Data Aquarium Framework is a
premium code generator project that implements an
ASP.NET 3.5 web application with
Ajax Control Toolkit and
JSON web service straight from your database. The project is designed to handle databases of any size, while providing modern
Ajax-enabled user interface and great scalability.
Datasheet (122 KB) 
Documentation
Complete feature list:
The framework and demo application can be generated in Visual C# or Visual Basic.NET. There are no external dependencies. Complete source code is provided. You can also change the code generator templates if you feel that additional capabilities are needed. All code generator templates are included.
The generated application can be immediately deployed to the production environment to your Windows 2003 or Windows 2008 server.
The generated application source code is an ASP.NET 3.5 web site that can be opened in
Visual Studio 2008 or
Visual Web Developer Express 2008. You can download the free
Visual Web Developer Express 2008 here.
The u
ser interface of the generated application is rendered by java script components based on ASP.NET AJAX Extensions 3.5 and Ajax Control Toolkit.
- All required java script files are included in the application in source code form.
- Advanced user interface features are available to end users of your application. Here is an overview of the GUI of Data Aquarium Framework applications. See our video tutorial that shows many great user interface features of dynamic AJAX-based user interface that will make your users happy.
- Flexible and fast paging without post backs or annoying page flickering. End users can select the desired page size whenever information is presented as a grid of records. Record sets of any size are supported. Only the current page of a record set is retrieved.
- Sort and filter your records with ease. No coding is required.
- Filter-by-example without any coding is automatically supported in all views.
- Adaptive filtering by any combination of columns in grid views is supported. No coding is required.
- Custom filtering expressions that work with adaptive filtering are supported. No coding is required.
- In-place editing of records is supported in grid views. This allows a spreadsheet style entering of records.
- AJAX-enabled calendars are displayed in edit mode for all date time fields without any coding.
- Lookup fields can be presented as radio button lists, drop down lists, list boxes, and AJAX data lookups. Static and dynamic lists of values can be supplied by developers.
- AJAX-enabled data lookups are enabled for all lookup fields by default. Popup windows with advanced multi-view display capabilities are rendered automatically without any coding. The same great paging, sorting, and adaptive filtering features are available in all data lookup windows.
- Form views with categorized groups of fields are displayed when user drills into record details. Define as many form views as you want. The no-refresh user interface rendering is provided without any coding.
- No-refresh data validation and error reporting is provided. An error message bar is displayed at the top of the page and stays there even if users scroll down the page.
- Define custom actions and write business logic code to respond to the action without any need to know details of ASP.NET and AJAX. If you are an expert then tap into the full power of Data Aquarium Framework and interact with the client side object model of the AJAX java script controls. Read more about creating custom action handlers.
- Create sophisticated applications with master detail support and virtually no code. See our video tutorial about creating master-detail pages in Data Aquarium Framework applications.
- Generated source code includes Database Lookups for ASP.NET and AJAX 3.5. A powerful replacement for standalone DropDownList, ListBox, and RadioButtonList controls that are commonly used as database lookups in web applications. Replace all of your list controls with DataViewLookup to have them rendered as AJAX-enabled lookups of the framework. See demo of database lookups here. No code is required to connect the DataViewLookup controls to the data controllers of your application.
- No-code declarative data controllers are the foundation of the Data Aquarium Framework.
- Declarative role-based control over who is allowed to read/write the data fields in user interface views. No code is required. Integrates with the standard ASP.NET security infrastructure.
- Declarative role-based control over who is allowed to execute custom actions in user interface views. No code is required. Integrates with the standard ASP.NET security infrastructure.
- Data source control ControllerDataSource allows utilizing the power of declarative data controller descriptors and custom action handlers to create a true no-code data binding with server Business Logic Layer. This makes it possible to use Data Aquarium Framework with any commercial control library compatible with DataSourceControl binding model. If your controls are working with ObjectDataSource, SqlDataSource, or any other similar data source control, then they will work great with Data Aquarium Framework as well. See integration demo.
- Enhance your web forms with no-code auto complete features based on the framework capabilites.
- Reuse no-code data controller descriptors with custom action handlers throughout your entire application including client-side AJAX data views, database lookups, and web forms based on standard ASP.NET 3.5 controls.
- An extremely small footprint and simple extension model allows you to integrate any BLL/DAL library to write custom server code to build your application.
- Powerful support for master/detail connections is available with minimal markup and no coding.
- Master/detail support is enhanced with load-on-demand to ensure that only the views currently visible on screen are requesting server data to improve application performance. This comes handy if you are using tab controls to display multiple data views on the same page.
- Highlight and select allows desktop style selection of records in grid views.
- Database lookups allow creating new lookup items in-place without leaving the page.
- Instantly create a business logic layer for your application. Create object instances by calling data selection methods of object factories, manipulate object properties, insert, update, and delete objects. All objects of business logic layer are designed to support data binding with ObjectDataSource component. Full support is provided for paging, sorting, filtering, and editing of records of any size with maximum flexibility and minimal database interaction.
- Custom form templates for any form view defined in your data controllers.
- Custom grid templates for any grid view defined in your data controllers.
- Server-side data filters to automatically limit record sets displayed in views based on user identity or role.
- Custom data field styles in views to create expressive user interface.
- Data field aggregates to instantly calculate sum, count, average, minimum, and maximum in grid view columns without writing a single line of code. See a live demo of this feature.
- Automatic support for BLOB table columns including file upload, download, and image thumbnailing.
- Sort and filter your records and then export them to your favorite spreadsheet application with a click of a mouse.
- Support for context-sensitive data lookups.NEW
- Sort and filter your records and view live RSS feed in any RSS feed reader without writing a single line of code.NEW
- Instant details for lookup fields.NEW
- Membership support brings standard features of ASP.NET membership to a new level. AJAX-enabled user and role manager makes membership record management easy. Membership bar allows users to login to your application from any page. Users can sign up for new accounts, manage their profiles and recover forgotten passwords.NEW
- Elegant support for business rules and business logic development.NEW
- A collection of user interface themes.NEW
Try the sample application that works with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and implements a collection of data controllers of a small mail order enterprise.