Ajax

Marking the One Year Anniversary of Script#

Yow-Hann Lee — Wed, 23 May 2007 05:45:07 GMT

On the first anniversary of the initial release of Script# by Nikhilk Kothari, he releases Script# support for ASP.NET AJAX. I still recall initially reading about Script# on his blog last year and wondering why it hadn't been married with what was then known as Atlas. But I quickly realized that this was sprouted as a personal venture. Aside from asp.net and tools he's involved in, there is a reason why this guy is a heavyweight in the .NET world.

Windows Live Search Mashup Day V3 Summary: Live Search Web Service API & Exposure to MS Knowledge Network

Yow-Hann Lee — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 07:19:00 GMT

I took part in the first ever Search Mashup event last year in Q4 and enjoyed it. The event is an internal event open to everyone who works for/at Microsoft. In the first ever Mashup event, I was fortunate enough to catch the tail end of Tina Wood's (on10 host) appearance. You can catch snippets of the first ever Mashup event on10.net. So the traditional rule of thumb in software is that it generally takes a few releases (3?) before a product has matured and stabilized. Does it apply to events? Well, the V3 has definitely evolved and was "feature rich".

Since I never blogged about the first Windows Live Search Mashup Night, I am going to take this opportunity to showcase some of the Live Developer offerings. In the first Search Mashup, all the buzz was about the released Windows Live Macros (I finally blogged about it earlier this month with a comparison of Google Co-op, entry found here). So I played around with that one. However, for this entry and what most most devs focused on, I will highlight Windows Live Search Web Service API.

Windows Live Search Web Service API

The API is very simple to use and follows a thin layer web service model. You can find the API reference at: http://msdn2.Microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb266180.aspx

Your request and response is broken down into the following:

1. SearchRequest object and

2. SearchResponse object.

You can think of them as HttpWebRequest and HttpWebResponse.

The generated proxy has a MSNSearchService with one public method called Search taking in a SearchRequest object as a parameter.

The SearchRequest contains a Query property which allows you to specify your query exactly as a user would via the Live Search textbox. So while there are no properties to set where you can maintain a site specific search (or even a list of sites to search on as is available in customized search), you can essentially achieve similar behavior by providing it directly in your Query string. For example, in the scenario of a site specific search, you would just specify something like: "site:www.cs.ubc.ca robotics".

If you have also played around with an older version (MSN Search Web Service 0.60 Beta), your experience should be fairly consistent. The ease of use (although some people may want more features/granular control as mentioned above) is part of what makes it so suitable for building during a Mashup event. Generally, people will spend a couple hours at these events. Add to the time allocated for the consumption of food/desserts, and yet you are still able to create functional and creative apps.

Microsoft Knowledge Network

At tonight's Mashup, there was a table setup with an LCD Screen showcasing Microsoft Knowledge Network (Their team blog can be found here). If you haven't seen the KN tie in with Sharepoints, Outlook, Communicator, etc (other Office products).. then you should definitely check it out. It's really sexy stuff for the enterprise! I think only the Unified Communications effort edges this out in terms of what's hot in the Office Division. So yesterday, on the big screen in the cafeteria in Redmond and with Bill Gates in NYC showcasing the Vista Launch, he referenced back to Windows 95 and pointed out all the technological advances made over that time. Just go back a decade and think of the tools used in the Enterprise. What a change?

Lighting, Prizes, Aura, Music (they played one of my favorite tunes circa 2002/2003 - Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes) and Great Food/Desserts (Chocolate Fondue!). All in all, a well done event. And the main thing to get out of these events? Fun!

Calling Out AJAX CheatSheets Following ASP.NET AJAX RTM

Yow-Hann Lee — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 05:37:00 GMT

I am going to spend the next couple blog entries catching up to the latest news. As you know, ASP.NET AJAX RTMed (release to manufacture) a couple days ago. This is definitely great news for those involved in developing "web 2.0" apps. After speaking with an ex-colleague of mine from my previous workplace, they were definitely excited about this as it meant the relative lockdown of the core framework. (Reference back to the major changes involved when the product moved from CTP to Beta of Atlas). In any case...

Just a couple days after the release, The Microsoft AJAX Library Cheat Sheets from ASP.NET Resources have been updated with the latest changes from previous versions of ASP.NET AJAX. Enjoy!

Google Maps vs. Windows Live Virtual Earth - An Amusing GMap Bug & A Programmability Comparison

Yow-Hann Lee — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:27:00 GMT

This was brought to my attention and was quite an amusing little bug. Try Google Maps Directions from "19020" to "1579 US-1 (S), North Brunswick, NJ. 08902". U will be in for a nice sUrprise.

a. Google Maps Directions Search Result (Incorrect)

b. Windows Live Virtual Earth Map Direction Search Result (Correct)

In all fairness, hiccups like these exist in other map services as well. This one was just particularly amusing and too hard to pass up.

Anyhow, onto more serious issues...

Google Mashup Consumers Get TeleAtlas instead of NavTeq Provider

While the following topic does not directly affect end users of both Maps sites, it does have a significant impact on mashup developers. (NOTE: one end user feature I will point out is the fact that Virtual Earth automatically readjusts to highlight your map route or center your location when you resize your browser window. Nice attention to detail)

You will notice that while Google Maps has Navteq as their provider for maps.google.com, mashups built with Google Maps API have TeleAtlas as their provider.

Meanwhile, Live Virtual Earth has Navteq as the provider for both its site and for mashup developers.

One of the most notable turnovers in the consumption of mashup services has been that of Redfin from Google Maps to Virtual Earth. It remains to be seen whether this tiered data provider approach will cause others to switch away from Google Maps API. While these may be cost driven strategies, ever since Blake Ross spoke out on "Don't Be Evil", it is difficult not to be sensitive to these user experiences or to any web security issues out of Google (today's being: Google's anti-phishing plugin leaked passwords). (reference: also see blog entry on security in software as a service.)

Newly Released IE Developer Toolbar Beta 3 Adds "View Generated Source" Feature To Match Firefox Web Developer Extension/Plugin

Yow-Hann Lee — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:19:00 GMT

Having been mostly immersed in the middle-tier during my work thus far on MSN, my web UI and AJAX blog entries have been somewhat limited. And while I posted a few tech book review articles on AJAX, most of these were carried over from my original http://yowhann.googlepages.com/ site.

But with the release of the latest IE Developer Toolbar (now in Beta 3) two days ago (1/12/2007), I now have an opportunity to catch up on my JavaScript entries and in particular client-side tools to play with.

Having worked on a "web 2.0" product (responsive, rich user experience in a thin client including context menus, drag 'n drop, etc) in the last release cycle at my previous company, I know that a feature I wanted in the IE Dev Toolbar was a way to quickly view the generated source vs. the original html output. This would have come in handy for all the updates to the UI made via DOM and JavaScript based on web responses from asynchronous calls. It's also handy for just regular DHTML (updating html via JavaScript). Back then (~6 months), you could still troubleshoot and debug by using the existing "View DOM" feature and drill down to your elements of interest. However, this new feature adds a quick way to reference the updated output, not to mention take snapshots of different states.

As some of you know, the Web Developer Plugin for Firefox offers a menu item to "View Source" and to "View Generated Source". And IE Developer Toolbar has caught up to this with the release of Beta 3. In the screenshot below, you can see how to "View Generated Source".

If you go to the Beta 3 Download Page, you will be able to see some of the other changes/improvements made from the previous release of IE Developer Toolbar. The "View Generated Source" feature is the one I feel that stands out the most for client-side developers building web applications these days. As with the previous release of the toolbar, it will work with IE6 and IE7.

Below is a quick and dirty example IE Dev Toolbar's View->Source->Original (aka "View Source") and View->Source->DOM (Page) (aka "View Generated Source").

IE Developer Toolbar Beta 3

View->Source->Original (aka "View Source")

View->Source->DOM (Page) (aka "View Generated Source")

Vancouver TechFest Feb 2007 (Formerly known as Vancouver Code Camp)

Yow-Hann Lee — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 07:38:00 GMT

Even though I am now located in WA, I still intend on making the drive up to Vancouver for this event. I attended the original Vancouver Code Camp last year and I am looking forward to what there is to offer. Unlike the Seattle Code Camp (which was also well done), the event is one day as opposed to two. It is held at a local technology institute and I would recommend others to make the trek up north. Also, this year, they appear to be trying something out. The main page stresses individuals "not come to this event and expect all the presentations to focus just on Microsoft technologies. We strive to balance the content." Hence the title change.

Last year featured speakers such as Shaun Walker (DNN founder) and Mike Mason (author of Pragmatic Version Control using Subversion). A lasting impression in my head from last year was in a demonstration of how CruiseControl and custom code used to trigger off portable warning lights in the room whenever the automated build ran and failed. That's continuous integration!

MS Ajax Framework (Beta) Release!!

Yow-Hann Lee — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 23:18:00 GMT

So it looks like everything is going according to planned as Scott Guthrie had promised. The MS Ajax Framework has been released into Beta. Based on his blog entry (http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/10/20/ASP.NET-AJAX-Beta-1-Released.aspx), amongst the aftermath of the triple bypass surgery performed, one plus is their performance optimization. A concern from my previous company was the large single JavaScript download.

It looks like they also beefed up the documentation: http://ajax.asp.net/docs/default.aspx. Makes you feel like "gosh, I wish it was there during our development lifecycle". At my previous company, we adopted the MS Ajax Framework in one of the earlier CTPs. In hindsight, our codebase did not always adhere to its intended client-side practices. According to Scott Guthrie (on a Scott Hanselman podcast), the ajax control toolkit is the most commonly used. We went against the grain and wrote a lot of JavaScript instead. Some of it had to do with all the compatibility issues we were facing with Atlas and third party components such as ComponentArt and Dundas Chart In any case, we mostly took advantage of its client-side API, OOP standards and web services tie-in. While there was no shortage of headaches, there is something particularly satisfying about working with pre-release technology to hopefully give a significant boost an organization's flagship product and provide users with a rich feature set. We pushed the limits of the framework and realized the scalability issues with JSON (Dave Johnson's blog entry has a good overview on this: http://blogs.ebusiness-apps.com/dave/?p=43). There were arguments on JavaScript programming practices (implementation preferences - efficient & obscure vs simple), standards for distinguishing private/public functions in a class (whether to make it truly private and keep it in the scope of the class = function) and when it was appropriate to use Sys.UI and when it just caused unecessary overhead. What makes a great experience is when you work in a small team with open-minded people and decide how to build up your JavaScript library. Ahhh, Good Times.

Unfortunately, it looks like there is a problem when you attempt to load up the MS Ajax page. Also, official Atlas traces are gone. Typing http://atlas.asp.net now just redirects you to http://ajax.asp.net.

Del.icio.us thoughts & First day @ Microsoft (First blog entry)

Yow-Hann Lee — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:30:00 GMT

It's great to have been granted an account on GWB. I was a longtime reader of blog entries in this community and now would like to be a valued contributor. Let's get started shall we?

I was taking a look at my del.icio.us site the other day. My trigger happy ways of logging interesting sites I come across had resulted in more than 500 bookmarked pages. And when there is that many, you must wonder whether I'll sift through any of them again. But let's take a look at a non-social bookmarking tool...for instance, your Favorites folder.

The value in these social bookmarks extends beyond your storage of 'Favorite' sites. You can almost regard it as a new type of search. (Technically, it's more like bucket sort) For the user, they can easily search for a category they tagged. I can remember ocassions where I need to go back to a reference I found or simply didn't have time to go into an article indepth and saved it for later. In fact, it's useful in conversations with friends when you recall something you saw and can pull up the link for reference.
But there is real value to the community as well. And even people in the .NET community are raising awareness for social bookmarking (http://blogs.x2line.com/al/archive/2006/04/15/1655.aspx). Perhaps this was the value Yahoo saw in del.icio.us. Kudos to them as they caught onto this early. I would love to see bookmarked sites from the likes Scott Guthrie, Scott Hanselman and Huihong Luo.

I wonder if Microsoft has ever thought about releasing their version of a social bookmarking site. And integrate it into IE7 (or to avoid more legal hassles, have an installation process that basically just adds the tag in favourites) . They may have already done it and I was just living in a cave.

RANDOM THOUGHTS OF THE DAY:

I was at lunch with my new colleagues today and they started talking politics and George Bush. I brought up a well-known fact that if you type "failure" into Google Search, the first result is George Bush. However, I couldn't remember why. Well, here is the answer: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/googlebombing-failure.html. Does this count as web2.0 and the whole social networking theme? Talk about Social Hacking eh?

Going from web application development with very rich features to a heavily utilized site should be a great opportunity to expand my knowledge. In our web application, we were probably dealing with at most approx 100,000 registered panelists (market research jargon for portal users) and a few admin side users. The admin site was where all the rich functionality resided. Already, I can see the high-level architectural differences between the two. Why you would never want to design and implement a certain way on a scalable site. In any case, I may blog about this sometime down the road.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the work at my previous company. Being able to build cutting edge software with all the bells and whistles of Ajax and a 'Web 2.0' interface was loads of fun. In particular, the UI guys and I devoted many late hours and weekends to meet a tight schedule and I saw through to code completion. But the visibility of your product is limited to users that qualify for your client's target market. Most of the time, this means panels with a portal user base of around 15,000 or less invites, many of whom will never opt in and see the portal. With MSN sites, everyone has come across it at one point or other. Even if you don't like them, it may very well have been your homepage when you first loaded up your OS. My parent's homepage is MSN.com. And it's pretty darn cool to point to the site and tell them that this is what I'll be working on. (Warning: the downside to this is that people you know can now start complaining about msn sites or particular UI components/features that you had nothing to do with).

After Day 1, so far so good. I am really excited to be here. When you're young, you are full of hopes and dreams. Regardless of what happens in this year on assignment, it will have been a privilege to set foot here. And to quote an individual at my previous company, "I love it, I want more!!".