In this article we will learn how to enable Unobtrusive Validation in ASP.NET 4.5.

Visual Studio 2012 provides some new Validation features that include Unobtrusive Validation. When you work with this Validation mode you will find that there is not much difference in this validation and previous validations but to enable this type of validation you had to first configure your Web Application.

There are three ways to enable the Unobtrusive Validation in your Web Application; they are:

- By using Web.Config file
- By using Global.asax file
- By using Page_Load event on each page

The first method is by using the Web.Config file.

Step 1

Write the following code in your Web.Config file:

<configuration>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="ValidationSettings:UnobtrusiveValidationMode" value="None"></add>
  </appSettings>
    <system.web>
      <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5" />
      <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5" />
    </system.web> 
</configuration>

Step 2

Now write the following code in your WebForm.aspx Page:

<asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="txt" />
     <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="RequiredFieldValidator1" ErrorMessage="txt is required"ControlToValidate="txt" runat="server" Text="Text is Required" Display="Dynamic" />

    <asp:Button ID="Button1" Text="Send info" runat="server" />

Step 3

Now debug your code, on debugging the code you will get the output like this:

When you click on the button in the output window you will see an Error Message. As you write in the Text Box and click again on the Button the error message will be disposed of automatically.

The second method is by using a Global.asax file.

Step 1

In the Global.asax file, first add the namespace "using System.Web.UI;".

After adding the namespace write the following code in the Application_Start method:

protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    ValidationSettings.UnobtrusiveValidationMode = UnobtrusiveValidationMode.None;
}

Step 2

Now write the following code in your WebForm.aspx page:

<asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="txt" />
     <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="RequiredFieldValidator1" ErrorMessage="txt is required"ControlToValidate="txt" runat="server" Text="Text is Required" Display="Dynamic" />

    <asp:Button ID="Button1" Text="Send info" runat="server" />

Step 3

Again debugging your Web Application you will again get the same output as you got in the first method.

The third method is by simply writing the code on each page inside the Page_Load event.

Step 1

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    this.UnobtrusiveValidationMode = System.Web.UI.UnobtrusiveValidationMode.None;

}

Step 2

Now write the following code in your WebForm.aspx page:

<asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="txt" />
     <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="RequiredFieldValidator1" ErrorMessage="txt is required"ControlToValidate="txt" runat="server" Text="Text is Required" Display="Dynamic" />

    <asp:Button ID="Button1" Text="Send info" runat="server" />

Step 3

Again debug your Web Application and you will again get the same output as you got in the first method.

This is brief tutorial how to download file from FTP using C#/VB.NET. Let’s start it:

C#

using System.Net;
using System.IO;

VB.NET

Imports System.Net
Imports System.IO

Following is the code of download file from the FTP Server.

C#

private void Download(string filePath, string fileName)
   {
       FTPSettings.IP = "DOMAIN NAME";
       FTPSettings.UserID = "USER ID";
       FTPSettings.Password = "PASSWORD";
       FtpWebRequest reqFTP = null;
       Stream ftpStream = null;
       try
       {
           FileStream outputStream = new FileStream(filePath + "\\" + fileName, FileMode.Create);
           reqFTP = (FtpWebRequest)FtpWebRequest.Create(new Uri("ftp://" + FTPSettings.IP + "/" + fileName));
           reqFTP.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile;
           reqFTP.UseBinary = true;
           reqFTP.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(FTPSettings.UserID, FTPSettings.Password);
           FtpWebResponse response = (FtpWebResponse)reqFTP.GetResponse();
           ftpStream = response.GetResponseStream();
           long cl = response.ContentLength;
           int bufferSize = 2048;
           int readCount;
           byte[] buffer = new byte[bufferSize];

           readCount = ftpStream.Read(buffer, 0, bufferSize);
           while (readCount > 0)
           {
               outputStream.Write(buffer, 0, readCount);
               readCount = ftpStream.Read(buffer, 0, bufferSize);
           }

           ftpStream.Close();
           outputStream.Close();
           response.Close();
       }
       catch (Exception ex)
       {
           if (ftpStream != null)
           {
               ftpStream.Close();
               ftpStream.Dispose();
           }
           throw new Exception(ex.Message.ToString());
       }
   }
   public static class FTPSettings
   {
       public static string IP { get; set; }
       public static string UserID { get; set; }
       public static string Password { get; set; }
   }

VB.NET

   Private Sub Download(ByVal filePath As String, ByVal fileName As String)
       FTPSettings.IP = "DOMAIN NAME"
       FTPSettings.UserID = "USER ID"
       FTPSettings.Password = "PASSWORD"
       Dim reqFTP As FtpWebRequest = Nothing
       Dim ftpStream As Stream = Nothing
       Try
           Dim outputStream As New FileStream(filePath + "\" + fileName, FileMode.Create)
           reqFTP = DirectCast(FtpWebRequest.Create(New Uri("ftp://" + FTPSettings.IP + "/" + fileName)), FtpWebRequest)
           reqFTP.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile
           reqFTP.UseBinary = True
           reqFTP.Credentials = New NetworkCredential(FTPSettings.UserID, FTPSettings.Password)
           Dim response As FtpWebResponse = DirectCast(reqFTP.GetResponse(), FtpWebResponse)
           ftpStream = response.GetResponseStream()
           Dim cl As Long = response.ContentLength
           Dim bufferSize As Integer = 2048
           Dim readCount As Integer
           Dim buffer As Byte() = New Byte(bufferSize - 1) {}

           readCount = ftpStream.Read(buffer, 0, bufferSize)
           While readCount > 0
               outputStream.Write(buffer, 0, readCount)
               readCount = ftpStream.Read(buffer, 0, bufferSize)
           End While

           ftpStream.Close()
           outputStream.Close()
           response.Close()
       Catch ex As Exception
           If ftpStream IsNot Nothing Then
               ftpStream.Close()
               ftpStream.Dispose()
           End If
           Throw New Exception(ex.Message.ToString())
       End Try
   End Sub
   Public NotInheritable Class FTPSettings
       Private Sub New()
       End Sub
       Public Shared Property IP() As String
           Get
               Return m_IP
           End Get
           Set(ByVal value As String)
               m_IP = Value
           End Set
       End Property
       Private Shared m_IP As String
       Public Shared Property UserID() As String
           Get
               Return m_UserID
           End Get
           Set(ByVal value As String)
               m_UserID = Value
           End Set
       End Property
       Private Shared m_UserID As String
       Public Shared Property Password() As String
           Get
               Return m_Password
           End Get
           Set(ByVal value As String)
               m_Password = Value
           End Set
       End Property
       Private Shared m_Password As String
   End Class

Hope you enjoy this simple tutorial. :)

Lots of people are excited about the new bundling and minification feature in the next version of ASP.NET and MVC. One major drawback I see a lot of people clamoring about is the fact that you cannot conditionally disable bundling or minification when you are in debug mode. Out of the box (and to be clear, I’m referring to the version that ships with MVC 4 beta) it’s impossible to debug your CSS and Javascript.

I expect this will change in the release version, but for now you are forced to create your own custom bundles (something you’d end up doing anyway) and conditionally check if you’re in debug mode to short-circuit the bundling/minification.

Disabling minification while in debug mode

It’s as simple as an #if DEBUG line and creating a transformer that does nothing. For example:

01           protected void Application_Start()
02           {
03               IBundleTransform jsTransformer;
04           #if DEBUG
05               jsTransformer = new NoTransform("text/javascript");
06           #else
07               jstransformer = new JsMinify();
08           #endif
09          
10               var bundle = new Bundle("~/Scripts/js", jsTransformer);
11          
12               bundle.AddFile("~/Scripts/script1.js");
13               bundle.AddFile("~/scripts/script2.js");
14          
15               BundleTable.Bundles.Add(bundle);
16           }

Now when you reference this javascript bundle like <script src="@System.Web.Optimization.BundleTable.Bundles.ResolveBundleUrl("~/Scripts/js")"></script> in a view it will render a single bundled and minified script when in release mode, but as a single bundled, non-minified file while in debug mode.

Disabling bundling while in debug mode

The above approach improves this situation, but I don’t think it goes far enough. If I’m going to have multiple source files, I want to debug with the same multiple source files, at least initially. It would get too confusing writing code in a several files and then debugging it in a single monolithic file.

As an experiment to see if it was possible, I ended up building a better bundler that does just what I want: bundles and minifies in release mode, but doesn’t bundle or minify when the build is set to debug.

The entire class is below, explanation to follow:

01           public static class BetterBundler
02           {
03               private static bool _debug;
04               const string CssTemplate = "<link href=\"{0}\" rel=\"stylesheet\" type=\"text/css\" />";
05          
06               public static void Init()
07               {
08           #if DEBUG
09                   _debug = true;
10           #endif
11                   var bundle = new Bundle("~/content/css", new CssMinify());
12          
13                   bundle.AddFile("~/Content/test.css");
14                   bundle.AddFile("~/Content/site.css");
15                   
16                   BundleTable.Bundles.Add(bundle);
17               }
18          
19               public static MvcHtmlString ResolveBundleUrl(string bundleUrl)
20               {
21                   return _debug ? BundledFiles(BundleTable.Bundles.ResolveBundleUrl(bundleUrl)) : UnbundledFiles(bundleUrl);
22               }
23               
24               private static MvcHtmlString BundledFiles(string bundleVirtualPath)
25               {
26                   return new MvcHtmlString(string.Format(CssTemplate, bundleVirtualPath));
27               }
28          
29               private static MvcHtmlString UnbundledFiles(string bundleUrl)
30               {
31                   var bundle = BundleTable.Bundles.GetBundleFor(bundleUrl);
32          
33                   StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
34                   var urlHelper = new UrlHelper(HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext);
35          
36                   foreach (var file in bundle.EnumerateFiles(new BundleContext(new HttpContextWrapper(HttpContext.Current), BundleTable.Bundles, bundleUrl)))
37                   {
38                       sb.AppendFormat(CssTemplate + Environment.NewLine, urlHelper.Content(ToVirtualPath(file.FullName)));
39                   }
40          
41                   return new MvcHtmlString(sb.ToString());
42               }
43          
44               private static string ToVirtualPath(string physicalPath)
45               {
46                   var relativePath = physicalPath.Replace(HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH"], "");
47                   return relativePath.Replace("\\", "/").Insert(0, "~/");
48               }
49          
50               public static MvcHtmlString CssBundle(this HtmlHelper helper, string bundleUrl)
51               {
52                   return ResolveBundleUrl(bundleUrl);
53               }
54           }

To summarize, I’m using the same technique to determine debug mode, and of course this could be extended to conditionally bundle or not based on any boolean. The interesting code is in the UnbundledFiles(string bundleUrl) method.

Currently, there is no concept of named bundles – bundles are specified simply by the virtual path of the resultant bundle. This means all our calling code in the view has to give is the virtual path of the bundle. We have to start from that and uncover all the physical files deeper within the BundleTable.

var bundle = BundleTable.Bundles.GetBundleFor(bundleUrl);

This line retrieves the bundle that we created from the BundleTable.

bundle.EnumerateFiles(new BundleContext(new HttpContextWrapper(HttpContext.Current), BundleTable.Bundles, bundleUrl))

This gets all of the physical files from the bundle.

The rest is just boilerplate code to turn those raw physical files back into relative virtual paths and into the proper html tags.

Finally, you’ll note that I have an HtmlHelper method in there, CssBundle(this HtmlHelper helper, string bundleUrl). To render a bundle link in a view, this must be used. Since the result of a bundle could be one or multiple files, I decided the simplest approach would be to allow the BetterBundler to render the full html tag itself. This could easily be changed or enhanced.

1              In the view:
2             
3              @Html.CssBundle("~/content/css")

The Result

In release mode:

<link href="/content/css?v=7GiB-1k9Pr1JbbYY72bT3T2EOpxXf0rGPdEOXVKl5oQ1" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

In debug mode:

<link href="/content/test.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<link href="/content/site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

In this article I will show you how to publish ASP.NET web application. I have found many people ask this question on asp.net forum. You can simply publish your web application to the File System and copy paste all the files to your server. Then from IIS, you can add a new website. You can set this by right clicking on the web application in the solution explorer and choosing 'Package/Publish Settings'.

Right click on your project in the solution explorer and choose 'Publish'. From the dialog box, as the publish method, choose 'File System'. And choose some directory as the Target Location.

Add the website by right clicking on the 'Sites' in IIS.

Then give a name to your site and select the Physical path from where you copied the site folder.

Many times in software development, we want to invoke several processes at one time and continue when we get all the results back.  Obviously, if we were needing to process a sequence of items in a similar matter, we could use PLINQ.  Unfortunately, when the things we want to invoke asynchronously are heterogeneous tasks, PLINQ doesn’t really fit the bill.  Today we will look at a handy method in the Parallel class that can help us accomplish this.

Invoking processes asynchronously

Let’s say we have three completely separate methods and we want to invoke all three of them and the continue when they have returned.  These methods may be from separate classes and have completely different parameters and/or return types.  Thus, it may not be possible to use facilities likeParallel.ForEach() or PLINQ.

So how would we do this?  Well, we could obviously create three threads, start them, and join on them to come back:

   1: var threads = new List<Thread>
   2:                   {
   3:                       new Thread(SomeMethod),
   4:                       new Thread(() => SomeOtherMethod(x, y)),
   5:                       new Thread(() => { result = YetAnotherMethod(x, y, z); })
   6:                   };
   7: threads.ForEach(t => t.Start());
   8: threads.ForEach(t => t.Join());

Which, as you can see, can be used to call any method that fits Thread’s constructor (or can be adapted to it using a lambda, etc.). 

But that’s a bit heavy.  In addition, if an unhandled exception is thrown in one of those methods it will kill the thread, but we don’t have a very clean way of catching it here at the point of invocation.

Of course, we also have the Task class from the TPL which can help simplify threads:

   1: var tasks = new []
   2:                 {
   3:                     Task.Factory.StartNew(SomeMethod),
   4:                     Task.Factory.StartNew(() => SomeOtherMethod(x, y)),
   5:                     Task.Factory.StartNew(() => { result = YetAnotherMethod(x, y, z); })
   6:                 };
   7: Task.WaitAll(tasks);

This simplifies things on the surface, and better yet simplifies things a lot more with exception handling as well (TPL task exceptions get wrapped into a AggregateException and can be caught at the WaitAll() – and other possible places).

But there’s an even easier way…

Parallel.Invoke() – Easily invoke asynchronously

Just as the TPL gave us Parallel.For() and Parallel.ForEach() to make processing loops asynchronously a breeze, it also gave us Parallel.Invoke(), which takes any number of Action delegates and invokes them asynchronously and waits for them to rejoin.  If your methods have return values you want to store or need parameters, you can easily use lambda expressions as well:

   1: Parallel.Invoke(
   2:     SomeMethod,
   3:     () => SomeOtherMethod(x, y)),
   4:     () => { result = YetAnotherMethod(x, y, z); })

As long as the method can convert to an Action or you can form a lambda that will allow it to do so, you can use the Parallel.Invoke() to easily call them all in parallel without having to worry about starting or joining the threads or tasks.  And, because this is part of the TPL, you get the nice AggregateException handling as well that lets you easily catch tasks thrown from the underlying tasks.

Summary

When you just need to fire off several methods in parallel, consider the Parallel.Invoke().  It is a very handy way to invoke several different methods easily without having to worry about all the details of creating tasks or threads.