Pro Dynamic .NET 4.0 Applications (eBook)

Carl Ganz, Jr. is president of Seton Software Development, Inc., a provider of software design and development services located in Raritan, New Jersey. He holds a master's in business administration from Seton Hall University and is the author of three other books on software development as well as dozens of articles on Visual Basic, C#, and Microsoft .NET technology. Carl has created numerous solutions over the years using the Crystal Enterprise and BusinessObjects XI .NET and RAS SDKs. He is the president and founder of the New Jersey Visual Basic User Group and has been a featured speaker at software development conferences in both the U.S. and Germany. Carl and his wife, Wendy, live in Raritan with their son, Carl III, their dog, Elke, and their cats, Jack and Jake. Contact Carl at seton.software@verizon.net.

Dedication Page 4
Contents at a Glance 5
Table of Contents 6
About the Author 10
About the Technical Reviewer 11
Acknowledgments 12
Introduction 13
Chapter 1: Introducing Data-Driven Programming 14
Database Metadata 15
SQL Server 15
WORKING WITH TABLE JOINS 16
Oracle 17
Practical Applications 19
Code Generation 22
Custom Code Generators 23
Using the CodeDOM 26
Namespaces, Classes, and Fields 26
Support Methods 30
Constants 34
Enums 35
Properties 36
Methods 37
Constructors 40
Source Code 40
Summary 41
Chapter 2: Reflection 42
Instantiating Classes 42
Loading Shared Assemblies 44
Examining Classes 45
Methods 46
Fields 48
Properties 50
Interfaces 51
Constructors 52
Events 53
Drilling Down into Assembly Objects 54
Building an Object Hierarchy 54
Importing Control Definitions 58
Decompiling Source Code 65
Summary 70
Chapter 3: Runtime Code Compilation 71
System.CodeDom.Compiler Namespace 71
Compiling the Code 73
Error Handling 75
Executing the Code 78
Referencing Controls on Forms 80
SIMPLIFYING THINGS FOR THE USER 82
Adding References 82
Testing 87
Summary 87
Chapter 4: Dynamic WinForms 88
Instantiating Forms 88
Using Third-Party Controls? 92
Wiring Events 92
SuspendLayout and ResumeLayout 93
Loading Control Definitions 94
Loading from XML 95
Loading from a Table 97
Connecting Event Code 101
Practical Solutions 103
Building a Filter Screen 103
Saving the User Selections 104
Restoring the User Selections 108
Saving Grid Settings 110
Data-Driven Menus 114
Application Menus 115
Most Recently Used File Menu 119
Creating Criteria Screens 121
Dynamic Criteria Controls 121
Cascading Prompts 126
Extracting the User Selections 128
Summary 133
Chapter 5: Dynamic ASP.NET 134
Instantiating Web Controls 134
Understanding the Page Life Cycle 138
Using HTML Tables 144
Absolute vs. Static Positioning 145
ParseControl 148
Instantiating User Controls 150
Repeater Controls 154
Practical Solutions 158
Dynamic Criteria Controls 158
Extracting the User Selections 163
Summary 164
Chapter 6: Dynamic WPF 165
XAML 165
WPF: Beyond the Hype 165
Layout 167
Canvas 168
Grid 170
StackPanel 172
WrapPanel 174
DockPanel 176
Runtime Instantiation 178
Accessing Child Controls 181
Nested Controls 182
XamlWriter/XamlReader 185
Persisting Objects 186
IsAncestorOf/IsDescendantOf 187
Wiring Events 189
Data-Driven .Menus 190
Summary 192
Chapter 7: Reporting 193
SQL Server Extended Properties 193
Microsoft Excel 199
Formatting in a Stored Procedure 200
Syncfusion’s Essential XlsIO 201
SoftArtisans’ OfficeWriter for Excel 204
PDF 207
iTextSharp 207
Syncfusion’s Essential PDF 210
SAP/Business Objects: Crystal Reports 212
Embedded vs. Nonembedded Reports 212
Dynamic Crystal Reports 212
Preset Columns 212
Using the Crystal SDK 215
SQL Server Reporting Services 220
Using RDL 220
Dynamic Rdl 222
Summary 226
Chapter 8: Database Design 227
Data Storage 227
Committing Data to the Database 231
Using Inverted Tables 235
Structuring Inverted Data 235
Extracting Inverted Data 237
Converting Inverted Data to a Normalized Structure 239
Mixing Normalized and Inverted Tables 242
Summary 245
Index 246