Mindfully <> Creative

Using jQuery, CKEditor, AJAX in ASP.NET MVC 2

2010-03-19T03:54:00-06:00:00

After banging my head for days on a “A potentially dangerous Request.Form value was detected" issue when post (ajax-ing) a form in ASP.NET MVC 2 on .NET 4.0 framework using jQuery and CKEditor, I found that when you use the following:

Code Snippet
 $.ajax({
    url: '/TheArea/Root/Add',
    type: 'POST',
    data: $("#form0Add").serialize(),
    dataType: 'json',
    //contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8',
    beforeSend: function ()
    {
        pageNotify("NotifyMsgContentDiv", "MsgDefaultDiv", '<img src="/Content/images/content/icons/busy.gif" /> Adding post, please wait...', 300, "", true);
        $("#btnAddSubmit").val("Please wait...").addClass("button-disabled").attr("disabled", "disabled");
    },
    success: function (data)
    {
        $("#btnAddSubmit").val("Add New Post").removeClass("button-disabled").removeAttr('disabled');
        redirectToUrl("/Exhibitions");
    },
    error: function ()
    {
        pageNotify("NotifyMsgContentDiv", "MsgErrorDiv", '<img src="/Content/images/content/icons/cross.png" /> Could not add post. Please try again or contact your web administrator.', 6000, "normal");
        $("#btnAddSubmit").val("Add New Post").removeClass("button-disabled").removeAttr('disabled');
    }
});
 

Notice the following:

Code Snippet
 data: $("#form0Add").serialize(),
 

You may run into the “A potentially dangerous Request.Form value was detected" issue with this. One of the requirements was NOT to disable ValidateRequest (ValidateRequest=”false”). For this project (and any other project) I felt it wasn’t necessary to disable ValidateRequest.

Note: I’ve search for alternatives for the posting issue and everyone and their mothers continually suggested to disable ValidateRequest. That bothers me – a LOT. So, disabling ValidateRequest is totally out of the question (and always will be).

So I thought to modify how the “data: “ gets serialized. the ajax data fix was simple, add a .html(). YES!!! IT WORKS!!! No more “potentially dangerous” issue, ajax form posts (and does it beautifully)! So if you’re using jQuery to $.ajax() a form with CKEditor, remember to do:

Code Snippet
 data: $("#form0Add").serialize().html(),
 

or bad things will happen. Also, don’t forget to set

Code Snippet
 config.htmlEncodeOutput = true;
 

for the CKEditor config.js file (or equivalent). Example:

Code Snippet
 CKEDITOR.editorConfig = function( config )
{
    // Define changes to default configuration here. For example:
    // config.language = 'fr';
    config.uiColor = '#ccddff';
    config.width = 640;
    config.ignoreEmptyParagraph = true;
    config.resize_enabled = false;
    config.skin = 'kama';
    config.enterMode = CKEDITOR.ENTER_BR;
 
    config.toolbar = 'MyToolbar';
    config.toolbar_MyToolbar =
    [
        ['Bold', 'Italic', 'Underline'],
        ['JustifyLeft', 'JustifyCenter', 'JustifyRight', 'JustifyBlock', 'Font', 'FontSize', 'TextColor', 'BGColor'],
        ['BulletedList', 'NumberedList', '-', 'Outdent', 'Indent'],
        '/',
        ['Scayt', '-', 'Cut', 'Copy', 'Paste', 'Find'],
        ['Undo', 'Redo'],
        ['Link', 'Unlink', 'Anchor', 'Image', 'Flash', 'HorizontalRule'],
        ['Table'],
        ['Preview', 'Source']
    ];
    config.htmlEncodeOutput = true;
};
 

Happy coding!!!

Tags: jQuery ASP.NET MVC 2 ASP.NET 4.0 AJAX

Disk Quota Enabled? SERIOUSLY?

2010-02-06T18:28:23-07:00:00

For the past week, I’ve nearly came close to ripping my hair out over a “small” issue with one of my 5 SCSI harddrives in my Windows 7 x64 Ultimate Edition desktop – the D:\ drive. It’s the drive that I install and hold ALL my programs on (named Programs Drive). Last week, it started NOT installing new/updating programs. So I googled it… In my research, many people had problems with the hibernation feature that somehow didn’t let you access drives. Some mentioned the permissions to the drives wasn’t set correctly. Now, I already know that I have permissions set and ready and I knew that’s not the case here, so maybe it’s the hibernation feature?

So, I decided to test, and test EVERYTHING. I first tested by installing a small program to my C:\ drive (named System Drive). It worked as expected since it’s, well, the system drive. Then, I tested by installing the same program to my E:\ drive (named Projects Drive). IT WORKED! Huh? So that ruled out hibernation issues.

Well, long story short, I googled again and read that it may be a “Disk Quota” was set on the drive. Well, IT WAS SET!!! And it was set to 10GB max on both D:\ and E:\ drives. So, if you’re having a “There's not enough disk space to install file…” issue and you know that there’s plenty of harddrive space, then check if a disk quota was set on the drive by going to: My Computer, Right-Click on Faulty Drive, Click “Properties”, Select the “Disk Quota” OR “Quota” tab, and un-check “Enable quota management” if it’s checked.

Now, IF it’s already unchecked. Then you may have a harddrive permission issue which you’ll need to check the permissions of the drive by using the same dialog box and selecting the “Security” tab.

As for me, life is now more grand than before… :)

Tags: Disk Quota,Windows 7

Testing a Windows Live Writer plug-in

2009-12-24T11:23:44-07:00:00

Testing a plugin with Ping.fm…

Note to Self: Resharper’s action lists issue

2009-12-24T09:29:20-07:00:00

Original post: Weird resharper issue with action lists that don't work. - Stack Overflow

Export your current settings in Visual Studio. Tools > Import & Export Settings > Export settings
Save your settings…
Use the VS CMD prompt and enter: devenv /resetsettings
Import your saved settings in Visual Studio. Tools > Import & Export Settings > Import settings
If all is well, you’re good to go…

Tags: Note to Self,Resharper,Visual Studio,Action Lists

Update web.config Debug/Release builds in Visual Studio web application projects

2009-12-18T10:16:26-07:00:00

Here’s simple code to add to a project’s “Build Events” post-build properties:

if exist "$(ProjectDir)Web.$(ConfigurationName).config" (copy "$(ProjectDir)Web.$(ConfigurationName).config" "$(ProjectDir)Web.config")

It searches for a build-type web.config, then replaces the current web.config with the build-type web.config file. Example of a build-type web.config’s

web.Release.config
web.Debug.config

This is best if you don’t want to continually set the
<compilation debug="true"> attribute or adjust any other settings like switching database connections, setting any <appSettings> properties, etc…

To pause one and start another…

2009-11-09T18:59:13-07:00:00

This Friday, I’ll may have to stop a project due to limited funding. This web project is for a client who ran into a budget freeze (assumed) and haven’t been able to financially support the project until further notice. But that’s ok, most of the project is completed and they’ll have a very nice website with a web-based intranet all built in ASP.NET MVC 2 Preview 2.

So, until funds start flowing, I’ve decided to start a new rebuild of Glacsy.com. Yes, another rebuild. But this time, it’ll be built in pure ASP.NET MVC 2 also. Along with that, it’ll be the first and only website built in ASP.NET MVC 2. I’ll be including various jQuery plugins, exercising DataAnnotations, and dumping as much features and eye candy as possible (but not too much). I’m doing this to truly test the extensibility of ASP.NET MVC 2 and prove that it-can-be-done-in-MVC-two!!!

Glacsy.com will keep the current layout & design, but the under pins will be powered by ASP.NET MVC 2. Glacsy.com will be a webfarm of 6 tightly integrated websites. So, let the excitement begin… ;P

Loving LINQ

2009-05-30T12:39:58-06:00:00

Not too long ago, I spared some time to discover the hype of LINQ, primarily, LINQ to SQL. I was amazed of how much faster I could get things done with much less code. In fact, I’ve converted much of Glacsy.com to using LINQ and have noticed a HUGE performance increase from the server. The websites load faster, an area in which we’ve been targeting and trying to improve since the new rebuild of the sites. I may post a few examples to include LINQ in the future.

Tags: LINQ