Problem: We would like to create an application page that doesn't require login and any user can open that.

1. Make sure the website that calls the application page is available for anonymous access.
If the URL to the application page is http://server01/_layouts/testpage.aspx, then http://server01/ has to be accessible by anonymous user.

2. When you create an application page in Visual Studio 2010, by default when you open the page in view code, you see the class below:

public partial class testpage : LayoutsPageBase
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    }
}

LayoutsPageBase by default fires the login prompt. So just replace it with equivalent class that can be called in an unsecure context. That class is UnsecuredLayoutsPageBase.

So your code should look like this.

public partial class testpage : UnsecuredLayoutsPageBase
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    }
}

3. UnsecuredLayoutsPageBase has a read-only property called AllowAnonymousAccess. This property returns false by default which leaves you with an extra step to override it and make it return true. So your final code will look like this:

public partial class testpage : UnsecuredLayoutsPageBase
{
    protected override bool AllowAnonymousAccess
    {
        get
        {
            return true;
        }
    }
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    }
}

Deploy the page and enjoy opening the page without login prompt.

OK, I have done this but it still prompts me for the login info! Well the only other thing that I can think about now is go to the site settings and make sure the master page as a published and approved version.

Note: All the credit of this post goes to Dr. Zewei Song and Kevin Chen. I have just packaged and formatted their work.  

Cheers
Alireza

You try to delete a content type in SharePoint 2010 and this is what you see:

Lets review the possible reasons. This error happens when there is a dependency or another object in SharePoint that uses the content type:

1. A list/library that is already using the content type.
2. Items in the list/library that use the content type.

OK, we dropped the items that use that content type and we removed the content type from the list/library but still we see the same darn screen when trying to get rid of the content type!
What else can possibly use this content type?
The answer is simple: the same items or libraries that you deleted are still using that content type in RECYCLE BIN. Clean up both recycle bins (user and administrator) and then happily wipe off the ugly content type.

Cheers
Alireza

It is interesting that the article "Crystal Reports in ASP .NET Web Applications" is the most viewed page on my website. Although it is not the latest version of Crystal Reports and Visual Studio, the code is still valid with Visual Studio 2008. Now with YouTube and all new video technologies I am thinking of making a video about using Crystal Reports in ASP .NET 3.5 and new components available in the new product.
It is coming soon, Stay tuned.
Cheers
Alireza
 

Assuming that you are using the default master page, the size of the quick launch menu is fixed 150X400 pixels. If the content is anything more than this size it automatically adds scroll bars. To change size of this area open the default.master in SharePoint designer. Go to the code view and find SharePoint:SPRememberScroll tag. The style attribute has the size of the quick launch area.

Here is the default value

Style="overflow: auto;height: 400px;width: 150px; "

Simply change it to anything you like:

Style="overflow: auto;height: 400px;width: 250px; "

Cheers
Alireza