Colin Neller

ASP.NET MVC Notes from MIX 08

Colin Neller — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:50:02 GMT

Presenter: Scott Hanselman

This is pre-release... keep that in mind
IT'S NOT WEBFORMS 4.0
Creating a new project

Must select .NET 3.5 from the multi-targeting combobox
You can generate test against any testing framework that supports it (including NUnit/MbUnit)
System.Web.Mvc/Routing/Abstractions
Routing not under MVC - can be used outside of MVC
Abstractions also not under MVC - can be used for other Web "stuff"

Convention over configuration

URI determines which controller gets called
URI parts make up parameters that are passed to the controller

IT'S NOT WEBFORMS 4.0

It's about alternatives. You choose. It's awesome.
"ALT.NET" (N*)
It's part of System.Web... it's not going anywhere.
Plays well with other N* stuff (Brail, etc. too)

Goals

Separate concerns: TDD, maintenance
Extensible
Enable clean URLs & HTML
Great integration w/ ASP.NET

Rude Q&A

LOB - no, keep truckin' on WebForms
Front controller
Widgets? Component story? "We're working on it..."
Yes, Ajax, no control toolkit (yes JS libraries)
Released when? When it's done...
Is it safe? What about security?

My battery is dying... over and out.

Intro to SQL Server Data Services (SSDS) - SQL Server in the Cloud

Colin Neller — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:39:20 GMT

These are my notes from Nigel Ellis' talk at MIX 08

MSFT Data Platform is evolving: Data is moving to the cloud

New Challenge: Connecting islands of data and connecting them

Data services vision

Data Services interface on top of a data store
SSDS vs. ADO.NET Data Services/Live Services
Sync-Framework ties all data islands together

Demo: Sync Framework

Sync between platforms: Access, Data Services, Local VCF
Sync app sitting in tray hosting sync framework; performs orchestration between data islands

Value of SSDS

Application Agility
Scalability
High-Availability: SLA

Nuts & Bolts

There is no schema - everything is a property-bag/hash table
Everything is done using XML payload through REST
There are "metadata properties" that describe the entity: ID, Kind, Version
"Flex" properties

Instance type can be changed on the fly (add/remove properties of an instance)
Support for simple types: decimal, string, bool, etc.
All properties are indexed (CN: Interesting... I wonder how they're efficiently doing this?)

Containers

Stores flexible entities
Widest domain of search

Authority

A collection of containers
Analogous to a namespace
Unit of billing & geo-location

SOAP & REST (SSL)
Operations

Authority provisioning (CRUD)

Container provisioning & querying
Entity storage, update, delete, & query
Query using simple LINQ-like syntax

REST API

Service: /v1 (CreateAuthority)
Authority: /v1 (FetchAuthority, QueryContainers, CreateContainer)
Container: /v1/{ContainerID} (FetchContainer, QueryEntities, UpdateContainer, DeleteContainer, CreateEntity)
Entity: /v1/{ContainerID}/{EntityID} (Fetch, Update, Delete Entity)

Used in a multi-tentant senario (LitwareHR)

"ACE" Concepts (Authority, Container, Entity)

Availability

Closed beta 3/5/2008
Open beta 7/2008

Service refresh every 8 weeks
Go live H1-2009

Asking the Right Questions

Colin Neller — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:07:24 GMT

It seems to me that when a bunch of geeks get together, it should be seen as an opportunity to learn. Too often, the procedure is for each person to jump into the "look what I did" game or to stand back and passively listen. I encourage you to not look at "nerd gatherings" as a time to assert your dominance over the crowd or a time to stand back and simply observe; instead, actively try to learn as much as you can. Ask questions; dig into how other people approach problems; find people that have achieved what you would like to achieve, and find out how they got there.

Obviously, "nerd gatherings" aren't the only place that this skill is desirable - but it's a good place to start.

Things Heard in the Office

Colin Neller — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:24:47 GMT

"Oh crap, my brain isn't working."
- Anonymous

Memphis .NET developer or SQL Server Guru

Colin Neller — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:21:33 GMT

Are you a .NET developer or SQL Server expert that is looking for a job in Memphis? If so, and you meet the requirements listed below, shoot me an email with your resume – we're hiring!

This profitable, Memphis-based company provides web-based software to customers throughout the US. The company is growing and working to provide the best products while utilizing the newest technologies.

The company is seeking a senior-level programmer to add to the current software development team. The ideal candidate will have a four-year college degree and at least 5 years of programming experience.

Excellent knowledge of ASP, ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server, Multi-tenant architectures, JavaScript, and HTML are required. The candidate should also possess a very good working knowledge of database tuning, ADO.NET, XML, AJAX, and n-tier architecture based on Microsoft patterns and practices. The applicant must have good analytical and troubleshooting abilities.

This is a great chance to work in a highly-available, scalable, enterprise-class environment featuring Windows Server 2003, SQL Server 2005, SQL clustering, database mirroring, geographic redundancy, and a n-tier architecture. In addition, this company is working closely with Microsoft as an early adopter of SQL 2008, Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5.

Case of the Missing Custom Dictionary – Add to Dictionary Grayed Out

Colin Neller — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:51:55 GMT

I was sending out some emails this morning, and while using spell check I noticed something strange: my "Add to Dictionary" button was grayed out!?!

First thought: this cannot be! I love that button!

Next thought: check what's going on with my custom dictionary. So I checked out the options panel under the office button (in Outlook 2007.)

Under "Proofing", there is a "Custom Dictionaries…" button:

Next step: check my custom dictionary path… uh, where is my custom dictionary – and its path?

Next step: use the "Add…" button to add the custom dictionary back to the list. Fortunately, it defaulted to the appropriate path:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof\CUSTOM.DIC

Problem: after adding the dictionary to the list and closing the "Custom Dictionaries" dialog, I checked the list by reopening the dialog – nada… it disappeared! Outlook wouldn't let me add the custom dictionary back to the list.

Solution: restart outlook. After the restart, everything works perfectly.

Weird.

devLink 2007

Colin Neller — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 23:26:46 GMT

High-Quality Training and Networking – Cheap!

This October in Nashville, TN, you can get the benefit of a $2,000 conference for only $50! If you think I'm exaggerating, check out the quality of the speakers listed on the devLink website. John Kellar has done a great job of putting on this conference for the second year. I was fortunate to be able to attend last year, and I expect to attend again this year. If you have a blog (or would like to start one) and plan to attend, but sure to blog about it to enter into the contest… but if you don't, I won't mind a bit – it gives me a better chance of winning the Xbox 360 for myself!

Hope to see you there!

Upcoming .NET Events

Colin Neller — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:00:02 GMT

If you're in the mood to learn some .NET this year, Jon Box just posted a list of upcoming .NET events – some local to this area and über cheap (read: free)! High quality and low cost is a good thing.

Give Back to the Community!

As indicated on Jon's list, we at the Memphis .NET User Group are planning to have a Day of .NET this November. We are still in the process of working out all the details, but we're beginning to round up speakers. If you might be willing to share some of your .NET-related experience, please consider speaking at this event. Keep in mind: your session does not have to take the form of a PowerPoint lecture. In many cases, it will be better if it's not – be creative:

Ask a co-worker or two to co-present with you
Use a "chalk talk" style of session (very conversational and usually involving a white board… "White board talk" just doesn't sound as good!)
Facilitate a discussion around a specific problem or technology – "birds of a feather" style

If you're thinking "What would I talk about? I don't have anything to say!", give me a holler; I'll help you think through it. Your topic could be as simple as thinking up a list of obstacles you've stumbled over in the last few months, and presenting your workarounds to each problem. Taking a different approach, you could get a list of "pain points" from the audience around a specific technology (e.g. ASP.NET & Ajax), and facilitate a discussion of workarounds. If you are interested at all, I would be happy to brainstorm with you both the topic and format of your session.

Even if presenting/facilitating is not your "thing", please consider attending the event. We're hoping to have a great turnout from the Memphis area and surrounding regions!

ASP.NET 3.5 where are you?

Colin Neller — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:09:03 GMT

It occurred to me that I heard little (read:none) about ASP.NET 3.5 at TechEd, so I thought I would search the web to see what's coming down the pipeline. My search engine brought back the answer: nothing. You'll find some about Silverlight, some about ASP.NET futures, even a unreleased book on ASP.NET 3.5, but no real information (that I found) on ASP.NET 3.5.

My thought: "Ah, a challenge! Since I have VS 2008 Beta 1 installed, I'll just compare System.Web v2.0 to v3.5 using Reflector." Should have worked, right? Well, it may well have... had I found System.Web.dll v3.5. I did successfully find a LOT of 3.5 assemblies, but the only one under System.Web.* was System.Web.Services...

My question to the blogosphere: has anyone seen any information on ASP.NET 3.5?

Technorati Tags: VS 2008, .NET 3.5, ASP.NET

Adventures into WPF: Startup

Colin Neller — Thu, 31 May 2007 04:32:48 GMT

Being a web-oriented developer, I have decided to start looking into WPF in order to prep for future Silverlight development. I plan to blog through my learning process. If you're interested, stay tuned to this channel for WPF through a newbie's perspective. Also, if there's specific aspects of WPF you'd like to see me look into, fee free to leave comments to that affect. Seeing as how there seems to be a drastic shortage of VB.NET WPF code on the net, I plan to do at least some of my exploration in VB.NET. This should also be interesting with VBx coming out "soon."

I'll start by opening a new VB WPF Application in Orcas Beta 1:

Here's the result:

VS creates two XAML and code-behind files. To see how the application behavior is configured, take a look at the project settings:

Observations:

"Startup object" has become "Startup URI." This can also be set in the "Application" node in Application.xaml:
"Shutdown mode" has three settings - similarly to WinForms 2.0. These settings can also be set in the "Application" node in Application.xaml:

Many settings in the page are stored in Application.xaml. Clicking "Edit XAML" (in VB) opens this file for manual editing.

A simple F5 runs our high-tech program:

More text time...

Technorati Tags: WPF, Orcas

Microsoft Acquires ProClarity

Colin Neller — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 04:59:03 GMT

I was making my way to MSDN to check out the very cool Expression Web (now available to all MSDN Premium subscribers), and noticed some interesting new downloads available:

A quick internet search turns up the following Microsoft Press Release:

Microsoft Agrees to Acquire ProClarity, Enhancing Business Intelligence Offering
Leader in advanced analytics adds to Microsoft’s comprehensive BI capabilities

Here's a quick teaser from the ProClarity website (interestingly enough running classic asp):

ProClarity, a Microsoft Subsidiary, puts your business intelligence to work - moving you quickly beyond a barrage of numbers into "why is this happening?" and "how can we improve it?" ProClarity is designed to expand the capabilities of Microsoft business intelligence, making information simpler to access, easier to use and clearer to understand.

Live Writer

Colin Neller — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 05:09:34 GMT

I thought I'd give live writer a go since I've got two blogs to maintain now: this personal blog and the new Memphis .NET User Group Blog where I'll post announcements for MNUG.

The Word 2007 blogging interface is very shiny, but I only have access to it at my work computer. So, in order to blog from my home workstation and my laptop, I needed to find a new blog editor.

So far I really like the simplicity of the Live Writer interface. Live Writer actually analyzes the style sheets from your blog and lets you use them to preview text as you type. Setting up multiple blogs is no problem, and you can easily choose between them with the dropdown in the upper left-hand corner. Spell check is built in and you can set it to always spell-check before publishing (yes please!) All this, and it works great on Vista too.

If you're looking for a good, cheap (free) blogging editor, give Live Writer a whirl. I think you'll like it!

Mostly unrelated: did I mention that I REALLY like WinSnap for screen shots?

Separate your behavior from your markup: A Simple CSS Javascript Menu

Colin Neller — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:52:54 GMT

I've been working on a quick prototype of a CSS javascript menu. Here's the preview (click for live demo):

Doesn't look like much, but images could easily be added to dress it up. The best part is the HTML – there's not much to it. I used the example from this CSS javascript menu as my base and dressed it up from there. Here's the key: keep your script out of the HTML. By using IDs and relative DOM paths, you can significantly cut down on the amount of javascript that usually finds its way into the HTML. Notice that the only references to script are the script links at the top of the page:

    1 <! DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    2 < html xmlns ="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
    3 < head >
    4      < title > Untitled Page </ title >
    5      < link type ="text/css" rel ="stylesheet" href ="navbar.css" />
    6      < script src ="prototype.js" type ="text/javascript"></ script >
    7      < script src ="scriptaculous.js?load=effects" type ="text/javascript"></ script >
    8      < script type ="text/javascript" src ="navbar.js"></ script >
    9 </ head >
   10 < body >

The rest of the HTML is as follows:

   12 < div id ="menu">
   13
   14      < div id ="submenuContainer"></ div >
   15
   16      < dl >
   17          < dt color ="#ffaaaa" selected >< a href ="#"> Menu 1 </ a ></ dt >
   18          < dd >
   19              < ul >
   20                  < li >< a href ="#"> Sub Menu 1.1 </ a ></ li >
   21                  < li >< a href ="#"> Sub Menu 1.2 </ a ></ li >
   22                  < li >< a href ="#"> Sub Menu 1.3 </ a ></ li >
   23              </ ul >
   24          </ dd >
   25      </ dl >
   26
...
   60
   61 </ div >
   62
   63 </ body >
   64 </ html >

In order to do this, I use the help of the prototype javascript library. Prototype allows navigating the DOM in a painless fashion:

   27 function initSubmenus() {
   28      $$( '#menu dd' ).each( function (dd) {
   29          var st = dd.style;
   30          st.display= 'none' ;
   31          st.top= '18px' ;
   32          st.left= '1px' ;
   33      });
   34 }
...
   73      var submenu = $( this ).next( 'dd' );

"Have I Piqued your Interest?" or "piqued != peeked || peaked"

Colin Neller — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 03:43:45 GMT

This is off-topic from my normal technical-ish (developer-related) ramblings, but I have recently read several blog posts that reminded me of this oft-forgotten rule: "your interest" was most likely not "peaked" or "peeked"... your interest was piqued

For this and other interesting common misuses of the English language (of which I'm sure I have one in this post! ) see "Common English Errors."

That is all – now back to your regularly-scheduled geek ramblings...

Developer Setup for .NET 3.0 and Vista

Colin Neller — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:17:58 GMT

Get Coding with Vista and .NET 3.0 (WCF, WPF, WF, and CardSpace)

Here's what you'll need:

Visual Studio 2005 (you're on your own here!)
Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 (XP/2003) or Visual Studio SP1 for Vista – Beta (Vista)
Visual Studio 2005 extensions for WCF & WPF, November 2006 CTP
Visual Studio 2005 extensions for WF, Final
Windows SDK for Vista and .NET 3.0 – Includes:
- XAML Pad (WPF) or use XAML Cruncher (WPF)
- SvcConfigEditor (WCF)
- SvcTraceViewer (WCF)
- SvcUtil (WCF)
- LOTS of other goodies
Virtual PC 2007 (Free) with XP installed for VS 2003 Development on Vista

WinSnap: Awesome, Vista-Compatible Screenshot Tool

Colin Neller — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:31:08 GMT

Screenshot Utility

This screenshot utility does it all:

Beautiful drop shadows
Auto save-to-disk
Image rotation
Multiple object selection
Vista support
Corner rounding
Drop shadow transparency
And more…

WinSnap is one of the first-to-install utilities on any new machines. It seems that no matter what I build the computer for, I end up needing or wanting to take screenshots.

What's more – it works seamlessly with Word 2007 for blogging: I can take great screenshots and then add slick affects to them in about 5 seconds. In this example screen shot, WinSnap did everything except the reflection.

It's also great for emailing screenshots to friends and co-workers. Since WinSnap saves images to the clipboard as PNGs (be default), image size is significantly reduced when pasting images into emails.

Just about my only complaint… when I tried to take a screenshot of WinSnap its self – it kept getting out of the way!

There's a free version available, though you shouldn't mind paying for the full version in all its glory. WinSnap is worth every cent.

High Memory Usage in Firefox

Colin Neller — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:04:24 GMT

When I came in to the office this Monday morning my computer was dragging pretty badly, so I did what any other Windows performance sleuth would do: I fired up Process Explorer. This is what jumped at me:

The memory usage is a "bit" on the high side…

Note to self:

Don't leave Firefox running over the weekend.

Help Find the Cure for Cancer

Colin Neller — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:30:32 GMT

From Stephen Forte's WebBlog:

Do you believe that software can change the world? How about the opportunity to work on an application that promises to help accelerate a cure for cancer?

If you or someone you know is passionate about helping to accelerate a cure for cancer, and is in a position to take on a new job, read more about one of the coolest software projects ever. Here's a summary of the requirements:

Well-rounded skills in software application development.
One who has been working primarily with C# for at least the past two years, with an additional minimum three years of Microsoft .NET framework application development experience (and preferable some 2.0 and 3.0 experience).
Familiarity with Object Oriented design methodology.
A successful candidate will have experience with Windows client application development (.NET WinForms, preferably WPF) and web services.
Desirable to have experience with SharePoint, preferable Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office Document XML, or other custom Office applications. You should also have experience working within a distributed development team.

A True VB Ternary Operator - Hopefully Coming To a Desktop Near You

Colin Neller — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 14:53:19 GMT

Coming from a C++/C# background, one of my main frustrations with VB has been its lack of a true ternary ("?:") operator. In Paul Vick's recent post, he discusses the possible inclusion of a ternary operator in the next version of VB (9.0 - Orcas). Finally the IIF operator will behave like we C#/C++ (or javascript for that matter) folks expect it to. I'm looking forward to it… now if we could only get rid of those pesky line-continuation characters!

Visual Studio Team System for Database Professionals - Trial

Colin Neller — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 16:42:58 GMT

Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals trial edition requires Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite be installed before you install Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals trial edition.

It makes it pretty tough to use a trial version if you have to buy it first. If I had Team Suite, I "probably" wouldn't be installing the trial…

VisualSVN 1.1 Released

Colin Neller — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:16:52 GMT

VisualSVN has been released, and I like what I see. With this version comes visual indicators that show you the status of each file. This, along with support for file/folder deletion, top of an already great feature set including file moving and renaming. This tool integrates seamlessly with the well-known TortoiseSVN, bringing the TSVN experience right into Visual Studio – and then some. This latest release finally brings VisualSVN to a place where I can now whole-heartedly recommend this to any Visual Studio/Subversion user. There is a free trial available, and the license cost is only $19. See the formal announcement on the VisualSVN blog.

Current feature list

Support for Visual Studio 2003/2005
Visual status indicators (high-contrast indicators also available)
File/folder deletion
File/folder renaming
Show log
Repository browser
Integration with Windows Explorer
File locking
Conflict resolution
Blame
Update
Commit
Diff ("Show Changes")
Revert
Patches
Branch
Switch
Merge
Update to Revision
Checkout
Cleanup

dasBlogging with Word 2007

Colin Neller — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:06:01 GMT

How to Blog with Word 2007 and dasBlog

Start by creating a new document using the "New Blog Post" template (New > Installed Templates > New Blog Post)

Initial Configuration

Select "Manage Accounts" from the "Blog Post" tab
Create a new account
1. Settings for dasBlog:
  1. API: MetaWebLog
  2. Blog Post URL: http://<blog_root_url>/blogger.aspx
  3. User/Password: Your blog login and password
2. Picture Options
  1. Note that I included my FTP username/password in the "Upload URL" path
  2. The "Source URL" will be http://<blog_root_url>/content/binary/

Start Blogging

Give your post a title
Write your content
Add style to your content (note that these styles correspond directly to HTML elements)
Stylize your screen shots
Assign categories
Publish your content
View the results

UPDATE: When blogging about dasblog, make sure that either your image names don't contain "dasBlog" or that you change the content filter for "dasBlog" to be "\bdasBlog\b" (or something similar) so that your images don't end up like: <img src="content/binary/<a>dasBlog<a/>_image_123.png" />

Sending Email in Office 2007

Colin Neller — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:41:24 GMT

Is it just me or should the "send" button be where the "paste" button is? I almost click "paste" every time I'm about to send an email. Anyone else have this problem?

As a side-note… Word 2007 is awesome for blogging. It just works.

SQL Express – More than you realize

Colin Neller — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:35:59 GMT

SQL Express

Many people don't realize the full potential of SQL Express. Yes, there are several limitations including the following:

1 CPU
1 GB RAM
Limited 64-bit support
4 GB max DB size
No support for the following:
- Web Services (HTTP Endpoints)
- Integration Services
- Notification Services
- Jobs (though service broker can be used for job-like behavior… thanks Jerry)

BUT, I would say the list of supported items is much more impressive for a free, "lightweight" DB engine:

Stored Procedures, Triggers, and Views
T-SQL Enhancements (exception handing, recursive queries, and support for new data types, etc.)
SQL CLR
User-defined Types
Native XML
XQuery
Service Broker
Merge Replication (Subscriber only)
Transactional Replication (Subscriber only)
Report Server
Native Support for Web Services (For reporting services)

To see a complete comparison of the various SQL versions, take a look at Microsoft's SQL Server 2005 Features Comparison.

This is my first post from Word 2007… We'll see how it goes.