I am trying to develop web parts with custom functionality for editing for normal users. In the chrome bar there would be the same sort of controls as you see in the top right of your browser (except with a triangle instead of a line).
Triangle is to minimise/restore (as in OOB, but with different display)
Square is to maximize a new module type window, probably with an iFrame displayed in a module type view window with jQuery with an additional field to add the url to where it should go
Cross is to delete web part
The functionality is required across a few different types of web parts including calendar, CBQ, Data View, CBQWP, and would ideally be a part of a custom chrome that would be added to them. I don't do back end code so I'm finding it hard to get my head around how someone would put together the functionality. Unless it's simple it won't be me writing this functionality. I have Enterprise 2010 for development, but the people using the control would only have foundation.
I'm basically after opinions about how this would be done. I think it should be a custom control written into the chrome, if that's possible. Does that seem feasible or is there a better way of doing it?
I would really appreciate any advise, even if it's just that it would be better to skin the existing chrome and leave the functionality as is. There's leeway with the functionality so at this stage it's deciding on how best to do it if it's possible or not too bother going down that route.
Thanks very much in advance!!
Related
I needed help on some issues regarding DotNetNuke 6.2 ....
1) If a layman such as marketing executive logs into the site, then he should be able to change the layout of the page by moving the content blocks around as per his design requirements.
for eg Left content block needs to be moved to right side. Left bottom content block needs to be moved to the bottom.
This tasks will not be done by the developer. Is there a example which does not require change/modification in skin files... Kindly provide a code example...
2) Is it possible to host a DotNetNuke site under a custom MVC 4 application and is communication possible between them ?
for eg... exchanging token, logged in user information etc
Kindly provide a code example....
This is all about the skin that you use. If you have a LeftPane and a ContentPane for example. Any user with edit permissions to the page can move a module from the LeftPane to the ContentPane, or move a module up/down with respect to other modules in the pane.
Yes, you can, but you have to be a bit careful when nesting both inside the same application structure.
I want to be able to use the .NET WebBrowserControl to record and repeat user actions to automate the collection and retrieval of text from web pages for a data extraction tool that I'm building, but am unsure about how to best approach this.
I specifically want to use the .NET WebBrowserControl as it can be embedded in a .NET form and also used within a server side process without a UI. I'm aware that there are other means of recording and repeating user actions such as Selenium, but for now I am interested in a solution around the web browser control (just to keep answers focused).
Actions to be recorded are those such as button clicks, drop down list selection, link clicks etc.
Potential solutions I have looked at so far:
(Please correct me if my notes based on brief evaluations are wrong)
iMacro (doesn't appear to have a component that can be used within a project, to record user actions, rather the GUI has to be used).
WaitN - Good for programmatic play back - but no recording facility that can be hooked up to the web browser control?
I'm presuming this is possible as services like Mozenda appear to make use of the WebBrowserControl, or some IE like version based on mshtml.dll.
Are there any other options I can look at?
Any insight would be appreciated.
yap, as in Mozenda ,when user create any action like goto mainpage>click on images>download image etc... the XPath is recorded with the each page url into XML file. So, use self learning algorithm to implement such kind of XML better way than mozenda.
i have developed one application using JSOUP and Regular Expression Parsing works same as mozenda do. i created the configuration file which contains the XPath of all the items you want . Which works great for me.
Hope this helps,
I'm currently developing a plug in for Internet Explorer, and there's a certain feature in Internet Explorer that's bothering me.
There's this feature in IE that's been appearing at least since IE7 (I couldn't check earlier versions), that lets the user modify the sizing of HTML elements in editable windows (such as a rich text mail in GMail), just by clicking on the element and dragging the sizing box. This modifies the style of the HTML element (such as a <img> or a <div>).
My first problem is that I don't know the name of that feature. I've searched and searched, but I haven't been able to find a thing.
My second problem is that I need a way to either turn it off, or at least to work with it, programatically. In my plug in, I need to modify the DOM in webmail clients to modify certain things that the user types. The problem is that for some reason, the behaviour of my plugin varies if an HTML element is selected using this feature in the edit window of the webmail. I need to, at the very least, be able to detect if anything is selected this way.
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks a lot!
You're probably talking about Internet Explorer's Accessibility Features, which are designed to assist the visually impaired to use websites. Visual impairement can take many forms, and it's generally considered very bad form to take away any tools designed to assist users in their efforts to effectively use the Internet.
Don't make your users work harder to use your site. You get paid to write software that's easy to use and makes life simpler. If your site doesn't do that, your users will find one that does.
I was wondering if anyone knows of an existing sample or an approach to achieve the desired functionality.
Basically, what I'm looking for is a web browser like skeleton. The idea is that the main screen of my application is shown in the left tab. This tab can never be closed. On this screen is an overview of various application components such as activities, events, contacts, etc.
When the user clicks on a specific contact/event/activity a new tab is created and auto-focused. The user can view and edit the information. When they are done they can close the tab.
The ability to have multiple tabs open is important.
Also, keyboard shortcuts to easily navigate between tabs would be great, but not absolutely essential at this point.
Note: I don't need to access any web content.
Really what I'm looking for, at least what I think I'm looking for, is a shell of a modern web browser. Does something like this exist? Is there a good approach to building such an application?
Note: I'm new to Windows GUI development, so I apologize if this is a rudimentary question. I was unable to find anything meaningful while searching MSDN and other resources.
Thanks!
What it sounds like is not really a Web Browser shell at all, simply the relative appearance of one functionality-wise.
What you can do is use a TabControl control. This can be altered to suit your needs quite perfectly in my view.
An example of a modified TabControl is as follows: [ From here ]
There are a number of things that can be done with a TabControl (as with any other component) to make it suit what you need.
Here are some links that you may find helpful:
Flat Tab Control - As per the picture
MSDN
Video on using a Tab Control
C# Corner
I know about code-behind files, but what is the best real-world way of Designers that are using DreamWeaver or other Design Tools to work with Visual Studio programmers?
For example, say you have a basic website with user interface forms hitting the database... the database work is definitely done by the developer but how to tie the designed forms with the database coding or client-side logic that may involve events on controls, or other GUI related tie-ins. Are the graphic designers also controlling application flow? There seems to be a large disconnect that needs addressed - especially when it comes time to tweak the design after it's been implemented.
Use another approach like MVC, separate your design from your logic. Like this every member (designer / developer) of the team can focus on what they do best.
MVC implementations: link / link
The best way is to make sure that your designers have some knowledge of what kind of HTML they will be working with.
Every ASP.NET developer is aware of MS-HTML, that lovely nesting of HTML tables, but designers aren't. Designers have their own requirements to meet and they'll do them in the best manner possible. Sadly it's not often good for us.
I am always frustrated when I receive a design from our UI team which shows radio-buttons nicely layed out in a grid using floating div's. Then I have to shatter their dreams that no, I can't generate you that HTML (ok, I can with the use of ControlAdapters, but every time they are different designs!).
Try and have a 90%/ 10% rule, where 90% of the design is done before the ASP.NET starts and the 10% is done once the ASP.NET is completed, and done against ASP.NET generated HTML.
And make sure you're using source control! Code doesn't exist unless it's in source control! And thanks to the latest TFS PowerTools there's a lovely Windows Shell integration component so you don't need to use VS to check in and out now more :D
This may sound really cheezy, but when I was working with Dreamweaver / Visual Studio, I'd do my layouts, and then conveniently put [RADIO BUTTON HERE], [INPUT TEXT HERE], etc. in the places where my form elements/controls would go, and I'd save the page as a basic HTML document.
That way Dreamweaver wouldn't nest its own form tags in and I'd have easy to locate places to drop in my ASP.NET controls when I went to merge things in. It was easy enough to create a fresh web form page in Visual Studio and then copy and paste everything over. If for some reason I mucked things up, I'd have a basic HTML "template" to start over wtih.
Unfortunately this is an all too common problem. Dreamweaver typically doesn't write html that is friendly to a .net developer. If at all possible, get someone who can actually read, and write HTML,not just use the Dreamweaver WYSIWYG editor.
I often found that if I'm working with a designer that doesn't know html, that I actually save a lot of time be just having them mock up everything in photoshop, then give me sliced up images. I find that my writing the actual HTML in a .net friendly format saves a ton of time, instead of having to go back and forth with the designer in this situation.