I started playing around with ASP.NET 2.0 a lot more this afternoon, and I've definately found some stuff that are a great enhancement.
- When referencing custom server controls that are stored in the GAC, you only need to have your register directive contain the TagPrefix, Namespace, and Assembly. There's no option to "CopyLocal" anymore, however it pulls directly from the GAC if the assembly lives there. Very cool, and easy for updating to future components. However, I do miss the "CopyLocal" option in case I want different applications using different versions.
- Nesting Master Pages is awesome! I've got my overall layout with 1 content page. I then have another master page that has its masterPageFile set to the main layout. Then, in my separate pages, I reference the nested master page and everything comes together. The one thing I don't like about this is that you can't use Design view to modify nested master's and pages deriving from nested master pages.
- I did find a bug when using the TreeView control and databinding it to Site Map Data Sources, or maybe it was the theme I applied to the TreeView...however, make a mental note. If you get a message stating that your <head> tag needs a runat="server", your <title> tag will get overwritten for some reason, and a default <title> tag with the contents "Untitled Page" will be used instead. I've submitted this bug to the Whidbey newsgroups.
- I wish there was a way utilizing the Site Maps & Tree View to collapse everything except for the current node (or parent node if I'm in the sub-node) to be collapsed. Take my website for instance. When you're on the homepage, the only sub-links you see are relevant to the homepage, however other broad subjects are visible with their children hidden. I'm sure there's a way to do this via code, but it would be nice to have a property for this type of situation.
- Why is it that when creating your Site Map, the <siteMap> element can only contain 1 <siteMapNode>, however, <siteMapNode> elements can contain 0-N many sub elements? Again, I make reference to my website, in which I don't want an top node, I just want my main headings. Any info relating to this would be helpful.
- Here's an interesting question...when working with code-behind files for web pages, why is it that the icons for those code-behind files have the resource file icon? Shouldn't I see a C# icon if it has a .aspx.cs extension or a VB.NET icon if it has a .aspx.vb extension?
- Themeing is extremely powerful and uber cool. At first I couldn't figure out how to use themeing against custom server controls, but then after an error message saying it couldn't find my custom tag prefix, it hit me. Just place your Register directive at the top of the skin file and all is well. Talk about making things easy :)
- I'm starting to enjoy not having to recompile everytime I make a change now, however I'm sure my view will turn to frustration again once I start working with classes & code that I would like to be verified against for syntax errors prior to viewing the webpage.
And that's it for today, I gotta start packing so I can get to my parents home for Easter, so I hope my little insight will help everyone out.
Happy Whidbey Coding!
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