Code On Time: Tips and Tricks

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Tips and Tricks

Thursday, December 30, 2010Print Subscribe

Code On Time generator is a Windows application that hosts an Internet Explorer web browser within the boundaries of the main window. The code generator navigates to the HTML files stored locally on the hard drive of your computer. HTML files provide interactive user interface of the code generator based on JavaScript. No information is transmitted over the web to our server when you generate your applications. The input and output files of the code generator are stored entirely on your computer.

In a few instances there were reports of the code generator displaying a blank page with Code On Time logo at the top when the generator starts. No other user interface elements were present. Re-installation of the code generator would not help.

The issue has to do with the security settings of Internet Explorer.

Background

Internet Explorer allows controlling if execution of the JavaScript embedded into HTML pages is allowed.

The computer has five security zones, namely:

(0) Local Machine zone,
(1) Internet,
(2) Local intranet,
(3) Trusted sites, and
(4) Restricted sites.

However the Internet Explorer user interface allows users to configure only 4 of the 5 security zones using the Internet Explorer interface.

The Local Machine zone (0), is an implicit zone that exists on the local computer, security settings for this zone cannot be configured using the Internet Options Control Panel.

Any configuration done from the Internet Explorer interface have absolutely no effect on enabling scripts to run within Windows Applications on the local computer (a matter which also affects Code On Time code generator).

Steps to Reproduce

If you save the emphasized text below to the file named "Steps to reproduce.reg" and double-click the file to add the file entries to the registry then the script execution in the Local Machine Zone will become disabled. DO NOT DO THAT !!! Winking smile

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\0]

"1200"=dword:00000000
"1201"=dword:00000001
"1400"=dword:00000000
"1406"=dword:00000000
"1C00"=hex:00,00,02,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]

"Security_HKLM_only"=dword:00000001

Steps to Rectify

If you save the emphasized text presented below to the file "Script Permissions Fix.reg" and double-click the file to add the file entries to the registry then the script execution in the Local Machine Zone will be allowed. Code On Time generator will start functioning correctly.

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\0]
"1400"=dword:00000003
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]
"Security_HKLM_only"=dword:00000001

References

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833633

This information has been provided courtesy of Gabriel Inya-Agha of Quickening Group.

Labels: Code Generator, Installation, Tips and Tricks

Thursday, November 18, 2010Print Subscribe

Detecting Attempts to Access a Protected Page

Q. I built an application using web site factory. The application has a
dedicated login page. If I login as "admin" and navigate to the
membership page, then log out and log back in as "user" (which does
not have rights to the membership page), I get stuck. I think because
"user" does not have rights to visit the last page I visited before I
logged out, I can not get past the login page without logging back in
as admin, navigating off of membership page, then logging back out.

This is the standard ASP.NET behavior. You are signed in as a "user" but the redirect URL still tries to access the membership page, which "user" is not accessible to "user" account.

There are two options to fix that:

1) Offer a static link to the home page of your application in ~/App_Code/Controls/Login.acxs. User can click on the link to access the home page and break the login auto-redirects.

2) Add the following line of code into ~/App_Code/Controls/Login.ascx.cs:

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

public partial class Controls_Welcome : System.Web.UI.UserControl
{
    
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (Page.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated && 
                !String.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.Params["ReturnUrl"]))
            Response.Redirect("~/Pages/Home.aspx");
    }
}

The code will detect the RedirectUrl parameter in the page URL and redirect the user to home automatically.

Labels: Security, Tips and Tricks

Saturday, November 13, 2010Print Subscribe

Order Form Sample

In this tutorial we will detail the process of creating a custom Order Form with Code On Time generator and Web Site Factory project. We will customize the sample application generated straight from the Northwind database.

Customization includes creating a new page, adding data views to the page, configuring data controllers to calculate the extended priced of order detail records, the subtotal and total amounts of the order, and freight charges. We will also apply a custom template to alter the presentation of the form.

The screen shot below represents the final product of project customization.

Here is the same form rendered in “read-only” mode.

Download this tutorial now! (6172K)

Watch the tutorial on our YouTube channel:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekb8_S7YaRM

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syGsUTuK2ZE

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zImXeWos1U0

Labels: AJAX, Application Factory, ASP.NET, Business Rules/Logic, Designer, Master/Detail, Tips and Tricks, User Interface, Web 2.0