Web Development, JavaScript & CSS

How to change the endpoint url of services that Silverlight clients use.

Tim Huffam — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:17:26 GMT

If your Silverlight app references services, the endpoints to these services are stored within a config file within the xap bundle - which is usually deployed as .xap file within the ClientBin dir of your web app.

To change the end point urls:
1) Rename the xap file (eg within E:\Demos\MySilverlightApp.Web\ClientBin) to .zip.
2) Unzip it
3) Edit the ServiceReferences.ClientConfig file (to update the endpoint url) and save it.
4) Recreate the zip file
5) Rename the .zip file as .xap

That's it.

Error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk

Tim Huffam — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:46:27 GMT

This error occurred on our TFS2008 build server which we had upgraded to cater for VS2010 projects (by installing VS2010 on the build server - see this article).

Error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.

However - although we had installed VS2010 on the build server - we had not installed the web development components (Visual Web Developer) - this is what caused the error.

To fix - simply add the web development components:

Go into Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs
Select Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, and click on Change/Remove
In the VS Maintenance Mode screens, select Add or Remove Features
In the Setup - Options page make sure 'Visual Web Developer' is checked.
Click on Update.

You shouldn't need to restart your build service.

HTH
Tim

Creating mulitple TFS Build services on the same server - one for VS2008 projects and one for VS2010 projects

Tim Huffam — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 02:51:59 GMT

This is for TFS2008.

This is based mainly on this article: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jpricket/archive/2007/08/03/tfs-2008-running-two-build-agents-on-the-same-machine.aspx
But also had input from these:
http://www.woodwardweb.com/vsts/000398.html
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckh/archive/2007/08/14/tfs-2008-a-basic-guide-to-team-build-2008.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jimlamb/archive/2010/04/13/configuring-multiple-tfs-build-services-on-one-machine.aspx

Also the following article discussing upgrading a TFS2008 build server to cater for VS2010 projects: http://www.richard-banks.org/2009/11/how-to-build-vs2010-solutions-using.html

Scenario:
---------
We want to use the existing build service the way it is - for VS2008 projects.
We will create a new build service, on the same machine but using another port - for building VS2010/.Net 4.0 projects.
**For this we must have first installed VS2010 on the build server! (see article mentioned above).

The reason we're creating another service is that we found certain VS2008 projects would not build using MSBuild 4.0 (intended for VS2010 - but supposedly catering also for VS2008). The main problem area was unit tests and the private accessor's VS generates (to provide access to private/internal members of a class being tested). The following link provides a work around, but we found this just opened up more problems - and in the end decided that the multi-service solution would get us up and running quickest: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adamroot/archive/2009/12/10/building-vs-2008-unit-test-projects-in-msbuild-4-0-beta-2.aspx

To create the 2nd build service (VS2010/.Net 4.0 projects): ----------------------------------------------------------- 1) Copy build service executable and config file (tfsbuildservice.exe & tfsbuildservice.exe.config) giving them another name (eg tfsbuildservice_2.exe & tfsbuildservice_2.exe.config). They are located within the following directory: <Program Files>\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies

2) Modify port setting. Edit the new config file (tfsbuildservice_2.exe.config) and update the following line with a new port number (eg 9193): <add key="port" value="9191" />

3) Make the new service use .Net 4.0 - by changing the MSBuildPath - so it references MSBuild 4 (for VS2010/.Net 4.0 projects). Change the following line in tfsbuildservice_2.exe.config from: <add key="MSBuildPath" value="" /> to <add key="MSBuildPath" value="C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319" />

4) Configure URL ACLs. Do this by running the wcfhttpconfig.exe utility in the new directory using the following syntax: wcfhttpconfig reserve <domain>\<user name> <port number> *** You must run this command as a local administrator.

5) Create the new windows service. Execute the following command at the command prompt - as an administrator. Note the spaces after the equals signs. sc.exe create "VSTFBUILD_2" binpath= "D:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\TFSBuildService_2.exe" DisplayName= "Visual Studio Team Foundation Build Service 2 (for VS2010 and .Net 4.0 projects)" *** You must run this command as a local administrator.

6) Open the new service's properties and set the account and password to run as, then start it. It would also pay to set this service's startup type to automatic.

You will need to create new Build Agents to point to this new service.

HTH
Tim

Error: Failed to access IIS metabase. Hosting WCF Service in IIS

Tim Huffam — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:13:04 GMT

This error ("Failed to access IIS metabase") can occur when you try to access your WCF when you have added for hosting within IIS.

To solve this problem do this:

Reregister ASP.NET for IIS: Open an Visual Studio Command Prompt (or a regular command prompt and cd into the .Net dir - usually: C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727) then type:
aspnet_regiis -i
When complete, from the same command prompt run: iisreset

Verify your IIS virtual/app dir is setup correctly (uses .Net 2). If you don't already have one...

To Host a WCF Service within IIS:

Develop your service in IIS (I'm not going to tell you how to do that!) and build it.
Within your computer management/MMC console (compmgmt.msc), open the Internet Information Service node and right click on the site you want to use and select New - Virtual Directory...
Enter the name you want.
Point this to the directory you created your WCF service project in (the project root dir - not the bin dir).
Complete the wizard then back in the MMC window right click on your new virtual dir and select Properties.
On the ASP.NET tab make sure uses version 2.0.50727 (or whatever your v2 is).

To test: within the MMC console - open your new virtual dir, right click on one of your services (eg MyService.svc) and select Browse.

HTH

Tim

How to fade image layers using Gimp gradient/blend tool

Tim Huffam — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:49:34 GMT

This post will explain how to do fading (fade out a layer) in Gimp.

Assuming you have an image open...

Add a new layer
Draw the part you want faded
Right click on the layer in the Layers panel/window and select 'Add Layer Mask', then click on Add on the Add Layer Mask dialog (making sure the default value of 'White (full opacity)' is selected).
Select the Blend/Gradient tool and set the Gradient to 'FG to GB(RGB)' .
On the layer click and drag a line where you want the gradient (fade) to start and finish. The first click is where it will be faded out and the second click is where it will start to fade.
Right click on the layer in the Layers panel/window and select 'Apply Layer Mask'.

That's it.

How to move/drag objects in Silverlight (2.0)

Tim Huffam — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:24:43 GMT

The following code shows you how you can make Silverlight controls/objects moveable by dragging them with the mouse.

Page.cs:

<UserControl x:Class="MovingObjs.Page"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

Width="400" Height="300">

</Grid>

</Border>

</Canvas>

</UserControl>

Page.xaml.cs:

namespace MovingObjs

{

public partial class Page : UserControl

{

private bool moving = false;

private double offSetX;

private double offSetY;

public Page()

{

InitializeComponent();

}

private void brdMovable_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)

{

moving = true;

Point offset = e.GetPosition(brdMovable);

offSetX = offset.X;

offSetY = offset.Y;

}

private void brdMovable_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)

{

moving = false;

}

private void brdMovable_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)

{

if (moving)

{

Canvas parent = (Canvas)this.brdMovable.Parent;

Point p = e.GetPosition(parent);

double x = p.X - offSetX;

double y = p.Y - offSetY;

txtBlkTest.Text = "X: " + x.ToString() + ", Y: " + y.ToString();

this.brdMovable.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, x);

this.brdMovable.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, y);

}

Firefox 3 ignores cache control http headers - security risk for online apps!

Tim Huffam — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:17:40 GMT

If a user, using Firefox 3, signs out of a web site and does not close the browser, anyone else using that browser subsequently can view the content of pages loaded by the previous user (eg in an internet cafe, or any place where workstations are shared eg universities) - exposing private/confidential data.

This only affects HTTP post requests (not gets) and only Firefox version 3 - earlier versions (1.5, 2 etc), and IE, are not affected.

The main points are:

This is definately a bug: a violation of RFC 2616, section 14.9 that states "The Cache-Control general-header field is used to specify directives that MUST be obeyed by all caching mechanisms along the request/response chain".
Some companies who deem this a significant hole in their security have chosen to block requests from Firefox 3 (eg they deem it their responsibility to secure their customers private and confidential data to the best of their ability).
This bug has been registered with the Mozilla dev team, but currently (as of 26 Sept 2008) has a status of unconfirmed.

CSS Absolute positioning in Firefox and IE

Tim Huffam — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:57:24 GMT

A couple of notes regarding absolute positioning in FF and IE...

Specifying position values:

IE allows you to omit the unit of measurement for Left and Top. It assumes pixels eg:
obj.style.Left = 10;
However FF requires that you specify the unit of measurement eg:
obj.style.Left = "10px";

Using other elements parents to calculate your object's position:

The scenario might be you have a div that you want to position over or by another object - but that object has no position values. In this case I use parent object values.

Don't use the IE specific property parentElement (this is not supported in other browsers) eg:
obj.style.Left = otherObj.parentElement.offsetLeft + 10;
note in this example (that works in IE only) there is no unit of measurement.
Instead use the parentNode property (this works for both IE and FF) eg:
obj.style.left = (otherObj.parentNode.offsetLeft + 10) + "px";

HTH
Tim

VS2008 Javascript debugging error: The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document

Tim Huffam — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:04:24 GMT

When trying to debug javascript using Visual Studio 2008 there a couple of things you need to do first - otherwise it (debugging) will not work and you'll get the following error when you hover over breakpoint in your javascript:

The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document.

Note that this is only for debugging using IE (6) - not sure about other browsers/versions.

Within IE go into Tools - Internet Options - Advanced tab and make sure the 'Disable Script Debugging' is unchecked.
Make sure you have a breakpoint in your javascript.
Start debugging your web app in VS.
Within VS select menu item Debug - 'Attach to Process...'
On the Attach to Process dialog, select the row which has explorer.exe for your app (the Title column will have you page title on it), then click Attach.

That's it - when your breakpoint is reached the VS debugger will be triggered.

HTH
Tim

Centering div tags using CSS

Tim Huffam — Tue, 15 May 2007 22:11:00 GMT

As text-align doesn't work I use a simple work around:

.mydiv{
width: 100%;
left: 50%;
}

It's not perfect - but very simple and easy to understand - and you can modify it to suit.

Seems to work ok in IE 6 & FF 2.0.

Here's another method (http://www.andybudd.com/archives/2004/02/css_crib_sheet_3_centering_a_div/index.php) - but I found it not obvious/simple enough (expecially for others who may have to maintain the css down the track - KISS)

HTH
Tim