We create a helper class to use. This will return a variable that is set to the correct type. Credits to Steam Webhosting!
public static class AppSettingsHelper
{
public static T GetValue<T>(string key, T defaultValue)
{
var value = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[key];
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
return defaultValue;
return (T)Convert.ChangeType(value, typeof(T));
}
}
We use the helper function to get the value and set the types of the variables.
// debug / test settings
static readonly bool testmode = AppSettingsHelper.GetValue<bool>("TestMode", false); // toggle test mode
static readonly bool disableupload = AppSettingsHelper.GetValue<bool>("DisableUpload", false); // disables the upload to server if true
// sftp settings
static readonly int port = AppSettingsHelper.GetValue<int>("SFTPPort", 22);
static readonly string host = AppSettingsHelper.GetValue<string>("SFTPHost", "feeds.dwdenney.com");
Faculty and students needed a way to plan out the degree path of a student. The faculty and counselors needed to be able to track the student’s progress over the time they are attending SVC.
My role in this project was to create a responsive modern view to allow the faculty or student to create a “Degree Plan” using live data from our catalog of classes and student records.
Integrated student and class data from legacy systems using a custom built api to convert the data between modern display style and the legacy storage style.
Needed to overcome obstacles related to the formatting of the legacy data such as converting dates and times into human readable text. Also creating conversion algorithms to deal with displaying legible content instead of the codes that the data is stored in.
allow the faculty counselor and mentors to track the student progress over the life of the plan.
Sometimes I need to select from sql based on criteria from another query. In certain situations, you can use the server side scripting to manipulate and call queries, but other times for performance, the best way is to have SQL server handle the workload.
I can declare a variable and set it from one query, and use it in another. For example, I want to check if there are only one record for an RID code passed in as a parameter, and then update the record if so:
declare @RecordCount int
set @RecordCount = (select count(*) FROM [My].[dbo].[Table] where RID= @RID)
IF @RecordCount == 1
UPDATE [My].[dbo].[Table] SET myBitField= 1 WHERE RecordId= @RecordId
I have some alphanumeric strings to compare. I need to know if A1234 is before B5678 when sorted alphanumerically. I also want to ignore the case of the alphabetic characters.
int comparison = String.Compare(A1234, B5678, comparisonType: StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
The integer returned will be -1 if lower in order, 0 if equal and 1 if greater.
The ability to split a string is a common feature in programming. The way to implement this in c# is a bit different than most languages.
We have a string such as:
string myVars = “var1, var2, var3, var4”;
We need to split this string into an array of individual variables. That’s where our String.Split() method comes into play. Its pretty easy once you know the syntax. The Microsoft docs don’t mention this way:
string[] myArray = myVars.Split(‘,’);
The key is the single quotes around your delimiter in the split method.
A screen shot of the student document repository user interface.
If the Financial Aid Department is the heart of the college institution, then the Skagit Valley College was suffering from a stroke. The heart was clogged up from the result of years of managing paperwork using tried and true ancient techniques: the in person delivery of hand filed paper forms.
And then corona virus came to deliver the death blow. Due to the pandemic, the college campus was forced to close. Unable to allow students to come to campus and process in person financial aid meant that our college might suffer the same fate as several other Washington State institutions and be shut down completely.
They came to me with this problem desperate for a solution. They needed a document repository that could be integrated with our current Legacy student management system data, but that will also be able to transition with our data over the next few years as the school complete its moves to a new student data management system. They needed a way to assign the forms to the students, and a portal where students could securely upload their documents.
The college had a legacy document storage system in place, aging and in need of replacement. The system had fallen out of development and was no longer being supported. The decision was to either purchase an expensive out of the box system, or develop one in-house. Due to the success of previous projects, the President of SVC decided to have me develop a custom in-house document storage and management solution that would be easily integrated into our student data management system.
During the planning phase, the project management documents were drawn up, key deliverables determined, and the use case scenarios developed.
Throughout the software development life cycle, those documents were referred to in order to prevent feature / scope creep from setting back the projected completion date. Using Agile project management I completed several sprints of user story backlogs, and the scrum retrospectives revealed valuable lessons learned about the techniques used to program the application.
In the midst of the pandemic, forced into working remotely, I was under the pressure to save the college by finishing my application well ahead of the projected schedule.
The project close was met with very satisfied stake holders, and the project sponsor was happy to sign off the completed product.
Call to c# api using ajax and recieve an array of variables in JSON format.
javascript call to api: In aspx page, you can access a posted in variable such as an id…
const NewsID = ‘<%=Request.Form[“NewsID”]%>’;
… then call to api and get record from that id…
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: 'update.aspx/loadRecord',
data: JSON.stringify({ NewsID: NewsID }),
contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8',
dataType: 'json',
success: function (msg) {
var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(msg.d)
console.log("I have successfully called to the api.");
// set the heading value
$("#Heading").val(obj.Heading);
// set the body value
$("#Body").val(obj.Body);
}
});
The C# api receives the record id and returns a record…
... call to database and get record ...
var message = new {Heading=Heading, Body= Body}; return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(message);
