Jawad Khan

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Best Practices - Review

Jawad Khan — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:45:25 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2008/10/05/mossbestpracticesreview.aspx

Review : Microsoft Sharepoint Server 2007 Best Practices by Ben Curry (Author), Bill English (Author)

Unlike some other Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 books that either talk about technical implementation of the product or delve only into the planning for a new implementation this book covers them all from Planning, Implementation and deployment of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007. The book is full of real world scenarios and point the reader to the best practices learned on the field by the author and his colleagues. What is so good about this book is that it also provides the reader with alternative approaches and discusses pros and cons of each of them. The author also discusses Business requirement, functional specs and Project management issues encountered while implementing MOSS in different size organizations. The book is divided into four main parts: Planning and Designing, Building, Deploying and Operating. So there is useful information for every IT person in this book. This is not by any way the complete and only reference for each of the above sections for MOSS deployment but none the less any MOSS deployment would benefit immensely by following the tips offered in this book.

The layout of the book is simple and user friendly. Real world examples are highlighted with simple box layout as is the direction for more details on the subject being discussed. You won't find too many colorful boxes and tones of diagrams to distract you from grasping the concept being discussed but where there is a need there is a diagram to demonstrate the concept. If you are new to SharePoint this book will save you countless hours of frustration and redoing the same thing again and again and worst to have to fix something down the road because it is not scalable. One of the most important selling features of MOSS is the ability to collaborate and find the relevant information quickly and easily. All of this is only possible if you have laid out the proper information Architecture. This is one of the many aspects where this book really shines.

All in all this is a wonderful book and should be made a compulsory part of any MOSS deployment or day to day operations.

Microsoft Learning Announces Thomson Proemetric to be the sole Test Delivery Provider ...

Jawad Khan — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:00:49 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2007/07/10/113829.aspx

Microsoft learning has announced that after August 31st, 2007 only Thomson Prometric will be allowed to conduct Microsoft Certification exams. Pearson Vue can take registration for exams till August 31st,2007 and can conduct the tests till December 31st,2007. In case you have any Pearson VUE vouchers its the time to book your registration for the exam.

The official details are here

I have recently taken exams for WSS 3.0 and MOSS with Pearson Vue and have taken exams with Prometric as well. I personally think that Pearson VUE was much better in conducting the exams. There customer service was much better and much less problems then Prometric. Being a MCT as well thats what I have heard from my students as well.

15 % Discounts on Pearson VUE Microsoft MCP Exams / 20% off on MeasureUp Practice Exams for Certification ...

Jawad Khan — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 14:00:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2006/01/05/RewardsDiscount.aspx

Hi,

Perason Vue offer Microsoft Certification Exams ...

15 % discount on MCP exam

• Online at www.pearsonvue.com/ms
• By phone at 1-800-TEST-REG (800-837-8734)
• In person at your local Pearson VUE Authorized Center

20 % discount on MeasureUp Practice Exams at www.measureup.com

Voucher number to use :

MSAU919E1289

Dell Customer Service - Worst I have ever encountered ...

Jawad Khan — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:04:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2006/11/30/100036.aspx

I have recently bought a Intel core 2 duo system with 2407FPW monitor from Dell through one of their Dell Kiosks in Toronto.I requested them to expediate the shipment since I need it early. The sales person informed me that they will try their best to get it early. I placed the order on 12th of Novenember that was due to be delivered on 22nd November. I got the System on 22nd but the monitor was missing.

I looked at th Packing list and the monitor was supposed to shipped with the system.

I immediately called Dell Customer care to notify them of the missing item. They informed me that by mistake the monitor is shipped seperately and gave me the tracking number and opened the case. They adviced me to wait for 24 hours. I keep calling purolator and was told the monitor will arrive after five or next day.

After 24 hours I have to call Dell again and they have to place another Order for the Monitor. I was informed since this is a missing item they epediate the order and I should get it it with 2 or 3 days. I waited for 7 days but the online status keep displaying that Monitor is in Production. Very strange that Monitor need to go through Production too. I kept calling customer care to no avail. Finally on November 29th I was told that Monitor was shipped on November 28th but they can't provide me with the Tracking Number yet and I should call on 29th. I called Customer care agin on 29th but was told quite rudely by the customer care representative that there is no tracking no and that the Dell will not extend the warrantly period on the CPU that I already have though I can't use it. Also Dell went ahead and placed the Bell sypatico 3 month free trial which I will not be able to use til I get the monitor.

I insisted to talk with the Customer care manager who has the same answers and was quite rude too. And told me that Monitor actualy is not even shipped because of bad weather in US and will be shipped after 2 days and implied that I should not even bother calling them for 3 more days .... Also he can't do any thing about High speed 3 month free offer that was part of Dell New order. I never talked with the ISP provider during whole process of ordering the Dell and getting the service but now He wanted me to call them directly to stop activation and Dell has nothing to do with it what so ever ..Surprise ...Surprise ......

I was not expecting such a Customer care service from company like Dell though i have read alot of horor stories in the newsgroups. All I wanted was courteous Cutomer care representative that take initiative to solve the customer issue and are proactive and contact the customers and update them with the status of their case.

Dell can easily provide a rental Monitor or replacement if they can't accomodate 2407 because of some production issues.

Dell Just lost another customer in IT industry and I would definitely not recommend to any one that I know. Please feel free to share your experiences with Dell ...Extending warranty on a system for 3 or 4 weeks or extending 1 month of Sypatico internet and Just showing that you are doing something about the Customer complain doesn't take much but makes all the difference and all the Good companies make sure they keep there existing and potential customers Happy ...

I called bell Sympatico after that to directly talk to them to stop activation of High speed internet till I get the system. Th person was really courteous. I signed and received the Modem a day earlier. The Customer representative from Bell told me no problem he will make sure that the conection is not activated till I get the Dell system and in case I get charged he will readjust the charges. I smiled ... Thats what a good Customer service should be like .. though I do know that some individuals had issues with Bell too ...

Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 - Service Pack 2 ships!

Jawad Khan — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 18:33:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/11/11/MCMSSP2.aspx

Real exciting news from Web Content Management team at Microsoft.The MCMS 2002 Service Pack 2 now provides much awaited support for Microsoft SQL 2005 and Viusla Studio 2005 is now available in MCMS 2002.Master Pages as well as the authentication and navigation provider models support. Much more exciting stuff is planned for the next WCM (Web Content Managment) next release of MCMS with Office 12.. It requires you to install Service pack SP1A before you upgrade to SP2 even if you have SP1 you need to upgrade to SP1A. The difference between two is some multilanguage support enhancements.

To Download SP2 Click Here

How to make sure that the file is downloaded completely by the Users of Web Application ...

Jawad Khan — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:00:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/11/01/FileDownload.aspx

While developing a Website you might want to limit the users to download the file only once or would like to hide the link if they successfully downloaded a particular file. In traditional way of downloading the file its hard to know on the server side that file is downloaded successfully by the client. Solution is to stream the file in small chunk and make sure that is connected before streaming the next chunk. If you sucessfully transmitted the whiole file then this would mean that client has successfully downloaded the file.

Here is the Code ....

public class DownloadFile : System.Web.UI.Page
{

  private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
   System.IO.Stream iStream = null;

// Buffer to read 10K bytes in chunk:
byte[] buffer = new Byte[10000];

// Length of the file:
int length;

// Total bytes to read:
long dataToRead;

// Identify the file to download including its path.
string filepath = Request.MapPath("TSDCJan21.sdo");

// Identify the file name.
string filename = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(filepath);

   try
   {
    // Open the file.
    iStream = new System.IO.FileStream(filepath, System.IO.FileMode.Open,
     System.IO.FileAccess.Read,System.IO.FileShare.Read);

// Total bytes to read:
dataToRead = iStream.Length;

Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + filename);

    // Read the bytes.
    while (dataToRead > 0)
    {
     // Verify that the client is connected.
     if (Response.IsClientConnected)
     {
      // Read the data in buffer.
      length = iStream.Read(buffer, 0, 10000);

// Write the data to the current output stream.
Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, length);

// Flush the data to the HTML output.
Response.Flush();

      buffer= new Byte[10000];
      dataToRead = dataToRead - length;
     }
     else
     {
      //prevent infinite loop if user disconnects
      dataToRead = -1;
     }
    }
   }
   catch (Exception ex)
   {
    // Trap the error, if any.
    Response.Write("Error : " + ex.Message);
   }
   finally
   {
    if (iStream != null)
    {
     //Close the file.
     iStream.Close();
    }
   }

}

MCMS 101 - Free downloadable eBooks to get you started with MCMS 2002 ...

Jawad Khan — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 11:28:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/10/03/MCMSOnlineBooks.aspx

Via MSDN

Here are few useful online free books listed on MSDN that will get you started with Microsoft Content Management Server before you do your own investment and buy a MCMS 2002 Book or take an official MOC Training.

Note these books are not meant for beginners though. For beginners I will still Recommend the Book Building Websites with Microsoft Content Management Server as per my post here earlier.You can get good deal on this book from Amazon and other online book sellers.

(1) Building, Deploying, and Maintaining Intranet Sites for the Enterprise

           Chapter 1. Setup
           Chapter 2. Examining OTGWeb's Network Architecture
           Chapter 3. Day-to-Day Operations
           Chapter 4. Building OTGWeb with Best Practices
           Chapter 5. Final Thoughts

This book discusses how a small team within the Operations and Technology Group (OTG) at Microsoft uses Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS) 2002 to build, deploy, and maintain OTGWeb, an internal Microsoft site. OTG uses OTGWeb to provide information and tools to keep Microsoft employees informed and productive. OTGWeb is, as far as we know, the largest intranet site running MCMS today.

(2) Integration Techniques and Strategies for Internet Business

Using the MCMS .NET-based managed APIs
Using the MCMS COM-based Site Deployment API
Creating user controls and dialog boxes within the Web Author
Creating custom placeholder controls in Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET
Creating components that communicate with each external system

In Integration Techniques and Strategies for Internet Business, we'll examine a variety of integration options available to you when designing your Web sites. The methodology we present is simple, secure, and extendable. We take the WoodgroveNet sample site which shipped as a sample with MCMS 2002 and build integration components to show integration with search engines, workflow engines, authentication systems, and other software.

(3) Performance Planning and Deployment with Content Management Server 2002

Explains performance planning for MCMS 2002
Demonstrates capacity planning with transaction cost analysis for MCMS 2002
Provides detailed instructions and best practices for installing a sample MCMS 2002 deployment that can be scaled out to meet your needs.
Provides troubleshooting information and answers to frequently asked questions for getting the best from your MCMS 2002 site.

This Book shows you how to plan your MCMS 2002 deployment to maximize performance, how to estimate site capacity with transaction cost analysis, and provides best practices and instructions for installing an MCMS 2002, 13-computer, 3-tier, sample, secure deployment that can easily be scaled out to meet the needs of your enterprise. Additionally, it provides troubleshooting tips and answers frequently asked questions about installing and using MCMS 2002

Troubleshooting ASP.Net Validation Controls ....

Jawad Khan — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 13:22:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/09/30/Validation.aspx

VIA article from Peter Blum on ASPaaliance

Validating user input is an important requirement of most web applications. However, many ASP.NET developers find the standard ASP.NET validation controls to be either hard to use or lacking in features. Peter Blum answers the most frequently asked questions concerning ASP.NET validation.

Some of the topics he discussed are:

(1) Client-side validation does not work at all
(2) Buttons do not submit
(3) When to Validate
(4) Preventing a button from validating
(5) Several buttons associated with their own validators
(6) AutoPostBack and validation
(7) How to display MessageBoxes on Validation errors.
(8) Validators support for globalization
(9) Using validators with DropDownLists and ListBoxes
(10) Making the CustomValidator support blank textboxes

Here is the article Solving the Challenges of ASP.NET Validation

Utility for searching a substring in Microsoft Content Management Server for Admins/Developers

Jawad Khan — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 12:27:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/09/29/MCMSSearchUtility.aspx

I have created a Windows App utility that can search All or Specific Portal for any particular string to be found in any of the placeholders.

Portal is determined to be the First Level Channel after /Channels root.

All you need is run the attached file from the MCMS Server with admin rights. (i.e. logged in with a user that has admin rights on MCMS local Server). Note you can run as Subscriber too but you might not be able to search all the postings if you don't have rights to them.

This could be very useful for checking for a particular resource file/Image or a URL that needs to be changed because of change in domain names etc.

This is to be used by webmasters/Site Admins to search for a particular SubString in any of the placeholders. This Utility also created a MCMSSearch.log comma delimited file listing the detailed information about Portal, Posting Name, Path and Placeholder where the particular string was found. You can click on Silent Checkbox so that user is not prompted and entries are only written to the file.

MCMS Search Utility

You can alternatively download the .Net Windows App from

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/jawadblogapps (in the folder MCMSApps)

User Id: JawadBlogApps

Password : jawadblog

Note: Don't forget to SignIn or you will get the message that Folder is Empty.

MCMS 101 - What is a Web Publishing CMS System, Features,Benefits and Current Market ...

Jawad Khan — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 15:43:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/09/29/CMSIntro.aspx

Here is a Great article explaining Web publishing Content Management Systems in general. Who should be using them. What are the advantages and benefits of using a web based Content Management System and the different players offering Web based Content Management Solutions.

Web Publishing CMS System

MCMS 101 - Recommended Book to Learn Microsoft Content Management Server 2002

Jawad Khan — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 13:39:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/09/29/MCMSBook.aspx

I get lot of queries from the Clients and from my Blog readers about the recommendation MCMS 2002 Book/Tutorial. The following book is great for Starters as well as seasoned MCMS professionals. I would highly recommend it ....

Building Websites with Microsoft Content Management Server

Lim Mei Ying, Joel Ward, Stefan Goßner

Here is what packtpub has to say :

A fast-paced and practical tutorial guide for C# developers starting out with MCMS 2002

Learn directly from recognized community experts

Rapid developer level tutorials build logically through out the book
Develops a feature rich custom site incrementally
Tips and Tricks from developer newsgroups and online communities

Get this Book from Here

MCMS HotFix KB# 836895 - Problem installing on XP - The query string arrays are not correctly passed to the posting

Jawad Khan — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:14:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/08/26/MCMSXPHotFix.aspx

Recently I came across this issue with KB#836895. It installs perfectly on Windows 2003 machines but refused to install on Windows XP development machines.

Since we are using some custom parameters that needed to be passed to different MCMS posting it was hard to debug since all the development machines where Windows XP.

After contacting Microsoft they acknowledged the problem and now have fixed it so it installs on Windows XP development machines as well. So make sure you download the latest copy from Microsoft site.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=836895

ASp.Net: Search for a Particular User in Active Directory

Jawad Khan — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:07:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/08/26/ADUserSearch.aspx

If you are using FomrsAuthentication against ActiveDirectory you might want to search if a User Id exist in Active Directory or not before taking certain action like creating new profile.

Here is a Code Snippet used to Check for existance of a User in Active Directory. Some of the setting are stored in web.config.

Note: IT is highly recommended that you do not store usernames or passwords in web.config unencrypted here for demonstration I have put them in clear text to connect to AD.

ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings are read from web.config and you can add your own app settings for those variables.

  public bool IsUserExistInActiveDirectory(string UserId)
  {
   bool IsValidLoginName = false;
   string domain = "LDAP://" + ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["Domain"];
   System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry entry =
    new DirectoryEntry(domain, ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ADServiceAccount"], ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ADServiceAccountPassword"],
    AuthenticationTypes.Secure);

   DirectorySearcher adSearcher = new DirectorySearcher(entry);
   adSearcher.SearchScope = SearchScope.Subtree;
   adSearcher.Filter = "(&(objectClass=user)(samaccountname=" + UserId + "))";
      SearchResult oResult = adSearcher.FindOne();

   if ( oResult != null)
   {
     IsValidLoginName = true;
   }
           return IsValidLoginName;
  }

Microsoft Content Management Server Support for ASP.Net version 2.0

Jawad Khan — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 16:52:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/07/11/MCMSSP2News.aspx

Via Andrew Connell Blog

MCMS 2002 Service Pack 2 will have the support for ASP.Net 2.0 though there will still be some New features that will not be supported or fully suported by MCMS running under ASp.Net 2.0 framework for example Web Parts ...

MCMS 2002 Service Pack 2: Expect this to be released after the .NET 2.0 Framwork is released (BTW: today’s keynote at TechEd announced that Visual Studio .Net 2005 and SQL Server 2005 will be released to manufacturing [RTM] the week of November 7, 2005). The primary focus of SP2 will be to add .NET 2.0 Framework and SQL Server 2005 support to MCMS. Yes, you how have access to using master pages (just no placeholders within the master pages… that’s not supported) and all the other great features that are provided by the next generation of ASP.NET 2.0. This does not mean I’m not saying that you can touch the MCMS database, you just can host your database on the new platform. The only thing that isn’t supported is using the new ASP.NET 2.0 web parts within MCMS templates.

MCMS vNext aka: futures: Yes, speculation can now end in the newsgroups and blogs that it's now confirmed there is a new version of MCMS in the works. When will it be available? MCMS is now part of the Office System. At the recent CEO Summit, Bill Gates announced that Office 12 will ship at the end of 2006 and you can expect a beta at the end of 2005/beginning of 2006. Because MCMS is in now part of the Office System, it will fall in line with those dates. Packaging & licensing is still being hashed out so no details on that. Again, just stay tuned for news in the coming months.

How to Bind Enum Types to the Dropdown or any other bindable Control in ASP.Net .....

Jawad Khan — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 16:05:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/06/24/EnumDropDown.aspx

While working on a Data Form in an ASP.Net application you might want to get a value from the user that corresponds to the Enum you created in your Business Layer. Since Enum types are not strings or .ToString() function doesn't work directly with Enums you need to do it in slightly different way ...

Solution:

Lets take an example ...

public enum Color
{
    RED,
    GREEN,
    BLUE
}

Every Enum type derives from System.Enum. There are two static methods that help bind data to a drop-down list control (and retrieve the value). These are Enum.GetNames and Enum.Parse. Using GetNames, you are able to bind to your drop-down list control as follows:

protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList ddColor;

private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
     if(!IsPostBack)
     {
        ddColor.DataSource = Enum.GetNames(typeof(Color));
        ddColor.DataBind();
     }
}

Now if you want the Enum value Back on Selection ....

  private void ddColor_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
   Color selectedColor = (Color)Enum.Parse(ddColor.SelectedValue);
  }

Free Internet Explorer (IE) Spell Checker ...that spell checks text Imput Boxes on WebPages ...

Jawad Khan — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 17:48:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/06/23/IESpellCheck.aspx

ieSpell is a free Internet Explorer browser extension that spell checks text input boxes on a webpage. It should come in particularly handy for users who do a lot of web-based text entry (e.g. web mails, forums, blogs, diaries). Even if your web application already includes spell checking functionality, you might still want to install this utility because it is definitely much faster than a server-side solution. Plus you get to store and use your personal word list across all your applications, instead of maintaining separate ones on each application.

ieSpell - A Spell Checker for Internet Explorer

ieSpell is free for personal use only. All other use requires a commercial license

Storing an extra field in an ASP.Net Dropdown List perhaps Primary key with key and value fields .....

Jawad Khan — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 14:09:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/06/21/DropdownWithPK.aspx

In numerous occasions you want to display a drop down box that contains for example a Cit and City No but you also want to have it linked with let's say Employee number since the city list is in a Form where you filling the employee data. the out of box drop down doesn't allow you to store more then 2 fields at a time.

Following solution allows you to store an extra field with the given 2 fields in ASP.Net drop down list.

Usage in .aspx file :

<%@ Register TagPrefix="jawad" Namespace="jawad.Web.WebControls" Assembly="jawad.Web" %>

the control class is in a class library jawad.web.dll you can put it any where you want and put the above registration tag accordingly

<jawad:dropdownstorespk id="ddCity" runat="server"></jawad:dropdownstorespk>

Now in the Code behind file to populate the Dropdown list ....

    //-- Bind SortedList to Cities Dropdown
    SortedList extraFields = new SortedList();
    ddClassStatus.DataSource = GetCities(extraFields); // getCities is a function declared as Sortedlist GetCities(out SortedList extraFields) so this function loads both Key, value pair and extra field using DataReader ...See Data Access implementation at bottom of the post ...
    ddClassStatus.DataTextField = "Value";
    ddClassStatus.DataValueField = "Key";
    ddClassStatus.ExtraField = extraFields;

Now the actual implementation of the Drop Down Control in the Class library ...

using System;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Collections ;

namespace Jawad.Web.WebControls
{
///

/// Represents a Control that allows the users to select a Single Value from the dropdown.
/// This control also stores an extra field (may be primary Key) for each item besides Key value pair.
///

[DefaultProperty("Text"),
  ToolboxData("<{0}:DropDownStoresPK runat=server>")]
public class DropDownStoresPK : System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList
{
  private SortedList _extraField;
  private string text;

  ///

  /// Stores the Extra Field
  ///

  [Bindable(true),
   Category("Misc"),
      Browsable(true),
   DefaultValue(""),
      Description("Stores the extra field as SortedList to DataKeyField")]
  public SortedList ExtraField
  {
   get
   {
    return (base.EnableViewState) ? (SortedList)ViewState["ExtraField"]:_extraField;
   }
   set
   {
    _extraField = value;
    if (base.EnableViewState)
     ViewState["ExtraField"] = _extraField;
   }
  }

  public object GetExtraField(string selectedValue)
  {
   return (_extraField.ContainsKey(selectedValue)) ? _extraField[selectedValue]:null;
  }

  ///

  /// Gets the Key for the Value passed that is stored in Extra Fields Sorted List
  ///

  /// The Value for which the key is required
  /// The Key that corresponds with the value passed
  public object GetExtraKey(string Value)
  {
   return _extraField.GetKey(_extraField.IndexOfValue(Value));
  }

  ///

  /// Render this control to the output parameter specified.
  ///

  /// The HTML writer to write out to
  protected override void Render(HtmlTextWriter output)
  {
   base.Render (output);
  }
}
}

Here is the Sample implementation of ReadData that can be called from GetCities Function that also read extra field from the database for the Dropdown list ... This is only sample code that used custom Data Access layer but can simply be implemented with outofbox ADo.Net ...

  public SortedList ReadData(string procedureName, SortedList ExtraField, SqlParameter[] parms )
  {
   SortedList lookupCollection = null;

   using (SqlDataReader reader = SqlHelper.ExecuteReader(_connectionString, CommandType.StoredProcedure, procedureName, parms))
   {
    // Always call Read before accessing data.
    lookupCollection = new SortedList ();

    while (reader.Read())
    {
     // Assummimg the first field in the select statement is Key and the next one is value
     lookupCollection.Add (reader.GetString(0),reader.GetString (1));
     if ((ExtraField != null) && (reader.FieldCount > 2))
      ExtraField.Add (reader.GetString(0), reader.GetString (2));
    }
    reader.Close ();
   }
   return lookupCollection;
  }

How to use different CSS Files in the Same template for Different WebSites in MCMS 2002 ...

Jawad Khan — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 18:09:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/06/20/CSSPosting.aspx

Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 makes it easy to create multiple websites using the same template set. This feature is very useful if you are creating sites that require different feel and look but same/similar functionality or at-least share some templates between each other.The challenge here is how to add a CSS to the rendered posting so the feel and look is different depending on which MCMS Site Hierarchy you are in.

Following is the solution. This solution allows you to treat CSS files as normal Content and hence can be managed by MCMS and also incorporates the MCMS work flow. Doing so allows the Desktop individuals to make changes to the CSS without bothering the IT team.

This implementation make use of the XML PlaceholderControl that I posted earlier in this Blog

In the .aspx file

In the Register Control Section :

<%@ Register TagPrefix="cnsCtl" Namespace="Jawad.Cms.CustomPlaceholders" Assembly="Jawad.Cms" %><%@ Register TagPrefix="cc2" Namespace="Cdi.Ces.Cms.CustomPlaceholders" Assembly="Cdi.Ces.Cms" %>

(inside the HTML Body) :

  <form id="Form1" method="post" runat="server">
   <cnsCtl:XMLPlaceholder id="PLContentPlaceholder" runat="server" PlaceholderToBind="plSinglePlaceholder" TextBoxHeight="800"
    TextBoxColumns="100"></cnsCtl:XMLPlaceholder>
  </form>

Now in the Code behind file :

  protected Jawad.Cms.CustomPlaceholders.XMLPlaceholder PLContentPlaceholder;
  private CmsHttpContext ctx;

  private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
   if ( !IsPostBack)
   {
    ctx = CmsHttpContext.Current;
    if ( ctx != null)
    {
     if ( ctx.Mode == PublishingMode.Published)
     {
      Posting pst = ctx.Posting ;
      if ( pst != null )
      {
       Response.Write (((XmlPlaceholder)pst.Placeholders ["plSinglePlaceholder"]).XmlAsString);
       Response.End ();
      }
     }
    }
   }
  }

Once finished the .aspx file you need to create the MCMS Template lets say named “CSSTemplate” using MCMS Explorer from Visual Studio.Net and add an XMLPlaceholder definition to it named plSinglePlaceholder

Now you can place that posting in the Site Hierarchy you want For example

/Channels/PetShop/en-Ca/ConfigFiles/SiteCSS

another site on same server

/Channels/ToolShop/en-CA/ConfigFiles/SiteCSS

Where SiteCSS is posting name and other elements are channels in the Path.

When you create a new template you can add the CSS files as follows in to your template ....

<link href="<%= GetCSSPath() %>" type=text/css rel=stylesheet>

The GetCSSPath is a function that gives the Path to the CSS Posting ....Its implementation is as follows ( Please correct syntax errors if any)

public string GetCSSPath()
{
    string path = string.Empty;
    CmsHttpContext ctx = CmsHttpContext.Current;
    if ( ctx != null)
    {
      string currentPostingPath = ctx.Posting.Path;
      string siteName = currentPostingPath.Split('/')[1]; // Second Element is always site Name
      // You might want to use dynamic approach to find complete path I am hard coding the fix elements here.
     path = string.Format("/Channels/{0}/en-CA/ConfigFiles/SiteCSS",siteName);
    }
    return path;
}

Very Useful Free ASP.Net Custom Controls ...

Jawad Khan — Sat, 14 May 2005 15:53:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/05/14/39670.aspx

I was looking for some reliable and useful Custom Control. In ASP.Net Projects it is very common to use Calendar Control or masked edit controls. The biggest challenge for our project was to find a Time Picker instead of Date Picker. Matt Hawley has great set of custom controls on his Excentrics World website. I am glad that I finally found it? In addition to a few standards (calendar, show/hide panel), he's added some very useful variations like a textbox that uses an input mask (see the phone number demo) and a time picker to go with all your calendars. Sweet!!!

Accordion Panel
Bread Crumb Trail
Calendar Popup
Collapsable Panel
Empty DataGrid
Faq Repeater
Masked TextBox
Multi-Text List Controls
Numeric Box
Ordered ListBox
Time Picker

There are all free commercial Custom Controls. It seems Matt also update the custom control quite frequently. He also has a section where customers can vote on their wishes. What kind of improvements or new controls they want to see. Have a look and let me know if you like them ...

Excentrics World

Also Check out the MetaBuilder website. They have some nifty Custom controls as well ...

MetaBuilders

Also check out the Free Text Box that has tons of features and would allow the users to use MS Word WYSIWYG features while editing a TextArea.

FreeTextBox

Free Rich text Editor very useful for Community based ASp.Net Websites or Any ASP.Net website ...

Jawad Khan — Wed, 25 May 2005 15:57:00 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jawad/archive/2005/05/25/CommunityEditor.aspx

Community Editor is web based WYSIWYG HTML editor. It enables ASP.Net Web developers to replace the Textarea in your existing/new Web Sites with a powerful, but easy to use WYSIWYG Editor.

This rich editing tool empowers end users with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface for creating and publishing Posts/Forms without relying on any client-side components or controls.

Community Editor is a desktop editor for the CommunityServer.org Forums that allows you to format your text easily and quickly with real time results.

Community Editor is a free desktop application and can be downloaded at Community Editor

It includes Smiley faces ,Foreground color, Background coloring, Text Formating, Spell Check and many more options.

Code Block insertion is also supported for various languages

Supported Languages inclued

Vb.net
Sql
C#
Java
Html
XML

Also check out the Free Text Box that has tons of features and would allow the users to use MS Word like features while editing a TextArea.The link is posted at my Blog Post below:

Link to another FreeTextBox