Ramblings Of A Crazy DotNet Woman

A Nice 5 Column Bootstrap Layout If You Need It

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Jun 2017 05:17:00 +0000

I am adding this here because someone else might find this useful.
I needed a 5 column layout for Bootstrap.
Here it is what I am using. Feel free to use it if you need it.

The CSS -



    <style>

        @@media (min-width: 992px) {

            .col-md-1-5 {

                width: 20%;

            }

            .col-md-2-5 {

                width: 40%;

            }

            .col-md-3-5 {

                width: 60%;

            }

            .col-md-4-5 {

                width: 80%;

            }

            .col-md-5-5 {

                width: 100%;

            }

        }

        @@media (min-width: 1200px) {

            .col-lg-1-5 {

                width: 20%;

            }

            .col-lg-2-5 {

                width: 40%;

            }

            .col-lg-3-5 {

                width: 60%;

            }

            .col-lg-4-5 {

                width: 80%;

            }

            .col-lg-5-5 {

                width: 100%;

            }

        }

        /* This part is only needed so you can see how the various grid possibilities - this is not needed  */

        .show-grid [class^=col-] span,

        .container-fluid .show-grid [class^=col-] {

            display: block;

            padding-top: 10px;

            padding-bottom: 10px;

            background-color: #eee;

            background-color: rgba(86,61,124,.15);

            text-align: center;

            border: 1px solid #ddd;

            border: 1px solid rgba(86,61,124,.2);

        }

        [class^=col-] {

            margin-bottom: 30px;

        }

    </style>

The HTML -






<div class="container">

    <div class="page-header">

        <h1>Bootstrap Grid (5 columns)</h1>

    </div>

    <h2>Boxed grid</h2>

    <div class="row show-grid">

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-2-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-2-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-2-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-2-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-3-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-3-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-2-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-2-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-3-5 col-lg-2-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-3-5 lg-2-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-3-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-3-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-4-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-5-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-5-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-3-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-3-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-2-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-2-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-4-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

    </div>

    <h2>Full-width grid</h2>

</div>

<div class="container-fluid">

    <div class="row show-grid">

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-2-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-2-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-2-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-2-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-3-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-3-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-2-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-2-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-3-5 col-lg-2-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-3-5 lg-2-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-1-5 col-lg-3-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-1-5 lg-3-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-4-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-5-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-5-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-3-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-3-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-2-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-2-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

        <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4-5 col-lg-1-5">

            <span>sm-6 md-4-5 lg-1-5</span>

        </div>

    </div>

</div>

Please make note of the @@ I am using in the style section. I am only doing that because I am adding the code here in the <style> tag. You don't need this if you are using the CSS in an external stylesheet.

To use this, create your page in whatever language/framework you use.
Copy and paste the CSS listed above between the <head> and </head> section in your code or in an external stylesheet.
Copy and paste the html section between the <body> and </body> section in your code.
Run your code and you should now see a page with examples of the 5 column layout.

Enjoy!

PLEASE NOTE - This Bootstrap layout requires Bootstrap :-)! This layout is Bootstrap 3.0 friendly.

Smooches,
Kila Morton

How To Solve "Missing Name After . Operator" When Using YUI Compressor.Net And EcmaScript.Net

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 21:29:00 +0000

I have been working with a few projects I created that utilize YUI Compressor.Net. I am using this library instead of the native Asp.Net bundling and minification elements because I have found that the .Net libraries mangle css and js in certain cases. I decided to use YUI Compressor.Net after doing some testing with it and discovering that it took care of several of the issues I was having.

The only issue with this .Net port of the very popular YUI Compressor project is that the project itself is old. It worked right out of the box, but it is old. When you look at the project information on Nuget, the project was last updated by the original developer in September of 2014 (the "current" version is 2.7.0). The great thing is, as is the case with a lot of projects created out of need, this project has recent contributions from people who use it currently and update it for their needs and, altruistically, share their changes with the rest of us.

You can take a look at the project on Nuget here -

https://www.nuget.org/packages/YUICompressor.NET/

You can take a look at the project code on Github here -

https://github.com/YUICompressor-NET/YUICompressor.NET

You can take a look at the EcmaScript project, which is also a port over to .Net, here -

https://github.com/PureKrome/EcmaScript.NET

HOW DID I GET THE ERROR

I was using this project when I decided to change the version of JQuery from 1.x to JQuery 2.2.4. After doing this and rebuilding, I started to get an error when the system tried to create my bundles. The error can be seen below.

WHAT WAS THE ERROR

missing name after . operator
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: EcmaScript.NET.EcmaScriptRuntimeException: missing name after . operator

The image above has been altered to just show the error and part of the stack trace.

HOW TO SOLVE THE ISSUE

Since there is almost nothing new under the sun and this project is old, I figured that someone else might have had this issue. A quick search uncovered the EcmaScript.Net GitHub project and an issue filed by a developer who had the exact same problem. It turns out that this error is happening because of how the EcmaScript project is handling reserved keywords in scripts. This issue became a problem when I switched to a newer version of JQuery that used some keywords EcmaScript didn't like. You can read about the error by clicking here.

The truth is that the developer who found this issue already created a fix for it and did a commit in GitHub of the fix. However, after pulling down the code, you will find that the original developer has not merged the changes into the codebase. Here is what you need to do to solve this error and get on with your bundling/minifying life.

Download the EcmaScript.Net project from Github here - https://github.com/PureKrome/EcmaScript.NET
Open the project in Visual Studio and find the following two files - EcmaScript.NET/Parser.cs and EcmaScript.NET/TokenStream.cs.
Copy the code from the GitHub commit for TokenStream.cs into the TokenStream.cs file located in your local EcmaScript.Net project. Please note that I have made the letters TokenStream.cs into an actual link to the exact file. Just click on that and it will open in another window and then you can copy the code out of that file and paste it into your local project.
Copy the code from the GitHub commit for Parser.cs into the Parser.cs file located in your local EcmaScript.Net project. Please note that I have made the letters Parser.cs into an actual link to the exact file. Just click on that and it will open in another window and then you can copy the code out of that file and paste it into your local project.
After you have changed those two files, you are going to save and build your EcmaScript.Net project locally using a release build (or a debug build if that is your preference).
Look at the Output window after the build to see where the dll for the EcmaScript.Net project is located.
Copy the location of the dll from the Output window to your clipboard. It will be the location listed at the bottom of the Output window ending in EcmaScript.dll.
Go to the Visual Studio project you are using with YuiCompressor.Net. Open the References folder and find & delete the EcmaScript.Net.dll.
Right click on the Reference folder and select Add Reference. Click Browse and the paste the location you copied in step 7 into the textbox and then click Add and then OK. This will add the dll to your current project. You can go back to the references list and look to see that the dll is now listed there again.
Now clean and rebuild your project.
Run your project in Release mode so the bundler will work and VOILA - see the bundled magic in all of its glory!

You should now be able to get your bundles correctly without any other issues.

Just in case you don't feel like doing all of that, I have included the EcmaScript.Net dll I created for my project in this blog post. Feel free to take it and replace the broken one you have in your project.

Get the EcmaScript.Net dll I created by clicking on this sentence! That link will allow you to download the dll from my Google Drive account. Have fun!

Smooches!
Kila Morton

How To Change The Names Of The Aspnetuser Tables And How To Stop The Asp.Net Identity Service From Continuing To Create The AspNetUsers Table After Changing The TableNames

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 14:28:00 +0000

I came across something while using the latest version of Asp.Net Identity that will likely save someone out there some time. It was a simple thing, but might not be readily apparent.

By default, when you use the AspNet Identity service, it creates the following set of tables:

dbo.AspNetRoles
dbo.AspNetUserClaims
dbo.AspNetUserLogins
dbo.AspNetUserRoles
dbo.AspNetUsers

The default schema is dbo and the table names are the default names created by the AspNet Identity service.

To change the default schema, you can do one of a couple of things.

You can add the schema to the OnModelCreating method like so:

protected override void OnModelCreating(System.Data.Entity.DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
   {
      base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);

      //your default schema would be a string of your choosing
     modelBuilder.HasDefaultSchema("YourDefaultSchemaHere");
   }

or you can change the schema as you rename the table in the OnModelCreating method

modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityUser>().ToTable("Users", "YourDefaultSchemaHere");

Either of these methods change your tables to:

YourDefaultSchemaHere.AspNetRoles

YourDefaultSchemaHere.AspNetUserClaims

YourDefaultSchemaHere.AspNetUserLogins

YourDefaultSchemaHere.AspNetUserRoles

YourDefaultSchemaHere.AspNetUsers

If you want to change the default AspNet Identity table names, you can do it in the following way:

protected override void OnModelCreating(System.Data.Entity.DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{   base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);

   //this is the default schema that will be used in the system.
   //I have the schema value stored in the app settings area of my web.config

   modelBuilder.HasDefaultSchema(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings
   ["DefaultDatabaseSchema"]);

   //the renamed tables

   modelBuilder.Entity<ApplicationUser>().ToTable("Users");

   modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityRole>().ToTable("Roles");

   modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityUserRole>().ToTable("UserRoles");

   modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityUserClaim>().ToTable("UserClaims");

   modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityUserLogin>().ToTable("UserLogins");
}

Using either your new schema name or dbo, you add a field to ApplicationUser like this:

public class ApplicationUser : IdentityUser
{
   [Required]
   public string WebsiteUrl { get; set; }

      //...other stuff here
}

That field, in this case WebsiteUrl, will be added to the AspNetUsers table.
That is what you would expect to happen.
Now, here is where things might get strange for you.
There is a situation where you can rename the default table and add that field, but the field will NOT be added to the new table name! It will STILL be added to the database, but in the AspNetUsers table! That is NOT what you would expect right? Well here is a little bit of news for you, there is a simple fix for this if this behavior is not what you want.

If this is happening to you, it is likely happening because you are identifying the IdentityUser table INSTEAD of the ApplicationUser table when you rename your tables.

protected override void OnModelCreating(System.Data.Entity.DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
   base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);

   //this is the default schema that will be used in the system to separate the

   modelBuilder.HasDefaultSchema(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings
   ["DefaultSchemaToBeUsedToPrefaceCreatedDatabaseTables"]);

   //the renamed tables

   modelBuilder.Entity<ApplicationUser>().ToTable("Users");

   modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityRole>().ToTable("Roles");

   modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityUserRole>().ToTable("UserRoles");

   modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityUserClaim>().ToTable("UserClaims");

   modelBuilder.Entity<IdentityUserLogin>().ToTable("UserLogins");
}

Notice the highlighted field. If you have IdentityUser in that field instead of ApplicationUser, the IdentityUser table and its associated fields will be renamed to Users, however, IdentityUser doesn't know anything about the extra field or fields you might have added in ApplicationUser. ApplicationUser incorporates the IdentityUser fields AND your added field. In my example above, that field is the WebsiteUrl. So, if your system is creating the database tables and STILL creating the AspNetUsers table AFTER you have renamed the table names, check the entity name you are using for the Users table. Remember that it should be ApplicationUser - NOT IdentityUser.

Smooches!
Kila

How To Solve Website Errors: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable While Using WordPress With A Windows Shared Hosting Accounts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 20:14:00 +0000

OK. This is an error that will likely have you pulling your hair out (if you have hair :-)). Here is the scenario.

I have several website hosting accounts. One of those accounts is a Windows account that allows me to host multiple website (Deluxe Shared Hosting). I have MANY domains hosted on this account and the websites are a mixture of Asp.Net MVC, Asp.Net Webforms (yes...webforms still work :-)) and WordPress sites. I noticed an odd thing happening with the WordPress sites. From time to time, as I was working in the WordPress admin area, the sites would produce a 503 Service Unavailable error. Sometimes I would be editing a menu and click the Update button and would get the error. Sometimes I would make a change and try to visit the site and get the error. Sometimes I would make a theme edit and save and get the error. It happened at very random moments when some action was initiated on the server.

Initially, I thought it was the version of PHP being used for the shared hosting account, so I upgraded to version 5.4 (I was using 5.2). Nope! That did NOT solve the problem at all. OK. What next? I upgraded WordPress for one of the accounts and started hammering it. No resolution! I kept getting the intermittent 503 errors. OK. So now what? Next I started hammering my Asp.Net MVC websites to try to produce the error. Nope! Couldn't reproduce the 503 error on ANY of those sites. I did the same for the Webforms sites and could not reproduce the 503 error there either. So I realized the first fact about this error -

FACT #1 - The 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable error was ONLY happening on my Windows hosted accounts that had WordPress installed in their folders.

Interesting....

After realizing fact #1, I started to pay very close attention to what was happening when the error happened. I realized something. The error seemed to happen when some function had to be performed - ie. when something had to be saved. It didn't seem to happen on navigation only actions like going from page to page. However, I did notice that if the error happened when I was trying to perform an action in the admin panel, then I would also get the error on the website if I tried to bring that up at that moment. It was like the server was hanging on any server function other than serving pages and would get "stuck" for a few moments. It felt like the request for processing was happening too fast for the server to handle it so it would produce an error. Basically, the request for a function was coming in and being routed, but the underlying process could not move quickly enough to process it.

Since Google is my friend, I started researching the issue. I saw that many people had the 503 error on shared hosting accounts, but no one had a real solution - including the hosting companies! Now I'm no server expert, but this isn't rocket science either. How hard can it be for some of these hosting companies to examine their logs and come up with a solution? Based on what I read, it must be VERY hard for them to do that! Anywho.....I decided to keep researching.

I came across this from Microsoft -

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2619402

That article gave me some great information. Since the Windows Deluxe shared hosting account allowed me to interact with IIS in a very limited way, I decided to see if I could tweak some settings in their to prevent, help, solve or stop the 503 errors from continuing to happen. By the way, my hosting account is using IIS 7.0. The IIS area provided by the website was very limited. However, it did allow me to switch from Integrated to Classic Pipeline mode. In integrated mode, all requests are handled in a unified pipeline. However, in classic mode, there are two pipelines. One is for native code applications and one is for managed code applications. You can look up the differences between native code and managed code, but essentially managed code needs a runtime to handle its execution. Native code executes on a particular processor and it takes it's instructions on how to run from the OS it is running on.

So, here is what I did. The IIS 7.0 pipeline was set to Integrated mode. I changed this to Classic. Then I recycled the App Pool. The combination of these two things stopped the 503 errors from happening. This should help you get your websites running if you are on a Windows shared hosting account with limited access to IIS. Do not forget to recycle the app pool.

I will keep you updated on how this "fix" holds. I have tested it quite a bit and haven't received a 503 error again....YET :-)!

If you are experiencing this issue on your shared Windows hosting account with WordPress, try this and let me know how it works for you.

Smooches,

Kila Morton

How To Solve A Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_OLDER_SDK] When Using Android Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 19:02:00 +0000

There are some times when even though you KNOW what to do, you forget some small detail that causes you to waste time. When building Android projects, you know to add the minimum supported version to your manifest file. Well when using Android Studio to create Android projects, Gradle ignores your manifest file. This can make for a little bit of head-scratching as you are trying to figure out why your newly created project isn't running as you expected.

If you get the following error:

Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_OLDER_SDK]

Look build.gradle file for your app and change the following :

defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example.test.myapplication1"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 21
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
    }

Notice the highlight. You are going to change minSdkVersion to a version that matches your target test device. Issue solved!

Smooches!
Kila

How To Solve The Gradle DSL method not found: 'runProguard()' Error In Android Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 03:28:00 +0000

After upgrading Android Studio, I ran into the following error -

Gradle DSL method not found: 'runProguard()'

This issue prevented the project from building. The solution was simple.
Do a search and replace.

Press Ctrl-F or Edit/Find and enter the letters runProguard into the search area.
Once you have found runProguard, you will see that it is listed in this procedure:

buildTypes {
release {
runProguard false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}
}

Change the area I have highlighted to the following:

buildTypes {
release {
minifyEnabled false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}
}

That is it! That will solve the issue for you.
Wasn't that simple?
Here is a link to more information about why this is necessary.

http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/migrating-to-1-0-0
Enjoy!

Smooches!
Kila

Telerik's Just Decompile Offline Installer - Install JustDecompile Using Offline Installers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 16:17:00 +0000

When .Net Reflector stopped being free, I think little birdies fell out of their nests all across the world. It was a great, free resource that was extremely useful at breaking apart a dll and allowing you to examine the guts. Although it was great, I was unwilling to shell out money for a paid version. I came across Telerik's JustDecompile, which, in my humble opinion, was better and free. That was many moons ago.

Fast forward to now and I have been using JustDecompile for years. However, I recently needed to install it on a "secure" system and found that the system's antivirus software was blocking the download. After dutiful searching to find an offline installer without the bootstrap stuff in Telerik's official JustDecompile download, I came across these links-

http://www.telerik.com/downloads/productfiles/bgctm/JustDecompile_2014.1.117.0.msi

http://www.telerik.com/account/your-products/product-versions.aspx?pmvid=3656&pid=845

These links will allow you to download JustDecompile if you are behind a firewall, unable to download exe files (the top link) or are in a situation where your antivirus software is screaming bloody murder. If it doesn't work for you, let me know. As a matter of fact, if it DOES work for you, let me know. I just like to know things.....Smooches!

Please note - you WILL need to create a free Telerik account, but why shouldn't you? It is free after all! JustEnjoy (play on words intended)!

Kila Morton

SOLVING - Could not load file or assembly or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 18:11:00 +0000

This is quite possibly one of the most frustrating errors you can get after upgrading a Nuget package in an Asp.Net MVC project. If this is the first time you are getting it, you are likely wondering what is and where is the assembly's manifest. Well fear not mighty soldier developers because I have the information that will help you get running in no time. First an explanation.

When you update an existing Nuget package, that update often has side effects. What does that mean? Well the packages you need often depend on other packages and when you run the Nuget update, the package you need might pull in updates to the packages IT needs even though you didn't specify that you wanted those other packages updated. That was a mouthful! The dependencies being updated are side effects that you may or may not have planned for. On the surface, this seems like it might be OK. As long as the update happens to the files you need and things still build, you are fine. However, this isn't always the case. I'm going to run through what happens when an update happens.

For this example, I'm going to say we are updating Package A.

Package A depends on Packages K, L and M.
You already have a version of Packages K, L and M installed on your machine.
Package A needs to upgrade Packages K, L and M BEFORE it can install itself.
Package M is needed by Package R so it can't be uninstalled unless Package R is uninstalled.
The update uninstalls Package R, Package M, Package L and Package K and then installs the newer versions of each package it relies on and the version of Package R that works with Package M.
After the new versions of the dependencies have all been installed, Package A installs the latest version of itself.
The package.config file is updated to include the version information for the newly installed files.
The dependentAssembly area in the web.config file is updated to include dependency information and establish the backward capability of the newly updated files.

That is a lot! It is no wonder then that subtle side effects (aka hidden problems) can arise during that process. It is involved! If everything runs smoothly, all of the references are updated accordingly and all is right with the world. However, nothing ever runs smoothly does it?

Sometimes, due to all of the installing and uninstalling that takes place, the web.config file does NOT get updated by the Nuget Package you are running! This is where we run into errors like -

Could not load file or assembly 'Whatever.File' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

Basically what this error SHOULD say is, "The web.config and package.config files do not match what is in the References folder"! There you have it - I have just rewritten a Microsoft error into something that a developer can actually understand? Did hell freeze over? Anyway, THAT is the problem. Sometimes when these packages uninstall and reinstall dependent packages, they do NOT update the packages.cofig and web.config accordingly. If the web.config references a version of the package that no longer exists, you are going to get the "Could not load file or assembly...blah...blah....blah" error! So how do we solve this issue? The solution is easy.

First, identify the file that the system is complaining about. It should be easy to do since the error message will list the file. For example, in the error below, Microsoft.Owin.Security.OAuth is the culprit. Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Owin.Security.OAuth' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)
Second, go the References folder in your project and look for the file specified. When you find it, right click on it and select Properties (Alt-Enter) and look at the Version. Make a note of it. This is the actual version that is installed on your system.
Third, go to the packages.config file and find the file. Check to see that the version number for the file listed in the packages.config matches the version you have specified in your References folder.
Fourth, check the web.config dependentassembly area for the file. The bindingDirect areas has an oldVersion and newVersion area. The oldVersion area should end with a version number that is EQUAL to the version number you have installed and the newVersion number should MATCH what you have installed. For example, if you have version 5.0 of System.Web.Mvc, then your dependentAssembly and associated bindingRedirect should look like the following -

    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-5.0.0.0" newVersion="5.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>

    </assemblyBinding>

After you are done, clean and rebuild your project!
Smile :-). Either your project built successfully and you can see your stuff or you have to repeat the steps above for another file until they have all been corrected.

Notice the highlighted areas. The newVersion is what is installed on your system. The oldVersion represents all of the versions the newVersion should be able to handle. If this web.config information is out of sync with the version information in your packages file and in your project, then you will get an error.

Please note - sometimes you have to manually change MORE than just one file to get things running. I have one project in which I had to update 5 references from different packages. Each situation will be different. If you get another file error, correct that one and keep going until you get a clean build and can run your project.

If you want, you can run the Nuget Package Manager and update the one package that is giving you an issue. However, sometimes that is not the best approach if that package has dependent relationships. You can end up in what I call "Package DLL Hell" - where one package updates another package and each update keeps causing other side effects! Hey - wasn't this what we were supposed to be SAVED from using Nuget? LOL.....anywho....following the steps above will get you going!

Smooches,

Kila Morton

Solving System.InvalidCastException was unhandled by user code Message=[A]System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection cannot be cast ......

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 17:50:00 +0000

Recently, while upgrading an Asp.Net MVC 4 project someone created to an Asp.Net MVC 5 project, I ran across a great error. The error was this:

It was also bright and red!

Server Error in '/' Application.

[A]System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection cannot be cast to [B]System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection. Type A originates from 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' in the context 'Default' at location 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Web.WebPages.Razor\v4.0_2.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\System.Web.WebPages.Razor.dll'. Type B originates from 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' in the context 'Default' at location 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\bc28c2e0\1b833c84\assembly\dl3\efd960b2\2bccde4f_7f44cf01\System.Web.WebPages.Razor.dll'.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.InvalidCastException: [A]System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection cannot be cast to [B]System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection. Type A originates from 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' in the context 'Default' at location 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Web.WebPages.Razor\v4.0_2.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\System.Web.WebPages.Razor.dll'. Type B originates from 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' in the context 'Default' at location 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\bc28c2e0\1b833c84\assembly\dl3\efd960b2\2bccde4f_7f44cf01\System.Web.WebPages.Razor.dll'.
This error made me VERY unhappy.
However, the solution was VERY simple.
I just needed to tell the application which version to use.
Here are the steps I took.

1. Open the web.config file.
2. Scroll until you find the <assemblybinding> tag under <runtime>.
3. Add in the following dependent assembly information for the dll that is causing you problems. In my case, it was as follows:

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages.Razor" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="2.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0"/>

</dependentAssembly>
4. Rebuild your project!

That is it! You should now see the fantastic work you have created after you build and Ctrl-F5. For all of you people out there still making projects with MVC 4 - JUST STOP! Back away slowly! MVC 5 is your friend!

Smooches,
Kila Morton

Solving "The term 'mongod' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 21:47:00 +0000

Recently, while attempting to install an instance of MongoDB on a Windows Azure VM, I got a nice error.

mongod : The term 'mongod' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

I was in the bin directory of MongoDB at the command prompt and trying to run the database with the following statement -

mongod --dbpath c:\MongoData\ --logpath C:\MongoLogs\mongolog.db

Ha! I forgot the .\!

mongod --dbpath c:\MongoData\ --logpath C:\MongoLogs\mongolog.db

should have been

.\mongod --dbpath c:\MongoData\ --logpath C:\MongoLogs\mongolog.db

I'm adding this here just in case anyone else is spacing out on a Wednesday wondering what in the world is going on when they are trying to run their Mongo databases.

Smooches,

Kila

Solving System.Web.Http.GlobalConfiguration' does not contain a definition for 'Configure

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 17:30:00 +0000

When upgrading your fantastic Asp.Net Web Api projects to version 2.0, you might come across this wonderful error -

System.Web.Http.GlobalConfiguration' does not contain a definition for 'Configure

on this line of code -

GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig.Register);

The solution is quick and simple.

1. Open the Package Manager Console for the project with the error.
2. Type in Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.WebHost and hit Enter
3. Rebuild your project and all should be right with the world (or at least right with your project)

Smooches,
Kila

How To Remove The "Switch between apps" window In Windows 8.1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 13:33:00 +0000

Hi! I've just been using a Windows 8.1 machine and losing my mind. I vowed never to use it until it was better designed (usually around Microsoft's 3rd or 4th attempt) after the very first frustrating experience I had with Windows 8, but I had to backtrack on that to test a piece of software I'm working on. I have noticed that although Windows 8.1 is slightly different, Microsoft has decided to maintain the interface from hell. I don't know why Microsoft thinks that people want to invest time in learning a new operating system when they have things to do.

The new rub for me now with Windows 8.1 was the right side Switch between apps menu that didn't want to disappear. I moved my mouse all over that little thing to get it to leave. It wouldn't. I switched to a different app and it popped up on the left side. I was starting to get annoyed. I moved my mouse over it, pressed Esc and laughed as it sat there on the screen mocking me. Finally, I decided to probe it with my mouse. It won't go anywhere if you just put your mouse over it. You actually have to put your mouse into the far left corner (if it popped up on the left) or the far right corner (if it popped up on the right) for it to go away. That is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in my life!

Microsoft is a company with many brilliant people. They come up with great things from time to time. Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 should NOT be included as one of those great things. A few months back, I was on the Microsoft campus to do some testing for a Visual Studio add-in. Basically, they put you in a room and have you test out a product while you provide feedback. How on EARTH, did Windows 8 make it through that process? I don't understand. The product is COMPLETELY counter-intuitive for an operating system. I don't want a phone experience on my laptop! When I sit down to work, I don't want to perform unnatural movements to get things done. Do you know how much effort it takes to move my arm to touch my screen versus moving my wrist SLIGHTLY with my mouse to move something on the screen? I don't want to swipe and figure it out. In fact, I don't even like fingers ON my screen! I'm not alone! I also hate trying to figure out what something does. I like words - Open, Close, etc. I am against the idea of prearranged desktop icons. When I add a program to my computer and it adds an icon, I feel connected to that program and it's placement on the desktop because I ADDED IT. When I open Windows 8 and all of this crap is already staring at me, it just FEELS wrong because I didn't add that crap. I REALLY don't like the colors and styling of the interface either. I think it looks immature and cluttered. It may sound silly, but the way you set your computer up is an extension of you. Microsoft made the bet that people wanted a phone like experience across all devices. They were wrong. I have Windows 7 on every machine I do real business with. I have Windows 8 for those times when I need to make sure something I've created works on it. However, I have NO intention of upgrading unless I am absolutely forced to do so. NO INTENTION! I couldn't even imagine a system like Windows 8, with that horrible Metro interface, being used in an enterprise environment where people have to get things done quickly. You just don't have time to figure out why the pages keep swapping over each other when you are trying to get real work done. Windows 8 has been out for some time now and it has a very small adoption rate. I actually know people who purchased a Windows 8 laptop and then installed Windows 7 on it! What does that tell you?

I would love it if Microsoft gave users a CHOICE - stick with the dumb as rocks Metro interface OR use the Classic Windows 7 interface! They would really get to see how many people thought Windows 7 was just fine. Windows 8 wasn't an improvement over a design that was broken. It just wasn't. If they had focused more on the cloud and integration with your other devices and LESS on radically altering the entire interface, Windows 8 would have been a smashing success. Instead, just like with the ribbon in Office that sent me and others right into the arms of Google Docs and Open Office, they focused on styling TOO MUCH! Who made that choice? I bet it wasn't a real developer. It seems like something a marketing person would have thought of. Either way, I think it is just plain crazy. History may show me to be totally wrong, but given the fact that Windows 7 usage is still mighty high, I don't think so.

Anywho, to remove that annoying Switch between apps menu, just put your mouse in the nearest corner! Why didn't Microsoft make a little close icon on the pop-up? Counter-intuitive Microsoft - simply counter-intuitive.
This ends my rant for the day.

Smooches,
Kila

***********************************************************

Problem:
The "Switch between apps" pop up in Windows 8.1 will not go away.

Solution:
Put your mouse into the corner of the pop up and it will disappear. If the pop up is in the far right corner, put your mouse into the top right corner of the pop up and it should disappear. If the pop up is in the far left, put your mouse into the top left corner and it should disappear. After you finish getting rid of that, go get a breath of fresh air.

How To Find Stereo Mix On Windows 7- How To Enable Stereo Mix With Conexant

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:58:00 +0000

I like to use Audacity to record things off of the Internet sometimes. However, to get a clean recording, you need to be able to use the Stereo Mix feature on your audio device. If you have certain Conexant audio devices, you may not be able to use the Stereo Mix feature. According to some reports, computer makers, like Sony Corporation, asked Conexant to disable the Stereo Mix feature to stop people from recording things off of the Internet that might violate a copyright. Well, no matter the reason, I'm here to show you how to enable Stereo Mix on your Conexant device. Make sure you do the right things with this power.

First we are going to make sure you don't have Stereo Mix on your machine already. If you are technically savvy and are completely sure you don't have it, then you can skip this step.

In the lower left hand of your task bar, right click on the speaker icon.
Select Recording devices.
Right click in the blank white space and select Show Disabled Devices and Show Disconnected Devices.
If you don't see Stereo Mix, like the photo below shows, then you need to follow the second set of directions.

******************************************************************************

OK. Now we are going to add Stereo Mix. It once was lost, but now it will be found! Ready?

Go to your start menu and type Regedit. We are going to edit your Registry. Once the software comes up, click on Regedit.
Once you have Regedit open, you are going to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000\Settings\EPattributes.
Once you get to the EPattributes node, you are going to check and see if you have the EpSettings node. If you HAVE this node, move on to the next step. If you DO NOT have the EpSettings node, you will need to add it by right clicking on the EPattributes node and selecting New and then Key. Enter EpSettings.
After you have either added EpSettings or verified that you have it, you are now going to add a key to EpSettings by right clicking on EpSettings, selecting New and then Key and creating a key named StereoMixEnable.
After it has been created, right click on StereoMixEnable, click New and then Binary Value to create a Binary Value called Enable.
Change the value for Enable to 1 or 01 if you can't just put the 1 in.
Right Click on StereoMixEnable again, click New and then Binary Value to create a Binary Value named MixAssocSeq.
Change the value of MixAssocSeq to e0 e0
Right Click on StereoMixEnable again, click New and then Binary Value to create a Binary Value named MuteGainSettings.
Change the value of MuteGainSettings to 00 00.
Now close Regedit and restart your computer.
After your computer restarts, go to Control Panel, Sound and then click Recording tab and you will see Stereo Mix. It will be disabled.
Right click Stereo Mix and enable it.
Set it as the default device.

Now you can use Stereo Mix to record sounds from the Internet directly into your computer using something like Audacity.

If you have problems or questions, just ask!

Smooches!

Kila Morton

Problem:

You do not see Stereo Mix on your laptop or PC and you have a Conexant device.

Solution:

You must alter the registry settings, restart your machine and enable Stereo Mix.

How To Solve The anti-forgery token could not be decrypted. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that all machines are running the same version of ASP.NET Web Pages and that the configuration specifies explicit encryption and validation keys. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster. Error In Asp.Net MVC!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 16:15:00 +0000

The anti-forgery token could not be decrypted. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that all machines are running the same version of ASP.NET Web Pages and that the <machineKey> configuration specifies explicit encryption and validation keys. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.

Isn't that a beautiful error? Recently, while working on a website I created in Asp.Net MVC 4, I got this error. How you ask? I'm so glad you asked! The website is hosted right now and I am developing it on my local development machine and pushing the changes to the actual website. From time to time, I leave my computer and leave the website up. There have been times when I was logged into the website, walked away, came back after the session timed out and clicked on a link on the site only to have the site route me to the sign in page. That is the expected behavior. What isn't expected, is that when I try to sign in I get this beautiful error -

The anti-forgery token could not be decrypted. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that all machines are running the same version of ASP.NET Web Pages and that the <machineKey> configuration specifies explicit encryption and validation keys. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.

Now WHY do I think this is a beautiful error? Well unlike some errors you get while developing, this error actually means EXACTLY what it says! I am using the Antiforgery token system in Mvc. You call that using this syntax @Html.Antiforgery(). When you use this system straight out of the box, the encryption and validation keys are auto-generated at runtime for you. That is great - until the session terminates. At that point, the system loses a reference to those auto-generated keys. Then, when you are kicked out of the system and have to come back, it still has a reference to the old keys, but those are not usable anymore - since the system generated new ones for your new session. All of a sudden, the new one the system generated and the old one your page is referencing are not in sync and you get the error.

So what can you do? The answer is simple - follow directions and generate the keys in your web.config file! Add the following to your site's web.config file.

<configuration>
<system.web>
<machineKey decryptionKey="Decryption key goes here, IsolateApps"
validationKey="Validation key goes here, IsolateApps" />
</system.web>
</configuration>
You can generate keys by going into IIS and clicking on Machine Key - if you have the right version and IIS features installed. You will not see Machine Key if you don't. If you don't, you can go to the Control Panel and install additional IIS features. Then, paste those keys into the code above. That will allow the Antiforgery system to work off of those instead of autogenerating.

Problem solved!
I just love it when a plan comes together! Don't you?

Smooches,

Kila Morton

Solve Cannot retrieve property 'Name' because localization failed. Type 'YourResourceFile' is not public or does not contain a public static string property with the name 'YourItemName'.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 03:41:00 +0000

Data Annotations are a great thing. They allow you to add information to your model quickly and easily. However, if you have an application that is designed for multiple cultures, you cannot add a Name to your annotation and have it display appropriately for other cultures. It is easy to use App_GlobalResources to hold your global strings, however, you may encounter the following message when using an App_GlobalResources folder in Asp.Net MVC -

        [Required(
            ErrorMessageResourceName = "Required_PleaseSelectA",
            ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(StringResources))]
        [StringLength(100,
            ErrorMessageResourceName = "Length_YourMustBeACombination",
            ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(StringResources),
            MinimumLength = 6)]
        [Display(
            ResourceType = typeof(LocalizedResources),
            Name = "CategoryName",
            Description = "CategoryName")]
        public string CategoryName { get; set; }
Cannot retrieve property 'Name' because localization failed. Type 'Resources.StringResources' is not public or does not contain a public static string property with the name 'CategoryName'.

In this particular example, I set up resources for a property called CategoryName.
This error is VERY simple to solve. The resource file needs to be made public.
To do this, you will need to change the TYPE of tool used to generate the resource file.

In Asp.Net MVC 4, when you add a App_GlobalResources folder and create a resource file in it, by default the resource file is set up as internal and given the GlobalResourceProxyGenerator as a tool. That internal designation creates a problem for the DisplayAttribute annotation because it checks to see if the ResourceType is visible. In fact, it actually uses Type.IsVisible. This creates a problem because the internal class is NOT visible to it.

Now here is an interesting thing to note. The RequiredAttribute and StringAttribute both inherit from ValidationAttribute. The DisplayAttribute does NOT. The Required and String Attributes utilize a different mechanism to connect with the resource files. You can see subtle differences when you look at how the items are set up again -

        [Required(
            ErrorMessageResourceName = "Required_PleaseSelectA",
            ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(StringResources))]
        [StringLength(100,
            ErrorMessageResourceName = "Length_YourMustBeACombination",
            ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(StringResources),
            MinimumLength = 6)]
        [Display(
            ResourceType = typeof(StringResources),
            Name = "CategoryName",
            Description = "CategoryName")]
        public string CategoryName { get; set; }
Notice that each resource file in the photo of App_GlobalResources above has a .cs file attached to it.When you click on that resource file, you see that all of the classes are internal. If you change the CustomTool to PublicResXFileCodeGenerator and rebuild your application, you will see the .cs file go from internal to public and your DisplayAttribute will be able to connect with the resource file now. In fact, if you click on the .cs file to open it AND change then go over to properties and change the CustomTool, all of the items in the file will automagically change from internal to public.

Smooches,

Kila Morton

Solving To call this method, the “Membership.Provider” property must be an instance of “ExtendedMembershipProvider”

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 18:25:00 +0000

When using Asp.Net MVC 4 and hosting your website with a hosting provider like TheDomainConnection or Godaddy, you may encounter a problem that seems strange.

When testing locally on your dev machine not on the host, you may be able to create accounts just fine. However, after you load your site to your host, you may get the error

To call this method, the “Membership.Provider” property must be an instance of “ExtendedMembershipProvider”

You think to yourself "Self, why am I getting this error when this worked on my dev machine not more than a few moments ago?" The answer is interesting.

The error is happening because of this code located in the WebSecurity file of the WebMatrix.WebData dll -

        private static ExtendedMembershipProvider VerifyProvider()
        {
            ExtendedMembershipProvider provider = Membership.Provider as ExtendedMembershipProvider;

What is the significance of this? That Membership.Provider line is getting the membership information from your web.config and if you have not configured your system to use a provider that extends the ExtendedMembershipProvider class, the provider will not match and your application will not work. The first step to solving this problem is to add the following line to your web.config file -

<appSettings>
<add key="enableSimpleMembership" value="true" />
</appSettings>

However, in some cases, your website host settings are actually going to override that setting in your web.config! That's right - your host configuration is going to override your own. This means that the setting above will be ignored and if your host is implementing a provider that is NOT an extension of the ExtendedMembershipProvider, you are going to experience the error. This happens because NONE of the old providers used with prior versions of Asp.Net/Asp.Net MVC are extensions of ExtendedMembershipProvider.
So how do you solve this problem?

Place the following code in your web.config file of the website you are hosting.

<system.web>
    <roleManager enabled="true" defaultProvider="SimpleRoleProvider">
      <providers>
        <clear />
        <add name="SimpleRoleProvider" type="WebMatrix.WebData.SimpleRoleProvider, WebMatrix.WebData" />
      </providers>
    </roleManager>
    <membership defaultProvider="SimpleMembershipProvider">
      <providers>
        <clear />
        <add name="SimpleMembershipProvider" type="WebMatrix.WebData.SimpleMembershipProvider, WebMatrix.WebData" />
      </providers>
    </membership>
    <sessionState mode="InProc" customProvider="DefaultSessionProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultSessionProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultSessionStateProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" />
      </providers>
    </sessionState>
</system.web>

This will override your host's settings for your website and get your website working!
Smooches,
Kila Morton

Windows 8 Is Horrible - It Makes The Desktop Different Just To Be Different - NOT To Be Better

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:28:00 +0000

I am REALLY beginning to hate a company that I have loved for so many years and it makes me feel so sad! I just took the plunge and purchased a Windows 8 laptop. Trying to do simple things with this interface is now such a chore. I want to throw this crap across the room, go and get it, lay it down on the sidewalk, run over it four times with each one of my wheels, bring it back inside, beat it with a hammer, take it into the bathroom, pour water into it, throw it off of my rooftop deck, go back outside and pick it up off of my driveway and then drive to the nearest garbage bin, get out, jump up and down on it and THEN throw it in the dumpster! GIVE ME BACK THE SIMPLE DESKTOP LOOK THAT I COULD CONTROL - NOT THIS CRAP THAT CLUTTERS MY DESKTOP AND TAKES AWAY MY PREVIOUSLY PEACEFUL DESKTOP!!!

WHAT in the WORLD is Microsoft thinking? How do you take away ordinary things like the start menu? WHY would you move that? WHY would you change that? There are so many things in Windows 8 that are different for the sake of being different - NOT different because it made Windows better! I don't want a phone or tablet interface on my laptop! When I sit down to work, I don't want to see Facebook updates, Twitter information, the news, the weather, Jesus, Joseph or John! I just want to be able to QUICKLY click where I need to click and access my work!

Windows 8 makes productivity about as rare as a white elephant in the middle of Manhattan! There are so many unnecessary things going on! WHY? I would love to walk up to the person who created this piece of crap and just smack them. That would be uncivilized, but I think unleashing this phone sized app for the desktop called Windows 8 was MORE uncivilized. It is completely horrible. I have to take a deep breath and calm myself down. As it stands, I'm typing this on one of my other laptops with Windows 7. Listen, if your Windows 7 works for you DO NOT UPGRADE OR MOVE TO WINDOWS 8! Microsoft does this crazy crap where they screw up every other generation so Windows 9 will likely be perfect! I'm so upset about Windows 8 that I don't ever want to touch another Microsoft product again - EVER! I am going to, but my emotions are spilling over right now. I have to get get my mind right and then get something to make this Windows 8 crap work properly.

MICROSOFT, EVERYONE DOES NOT WANT A DESKTOP SET UP LIKE A PHONE!
I HAVE ANDROID DEVICES, APPLE DEVICES AND WINDOWS BASED DEVICES. YOU ARE TRYING ENTIRELY TOO HARD TO MAKE SOMETHING THAT IS RELEVANT. HOWEVER, YOU CAN'T ALTER THE WAY PEOPLE WORK AND THINK IT WILL BE OK!!!

OK. I need to get myself a drink of water and calm my nerves. I have things to do and I now have to go search for Notepad. This reminds me of the Ribbon! How do you come out with the Ribbon and not provide a classic menu for those who don't have time to learn where everything is? I still don't use Office anymore. I use Google Docs and Open Office. I just wish there was a viable alternative to Windows. I have a Mac, but I need to use software that is Windows compatible. God I feel stuck between an Apple and a hard place!

I could understand and support a change that made it EASIER to work, but removing things like the start menu is just ridiculous! What purpose does it serve? How does a company like Microsoft, that had a good product twist it into this? I wish Microsoft would ask CUSTOMERS how it could make its products better instead of focusing on changing things to try to match other companies. Everything has its place. Desktops, phones, tablets, laptops - everything has its place. I have all 4 and I just don't want my laptop and my desktop to look like my phone. I don't feel like customizing Windows and downloading more crap to make this Windows 8 crap usable. I just don't. I need to relax before I use that computer again. This is almost enough to make me try to develop my own operating system. God I wish I had the time!

As a software developer, this places me in a hard spot. I hate this operating system so much that I don't want to develop for it. I know the world will go on whether I develop for it or not, but I know many other people who are starting to feel exactly the same way. I can't believe it has come down to this.

Google can YOU save us......please?

How To Figure Out How Many Spheres Will Balance One Cube!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:16:00 +0000

OK. There are times when we must divert attention from the really important things in our lives to the things that are going to cause us problems just because they exist. My child has to take a test. While preparing for that test, we went over an online test booklet that had various example problems. Here is the problem.
Kent is using the scale to compare the weight of various solids. How many spheres will balance one cube?

This is an example question on the Washington State Algebra End Of Course exam (also known as the WASL). It seems that a lot of people have struggled with this question, but it really is simple and it doesn't really require much math. In fact, I don't even understand why this question would be on an Algebra high school math test and not a seventh grade math test! So let's do this with almost no math. In the top equation you have this -

TOP EQUATION
SIDE ONE 4 Cubes 2 Triangles 3 Spheres	SIDE TWO 3 Cubes 4 Triangles 5 Spheres
BOTTOM EQUATION
SIDE ONE 1 Cube 1 Sphere	SIDE TWO 4 Triangles 2 Spheres

TOP EQUATION WITH CANCELLATIONS
~~4 Cubes~~ leaves 1 Cube ~~2 Triangles~~ ~~3 Spheres~~	~~3 Cubes~~ ~~4 Triangles~~ leaves 2 Triangles ~~5 Spheres~~ leaves 2 Spheres
BOTTOM EQUATION WITH CANCELLATIONS
1 Cube ~~1 Sphere~~	4 Triangles ~~2 Spheres~~ leaves 1 Sphere

So what does that tell you? With hardly no effort, you have learned that 1 Cube = 2 Spheres and 2 Triangles AND 1 Cube = 1 Sphere and 4 Triangles You found this just by cancelling things out. You can EASILY cancel in this problem because you know that 1 sphere = 1 sphere and 1 triangle = 1 triangle and 1 cube = 1 cube. NOW you just use patterns to find out how many spheres will balance on one cube.

FIND THE NEXT ITEM IN THE PATTERN


1 Cube =	4 Triangles	1 Sphere
1 Cube =	2 Triangles	2 Spheres
1 Cube =	0 Triangles	3 Spheres

So the answer is 3 Spheres (or B) and we did that all without any math. What does that tell you? More importantly, what does that tell me? As a parent, it tells me that the Washington State Math test isn't an accurate predictor of anything! What does this question prove? I solved this question in minutes without any real math. Why is this on an Algebra End Of Course test? Hmmmm.......

Solve The You don't have permission to access / on this server. Error On Apache

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 02:54:00 +0000

I am going to keep this short and simple.
When installing Wordpress on an Apache server, you may get a 403 error. Specifically, you might get this error when you try to access your site after an install.

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

This is so simple to solve. You simply have to enable script permissions on the serve. If you are on a host like Godaddy, this means that you go to the folder, select permissions and make sure the folder has Read and Execute permission for web users and Read, Write and Execute permissions for the Owner.

Simple right?

Smooches,

Kila Morton

How To Reset Your Brother HL-2240 After Toner Refill And How To Get Rid Of The Toner Light On The Brother HL-2240 When You Have Toner In The Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 23:15:00 +0000

Printer companies want to make money. There is nothing wrong with that. I think ALL of us want to make money. However, there is a problem when a printer company is trying to take YOUR money when you don't want to part with it. Brother makes excellent small office laser printers. They make other larger office printers, but their small office laser printers are extremely easy to maintain and they last a very long time. The one issue they have is that Brother cartridges are ridiculously expensive. I say they are ridiculously expensive because, in my case, they cost more than I paid for the printer! I REFUSE to buy a cartridge that cost more than I paid for the printer! The only problem is that if you refill the toner cartridge that came with the printer (which you can do forever by the way - without replacing any gears or anything crazy like that), the toner light will stay on and you still won't be able to print. Well I have a solution for that!

I am going to show you how to reset your Brother HL-2240 when the toner light comes on. This will allow you to use generic toner cartridges without jumping through crazy hoops and it will allow you to simply refill the Brother cartridge your printer came with over and over again. You don't need reset gear that some companies sell and you CERTAINLY DO NOT need to buy expensive cartridges that Brother sells. I love Brother, but I don't love spending more than the cost of the printer when I need more toner. That is money better spent at the shoe store :-).

If you need toner refills, click on one of the links in the sidebar to find what you are looking for.

Here we go. Here is how you reset the toner light on your Brother HL 2240:

1. Turn your Brother HL-2240 off

2. Open the front cover of the printer

3. Press and hold Go and turn power on. Do not let the button go.

4. When all 3 lights light up, release the Go button.

5. Press the Go button twice (You will see the Ready light blink green every time you press the Go button)

6. All of the lights will light up

7. With all of the lights on, press and release the Go button 5 times (You will see the Ready light blink green every time you press the Go button)

8. The Error light will start blinking (Don't be alarmed. This is expected.)

9. Close door and wait. The printer will cycle through and make the sound it makes when you initially cut it on. After that sound stops, your green Ready light will be on and solid.

10. You are now ready to print.

So there you go! Support the Brother corporation because they make fantastic printers! Go out and purchase a Brother HL-2240 printer - they are great -, BUT keep your hard earned money in your pocket when it comes to refilling your toner. Buy your toner off of eBay and refill the Brother cartridge that came with the printer. You will save yourself a TON of money over the long haul.

UPDATE - 7/3/2013 - BHL2 MAINTENANCE MODE
If you are having an issue in addition to the Toner reset problem, have mistakenly placed your printer into maintenance mode by pressing the Go button an incorrect number of times or you are encountering another problem, you can try resetting the printer to the factory default settings.

To perform a factory reset on your Brother HL-2240, you can follow these instructions:

Check that the front cover of the printer is closed.
Turn OFF the power switch on the right side of the printer.
Press and hold the GO button, and keep holding it down, as you turn on the power switch.
Keep the GO button pressed down until all the LEDs light up and the Ready LED turns off. Release the GO button. Make sure that all the LEDs turn off.
Press the GO button 10 times. The Ready LED will flash while the printer is reset. After the printer is reset the Ready LED will be lit.

Smooches,
Kila Morton

Problem:
The toner light on your Brother HL-2240 is on.
You need to reset your Brother HL-2240.

Solution:
Follow the steps listed above.

Seeing the BHL2 Maintenance Mode message?
Reset your printer using the steps outlined above and THEN follow the instructions to reset your toner cartridge.

How To Solve Type 'ASP._Page__ViewStart_cshtml' does not inherit from 'System.Web.WebPages.StartPage'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:22:00 +0000

OK. So you are using Asp.Net MVC 3 or 4 (or maybe even 2). You have created several Areas in your project and you have decided to move your _ViewStart.cshtml file to your root directory so you are adhering to the DRY principal and all of your Views in the main area of your site AND in your Areas will use it. You add the file to the root and you are really happy with yourself. There is just one problem. After you run your beautiful project, you get a nice big yellow screen complete with the following message -

Type 'ASP._Page__ViewStart_cshtml' does not inherit from 'System.Web.WebPages.StartPage'.

Great! Now what? The solution to this issue is simple. When you create an Area in an MVC application, the following information is automatically added to your web.config.

<configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="system.web.webPages.razor" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorWebSectionGroup, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
      <section name="host" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
      <section name="pages" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorPagesSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
    </sectionGroup>
</configSections>

<system.web.webPages.razor>
    <host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
    <pages pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage">
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
</system.web.webPages.razor>

However, when you move that _ViewStart.cshtml file to the main area of your site, your main web.config does NOT have those areas in there already. You have to add them! Once you add those items to your web.config, you will be good to go. Add those sections, rebuild your project and now your Area Views and your main Views will all use the _Viewstart.cshtml file.

Problem:
You moved your _ViewStart.cshtml file to the root of your site and got the following error:

Type 'ASP._Page__ViewStart_cshtml' does not inherit from 'System.Web.WebPages.StartPage'.

Solution:
Add the following to your web.config file and recompile your application.

<configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="system.web.webPages.razor" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorWebSectionGroup, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
      <section name="host" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
      <section name="pages" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorPagesSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
    </sectionGroup>
</configSections>

<system.web.webPages.razor>
    <host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
    <pages pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage">
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
</system.web.webPages.razor>

That's it!

Smooches,

Kila Morton

Solved: Azure Problem - There was no endpoint listening at that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:07:00 +0000

OK. This little problem almost gave me a heart attack today. Thankfully, I have a strong heart.

Today I went to do an Azure deployment using Visual Studio. I have done this many times, so I anticipated my deployment going without a hitch. Boy was I wrong. You see earlier on in the day, I had a strange thing happen to me. Fiddler, which I love, crashed on my computer. I didn't think much of it at the time. However, it came back to haunt me in unexpected ways. Anyway, I tried to do the Azure deployment and I got a nice, fat error -

Error 1 Could not get the Windows Azure storage account settings for 'dc2assetsemea' needed to configure an application module. Please check your network connection and verify that the account exists. Details: There was no endpoint listening at https://blah/blah/blah/keysthat could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details.

What? What in the world was THAT about! I have NEVER seen that error before. Now let me preface the rest of this post with this - I was in a time crunch and I needed this build up and running like John Edwards and Tiger Woods need image makeovers! I tried to use Cloud Xplorer to load some UI files and guess what? Nada! OMG! I had to take a deep breath and start digging. I couldn't find much of anything for a solution on this issue using my friend Google and Microsoft didn't have anything either. I came across an obscure entry by someone on Stack Overflow who asked about Fiddler. That got me thinking about the crash I had earlier in the day. I started researching Fiddler. Well, it turns out that Fiddler can and does screw a lot of things up if it crashes before it has a chance to run its process to reset your proxy settings. You could go from sailing on the Internet to not being able to get on at all. In my case, I could still get on the Internet using Firefox, but not IE.

I went to my Internet settings to see what was there - Control Panel / Internet Options / Connections / Lan Settings. Well, well, well. There was NOTHING checked. Fiddler had fiddled me! I changed the proxy settings to Auto Detect and then I was back in business! WhooHoo! Yeah! So there you have it. When Fiddler hands you lemons, make a 4 course meal and then change your Internet Settings back to Auto Detect (or whatever they were) so you can get on with it!

Smooches,

Kila Morton

PROBLEM:

When using Visual Studio to deploy you get the following error -

SETTING:

Reset your Internet connection proxy settings.

On a Windows machine, go to Control Panel / Internet Options / Connections tab / Lan Settings and change the proxy to Auto Detect. Save everything and try your deployment again.

Solved "The cast to value type 'Int32' failed because the materialized value is null. Either the result type's generic parameter or the query must use a nullable type" When Using LINQ

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:49:00 +0000

I love LINQ! Do you know that about me? Actually, I REALLY LOVE LINQ! It is so useful for so many different queries. It really eliminates the need to have query code outside of your application sitting in a database. Of course, you have to make sure that your queries are generating good SQL, but it is really useful and a beautiful tool. With that said, you can run into moments when LINQ generates errors that don't offer immediate information on how to solve them. One of my queries generated an error. The fix was extremely simple so I thought I would include it here for anyone that has the same error.

When you are trying to use an aggregation (i.e. sum, max, min, etc), you might come across this issue. The issue is that you might have a time when you have no records in your database. Therefore, something like a sum would return null. What is a programmer to do? Ooh I know, I know! Use DefaultIfEmpty(0)!

There you have it! Problem solved! Now say some nice things about me in the comments....or not.

Smooches,

Kila Morton

*******************************************************************************

PROBLEM:

When using a LINQ query, you get the following error -

The cast to value type 'Int32' failed because the materialized value is null. Either the result type's generic parameter or the query must use a nullable type

Example bad query -

var iAddToValue = (from prod in db.Lists.Where(x => x.AccountId == list.AccountId)

select prod.DisplayOrder)

.Max() + 1;

SOLUTION
Add a DefaultIfEmpty(0) to your query.

Example good query -

var iAddToValue = (from prod in db.Lists.Where(x => x.AccountId == list.AccountId)
select prod.DisplayOrder).DefaultIfEmpty(0)
.Max() + 1;

The "Default Membership Provider could not be found." Error Solved!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:28:00 +0000

I recently decided to create new membership providers for all of my new projects. I wanted new providers that all used Entity Framework. I decided to do this after looking around and finding a couple of custom Entity Framework providers that were OK, but were either incomplete, too convoluted or did things in ways that I considered unnecessary.

My providers initially worked perfectly. The system created my database tables for me using my DbContext and added my Application name to my Applications table using code I created that was supposed to run the first time the application hit the Home Controller. However, after creating my beautiful new providers and navigating to the Registration page, I came across an error:

"Default Membership Provider could not be found."

This error was strange for a couple of reasons. First, I was using my new providers in an ASP.Net MVC application to test it. All of my tables were created perfectly in the database, so I knew that my custom provider was being hit. I could also see that the Initialize event was being hit when I debugged. Second, the error wasn't raised the first time I used one of the processes in the provider. Instead, it was raised the first time I went to the Register page which uses the default ASP.Net MVC account/Register controller. Hmmm....interesting. I looked at the configuration settings in the web.config.

My configuration for my new providers started with this -

<membership>
<providers>
<clear/>
<remove name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider"/>

And therein lies the problem. It seems like we should clear out all of the provider information first. However, that is unnecessary. We don't need to clear out the providers and remove the default providers. I thought we did because the configuration settings for all ASP.Net applications include that clear tag. So if the default ones include it, I thought I had to do the same. Wrong! When you roll your own providers, you need to remove that clear tag and you don't need to add a remove tag! I removed the tag and everything started working. Now when I come across something that is solved in such a simple way, I get suspicious. Removing that tag seemed to simple so I did a search to see what other people were doing.

You will see a few things when you do a search for the error -

"Default Membership Provider could not be found."

You will see people tell you that you need to clear all providers. This is wrong. You don't have to do this.

You will see people tell you that you need to clear all providers and specifically remove the default provider. This is wrong. You don't have to do this.

You will see people tell you that you need to add a defaultProvider tag to YOUR provider configuration code. this is also wrong and you don't need to do this.

You will see people tell you that you need to add your assembly name to the type attribute in YOUR provider configuration. This is also unnecessary and you don't need to do this. (i.e. they will tell you to do something like this type="YourNamespace.YourProfileProviderClassnameGoesHere", "YourAssemblyName"> which is totally unnecessary)

You will see people tell you to do ALL of these things and that is also wrong and you don't need to do this!

You don't need to do ANY Of those things! No one tried to just remove the clear tag. My simple solution was the best solution in this situation. The clear tag clears out all of the provider information which isn't necessary at all. Removing that should solve your problem IF your Initialize event IS being hit - which you can tell if you debug your provider. Here is an example of my configuration tag for my custom providers. Feel free to copy them and use them for your custom providers.

<membership defaultProvider="CoreMembershipProvider">
<providers>
<add connectionStringName="ApplicationServices"
tablePrefix="Core_"
passwordFormat="Encrypted"
enablePasswordRetrieval="false"
enablePasswordReset="true"
requiresUniqueEmail="true"
requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false"
maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="3"
minRequiredPasswordLength="6"
minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0"
passwordAttemptWindow="10"
applicationName="TestApp"
name="YourMembershipProviderClassnameGoesHere"
type="YourNamespace.YourMembershipProviderClassnameGoesHere" />
</providers>
</membership>
<profile>
<providers>
name="YourProfileProviderClassnameGoesHere"
type="YourNamespace.YourProfileProviderClassnameGoesHere" />
connectionStringName="ApplicationServices"
tablePrefix="Core_"
applicationName="TestApp" />
</providers>
</profile>
<roleManager enabled="true"
defaultProvider="CoreRoleProvider">
<providers>
<add connectionStringName="ApplicationServices"
tablePrefix="Core_"
applicationName="TestApp"
name="YourRoleProviderClassnameGoesHere"
type="YourNamespace.YourRoleProviderClassnameGoesHere" />
</providers>
</roleManager>

That is it! You don't need to add extra things or jump through extra hoops. Just remove the clear tag or the clear and remove tag and you will be all set! You will be "providing your provider" in no time! ("Providing your provider" - I crack myself up!)

Smooches!
Kila Morton

********************************************************************

PROBLEM:

After creating custom providers, you get the following error when you try to use them.

"Default Membership Provider could not be found."

SOLUTION:

Remove the tag and the tag if you are using them. Also make sure you don't have items in your provider configuration that are in this list. You don't need any of them.

Remove the tag
Remove the tag
Remove the attribute from your provider tag.
Remove the assembly name from your type tag - if you added it. Your type tag should look like this type="YourNamespace.YourProviderClassnameGoesHere".

Recompile your project and run it.
You should be good to go!

Here are the configuration settings I use for my provider.

<membership defaultProvider="CoreMembershipProvider">
<providers>
<add connectionStringName="ApplicationServices"
tablePrefix="Core_"
passwordFormat="Encrypted"
enablePasswordRetrieval="false"
enablePasswordReset="true"
requiresUniqueEmail="true"
requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false"
maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="3"
minRequiredPasswordLength="6"
minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0"
passwordAttemptWindow="10"
applicationName="TestApp"
name="YourMembershipProviderClassnameGoesHere"
type="YourNamespace.YourMembershipProviderClassnameGoesHere" />
</providers>
</membership>
<profile>
<providers>
name="YourProfileProviderClassnameGoesHere"
type="YourNamespace.YourProfileProviderClassnameGoesHere" />
connectionStringName="ApplicationServices"
tablePrefix="Core_"
applicationName="TestApp" />
</providers>
</profile>
<roleManager enabled="true"
defaultProvider="CoreRoleProvider">
<providers>
<add connectionStringName="ApplicationServices"
tablePrefix="Core_"
applicationName="TestApp"
name="YourRoleProviderClassnameGoesHere"
type="YourNamespace.YourRoleProviderClassnameGoesHere" />
</providers>
</roleManager>

PLEASE NOTE - I have a custom field in my provider for the table prefix. REMOVE THIS unless you have the same thing in your provider!

How To Add Trusted Sites In Google Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Recently, someone asked me how to add trusted sites to Google Chrome. Since the process isn't as clearly indicated in Chrome as it is in Internet Explorer, I thought I would blog about it.

In Google Chrome, click on the little wrench in the right hand side of the browser to get to the main menu.
Click on Options
Click on Under the Hood located on the left-hand menu
Scroll down to Network and click on Change proxy settings...
A familiar menu will pop up. Click on the Security tab.
Click on Trusted Sites, which is identified by the green check mark, and then click on the Sites button that comes up
Type in the name of your trusted site
Click the Add button
Click the Close button
Click the OK button

Wasn't that simple??? LOL.....

UPDATE: [October 17, 2012]
I first published this in February 2012. It was the process at that time. I should have labelled it with the version information. Here is the latest process :

Applies To Version : Google Chrome Version 22.0.1229.94 m

In Google Chrome, click on the little icon with 3 lines on the far right hand side of the address bar.
Click on Settings
Click on Show Advanced Settings
Click on Change proxy settings
A familiar menu will pop up. Click on the Security tab.
Click on Trusted Sites, which is identified by the green check mark, and then click on the Sites button that comes up
Type in the name of your trusted site
Click the Add button
Click the Close button
Click the OK button

Smooches!

Kila Morton