Month: September 2009

Adding jQuery to a Custom DotNetNuke Module

Step 1: Register jQuery

In the code behind for the page you will be making jQuery calls, register the library in the OnPreRender event:

protected override void OnPreRender(EventArgs e)
{
string moduleDir = this.TemplateSourceDirectory;
Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptInclude("jQueryScripts", moduleDir + "/scripts/jquery-1.3.2.js");
Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptInclude("jsUtilities", moduleDir + "/scripts/utilities.js");
}

The first line stores the path to the module’s folder. I stored the jQuery library in the module’s scripts folder, so the next line registers the library with a supplied key (your choice of name) and the path to the library.

The third line registers another javascript library, this time one of my own javascript files.

Step 2: Initialize jQuery

DNN has name conflict issues with jQuery so the following line is needed (thanks to Steve Johnson at Abstract Coder for this tidbit):

var $j = jQuery.noConflict();

I included this in my utilities.js file outside of any functions.

Step 3: Call jQuery Functions

It is important to note that all of your calls to jQuery functions will use this $j variable instead of the normal, single $ you will find documented just about everywhere.  So for example, the document ready function will look like this:

$j(document).ready(function() {
//your code here
});

Now you can write your normal javascript code and call jQuery functions throughout. Just remember to use the $j variable.

Step 4: Accessing Control IDs

This step is not specific to jQuery, but I wanted to include it because I found that many people, including myself, were having a hard time trying to figure out how to target controls with javascript. Consider the following ASP.NET control on a page:

<asp:textbox id="simpleTextBox" runat="server" />

When using this control server-side, say with C#.NET, you write things like:

string t = simpleTextBox.Text;

So, naturally, you’d think to access this control via javascript, you would write something like:

t = document.getElementById("simpleTextBox")

However, ASP.NET will prefix all of your controls with parent container IDs to avoid conflicts. Thus your ID of simpleTextBox will be converted to something like dnn_ctr459_EditMyModule_simpleTextbox. This doesn’t matter to your code as it stays server-side, but once it hits the client, your javascript code has no clue what simpleTextBox is anymore.

My solution is to specifically tell javascript what the new name of the control is (my thanks to steveradich’s post at aspdeveloper.net for nudging me in the right direction here).

1. Register the javascript event handler when the page loads

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
simpleTextBox.Attributes.Add("onclick", "testFunction('" + simpleTextBox.ClientID + "')");
}

The key to this line of code is the ClientID property. We are sending our javascript code the new name of the control here.

2. Access the control from javascript

testFunction(cid) {
c = document.getElementById(cid);
}

Note here that we are using the same getElementById function, but now we are armed with the new ID of the control.

3. Target the control with jQuery

The following is an example of targeting the control using jQuery syntax:

$j('#' + cid).slideDown('normal');

*Note: I used this solution with my current installation of DNN, which
is 4.9. Version 5.0 has native jQuery support, which may change some of
these steps.

Integrating a Third-Party Search Service Into Magento

I’ve just finished integrating a custom search module into Magento and thought I’d share how I decided to lay out the main components. Again, I’m still feeling out how all of the different pieces of the Magento puzzle fit together, so I’m sure there are better ways of doing this. However, refer to the diagram below, and I will detail my implementation.

Magento search module integration
Module integration

I have a search container that actually holds two different search types. The first search type is the built-in Magento store search. I did not change any functionality for this module, so I simply modified the stylesheets to have it fit into my theme. The second search type, however, allows the user to search a third-party service, and display the results inline with the current store. You don’t have to think of a specific web service, just a generic one which receives a search term and returns results.

As with all Magento modules, the new module must be registered with the framework (see earlier post). After that is done, the module must be displayed. I wrote a view.phtml page to display the custom search form. There is nothing too interesting about this file, just note that it contains its own form with its own action attribute. However, in this example, this behavior is identical to the built-in search form, which is to post back to the current page. In this case, it will add the search term to the page’s query string.

To display the results, note that the result.phtml file is always rendering HTML. There’s just nothing to render unless there is a search term present in the page’s query string (provided by clicking the custom search button). If a search term is present, result.phtml sends its parent object (search2.php, as defined in page.xml) the search term. Search2.php then calls the web service, receives the results then sends them back to result.phtml for rendering to the page.