Build Database-Driven Web Apps
by Ken Cox

Web Services in the Enterprise 2002

YesSoftware's CodeCharge Studio is a rapid application development tool for generating database-driven Web sites. The software produces server-side code in C#, ASP (VBScript), PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) 4.0, JavaServer Page (JSP) 1.1, ColdFusion 4.01, and Perl 5. This review focuses on ASP.NET development, although you can switch a CodeCharge Studio project from one programming language to another at any time.

Whether you're connecting to a database, displaying records, or deploying to a server, CodeCharge Studio includes a wizard to make the task lightning-fast and easy. For example, my development group at work wanted a proof-of-concept Web page to show we could manipulate data from an Oracle database we'd just built. Once we had the ODBC connection string assembled, it took only five minutes to produce a small Web application using the CodeCharge Studio Application Builder. The attractive and useful pages included a search function, paging, and a drilldown to individual records.

CodeCharge Studio's Builders Create Canned Functions

Although the site's instant generation impressed my coworkers, I must acknowledge a few hours of preparation the night before. I recommend reading at least one section of the valuable 248-page tutorial. Its hand-holding approach is welcome, but it let me down in a couple areas. The suggested location for the C# compiler wasn't close, and the generated code wouldn't run because the project failed to configure an Application in Internet Information Server (IIS).

Another problem was serendipitous. CodeCharge Studio's handy Live Page tab produces a page as served up by IIS. The feature mysteriously broke pages I'd built previously. A newsgroup participant tipped me to republish the whole project after each Live Page viewing. While investigating the compiler issue, I discovered that CodeCharge Studio generates a Visual Studio .NET project file and uses code-behind. CodeCharge Studio doesn't have a debugger, so the compatibility feature could come in handy.

If you do get into the source code, CodeCharge Studio preserves your tweaks on regeneration. It's not a fault in the product, but beware that the generated ASP.NET code (only in C#—no VB.NET yet) encapsulates some ASP.NET functionality in wrappers. You might find it harder to understand than code you'd write for yourself.

CodeCharge Studio offers impressive features and code builders in an easy-to-understand development environment. Its "cake mix" approach to Web application construction can save you days of development time over baking a database-driven site from scratch.

About the Author
Ken Cox is a technical writer and Web/mobile/VBA developer in Toronto. A former broadcast journalist, Ken is also a Microsoft MVP for ASP.NET. Reach Ken at .

One-Stop Editing for Language Hoppers
by Andy Clark

SlickEdit is a tool for developers who work with code in a variety of languages. It gives you tools for organizing, searching, and editing your source files. SlickEdit also brings some of the strengths that Visual Studio developers take for granted to other environments. Visual SlickEdit for Windows has been updated to support .NET.

VS developers will find SlickEdit's environment easy to understand. It has its own GUI with menus, windows, and toolboxes. You work with your code using explorers, code windows, and tabbed output boxes. SlickEdit also includes tools similar to Microsoft's IntelliSense. Press Ctrl-Space, and SlickEdit displays a dropdown menu with complete variable names. It also pulls up templates for common statements. Type "if" at the beginning of a line in C#, and SlickEdit fills it out to "if () {}". In VB, this becomes "If Then End If." SlickEdit also has templates for Cobol, Java, SQL, XML, HTML, and dozens of other languages.

The SlickEdit Environment Looks and Feels a Lot Like VS

SlickEdit has many other advanced features. Its intelligent search-and-replace engine accepts regular expressions. For example, "Private.*Sub" lists all private subroutine declarations. SlickEdit also comes with text comparison and merge tools used to maintain similar code or to examine result files. Other tools embed FTP, perform spellchecking, beautify source, and generally help you work with your code. SlickEdit features a class browser that works fine with C#, although I didn't get it to work with VB.NET.

If you like to tinker with your tools, SlickEdit comes with a C-like macro language for developing custom extensions. SlickEdit also ships with good built-in help and a large printed user's manual. The online support team is prompt, professional, and as easy to work with as their product.

You'll find all of SlickEdit's features useful, but it isn't a replacement for a VS environment. SlickEdit has neither a visual forms editor nor the tools for working with databases that are in VS. Don't make the mistake of believing that SlickEdit will replace VS, though it does provide some useful tools. In addition, if you work with Java or other non-VS code, then SlickEdit's environment might be a good home for you. Its greatest strength: It offers developers who work with different platforms a single environment for much of their source code work.

About the Author
Andy Clark is a consultant in the Richmond, Va., area. He's an MCSD with extensive Oracle and SQL Server experience. Reach him at .

Improve Your Tab Options
by Ron Schwarz

Visual Studio .NET's native Tab control's current implementation is spartan but functional, so there's room for third-party efforts such as Softel vdm's SftTabs/NET to provide enhanced developer productivity and better usability in a production environment.

Installation went smoothly, but there was a delay the first time I used the product while the help content laced itself into the Visual Studio help system. However, it was well worth the wait, because the integration is a handy feature. It's nice to have the relevant links always available in the Dynamic Help box. The help content itself shows up in the same tree as the rest of the VS help.

The control has two presentation modes: You can use it as a traditional Tab metaphor (where the control appears as a stack of file folders that you navigate by clicking on virtual "tabs"), or you can use it in Wizard mode (where all pages occupy the same physical space, but only one is visible at a time and navigation is managed through code). You have complete flexibility to design any interface you like when you use SftTabs to create wizard applications. Each tab page becomes a wizard "screen" you can populate as needed. When you're designing in Wizard mode, you must select pages manually because you don't have any on-screen tabs to navigate. The docs advise using the Collection editor, but I discovered that it's fast and easy to simply type the desired tab number into the "Current" property in the IDE's Properties box.

SftTabs/NET Offers Flexible Design Options

This control is flexible. Each tab can serve as a container for a single control, or you can place its SftTabsPanel control on a tab to hold multiple controls. You can also use SftTabs like the old TabStrip control if you like, without any client area.

The control has a plethora of appealing "eye-candy" features, such as dual-sided tabs (top and bottom or right and left), image transparency, and support for XP Themes, but I couldn't figure out how to create the Notebook-style interface I saw in the demo application that came with the product. Customer support informed me, "The demo application SftTabsNETDemo.exe uses a tab style, which is not available with SftTabs/NET." The e-mail went on to explain that the feature was dropped because of problems integrating it with Windows XP's Themes support.

This is all well and good; however, I would have preferred if the promotional material didn't include Notebook and File Cabinet (which I didn't bother asking about) modes if they're not supported. Likewise, the company should remove any mention of them from the help files.

About the Author
Ron Schwarz lurks in rural Michigan. When he's not digging out of the mountain of e-mail in his inbox, he maintains his sanity by restoring classic cameras. He welcomes your comments at www.clubvb.com.