Eran Hefer's Asp.Net Ajax Blog

404.17 Error when requesting .svc file (IIS 7)

2011-10-04T13:30:00.000+02:00

You got 404.17 error code when you request WCF service (.svc) on IIS 7.
Error: The requested content appears to be script and will not be served by the static file handler

To solve this issue, simple register WCF with the IIS:

Open command prompt.
Type "cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation"

If you are using 64-bit version: "cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation"

Type "ServiceModelReg.exe -i"

This should install the necessary modules for the WCF services in the IIS.

Hope this will help,
Eran Hefer.

ASP.NET MVC: Using jQuery Ajax to call a controller action method

2011-06-30T09:01:00.000+03:00

ASP.NET MVC (Model-View-Controller) is a remarkable web development concept.
As opposed to the 'classic' web development concept, the MVC concept uses the Model-View-Controller pattern, that give you powerful tools for creating dynamic web applications.

If you are not familiar with ASP.NET MVC yet, well, this post is not for you :-)

In this post, I'll show a nice way to call an action method (within a controller) from the client, using jQuery Ajax.

* I'll divide the example for two: first I'll show a simple way to return a string object form the server, and afterward, I'll show an example of returning a custom object from the server using JSON.

So, let's rock!

First, create a new MVC project in visual studio (I'm using ASP.NET MVC 2 on framework 4.0 / VS 2010):

Please note that I've created an empty web application. a regular web application template comes with some code that I don't need right now.

Now, take a look at the object explorer panel, at the right.

As you can see, although I used the "empty project" template, some useful files where created with the project, such as jQuery JavaScript files.
With jQuery we will create the Ajax call to the server.

Although MVC stands for Model-View-Controller, on this post I won't implement any model, to keep it very simple.

So now, let's create our controller.
Right click on the "Controllers" folder, and add a new controller (I called it "AjaxController" but you can name it whatever you like, just remember that MVC uses "convention over configuration" - so this name should be meaningful).
Leave the check-box unchecked.

This is what you get (I've cleared some remarks):

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;
 
namespace MyMvcApplication.Controllers
{
    public class AjaxController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            return View();
        }
    }
}

Add this action method below the "Index" method:

public ContentResult GetServerTime()
{
    return Content(DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString() 
        + " " + DateTime.Now.ToShortTimeString());
}

Note that the method returns "ContentResult" - this is the first example of returning a simple string.
The method returns the current server's date & time.

Right click on the "Index" action method, and click on "Add View".

Leave the "Select master page" check box unmarked (Again, to keep it simple, I won't use a master page).

Now, copy and page this code to your view file (Index.aspx):

<%@ Page Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage" %>
<!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>Index</title>
    <script src="/Scripts/jquery-1.4.1.min.js" 
        type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div>
        <div id="div1"></div>
    </div>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        $(document).ready(function () {
            $.ajax({
                url: "/Ajax/GetServerTime",
                success: function (data) {
                    $("#div1").html(data);
                }
            });
        });
    </script>
</body>
</html>

Note that if you didn't named your controller "AjaxController", you should change the 'url' option of the Ajax call.

Ok, now before we give it a try, we should tell the ASP.NET MVC routing system that "AjaxController" is our default controller.

Go to the global.asax.cs file and change this line:

routes.MapRoute(
                "Default", // Route name
                "{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
                new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
            );

To:

routes.MapRoute(
                "Default", // Route name
                "{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
                new { controller = "Ajax", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
            );

Now, hit the F5 button!

-------------------------

Ok, this was the easy part.
Now you probably say, "how the hell I'm gonna pass a custom object???".
And the answer is: like nothing.

ASP.NET MVC has a built in mechanism that can serialize custom objects to JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).

In this part, I'll show how to pass a "Student" object from the server's action method to the client using jQuery Ajax.

First, let's add a new "Student" class (you can add it under the "Models" directory of your project).
Then - copy and paste this code to the class:

public class Student
{
    public int ID { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int[] Grades { get; set; }
}

Now, go back to your controller class and add this new action method:

public JsonResult GetStudent()
{
    var student = new Student
    {
        ID = 123456,
        Name = "John Smith",
        Grades = new int[] { 77, 86, 99, 100 }
    };
    return Json(student, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

Note that this action method returns a JSON formatted object.
I've initialized a simple student object. The ASP.NET MVC automatically convert the "student" object to well formatted JSON object that can be easily used in the client.

Now, simply add a new HTML button below 'div1' to your "Index.aspx" file:

<input type="button" value="Get Student" onclick="GetStudent();" />

And put this JavaScript function inside you 'script' tag:

function GetStudent() {
    $.ajax({
        url: "/Ajax/GetStudent",
        success: function (student) {
            var stdnt = "ID: " + student.ID + "<br/>"
                + "Name: " + student.Name + "<br/>"
                + "Grades: " + student.Grades;
            $("#div1").html(stdnt);
        }
    });
}

Check out this simple code - the 'student' object that passed to the 'success' function is the JSON format of the server side 'student' object. You can easily call it's properties because ASP.NET MVC already converted them to JSON.

Finally the results:

Hope this will help!
Eran Hefer.

Creating Auto-Complete Box Using ASP.NET Ajax, jQuery & LINQ

2010-11-02T16:20:00.000+02:00

As part of the evolution of Web 2.0, Ajax & JavaScript are everywhere.
With Ajax, we can develop rich client controls that will improve the user experience dramatically.

In this post, I'll show how to create auto-complete box using ASP.NET Ajax, jQuery & LINQ.

First, you need to download the jQuery & jQuery UI frameworks.
Then, you should add the files (include the styles in the jQuery UI) to your project.

The items that I'll present in the auto complete text box will be retrieved from the data-base, and will be passed to the client VIA Ajax request.
I used LINQ to retrieve the products from the data-base. you can see the LINQ syntax below in the "GetProducts()" method.
The UI is built by the jQuery UI JavaScript library.

Now, put this code in your aspx page:
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head runat="server">

    <title>title>
    <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.4.2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="Scripts/jquery-ui-1.8.5.custom.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <link href="Css/ui-lightness/jquery-ui-1.8.5.custom.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
    <script type="text/javascript">
        $("document").ready(function ()
        {
            PageMethods.GetProducts(GetProducts_Callback);
        });
        function GetProducts_Callback(result, context, method)
        {
            $("#txtProducts").autocomplete({
                source: result
            });
        }
 </script>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <asp:ScriptManager ID="sManager" runat="server" EnablePageMethods="true"></asp:ScriptManager>

    <div>
        <input type="text" id="txtProducts" style="width: 150px;"/>
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Create the web method in the aspx.cs (code behind) file:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.OleDb;
 
public partial class AutoComplete : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    }
 
    [WebMethod]
    public static List<string> GetProducts()
    {
        CompanyDataContext db = new CompanyDataContext();
        var products = from p in db.Products
                       select p;
        List<string> prods = new List<string>();
        foreach(var item in products)
        {
            prods.Add(item.ProductName);
        }
        return prods;
    }
}

And - That's it!

Scrollable DIV and Populate Data On-Demand

2010-10-26T15:49:00.004+02:00

If you ever wondered how Gmail renders your calendar items when you scroll down, in this article you will learn how to do it.

Populating data on demand became very useful and very easy to implement with AJAX application.
Here is the idea: my application should present the data, just when the users want it.

So, why should I render all my calendar items when the page first loads? why should I present all of the table records when the page loads?
In this article, I'll show a nice way to render data when the user scroll down in a content div (ye, just like Gmail calendar).

Or in other words, creating a scrollable div and populate the data on-demand.

* Scrollable DIV with populate data on demand. the client asks for more items when the user scroll down.

First, let's take a look at the server side method (AJAX method).

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Text;
 
public partial class ScrollOnDemand : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
 
    }
 
    [WebMethod]
    public static string GetMoreItems(int lastIndex, int amount)
    {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        for (int i = 0; i < amount; i++)
        {
            sb.AppendFormat(@"<div class='Container'>
            <div class='Title'>Item {0}</div> 
            <div class='Desc'>This is item {0} text description</div></div>", lastIndex + i);
        }
        return sb.ToString();
    }
}

The method "GetMoreItems" gets the current number of items, and amount items to get.
Then, it is generates an HTML string with X amount of items (when X = 'amount' parameter).
At last, it sends back this new generated HTML to the client.

Second, we need to create a web page with a content div that will render the items in the client.

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" 
CodeFile="ScrollOnDemand.aspx.cs" Inherits="ScrollOnDemand" %>
 
<!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></title>
    <style type="text/css">
        body
        {
         margin: 0 0 0 0px;
        }
        .ContentDiv
        {
         width: 500px; 
         height: 300px; 
         border: 1px solid #666666;
         overflow-y: scroll; 
         overflow-x: auto; 
         scrollbar-face-color: #fff; 
         scrollbar-shadow-color: #7F9DB9; 
         scrollbar-arrow-color: #7F9DB9; 
         scrollbar-track-color: #BFCEDC; 
         scrollbar-darkshadow-color: #A3C1DE;
        }
        .Container
        {
         border: 1px solid #666666;
         padding-top: 5px;
         padding-left: 5px;
         padding-bottom: 5px;
         padding-right: 5px;
        }
        .Title
        {
         font-family: Verdana;
         font-size: 18px;
         color: #3399cc;
        }
        .Desc
        {
         font-family: Verdana;
         font-size: 12px;
         color: #666666;
        }
        .Loading
        {
         background-color: #FF3D50;
         color: #FFFFFF;
         font-family: Arial;

         font-size: 11px;
         position: absolute;
         z-index: 100;
         padding-top: 5px;
         padding-left: 5px;
         padding-bottom: 5px;
         padding-right: 5px;
        }
    </style>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        var lastIndex = 0;
        var AMOUNT = 20;

        function PageLoad()
        {
            var objDiv = document.getElementById("_content");
            var loadingDiv = document.getElementById("_loading");

            loadingDiv.style.top = objDiv.offsetTop;
            loadingDiv.style.left = objDiv.offsetLeft;

            GetItems();
        }
        function GetItems()
        {
            ShowLoading(true);
            PageMethods.GetMoreItems(lastIndex, AMOUNT, GetMoreItems_Callback);
        }
        function GetMoreItems_Callback(result, context, method)
        {
            document.getElementById("_content").innerHTML += result;
            lastIndex += AMOUNT;
            ShowLoading(false);
        }
        function Scroll()
        {
            var objDiv = document.getElementById("_content");
            var scrollTop = parseInt(objDiv.scrollTop);
            var scrollHeight = parseInt(objDiv.scrollHeight);
            var elementHeight = parseInt(objDiv.style.height.substring(0, objDiv.style.height.length - 2));
 
            if (scrollTop == (scrollHeight - elementHeight))
            {
                GetItems();
            }
        }
        function ShowLoading(visible)
        {
            var loadingDiv = document.getElementById("_loading");
            if (visible == true)
            {
                loadingDiv.style.display = "";
            }
            else
            {
                loadingDiv.style.display = "none";
            }
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body onload="PageLoad()">
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <asp:ScriptManager ID="sManager" EnablePageMethods="true" runat="server">
    </asp:ScriptManager>
        <div id="_content" class="ContentDiv" onscroll="Scroll()" style="height: 300px"></div>
        <div class="Loading" id="_loading" style="display: none">Loading...</div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

The function "Scroll()" is the function that handles the "onscroll" event in the client, and determines if the user scrolled down enough to retrieve more items. If so, it calls to the web method "GetMoreItems" to get more items to show to the user.

Note: I've added the "loading" div to make the scrollable area to look like Gmail calendar.

Passing JavaScript Objects to the Server Using ASP.NET Ajax

2010-10-24T10:18:00.003+02:00

Sometimes, we need to transfer a lot of parameters from the client to the server (using Ajax).
When the parameter list become very long, the coding can be very frustrated. The method signature that handles the Ajax request (in the server) becomes very large.
This can lead to many mistakes between parameters in the code.

In this article, I'll show how to build a single JavaScript object with all relevant data from the client, and pass it to the server.

First, take a look at this simple web form:

This is a very simple registration form. The user should fill in all the relevant information, and then the application should pass this info to the server.
Instead of passing 5 variables to the server method, I'll pass only one JavaScript variable with these 5 parameters as properties.

My solution has these main elements:
1) MyUser.cs - a class that represents the user in the server.
2) ParamSender.aspx - the web page that contains the relevant HTML & JavaScript code.
3) ParamSender.aspx.cs - the code behind that contains the page method "SaveUser". This method will receive the JavaScript object from the client.

MyUser.cs
Well, this class is very simple:

public class MyUser
{
    public MyUser()
    {
  
    }
 
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
    public string Phone { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
 
    public bool Save()
    {
        //TODO: add the save logic here
        return true;
    }
}

ParamSender.aspx
This web form contains the JavaScript function "SendObject" that creates the client object with all relevant data.

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="ParamSender.aspx.cs" Inherits="ParamSender" %>
<!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></title>
    <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.4.1-vsdoc.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.4.1.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <style type="text/css">
        body
        {
         font-family: Arial;
         font-size: 12px;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <asp:ScriptManager runat="server" EnablePageMethods="true">
    </asp:ScriptManager>
    <div>
        <table cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0">
            <tr>
                <td>First Name:</td>
                <td><input type="text" style="width: 150px" id="txtFname" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Last Name:</td>
                <td><input type="text" style="width: 150px" id="txtLname" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Age:</td>
                <td><input type="text" style="width: 150px" id="txtAge" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Phone:</td>
                <td><input type="text" style="width: 150px" id="txtPhone" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Email:</td>
                <td><input type="text" style="width: 150px" id="txtEmail" /></td>
            </tr>
        </table>
        <input type="button" value="Save" onclick="SendObject()" /><br /><br />
        <div id="lblMsg"></div>
    </div>
    </form>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function SendObject()
        {
            var user = new Object();
            user.FirstName = $("#txtFname").val();
            user.LastName = $("#txtLname").val();
            user.Age = $("#txtAge").val();
            user.Phone = $("#txtPhone").val();
            user.Email = $("#txtEmail").val();

            PageMethods.SaveUser(user, SaveUser_Callback);
        }
        function SaveUser_Callback(result, context, method)
        {
            if(result == true)
                $("#lblMsg").html("Saved.");
            else
                $("#lblMsg").html("Failed.");
        }
    </script>
</body>
</html>

ParamSender.aspx.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public partial class ParamSender : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
 
    }
 
    [WebMethod]
    public static bool SaveUser(object objUser)
    {
        Dictionary<string, object> user = (Dictionary<string, object>)objUser;
        MyUser myUser = new MyUser();
        myUser.FirstName = user["FirstName"].ToString();
        myUser.LastName = user["LastName"].ToString();
        myUser.Age = Convert.ToInt32(user["Age"]);
        myUser.Phone = user["Phone"].ToString();
        myUser.Email = user["Email"].ToString();
 
        return myUser.Save();
    }
}

In the web method, you can easily cast the received object to a "Dictionary" object. Each of the JavaScript properties is reflected in a dictionary key. Finally, the client object is converted to the server object "MyUser".

* Fill in the data.

* The object as it appears in the server.

Improve Performance of ASP.NET Web Application

2010-10-14T23:05:00.000+02:00

When we try to deal with web application performance - we bump into a lot of examples, options, articles, best practices or any other way with the same goal:
How can I improve my web application performance? Or in other words, How can I load my web page more quickly?

So, after investigating this question over 3 years - I came to this conclusion: we can improve our web application performance and in some cases, we can improve it dramatically.

In this article, I'll describe a ways to improve an ASP.NET web application performance.
These are my findings over 3 years of researching:

Kerberos vs. NTLM
Kerberos and NTLM are 2 authentication methods.

In a nutshell:
Kerberos authentication means that the client sends a "ticket" to the server for one time authentication. When the client ask later for more resource - no authentication requires because the ticket is already exists on the server.
NTLM authentication means that for every request to the server - the client needs to authenticate.

Think about it for a second - if you have 3 pages with 20 resources each (CSS, Images, JS, etc) you will get 60 requests for the server only for authentication. Multiply it with average 0.1 seconds per request and you get 6 seconds only for authentication!
On the other hands, Kerberos has serious issues with the ticket delegation (transfer the ticket to another site).

When using a multi connection application (sending a lot of requests to the server) you should use Kerberos. Else - use NTLM.

401 HTTP Error Code
When the client tries to authenticate, the server sometimes rejects the request.
The reject is actually an (401) HTTP error code. The size of this reject is 1660 bytes: it contains the "Unauthorized" HTML code that is presented to the client.
So when the client request for a resource, he can get sometimes 2-4 rejects (in the NTLM mode) until the server sends this required resource. Multiply it with 1660 bytes and you get over 4KB of junk traffic.

Change the 401 HTTP error code (in IIS) to default error will reduce the response length to 86 bytes.

* Web site properties - change the custom error message to the defaults.

IIS Compression

IIS can compress both your static and dynamic resources.
Static – HTML, JS, CSS, Images, etc...
Dynamic - dynamic application request (dynamic responses).

Enable IIS compression to reduce the response length from the server.

Application Compression (ASP.NET)

If IIS compression is not applicable – use application compression.
Just put this code in the Global.asax file:

Note that IIS compression is better than application compression because it compresses the data only once and after that the output cache file is stored in a temporary directory.
Application compression compresses the data each and every time again and again.

Caching
It is very recommend to "tell" the browser to cache a static resource (such as script, CSS, image, etc...).
When the page loads, the browser asks the server if the resource was changed. If not - the browser loads the resource from the local disk, otherwise it asks again for the resource (download the newer version).

Enable browser cache to reduce the web page loading time.
Add this meta tag to your web page: <meta http-equiv="pragma" content="public"/>

Application Caching
When it possible, you should cache your data (server objects) in the special cache object provided by ASP.NET. Storing objects in the cache will reduce data manipulations, data-base calls, requests from other systems, etc...
Cache your prepared data in the ASP.NET Cache object.

Application Pool
If your application is "heavy" (stored a lot of data in the Session or Cache object) you should create a dedicated application pool for your web application.
A different application pool means a different and dedicated memory area.
This will create another w3wp.exe process especially for your application.
By the way - when the web application runs within a different w3wp.exe process, it will not recycle when another web application crushes. When a single application crushes the application pool recycles, causing all applications running within it to abandon the current session.

Coding
Correct coding can make the business logic more efficient and thus, run faster.
Conceder these base rules when you code your application:
Prepare your data in the server - write less client (JavaScript) code. Server (C#) code is much faster (manages code, runs in a powerful machine) than client code (that also depends on the client's machine).
Use Ajax for partial page render - Use callback functions to avoid the browser from being stuck.
By the way: Don't open more than 4 connections simultaneously - it will stuck the browser (IE7 can open 4 connections at max, IE8 6.

Closing and disposing an unused recourse - use the dispose method to free allocated memory. This will reduce the memory leaks.

Disable the "ViewState" - If you are not using any ASP.NET control, you can easily disable the "ViewState". The page should be lighter.

Data Base

Correct maintenance in the DB can increase performance.

Index your tables in the data-base - It is more fast to retrieve records from an indexed table. Also, index fragmentation can result to a low data-base performance. Don't forget to rebuild your indexes from time to time (this action will defragment the disk).

Use stored procedures and not dynamic queries - stored procedures are compiled queries (the execution already plan and the query tree exist in the data-base). Also, the network traffic is reduced (sending a big query over the network to the data base is much heavier than sending the procedure name to execute).
Truncate your temp tables - Delete won’t free the allocated space!!

How to Create & Deploy a SharePoint 2007 Timer Job

2010-10-11T09:56:00.069+02:00

With SharePoint timer jobs you can create & execute processes on a daily / hourly / minutely basis.

After deployment, the timer job definition executes your custom code.

The easiest (and more common) way to deploy a timer job is by feature.

When the feature is being activated, a custom code on the "FeatureActivated" method should install the timer job.

This is a complete example of how to create and deploy a timer job definition.

In "Visual Studio", Create new 'WSPBuilder' project.
Now, we will add the feature that will install the timer job definition.
Right click on the project -> 'Add' -> 'New Item'.
Under 'WSPBuilder' select 'Feature with Receiver'.
This will create a new feature with a class that implements the feature installation / activation methods.
When the dialog box appears, type your timer job name and description.
Finally, select 'WebApplication' in the 'Scope' section.
* Note: There are few more scopes that you can select.
"Farm": the feature will be installed on the entire farm."Site": the feature will be installed on a single site collection (and all sub-sites)."Web": the feature will be installed on a specific web site (sub-site).
This will create 3 files in your project:
feature.xml - contains definitions of the feature.
elements.xml
TimerJobInstaller.cs - contains override methods for the installation / activation events.
In the method 'FeatureActivated' we will later write the code that installs the timer job.
Now, we will create the timer job itself.
Right click on the 'FeatureCode' folder, 'Add' -> 'Class'.
Type the name of your timer job (I've called it with the singular name: 'MyTimerJob.cs').
This will add a simple class. In order that this class will act as timer job, it should inherit the 'SPJobDefinition' class.
Check this complete code of the 'MyTimerJob.cs' class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;
using System.IO;
namespace WSPBuilderProject1.FeatureCode
{
    public class MyTimerJob : SPJobDefinition
    {
        public MyTimerJob() : base()
        {
            this.Title = "My Timer Job";
        }

        public MyTimerJob(string jobName, SPService service, SPServer server, SPJobLockType targetType)
            : base(jobName, service, server, targetType)
        {
            this.Title = "My Timer Job";
        }

        public MyTimerJob(string jobName, SPWebApplication webApplication)
            : base(jobName, webApplication, null, SPJobLockType.ContentDatabase)
        {
            this.Title = "My Timer Job";
        }

        public override void Execute(Guid contentDbId)
        {
            //TODO: write here the code of your job!
        }
    }
}

This class overrides the method 'Execute' that will execute the job's custom code!
In this method you can write whatever you need.
For example: code that delete items from lists, create sites, copy documents from document libraries, etc...
Now that our timer job is ready, we should return to the feature receiver class ('TimerJobInstaller.cs') and there we should write the code that installs the job.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;
using WSPBuilderProject1.FeatureCode;

namespace WSPBuilderProject1
{
    class TimerJobInstaller : SPFeatureReceiver
    {
        const string SYNC_JOB_NAME = "My_Timer_Job";
        public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
            try
            {
                SPWebApplication webApp = properties.Feature.Parent as SPWebApplication;

                // make sure the job isn't already registered
                foreach (SPJobDefinition job in webApp.JobDefinitions)
                {
                    if (job.Name == SYNC_JOB_NAME)
                        job.Delete();
                }

                // install the job
                MyTimerJob myJob = new MyTimerJob(SYNC_JOB_NAME, webApp);

                // Set the schedule - nightly at 23:00 pm
                //SPSchedule customSchedule = SPSchedule.FromString("daily at 23:00");
                //syncJob.Schedule = customSchedule;

                //Set the schedule - every minute
                //SPMinuteSchedule minuteSchedule = new SPMinuteSchedule();
                //minuteSchedule.BeginSecond = 0;
                //minuteSchedule.EndSecond = 59;
                //minuteSchedule.Interval = 3;
                //syncJob.Schedule = minuteSchedule;

                //Set the schedule - hourly between 0 and 59
                SPSchedule schedule = SPSchedule.FromString("hourly between 0 and 59");
                myJob.Schedule = schedule;
                myJob.Update();
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
            }
        }

        public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
            SPSite site = properties.Feature.Parent as SPSite;

            // delete the job
            foreach (SPJobDefinition job in site.WebApplication.JobDefinitions)
            {
                if (job.Name == SYNC_JOB_NAME)
                    job.Delete();
            }
        }

        public override void FeatureInstalled(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
        }

        public override void FeatureUninstalling(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
        }
    }
}

This code will install the timer job and will set its schedule to be hourly (every hour).
I've added in comments more ways to schedule the timer job.

Note that I've override also the 'FeatureDeactivating' method - this will delete the job when the feature would be deactivated.

That's it! Our timer job is ready for deployment.
To deploy the timer job, we will need to install & activate the feature. Then - the feature will do the rest (install the timer job through the code we written in the 'FeatureActivated' method).

First we need to copy the DLL to the GAC.
Build your project.
Right click on the project -> 'WSPBuilder' -> 'Copy to GAC'.
Then we should copy the feature to the FEATURES directory in the 12 hive.
Right click on the project -> 'WSPBuilder' -> 'Copy to 12 hive'.
Now we should install and activate the feature.
Open cmd.exe, cd "Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN" and type these 2 commands:
stsadm -o installfeature -filename TimerJobInstaller\feature.xml -force
stsadm -o activatefeature -filename TimerJobInstaller\feature.xml -url http://il-moss-dev5:6680/sites/site1
The first command installs the feature. The second command activates it. Upon activation, the timer job will be installed.

You can now see the new installed timer job in the "Central Administration".
Central Administration > Operations > Timer Job Definitions.

Calling Web-Service Method in ASP.NET Ajax

2010-10-07T15:59:00.005+02:00

Calling a web-service method from an Asp.Net 4 Ajax web application is very easy.
You can call the web-service method directly from JavaScript code.
If you want to use Ajax in SharePoint 2007 web-part - this is the only way you can call server method from the client (because 'PageMethods' DO NOT work on SharePoint internal pages).
First, create an empty Asp.Net 4 project with single page & single service.

Then, in the web service, create a new method, and put some code in it.
* It is very important that you add this attribute to the web service: [ScriptService]

namespace WebServiceTest
{
    [WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]
    [WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
    [System.ComponentModel.ToolboxItem(false)]
    [ScriptService]
    public class MyService : System.Web.Services.WebService
    {
        [WebMethod]
        public string GetHello(string name)
        {
            return "Hello " + name;
        }
    }
}

After that, add a script manager to your page with service reference to your service.

<asp:ScriptManager ID="sManager" runat="server">
    <Services>
        <asp:ServiceReference Path="~/MyService.asmx" />
    </Services>
</asp:ScriptManager>

Finally, add the necessary javascript code (calling function and callback function).

<script type="text/javascript">
    function GetFromServer()
    {
        var name = document.getElementById("txtName").value;
        WebServiceTest.MyService.GetHello(name, GetFromServer_Callback);
    }
    function GetFromServer_Callback(result)
    {
        document.getElementById("msgDiv").innerHTML = result;
    }
</script>

That's it!

How to remove the "New Item" menu item from SharePoint 2007 list

2010-09-13T12:05:00.005+02:00

I've searched a lot in the internet, looking for a simple and elegant solution to hide / remove / delete the "New Item" sub menu item from the "New" menu of the SharePoint list.

I've found only JavaScript solutions (that are not recommended at all).

When I played a little with the SharePoint object model I've realized that there is a simple & elegant way to do it from code:

if (!list.ContentTypesEnabled)

{

list.ContentTypesEnabled = true;

}

SPContentType DefaultType = list.ContentTypes["Item"];

list.ContentTypes[DefaultType.Id].Delete(); //delete the "New Item" from "New" menu

list.Update();

That's it! no JavaScript code, simple and elegant...

Eran Hefer.

InfoPath Error: This session has exceeded the amount of allowable resources

2010-09-05T08:07:00.000+03:00

Problem:

User got an error massage when trying to load an InfoPath form:

"This session has exceeded the amount of allowable resources"

More Details:
Check out the Event Viewer on the MOSS server > Application. you should see such kind of error:
Session state size, 6727548 bytes, has exceeded 4194304 bytes, the maximum allowable value. This value is configurable and can be changed by the administrator.

Solution:
Go to Central Administration > Application Management > Configure InfoPath Forms Services.
Change the "Maximum size of form session state" to a bigger number (the default is 4096, change to 8192 should be enough).

How to Programmatically Create SubSite in SharePoint 2007

2010-08-24T09:01:00.003+03:00

Using this code you can programmatically create a sub-site with the same settings as the parent site:

using (SPSite siteCollection = new SPSite("http://server/sites/sitecollection"))
{
SPWebCollection webs = siteCollection.AllWebs;
SPWeb sampleWeb = siteCollection.AllWebs[0];
SPWeb newWebSite = webs.Add("MyNewSubsite", "New Site Title", "New Site Description",
(uint)sampleWeb.Locale.LCID, sampleWeb.WebTemplate, false, false);
newWebSite.Dispose();
}

The current identity (NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE) does not have write access to 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET

2010-08-15T14:55:00.002+03:00

If you got this Asp.Net error message:

The current identity (NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE) does not have write access to 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files'

Problem:
The .Net framework temporary folder is full or write protected.

Solution:
1. Check that you have enough disk space on drive C: (the drive that stores the temporary folder).
2. Check that the 'NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE' user has permissions (Full control) to this folder.

How to Embed a JavaScript File in a SharePoint Web-Part Dll

2010-08-13T09:07:00.009+03:00

1. Create a JavaScript file and put it in directory under the root project’s directory:

2. Open the properties of the JavaScript file. Under “Build Action” select “Embedded Resource”.

3. In the “AssemblyInfo.cs” add this line:
[assembly: System.Web.UI.WebResource("[Assembly Name].[Folder].[JS file]", "text/javascript")]
For Example, in my project:
[assembly:
System.Web.UI.WebResource("XXX.WebPart.ListViewer.Script.ListViewer.js", "text/javascript")]

4. Add this line in the constractor of your control / web-part:
this.PreRender += new EventHandler(MyControl_PreRender);

5. Add these 2 lines in the Pre_Render event of your web-part:
string jsLocation = Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(this.GetType(), "[Assembly Name].[Folder].[JS File]");
Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptInclude("MyScript", jsLocation);

That's It!!

JavaScript Error: PageMethods is Undefined

2010-07-31T14:13:00.003+03:00

When you using PageMethods in Asp.Net Ajax, you may receive a JavaScript error message: "PageMethods is Undefined".
To solve the "PageMethods is Undefined" JavaScript error:

Make sure that the web method in the server is public & static.
In the ScriptManager, add EnablePageMethods="true".

That's it!

You got an "Unknown Error" when accessing "Manage Form Templates" on MOSS 2007 Central Administration

2010-07-22T08:44:00.001+03:00

Problem:
You got an "Unknown Error" when accessing "Manage Form Templates" on MOSS 2007 Central Administration.

Cause:
This caused by a damaged InfoPath form template.

Solution:
You need to delete the damaged template with this stsadm command:
stsadm.exe -o deletetemplate -title <template title>

InfoPath Form Template is Stuck on "Installing" Status

2010-07-21T17:03:00.005+03:00

I've recently faced an annoying problem on my MOSS 2007 environment.
When i tried to upload a Form Template through "Central Administration", the template was uploaded successfully, but the status of the template was stuck on "Installing" forever.

Also, i saw (in the "Timer job Definitions") that the Installer job is keep working without an end.

This is how i fixed this issue:
1. On each and every server in the farm, stop the "Windows SharePoint Services Timer" service.
2. On each and every server in the farm, run this stsadm command line: stsadm -o execadmsvcjobs
3. On each and every server in the farm, start the "Windows SharePoint Services Timer" service.
4. Upload the InfoPath template again.

Problem resolved.

Eran Hefer.

Getting HTML Control's Value From SilverLight Application

2010-03-22T15:25:00.027+02:00

Interaction between HTML controls and SilverLight application is very easy with SilverLight 3.
You can easily retrieve any attribute (or setting any attribute) from the SilverLight application.
Moreover, you can call JavaScript functions from the SilverLight application.

In this example, I'll show a nice way to retrieve data from HTML controls to a 'Pie Chart' control in the
SilverLight application.

First, I've created a simple silverlight control with a pie chart inside and simple button.
This is how the XAML looks like:

<UserControl xmlns:controlsToolkit="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.Toolkit" xmlns:chartingToolkit="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls.DataVisualization.Charting;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.DataVisualization.Toolkit"
x:Class="Silvertest.MainPage"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="640" Height="600" Loaded="UserControl_Loaded">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<chartingToolkit:Chart x:Name="myChart" Title="Chart" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" Width="500" Height="300" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
<chartingToolkit:Chart.Series>
<chartingToolkit:PieSeries AnimationSequence="FirstToLast" x:Name="myPieChart"
IndependentValueBinding="{Binding Path=Key}" DependentValueBinding="{Binding Path=Value}">
</chartingToolkit:PieSeries>
</chartingToolkit:Chart.Series>
</chartingToolkit:Chart>
<Button Grid.Row="1" x:Name="btnGetValues" Content="Get Values From HTML" Width="150" Height="50"
Click="btnGetValues_Click" VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left"></Button>
</Grid>
</UserControl>

Then, I've added these controls to the aspx page (below the SilverLight control):

<div style="text-align: left; font-family:Arial">
Private Cars: <input type="text" id="txtPrivateCars" style="width:50px" />
Motorcycles: <input type="text" id="txtMotors" style="width:50px" />
Buses: <input type="text" id="txtBuses" style="width:50px" />
</div>

This is how the HTML should looks like:

<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server" style="height:100%">
<div id="silverlightControlHost">
<object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="100%" height="100%">
<param name="source" value="ClientBin/Silvertest.xap"/>
<param name="onError" value="onSilverlightError" />
<param name="background" value="white" />
<param name="minRuntimeVersion" value="3.0.40624.0" />
<param name="autoUpgrade" value="true" />
<a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=149156&v=3.0.40624.0" style="text-decoration:none">
<img src="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108181" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight" style="border-style:none"/>
</a>
</object><iframe id="_sl_historyFrame" style="visibility:hidden;height:0px;width:0px;border:0px"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left; font-family:Arial">
Private Cars: <input type="text" id="txtPrivateCars" style="width:50px" />
Motorcycles: <input type="text" id="txtMotors" style="width:50px" />
Buses: <input type="text" id="txtBuses" style="width:50px" />
</div>
</form>
</body>

In the cs file of my SilverLight application (MainPage.xaml.cs) I've added a 'Click' event to the SilverLight button:

private void btnGetValues_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
try
{
HtmlDocument doc = HtmlPage.Document;
HtmlElement txtCars = doc.GetElementById("txtPrivateCars");
HtmlElement txtMotors = doc.GetElementById("txtMotors");
HtmlElement txtBuses = doc.GetElementById("txtBuses");

int cars = int.Parse(txtCars.GetAttribute("value"));
int motors = int.Parse(txtMotors.GetAttribute("value"));
int buses = int.Parse(txtBuses.GetAttribute("value"));

((PieSeries)myChart.Series[0]).ItemsSource =
new KeyValuePair[] {
new KeyValuePair("Private Cars", cars),
new KeyValuePair("Motorcycles", motors),
new KeyValuePair("Buses", buses)};
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
HtmlPage.Window.Alert("Error caught: " + ex.Message);
}
}

In this code, doc.GetElementById("txtPrivateCars");, I've actually got a reference to an HTML control called 'txtProvateCars'. Then I've retrieved it's value by calling the method "GetAttribute".
You can also use the method "SetAttribute" if you want to change the HTML control's data.

With the HtmlDocument class you can access and modify every HTML element you have in the page.
Also, note that in the catch I've activated the HTML 'alert' function from the SilverLight application.

Eran Hefer.

Calling server side function using ASP.NET Ajax

2008-07-12T11:48:00.000+03:00

Hi, as you probably know, with asp.net Ajax you can call a server side function, from the client code.
in this post, I'll show how to call a server side method / function using Asp.Net Ajax extension.

First, we create a brand new asp.net Ajax web site from the visual studio IDE.
(If you don't have this template already, please download it from this web site - http://www.asp.net/ajax/)

Go to the Default.aspx.cs file and put these 2 code lines in the "using" area:
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Web.Script.Services;

Then, create a new web method:
[WebMethod]
public static string GetHello()
{
return "Hello From Server!";
}

The cs page should look like this:

Go to the Default.aspx page.
Add this attribute to the "asp:ScriptManager" tag: EnablePageMethods="true"

Then, create 2 new JavaScript functions:
function GetFromServer()
{
PageMethods.GetHello(OnGetHelloComplete);
}
function OnGetHelloComplete(result, userContext, methodName)
{
alert("Result: " + result + "\n" +
"Context: " + userContext + "\n" +
"Method name: " + methodName);
}

Note that the second function is the callback function for the first function.
Calling the server method is done by an asynchronous call. when the server will finish his work, he will send the result to the client via this callback function (the second function).

At last, put this attribute on the "body" tag: onload="GetFromServer();"

The asp file should look like this:

Now, run the application

How to write exceptions to the application event viewer Edit

2008-06-17T08:12:00.000+03:00

It is more than accepted to log exceptions into log file or a dedicated Data-Base.

In this post, i'll show a way to log exceptions into the application event viewer (very good for limited logging).

private void Log(string info)
{
if (!System.Diagnostics.EventLog.SourceExists("Application_Name"))
{
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource("Application_Name", "Application");
}
EventLog.WriteEntry("Application_Name", info);
}

Using encryption & decryption capabilities in your .Net application

2008-06-16T17:28:00.000+03:00

Hi,
With System.Security.Cryptography you can encrypt & decrypt sensitive data (you should to it on connection strings, passwords etc...).

This code will help you to encrypt or decrypt strings.

public static string Encrypt(string original, string key)

{

TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider des;

MD5CryptoServiceProvider hashmd5;

byte[] keyhash, buff;

string encrypted;

hashmd5 = new MD5CryptoServiceProvider();

keyhash = hashmd5.ComputeHash(ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(key));

hashmd5 = null;

des = new TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider();

des.Key = keyhash;

des.Mode = CipherMode.ECB;

buff = ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(original);

encrypted = Convert.ToBase64String(des.CreateEncryptor().TransformFinalBlock(buff, 0, buff.Length));

return encrypted;

}

public static string Decrypt(string encrypted, string key)

{

TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider des;

MD5CryptoServiceProvider hashmd5;

byte[] keyhash, buff;

string decrypted;

hashmd5 = new MD5CryptoServiceProvider();

keyhash = hashmd5.ComputeHash(ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(key));

hashmd5 = null;

des = new TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider();

des.Key = keyhash;

des.Mode = CipherMode.ECB;

buff = Convert.FromBase64String(encrypted);

decrypted = ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetString(des.CreateDecryptor().TransformFinalBlock(buff, 0, buff.Length));

return decrypted;

}

Creating mail message objects using javascript

2008-06-16T17:27:00.001+03:00

Hi,

In this code sample i'll show a way to dynamically generate a mail message using JavaScript in the client browser.

function CreateMail()
{
var MailObj = new ActiveXObject("Outlook.Application");
var MailItem = MailObj.CreateItem(0) ;
MailItem.To = "Email@SomeDomain.com";
MailItem.HTMLBody = "Html body";
MailItem.Subject = "Html Subject";
MailItem.display();
}

Retrive an array of HTML controls with known ID

2008-06-16T17:17:00.000+03:00

This JS code will help you to retrive an array of html controls (any control, from input, to table cell) that contains a known ID phrase.

Just pass a part of the ID to the function findControl, and get back the array with elements that contains this phrase in the ID.

Loading Excel File to MS-SQL Table Using SSIS

2008-05-29T13:36:00.000+03:00

How to - Load Excel File to MS-SQL Table Using SSIS

In this artice, i'll show how to load data from Excel (or csv) file to sql server data-base.

Create an new table in your SQL server DB. Use the same column names as the Excel file.
Create a new SSIS project using VS 2005.
In the 'control flow', drag a 'Data Flow Task' item.

Double click on the new 'Data Flow Task' item. The SSIS designer jumps to 'Data Flow'.

Drag 'Excel Source', and double click it.

Click on the 'New' button to create a new connection to you excel file.
Click browse and select your excel file. Click Ok.
Select the sheet you want to load.
On the left side, click on 'Columns', and see that the SSIS designer selected all of the Excel columns.
Click OK.
Drag a 'Data Conversion' item.
Click on the 'Excel Source' item and drag the green arrow into the 'Data Conversion' item.
Double click on the 'Data Conversion' item. Each of the 'Unicode' columns should be replaced to string. Don't forget to match the length!!

Click Ok.
Drag an 'OLEDB Destination' item.
Select the 'Data Conversion' item and drag the green arrow into the 'OLEDB Destination' item. double click the 'OLEDB Destination' item.
Click 'new' to create an new oledb connection manager.
Create an new connection and click Ok.
Select the table you want to load the Excel file into.
Click Mapping.
Map the converted columns from the 'Data Conversion' item to the destination columns.

Click Ok.

Now, you can run you SSIS package.

Passing JavaScript objects to the server using Ajax.Net Professional

2007-09-29T12:03:00.000+02:00

Posted by, Eran Hefer.

As you may already know, with Ajax we can easily pass simple or custom object from the server to the client.
In this article, I'll show a way to do the opposite: passing JS objects from the client code, to the server (Ajax method).

Here is the client (JavaScript) Code:

//The JavaScript client side function
function PassToServer()
{
//declare the new JS object
var student = new Object();

//insert some values
student.First_Name = "Jon";
student.Last_Name = "Smith";
student.Grade = 100;

//pass the JS object to the server.
//'JSobjects' is the page name.
//'GetFromClient' is the ajax method name on the server.
var bothNames = JSobjects.GetFromClient(student).value;

//display the returned value from the server
alert(bothNames);
}

Here is the Server (C#) Code:

//The Ajax method on the server side
[AjaxPro.AjaxMethod]
public string GetFromClient(AjaxPro.JavaScriptObject jsObject)
{
//get the data members values from the JavaScript object.
//the 'Key' is the name of the data member that was declared at the client.
//we need to remove the " from the string value.
string first_name = jsObject["First_Name"].Value.Replace("\"","");
string last_name = jsObject["Last_Name"].Value.Replace("\"", "");
int grade = Int32.Parse(jsObject["Grade"].Value);

//return back the first name + last name.
return first_name + " " + last_name;
}

Note that you must download the Ajax.NET Professional framework to use this code.