Populating the StringCollection property from an XML config file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Alerts> <Alert name="Test1" value="&lt;a href=#&gt;testing a link&lt;/a&gt;" /> <Alert name="Test2" value="Testing second dynamic value!" /> <Alert name="Test3" value="Testing third dynamic value!!" /> <Alert name="Test4" value="Testing fourth dynamic value!!" /> <Alert name="Test5" value="Testing fifth dynamic value!!" /> <Alert name="Test6" value="Testing sixth dynamic value!!" /> <Alert name="Test7" value="Testing seventh dynamic value!!!" /> <Alert name="Test8" value="Testing eighth dynamic value!!!" /> </Alerts>

Building the Marquee Server Control

using System; using System.Collections.Specialized; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Web.UI; using System.Web.UI.Design; using System.ComponentModel.Design; namespace scottn.Web.WebControls { #region "Enums" public enum MarqueeScrollDirection { Left, Right, Up, Down } public enum MarqueeScrollBehavior { Scroll, Slide, Alternate } #endregion /// <summary> /// Marquee is a scrolling marquee that allows string items to be scrolled up/down or left/right across a webpage. /// </summary> [ToolboxData("<{0}:Marquee runat=server>")] [Designer("MarqueeDesigner")] public class Marquee : System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebControl,INamingContainer { #region "Properties" private StringCollection _Items = new StringCollection(); /// <summary> /// Enabled determines whether this marquee is visible or invisible on the parent page. /// </summary> public override bool Enabled { get { return (bool)ViewState["Enabled"]; } set { ViewState["Enabled"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// ScrollDirection sets which direction the marquee should scroll (up, down, left, right) /// </summary> public MarqueeScrollDirection ScrollDirection { get { return (MarqueeScrollDirection)ViewState["Direction"]; } set { ViewState["Direction"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// ScrollBehavior sets what type of scrolling (scroll, slide, alternate) /// </summary> public MarqueeScrollBehavior ScrollBehavior { get { return (MarqueeScrollBehavior)ViewState["Behavior"]; } set { ViewState["Behavior"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// ScrollDelay sets how long to delay between each jump /// </summary> public int ScrollDelay { get { return (int)ViewState["ScrollDelay"]; } set { ViewState["ScrollDelay"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// ScrollAmount sets the speed of the scrolling. Marquee moves the content by /// displaying the content, then delaying for some short period of time, then /// displaying the content again in a new position. SCROLLAMOUNT sets the size /// in pixels of each jump. A higher value for SCROLLAMOUNT makes the marquee /// scroll faster. The default value is 6. /// </summary> public int ScrollAmount { get { return (int)ViewState["ScrollAmount"]; } set { ViewState["ScrollAmount"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// If null, the Loop = Infinite /// </summary> public int Loop { get { return (int)ViewState["Loop"]; } set { ViewState["Loop"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// BGColor sets the background color of the marquee /// </summary> public string BGColor { get { return (string)ViewState["BGColor"]; } set { ViewState["BGColor"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// Hspace sets the horizontal space to the left and right of the marquee /// </summary> public int HSpace { get { return (int)ViewState["HSpace"]; } set { ViewState["HSpace"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// VSpace sets the vertical space at the top and bottom of the marquee. /// </summary> public int VSpace { get { return (int)ViewState["VSpace"]; } set { ViewState["VSpace"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// Items are the individual elements to scroll within the marquee. /// </summary> public StringCollection Items { get { return _Items; } set { _Items = value; } } /// <summary> /// MarqueeStyle sets the inline css style of the marquee control /// </summary> public string MarqueeStyle { get { return (string)ViewState["MarqueeStyle"]; } set { ViewState["MarqueeStyle"] = value; } } /// <summary> /// Determines whether to first Server.HtmlDecode the items before displaying. This is helpful /// for driving the Marquee from an XML config file which has limitation in storing certain characters. /// </summary> public bool HtmlDecode { get { return (bool)ViewState["HtmlDecode"]; } set { ViewState["HtmlDecode"] = value; } } #endregion #region "Constructors" public Marquee() { this.Enabled = true; base.Width = 100; base.Height = 15; this.ScrollDirection = MarqueeScrollDirection.Left; this.ScrollBehavior = MarqueeScrollBehavior.Scroll; this.ScrollDelay = 85; this.ScrollAmount = 6; this.Loop = 0; this.BGColor = "white"; this.HSpace = 1; this.VSpace = 1; this.MarqueeStyle = ""; this.HtmlDecode = false; } #endregion #region "Render" /// <summary> /// Render this control to the output parameter specified. /// </summary> /// <param name="output"> The HTML writer to write out to </param> protected override void Render(HtmlTextWriter output) { if(Enabled && this.Items != null && this.Items.Count > 0) { //Start Rendering the Control's required HTML //Write the Beginning of the Start Tag string _MarqueeHtml = "<marquee width=\"" + base.Width + "\""; _MarqueeHtml += " height=\"" + base.Height +"\""; _MarqueeHtml += " direction=\"" + this.ScrollDirection +"\""; _MarqueeHtml += " behavior=\"" + this.ScrollBehavior +"\""; _MarqueeHtml += " scrolldelay=\"" + this.ScrollDelay +"\""; _MarqueeHtml += " scrollamount=\"" + this.ScrollAmount +"\""; if (this.Loop > 0) { _MarqueeHtml += " loop=\"" + this.Loop +"\""; } _MarqueeHtml += " bgcolor=\"" + this.BGColor +"\""; _MarqueeHtml += " hspace=\"" + this.HSpace +"\""; _MarqueeHtml += " vspace=\"" + this.VSpace +"\""; //Write any inline css style if (this.MarqueeStyle != "" && this.MarqueeStyle.Length > 0) { _MarqueeHtml += " style=\"" + this.MarqueeStyle +"\""; } //Write the End of the Start Tag _MarqueeHtml += ">"; //Loop and add Child Scroll Elements if (this.Items.Count > 0) { foreach (string _item in Items) { if (this.ScrollDirection == MarqueeScrollDirection.Up || this.ScrollDirection == MarqueeScrollDirection.Down) { if (this.HtmlDecode) { _MarqueeHtml += System.Web.HttpContext.Current. Server.HtmlDecode(_item.ToString()) + "<br>"; } else { _MarqueeHtml += _item.ToString() + "<br>"; } } else { if (this.HtmlDecode) { _MarqueeHtml += System.Web.HttpContext.Current. Server.HtmlDecode(_item.ToString()) +" &nbsp;"; } else { _MarqueeHtml += _item.ToString() +" &nbsp;"; } } } } //Write the Ending Tag _MarqueeHtml += "</marquee>"; //Render the Control to the Output output.WriteLine(_MarqueeHtml); } } #endregion } #region "Designer Class" public class MarqueeDesigner:ControlDesigner { string Width; public override bool AllowResize { get { return true; } } public override string GetDesignTimeHtml() { string DesignTimeHtml = ""; Marquee ControlDesigned = (Marquee)this.Component; Width = this.Behavior.GetAttribute("Width", true).ToString(); DesignTimeHtml = "<marquee width=\""+ Width + "\"></marquee>"; return DesignTimeHtml; } } #endregion }

Building the Associated DataObject (the class that handles the data-in, data-out, etc.)

public class Alert { /// <summary> /// Adds/Updates an Alert to the Marquee configuration file. /// </summary> /// <param name="PathToConfig">The Path and Name of the XML configuration file</param> /// <param name="AlertItemName">The Alert Item Key/Name</param> /// <param name="AlertItemValue">The Alert Item Value</param> /// <returns>Boolean success/failure of insert/update</returns> public static bool AddUpdateAlert(string PathToConfig, string AlertItemName, string AlertItemValue) { bool _retVal = false; XmlDocument _xmlDoc = LoadAlerts(PathToConfig); XmlNode _xmlRootNode = _xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("//Alerts"); if (_xmlRootNode == null) throw new InvalidOperationException("Alerts section not found in the configuration file."); try { XmlElement _xmlElem = (XmlElement)_xmlRootNode.SelectSingleNode(string.Format("//Alert[@name='{0}']", AlertItemName)); if (_xmlElem != null) { _xmlElem.SetAttribute("value", AlertItemValue); } else { _xmlElem = _xmlDoc.CreateElement("Alert"); _xmlElem.SetAttribute("name", AlertItemName); _xmlElem.SetAttribute("value", AlertItemValue); _xmlRootNode.AppendChild(_xmlElem); } _xmlDoc.Save(PathToConfig); _retVal = true; } catch(Exception ex) { _retVal = false; throw ex; } finally { _xmlDoc = null; } return _retVal; } /// <summary> /// Removes a TCT Ticket Alert from the Marquee configuration file. /// </summary> /// <param name="PathToConfig">The Path and Name of the XML configuration file</param> /// <param name="AlertItemName">The Alert Item Key/Name</param> /// <returns>Boolean success/failure of deletion</returns> public static bool RemoveAlert(string PathToConfig, string AlertItemName) { bool _retVal = false; XmlDocument _xmlDoc = LoadAlerts(PathToConfig); XmlNode _xmlRootNode = _xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("//Alerts"); try { if (_xmlRootNode == null) throw new InvalidOperationException("Alerts section not found in the configuration file."); else { _xmlRootNode.RemoveChild(_xmlRootNode.SelectSingleNode(string.Format("//Alert[@name='{0}']", AlertItemName))); _xmlDoc.Save(PathToConfig); } _retVal = true; } catch (NullReferenceException ex) { _retVal = false; throw new Exception(string.Format("The name {0} does not exist.", AlertItemName), ex); } finally { _xmlDoc = null; } return _retVal; } /// <summary> /// Returns a String Collection list of all Alerts (values) from the Config file /// </summary> /// <param name="PathToConfig">The Path and Name of the configuration file</param> /// <returns>StringCollection</returns> public static System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection GetAlerts(string PathToConfig) { XmlDocument _xmlDoc = null; System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection _scAlerts = new System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection(); try { _xmlDoc = new XmlDocument(); _xmlDoc.Load(PathToConfig); foreach (XmlElement _xmlElem in _xmlDoc.GetElementsByTagName("Alert")) { _scAlerts.Add(_xmlElem.Attributes["value"].Value); } return _scAlerts; } catch (System.IO.FileNotFoundException Ex) { throw new Exception("No Alerts configuration file found.", Ex); } finally { _xmlDoc = null; } } /// <summary> /// Returns a DataTable list for display of TCT Alerts /// </summary> /// <param name="PathToConfig">The Path and Name of the configuration file</param> /// <returns>DataTable result</returns> public static DataTable List(string PathToConfig) { DataTable _dtAlerts = new DataTable("Alerts"); _dtAlerts.Columns.Add("name", typeof(string)); _dtAlerts.Columns.Add("value", typeof(string)); XmlDocument _xmlDoc = new XmlDocument(); try { _xmlDoc.Load(PathToConfig); foreach (XmlElement _xmlElem in _xmlDoc.GetElementsByTagName("Alert")) { //Create a new row DataRow _drNew = _dtAlerts.NewRow(); //Set values of new row _drNew["name"] = _xmlElem.Attributes["name"].Value; _drNew["value"] = _xmlElem.Attributes["value"].Value; //Add new row to DataTable Alerts _dtAlerts.Rows.Add(_drNew); } //Return the new DataTable Alerts return _dtAlerts; } catch (System.IO.FileNotFoundException Ex) { throw new Exception("No Alerts configuration file found.", Ex); } finally { _xmlDoc = null; } } /// <summary> /// Loads the XML configuration file where TCT Alerts are stored. /// </summary> /// <param name="PathToConfig">The Path and Name of the configuration file</param> /// <returns>XmlDocument</returns> private static XmlDocument LoadAlerts(string PathToConfig) { XmlDocument _xmlDoc = null; try { _xmlDoc = new XmlDocument(); _xmlDoc.Load(PathToConfig); return _xmlDoc; } catch (System.IO.FileNotFoundException Ex) { throw new Exception("No Alerts configuration file found.", Ex); } } }