Is ASP.net suitable for this typw of web application?

[David Smithz]

Hi there,

Coming now mainly from a PHP mySQL DB programming background, (but
previously a VB 6 programmer with a little DHTML experience) I have been
asked how easy it would be to develop a web application where by I have a
number of images on the left of the screen that could be dragged and dropped
onto a map on the centre of the screen and the position of where the dragged
item was dropped stored.

There's a bit more to it then this, but this is the main function and if I
was told this could be very easily achieved and implemented in ASP.net then
I would consider it.

Does anyone have any examples of similar functionality that they have
developed?
Is this the sort of thing that (assuming a bit of ASP.net experience) one
could produce a demo of in say a day?

Thanks for any input on this matter.

Kind regards

Dave.

[Karl Seguin [MVP]]

The challenge here seems to be much more on the client-side (javascript)
then the server-side.

From an asp.net point of view, it's really just a matter of taking inputs
(imageId, X-Coord, Y-Coord) and storing that in the db. It's really like
any other data input it's just that the data isn't coming in from a
traditional form.

As I see it, the bottleneck is the javascript, the ASP.NET is pretty
trivial - as it would be in PHP.

Karl

--
http://www.openmymind.net/
http://www.fuelindustries.com/
"David Smithz" <da******@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:R0*****************@text.news.blueyonder.co.u k...

Hi there,

Coming now mainly from a PHP mySQL DB programming background, (but
previously a VB 6 programmer with a little DHTML experience) I have been
asked how easy it would be to develop a web application where by I have a
number of images on the left of the screen that could be dragged and
dropped onto a map on the centre of the screen and the position of where
the dragged item was dropped stored.

There's a bit more to it then this, but this is the main function and if I
was told this could be very easily achieved and implemented in ASP.net
then I would consider it.

Does anyone have any examples of similar functionality that they have
developed?
Is this the sort of thing that (assuming a bit of ASP.net experience) one
could produce a demo of in say a day?

Thanks for any input on this matter.

Kind regards

Dave.

[G. Whiz]

A lot of what you are asking can be implemented. For instance, the western
2/3 of the United States can be drag and dropped onto.
Some places like Illinois are still not functioning correctly, and may be
more hassle than it is worth.
For some of the other states that are still not up and running, it might be
helpful to inquire about creating custom user controls that fall within the
boundaries of "up-time"states. This can be easily discovered with a web
service, that implements the dot net state list with optional zip code
indicator. These are not merely mapping requests, they are robust design
time situational plotting mechanisms by which nearly every spot can be
discovered with an easy-to-use interface. However this implementation is not
due to be released for at least another 2 years.
Good luck.
It sounds like a very worthwhile project.

[darrel]

> Coming now mainly from a PHP mySQL DB programming background, (but

previously a VB 6 programmer with a little DHTML experience) I have been
asked how easy it would be to develop a web application where by I have a
number of images on the left of the screen that could be dragged and
dropped onto a map on the centre of the screen and the position of where
the dragged item was dropped stored.

I'll just echo what Karl said. The key question is stored *where* (and, I
suppose, why?)

This sounds like some sort of drag and drop quiz/puzzle, in which case this
is probably best handled by client side technology rather than server side.

-Darrel

[David Smithz]

Thanks for the input guys. OK maybe I have misunderstood the nature of
ASP.net. It was sort of client side I was thinking about, but I (perhaps
naivly) though as well as handling backend DB stuff, ASP.net was really
great for providing a code with a really simple interface to develop cleint
side javascript applications that will work on any browser.

Let me give a bit more detail (going on what I know so far) about what I'm
after.

Imagine a game type puzzle which has a picture (cartoonish) of a map of the
world.
On the left hand side there are a number of flags - say 10.
The user can drag all the flags and place them on the screen. They are also
able to change their minds while doing this. Therefore as they move the
flags around, there is not actually interaction with the server - client
side only.
Eventually the user presses the submit button when they are happy they have
matched the flags to the country positions.
That is when the positions of each of the flags is sent to the server for
processing and this information is sent to be stored in a DB (or whatever is
required with the data).

Does that make more sense?

I am open to other suggestions if I am completely wrong in my assumption
that JavaScript might be the way to go with this.

Thanks again.

Dave

[jhcorey]

You could check out obout.com. There's a demo there where you can
drag and drop a treeview node, and it might involve something similar
to what you're doing.

Jim

[darrel]

> ASP.net was really great for providing a code with a really simple

interface to develop cleint side javascript applications that will work on
any browser.
What javascript .net can produce tends to be neither terribly unobtrusive
nor cross-browser friendly. Maybe that's changed with .net 2/atlas.
I am open to other suggestions if I am completely wrong in my assumption
that JavaScript might be the way to go with this.

Javascript or Flash would be likely candidates for this. Whether you use
ASP.net for back end stuff is rather irrelevant for this, though.

If this is an education site, keep in mind any accessibility issues that may
be involved.

-Darrel

[David Smithz]

> Javascript or Flash would be likely candidates for this. Whether you use

ASP.net for back end stuff is rather irrelevant for this, though.

If I went for a JavaScript approach, is there a good to use IDE or do I have
to develop something using text editor. Assuming someone was reasonably
similar with JavaScript, do you think this is a complex application?

Especially as I would want to develop something that is adaptable (As in I
could change the number of flags in use etc.

To make it as accessible as possible I wanted to avoid using Flash. Did not
want to have to make people have to install it to use the application, but
if it made development significantly easier then I would consider it.

Thanks again.