New Stuff
Resources for Your Developer Toolbox
Marnie Hutcheson
Contents
A Web-Based Grid Component
DbNetGrid.Net 2.71 by DbNetLink Limited, is a Web-based grid component that works with DHTML behaviors that support both ASP and ASP.NET. The integrated DbNetGrid GUI designer application lets you create your grids without writing any code. It features a tab-based interface that lets you define and modify your grid's methods and properties.
The designer generates fully encapsulated grids that you can embed in your Web pages. You can also link and nest these grids on the same page to create drill-down capabilities in the browser. Since it's pure DHTML, there are no client-side installation or Java language requirements. These grids can be searched, sorted, edited, exported, uploaded, printed, and copied. You can save the results in HTML, Word, Excel, or XML formats.
The server-side portion of the component runs as a C# compiled library in the .NET managed environment so there is no interpreted script on the server. It will automatically select the SqlClient or OleDb ADO.NET libraries depending on the database you are accessing. In most cases you can upgrade your grids created in the previous version, DBNetGRID to DbNetGrid.Net without making any coding changes.
Price: A single-user license is $199.
A Wish List of Controls
Xtreme Toolkit Professional Edition 9.51 for Visual Studio .NET, by Codejock Software, includes just about every type of control you can wish for. All the controls are fully customizable user interface components for the development of Windows®-based applications. Two packages are available: Xtreme Suite Professional Edition for ActiveX and Visual Studio .NET, and Xtreme Toolkit Professional Edition for C++ and MFC.
All the components, dialogs, and displays come in multiple styles so you can get the appearance that you want in your application. You get animation behaviors, task panel drag and drop to move options up and down in listboxes, hot tracking (mouseover events), and flicker-free resizing. The toolkit supports multiple languages, including right to left languages.
There is a cool new style docking and toolbox control like the one in Visual Studio® 2005 that gives developers using MFC the ability to provide advanced visual cues for window placement when the docking position is changed within the application.
Price: Xtreme Toolkit Professional Edition one-year subscription is $595 and Xtreme Suite Professional Edition one-year subscription is $395.
Advanced Data Display Controls
SftTree/OCX by Softel vdm Inc. gives you hierarchical data displays for your applications. The control combines features found in tree view, list view, and grid controls and includes support for new cell editing mechanisms that allow most Windows controls to be used for cell editing. There is a SftPrintPreview/OCX control, available separately, that enables printing and print preview right from the display.
You get a lot of grid features and flexibility such as multiple columns, multiple selection, multiple text lines per item, cell word-wrap, built-in row and column headers (with optional buttons and bitmaps), user resizable columns, column reordering, grid lines, sorting and optimal column width, and horizontal scroll-area calculation.
SftTree/OCX 5.0 includes online help, printable documentation (PDF file), technical support (via telephone, fax, or e-mail), and free downloadable maintenance updates.
SftTree/OCX supports most popular development environments including .NET, Visual Basic®, Microsoft® Access, Delphi, and C++ Builder. It runs on Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server™ 2003.
Price: A developer license is $439.
A New Content Management Tool
XStandard Pro by XStandard is a standards-compliant plug-in WYSIWYG editor that generates XHTML (Strict or 1.1) code. XHTML Strict/1.1 complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by W3C.
XStandard uses only cascading style sheets (CSS) for formatting, so it ensures the clean separation of content from presentation. The Pro version automatically replaces noncompliant proprietary markup while at the same time it preserves essential structural elements like paragraphs, tables, bullet points, headings, hyperlinks, and images.
XStandard stores its localization data in an independent XML file, so modifying XStandard's 13 standard interface languages (including Hebrew and Arabic) is straightforward, and you can create new language versions as well.
XStandard's Screen Reader Preview displays your content as it is "read" by screen readers. This means content is laid out in a linear fashion, together with information that the author would normally not see (alt text, table summaries, tool tips, and so on).
XStandard also gives you alerts when you are missing markup that is necessary for accessibility, or when you have used expressions that are meaningless when processed by a screen reader.
XStandard Pro allows you to upload files through the editor with Web services that handle file uploads, building and using image libraries, and spell checking your content. These services also support communicating with third-party systems and importing third-party content, including preformatted content such as entire chunks from product catalogs. These Web services are used to supply your content management system with information such as the name of the document with which the file is associated, the Session ID, and the user ID of the person who uploaded the file. This feature can be customized for different content management systems.
Price: A 10 user/1 Web Service URL license is $179.
Protecting Your Web Apps
BrowserHawk 8.0 by cyScape Inc. helps you ensure the best Web experience for site visitors, regardless of their browser and its settings, by detecting everything about the client so that you are able to react to client-side limitations proactively.
BrowserHawk 8.0 lets you automatically alert users who have blocked pop-ups that they should enable pop-ups or your site won't work as expected. In addition to detecting the features you would expect like browser type and version, service packs, and build information, BrowserHawk detects screen size, available browser window size, color depth, text size, installed fonts, and stylesheets.
The BrowserHawk Reports Service, a tracking database on the server, gives you an important trouble-shooting tool, which allows you to trace back to a particular user's actual session. What a boon if customer service can actually see what the customer did! The Reports Web Service will also give you the information that will let you answer questions such as, "Does it make sense to implement Flash 7?"
BrowserHawk is available as a native COM, .NET, or Java language component which integrates seamlessly in just minutes with classic ASP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion MX, JSP, and servlet-based Web sites. BrowserHawk is installed on the server side, and does not require any software to be installed on the visitor's machine. BrowserHawk supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 2, Firefox, and Safari browsers.
Price: BrowserHawk 8.0 Standard Edition with one year support and maintenance is $319.
The Bookshelf
Even though Microsoft Excel 2003 still looks pretty much the same as it did in 2002, there is a lot of new stuff under the hood, such as SharePoint® integration, XML support, better Web services support, and integrated support for the .NET Framework. This new stuff is primarily devoted to collecting and sharing data, programming across applications, and maintaining security to support teamwork and collaboration.
Excel 2003 Programming: A Developer's Notebook by Jeff Webb (O'Reilly, 2004) focuses on the newest programming features of Excel 2003. The book shows users and programmers alike how to share spreadsheets with SharePoint, work with lists and XML data, create secure Excel applications, use Visual Studio Tools for Office, and consume Web Services.
Each chapter is organized into a collection of labs, each of which addresses a specific programming problem. Readers can follow along to complete the lab on their own, or jump ahead and use the samples the author has included. Webb sets out each feature, tells you what it does and why, then shows you how to do it and how it works. There are lots of screen shots and code samples.
Price: $29.95, 293 pages.
If you think that smaller is better, and that complex and bloated Web sites are a thing of the past because they waste precious time and resources and are often ineffective, then you will want to read Small Websites, Great Results by Doug Addison (Paraglyph Press, 2004).
This book shows you what makes small sites really work, how to select winning themes and formats for a site, and design techniques that make sites look professional, even on a small scale. It also shares tips on how to get business from the Web and strategies for getting, keeping, and satisfying customers.
The book also includes examples of small sites that work for different types of businesses including artists, entertainers, writers, speakers, consultants, and professional organizations.
Price: $29.99, 352 pages.
All prices were confirmed at press time and are subject to change.
Send your New Stuff to newstuff@microsoft.com.
Marnie Hutcheson is president of Internet Development Associates (Ideva), a firm in Ocala, Florida, that specializes in Internet and intranet Web application design and development. She has published technical papers and books on various computing topics. You can reach her at
marnie@ideva.com.