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Tips and Tricks
Wednesday, April 3, 2013PrintSubscribe
Data View Refresh

Data views are only automatically refreshed by the client library when data is inserted, updated, or deleted. The user can force a refresh using the Refresh icon in the bottom right corner of every data view. In addition, the Refresh Interval property can be configured to refresh the data view based on a timer.

image

Certain situations require a refresh based on different conditions. For example, suppose that there are multiple tabs displaying similar data.

Multiple tabs displaying different lists of Orders.

The user may change the value of a record in one of the views.

Order date of an order is changed.

However, when the user switches to another view showing the same record, the old value will be displayed.

The order date is not updated for the same record in a different tab.

Let’s add a custom user control that will contain some custom JavaScript. This code will refresh the data view when the tab is changed in order to ensure that the data visible to the user is always fresh.

Creating Views

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab. Right-click on Orders / Views / grid1, and press Copy. Right-click on Orders / Views node, and press Paste to duplicate the view.

Copying view 'grid1' of Orders controller.     image

Do this one more time to create three grid views. Double-click on Orders / Views / v100.

Copied view 'v100' of Orders controller.

Make the following changes:

Property New Value
Id OrdersToShip
Label Orders To Ship
Filter Expression
OrderDate is null

Press OK to save. Double-click on Orders / Views / v101.

Copied view 'v101' of Orders controller.

Make the following changes:

Property New Value
Id HighFreight
Label High Freight
Filter Expression
Freight > 30

Press OK to save.

Setting Up the Page

Switch to the Pages tab. On the toolbar, press the New Page icon.

Adding a page to the project.

Assign a name to the page:

Property New Value
Name Filtered Orders

Press OK to save. Drop the new Filtered Orders page node to the right of Home page node.

Dropping 'Filtered Orders' page node on the right side of 'Home' page node.     Page 'Filtered Orders' is now second in the menu.

Right-click on Filtered Orders page, and press New Container.

Adding a container to a page.

Keep the defaults and press OK to save. Right-click on the new container and press New Data View.

Adding a data view to container 'c101'.

Assign the following values:

Property Value
Controller Orders
View grid1
Tag Orders
Activator Tab
Text Orders

Press OK to save. Create another data view with the following properties:

Property Value
Controller Orders
View OrdersToShip
Tag Orders To Ship
Activator Tab
Text Orders To Ship

Create one more data view.

Property Value
Controller Orders
View HighFreight
Tag High Freight
Activator Tab
Text High Freight

Save the data view.

Adding User Control

Right-click on Filtered Orders / c101 container node, and press New Control.

Adding a new control to container 'c101'.

Next to the User Control property, click on the New User Control icon.

Creating a new user control.

Assign a name:

Property Value
Name RefreshDataView

Press OK to save the user control and insert it into the property. Press OK again to save the control.

On the toolbar, press Browse to generate the web application and user control. When complete, right-click on Filtered Orders / c101 / control1 – RefreshDataView node, and press Edit in Visual Studio.

Edit the user control in Visual Studio via the context menu option in the Project Explorer.

The custom user control file will open in Visual Studio. Replace the content after the <%@ Control %> element with the following:

<script type="text/javascript">
    Sys.Application.add_load(function () {
        $('div.TabBar td.Item').click(function () {
            var linkText = $(this).find('a').text();
            var tag = linkText;
            var dataView = Web.DataView.find(tag, 'Tag');
            if (dataView) {
                if (dataView._isBusy == false && dataView.get_isDisplayed())
                    dataView.refresh();

            }
        });
    })
</script>

Viewing the Results

Save the file, and switch to the web app open in your browser window. Navigate to the Filtered Orders page. The page will have three tabs displaying different filtered lists of orders. Note the Order Date of the first record.

Three tabs displaying different lists of orders.

Switch to the High Freight tab. Edit the first record, and change the Order Date.

Changing the Order Date of an order.

Save the change, and switch back to the first tab. Note that the data view refreshes and the updated data is displayed.

The data view has been refreshed - the record is showing the latest changes.

Sunday, December 30, 2012PrintSubscribe
Exclude from Menu & Include In Menu

It is not necessary for all application pages to be visible in the navigation menu. These “system” pages may be accessed by a link from another page or a redirection via the Navigate action.

Exclude From Menu

Let’s exclude the Customer Demographics page from the navigation menu.

'Customer Demographics' navigation menu item.

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, right-click on Customer Demographics page node, and press Exclude From Menu.

Using the 'Exclude from Menu' context menu option for 'Customer Demographics' page.     'Customer Demographics' page is now excluded from the menu.

On the toolbar, press Browse. Notice that the Customer Demographics page is no longer present in the navigation menu.

'Customer Demographics' page not present in the navigation menu.

The page may still be accessed by the URL ~/Pages/CustomerDemographics.aspx.

Page 'Customer Demographics' is still accessible via the URL.

Include in Menu

Let’s restore the page to the navigation menu. Switch back to the Project Designer. Right-click on Customer Demographics node, and press Include in Menu.

Using the 'Include in Menu' context menu option for 'Customer Demographics' page.     'Customer Demographics' page is now included the menu.

The page will be included at the end of the menu. Let’s move it back to the original position. Drop Customer Demographics node on the right side of Categories node.

Dropping 'Customer Demographics' page on the right side of 'Categories' page.     'Customer Demographics' page placed after 'Categories'.

On the toolbar, press Browse. The Customer Demographics navigation menu item will have been restored.

'Customer Demographics' page now present in the navigation menu.

Thursday, November 1, 2012PrintSubscribe
URL Parameters

Data views on the page can detect and use certain parameters specified in the URL in the address bar of the web browser.

Filter By Field

The picture below shows an unfiltered list of customers.

Unfiltered list of customers.

A URL parameter will act as a filter for any data view on the page if the filter name matches to the name of a data field in the view. Data rows with field values unequal to the filter value will be eliminated from the data view.

For example, the following parameter will show only customers that reside in the country of “Belgium”.

Parameter Value
Country Belgium

http://demo.codeontime.com/Northwind/Pages/Customers.aspx?Country=Belgium

Customers grid view with a field filtered. The filtered field has been hidden.

The data view will hide the filtered column to prevent display of duplicate values.  The column can be shown using the “_display” parameter.

Parameter Value
Country Belgium
_display Country

http://demo.codeontime.com/Northwind/Pages/Customers.aspx?Country=Belgium&_display=Country

The filtered field has been displayed with the URL parameter 'display'.

Any combination of filters can be applied using URL parameters. Multiple fields can be listed in a comma-separated list for the “_display” parameter.

Parameter Value
Country Belgium
City Bruxelles
_display Country,City

http://demo.codeontime.com/Northwind/Pages/Customers.aspx?Country=Belgium&City=Bruxelles&_display=Country,City

Customers grid view with two filters applyed using URL parameters.

Select Record

A record can be selected using URL parameters that specify the “Select” command, a command argument to specify the view, and the primary key of the record. The specified field will be hidden on the form. When the _commandName and _commandArgument parameters are used, all controllers will perform the action unless the controller is specified using “_controller”.

Parameter Value
_commandName Select
_commandArgument editForm1
ProductID 1
_controller Products

http://demo.codeontime.com/Northwind/Pages/Products.aspx?_commandName=Select&_commandArgument=editForm1&ProductID=1&_controller=Products

URL parameters used to select a record in edit form.

Edit Record

A record can be edited with URL parameters similar to selecting a record. The only difference is the use of “Edit” command name instead of “Select”.

Parameter Value
_commandName Edit
_commandArgument editForm1
ProductID 1
_controller Products

http://demo.codeontime.com/Northwind/Pages/Products.aspx?_commandName=Edit&_commandArgument=editForm1&ProductID=1&_controller=Products

URL parameters to open a record in edit mode.

Note that successfully performing any action in form view will navigate to the previous page, instead of going back to the grid. This behavior makes it easier to build a logical workflow for users without having to write redirection logic.

Create New Record

URL parameters can be used to open the form in new mode by specifying the “New” command and correct view.

Parameter Value
_commandName New
_commandArgument createForm1
_controller Orders

http://demo.codeontime.com/Northwind/Pages/Orders.aspx?_commandName=New&_commandArgument=createForm1&_controller=Orders

New record form opened using URL parameters.

Initial values can be specified for each field. These fields will also be hidden by default, and require “_display” parameter to be shown.

Parameter Value
_commandName New
_commandArgument createForm1
_controller Orders
ShipName John
_display ShipName

http://demo.codeontime.com/Northwind/Pages/Orders.aspx?_commandName=New&_commandArgument=createForm1&_controller=Orders&ShipName=John&_display=ShipName

New record form opened with initial values specified in the URL.

When specifying an initial value for a lookup, both the lookup field and the alias field must be specified.

Parameter Value
_commandName New
_commandArgument createForm1
_controller Orders
ShipName John
CustomerID AROUT
CustomerCompanyName Around the Horn
_display ShipName,CustomerID,CustomerCompanyName

http://demo.codeontime.com/Northwind/Pages/Orders.aspx?_commandName=New&_commandArgument=createForm1&_controller=Orders&ShipName=John&CustomerID=AROUT&CustomerCompanyName=Around the Horn&_display=ShipName,CustomerID,CustomerCompanyName

New record form opened with initial values specified in the URL and foreign key fields specified.