Computer Overload

ASP.NET AJAX Upload Control

2009-02-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a very long time since I've posted anything but I've been doing a lot of web development lately and have discovered that there is a huge amount of mis-information on the web when it comes to doing certain things with Visual Studio and ASP.NET. So I'm going to post a few solutions that I've come up with AND TESTED. Hopefully someone can find the information useful.

Since Microsoft has Visual Web Developer 2008 available for free, it makes sense to use it. In fact, this free addition is more powerful than Visual Studio 2005 Professional (for web development that is) and...did I mention...it's free. Here's the download link.

http://www.microsoft.com/express/vwd/

You'll also need the AJAX Control Toolkit for this particular feature I'm going to describe. Here's the download link. And, btw...it's free too.

http://www.codeplex.com/AjaxControlToolkit

The first thing you will need to determine is the maximum file size you will allow someone to upload. The default is 4mb. If you want anything larger you will have to modify your Web.config file. Here is an example that will change the upload limit to 100mb. <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="102400" /> Simply add this line to your Web.config and change the number to the maximum file size you want. Notice that the file size is specified in kb and not mb (100 x 1024 = 102400).

Ok, now that we've taken care of that, on to the upload control. For purposes of this discussion, I've created a form called upload.aspx. I'm also using a predetermined upload location. You can easily modify the code to allow for the specification or even the creation of the upload folder but I'm not going to get into that. I'm just going to give you the basics for a working upload control. So here's what you'll need:

A web form (I've called mine upload.aspx)
A Label control to use for displaying an error message
An AJAX ScriptManager control
An AJAX UpdatePanel control
A Progress Bar image (I made my own using Photoshop)
A Label control to use as an update status (Please wait...)
A Label control to use for displaying a success message

So here's the code...remember you can make the control, variable, and function names whatever you like.

In the HEAD section of your web form you'll need this code:

<script runat="server">
Protected Sub UploadFile(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
If myFile.HasFile Then
Dim strFileName As String
strFileName = myFile.FileName
myFile.PostedFile.SaveAs(Server.MapPath("/whateverfolderyouwant/" + strFileName))
lblMsg.Text = strFileName + " has been uploaded successfully."
Else
lbl_Error.Text = "** You must first select a file to upload **"
End If
End Sub
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
function showWait()
{
if ($get('myFile').value.length > 0)
{
$get('UpdateProgress1').style.display = 'block';
}
}
</script>

Then in the BODY section where you want the upload control you'll need this code:

<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<asp:Label id="lbl_Error" runat="server" ForeColor="Red" Font-Bold="True"></asp:Label>
<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server"/>
<asp:UpdatePanel ID="UpdatePanel1" runat="server">
<Triggers>
<asp:PostBackTrigger ControlID="btnUpload" />
</Triggers>
<ContentTemplate>
<br />
<asp:Label ID="Label2" runat="server" Font-Bold="True" Text="Upload a file to the website"></asp:Label><br />
<asp:FileUpload ID="myFile" runat="server" /><br />
<asp:Button ID="btnUpload" runat="server" Text="Upload" OnClick="UploadFile" OnClientClick="showWait();" />
<br /><br />
<asp:Label ID="lblMsg" runat="server"></asp:Label>
<asp:UpdateProgress ID="UpdateProgress1" runat="server"
AssociatedUpdatePanelID="UpdatePanel1">
<ProgressTemplate>
<img src="images/progressbar.gif" /><br />
   <asp:Label ID="lblWait" runat="server" BackColor="#0A416B"
Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White"
Text=" Please wait ... uploading file "></asp:Label>
</ProgressTemplate>
</asp:UpdateProgress>
</ContentTemplate>
</asp:UpdatePanel>
</div>
</form>

Again, don't forget that you can call your controls, labels, and functions whatever you want. You can also format the fields any way you need in order to match the site you're working on. Oh...almost forgot...here's the progress bar image I created that will display while the file is uploading. Just right-click and save-as if you want to use mine or make your own if you don't like my dark blue progress bar.

Save Your Stuff

2008-06-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

I'm sure a lot of you are just like me and have an absolute ton of documents, music, and pictures stored on your computer. I have 21gb of digital pictures - that's 18,311 photos and 36.5gb of music - that's 13,258 songs.

Trust me...when your hard drive crashes those things are going to be nearly impossible to re-create or recover. Notice I said WHEN not IF your hard drive crashes. Experience is a great teacher and one thing I've learned is that a hard drive failure doesn't have to cost you all your data. There are a couple of simple, relatively inexpensive things you can do to protect against data loss.

First, separate your operating system from your data by adding a second hard drive. I can't count the number of computers that have been brought to me totally infested with viruses and/or spyware. Most are so bad that the only choice is to give it the big "format c:" and start from scratch. Unfortunately, that means whatever is on that drive is going the way of the dodo bird never to be seen again. Now if all the users data was on a separate drive, reloading the OS and programs fixes the virus/spyware problem with no data loss.

I know what you're thinking...and yes you can do this to a system you already have. Yes, it is easier to get this set up when you either build or buy a new computer but is also very doable with an existing system. Most people use the default Windows location of My Documents to store all their documents, pictures, and music. This is very easily moved by right-clicking the My Documents folder, selecting properties, then clicking the move button and specifying the new location (i.e. the new hard drive). Those that don't use the default locations are familiar enough with using Windows Explorer to move the data to the new drive.

An internal hard drive will only run you somewhere around $80. Of course you'll need to either know how or find someone that can install the drive in your computer.

Second and in addition to the first item, protect your data with an external hard drive. This is really an affordable way to backup your data. You can get a Western Digital 500gb USB external hard drive for around $120. I have one that I use all the time and it is well worth the investment. Just a word of caution though. Do be careful with the drive when it is powered on. A friend of mine accidentally kicked his over while it was on and it killed the drive. The drive includes backup software or you can use Windows Backup to automate your backups if you don't want to rely on you remembering to periodically copy the stuff over.

Yeah...I know you can use DVDs but when your trying to copy off nearly 60gb of data and a DVD only holds 4.7gb, that's 13 DVDs plus all the work splitting everything up so it will fit. To me it's just not worth the headache.

With nearly everything being saved to your computer it doesn't make sense to leave things to chance and just hope your computer never crashes. So I hope I've inspired you - well, inspired is probably way too strong - but maybe I've at least got you a little bit interested in making sure you save your stuff.

Cassette To MP3

2008-06-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

We are now, of course, living in a digital age. Believe it or not, I still remember when records were popular (actually I still have some) and cassettes were the big thing in music. Now in the new digital world, CDs are the norm with media players quickly taking over. Now if you're like me and still have a ton of cassettes around and would like to have all that music on your MP3 player, you can make it happen without buying CDs or spending a fortune on music downloads. Here's how...

List of what you'll need

Your cassettes - these need to play well since what you hear is what you get. Remember the old saying, "garbage in garbage out." If you've got an old cassette that drags and cuts in and out, don't even try. Toss it and get a CD. Amazon or Ebay will have most anything and I've purchased from both many times - no worries there.
A cassette player with RCA outputs
An RCA to 1/8" stereo cable - available at Radio Shack for about $8
Software capable of capturing the input and saving it in MP3 format - I recommend Audacity (it works great and is free) which is what I will demonstrate in this article. Follow the installation instructions on their website to get the software installed. Don't forget to follow the steps necessary to enable saving files as MP3s.

Steps to make an MP3 file from a cassette

Connect the RCA to 1/8" stereo cable to both the cassette player output and your computer's Line-In sound port.

Open the Audacity software, set the recording source to Line In, and push the Record button

Push Play on your cassette player (you are now recording the cassette to the computer)

When the song is done, push Stop on your cassette player and then stop in Audacity

You can then trim out the leading and ending silence in the song by simply highlighting the area you want to remove and then pressing Delete on your keyboard.

If you've never used Audacity, don't be afraid to play around. There are a number of effects you can apply to your recorded track. Select Effect from the menu and you'll see the list. Remember UNDO is a users best friend!!

When you are ready to save your file, select File and then Export As MP3. You will then be prompted to give your song a file name and specify the save location. This is up to you but I would suggest putting it where the rest of your music is located. Once you decided on that, click Save.

You will then be prompted to fill in the ID3 tag info. This is really an important step if you are anything like me and want the correct info (album art, artist, title, etc.) to show up when you play the file. Once you've filled in all the ID3 info, click OK to save your newly created MP3 file.

And...that's all there is to it.