DNN Manage Button Hidden Behind Another Module

There is one issue I've run into several times with DNN and that is an HTML module covering up another module.  I had this issue with the Dark Knight skin.  An HTML module I had on the ContentPane was covering up the dropdown menu, so I had to make some CSS adjustments to the z-index property.

The issue I have now is slightly different.  I've written several modules that either:

1. Do not display anything in the View (they work in the background), but you still need to access the Settings to make changes
2. Do not display anything in the View if there is no data

The problem is if you are in Edit mode and nothing is being displayed, you cannot get to the Manage button because it is 'behind' the Manage button of the module below it.


I've come up with a simple fix for this that I include in my View.ascx file:

<% if(DotNetNuke.Common.Globals.IsEditMode()) { %> 

<div runat="server" id="showIfEditMode" >

   <br />

   <br />

   <br />

</div>

<% } %> 

This adds some padding below the module when you are in Edit mode. That way, your Manage button will be visible even when there is nothing to display.

Sorting ArrayList with Linq

This was my first forray into Linq, so I thought I'd post it in case I need it again in the near future.

I needed a list of user to populate a DropDownList.  In DotNetNuke, you can get an ArrayList of all users on the system with a call to: UserController.GetUsers(int PortalID).

The problem is the list is sorted by UserID, so when you open the DDL, you'll see all the users in what seems to be random order.  I wanted the list to be sorted by LastName, FirstName without having to write some sort of IComparer.

This is a great use case for Linq ( I've heard a lot about it, but never used it).

ArrayList a = UserController.GetUsers(0);

var so = from UserInfo s in a orderby s.LastName,s.FirstName select s;

ddlUser.DataSource = so;

ddlUser.DataValueField = "UserID"; // Alias Name from Sproc

ddlUser.DataTextField = "DisplayName";   // Alias name from sproc

ddlUser.DataBind();

ddlUser.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem("Select One", "0")); // Adds items to DDL

If you are using a custom object (ie UserInfo), then you must explicitly declare the type.

When using LINQ to query non-generic IEnumerable collections such as ArrayList, you must explicitly declare the type of the range variable to reflect the specific type of the objects in the collection.

asp.NET Password Requirements

For an asp.net website, using AspNetSqlMembershipProvider for authentication, there are several settings you can specify to handle password requirements.  Most corporate sites that want to make sure users are entering strong password have several things they look for in a password.

1. Password Length
2. Character Types
3. Password Complexity
4. Password History
5. Encryption
6. Attempts

Most of these settings are kept in the web.config.  Here is a standard setting for the membership provider:

<membership>

  <providers>

    <add 

      name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider" 

      type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider, ..." 

      connectionStringName="LocalSqlServer" 

      enablePasswordRetrieval="false" 

      enablePasswordReset="true" 

      requiresQuestionAndAnswer="true" 

      applicationName="/" 

      requiresUniqueEmail="false" 

      passwordFormat="Hashed" 

      maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" 

      minRequiredPasswordLength="7" 

      minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="1" 

      passwordAttemptWindow="10" 

      passwordStrengthRegularExpression="" 

    />

  </providers>

</membership>

To control the password complexity, you'll need to set the "passwordStrengthRegularExpression" under the "AspNetSqlMembershipProvider".

I'm not great with Regular Expressions, so I turned to StackOverflow for the following password requirements:

• At least 8 Characters (up to 100)
• Must have 3 of the 4 character types (Upper, Lower, Number, Symbol)

(?=^[^\s]{8,100}$)((?=.*?\d)(?=.*?[A-Z])(?=.*?[a-z])|(?=.*?\d)(?=.*?[^\w\d\s])(?=.*?[a-z])|(?=.*?[^\w\d\s])(?=.*?[A-Z])(?=.*?[a-z])|(?=.*?\d)(?=.*?[A-Z])(?=.*?[^\w\d\s]))^.*

An explanation of individual components:

• (?=^[^\s]{8,100}$) - contain between 8 and 100 non-whitespace characters

• (?=.*?\d) - contains 1 numeric

• (?=.*?[A-Z]) - contains 1 uppercase character

• (?=.*?[a-z]) - contains 1 lowercase character

• (?=.*?[^\w\d\s]) - contains 1 symbol

Notice after the length segment the double parens and later in the expression you'll see several
's. This allows for the either/or comparison of the 4 possible combinations that are allowed.

Also, check out RAD Regex Designer, for a FREE tool to test your Regular Expression!