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Formatting columns in a GridView is relatively straightforward, once you know the appropriate format string.

Here are the steps if you are using Expression Web, Visual Studio, or Visual Web Developer:

1. Open the Task Pane of your GridView and select Edit Columns
2. In the Selected Fields Box, select the column you want to edit
3. Find the HTMLEncode property and set it to false.
4. Find the DataFormatString property and set it to the appropriate formatstring. The standard format of a format string is {0:format string}

Some examples of format strings are:

{0:c} to format as currency
{0:M-dd-yyyy} to format as a date

For more formatting strings, go to Formatting Types.

Every term I have to create between 100 and 200 web sites for students in my classes. Here are the steps I use to create those site in IIS 6. The student's active directory accounts are already set up by our system administrator. I use FrontPage Server Extensions to allow students to transfer files to the server. Sections in italics below need to be replaced with your settings.

1. Create Directories:

md studentdirectory

2. Assign the student user account relevant permissions:

xcacls studentdirectory /T /E /G studentusername:F

3. Create a virtual directory in IIS for each student:

iisvdir /create "IISsitename" studentvirtualdirectoryname studentdirectory

4. Create a subweb for each student:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\50\bin\owsadm" -o install -p 1100 -w studentvirtualdirectoryname -u usernameWithSufficientPermissionsOnServer

5. Give the new subweb unique permissions:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\50\bin\owsadm" -o setperms -p 1100 -w studentsubwebname -i false -u usernameWithSufficientPermissionsOnServer

6. Give the student the author role on the subweb:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\50\bin\owsadm" -o roleusers -command add -u studentusername -p 1100 -w studentsubwebname -name Author

There is a useful add-on for Internet Explorer 7 that lets you mimic Firefox's search behavior. Read more about it and download it from this address:

http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/details.aspx?view=info&itemid=3012162#productSpecs