Posts Tagged ‘ASP.NET’

DiscountASP.NET Offers Free ASP.NET 4 Hosting

DiscountASP.NET, a leading innovator in Windows Server 2008 hosting, announces a free ASP.NET 4 hosting sandbox program for Visual Studio 2010 beta 2 users to experience One-Click Publish, the next-generation in web application packaging and deployment.

The free sandbox hosting program is a limited program offered as an open beta on a first come first serve basis. The beta hosting account comes with 50 MB of disk space and 50 MB of SQL Server 2008 database space. The sandbox site works with a subdomain of DiscountASP.NET. The free ASP.NET hosting sandbox supports .NET Framework 4 beta 2. This platform is only intended for testing and should not be used for production purposes. The program ends January 31, 2010.

Interested developers are welcome to sign up at http://labs.discountasp.net

Visual Studio 2010 beta 2 can be downloaded from the Microsoft site at http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010/default.mspx

About DiscountASP.NET

DiscountASP.NET is an innovative global leader in Microsoft Windows hosting, focused on providing the best value in ASP.NET hosting. A Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, DiscountASP.NET is one of the first hosting providers to offer Windows Server 2008 hosting, SQL Server 2008 hosting. Through strong word-of-mouth and their commitment to ASP.NET and SQL Server technology, DiscountASP.NET has become the choice for affordable enterprise-class ASP.NET web hosting.

For more information, visit http://www.DiscountASP.NET

Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/discountasp

All trademarks are the property of their legal owners.

Introducing Silverdraw

A kerala based techie has creaed a micro blogging site code named Silverdraw (http://silverdraw.com) based on Silverlight and WCF Polling Duplex. According to Anoop Madhusudanan, the creator of the platform, Silverdraw is realtime white board that can sync information between various participants, using Silverlight + WCF Polling Duplex. Presently this is a just a POC implementation. Users can draw together in the white board, and may chat each other.

You will find more details regarding the project at http://amazedsaint.blogspot.com/2009/11/silverlight-wcf-duplex-services.html. The source code for the project is available for download at http://silverdraw.codeplex.com/

Screenshots

The creator has published an article at CodeProject which can be viewed at http://www.codeproject.com/KB/silverlight/silverdraw.aspx

Keywords: silverlight, microsoft, aspnet, anoop, codeproject

NetAdvantage for .NET 2009 Volume 2

Infragistics has released NetAdvantage for .NET 2009 Volume 2: Win Client. Comprised of WPF and Windows Forms toolsets, this package includes complete feature sets and in-depth capabilities to arm developers with all the controls and components needed to create powerful user interfaces that deliver the ‘WOW-factor’ to end users.

The new offering promises a high-performance WPF data grid, optimized for millions of rows of data; the ability to export data from WPF Data Presenter to .XLS/.XLSX; a new WinTilePanel™ that allows end users to easily customize their screen; and more.

Visit www.infragistics.com/wpfwhatsnew for a complete list of new WPF features
Visit www.infragistics.com/wfwhatsnew for a complete list of new Windows Forms features.

Introducing Stimulsoft Reports

Did it become necessary for you to build reports? You created them in Word, Excel, used special programming packages. It took so much time, efforts. You were nervous, suffered from insomnia. Deadline was near but your work was not complete. Finally, you got some result. But it did not meet your expectations. But reports were not good. And it was impossible to say yourself – yes, that’s exactly what I wanted, that’s exactly what my client wants. In fact, there are no hopeless situations. As they say, the one, who owns the information, owns the world.

Stimulsoft Company, a leading manufacturer of software for data processing and analysis, announces the release of version 2009.2 for products Stimulsoft Reports.Net, Stimulsoft Reports.Web, Stimulsoft Reports Designer.Web, Stimulsoft Reports.Wpf. As one can see from product names, Stimulsoft Reports.Net is used to generate reports from various data sources and can be used in Windows Forms and in ASP.NET, Stimulsoft Reports.Web is the reporting tool for creating reports in Web, Stimulsoft Reports.Wpf is the best tool for creating applications on the base of Windows Presentation Foundation technology, Stimulsoft Reports Designer.Web is the reports designer for Web.

In general, Stimulsoft Reports is the line of reporting tools which can be used for rendering reports on different platforms. Reports are fully compatible with all Stimulsoft reporting tools. In other words, if you have created a report in Stimulsoft Reports.Net, then it can be opened and edited in both Stimulsoft R!eports.Web and Stimulsoft Reports .WPF. Do you think that there are reports which cannot be created? There is nothing impossible with Stimulsoft Reports. Great numbers of enhancements in products make them simpler and more flexible.

What are the changes in version 2009.2?

First of all, it is necessary to say about Stimulsoft Reports.Web reports viewer – WebViewerFx. This component is developed using the Flex technology and used to view reports. WebViewerFx has well thought-out, user-friendly interface, feature-rich, and, at last, it is good-looking. Using WebViewerFx it is possible to view reports, change report zoom. It allows printing reports. WebViewerFx can save reports to more than 20 different file formats. The viewer Demo is available at http://webfx.stimulsoft.com/WebViewerFx.aspx .

Stimulsoft Reports now supports additional 2 new export formats. These are SVG and MS PowerPoint. Royal Mail 4-state that is used for automatic mail sorting was also included. Starting with version 2009.2 reports can be saved in encrypted format. The choice of supported languages has been expanded with Arabic, making the product accessible to more people in their native language.  Stimulsoft Reports.Web v2009.2, Stimulsoft Reports.Wpf v2009.2, and Stimulsoft Reports Designer.Web v2009.2 support cross-tabs. Also some errors of previous versions were corrected. This made the products more robust.

Read more about all changes in products at http://www.stimulsoft.com/ru/AllNews.aspx. The site page http://www.stimulsoft.com/FeaturesByProducts.aspx describes the distinguishing features of the product.

Additional information on Stimulsoft Reports.Net, documentation, Flash tutorials, as well as its free evaluation copy is available at http://www.stimulsoft.com

P.S. "From time to time we are surprised at our products possibilities, – says Jan Kowal, a technical support manager. – When we see reports, created by our clients, only two questions we ask ourselves – is it possible in Stimulsoft Reports? …is it possible in our product? "

Technorati Tags: aspnet, visual studio, stimulsoft, reports

Gaia Ajax 3.6 Alpha Released: GridView and Adaptiv Rendering

Reaching the first release of Gaia Ajax 3.6 is a great step for us. For those who have waited for it; we hope you will be rewarded with a great, new web development experience. We think 3.6 is not only an important step for us, but also for the future of web development itself. It is our vision to bring you the finest quality platform for developing ajax applications  on ASP.NET. The 3.6 version comes with practical innovation previously unavailable to ASP.NET developers. It’s going to brings back memories from the first time Microsoft unveiled ASP.NET and the "goosebumps" it brought.

Adaptive Rendering Adaptive Rendering is a mind-blowing concept that enables dynamic insertion, removal, moving and replacement of individual controls. Adaptive rendering will replace partial rendering. This concept represents a major breakthrough in making Gaia Ajax an even better choice for your web application development.

[Learn more - Sample I]

Gaia Ajax GridView The Gaia Ajax GridView is a premier example of adaptive rendering as it enables the worlds most advanced GridView for ASP.NET. Some beat us on design, but nobody beats us on Ajax+GridView architecture.

[Learn more - Sample]

Please visit http://gaiaware.net/ for more information and also to download the latest bit of the product.

Product Review: TeeChart for .NET

The ASP.NET Chart control provided by Microsoft may not suit the requirements of all developers, as many prefer to implement advanced out-of-box functionalities for their projects.

I recently happened to test-drive TeeChart, www.steema.com/products/teechart/net, and was surprised to see that this chart control contained many charting features. Developed by Spain-based Steema Software, www.steema.com, the product is available in Lite and Professional editions. The Lite version has fewer features than the Professional edition but is suitable for small projects. The product enables a developer to build applications for ASP.NET but Windows Forms and projects that target .NET Compact Framework.

The vendor provides a fully functional limited trial license that you can use to explore Teechart’s features. The Lite edition ships with only the standard chart types, including Line, Bar, Area, Pie, FastLine, Horiz.Area, Horiz.Bar, and Horiz.Line charts. The following screenshot shows the standard chart styles.

To view the rest of this article, click here

DXperience v2009 vol 2 Released

DevExpress.com is proud to announce the immediate availability of DXperience v2009 vol 2 – award winning and feature-complete Presentation Components, Reporting Controls, IDE Productivity Tools, and Business Application Frameworks for Visual Studio 2008/2010. With DXperience v2009 vol 2, DevExpress officially releases 8 unique WPF libraries. Some of the new features available to you in the DevExpress WPF product line include:

WPF DataGrid by DevExpress (DXGrid)

- Significant Performance Improvements

- WYSIWYG Printing/Reporting by Rendering the DXGrid

- Outlook® Style New Item Row

- Summary Computation UI

- Outlook® Style Column Chooser/Customization

Learn more at: http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WPF/Grid/

WPF Charts by DevExpress (DXCharts)

- New 2D Financial Series Charts

- New 3D Charts (Point Charts, Bubble Charts, 3D Area Charts, 3D Stacked Area Charts, 3D Full Stacked Area Charts)

- Chart Series Label Management to Eliminate Overlaps

Learn more at: http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WPF/Charting/

WPF Printing and Reporting by DevExpress (DXPrinting)

- Render-Print Visual Controls, including the DXGrid

- Render-Print Tabular Reports

- WPF Export to PDF, XLS, and other popular file formats.

Learn more at: http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WPF/Printing/

WPF Data Editors Library by DevExpress (DXEditors)

- New Spin (Up-Down) Control

- Advanced WPF Data Validation

Learn more at:

http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WPF/Editors/

WPF Window Docking Library by DevExpress (DXDocking)

- Auto-Hide Panel Support

- Intuitive Closed Panel Access

- Dock Window Behavior Customization

- WPF Toolbar Menu Integration

Learn more at: http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WPF/Dock_Windows/

WPF Toolbar Menu System by DevExpress (DXBars)

- New WPF Context (Popup) Menu Control

- Improved Customization Window/Options

Learn more at:

http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WPF/Bar_Menu/

For a complete list of the new WPF controls, features and options available to you with DXperience v2009 vol 2, visit DevExpress online at:

http://devexpress.com/Products/NET/DXperience/WhatsNew2009v2/

http://www.devexpress.com/Downloads/NET/DXperience/

Murach’s ADO.NET 3.5, LINQ, and the Entity Framework with C# 2008

Mike Murach & Associates has just published a new, C# edition of their popular ADO.NET book. Entitled Murach’s ADO.NET 3.5, LINQ, and the Entity Framework with C# 2008, it covers what today’s C# developer needs to know to create database applications the way the best professionals do. Here are some highlights:

#1: For rapid application development and prototyping…
This book shows how to use the ADO.NET tools, like data sources and the DataGridView control, that enable developers to create working database applications in a minimum of time, with a minimum of coding.

#2: For serious production applications…
This book shows how to go beyond the RAD tools, using heavy-duty ADO.NET coding and object data sources to build 3-layer applications that consist of presentation, business, and database classes.

#3: For incorporating LINQ into Windows and web applications…
This book has a 6-chapter section that’s a short course in LINQ, the .NET 3.5 feature that provides a consistent way to query different types of data. This section covers LINQ to Objects, LINQ to DataSet, LINQ to SQL, LINQ data source controls for web applications, and LINQ to XML.

#4: For database programming with the Entity Framework…
This book gets developers going with the Entity Framework, the .NET 3.5 feature that may change the way you do database programming. Entity Framework (EF) provides a flexible model for mapping the business objects in an application to database objects, and it generates a lot of the code that has to be written from scratch otherwise. A 4-chapter section shows how to create an Entity Data Model and work with it using LINQ to Entities, Entity SQL, and Entity data source controls for web applications.

#5: For training and reference: The "paired-pages" format…
This book uses Murach’s standard format to present the content in 2-page spreads, pairing a page of explanation with an illustrative page of syntax, screen shots, coding examples, and bulleted guidelines. Developers report that this lets them read less to get information faster, whether they use the book for training or reference.

Murach’s ADO.NET 3.5, LINQ, and the Entity Framework with C# 2008 is available directly from the publisher at www.murach.com and from all major retail outlets.

Murach’s ADO.NET 3.5, LINQ, and the Entity Framework with C# 2008
Author: Anne Boehm
Pages: 699   
ISBN: 978-1-890774-53-0
Price: $52.50

Review: ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Unleashed

Nowadays, many web developers have implemented AJAX in their web applications. This enables them to create dynamic, rich web sites. There are numerous resources available on the web for learning ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX, but it is always nice to refer to a book as and when required. In his latest book, ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Unleashed, Robert Foster examines the relevant concepts in less than 300 pages, which I think is excellent and is rarely achieved by authors. It is hard to write short and crispy content, especially on ASP.NET related concepts, but Robert has worked really well to bring out a quality book for budding developers very effectively. The book is mainly divided into three parts including two appendixes.

Inside the Book

The chapters in part 1 provide a brief overview about AJAX and introduce the controls shipped with Visual Studio. This section also provides a sneak preview of the AJAX Control Toolkit. The author has provided complete source code along with relevant screenshots. Part 2 consists of the core chapters which help you learn ASP.NET AJAX 3.5 starting from the basics. While chapter 3 examines the ScriptManager and ScriptManagerProxy controls, Chapter 4 provides nice coverage of various namespaces such as Sys, Sys.Net, Sys.Serialization, Sys.UI, etc.

Chapters 5 and 6 help you to learn about the UpdatePanel, Timer controls, and also some of the advanced techniques associated with the ASP.NET AJAX PageRequestManager object. Chapter 7 provides detailed coverage of various controls included with the AJAX Control Toolkit with the help of a practical example. The author also examines the role of Expression Web in the development of AJAX applications. I think this chapter will be very useful for beginners. The book then delves deeply into the steps involved in the development of an Extender Control with the help of both server and client side controls.

A key feature of the book is that the author has provided detailed analysis in a lucid style along with each bit of source code. Chapter 9 examines the role of SharePoint 2007 in the development of AJAX based applications. It also includes a practical example which illustrates the development of SharePoint WebParts powered by AJAX.

You should be familiar with Gadgets if you work with the Windows Vista operating system, and the final chapter examines the creation of vista sidebar gadgets with the help of AJAX. It includes a detailed explanation of each step starting with the creation of web service and ending with testing the gadget. I would prefer to see the screenshots in color in the next edition of the book.

The book also includes two appendixes which provide a brief overview of expression web and also examine the steps required to deploy .NET 3.5 as a SharePoint feature. I expected a little bit more advanced content especially in the areas of LINQ. It would be helpful if the author had devoted a chapter to discuss the implementation of an AJAX based billing solution as a mini project.

Conclusion

The book will be useful for beginners and intermediates and I would recommend it for those developers who would like to learn ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX quickly. This book can also be used by those developers who are averse to reading bulky books. The author has done a terrific job of restricting the content in less than 300 pages and I must say that the book is an ideal supplement for online resources.

Description

As the Internet user experience (UX) progresses, more users are demanding and expecting their custom-built business applications to provide the same UX that they see on the Internet every day. ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Unleashed empowers ASP.NET developers to easily provide this type of experience with minimal code. Author Rob Foster has built AJAX-enabled web applications for a number of major corporations and uses the experience he has gained there to explain concisely, clearly, and completely what ASP.NET developers need to learn to start taking advantage of the rich opportunities made possible by ASP.NET AJAX.

•Learn ASP.NET AJAX by working with real-world examples
•Use the ScriptManager and ScriptManagerProxy controls in your ASP.NET AJAX-enabled applications
•Leverage the ASP.NET AJAX client-side API to maximize the flexibility of ASP.NET AJAX
•Build applications that use the UpdatePanel and Timer controls
•Use the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit to provide rich AJAX functionality to your web applications
•Build ASP.NET AJAX-enabled extender controls
•Integrate ASP.NET AJAX and .NET 3.5 with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
•Create ASP.NET AJAX-enabled Windows Vista Gadgets
•Learn advanced AJAX concepts such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and WCF Web services
Introduction     1

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction to AJAX Technologies     5

AJAX and Web 2.0     6

Why Use AJAX?      7

AJAX Rationale     7

AJAX: An Example     8

The XMLHttpRequest Object     8

A Simple AJAX Library     10

Using the AJAX Library     14

Summary     20

Chapter 2 Introduction to ASP.NET AJAX     21

Introducing the Visual Studio Controls     22

ScriptManager     22

ScriptManagerProxy     23

Timer     23

UpdatePanel     23

UpdateProgress     23

Introducing the Visual Studio Projects and Web Site Items     24

Projects     24

Web Site Items     25

Introducing the AJAX Control Toolkit     26

Summary     27

Part II Working with ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX

Chapter 3 The ScriptManager and ScriptManagerProxy Controls     31

About the ScriptManager Control.      31

ScriptManager Properties, Methods, and Events     34

JavaScript Proxy Classes for Web Services     37

Partial-Page Rendering     43

Summary     47

Chapter 4 The ASP.NET AJAX Client API     49

The Namespaces     49

Global     49

Sys     52

Sys.Net     53

Sys.Serialization     54

Sys.Services     62

Sys.UI     66

Sys.WebForms     68

Summary     71

Chapter 5 The UpdatePanel and Timer Controls     73

About the UpdatePanel Control     73

Using the UpdatePanel Control     74

Advanced Features of the UpdatePanel Control     78

Triggers     78

Multiple UpdatePanel Controls on a Single Page     81

The Timer Control     89

Using the Timer Control with Partial-Page Rendering     90

Summary     92

Chapter 6 Advanced Techniques with the ASP.NET AJAX PageRequestManager Object     93

Using the PageRequestManager Object     93

A Practical Example of the PageRequestManager Object     95

Summary     100

Chapter 7 Using the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit     101

ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit: The Controls     102

Using Controls in the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit     105

Configuring Visual Studio to Use the Toolkit     105

The Accordion and AccordionPane Controls     106

The CalendarExtender Control     110

The CollapsiblePanelExtender Control     112

The ConfirmButtonExtender Control     118

The DragPanelExtender Control     120

The DropDownExtender Control     122

The FilteredTextBoxExtender Control     125

The HoverMenuExtender Control     127

The TextBoxWatermarkExtender Control     130

ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit: A Practical Example     134

Using the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit with Microsoft Expression Web     145

Configuring Expression Web for the ASP.NET AJAX

Control Toolkit     145

Summary      150

Chapter 8 Building an ASP.NET AJAX Extender Control     151

Add ASP.NET Controls     151

How to Build an Extender Control     154

Server-Side Code     156

Client-Side Code     159

Summary     163

Chapter 9 ASP.NET AJAX and SharePoint 2007     165

SharePoint and AJAX     165

Modifying Web.Config     166

Developing an AJAX-Based SharePoint Web Part     171

Summary     177

Chapter 10 Creating ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Vista Sidebar Gadgets     179

Vista Sidebar Gadgets     179

Creating the Gadget     181

Create the Web Service     181

Generate the JavaScript Proxy     183

Create the Vista Gadget     186

Test the Gadget     187

Summary     188

Part III Appendices

Appendix A Microsoft Expression Web 191

An Introduction to the Expression Web Interface     191

Creating Web Pages and Web Sites     191

Customizable Interface     194

Creating Standards-Based Web Sites      198

Quickly Build Standards-Based Sites     198

Code Formatting and IntelliSense     202

Autoformatting Code     202

IntelliSense     204

XML and XSLT Tools in Expression Web     204

Drag and Drop XML     205

Creating and Updating XSL     207

Summary     209

Appendix B Deploying the .NET Framework 3.5 as a SharePoint Feature 211

Features and Solutions      211

Creating the Solution     213

Using Visual Studio     214

Creating the Feature Receiver     218

Deploying the Solution to SharePoint     228

Compiling the Solution     228

Running STSADM.EXE to Register the Solution     234

Deploying the Solution Using SharePoint

Central Management     235

Activating the Feature     237

Summary     239

Index     241

Fix: A project with an Output type of Class Library cannot be started directly

You will sometimes come across the following error in a message box if you execute an ASP.NET application using Visual Studio 2005/2008

A project with an Output type of Class Library cannot be started directly. In order to debug this project, add an executable project to this solution which references the library project. Set the executable project as the startup project. 

Resolution

In order to fix the above error, right click the Solution name in Visual Studio 2005/2008 and select Set as StartUp Project option from the popup menu.

Applicability

Visual Studio 2005
Visual Studio 2008