Sep 13
Microsoft’s Entity Framework has been around a while, but with it’s latest incarnation it is really shaping up nicely. I’ve been enjoying the ‘code first’ approach in version 4.1 of the framework. This allows you start your application design from POCOs, allowing the framework to infer the database design for you. For example, take the following Member entity model:
class Member
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
}
For many small projects I’ve been using Wolf CMS. a really nice and fairly lightweight application for managing content. What I like about it is that the core code is quite minimal, but allows you to extend using plugins.
Recently I’ve been asked to build a site that requires a the ability to relate other pages to the one an editor is currently editing.
The plugin can be downloaded here. Note: This version is for Wolf 0.7.2 and above. The older plugin for Wolf 0.6 is also available. Once installed in the plugins directory and enabled in the administration screen, the following tab is now available when editing pages: Once installed in the plugins directory and enabled in the admininistration screen, the following tab is now available when editing pages:
See the documention screen for sample frontend code which lists the related pages.
Please be aware that I really did knock this together rather quickly, but it works for me. If anyone finds any bugs, please let me know.
A while ago I had to make certain that a CMS driven site built in .Net met some validation criteria. Specifically the XHTML markup. Running it by the W3C validator service, the markup always failed.
I fixed the obvious within the web.config. For example, the following is needed to force the application to render XHTML:
<configuration> ... <system .web> ... <xhtmlconformance mode="Strict" /> ... </system> ... </configuration>
If I painfully cut and pasted the HTML into the Validator’s form field, it passed. The problem is, is that the service is not recognised by the Web server, and so a helper file in the application is required.
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A bit of a niche entry this one. Will only be of interest to those who use Tridion, one of the more ‘heavyweight’ CMS solutions.
I generally have a number of repetitive tasks that are extremely tedious to accomplish using the browser based GUI. So I constructed a simple command line tool that allows me to script tasks using a SOAP interface known as the Tridion Business Connector.
The client takes the following arguments:
bcclient.exe /h [hostname] /u [user] /p [password] /d [domain] /x "[request XML]"
Why did I build this? Very useful when called via scripting tools. In my case, Perl.
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Dec 23
I’ve finally got some time off from work. Not managed to update the blog for a few months, which is a shame, because I quite enjoy doing it. I’ve also had a few emails from satisfied customers. Some of you out there actually take the time to post feedback. Much appreciated. Though I had to code a spam filter for naughty stuff that had been submitted. Thankfully I now don’t have to go into the database, and bulk delete entries.
Now that I’ve got the time, I’m going to start writing again. I start work again in the new year, and I’m looking forward to it. As things never stand still in development, it’ll be time to pick up a few books, and gain some new skills.
More Content Management integration coming up for me next year (Tridion, possibly Immediacy), and more ASP.Net work. Also going to brush up on my jQuery, and CodeIgniter knowledge. Really would like to do more Open Source based project work, as I’ve been mainly using proprietary applications during the pass few months. With the economy lower than a fat kids self esteem, I can’t be choosy, just glad to be working.
Have a great Christmas, and I’ll see you a few pounds heavier in the new year.