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toolbox
xml
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debug
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ajax
The planning and realization of this website, developed during the little time left free from my studies, took me about one year. Its strength is the virtually complete separation of the contents from the graphics. The user can display all the information in his native language which is selected through the nationality browser at the beginning; the user can, though, choose another language as the default one which will be remembered for his next access (Cookie). At the moment there are only two languages available, English and Italian, but the project has been designed taking into account a scalability factor. The same can be said for the visualization style (CSS) which can be chosen by the client and remembered for his next access.
Label
asp.net
To separate the presentation level from the contents I extensively used XML and XSL transformations. All the contents are stored in XML files along with the relevant translations for the different languages. The web server loads the information on the fly and it merges them with the templates of html pages to create the requested page. The technology used is Microsoft, ASP.NET 2.0 labelled, and in particular each page has been written with the “code behind” technique to further divide the graphics from the logic of the application. Some of the html controls properties have been set up inside xml files and dynamically uploaded through “Reflection” methods offered by C# language.
Albums management and pictures visualization are the most important and interesting parts of the whole system. To get a better performance, the pictures surfing flow, initially server-side managed, has been changed client-side using AJAX. Through the "querystring" each page accepts "DEBUG","AJAX" and "XML" as parameters. "DEBUG" allows to get detailed information about exceptions detected from the application in course of execution both locally inside the page and globally in the application (when you allocate “all” as parameter). "AJAX" allows to display the xml answer used to create the page with AJAX (at the moment only the page with the pictures); if you want to complement your own pages with some of my pictures it’s possible to use this answer as a sort of "web service". With "XML" you can view the source document of the page.
The curriculum page needs a special explanation, in fact an old project of mine has been fit in inside this website. The CV as well is written in XML which allows me to generate – with the use of my other software XCC (available in the notes page) – different version at the same time. The HTML version is created with a simple XSL sheet, while the PDF version needs two different steps: first transform the document in a “FO” format; and then create the PDF version using
FOP
curriculum
To ease the site management I developed a little remote administration side as well, with which I am able to manage exceptions, to restart the application and to set some parameters (e.g. my present location). The same can be said for the contents management, for which I developed some support tools, more precisely an application able to generate all the files and folders needed to create a new album and to ease its fitting in. For visitor statistics I use a Google external service. At a glance you’d say that it’s a small site and simple to create; that’s exactly what I thought when I started it up but then I realized there was much more involved. Besides the pages, the project is composed from about ten configuration classes and about twenty web controls to direct in the best possible way to some specific subjects. There are more than 300 files amongst images, pictures,codes and support material.