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Tag Archives: cms

SQL: Get a list of all tables in a database

Sometimes if you use a system where you do not have a Manager at hand, perhaps only a web based query window you may find it hard to keep track of all defined tables in the system. I for one cannot remember all the tables used in for instance Dynamicweb CMS. Please note that the example query below is for Microsoft SQL server, I am not sure if it works in other SQL server environments.

Being logged in to the system as administrator you can get a SQL Query textarea like this one below. You can then enter:

SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
order by TABLE_NAME

 

The Query Editor of Dynamicweb CMS - very handy

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Using C# in XSLT – part 2: A remoteHTTP request

			
		

			
In this part of my  in  series of posts, I will show an example of making a basic remoteHTTP request from some inline  code embedded inside a XSLT stylesheet. We will fetch a RSS feed from CNET.com and display it in a simpel UL list. The post XSLT transformations have been done using Microsoft Visual Studio.


A remoteHTTP request


You probertly know what a remoteHTTP request is, even if you have never heard about by that name. Every time you enter an URL you actually do a HTTP request. You point to an URL and get “something” back. In this post we will do just that, but from within some C# code being executed in the context of a XSLT transformation.


The result – effect – is that we can expand the XML which the XSLT can transform! Actually we only need a basic XML document to start up with – the actual XML is fetched from a remote site using the remoteHTTP request. So imagine that you have some XML which comes from a  system – say   – you then need to fetch a RSS feed containing news from CNET.com and output an UL list with the news items on the webpage. We need some C# method to do the job for us…


The C# remoteHTTP method


Below you can see a screenshoot of the C# remoteHTTP method (you will find a link to a ZIP file containing the source code of this and the other files at the bottom of this page).


C# remoteHTTP method 


I will not say more about this code, other than I have added som basic Exception handling, returning a DOM tree with exception details (StackTrace, Message, Source, URL).


Here are some things I suggest when coding your C# code for use in XSLT:


a) In Visual Studio create a C# web project. In a “dummy” class add create the methodes and thereby getting intellicense and syntax check of the C# code. 


b) Surround your code with try-catch error handling, things will go wrong at some time, so why not be prepared for it to happen? 


c) Adding your XSLT file to the same project, you in practice have one structured container for both the syntax-validated methodes (classes at a later time!) and your XSLT stylesheets!


Preparing the XSLT stylesheet for inline C# code


To be able to make use of C# methodes from XSLT you need to do three things other than coding your C# code:


1) Add the namespaces and references making it possibel to execute C# code


The start of the XSLT template


We  need to declare two namespaces for “urn:scemas-microsoft-com:xslt” and “urn:custom-cs”. At the same time I do not wish to return any elements with that namespace, so I add it to the “exclude-result-prefixes” of the stylesheet element.


2) Insert the C# code with the needed C# namespaces and assemblies


The XML element containing the C# code

Within the msxsl namespace the “script” element is used. As you might guess C# is not the only supported language. I am not sure exactly which languages are supported, but jscript.net is supported. Normally I prefer javascript, but in this case I think that C# is best, as there are more help when doing the coding i the web project class. Actually I think that Microsoft is doing very little to support jscript.net.


3) Executing the C# and recieving the result


Calling the C# methode from XSLT Above you see in line 60 how I call the remoteHTTP C# method:

cs:remoteHTTP('http://news.cnet.com/2547-1_3-0-20.xml')


In our example we define a variable called “feed”, and it will contain the XMLDocument which is located at the URL at http://news.cnet.com/2547-1_3-0-20.xml. It is a valid RSS 2.0 news feed, and the result will be a 100% valid XML DOM tree. With that we can do any kind of normal XSLT transformation – as you can see in line 75. Here I select the child element “rss” of within the variable ($feed). We have succeded in fetching an external RSS feed from within a XSLT stylesheet – allowing us in a very dynamic web to execute .NET code based on dynamic values!


As I mentioned in the first post “Using C# in XSLT transformations – Very strong tool!” I will be writing about the pros and cons when using this approach, so far I have been very positive, but ofcause nothing comes from free! There is a price to pay – more about that in a later post. For now: Enjoy this “new” way to enrich and add power to XSLT! I do!


You may download ZIP file using the link below, it contains a visual studio project which contains all the files you need, and a SIMPEL how-to page:


    

  • testXML.xml
    
Basic XML file which you can point to as your source XML file from Mictosoft Visual Studio when doing the transformation.
    • 

  • remoteHTTP.xslt
    
The XSLT stylesheet containing the C# code
    • 

  • remoteHTTP.htm
    
An example output of a transformation done in Mictosoft Visual Studio
    • 

  • remoteHTTP.cs
    
A C# class which I used for coding the C# code
    • 



Source files from this post


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Finally – webdav access to Dynamicweb websites!

			
		

			
So far if you are working on a  website you had to use the backend “filemanager” or buy a FTP account for your website if you wanted to work with the files on the site. With the latest release  7,  it is now possibel to use webdav, allowing you to open and save directly on the server from your computer!


image 


What you have to do is to setup a virtual path in “Management center > Web and HTTP > Webdav”. Next you need to create a connection to a networkdrive on your computer:


image 


I use windows vista and the above is how it might look in that  windows vista.


You will then be promped for username and password, which is the administrator username and password. When that is done – if everything goes well – you will have a new drive which points to the “/files” section of the Dynamicweb website!


From there on you can treat the webdav based "network drive” as a normal drive! You can copy and paste from local drives, open documents directly and well everything you are used to working on local drives! Very nice improvement! Well done Dynamicweb! :-) 


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