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Open Client Programming Considerations
This topic describes requirements and considerations associated with
developing 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 must
consider the naming conventions you will use for directory and project names. Following are the various naming conventions:
- 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 from 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
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FnListViewUC
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All user controls are appended with the letters UC
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FnListViewUC
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All data providers are appended with the letters DP
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FnNavigationDP
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All instances of base object classes are prefixed with the letter
a
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aDocumentListView
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Other than the prefixes already mentioned, follow the file naming
conventions suggested by the .NET project configuration wizards.
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FnListViewUC.ascx
FnListViewUC.ascx.vb
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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.
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FnConfigurationCP.aspx
FnConfigurationCP.aspx.vb
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