Microsoft's Opinionated Misfit Geek

Monday, March 31, 2008

You've heard it. JavaScript is not a REAL programming language.

Well, it is NOW. Programming in JavaScript is inevitable.

And why not.

It is ubiquitous. (Supported by all major browsers.)
It supports good Object Oriented Development.
There is TONS of code out there.
There is a rapidly growing collection of rich, high quality JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries available.
It's been good enough to be implemented out of the browser in client technologies like Flash (ActionScript is for all intents and purposes ECMAScript, which is the new name for JavaScript)and SilverLight 1.0)
And, Server side technologies like Aptana's Jaxer

While I concede that "Web 2.0" technologies like SilverLight 2.0 (Programmed in C#, VB, or any .NET language), and Flash/Flex, and JavaFX have a strong place in the future of the web..... programming the DOM with JavaScript is here to stay.

I think we need to stop trying to avoid JavaScript and start embracing it, even if only for it's universal availability.

Microsoft is embracing JavaScript

We've added great development and debugging support fir JavaScript in Visual Studio (see links below.)
We've developed a GREAT set of JavaScript Extensions that are server independent, free, and open. [More Info Here]
Created a JavaScript friendly controls framework. [ See videos #62, #63, and #64 HERE. ]

So, if your ready to take JavaScript beyond the basics, here are some of my favorites to get you started.

Some Books on JavaScript beyond the syntax !

Monday, March 31, 2008 9:35:02 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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AJAX | Misfit Geek [Syndicated]

Graffiti CMS First Impressions.

I love CMS applications!

I've played with more than a hundred free and commercial CMSs written in VB, C#, PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, you name it !

It's taken me a while to put Graffiti through it's paces, but I did so last weekend.

Here is a quick list of my first impressions.

PROS

Install is a SNAP.
The BlogML import facility imported my hundreds of posts flawlessly.
The administrative user interface is intuitive.
It's FAST
The FREE version is not crippled (just limited authors and a couple advanced features off.)
Widgets are EASY !

CONS

Some of the downloadable themes I found were not "seamless" (community provided code varies in quality.)
I missed the ability to create a completely standalone .aspx page that inherits nothing but the theme, (Plan to try this manually.)

All in all, this has been one of the best "first impression" experiences I've had with a 3rd part ASP.NET application.

Since the free version is REAL and doesn't even require registration to download and install, CLICK HERE and give it a try !

Monday, March 31, 2008 7:20:37 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Visual Web GUI Webcast Downloads

The PowerPoint Decks and the First Webcast are now available on-demand.

Visual WebGui: An Enterprise AJAX application in 20 minutes PPT Deck.

View it On-Demand. (The webcast starts at 10:45 into the video.)

Visual WebGui: Silverlight for line-of-business application PPT Deck.

Do to a recording error, this webcast is not available on-demand.

Sunday, March 30, 2008 11:50:00 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Windows XP Update "Checking for the latest updates for your computer..." And Checking, and checking....

One of my test machines that is still running Windows XP just HUNG while performing Windows Update Today.

At the "Checking for latest updates" page it just kept checking and checking and checking.......

It turns out that it was some bad files. Maybe a prior failed dowload or something.

Here are the steps I used to solve the problem.

Click On Start --> Run

Enter Cmd and hit return.

At the command prompt and type 'proxycfg -d' (This will clear the proxy cache, don't worry if it complains about there not being a proxy.)

Type 'net stop wuauserv' to stop the automatic updates service. (You must do this and it must succeed in stopping the service or your won't be able to do the next step.)

Delete all the contents of C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution.

Go back to the command prompt and type 'net start wuauserv' to restart the automatic updates.

Run Windows update again.

Viola !

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 9:09:57 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Fixing an ASP.NET 2.0 App after upgrading to 3.5

When you first open an ASP.NET 2.0 website in Visual Web Developer / Visual Studio 2008, VS asks you if you want to upgrade the project to 3.5.

As some of you who are using Microsoft AJAX and who say YES to upgrade to 3.5 have noticed, when you go to run your newly upgraded application (which worked fine before the upgrade), you get build errors !!!

The build error complains that it can't load System.Web.Extensions Version 1.0.61025.0

That's the OLD version of Web.Extensions (AJAX) that works with ASP.NET 2.0.

You'll note a number of references in your web.config file to this old version. Since before the 2008 release wave, MS AJAX was loaded via separate assemblies and since it is now "baked in" to ASP.NET, it's hard for the upgrade tool to know that you don't need the referenced version.

So..... In your web.config change all the 1.0.61025.0 version references to 3.5.0.0 (unless you are using some CTP or Futures Version)

If you are using the AJAX Control Toolkit there is still a bit of work to do.

You will now get this error on your Toolkit Control instances.

Download the version of the AJAX Control Toolkit that is built for ASP.NET 3.5

Note: There are separate versions for ASP.NET 2.0 projects and ASP.NET 3.5 projects.

If your are running Windows Vista, Right-Click the .zip file, select properties, and "Unblock" the file.

Then unzip the files to the location of your choice.

Make sure the Visual Studio Toolbox Tab that you create for the controls is with the 3.5 version.

Now you need to upgrade your project to use the new tool kit. The easiest way to do this is to let Visual Studio do it for you.

SWITCH TO SOURCE VIEW and drag and drop any Ajax Control Toolkit control into your page.

When you get this dialog SELECT APPLY TO ALL ITEMS and click yes.

Then delete the control you just added.

Visual Studio will have updated your controls reference and you should now be good to go !

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 1:22:06 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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ASP.NET | Misfit Geek [Syndicated]

Monday, March 24, 2008

My AJAX World Downloads - AJAX Security & AJAX Patterns Code and PowerPoints

AJAX World was a great confirmation for me. AJAX, RIA, or whatever term you use to describe this "new" way of building web applications is here to stay.

Relative to Microsoft, here are a few of my big take-a-ways.

Security matters even MORE than it has to date.
Web Development frameworks like ASP.NET that facilitate secure development are crucial.
Interest in Microsoft Silverlight is reaching a feverish level !
Alpha Geeks (even the ones who aren't exactly MS fans) are digging the new stuff in IE 8, especially the developer features.

Thanks to everyone who attended my sessions. Having spent so much of the last 10 years focused on web security it's great to see the interest and awareness continue to grow.

Below are links to both my PowerPoint decks and all my code, including all the security code I showed you. I don't think I've ever released the security stuff before.

WARNING: This code is NOT finished code. I don't even suggest it's "good" code. It's stuff I assembled for illustrative purposes. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK and don't include it in your production applications. All standard disclaimers apply ! :)

ASP.NET AJAX Security [Demo Code] [PowerPoint Deck]

ASP.NET AJAX Patterns [Demo Code] [PowerPoint Deck]

Monday, March 24, 2008 11:38:12 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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AJAX | Events | Misfit Geek [Syndicated]

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Live from Redmond - Visual WebGUI Webcasts this Thursday & Friday

Please joind me for these 2 webcasts this Thursday and Friday. VWG is a cool FREE set of tools to accelerate your ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight Web Development. Guy Peled, CTO of Visual WebGui is joining me and he will build applications live during the webcats.

Click below to register - attendance is FREE !

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: An Enterprise AJAX application in 20 minutes.

It is all about simplicity: Simplicity in programming next generation complex AJAX application that makes the productivity difference. In this Webcast we will demystify Visual WebGui. We will build a fully blown application in less than 20 minutes, and strip off the covers, showing you how you can cut your development cycle by as much as 90% . Visual WebGui is open source, so you can dive into the code. Throughout the webcast we will demonstrate that while VWG enables rapid application development (RAD) , the developer is free to create custom controls, wrap third party controls , invoke HTML resources and interop with standard ASP.NET applications like DNN and others, all in a matter of minutes.

3/27/2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)| Duration:60 Minutes

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: Silverlight for line-of-business application.

In this webcast we will "light up", in minutes, the fully blown line-of-business application that we built in our previous webcast adding the rich look and feel of Silverlight as well as its enhanced performance. You will see how we accomplish this by a "push of a button". We will demonstrate how to make WinForms controls available to your web application and how you can style your UI by using fully enabled Expression Blend. The outcome is a very light footprint client, unaffected by application size and weight, and as a bonus, secured by design. You will be shown how you can, extend, invoke, interop and customize your application using Visual WebGui.

3/28/2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)| Duration:60 Minutes

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About the Live From Redmond series. This series of Live Meeting presentations are designed specifically for the community by members of the Microsoft product teams. The presentations are all done by actual team members working on the specific technology, and are a great way to hear from and ask your questions directly to the product team.

Sunday, March 23, 2008 10:51:00 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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Saturday, March 15, 2008

Windows Communication Foundation - 65 Links to make you an expert!

Some time ago I posted a list of links to Windows Workflow Foundation Tutorials and since then I've been getting an increasing number of requests for a list of links to WCF tutorials.

So, here you go! Sixty Five Videos and Virtual Labs to make you a WCF Expert !

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 01 of 15): Overview

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 02 of 15): Contracts

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 03 of 15): Contract Versioning

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 04 of 15): Exceptions and Faults

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 05 of 15): Bindings

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 06 of 15): Hosting

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 07 of 15): Messaging Patterns

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 08 of 15): Instancing Modes

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 09 of 15): Concurrency, Throughput, and Throttling

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 10 of 15): Security Fundamentals

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 11 of 15): Federated Security

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 12 of 15): Reliable Messaging

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 13 of 15): Transactions

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 14 of 15): Message Queuing

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 15 of 15): Extensibility

Programming the Windows Communication Foundation

The Lifetime of a Message in Windows Communication Foundation

A Sneak Preview of Windows Communication Foundation from an Early Adopter's Perspective

Management and Diagnostics for Windows Communication Foundation

Load Balancing, Deployment, and Performance for Windows Communication Foundation

Taking Advantage of TCP/IP Reliability in SOAP

MSDN Webcast: Introduction to Windows Workflow Foundation

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation

MSDN Webcast: In-Depth Answers to Your Questions About Windows Communication Foundation

Calling Windows Communication Foundation Services with ASP.NET AJAX Client Libraries (Part 1 of 2)

Calling Windows Communication Foundation Services with ASP.NET AJAX Client Libraries (Part 2 of 2)

MSDN Webcast: Advanced Serialization

MSDN Webcast: Building Distributed Applications with Windows Communication Foundation

MSDN Webcast: Building Connected Systems Using Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation

Exposing Your Content as a Service Using Windows Communication Foundation

Building Powerful AJAX-Style Solutions with ASP.NET "Atlas" and Windows Communication Foundation

Extending Windows Communication Foundation

Working with Windows Communication Foundation

Windows Communication Foundation Web-Centric Capabilities in .NET Framework 3.5

Working with Operations and Calls in Windows Communication Foundation

Introducing Web Services Enhancements for Microsoft .NET (WSE) 3.0

Dissecting Contract-First Web Services

Live From Redmond: VB9 – Building Service-Oriented Applications with WCF

Migrating .NET Applications to Services Oriented Solutions with WCF

Writing Custom Channels for Windows Communication Foundation

Transactions in Distributed Solutions with Windows Communication Foundation

.NET 3.0 Series: Windows Communication Framework Overview

Transactions in Distributed Solutions with Windows Communication Foundation

Building Powerful AJAX-Style Solutions with ASP.NET "Atlas" and Windows Communication Foundation

Exposing Your Content as a Service Using Windows Communication Foundation

Web Services Interoperability with Java and J2EE Using Windows Communication Foundation ("Indigo")

Understanding Windows Communication Foundation Contracts

Building Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio Codename "Orcas"

Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and "InfoCard" in the Public Sector

Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Identity in Financial Services

The Web Service Software Factory Using WCF

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) with Justin Smith

Building Workflow-Enabled Services with Windows Communication Foundation

A Sneak Preview of Windows Communication Foundation from an Early Adopter's Perspective

Live from PDC: A Guided Tour of "Indigo

Connecting Windows Workflow Foundations to Lotus Notes/Lotus Domino

Virtual Labs

Understanding Windows Communication Foundation Virtual Lab

Reliable and Transacted Messaging with the Windows Communication Foundation

A Server Scenario Lab with Windows Communication Foundation

WCF Introduction - Building a WCF Service

The Fundamentals of Programming the Windows Communication Foundation

Building a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Adapter using the WCF LOB Adapter SDK

Understanding Windows Communication Foundation Virtual Lab express

Links

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663324.aspx

Also - Check out the WCF Security Guide !

http://www.codeplex.com/WCFSecurityGuide

Saturday, March 15, 2008 1:40:03 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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.NET | Misfit Geek [Syndicated]

Thursday, March 13, 2008

How Scott Guthrie gets so much work done.

I've known Scott for almost 10 years but when he hired me a few years ago I had no idea how much work he gets done.

Apart from managing the teams that deliver a dozen products for Microsoft, he travels and speaks everywhere, writes these detailed blog posts, and seems to know everything that's going on everywhere. (Like if the www.asp.net site if down for 40 seconds in the wee hours of the morning.)

Well, I've finally figured it out !

Check out this rare photo that PROOVES Scott Guthrie is actually triplets !!!

This explains ALOT !

Thursday, March 13, 2008 11:07:00 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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Misfit Geek [Syndicated] | Off-Topic

Getting up to speed with ASP.NET 3.5 and the 3.5 Extensions

I get hundreds of email a day from customers. Yesterday I received three email with the same question.

Do you have a few good links for getting up to speed with ASP,NET 3.5

So.... Here you go.

ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008

http://www.asp.net/downloads/vs2008/

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/s57a598e.aspx

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700830.aspx

http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urvs5cn3s8

3.5 Extensions Links

http://www.asp.net/downloads/3.5-extensions/

http://www.asp.net/learn/3.5-extensions-videos/

http://www.asp.net/downloads/3.5-extensions/readme/

THEN .........................

Just subscribe to http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu where you can get great detailed stuff.

Thursday, March 13, 2008 10:36:51 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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ASP.NET | Misfit Geek [Syndicated]

Some Blog Posts on Silverlight Security

The 2nd presentation at next week's AJAX World is on AJAX Security.

After just coming back from MI 08 last week where Silverlight 2.0 was the hot topic, I've been thinking about the Silverlight security model. After all, anytime you install a binary extension to the browser there is a security consideration.

ActiveX was sort of all or nothing, Adobe Flash has had security challenges, Java Applets, Windows Forms browser controls, etc.

Shawn Farkas, who keeps a .NET Security log HERE has written several interesting entries on Silverlight security.

Here is a list for your enlightenment.

The Silverlight Security Model

Silverlight Security II: What Makes a Method Critical

Silverlight Security III: Inheritance

Silverlight Security Cheat Sheet

Thursday, March 13, 2008 3:28:20 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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Misfit Geek [Syndicated] | Misfit Geek [Silverlight]

Utility to Convert Text / HTML to a Visual Basic String

AJAX opens many interesting new doors in terms of how we can tailor the user experience to the customers needs and how we can display content based on any number of state context.

This sometimes means fetching and manipulating HTML or XML in our server side code and sending it to the browser as execution time via an AJAX request.

Earlier today I was "sprucing up" a demo on implementing the "Partial Page Update Pattern" in preparation for a talk on AJAX Patterns that I'm giving at AJAX World next week in New York.

I always try to minimize my demo application dependencies and isolate the concept that I'm talking about as much as possible and I wanted to return some markup to my web page and dynamically update the DOM, but I didn't want to add a file or database dependency so I decided to just store HTML in a VB string.

I wanted more than trivial markup and HTML is time consuming to convert to a programming friendly string, what with all those quotes and all.

I decided to write a little quickie utility to do string conversion of cut-and-paste HTML when a little searching produced a free utility to do just what I wanted.

It's great for testing, demos, or if you have a manual cut-and-paste editing process. (But don't REALLY store HTML in your source code !)

Try it out.

[Just Click Here to get your copy - it's free.]

Thursday, March 13, 2008 2:03:49 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

SQL Express - "Failed generate a user instance..."

I Love SQL Server Express. I write demos. Lots of them. SQL Express is great because it's free and works with .MDF files so that I can just bundle up the database with my demo and folks can download a demo, run, and experiment.

I'm "learning" to love Windows Vista.

My only real complaint is that we OVER DID security. I want a switch that says.....

Use Vista's Maximum Security (I never would.)
Lighten Up a Bit (You know, turn of UAC and such.)
Make security on this vista box just like Windows XP
Make me a GOD on this box (Super Grand Admin - I accept the responsibility.)
Windows 98 Mode (TURN IT ALL OFF.)

Life's been very busy these days and I'm working on some new illustrative demos for my AJAX World Talks next week.

Trying to connect to my SQL Express database from my ASP.NET code yields the following message.

"Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance. The connection will be closed."

... "a failure."

CAN YOU BE A BIT MORE SPECIFIC ????????

I know, I know, this is a typical Microsoft error message.

I know SQL Express installers locked down to some extend so I thought maybe the issue was disabled protocols as I was carrying forward some code, but alas - nothing seamed to help. I tried all the configuration tools, used the surface area tool and added everyone to the SQL admin's groups. NOTHING

After searching and playing for some time I got things working again and wanted to share the solution.

If you're running from the IDE then you are running as yourself so:

Delete C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS.

If you're running via IIS the user is usually ASPNET so....

Delete C:\Documents and Settings\COMPUTERNAME\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS

Hope you found this and it saves you some time.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 6:29:46 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

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Misfit Geek [Syndicated]

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

UPDATED: Live from Redmond Webcasts this Thursday & Friday- VWG !

Click below to register - attendance is FREE !

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: An Enterprise AJAX application in 20 minutes.