The last episode of my webinar series called “Creating an ASP.NET Blog Engine” is now available on YouTube:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
In this episode, I have picked up the pieces from episode 1 and episode 2, and everything is now working together. I even introduced the ASPxFormLayout which helped us build good-looking forms with its powerful designer.
I have also demonstrated a number of different methods you can use to select data from the database through eXpress Persistent Objects and I showed how you can execute various CRUD operations on the database.
There were some really cool new features I enjoyed demonstrating like:
- Getting images that are stored in the database into the ASPxImageGallery with just a couple of simple clicks!
- Use the ASPxTokenBox to tag your posts
- Uploading multiple images through one ASPxUploadControl
Finally I showed you how to reuse user controls and as much code as possible and I even put in some smart JavaScript code which utilizes the rich client-side API of the DevExpress controls to perform clever callbacks and partial updates on the page.
Background
When starting a new project, I always try to setup some architecture where I define and develop smaller building blocks which can be stacked up in different forms and shapes. This results in less code and errors. If you take a good look in the source of the Blog Engine project, you will notice that there is a (mini) architecture in place which allows you to expand its functionality quite easily.
The rich and well-documented client-side API of our controls allows us to adjust and expand functionality and enrich the user interface of your applications as well.
Why create a Blog Engine?
I have picked the Blog Engine because it is a really small abstract of what I have been building over the last couple of years which is a full blown content management system CMS2GO.
It covers a broad range of web development from data model to implementing a web-design including the use of some really cool DevExpress ASP.NET controls like the ASPxImageGallery, ASPxPopupControl and ASPxEditors.
In case you missed the previous episodes, you can find episode 1 here, and episode 2 here.
If you want to test-drive the project yourself, please download the source-code here.
Obviously there are dozens of features which could be build into this little blog engine but time prevented us from covering them all. If you enjoyed this series and want to see some more functionality built in, please let me know by replying on this post, and maybe I’ll do an additional webinar.
I also like to hear (and see) about any awesome features you might try adding to this tool yourself!
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
