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Open Client Programming Considerations

This topic describes requirements and considerations associated with developing with the FileNet Open Client Toolkit within the context of the ASP.NET framework.

Guidelines for Project and Directory Naming

When setting up your Open Client development project, you will need to consider the naming approach you will use for directory and project names, as follows:

  • Virtual directory name — When defining an Open Client virtual directory name, which is the name an end-user sees when looking at a URL, the following considerations apply:
    • You create a virtual directory name to point to the physical directory on the Web server. You specify your user-selectable name during Open Client installation. If you are doing your development in Visual Studio (e.g., Visual Studio 7), the name you assign as the Visual Studio project name will also be assigned by default to both the virtual and the physical directories.
    • If the virtual directory has a name other than FnOpenClient and you are developing your project with Visual Studio, you will also need a virtual directory name, FnOpenClient, which points to the physical directory (for example, the default FnOpenClient physical directory) . This virtual directory can be generated in addition to the virtual directory you create during installation. For example, suppose you assign the virtual directory name OpenClient during installation and access the Web site with: http://<my_host>/OpenClient. To compile OpenClient, create an additional virtual directory, named FnOpenClient, and point it at the same physical directory.
  • Physical directory name — This is the name of the Open Client directory that is physically installed on the Web server. You assign this name at installation time. You can assign any name to this directory and have the virtual directory point to it (the virtual and physical directories can have different user-selectable names). However, if you use Visual Studio to do your development, as indicated in the previous bullet, the name you assign as the project name will also be the virtual and physical directory names. The default is ...<your_directory>\IDM\Web\FnOpenClient; for example: \Program Files\FileNet\IDM\Web\FnOpenClient.
  • Project name — This is the name you assign when you create the project in your IDE. As indicated, if you are using Visual Studio, the name you assign as the project name will also be the virtual and physical directory names.
  • Root name space — This is the name you assign for the root of the hierarchy of name spaces (e.g., also FnOpenClient).

Guidelines for Programming ASP.NET

The following points represent a “best practice” approach for rapid development of highly reusable components using the FileNet Open Client toolkit and the ASP.NET framework:

  • The .NET development environment includes a compiler that supports most programming languages, such as C#, VB, C++, and JavaScript. The FileNet Open Client toolkit has been exclusively developed using VB.NET. We strongly recommend that you also use VB.NET for your development.
  • FileNet Open Client supports globalization and localization by accessing the functionality built into the .NET architecture. Follow the programming guidelines outlined in Globalization and Localization Support to ensure your application supports other locales.
  • The Open Client toolkit provides cross language exception-handling, implemented using the model supported by .NET. To allow consistent error handling, including localized error messages, follow the programming guidelines described in Error and Exception Handling.
  • .NET provides a rich, single-inheritance class library. Wherever possible, we recommend inheriting from this class library, rather than creating new data types and containers. The set of data providers supplied in the Open Client toolkit has been developed exclusively from the .NET class hierarchy.
  • .NET provides a robust set of HTML and Web controls. The Open Client has been created using a combination of these existing controls and new controls derived fom the .NET hierarchy. To maintain a high level of extensibility and reusability, we recommend using the controls and components provided in .NET and the Open Client toolkit.

Open Client Naming Conventions

FileNet Open Client user controls and data providers are distinguished from .NET classes according to the following rules:

Rule Example

All user controls, data providers, and base object classes are prefixed with the letters Fn

FnListViewUC

All user controls are appended with the letters UC

FnListViewUC

All data providers are appended with the letters DP

FnNavigationDP

All instances of base object classes are prefixed with the letter a

aDocumentListView

Other than the prefixes already mentioned, follow the file naming conventions suggested by the .NET project configuration wizards.

FnListViewUC.ascx
FnListViewUC.ascx.vb

WebForms are primarily used for FileNet Open Client container pages. These WebForms are prefixed with the letters Fn and are appended with the letters CP.

FnConfigurationCP.aspx
FnConfigurationCP.aspx.vb