Hallgrim

Add querystring parameter to ASP.NET MVC RedirectToAction

2012-07-19T15:12:00.002+02:00

So you are doing

return this.RedirectToAction(c=>c.MyAction());

or maybe

return this.RedirectToAction("MyAction", "MyController");

You would love to add a querystring parameter to the request. Why would I want that, you say. Imagine you want to e.g. track goals in Google Analytics. One way of doing that is by adding a querystring parameter to the URL, say http://blabla.com/MyController/MyAction?gagoal=achievedgoal1. Any parameter not part of the route will be passed as querystringparameter:

return this.RedirectToAction(c=>c.MyPage()), new {gagoal="achievedgoal1"});

So, why not make it more explicit and fluent like this?

return this.RedirectToAction(c=>c.MyAction()).WithQuery("gagoal", "achievedgoal1");

return this.RedirectToAction(c=>c.MyAction()))
.WithQuery("gagoal", "achievedgoal1")
.And("otherparameter", "othervalue");

Here is the code

  public static class RedirectToRouteExtensions
    {
        public static RedirectToRouteResult WithQuery(this RedirectToRouteResult redirectResult,string name, string val)
        {
            redirectResult.RouteValues.Add(name, val);
            return redirectResult;
        }
        public static RedirectToRouteResult And(this RedirectToRouteResult redirectResult,string name, string val)
        {
            return redirectResult.WithQuery(name, val);
        }

    }

So when I add GA goals I use another extension method:

return this.RedirectToAction(c=>c.MyAction()).WithGAGoal("loginok");

Here is the code

public static class GAGoalsExtensions
{
public static RedirectToRouteResult WithGAGoal(this RedirectToRouteResult redirectResult, string val)
{
return redirectResult.WithQuery(Constants.GAGoalQueryStringName, val); }
}

Basic HTTP authentication over SSL in WCF

2009-09-15T11:50:00.009+02:00

Tried to figure this out for a while, but decided to do my own WCF extension to fix it.

We are integrating against a third party service that requires pre-emptive HTTP/1.1 Basic Authentication and SSL. The authentication header must be set on very request.

So I tried different binding configurations, but none seemed to fit the requirements. So I decided to make a IClientMessageInspector implementation to add the HTTP-header my self. There are tons of examples of this on the net. What I wanted was the ability to also use the configuration file to provide the username and password, so I also added a configuration property.

The configuration looks like this:


<system.servicemodel>
<extensions>
  <behaviorextensions>
    <add name="httpBasicAuthenticationBehavior" type="Flatland.WCF.HTTPBasicAuthenticationBehaviorExtensionElement, Flatland.WCF Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null">
  </behaviorextensions>
</extensions>
<behaviors>
  <endpointbehaviors>
    <behavior name="myThirdpartyBasicAuthBehavior">
      <httpBasicAuthenticationBehavior Username="myusername" Password="mypassword">
    </behavior>
  </endpointbehaviors>
</behaviors>
<bindings>
  <basichttpbinding>
    <binding name="SSLBindingConfiguration"
        maxBufferSize="2147483647" maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647">
      <security mode="Transport">
      </security>
    </binding>
  </basichttpbinding>
</bindings>
<client>
  <endpoint
    behaviorConfiguration="myThirdpartyBasicAuthBehavior"
    address="https://thirdparty.com/somepath/service1"
    binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="SSLBindingConfiguration"
    contract="ThirdpartyContracts.Contract1"
    name="MyThirdpartyEndpoint" />
</client>

<diagnostics wmiproviderenabled="true">
  <messageLogging
       logEntireMessage="true"
       logMalformedMessages="true"
       logMessagesAtServiceLevel="true"
       logMessagesAtTransportLevel="true"
       maxMessagesToLog="30000"
       maxSizeOfMessageToLog="20000000"/>
</diagnostics>
</system.serviceModel>

Here is the code:


using System;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Net;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.ServiceModel.Channels;
using System.ServiceModel.Configuration;
using System.ServiceModel.Description;
using System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher;
using System.Text;

namespace Flatland.WCF
{
public class HTTPBasicAuthenticationBehaviorExtensionElement : BehaviorExtensionElement
{
    [ConfigurationProperty("Username", IsRequired = true)]
    public virtual string Username
    {
        get
        {
            return this["Username"] as string;
        }
        set
        {
            this["Username"] = value;
        }
    }

    [ConfigurationProperty("Password", IsRequired = true)]
    public virtual string Password
    {
        get
        {
            return this["Password"] as string;
        }
        set
        {
            this["Password"] = value;
        }
    }

    protected override object CreateBehavior()
    {
        return new HTTPBasicAuthenticationBehavior(Username, Password);
    }

    public override Type BehaviorType
    {
        get
        {
            return typeof(HTTPBasicAuthenticationBehavior);
        }
    }
}

public class HTTPBasicAuthenticationBehavior : IEndpointBehavior
{
    private readonly string _username;
    private readonly string _password;

    public HTTPBasicAuthenticationBehavior(string username, string password)
    {
        _username = username;
        _password = password;
    }

    public void Validate(ServiceEndpoint endpoint)
    {
        return;
    }

    public void AddBindingParameters(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, BindingParameterCollection bindingParameters)
    {
        return;
    }

    public void ApplyDispatchBehavior(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, EndpointDispatcher endpointDispatcher)
    {
        return;
    }

    public void ApplyClientBehavior(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, ClientRuntime clientRuntime)
    {
        clientRuntime.MessageInspectors.Add(new HTTPBasicAuthenticationMessageInspector(_username, _password));
    }
}

public class HTTPBasicAuthenticationMessageInspector : IClientMessageInspector
{
    private readonly string _username;
    private readonly string _password;

    public HTTPBasicAuthenticationMessageInspector(string username, string password)
    {
        _username = username;
        _password = password;
    }

    public object BeforeSendRequest(ref Message request, IClientChannel channel)
    {
        HttpRequestMessageProperty httpRequest = null;
        if (request.Properties.ContainsKey(HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name))
        {
            httpRequest = request.Properties[HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name] as HttpRequestMessageProperty;
        }

        //Make sure we have a valid property, or create one
        if (httpRequest == null)
        {
            httpRequest = new HttpRequestMessageProperty();
            request.Properties.Add(HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name, httpRequest);
        }

        string encodedCredentials = EncodeCredentials(_username, _password);
        httpRequest.Headers[HttpRequestHeader.Authorization] = "Basic " + encodedCredentials;

        return null;
    }

    private string EncodeCredentials(string username, string password)
    {
        string clearTextCredentials = string.Format("{0}:{1}", username, password);
        var inArray = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(clearTextCredentials);
        return Convert.ToBase64String(inArray);
    }

    public void AfterReceiveReply(ref Message reply, object correlationState)
    {
        return;
    }
}
}

Using Windows Media Player in a Windows Mobile application

2009-08-08T21:53:00.003+02:00

So I wanted to play a .wma file in my Windows Mobile application. I am using a Sony Ericsson X1. System.Media is not the answer as it only plays .wav files. So I looked into using the Windows Media Player Interop.

Add reference ==> Browse ==> Select the file "c:\Windows\System32\wmp.dll"

To play a simple .wma file you can do something like this:

using WMPLib;
...
private readonly WindowsMediaPlayer _player;
...

public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
_player = new WindowsMediaPlayerClass();
_player.uiMode = "invisible";
}
...
private void SoundAlarm()
{
_player.URL = @"\Windows\Rings\Telephone ring 1.wma";
_player.controls.play();
}

Running SQL Server Management Studio from a computer not in the domain

2009-07-10T11:49:00.002+02:00

The case: My domain user has access to the SQL Server box (which is also registered in the domain). My dev-pc is not in the domain. I want to run SQL Server Management Studio on my local computer to access my SQL Server.

You try using SQL Server Authentication typing <DOMAIN>\username. Alas! "Cannot connect to <servername>". Additional information: Login failed for user '<DOMAIN>\username'. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456)

To be able to do this, you must run the Management studio as the domain user. This is not possible you say? When you do RunAs, it will not accept the domain user. You must run the command with the /netonly switch. Then it works like a charm.

Runas /netonly /user:<domain>\<username> <command>

But hey! There is a better way. Download ShellRunas by Mark Russinovich and Jon Schwartz. This is a shell extension that lets you right click any application and choos runas or runas (notonly).

Just remember to register it correctly. You have to run both this commands. Then you are good to go.

ShellRunas.exe /reg
ShellRunas.exe /regnetonly

Now you can right-click SQL Server Management Studio, choose "Run as different user (netonly)…" and give <DOMAIN>\<username> plus password. When connecting to database, choose Windows authentication.

Giving something back

2009-07-09T10:27:00.001+02:00

Finally I got around to create a blog. This blog will mainly contain .NET stuff I get cought up in at work. Looking forward to put something back into the community.

/Hallgrim