A Basic Ajax Content Management Framework
One of the projects that I just took control of tracks documents that the Webmaster is placing manually into a folder and pastes a separate URL into a database so it can be linked to multiple records, other tables, and other crap. That part is not important, but I thought I would tell you where I thought of this. As I was coding the checking to see if a file exists I was like man, Ajax could be the missing link to those web content management tools out there. You have a site builder like on Brinkster or any of the other host and Ajax can improve its effectiveness. I was always annoyed by how slow they were to react when navigating since it always had to do the full-page refresh to get the documents and such. If you had to go 10 files deep in the tree, I needed a beer and a bag of pretzels waiting for it to happen.
So I just made a quick vb.net project that is not fancy. It is a basic framework for you to be able to navigate through a directory on a web server and look at the files and folders. The code is a basic starting point for anyone that wants to create a way for a user to look for files on the server. I see a lot of people saying that they want a file input to be able to search the server. With this code, you can create it. If I had more time, I would create a look like file browser, but I am busy with the book! If anyone out there does it, make sure to post a link in the comments.
Now, you really need to address security here since you are allowing people to access the folder structure on the server! I did a very(infite+1) small check that I am sure could be bypassed. If anyone has some good ideas on security for this, lets us know!
The code here does three things:
- Creates a Breadcrumb Navigation
- Lists the Folders
- Lists the Files