One of the worst controls in the ASP.NET library is the CheckBoxList (or the RadioButtonList). I just can't understand why they have implemented it the way they did. The thing that annoys me the most is that it doesn't render the value of each item in the list in the HTML code. I will describe a workaround for this in this post.

Let's start by creating a simple CheckBoxList:

<asp:CheckBoxList ID="MyCheckBoxList" RepeatLayout="Flow"  runat="server">
   <asp:ListItem Text="One" Value="1" />
   <asp:ListItem Text="Two" Value="2" />
</asp:CheckBoxList>

This is the generated HTML code:

<span id="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList">
   <input id="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList_0" type="checkbox" name="ctl00$MyCheckBoxList$0" />
   <label for="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList_0">One</label><br />
   <input id="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList_1" type="checkbox" name="ctl00$MyCheckBoxList$1" />
   <label for="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList_1">Two</label>
</span>

Note that no value attribute is generated for the input elements even though we specified a value.

If you try to add it as an attribute nothing will happen. This will generate the same HTML code:

foreach (ListItem li in MyCheckBoxList.Items)
{
   li.Attributes.Add("value", li.Value);
}

However, if we change the attribute to something else than value a span will be added to wrap the input checkbox element.

foreach (ListItem li in MyCheckBoxList.Items)
{
   li.Attributes.Add("id", li.Value);
}

This is the generated HMTL code:

<span id="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList">
   <span id="1">
      <input id="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList_0" type="checkbox" name="ctl00$MyCheckBoxList$0" />
      <label for="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList_0">One</label>
   </span><br />
   <span id="2">
      <input id="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList_1" type="checkbox" name="ctl00$MyCheckBoxList$1" />
      <label for="ctl00_MyCheckBoxList_1">Two</label>
   </span>
</span>

This is really odd but now we can at least access the checkbox value on the client side. You could do it like this with jQuery:

$("#<%= MyCheckBoxList.ClientID %>").find(":checkbox").click(function () {
   alert($(this).parent().attr("id"));
});

Or with ASP.NET AJAX:

var checkBoxList = $get("<%= MyCheckBoxList.ClientID %>");
var checkBoxes = checkBoxList.getElementsByTagName("input");
for (var i = 0; i < checkBoxes.length; i++) {
   $addHandler(checkBoxes[i], "click", function () {
      alert(this.parentNode.id);
   });
}

Today when we were setting up an old EPiServer 5.1 SP1 site we got some strange errors so I turned on the logging in EPiServer. I got everything to work except for the composer edit on page where I recived the error below.

After doing some debuggning with Reflector Pro inside the EPiServer assembly I realised that it was when EPiServer.Web.PermanentLinUtility.GetPageReference(UrlBuilder mappedUrl) was trying to do some logging it failed. The first thing that this method does is to check for some logging settings and then do some logging.

if (_log.IsInfoEnabled)
{
    _log.InfoFormat("ReparsePageUrl for Url = {0}", (mappedUrl == null) ? "(NULL)" :  mappedUrl.ToString());
}

The part which fails is mappedUrl.ToString().

I haven't bothered to analyze why the ToString() fails. I just turned down the logging so that it won't log that.
If anyone has an idea why it's failing, please comment.

Server Error in '/' Application.   


Invalid URI: There is an invalid sequence in the  string.
   Description: An unhandled exception occurred during  the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace  for more information about the error and where it originated in the  code.              

  Exception Details: System.UriFormatException:  Invalid URI: There is an invalid sequence in the string.

 Source Error: 

 



 An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current  web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the  exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.




 Stack Trace: 

 




[UriFormatException: Invalid URI: There is an invalid sequence in the string.]
   System.Uri.UnescapeString(Char* pStr, Int32 start, Int32 end, Char[] dest, Int32& destPosition, Char rsvd1, Char rsvd2, Char rsvd3, UnescapeMode unescapeMode, UriParser syntax, Boolean isQuery, Boolean readOnlyConfig) +1332
   System.Uri.UnescapeString(String input, Int32 start, Int32 end, Char[] dest, Int32& destPosition, Char rsvd1, Char rsvd2, Char rsvd3, UnescapeMode unescapeMode, UriParser syntax, Boolean isQuery, Boolean readOnlyConfig) +73
   System.Uri.UnescapeDataString(String stringToUnescape) +152
   EPiServer.UrlBuilder.ToString() +15
   EPiServer.Web.PermanentLinkUtility.GetPageReference(UrlBuilder mappedUrl) +48
   EPiServer.Web.FriendlyHtmlRewriteToExternal.HtmlRewriteUrl(UrlBuilder internalUrl, UrlBuilder externalUrl, UrlBuilder url, Encoding encoding, Object& internalObject) +15
   EPiServer.Web.FriendlyHtmlRewriteToExternal.rewritePipe_HtmlRewriteUrl(Object sender, HtmlRewriteEventArgs e) +274
   EPiServer.Web.RewritePipe.OnHtmlRewriteUrl(HtmlRewriteEventArgs e) +19
   EPiServer.Web.HtmlRewritePipe.WriteElement(MyHtmlRewriteEventArgs e, SgmlReader reader, TextWriter writer) +394
   EPiServer.Web.HtmlRewritePipe.RewriteToEnd(TextReader reader, TextWriter writer) +2008
   EPiServer.Web.HtmlRewriteStream.Close() +165
   System.Web.HttpWriter.FilterIntegrated(Boolean finalFiltering, IIS7WorkerRequest wr) +497
   System.Web.HttpResponse.FilterOutput() +119
   System.Web.CallFilterExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +47
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +75






 

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework  Version:2.0.50727.4927; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.4927 
 

Dropit has spent the last couple of months building a MVC framework for classic asp, or VBScript, and we finally feel that it's ready for release.

The biggest problem we have encountered during the development phase is the lack of objects in VBScript, hence we have discarded the M in MVC.

We have also decided to ignore the C since controllers and VBScript don't match.

But we have built a couple of Views for VBScript, please download them here.

Views.rar (42.06 kb)

Blog Page Provider is a example project I have created to try out the page provider in EPiServer

As the name may suggest this is a EPiServer page provider for blogs that has the ability to create a blog page in EPiServer that connects with a blog and lists all blogs, posts and comments connected to that account as EPiServer pages. You can also create blog posts and comments in EPiServer by creating "Post" or "Comment" pages.

The page providers are added dynamically to EPiServer so there is no configuration to setup the providers just create a page of the right type ("Blog - Settings") in EPiServer and the page provider will be added for you.

Support for different blog types is handled by blog providers, right now there are two providers, one for Blogger and the other for WordPress. You can create your own provider for other blogs by just implementing the interfaces in the Dropit.BlogPageProvider.Blog namespace and add the provider in web.config.

You can find more information about the project and all code over at Codeplex, Blog Page Provider

Have fun with it!

Blog Post Provider in three short steps

Blog post both in EPiServer and on Blogger

Create a new blog post in EPiServer

The created blog post is shown both in EPiServer and on blogger

The checklist has been updated with info on EPiServerLog.config and more detailed descriptions. View the updated list in the checklist post or download the PDF version.

The problem

You drag a function onto your EPiServer composer page:

You drop the function in a content area and watch the spinning effect:

The function just disappear!

Some background

As you probably know, each Composer page is actually a lot of EPiServer pages. Each function is an EPiServer page and each Function type is a EPiServer pagetype. So when you create a new function, you actually creates a new EPiServer page. That page is created in the EPiServer tree under a special page called a Shadow page. The shadow page is a container for each composer page and exists in order to make sure that all composer functions are not created on the same level, since that would have a serious performance impact.

Some debugging

The best way to start is to enable logging in Composer and you will probably see something like this:

2010-03-22 20:35:42,022 [23] ERROR Dropit.Extension.UI.Edit.CreateContentFunction [(null)] - Dropit.Extension.UI.Edit.CreateContentFunction: Page 737 was not found
EPiServer.Core.PageNotFoundException: Page 737 was not found
   at EPiServer.DataAccess.PageLoadDB.LoadPageInternal(PageReference pageLink, Int32 languageBranchId, IDataReader reader)
   at EPiServer.DataAccess.PageLoadDB.<>c__DisplayClass1.b__0()
   at EPiServer.DataAccess.DataAccessBase.<>c__DisplayClass1`1.b__0()
   at EPiServer.DataAccess.DatabaseFactory.Execute[TResult](Action`1 method)
   at EPiServer.DataAccess.DataAccessBase.Execute[TResult](Action`1 action)
   at EPiServer.Core.PageProviderBase.<>c__DisplayClass4.b__3()
   at EPiServer.Core.OptimisticCache`1.Read(String cacheKey, ReadAndCacheObject`1 readAndCacheObject)
   at EPiServer.Core.PageProviderBase.GetPageInternal(PageReference pageLink, ILanguageSelector selector)
   at EPiServer.Core.PageProviderBase.GetPage(PageReference pageLink, ILanguageSelector selector)
   at EPiServer.DataFactory.GetPage(PageReference pageLink, ILanguageSelector selector)
   at EPiServer.Core.PageLanguageSettingsTree.GetClosestSetting(PageReference pageLink)
   at EPiServer.Core.PageLanguageSettingsTree.Get(PageReference pageLink)
   at EPiServer.Core.PageLanguageSettingsTree.Get(PageReference pageLink, String languageBranch)
   at EPiServer.Core.LanguageSelector.LoadLanguage(LanguageSelectorContext context)
   at EPiServer.Core.CreatePageData.DefaultPageDataLanguage(Int32 pageTypeID, PageReference parentPageLink, ILanguageSelector selector, IList`1 existingLanguages)
   at EPiServer.Core.PageProviderBase.GetDefaultPageData(PageReference parentPageLink, Int32 pageTypeID, ILanguageSelector selector)
   at EPiServer.DataFactory.GetDefaultPageData(PageReference parentPageLink, Int32 pageTypeID, ILanguageSelector selector)
   at Dropit.Extension.Controllers.ContentFunctionDataManager.CreateContentFunctionData(PageReference extensionPageLink, Int32 contentFunctionTypeId, AccessLevel accessLevel)
   at Dropit.Extension.Controllers.ContentFunctionDataManager.CreateContentFunctionData(PageReference extensionPageLink, Int32 contentFunctionTypeId)
   at Dropit.Extension.Core.ContentFunctionData.Create(PageReference extensionPageLink, Int32 functionTypeId)
   at Dropit.Extension.UI.Edit.CreateContentFunction.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)

Ok, so page 737 is missing. A liitle bit up in the log file, we see this:

2010-03-22 20:35:41,960 [23] INFO  Dropit.Extension.Core.Serializer              [(null)] - Dropit.Extension.Core.Serializer: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<specializedextensionpagedata>
  <pagestructure shadowguid="06ad9f3b-ea46-414a-b45d-198b03817a5b"
	guid="59b27f7d-c2dc-4a06-8251-2bb83e1967e9" 
	remotesite="" 
	wid="3326" 
	pid="2171" 
	sid="737">
    <ca id="SideContent" desc="SideContent content" />
    <ca id="TopContent" desc="The top content area" />
    <ca id="MainTopContent" desc="The main content top area" />
    <ca id="MainBottomContent" desc="The main content bottom area" />
    <ca id="SecondaryContent" desc="Secondary content" />
    <ca id="BottomContent" desc="The bottom content area" />
  </pagestructure>
  <content><!-- Empty -->
</specializedextensionpagedata>

As you can see, the sid attribute has the value 737. Sid stands for Shadow ID, or the page that will work as a shadow page for this composer page. And it is missing!

The fix

Just run this code to fix this:

var extensionpagetypes = Dropit.Extension.Global.ListExtensionPageTypes();
var pages = EPiServer.DataFactory.Instance.GetDescendents(PageReference.RootPage);
var composerpages = from p in pages
					from pt in extensionpagetypes
					where EPiServer.DataFactory.Instance.GetPage(p).PageTypeID == pt.ID // 10610
					select EPiServer.DataFactory.Instance.GetPage(p);

PageReference newShadowPage;
PageReference existingShadowPage;
foreach (var composerPage in composerpages)
{
	var composerPageData = Dropit.Extension.Core.ExtensionPageData.Load(composerPage.PageLink);

	// This is always true, bug in composer?
	//if (composerPageData.ShadowPageLink == PageReference.EmptyReference)
	if (composerPageData != null)
	{
		try
		{
			existingShadowPage = new PageReference(composerPageData.ShadowPageID);
			GetPage(existingShadowPage);
		}
		catch (PageNotFoundException ex)
		{
			// The shadowpage is missing
			// Lets create it
			newShadowPage = Dropit.Extension.Controllers.ShadowPageManager.Instance.NewShadowPage(composerPageData.PageLink);
			Dropit.Extension.Controllers.PageDataManager.UpdateShadowPageID(composerPage, newShadowPage);
		}
		catch (Exception)
		{
			// Something else is wrong
			// Lets skip it...
		}
	}
}

Why is this necessary?

Former versions of Composer had a bug when you copied a composer page. It didn’t generate a new shadowpage for the new page. And when you deleted the old page, the shadow page was deleted as well, simply leaving the newly copied page without a shadow page.

I've built a console-client that sends 10 000 packages of four size levels. From 2 bytes up to 12 kilobytes. The packages are simply sent and return to the console-server. The client did measure the time elapsed for all the packages to travel to the server and back. Notice in the diagram that the test using pipe binding is runned localy on my machine. PeerToPeer binding, FederatedWS binding and DualWsBinding are not included in the test nor in the program.

During the last internal tech forum (tech meeting with all developers at Dropit) I had a short demo of how to make a Android application. I'm not a Android expert so forgive me for the none expert written code :)

The goal was to make a blog application where you could write a heading, main text, take a photo with you phones camera and then send this informtion together with the GPS/Network position of the phone to EPiServer and there publish a page to create a blog post. Unfortunately my harddrive crashed before I finished the project so I never had time to do the EPiServer implementation but here you can download the Android code that I put together for this demo.

AndroidBlog.zip (1.07 mb)

This is a part in a release by Dropit's section for measurement and Continuous Improvement, Mark Red, and their latest project to calculate yor publishing power.

Publishing Power?

Do you have a creeping feeling that you spent a lot of time to update the site without giving anything back? What gives updates to the Web back in the form of visitors and revenue?
Calculate the "publishing power" of each section of the site by "Pageviews of Section / Work in the Section". Publishing power indicates how much the requests you receive in relation to the time the editors devote to managing content. A high publication power indicates that the section get many visits with little effort.

Of course it is even more interesting to see how much revenue the workload is resulting in. If you use Google Analytics, you can calculate the publishing poser by "$-index for Section / Work for the Section".
If you have a site that is configured to measure income from e-commerce you'll find $-index for the site's sections in the report "Content Drilldown".
Read the entire post at Mark Reds blog

 EPiServer CMS integration

This is a very early release, so all there is right now is a property and a report. The property calculates the time you spend editing a single page and the report displays the accumelated time for a section of the web site.

TimerProperty

The porperty is simply a hidden text field and a javascript function adds time.

Publishing power Report 

The report simply displays the amount of time spent editing a section (current page and all children) of the web site.

Future development

The first thing to add is the integration with Google Analytics. We need to display the page views so we can display the Publishing Power values. And as soon as EPiServer CMS 6 is released, we can use the Page objects to store the information. Lots and lots of a more elegant design!

After that, We're not quite sure. Any suggestions?

Source Code

This is a beta, the entire project is avalible here:
PublishingPower.rar (2.80 mb)

For this weeks developer lunch I thought I would pick a seminar I saw at TechDays 2009 here in Sweden.

It was "From good to great developer - why does it matters and how can we achieve it" by Chris Hedgate. Unfortunately, the recording only displayed the screen and not him and since the presentation relied on the audience being able to see him, I had to find another recoring. Luckily, I found pretty much the same presentation from JFokus, and this time they included Chris as well, success. See the movie here.