[2005] what to do in asp.net

[jlbantang]

hi guys recently i start asp.net new things always coming everyday when i expand reading... i really want to start coding but i dont know what exercise and design should i take. it will really help if you'll be able to share some of your work in asp.net that i can mimic and standard coding.

[ZeBula8]

make a page of controls.... and try to learn as much as you can about each control... be creative

[jlbantang]

i agree but wont it be a more helpful if i have a website reference designed by the PROs

[HoraShadow]

You want ideas?

Hm...

• Simple Agenda (to practice ADO.NET).
• Multi-User Agenda (to practice ADO.NET and different users).
• Tic Tac Toe game (practice Logic).
• Calculator (practice Logic, it should add, sub, div and mult, store memory, recall memory, clear and should not get stuck anywhere).
• Custom Search Application that uses Google (learn integration).
• Text file parser (upload a text file, it should count the total number of words, count individual words (ie: 30x is, 28x he, 3x house and so on...))

[mendhak]

Don't look at how others have coded things to 'mimic' it. Try something yourself, come back with questions and then take all the criticism that we throw at you. If there's one thing a programmer is good at, it's criticizing others.

That'll get you coding on your own and improving your approaches to problems as you go along.

[jlbantang]

mendhak: seeing others work makes me start easily . how about your works? can you provide links?

TNX!

[brin351]

I agree with mendhak. If youv'e been reading/studying .net think of a project you could create then design how you'd do it and then code it. Copying examples only works if you know what your doing or you'll learn very little.

Most of the time I start with a pencil and paper and write out a projects overview, requirements, logic then start making the structure and coding in Visual Studio.

Try this for a project - a website catelog of books, the titles, authors etc so some one could search it. How would you do it? Post your plan if you like.

A great Zen master once said programming is problem solving which is the opposite of creating problems. If you can not solve the problem why worry about it...

[jlbantang]

that will be a good project. i keep you updated when im done with initial design(DB and logic).

THNX!

[jlbantang]

hi guys i changed the project to PURCHASE Order and Inventory Control, since its pretty obvious that i will be working in this program in latter time. anyway i start working with the design and project description:

description: basically the program will have different master table
1. Item Master ; where items will be pulled-out every time a PO will be raise or adjustment in the Inventory.

2. Supplier Master: this where the Suppliers will be selected during PO.

3. Purchase Order: the design basically will be a traditional way with master-detail form. but on this i just want to select the supplier name in combo box. for the detail part, im planning to place the order item in the grid where the user can search through item code or description. once it is selected(triggered by mouse click-row lost focus) it will update the current PO item(s) as well. the PO should also provide a LOCK MECHANISM if the complete delivery of items where done or it was CANCELED.

4. PO Receivables: monitor of purchase items will be done through this module. by simply selecting the PO Nos/Ref it will give the list of all items and there current quantity status. in addition to that, the module should also be able to response if the number of qty exceeded to the maximum ordered qty.




thats it for now the INVENTORY Module will be next. should you have any opinion or violent reaction please share it to me.

[Wokawidget]

I think before you get to that level you will need to look at, and learn, .NET.
HoraShadow gave you some things to learn that would enable you to achieve your goals.
1st off, you're going to need a login page I assume...? Have you even thought about site security?
I have 2 methods of forms authentication demos, the links are in my sig. You can download these and check the code out.

As for app design...that is just pure html for the most part. So if you learn html and css style sheets then you can create very nice web pages.

Woka

[jlbantang]

well... ive already made a classic asp page+database. let say this is the way how i learn. IMO, theres so much thing to read in .net and to get you running as they said start with a project.

[brin351]

That is a reasonably complex project to start with but if you've got the business logic understanding OK. So you have a normalised relational database how is your website going to implement your requirements. You've mentioned and couple of aspx pages, controls but what is the bigger view. Normaly I look at a site in terms of levels of users. In this case you may have a admin and the public perhaps members/customers as well. That's 2 or 3 types of users with differing privledges. You can secure folders and thier pages to certain members/users using forms authentication what is this structure?

[jlbantang]

yes there will be site administration. im planning to implement security through .net configuration. A 2 different user types, one will be the admin and the rest will be the data user. wokawidget i think has also a to implement security through asp.net configuration and another link from asp.net(video tutorials).

btw, what control should i use to create the ITEM and SUPPLIER Master Data Interface?

[Wokawidget]

ok....sorry, maybe I am missing somehting, what is it exactly you want help with?

Woka

[mendhak]

btw, what control should i use to create the ITEM and SUPPLIER Master Data Interface?

Regular form controls, such as textboxes and buttons and dropdownlists. It depends on the 'properties' of the corresponding fields. For example, 'category' is most likely a dropdown list, quantity would be a textbox.

[realbogus]

If there's one thing a programmer is good at, it's criticizing others.

Do I hear an AMEN, brother???

[jlbantang]

@mendhak: i was thinking that if there is a wizard to create controls by just importing fields.

@realbogus: AMEN! ALLIEN!

[mendhak]

Hallelujah, praise the lord.

Oh and no, you should come up with the controls yourself. You could theoretically write your own code which goes through a given class and using System.Reflection generates the controls for you, but trust me, that is a really really bad approach. I've seen enterprise level solutions attempt to implement that, and it's only lead to unmaintainable code and inscalability.

Go simple, place the controls there yourself.

[jlbantang]

i prefer the basic control. can you provide some link of this ENTERPRISE SOLUTION. thnx!

[mendhak]

You mean, you want to look at some of our code?

Sorry, can't do that. I'm working with very sensitive code. I'll lose my job if I share it. You know how IP rights are.

[jlbantang]

not the code... i site will do. that i can compare how PROFESSIONAL designs there site.

[Wokawidget]

not sure what you mean...

U mean you want sites that have nice User Interfaces?

http://news.bbc.co.uk
http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/index.asp

??

Woka

[jlbantang]

TNX. anyway im moving on to my first asp.net project... hope i will still have hair remain before i make this complete.

[realbogus]

it's not that bad... besides, hair is way overrated.

[mendhak]

All ASP.NET programmers should be bald.

I suppose you're looking for an example like Dot Net Nuke!

http://www.dotnetnuke.com/

[jlbantang]

is it ideal way to use include directive when establishing database connection like classic asp does.

[brin351]

in asp.net 2.0 you put the DB connection string in the web.config file and get it from there for all pages.

----in web.config--------
<connectionStrings>
	<add name="myDBconnection" connectionString="the connection string"/>
</connectionStrings>


-----on page----------
imports System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager 'at top

'get the conn
Dim s as string = ConnectionStrings("myDBconnection").ConnectionString

There is no include in .net - depending on what you need to do there are userControls, master pages for design reuse, public classes in the app_code folder for code etc etc.

[jlbantang]

well i ran through this sample when im looking in some reference. this is more likely a classic asp programming.

[brin351]

Yes - That is really outdated and a poor example of design and code. It looks more like how to do a temp conversion from clasic asp.

[Wokawidget]

Also....you should turn on Option Explicit for VB.NET, I still cannot believe this isn't switched on by default.
Switching Option Explicit on in the tools, properties pages, will not allow you to code things like:

Dim DB

This declares the DB variable as an object. What you should do instead is:

Dim DB As String

ie be explicit about what data types your variables are.
Whith option explicit switched on the Dim DB line will cause an error during complilation as you haven't specified a datatype

Woka

[mendhak]

Are you enjoying the criticism?

(It's for your own good!)

[jlbantang]

Are you enjoying the criticism?

(It's for your own good!)

YES definitely. poking my head is a common thing to learn new things....

[jlbantang]

in asp.net 2.0 you put the DB connection string in the web.config file and get it from there for all pages.

----in web.config--------
<connectionStrings>
	<add name="myDBconnection" connectionString="the connection string"/>
</connectionStrings>


-----on page----------
imports System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager 'at top

'get the conn
Dim s as string = ConnectionStrings("myDBconnection").ConnectionString

There is no include in .net - depending on what you need to do there are userControls, master pages for design reuse, public classes in the app_code folder for code etc etc.

im looking at this tutorial (http://www.w3schools.com/aspnet/aspnet_dbconnection.asp )to establish db connection and its obvious a different way around.
and i am confuse which one is more secured.

BTW, can you give me sample how to create connection using ms access database in website app_data folder.

THNX!

[brin351]

dim dbconn
dbconn=New OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;
data source=" & server.mappath("northwind.mdb"))
dbconn.Open()

should be

dim dbconn as string
dbconn = New OleDbConnection(configerationManager.connectionStrings("myConn").connectionString)
dbconn.Open()

web.config

<connectionStrings>
<add name="myConn" value="Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;data source=c: the full path to app_Data/northwind.mdb" />
</connectionString>

For help with different DB connection string google it