Follow the steps below to install Active Query Builder ASP.NET Edition to your project. If you already have the component installed in your project and need further information about getting or setting the SQL query text, please refer to the How to get and set SQL text in ASP.NET Edition: ASPX View engine article.

1. Create a new solution and add a new project - ASP.NET MVC 3 (4, 5) Web Application, select the "ASPX" option for the "View engine" setting.
   The steps below can be skipped in case of using the "Active Query Builder 2 ASP.NET Edition" NuGet package.

   Proceed to the final steps in case of using it.

    

2. Add the following assembly references to your project:
   • \assemblies\.NET 2.0\ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder2.dll
   • \assemblies\.NET 2.0\ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder2.Web.dll
   • \assemblies\.NET 2.0\ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder2.Web.Control.dll
   • \assemblies\.NET 2.0\ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder2.Web.Server.dll
   • \assemblies\third-party\Net40\Newtonsoft.Json.dll
   • \assemblies\third-party\log4net.dll
   You may also need to add the assemblies for specific metadata providers to retrieve metadata from a database, e.g.:
   • \assemblies\.NET 2.0\ActiveDatabaseSoftware.OLEDBMetadataProvider.dll
   Is it necessary to set the CopyLocal property of "ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder2.*" assemblies to True. This isn't done automatically in case of instructing to install the component to the Toolbox because assemblies are installed to GAC in this case.

    

3. Apply the necessary changes to the "web.config" file according to your web server version.
   • Add the following module to the "configuration/system.web/httpModules" section:

     <add name="HttpModule"
         type="ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder.Web.Server.HttpModule,
         ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder2.Web.Server"/>

     and the following assembly to the "configuration/system.web/compilation" section:

     <assemblies>
         <add assembly="System.Windows.Forms, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
         PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089" />
     </assemblies>

   • Add the following module to the "configuration/system.webServer/modules" section:

     <remove name="Session" />
     <add name="Session" type="System.Web.SessionState.SessionStateModule"
         preCondition="managedHandler" />
     <add name="HttpModule" preCondition="integratedMode"
         type="ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder.Web.Server.HttpModule,
         ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder2.Web.Server" />

     and the following assembly to the "configuration/system.web/compilation" section:

     <assemblies>
         <add assembly="System.Windows.Forms, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
         PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089" />
     </assemblies>

   Additionally, you can define the HttpCompressionEnabled and MultipleQueriesPerSession options in the 'web.config' file as follows:

   <appSettings>
       <add key="HttpCompressionEnabled" value="false" />
       <add key="MultipleQueriesPerSession" value="false" />
   </appSettings>

   Targeting the project for .NET Framework 4.5, you must set the HttpCompressionEnabled option to False (this is the default value). You can turn on HTTP compression by the means of IIS as described here.

    

4. Add the following route to the RegisterRoutes method in the RouteConfig file:

   routes.Add(ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder.Web.Mvc.Routing.GetRoute());

   If you want to change the default HTTP handler URL for this route ("/ActiveQueryBuilderHandler.axd"), you can specify it as a parameter for the GetRoute method.

    

5. Get the content from the "web_parts" directory ("css", "img" and "js" sub-folders) and put it in the directory of the web page or the parent control.

    

6. The necessary jQuery, jQueryUI and the needed usr_vX_X_XX.js scripts and the needed CSS files will be loaded automatically by default. But if you want to take control over this process, and load the necessary JavaScript libraries and styles by yourself, set the QueryBuilderControl.LoadJScript property to False and add the following code to the <HEAD> tag of your master page:

   <%: Scripts.Render("~/bundles/ActiveQueryBuilder") %>
   <%: Styles.Render("~/css/ActiveQueryBuilder") %>

   Add the following code to the RegisterBundles method of the BundleConfig class if your project already uses the jQuery and jQueryUI JavaScript libraries:

   bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/ActiveQueryBuilder").Include(
       "~/js/release/usr_vX_X_X.js"));
   bundles.Add(new StyleBundle("~/css/ActiveQueryBuilder").Include(
       "~/css/qb-theme.css"));

   Or the following code if your project does not use the jQuery library:

   bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/ActiveQueryBuilder").Include(
       "~/js/release/jquery.js",
       "~/js/release/jquery-ui.js",
       "~/js/release/usr_vX_X_X.js"));
   bundles.Add(new StyleBundle("~/css/ActiveQueryBuilder").Include(
       "~/css/qb-theme.css",
       "~/css/themes/jquery-ui.css"));

   Alternatively, you can use the "script" and "style" HTML tags to load the necessary files.

   Note: Replace "X_X_X" in the "usr_vX_X_X.js" file name with the actual version number, for example "usr_v2_9_0.js" for version 2.9.0.

   • Active Query Builder ASP.NET Edition requires jQuery 1.11 or higher, and jQueryUI 1.10.4 or higher, latest versions of the 2.x branch are recommended.
   • The default CSS theme allows for flex layout of controls, but limits support of web browsers (details). To get Active Query Builder compatible with legacy web browsers (IE 8-9), use the old CSS files contained the "web_parts\legacy_css" folder.

    

7. Add the following content to your \Views\SomeController\SomeAction.aspx file. Also you can find typical HTML code in the "web_parts\!MVC" folder.

   <%@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage" %>
   <%@ Import Namespace="System.Data.OleDb" %>
   <%@ Import Namespace="ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder" %>
   <%@ Register Assembly="ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder.Web.Control" Namespace="ActiveDatabaseSoftware.ActiveQueryBuilder.Web.Control" TagPrefix="AQB" %>
   
   <asp:Content ID="indexTitle" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server">
       Home Page - My ASP.NET MVC Application
   </asp:Content>
   
   <asp:Content ID="indexContent" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server">
   
       <AQB:QueryBuilderControl ID="QueryBuilderControl1" runat="server" OnInit="QueryBuilderControl1_Init"/>
       <div id="all">
           <div id="content-container">
               <div id="qb-ui">
                   <AQB:ObjectTreeView ID="ObjectTree1" runat="server" />
                   <div id="center">
                       <AQB:SubQueryNavigationBar ID="SubQueryNavigationBar1" runat="server" />
                       <div class="qb-ui-canvas-container block-flat">
                           <AQB:Canvas ID="Canvas1" runat="server" />
                           <AQB:StatusBar ID="StatusBar1" runat="server" />
                           <AQB:Grid ID="Grid1" runat="server" />
                       </div>
                   </div>
                   <div class="clear"></div>
               </div>
           </div>
           <AQB:SqlEditor ID="SQLEditor1" runat="server"></AQB:SqlEditor>
       </div>
   
   </asp:Content>

   
   The "settings.*" properties provided in the code above are initialized with their default values; they are listed here for reference, so you can remove them in your code unless you want to initialize them with some other value. The complete property reference is available here.

    

8. The initialization code must be placed in the Init method in inheritor of the  InitializeQueryBuilderAttribute filter applied to the controller method. There you should create Metadata and Syntax providers and link them to the QueryBuilder object via the MetadataProvider and SyntaxProvider properties. Define a proper database connection object as a source for the Metadata provider or load metadata from the XML file.
   The Init event handler can get access to two important object references: item.QueryBuilder and item.PlainTextSQLBuilder.

   public class InitializeQBAttribute: InitializeQueryBuilderAttribute
       {
           protected override void Init(ActionExecutingContext filterContext, SessionStoreItem item)
           {
               // Get instance of the QueryBuilder object
               var queryBuilder = item.QueryBuilder;
   
               // create an instance of the proper syntax provider for your database server.
               // - use the AutoSyntaxProvider if you want to detect your database server automatically
               //   (autodetection works in case of live database connection only);
               // - use one of the ANSI-compatible or Generic syntax provider only if you can't find 
               //   the right syntax provider for your database server.
   
               var syntaxProvider = new MSSQLSyntaxProvider();
               queryBuilder.SyntaxProvider = syntaxProvider;
   
               // Metadata source definition. Choose a) or b):
               // 
               // a) you can load metadata from live database connection
   
               var connection = new OleDbConnection { ConnectionString = "<your connection string here>" };
               queryBuilder.MetadataProvider = new OLEDBMetadataProvider { Connection = connection };
   
               // b) or you can load metadata from the pre-generated XML file
   
               // Deny metadata loading requests from the metadata provider
               queryBuilder.OfflineMode = true;
   
               var pathToXml = filterContext.HttpContext.Server.MapPath(@"~\Path\to\file.xml");
               queryBuilder.MetadataContainer.ImportFromXML(pathToXml);
   
               // end of b)
   
               // Initialization of the Metadata Structure object that's
               // responsible for representation of metadata in a tree-like form
               try
               {
                   // Clear and load the first level of the metadata structure tree
                   queryBuilder.MetadataStructure.Refresh();
               }
               catch (Exception ex)
               {
                   Logger.Error("Error loading metadata", ex);
               }
           }
       }
   
   public class HomeController: Controller
       {
           [InitializeQB]
           public ActionResult Index()
           {
               return View(); // this view will render the component
           }
       }

    

9. That's all! Now you can run your application.