WebVize's WebLog : Kids Community

http://www.kaboem.nl Finally live on the new SCMS

WebVize — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 10:23:00 GMT

Finally I have got back my time! http://www.kaboem.nl has gone live on the new .net platform.. the first .net site in complete linus/php minded organisation (www.Ilse.nl).. For the world .. it is dutch and for kids.. so around this time 23:20 PM (dutch local time) nobody should be in the site.. :-)

Time to rethink my decisions.
Having build my new management system, I know have the first usage reports. And they are great.. Installed the framework.. Builded /defined all data required. and to live… I have seen 1200 simultaneous sessions. A 60% CPU Load with a 99.97% cache hit.. this on a dual 2.4 Ghz web server … A bulking 1.6 Million pages have been visited on almost 1,5 weeks.

Seeing these figures I am glad I made the choices as I've made them. Regenerating asp/ascx pages/controls is much better to handle then an approach where you have as few pages and controls as you can get and have a bulky middle tier that needs to generate all the rest..

Now looking forward to some more implementations.. ( i am doing integration number 3 right now. ) the more the better. the more the system will be able to handle. Surveys, Polls, Forum .. all elements it has a grip on right now..

Building a CMS system Nr. 1

WebVize — Fri, 08 Oct 2004 23:38:00 GMT

I intend to keep a record of my adventures in building a Content Management.
Yes, English is not my native tongue so it will have a lot of typo's and grammatical errors :-)
This is also helping me as being a soundboard to myself and hopefully other developers will kick in with ideas.

Building a CMS
Building a CMS seems to be a most common task in the internet development branch.
In 99 out of 100 times we tend to keep strictly to the requirements for the particular site.

Right now I am on nr 100 so I am trying to build a system that will be able to used on all the new sites I will need to build.

What is Content Management
In my opinion CMS is a complete management over the site. Not just the content but also the way things will be presented. The flow of the various pages and what to show on what page under what context of the user. Just imagine to build a Content Management System without any definition of what the site will be or what it will hold.

I will start of with Content.
What is Content? I see content as visible data that is inputted by a user. This can be various things, ranging from traditional text to flash animations.
As we don't know what the site will be holding we need to be able to justify the content description without needing to recompile the complete source. Also we need to be able to store the data in a database. That is a tricky one if we know nothing about what the site will be.
Think of all the subjects a site can have. FAQ, Articles, Messages, etc, etc..

Definitions
This is where definitions kicks in. If we look at a content item we can clearly see it as an object having various properties. What if we can create an object that can have these properties and store this all in the database. I have seen solutions where a table with a lot of columns (off all types) was used and that the properties where mapped to these columns. This is not my idea to do it.
What if we can create the object and serialize it into the database. That would be a nice option. The problem is just that we need a binary object to do reflection. Sure there are other ways to do this. For example write your own XML schema to create an XML schema. But I settle for the binary version of objects and let the .Net framework handle the serialization and deserialization. I use the Soap formatter for serialization. This will put 'readable' content in the database and this will become handy when we nee to full-text index it to be searchable.

Code I do this serialization:

public string Serialize(object o)
{
string results;
// //Serialize the object
Stream stream=new MemoryStream();
SoapFormatter formatter=new SoapFormatter();
formatter.Serialize(stream,o);
//return the string
StreamReader sr =new StreamReader(stream);
sr.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
results=sr.ReadToEnd();
sr.Close();
return results;
}

public object Deserialize(string soap)
{
object o;
try
{
Stream stream=new
MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(soap));
SoapFormatter formatter=new SoapFormatter();
o=formatter.Deserialize(stream);
stream.Close();
}
catch(Exception exc){
Console.Write(exc.Message);
o=new object();
}
return o;
}

But we need to have binary object for this..

How to get from definition to a binary Object.
What if we could generate a template and use the definition of the object to generate a dll from it.
Here is where I use the CodeSmith template compiler. So we have the same language as we all know so well. Sure you need to have the client buy a license for CodeSmith. (http://www.ericjsmith.net/codesmith/)

In the definition you surely need to think about the common properties of a content object. Some of these properties are needed to be able to find the right data. These properties are defined in the template.

When you generated the template and have the object definition you then can let the CodeSmith compiler create a output file with compileable code. With the CSharpCodeProvider you can compile the file to a binary object.

To be able to serialize the object to the database I have set the [Serializable] attribute and inherited Iserializable to handle the mapping from the fields and handle any errors that will occur when you change the object definition.

Step 1 of many steps has been set to. You know can define objects and generate the objects to a binary object.
In the next phase I will fill the object by using reflection. (we have a binary object so we can use reflection!)

For any comment please drop a line..

Finally .. Back working on a new content management system

WebVize — Fri, 08 Oct 2004 09:40:00 GMT

Right now I finally am able to do some work on the new Content Management System for the Kids Community Kaboem. Kaboem was sold to Ilse last month so the pressure is on..

As I have said this is totally my idea of how Content Management should work. Being able to be flexible in all different parts and all aspects of what the site should be.

What is in my opinion the problem with current systems?
All current systems can do a hell of a job managing content in all its facets but in my definition a site is a ordered collection of content and functionalities to interact with the user.
Here is where it goes wrong for many systems, at least you have to do some hard work to integrate your idea's within a 'boxed' product, the interactivity with the user.

How to maintain the option to integrate interact with the user?
Keep on using the power of ASP.NET.

So finally I am building a system that will hold the definition of the site eg. the definition of the content, the definition of a module and the definition of a page.
Combine these together in a build system, keep the option to have asp.net script tags within definitions and I keep the power of ASP.Net and pre-merge content in the modules so that performance is not depending on the speed of the SQL server.

Included is a link to a screen shot of the first partial working system.. Yes I do use a lot of win form user controls in ASP.NET. Why ? I like the presentation and the speed of the local objects.

Link to screen shot.
(if for whatever reason you would like to see more screen shots .. Leave me a comment and I will place some more!)

More Explained on my CMS view

WebVize — Fri, 08 Oct 2004 02:07:00 GMT

As stated before a website is nothing more than a structured collection of content and interaction functions.

A page is nothing more than a collection of visible items ( I call them Modules) all pushed in a template so that the design of the site stays the same throughout the site itself
The Module is based on a design and has 'readable' content to it assigned.
The content of a module can be described by its elements. Like title,header,content and so on..

Ok. Enough talk I'll show some screens..

The definition of content can be desribed here

I want th generate the definitions to a DLL so I have at least one template I can use to generate the dataobject. The data of the objects will be stored in the database as serialized objects. Important elements of the objects will be stored as value in the table to be able to find the required data fast..

Running and compiling this template generates me a DLL i can resuse in either template or in additial written components.

Setting the design of the module.. You notice I bind it to a dataobject and make it easy for the user to create the datafields in the design..

We can even write script code so that we can run funtions in runtime on the site..

Then the page has a design. You see I have an element ~Content~ this will be a placeholder where modules are placed. See the next one

AS defined I had a element called ~Content~ .. Now this is extracted as a placeholder.

Dataobjects is one but ofcourse we need to fill the object with data..this is a CMS that is reflected from the object itself. Notice that the Is Active check wasn't defined. But in the generation template it is included as a required field.

We also can manage the data from the site structure ..later on we will create an option to have a preview on each seperate object.

Finally we need to deploy and generete the site.. I will place all content pre rendered in the Modules an place them as a ASCX on the webserver. The Page will then include the ascx files and optiol code defined in the modules will be executed.

As you might notice I make use of winform user controls :-)

If you have any comments, ideas or anything to say please let me now.

Zelf generende software

WebVize — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 12:32:00 GMT

Voor Kaboem omzetting naar .Net technologie ben ik op zoek naar de mogelijkheden van de .Net.

Voor deze organisatie moet een nieuw en flexibel CMS systeem komen waarbinnen verschillende soorten content beheerd moeten kunnen worden.
Voor dit deel gaan we een data definitie omgeving schrijven waarbij de gebruiker aangeeft hoe het soort data eruit ziet. Deze definitie wordt dan door een template geparsed en uiteindelijk gecompiled als binair object. Dit Object kunnen we dan op basis van reflectie weer gaan gebruiken in de scripts van de presentatie.. Waarom naar een binaire omgeving ? Omdat de templates voor de presentatie met C# 'gescript' kunnen worden. Hiervoor is het wel van belang dat je wel kunt aangeven waar welk veld van het dataobject moet worden gepresenteerd.

De frontend van het CMS wordt een rijke interface binnen IE. Hiervoor ga ik dus weer componenten schrijven die binnen IE gehost worden en zich met behulp van WebService gaan vullen met data. Dit zal waarschijnlijk wel in inhouden dat heel veel functionaliteit in de webservices geschreven gaat worden. Dit moeten we op een nader te bepalen moment verder uitwerken.

Naast content zijn ook polls en onderzoeken heel erg belangrijk.. Dit is tenslotte de core business van Kaboem. Voor de onderzoeken moet een mechanisme gaan komen waarbinnen de volgorde van vragen afhankelijk is van gegeven antwoorden.

Al met al een 'leuke' en uitdagende opdracht :-)

Heeft iemand ervaring met 1 van deze 'deel' projectjes.. Zo ja.. waar lagen de valkuilen ... of heb je nog op of aanmerkingen ..ik hoor ze heel graag!!!

The problem of the Chicken and the Egg

WebVize — Sun, 07 Mar 2004 22:42:00 GMT

I guess most developers that work innovative and heading in directions that almost nobody takes knows the problem of having the ideas but not yet the functionalities to support the ideas. But when you have the first functionalities you start shaving, shaping and molding the components that hold your idea's.
I had the same with the new framework for the Kids (Tweens) community. I already could define the data object. But I couldn't generate it. Not getting it to generate I couldn't fill it with data. Now I can generate the components, reflect the content management from it, and indeed fill it. Than you notice that it seems to be working but you need to add a whole lot of functionalities in the generated data and inherited functions are needed to get it 'really' working.

So for now I am quite happy. My ideas seem to work ok .. Now the next step, creating the templates for the modules. This will be finalized in ascx components with in-line code, this to be as flexible as one could get with loading functions for the content predefined in the ascx. The winform component that I use as editor is handling very well and content in this editor is very good readable even in quite small fonts.

Got the ASP.NET DataObject compilation running

WebVize — Fri, 27 Feb 2004 16:08:00 GMT

Hmm.. Step by step I am coming to a definitive solution for my dynamic framework.
Now I can define the objects with fields, fieldtypes and editortype. These object definition is stored serialized in the database. These definied objects are then parsed through a CodeSmith script. The final sourcecode is then parsed through the CodeDom.Compiler. The references the final dll should have are defined along with the script for CodeSmith in a webform with a winform control in front.

Now I can define, generate and compile the objects with references to the framework. DataAccess is done by deklarit components so the data of the objects will be stored in xml serialized format (this so that indexing services can stilll do it's job).

Or should I use a runtime O/R mapper in between? This is something I will persue at a later stage. Now I am gonna concentrate on reusing the generated components in socalled Modules. Just a CodeSmith script with HTML presentation and calling the loading of the objects and restoring it's data to become presentable in the next stage. The Page template, nothing more than a collection of modules and perhaps 1 or 2 dataobjects.

Hmm things I still need to think about:
Runtime O/R Mapping to generate the database to store data.
Personalisation of the content, modules and pages.
A poll and last but not least a survey module. This last one can still be tricky as I want to lay out the questions based on the given answers. offcourse analysis of the given answers is needed and possibly needed to be reused in the profile of the customer. I am thinking of a desktop app to do the definitition of this complex questionaires, this so we can draw lines from an answer to the next question ..

It all seemed to be a simple site..

Moving from m3rlin to Codesmith

WebVize — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 16:06:00 GMT

I now have the winform control up and running. Now after looking at CodeSmith I decided to give it a go due to the very nice IDE CodeSmith comes with. Now I have codesmith running from within ASP.NET referencing the asp.net application it can generate my dataobjects. Now I need to create the build process for the component. I decided that I will put all datacomponents in 1 single assembly. This is much easier referencing them from the scripttemplates for the modules. I have asked Eric about the license(s) required to do this. All the company needs is a new pro license for CodeSmith. At $79.95 I guess this is a bargain instead of trying to figure this out all by myself.

Anyone having a webform generator I can use that a content manager can build up? On this point I need to do some thinking because a website is not only presenting but also some input elements are required.

Any comments are very welcome!

R&D Phase. Syntax hightlighted editing in IE

WebVize — Sun, 22 Feb 2004 02:29:00 GMT

As I want to make a complete new framework for the Kids Community and I got the complete free hand in it. (Although it needs to be finished the end of June, and this is not my only project).

I didn't like the textbox for script and object generation templates I started to look at how SharpDeveloper had the syntax highlighting in their editor. I noticed that this is a independent dll so I opened up the source code for it and added a new user control :-)

This usercontrol holds the SharpDeveloper control with some settings. It seemed not possible to set them through some java script. Now I indeed can incorporate the control inside IE. Editing and saving the text. The text is put inside a hidden field on form submit and loaded on form load. I needed to make some adjustments in the property Text to keep the line breaks and other stuff so that the java script doesn't break.

It really looks cool but I must keep in mind that I am building an internet application and that only a few very specific functionalities should be build in this manner. Darn.. I like this too much. Why couldn't we program a web app as we would do a win form.

Please any hints and tips are welcome!

Build a new kids community

WebVize — Tue, 17 Feb 2004 10:35:00 GMT

I have the challenge of building a new framework for a large kids community here in the Netherlands.
Right now I am playing with the idea that a Content Manager should have as much freedom as needed to build up the site.

As I am in the R&D phase of this project I can try all sorts of paths.
What I am thinking of right now is the following:
A website consists of pages -> a page consists of a general design and Modules -> an individual module has design and an dataobject-> objects contain properties with data.
I like to define as much as possible without having fixed rules in codeblocks.

Starting from the back I can define a dataobject.
This object then needs to be generated to a binary object so that it can work in a template engine. As data from a dataobject is stored in a serialized manner we thus create serializable objects for this
With reflecting and custom attributes we can present a Content Management pane.

As a module consists of design and a dataobject we need some aspx style template engine to get it running.
Running this all to the hights element the page we see a nice hierarchy of objects running.

This seems to be possible with the right kind of caching strategy so I am in the process of building this. Although stuck on the codegeneration right now. I use m3rlin as my basis for aspx style code templating. (thanks goes to Joseph Cooney for this fabulous piece of software)

Please respond if you have idea's, comments, tips, ect..