FreeTextBox 4.0 Beta 1 Release

29 thoughts on “FreeTextBox 4.0 Beta 1 Release

  1. Well done on the new version of FTB. I’m delighted to see the Safari support. We unfortunately had to move to another provider recently for Safari support but were never happy with them, preferring FTB so it’s great to be able to start using your software again.
    I have a question though. In V3 you could use javascript commands such as InsertHtml, (ie FTB_API[textboxname].InsertHtml)but I couldn’t see how to do this in the new version… …any ideas?
    Thanks!

  2. Chris, glad you’re back!
    You can just use:
    textboxname.insertHtml();
    For .NET, you can write
    <%= MyTextBox1.ClientID %>.insertHtml();
    There is no need for the FTB_API object now. Also all of the JavaScript methods are camelCase starting with lowercase, to be in better accord with JavaScript standards.

  3. That all worked great – thanks!
    One other question though – how do I set the cursor position to the end of the text in the textbox? My app has a reply with quote option, which currently means the user has to manually scroll to the end of the text – is there a simple command to do this?
    Thanks!

  4. Hi John, I saw on your Command List that both FontForeColorPicker and FontBackColorPicker are listed under Professional Version. These 2 are very commonly used features, could you consider putting them into the core please? Thanks, -Ray.

  5. I found a bug in latest build of FTB with Tabs in ASP.NET Ajax controls.
    Repro steps:
    1. Create a new ASP.NET AJAX application
    2. add two tabs
    3. Add FTB to one of the tabs
    4. Add a test button
    5. Enter some text in FTB
    6. Click on button
    Bug: Observer FreetextBox’s Text property — it is Empty.
    If I keep FTB out of tab control, it just works fine.

  6. I found two more issues:
    Issue 1:
    GetHtml() function used to return empty string if there is no text in FTB.
    Now it returns all the standard HTML headers.
    so there is no way to reliably detect if FreeTextBox is empty or not using javascript.
    Issue 2:
    Call the function below and if length is less than or equals 350 we get into this bug
    nodeType is null or not an object.
    Event.Methods = {
    element: function(event) {
    var node = event.target;
    return Element.extend(node.nodeType == Node.TEXT_NODE ? node.parentNode : node);
    },
    Java Script code:
    ———————————————————————————-
    function UploadClick()
    {
    var status = "";
    status = Tabs_submitTabPanel_FreeTextBox1.getHtml();
    alert(status.length);
    if( status.length <= 350)
    {
    alert("Please enter atleast one sentense , then try saving draft");
    $get("Tabs_submitTabPanel_uploadDraftButton").disabled = false;
    return;
    }
    prm = Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance();
    prm.add_beginRequest(OnBeginRequest);
    prm.add_endRequest(OnEndRequest);
    prm._doPostBack(‘Tabs_submitTabPanel_uploadDraftButton’,status);
    }

  7. In the above two issues that I reported, I got around the first one by setting IsFullDocument=false. So there is HTML to start with.
    New Bug:
    1. Set IsFullDocument=false
    2. Enter few words in FTB
    3. Delete all the words
    4. Switch to HTML view ( Assuming you have IsStatusVisible=true )
    Result:
    You can still see left over HTML tags.
    So If anybody wants to make sure there is some text before user can click on
    Submit or something like that by calling getHtml() function, it works for first time. But if user enter some text and deletes all, it doesn’t work.

  8. <%= MyTextBox1.ClientID %>.insertHtml();
    Does NOT work in .net!
    The compailer say that the FreeTextBox Object doesn’t have such a method (insertHtml)

  9. Hi John
    Spent ages trying to get the NetSpell control to work (found the full listing in en-US.xml) – only just stumbled upon commands.html and that seems to be omitted! Will it be included in future releases?
    What major differences would you say there are between FreeTextBox and the RichTextEditor by Kannans?

  10. @Dave, I’m looking into NetSpell and other spell check libraries once I get the core nailed down.
    Regarding Kannan editor, there are probably a few major differences: the look and feel is quite different, the number of buttons and toolbars, the ability to have multiple editors share a single floating toolbar, and XHTML output.

  11. Thanks for the heads up! I’ve just downloaded 3.1.6 – re-written spellcheck.aspx to vb and tested it – works fine without being wrapped in an Ajax updatePanel, then all sorts of odd things happen like hit another unrelated button and it runs through the FTB script until it gets to set the stored URLs and throws a "Access Denied" error at
    var links = this.designEditor.document.getElementsByTagName(‘a’);
    (this is under FTB_FreeTextBox.prototype.CopyDesignToHtml = function())
    I shall soon be working on version 2.0 of our app (a re-write of 60k + lines of code) and a good Rich Text Editor with spell check that runs under Ajax would be a boom….
    Oh – a method of not hard coding the urls would be great in the release of 4.0 – when users are running under SSL they get disturbed with the some elements are not secure warning box….

  12. @Gil
    I also cannot get <%= MyTextBox1.ClientID %>.insertHtml(); to work.
    And I don’t know how to reference the javascript API.
    John, does this only work when you use the textbox upgrade or also when you use the FTB control reference?
    Many thanks in advance.
    Wouter

  13. Hi John,
    I get a similar error as Kris, I quess.
    nodeType is null or not an object.
    Event.Methods = {
    element: function(event) {
    var node = event.target;
    return Element.extend(node.nodeType == Node.TEXT_NODE ? node.parentNode : node);
    },
    I also use freetextbox in a tab structure, although not the MS AJAX tab control.
    It has something to do with the prototype.js code.
    I saw in the debugger that event.target is referenced, while I am using IE. This explains the null reference.
    When I change this code to reference window.srcElement I get a "stack overflow at line:0" exception.
    Wouter

  14. MS AJAX TabContainer problem.
    Putting FTB inside TabContainer cannot get text value on button submit.
    THis is really urgent issue that need to be fixed.
    please address this first.

  15. I saw one other person who has the same issue.
    His name is kris. Kris, have u found any solution?
    I found a bug in latest build of FTB with Tabs in ASP.NET Ajax controls.
    Repro steps:
    1. Create a new ASP.NET AJAX application
    2. add two tabs
    3. Add FTB to one of the tabs
    4. Add a test button
    5. Enter some text in FTB
    6. Click on button
    Bug: Observer FreetextBox’s Text property — it is Empty.
    If I keep FTB out of tab control, it just works fine.
    kris

  16. Hi,
    I am trying to insert value from the combo box into my FTB control but I also want to insert it at the cursor position. I have tried all examples available on the net but nothing seems to work for me.
    Could you please help me with this.

  17. Hello,
    I am also trying to insert values from dropdown lists into FTB control at the cursor position in my ASP .NET application. Is there a javascript I could use for that, or any property of the FTP control I could use on the server-side to determine cursor position?
    Thanks in advance.

  18. I have spent the better part of two days playing with various WYSIWYG controls. I really like yours the best, it’s more responsive, more intuitive and user friendly than the other many controls out there. I want to purchase this control. I have the credit card ready to do it. However, I’m shying away due to the lack of support. What you have done with this control, by you, is truly amazing! You are very good at what you do, obviously.
    However, here is the question, which I swear, I cannot get answered, nor can I find the answer anywhere. I’m sure it’s some stupid simple one line that I’m missing somewhere, I don’t know:
    Here is my problem:
    https://www.mybizview.com/images/FTBUploadImageProblem.jpg
    When I click on the icon, ‘Insert Image’, I’d expect it’d bring me to a dialog box that allows me to upload an image. It does not. What am I doing wrong?

  19. @Wade, When you configure FreeTextBox, you can set what buttons you want to appear on the toolbar(s). InsertImage is for images that already exist. InsertImageFromGallery is an gallery and upload tool. You should try using that.

  20. Hi John,
    Will you continue this brilliant project?
    The .net 4.0b samples published in the site are all broken….

  21. I have bought a Pro license, however, I noticed ftb-pro.js does not come in the beta 4 download package, but is included in a few of the examples.
    I figured that since I have the original (v3) to simply copy the fole over, however have been getting nothing but errors.
    Please either forward me the correct ftb-pro.js file that goes in /refresh_web/ or tell me what I can do to fix it

  22. I am currently used freetextbox component V 3.1.4.36145 for asp.net 2.0.
    I have alreat add key in web.config file :
    <FTB:FreeTextBox id="FreeTextBox1" SupportFolder="FtbWebResource.axd" runat="Server" />
    Why this feature is not running ?
    The conponent is almost useless without this important feature …
    Please reply to me what are change in FreeTextBox ?????????????????????????????????????????????????
    Thanks
    Alok Kumar Sharma

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