wherein we were able to see in which data type the Index is most useful. We finished the demos with a few more internal stuff. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Despite all issues, I was mostly satisfied with my presentation. I think it was the best session I have ever presented at any conference. There was no help from Technology for a while, but I still got lots of appreciation at the end. When we ended the session, the applause from the audience was so loud that for a moment, the rain was not audible. I was truly moved by the dedication of the Technology enthusiasts. Pinal Dave After Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The abstract of the session is as follows: The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 delivers new spatial data types that enable you to consume, use, and extend location-based data through spatial-enabled applications. Attend this session to learn how to use spatial functionality in next version of SQL Server to build and optimize spatial queries. This session outlines the new geography data type to store geodetic spatial data and perform operations on it, use the new geometry data type to store planar spatial data and perform operations on it, take advantage of new spatial indexes for high performance queries, use the new spatial results tab to quickly and easily view spatial query results directly from within Management Studio, extend spatial data capabilities by building or integrating location-enabled applications through support for spatial standards and specifications and much more. Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Dinner by Sponsors After the lively session during the day, there was another dinner party courtesy of one of the sponsors of TechEd. All the MVPs and several Community leaders were present at the dinner. I would like to express my gratitude to Abhishek Kant for organizing this wonderful event for us. It was a blast and really relaxing in all angles. We all stayed there for a long time and talked about our sweet and unforgettable memories of the event. Pinal Dave and Bijoy Singhal It was really one wonderful event. After writing this much, I say that I have no words to express about how much I enjoyed TechEd. However, it is true that I shared with you only 1% of the total activities I have done at the event. There were so many people I have met, yet were not mentioned here although I wanted to write their names here, too . Anyway, I have learned so many things and up until now, I am not able to get over all the fun I had in this event. Pinal Dave at TechEd India 2010 The Next Days – April 15, 2010 – till today I am still not able to get my mind out of the whole experience I had at TechEd India 2010. It was like a whole Microsoft Family working together to celebrate a happy occasion. TechEd India – Truly An Unforgettable Experience! Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology Tagged: TechEd, TechEdIn

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Custom ASP.NET Routing to an HttpHandler

- by Rick Strahl

As of version 4.0 ASP.NET natively supports routing via the now built-in System.Web.Routing namespace. Routing features are automatically integrated into the HtttpRuntime via a few custom interfaces. New Web Forms Routing Support In ASP.NET 4.0 there are a host of improvements including routing support baked into Web Forms via a RouteData property available on the Page class and RouteCollection.MapPageRoute() route handler that makes it easy to route to Web forms. To map ASP.NET Page routes is as simple as setting up the routes with MapPageRoute:protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) { RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes); } void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes) { routes.MapPageRoute("StockQuote", "StockQuote/{symbol}", "StockQuote.aspx"); routes.MapPageRoute("StockQuotes", "StockQuotes/{symbolList}", "StockQuotes.aspx"); } and then accessing the route data in the page you can then use the new Page class RouteData property to retrieve the dynamic route data information:public partial class StockQuote1 : System.Web.UI.Page { protected StockQuote Quote = null; protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { string symbol = RouteData.Values["symbol"] as string; StockServer server = new StockServer(); Quote = server.GetStockQuote(symbol); // display stock data in Page View } } Simple, quick and doesn’t require much explanation. If you’re using WebForms most of your routing needs should be served just fine by this simple mechanism. Kudos to the ASP.NET team for putting this in the box and making it easy! How Routing Works To handle Routing in ASP.NET involves these steps: Registering Routes Creating a custom RouteHandler to retrieve an HttpHandler Attaching RouteData to your HttpHandler Picking up Route Information in your Request code Registering routes makes ASP.NET aware of the Routes you want to handle via the static RouteTable.Routes collection. You basically add routes to this collection to let ASP.NET know which URL patterns it should watch for. You typically hook up routes off a RegisterRoutes method that fires in Application_Start as I did in the example above to ensure routes are added only once when the application first starts up. When you create a route, you pass in a RouteHandler instance which ASP.NET caches and reuses as routes are matched. Once registered ASP.NET monitors the routes and if a match is found just prior to the HttpHandler instantiation, ASP.NET uses the RouteHandler registered for the route and calls GetHandler() on it to retrieve an HttpHandler instance. The RouteHandler.GetHandler() method is responsible for creating an instance of an HttpHandler that is to handle the request and – if necessary – to assign any additional custom data to the handler. At minimum you probably want to pass the RouteData to the handler so the handler can identify the request based on the route data available. To do this you typically add a RouteData property to your handler and then assign the property from the RouteHandlers request context. This is essentially how Page.RouteData comes into being and this approach should work well for any custom handler implementation that requires RouteData. It’s a shame that ASP.NET doesn’t have a top level intrinsic object that’s accessible off the HttpContext object to provide route data more generically, but since RouteData is directly tied to HttpHandlers and not all handlers support it it might cause some confusion of when it’s actually available. Bottom line is that if you want to hold on to RouteData you have to assign it to a custom property of the handler or else pass it to the handler via Context.Items[] object that can be retrieved on an as needed basis. It’s important to understand that routing is hooked up via RouteHandlers that are responsible for loading HttpHandler instances. RouteHandlers are invoked for every request that matches a route and through this RouteHandler instance the Handler gains access to the current RouteData. Because of this logic it’s important to understand that Routing is really tied to HttpHandlers and not available prior to handler instantiation, which is pretty late in the HttpRuntime’s request pipeline. IOW, Routing works with Handlers but not with earlier in the pipeline within Modules. Specifically ASP.NET calls RouteHandler.GetHandler() from the PostResolveRequestCache HttpRuntime pipeline event. Here’s the call stack at the beginning of the GetHandler() call: which fires just before handler resolution. Non-Page Routing – You need to build custom RouteHandlers If you need to route to a custom Http Handler or other non-Page (and non-MVC) endpoint in the HttpRuntime, there is no generic mapping support available. You need to create a custom RouteHandler that can manage creating an instance of an HttpHandler that is fired in response to a routed request. Depending on what you are doing this process can be simple or fairly involved as your code is responsible based on the route data provided which handler to instantiate, and more importantly how to pass the route data on to the Handler. Luckily creating a RouteHandler is easy by implementing the IRouteHandler interface which has only a single GetHttpHandler(RequestContext context) method. In this method you can pick up the requestContext.RouteData, instantiate the HttpHandler of choice, and assign the RouteData to it. Then pass back the handler and you’re done.Here’s a simple example of GetHttpHandler() method that dynamically creates a handler based on a passed in Handler type./// <summary> /// Retrieves an Http Handler based on the type specified in the constructor /// </summary> /// <param name="requestContext"></param> /// <returns></returns> IHttpHandler IRouteHandler.GetHttpHandler(RequestContext requestContext) { IHttpHandler handler = Activator.CreateInstance(CallbackHandlerType) as IHttpHandler; // If we're dealing with a Callback Handler // pass the RouteData for this route to the Handler if (handler is CallbackHandler) ((CallbackHandler)handler).RouteData = requestContext.RouteData; return handler; } Note that this code checks for a specific type of handler and if it matches assigns the RouteData to this handler. This is optional but quite a common scenario if you want to work with RouteData. If the handler you need to instantiate isn’t under your control but you still need to pass RouteData to Handler code, an alternative is to pass the RouteData via the HttpContext.Items collection:IHttpHandler IRouteHandler.GetHttpHandler(RequestContext requestContext) { IHttpHandler handler = Activator.CreateInstance(CallbackHandlerType) as IHttpHandler; requestContext.HttpContext.Items["RouteData"] = requestContext.RouteData; return handler; } The code in the handler implementation can then pick up the RouteData from the context collection as needed:RouteData routeData = HttpContext.Current.Items["RouteData"] as RouteData This isn’t as clean as having an explicit RouteData property, but it does have the advantage that the route data is visible anywhere in the Handler’s code chain. It’s definitely preferable to create a custom property on your handler, but the Context work-around works in a pinch when you don’t’ own the handler code and have dynamic code executing as part of the handler execution. An Example of a Custom RouteHandler: Attribute Based Route Implementation In this post I’m going to discuss a custom routine implementation I built for my CallbackHandler class in the West Wind Web & Ajax Toolkit. CallbackHandler can be very easily used for creating AJAX, REST and POX requests following RPC style method mapping. You can pass parameters via URL query string, POST data or raw data structures, and you can retrieve results as JSON, XML or raw string/binary data. It’s a quick and easy way to build service interfaces with no fuss. As a quick review here’s how CallbackHandler works: You create an Http Handler that derives from CallbackHandler You implement methods that have a [CallbackMethod] Attribute and that’s it. Here’s an example of an CallbackHandler implementation in an ashx.cs based handler:// RestService.ashx.cs public class RestService : CallbackHandler { [CallbackMethod] public StockQuote GetStockQuote(string symbol) { StockServer server = new StockServer(); return server.GetStockQuote(symbol); } [CallbackMethod] public StockQuote[] GetStockQuotes(string symbolList) { StockServer server = new StockServer(); string[] symbols = symbolList.Split(new char[2] { ',',';' },StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries); return server.GetStockQuotes(symbols); } } CallbackHandler makes it super easy to create a method on the server, pass data to it via POST, QueryString or raw JSON/XML data, and then retrieve the results easily back in various formats. This works wonderful and I’ve used these tools in many projects for myself and with clients. But one thing missing has been the ability to create clean URLs. Typical URLs looked like this: http://www.west-wind.com/WestwindWebToolkit/samples/Rest/StockService.ashx?Method=GetStockQuote&symbol=msfthttp://www.west-wind.com/WestwindWebToolkit/samples/Rest/StockService.ashx?Method=GetStockQuotes&symbolList=msft,intc,gld,slw,mwe&format=xml which works and is clear enough, but also clearly very ugly. It would be much nicer if URLs could look like this: http://www.west-wind.com//WestwindWebtoolkit/Samples/StockQuote/msfthttp://www.west-wind.com/WestwindWebtoolkit/Samples/StockQuotes/msft,intc,gld,slw?format=xml (the Virtual Root in this sample is WestWindWebToolkit/Samples and StockQuote/{symbol} is the route)(If you use FireFox try using the JSONView plug-in make it easier to view JSON content) So, taking a clue from the WCF REST tools that use RouteUrls I set out to create a way to specify RouteUrls for each of the endpoints. The change made basically allows changing the above to: [CallbackMethod(RouteUrl="RestService/StockQuote/{symbol}")] public StockQuote GetStockQuote(string symbol) { StockServer server = new StockServer(); return server.GetStockQuote(symbol); } [CallbackMethod(RouteUrl = "RestService/StockQuotes/{symbolList}")] public StockQuote[] GetStockQuotes(string symbolList) { StockServer server = new StockServer(); string[] symbols = symbolList.Split(new char[2] { ',',';' },StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries); return server.GetStockQuotes(symbols); } where a RouteUrl is specified as part of the Callback attribute. And with the changes made with RouteUrls I can now get URLs like the second set shown earlier. So how does that work? Let’s find out… How to Create Custom Routes As mentioned earlier Routing is made up of several steps: Creating a custom RouteHandler to create HttpHandler instances Mapping the actual Routes to the RouteHandler Retrieving the RouteData and actually doing something useful with it in the HttpHandler In the CallbackHandler routing example above this works out to something like this: Create a custom RouteHandler that includes a property to track the method to call Set up the routes using Reflection against the class Looking for any RouteUrls in the CallbackMethod attribute Add a RouteData property to the CallbackHandler so we can access the RouteData in the code of the handler Creating a Custom Route Handler To make the above work I created a custom RouteHandler class that includes the actual IRouteHandler implementation as well as a generic and static method to automatically register all routes marked with the [CallbackMethod(RouteUrl="…")] attribute. Here’s the code:/// <summary> /// Route handler that can create instances of CallbackHandler derived /// callback classes. The route handler tracks the method name and /// creates an instance of the service in a predictable manner /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="TCallbackHandler">CallbackHandler type</typeparam> public class CallbackHandlerRouteHandler : IRouteHandler { /// <summary> /// Method name that is to be called on this route. /// Set by the automatically generated RegisterRoutes /// invokation. /// </summary> public string MethodName { get; set; } /// <summary> /// The type of the handler we're going to instantiate. /// Needed so we can semi-generically instantiate the /// handler and call the method on it. /// </summary> public Type CallbackHandlerType { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Constructor to pass in the two required components we /// need to create an instance of our handler. /// </summary> /// <param name="methodName"></param> /// <param name="callbackHandlerType"></param> public CallbackHandlerRouteHandler(string methodName, Type callbackHandlerType) { MethodName = methodName; CallbackHandlerType = callbackHandlerType; } /// <summary> /// Retrieves an Http Handler based on the type specified in the constructor /// </summary> /// <param name="requestContext"></param> /// <returns></returns> IHttpHandler IRouteHandler.GetHttpHandler(RequestContext requestContext) { IHttpHandler handler = Activator.CreateInstance(CallbackHandlerType) as IHttpHandler; // If we're dealing with a Callback Handler // pass the RouteData for this route to the Handler if (handler is CallbackHandler) ((CallbackHandler)handler).RouteData = requestContext.RouteData; return handler; } /// <summary> /// Generic method to register all routes from a CallbackHandler /// that have RouteUrls defined on the [CallbackMethod] attribute /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="TCallbackHandler">CallbackHandler Type</typeparam> /// <param name="routes"></param> public static void RegisterRoutes<TCallbackHandler>(RouteCollection routes) { // find all methods var methods = typeof(TCallbackHandler).GetMethods(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public); foreach (var method in methods) { var attrs = method.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(CallbackMethodAttribute), false); if (attrs.Length < 1) continue; CallbackMethodAttribute attr = attrs[0] as CallbackMethodAttribute; if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(attr.RouteUrl)) continue; // Add the route routes.Add(method.Name, new Route(attr.RouteUrl, new CallbackHandlerRouteHandler(method.Name, typeof(TCallbackHandler)))); } } } The RouteHandler implements IRouteHandler, and its responsibility via the GetHandler method is to create an HttpHandler based on the route data. When ASP.NET calls GetHandler it passes a requestContext parameter which includes a requestContext.RouteData property. This parameter holds the current request’s route data as well as an instance of the current RouteHandler. If you look at GetHttpHandler() you can see that the code creates an instance of the handler we are interested in and then sets the RouteData property on the handler. This is how you can pass the current request’s RouteData to the handler. The RouteData object also has a RouteData.RouteHandler property that is also available to the Handler later, which is useful in order to get additional information about the current route. In our case here the RouteHandler includes a MethodName property that identifies the method to execute in the handler since that value no longer comes from the URL so we need to figure out the method name some other way. The method name is mapped explicitly when the RouteHandler is created and here the static method that auto-registers all CallbackMethods with RouteUrls sets the method name when it creates the routes while reflecting over the methods (more on this in a minute). The important point here is that you can attach additional properties to the RouteHandler and you can then later access the RouteHandler and its properties later in the Handler to pick up these custom values. This is a crucial feature in that the RouteHandler serves in passing additional context to the handler so it knows what actions to perform. The automatic route registration is handled by the static RegisterRoutes<TCallbackHandler> method. This method is generic and totally reusable for any CallbackHandler type handler. To register a CallbackHandler and any RouteUrls it has defined you simple use code like this in Application_Start (or other application startup code):protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) { // Register Routes for RestService CallbackHandlerRouteHandler.RegisterRoutes<RestService>(RouteTable.Routes); } If you have multiple CallbackHandler style services you can make multiple calls to RegisterRoutes for each of the service types. RegisterRoutes internally uses reflection to run through all the methods of the Handler, looking for CallbackMethod attributes and whether a RouteUrl is specified. If it is a new instance of a CallbackHandlerRouteHandler is created and the name of the method and the type are set. routes.Add(method.Name, new Route(attr.RouteUrl, new CallbackHandlerRouteHandler(method.Name, typeof(TCallbackHandler) )) ); While the routing with CallbackHandlerRouteHandler is set up automatically for all methods that use the RouteUrl attribute, you can also use code to hook up those routes manually and skip using the attribute. The code for this is straightforward and just requires that you manually map each individual route to each method you want a routed: protected void Application_Start(objectsender, EventArgs e){ RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);}void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes) { routes.Add("StockQuote Route",new Route("StockQuote/{symbol}", new CallbackHandlerRouteHandler("GetStockQuote",typeof(RestService) ) ) ); routes.Add("StockQuotes Route",new Route("StockQuotes/{symbolList}", new CallbackHandlerRouteHandler("GetStockQuotes",typeof(RestService) ) ) );}I think it’s clearly easier to have CallbackHandlerRouteHandler.RegisterRoutes() do this automatically for you based on RouteUrl attributes, but some people have a real aversion to attaching logic via attributes. Just realize that the option to manually create your routes is available as well. Using the RouteData in the Handler A RouteHandler’s responsibility is to create an HttpHandler and as mentioned earlier, natively IHttpHandler doesn’t have any support for RouteData. In order to utilize RouteData in your handler code you have to pass the RouteData to the handler. In my CallbackHandlerRouteHandler when it creates the HttpHandler instance it creates the instance and then assigns the custom RouteData property on the handler:IHttpHandler handler = Activator.CreateInstance(CallbackHandlerType) as IHttpHandler; if (handler is CallbackHandler) ((CallbackHandler)handler).RouteData = requestContext.RouteData; return handler; Again this only works if you actually add a RouteData property to your handler explicitly as I did in my CallbackHandler implementation:/// <summary> /// Optionally store RouteData on this handler /// so we can access it internally /// </summary> public RouteData RouteData {get; set; } and the RouteHandler needs to set it when it creates the handler instance. Once you have the route data in your handler you can access Route Keys and Values and also the RouteHandler. Since my RouteHandler has a custom property for the MethodName to retrieve it from within the handler I can do something like this now to retrieve the MethodName (this example is actually not in the handler but target is an instance pass to the processor): // check for Route Data method name if (target is CallbackHandler) { var routeData = ((CallbackHandler)target).RouteData; if (routeData != null) methodToCall = ((CallbackHandlerRouteHandler)routeData.RouteHandler).MethodName; } When I need to access the dynamic values in the route ( symbol in StockQuote/{symbol}) I can retrieve it easily with the Values collection (RouteData.Values["symbol"]). In my CallbackHandler processing logic I’m basically looking for matching parameter names to Route parameters: // look for parameters in the routeif(routeData != null){ string parmString = routeData.Values[parameter.Name] as string; adjustedParms[parmCounter] = ReflectionUtils.StringToTypedValue(parmString, parameter.ParameterType);} And with that we’ve come full circle. We’ve created a custom RouteHandler() that passes the RouteData to the handler it creates. We’ve registered our routes to use the RouteHandler, and we’ve utilized the route data in our handler. For completeness sake here’s the routine that executes a method call based on the parameters passed in and one of the options is to retrieve the inbound parameters off RouteData (as well as from POST data or QueryString parameters):internal object ExecuteMethod(string method, object target, string[] parameters, CallbackMethodParameterType paramType, ref CallbackMethodAttribute callbackMethodAttribute) { HttpRequest Request = HttpContext.Current.Request; object Result = null; // Stores parsed parameters (from string JSON or QUeryString Values) object[] adjustedParms = null; Type PageType = target.GetType(); MethodInfo MI = PageType.GetMethod(method, BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic); if (MI == null) throw new InvalidOperationException("Invalid Server Method."); object[] methods = MI.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(CallbackMethodAttribute), false); if (methods.Length < 1) throw new InvalidOperationException("Server method is not accessible due to missing CallbackMethod attribute"); if (callbackMethodAttribute != null) callbackMethodAttribute = methods[0] as CallbackMethodAttribute; ParameterInfo[] parms = MI.GetParameters(); JSONSerializer serializer = new JSONSerializer(); RouteData routeData = null; if (target is CallbackHandler) routeData = ((CallbackHandler)target).RouteData; int parmCounter = 0; adjustedParms = new object[parms.Length]; foreach (ParameterInfo parameter in parms) { // Retrieve parameters out of QueryString or POST buffer if (parameters == null) { // look for parameters in the route if (routeData != null) { string parmString = routeData.Values[parameter.Name] as string; adjustedParms[parmCounter] = ReflectionUtils.StringToTypedValue(parmString, parameter.ParameterType); } // GET parameter are parsed as plain string values - no JSON encoding else if (HttpContext.Current.Request.HttpMethod == "GET") { // Look up the parameter by name string parmString = Request.QueryString[parameter.Name]; adjustedParms[parmCounter] = ReflectionUtils.StringToTypedValue(parmString, parameter.ParameterType); } // POST parameters are treated as methodParameters that are JSON encoded else if (paramType == CallbackMethodParameterType.Json) //string newVariable = methodParameters.GetValue(parmCounter) as string; adjustedParms[parmCounter] = serializer.Deserialize(Request.Params["parm" + (parmCounter + 1).ToString()], parameter.ParameterType); else adjustedParms[parmCounter] = SerializationUtils.DeSerializeObject( Request.Params["parm" + (parmCounter + 1).ToString()], parameter.ParameterType); } else if (paramType == CallbackMethodParameterType.Json) adjustedParms[parmCounter] = serializer.Deserialize(parameters[parmCounter], parameter.ParameterType); else adjustedParms[parmCounter] = SerializationUtils.DeSerializeObject(parameters[parmCounter], parameter.ParameterType); parmCounter++; } Result = MI.Invoke(target, adjustedParms); return Result; } The code basically uses Reflection to loop through all the parameters available on the method and tries to assign the parameters from RouteData, QueryString or POST variables. The parameters are converted into their appropriate types and then used to eventually make a Reflection based method call. What’s sweet is that the RouteData retrieval is just another option for dealing with the inbound data in this scenario and it adds exactly two lines of code plus the code to retrieve the MethodName I showed previously – a seriously low impact addition that adds a lot of extra value to this endpoint callback processing implementation. Debugging your Routes If you create a lot of routes it’s easy to run into Route conflicts where multiple routes have the same path and overlap with each other. This can be difficult to debug especially if you are using automatically generated routes like the routes created by CallbackHandlerRouteHandler.RegisterRoutes. Luckily there’s a tool that can help you out with this nicely. Phill Haack created a RouteDebugging tool you can download and add to your project. The easiest way to do this is to grab and add this to your project is to use NuGet (Add Library Package from your Project’s Reference Nodes): which adds a RouteDebug assembly to your project. Once installed you can easily debug your routes with this simple line of code which needs to be installed at application startup:protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) { CallbackHandlerRouteHandler.RegisterRoutes<StockService>(RouteTable.Routes); // Debug your routes RouteDebug.RouteDebugger.RewriteRoutesForTesting(RouteTable.Routes); } Any routed URL then displays something like this: The screen shows you your current route data and all the routes that are mapped along with a flag that displays which route was actually matched. This is useful – if you have any overlap of routes you will be able to see which routes are triggered – the first one in the sequence wins. This tool has saved my ass on a few occasions – and with NuGet now it’s easy to add it to your project in a few seconds and then remove it when you’re done. Routing Around Custom routing seems slightly complicated on first blush due to its disconnected components of RouteHandler, route registration and mapping of custom handlers. But once you understand the relationship between a RouteHandler, the RouteData and how to pass it to a handler, utilizing of Routing becomes a lot easier as you can easily pass context from the registration to the RouteHandler and through to the HttpHandler. The most important thing to understand when building custom routing solutions is to figure out how to map URLs in such a way that the handler can figure out all the pieces it needs to process the request. This can be via URL routing parameters and as I did in my example by passing additional context information as part of the RouteHandler instance that provides the proper execution context. In my case this ‘context’ was the method name, but it could be an actual static value like an enum identifying an operation or category in an application. Basically user supplied data comes in through the url and static application internal data can be passed via RouteHandler property values. Routing can make your application URLs easier to read by non-techie types regardless of whether you’re building Service type or REST applications, or full on Web interfaces. Routing in ASP.NET 4.0 makes it possible to create just about any extensionless URLs you can dream up and custom RouteHanmdler References Sample ProjectIncludes the sample CallbackHandler service discussed here along with compiled versionsof the Westwind.Web and Westwind.Utilities assemblies. (requires .NET 4.0/VS 2010) West Wind Web Toolkit includes full implementation of CallbackHandler and the Routing Handler West Wind Web Toolkit Source CodeContains the full source code to the Westwind.Web and Westwind.Utilities assemblies usedin these samples. Includes the source described in the post.(Latest build in the Subversion Repository) CallbackHandler Source(Relevant code to this article tree in Westwind.Web assembly) JSONView FireFoxPluginA simple FireFox Plugin to easily view JSON data natively in FireFox.For IE you can use a registry hack to display JSON as raw text.© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2011Posted in ASP.NET AJAX HTTP

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An Xml Serializable PropertyBag Dictionary Class for .NET

- by Rick Strahl

I don't know about you but I frequently need property bags in my applications to store and possibly cache arbitrary data. Dictionary<T,V> works well for this although I always seem to be hunting for a more specific generic type that provides a string key based dictionary. There's string dictionary, but it only works with strings. There's Hashset<T> but it uses the actual values as keys. In most key value pair situations for me string is key value to work off. Dictionary<T,V> works well enough, but there are some issues with serialization of dictionaries in .NET. The .NET framework doesn't do well serializing IDictionary objects out of the box. The XmlSerializer doesn't support serialization of IDictionary via it's default serialization, and while the DataContractSerializer does support IDictionary serialization it produces some pretty atrocious XML. What doesn't work? First off Dictionary serialization with the Xml Serializer doesn't work so the following fails: [TestMethod] public void DictionaryXmlSerializerTest() { var bag = new Dictionary<string, object>(); bag.Add("key", "Value"); bag.Add("Key2", 100.10M); bag.Add("Key3", Guid.NewGuid()); bag.Add("Key4", DateTime.Now); bag.Add("Key5", true); bag.Add("Key7", new byte[3] { 42, 45, 66 }); TestContext.WriteLine(this.ToXml(bag)); } public string ToXml(object obj) { if (obj == null) return null; StringWriter sw = new StringWriter(); XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType()); ser.Serialize(sw, obj); return sw.ToString(); } The error you get with this is: System.NotSupportedException: The type System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[[System.String, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089],[System.Object, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]] is not supported because it implements IDictionary. Got it! BTW, the same is true with binary serialization. Running the same code above against the DataContractSerializer does work: [TestMethod] public void DictionaryDataContextSerializerTest() { var bag = new Dictionary<string, object>(); bag.Add("key", "Value"); bag.Add("Key2", 100.10M); bag.Add("Key3", Guid.NewGuid()); bag.Add("Key4", DateTime.Now); bag.Add("Key5", true); bag.Add("Key7", new byte[3] { 42, 45, 66 }); TestContext.WriteLine(this.ToXmlDcs(bag)); } public string ToXmlDcs(object value, bool throwExceptions = false) { var ser = new DataContractSerializer(value.GetType(), null, int.MaxValue, true, false, null); MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(); ser.WriteObject(ms, value); return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(ms.ToArray(), 0, (int)ms.Length); } This DOES work but produces some pretty heinous XML (formatted with line breaks and indentation here): <ArrayOfKeyValueOfstringanyType xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/Arrays" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <KeyValueOfstringanyType> <Key>key</Key> <Value i:type="a:string" xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">Value</Value> </KeyValueOfstringanyType> <KeyValueOfstringanyType> <Key>Key2</Key> <Value i:type="a:decimal" xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">100.10</Value> </KeyValueOfstringanyType> <KeyValueOfstringanyType> <Key>Key3</Key> <Value i:type="a:guid" xmlns:a="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/">2cd46d2a-a636-4af4-979b-e834d39b6d37</Value> </KeyValueOfstringanyType> <KeyValueOfstringanyType> <Key>Key4</Key> <Value i:type="a:dateTime" xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">2011-09-19T17:17:05.4406999-07:00</Value> </KeyValueOfstringanyType> <KeyValueOfstringanyType> <Key>Key5</Key> <Value i:type="a:boolean" xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">true</Value> </KeyValueOfstringanyType> <KeyValueOfstringanyType> <Key>Key7</Key> <Value i:type="a:base64Binary" xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">Ki1C</Value> </KeyValueOfstringanyType> </ArrayOfKeyValueOfstringanyType> Ouch! That seriously hurts the eye! :-) Worse though it's extremely verbose with all those repetitive namespace declarations. It's good to know that it works in a pinch, but for a human readable/editable solution or something lightweight to store in a database it's not quite ideal. Why should I care? As a little background, in one of my applications I have a need for a flexible property bag that is used on a free form database field on an otherwise static entity. Basically what I have is a standard database record to which arbitrary properties can be added in an XML based string field. I intend to expose those arbitrary properties as a collection from field data stored in XML. The concept is pretty simple: When loading write the data to the collection, when the data is saved serialize the data into an XML string and store it into the database. When reading the data pick up the XML and if the collection on the entity is accessed automatically deserialize the XML into the Dictionary. (I'll talk more about this in another post). While the DataContext Serializer would work, it's verbosity is problematic both for size of the generated XML strings and the fact that users can manually edit this XML based property data in an advanced mode. A clean(er) layout certainly would be preferable and more user friendly. Custom XMLSerialization with a PropertyBag Class So… after a bunch of experimentation with different serialization formats I decided to create a custom PropertyBag class that provides for a serializable Dictionary. It's basically a custom Dictionary<TType,TValue> implementation with the keys always set as string keys. The result are PropertyBag<TValue> and PropertyBag (which defaults to the object type for values). The PropertyBag<TType> and PropertyBag classes provide these features: Subclassed from Dictionary<T,V> Implements IXmlSerializable with a cleanish XML format ToXml() and FromXml() methods to export and import to and from XML strings Static CreateFromXml() method to create an instance It's simple enough as it's merely a Dictionary<string,object> subclass but that supports serialization to a - what I think at least - cleaner XML format. The class is super simple to use: [TestMethod] public void PropertyBagTwoWayObjectSerializationTest() { var bag = new PropertyBag(); bag.Add("key", "Value"); bag.Add("Key2", 100.10M); bag.Add("Key3", Guid.NewGuid()); bag.Add("Key4", DateTime.Now); bag.Add("Key5", true); bag.Add("Key7", new byte[3] { 42,45,66 } ); bag.Add("Key8", null); bag.Add("Key9", new ComplexObject() { Name = "Rick", Entered = DateTime.Now, Count = 10 }); string xml = bag.ToXml(); TestContext.WriteLine(bag.ToXml()); bag.Clear(); bag.FromXml(xml); Assert.IsTrue(bag["key"] as string == "Value"); Assert.IsInstanceOfType( bag["Key3"], typeof(Guid)); Assert.IsNull(bag["Key8"]); //Assert.IsNull(bag["Key10"]); Assert.IsInstanceOfType(bag["Key9"], typeof(ComplexObject)); } This uses the PropertyBag class which uses a PropertyBag<string,object> - which means it returns untyped values of type object. I suspect for me this will be the most common scenario as I'd want to store arbitrary values in the PropertyBag rather than one specific type. The same code with a strongly typed PropertyBag<decimal> looks like this: [TestMethod] public void PropertyBagTwoWayValueTypeSerializationTest() { var bag = new PropertyBag<decimal>(); bag.Add("key", 10M); bag.Add("Key1", 100.10M); bag.Add("Key2", 200.10M); bag.Add("Key3", 300.10M); string xml = bag.ToXml(); TestContext.WriteLine(bag.ToXml()); bag.Clear(); bag.FromXml(xml); Assert.IsTrue(bag.Get("Key1") == 100.10M); Assert.IsTrue(bag.Get("Key3") == 300.10M); } and produces typed results of type decimal. The types can be either value or reference types the combination of which actually proved to be a little more tricky than anticipated due to null and specific string value checks required - getting the generic typing right required use of default(T) and Convert.ChangeType() to trick the compiler into playing nice. Of course the whole raison d'etre for this class is the XML serialization. You can see in the code above that we're doing a .ToXml() and .FromXml() to serialize to and from string. The XML produced for the first example looks like this: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <properties> <item> <key>key</key> <value>Value</value> </item> <item> <key>Key2</key> <value type="decimal">100.10</value> </item> <item> <key>Key3</key> <value type="___System.Guid"> <guid>f7a92032-0c6d-4e9d-9950-b15ff7cd207d</guid> </value> </item> <item> <key>Key4</key> <value type="datetime">2011-09-26T17:45:58.5789578-10:00</value> </item> <item> <key>Key5</key> <value type="boolean">true</value> </item> <item> <key>Key7</key> <value type="base64Binary">Ki1C</value> </item> <item> <key>Key8</key> <value type="nil" /> </item> <item> <key>Key9</key> <value type="___Westwind.Tools.Tests.PropertyBagTest+ComplexObject"> <ComplexObject> <Name>Rick</Name> <Entered>2011-09-26T17:45:58.5789578-10:00</Entered> <Count>10</Count> </ComplexObject> </value> </item> </properties> The format is a bit cleaner than the DataContractSerializer. Each item is serialized into <key> <value> pairs. If the value is a string no type information is written. Since string tends to be the most common type this saves space and serialization processing. All other types are attributed. Simple types are mapped to XML types so things like decimal, datetime, boolean and base64Binary are encoded using their Xml type values. All other types are embedded with a hokey format that describes the .NET type preceded by a three underscores and then are encoded using the XmlSerializer. You can see this best above in the ComplexObject encoding. For custom types this isn't pretty either, but it's more concise than the DCS and it works as long as you're serializing back and forth between .NET clients at least. The XML generated from the second example that uses PropertyBag<decimal> looks like this: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <properties> <item> <key>key</key> <value type="decimal">10</value> </item> <item> <key>Key1</key> <value type="decimal">100.10</value> </item> <item> <key>Key2</key> <value type="decimal">200.10</value> </item> <item> <key>Key3</key> <value type="decimal">300.10</value> </item> </properties> How does it work As I mentioned there's nothing fancy about this solution - it's little more than a subclass of Dictionary<T,V> that implements custom Xml Serialization and a couple of helper methods that facilitate getting the XML in and out of the class more easily. But it's proven very handy for a number of projects for me where dynamic data storage is required. Here's the code: /// <summary> /// Creates a serializable string/object dictionary that is XML serializable /// Encodes keys as element names and values as simple values with a type /// attribute that contains an XML type name. Complex names encode the type /// name with type='___namespace.classname' format followed by a standard xml /// serialized format. The latter serialization can be slow so it's not recommended /// to pass complex types if performance is critical. /// </summary> [XmlRoot("properties")] public class PropertyBag : PropertyBag<object> { /// <summary> /// Creates an instance of a propertybag from an Xml string /// </summary> /// <param name="xml">Serialize</param> /// <returns></returns> public static PropertyBag CreateFromXml(string xml) { var bag = new PropertyBag(); bag.FromXml(xml); return bag; } } /// <summary> /// Creates a serializable string for generic types that is XML serializable. /// /// Encodes keys as element names and values as simple values with a type /// attribute that contains an XML type name. Complex names encode the type /// name with type='___namespace.classname' format followed by a standard xml /// serialized format. The latter serialization can be slow so it's not recommended /// to pass complex types if performance is critical. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="TValue">Must be a reference type. For value types use type object</typeparam> [XmlRoot("properties")] public class PropertyBag<TValue> : Dictionary<string, TValue>, IXmlSerializable { /// <summary> /// Not implemented - this means no schema information is passed /// so this won't work with ASMX/WCF services. /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public System.Xml.Schema.XmlSchema GetSchema() { return null; } /// <summary> /// Serializes the dictionary to XML. Keys are /// serialized to element names and values as /// element values. An xml type attribute is embedded /// for each serialized element - a .NET type /// element is embedded for each complex type and /// prefixed with three underscores. /// </summary> /// <param name="writer"></param> public void WriteXml(System.Xml.XmlWriter writer) { foreach (string key in this.Keys) { TValue value = this[key]; Type type = null; if (value != null) type = value.GetType(); writer.WriteStartElement("item"); writer.WriteStartElement("key"); writer.WriteString(key as string); writer.WriteEndElement(); writer.WriteStartElement("value"); string xmlType = XmlUtils.MapTypeToXmlType(type); bool isCustom = false; // Type information attribute if not string if (value == null) { writer.WriteAttributeString("type", "nil"); } else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(xmlType)) { if (xmlType != "string") { writer.WriteStartAttribute("type"); writer.WriteString(xmlType); writer.WriteEndAttribute(); } } else { isCustom = true; xmlType = "___" + value.GetType().FullName; writer.WriteStartAttribute("type"); writer.WriteString(xmlType); writer.WriteEndAttribute(); } // Actual deserialization if (!isCustom) { if (value != null) writer.WriteValue(value); } else { XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(value.GetType()); ser.Serialize(writer, value); } writer.WriteEndElement(); // value writer.WriteEndElement(); // item } } /// <summary> /// Reads the custom serialized format /// </summary> /// <param name="reader"></param> public void ReadXml(System.Xml.XmlReader reader) { this.Clear(); while (reader.Read()) { if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element && reader.Name == "key") { string xmlType = null; string name = reader.ReadElementContentAsString(); // item element reader.ReadToNextSibling("value"); if (reader.MoveToNextAttribute()) xmlType = reader.Value; reader.MoveToContent(); TValue value; if (xmlType == "nil") value = default(TValue); // null else if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(xmlType)) { // value is a string or object and we can assign TValue to value string strval = reader.ReadElementContentAsString(); value = (TValue) Convert.ChangeType(strval, typeof(TValue)); } else if (xmlType.StartsWith("___")) { while (reader.Read() && reader.NodeType != XmlNodeType.Element) { } Type type = ReflectionUtils.GetTypeFromName(xmlType.Substring(3)); //value = reader.ReadElementContentAs(type,null); XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(type); value = (TValue)ser.Deserialize(reader); } else value = (TValue)reader.ReadElementContentAs(XmlUtils.MapXmlTypeToType(xmlType), null); this.Add(name, value); } } } /// <summary> /// Serializes this dictionary to an XML string /// </summary> /// <returns>XML String or Null if it fails</returns> public string ToXml() { string xml = null; SerializationUtils.SerializeObject(this, out xml); return xml; } /// <summary> /// Deserializes from an XML string /// </summary> /// <param name="xml"></param> /// <returns>true or false</returns> public bool FromXml(string xml) { this.Clear(); // if xml string is empty we return an empty dictionary if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(xml)) return true; var result = SerializationUtils.DeSerializeObject(xml, this.GetType()) as PropertyBag<TValue>; if (result != null) { foreach (var item in result) { this.Add(item.Key, item.Value); } } else // null is a failure return false; return true; } /// <summary> /// Creates an instance of a propertybag from an Xml string /// </summary> /// <param name="xml"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static PropertyBag<TValue> CreateFromXml(string xml) { var bag = new PropertyBag<TValue>(); bag.FromXml(xml); return bag; } } } The code uses a couple of small helper classes SerializationUtils and XmlUtils for mapping Xml types to and from .NET, both of which are from the WestWind,Utilities project (which is the same project where PropertyBag lives) from the West Wind Web Toolkit. The code implements ReadXml and WriteXml for the IXmlSerializable implementation using old school XmlReaders and XmlWriters (because it's pretty simple stuff - no need for XLinq here). Then there are two helper methods .ToXml() and .FromXml() that basically allow your code to easily convert between XML and a PropertyBag object. In my code that's what I use to actually to persist to and from the entity XML property during .Load() and .Save() operations. It's sweet to be able to have a string key dictionary and then be able to turn around with 1 line of code to persist the whole thing to XML and back. Hopefully some of you will find this class as useful as I've found it. It's a simple solution to a common requirement in my applications and I've used the hell out of it in the short time since I created it. Resources You can find the complete code for the two classes plus the helpers in the Subversion repository for Westwind.Utilities. You can grab the source files from there or download the whole project. You can also grab the full Westwind.Utilities assembly from NuGet and add it to your project if that's easier for you. PropertyBag Source Code SerializationUtils and XmlUtils Westwind.Utilities Assembly on NuGet (add from Visual Studio) © Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2011Posted in .NET CSharp Tweet (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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An Introduction to ASP.NET Web API

- by Rick Strahl

Microsoft recently released ASP.NET MVC 4.0 and .NET 4.5 and along with it, the brand spanking new ASP.NET Web API. Web API is an exciting new addition to the ASP.NET stack that provides a new, well-designed HTTP framework for creating REST and AJAX APIs (API is Microsoft’s new jargon for a service, in case you’re wondering). Although Web API ships and installs with ASP.NET MVC 4, you can use Web API functionality in any ASP.NET project, including WebForms, WebPages and MVC or just a Web API by itself. And you can also self-host Web API in your own applications from Console, Desktop or Service applications. If you're interested in a high level overview on what ASP.NET Web API is and how it fits into the ASP.NET stack you can check out my previous post: Where does ASP.NET Web API fit? In the following article, I'll focus on a practical, by example introduction to ASP.NET Web API. All the code discussed in this article is available in GitHub: https://github.com/RickStrahl/AspNetWebApiArticle [republished from my Code Magazine Article and updated for RTM release of ASP.NET Web API] Getting Started To start I’ll create a new empty ASP.NET application to demonstrate that Web API can work with any kind of ASP.NET project. Although you can create a new project based on the ASP.NET MVC/Web API template to quickly get up and running, I’ll take you through the manual setup process, because one common use case is to add Web API functionality to an existing ASP.NET application. This process describes the steps needed to hook up Web API to any ASP.NET 4.0 application. Start by creating an ASP.NET Empty Project. Then create a new folder in the project called Controllers. Add a Web API Controller Class Once you have any kind of ASP.NET project open, you can add a Web API Controller class to it. Web API Controllers are very similar to MVC Controller classes, but they work in any kind of project. Add a new item to this folder by using the Add New Item option in Visual Studio and choose Web API Controller Class, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: This is how you create a new Controller Class in Visual Studio Make sure that the name of the controller class includes Controller at the end of it, which is required in order for Web API routing to find it. Here, the name for the class is AlbumApiController. For this example, I’ll use a Music Album model to demonstrate basic behavior of Web API. The model consists of albums and related songs where an album has properties like Name, Artist and YearReleased and a list of songs with a SongName and SongLength as well as an AlbumId that links it to the album. You can find the code for the model (and the rest of these samples) on Github. To add the file manually, create a new folder called Model, and add a new class Album.cs and copy the code into it. There’s a static AlbumData class with a static CreateSampleAlbumData() method that creates a short list of albums on a static .Current that I’ll use for the examples. Before we look at what goes into the controller class though, let’s hook up routing so we can access this new controller. Hooking up Routing in Global.asax To start, I need to perform the one required configuration task in order for Web API to work: I need to configure routing to the controller. Like MVC, Web API uses routing to provide clean, extension-less URLs to controller methods. Using an extension method to ASP.NET’s static RouteTable class, you can use the MapHttpRoute() (in the System.Web.Http namespace) method to hook-up the routing during Application_Start in global.asax.cs shown in Listing 1.using System; using System.Web.Routing; using System.Web.Http; namespace AspNetWebApi { public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication { protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) { RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumVerbs", routeTemplate: "albums/{title}", defaults: new { symbol = RouteParameter.Optional, controller="AlbumApi" } ); } } } This route configures Web API to direct URLs that start with an albums folder to the AlbumApiController class. Routing in ASP.NET is used to create extensionless URLs and allows you to map segments of the URL to specific Route Value parameters. A route parameter, with a name inside curly brackets like {name}, is mapped to parameters on the controller methods. Route parameters can be optional, and there are two special route parameters – controller and action – that determine the controller to call and the method to activate respectively. HTTP Verb Routing Routing in Web API can route requests by HTTP Verb in addition to standard {controller},{action} routing. For the first examples, I use HTTP Verb routing, as shown Listing 1. Notice that the route I’ve defined does not include an {action} route value or action value in the defaults. Rather, Web API can use the HTTP Verb in this route to determine the method to call the controller, and a GET request maps to any method that starts with Get. So methods called Get() or GetAlbums() are matched by a GET request and a POST request maps to a Post() or PostAlbum(). Web API matches a method by name and parameter signature to match a route, query string or POST values. In lieu of the method name, the [HttpGet,HttpPost,HttpPut,HttpDelete, etc] attributes can also be used to designate the accepted verbs explicitly if you don’t want to follow the verb naming conventions. Although HTTP Verb routing is a good practice for REST style resource APIs, it’s not required and you can still use more traditional routes with an explicit {action} route parameter. When {action} is supplied, the HTTP verb routing is ignored. I’ll talk more about alternate routes later. When you’re finished with initial creation of files, your project should look like Figure 2. Figure 2: The initial project has the new API Controller Album model Creating a small Album Model Now it’s time to create some controller methods to serve data. For these examples, I’ll use a very simple Album and Songs model to play with, as shown in Listing 2. public class Song { public string AlbumId { get; set; } [Required, StringLength(80)] public string SongName { get; set; } [StringLength(5)] public string SongLength { get; set; } } public class Album { public string Id { get; set; } [Required, StringLength(80)] public string AlbumName { get; set; } [StringLength(80)] public string Artist { get; set; } public int YearReleased { get; set; } public DateTime Entered { get; set; } [StringLength(150)] public string AlbumImageUrl { get; set; } [StringLength(200)] public string AmazonUrl { get; set; } public virtual List<Song> Songs { get; set; } public Album() { Songs = new List<Song>(); Entered = DateTime.Now; // Poor man's unique Id off GUID hash Id = Guid.NewGuid().GetHashCode().ToString("x"); } public void AddSong(string songName, string songLength = null) { this.Songs.Add(new Song() { AlbumId = this.Id, SongName = songName, SongLength = songLength }); } } Once the model has been created, I also added an AlbumData class that generates some static data in memory that is loaded onto a static .Current member. The signature of this class looks like this and that's what I'll access to retrieve the base data:public static class AlbumData { // sample data - static list public static List<Album> Current = CreateSampleAlbumData(); /// <summary> /// Create some sample data /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public static List<Album> CreateSampleAlbumData() { … }} You can check out the full code for the data generation online. Creating an AlbumApiController Web API shares many concepts of ASP.NET MVC, and the implementation of your API logic is done by implementing a subclass of the System.Web.Http.ApiController class. Each public method in the implemented controller is a potential endpoint for the HTTP API, as long as a matching route can be found to invoke it. The class name you create should end in Controller, which is how Web API matches the controller route value to figure out which class to invoke. Inside the controller you can implement methods that take standard .NET input parameters and return .NET values as results. Web API’s binding tries to match POST data, route values, form values or query string values to your parameters. Because the controller is configured for HTTP Verb based routing (no {action} parameter in the route), any methods that start with Getxxxx() are called by an HTTP GET operation. You can have multiple methods that match each HTTP Verb as long as the parameter signatures are different and can be matched by Web API. In Listing 3, I create an AlbumApiController with two methods to retrieve a list of albums and a single album by its title .public class AlbumApiController : ApiController { public IEnumerable<Album> GetAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current.OrderBy(alb => alb.Artist); return albums; } public Album GetAlbum(string title) { var album = AlbumData.Current .SingleOrDefault(alb => alb.AlbumName.Contains(title)); return album; }} To access the first two requests, you can use the following URLs in your browser: http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albumshttp://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/Dirty%20Deeds Note that you’re not specifying the actions of GetAlbum or GetAlbums in these URLs. Instead Web API’s routing uses HTTP GET verb to route to these methods that start with Getxxx() with the first mapping to the parameterless GetAlbums() method and the latter to the GetAlbum(title) method that receives the title parameter mapped as optional in the route. Content Negotiation When you access any of the URLs above from a browser, you get either an XML or JSON result returned back. The album list result for Chrome 17 and Internet Explorer 9 is shown Figure 3. Figure 3: Web API responses can vary depending on the browser used, demonstrating Content Negotiation in action as these two browsers send different HTTP Accept headers. Notice that the results are not the same: Chrome returns an XML response and IE9 returns a JSON response. Whoa, what’s going on here? Shouldn’t we see the same result in both browsers? Actually, no. Web API determines what type of content to return based on Accept headers. HTTP clients, like browsers, use Accept headers to specify what kind of content they’d like to see returned. Browsers generally ask for HTML first, followed by a few additional content types. Chrome (and most other major browsers) ask for: Accept: text/html, application/xhtml+xml,application/xml; q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8 IE9 asks for: Accept: text/html, application/xhtml+xml, */* Note that Chrome’s Accept header includes application/xml, which Web API finds in its list of supported media types and returns an XML response. IE9 does not include an Accept header type that works on Web API by default, and so it returns the default format, which is JSON. This is an important and very useful feature that was missing from any previous Microsoft REST tools: Web API automatically switches output formats based on HTTP Accept headers. Nowhere in the server code above do you have to explicitly specify the output format. Rather, Web API determines what format the client is requesting based on the Accept headers and automatically returns the result based on the available formatters. This means that a single method can handle both XML and JSON results.. Using this simple approach makes it very easy to create a single controller method that can return JSON, XML, ATOM or even OData feeds by providing the appropriate Accept header from the client. By default you don’t have to worry about the output format in your code. Note that you can still specify an explicit output format if you choose, either globally by overriding the installed formatters, or individually by returning a lower level HttpResponseMessage instance and setting the formatter explicitly. More on that in a minute. Along the same lines, any content sent to the server via POST/PUT is parsed by Web API based on the HTTP Content-type of the data sent. The same formats allowed for output are also allowed on input. Again, you don’t have to do anything in your code – Web API automatically performs the deserialization from the content. Accessing Web API JSON Data with jQuery A very common scenario for Web API endpoints is to retrieve data for AJAX calls from the Web browser. Because JSON is the default format for Web API, it’s easy to access data from the server using jQuery and its getJSON() method. This example receives the albums array from GetAlbums() and databinds it into the page using knockout.js.$.getJSON("albums/", function (albums) { // make knockout template visible $(".album").show(); // create view object and attach array var view = { albums: albums }; ko.applyBindings(view); }); Figure 4 shows this and the next example’s HTML output. You can check out the complete HTML and script code at http://goo.gl/Ix33C (.html) and http://goo.gl/tETlg (.js). Figu Figure 4: The Album Display sample uses JSON data loaded from Web API. The result from the getJSON() call is a JavaScript object of the server result, which comes back as a JavaScript array. In the code, I use knockout.js to bind this array into the UI, which as you can see, requires very little code, instead using knockout’s data-bind attributes to bind server data to the UI. Of course, this is just one way to use the data – it’s entirely up to you to decide what to do with the data in your client code. Along the same lines, I can retrieve a single album to display when the user clicks on an album. The response returns the album information and a child array with all the songs. The code to do this is very similar to the last example where we pulled the albums array:$(".albumlink").live("click", function () { var id = $(this).data("id"); // title $.getJSON("albums/" + id, function (album) { ko.applyBindings(album, $("#divAlbumDialog")[0]); $("#divAlbumDialog").show(); }); }); Here the URL looks like this: /albums/Dirty%20Deeds, where the title is the ID captured from the clicked element’s data ID attribute. Explicitly Overriding Output Format When Web API automatically converts output using content negotiation, it does so by matching Accept header media types to the GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters and the SupportedMediaTypes of each individual formatter. You can add and remove formatters to globally affect what formats are available and it’s easy to create and plug in custom formatters.The example project includes a JSONP formatter that can be plugged in to provide JSONP support for requests that have a callback= querystring parameter. Adding, removing or replacing formatters is a global option you can use to manipulate content. It’s beyond the scope of this introduction to show how it works, but you can review the sample code or check out my blog entry on the subject (http://goo.gl/UAzaR). If automatic processing is not desirable in a particular Controller method, you can override the response output explicitly by returning an HttpResponseMessage instance. HttpResponseMessage is similar to ActionResult in ASP.NET MVC in that it’s a common way to return an abstract result message that contains content. HttpResponseMessage s parsed by the Web API framework using standard interfaces to retrieve the response data, status code, headers and so on[MS2] . Web API turns every response – including those Controller methods that return static results – into HttpResponseMessage instances. Explicitly returning an HttpResponseMessage instance gives you full control over the output and lets you mostly bypass WebAPI’s post-processing of the HTTP response on your behalf. HttpResponseMessage allows you to customize the response in great detail. Web API’s attention to detail in the HTTP spec really shows; many HTTP options are exposed as properties and enumerations with detailed IntelliSense comments. Even if you’re new to building REST-based interfaces, the API guides you in the right direction for returning valid responses and response codes. For example, assume that I always want to return JSON from the GetAlbums() controller method and ignore the default media type content negotiation. To do this, I can adjust the output format and headers as shown in Listing 4.public HttpResponseMessage GetAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current.OrderBy(alb => alb.Artist); // Create a new HttpResponse with Json Formatter explicitly var resp = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK); resp.Content = new ObjectContent<IEnumerable<Album>>( albums, new JsonMediaTypeFormatter()); // Get Default Formatter based on Content Negotiation //var resp = Request.CreateResponse<IEnumerable<Album>>(HttpStatusCode.OK, albums); resp.Headers.ConnectionClose = true; resp.Headers.CacheControl = new CacheControlHeaderValue(); resp.Headers.CacheControl.Public = true; return resp; } This example returns the same IEnumerable<Album> value, but it wraps the response into an HttpResponseMessage so you can control the entire HTTP message result including the headers, formatter and status code. In Listing 4, I explicitly specify the formatter using the JsonMediaTypeFormatter to always force the content to JSON. If you prefer to use the default content negotiation with HttpResponseMessage results, you can create the Response instance using the Request.CreateResponse method:var resp = Request.CreateResponse<IEnumerable<Album>>(HttpStatusCode.OK, albums); This provides you an HttpResponse object that's pre-configured with the default formatter based on Content Negotiation. Once you have an HttpResponse object you can easily control most HTTP aspects on this object. What's sweet here is that there are many more detailed properties on HttpResponse than the core ASP.NET Response object, with most options being explicitly configurable with enumerations that make it easy to pick the right headers and response codes from a list of valid codes. It makes HTTP features available much more discoverable even for non-hardcore REST/HTTP geeks. Non-Serialized Results The output returned doesn’t have to be a serialized value but can also be raw data, like strings, binary data or streams. You can use the HttpResponseMessage.Content object to set a number of common Content classes. Listing 5 shows how to return a binary image using the ByteArrayContent class from a Controller method. [HttpGet] public HttpResponseMessage AlbumArt(string title) { var album = AlbumData.Current.FirstOrDefault(abl => abl.AlbumName.StartsWith(title)); if (album == null) { var resp = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.NotFound, new ApiMessageError("Album not found")); return resp; } // kinda silly - we would normally serve this directly // but hey - it's a demo. var http = new WebClient(); var imageData = http.DownloadData(album.AlbumImageUrl); // create response and return var result = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK); result.Content = new ByteArrayContent(imageData); result.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("image/jpeg"); return result; } The image retrieval from Amazon is contrived, but it shows how to return binary data using ByteArrayContent. It also demonstrates that you can easily return multiple types of content from a single controller method, which is actually quite common. If an error occurs - such as a resource can’t be found or a validation error – you can return an error response to the client that’s very specific to the error. In GetAlbumArt(), if the album can’t be found, we want to return a 404 Not Found status (and realistically no error, as it’s an image). Note that if you are not using HTTP Verb-based routing or not accessing a method that starts with Get/Post etc., you have to specify one or more HTTP Verb attributes on the method explicitly. Here, I used the [HttpGet] attribute to serve the image. Another option to handle the error could be to return a fixed placeholder image if no album could be matched or the album doesn’t have an image. When returning an error code, you can also return a strongly typed response to the client. For example, you can set the 404 status code and also return a custom error object (ApiMessageError is a class I defined) like this:return Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.NotFound, new ApiMessageError("Album not found") ); If the album can be found, the image will be returned. The image is downloaded into a byte[] array, and then assigned to the result’s Content property. I created a new ByteArrayContent instance and assigned the image’s bytes and the content type so that it displays properly in the browser. There are other content classes available: StringContent, StreamContent, ByteArrayContent, MultipartContent, and ObjectContent are at your disposal to return just about any kind of content. You can create your own Content classes if you frequently return custom types and handle the default formatter assignments that should be used to send the data out . Although HttpResponseMessage results require more code than returning a plain .NET value from a method, it allows much more control over the actual HTTP processing than automatic processing. It also makes it much easier to test your controller methods as you get a response object that you can check for specific status codes and output messages rather than just a result value. Routing Again Ok, let’s get back to the image example. Using the original routing we have setup using HTTP Verb routing there's no good way to serve the image. In order to return my album art image I’d like to use a URL like this: http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/Dirty%20Deeds/image In order to create a URL like this, I have to create a new Controller because my earlier routes pointed to the AlbumApiController using HTTP Verb routing. HTTP Verb based routing is great for representing a single set of resources such as albums. You can map operations like add, delete, update and read easily using HTTP Verbs. But you cannot mix action based routing into a an HTTP Verb routing controller - you can only map HTTP Verbs and each method has to be unique based on parameter signature. You can't have multiple GET operations to methods with the same signature. So GetImage(string id) and GetAlbum(string title) are in conflict in an HTTP GET routing scenario. In fact, I was unable to make the above Image URL work with any combination of HTTP Verb plus Custom routing using the single Albums controller. There are number of ways around this, but all involve additional controllers. Personally, I think it’s easier to use explicit Action routing and then add custom routes if you need to simplify your URLs further. So in order to accommodate some of the other examples, I created another controller – AlbumRpcApiController – to handle all requests that are explicitly routed via actions (/albums/rpc/AlbumArt) or are custom routed with explicit routes defined in the HttpConfiguration. I added the AlbumArt() method to this new AlbumRpcApiController class. For the image URL to work with the new AlbumRpcApiController, you need a custom route placed before the default route from Listing 1.RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumRpcApiAction", routeTemplate: "albums/rpc/{action}/{title}", defaults: new { title = RouteParameter.Optional, controller = "AlbumRpcApi", action = "GetAblums" } ); Now I can use either of the following URLs to access the image: Custom route: (/albums/rpc/{title}/image)http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/PowerAge/image Action route: (/albums/rpc/action/{title})http://localhost/aspnetWebAPI/albums/rpc/albumart/PowerAge Sending Data to the Server To send data to the server and add a new album, you can use an HTTP POST operation. Since I’m using HTTP Verb-based routing in the original AlbumApiController, I can implement a method called PostAlbum()to accept a new album from the client. Listing 6 shows the Web API code to add a new album.public HttpResponseMessage PostAlbum(Album album) { if (!this.ModelState.IsValid) { // my custom error class var error = new ApiMessageError() { message = "Model is invalid" }; // add errors into our client error model for client foreach (var prop in ModelState.Values) { var modelError = prop.Errors.FirstOrDefault(); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(modelError.ErrorMessage)) error.errors.Add(modelError.ErrorMessage); else error.errors.Add(modelError.Exception.Message); } return Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(HttpStatusCode.Conflict, error); } // update song id which isn't provided foreach (var song in album.Songs) song.AlbumId = album.Id; // see if album exists already var matchedAlbum = AlbumData.Current .SingleOrDefault(alb => alb.Id == album.Id || alb.AlbumName == album.AlbumName); if (matchedAlbum == null) AlbumData.Current.Add(album); else matchedAlbum = album; // return a string to show that the value got here var resp = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, string.Empty); resp.Content = new StringContent(album.AlbumName + " " + album.Entered.ToString(), Encoding.UTF8, "text/plain"); return resp; } The PostAlbum() method receives an album parameter, which is automatically deserialized from the POST buffer the client sent. The data passed from the client can be either XML or JSON. Web API automatically figures out what format it needs to deserialize based on the content type and binds the content to the album object. Web API uses model binding to bind the request content to the parameter(s) of controller methods. Like MVC you can check the model by looking at ModelState.IsValid. If it’s not valid, you can run through the ModelState.Values collection and check each binding for errors. Here I collect the error messages into a string array that gets passed back to the client via the result ApiErrorMessage object. When a binding error occurs, you’ll want to return an HTTP error response and it’s best to do that with an HttpResponseMessage result. In Listing 6, I used a custom error class that holds a message and an array of detailed error messages for each binding error. I used this object as the content to return to the client along with my Conflict HTTP Status Code response. If binding succeeds, the example returns a string with the name and date entered to demonstrate that you captured the data. Normally, a method like this should return a Boolean or no response at all (HttpStatusCode.NoConent). The sample uses a simple static list to hold albums, so once you’ve added the album using the Post operation, you can hit the /albums/ URL to see that the new album was added. The client jQuery code to call the POST operation from the client with jQuery is shown in Listing 7. var id = new Date().getTime().toString(); var album = { "Id": id, "AlbumName": "Power Age", "Artist": "AC/DC", "YearReleased": 1977, "Entered": "2002-03-11T18:24:43.5580794-10:00", "AlbumImageUrl": http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/…, "AmazonUrl": http://www.amazon.com/…, "Songs": [ { "SongName": "Rock 'n Roll Damnation", "SongLength": 3.12}, { "SongName": "Downpayment Blues", "SongLength": 4.22 }, { "SongName": "Riff Raff", "SongLength": 2.42 } ] } $.ajax( { url: "albums/", type: "POST", contentType: "application/json", data: JSON.stringify(album), processData: false, beforeSend: function (xhr) { // not required since JSON is default output xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept", "application/json"); }, success: function (result) { // reload list of albums page.loadAlbums(); }, error: function (xhr, status, p3, p4) { var err = "Error"; if (xhr.responseText && xhr.responseText[0] == "{") err = JSON.parse(xhr.responseText).message; alert(err); } }); The code in Listing 7 creates an album object in JavaScript to match the structure of the .NET Album class. This object is passed to the $.ajax() function to send to the server as POST. The data is turned into JSON and the content type set to application/json so that the server knows what to convert when deserializing in the Album instance. The jQuery code hooks up success and failure events. Success returns the result data, which is a string that’s echoed back with an alert box. If an error occurs, jQuery returns the XHR instance and status code. You can check the XHR to see if a JSON object is embedded and if it is, you can extract it by de-serializing it and accessing the .message property. REST standards suggest that updates to existing resources should use PUT operations. REST standards aside, I’m not a big fan of separating out inserts and updates so I tend to have a single method that handles both. But if you want to follow REST suggestions, you can create a PUT method that handles updates by forwarding the PUT operation to the POST method:public HttpResponseMessage PutAlbum(Album album) { return PostAlbum(album); } To make the corresponding $.ajax() call, all you have to change from Listing 7 is the type: from POST to PUT. Model Binding with UrlEncoded POST Variables In the example in Listing 7 I used JSON objects to post a serialized object to a server method that accepted an strongly typed object with the same structure, which is a common way to send data to the server. However, Web API supports a number of different ways that data can be received by server methods. For example, another common way is to use plain UrlEncoded POST values to send to the server. Web API supports Model Binding that works similar (but not the same) as MVC's model binding where POST variables are mapped to properties of object parameters of the target method. This is actually quite common for AJAX calls that want to avoid serialization and the potential requirement of a JSON parser on older browsers. For example, using jQUery you might use the $.post() method to send a new album to the server (albeit one without songs) using code like the following:$.post("albums/",{AlbumName: "Dirty Deeds", YearReleased: 1976 … },albumPostCallback); Although the code looks very similar to the client code we used before passing JSON, here the data passed is URL encoded values (AlbumName=Dirty+Deeds&YearReleased=1976 etc.). Web API then takes this POST data and maps each of the POST values to the properties of the Album object in the method's parameter. Although the client code is different the server can both handle the JSON object, or the UrlEncoded POST values. Dynamic Access to POST Data There are also a few options available to dynamically access POST data, if you know what type of data you're dealing with. If you have POST UrlEncoded values, you can dynamically using a FormsDataCollection:[HttpPost] public string PostAlbum(FormDataCollection form) { return string.Format("{0} - released {1}", form.Get("AlbumName"),form.Get("RearReleased")); } The FormDataCollection is a very simple object, that essentially provides the same functionality as Request.Form[] in ASP.NET. Request.Form[] still works if you're running hosted in an ASP.NET application. However as a general rule, while ASP.NET's functionality is always available when running Web API hosted inside of an ASP.NET application, using the built in classes specific to Web API makes it possible to run Web API applications in a self hosted environment outside of ASP.NET. If your client is sending JSON to your server, and you don't want to map the JSON to a strongly typed object because you only want to retrieve a few simple values, you can also accept a JObject parameter in your API methods:[HttpPost] public string PostAlbum(JObject jsonData) { dynamic json = jsonData; JObject jalbum = json.Album; JObject juser = json.User; string token = json.UserToken; var album = jalbum.ToObject<Album>(); var user = juser.ToObject<User>(); return String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", album.AlbumName, user.Name, token); } There quite a few options available to you to receive data with Web API, which gives you more choices for the right tool for the job. Unfortunately one shortcoming of Web API is that POST data is always mapped to a single parameter. This means you can't pass multiple POST parameters to methods that receive POST data. It's possible to accept multiple parameters, but only one can map to the POST content - the others have to come from the query string or route values. I have a couple of Blog POSTs that explain what works and what doesn't here: Passing multiple POST parameters to Web API Controller Methods Mapping UrlEncoded POST Values in ASP.NET Web API Handling Delete Operations Finally, to round out the server API code of the album example we've been discussin, here’s the DELETE verb controller method that allows removal of an album by its title:public HttpResponseMessage DeleteAlbum(string title) { var matchedAlbum = AlbumData.Current.Where(alb => alb.AlbumName == title) .SingleOrDefault(); if (matchedAlbum == null) return new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NotFound); AlbumData.Current.Remove(matchedAlbum); return new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NoContent); } To call this action method using jQuery, you can use:$(".removeimage").live("click", function () { var $el = $(this).parent(".album"); var txt = $el.find("a").text(); $.ajax({ url: "albums/" + encodeURIComponent(txt), type: "Delete", success: function (result) { $el.fadeOut().remove(); }, error: jqError }); } Note the use of the DELETE verb in the $.ajax() call, which routes to DeleteAlbum on the server. DELETE is a non-content operation, so you supply a resource ID (the title) via route value or the querystring. Routing Conflicts In all requests with the exception of the AlbumArt image example shown so far, I used HTTP Verb routing that I set up in Listing 1. HTTP Verb Routing is a recommendation that is in line with typical REST access to HTTP resources. However, it takes quite a bit of effort to create REST-compliant API implementations based only on HTTP Verb routing only. You saw one example that didn’t really fit – the return of an image where I created a custom route albums/{title}/image that required creation of a second controller and a custom route to work. HTTP Verb routing to a controller does not mix with custom or action routing to the same controller because of the limited mapping of HTTP verbs imposed by HTTP Verb routing. To understand some of the problems with verb routing, let’s look at another example. Let’s say you create a GetSortableAlbums() method like this and add it to the original AlbumApiController accessed via HTTP Verb routing:[HttpGet] public IQueryable<Album> SortableAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current; // generally should be done only on actual queryable results (EF etc.) // Done here because we're running with a static list but otherwise might be slow return albums.AsQueryable(); } If you compile this code and try to now access the /albums/ link, you get an error: Multiple Actions were found that match the request. HTTP Verb routing only allows access to one GET operation per parameter/route value match. If more than one method exists with the same parameter signature, it doesn’t work. As I mentioned earlier for the image display, the only solution to get this method to work is to throw it into another controller. Because I already set up the AlbumRpcApiController I can add the method there. First, I should rename the method to SortableAlbums() so I’m not using a Get prefix for the method. This also makes the action parameter look cleaner in the URL - it looks less like a method and more like a noun. I can then create a new route that handles direct-action mapping:RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumRpcApiAction", routeTemplate: "albums/rpc/{action}/{title}", defaults: new { title = RouteParameter.Optional, controller = "AlbumRpcApi", action = "GetAblums" } ); As I am explicitly adding a route segment – rpc – into the route template, I can now reference explicit methods in the Web API controller using URLs like this: http://localhost/AspNetWebApi/rpc/SortableAlbums Error Handling I’ve already done some minimal error handling in the examples. For example in Listing 6, I detected some known-error scenarios like model validation failing or a resource not being found and returning an appropriate HttpResponseMessage result. But what happens if your code just blows up or causes an exception? If you have a controller method, like this:[HttpGet] public void ThrowException() { throw new UnauthorizedAccessException("Unauthorized Access Sucka"); } You can call it with this: http://localhost/AspNetWebApi/albums/rpc/ThrowException The default exception handling displays a 500-status response with the serialized exception on the local computer only. When you connect from a remote computer, Web API throws back a 500 HTTP Error with no data returned (IIS then adds its HTML error page). The behavior is configurable in the GlobalConfiguration:GlobalConfiguration .Configuration .IncludeErrorDetailPolicy = IncludeErrorDetailPolicy.Never; If you want more control over your error responses sent from code, you can throw explicit error responses yourself using HttpResponseException. When you throw an HttpResponseException the response parameter is used to generate the output for the Controller action. [HttpGet] public void ThrowError() { var resp = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, new ApiMessageError("Your code stinks!")); throw new HttpResponseException(resp); } Throwing an HttpResponseException stops the processing of the controller method and immediately returns the response you passed to the exception. Unlike other Exceptions fired inside of WebAPI, HttpResponseException bypasses the Exception Filters installed and instead just outputs the response you provide. In this case, the serialized ApiMessageError result string is returned in the default serialization format – XML or JSON. You can pass any content to HttpResponseMessage, which includes creating your own exception objects and consistently returning error messages to the client. Here’s a small helper method on the controller that you might use to send exception info back to the client consistently:private void ThrowSafeException(string message, HttpStatusCode statusCode = HttpStatusCode.BadRequest) { var errResponse = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(statusCode, new ApiMessageError() { message = message }); throw new HttpResponseException(errResponse); } You can then use it to output any captured errors from code:[HttpGet] public void ThrowErrorSafe() { try { List<string> list = null; list.Add("Rick"); } catch (Exception ex) { ThrowSafeException(ex.Message); } } Exception Filters Another more global solution is to create an Exception Filter. Filters in Web API provide the ability to pre- and post-process controller method operations. An exception filter looks at all exceptions fired and then optionally creates an HttpResponseMessage result. Listing 8 shows an example of a basic Exception filter implementation.public class UnhandledExceptionFilter : ExceptionFilterAttribute { public override void OnException(HttpActionExecutedContext context) { HttpStatusCode status = HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError; var exType = context.Exception.GetType(); if (exType == typeof(UnauthorizedAccessException)) status = HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized; else if (exType == typeof(ArgumentException)) status = HttpStatusCode.NotFound; var apiError = new ApiMessageError() { message = context.Exception.Message }; // create a new response and attach our ApiError object // which now gets returned on ANY exception result var errorResponse = context.Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(status, apiError); context.Response = errorResponse; base.OnException(context); } } Exception Filter Attributes can be assigned to an ApiController class like this:[UnhandledExceptionFilter] public class AlbumRpcApiController : ApiController or you can globally assign it to all controllers by adding it to the HTTP Configuration's Filters collection:GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Filters.Add(new UnhandledExceptionFilter()); The latter is a great way to get global error trapping so that all errors (short of hard IIS errors and explicit HttpResponseException errors) return a valid error response that includes error information in the form of a known-error object. Using a filter like this allows you to throw an exception as you normally would and have your filter create a response in the appropriate output format that the client expects. For example, an AJAX application can on failure expect to see a JSON error result that corresponds to the real error that occurred rather than a 500 error along with HTML error page that IIS throws up. You can even create some custom exceptions so you can differentiate your own exceptions from unhandled system exceptions - you often don't want to display error information from 'unknown' exceptions as they may contain sensitive system information or info that's not generally useful to users of your application/site. This is just one example of how ASP.NET Web API is configurable and extensible. Exception filters are just one example of how you can plug-in into the Web API request flow to modify output. Many more hooks exist and I’ll take a closer look at extensibility in Part 2 of this article in the future. Summary Web API is a big improvement over previous Microsoft REST and AJAX toolkits. The key features to its usefulness are its ease of use with simple controller based logic, familiar MVC-style routing, low configuration impact, extensibility at all levels and tight attention to exposing and making HTTP semantics easily discoverable and easy to use. Although none of the concepts used in Web API are new or radical, Web API combines the best of previous platforms into a single framework that’s highly functional, easy to work with, and extensible to boot. I think that Microsoft has hit a home run with Web API. Related Resources Where does ASP.NET Web API fit? Sample Source Code on GitHub Passing multiple POST parameters to Web API Controller Methods Mapping UrlEncoded POST Values in ASP.NET Web API Creating a JSONP Formatter for ASP.NET Web API Removing the XML Formatter from ASP.NET Web API Applications© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2012Posted in Web Api Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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background image not showing in html

- by Registered User

I am having following css <!DOCTYPE html > <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Black Goose Bistro Summer Menu</title> <link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Marko+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'> <style> body { font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 175%; margin: 0 15% 0; background-image:url(images/bullseye.png); } #header { margin-top: 0; padding: 3em 1em 2em 1em; text-align: center; } a { text-decoration: none; } h1 { font: bold 1.5em Georgia, serif; text-shadow: .1em .1em .2em gray; } h2 { font-size: 1em; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: .5em; text-align: center; } dt { font-weight: bold; } strong { font-style: italic; } ul { list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; } #info p { font-style: italic; } .price { font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: italic; } p.warning, sup { font-size: small; } .label { font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps; font-style: normal; } h2 + p { text-align: center; font-style: italic; } ); </style> </head> <body> <div id="header"> <h1>Black Goose Bistro • Summer Menu</h1> <div id="info"> <p>Baker's Corner, Seekonk, Massachusetts<br> <span class="label">Hours: Monday through Thursday:</span> 11 to 9, <span class="label">Friday and Saturday;</span> 11 to midnight</p> <ul> <li><a href="#appetizers">Appetizers</a></li> <li><a href="#entrees">Main Courses</a></li> <li><a href="#toast">Traditional Toasts</a></li> <li><a href="#dessert">Dessert Selection</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="appetizers"> <h2>Appetizers</h2> <p>This season, we explore the spicy flavors of the southwest in our appetizer collection.</p> <dl> <dt>Black bean purses</dt> <dd>Spicy black bean and a blend of mexican cheeses wrapped in sheets of phyllo and baked until golden. <span class="price">$3.95</span></dd> <dt class="newitem">Southwestern napoleons with lump crab — <strong>new item!</strong></dt> <dd>Layers of light lump crab meat, bean and corn salsa, and our handmade flour tortillas. <span class="price">$7.95</span></dd> </dl> </div> <div id="entrees"> <h2>Main courses</h2> <p>Big, bold flavors are the name of the game this summer. Allow us to assist you with finding the perfect wine.</p> <dl> <dt class="newitem">Jerk rotisserie chicken with fried plantains — <strong>new item!</strong></dt> <dd>Tender chicken slow-roasted on the rotisserie, flavored with spicy and fragrant jerk sauce and served with fried plantains and fresh mango. <strong>Very spicy.</strong> <span class="price">$12.95</span></dd> <dt>Shrimp sate kebabs with peanut sauce</dt> <dd>Skewers of shrimp marinated in lemongrass, garlic, and fish sauce then grilled to perfection. Served with spicy peanut sauce and jasmine rice. <span class="price">$12.95</span></dd> <dt>Grilled skirt steak with mushroom fricasee</dt> <dd>Flavorful skirt steak marinated in asian flavors grilled as you like it<sup>*</sup>. Served over a blend of sauteed wild mushrooms with a side of blue cheese mashed potatoes. <span class="price">$16.95</span></dd> </dl> </div> <div id="toast"> <h2>Traditional Toasts</h2> <p>The ultimate comfort food, our traditional toast recipes are adapted from <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13923/13923-h/13923-h.htm"><cite>The Whitehouse Cookbook</cite></a> published in 1887.</p> <dl> <dt>Cream toast</dt> <dd>Simple cream sauce over highest quality toasted bread, baked daily. <span class="price">$3.95</span></dd> <dt>Mushroom toast</dt> <dd>Layers of light lump crab meat, bean and corn salsa, and our handmade flour tortillas. <span class="price">$6.95</span></dd> <dt>Nun's toast</dt> <dd>Onions and hard-boiled eggs in a cream sauce over buttered hot toast. <span class="price">$6.95</span></dd> <dt>Apple toast</dt> <dd>Sweet, cinnamon stewed apples over delicious buttery grilled bread. <span class="price">$6.95</span></dd> </dl> </div> <div id="dessert"> <h2>Dessert Selection</h2> <p>Be sure to save room for our desserts, made daily by our own <a href="http://www.jwu.edu/college.aspx?id=19510">Johnson & Wales</a> trained pastry chef.</p> <dl> <dt class="newitem">Lemon chiffon cake — <strong>new item!</strong></dt> <dd>Light and citrus flavored sponge cake with buttercream frosting as light as a cloud. <span class="price">$2.95</span></dd> <dt class="newitem">Molten chocolate cake</dt> <dd>Bubba's special dark chocolate cake with a warm, molten center. Served with or without a splash of almond liqueur. <span class="price">$3.95</span></dd> </dl> </div> <p class="warning"><sup>*</sup> We are required to warn you that undercooked food is a health risk.</p> </body> </html> but the background image does not appear in body tag you can see background-image:url(images/bullseye.png); this html page is bistro.html and the directory in which it is contained there is a folder images and inside images folder I have a file bullseye.png .I expect the png to appear in background.But that does not happen. For sake of question I am posting the image here also Let me know if the syntax of css wrong? following is image http://i.stack.imgur.com/YUKgg.png

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insert/update/delete with xml in .net 3.5

- by Radhi

Hello guys, i have "UserProfile" in my site which we have stored in xml fromat of xml is as below <UserProfile xmlns=""> <BasicInfo> <Title value="Basic Details" /> <Fields> <UserId title="UserId" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <EmailAddress title="Email Address" display="Yes" right="Public" value="[email protected]" /> <FirstName title="First Name" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Radhi" /> <LastName title="Last Name" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Patel" /> <DisplayName title="Display Name" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Radhi Patel" /> <RegistrationStatusId title="RegistrationStatusId" display="No" right="Public" value="10" /> <RegistrationStatus title="Registration Status" display="Yes" right="Private" value="Registered" /> <CountryName title="Country" display="Yes" right="Public" value="India" /> <StateName title="State" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Maharashtra" /> <CityName title="City" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Mumbai" /> <Gender title="Gender" display="Yes" right="Public" value="FeMale" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="0" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Nov 27 2009 3:08PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Feb 18 2010 1:43PM " /> <LogInStatusId title="LogInStatusId" display="No" right="Public" value="1" /> <LogInStatus title="LogIn Status" display="Yes" right="Private" value="Free" /> <ProfileImagePath title="Profile Pic" display="No" right="Public" value="~/Images/96.jpg" /> </Fields> </BasicInfo> <PersonalInfo> <Title value="Personal Details" /> <Fields> <Nickname title="Nick Name" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Rahul" /> <NativeLocation title="Native" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Amreli" /> <DateofAnniversary title="Anniversary Dt." display="Yes" right="Public" value="12/29/2008" /> <BloodGroupId title="BloodGroupId" display="No" right="Public" value="25" /> <BloodGroupName title="Blood Group" display="Yes" right="Public" value="25" /> <MaritalStatusId title="MaritalStatusId" display="No" right="Public" value="34" /> <MaritalStatusName title="Marital status" display="Yes" right="Private" value="34" /> <DateofDeath title="Death dt" display="Yes" right="Private" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Jan 6 2010 2:59PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="3/10/2010 5:34:14 PM" /> </Fields> </PersonalInfo> <FamilyInfo> <Title value="Family Details" /> <Fields> <GallantryHistory title="Gallantry History" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Gallantry history rahul" /> <Ethinicity title="Ethinicity" display="Yes" right="Public" value="ethnicity rahul" /> <KulDev title="KulDev" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Krishna" /> <KulDevi title="KulDevi" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Khodiyar" /> <Caste title="Caste" display="Yes" right="Private" value="Brhamin" /> <SunSignId title="SunSignId" display="No" right="Public" value="20" /> <SunSignName title="SunSignName" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Scorpio" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Dec 29 2009 4:59PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="3/10/2010 6:29:56 PM" /> </Fields> </FamilyInfo> <HobbyInfo> <Title value="Hobbies/Interests" /> <Fields> <AbountMe title="Abount Me" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Naughty.... " /> <Hobbies title="Hobbies" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Dance, Music, decoration, Shopping" /> <Food title="Food" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Maxican salsa, Pizza, Khoya kaju " /> <Movies title="Movies" display="Yes" right="Public" value="day after tommorrow. wake up sid. avatar" /> <Music title="Music" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Chu kar mere man ko... wake up sid songs, slow music, apgk songs" /> <TVShows title="TV Shows" display="Yes" right="Public" value="business bazzigar, hanah montana" /> <Books title="Books" display="Yes" right="Public" value="mystry novels" /> <Sports title="Sports" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Badminton" /> <Will title="Will" display="Yes" right="Public" value="do photography, to have my own super home... and i can decorate it like anything..." /> <FavouriteQuotes title="Favourite Quotes" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Live like a king nothing lasts forever. not even your troubles smooth sea do not makes skillfull sailors" /> <CremationPrefernces title="Cremation Prefernces" display="Yes" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Feb 24 2010 2:13PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Mar 2 2010 4:34PM " /> </Fields> </HobbyInfo> <PermenantAddr> <Title value="Permenant Address" /> <Fields> <Address title="Address" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Test Entry" /> <CityId title="CityId" display="No" right="Public" value="93" /> <CityName title="City" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Chennai" /> <StateId title="StateId" display="No" right="Public" value="89" /> <StateName title="State" display="Yes" right="Public" value="Tamil Nadu" /> <CountryId title="CountryId" display="No" right="Public" value="108" /> <CountryName title="Country" display="Yes" right="Public" value="India" /> <ZipCode title="ZipCode" display="Yes" right="Private" value="360019" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Jan 6 2010 1:29PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="0" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" right="Public" value=" " /> </Fields> </PermenantAddr> <PresentAddr> <Title value="Present Address" /> <Fields> <Address title="Ethinicity" display="Yes" right="Public" value="" /> <CityId title="CityId" display="No" right="Public" value="" /> <CityName title="City" display="Yes" right="Public" value="" /> <StateId title="StateId" display="No" right="Public" value="" /> <StateName title="State" display="Yes" right="Public" value="" /> <CountryId title="CountryId" display="No" right="Public" value="" /> <CountryName title="Country" display="Yes" right="Public" value="" /> <ZipCode title="ZipCode" display="Yes" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="" /> </Fields> </PresentAddr> <ContactInfo> <Title value="Contact Details" /> <Fields> <DayPhoneNo title="Day Phone" display="Yes" right="Public" value="" /> <NightPhoneNo title="Night Phone" display="Yes" right="Public" value="" /> <MobileNo title="Mobile No" display="Yes" right="Private" value="" /> <FaxNo title="Fax No" display="Yes" right="CUG" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Jan 5 2010 12:37PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" right="Public" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" right="Public" value="Feb 17 2010 1:37PM " /> </Fields> </ContactInfo> <EmailInfo> <Title value="Alternate Email Addresses" /> <Fields /> </EmailInfo> <AcademicInfo> <Title value="Education Details" /> <Fields> <Record right="Public"> <Education title="Education" display="Yes" value="Full Attendance" /> <Institute title="Institute" display="Yes" value="Attendance" /> <PassingYear title="Passing Year" display="Yes" value="2000" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 12:41PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 12:41PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Education title="Education" display="Yes" value="D.C.E." /> <Institute title="Institute" display="Yes" value="G.P.G" /> <PassingYear title="Passing Year" display="Yes" value="2005" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="true" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 12:45PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 12:45PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Education title="Education" display="Yes" value="MCSE" /> <Institute title="Institute" display="Yes" value="MCSE" /> <PassingYear title="Passing Year" display="Yes" value="2009" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="true" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 6:12PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Mar 2 2010 4:33PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Education title="Education" display="Yes" value="H.S.C." /> <Institute title="Institute" display="Yes" value="G.H.S.E.B." /> <PassingYear title="Passing Year" display="Yes" value="2002" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="true" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 6:17PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 6:17PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Education title="Education" display="Yes" value="S.S.C." /> <Institute title="Institute" display="Yes" value="G.S.E.B." /> <PassingYear title="Passing Year" display="Yes" value="2000" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="true" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 6:17PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 6:17PM " /> </Record> </Fields> </AcademicInfo> <AchievementInfo> <Title value="Achievement Details" /> <Fields> <Record right="Public"> <Awards title="Award" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <FieldOfAward title="Field Of Award" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <Tournament title="Tournament" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <AwardDescription title="Description" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <AwardYear title="Award Year" display="Yes" value="2002" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="true" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 3:51PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 3:51PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Awards title="Award" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <FieldOfAward title="Field Of Award" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <Tournament title="Tournament" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <AwardDescription title="Description" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <AwardYear title="Award Year" display="Yes" value="2005" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="true" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Jan 8 2010 10:19AM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Jan 8 2010 10:19AM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Awards title="Award" display="Yes" value="Test Entry3" /> <FieldOfAward title="Field Of Award" display="Yes" value="Test Entry3" /> <Tournament title="Tournament" display="Yes" value="Test Entry3" /> <AwardDescription title="Description" display="Yes" value="Test Entry3" /> <AwardYear title="Award Year" display="Yes" value="2007" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="true" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 11:47AM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 11:47AM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Awards title="Award" display="Yes" value="Test Entry4" /> <FieldOfAward title="Field Of Award" display="Yes" value="Test Entry4" /> <Tournament title="Tournament" display="Yes" value="Test Entry4" /> <AwardDescription title="Description" display="Yes" value="Test Entry3" /> <AwardYear title="Award Year" display="Yes" value="2000" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 11:47AM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Dec 31 2009 11:47AM " /> </Record> </Fields> </AchievementInfo> <ProfessionalInfo> <Title value="Professional Details" /> <Fields> <Record right="Public"> <Occupation title="Occupation" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <Organization title="Organization" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <ProjectsDescription title="Description" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <Duration title="Duration" display="Yes" value="26" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Jan 4 2010 3:01PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Jan 4 2010 3:01PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Occupation title="Occupation" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <Organization title="Organization" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <ProjectsDescription title="Description" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <Duration title="Duration" display="Yes" value="10" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Jan 4 2010 3:01PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Jan 4 2010 3:01PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Occupation title="Occupation" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <Organization title="Organization" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <ProjectsDescription title="Description" display="Yes" value="Test Entry" /> <Duration title="Duration" display="Yes" value="15" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" display="No" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" display="No" value="Jan 4 2010 3:01PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" display="No" value="12" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" display="No" value="Jan 4 2010 3:01PM " /> </Record> </Fields> </ProfessionalInfo> </UserProfile> now for tags like PersonalInfo,contactInfo,Address there will be only one record, but for tags like "OtherInfo","academicInfo","ProfessionalInfo" there will be multiple records so in xml there are tags for that. now to edit tags having one record only for one user i did coding like: private void FillFamilyInfoControls(XElement rootElement) { ddlSunsign.DataBind(); XElement parentElement; string xPathQuery = "FamilyInfo/Fields"; parentElement = rootElement.XPathSelectElement(xPathQuery); txtGallantryHistory.Text = parentElement.Element("GallantryHistory").Attribute("value").Value; txtEthinicity.Text = parentElement.Element("Ethinicity").Attribute("value").Value; txtKulDev.Text = parentElement.Element("KulDev").Attribute("value").Value; txtKulDevi.Text = parentElement.Element("KulDevi").Attribute("value").Value; txtCaste.Text = parentElement.Element("Caste").Attribute("value").Value; ddlSunsign.SelectedValue = parentElement.Element("SunSignId").Attribute("value").Value; ddlSunsign.SelectedItem.Text = parentElement.Element("SunSignName").Attribute("value").Value; } private XElement UpdateFamilyInfoXML(XElement rootElement) { XElement parentElement; string xPathQuery = "FamilyInfo/Fields"; parentElement = rootElement.XPathSelectElement(xPathQuery); parentElement.Element("GallantryHistory").Attribute("value").Value = txtGallantryHistory.Text; parentElement.Element("Ethinicity").Attribute("value").Value = txtEthinicity.Text; parentElement.Element("KulDev").Attribute("value").Value = txtKulDev.Text; parentElement.Element("KulDevi").Attribute("value").Value = txtKulDevi.Text; parentElement.Element("Caste").Attribute("value").Value = txtCaste.Text; parentElement.Element("SunSignId").Attribute("value").Value = ddlSunsign.SelectedItem.Value; parentElement.Element("SunSignName").Attribute("value").Value = ddlSunsign.SelectedItem.Text; parentElement.Element("ModifiedBy").Attribute("value").Value = UMSession.CurrentLoggedInUser.UserId.ToString(); parentElement.Element("ModifiedOn").Attribute("value").Value = System.DateTime.Now.ToString(); return rootElement; //rootElement.XPathSelectElement(xPathQuery) = parentElement; } these 2 functions i have used to update xml and to get data from xml and fill into controls. but for the tags where there are multiple records... i am not able to find any solution /control using which i an do it easily. coz my field's value is in attribute named "Value" when in the examples i saw its between opening and closing tag.. i have 2 methods to do so. 1 . i make one page to edit a single record and pass id of record to that page on editing. open the page in iframe on same page to edit and in page_load get data from database for id passed and fill it in control. 2 . i store xml on server as physical file and use it in page i opened in iframe to edit the record. so i am confused... can anybody please guide me that what shpould i do to let user provide interface to edit this xml data/user profile ?

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how to do gedcom import with minimal database roundtrip. what is best practice for this kind of dev

- by Radhi

In My current application, I need to import users from gedcom file. these users may exist in my registered users or i need to create one registered user for the same. now gedcom file contain s many information e.g. PersonalDetails,Addresses, Education Details, ProfessionalDetails this is one sample of xml file we are storing to store user's profile. <UserProfile xmlns=""> <BasicInfo> <Title value="Basic Details" /> <Fields> <UserId title="UserId" right="Public" value="151" /> <EmailAddress title="Email Address" right="CUG" value="[email protected]" /> <FirstName title="First Name" right="Public" value="Anju" /> <LastName title="Last Name" right="Public" value="Trivedi" /> <DisplayName title="Display Name" right="Private" value="Anju" /> <RegistrationStatusId title="RegistrationStatusId" right="Public" value="10" /> <RegistrationStatus title="Registration Status" right="Private" value="Registered" /> <CityId title="CityId" right="Private" value="19" /> <CityName title="City" right="Public" value="Delhi" /> <StateId title="StateId" right="Private" value="69" /> <StateName title="State" right="Public" value="Delhi" /> <CountryId title="CountryId" right="Private" value="109" /> <CountryName title="Country" right="Public" value="India" /> <Gender title="Gender" right="Private" value="Male" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="0" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Nov 27 2009 3:08PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="Mar 3 2010 6:56PM " /> <LogInStatusId title="LogInStatusId" right="Public" value="1" /> <LogInStatus title="LogIn Status" right="Private" value="Free" /> <ProfileImagePath title="Profile Pic" right="Public" value="~/Images/13_HolidayBarbie07CL2010427143129.jpg" /> <ProfileThumbnailPath title="Profile Thumbnail" right="Public" value="~/Images/Thumb13_HolidayBarbie07CL2010427143129.jpg" /> </Fields> </BasicInfo> <PersonalInfo> <Title value="Personal Details" /> <Fields> <Nickname title="Nick Name" right="Public" value="Anju" /> <NativeLocation title="Native" right="Public" value="Mehsana" /> <DateofAnniversary title="Anniversary Dt." right="Private" value="4/1/2010" /> <BloodGroupId title="BloodGroupId" right="Public" value="24" /> <BloodGroupName title="Blood Group" right="Public" value="A+" /> <MaritalStatusId title="MaritalStatusId" right="Private" value="35" /> <MaritalStatusName title="Marital status" right="Private" value="UnMarried" /> <DateofDeath title="Death dt" right="Private" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="4/27/2010 2:32:07 PM" /> <DateOfBirth title="Birth Date" value="" right="CUG" /> <BirthPlace title="Birth Place" value="Jaipur" right="Private" /> </Fields> </PersonalInfo> <FamilyInfo> <Title value="Family Details" /> <Fields> <GallantryHistory title="Gallantry History" right="Public" value="Anjli History" /> <Ethinicity title="Ethinicity" right="Public" value="Indian" /> <KulDev title="KulDev" right="Public" value="Krishna" /> <KulDevi title="KulDevi" right="Public" value="Lakhsmi" /> <Caste title="Caste" right="Private" value="Vaishnav" /> <SunSignId title="SunSignId" right="Public" value="15" /> <SunSignName title="SunSignName" right="Public" value="Gemini" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Dec 11 2009 12:00AM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="Dec 11 2009 12:00AM " /> </Fields> </FamilyInfo> <HobbyInfo> <Title value="Hobbies/Interests" /> <Fields> <AbountMe title="Abount Me" right="Public" value="" /> <Hobbies title="Hobbies" right="Public" value="" /> <Food title="Food" right="Public" value="" /> <Movies title="Movies" right="Public" value="" /> <Music title="Music" right="Public" value="" /> <TVShows title="TV Shows" right="Public" value="" /> <Books title="Books" right="Public" value="" /> <Sports title="Sports" right="Public" value="" /> <Will title="Will" right="Public" value="" /> <FavouriteQuotes title="Favourite Quotes" right="Public" value="" /> <CremationPrefernces title="Cremation Prefernces" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="" /> </Fields> </HobbyInfo> <PermenantAddr> <Title value="Permenant Address" /> <Fields> <Address title="Address" right="Public" value="Select" /> <CityId title="CityId" right="Public" value="116" /> <CityName title="City" right="Public" value="Iran" /> <StateId title="StateId" right="Public" value="95" /> <StateName title="State" right="Public" value="Iran" /> <CountryId title="CountryId" right="Public" value="7" /> <CountryName title="Country" right="Public" value="Afghanistan" /> <ZipCode title="ZipCode" right="Private" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="4/6/2010 10:48:39 AM" /> </Fields> </PermenantAddr> <PresentAddr> <Title value="Present Address" /> <Fields> <Address title="Address" right="Public" value="Select" /> <CityId title="CityId" right="Public" value="1" /> <CityName title="City" right="Public" value="Select" /> <StateId title="StateId" right="Public" value="1" /> <StateName title="State" right="Public" value="Select" /> <CountryId title="CountryId" right="Public" value="1" /> <CountryName title="Country" right="Public" value="Select" /> <ZipCode title="ZipCode" right="Private" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="" /> </Fields> </PresentAddr> <ContactInfo> <Title value="Contact Details" /> <Fields> <DayPhoneNo title="Day Phone" right="Public" value="" /> <NightPhoneNo title="Night Phone" right="Public" value="" /> <MobileNo title="Mobile No" right="Private" value="" /> <FaxNo title="Fax No" right="CUG" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="" /> </Fields> </ContactInfo> <EmailInfo> <Title value="Alternate Email Addresses" /> <Fields> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="3" /> <Provider title="Provider" right="Public" value="google" /> <EmailAddress title="Email Address" right="Public" value="[email protected]" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Mar 3 2010 10:17AM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="0" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value=" " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="4" /> <Provider title="Provider" right="Public" value="Yahoo" /> <EmailAddress title="Email Address" right="Public" value="[email protected]" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Mar 3 2010 6:53PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="0" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value=" " /> </Record> <Record right="Private"> <Provider value="111" right="Private" /> <EmailAddress value="[email protected]" right="Private" /> <Id value="5" /> <IsActive value="true" right="Private" /> <ModifiedBy value="13" right="Private" /> <ModifiedOn value="Tuesday, March 16, 2010" right="Private" /> </Record> </Fields> </EmailInfo> <AcademicInfo> <Title value="Education Details" /> <Fields> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="0" /> <Education title="Education" right="Public" value="" /> <Institute title="Institute" right="Public" value="" /> <PassingYear title="Passing Year" right="Public" value="" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="" /> </Record> </Fields> </AcademicInfo> <AchievementInfo> <Title value="Achievement Details" /> <Fields> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="0" /> <Awards title="Award" right="Public" value="" /> <FieldOfAward title="Field Of Award" right="Public" value="" /> <Tournament title="Tournament" right="Public" value="" /> <AwardDescription title="Description" right="Public" value="" /> <AwardYear title="Award Year" right="Public" value="" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="" /> </Record> </Fields> </AchievementInfo> <ProfessionalInfo> <Title value="Professional Details" /> <Fields> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="4" /> <Occupation title="Occupation" right="Public" value="a" /> <Organization title="Organization" right="Public" value="a" /> <ProjectsDescription title="Description" right="Public" value="a" /> <Duration title="Duration" right="Public" value="2" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Jan 7 2010 1:14PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="Jan 7 2010 1:14PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="5" /> <Occupation title="Occupation" right="Public" value="ab" /> <Organization title="Organization" right="Public" value="zsd" /> <ProjectsDescription title="Description" right="Public" value="sd" /> <Duration title="Duration" right="Public" value="5" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Jan 7 2010 1:15PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="Jan 7 2010 1:15PM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="8" /> <Occupation title="Occupation" right="Public" value="fgdf" /> <Organization title="Organization" right="Public" value="gdfg" /> <ProjectsDescription title="Description" right="Public" value="dfgdf" /> <Duration title="Duration" right="Public" value="12" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Feb 22 2010 5:07PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="0" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="Jan 1 1900 12:00AM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="9" /> <Occupation title="Occupation" right="Public" value="fgdf" /> <Organization title="Organization" right="Public" value="gdfg" /> <ProjectsDescription title="Description" right="Public" value="dfgdf" /> <Duration title="Duration" right="Public" value="12" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Feb 22 2010 5:11PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="0" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="Jan 1 1900 12:00AM " /> </Record> <Record right="Public"> <Id title="Id" right="Public" value="10" /> <Occupation title="Occupation" right="Public" value="fgdf" /> <Organization title="Organization" right="Public" value="gdfg" /> <ProjectsDescription title="Description" right="Public" value="dfgdf" /> <Duration title="Duration" right="Public" value="12" /> <IsActive title="IsActive" right="Public" value="false" /> <CreatedBy title="CreatedBy" right="Public" value="13" /> <CreatedOn title="CreatedOn" right="Public" value="Feb 22 2010 5:13PM " /> <ModifiedBy title="ModifiedBy" right="Public" value="0" /> <ModifiedOn title="ModifiedOn" right="Public" value="Jan 1 1900 12:00AM " /> </Record> </Fields> </ProfessionalInfo> <SecuritySettings> <AlbumRights> <Create value="Private" /> <View value="CUG" /> <Edit value="CUG" /> <Delete value="CUG" /> <PostComments value="CUG" /> <AddToAlbum value="CUG" /> </AlbumRights> <ImageRights> <Create value="Private" /> <View value="CUG" /> <Edit value="CUG" /> <Delete value="CUG" /> <PostComments value="Private" /> </ImageRights> </SecuritySettings> </UserProfile> now when i am importing data from gedcom, i am creating one person object which contains all this info. but before i insert it itodatabase have to check if userid exist for the emailaddress dont update data else create a user and update its profilexml from data fecthed from gedcom. for this i think i need some soln by which i can do only one roundtrip to database and can update all user's xml. or i can execute one sp to get userid from all users where i'll check if user exist then return userid else insert basic data and return inserted userid then for every user make xml from data and update it. please provide be suggestion what is best practice to do this kind of development. if need any more details please write me

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Silverlight Recruiting Application Part 6 - Adding an Interview Scheduling Module/View

Between the last post and this one I went ahead and carried the ideas for the Jobs module and view into the Applicants module and view- they're both doing more or less the same thing, except with different objects being at their core. Made for an easy cut-and-paste operation with a few items being switched from one to another. Now that we have the ability to add postings and applicants, wouldn't it be nice if we could schedule an interview? Of course it would! Scheduling Module I think you get the drift from previous posts that these project structures start looking somewhat similar. The interview scheduling module is no different than the rest- it gets a SchedulingModule.cs file at the root that inherits from IModule, and there is a single SchedulerView.xsml and SchedulerViewModel.cs setup for our V+VM. We have one unique concern as we enter into this- RadScheduler deals with AppointmentsSource, not ItemsSource, so there are some special considerations to take into account when planning this module. First, I need something which inherits from AppointmentBase. This is the core of the RadScheduler appointment, and if you are planning to do any form of custom appointment, you'll want it to inherit from this. Then you can add-on functionality as needed. Here is my addition to the mix, the InterviewAppointment: 01.public class InterviewAppointment : AppointmentBase 02.{ 03. private int _applicantID; 04. public int ApplicantID 05. { 06. get { return this._applicantID; } 07. set 08. { 09. if (_applicantID != value) 10. { 11. _applicantID = value; 12. OnPropertyChanged("ApplicantID"); 13. } 14. } 15. } 16. 17. private int _postingID; 18. public int PostingID 19. { 20. get { return _postingID; } 21. set 22. { 23. if (_postingID != value) 24. { 25. _postingID = value; 26. OnPropertyChanged("PostingID"); 27. } 28. } 29. } 30. 31. private string _body; 32. public string Body 33. { 34. get { return _body; } 35. set 36. { 37. if (_body != value) 38. { 39. _body = value; 40. OnPropertyChanged("Body"); 41. } 42. } 43. } 44. 45. private int _interviewID; 46. public int InterviewID 47. { 48. get { return _interviewID; } 49. set 50. { 51. if (_interviewID != value) 52. { 53. _interviewID = value; 54. OnPropertyChanged("InterviewID"); 55. } 56. } 57. } 58. 59. public override IAppointment Copy() 60. { 61. IAppointment appointment = new InterviewAppointment(); 62. appointment.CopyFrom(this); 63. return appointment; 64. } 65. 66. public override void CopyFrom(IAppointment other) 67. { 68. base.CopyFrom(other); 69. var appointment = other as InterviewAppointment; 70. if (appointment != null) 71. { 72. ApplicantID = appointment.ApplicantID; 73. PostingID = appointment.PostingID; 74. Body = appointment.Body; 75. InterviewID = appointment.InterviewID; 76. } 77. } 78.} Nothing too exciting going on here, we just make sure that our custom fields are persisted (specifically set in CopyFrom at the bottom) and notifications are fired- otherwise this ends up exactly like the standard appointment as far as interactions, etc. But if we've got custom appointment items... that also means we need to customize what our appointment dialog window will look like. Customizing the Edit Appointment Dialog This initially sounds a lot more intimidating than it really is. The first step here depends on what you're dealing with for theming, but for ease of everything I went ahead and extracted my templates in Blend for RadScheduler so I could modify it as I pleased. For the faint of heart, the RadScheduler template is a few thousand lines of goodness since there are some very complex things going on in that control. I've gone ahead and trimmed down the template parts I don't need as much as possible, so what is left is all that is relevant to the Edit Appointment Dialog. Here's the resulting Xaml, with line numbers, so I can explain further: 001.<UserControl.Resources> 002.  003. <helpers:DataContextProxy x:Key="DataContextProxy" /> 004. 005. <telerik:Windows7Theme x:Key="Theme" /> 006. <SolidColorBrush x:Key="DialogWindowBackground" 007. Color="White" /> 008. <SolidColorBrush x:Key="CategorySelectorBorderBrush" 009. Color="#FFB1B1B1" /> 010. <LinearGradientBrush x:Key="RadToolBar_InnerBackground" 011. EndPoint="0.5,1" 012. StartPoint="0.5,0"> 013. <GradientStop Color="#FFFDFEFF" 014. Offset="0" /> 015. <GradientStop Color="#FFDDE9F7" 016. Offset="1" /> 017. <GradientStop Color="#FFE6F0FA" 018. Offset="0.5" /> 019. <GradientStop Color="#FFDCE6F4" 020. Offset="0.5" /> 021. </LinearGradientBrush> 022. <Style x:Key="FormElementTextBlockStyle" 023. TargetType="TextBlock"> 024. <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" 025. Value="Right" /> 026. <Setter Property="VerticalAlignment" 027. Value="Top" /> 028. <Setter Property="Margin" 029. Value="15, 15, 0, 2" /> 030. </Style> 031. <Style x:Key="FormElementStyle" 032. TargetType="FrameworkElement"> 033. <Setter Property="Margin" 034. Value="10, 10, 0, 2" /> 035. </Style> 036. <SolidColorBrush x:Key="GenericShallowBorderBrush" 037. Color="#FF979994" /> 038. <telerik:BooleanToVisibilityConverter x:Key="BooleanToVisibilityConverter" /> 039. <telerikScheduler:ImportanceToBooleanConverter x:Key="ImportanceToBooleanConverter" /> 040. <telerikScheduler:NullToVisibilityConverter x:Key="NullToVisibilityConverter" /> 041. <telerikScheduler:InvertedNullToVisibilityConverter x:Key="InvertedNullToVisibilityConverter" /> 042. <scheduler:ResourcesSeparatorConverter x:Key="ResourcesSeparatorConverter" /> 043. <DataTemplate x:Key="IconDataEditTemplate"> 044. <Image Source="/Telerik.Windows.Controls.Scheduler;component/Themes/Office/Images/cal.png" 045. Margin="3,3,0,0" 046. Width="16" 047. Height="16" /> 048. </DataTemplate> 049. <DataTemplate x:Key="SingleSelectionTemplate"> 050. <Grid VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 051. HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"> 052. <Grid.RowDefinitions> 053. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 054. </Grid.RowDefinitions> 055. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 056. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 057. MinWidth="84" /> 058. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 059. MinWidth="200" /> 060. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 061. <TextBlock x:Name="SelectionNameLabel" 062. Margin="0,13,4,2" 063. Text="{Binding ResourceType.DisplayName}" 064. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" 065. Grid.Column="0" /> 066. <telerikInput:RadComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding ResourceItems}" 067. Width="185" 068. Margin="5,10,20,2" 069. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 070. Grid.Column="1" 071. ClearSelectionButtonVisibility="Visible" 072. ClearSelectionButtonContent="Clear All" 073. DisplayMemberPath="Resource.DisplayName" 074. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 075. SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedItem, Mode=TwoWay}" /> 076. </Grid> 077. </DataTemplate> 078. <DataTemplate x:Key="MultipleSelectionTemplate"> 079. <Grid VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 080. HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"> 081. <Grid.RowDefinitions> 082. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 083. </Grid.RowDefinitions> 084. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 085. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 086. MinWidth="84" /> 087. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 088. MinWidth="200" /> 089. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 090. <TextBlock x:Name="SelectionNameLabel" 091. Grid.Column="0" 092. Text="{Binding ResourceType.DisplayName}" 093. Margin="0,13,4,2" 094. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 095. <telerikInput:RadComboBox Grid.Column="1" 096. Width="185" 097. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 098. Margin="5,10,20,2" 099. ItemsSource="{Binding ResourceItems}" 100. SelectedIndex="{Binding SelectedIndex, Mode=TwoWay}" 101. ClearSelectionButtonVisibility="Visible" 102. ClearSelectionButtonContent="Clear All" 103. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}"> 104. <telerikInput:RadComboBox.ItemTemplate> 105. <DataTemplate> 106. <Grid HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 107. VerticalAlignment="Stretch"> 108. <CheckBox VerticalAlignment="Center" 109. HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" 110. VerticalContentAlignment="Center" 111. IsChecked="{Binding IsChecked, Mode=TwoWay}" 112. Content="{Binding Resource.DisplayName}"> 113. <CheckBox.ContentTemplate> 114. <DataTemplate> 115. <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 116. VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 117. Text="{Binding Content, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}}" /> 118. </DataTemplate> 119. </CheckBox.ContentTemplate> 120. </CheckBox> 121. </Grid> 122. </DataTemplate> 123. </telerikInput:RadComboBox.ItemTemplate> 124. </telerikInput:RadComboBox> 125. </Grid> 126. </DataTemplate> 127. <scheduler:ResourceTypeTemplateSelector x:Key="ItemTemplateSelector" 128. MultipleSelectionTemplate="{StaticResource MultipleSelectionTemplate}" 129. SingleSelectionTemplate="{StaticResource SingleSelectionTemplate}" /> 130.  131. 132. <ControlTemplate x:Key="EditAppointmentTemplate" 133. TargetType="telerikScheduler:AppointmentDialogWindow"> 134. <StackPanel Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" 135. UseLayoutRounding="True"> 136. <StackPanel Grid.Row="0" 137. Orientation="Horizontal" 138. Background="{StaticResource RadToolBar_InnerBackground}" 139. Grid.ColumnSpan="2" 140. Height="0"> 141.  142. <Border Margin="1,1,0,0" 143. Background="#50000000" 144. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 145. VerticalAlignment="Center" 146. Width="2" 147. Height="16"> 148. <Border Margin="0,0,1,1" 149. Background="#80FFFFFF" 150. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 151. Width="1" /> 152. </Border> 153. <Border Margin="1,1,0,0" 154. Background="#50000000" 155. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 156. VerticalAlignment="Center" 157. Width="2" 158. Height="16"> 159. <Border Margin="0,0,1,1" 160. Background="#80FFFFFF" 161. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 162. Width="1" /> 163. </Border> 164. <TextBlock telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="ShowAs" 165. VerticalAlignment="Center" 166. Margin="5,0,0,0" /> 167. <telerikInput:RadComboBox ItemsSource="{TemplateBinding TimeMarkers}" 168. Width="100" 169. Height="20" 170. VerticalAlignment="Center" 171. Margin="5,0,0,0" 172. ClearSelectionButtonVisibility="Visible" 173. ClearSelectionButtonContent="Clear" 174. SelectedItem="{Binding TimeMarker,RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent},Mode=TwoWay}" 175. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}"> 176. <telerikInput:RadComboBox.ItemTemplate> 177. <DataTemplate> 178. <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"> 179. <Rectangle Fill="{Binding TimeMarkerBrush}" 180. Margin="2" 181. Width="12" 182. Height="12" /> 183. <TextBlock Text="{Binding TimeMarkerName}" 184. Margin="2" /> 185. </StackPanel> 186. </DataTemplate> 187. </telerikInput:RadComboBox.ItemTemplate> 188. </telerikInput:RadComboBox> 189. <telerik:RadToggleButton x:Name="High" 190. BorderThickness="0" 191. Background="{StaticResource RadToolBar_InnerBackground}" 192. DataContext="{TemplateBinding EditedAppointment}" 193. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 194. IsChecked="{Binding Importance,Mode=TwoWay, Converter={StaticResource ImportanceToBooleanConverter},ConverterParameter=High}" 195. Margin="2,2,0,2" 196. Width="23" 197. Height="23" 198. HorizontalContentAlignment="Center" 199. ToolTipService.ToolTip="High importance" 200. CommandParameter="High" 201. Command="telerikScheduler:RadSchedulerCommands.SetAppointmentImportance"> 202. <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Center"> 203. <Path Stretch="Fill" 204. Height="10" 205. HorizontalAlignment="Center" 206. VerticalAlignment="Top" 207. Width="5.451" 208. Data="M200.39647,58.840393 C200.39337,58.336426 201.14566,57.683922 202.56244,57.684292 C204.06589,57.684685 204.73764,58.357765 204.72783,58.992363 C205.04649,61.795574 203.04713,64.181099 202.47388,66.133446 C201.93753,64.154961 199.9471,61.560352 200.39647,58.840393 z"> 209. <Path.Fill> 210. <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="1.059,0.375" 211. StartPoint="-0.457,0.519"> 212. <GradientStop Color="#FFFF0606" 213. Offset="0.609" /> 214. <GradientStop Color="#FFBF0303" 215. Offset="0.927" /> 216. </LinearGradientBrush> 217. </Path.Fill> 218. </Path> 219. <Ellipse Height="3" 220. HorizontalAlignment="Center" 221. Margin="0,-1,0,0" 222. VerticalAlignment="Top" 223. Width="3"> 224. <Ellipse.Fill> 225. <RadialGradientBrush> 226. <GradientStop Color="#FFFF0606" 227. Offset="0" /> 228. <GradientStop Color="#FFBF0303" 229. Offset="1" /> 230. </RadialGradientBrush> 231. </Ellipse.Fill> 232. </Ellipse> 233. </StackPanel> 234. </telerik:RadToggleButton> 235. <telerik:RadToggleButton x:Name="Low" 236. HorizontalContentAlignment="Center" 237. BorderThickness="0" 238. Background="{StaticResource RadToolBar_InnerBackground}" 239. DataContext="{TemplateBinding EditedAppointment}" 240. IsChecked="{Binding Importance,Mode=TwoWay, Converter={StaticResource ImportanceToBooleanConverter},ConverterParameter=Low}" 241. Margin="0,2,0,2" 242. Width="23" 243. Height="23" 244. ToolTipService.ToolTip="Low importance" 245. CommandParameter="Low" 246. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 247. Command="telerikScheduler:RadSchedulerCommands.SetAppointmentImportance"> 248. <Path Stretch="Fill" 249. Height="12" 250. HorizontalAlignment="Center" 251. VerticalAlignment="Top" 252. Width="9" 253. Data="M222.40353,60.139881 L226.65768,60.139843 L226.63687,67.240196 L229.15347,67.240196 L224.37816,71.394943 L219.65274,67.240196 L222.37572,67.219345 z" 254. Stroke="#FF0365A7"> 255. <Path.Fill> 256. <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="1.059,0.375" 257. StartPoint="-0.457,0.519"> 258. <GradientStop Color="#FFBBE4FF" /> 259. <GradientStop Color="#FF024572" 260. Offset="0.836" /> 261. <GradientStop Color="#FF43ADF4" 262. Offset="0.466" /> 263. </LinearGradientBrush> 264. </Path.Fill> 265. </Path> 266. </telerik:RadToggleButton> 267. </StackPanel > 268. <Border DataContext="{TemplateBinding EditedAppointment}" 269. Background="{Binding Category.CategoryBrush}" 270. Visibility="{Binding Category,Converter={StaticResource NullToVisibilityConverter}}" 271. CornerRadius="3" 272. Height="20" 273. Margin="5,10,5,0"> 274. <TextBlock Text="{Binding Category.DisplayName}" 275. VerticalAlignment="Center" 276. Margin="5,0,0,0" /> 277. </Border> 278. <Grid VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 279. HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 280. DataContext="{TemplateBinding EditedAppointment}" 281. Background="{TemplateBinding Background}"> 282. <Grid.RowDefinitions> 283. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 284. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 285. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 286. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 287. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 288. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 289. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 290. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 291. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 292. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 293. </Grid.RowDefinitions> 294. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 295. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 296. MinWidth="100" /> 297. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 298. MinWidth="200" /> 299. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 300.  301. <TextBlock x:Name="SubjectLabel" 302. Grid.Row="0" 303. Grid.Column="0" 304. Margin="0,15,0,2" 305. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Subject" 306. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 307. <TextBox x:Name="Subject" 308. Grid.Row="0" 309. Grid.Column="1" 310. MinHeight="22" 311. Padding="4 2" 312. Width="340" 313. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 314. Text="{Binding Subject, Mode=TwoWay}" 315. MaxLength="255" 316. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 317. Margin="10,12,20,2" /> 318.  319. <TextBlock x:Name="DescriptionLabel" 320. Grid.Row="1" 321. Grid.Column="0" 322. Margin="0,13,0,2" 323. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Body" 324. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 325. <TextBox x:Name="Body" 326. VerticalAlignment="top" 327. Grid.Row="1" 328. Grid.Column="1" 329. Height="Auto" 330. MaxHeight="82" 331. Width="340" 332. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 333. MinHeight="22" 334. Padding="4 2" 335. TextWrapping="Wrap" 336. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 337. Text="{Binding Body, Mode=TwoWay}" 338. AcceptsReturn="true" 339. Margin="10,10,20,2" 340. HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" 341. VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" /> 342.  343. <TextBlock x:Name="StartDateLabel" 344. Grid.Row="2" 345. Grid.Column="0" 346. Margin="0,13,0,2" 347. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="StartTime" 348. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 349. <telerikScheduler:DateTimePicker x:Name="StartDateTime" 350. Height="22" 351. Grid.Row="2" 352. Grid.Column="1" 353. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 354. Margin="10,10,20,2" 355. Style="{StaticResource FormElementStyle}" 356. SelectedDateTime="{Binding Start, Mode=TwoWay}" 357. telerikScheduler:StartEndDatePicker.EndPicker="{Binding ElementName=EndDateTime}" 358. IsTabStop="False" 359. IsEnabled="False" /> 360. <TextBlock x:Name="EndDateLabel" 361. Grid.Row="3" 362. Grid.Column="0" 363. Margin="0,13,0,2" 364. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="EndTime" 365. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 366. <telerikScheduler:DateTimePicker x:Name="EndDateTime" 367. Height="22" 368. Grid.Row="3" 369. Grid.Column="1" 370. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 371. Margin="10,10,20,2" 372. Style="{StaticResource FormElementStyle}" 373. IsTabStop="False" 374. IsEnabled="False" 375. SelectedDateTime="{Binding End, Mode=TwoWay}" /> 376.  377. <CheckBox x:Name="AllDayEventCheckbox" 378. IsChecked="{Binding IsAllDayEvent, Mode=TwoWay}" 379. Grid.Row="4" 380. Grid.Column="1" 381. Margin="10,10,20,2" 382. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 383. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 384. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="AllDayEvent"> 385. <telerik:CommandManager.InputBindings> 386. <telerik:InputBindingCollection> 387. <telerik:MouseBinding Command="telerikScheduler:RadSchedulerCommands.ChangeTimePickersVisibility" 388. Gesture="LeftClick" /> 389. </telerik:InputBindingCollection> 390. </telerik:CommandManager.InputBindings> 391. </CheckBox> 392. <Grid Grid.Row="5" 393. Grid.ColumnSpan="2"> 394. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 395. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 396. MinWidth="100" /> 397. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 398. MinWidth="200" /> 399. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 400. <Grid.RowDefinitions> 401. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 402. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 403. </Grid.RowDefinitions> 404. <TextBlock Text="Applicant" 405. Margin="0,13,0,2" 406. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 407. <telerikInput:RadComboBox IsEditable="False" 408. Grid.Column="1" 409. Height="24" 410. VerticalAlignment="Center" 411. ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource DataContextProxy}, Path=DataSource.ApplicantList}" 412. SelectedValue="{Binding ApplicantID, Mode=TwoWay}" 413. SelectedValuePath="ApplicantID" 414. DisplayMemberPath="FirstName" /> 415. 416. <TextBlock Text="Job" 417. Margin="0,13,0,2" 418. Grid.Row="1" 419. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 420. <telerikInput:RadComboBox IsEditable="False" 421. Grid.Column="1" 422. Grid.Row="1" 423. Height="24" 424. VerticalAlignment="Center" 425. ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource DataContextProxy}, Path=DataSource.JobsList}" 426. SelectedValue="{Binding PostingID, Mode=TwoWay}" 427. SelectedValuePath="PostingID" 428. DisplayMemberPath="JobTitle"/> 429. </Grid> 430.  431. <Grid x:Name="ResourcesLayout" 432. Grid.Row="7" 433. Grid.Column="0" 434. Grid.ColumnSpan="2" 435. MaxHeight="130" 436. Margin="20,5,20,0"> 437. <Border Margin="0" 438. BorderThickness="1" 439. BorderBrush="{StaticResource GenericShallowBorderBrush}" 440. Visibility="{Binding ElementName=ResourcesScrollViewer, Path=ComputedVerticalScrollBarVisibility}"></Border> 441. <ScrollViewer x:Name="ResourcesScrollViewer" 442. IsTabStop="false" 443. Grid.Row="6" 444. Grid.Column="0" 445. Grid.ColumnSpan="2" 446. Margin="1" 447. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 448. VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"> 449. <scheduler:ResourcesItemsControl x:Name="PART_Resources" 450. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 451. Padding="0,2,0,5" 452. IsTabStop="false" 453. ItemsSource="{TemplateBinding ResourceTypeModels}" 454. ItemTemplateSelector="{StaticResource ItemTemplateSelector}" /> 455. </ScrollViewer> 456. </Grid> 457. <StackPanel x:Name="FooterControls" 458. Margin="5 10 10 10" 459. Grid.Row="8" 460. Grid.Column="1" 461. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 462. Orientation="Horizontal"> 463. <telerik:RadButton x:Name="OKButton" 464. Margin="5" 465. Padding="10 0" 466. MinWidth="80" 467. Command="telerikScheduler:RadSchedulerCommands.SaveAppointment" 468. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 469. telerikNavigation:RadWindow.ResponseButton="Accept" 470. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="SaveAndCloseCommandText"> 471. </telerik:RadButton> 472. <telerik:RadButton x:Name="CancelButton" 473. Margin="5" 474. Padding="10 0" 475. MinWidth="80" 476. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Cancel" 477. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 478. telerikNavigation:RadWindow.ResponseButton="Cancel" 479. Command="telerik:WindowCommands.Close"> 480. </telerik:RadButton> 481. </StackPanel> 482. </Grid> 483. <vsm:VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups> 484. <vsm:VisualStateGroup x:Name="RecurrenceRuleState"> 485. <vsm:VisualState x:Name="RecurrenceRuleIsNull"> 486. <Storyboard> 487. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="StartDateTime" 488. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 489. Duration="0"> 490. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 491. Value="True" /> 492. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 493. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="EndDateTime" 494. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 495. Duration="0"> 496. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 497. Value="True" /> 498. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 499. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="AllDayEventCheckbox" 500. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 501. Duration="0"> 502. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 503. Value="True" /> 504. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 505. </Storyboard> 506. </vsm:VisualState> 507. <vsm:VisualState x:Name="RecurrenceRuleIsNotNull"> 508. <Storyboard> 509. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="StartDateTime" 510. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 511. Duration="0"> 512. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 513. Value="False" /> 514. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 515. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="EndDateTime" 516. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 517. Duration="0"> 518. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 519. Value="False" /> 520. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 521. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="AllDayEventCheckbox" 522. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 523. Duration="0"> 524. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 525. Value="False" /> 526. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 527. </Storyboard> 528. </vsm:VisualState> 529. </vsm:VisualStateGroup> 530. </vsm:VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups> 531. </StackPanel> 532. </ControlTemplate> 533. <DataTemplate x:Key="AppointmentDialogWindowHeaderDataTemplate"> 534. <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" 535. MaxWidth="400"> 536. <TextBlock telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Event" 537. Visibility="{Binding Appointment.IsAllDayEvent, Converter={StaticResource BooleanToVisibilityConverter}}" /> 538. <TextBlock telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Appointment" 539. Visibility="{Binding Appointment.IsAllDayEvent, Converter={StaticResource InvertedBooleanToVisibilityConverter}}" /> 540. <TextBlock Text=" - " /> 541. <TextBlock x:Name="SubjectTextBlock" 542. Visibility="{Binding Appointment.Subject, Converter={StaticResource NullToVisibilityConverter}}" 543. Text="{Binding Appointment.Subject}" /> 544. <TextBlock telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Untitled" 545. Visibility="{Binding Appointment.Subject, Converter={StaticResource InvertedNullToVisibilityConverter}}" /> 546. </StackPanel> 547. </DataTemplate> 548. <Style x:Key="EditAppointmentStyle" 549. TargetType="telerikScheduler:AppointmentDialogWindow"> 550. <Setter Property="IconTemplate" 551. Value="{StaticResource IconDataEditTemplate}" /> 552. <Setter Property="HeaderTemplate" 553. Value="{StaticResource AppointmentDialogWindowHeaderDataTemplate}" /> 554. <Setter Property="Background" 555. Value="{StaticResource DialogWindowBackground}" /> 556. <Setter Property="Template" 557. Value="{StaticResource EditAppointmentTemplate}" /> 558. </Style> 559.</UserControl.Resources> The first line there is the DataContextProxy I mentioned previously- we use that again to work a bit of magic in this template. Where we start getting into the dialog in question is line 132, but line 407 is where things start getting interesting. The ItemsSource is pointing at a list that exists in my ViewModel (or code-behind, if it is used as a DataContext), the SelectedValue is the item I am actually binding from the applicant (note the TwoWay binding), and SelectedValuePath and DisplayMemberPath ensure the proper applicant is being displayed from the collection. You will also see similar starting on line 420 where I do the same for the Jobs we'll be displaying. Just to wrap-up the Xaml, here's the RadScheduler declaraction that ties this all together and will be the main focus of our view: 01.<telerikScheduler:RadScheduler x:Name="xJobsScheduler" 02. Grid.Row="1" 03. Grid.Column="1" 04. Width="800" 05. MinWidth="600" 06. Height="500" 07. MinHeight="300" 08. AppointmentsSource="{Binding Interviews}" 09. EditAppointmentStyle="{StaticResource EditAppointmentStyle}" 10. command:AppointmentAddedEventClass.Command="{Binding AddAppointmentCommand}" 11. command:ApptCreatedEventClass.Command="{Binding ApptCreatingCommand}" 12. command:ApptEditedEventClass.Command="{Binding ApptEditedCommand}" 13. command:ApptDeletedEventClass.Command="{Binding ApptDeletedCommand}"> 14.</telerikScheduler:RadScheduler> Now, we get to the ViewModel and what it takes to get that rigged up. And for those of you who remember the jobs post, those command:s in the Xaml are pointing to attached behavior commands that reproduce the respective events. This becomes very handy when we're setting up the code-behind version. ;) ViewModel I've been liking this approach so far, so I'm going to put the entire ViewModel here and then go into the lines of interest. Of course, feel free to ask me questions about anything that isn't clear (by line number, ideally) so I can help out if I have missed anything important: 001.public class SchedulerViewModel : ViewModelBase 002.{ 003. private readonly IEventAggregator eventAggregator; 004. private readonly IRegionManager regionManager; 005. 006. public RecruitingContext context; 007. 008. private ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment> _interviews = new ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment>(); 009. public ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment> Interviews 010. { 011. get { return _interviews; } 012. set 013. { 014. if (_interviews != value) 015. { 016. _interviews = value; 017. NotifyChanged("Interviews"); 018. } 019. } 020. } 021. 022. private QueryableCollectionView _jobsList; 023. public QueryableCollectionView JobsList 024. { 025. get { return this._jobsList; } 026. set 027. { 028. if (this._jobsList != value) 029. { 030. this._jobsList = value; 031. this.NotifyChanged("JobsList"); 032. } 033. } 034. } 035. 036. private QueryableCollectionView _applicantList; 037. public QueryableCollectionView ApplicantList 038. { 039. get { return _applicantList; } 040. set 041. { 042. if (_applicantList != value) 043. { 044. _applicantList = value; 045. NotifyChanged("ApplicantList"); 046. } 047. } 048. } 049. 050. public DelegateCommand<object> AddAppointmentCommand { get; set; } 051. public DelegateCommand<object> ApptCreatingCommand { get; set; } 052. public DelegateCommand<object> ApptEditedCommand { get; set; } 053. public DelegateCommand<object> ApptDeletedCommand { get; set; } 054. 055. public SchedulerViewModel(IEventAggregator eventAgg, IRegionManager regionmanager) 056. { 057. // set Unity items 058. this.eventAggregator = eventAgg; 059. this.regionManager = regionmanager; 060. 061. // load our context 062. context = new RecruitingContext(); 063. LoadOperation<Interview> loadOp = context.Load(context.GetInterviewsQuery()); 064. loadOp.Completed += new EventHandler(loadOp_Completed); 065. 066. this._jobsList = new QueryableCollectionView(context.JobPostings); 067. context.Load(context.GetJobPostingsQuery()); 068. 069. this._applicantList = new QueryableCollectionView(context.Applicants); 070. context.Load(context.GetApplicantsQuery()); 071. 072. AddAppointmentCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(this.AddAppt); 073. ApptCreatingCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(this.ApptCreating); 074. ApptEditedCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(this.ApptEdited); 075. ApptDeletedCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(this.ApptDeleted); 076. 077. } 078. 079. void loadOp_Completed(object sender, EventArgs e) 080. { 081. LoadOperation loadop = sender as LoadOperation; 082. 083. foreach (var ent in loadop.Entities) 084. { 085. _interviews.Add(EntityToAppointment(ent as Interview)); 086. } 087. } 088. 089. #region Appointment Adding 090. 091. public void AddAppt(object obj) 092. { 093. // now we have a new InterviewAppointment to add to our QCV :) 094. InterviewAppointment newInterview = obj as InterviewAppointment; 095. 096. this.context.Interviews.Add(AppointmentToEntity(newInterview)); 097. this.context.SubmitChanges((s) => 098. { 099. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 100. myAction.InterviewID = newInterview.InterviewID; 101. myAction.PostingID = newInterview.PostingID; 102. myAction.ApplicantID = newInterview.ApplicantID; 103. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been created by {1}", newInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 104. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 105. eventAggregator.GetEvent<AddActionEvent>().Publish(myAction); 106. } 107. , null); 108. } 109. 110. public void ApptCreating(object obj) 111. { 112. // handled in the behavior, just a placeholder to ensure it runs :) 113. } 114. 115. #endregion 116. 117. #region Appointment Editing 118. 119. public void ApptEdited(object obj) 120. { 121. Interview editedInterview = (from x in context.Interviews 122. where x.InterviewID == (obj as InterviewAppointment).InterviewID 123. select x).SingleOrDefault(); 124. 125. CopyAppointmentEdit(editedInterview, obj as InterviewAppointment); 126. 127. context.SubmitChanges((s) => { 128. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 129. myAction.InterviewID = editedInterview.InterviewID; 130. myAction.PostingID = editedInterview.PostingID; 131. myAction.ApplicantID = editedInterview.ApplicantID; 132. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been modified by {1}", editedInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 133. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 134. eventAggregator.GetEvent<AddActionEvent>().Publish(myAction); } 135. , null); 136. } 137. 138. #endregion 139. 140. #region Appointment Deleting 141. 142. public void ApptDeleted(object obj) 143. { 144. Interview deletedInterview = (from x in context.Interviews 145. where x.InterviewID == (obj as InterviewAppointment).InterviewID 146. select x).SingleOrDefault(); 147. 148. context.Interviews.Remove(deletedInterview); 149. context.SubmitChanges((s) => 150. { 151. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 152. myAction.InterviewID = deletedInterview.InterviewID; 153. myAction.PostingID = deletedInterview.PostingID; 154. myAction.ApplicantID = deletedInterview.ApplicantID; 155. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been deleted by {1}", deletedInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 156. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 157. eventAggregator.GetEvent<AddActionEvent>().Publish(myAction); 158. } 159. , null); 160. } 161. 162. #endregion 163. 164. #region Appointment Helpers :) 165. 166. public Interview AppointmentToEntity(InterviewAppointment ia) 167. { 168. Interview newInterview = new Interview(); 169. newInterview.Subject = ia.Subject; 170. newInterview.Body = ia.Body; 171. newInterview.Start = ia.Start; 172. newInterview.End = ia.End; 173. newInterview.ApplicantID = ia.ApplicantID; 174. newInterview.PostingID = ia.PostingID; 175. newInterview.InterviewID = ia.InterviewID; 176. 177. return newInterview; 178. } 179. 180. public InterviewAppointment EntityToAppointment(Interview ia) 181. { 182. InterviewAppointment newInterview = new InterviewAppointment(); 183. newInterview.Subject = ia.Subject; 184. newInterview.Body = ia.Body; 185. newInterview.Start = ia.Start; 186. newInterview.End = ia.End; 187. newInterview.ApplicantID = ia.ApplicantID; 188. newInterview.PostingID = ia.PostingID; 189. newInterview.InterviewID = ia.InterviewID; 190. 191. return newInterview; 192. } 193. 194. public void CopyAppointmentEdit(Interview entityInterview, InterviewAppointment appointmentInterview) 195. { 196. entityInterview.Subject = appointmentInterview.Subject; 197. entityInterview.Body = appointmentInterview.Body; 198. entityInterview.Start = appointmentInterview.Start; 199. entityInterview.End = appointmentInterview.End; 200. entityInterview.ApplicantID = appointmentInterview.ApplicantID; 201. entityInterview.PostingID = appointmentInterview.PostingID; 202. } 203. 204. #endregion 205.} One thing we're doing here which you won't see in any of the other ViewModels is creating a duplicate collection. I know this is something which will be fixed down the line for using RadScheduler, simplifying this process, but with WCF RIA changing as it does I wanted to ensure functionality would remain consistent as I continued development on this application. So, I do a little bit of duplication, but for the greater good. This all takes place starting on line 79, so for every entity that comes back we add it to the collection that is bound to RadScheduler. Otherwise, the DelegateCommands that you see correspond directly to the events they are named after. In each case, rather than sending over the full event arguments, I just send in the appointment in question (coming through as the object obj in all cases) so I can add (line 91), edit (line 119), and delete appointments (line 142) like normal. This just ensures they get updated back to my database. Also, the one bit of code you won't see is for the Appointment Creating (line 110) event- that is because in the command I've created I simply make the replacement I need to: 1.void element_AppointmentCreating(object sender, AppointmentCreatingEventArgs e) 2.{ 3. e.NewAppointment = new InterviewAppointment(); 4. base.ExecuteCommand(); 5.} And the ViewModel is none the wiser, the appointments just work as far as it is concerned since as they are created they become InterviewAppointments. End result? I've customized my EditAppointmentDialog as follows: And adding, editing, and deleting appointments works like a charm. I can even 'edit' by moving appointments around RadScheduler, so as they are dropped into a timeslot they perform their full edit routine and things get updated. And then, the Code-Behind Version Perhaps the thing I like the most about doing one then the other is I get to steal 90% or more of the code from the MVVM version. For example, the only real changes to the Code-Behind Xaml file exist in the control declaration, in which I use events instead of attached-behavior-event-commands: 01.<telerikScheduler:RadScheduler x:Name="xJobsScheduler" 02. Grid.Row="1" 03. Grid.Column="1" 04. Width="800" 05. MinWidth="600" 06. Height="500" 07. MinHeight="300" 08. EditAppointmentStyle="{StaticResource EditAppointmentStyle}" 09. AppointmentAdded="xJobsScheduler_AppointmentAdded" 10. AppointmentCreating="xJobsScheduler_AppointmentCreating" 11. AppointmentEdited="xJobsScheduler_AppointmentEdited" 12. AppointmentDeleted="xJobsScheduler_AppointmentDeleted"> 13.</telerikScheduler:RadScheduler> Easy, right? Otherwise, all the same styling in UserControl.Resources was re-used, right down to the DataContextProxy that lets us bind to a collection from our viewmodel (in this case, our code-behind) to use within the DataTemplate. The code conversion gets even easier, as I could literally copy and paste almost everything from the ViewModel to my Code-Behind, just a matter of pasting the right section into the right event. Here's the code-behind as proof: 001.public partial class SchedulingView : UserControl, INotifyPropertyChanged 002.{ 003. public RecruitingContext context; 004. 005. private QueryableCollectionView _jobsList; 006. public QueryableCollectionView JobsList 007. { 008. get { return this._jobsList; } 009. set 010. { 011. if (this._jobsList != value) 012. { 013. this._jobsList = value; 014. this.NotifyChanged("JobsList"); 015. } 016. } 017. } 018. 019. private QueryableCollectionView _applicantList; 020. public QueryableCollectionView ApplicantList 021. { 022. get { return _applicantList; } 023. set 024. { 025. if (_applicantList != value) 026. { 027. _applicantList = value; 028. NotifyChanged("ApplicantList"); 029. } 030. } 031. } 032. 033. private ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment> _interviews = new ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment>(); 034. public ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment> Interviews 035. { 036. get { return _interviews; } 037. set 038. { 039. if (_interviews != value) 040. { 041. _interviews = value; 042. NotifyChanged("Interviews"); 043. } 044. } 045. } 046. 047. public SchedulingView() 048. { 049. InitializeComponent(); 050. 051. this.DataContext = this; 052. 053. this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(SchedulingView_Loaded); 054. } 055. 056. void SchedulingView_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) 057. { 058. this.xJobsScheduler.AppointmentsSource = Interviews; 059. 060. context = new RecruitingContext(); 061. 062. LoadOperation loadop = context.Load(context.GetInterviewsQuery()); 063. loadop.Completed += new EventHandler(loadop_Completed); 064. 065. this._applicantList = new QueryableCollectionView(context.Applicants); 066. context.Load(context.GetApplicantsQuery()); 067. 068. this._jobsList = new QueryableCollectionView(context.JobPostings); 069. context.Load(context.GetJobPostingsQuery()); 070. } 071. 072. void loadop_Completed(object sender, EventArgs e) 073. { 074. LoadOperation loadop = sender as LoadOperation; 075. 076. _interviews.Clear(); 077. 078. foreach (var ent in loadop.Entities) 079. { 080. _interviews.Add(EntityToAppointment(ent as Interview)); 081. } 082. } 083. 084. private void xJobsScheduler_AppointmentAdded(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.AppointmentAddedEventArgs e) 085. { 086. // now we have a new InterviewAppointment to add to our QCV :) 087. InterviewAppointment newInterview = e.Appointment as InterviewAppointment; 088. 089. this.context.Interviews.Add(AppointmentToEntity(newInterview)); 090. this.context.SubmitChanges((s) => 091. { 092. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 093. myAction.InterviewID = newInterview.InterviewID; 094. myAction.PostingID = newInterview.PostingID; 095. myAction.ApplicantID = newInterview.ApplicantID; 096. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been created by {1}", newInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 097. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 098. context.ActionHistories.Add(myAction); 099. context.SubmitChanges(); 100. } 101. , null); 102. } 103. 104. private void xJobsScheduler_AppointmentCreating(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.AppointmentCreatingEventArgs e) 105. { 106. e.NewAppointment = new InterviewAppointment(); 107. } 108. 109. private void xJobsScheduler_AppointmentEdited(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.AppointmentEditedEventArgs e) 110. { 111. Interview editedInterview = (from x in context.Interviews 112. where x.InterviewID == (e.Appointment as InterviewAppointment).InterviewID 113. select x).SingleOrDefault(); 114. 115. CopyAppointmentEdit(editedInterview, e.Appointment as InterviewAppointment); 116. 117. context.SubmitChanges((s) => 118. { 119. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 120. myAction.InterviewID = editedInterview.InterviewID; 121. myAction.PostingID = editedInterview.PostingID; 122. myAction.ApplicantID = editedInterview.ApplicantID; 123. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been modified by {1}", editedInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 124. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 125. context.ActionHistories.Add(myAction); 126. context.SubmitChanges(); 127. } 128. , null); 129. } 130. 131. private void xJobsScheduler_AppointmentDeleted(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.AppointmentDeletedEventArgs e) 132. { 133. Interview deletedInterview = (from x in context.Interviews 134. where x.InterviewID == (e.Appointment as InterviewAppointment).InterviewID 135. select x).SingleOrDefault(); 136. 137. context.Interviews.Remove(deletedInterview); 138. context.SubmitChanges((s) => 139. { 140. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 141. myAction.InterviewID = deletedInterview.InterviewID; 142. myAction.PostingID = deletedInterview.PostingID; 143. myAction.ApplicantID = deletedInterview.ApplicantID; 144. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been deleted by {1}", deletedInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 145. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 146. context.ActionHistories.Add(myAction); 147. context.SubmitChanges(); 148. } 149. , null); 150. } 151. 152. #region Appointment Helpers :) 153. 154. public Interview AppointmentToEntity(InterviewAppointment ia) 155. { 156. Interview newInterview = new Interview(); 157. newInterview.Subject = ia.Subject; 158. newInterview.Body = ia.Body; 159. newInterview.Start = ia.Start; 160. newInterview.End = ia.End; 161. newInterview.ApplicantID = ia.ApplicantID; 162. newInterview.PostingID = ia.PostingID; 163. newInterview.InterviewID = ia.InterviewID; 164. 165. return newInterview; 166. } 167. 168. public InterviewAppointment EntityToAppointment(Interview ia) 169. { 170. InterviewAppointment newInterview = new InterviewAppointment(); 171. newInterview.Subject = ia.Subject; 172. newInterview.Body = ia.Body; 173. newInterview.Start = ia.Start; 174. newInterview.End = ia.End; 175. newInterview.ApplicantID = ia.ApplicantID; 176. newInterview.PostingID = ia.PostingID; 177. newInterview.InterviewID = ia.InterviewID; 178. 179. return newInterview; 180. } 181. 182. public void CopyAppointmentEdit(Interview entityInterview, InterviewAppointment appointmentInterview) 183. { 184. entityInterview.Subject = appointmentInterview.Subject; 185. entityInterview.Body = appointmentInterview.Body; 186. entityInterview.Start = appointmentInterview.Start; 187. entityInterview.End = appointmentInterview.End; 188. entityInterview.ApplicantID = appointmentInterview.ApplicantID; 189. entityInterview.PostingID = appointmentInterview.PostingID; 190. } 191. 192. #endregion 193. 194. #region INotifyPropertyChanged Members 195. 196. public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged; 197. 198. public void NotifyChanged(string propertyName) 199. { 200. if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(propertyName)) 201. throw new ArgumentException("propertyName"); 202. 203. PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName)); 204. } 205. 206. #endregion 207.} Nice... right? :) One really important thing to note as well. See on line 51 where I set the DataContext before the Loaded event? This is super important, as if you don't have this set before the usercontrol is loaded, the DataContextProxy has no context to use and your EditAppointmentDialog Job/Applicant dropdowns will be blank and empty. Trust me on this, took a little bit of debugging to figure out that by setting the DataContext post-loaded would only lead to disaster and frustration. Otherwise, the only other real difference is that instead of sending an ActionHistory item through an event to get added to the database and saved, I do those right in the callback from submitting. The Result Again, I only have to post one picture because these bad boys used nearly identical code for both the MVVM and the code-behind views, so our end result is... So what have we learned here today? One, for the most part this MVVM thing is somewhat easy. Yeah, you sometimes have to write a bunch of extra code, but with the help of a few useful snippits you can turn the process into a pretty streamlined little workflow. Heck, this story gets even easier as you can see in this blog post by Michael Washington- specifically run a find on 'InvokeCommandAction' and you'll see the section regarding the command on TreeView in Blend 4. Brilliant! MVVM never looked so sweet! Otherwise, it is business as usual with RadScheduler for Silverlight whichever path you're choosing for your development. Between now and the next post, I'll be cleaning up styles a bit (those RadComboBoxes are a little too close to my labels!) and adding some to the RowDetailsViews for Applicants and Jobs, so you can see all the info for an appointment in the dropdown tab view. Otherwise, we're about ready to call a wrap on this oneDid you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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Silverlight Recruiting Application Part 6 - Adding an Interview Scheduling Module/View

Between the last post and this one I went ahead and carried the ideas for the Jobs module and view into the Applicants module and view- they're both doing more or less the same thing, except with different objects being at their core. Made for an easy cut-and-paste operation with a few items being switched from one to another. Now that we have the ability to add postings and applicants, wouldn't it be nice if we could schedule an interview? Of course it would! Scheduling Module I think you get the drift from previous posts that these project structures start looking somewhat similar. The interview scheduling module is no different than the rest- it gets a SchedulingModule.cs file at the root that inherits from IModule, and there is a single SchedulerView.xsml and SchedulerViewModel.cs setup for our V+VM. We have one unique concern as we enter into this- RadScheduler deals with AppointmentsSource, not ItemsSource, so there are some special considerations to take into account when planning this module. First, I need something which inherits from AppointmentBase. This is the core of the RadScheduler appointment, and if you are planning to do any form of custom appointment, you'll want it to inherit from this. Then you can add-on functionality as needed. Here is my addition to the mix, the InterviewAppointment: 01.public class InterviewAppointment : AppointmentBase 02.{ 03. private int _applicantID; 04. public int ApplicantID 05. { 06. get { return this._applicantID; } 07. set 08. { 09. if (_applicantID != value) 10. { 11. _applicantID = value; 12. OnPropertyChanged("ApplicantID"); 13. } 14. } 15. } 16. 17. private int _postingID; 18. public int PostingID 19. { 20. get { return _postingID; } 21. set 22. { 23. if (_postingID != value) 24. { 25. _postingID = value; 26. OnPropertyChanged("PostingID"); 27. } 28. } 29. } 30. 31. private string _body; 32. public string Body 33. { 34. get { return _body; } 35. set 36. { 37. if (_body != value) 38. { 39. _body = value; 40. OnPropertyChanged("Body"); 41. } 42. } 43. } 44. 45. private int _interviewID; 46. public int InterviewID 47. { 48. get { return _interviewID; } 49. set 50. { 51. if (_interviewID != value) 52. { 53. _interviewID = value; 54. OnPropertyChanged("InterviewID"); 55. } 56. } 57. } 58. 59. public override IAppointment Copy() 60. { 61. IAppointment appointment = new InterviewAppointment(); 62. appointment.CopyFrom(this); 63. return appointment; 64. } 65. 66. public override void CopyFrom(IAppointment other) 67. { 68. base.CopyFrom(other); 69. var appointment = other as InterviewAppointment; 70. if (appointment != null) 71. { 72. ApplicantID = appointment.ApplicantID; 73. PostingID = appointment.PostingID; 74. Body = appointment.Body; 75. InterviewID = appointment.InterviewID; 76. } 77. } 78.} Nothing too exciting going on here, we just make sure that our custom fields are persisted (specifically set in CopyFrom at the bottom) and notifications are fired- otherwise this ends up exactly like the standard appointment as far as interactions, etc. But if we've got custom appointment items... that also means we need to customize what our appointment dialog window will look like. Customizing the Edit Appointment Dialog This initially sounds a lot more intimidating than it really is. The first step here depends on what you're dealing with for theming, but for ease of everything I went ahead and extracted my templates in Blend for RadScheduler so I could modify it as I pleased. For the faint of heart, the RadScheduler template is a few thousand lines of goodness since there are some very complex things going on in that control. I've gone ahead and trimmed down the template parts I don't need as much as possible, so what is left is all that is relevant to the Edit Appointment Dialog. Here's the resulting Xaml, with line numbers, so I can explain further: 001.<UserControl.Resources> 002.  003. <helpers:DataContextProxy x:Key="DataContextProxy" /> 004. 005. <telerik:Windows7Theme x:Key="Theme" /> 006. <SolidColorBrush x:Key="DialogWindowBackground" 007. Color="White" /> 008. <SolidColorBrush x:Key="CategorySelectorBorderBrush" 009. Color="#FFB1B1B1" /> 010. <LinearGradientBrush x:Key="RadToolBar_InnerBackground" 011. EndPoint="0.5,1" 012. StartPoint="0.5,0"> 013. <GradientStop Color="#FFFDFEFF" 014. Offset="0" /> 015. <GradientStop Color="#FFDDE9F7" 016. Offset="1" /> 017. <GradientStop Color="#FFE6F0FA" 018. Offset="0.5" /> 019. <GradientStop Color="#FFDCE6F4" 020. Offset="0.5" /> 021. </LinearGradientBrush> 022. <Style x:Key="FormElementTextBlockStyle" 023. TargetType="TextBlock"> 024. <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" 025. Value="Right" /> 026. <Setter Property="VerticalAlignment" 027. Value="Top" /> 028. <Setter Property="Margin" 029. Value="15, 15, 0, 2" /> 030. </Style> 031. <Style x:Key="FormElementStyle" 032. TargetType="FrameworkElement"> 033. <Setter Property="Margin" 034. Value="10, 10, 0, 2" /> 035. </Style> 036. <SolidColorBrush x:Key="GenericShallowBorderBrush" 037. Color="#FF979994" /> 038. <telerik:BooleanToVisibilityConverter x:Key="BooleanToVisibilityConverter" /> 039. <telerikScheduler:ImportanceToBooleanConverter x:Key="ImportanceToBooleanConverter" /> 040. <telerikScheduler:NullToVisibilityConverter x:Key="NullToVisibilityConverter" /> 041. <telerikScheduler:InvertedNullToVisibilityConverter x:Key="InvertedNullToVisibilityConverter" /> 042. <scheduler:ResourcesSeparatorConverter x:Key="ResourcesSeparatorConverter" /> 043. <DataTemplate x:Key="IconDataEditTemplate"> 044. <Image Source="/Telerik.Windows.Controls.Scheduler;component/Themes/Office/Images/cal.png" 045. Margin="3,3,0,0" 046. Width="16" 047. Height="16" /> 048. </DataTemplate> 049. <DataTemplate x:Key="SingleSelectionTemplate"> 050. <Grid VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 051. HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"> 052. <Grid.RowDefinitions> 053. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 054. </Grid.RowDefinitions> 055. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 056. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 057. MinWidth="84" /> 058. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 059. MinWidth="200" /> 060. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 061. <TextBlock x:Name="SelectionNameLabel" 062. Margin="0,13,4,2" 063. Text="{Binding ResourceType.DisplayName}" 064. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" 065. Grid.Column="0" /> 066. <telerikInput:RadComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding ResourceItems}" 067. Width="185" 068. Margin="5,10,20,2" 069. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 070. Grid.Column="1" 071. ClearSelectionButtonVisibility="Visible" 072. ClearSelectionButtonContent="Clear All" 073. DisplayMemberPath="Resource.DisplayName" 074. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 075. SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedItem, Mode=TwoWay}" /> 076. </Grid> 077. </DataTemplate> 078. <DataTemplate x:Key="MultipleSelectionTemplate"> 079. <Grid VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 080. HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"> 081. <Grid.RowDefinitions> 082. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 083. </Grid.RowDefinitions> 084. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 085. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 086. MinWidth="84" /> 087. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 088. MinWidth="200" /> 089. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 090. <TextBlock x:Name="SelectionNameLabel" 091. Grid.Column="0" 092. Text="{Binding ResourceType.DisplayName}" 093. Margin="0,13,4,2" 094. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 095. <telerikInput:RadComboBox Grid.Column="1" 096. Width="185" 097. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 098. Margin="5,10,20,2" 099. ItemsSource="{Binding ResourceItems}" 100. SelectedIndex="{Binding SelectedIndex, Mode=TwoWay}" 101. ClearSelectionButtonVisibility="Visible" 102. ClearSelectionButtonContent="Clear All" 103. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}"> 104. <telerikInput:RadComboBox.ItemTemplate> 105. <DataTemplate> 106. <Grid HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 107. VerticalAlignment="Stretch"> 108. <CheckBox VerticalAlignment="Center" 109. HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" 110. VerticalContentAlignment="Center" 111. IsChecked="{Binding IsChecked, Mode=TwoWay}" 112. Content="{Binding Resource.DisplayName}"> 113. <CheckBox.ContentTemplate> 114. <DataTemplate> 115. <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 116. VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 117. Text="{Binding Content, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}}" /> 118. </DataTemplate> 119. </CheckBox.ContentTemplate> 120. </CheckBox> 121. </Grid> 122. </DataTemplate> 123. </telerikInput:RadComboBox.ItemTemplate> 124. </telerikInput:RadComboBox> 125. </Grid> 126. </DataTemplate> 127. <scheduler:ResourceTypeTemplateSelector x:Key="ItemTemplateSelector" 128. MultipleSelectionTemplate="{StaticResource MultipleSelectionTemplate}" 129. SingleSelectionTemplate="{StaticResource SingleSelectionTemplate}" /> 130.  131. 132. <ControlTemplate x:Key="EditAppointmentTemplate" 133. TargetType="telerikScheduler:AppointmentDialogWindow"> 134. <StackPanel Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" 135. UseLayoutRounding="True"> 136. <StackPanel Grid.Row="0" 137. Orientation="Horizontal" 138. Background="{StaticResource RadToolBar_InnerBackground}" 139. Grid.ColumnSpan="2" 140. Height="0"> 141.  142. <Border Margin="1,1,0,0" 143. Background="#50000000" 144. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 145. VerticalAlignment="Center" 146. Width="2" 147. Height="16"> 148. <Border Margin="0,0,1,1" 149. Background="#80FFFFFF" 150. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 151. Width="1" /> 152. </Border> 153. <Border Margin="1,1,0,0" 154. Background="#50000000" 155. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 156. VerticalAlignment="Center" 157. Width="2" 158. Height="16"> 159. <Border Margin="0,0,1,1" 160. Background="#80FFFFFF" 161. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 162. Width="1" /> 163. </Border> 164. <TextBlock telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="ShowAs" 165. VerticalAlignment="Center" 166. Margin="5,0,0,0" /> 167. <telerikInput:RadComboBox ItemsSource="{TemplateBinding TimeMarkers}" 168. Width="100" 169. Height="20" 170. VerticalAlignment="Center" 171. Margin="5,0,0,0" 172. ClearSelectionButtonVisibility="Visible" 173. ClearSelectionButtonContent="Clear" 174. SelectedItem="{Binding TimeMarker,RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent},Mode=TwoWay}" 175. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}"> 176. <telerikInput:RadComboBox.ItemTemplate> 177. <DataTemplate> 178. <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"> 179. <Rectangle Fill="{Binding TimeMarkerBrush}" 180. Margin="2" 181. Width="12" 182. Height="12" /> 183. <TextBlock Text="{Binding TimeMarkerName}" 184. Margin="2" /> 185. </StackPanel> 186. </DataTemplate> 187. </telerikInput:RadComboBox.ItemTemplate> 188. </telerikInput:RadComboBox> 189. <telerik:RadToggleButton x:Name="High" 190. BorderThickness="0" 191. Background="{StaticResource RadToolBar_InnerBackground}" 192. DataContext="{TemplateBinding EditedAppointment}" 193. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 194. IsChecked="{Binding Importance,Mode=TwoWay, Converter={StaticResource ImportanceToBooleanConverter},ConverterParameter=High}" 195. Margin="2,2,0,2" 196. Width="23" 197. Height="23" 198. HorizontalContentAlignment="Center" 199. ToolTipService.ToolTip="High importance" 200. CommandParameter="High" 201. Command="telerikScheduler:RadSchedulerCommands.SetAppointmentImportance"> 202. <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Center"> 203. <Path Stretch="Fill" 204. Height="10" 205. HorizontalAlignment="Center" 206. VerticalAlignment="Top" 207. Width="5.451" 208. Data="M200.39647,58.840393 C200.39337,58.336426 201.14566,57.683922 202.56244,57.684292 C204.06589,57.684685 204.73764,58.357765 204.72783,58.992363 C205.04649,61.795574 203.04713,64.181099 202.47388,66.133446 C201.93753,64.154961 199.9471,61.560352 200.39647,58.840393 z"> 209. <Path.Fill> 210. <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="1.059,0.375" 211. StartPoint="-0.457,0.519"> 212. <GradientStop Color="#FFFF0606" 213. Offset="0.609" /> 214. <GradientStop Color="#FFBF0303" 215. Offset="0.927" /> 216. </LinearGradientBrush> 217. </Path.Fill> 218. </Path> 219. <Ellipse Height="3" 220. HorizontalAlignment="Center" 221. Margin="0,-1,0,0" 222. VerticalAlignment="Top" 223. Width="3"> 224. <Ellipse.Fill> 225. <RadialGradientBrush> 226. <GradientStop Color="#FFFF0606" 227. Offset="0" /> 228. <GradientStop Color="#FFBF0303" 229. Offset="1" /> 230. </RadialGradientBrush> 231. </Ellipse.Fill> 232. </Ellipse> 233. </StackPanel> 234. </telerik:RadToggleButton> 235. <telerik:RadToggleButton x:Name="Low" 236. HorizontalContentAlignment="Center" 237. BorderThickness="0" 238. Background="{StaticResource RadToolBar_InnerBackground}" 239. DataContext="{TemplateBinding EditedAppointment}" 240. IsChecked="{Binding Importance,Mode=TwoWay, Converter={StaticResource ImportanceToBooleanConverter},ConverterParameter=Low}" 241. Margin="0,2,0,2" 242. Width="23" 243. Height="23" 244. ToolTipService.ToolTip="Low importance" 245. CommandParameter="Low" 246. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 247. Command="telerikScheduler:RadSchedulerCommands.SetAppointmentImportance"> 248. <Path Stretch="Fill" 249. Height="12" 250. HorizontalAlignment="Center" 251. VerticalAlignment="Top" 252. Width="9" 253. Data="M222.40353,60.139881 L226.65768,60.139843 L226.63687,67.240196 L229.15347,67.240196 L224.37816,71.394943 L219.65274,67.240196 L222.37572,67.219345 z" 254. Stroke="#FF0365A7"> 255. <Path.Fill> 256. <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="1.059,0.375" 257. StartPoint="-0.457,0.519"> 258. <GradientStop Color="#FFBBE4FF" /> 259. <GradientStop Color="#FF024572" 260. Offset="0.836" /> 261. <GradientStop Color="#FF43ADF4" 262. Offset="0.466" /> 263. </LinearGradientBrush> 264. </Path.Fill> 265. </Path> 266. </telerik:RadToggleButton> 267. </StackPanel > 268. <Border DataContext="{TemplateBinding EditedAppointment}" 269. Background="{Binding Category.CategoryBrush}" 270. Visibility="{Binding Category,Converter={StaticResource NullToVisibilityConverter}}" 271. CornerRadius="3" 272. Height="20" 273. Margin="5,10,5,0"> 274. <TextBlock Text="{Binding Category.DisplayName}" 275. VerticalAlignment="Center" 276. Margin="5,0,0,0" /> 277. </Border> 278. <Grid VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 279. HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 280. DataContext="{TemplateBinding EditedAppointment}" 281. Background="{TemplateBinding Background}"> 282. <Grid.RowDefinitions> 283. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 284. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 285. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 286. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 287. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 288. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 289. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 290. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 291. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 292. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 293. </Grid.RowDefinitions> 294. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 295. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 296. MinWidth="100" /> 297. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 298. MinWidth="200" /> 299. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 300.  301. <TextBlock x:Name="SubjectLabel" 302. Grid.Row="0" 303. Grid.Column="0" 304. Margin="0,15,0,2" 305. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Subject" 306. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 307. <TextBox x:Name="Subject" 308. Grid.Row="0" 309. Grid.Column="1" 310. MinHeight="22" 311. Padding="4 2" 312. Width="340" 313. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 314. Text="{Binding Subject, Mode=TwoWay}" 315. MaxLength="255" 316. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 317. Margin="10,12,20,2" /> 318.  319. <TextBlock x:Name="DescriptionLabel" 320. Grid.Row="1" 321. Grid.Column="0" 322. Margin="0,13,0,2" 323. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Body" 324. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 325. <TextBox x:Name="Body" 326. VerticalAlignment="top" 327. Grid.Row="1" 328. Grid.Column="1" 329. Height="Auto" 330. MaxHeight="82" 331. Width="340" 332. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 333. MinHeight="22" 334. Padding="4 2" 335. TextWrapping="Wrap" 336. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 337. Text="{Binding Body, Mode=TwoWay}" 338. AcceptsReturn="true" 339. Margin="10,10,20,2" 340. HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" 341. VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" /> 342.  343. <TextBlock x:Name="StartDateLabel" 344. Grid.Row="2" 345. Grid.Column="0" 346. Margin="0,13,0,2" 347. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="StartTime" 348. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 349. <telerikScheduler:DateTimePicker x:Name="StartDateTime" 350. Height="22" 351. Grid.Row="2" 352. Grid.Column="1" 353. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 354. Margin="10,10,20,2" 355. Style="{StaticResource FormElementStyle}" 356. SelectedDateTime="{Binding Start, Mode=TwoWay}" 357. telerikScheduler:StartEndDatePicker.EndPicker="{Binding ElementName=EndDateTime}" 358. IsTabStop="False" 359. IsEnabled="False" /> 360. <TextBlock x:Name="EndDateLabel" 361. Grid.Row="3" 362. Grid.Column="0" 363. Margin="0,13,0,2" 364. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="EndTime" 365. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 366. <telerikScheduler:DateTimePicker x:Name="EndDateTime" 367. Height="22" 368. Grid.Row="3" 369. Grid.Column="1" 370. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 371. Margin="10,10,20,2" 372. Style="{StaticResource FormElementStyle}" 373. IsTabStop="False" 374. IsEnabled="False" 375. SelectedDateTime="{Binding End, Mode=TwoWay}" /> 376.  377. <CheckBox x:Name="AllDayEventCheckbox" 378. IsChecked="{Binding IsAllDayEvent, Mode=TwoWay}" 379. Grid.Row="4" 380. Grid.Column="1" 381. Margin="10,10,20,2" 382. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 383. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 384. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="AllDayEvent"> 385. <telerik:CommandManager.InputBindings> 386. <telerik:InputBindingCollection> 387. <telerik:MouseBinding Command="telerikScheduler:RadSchedulerCommands.ChangeTimePickersVisibility" 388. Gesture="LeftClick" /> 389. </telerik:InputBindingCollection> 390. </telerik:CommandManager.InputBindings> 391. </CheckBox> 392. <Grid Grid.Row="5" 393. Grid.ColumnSpan="2"> 394. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 395. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 396. MinWidth="100" /> 397. <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" 398. MinWidth="200" /> 399. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 400. <Grid.RowDefinitions> 401. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 402. <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 403. </Grid.RowDefinitions> 404. <TextBlock Text="Applicant" 405. Margin="0,13,0,2" 406. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 407. <telerikInput:RadComboBox IsEditable="False" 408. Grid.Column="1" 409. Height="24" 410. VerticalAlignment="Center" 411. ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource DataContextProxy}, Path=DataSource.ApplicantList}" 412. SelectedValue="{Binding ApplicantID, Mode=TwoWay}" 413. SelectedValuePath="ApplicantID" 414. DisplayMemberPath="FirstName" /> 415. 416. <TextBlock Text="Job" 417. Margin="0,13,0,2" 418. Grid.Row="1" 419. Style="{StaticResource FormElementTextBlockStyle}" /> 420. <telerikInput:RadComboBox IsEditable="False" 421. Grid.Column="1" 422. Grid.Row="1" 423. Height="24" 424. VerticalAlignment="Center" 425. ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource DataContextProxy}, Path=DataSource.JobsList}" 426. SelectedValue="{Binding PostingID, Mode=TwoWay}" 427. SelectedValuePath="PostingID" 428. DisplayMemberPath="JobTitle"/> 429. </Grid> 430.  431. <Grid x:Name="ResourcesLayout" 432. Grid.Row="7" 433. Grid.Column="0" 434. Grid.ColumnSpan="2" 435. MaxHeight="130" 436. Margin="20,5,20,0"> 437. <Border Margin="0" 438. BorderThickness="1" 439. BorderBrush="{StaticResource GenericShallowBorderBrush}" 440. Visibility="{Binding ElementName=ResourcesScrollViewer, Path=ComputedVerticalScrollBarVisibility}"></Border> 441. <ScrollViewer x:Name="ResourcesScrollViewer" 442. IsTabStop="false" 443. Grid.Row="6" 444. Grid.Column="0" 445. Grid.ColumnSpan="2" 446. Margin="1" 447. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 448. VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"> 449. <scheduler:ResourcesItemsControl x:Name="PART_Resources" 450. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 451. Padding="0,2,0,5" 452. IsTabStop="false" 453. ItemsSource="{TemplateBinding ResourceTypeModels}" 454. ItemTemplateSelector="{StaticResource ItemTemplateSelector}" /> 455. </ScrollViewer> 456. </Grid> 457. <StackPanel x:Name="FooterControls" 458. Margin="5 10 10 10" 459. Grid.Row="8" 460. Grid.Column="1" 461. HorizontalAlignment="Left" 462. Orientation="Horizontal"> 463. <telerik:RadButton x:Name="OKButton" 464. Margin="5" 465. Padding="10 0" 466. MinWidth="80" 467. Command="telerikScheduler:RadSchedulerCommands.SaveAppointment" 468. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 469. telerikNavigation:RadWindow.ResponseButton="Accept" 470. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="SaveAndCloseCommandText"> 471. </telerik:RadButton> 472. <telerik:RadButton x:Name="CancelButton" 473. Margin="5" 474. Padding="10 0" 475. MinWidth="80" 476. telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Cancel" 477. telerik:StyleManager.Theme="{StaticResource Theme}" 478. telerikNavigation:RadWindow.ResponseButton="Cancel" 479. Command="telerik:WindowCommands.Close"> 480. </telerik:RadButton> 481. </StackPanel> 482. </Grid> 483. <vsm:VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups> 484. <vsm:VisualStateGroup x:Name="RecurrenceRuleState"> 485. <vsm:VisualState x:Name="RecurrenceRuleIsNull"> 486. <Storyboard> 487. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="StartDateTime" 488. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 489. Duration="0"> 490. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 491. Value="True" /> 492. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 493. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="EndDateTime" 494. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 495. Duration="0"> 496. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 497. Value="True" /> 498. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 499. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="AllDayEventCheckbox" 500. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 501. Duration="0"> 502. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 503. Value="True" /> 504. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 505. </Storyboard> 506. </vsm:VisualState> 507. <vsm:VisualState x:Name="RecurrenceRuleIsNotNull"> 508. <Storyboard> 509. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="StartDateTime" 510. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 511. Duration="0"> 512. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 513. Value="False" /> 514. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 515. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="EndDateTime" 516. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 517. Duration="0"> 518. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 519. Value="False" /> 520. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 521. <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="AllDayEventCheckbox" 522. Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsEnabled" 523. Duration="0"> 524. <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" 525. Value="False" /> 526. </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames> 527. </Storyboard> 528. </vsm:VisualState> 529. </vsm:VisualStateGroup> 530. </vsm:VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups> 531. </StackPanel> 532. </ControlTemplate> 533. <DataTemplate x:Key="AppointmentDialogWindowHeaderDataTemplate"> 534. <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" 535. MaxWidth="400"> 536. <TextBlock telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Event" 537. Visibility="{Binding Appointment.IsAllDayEvent, Converter={StaticResource BooleanToVisibilityConverter}}" /> 538. <TextBlock telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Appointment" 539. Visibility="{Binding Appointment.IsAllDayEvent, Converter={StaticResource InvertedBooleanToVisibilityConverter}}" /> 540. <TextBlock Text=" - " /> 541. <TextBlock x:Name="SubjectTextBlock" 542. Visibility="{Binding Appointment.Subject, Converter={StaticResource NullToVisibilityConverter}}" 543. Text="{Binding Appointment.Subject}" /> 544. <TextBlock telerik:LocalizationManager.ResourceKey="Untitled" 545. Visibility="{Binding Appointment.Subject, Converter={StaticResource InvertedNullToVisibilityConverter}}" /> 546. </StackPanel> 547. </DataTemplate> 548. <Style x:Key="EditAppointmentStyle" 549. TargetType="telerikScheduler:AppointmentDialogWindow"> 550. <Setter Property="IconTemplate" 551. Value="{StaticResource IconDataEditTemplate}" /> 552. <Setter Property="HeaderTemplate" 553. Value="{StaticResource AppointmentDialogWindowHeaderDataTemplate}" /> 554. <Setter Property="Background" 555. Value="{StaticResource DialogWindowBackground}" /> 556. <Setter Property="Template" 557. Value="{StaticResource EditAppointmentTemplate}" /> 558. </Style> 559.</UserControl.Resources> The first line there is the DataContextProxy I mentioned previously- we use that again to work a bit of magic in this template. Where we start getting into the dialog in question is line 132, but line 407 is where things start getting interesting. The ItemsSource is pointing at a list that exists in my ViewModel (or code-behind, if it is used as a DataContext), the SelectedValue is the item I am actually binding from the applicant (note the TwoWay binding), and SelectedValuePath and DisplayMemberPath ensure the proper applicant is being displayed from the collection. You will also see similar starting on line 420 where I do the same for the Jobs we'll be displaying. Just to wrap-up the Xaml, here's the RadScheduler declaraction that ties this all together and will be the main focus of our view: 01.<telerikScheduler:RadScheduler x:Name="xJobsScheduler" 02. Grid.Row="1" 03. Grid.Column="1" 04. Width="800" 05. MinWidth="600" 06. Height="500" 07. MinHeight="300" 08. AppointmentsSource="{Binding Interviews}" 09. EditAppointmentStyle="{StaticResource EditAppointmentStyle}" 10. command:AppointmentAddedEventClass.Command="{Binding AddAppointmentCommand}" 11. command:ApptCreatedEventClass.Command="{Binding ApptCreatingCommand}" 12. command:ApptEditedEventClass.Command="{Binding ApptEditedCommand}" 13. command:ApptDeletedEventClass.Command="{Binding ApptDeletedCommand}"> 14.</telerikScheduler:RadScheduler> Now, we get to the ViewModel and what it takes to get that rigged up. And for those of you who remember the jobs post, those command:s in the Xaml are pointing to attached behavior commands that reproduce the respective events. This becomes very handy when we're setting up the code-behind version. ;) ViewModel I've been liking this approach so far, so I'm going to put the entire ViewModel here and then go into the lines of interest. Of course, feel free to ask me questions about anything that isn't clear (by line number, ideally) so I can help out if I have missed anything important: 001.public class SchedulerViewModel : ViewModelBase 002.{ 003. private readonly IEventAggregator eventAggregator; 004. private readonly IRegionManager regionManager; 005. 006. public RecruitingContext context; 007. 008. private ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment> _interviews = new ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment>(); 009. public ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment> Interviews 010. { 011. get { return _interviews; } 012. set 013. { 014. if (_interviews != value) 015. { 016. _interviews = value; 017. NotifyChanged("Interviews"); 018. } 019. } 020. } 021. 022. private QueryableCollectionView _jobsList; 023. public QueryableCollectionView JobsList 024. { 025. get { return this._jobsList; } 026. set 027. { 028. if (this._jobsList != value) 029. { 030. this._jobsList = value; 031. this.NotifyChanged("JobsList"); 032. } 033. } 034. } 035. 036. private QueryableCollectionView _applicantList; 037. public QueryableCollectionView ApplicantList 038. { 039. get { return _applicantList; } 040. set 041. { 042. if (_applicantList != value) 043. { 044. _applicantList = value; 045. NotifyChanged("ApplicantList"); 046. } 047. } 048. } 049. 050. public DelegateCommand<object> AddAppointmentCommand { get; set; } 051. public DelegateCommand<object> ApptCreatingCommand { get; set; } 052. public DelegateCommand<object> ApptEditedCommand { get; set; } 053. public DelegateCommand<object> ApptDeletedCommand { get; set; } 054. 055. public SchedulerViewModel(IEventAggregator eventAgg, IRegionManager regionmanager) 056. { 057. // set Unity items 058. this.eventAggregator = eventAgg; 059. this.regionManager = regionmanager; 060. 061. // load our context 062. context = new RecruitingContext(); 063. LoadOperation<Interview> loadOp = context.Load(context.GetInterviewsQuery()); 064. loadOp.Completed += new EventHandler(loadOp_Completed); 065. 066. this._jobsList = new QueryableCollectionView(context.JobPostings); 067. context.Load(context.GetJobPostingsQuery()); 068. 069. this._applicantList = new QueryableCollectionView(context.Applicants); 070. context.Load(context.GetApplicantsQuery()); 071. 072. AddAppointmentCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(this.AddAppt); 073. ApptCreatingCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(this.ApptCreating); 074. ApptEditedCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(this.ApptEdited); 075. ApptDeletedCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(this.ApptDeleted); 076. 077. } 078. 079. void loadOp_Completed(object sender, EventArgs e) 080. { 081. LoadOperation loadop = sender as LoadOperation; 082. 083. foreach (var ent in loadop.Entities) 084. { 085. _interviews.Add(EntityToAppointment(ent as Interview)); 086. } 087. } 088. 089. #region Appointment Adding 090. 091. public void AddAppt(object obj) 092. { 093. // now we have a new InterviewAppointment to add to our QCV :) 094. InterviewAppointment newInterview = obj as InterviewAppointment; 095. 096. this.context.Interviews.Add(AppointmentToEntity(newInterview)); 097. this.context.SubmitChanges((s) => 098. { 099. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 100. myAction.InterviewID = newInterview.InterviewID; 101. myAction.PostingID = newInterview.PostingID; 102. myAction.ApplicantID = newInterview.ApplicantID; 103. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been created by {1}", newInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 104. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 105. eventAggregator.GetEvent<AddActionEvent>().Publish(myAction); 106. } 107. , null); 108. } 109. 110. public void ApptCreating(object obj) 111. { 112. // handled in the behavior, just a placeholder to ensure it runs :) 113. } 114. 115. #endregion 116. 117. #region Appointment Editing 118. 119. public void ApptEdited(object obj) 120. { 121. Interview editedInterview = (from x in context.Interviews 122. where x.InterviewID == (obj as InterviewAppointment).InterviewID 123. select x).SingleOrDefault(); 124. 125. CopyAppointmentEdit(editedInterview, obj as InterviewAppointment); 126. 127. context.SubmitChanges((s) => { 128. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 129. myAction.InterviewID = editedInterview.InterviewID; 130. myAction.PostingID = editedInterview.PostingID; 131. myAction.ApplicantID = editedInterview.ApplicantID; 132. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been modified by {1}", editedInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 133. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 134. eventAggregator.GetEvent<AddActionEvent>().Publish(myAction); } 135. , null); 136. } 137. 138. #endregion 139. 140. #region Appointment Deleting 141. 142. public void ApptDeleted(object obj) 143. { 144. Interview deletedInterview = (from x in context.Interviews 145. where x.InterviewID == (obj as InterviewAppointment).InterviewID 146. select x).SingleOrDefault(); 147. 148. context.Interviews.Remove(deletedInterview); 149. context.SubmitChanges((s) => 150. { 151. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 152. myAction.InterviewID = deletedInterview.InterviewID; 153. myAction.PostingID = deletedInterview.PostingID; 154. myAction.ApplicantID = deletedInterview.ApplicantID; 155. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been deleted by {1}", deletedInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 156. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 157. eventAggregator.GetEvent<AddActionEvent>().Publish(myAction); 158. } 159. , null); 160. } 161. 162. #endregion 163. 164. #region Appointment Helpers :) 165. 166. public Interview AppointmentToEntity(InterviewAppointment ia) 167. { 168. Interview newInterview = new Interview(); 169. newInterview.Subject = ia.Subject; 170. newInterview.Body = ia.Body; 171. newInterview.Start = ia.Start; 172. newInterview.End = ia.End; 173. newInterview.ApplicantID = ia.ApplicantID; 174. newInterview.PostingID = ia.PostingID; 175. newInterview.InterviewID = ia.InterviewID; 176. 177. return newInterview; 178. } 179. 180. public InterviewAppointment EntityToAppointment(Interview ia) 181. { 182. InterviewAppointment newInterview = new InterviewAppointment(); 183. newInterview.Subject = ia.Subject; 184. newInterview.Body = ia.Body; 185. newInterview.Start = ia.Start; 186. newInterview.End = ia.End; 187. newInterview.ApplicantID = ia.ApplicantID; 188. newInterview.PostingID = ia.PostingID; 189. newInterview.InterviewID = ia.InterviewID; 190. 191. return newInterview; 192. } 193. 194. public void CopyAppointmentEdit(Interview entityInterview, InterviewAppointment appointmentInterview) 195. { 196. entityInterview.Subject = appointmentInterview.Subject; 197. entityInterview.Body = appointmentInterview.Body; 198. entityInterview.Start = appointmentInterview.Start; 199. entityInterview.End = appointmentInterview.End; 200. entityInterview.ApplicantID = appointmentInterview.ApplicantID; 201. entityInterview.PostingID = appointmentInterview.PostingID; 202. } 203. 204. #endregion 205.} One thing we're doing here which you won't see in any of the other ViewModels is creating a duplicate collection. I know this is something which will be fixed down the line for using RadScheduler, simplifying this process, but with WCF RIA changing as it does I wanted to ensure functionality would remain consistent as I continued development on this application. So, I do a little bit of duplication, but for the greater good. This all takes place starting on line 79, so for every entity that comes back we add it to the collection that is bound to RadScheduler. Otherwise, the DelegateCommands that you see correspond directly to the events they are named after. In each case, rather than sending over the full event arguments, I just send in the appointment in question (coming through as the object obj in all cases) so I can add (line 91), edit (line 119), and delete appointments (line 142) like normal. This just ensures they get updated back to my database. Also, the one bit of code you won't see is for the Appointment Creating (line 110) event- that is because in the command I've created I simply make the replacement I need to: 1.void element_AppointmentCreating(object sender, AppointmentCreatingEventArgs e) 2.{ 3. e.NewAppointment = new InterviewAppointment(); 4. base.ExecuteCommand(); 5.} And the ViewModel is none the wiser, the appointments just work as far as it is concerned since as they are created they become InterviewAppointments. End result? I've customized my EditAppointmentDialog as follows: And adding, editing, and deleting appointments works like a charm. I can even 'edit' by moving appointments around RadScheduler, so as they are dropped into a timeslot they perform their full edit routine and things get updated. And then, the Code-Behind Version Perhaps the thing I like the most about doing one then the other is I get to steal 90% or more of the code from the MVVM version. For example, the only real changes to the Code-Behind Xaml file exist in the control declaration, in which I use events instead of attached-behavior-event-commands: 01.<telerikScheduler:RadScheduler x:Name="xJobsScheduler" 02. Grid.Row="1" 03. Grid.Column="1" 04. Width="800" 05. MinWidth="600" 06. Height="500" 07. MinHeight="300" 08. EditAppointmentStyle="{StaticResource EditAppointmentStyle}" 09. AppointmentAdded="xJobsScheduler_AppointmentAdded" 10. AppointmentCreating="xJobsScheduler_AppointmentCreating" 11. AppointmentEdited="xJobsScheduler_AppointmentEdited" 12. AppointmentDeleted="xJobsScheduler_AppointmentDeleted"> 13.</telerikScheduler:RadScheduler> Easy, right? Otherwise, all the same styling in UserControl.Resources was re-used, right down to the DataContextProxy that lets us bind to a collection from our viewmodel (in this case, our code-behind) to use within the DataTemplate. The code conversion gets even easier, as I could literally copy and paste almost everything from the ViewModel to my Code-Behind, just a matter of pasting the right section into the right event. Here's the code-behind as proof: 001.public partial class SchedulingView : UserControl, INotifyPropertyChanged 002.{ 003. public RecruitingContext context; 004. 005. private QueryableCollectionView _jobsList; 006. public QueryableCollectionView JobsList 007. { 008. get { return this._jobsList; } 009. set 010. { 011. if (this._jobsList != value) 012. { 013. this._jobsList = value; 014. this.NotifyChanged("JobsList"); 015. } 016. } 017. } 018. 019. private QueryableCollectionView _applicantList; 020. public QueryableCollectionView ApplicantList 021. { 022. get { return _applicantList; } 023. set 024. { 025. if (_applicantList != value) 026. { 027. _applicantList = value; 028. NotifyChanged("ApplicantList"); 029. } 030. } 031. } 032. 033. private ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment> _interviews = new ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment>(); 034. public ObservableItemCollection<InterviewAppointment> Interviews 035. { 036. get { return _interviews; } 037. set 038. { 039. if (_interviews != value) 040. { 041. _interviews = value; 042. NotifyChanged("Interviews"); 043. } 044. } 045. } 046. 047. public SchedulingView() 048. { 049. InitializeComponent(); 050. 051. this.DataContext = this; 052. 053. this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(SchedulingView_Loaded); 054. } 055. 056. void SchedulingView_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) 057. { 058. this.xJobsScheduler.AppointmentsSource = Interviews; 059. 060. context = new RecruitingContext(); 061. 062. LoadOperation loadop = context.Load(context.GetInterviewsQuery()); 063. loadop.Completed += new EventHandler(loadop_Completed); 064. 065. this._applicantList = new QueryableCollectionView(context.Applicants); 066. context.Load(context.GetApplicantsQuery()); 067. 068. this._jobsList = new QueryableCollectionView(context.JobPostings); 069. context.Load(context.GetJobPostingsQuery()); 070. } 071. 072. void loadop_Completed(object sender, EventArgs e) 073. { 074. LoadOperation loadop = sender as LoadOperation; 075. 076. _interviews.Clear(); 077. 078. foreach (var ent in loadop.Entities) 079. { 080. _interviews.Add(EntityToAppointment(ent as Interview)); 081. } 082. } 083. 084. private void xJobsScheduler_AppointmentAdded(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.AppointmentAddedEventArgs e) 085. { 086. // now we have a new InterviewAppointment to add to our QCV :) 087. InterviewAppointment newInterview = e.Appointment as InterviewAppointment; 088. 089. this.context.Interviews.Add(AppointmentToEntity(newInterview)); 090. this.context.SubmitChanges((s) => 091. { 092. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 093. myAction.InterviewID = newInterview.InterviewID; 094. myAction.PostingID = newInterview.PostingID; 095. myAction.ApplicantID = newInterview.ApplicantID; 096. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been created by {1}", newInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 097. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 098. context.ActionHistories.Add(myAction); 099. context.SubmitChanges(); 100. } 101. , null); 102. } 103. 104. private void xJobsScheduler_AppointmentCreating(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.AppointmentCreatingEventArgs e) 105. { 106. e.NewAppointment = new InterviewAppointment(); 107. } 108. 109. private void xJobsScheduler_AppointmentEdited(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.AppointmentEditedEventArgs e) 110. { 111. Interview editedInterview = (from x in context.Interviews 112. where x.InterviewID == (e.Appointment as InterviewAppointment).InterviewID 113. select x).SingleOrDefault(); 114. 115. CopyAppointmentEdit(editedInterview, e.Appointment as InterviewAppointment); 116. 117. context.SubmitChanges((s) => 118. { 119. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 120. myAction.InterviewID = editedInterview.InterviewID; 121. myAction.PostingID = editedInterview.PostingID; 122. myAction.ApplicantID = editedInterview.ApplicantID; 123. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been modified by {1}", editedInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 124. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 125. context.ActionHistories.Add(myAction); 126. context.SubmitChanges(); 127. } 128. , null); 129. } 130. 131. private void xJobsScheduler_AppointmentDeleted(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.AppointmentDeletedEventArgs e) 132. { 133. Interview deletedInterview = (from x in context.Interviews 134. where x.InterviewID == (e.Appointment as InterviewAppointment).InterviewID 135. select x).SingleOrDefault(); 136. 137. context.Interviews.Remove(deletedInterview); 138. context.SubmitChanges((s) => 139. { 140. ActionHistory myAction = new ActionHistory(); 141. myAction.InterviewID = deletedInterview.InterviewID; 142. myAction.PostingID = deletedInterview.PostingID; 143. myAction.ApplicantID = deletedInterview.ApplicantID; 144. myAction.Description = String.Format("Interview with {0} has been deleted by {1}", deletedInterview.ApplicantID.ToString(), "default user"); 145. myAction.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now; 146. context.ActionHistories.Add(myAction); 147. context.SubmitChanges(); 148. } 149. , null); 150. } 151. 152. #region Appointment Helpers :) 153. 154. public Interview AppointmentToEntity(InterviewAppointment ia) 155. { 156. Interview newInterview = new Interview(); 157. newInterview.Subject = ia.Subject; 158. newInterview.Body = ia.Body; 159. newInterview.Start = ia.Start; 160. newInterview.End = ia.End; 161. newInterview.ApplicantID = ia.ApplicantID; 162. newInterview.PostingID = ia.PostingID; 163. newInterview.InterviewID = ia.InterviewID; 164. 165. return newInterview; 166. } 167. 168. public InterviewAppointment EntityToAppointment(Interview ia) 169. { 170. InterviewAppointment newInterview = new InterviewAppointment(); 171. newInterview.Subject = ia.Subject; 172. newInterview.Body = ia.Body; 173. newInterview.Start = ia.Start; 174. newInterview.End = ia.End; 175. newInterview.ApplicantID = ia.ApplicantID; 176. newInterview.PostingID = ia.PostingID; 177. newInterview.InterviewID = ia.InterviewID; 178. 179. return newInterview; 180. } 181. 182. public void CopyAppointmentEdit(Interview entityInterview, InterviewAppointment appointmentInterview) 183. { 184. entityInterview.Subject = appointmentInterview.Subject; 185. entityInterview.Body = appointmentInterview.Body; 186. entityInterview.Start = appointmentInterview.Start; 187. entityInterview.End = appointmentInterview.End; 188. entityInterview.ApplicantID = appointmentInterview.ApplicantID; 189. entityInterview.PostingID = appointmentInterview.PostingID; 190. } 191. 192. #endregion 193. 194. #region INotifyPropertyChanged Members 195. 196. public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged; 197. 198. public void NotifyChanged(string propertyName) 199. { 200. if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(propertyName)) 201. throw new ArgumentException("propertyName"); 202. 203. PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName)); 204. } 205. 206. #endregion 207.} Nice... right? :) One really important thing to note as well. See on line 51 where I set the DataContext before the Loaded event? This is super important, as if you don't have this set before the usercontrol is loaded, the DataContextProxy has no context to use and your EditAppointmentDialog Job/Applicant dropdowns will be blank and empty. Trust me on this, took a little bit of debugging to figure out that by setting the DataContext post-loaded would only lead to disaster and frustration. Otherwise, the only other real difference is that instead of sending an ActionHistory item through an event to get added to the database and saved, I do those right in the callback from submitting. The Result Again, I only have to post one picture because these bad boys used nearly identical code for both the MVVM and the code-behind views, so our end result is... So what have we learned here today? One, for the most part this MVVM thing is somewhat easy. Yeah, you sometimes have to write a bunch of extra code, but with the help of a few useful snippits you can turn the process into a pretty streamlined little workflow. Heck, this story gets even easier as you can see in this blog post by Michael Washington- specifically run a find on 'InvokeCommandAction' and you'll see the section regarding the command on TreeView in Blend 4. Brilliant! MVVM never looked so sweet! Otherwise, it is business as usual with RadScheduler for Silverlight whichever path you're choosing for your development. Between now and the next post, I'll be cleaning up styles a bit (those RadComboBoxes are a little too close to my labels!) and adding some to the RowDetailsViews for Applicants and Jobs, so you can see all the info for an appointment in the dropdown tab view. Otherwise, we're about ready to call a wrap on this oneDid you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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