1/5/2015

CreatingaVotingPollwithASP.NET4.0andC#ASP.NETTutorials|Tutorials,Downloads,&CodeExamples

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CreatingaVotingPollwithASP.NET4.0andC#
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2

Thistutorialwilldemonstratehowtocreateanonlinepolltoallowuserstovoteonlyonceusing
ASP.NET4.0andC#.
Forthistutorialwewillbecreatingasimplewebpagethatwillshowthetotalvotesfortwotopicsin
adatabaseandallowtheusertovoteonlyonetime.Todothis,wewillbecreatingadatabasetokeep
trackofhowmanyvoteshavebeencountedforeachtopicandifauserhasvotedalready.

AddingtheDefault.aspxPage
AtthispointinthetutorialIhavecreatedanewASP.NETEmptyWebSite.Next,weneedtoadda
simpleformthatwillallowausertologinandvote.Todothis:
1. Rightclicktheprojectinyoursolutionexplorer.
2. Selectaddnewitem
3. Selectawebform.
4. NameitDefault.aspx.
5. Clickadd.
6. OpenDefault.aspxuptodesignmode.
7. Draganddropaloginviewcontrolontothewebform.
8. ExpandtheloginviewtasksmenuandselectAnonymousTemplatefromthedropdownlist.
9. Draganddropalogincontrolintotheloginview.
10. Underneaththeloginviewaddinanewtablethathas2rowsand2columns.
11. Draganddropalabelintothetopleftcellofthetable.
12. ChangetheIDpropertyofthelabeltolblA.
13. Draganddropalabelintothetoprightcellofthetable.
14. ChangetheIDpropertyofthelabeltolblB.
15. Draganddropabuttonintothebottomleftcellofthetable.
16. ChangetheIDpropertyofthebuttontobtnA.
17. ChangetheTextpropertyofthebuttontoVoteA.
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CreatingaVotingPollwithASP.NET4.0andC#ASP.NETTutorials|Tutorials,Downloads,&CodeExamples

18. Draganddropabuttonintothebottomrightcellofthetable.
19. ChangetheIDpropertyofthebuttontobtnB.
20. ChangetheTextpropertofthebuttontoVoteB.
Youshouldnowhaveasimpleformthatlookslikethis:

AddingtheDatabase
Next,weneedtoaddinadatabasewithafewsmalltablesthatwillallowustokeeptrackofthe
votes.Todothis:
1. Rightclicktheprojectinyoursolutionexplorer.
2. SelectaddASP.NETfolder.
3. SelectApp_Data.
4. RightclicktheApp_Datafolder.
5. Selectaddnewitem
6. SelectaSQLDatabase.
7. NameitDatabase.mdf.
8. Clickadd.
Next,weneedtoaddintwotables,onetokeeptrackofthevotesandonetokeeptrackoftheusers
whohavealreadyvoted.Todothis:
1. ExpandtheDatabase.mdffolderinyourserver/databaseexplorer.
2. RightclicktheTablesfolder.
3. Selectaddnewtable.

4. Addthefollowingcolumnswiththeirrespectivetypestothetable:
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ColumnName DataType
VoteIn

nvarchar(50)

NumVotes
int
5. SavethetableasVotes.
6. RightclicktheTablesfolder.
7. Selectaddnewtable.
8. Addthefollowingcolumnswiththeirrespectivetypestothetable:
ColumnName DataType
UserName
nvarchar(50)
9. SavethetableasVoted.

AddingtheConnectionString
Nowthatwehaveourdatabasesetup,weneedtoaddaconnectionstringtoit.Todothis,addinthe
followingcodetotheWeb.Configfileinbetweentheandtags:
XHTML
0
1 <connectionStrings>
2
<add name="ConnectionString" connectionString="Data
Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\Database.mdf;Integrated
Security=True;User Instance=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
3 </connectionStrings>
4

EnablingandCreatingUsers
Inorderforustovote,wearegoingtoneedtobeloggedintoanaccount.Toenableusercreationand
createanewuser:
1. ClicktheASP.NETConfigurationiconinyoursolutionexplorer.
2. IntheASP.NETWebSiteAdministrationToolclicktheSecuritytab.
3. ClickSelectauthenticationtype.
4. SelectFromtheinternet.
5. ClickDone.
6. ClickCreateUser.
7. Fillouttheinformationandcreateanewaccount.
8. ClosetheASP.NETWebSiteAdministrationTool.

AddingtheVotingFunctionality
Next,weneedtoaddinsomeC#codethatwillallowustovoteifweareloggedinandhavenotyet
voted.Toavoidincorrectpollsweavoidlettingusersvotemorethanonetime.HereIamgoingto
limittheirvotingby1voteperuniqueusername,howeverwecanjustaseasilylimitthisanotherway
byusingsomethinglikeanIPorevenaMACaddress.Tobegin,openupDefault.aspx.csupfor
editingandaddthefollowingcodetothePage_Loadeventmethod:
C#
0
1
2
3

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{
SqlDataReader rdr;

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CreatingaVotingPollwithASP.NET4.0andC#ASP.NETTutorials|Tutorials,Downloads,&CodeExamples

//GET # OF VOTES TO DISPLAY

//connect to our db
SqlConnection conn = new
SqlConnection(WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionString"].ConnectionString
//sql command to select everything from the first table
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM Votes", conn);
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
using (conn)
{
//connect to the database
conn.Open();
//execute the qeury and store the results in our sqldatareader
rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
//read all entries and populate our labels and buttons
while (rdr.Read())
{
if (rdr["VoteId"].ToString() == "A")
lblA.Text = rdr["NumVotes"].ToString();
if (rdr["VoteId"].ToString() == "B")
lblB.Text = rdr["NumVotes"].ToString();
}
}
//disable the voting buttons until we can verify that the current user is eligible
btnA.Enabled = false;
btnB.Enabled = false;

//if user is currently logged in

if (Page.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
//check if user is in the database
conn = new
SqlConnection(WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionString"].ConnectionString
37
//the sql command to select the current user from the voted table
38
cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM Voted WHERE UserName=@UserName", conn
39
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
40
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cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@UserName", User.Identity.Name);
42
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using (conn)
44
{
45
//connect to the database
46
conn.Open();
47
//execute query and store results in our sqldatareader
48
rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
49
//if no entries are read
50
if (!rdr.Read())
51
{
52
//user was not found, they are eligible
53
//enable buttons for voting
54
btnA.Enabled = true;
55
btnB.Enabled = true;
56
}
57
}
58
}
59 }
60

Thiscodewilldeterminewhetherornottoenablethevotingbuttonsbasedoniftheuserisloggedin
andhasalreadyvotedornot.Next,wearegoingtowriteamethodthatwillactuallysubmitaVote
givenaVoteIdpassedbyastringtoit.Todothis,addthefollowingmethodtotheDefault.aspx.cs
classunderthePage_Loadmethod:
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CreatingaVotingPollwithASP.NET4.0andC#ASP.NETTutorials|Tutorials,Downloads,&CodeExamples

C#
private void Vote(string VoteId)
{
//ADD THEIR VOTE
//connect to our db
SqlConnection conn = new
SqlConnection(WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionString"].ConnectionString);
//command to increment the vote at the proper id
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("UPDATE Votes SET NumVotes = NumVotes+1 WHERE
VoteId=@VoteId", conn);
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@VoteId", VoteId);
using (conn)
{
//connect to the database
conn.Open();
//execute query
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
//ADD THEIR NAME TO THE VOTED DATABASE SO THAT THEY WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE
AGAIN
//connect to our db
conn = new
SqlConnection(WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionString"].ConnectionString);
//command to add their username to out voted table
cmd = new SqlCommand("INSERT INTO Voted(UserName) VALUES (@UserName)", conn);
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@UserName", Page.User.Identity.Name);
using (conn)
{
//connect to the database
conn.Open();
//execute query
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
//reload the page
Response.Redirect("Default.aspx");

}
[csharp]

This will first increment the vote number in the proper cell of the Votes table
based on the VoteId passed to it, and then add the current username to the Voted
table which gets checked when the voting buttons are enabled. This will prevent the
user from voting again. Next, we need to add in the code for the voting buttons. To
do this, open up Default.aspx to design mode and double click btnA and add the
following code to the btnA_Click event method:
[csharp]
protected void btnA_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//call the vote method passing the A option
Vote("A");

ThiswillcalltheVotemethodweaddedearlier,passingtheVoteIdforoptionAthattheuserhas
chosentovotefor.Next,weneedtodothesamethingforbtnB,gobacktotheDefault.aspxand
doubleclickbtnBandaddthefollowingcodetothebtnB_Clickeventmethod:
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CreatingaVotingPollwithASP.NET4.0andC#ASP.NETTutorials|Tutorials,Downloads,&CodeExamples

C#
0
1 protected void btnB_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
2 {
3
//call the vote method passing the B option
4
Vote("B");
5 }
6

ThiswillcalltheVotemethodpassingtheVoteIdforoptionB.

Testing
Totestthisout,goaheadandloadupthewebsite.Logintotheaccountthatyoucreatedearlierand
choosetovoteforoptionAbyclickingbtnA.Noticethatthepageisreloadedandthebuttonsare
nowdisabledeventhoughyouareloggedin,thisisbecauseyouraccounthasalreadyvoted.Navigate
totheVotestableinyourdatabase,rightclickit,andselectShowTableData.Noticethatthenumber
ofvotescorrespondingtooptionAhasincreasedfrom39to40.Thisisnotthemostsecurevoting
system,butitisfairlyeasytoimplementandwilllimiteachaccounttoonevotewhilekeepingan
accuratecountofallvotes.
TheDefault.aspxsourcelookslikethis:
XHTML
0
1 <body>
2
<form id="form1" runat="server">
3
<div>
4
<asp:LoginView ID="LoginView1" runat="server">
5
<AnonymousTemplate>
6
<asp:Login ID="Login1" runat="server">
7
</asp:Login>
8
</AnonymousTemplate>
9
</asp:LoginView>
10
<br />
11
<table>
12
<tr>
13
<td>
14
<asp:Label ID="lblA" runat="server" Text="Label">
</asp:Label>
15
</td>
16
<td>
17
<asp:Label ID="lblB" runat="server" Text="Label">
</asp:Label>
18
</td>
19
</tr>
20
<tr>
21
<td>
22
<asp:Button ID="btnA" runat="server" Text="Vote A"
onclick="btnA_Click" />
23
</td>
24
<td>
25
<asp:Button ID="btnB" runat="server" Text="Vote B"
onclick="btnB_Click" />
26
</td>
27
</tr>
28
</table>
29
30
</div>
31
</form>
32 </body>
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33

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