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What's New in ASP.NET Maker 3
ASP.NET Maker 3 is a major upgrade from 2.x. It is loaded with a lot of new features, including many frequently requested ones. ASP.NET Maker 3 is
much more powerful than before and yet still easy-to-use.
3-Tier Architecture
ASP.NET Maker 3 generates 3-tier architecture ASP.NET web site. You
can now write your custom business logic without the fear of them being
overwritten during generation. The new architecture is as follows:
- Presentation Layer
List/View/Search/Add/Edit/Delete pages for each table under
the destination folder.
- Business Logic Layer
Business layer codes for each table
under App_Code folder.
- Data Access Layer
Data access layer codes for each table under App_Code folder.
For each class, ASP.NET Maker generates a pair of files, *.vb/cs and
*_base.vb/cs (e.g. *bll.vb/cs and *bll_base.vb/cs for business layer),
and *.vb/cs classes inherits from *_base.vb/cs classes. The *.vb/cs classes
are the user classes where you can write your own custom codes. You can choose not to overwrite these classes if they exists in the App_Code
folder. See an example.
ASP.NET AJAX
Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) is a technique that makes web
pages more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server
behind the scenes. ASP.NET Maker 3 supports Ajax by using Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX. The following new Ajax features are supported:
Auto Suggest Textbox
You can set up a lookup table for a text field and make the textbox
for the field works like Google Suggest.
Add Extra Option to Lookup Table
With this feature you can add an extra option to a selection list with
lookup table on the fly. You don't need to reload the current page and you don't
even need a popup window.
Enhanced Dynamic Selection List
Dynamic Selection List now uses Ajax. If your selection lists are
linked to lookup tables with a lot of options. Using this feature will
greatly improve the page loading time because there is no need to populate
the selection lists by ASP.Net during page load. The first combobox can
be the parent combobox of multiple child comboboxes. Changing the first
combobox will change the options of all the child comboboxes.
More Advanced Security
Advanced Security in ASP.NET Maker 2 has already been greatly improved. ASP.NET
Maker 3 goes even one giant step further.
Dynamic User Levels
Instead of defining the User Levels at design time before script generation, you
can store User Levels in database and get the flexibility of changing the User Levels
without re-generating scripts. ASP.NET Maker can even help you create the required
User Level tables in common databases and migrate your existing static User Levels.
Parent User ID
You can add a Parent User ID field in your user table and assign a parent user for
each of your users. The parent user will then be able to modify the child users'
records like his/her own.
Auto-Login
User can optionally choose to auto-login the site until the user explicitly logs
out.
Extended Quick Search
Now you can add as many fields as you want to the Quick Search form so you can search
more precisely other than using advanced search.
Multi-Page Update
This feature allows you user to add or update records in steps.
Enhanced File Uploading to Folder
- Unique name - existing file will not be overwritten
- Delete Uploaded Files - option to delete the uploaded file when
the field is updated or the record is deleted
- File Type checking - only allow user to upload files of specified
file types
- Separate upload path - in addition to the global upload folder,
each upload field can have its own upload path
Extensions
ASP.NET Maker 3 introduces template extensions. An extension is modification of
template to make the template supports additional feature(s) implemented in the
extension. An extension is a template itself, it has the same structure as template
and you can modify them in exactly the same way as modifying the main template.
Third-party tools like DHTML editors and popup calendars are now implemented as
extensions so you can choose among the available extensions.
Note: All third-party tools are not part of ASP.NET
Maker and no technical support will be provided. See Third-party
Tools. The extensions for TinyMCE are provided as additional examples
of extensions and are provided for registered users only.
More
- Audit trail and email notification on Add/Edit/Delete
- "BETWEEN" search operator
- "AND/OR" condition between the 2 search operators for each field
- Duplicate value checking for non uniquely indexed fields
- Many other minor enhancements
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