Here is a simple way to convert your JSON to CSV, if your using FF or Chrome that supports data URI’s then this function convert your data and tell your browser to download the results as a text file. If you are using Internet Explorer (“IE”), a new window will popup so you can copy & paste or to use File -> Save As to download the results as text. The JSON parsing is done with json.org’s open source JSON parser, which you can download here.

Why can’t IE download the file to CSV like FireFox? The long answer is due to IE’s data URI support that was missing until IE8, and when implemented in IE8+, the security restrictions are set to prevent solutions like this from working! To force a download of your JSON data in CSV via IE, you’ll need to use an alternative technique like Server Side Parsing.

		function DownloadJSON2CSV(objArray)
		{
			var array = typeof objArray != 'object' ? JSON.parse(objArray) : objArray;
			var str = '';

			for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
				var line = '';
				for (var index in array[i]) {
					if(line != '') line += ','

					line += array[i][index];
				}

				str += line + '\r\n';
			}

			if (navigator.appName != 'Microsoft Internet Explorer')
			{
				window.open('data:text/csv;charset=utf-8,' + escape(str));
			}
			else
			{
				var popup = window.open('','csv','');
				popup.document.body.innerHTML = '<pre>' + str + '</pre>';
			}
		}

I started working on a project site that is going to use WordPress as the CMS engine. I wasn’t sure if this was going to work, but after a little time I found this was pretty easy to do. You start by deleting all the default content and disabling the default plug-ins and management screen options. Once everything is removed/disabled, you start by creating pages (e.g. Home, About, News, etc…) that will display all the content you need on the website. One you have your main page setup (e.g. Home), you need to change the default home page from a dynamic page of blog posts to a static page. You change the default home page under Settings –> Reading –> Front Page Display –> A Static Page –> Choose an option from the Front Page drop down list. That’s it, you now have WordPress running as a basic CMS soltuion.

I wish I could say that’s it, but most likely you’ll need to download and install some additional plug-ins. I found many plug-ins still do not support WordPress 3.0, so you’ll need to be careful! If you happen to install a bad plug-in, there is an easy fix to get you site back online… Delete the plug-in folder (via FTP or Hosting Control Panel) and WordPress will automatically disable the plug-in.

Here is the list of plug-ins I added for my project:

1. Contact Form 7
   This is a great plug-in, it provides a easy way to create forms that get emailed to you. You create the forms using HTML online and a shortcode style syntax for the input fields. The shortcode inputs are then accessible in your email, that you also create using HTML.
2. WP Google Maps
   This is a very basic Google Maps plug-in, the is about 10 options and the only think extra you need is a GoogleMaps API key.
3. WordPress.com Stats
   I’ve been using this on my blog and love the UI. I wish this was all being done client-side, but for some reason it was created as service. By default it injects a smiley face into your page, so make sure you disable this in your themes style sheet.

The only other thing I added was a SSL plug-in that I created based on 3 other plug-ins. I created my own, so I could force WP to load specific pages as HTTPS and then default back to HTTP if it was not explicitly set to support SSL. I found most of the default plug-ins will leave the user browsing in SSL after they visit a SSL page, I didn’t want this and my plug-ins solves this problem.

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: WPSSL Force SSL
Plugin URI:
Description: This plug-in is based on WPSSL, forcessl and various other posts/comments I found while searching for a soltuion.  The plug-in is used by adding the meta tag "force_ssl" with any value to any pages where you want SSL ("HTTPS") enabled.  If the page does NOT have this set and your not looking at an admin page (you can enable SSL for admin/login page in wpconfig.php), then display as HTTP.  This prevent links on the SSL page from displaying as SSL for non-secure pages.  This plug-in was tested on WordPress 3.0.
Author: Zachary Hunter (based on Austin Web Development)
Version: 1.0
Author URI: 

*/

function wpssl_forcessl()
{
	global $post;

    $post_id = $post;

    if (is_object($post_id))
    {
		$post_id = $post_id->ID;
	}

    $force_ssl  = get_post_meta($post_id, 'force_ssl');

    if(!empty($force_ssl))
    {
    	if(!stristr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 'wp-admin')) {
			if($_SERVER["HTTPS"] != "on") {
				$newurl = "https://" . $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"] . $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
            	header("Location: $newurl");
            	exit();
        	}
     	}
    } else {
		if(!stristr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 'wp-admin')) {
			if($_SERVER["HTTPS"] == "on") {
				$newurl = "http://" . $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"] . $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
				header("Location: $newurl");
				exit();
			}
	}	}
}

add_action('wp', 'wpssl_forcessl');
?>

To use the plug-in follow these steps.

1. Copy the code above into a file in your plugin folder (e.g. /wp-content/plugins/wpssl/wpssl.php).
2. Go to the Plugins -> Plugins and enable “WPSSL Force SSL”.
2. Go to the Page you want to force SSL and open the “Custom Fields” section.
3. Click “Add Custom Field”, and use the settings below (name = force_ssl, value = true).
** DONE **

I was looking over my generic export DataTable to Excel function the other day and noticed an issue. My default method was throwing everything into a string format, which was preventing users from highlighting number columns for subtotals. To fix the problem they could use “Text to Columns”, but this was becoming a common complaint I wanted to resolve. I came up with an improved “ExportToExcel” function that will insert the correct data type.

        /// <summary>
        ///   Render DataTable to Excel File
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name = "sourceTable">Source DataTable</param>
        /// <param name = "fileName">Destination File Name</param>
        public static void ExportToExcel(DataTable sourceTable, string fileName)
        {
            HSSFWorkbook workbook = new HSSFWorkbook();
            Sheet sheet = workbook.CreateSheet("Sheet1");
            Row headerRow = sheet.CreateRow(0);

            // Create Header Style
            CellStyle headerCellStyle = workbook.CreateCellStyle();
            headerCellStyle.FillForegroundColor = HSSFColor.GREY_25_PERCENT.index;
            headerCellStyle.FillPattern = FillPatternType.SOLID_FOREGROUND;

            // Create Date Style
            CellStyle dateCellStyle = workbook.CreateCellStyle();
            dateCellStyle.DataFormat = HSSFDataFormat.GetBuiltinFormat("m/d/yy");

            // Build Header
            foreach (DataColumn column in sourceTable.Columns)
            {
                Cell headerCell = headerRow.CreateCell(column.Ordinal);
                headerCell.SetCellValue(column.ColumnName);
                headerCell.CellStyle = headerCellStyle;
            }

            // Build Details (rows)
            int rowIndex = 1;
            int sheetIndex = 1;
            const int maxRows = 65536;

            foreach (DataRow row in sourceTable.Rows)
            {
                // Start new sheet max rows reached
                if (rowIndex % maxRows == 0)
                {
                    // Auto size columns on current sheet
                    for (int h = 0; h < headerRow.LastCellNum; h++)
                    {
                        sheet.AutoSizeColumn(h);
                    }

                    sheetIndex++;
                    sheet = workbook.CreateSheet("Sheet" + sheetIndex);
                    Row additionalHeaderRow = sheet.CreateRow(0);

                    for (int h = 0; h < headerRow.LastCellNum; h++)
                    {
                        Cell additionalHeaderColumn = additionalHeaderRow.CreateCell(h);
                        additionalHeaderColumn.CellStyle = headerRow.GetCell(h).CellStyle;
                        additionalHeaderColumn.SetCellValue(headerRow.GetCell(h).RichStringCellValue);
                    }

                    rowIndex = 1;
                }

                // Create new row in sheet
                Row dataRow = sheet.CreateRow(rowIndex);

                foreach (DataColumn column in sourceTable.Columns)
                {
                    Cell dataCell = dataRow.CreateCell(column.Ordinal);

                    switch (column.DataType.FullName)
                    {
                        case "System.String":
                            dataCell.SetCellValue(row[column].ToString());
                            break;
                        case "System.Int":
                        case "System.Int32":
                        case "System.Int64":
                        case "System.Double":
                        case "System.Decimal":
                            double val;
                            dataCell.SetCellValue(Double.TryParse(row[column].ToString(), out val) ? val : 0);
                            break;
                        case "System.DateTime":
                            DateTime dt = new DateTime(1900, 01, 01);
                            DateTime.TryParse(row[column].ToString(), out dt);

                            dataCell.SetCellValue(dt);
                            dataCell.CellStyle = dateCellStyle;
                            break;
                        default:
                            dataCell.SetCellValue(row[column].ToString());
                            break;
                    }
                }

                rowIndex++;
            }

            for (int h = 0; h < headerRow.LastCellNum; h++)
            {
                sheet.AutoSizeColumn(h);
            }

            ExportToExcel(workbook, fileName);
        }

The key part of the function above to review is the “switch (column.DataType.FullName)” code block. This grabs the DataTable’s column data type to use in the SetCellValue() call.

Once the workbook is built, we call a overload of the same function that expects a NPOI workbook. This overload will send a XLS file back to the user via their web browser using the HttpResponse stream.

        /// <summary>
        /// Render Excel File to HttpResponse (Browser)
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="workbook">NPOI Workbook</param>
        /// <param name="fileName">Destination File Name</param>
        public static void ExportToExcel(HSSFWorkbook workbook, string fileName)
        {
            using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
            {
                workbook.Write(memoryStream);
                memoryStream.Flush();

                try
                {
                    HttpResponse response = HttpContext.Current.Response;
                    response.ClearContent();
                    response.ClearHeaders();
                    response.Buffer = true;
                    response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
                    response.AddHeader("Content-Length", memoryStream.Length.ToString());
                    response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", string.Format("attachment;filename={0}", fileName));
                    response.BinaryWrite(memoryStream.GetBuffer());
                    response.Flush();
                    response.End();
                }
                catch
                {
                    // Do nothing, error expected due to Flush();
                }
            }
        }

I’ve used the above function to send files with 3-4 sheets full of data back to the browser… but the file size is usually “VERY LARGE”. To work around this, I have a helper function which will add the excel file to a zip (in memory) before sending back to the client.

In my last test, a 17.5MB document with 2 sheets of data was compressed to 3.5MB with my zip utility. There was still a ~13 second delay to generate the XLS file, but once prompted to download form the browser the file download completed in a few seconds.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working to migrate away from the Ajax Control Toolkit & various other ASP.NET built-in controls. My goal has been to get every page of our intranet portal down around 100K, with a maximum load time of < 1 second. I’ve made a lot of progress, but after cleaning up all the basic stuff (excess view state, duplicate references, compressed JS/CSS, sprites, etc…), I had to start looking for additional items…

Using Fiddler and FireBug, I started looking for resources that were increasing my download sizes and found that the ASP.NET validation controls were generating ~10K each time they were used in a module. Since my portal consists of injecting multiple user controls into a page, this number would vary page-by-page based on the number of modules that used the library on one page. Since I was using jQuery for all my scripting, I decided to implement jQuery Validation Plugin as a replacement for the built-in ASP.NET validation controls.

The idea was simple enough, but since I’m living in ASP.NET Web Form world (aka: One form per/page) this was a bit more difficult to implement.

Issue #1 – jQuery Validation by FIELDSET

As noted, the default setup of the validation plug in is to validate a FORM which isn’t possible with ASP.NET Web Forms. To get around this, I decided I was going to wrap all my forms in a FIELDSET with the class “validationGroup”. Using this class as my selection, I’m able to have multiple groups of controls wrapped in a FIELDSET validated separately.

To get started, you need to create a custom validation function that will recursively move up the elements/groups to find a FIELDSET with the class “validationGroup”, and then check all the input elements against the rules assigned.

Here is my custom validation function:

function ValidateAndSubmit(evt) {
    var isValid = true;

    // Get Validator & Settings
    var validator = $("#aspnetForm").validate();
    var settings = validator.settings;

    // Find the parent control that contains the elements to be validated
    var $group = $(evt.currentTarget).parents('.validationGroup');

    // Grab all the input elements (minus items listed below)
    $group
        .find(":input")
        .not(":submit, :reset, :image, [disabled]")
        .not(settings.ignore)
        .each(function (i, item) {
            // Don't validate items without rules
            if (!validator.objectLength($(item).rules()))
                return true;

            if (!$(item).valid())
                isValid = false;
        });

    // If any control is the group fails, prevent default actions (aka: Submit)
    if (!isValid)
        evt.preventDefault();
}

Next, I need to trigger the validation for the current FIELDSET I’m working in based on on some action… like the click of a submit button. Since the default setting is to validation on submit, you need to disable this and register your ValidateAndSubmit function call when your event is triggered.

        // Disable default/auto binding of all buttons
        $("#aspnetForm").validate({
            onsubmit: false,
            ignore: ':hidden',
            focusInvalid: true
        });

        // Bind the ASP.NET button with the ID "Search" to the "ValidateAndSubmit" custom validation function.
        $('#<%= Search.ClientID %>').click(ValidateAndSubmit);

That’s it, with those three little little steps (Custom Validate Method, Disable Default/Auto Bind, Manual bind button to custom event), you now have a working validate by FIELDSET (or any other grouping control) solution.

Issue #2 – How to validate a group of ASP.NET Check Boxes

By default, ASP.NET will render a CheckBox or a CheckBoxList with an auto generated unique name attribute. This becomes a problem when you want to validate the group, since you can’t set a common name attribute for all the elements.

Here is an example of the HTML that would be rendered by a CheckBoxList with a layout of “Flow”.

<span id="CheckBoxGroup">
  <input id="cbk1" name="cbk1" type="checkbox">Check Box 1</input>
  <input id="cbk2" name="cbk2" type="checkbox">Check Box 2</input>
  <input id="cbk3" name="cbk3" type="checkbox">Check Box 3</input>
</span>
<span class="jQueryValError"></span>

My solution to the problem required a custom validator and a custom errorPlacement function, for the jQuery validaiton plug-in.

First, I added a custom validator that looked at a group of check boxes that are inside a wrapping “Parent()” element. I then count the number of checked check boxes to make sure the limit required (e.g. Must check at least 3 check boxes) is greater than the minimum we set.

    jQuery.validator.addMethod("minChecked",
     function(value, element, param) {
        var $p = $(element).parent();
        var selected = $p.children('input[type=checkbox]:checked').length;

        if (selected >= param) {
            $p.children().removeClass('error');
            $p.siblings('.error').remove();
            return true;
            }

        $p.children('input[type=checkbox]').addClass('error');

In order to hookup this custom event to all the controls inside of a wrapping “Parent()” control, we use jQuery’s $().each function to call the validator’s rules() function.

$(".checkBoxGroup").children('input[type=checkbox]').each(function(){ $(this).rules("add", { minChecked: 3}); });

Second, our plug-in will by default put an error message next to the control(s) that triggered the error. I over ride the default behavior, we setup a “errorPlacement” function to put one error beside the wrapping “Parent()” control.

            $("#<%= form1.ClientID %>").validate({
                errorPlacement: function(error, element){
                    if(element.rules().minChecked > 0) {
                        var $p = $(element).parent();
                        if($p.siblings().hasClass("error") == false) {
                            error.insertAfter($p);
                        }
                    }
                    else {
                        error.insertAfter(element);
                    }
                }
            });

Here is what the form looks like when you have a error with your check boxes.

Here is source code used to create the example above.

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title>Contact Form Demo</title>

    <script src="styles/jQuery.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

    <script src="styles/jQuery.Validate.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

    <script src="styles/jQuery.Validate.AddOns.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

    <script type="text/javascript">

    jQuery.validator.addMethod("minChecked",
     function(value, element, param) {
        var $p = $(element).parent();
        var selected = $p.children('input[type=checkbox]:checked').length;

        if (selected >= param) {
            $p.children().removeClass('error');
            $p.siblings('.error').remove();
            return true;
            }

        $p.children('input[type=checkbox]').addClass('error');

        return false;}, jQuery.validator.format("Please check at least {0} items.")); 

        $(document).ready(function(){
            $("#<%= form1.ClientID %>").validate({
                rules: {
                    <%= FirstName.UniqueID %>: { required: true },
                    <%= LastName.UniqueID %>: { required: true },
                    <%= Email.UniqueID %>: { required: true, email: true },
                    <%= Phone.UniqueID %>: { required: true, phoneUS: true }
                },
                errorPlacement: function(error, element){
                    if(element.rules().minChecked > 0) {
                        var $p = $(element).parent();
                        if($p.siblings().hasClass("error") == false) {
                            error.insertAfter($p);
                        }
                    }
                    else {
                        error.insertAfter(element);
                    }
                }
            });

            $(".checkBoxGroup").children('input[type=checkbox]').each(function(){ $(this).rules("add", { minChecked: 3}); });

            $(".myGroupRandom").children('input[type=checkbox]').each(function(){ $(this).rules("add", { minChecked: 1}); });
        });
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
        <fieldset>
            <ol>
                <li>
                    <label class="left">
                        First Name
                    </label>
                    <input type="text" id="FirstName" runat="server" /></li>
                <li>
                    <label class="left">
                        Last Name
                    </label>
                    <input type="text" id="LastName" runat="server" /></li>
                <li>
                    <label class="left">
                        Email
                    </label>
                    <input type="text" id="Email" runat="server" /></li>
                <li>
                    <label class="left">
                        Phone
                    </label>
                    <input type="text" id="Phone" runat="server" /></li>
                <li>
                    <label class="left">
                        Contact Method
                    </label>
                    <span class="checkBoxGroup">
                        <input type="checkbox" id="ReqEmail" runat="server" /><label>Email</label>
                        <input type="checkbox" id="ReqMail" runat="server" /><label>Mail</label>
                        <input type="checkbox" id="ReqPhone" runat="server" /><label>Phone</label>
                        <input type="checkbox" id="ReqNoContact" runat="server" /><label>No Contact</label>
                    </span></li>
                <li>
                    <label class="left">
                        New Letter Type
                    </label>
                    <span class="myGroupRandom" >
                        <input type="checkbox" id="Checkbox1" runat="server" /><label>Company News</label>
                        <input type="checkbox" id="Checkbox2" runat="server" /><label>Press Releases</label>
                        <input type="checkbox" id="Checkbox3" runat="server" /><label>Deals</label>
                        <input type="checkbox" id="Checkbox4" runat="server" /><label>Employement</label>
                    </span></li>
                <li>
                    <input type="submit" id="Submit" value="Submit" /></li>
            </ol>
        </fieldset>
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

A few days ago I was reading a web design article that talked about the “Poka-Yoke” principle. It was such a funny phrase that I had to go to Wikipedia to figure out the definition. In a nutshell, the principle refers to the process of “idiot-proofing” human interaction with a process. This term is based on the Japanese words “yokeru” avoid and “poka” mistake, this is rather funny for me since I work for a Japanese company that has clearly never heard of this principle!

This term came to mind today while helping another programmer develop a system to prevent accidental in their UI. After discussing what needed to be done, it was clear that we needed to implement some client side logic to “prevent… guide…” the user into making the correct choices.

The UI was pretty straight forward, there will be a few buttons to do various actions on rows in a table. The users will select one or more rows for the table and then click the button of the action they want to perform. Sounds simple, right… We’ll it is and it’s also really easy to select the wrong row and/or the wrong button. Training is a big help in any process, but one you leave the users alone the system will be the only thing enforcing the rules.

Here is an example of a table where rows will be selected for deletion. I used a “asp:Table” to simulate the markup for a table that will be generated with a “asp:GridView”. In my past 5 years of working with ASP.NET, this was the first time I ever used or seen this control used.

    <div class="mediumTable">
        <asp:Button ID="DeleteButton" runat="server" Text="Delete" />
        <asp:Table ID="Table1" runat="server">
            <asp:TableHeaderRow>
                <asp:TableHeaderCell>Chk</asp:TableHeaderCell>
                <asp:TableHeaderCell>Product</asp:TableHeaderCell>
                <asp:TableHeaderCell>Stock</asp:TableHeaderCell>
            </asp:TableHeaderRow>
            <asp:TableRow>
                <asp:TableCell>
                    <asp:CheckBox ID="CheckBox1" runat="server" /></asp:TableCell>
                <asp:TableCell>Apples</asp:TableCell>
                <asp:TableCell>0</asp:TableCell>
            </asp:TableRow>
            <asp:TableRow>
                <asp:TableCell>
                    <asp:CheckBox ID="CheckBox2" runat="server" /></asp:TableCell>
                <asp:TableCell>Oranges</asp:TableCell>
                <asp:TableCell>100</asp:TableCell>
            </asp:TableRow>
            <asp:TableRow>
                <asp:TableCell>
                    <asp:CheckBox ID="CheckBox3" runat="server" /></asp:TableCell>
                <asp:TableCell>Pears</asp:TableCell>
                <asp:TableCell>150</asp:TableCell>
            </asp:TableRow>
            <asp:TableRow>
                <asp:TableCell>
                    <asp:CheckBox ID="CheckBox4" runat="server" /></asp:TableCell>
                <asp:TableCell>Watermelon</asp:TableCell>
                <asp:TableCell>2</asp:TableCell>
            </asp:TableRow>
        </asp:Table>
    </div>
    </form>

Here is the delete “prevention” system we came up. We had a few other ideas like, but after doing a few demos of each solution we decided on the following code that will be discussed below.

        $(document).ready(function() {
            $('#<%= DeleteButton.ClientID %>').click(function() {
                // Find all selected items
                var CheckedCheckBoxes = $('#<%= Table1.ClientID %>').find("input[type='checkbox']:checked");
                // If there are no selected items, exit
                if (CheckedCheckBoxes.length == 0) {
                    alert("You must make a selection before you can delete an item.");
                    return false;
                }
                // If there are selected items, loop
                CheckedCheckBoxes.each(function() {
                    var isProcessed = $(this).parent().parent().find('td:last').text();
                    // If current item is already processed, set flat to true
                    if (jQuery.trim(isProcessed) > 0) {
                        deletedProcessed = true;
                    }
                });
                // Check flag, if true stop ALL deletes and notify user
                if (deletedProcessed) {
                    alert("You can't delete a product with stock!");
                    return false;
                }
                else {
                    // Do a final confirmation the user wants to delete the selection
                    var answer = confirm('Are you sure you want to delete your selection?');
                    return answer
                }
            });
        });

Since selection box was used for a few different functions (process orders, hold orders and edit orders) we needed a way to add a little extra checking to only the delete button. Our goals with the logic above was the following.

1. Disables “Delete” if nothing has been selected.
2. Disables “Delete” if the user selected a item should not be deleted (e.g. Has Inventory).
3. Prompts the user to confirm the really want to delete the item.

In addition to these ideas, we also had the following ideas…

1. Alert row # of items that don’t meet the business rule
2. Highlight the row in “red” that don’t meet the business rule
3. Physically “Disable” the delete button if they select an item that don’t meet the business rules

Mistakes are human nature and by double and triple checking what they are doing we can save the users and ourselves from many emails/phone calls/visits about how the system “deleted the data all by itself”.

Mistake proofing is such an easy idea to grasp and agree with, that it’s surprising that we don’t see more of it in the systems we using everyday. I’m sure I’ve developed a few bad ones, hopefully the audience using it was small and it didn’t mitigate itself into other things. Working for a Japanese company who has developed some of the worst internal tools I’ve ever seen (0 UI design effort), I’m sure to bring up the new Japanese “Poka-Yoke” principle that next time I talk to one of the developers in Japan.