Converting current ASPX pages into usable controls for Umbraco
I am very new to .net programming and I am trying despratly to move
my companies website system out of framesets (yes I know...that should
have been done about 10 years ago) and into Umbraco. I am the graphic
designer that has slowly had to fill the shoes of the programmer, and I
have been comissioned to get us more SEO.
The question is this, we have
built the aspx pages, some user controls and have done the logic already. I want to move what
we have into umbraco and use the template system. Can i go through
and convert my aspx pages into masterpages and have them set up through
the template? Any help is greatly appriciated and I look forward to your responses.
Please be gentle on me as I know little about all this .net programming.
Glad to hear you will be moving away from framesets:) Always a good thing.
Converting your site to use umbraco will consist of a few steps based upon what you've stated here. If you have used masterpages when building your aspx pages, those should be a pretty easy transfer to the template system which are masterpages. If the "template" html is included within each aspx page, you will need to separate the "template" from the content.
The content portions of the aspx pages will be implemented via document types and adding the specific content as nodes in the content tree. The document types define properties of a page, such as heading, bodyText, teaser text etc. You then insert these properties (page properties) within the template code, nestled within the html where you want that particular data to be displayed.
Finally, the usercontrols can be utilized by creating a macro for each usercontrol, so that it can be inserted on a template or through a RichText Editor.
If you are new to umbraco I would suggest signing up for umbraco.tv or downloading the runway modules or Creative Website Starter package to give you some examples.
Hope that was gentle, or appologize if too simple :)
Thank you for your reply. I have been tryig to get us out of frames since 06...but when you dont know .net and the programmer doesnt like change, its hard to make the switch. In regards to the master pages, no master pages on the aspx pages. The frameset is used as the template and the various aspx pages get loaded in the right frame.
We have session variables that are loaded from our database (not Umbraco db) and stored when someone goes to our clients domain address. i.e. clientnamedotmycompanysitedotcom. We have 100+ clients that get a CSS file that "brands" the site to them, the left menu that is used for their site and main page to load, and the sessionInitiation.aspx is what gets all that info. So would the best thing be for me to create user controls out of my aspx pages or rework them to use the master pages that are in mu Umbraco installation?
As I understand your situation you should probably be looking at converting your Frameset to one or more masterpages, and your aspx-pages to usercontrols.
The code in sessioninitiation.aspx would probably need to run from your masterpage.
But this is mostly speculation. I have no doubt that Umbraco is able to do what you want, but it is possible (and likely) that you need a person that knows ASP.NET programming and Umbraco, to get this right.
You are probably looking at using a combination of techniques to accomplish the branding. I took a glance at your company and get the idea of what you are hoping to accomplish. I would probably build out the site utilizing the master page templates, documents etc, and then write custom controls to handle the branding of navigation and placement of the custom css file. You may even be able to avoid the session variables and tap right into the (not umbraco db) from the code behind of the user controls based on the domain-name.
Yeah, thats my same feeling. I know that Umbraco can do what I need/want, but I will need more programming knowledge to accomplish it. But I will keep this topic open for anyone else that might be able to throw in their 2 cents and I will continue to play with things myself. Thank you for your input
Thank you Chris, here is a demo link you can use to root around in the current system. demo. scripfundraising .com and the user name is "user" and password is "demo".
I am still searching for best practices on this conversion. I guess i should go ahead and start writing a book on it and see if it may be helpful for other newbies that are trying to convert out of the dark ages.
Converting current ASPX pages into usable controls for Umbraco
I am very new to .net programming and I am trying despratly to move my companies website system out of framesets (yes I know...that should have been done about 10 years ago) and into Umbraco. I am the graphic designer that has slowly had to fill the shoes of the programmer, and I have been comissioned to get us more SEO.
The question is this, we have built the aspx pages, some user controls and have done the logic already. I want to move what we have into umbraco and use the template system. Can i go through and convert my aspx pages into masterpages and have them set up through the template? Any help is greatly appriciated and I look forward to your responses.
Please be gentle on me as I know little about all this .net programming.
Glad to hear you will be moving away from framesets:) Always a good thing.
Converting your site to use umbraco will consist of a few steps based upon what you've stated here. If you have used masterpages when building your aspx pages, those should be a pretty easy transfer to the template system which are masterpages. If the "template" html is included within each aspx page, you will need to separate the "template" from the content.
The content portions of the aspx pages will be implemented via document types and adding the specific content as nodes in the content tree. The document types define properties of a page, such as heading, bodyText, teaser text etc. You then insert these properties (page properties) within the template code, nestled within the html where you want that particular data to be displayed.
Finally, the usercontrols can be utilized by creating a macro for each usercontrol, so that it can be inserted on a template or through a RichText Editor.
If you are new to umbraco I would suggest signing up for umbraco.tv or downloading the runway modules or Creative Website Starter package to give you some examples.
Hope that was gentle, or appologize if too simple :)
-Chris
Thank you for your reply. I have been tryig to get us out of frames since 06...but when you dont know .net and the programmer doesnt like change, its hard to make the switch. In regards to the master pages, no master pages on the aspx pages. The frameset is used as the template and the various aspx pages get loaded in the right frame.
We have session variables that are loaded from our database (not Umbraco db) and stored when someone goes to our clients domain address. i.e. clientnamedotmycompanysitedotcom. We have 100+ clients that get a CSS file that "brands" the site to them, the left menu that is used for their site and main page to load, and the sessionInitiation.aspx is what gets all that info. So would the best thing be for me to create user controls out of my aspx pages or rework them to use the master pages that are in mu Umbraco installation?
Thanks again for your replys
As I understand your situation you should probably be looking at converting your Frameset to one or more masterpages, and your aspx-pages to usercontrols.
The code in sessioninitiation.aspx would probably need to run from your masterpage.
But this is mostly speculation. I have no doubt that Umbraco is able to do what you want, but it is possible (and likely) that you need a person that knows ASP.NET programming and Umbraco, to get this right.
Regards
Jesper Hauge
You are probably looking at using a combination of techniques to accomplish the branding. I took a glance at your company and get the idea of what you are hoping to accomplish. I would probably build out the site utilizing the master page templates, documents etc, and then write custom controls to handle the branding of navigation and placement of the custom css file. You may even be able to avoid the session variables and tap right into the (not umbraco db) from the code behind of the user controls based on the domain-name.
-Chris
Yeah, thats my same feeling. I know that Umbraco can do what I need/want, but I will need more programming knowledge to accomplish it. But I will keep this topic open for anyone else that might be able to throw in their 2 cents and I will continue to play with things myself. Thank you for your input
Thank you Chris, here is a demo link you can use to root around in the current system. demo. scripfundraising .com and the user name is "user" and password is "demo".
I am still searching for best practices on this conversion. I guess i should go ahead and start writing a book on it and see if it may be helpful for other newbies that are trying to convert out of the dark ages.
is working on a reply...