ASP: how to check SQL Server's tables properties

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If you use SQL Server as a back end of your web application, sometimes it is important to check a table properties before allowing any delete, update or insert request. Sometimes it is useful just to display the table status to the user, showing - for example - the last modify date, so that the user will be aware of the update level of the data fetched.

To do so, we need to query the sys.Tables of your database. It contains a lot of information on the database tables, the kind of info we are looking for.

jQuery: 6 ways to create charts with jQuery

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Charts are a good way of displaying data. No one can doubt it. If you need to effectively present your reports to the boss, using information fetched from your database, jQuery might provide a good and easy way to do it. You can actually use jQuery directly and follow the online tutorials you can find googling, or use some ready-made plugins. Here you can find some of those plugins.

ASP: simple alternating colour rows in a dynamic table

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There is a very simple way of presenting a dynamic table with alternate colours for rows. In order to achieve this effect we can use CSS and ASP.
First of all, prepare the CSS style for your rows as follow:

<style type="text/css">
<!--
table.sample tr.d0 td {
    background-color: #0C50DA;
}
table.sample tr.d1 td {
    background-color: #2B78ED;
}
-->
</style>

Exchange: Me, my iPhone and Ms Exchange

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I've always thought that mobile phones should be made to make phone calls. Period. Then a good friend of mine has bought an iPhone 4 and gracefully decided to give his old 3G to me. I must admit, the iPhone is really a great toy! I started immediately to play with it and, considering that the user manual is very limited, the phone is really easy to use. The GUI is intuitive and clear. Everything is at hand and iTunes has loads and loads of apps.
I understand that these are well known characteristics, and that there are many blogs, forums and websites talking about it, but here I want to share the experience I had with the iPhone's mail handling and an in-house Exchange Server 2003.

jQuery: enhancing html tables' usage with DataTables plugin

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Working with tables is a basic need for every web developer. Specifically when data fetched from a database must be tidily presented in your page, tables could be the only viable answer. We can enhance tables' usage with a great jQuery plug-in: DataTables.

 

jQuery 1.4.3 released

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As you may have noticed, I publish my blog posts regularly on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Today I've decided to break the normal posting schedule in order to inform you about the release of jQuery version 1.4.3.
Please visit the original announcement on the jQuery Blog.

CSS: Making background image fit any screen resolution

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Please see the revised solution for fixed backgrounds with scrolling pages:
CSS: Making background image fit any screen resolution (revised).

Making a background image fit any screen resolution is something everybody needs at least once in a lifetime. It is easy to create such effect, using CSS, and the result is quite good.
First of all, select your background image. Well, it seems that choosing is not really a big issue, but let me tell you that you need to do it carefully.
First of all, your background image should be large enough to fit your largest target screen size, but should not be too heavy in weight. As you may understand, the image's weight in bytes might affect your site speed.
Secondly, remember that a too bright image might disturb the correct balance of the content. It should be meaningful to the overall theme and content of the site. However, it should not be too invasive, distractive or in any way prevent the navigation of the site itself.

jQuery: 9 plugins for forms

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When handling forms in a web site or application, jQuery can make things easier. Here I've gathered some very helpful plug-ins you might use when needed. Please let me know your thoughts!

Web design: Single page and hand drawn web sites

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I've always been a minimalist. I do not like glittering web sites, full of flash movies, sliding pictures, blinking boxes and all the stuff created to catch one's eye. I am always overwhelmed when I see those non efficient and non effective examples of web design.
Think about it: the most famous web site in world is probably Google.

ASP: Create pdf files with FPDF

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One interesting thing you can do in a web site or application is to present reports directly in pdf format. If you have a database from which you pull data, you can manipulate the information and create a pdf file on the fly. FPDF is a PHP class created by Olivier PLATHEY, but a wise guy named Lorenzo Abbati translated it for asp. The class is completely free for commercial and non commercial use, and has almost everything you need to build up your pdf document. The problem is that Lorenzo has his web page and all the related documentation in Italian. You can always refer to the original PHP version of the class in order to understand in depth how it works. Here I will only scratch the surface and explain the basics.

ASP: Scripting.FileSystemObject... show folder content

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This is the last post of the Scripting.FileSystemObject series. After seeing how to manipulate files and folders, how to upload files and how to get file information, I would like to show how to retrieve a folder's content. This is probably the most easy thing to do, and as usual we start by setting the variables and the object:

<%
Dim FSO
   Set FSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
   Dim folderpath
   folderpath = Server.MapPath(yourfolder)

Guest Post by MJ Logan: Personal Websites

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Few businesses would deny the advantage of having a website and for most, it is not just an advantage but a necessity. Potential customers often search the web to find companies or individuals before looking anywhere else. A business website can provide potential customers with insight about the person or company they might be doing business with. Personal websites for freelancers are no different.

A personal website should be carefully constructed to maximize search engine ranking. Research keywords using Google’s Adsense Keyword Tool, not for placement of advertising, but to improve ranking. Add content based on the freelancer’s profession--content should focus on writing if the freelancer is a writer, or website design if they are a website developer. Ideally, the site should use Search Engine Friendly URLs that utilize keywords for each page. Also include links to other freelancers who will link back to the site. Never use the “nofollow” tag and ask other sites to do the same when linking to the freelancer site.

ASP: Scripting.FileSystemObject... how to read file or folder information

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As promised I would like to explain other useful methods related to the Scripting.FileSystemObject. Infact you can obtain information on a file by simply calling different methods. As I wrote a few days ago in the "ASP: Scripting.FileSystemObject... how to move, copy and delete a file or a folder" post, just start by setting the object:

<%
Dim FSO
   Set FSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

and the target file:

Dim varfile
Dim filepath
Dim fileinfo
   filepath = yourfilepath
   varfile = Server.MapPath(filepath)


jQuery: 5 useful file upload plugins

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Following my "ASP: Scripting.FileSystemObject... how to move, copy and delete a file or a folder" post I think that implementing a file management system for example on an Intranet, could be interesting indeed. In the mentioned post, I explained how to manipulate files already uploaded on the server. Now you could ask how to develop an upload system... so here we are.