Introduction

What is Dot Net Dash?

It's an application that lets Asp.Net web application Administrators manage membership users and roles.

What does it do for me?

It lets you know who's signing up for and logging into your web application. It also lets you lock out users, change usernames, profile data, passwords, role membership and so forth.

How many images, user controls and assemblies to I have to add to my web application?

One. The assembly, QualityData.Web.Management.dll includes everything you need.

How much effort is required to make it work on my web site?

Just add a project reference to QualityData.Web.Management.dll and enter two lines of markup to your Web Form or MVC View. If you are using WebForms, you'll also need to add a couple lines to your web.config file to register the stuff that's already in an MVC app.

Is this done in Silverlight?

Yes. The client-side is a Silverlight Business Application that communicates with a REST API on your server.

What is the REST API?

This is a set of web addressable endpoints that can be accessed using GET or POST requests from a browser or by the Silverlight client. These "web addresses" allow for the retrieval of user information, the resetting of passwords, and so forth.

How do I configure the server-side (REST) API?

The REST API, which is implemented using an Asp.Net MVC Controller, is automatically initialized when the DotNetDash control is rendered. If yours is an MVC Application, you don't need to do anything at all but for WebForms Applications, you'll need to enable Microsoft's UrlRoutingModule by adding a couple lines to your web.config file.

How is the server-side (REST) API secured?

The REST API is secured with the same Asp.Net authorization methods (ie. user.IsInRole) that you use to secure web forms. You decide which roles are allowed to access the API when you set the "Roles" property of the DotNetDash control.

Supported project types and pre-requisites

What types of projects does it work with?

Dot Net Dash works with Asp.Net Web Applications and also with Asp.Net MVC Applications and is based on the assumption that you are using the Asp.Net Membership and Roles providers to manage authentication and authorization. Asp.Net Web Site projects are not yet supported.

Which pre-requisites do I need on my server?

You'll need the Microsoft .Net Framework Version 3.5, SP1 and also Microsoft's MVC library, System.Web.Mvc.dll. The latter is included in the DotNetDash Setup file but you can also download the MVC installables from Microsoft.

Installation and Licensing

How do I install Dot Net Dash?

Just download and install the DotNetDashSetup.msi file. This setup, which has been digitally signed, will install QualityData.Web.Management.dll into a folder on your workstation.

Do I need a license?

You need a license if you will use DotNetDash in development mode. A license is not required when running DotNetDash on a production server. DotNetDash can be freely distributed with your applications but will not work in development mode without a per-developer license.

How do I apply my Dot Net Dash license?

The Setup installs a tool called "DotNetDash License Manager" which you can use to enter your license key. If you don't want to bother with the tool, you can simply create a text file called ..\My Documents\Quality Data\QualityData.Web.Management.lic that contains your license key. DotNetDash will look for this file when it is run in development mode.