With the VirtualPathProvider you can server pages from your website without the files actually existing on the disk. And this doesn't use url rewriting. The VirtualPathProvider actually allows you create your own virtual file system within your application. You can store the pages of you site within an xml file, a database or any other method you would like. In my opinion this is one of the coolest new features in ASP.NET 2.0.

The virtual file system you create can store virtually any file that you would normally have on disk. These include:

• ASP.NET pages, master pages, user controls, and other objects.
• Standard Web pages with extensions such as .htm and .jpg
• Any custom extension mapped to a BuildProvider instance.
• Any named theme in the App_Theme folder.

ASP.NET application folders or files that generate application-level assemblies cannot be stored in your new virtual file system. These include:

• The Global.asax file.
• Web.config files.
• Site map data files used by the XmlSiteMapProvider.
• Directories that contain application assemblies or that generate application assemblies: Bin, App_Code, App_GlobalResources, any App_LocalResources.
• The App_Data folder

Here is a zip file containing an example website that shows how to store static .htm files within an XML file. This example was derived from the code shown in the MSDN library.

Download Example: VirualPathProvider - Store static .htm pages in an XML file

I've been thinking about it awhile now and have the following comments/suggestions to make regarding the Wisconsin .NET Users Group (WI-INETA) website.

The current WI-INETA website is lacking in the following areas:

• The "Next Meeting" info on the homepage is often outdated to the previous meetings info.
• The only "usefull" content on the homepage is the next meeting announcement.
• The discussions forum is framed into the site shows a "The resource cannot be found" error message.
• The "Presentation Downloads" section doesn't have presentation slides/code from recent meetings. The latest ones are from 9/2005 and 10/2004.
• The Evangalists section of the site still shows the Blogging Contest, but it hasn't been updated since before the contest was awarded.

The website is the web representation of the .NET developer Community in Wisconsin. You got that? A Community. But in my eyes the website if far from being a Community website. There isn't really much on the site that encourages members to contribute to the community behind it.

Here is a list of features I suggest be added/enhanced on the site to make it more of a Community site:

• Host a discusson forums directly on the site for all members to use and ask each other questions.
• Add full Blogging/Photo Gallery functionality to the site so members can start a blog and post articles. This would Really encourage members to contribute to the Community.
• Write some code to automatically change the "Next Meeting" announcement on the homepage so a person doesn't have to actually login and change it.
• Keep the "Presentation Downloads" section more up to date by being more proactive to get the presentation slide/code from the presenters and post them up within a couple days each meeting.
  • A really cool addition would be to go as far as recording the presentations and offering them for download from the website. (I know this one isn't as feasible since it would cost $$ but it sure would be cool! And, the videos could be distributed via BitTorrent or a service like YouTube)
• Just maintain the site regularly and keep things up to date.
• Also, a graphic redesign would be cool.

I know the members of the users group executive commitee who are resposible for maintaining the website are volunteers (and probably have alot of other important stuff to do), but someone has update the website. I am more than willing to help out with this stuff as much as I can, and I have expressed my interest to the president of the group a couple times.

P.S. Executive Commitee members, don't take this post negatively; I would just like to see the users group be the best it can be. And please let me know if you would be interested in my help.

I found a bug in the current release (60731) of the Atlas Control Toolkit. The bug I found is caused when you use the Rating control within a User Control and you have multiple instances of your User Control on a page. I hope this bug gets fixed soon, it sucks for someone who likes to make things reusable using User Controls.

View the Work Item I add over at CodePlex

Tonight I released v0.05 of the PietschSoft.VE3 Virtual Earth mapping control for ASP.NET.

Major enhancements this release brings:

1. Added GeoRSS and VECollection Layer support
2. Added simple VS Design-Time support
3. Added VEMap.VEMapJSInclude property so the control can be pointed to a Virtual Earth mapping .js file (a custom one) other than the one hosted by Microsoft.

I'm trying to put out a new release with every couple features/fixes that are done. If you have any questions/comments about the control, just post it on the PietschSoft.VE3 Forums.

Update 8/15/2006: The control has been downloaded 68 times since I put it up on CodePlex a week ago, and the page on CodePlex has had over 1200 hits. There seems to be a decent amount of interest in this type of control. It is a real motivational factor.

Update 11/5/2007: There is a newer version of PietschSoft.VE that has been renamed Web.Maps.VE and it's located here: http://simplovation.com/Page/WebMapsVE.aspx

I am still hosting the demo site but I have moved the project into CodePlex. The CodePlex site offers a Discussion board (forums) and Issue Tracker. This will allow me to better support the PietschSoft.VE3 map control and library.

I have also placed PietchSoft.VE3 under the Microsoft Shared Source Community License (SS-CL). I hope this will clear up any licensing questions regarding the use of this control.

PietschSoft.VE3 - ASP.NET Virtual Earth Map Control