Dev-Kids Den

"The error indicates that IIS is not installed on the machine"

2008-11-23T16:44:00.001-08:00

Let's consider the example:

Fresh installation of Windows 2008 with Web Server role IIS and ASP.NET installed.
A web application using AjaxToolkit

By default the Application Pool on IIS 7 is set to Integrated Pipeline, which does not work with AjaxToolkit and switching to Classic mode caused several issues:

404.17 - File Not Found
Take a look on the 'handler' in the 'Detailed Error Information' - IIS treats .aspx file as a static content means ASP.NET is not installed on IIS with your application, and, definitely you need to register it for your site, but ..
aspnet_regiis.exe does not work well on IIS 7.0 (even with IIS 6.0 support installed) caused the "The error indicates that IIS is not installed on the machine .." exception what means you need to use server features to install it instead of command line

The quickest solution here is to update ASPNET by using the features - with no changes on application pool go to server roles, uninstall and then install again ASPNET. Both the issues will be fixed.

MOSS'07/WSS 3.0 Reuse existing Content database

2008-10-26T22:37:00.001-07:00

Reusing existing content database in WSS3.0 (WSS_Content_<<GUID>> by default) is very simple:

Create a new application (if no one still exists)
Go to Central Administration > Application Management > Content Databases and change 'Web Application' to required
Simply Add a content database.

Simple. After these steps all previous site collections will be appeared and available for you.

The only redundant object is new content database after the step 1. You can delete it too, but notice that by deleting it from SharePoint configuration it still remains on SQL Server.

Restore SharePoint Content Database

2008-10-26T22:07:00.001-07:00

Recently we have hard drive on our SharePoint server failed remaining only.mdf files. Hopefully, restoration procedure is simple, here is:

Install WSS(MOSS) as you usually do (you do not need to restore configuration file, it's simply not needed and can cause some troubles if restoration is on complete different environment)
Install features, packages and service packs (eg WSS SP1)
Attach/restore content database
Go to Central Administration > Application Management > Content databases and add the content database to required application.

UPDATE. Following links might be also useful:

"Windows SharePoint Services use a preexisting database as the content database"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888041

How to back up and restore installations of Windows SharePoint ...
[article describes how to back up Windows SharePoint Services content databases and restore the data to the same server where the backup was]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833797

Optimizing NHibernate

2008-10-26T19:45:00.001-07:00

NHibernate is great unless you want to optimise it. And that's sometimes means 'falling back from NHibernate', especially when a huge report takes a very long built time by the reason of complicated application logic.

The easiest way to quickly speed up it up to x10 or more times is to simply gather queries by SQL Profiler and make stored procedure!.. based on them, instead of refractoring application logic itself. Yeah, that's simple. And from the business perspective 10 seconds report much much better than 10 hours.

Of course, it should not be overall, otherwise you simply break the idea of ORM. More over, it should be temporally used and good documented of used tables and fields.

For other tips of optimizing Performance of NHibernate follow the links 1 2 3 4 5

Starting SharePoint solution and planning your documentation

2008-10-02T17:53:00.001-07:00

I cant went by Michael's valuable post about documenting of beginning SharePoint projects:

..."When a new SharePoint project is about to start I use the following steps to design and plan solution

Creating Vision/Scope
Site structure and Navigation
Use Case Scenarios
Data Flow scenario
Content location
Site Collection Boundaries
List of required features and site definitions
Security: Roles and Permissions
Page Wireframes: layouts and content types
Targeting
Search strategy
Infrastructure Plan
Disaster Recovery
Deployment plan

Take into account that SharePoint SDLC differs from standard development, and not all projects require those steps. "...

It's a deep copy of Michael blog's post (check it for updates)

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0 announced

2008-10-01T00:12:00.001-07:00

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 29, 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-29VS10PR.mspx

...”Visual Studio 10 and .NET Framework 4.0, we are focused on the core pillars of developer experience, support for the latest platforms spanning client, server, services and devices, targeted experiences for specific application types, and core architecture improvements. These pillars are designed specifically to meet the needs of developers, the teams that drive the application life cycle from idea to delivery, and the customers that demand the highest quality applications across multiple platforms.”...

No certain description of .NET 4.0 features, but even on the list of features of Visual Studio 2010 it is clear that it makes development more interoperable and integrated (continues to line of Visual Studio Rosario).

And, interesting, do you know something valuable in other platforms, like Java, what .NET still does not have?

More links: Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Overview

ScriptResource.axd 404 exception

2008-09-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

After installing a web application on IIS 7 you get sometimes 404 exception with ScriptResource.axd handler without any obvious reason even if you have everything installed properly. The issue hides itself in application settings. Answer is simple - switch a pool of your application to Classic mode, and it backs to work.

C# <> VB Differences

2008-09-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

What if developer has strongly enough experience in one of TOP 2 .NET languages but never used another one. Been asked of this question found nice link descirbing most hidden differences between VB.NET and C# http://msmvps.com/blogs/kathleen/archive/2008/07/25/what-a-c-coder-should-know-before-they-write-vb-updated.aspx not only from specification perspective.

Windows 2008 Server Core findings

2008-09-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

After spending some time preparing presentation of Windows 2008 Core I discovered some points usually unclear after a quick view. Here they are:

Can you have IIS 7.0 on Windows 2008 Core: yes (with several limitations)
Can you install .NET Framework: no (hilarious, but, no)
Can you install Microsoft SQL 2005: still no

Having no possibilty to install .NET FW & SQL 2005 simply means that:

Can you install ASP.NET : no
Can you install Microsoft SharePoint: no
Can you install PowerShell: no

In this case Server Core is strongly server-role one, such as AD Domain Controller, Windows Backup, File Server and so on (http://www.trainsignaltraining.com/windows-server-2008-server-core-roles/2008-04-09/), not an business layer, what was initially expected.

As a server-role it has tangible benefit benefits (http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/archive/2008/03/21/sc-enarios-server-core-scenarios.aspx) even aside of 10 surprises of Windows 2008 Core (http://www.builderau.com.au/program/windows/soa/10-surprising-things-about-Windows-Server-2008/0,339024644,339292005,00.htm)

Finally, these are several helpful links:

Official Server Core blog - http://blogs.technet.com/server_core/

SC'enario: Windows Web 2.0 Server 2008 (IIS 7) - http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/archive/2008/03/22/sc-enario-windows-web-2-0-server-2008.aspx

Windows Server 2008 Command Lines for Administrative Consoles http://msmvps.com/blogs/ad/archive/2008/06/20/windows-server-2008-command-lines-for-administrative-consoles.aspx

WSS 3.0 Visual Studio 2008 Extensions

2008-06-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

Microsoft released new version of one of the most usefull tools for WSS 3.0 - Visual Studio 2008 Extensions. Windows 2008 is also supported. Can be downloaded from here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7BF65B28-06E2-4E87-9BAD-086E32185E68&displaylang=en

Tip! It's possible to install WSS 3.0 on Windows Vista using the WSS Vista Launcher. Thanks to Jonas Nilsson following link contains detailed description how to do it: http://community.bamboosolutions.com/blogs/bambooteamblog/archive/2008/05/21/how-to-install-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0-sp1-on-vista-x64-x86.aspx

Silverlight (JavaScript and CLR) vs DHTML vs Flash (Flex) vs WPF vs Apollo vs Java (Swing)

2008-05-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

Have found the site provides a test to directly compare performance of different RIA frameworks/approaches in different browsers. The test implements simple 2D animation demo initially created in DHTML, then ported to Silverlight (WPF/e), Flex and WPF (XBAP).

The site location is http://bubblemark.com/
You can see the results here: http://metalinkltd.com/?p=108

Briefly, WPF wins :)

Visual Studio 2008 and Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1

2008-05-13T05:41:00.000-07:00

Scott Guthrie posted comprehensive article about feature improvements of Framework 3.5 SP1 and VS 2008 SP1:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/05/12/visual-studio-2008-and-net-framework-3-5-service-pack-1-beta.aspx

Briefly,

VS 2008 JavaScript has script formatting options, Intellisense also have been improved as performance of HTML Designer as some VB and C# improvements in dev/debug mode.
WPF is greatly improved in performance, includes several data binding and editing improvements to WPF, effects and interoperability with Direct3D.
ASP.NET AJAX also has additional support: Script Combining element and Back/Forward Button History.
ADO.NET Entity Framework and LINQ to Entities have been included into NET 3.5 SP1, at last!, as Data Services, formerly code-named "Astoria".
ASP.NET includes Routing Engine (System.Web.Routing) and dynamic data (Scaffolding Support).
Winforms receives additional elements - vector shape, printing, and DataRepeater.
SQL 2008 supported.
WCF has new Hosting Wizard, significant scalability improvements (5-10x) in Web-hosted application scenarios, with API usability improvements and debugging support in partial trust context.

Google your way to a wacky office

2008-03-15T06:00:00.001-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7290322.stm

You dont' know what to do with your IT department's mood? :) The Ambience can be the way, and Google rocks in this area, shown by example on how to "design of its new European engineering headquarters in Zurich Switzerland".

Thanks Michael for the link

Hard Drive Speed and Visual Studio Performance

2007-11-02T02:51:00.000-07:00

.. "People often ask me at conferences for PC hardware recommendations. Specifically - "what type of machine do you recommend I get for doing development with Visual Studio?" and/or "your laptop seems really fast, what type is it?" Some of my recommendations on this topic are fairly standard and obvious" ...

ps. useful tips especially when developing takes a place on a customer side on old notebook )

Acropolis will be a part of framework?

2007-10-30T03:14:00.000-07:00

Seems like Acropolis is going to next versions of Framework, but his existence as a standalone project is over.

Ream more ...
http://blogs.msdn.com/acropolis/archive/2007/10/29/An-Acropolis-Update.aspx
..."We are very excited to be entering the next phase of the project where we will begin to roll many of the Acropolis concepts into future versions of the .NET Framework for the desktop and Silverlight. Unfortunately, while we figure out exactly how to go about this, we have decided not to release any more Acropolis CTP's. We're going to keep the current CTP bits available to allow you to continue prototyping and evaluating the Acropolis concepts."...

.NET 3.X setup instructions

2007-08-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

I have discover setup instructions for those who need some tips on setting up environment to work with the latest technologies:

http://www.dasblonde.net/2007/08/14/SystemSetupForNET30AndNET35.aspx

ASP.NET vs PHP

2007-07-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Allen Harkleroad and Jason Sexton wrote good article about comparition of ASP.NET and PHP. Considered estimation provided for availability, ease to develop, support, efficiency and hosting cost.

See there: http://www.technoblogo.com/2007/07/17/PHP+Versus+Microsoft+ASPnet++A+Straightforward+Comparison.aspx
In short, ASP.NET wins!

Useful Tip

2007-07-06T07:23:00.001-07:00

Just to remember :)

2007-07-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 June 2007 Community Technology Preview (CTP) has been released:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e6fd8663-8b77-4649-8d36-3830e18528fa

Quick short about what's new:

Deep integration of Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and data awareness.
ASP.NET AJAX improvements.
New Web protocol support for building WCF services including AJAX, JSON, REST, POX, RSS, ATOM, and several new WS-* standards.
Full tooling support for WF, WCF, and WPF, including the new workflow-enabled services technology.
New classes in .NET Framework 3.5 base class library (BCL) address the most common customer requests.

What's new in SQL 2008 on microsoft eLearning

2007-07-02T06:51:00.001-07:00

The new course about new SQL Server 2008 features was published: http://msmvps.com/blogs/satheeshbabu/archive/2007/07/02/what-s-new-in-microsoft-174-sql-server-2008.aspx

VS for Testers Resource

2007-07-02T06:44:00.001-07:00

Ed published a great collection of resources for VS Team System for Testers

Read it there http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1177487&SiteID=1

Overcome security threats for Ajax applications

2007-06-30T10:52:00.001-07:00

Recommend to read the following article which describes the possible threats for AJAX apps and the way to secure them.

The main parts of article are:

Avoiding the same-origin policy: JSON and the dynamic script tag
Avoiding the same-origin policy: Ajax proxy
Avoiding the same-origin policy: Greasemonkey
Examining attack scenarios
Recommended best practices

Call client-side JS when UpdatePanel request is over

2007-06-13T02:50:00.001-07:00

Good sample described how to make client JS calls after UpdatePanel completed its work http://blog.jeromeparadis.com/archive/2007/03/01/1501.aspx

Web developer system tools set

2007-06-12T05:07:00.001-07:00

A good system tools set for the web developer: http://www.pluralsight.com/tools.aspx

Includes:

ASP.NET Pipeline Viewer
ASP.NET Security Context Viewer
ViewState decoder
MachineKey Generator
Interactive XPath Expression Builder
JS XML Schema validator
Interactive Window Station / Desktop DACL Editor
and etc

Using Selenium + FitNesse to test your web app

2007-06-03T08:22:00.001-07:00

In the current article the Selenium and FitNesse tools are reviewed in the aspect of automating web tests. Author shows the sample of how to use them in the real world.

Read good article.