My first ASP.NET application/Masterpage

I had been having a few issues when attempting to get asp.net applications working on my web server - not knowing much of anything about asp.net, I was under the assumption it would be similar to the ColdFusion I am used to; it was not.

The thing I didn't understand, which this entry exists to remind me (and potentially any youse out there), is AppPools.  IIS seems to by default assign your web root to an appPool - the default (at least for me) being .NET framework 2.0.  It is as simple as changing the Default website to a new appPool using the 4.0 framework right?  Almost...

Having changed the default appPool to 4.0 framework I was now successfully compiling the standard "Hello World" .aspx - but getting run-time errors when attempting to integrate a master page into my site.  A master-page is a 'template' of sorts that can be used to create similar layout/functionality across numerous sites.  The run-time error was explaining that my MasterPage.master could not be found at ~/MasterPage.master - but it was there!

Luckily my wife Kristen was there (who does know ASP.net) to let me know that if I have my application within a directory in of itself, but the application is set up in a separate directory, then the "~/MasterPage.master" reference is relative to the application, not necessarily the directory that you are working in.

Simple fix?  Create a new application pool on the directory where my code is actually hosted.  Yay! Now everything is working without run time errors!

Flex Email address validation component

I was attempting to find a decent email validation component for flex - one with validators built in and all the bells and whistles.  I wasn't able to find one at a quick glance, so I put this guy together, and it seems to actually be working so far :O

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
 Created By:  Russ Hammett
 Create Date: 2012-01-03
 Description: Text input that validates an email address.
      use "required" to control if the email address
      is required.
      
      access the public variable isValidEmail to determine
      if validation passed on the email address
 Modified By: Russ Hammett
 Modify Date: 2012-01-06
 Modify Desc: Updated validateEmail function to be public and
      update errorString accordingly when validation fails or passes.
-->
<mx:TextInput xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
  maxChars="50" 
  creationComplete="onCreationCompleted();"
  focusOut="validateEmail();" >
 
 <mx:Script>
  <![CDATA[
   import mx.events.ValidationResultEvent;
   
   private var _isValidEmail:Boolean = true;
   
   public function set isValidEmail(value:Boolean):void
   {
    _isValidEmail = value; 
   }
   [Bindable]
   public function get isValidEmail():Boolean
   {
    return _isValidEmail;
   } 
   
   [Bindable]
   public var required:Boolean = false;
   
   /**
    *  On Creation Completed
    * */
   private function onCreationCompleted():void
   {
    if (required)
    {
     emailValidator.enabled = true;
    }
    else
    {
     emailValidator.enabled = false; 
    }
    
   }
   
   /**
    *  Validate Email
    * */
   public function validateEmail():void
   {

    var vldEmail:ValidationResultEvent;
   
    if (this.length > 0)
    {
     emailValidator.enabled = true;
     vldEmail = emailValidator.validate(this.text);
     
     if (vldEmail.type == ValidationResultEvent.VALID)
     {
      isValidEmail = true;
      this.errorString = '';
     }
     else
     {
      isValidEmail = false;
      this.errorString = vldEmail.message;
     }
     
    }
    else
    {
     emailValidator.enabled = false;
     
     if (required)
     {
      emailValidator.enabled = true;
      vldEmail = emailValidator.validate(this.text);
      
      isValidEmail = false;
      this.errorString = vldEmail.message;
     }
     else
     {
      isValidEmail = true;
      this.errorString = '';
     }
    }
   }
   
  ]]>
 </mx:Script>
 
 <mx:EmailValidator 
  id="emailValidator" 
  source="{this}"
  property="text"
  required="{required}"
  requiredFieldError="Email Field is Required."
  invalidCharError="Invalid characters in your email address." 
  invalidDomainError= "The domain in your email address is incorrectly formatted." 
  invalidIPDomainError="The IP domain in your email address is incorrectly formatted." 
  invalidPeriodsInDomainError="The domain in your email address has consecutive periods." 
  missingAtSignError="Missing an at character in your email address." 
  missingPeriodInDomainError="The domain in your email address is missing a period." 
  missingUsernameError="The username in your email address is missing." 
  tooManyAtSignsError="Too many at characters in your email address." /> 

</mx:TextInput>

Thanks http://www.bloggersentral.com/2009/04/how-to-show-code-in-blog-post.html#free for teaching me how to paste code (and making it look pretty) in blogger..