You can download them here.
For those of you involved in ASP.NET, be sure to check this page for a list of the new features available in .NET 3.5 SP1.
Notes from my installing experience:
- I've downloaded the combined package from the first link above. The package takes care of downloading the needed files and installs them.
- First of all, .NET 3.5 SP1 got installed. Then, I was asked to reboot the PC.
- After rebooting I had to run the installer again. This time, VS2008 SP1 was installed.
- SP1 for VS2008 affects only the products installed.
- During installation of VS2008 SP1, the installer asked for the VS installation disk.
- Be prepared for a long wait (more than 3 hours in my case).
Today I've received a little package from Microsoft. Inside it, there was a nice letter:
[...] I wish to thank you for the incredibly valuable feedback that you have provided. The importance of having the community and early adopter feedback as we built Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 cannot be understated. You made the product better working with us closely through the product development phase by giving us valuable feedback. [...]
Inside the package, I've also found a gift that I am supposed to share with deserving people in the community. Will do!
Thanks Microsoft!
Today my publisher forwarded this great news:
The “.NET Daily Drawing” starts tomorrow, June 19
Tomorrow we are launching the ".NET Daily Drawing.” This promotion will run for one month, from June 19 - July 17. Each day’s lucky winner can choose one free .NET ebook of their choice. And finally, on the last day of the drawing, we're awarding one lucky winner...
...the entire Manning .NET library! (That’s nearly a $3000 value...)
If you love reading technical books, you can't miss this opportunity. Just click on this banner:
Today we published the source code for the book ASP.NET AJAX In Action on CodePlex. This means that you can always download the latest update by browsing to the Source Code page.
Our goal is to keep the source code in good shape as well as provide additional material. Go and tag/bookmark the project!
While searching for a free anti-spyware tool I found Google Pack, which is a suite of free applications that can be installed, updated and removed through a Google application. Give it a try.
Are you based in Italy? If you're planning to attend the launch event for Visual Studio 2008, Sql Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008, be sure to check this post. You can also browse the Italian Heroes Happen website.
This is a great start. I got the Microsoft MVP award for 2008!
Thanks to my MVP Lead Alessandro Teglia and to Microsoft for this great community recognition program.
If everything goes as expected, I will attend the MVP Summit this year.
Thanks!
Today DotNetSlackers published an article on the ASP.NET AJAX History feature, written by Dino Esposito.
The History functionality (that aims at solving the broken Back button issue) is included in the ASP.NET AJAX Extensions 3.5 package. The feature is now an integral part of ASP.NET AJAX and can be enabled through the ScriptManager control.
Previously, we had a separate History control that was included in the ASP.NET Futures package. History lovers (pun intended) can check this post by Nikhil Kothari. This is where it all begun.
Dave Ward setup a nice contest for his site's upcoming one year anniversary. It's an open drawing and you can win a copy of our book, ASP.NET AJAX In Action, by leaving a comment in the blog, subscribing via RSS or subscribing via email.
I highly recommend subscribing to Dave's blog. It's full of ASP.NET AJAX tricks and tips. (I've got it in my Google Reader list since a while.)
Good luck in the contest!
This post helps you understanding how the slider’s layout is structured and how to change the default appearance.
Layout
The Slider Extender replaces an extended asp:TextBox control with a graphical slider, as shown in figure 1.
Figure 1. Layout of the slider
As you can see from figure 1, the slider consists of an outer div element (in red) called the rail, and an inner div element (in green) called the handle. An img element nested in the handle div is used to display the handle’s image. This results in the following DOM hierarchy:
<div>
<div>
<img />
</div>
</div>
Default appearance
By default, the slider is rendered using default CSS classes for both the rail and the handle, as shown in figure 2.
Figure 2: Default appearance
The rail’s background image and the handle’s image are embedded as web resources in the AjaxControlToolkit assembly.
- A horizontal slider uses the .ajax__slider_h_handle and .ajax__slider_h_rail CSS classes for the handle and the rail, respectively.
- A vertical slider uses the .ajax__slider_v_handle and .ajax__slider_v_rail CSS classes for the handle and the rail, respectively.
Overriding the default CSS classes affects all the sliders hosted in a page.
When using the default theme, the only property that can be overridden on a per-slider basis is the slider’s length. This can be done by setting the Length property on the SliderExtender to an integer value.
At present, all the values are specified in pixels.
Now, let’s see how to customize the slider’s appearance.
Custom Appearance
In order to customize the slider’s appearance, we need to:
- Provide a CSS class for the rail
- Provide a CSS class for the handle
- Provide an image URL for the handle’s image.
Steps to perform:
1. Create a CSS class for the slider’s rail. The CSS class must contain the following attributes:
- The position attribute must be set to relative.
- Default values for height and width attributes must be provided. The width value can be overridden through the Length property of the SliderExtender.
- To embed a background image for the rail, use the background attribute.
2. Create a CSS class for the slider’s handle. The CSS class must contain the following attributes:
- The position attribute must be set to absolute.
- Values for height and width attributes must be provided.
3. Provide an image for the slider’s handle. The height and width sizes of the image must be equal to the height and width values specified in the handle’s CSS class.
4. Set the RailCssClass property of the SliderExtender instance to the name of the rail CSS class.
5. Set the HandleCssClass property of the SliderExtender instance to the name of the handle CSS class.
6. Set the HandleImageUrl property of the SliderExtender instance to the URL of the handle’s image.
Figure 3 shows a customized slider.
Figure 3: Custom appearance
The slider in figure 3 has been declared as follows:
<asp:TextBox ID="Slider" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
<ajaxToolkit:SliderExtender ID="SliderExtender1" runat="server"
TargetControlID="Slider"
RailCssClass="slider_rail"
HandleCssClass="slider_handle"
HandleImageUrl="slider_custom_handle.png"
/>
The CSS classes for the slider’s rail and handle are defined like so:
.slider_rail {
position: relative;
height: 15px;
width: 200px;
background: #FFFFFF url(slider_custom_rail.png) repeat-x;
}
.slider_handle {
position: absolute;
height: 14px;
width: 22px;
}Note that the default value of 200px set for the width attribute in the rail CSS class can be overridden through the Length property of the SliderExtender. As usual, the height and width attributes are swapped when dealing with vertical sliders.