DNN setting the date format for the calendar control

Having recently been frustrated by the lack of support in DNN to change the format of dates (yes I know about the web.config setting and yes I know about the built in language settings - it still didn't work when using DataSprings DynamicForms module which otherwise is simply superb).

Anyway if you're experiencing the same issues that we did then there is a simple solution.

In the "js" folder you'll find a file named "PopupCalendar.js".

I won't bore you with the various ways in which you customise the look and feel but if you need to change the date format (in my case to the United Kingdom dd/mm/yyyy) here's how...

Simply scroll down until you find the lines:

//default localized short date format if not provided
if (popCalDstFmt == "")
popCalDstFmt = "m/d/yyyy";

This is where the date format is set if you didn't pre-specify a format on the call to the popupCal method.

You can simply override this by adding the following line straight after this function... In our case:

//force UK date format
popCalDstFmt = "d/M/yyyy";

...and voila you're ready to rock and roll!

Hope this helps some other frustrated developers!

Cheers
Jon

Adding a logout link to the control panel in DNN

DotNetNuke is a great tool but because it's written by developers sometimes basic GUI options have been omitted. One of these is adding a logout button the control panel - especially if you don't want a login/out link on your main webpages!

It's actually really simple to do this just navigate to the "admin/ControlPanel" directory of your site.

There are two different control panels: "iconbar" and "classic" just open up the Web Control that represents the one you are using: classic.ascx or iconbar.ascx.

Next you'll need to register the DNN:Login tag and associate it with the "Login" Control. To do this add the following line under the control declaration so your file will look like this:

<%@ Control language="vb" AutoEventWireup="false" Explicit="True" Inherits="DotNetNuke.UI.ControlPanels.IconBar" CodeFile="IconBar.ascx.vb" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="dnn" TagName="LOGIN" Src="~/Admin/Skins/Login.ascx" %>

Then to add the link itself just add the line:
<dnn:login runat="server" id="dnnLOGIN">

...Wherever you would like the link displayed... Simple!

Here's an example file for you to download: iconbar.zip

ASP.net ButtonClick events not fired when "Enter" is hit?

In Internet Ignorer (AKA Internet Explorer for you purists)... You know that browser by MICROSOFT? The same dudes who came up with ASP.net? You may have noticed that a form submittal event that is fired by the enter key doesn't call the form's _Click event.

This only happens with a single TextBox control for example the code below:


<form runat="server">
Name: <asp:TextBox runat="server" id="txtField" />
<asp:Button runat="server" Text="Go" />
</form>


Internet Ignorer does not pass the submit button's name/value pair in the post. Therefore the ASP.net engine can't determine what control fired the postback event and therefore can't fire the appropriate Click event.

To get round this simply add another TextBox control to your form for example:


<form runat="server">
Name: <asp:TextBox runat="server" id="txtField" />
<asp:Button runat="server" Text="Go" />
</form>
>asp:TextBox runat="server" style="display:none;" /<


For some strange reason INternet Ignorer now decides to send the name value pairs along to the post event.

Yet ANOTHER workaround for a Microsoft product... When using a Microsoft technology... Does it get worse than this? :-)