I ended up changing directions with the project I was working on and this code never got used in production. Testing on it was minimal and I haven’t touched it two years. However, I have received a large number of requests for the code…so here it is:

ASP.NET 2.0 Web Service Membership, Role, and Profile Provider

Feel free to post enhancements or suggestions here.

• ASP.NET 3.5 Framework
• ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions CTP
• ASP.NET MVC Toolkit
• Visual Studio 2008

Sites with Tutorial, Tips, Help, etc..

• Scott Guthrie Intro and Tutorials:
  • Intro
  • Part 1
  • Part 2: URL Routing
  • Part 3: Passing ViewData from Controllers to Views
  • Part 4: Handling from Edit and Post Scenarios
• MVC Forum
• MVC Quickstarts
• Tips from Mike Bosch
• Creating Client and Server-Side Form Validation (sample project)
• Ajax with the ASP.NET MVC Framework
• Roadmap for MVC Framework

Sample Project

The sample project is a very basic issue tracking system. The database is not included, but can easily be built according to the following diagram:
(click to view)

Have fun! [Download project files]

Control ‘hiddenBalance’ referenced by the ControlToCompare property of ‘CompareValidator1′ cannot be validated.

With a small amount of “googling” I found two useful articles:

• Validating against the value in a hidden input
• MS KB Article 310082

Between these two article I pieced together a solution.

The Solution

1. Create a new web project and add it to your solution. I called my project “CompareValidatorHelper”.
2. Right click on the project and select Add and the Class…. I also named my class “CompareValidatorHelper”.
3. Paste the following C# code into the class:

   
using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.ComponentModel;
namespace CompareValidatorHelper
{
[DefaultProperty("Value"), ValidationProperty("Value"), ToolboxData("<{0}:VHiddenField runat=server></{0}:VHiddenField>")]
public class VHiddenField : System.Web.UI.WebControls.HiddenField
{
}
}


4. Build the project and add a reference to it in your web application project.
5. Register the inherited control at the top of your page:
   <%@ Register TagPrefix="custom" Namespace="CompareValidatorHelper" Assembly="CompareValidatorHelper" %>
6. Add the HiddenField control to your page:
   <custom:VHiddenField ID="hiddenBalance" runat="server" Value='<%# Eval("Balance") %>' />
7. Finally, set the ControlToCompare attribute of your CompareValidator equal to the ID attribute of your HiddenField:
   <asp:CompareValidator ID="CompareValidator1" Display="Dynamic" runat="server" Type="Double" Operator="LessThanEqual" ErrorMessage="Overpayments are not allowed." ControlToCompare="hiddenBalance" ControlToValidate="txtPaymentAmount">*</asp:CompareValidator>

CS0200: Property or indexer ‘System.Web.Security.MembershipUser.UserName’ cannot be assigned to — it is read only

Is there any easy way around this? I’m sure there is a good reason why Microsoft did this, but why?

I found a potential solution in the ASP.NET Forums.

The .NET Framework 3.0 adds new technologies to the .NET Framework 2.0, which makes the .NET Framework 3.0 a superset of the .NET Framework 2.0. You can think of .NET Framework 3.0 as an “additive” release to the .NET Framework 2.0, as contrasted with a generational release where software is revised across the board. (For example, the .NET Framework 2.0 was a generational release over the .NET Framework 1.0.)

The 3.0 Framework adds four new namespaces to the 2.0 Framework:

• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
• Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
• Windows Cardspace

Reference: Deploying Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.0

Overcoming Fear

So, supposedly the 3.0 Framework is completely “additive” and the existing 2.0 Framework remains untouched. Despite this reassurance, I still felt uncomfortable just installing things willy-nilly. I felt sure I would find some small print buried on MSDN warning us of some critical change to the .NET 2.0 Framework included in 3.0 that would cause all my existing applications to stop working. Feeling comforted when I couldn’t find any warnings and pressured by the need to prepare for the rapidly approaching Community Launch Event, I proceeded.

Proceeding

First, download the framework and run dotnetfx3setup.exe. This will download 30 MB and install the “additive(s)” for you.

You’re done! The .NET 3.0 Runtime Components are now installed!

My first action after installation was to open all my current projects and make sure they all still run. Sure enough, everything still works!

What it does…

If a checkbox is checked then the backgroundColor of the parentNode is changed to add emphasis to the checked items. The conditionScript is true causing the first child animation to play.

When a checkbox is unchecked, the backgroundColor is reset. The conditionScript returns false causing the second child animation to play.

Code Snippet…


<asp:CheckBox ID="chk1" runat="server" Text="Puppy" />
<cc1:AnimationExtender ID="AnimationExtender1" runat="server" TargetControlID="chk1">
<Animations>
<OnClick>
<Condition ConditionScript="document.getElementById('chk1').checked;">
<ScriptAction Script="document.getElementById('chk1').parentNode.style.backgroundColor = '#ADDA59';" />
<ScriptAction Script="document.getElementById('chk1').parentNode.style.backgroundColor = '#FFFFFF';" />
</Condition>
</OnClick>
</Animations>
</cc1:AnimationExtender>


1. Develop
2. Test
3. Deploy

These three stages can also represent physical locations. Development is done locally, moved to an internal testing server for QA, and finally deployed to the production server. There is frequently a lot of overlap between these stages and locations as bugs are discovered and ironed out or new features added. Managing multiple Google Maps API Keys between all these URL’s can be a hassle.

The Trick

Sign up for the Google Maps API for every URL the site will exist on. Add the keys to the appSettings section of Web.config.

<appSettings>
<!-- Google Map API Keys -->
<add key="localhost" value="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&amp;v=2&amp;key=ABQIAAAALZp8x8mYJMinyKDbF6G7bBT2yXp_ZAY8_ufC3CFXhHIE1NvwkxQBOooHv6EDaUJi3lHupS34T4CM5Q"/>
<add key="testserver" value="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&amp;v=2&amp;key=ABQIAAAALZp8x8mYJMinyKDbF6G7bBT4S2onT7717RtVeZs20MVAELzRRBSlPqEN-WtDpPooS4i4Rvu50CucoA"/>
<add key="www.productionserver.com" value="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&amp;v=2&amp;key=ABQIAAAALZp8x8mYJMinyKDbF6G7bBQzDH33YNyRzvKBWbxIa_7sg2mVwBRnO7qb_i1DY0Vhq-a8wXtFVXcMkg"/>
</appSettings>


Now, register the script in the code behind for the page that needs it.


protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!Page.IsStartupScriptRegistered("googleMapScript"))
{
// Register Startup Script for Google Maps API
string myScript = "<script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"" + ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[Request.ServerVariables["SERVER_NAME"]] + "\"></script>";
this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(typeof(Page), "googleMapScript", myScript);
}
}


You’re done!

PS: I know my code blocks are not too hip right now (overflowing onto the navigation and sidebar). It’s on the list.