Adding links to all pages on a site using CSS

OK, I named this post that so that perhaps google will pick it up and those new to CSS will find this post.

There is a really good reason that there are no tutorials on the internet concerning how to add content (a site menu is the most common request) to all the pages on your web site using CSS. That’s because CSS doesn’t control content. It controls styling and nothing more. You don’t use styling to add content.

Why not look into some sort of server side includes. PHP includes will handle the situation. ASP.old can handle it but don’t use it unless you have no other choice (and you do). If you’re really fancy and modern and handsome and awesome you can just use ASP.NET MasterPages and/or User Controls.

To wrap it up, CSS doesn’t do that. Stop asking about it! Thank you.

Posted in Programming, Web design, Web standards by Mark (23Feb10 @ 2119)

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SCOPE_IDENTITY() with LINQ

While reading about a recent question concerning @@Identity and the reasons to use SCOPE_IDENTITY() instead I experimented with LINQ to get the SCOPE_IDENTITY() results.

 using (var dbc = new siteDataContext())
    {
        dbc.Log = Console.Out;
        repertoire newSkill = new repertoire
            {
                skill = "a new item"
            };
        dbc.repertoires.InsertOnSubmit(newSkill);
        dbc.SubmitChanges();
        Console.Write(newSkill.id.ToString());
    }

It seems that calling the id column of the inserted object gives you the SCOPE_IDENTITY(). Here is the SQL Log:

INSERT INTO [dbo].[repertoire]([skill])
VALUES (@p0)
SELECT CONVERT(Int,SCOPE_IDENTITY()) AS [value]
-- @p0: Input NVarChar (Size = 10; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [a new item]
-- Context: SqlProvider(Sql2008) Model: AttributedMetaModel Build: 3.5.30729.1

Posted in ASP.NET, C#, LINQ, Programming by Mark (31Oct09 @ 1058)

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Music really does set the mood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr-e3qGQ884

Posted in Humor by Mark (15Apr09 @ 2105)

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Adding AJAX to an existing project that includes Routing

I was working on a project and just on a whim decided to try out some of .NET’s AJAX controls. I chose a random page, added a ScriptManager, tossed in a TextBox and a CalendarExtender.

F5. Page shows up. Javascript error:

Line: 121
Char: 1
Error: 'Sys' is undefined
Code: 0
Url: http://localhost:49329/admin.aspx

Hmm.

Try a new project. Add a ScriptManager, tossed in a TextBox and a CalendarExtender. Works fine. Huh?

I go through the Web.Config files of the two. Nothings changed except the version number on everything:

non working: Version=3.5.0.0
working: Version=1.0.61025.0

Ah ha! That must be it. I reset the working project as a 3.5 app and run it. I was so sure it was going to fail. Nope. Worked fine.

Must be something else. *grumble*

I start taking pieces out of my existing app and when I came to the Global.asax I took out the RouteTables and AJAX comes to life! FINALLY!

Here is what I had:

Global.asax

		protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
		{
			// Code that runs on application startup
			RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
		}
		private static void RegisterRoutes(ICollection<RouteBase> Routes)
		{
			RouteTable.Routes.Add(
				new Route("{Parameter}/{pageID}", new RouteHandler()));
			RouteTable.Routes.Add(
				new Route("{Parameter}", new RouteHandler()));
		}

With my routing handler file showing this little gem:

RouteHandler.cs

				string virtualPath = string.Format("~/{0}.aspx", pageName);
				return (Page)BuildManager.CreateInstanceFromVirtualPath(virtualPath, typeof(Page));

So basically it was swiping the file extensions from my httpHandlers and replacing them with .aspx meaning they were not found.

Web.Config

		<httpHandlers>
			<remove verb="*" path="*.asmx"/>
			<add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
			<add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
			<add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
		</httpHandlers>

To handle the situation I added the following to Global.asax:

Global.asax

		protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
		{
			// Code that runs on application startup
			RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
		}
		private static void RegisterRoutes(ICollection<RouteBase> Routes)
		{
			RouteTable.Routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}",
					   new System.Web.Routing.StopRoutingHandler()));
			RouteTable.Routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{service}.asmx/{*path}",
					   new System.Web.Routing.StopRoutingHandler()));
			RouteTable.Routes.Add(
				new Route("{Parameter}/{pageID}", new RouteHandler()));
			RouteTable.Routes.Add(
				new Route("{Parameter}", new RouteHandler()));
		}

I hope this helps.

Posted in ASP.NET, C#, Programming by Mark (30Jan09 @ 1614)

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