ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX/ATLAS website

[niceshoporg]

Dear all,</o:p>
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I have created a new website recently in ASP.NET 2.0, Audio Visual Quiz. Among many things, if features AJAX/ATLAS multitab pages, MS SQL database implementation, personalization with membership registration, buttons with rollback effect, javascript sound and dynamically created Quiz records which are actually a mixture of images and HTML.</o:p>
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The site is hosted with discountasp.net and created in Visual Studio 2005. It isvery plainwhen you open it, you need to register in order to access the functionality. If you don?t want to use your real personal information and email when you register, that?s fine. Of course you won?t receive any confirmation emails unless you submit an existing email address. All information pertaining to your account will be stored in a remote MS SQL database.</o:p>
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Audio Visual Quiz already exists as a client application. The main purpose of the server side version is to advertise its client counterpart. At its present state, the online version of Audio Visual Quiz is very basic and doesn?t contain any redundancies. </o:p>
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If you have any constructive ideas as to how I can improve my siteplease let me know. Currently the page where you play the Quiz game is more advanced than the page where you browse the records. The reason for this is that the record browser is a content page of a master page while the game page is independent. Somehow I had issues with the java function ?GetElementByID? in the content page and accordingly I wasn?t able to implement for example button rollback in the content page. Contrariwise, this functionality is implemented with the game page.</o:p>
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I would like to conclude this message with some words about the application itself. It is basically a Quiz game. Since all records are numbered, you start by choosing the interval you would like to practice. Currently the application has about 1500 Quiz records and each one of them has a unique number. The old numbers don?t change, even if I update the database with new records, meaning that a specific interval will always contain the same records. Presently you may either practice all records or specify your own interval.</o:p>
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The aim of the game is to find out which word or words each item in the selection represents by reading the text with blanks and studying the images. If you don?t know you may cheat by pressing a key symbol. However, those records are not considered accomplished and will come back during the next round. The game is not finished until all records are accomplished. You may want to start with a few records to get the idea. </o:p>
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You can interrupt and resume the game anytime, since all information is stored with your profile in the remote MS SQL database.</o:p>
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Thanks,</o:p>

[niceshoporg]

I guess I forgot to include the url in my previous message:


www.audiovisualquiz.com (http://www.audiovisualquiz.com)
Please remember that you have to register to get access to any functionality.
I haven't included anything yet for anonymous visitors except account management, but will take care of that later.

[niceshoporg]

Due to the bad response I feel I would like to make it a little easier for everybody to review my site. Unless you login as a user there is really nothing to see yet. Here is a user I have created that you may use to login if you prefer not to register:




username: Jim


password: 1234





Navigate to www.Audiovisualquiz.com (http://www.Audiovisualquiz.com) and register or login as the user above. Then click 'Browse' or 'New' under the 'Tools'-menu. Maybe I should make the entrance page more attractive? However, my aim is not to show off a complete site but rather different features I have created. It is not a complete site yet and I don't pretend it is.


Thanks,

[valtersnet0]

Not very firefox friendly...

in IE7, the username does not show up on the right unless you widen your browser, like you have the page set for a fixed width.

[niceshoporg]

Thank you for your feedback regarding AudioVisualQuiz.com! I tried to run the application myself in IE7 and there were problems with the layout. Currently, the only supported screen resolution and browser are 1024*768 and IE6 respectively.</o:p>
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I will try to correct the layout problems in IE7 and add support for lower screen resolution. If possible, I will also create a Mozilla/Firefox version.</o:p>
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In the meantime anyone may take a look at the site provided that the browser is Internet Explorer 6 and the resolution 1024*768. If you Log in as Jim, (password 1234), and go ?Tools>Load Quiz? I have added some quizzes. Feel free to add you own quizzes under ?Tools>New? and browse through the records (Tools>Browse). You may also register your own account.</o:p>
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What is new in the application is that the user may create a set of quiz-files, storing quizzes with different intervals. (Those files are stored in my SQL database.) This makes it easier for people who are running one file seriously for practice, but also wants to test different intervals occasionally.</o:p>
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Thanks,</o:p>

[niceshoporg]

Start learning new BIG words today using AVQ online for FREE.</o:p>
http://community.discountasp.net/emoticons/jumpin.gif</o:p>
Hopefully the cross browser issues are resolved now. I have tested the application successfully under both high and low screen resolution in Firefox, Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7. In order to modify my application so as to be compatible with different browsers I had to redesign it from the ground up, e.g. by introducing 4 different themes. I have to admit, until now I wasn?t fully aware of the discrepancies between different browsers and browser versions.</o:p>
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Login as Jim, password 1234, or sign up. Here is a link if you prefer to login as Jim automatically. If the link does not work, just copy and paste it into the url field. </o:p>
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http://www.audiovisualquiz.com/LoginParticularUsers/LoginJim.aspx</o:p>
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If you would like to sign up, click </o:p>
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http://www.audiovisualquiz.com/default.aspx</o:p>
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and go Account>Register and start learning BIG words.</o:p>
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I appreciate any feedback.</o:p>
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Thanks,</o:p>

[niceshoporg]

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Thanks for your feedback. The best way to go back is by clicking Exit under the top Menu on the Browser page. I suppose that you tried to go back from the Browser page using Back button. It is not possible to enter the previous page by clicking this button since all my pages have a java script preventing entry by clicking on the Back button. The script looks like this:</o:p>
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<script language="JScript" type="text/javascript"></o:p>
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window.history.forward(1);</o:p>
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The reason I have this script is that some <st1:City><st1:place>AJAX modal popup windows are launched when you enter a page using the Back button, although they are not supposed to. There is often no postback when you enter a page by clicking BACK. Neither the Load event nor any other events are triggered, making it impossible to initialize the page server side for example in the Load event handler. The only things that run are client side java scripts. Therefore, I chose to block the back button completely in order to avoid undesired effects with my modal popup windows. I got the idea at the Microsoft ASP.NET Forum.
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I can understand that it is difficult to comprehend that the Back button is not working on my website. Maybe I should include some kind of information clarifying this, I don?t know yet, but allowing the users to use the back button is out of the question anyway. </o:p>
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I have some new instruction videos on my site now. Maybe I should include information concerning the Back button there? If you enter my website and go Help>Videos you may watch the videos instantly, either as embedded shockwave flash objects or in an external Media Player window. The videos play almost instantly. It is also possible to download the videos. </o:p>
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It feels good to hear I am on the right track.</o:p>
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Thanks,</o:p>
Ziper</o:p>

[sayitfast]

I thinnk you have some real potential with the site... very cool. One thing is that once I clicked browse I could not easily get back to the main menu.

[niceshoporg]

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I have solved the problem for internet Explorer 6 and 7, you may use the BACK navigation button now in these browser versions. You still have to use the menus in Firefox. </o:p>
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The problem is that there appears to be a conflict between the web-browsers and AJAX/ATLAS modal popups. Suppose that you launch a modal popup by clicking on some menu item, and then close the popup. If you then navigate to some other page and thereafter go back to the first page by clicking BACK, the server side events aren?t triggered. This is only a problem when you launch a modal popup in page A(See below)</o:p>
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Here is an overview what causes the browser to completely ignore server side events:</o:p>
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Navigate to page A</o:p>
Launch modal popup in A by clicking menu item</o:p>
Navigate to page B</o:p>
Return to page A (here server side events aren?t triggered, but java script runs).</o:p>
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If the modal popup had not been launched, the scenario would have worked.</o:p>
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I solved the problem in IE by using cookies. Since javascript runs upon return to page A (see above), I was able to detect any discrepancy between the content of the cookie and a session variable which both indicated the current page. If the cookie has not been updated server side it contains an old value, while the current page has been updated. In the java script I use </o:p>
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if (cookiename!='<%=me.Page.ToString%>')) {window.location.href="<%=Me.Page.Request.Url.ToString%>";}</o:p>
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Somehow I didn?t manage to set cookies server side in Firefox; here I still use my old approach, that is, using window.history.forward(1); in order to prevent users from entering a page using the BACK button. </o:p>
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Feel Free to login to my site. I have videos under Help>Videos explaining what it is all about.</o:p>
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Thanks,</o:p>
Ziper</o:p>
http://www.audiovisualquiz.com</o:p>

[niceshoporg]

I have solved the problem for Firefox as well. It should be possible to use navigation buttons both in Firefox and Explorer. I think it is important that people can use the navigation buttons, at least to go back to the main page.

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