http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blogDavid Hayden - Orchard Web Developerhttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/asp.net-mvc-4-web-api-routes-and-apicontrollerWed, 22 Feb 2012 16:25:31 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/asp.net-mvc-4-web-api-routes-and-apicontrollerThis is the 3rd post in a series of ASP.NET MVC 4 Tutorials. The first two posts were on ASP.NET MVC 4 Bundling and Minification and ASP.NET MVC 4 Entity Framework and Data Migrations. In this tutorial I want to briefly look at the new Web API integration in ASP.NET MVC 4. Web API introduces a new route for API calls as well as an ApiController that responds to Get, Post, Put, and Delete requests...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/asp.net-mvc-4-bundling-and-minificationTue, 21 Feb 2012 17:07:48 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/asp.net-mvc-4-bundling-and-minificationASP.NET MVC 4 provides bundling and minification of CSS and JavaScript, which reduces the number of HTTP Requests and payload size resulting in faster and better performing ASP.NET MVC Websites. There are a number of ways you can reduce and combine the size of CSS and JavaScript using the new feature, and in this ASP.NET MVC 4 Tutorial I want to show how you can create custom bundles where you...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/asp.net-mvc-4-and-entity-framework-database-migrationsTue, 21 Feb 2012 15:51:18 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/asp.net-mvc-4-and-entity-framework-database-migrationsASP.NET MVC 4 was released in beta by the Microsoft ASP.NET MVC Developer Team and it comes with a number of really cool features: Bundling and Minification Support of CSS and JavaScript, Database Migrations using Entity Framework 4.3, Web APIs, Mobile Web with support for jQuery Mobile, Real Time Communication via SignalR, and Asynchronous Support. The Database...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/head-first-mobile-web-book-reviewTue, 14 Feb 2012 03:58:26 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/head-first-mobile-web-book-reviewOnce again I want to thank O'Reilly for their wonderful Blogger Review Program that allows me to read some really good books in exchange for book reviews. I've started to enjoy the Head First Series of books after recently reading Head First jQuery and Head First HTML5 Programming. Head First Mobile Web is another great title in this series of development books that demysitfies mobile web...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/installing-umbraco-5-for-orchard-web-developersSat, 28 Jan 2012 18:36:52 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/installing-umbraco-5-for-orchard-web-developersI have been developing Orchard Websites, Themes, and Modules full-time ever since Orchard was released as 1.0. During that time I have developed a fondness for ASP.NET MVC Content Management Systems and wanted to try my luck with Umbraco 5, which is soon to be released and also uses ASP.NET MVC and Razor as the underlying technologies. Over the past month I have been spending my evenings learning...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/simple.data-for-microsoft-.net-data-access-layerSat, 21 Jan 2012 21:02:47 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/simple.data-for-microsoft-.net-data-access-layerI created an internal ASP.NET MVC 3 web application for a client which gave me an opportunity to play with a few technologies outside of my normal toolbox. One of those tools was Simple.Data, which is a simple data access solution good for simple, table-centric, forms-over-data .NET web applications. Normally I would use something like my own ActiveRecord Framework, Castle ActiveRecord,...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/modifying-web.config-to-serve-site.xml-and-static-files-with-orchard-cmsWed, 04 Jan 2012 00:06:40 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/modifying-web.config-to-serve-site.xml-and-static-files-with-orchard-cmsI received an email from an Orchard Web Developer wanting to know how to serve his site.xml file from his Orchard CMS Website. If you add a site.xml file or other static file to the root of your Orchard CMS Website you will get an HTTP 404 Not Found Error. This isn't so much an Orchard CMS question as it is an ASP.NET and Web.config question, because the answer lies in the web.config file for...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/twitter-bootstrap-orchard-themeSun, 25 Dec 2011 01:19:12 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/twitter-bootstrap-orchard-themeTwitter came out with a Bootstrap toolkit "designed to kickstart development of webapps and sites. It includes base CSS and HTML for typography, forms, buttons, tables, grids, navigation, and more." The Bootstrap CSS and JavaScript is indeed nice, so much nicer than the default Orchard Theme - Theme Machine. Now that I have a little free time over the holidays, I thought I would create a custom...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/orchard-cms-related-blog-posts-custom-moduleFri, 23 Dec 2011 19:44:52 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/orchard-cms-related-blog-posts-custom-moduleOne of the most popular features included with Orchard CMS is the blogging engine. I personally love to blog in order to share my knowledge and experiences with my fellow .NET Developers whenever possible. During the past week while on vacation I received a request from one of my closest clients that they needed a Related Blog Posts Custom Orchard Module. This is a custom module I have wanted to...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/profile-performance-of-orchard-websites-using-mvc-mini-profilerFri, 23 Dec 2011 19:30:26 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/profile-performance-of-orchard-websites-using-mvc-mini-profilerI mentioned in a previous Orchard Blog Post the importance of looking at Orchard Websites as more than just a collection of modules, Custom Orchard Themes - Converting Existing Web Design and HTML Templates. An Orchard Web Developer has to look at the Orchard Website as a whole and optimize it, particularly for performance. When playing with the new Projector Module in Orchard CMS, I really...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/projector-module-in-orchard-cmsFri, 16 Dec 2011 02:22:19 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/projector-module-in-orchard-cmsOver the past few weeks I have been playing with the new Projector Module in Orchard CMS. The Projector Module isn't available in the Orchard Gallery yet, but you can download it by enlisting in the Orchard Source Code on CodePlex. Although still in beta, the Projector Module works fine in a lot of the simple scenarios in which I have been testing it. I won't go into the Projector Module in...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/orchard-projector-module-has-random-sort-criteriaFri, 16 Dec 2011 02:19:59 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/orchard-projector-module-has-random-sort-criteriaIn my previous Orchard CMS Tutorial, Projector Module in Orchard CMS, I mentioned the new Projector Module. I also mentioned how it was missing at least 1 important feature, the ability to return a random set of items from a query. This is important for those Orchard Websites where the client wants to rotate various information on the website like customer testimonials, clients, new products,...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/javascript-jquery-the-missing-manual-book-reviewSat, 10 Dec 2011 07:27:22 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/javascript-jquery-the-missing-manual-book-reviewI grabbed a free copy of JavaScript & jQuery The Missing Manual as part of the O'Reilly Blogger Review Program. I recently just read HTML 5 The Missing Manual and really enjoyed it, and I wanted to see if all The Missing Manual books were just as good. As it turns out I really enjoyed JavaScript & jQuery The Missing Manual. Although I thought the first 3 chapters on JavaScript were rather...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/manually-installing-orchard-modules-and-themes-from-orchard-galleryMon, 28 Nov 2011 04:01:34 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/manually-installing-orchard-modules-and-themes-from-orchard-galleryLate Thanksgiving evening I was developing an Orchard Website when I noticed the Orchard Gallery Package Feed from within the Orchard Dashboard was not working. I kept getting HTTP 404 Not Found errors when attempting to download any custom modules and themes from the Orchard Gallery. I didn't have time to post a question in the Orchard Discussion Forums and wait for an answer to this problem. I...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/programming-html5-applications-book-reviewMon, 28 Nov 2011 03:59:47 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/programming-html5-applications-book-reviewMany of the new books on web development and web design focus on HTML5 and CSS3. Lately I have been reading HTML5 books with a focus on the programming aspects of HTML5, like Local Storage, IndexDB, Geolocation, Offline Applications, Web Workers, Web Sockets, etc. Recently I read Head First HTML5 Programming and HTML5 The Missing Manual. Both HTML5 books are excellent for those web designers and...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/rules-tokens-and-form-api-in-orchard-1.3Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:13:19 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/rules-tokens-and-form-api-in-orchard-1.3To recap, I have presented the following Orchard Tutorials with the release of Orchard 1.3: Markdown support for authoring new content items like Pages and Blog Posts in Orchard, a new Preview Feature for viewing unpublished and draft blog posts in Orchard, the ability to Delete Content Types, and the new ITitleAspect and Title Part for helping Orchard Web Developers. Now it is time to introduce...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/content-types-with-title-part-and-ititleaspect-in-orchard-1.3Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:03:35 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/content-types-with-title-part-and-ititleaspect-in-orchard-1.3I've been having fun discovering and using the new features in Orchard 1.3. Three features presented so far include: Markdown Support for Pages, Blog Posts, and other Content Items in Orchard, Delete Content Types in Orchard 1.3  as well as the ability to Preview Blog Posts, Pages, and other Content Types in Orchard. Another new feature in Orchard 1.3 that will be appreciated by Orchard...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/delete-content-types-in-orchard-1.3Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:43:41 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/delete-content-types-in-orchard-1.3I've been writing a number of Orchard Tutorials documenting new features in Orchard 1.3. The first tutorial described how to author blog posts and pages using the new Markdown Support in Orchard 1.3. The second tutorial demonstrated the new preview feature in Orchard 1.3 for previewing draft and unpublished blog posts and pages before publishing them to the world. Now I want to talk about a new...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/html5-the-missing-manual-book-reviewMon, 17 Oct 2011 00:18:32 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/html5-the-missing-manual-book-reviewI picked up a free copy of HTML5 The Missing Manual as part of the O'Reilly Blogger Review Program despite reading other book reviews suggesting the HTML5 book was too simplistic for professional web designers and web developers. Although I agree the book doesn't dive into every nook and cranny of HTML5 to lull us to sleep, it hits that sweet spot to help web designers and web developers start...http://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/previewing-unpublished-blog-posts-and-pages-in-orchard-1.3Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:52:48 GMThttp://www.davidhayden.me:80/blog/previewing-unpublished-blog-posts-and-pages-in-orchard-1.3As I mentioned earlier, Orchard 1.3 was released the other day and it has some incredibly useful features for a minor release! I have already mentioned the Markdown support in Orchard 1.3 in my Orchard Tutorials, which allows content authors to create content items, like Orchard Blog Posts and Orchard Pages, using the popular Markdown Syntax. Along those same content authoring lines, we...