I really like the Modal Popup Extender (MPE) (see various articles here) and the “feel” that it adds to sites.  It’s useful for collecting information, changing information, or simply informing the user that something has happened.

But what happens when you need two popups at the same time?

In a recent project, I used the MPE to provide options when a user added or imported records into a system.  However, I also wanted to provide an UpdateProgress panel that would appear OVER the modal popup panel.  To do this, I needed to redefine the z-index css attributes to properly layer the controls.

My requirements were simple:

• The MPE should appear over all “pages”.
• The MPE “Backgrounds” (the BackgroundCssClass of the MPE) should appear just behind the MPE.
• The UpdateProgress and it’s background should appear over EVERYTHING else.
• The UpdateProgress and the MPEs should scroll and resize according to the browser.
• Everything must be cross-browser (of course).

UPDATE: While this works BEAUTIFULLY in IE7, IE8, FF2, and FF3–-it totally borks out in IE6.  Working on a fix now.

The Modal Popup Panel

The modal popup panel is pretty standard.  The z-index of 1000 basically puts it above most everything else on the screen.

.ModalPopupPanel

{

    z-index: 1000;

    width: 400px;

    border: solid 2px #5D7B9D;

    background-color: #F5F5DC;

    padding: 10px 10px 10px 10px;

}

The UpdateProgress Popup Panel

The UpdateProgress panel is also quite standard—a white box, border, and animated .gif image to keep users entertained during longer processes.  For this, the z-index is set outrageously high just for safety.  Remember: I want the UpdateProgress above EVERYTHING else.

.UpdateProgressPanel

{

/* UpdateProgressPanel is above EVERYTHING ELSE, even other modal popups */

       z-index: 99999999;

       background-color:#fff;

       color:#fff;

       width: 200px;

       text-align: center;

       vertical-align: middle;

       position: fixed;

       bottom: 50%;

       left: 45%;

       padding: 10px;

       border: solid 2px #5D7B9D;

}

The Modal Backgrounds

Behind the MPE and UpdateProgress backgrounds, you see a nice blue slate gray color, that’s handled by the ModalBackground class (the BackgroundCssClass attribute of the ModalPopupExtender control. 

.ModalBackground,

.UpdateProgressModalBackground

{

       background-color: #6D7B8D; /* Blue Slate Gray */

       position: fixed;

       top: 0;

       left: 0;

       height: 100%;

       width: 100%;

       min-height: 100%;

       min-width: 100%;

       filter:alpha(opacity=50);

       opacity:0.5;

       -moz-opacity: 0.5;

}

.ModalBackground

{

/* Just below a ModalPopupPanel */

    z-index: 999;

}

.UpdateProgressModalBackground

{

/* Above everything else, except an UpdateProgressPanel */

    z-index: 99999998;

}

To save some reuse, the ModalBackground and UpdateProgressModalBackground share the same attributes; however, I’ve specified the z-index separately to ensure that the UpdateProgressModalBackground appears ABOVE the regular ModalBackground. 

These combine to create a nice layered effect.  Now, even when a MPE is visible, the UpdateProgress still appears over it and prevents user entry.

As projects wind down, it’s been quite the administrative lull lately.  Projects are done and rolling out the door; paperwork is ramped up and covering my desk. :(  Hopefully, over the next few weeks, some new fun and excitement will jump in the door—including a new project involving mobile devices (yay!).

If not, maybe it’ll give me time to get back into experiment mode and kick around the new ASP.NET MVC Preview 4 and ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 Preview.  I haven’t had nearly enough time to dink at home—all this newfound housework takes a LOT of time and energy. Heh.

VS2008 has crashed 20+ times today.  Reboots aren’t helping.  I’m slowly uninstalling plug-ins at the moment.  Ugh.

Obviously a Monday

When I first started using Subversion full time for all of my personal projects, I stuck with the VisualSVN server and AnkhSVN as a Visual Studio client.  Both were free, easy to install, and easy to use.

However, after a few weeks, the AnkhSVN client could almost be called “annoying.”  It trampled over the existing SCC plugins for SourceSafe (for work) and made a mess out of several of my project uploads.  I ended up going back to using TortioiseSVN and doing everything through Explorer.

When AnkhSVN 2.0 was released, I figured I’d give it another shot.

The site claims quite a bit—including several unique additions:

• Pending changes window; subversion status and commands available in one place
• Full support for Visual Studio 2005 and 2008; AnkhSVN is now a SCC package instead of just an addin
• Better log viewer
• Merge support
• Property editor
• AnkhSVN now supports most project types previously unsupported via the SCC api
• All solution explorer actions (rename, copy&paste, drag&drop) keep subversion history now
• Enhanced build process and setup
• Automatic check for updates
• And last but certainly not least end user documentation

All of those look great—especially the SCC package and changes window.  But how does it compare once installed?

After installation and starting up VS2008, everything looks normal.

Brief Look

Pending Changes Window

The new pending changes window is FANTASTIC—much improved over the old 1.x versions.  I did run into a snafu when trying to resize the window where the scrollbars didn’t update on the screen; however, I’m not sure if it’s a VSS or AnkhSVN issue.

SCC Package

Under Options > Source Control, AnkhSVN shows up just like it should.

What does boggle me is that all of the Subversion commands and menus are available no matter what—even when the VSS SCC is enabled.  It still has the stink of VSS and SVN trying to step on one another (“pick me! control your project with me! no, I’m better! pick me!”).

Log/History Viewer

I really like the new history viewer.  It’s clean and easy to read; however, if you change the options at the top—there doesn’t appear to be a way to “change it back” and see the history again, close the view and review.

Annoyances

• Opening a project from Subversion (File > Subversion > Open from Subversion) will open a project just fine, copy it down, but never opens it.  You have to go back and open the solution after it’s created the local structure.  Not huge, but annoying.
• When viewing history; you cannot view the history of a single file (that I’ve found) in the Repository Explorer. 

I’m still planning to give it a whirl for the next couple of weeks and see what happens.  Hopefully over a couple weeks I’ll have more time to code—it’s been a busy July so far!

In my current project, I created a custom server control that presented the user with questions and answers—they select the answer and move on.

However, a requirement was that the user could push a button and “select all”.  Unfortunately, DropDownList objects are not as easy to select as, say, a CheckBox.  In addition, all controls are dynamically generated—I knew the IDs, but couldn’t specify the Async trigger in the MasterPage’s Script Manager.

I could, however, find the name of the control and do a bit of magic with it.

Here’s how:

First, in your server control, check to see if a ScriptManager control is even present.  For this example, I’m leaving out the try/catches—so we’ll assume that it’s there.

private ScriptManager _scriptManager;

Then, in OnInit (or OnLoad, depending on your controls):

_scriptManager = ScriptManager.GetCurrent(Page);

GetCurrent fetches the current AJAX ScriptManager control from the context you specify—in this case, the current Page object.

Now we’re ready to consume the ScriptManager.  First, we ensure that it’s not null AND, most importantly, that the line of code is being hit during an Async Postback.  Regular postbacks, for the point of updating an UpdatePanel don’t matter to us.

if (_scriptManager != null && _scriptManager.IsInAsyncPostBack)

{

var fromWhere =

_scriptManager.AsyncPostBackSourceElementID;

The ScriptManager’s AsyncPostBackSourceElementID (seriously, can we get longer field names?) provides just that, a hashed heirarchy of the control that caused the Async Postback.  For this to work, it’s important to remember that you must either have ChildrenAsTriggers set to True or have explicitly registered your dynamic control with the ScriptManager.

The hashed output looks like the standard ASP.NET control heirarchy:

ctl00_pbph_tc_ctl01_selectallbutton_123

In this case, when I dynamically created my button, I named it “selectallbutton_{id}” to make it easy to find AND store the information I need in this Select All step.

if (fromWhere.Contains(“selectallbutton_”))

       {

var id =

fromWhere

.Substring(fromWhere.IndexOf(‘_’) + 1)

.ConvertTo<int>();

       MyMethod(id);

}

The full code block looks like:

_scriptManager = ScriptManager.GetCurrent(Page);

if (_scriptManager != null && _scriptManager.IsInAsyncPostBack)

{

var fromWhere =

_scriptManager.AsyncPostBackSourceElementID;

       if (fromWhere.Contains(“selectallbutton_”))

       {

var id =

fromWhere

.Substring(fromWhere.IndexOf(‘_’) + 1)

.ConvertTo<int>();

       MyMethod(id);

}

}

Now my dynamically created button’s Click event is caught during the Async postback (inside an UpdatePanel), validated, and my custom method is executed—in this event, taking the “id” that was part of the Button’s ID and modifying other controls on the page accordingly.

The last few weeks have been filled with taking an old ASP legacy application and updating it to ASP.NET.  Fun stuff and not to challenging.

However, a “feature” of the AJAX Control Toolkit’s TabContainer finally hit a nerve.  In the past, I’ve ignored the fact that I couldn’t “wrap” the tabs or set how many rows of tabs to create.  I chalked it up to an annoyance and designed applications with this in mind.

After hunting through the Control Toolkit’s source code, the problem is simple.  There’s a line in the CSS explicitly telling it not to wrap.

Well, recompiling the toolkit can get annoying and hurts mobility of your applications—it’s no fun to bundle “custom” copies for a simple styling change.

.ajax__tab_header

{

    white-space: normal !important;

}

That will override the nowrap that is built into the Toolkit’s CSS.

Hopefully, someday, this will be a boolean property on the TabContainer control.

I swear that they don’t sleep at JetBrains.  Sleep is good! 

Fresh off of ReSharper 4.0’s great EAP and full release, they’re hard at work for ReSharper 4.0.1.  According to Confluence, there’s already been almost 220 bug fixes (as per build 907). 

As usual, caution should be used when evaluating an EAP product (e.g. not on your one-and-only production workstation), but it looks like another great opportunity to kick in some feedback for ReSharper.

You can find the nightly builds here.

Over the next few days, I’ll be moving into my first home.  I’ve spent the past 6 months scowering the housing market and finally found one I really like.  Unlike most the country, homes in the midwest are going UP in price, so finding what I wanted (in what I could afford) was quite tricky. I’ll post up some pics over the next few days. So, time is tight and I probably won’t be posting much for the next couple of weeks. See you soon! As I do have access to the internet, I’ll be updating this post with news about the new place and photos (if/when I find my camera in the box it’s in).

UPDATE: noon, 26 June - Sellers are unable to meet the requirements of a new roof (my insurance won’t cover the highly hail damaged roof) by the closing deadline–if I can’t insure it, I can’t close on it.  No extensions apply–I fear that they’ll just keep dragging it out.  I let the agent know that the deal’s off.  We’ll work up the paperwork tomorrow when she’s in town.  Grr, guess back to the drawing boards.  Now to call EVERYONE back.

UPDATE: 11:30pm, 26 June - Sellers are now able to meet the requirements (*lots of shouting, angry feelings, angst*) and we’re going to closing tomorrow even though they said they can’t make it this afternoon.  I swear I’ve never felt more out of control or mislead in my life.  Come to find out that what is said means absolutely nothing and requires all parties to SIGN for it.  So, apparently we’re closing tomorrow afternoon.  Now to call EVERYONE back… AGAIN!

UPDATE: 12:00pm, 27 June – The insanity continues.  The closing time is now iffy because the title agency can’t get everything together by the 2:00pm closing time.  I’m frantically trying to get utilities back on since, due to the weekend and the Sunday possession date, I don’t want to walk into a hot, waterless house on Monday morning.

UPDATE: 9:45pm, 27 June – Well, everything is done and I have keys in my hand.  With what seemed like a hundred signatues, countless stacks of papers and agreements, and some awkward moments with all the shuffle of the past few days—it’s finally over.  We take possession midday Sunday.  If nothing else, this has been a wild ride.  Pictures and more coming soon.

UPDATE: 8:00am, 30 June – Well, a day of cleaning (and partial box moving yesterday) and things are taking shape.  Here’s a few photos that I’ll add to as we clean the house.  Click for full images.

Front entry with real hardwood floors.

Living room with passthrough to kitchen, dutch door, and fireplace.

Living room has old English framing and skylights.

Kitchen with eat-in dining area, bay window.

UPDATE: 11:15am, 3 July – Wow, what a rush of busy days.  Everything is moved, appliances are in, and the important things are setup and working—the computer (and internet), the new HD TV and tuner, and the coffee pot.

There are quite a few new features to ReSharper 4.0 that are great, but it’s the little things that really can impress and speed up usage.  A few of my favorites are below.

camelHumps.

ReSharper now supports Go To > and statement completion according to camel casing.  If you’re like me, you tend to write normal sentences in camel case—it’s just habit.

Using the camel casing, it picks up the variable I just created, not the class.

Lambda support.

I’ve become addicted to the simplicity of lambdas—they express intent and you can read them like sentences.  ReSharper 4 does an excellent job of digging into the anonymous type and pulling up IntelliSense information.

ResponseChoicesController()

.SelectOne(x =>

x.IsDefault &&

x.ResponseTypeId == responseTypeId)

From the ResponseChoicesController, select one that meets the requirements that IsDefault is true and ResponseTypeId is equal to the specified responseTypeId.  To me, and I’m sure I’m odd, that is easier to read than the “written” LINQ code.

Convert Static to Extension.

This is FANTASTIC for revamping existing code to take full advantage of the .NET 3.5 Framework.  I’ve been working on a project the past few weeks to migrate a .NET 2.0 project using Enterprise Library 3 up to 3.5 and LINQ-to-SQL and this addition has been fantastic to move data and business logic into controllers and the LINQ data context.

A few days ago, I installed Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta and all the goodies that came along with that.  Since then, printing just didn’t work.  If I tried to print, it’d hang up the application for a few minutes (felt like hours) until it’d error out that the printer was not operational.  I could print DIRECTLY from the printer (the test page).  Meh.

Trust me, while trying to prototype a reporting application and print examples there is no happiness when you can’t print.

After several hours of hunting, testing drivers, trying fixes, etc… I finally came across a TOTALLY unrelated MS KB article, #948046.

The article is for Windows Server 2003 with SP2 and XP with SP2–-both x64 and x86 editions.  It focuses on Microsoft Word and not being able to print if the EU Font pack is installed.  The scenario of “Word document is not printed as expected” is pretty vague.

Now, I’ve been using the same HP printer drivers (an 8150 DN and 5550 DTN Color) for ages without any problems, so I can’t fathom that caused the problem, but who knows.  The problem started after installing VS2008 SP1 Beta (I haven’t combed the install logs to see if it reinstalled Unidrv.dll).

Anyway, the fix to this problem, so far (after testing in several applications including Adobe Acrobat, Word, Excel, Visual Studio, and SQL Management Studio), is to download the hotfix in the #948046 article. 

Install, reboot, and things work perfect.