posts and entries by Marek Musielak

Posted on Thursday, March 12, 2009 by Marek Musielak

EPiServer rich text editor

PropertyLongString and XHTML String are probably the most frequently used types of properties in all EPiServer sites. They are used on nearly all content pages. However I wanted to use the editor control on the standard aspx page. I thought it would be really easy - just put HtmlEditor control on my page and voila. It was a little bit more complex but finally I managed to do what I needed.

Lets start with an aspx page. What we need to do is to put <EPiServer:Property /> on the page and set EditMode attribute to true. I set Width and Height attributes as well but this is optional. Remember not to forget about setting runat="server" property. I also put message panel and button on the page so I can show how to access the text put into the wysiwyg editor. Here is my aspx page:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="True" CodeBehind="HtmlEditorPage.aspx.cs" Inherits="MyProject.HtmlEditorPage" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
    <head runat="server">
        <title>Html Editor Page</title>
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/App_Themes/Default/Styles/system.css" />
    </head>
    <body>
        <form runat="server" method="post">
            <asp:Panel ID="pnlMessage" runat="server" Visible="false" CssClass="EP-systemMessage">
                <asp:Literal ID="litMessage" runat="server" />
            </asp:Panel>
            <EPiServer:Property id="myHtmlEditor" Width="500" height="350" EditMode="true" runat="server" />
            <asp:Button ID="btnSend" runat="server" Text="Send" OnClick="btnSend_Click" />
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

Now it's time to write something in code behind. First we need to register scripts that are required by the editor. I used ResolveUrlFromUI and ResolveUrlFromUtil methods but if you know your UI and Util directories then you can put whole paths without using those methods. Now lets create new PropertyLongString. We can select chosen editor options for the property or just select EditorToolOption.All. If you don't want to use any of them you don't have to set it at all. Next set Name of your property and assign it to the InnerProperty of the editor. That's all .You have pretty HtmlEditor on your page.

The last thing is accessing the data from the editor. I tried several ways of accessing it but only one worked for me: retrieving content of the property by using value from Request.Form. If you know any smarter way, let me know. So here is code behind (source code can be downloaded from here: source code):

#region

using System;
using EPiServer;
using EPiServer.Core;
using EPiServer.Editor;

#endregion

namespace MyProject
{
    public partial class HtmlEditorPage : SimplePage
    {
        protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnInit(e);

            if (!Page.ClientScript.IsClientScriptIncludeRegistered("system.js"))
            {
                Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptInclude("system.js",
                                                              ((PageBase) Page).ResolveUrlFromUI("javascript/system.js"));
                Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptInclude("system.aspx",
                                                              ((PageBase) Page).ResolveUrlFromUI("javascript/system.aspx"));
                Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptInclude("episerverscriptmanager.js",
                                                              ((PageBase) Page).ResolveUrlFromUtil(
                                                                  "javascript/EPiServerScriptManager.js"));
            }

            PropertyLongString longString = new PropertyLongString();

            // select chosen options or use EditorToolOption.All
            longString.EditorToolOptions = EditorToolOption.Bold | EditorToolOption.Italic | EditorToolOption.Underline;
            longString.Name = "MyLongStringProperty";
            myHtmlEditor.InnerProperty = longString;
        }

        protected void btnSend_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // yeah this is the only way of accessing what you put in the editor
            litMessage.Text = Request.Form[myHtmlEditor.ID + "$ctl00$" + myHtmlEditor.PropertyName];
            pnlMessage.Visible = true;
        }
    }
}

Posted on Friday, March 06, 2009 by Marek Musielak

3 comments

TheBugger - to see without looking

In my view, one of the most important developer skill is to see without looking. Let me explain what I mean. Assume that we have a piece of code that have some complex functionality. You see it for the very first time and you want to know how it works and what it is used for. You could debug the code of course. However it would be perfect if you were able to see without looking - look at the code, read it and know what it is responsible for.

As in all other cases training makes a master. But still, doing the same thing to many times makes it boring and even annoying. That's why I do really like to practice my skills in some other ways. One of them is minesweeper. Yeah, the same old minesweeper that you had in your first MS Windows. But the rules of the game are to easy for you. So lets make them a little bit harder.

It's really easy to find all bugs when you have a possibility of marking bugs. But what when you can not tick their location? You have to remember their placement, to see where they are without looking at them. First time is not so effortless. Believe me, the second one is much simpler. And tenth is even easier than you expected. The same is with code reading. So don't give up - practice.

Are you able to debug the field without a possibility of marking bugs? Sure you are. If you weren't, you wouldn't be here ;)

Start again

So how fast have you debugged the field?

Any ideas how to make TheBugger more challenging? Leave your comment and I will consider it for sure.

And what are your ways of training your mind?

Posted on Tuesday, March 03, 2009 by Marek Musielak

4 comments

The easiest way of editing web.config dynamically

Some time ago I needed to update web.config programatically from my web site in order to add my own key to <appSettings /> tag. I spent a lot of time looking for a solution on the Internet. I wasted a lot of time trying to reuse existing code from the Web but nothing worked for me. I most cases they thrown an exception, some didn't even compile. Finally I found one on my own.

First lets read existing configuration and value of the settings element:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    if (!IsPostBack)
    {
        System.Configuration.Configuration config = System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~");

        System.Configuration.KeyValueConfigurationElement setting = config.AppSettings.Settings["MyValue"];

        if (null != setting)
        {
            // lets do something with the value - displaying it in a textbox is an ides
            textboxValue.Text = setting.Value;
        }
    }
}

We can use web.config file from some other directory if we use its name instead of '~' in WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~") method.

We've already read the value and displayed it in textbox so we are ready to save updated value (or add new settings element if it hasn't been saved yet).

protected void btnSave_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        System.Configuration.Configuration config = System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~");

        System.Configuration.KeyValueConfigurationElement setting = config.AppSettings.Settings["MyValue"];

        if (null != setting)
        {
            config.AppSettings.Settings["MyValue"].Value = textboxValue.Text;
        }
        else
        {
            config.AppSettings.Settings.Add("MyValue", textboxValue.Text);
        }

        config.Save();
        literalMessage.Text = "New value saved. Application will be restarted automatically.";
    }
    catch (System.Exception exc)
    {
        literalMessage.Text = (exc.Message + "<br />" + exc.StackTrace).Replace("\n", "<br />");
    }
}

And that's all. The solution is short so the post is short ;) Any comments? Do not hesitate to write them below.

Posted on Friday, February 27, 2009 by Marek Musielak

2 comments

EPiServer online users list

Working with the application which is edited by dozens of people makes the application harder to maintain. Have you ever thought about the people that are doing their job editing the site before you start deploy the new version of the application? I hadn't used to... until I got a lot of complaints from editors that lost their job. "I wanted to save what I'd wrote but I got 'service unavailable' message instead" they repined.

It made me look for the solution for this problem. Sure, I could do the new builds during the nights but what if the site is hosted by external company and you don't have access to the servers? You won't be able to force anyone from that company to stay in the office over night just to deploy the new version of the site.

The other solution would be to send emails to all editors saying that server will be restarted so they can can save all their work. This idea has only only small drawback - it assumes that editors check their emails frequently. I've already spent enough time maintaining sites to know that it barely happens.

Finally I found a solution that works fine for me. I use System.Web.Security.Membership to get all users that are logged in and deploy the new builds when no one but me is editing the site.

So lets go step by step with this solution. Firstly I created the web page that would be used to diplay active users. I put the repater on it:

<asp:Repeater ID="rptUsers" runat="server">
    <HeaderTemplate><table></HeaderTemplate>
    <ItemTemplate>
        <tr>
            <td><%# ((MembershipUser)Container.DataItem).UserName %></td>
            <td><%# ((MembershipUser)Container.DataItem).LastActivityDate.ToString("HH:mm:ss")%></td>
        </tr>
    </ItemTemplate>
    <FooterTemplate></table></FooterTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

and overrode OnLoad method:

public partial class OnlineUsers : SimplePage
{
    private static DateTime applicationStartTime;

    public static DateTime ApplicationStartTime
    {
        set { applicationStartTime = value; }
    }

    protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
    {
        if (!User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
        {
            AccessDenied();
        }

        List<MembershipUser> users = new List<MembershipUser>();

        foreach (MembershipUser user in Membership.GetAllUsers())
        {
            if (user.IsOnline && user.LastActivityDate > applicationStartTime)
            {
                users.Add(user);
            }
        }

        users.Sort(delegate(MembershipUser u1, MembershipUser u2)
                       { return u2.LastActivityDate.CompareTo(u1.LastActivityDate); });

        rptUsers.DataSource = users;
        rptUsers.DataBind();

        base.OnLoad(e);
    }
}

On the beginning I though it would be enough to check MembershipUser.IsOnline property, but it turned out that when application is started all users are treated as online, cause MembershipUser.LastActivityDate is set to the time when application started. That's why I added applicationStartTime field that I set in Global.asax.cs file in Application_Start method and compare it with LastActivityDate property:

public class Global : EPiServer.Global
{
    protected void Application_Start(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        OnlineUsers.ApplicationStartTime = DateTime.Now;
    }
}

And that's all. I can check whether my build would interrupt anyone's work. Remember, a happy customer is your walking advertisement. Lets try not to upset them unnecessarily ;)

Source code can be downloaded from here: source code

Posted on Friday, February 06, 2009 by Marek Musielak

1 comments

Extended Image Url Property

Some time ago I got a request from our customer saying "We have so many images in EPiServer that we frequently choose wrong one. Could you provide a functionality so images are displayed in edit mode?".

Sure we can. It's really easy to create own custom propery or extend existing one in EPiServer 5. Some basics about it can be found here on world.episerver.com. In this case I extended PropertyImageUrl property.

First thing that I did was overriding CreatePropertyControl method in my class:

< Hide code

[PageDefinitionTypePlugIn(DisplayName = "URL to Image (Extended)")]
public class PropertyImageUrlExtended : PropertyImageUrl
{
    public override IPropertyControl CreatePropertyControl()
    {
        return new PropertyImageUrlExtendedControl();
    }
}

Then I created PropertyImageUrlExtendedControl (overriding PropertyUrlControl class of course). The only thing that has to be done here is custom implementation of SetupEditControls method:

< Hide code

protected override void SetupEditControls()
{
    base.SetupEditControls();

    Image image = new Image ();
    image.Style.Add("clear", "both");
    image.Style.Add("float", "left");
    image.ImageUrl = PropertyUrl.Value as string;

    if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(image.ImageUrl))
    {
        image.Style.Add("display", "none");
    }

    Controls.Add(image);

    foreach (Control control in Controls)
    {
        if (control is TextBox)
        {
            TextBox tb = (TextBox) control;
            tb.Attributes.Add(
                // clean source or set the new value; hide or display image
                "OnChange",
                @"this.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('IMG')[0].src = this.value;
                if (this.value != null) this.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('IMG')[0].style.display = 'block';
                else this.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('IMG')[0].style.display = 'none';");
            break;
        }
    }
}

First I execute base.SetupEditControls() in order to create label, textbox and file picker. Then I add image, set its source and hide it if the source is empty. The second part of this method allows to update source of the image every time the content of the textbox holding chosen image is changed. It's a short javascript updating the source of the image and hiding or showing the image if the source is empty or not respectively. Result looks like this: