Image Uploader 6.0 ASP.NET Control Library

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posted by Fedor on 19 December 2008, 10:16

As I have mentioned in my Aurigma Image Uploader 6.0 Concepts post, we plan to include ASP.NET Control Library in the version 6.0 release. The library will wrap and simplify the most common operations.

The ASP.NET control library will include the following controls:

  • Visual controls, which are actually wrappers around corresponding ActiveX/Java objects:
    • ImageUploader
    • UploadPane
    • Thumbnail
    • ShellComboBox
  • Non-visual extenders of ImageUploader control, which simplify common operations:
    • AmazonS3Extender
    • NirvanixExtender 

Visual Controls

You can just drop Image Uploader on Web form and then configure all properties using smart-tag or property grid, or just specify properties in code. Another nice feature is that there is no need to deply manually CAB, JAR, and JavaScript files now. You need just deploy Aurigma.ImageUploader.dll on server.

Using smart-tag you can apply localization in one click: 

As well, you can change all properties using property grid:

You can add event handler in which you can implement saving files to disk:

protected void ImageUploader1_FileUploaded(object sender, FileUploadEventArgs e)
{
    ImageUploader.SaveToFolder(e.SourceFile, Server.MapPath("/Gallery/"));
    ImageUploader.SaveToFolder(e.Thumbnails[1], Server.MapPath("/Gallery/Thumbnails/"));
}

Moreover, you have typed access to all file metadata (Description, Angle, FileSize, and so on) sent to server.

Non-visual extenders

Recently many of our customers have requested support of cloud computing and cloud storages. Rigt now the most popuplar storage is Amazon S3 storage, however we also have implement the support of their less popular competitor - Nirvanix. AmazonS3Extender allows you easily upload to cloud storage:

<aur:ImageUploader ID="ImageUploader1" runat="server" width="600" height="400"
     UploadThumbnail1FitMode="Off">
</aur:ImageUploader>

<aur:AmazonS3Extender ID="AmazonS3Extender1" runat="server"
    ImageUploaderID="ImageUploader1"
    AWSAccessKeyId="<%$ AppSettings:Amazon_AWSAccessKeyId %>"
    Bucket="<%$ AppSettings:Amazon_Bucket %>"
    SecretAccessKey="<%$ AppSettings:Amazon_SecretAccessKey %>">

    <SourceFile Acl="private" Key="/${file_name}">
        <aur:CustomMetaProperty Name="Author" Value="John Smith" />
        <aur:PredefinedMetaProperty Name="Comments" Field="Description" />            
    </SourceFile>
    
</aur:AmazonS3Extender>

As you see, you just need to declare ImageUploader and AmazonS3Extender controls. Then you should link AmazonS3Extender to ImageUploader and specify some of its properties. You can also define source file meta properties. In the above code sample we have specified Author and Comments meta properties. The last one  will be automaticlly extracted from the description specified by user. 

We will include detailed instructions and feature list in the documentation. 

Aurigma Image Uploader 6.0 Concepts

posted by Fedor on 4 November 2008, 09:02

We are working hard over new Image Uploader 6.0 release. In the next version we have focused on stability, end-user and developer usability, as well as on adding some new features to be in trend of all modern technologies and approaches like cloud computing and Web 2.0.

Not taking into consideration the major improvements, version 6.0 will be backward compatible with all 2.x-5.x versions. We plan to release new version in the beginning of 2009, however, the final ETA is not defined yet.

Here is the general concept of version 6.0 architecture. We will post the detailed descriptions of all the new features and improvements later.

Client

On client side we will implement new features as well as provide bug fixes for core ActiveX control and Java applet. Moreover, we will gracefully improve iuembed.js script which is actually named Helper IUEmbed JavaScript Library :). It consists of the following scripts:

  • iuembed.js provides general cross-browser Image Uploader embedding on page. It has multiple improvements to reduce possible errors and simplify coding. It also comes with iuembed.Intellisense.js script which adds Intellicense support in Visual Studio 2008 IDE.
  • iuembed.InstallationProgress.js improves ActiveX control installation process. During control loading it will show installation progress. If it is necessary or if control installation failed the script will display user instructions. The script also will handle all different ActiveX control installation processes in various Internet Explorer versions.
  • iuembed.AmazonS3.js and iuembed.Nirvanix.js add support of Amazon S3 and Nirvanix cloud storages. They provide the way to upload files from browser directly to cloud storage and noticeably decrease the load on server, as well as provide the way for unlimited scalability.

Server

The main improvement on server side is adding upload support not only for common web server but and for cloud storages. Most probably we will also provide samples of using Image Uploader with common cloud computing services like Google App Engine.

Helper Server Libraries

In order to simplify user development and provide lower learning curve for ASP.NET and PHP developer, we plan to release ASP.NET Control and PHP Library. In this case, users can use familiar development approaches and quickly implement common tasks.

Now we have got a Leopard!

posted by Fedor on 20 March 2008, 18:32

Hi All! 

I know that some of our clients have already upgraded their Mac OSes to Leopard. And some of these clients have already had some problems with Image Uploader running it on Leopard. Previously we had only Mac OS 10.3.4 and 1.4.something. Recently we have installed the third operating system on our pure Mac and now we can test it. If you have some problems specific for Leopard please, post your information to forum. Now we can check and fix it.

Image Uploader ASP.NET Server Control

posted by Fedor on 21 January 2008, 23:49

We have posted Image Uploader ASP.NET server control which simplifies ASP.NET development:

http://www.aurigma.com/Forums/yaf_postsm8174_Image-Uploader-ASPNET-Control.aspx#8174