ASP.NET

MVC Framework in ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions CTP - Workaround for Accessing Controls in Code-Behind

Yow-Hann Lee — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:26:11 GMT

I've been meaning to post the following but only got to it just now. For those that have started playing around with the ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions CTP, you will have no doubt come across being unable to access controls declared in aspx from code behind. This is a heads up for those wanting to start dabbling in the MVC framework.

When you create a new ASP.NET MVC web project, the pages don't have a designer.cs file. In a typical web project, this is still dandy since you can access the controls by ID in code behind; the designer files are simply abstracted. However, in the MVC web project, you will get compilation errors. Instead, you could access inline. ASP.NET runtime will generate your declared controls (peek in temp dirs of your loaded modules), which explains why you can access and manipulate the controls inline.

Naturally, you may not want to do this inline. To access your controls in code behind, simply right-click on your web project and select "Convert to Web Application". And Voila!

Courtesy of ScottGu

Learning a Language...

Yow-Hann Lee — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:22:59 GMT

No, it's not what you've come to expect in a GWB tech blog. No, this blog post is not about Scott Hanselman's debate of "a universally best programming language". I have recently been checking out http://www.visualstudiotalkshow.com. As you will no doubt notice, it is a French .NET podcast.

Other than a stint in Quebec early in my childhood and a couple French classes in high school, I am not exaclty a Francophone. However, by listening to this series, I am hoping to combine my passion of software development with learning a language. It's a struggle but should prove for a great time. Afterall, French is the language of love!

Although to heed the advice of Steve Yegge and his point of the "one trick pony", it should really be a French podcast on Python. Stay tuned...

Seattle Code Camp 2007 (aka v3.0)

Yow-Hann Lee — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 05:48:50 GMT

Around this time last year, we were fast approaching the Seattle Code Camp held at Digipen in Redmond. Well, it turns out that it will be held in the same location this year on ~~November 3 & 4~~ ~~(edit: received an email from the organizer with updated dates. It will now be hold on Nov 17 & 18) (edit: received another email saying that this would be postponed to January sometime...TBD)~~ (edit v3: Seattle Code Camp V3 will happen on Jan 26 & 27, 2008)

This was a great event last year with strong emphasis on XNA last year as it was "the new hotness". You'll be able to find my blurbs about the event last year here and here (excerpt on IIS 7.0). This time last year, there were two main differences or missing ingredients. I actually didn't have a Vista box to run IIS 7.0 and the other being that I wasn't working at MySpace yet.

Anyways, go check out the Code Camp info at: http://seattle.codecamp.us/.

Bring your enthusiasm!

Calling GWB bloggers experiences on 64bit OS running IIS 32bit mode

Yow-Hann Lee — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 04:14:13 GMT

As per Microsoft support, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894435, running your 32 bit ASP.NET applications in IIS on Windows Server 2003 x64 is a simple matter of flipping the bit and enabling 32 bit mode. After aspnet_regiis on framework, you should be ready to go.

Having said that, has anyone come across post production/deployment issues in said configuration?

I know, I know...what's the justification for running such a scenario? You could have an internal library that references 32 bit specific dll (native code) in which you don't have the 64 bit version of. Which leads to the next thought..why not use Windows Server x86 with PAE extensions? What are the benefits of Server with PAE as opposed to Server x64? Comments, thoughts and rants are welcome. Answers ranging from "Depending on if x and y are...you will get..." vs. general practices.

Looking forward to Task Parallel Library, aka Parallel FX Library...

Yow-Hann Lee — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 15:56:13 GMT

It's interesting to see the projects coming out of MSR. For example, back in 2005, MSR developed a C# Software Transactional Memory at: http://research.microsoft.com/research/downloads/Details/6cfc842d-1c16-4739-afaf-edb35f544384/Details.aspx. The goal of the library was for devs to develop multithreaded programs with shared resources without using locks.

In the October issue of MSDN Magazine, we're presented a brief look into Microsoft's Parallel FX Library. Article can be found at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/10/futures/default.aspx. In an age of multi-core processors, the software infrastructure has yet to catch up. One measure of a great API is by contrasting the amount of pain suffered by implementing with and without that resource. I'm looking forward to the CTP. This and ScottGu's recent announcement of ASP.NET MVC framework.

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.

Quick BrainSharpener (#10) - Managing ASP.NET Session State in a Distributed Environment

Yow-Hann Lee — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 07:19:00 GMT

To make up for using a FizzBuzz-like question in the last entry (Hey, the title does stress "quick" doesn't it?), I will follow up with a thoughtful and practical question. This one is somewhat technology dependent but could be potentially reworded to be more agnostic.

NOTE: As an interview question, I wouldn't recommend asking this unless the candidate claims to have .NET knowledge. This usually comes in conjunction with a pure coding whiteboarding problem.

QUESTION:

Describe a couple different approaches to managing ASP.NET Session State in a distributed fashion. (You get extra points if you've never had to deal with this problem and had to come up with something on the spot. Usually, people that fall into this group are more likely to come up with unique approaches.)

A Brief Look at Online IDEs

Yow-Hann Lee — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 04:14:00 GMT

A couple years back, I remember thinking about IDEs as an SaaS. It definitely seemed ridiculous at the time, especially given that online spreadsheets were merely ideas in the works. (NOTE: I'm not saying it's a good idea even today). Also, the thought of having a Visual Studio clone within your browser was a bit much. <insert reference here to classic rule of thumb for creating a desktop driven app vs a client/server app - sorry, I came across an article, amongst a few, way back but I cannot find it now. If anyone knows what I'm referring to, please provide the link.>

Now in 2007, with a few online IDEs on the market, I decided to blog about a couple. I alluded to Yahoo Pipes and their designer in an earlier entry at: http://geekswithblogs.net/yowhann/archive/2007/02/13/106252.aspx. Also, just to add a disclaimer, this analysis excludes websites such as Try Ruby or Run BASIC which provides a quick install free environment and is aimed at getting people to try the language.

There is SednaSpace, an online IDE offered as SaaS. The online IDE was actually built in ASP.NET and the IDE is specialized to produce web apps. And surprise, surprise...the web apps that are generated are in ASP.NET =). While this is a visual programming service, there is an option to download the generated source. After examining the generated code, you quickly realize that it was not structured in a manner that can be easily maintained by developers. But then again, generated code is usually less than ideal. So most of the value in this service comes from the codeless programming aspect.

The SednaSpace designer is very much like the visual designer in VS. Unfortunately, because their aim is to completely abstract code away from the user and keep it primarily visual programming driven, there were some usability issues. Being in a less mature niches, online IDE and visual programming, does not help. And while they do have sparse online documentation at their site, their built-in help within the IDE is non-existent and under construction. (See Below). I imagine there is potential for a following once the service matures and they provide users with adequate quickstart guides and documentation.

The forms are based off of adding eventlisteners and actions to hook up to, much like ASP.NET. Logical expressions can be built using an expression builder that pops up in a separate window. Shown below is a simple graph, button and textbox with a validator (the expression being a value being <= 10).

Then there is CodeIDE (http://www.codeide.com/), which is actually an IDE for multiple languages (Perl, LISP, JavaScript, BASIC, etc). This one is more lightweight than SednaSpace but is limited in IDE features. Shown below is a simple program and its output on the right.

(NOTE: resizing your window while in CodeIDE is not preferred).

Last but not least, there is The Flex Online Compiler, which I have yet to dig into.

I am not going to rank these online IDEs; the purpose of this entry is moreso to bring awareness to a few online IDEs. While it may be possible to monetize this, I am not sure what kind of following it would have. Currently, CodeIDE and SednaSpace are free and I did some some ads within the IDE. So perhaps they intend on monetizing this in a similar fashion as other SaaS.

If the intent is to make this a paid service, it will be a long road ahead in convincing development shops let alone the enterprise of adopting this. While building even something trivial in SednaSpace, there were latency issues. Nevertheless, kudos to these guys for getting this out there. It is not something I would use right now, but it is something that seems like it was loads of fun to build as an SaaS.

Useful Resources From VanTechFest

Yow-Hann Lee — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:11:00 GMT

Just wanted to share some neat resources I came across from this event:

Here is an ASP.NET ViewState Tool: http://www.binaryfortress.com/aspnet-viewstate-helper/ - (Yes, yet another one...)

Rhino Mock: www.ayende.com (Rhino Mocks 3.0 Beta can be found here: http://www.ayende.com/Blog/archive/2007/02/17/Rhino-Mocks-3.0-Beta-Released.aspx)

NOTE: I've found NMock's evolution in 2.0 means it is more restrictive (i.e. interfaces). Rhino Mocks looks like it could be a more promising mock object framework than NMock. The presentation definitely gave me more incentive to check out Rhino mocks and potentially move away from NMock.

Sample Issue Tracker using Workflow Foundation: http://www.habaneros.com/Presentations/2007/Feb24-2007-1.html

Microsoftee on State Machine Workflows: http://blogs.msdn.com/pravin_indurkar/archive/2005/09/25/473826.aspx

CLR Internals Presenter (mostly on SoS), Greg Young's blog: http://codebetter.com/blogs/gregyoung/default.aspx

Useful blog on Advanced .NET Debugging: http://dotnetdebug.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html

Website Optimization Analyzer: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/

Model Presentation vs. Presentation Gone Bad: A Retrospective View of VanTechFest

Yow-Hann Lee — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 07:51:00 GMT

Model Presentation:

The example for the model presentation is the one given by Richard Campbell and Kent Alstad on Scaling ASP.NET Applications. This may not be necessarily the best model in terms of delivery of technical content depending on what level and the type of projects the attendee has been on; but it was certainly a good example of a well-rounded presentation. The reason why I worded these things as "presentations" as opposed to something more interactive is because they are moreso speeches. Sure, the talk could have included some code samples and demo'ing in Visual Studio, but that wasn't the intended goal and it is after all called a TechFest as opposed to Code Camp =).

In any case, as I pointed out earlier, the presenters were very organized, focused on their area of expertise and knew how to interact with the crowd. By focusing on their area of expertise, they spoke from their own experiences and also did their homework. And because of this, they were able to provide some cool inexpensive (free) resources for calculating performance. Enter http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/ for assistance in part of your performance equation calculation. And even though they weren't making an entrepreneurs sales pitch, they were definitely one of the better presenters at following Guy Kawasaki's Rules of PowerPoint.

The fact that Richard Campbell is a rock star in the .NET community may or may not help with the audience's perception of the presentation itself. It could help in the fact that it would draw a bigger crowd (compared to the crowds of other talks, I would so say). But the flip side of this is that the crowd may also come to expect more out of the famed (Greater) Vancouverite.

Presentation Gone Bad:

Just a quick disclaimer beforehand, the following is not meant to be offensive. It is rather intended to be an objective look at the post-mortem of a presentation. Some of the actual events for this "presentation gone bad" were a result of unfortunate circumstances. The following is intended to take away some of the things we can learn from other's misfortunes.

The presentation gone bad would be the Ruby Talk at the Vancouver Tech Fest. This was a promising talk as it was one of the few sessions that was aimed at unifying this into a tech fest as opposed to the traditional MS-backed Code Camp featuring only Microsoft Technologies. Also, for the last couple years, Ruby has been the hot poster child programming language of the open source world. Now, it was time to convince the norm folks from the Java and .NET camps of this. Well, evidence of this already began with converting John Lam, innovator of RubyCLR - Ruby for .NET, into a blue badge dude.

To start off the presentation, Nathaniel Brown experienced technical difficulties with hooking up his Mac. (Kind of puts of a damper on the whole "Mac, It just works!" motto eh?) At this moment, you may be recalling back to your college days. You know the one...the one where you had to do a demo of the term project and X% of your mark depended on it. And what do ya know? You come across a glitch during the demo that you've never encountered in test. Actually, for many and even for some of the best of them, this still happens in the real world. At this point, it all comes down to how you score in the recovery mode. So with Rob Chartier to the rescue, the presenter is able to get the presentations running on Rob's laptop.

Unfortunately, this was also where a questionable decision was made. He decided to download the famous Ruby demo on http://www.rubyonrails.org/screencasts, showing the making of a simplified weblog in 15 minutes. (NOTE: He had originally intended to code up his own "live" in 5 minutes). The reason why this is questionable is because for some, myself included, they have already gone through the screencasts and installed Ruby on Rails. I suppose part of the problem stems from the fact that the agenda only stated "Nathaniel on Ruby", making it difficult to determine what level this was for. In any case, showing a video of other's work in his own presentation did not prove to be a hit. For one, the font was way too small as it was being replayed in QuickTime. Secondly, people coming to a talk are expecting to see original content made by the expert speaker.

He was speaking in front of a primarily Java and .NET crowd. Once he realized the presentation could not go as planned, perhaps he could have modified the talk so that it was more of an open panel discussion. This would allow for mutual flow of information. Unfortunately, he was not very convincing in pointing out advantages of Ruby. For the most part, his only convincing case was that he preferred the syntax which is a subjective thing. And unfortunately, when he referenced other languages, he could not draw much from his own experiences but still attempted to justify his opinions. For example, he stated that "Having worked with PHP since PHP3...PHP has some of the best documentation support amongst all languages". Unfortunately, this is a classic case of speaking on topics outside your areas of expertise. (At the beginning of the speech, the presenter highlighted how he really only has real work experience with PHP and Ruby). I can draw an analogy to Richard Campbell and Kent Alstad's talk on Scaling ASP.NET Apps. Much like an application, a language also needs time to scale and mature. And with that is the support and documentation. What does the scaling of a language encompass? Naturally, the adoption rate and industry backing goes hand in hand as well.

Comments coming from the crowd were that he was attempting to make assumptions on other languages without speaking from his own real world experiences. Perhaps a better approach would have been to state the obvious, "Use the right tools given the circumstances". Personally, I see Ruby and Ruby on Rails as a great tool when it comes to specific scenarios (i.e. rapid prototyping, small projects, automation testing).

Some very good lessons to learn from a "Presentation Gone Bad". Not only in terms of what to look out for when presenting, but also what to consider as a technical guy.

Come prepared and sort out technical difficulties beforehand.
Speak on topics within areas of your expertise ONLY (refer to point #1).
Have a backup plan (refer to point #1).
Know your limits on technical areas.

Well, it's always easier to analyze something in hindsight and at the expense of others. But you know how the old saying goes, "experience is just having made all the wrong decisions before". So, better to learn from another's "experiences".