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Case Study -> Personal App -> User Messages

In this section you will learn how to create a User Messages component for the "Date Me" site. This component is implemented as an external menu component.
Note: The Messages component is valid only after user login.

- Description

1. Implement a handler on your website that will be used as the external menu source. The handler will check whether the user is logged in and return an XML document containing the user's messages (See: external menu description, under the Conduit API).

- Flow Chart

- 'Date Me' Code Sample

'Date Me' User Messages handler ashx file
Note: This code uses the external menu C# library.

 <%@ WebHandler Language="C#" Class="UserMessages" %>    using System;  using System.Web;  using System.Web.SessionState;  using System.Collections.Generic;    using Conduit.API;    public class UserMessages : IHttpAsyncHandler, IReadOnlySessionState  {      private ExternalMenu m_ExternalMenu = new ExternalMenu();               #region IHttpAsyncHandler Members        private AsyncProcessorDelegate m_AsyncProcessorDelegate;      protected delegate void AsyncProcessorDelegate(HttpContext context);        public IAsyncResult BeginProcessRequest(HttpContext context, AsyncCallback cb, object extraData)      {          m_AsyncProcessorDelegate = new AsyncProcessorDelegate(ProcessRequest);          return m_AsyncProcessorDelegate.BeginInvoke(context, cb, null);      }        public void EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult result)      {          m_AsyncProcessorDelegate.EndInvoke(result);      }        #endregion        #region IHttpHandler Members        public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)      {          context.Response.ContentType = "text/xml";          if (context.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)          {              // Set user messages              List<String> messages;              List<String> adminMessages;              Int32 numberOfMessages;              Common.GetUserMessages(context, out messages, out adminMessages, out numberOfMessages);              BuildMenu(messages, adminMessages, numberOfMessages);              context.Response.Write(m_ExternalMenu.GetXml().OuterXml);          }          else          {              context.Response.Write("<dynamic_menu></dynamic_menu>");          }      }        public bool IsReusable      {          get          {              return false;          }      }        #endregion                #region Private Methods                private void BuildMenu(List<String> personalMessages, List<String> adminMessages, Int32 numberOfMessages)      {                  m_ExternalMenu.ExternalInterval = 60;            m_ExternalMenu.Button.ButtonTooltip = numberOfMessages + " messages";          m_ExternalMenu.Button.DefaultButtonText = numberOfMessages + " messages";          m_ExternalMenu.Button.DefaultIconUrl = "http://212.235.77.237/Images/messages.gif";          m_ExternalMenu.Button.WithDropdown = true;            m_ExternalMenu.Menu.Caption = "Menu Caption";          m_ExternalMenu.Menu.Hint = "Hint";          m_ExternalMenu.Menu.IconUrl = "";            ExternalMenu.EM_Menu personalMessegesMenu = new ExternalMenu.EM_Menu();          personalMessegesMenu.Caption = "Personal";          personalMessegesMenu.Hint = "Read your personal messages";          personalMessegesMenu.IconUrl = "http://212.235.77.237/Images/messages.gif";          foreach (String message in personalMessages)          {              // Add the Introduction item              ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem personalMessageItem = new ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem();              personalMessageItem.Caption = message;              personalMessageItem.IconUrl = "http://212.235.77.237/Images/env_small.gif";              ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem.EM_Data.EM_Link link = new ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem.EM_Data.EM_Link();              link.Target = ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem.EM_Data.EM_Link.LinkType.Tab;              link.Url = "http://212.235.77.237/MailBox.aspx";              personalMessageItem.Data.Link = link;              personalMessegesMenu.MenuItems.Add(personalMessageItem);          }          m_ExternalMenu.Menu.MenuItems.Add(personalMessegesMenu);                    m_ExternalMenu.Menu.MenuItems.Add(new ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_Separator());            ExternalMenu.EM_Menu adminMessegesMenu = new ExternalMenu.EM_Menu();          adminMessegesMenu.Caption = "Administration";          adminMessegesMenu.Hint = "Read administration messages";          adminMessegesMenu.IconUrl = "http://212.235.77.237/Images/messages.gif";          foreach (String adminMessage in adminMessages)          {              // Add the Introduction item              ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem adminMessageItem = new ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem();              adminMessageItem.Caption = adminMessage;              adminMessageItem.IconUrl = "http://212.235.77.237/Images/env_small.gif";              ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem.EM_Data.EM_Link link = new ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem.EM_Data.EM_Link();              link.Target = ExternalMenu.EM_Menu.EM_MenuItem.EM_Data.EM_Link.LinkType.Tab;              link.Url = "http://212.235.77.237/MailBox.aspx";              adminMessageItem.Data.Link = link;              adminMessegesMenu.MenuItems.Add(adminMessageItem);          }          m_ExternalMenu.Menu.MenuItems.Add(adminMessegesMenu);      }            #endregion  }