The art of simplicity

I noticed it a little late, but Microsoft released a refresh of the Windows Azure November 2010 SDK(1.3). I still want to mention it because it solves a security issue with the Windows Azure Software Development Kit (SDK).  I strongly encourage you to install the refresh of the SDK and redeploy your application(s). Who is affected? This issue affects applications developed using ASP.NET and using the new "Full IIS" feature of SDK v1.3 that have a Web Role deployed. In particular, this affects web sites and services that use cookies to maintain state information either within a session or between sessions (if interactions in one session can affect what happens in a subsequent session). These cookies are cryptographically protected so that clients can see that there is state information being passed but cannot see the contents of that state information and cannot change it. In the case of vulnerable Web Roles, it may be possible for clients to determine the contents o...

With the introduction of Cloud Computing and Windows Azure a whole new range of architectural paradigms and patterns arise at the horizon. But which patterns are out there and where do I get started? That’s where Windows Azure MVP David Pallmann’s Azure Design Patterns site comes in handy. Why do all the work yourself when you can go to one place and see it all, organized in a way that’s easy to navigate? From the same organization I can also recommend the Azure ROI Calculator , a free tool to calculate the cost of your transition to the cloud.

Mindscape had something to celebrate and therefore announced that you can now download a free version containing fully functional versions of the CoverFlow , AutoCompleteBox and PromptDecorator controls. You can use these controls to create attractive, helpful user experiences and it won’t cost you a cent ! CoverFlow AutoCompleteBox PromptDecorator Remark: Also have a look at LightSpeed , their .NET domain modelling and O/R mapping framework, one of the best (designer-enabled) ORM tools I’ve ever tried(and unfortunately I tried a lot…).

For a customer project I had to show an image in a jQuery grid row. Doing this is not very hard. Just return the HTML element as your grid column's data. The field should be something like this: <img src=../images/sample.jpg> Remark: Do not use ' or " for the src, it will not work properly.

The easiest way to enable classic ASP support on Windows Azure is by using a start-up task. Start-up tasks were added in the SDK 1.3 release and allow you to configure a virtual machine instance when it’s created. So we will define a start-up task to set up the webrole and enable classic ASP support. To do this, open the ServiceDefinition.csdef file in the Windows Azure project, locate the WebRole element in the service model and inside it, insert a Startup element with a single task, as shown below. <ServiceDefinition name="CloudService" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WebRole name="ClassicWebApp"> <Sites> <Site name="Web"> <Bindings> <Binding name="HttpIn" endpointName="HttpIn" /> </Bindings> </Site> </Sites> <ConfigurationSettings> </ConfigurationSettings> <Endpoints> <InputEndpoint name="HttpIn...

Last year Brian Prince did a 32 part screencast series called “Driving Your Career”. This series covered different skills you need to further your career. He covered skills like problem solving, critical thinking, and body language. A must see for every IT professional!

Because I had some trouble with source control integration of a website project I decided to convert it back to a web application. But how do you do this? Turns out that this is not a one step process. The best strategy for converting an existing Web site project is to first create a new, blank Web application project in a separate directory. This avoids changing any part of the existing Web site project files. It also enables you to copy existing functionality into the new Web application project. Step 1 -  Create a new Web application project In the File menu, click New, and then click Project. The New Project dialog box is displayed. In the Project types section of the New Project dialog box, expand the language that you want to use, and then select Web to display the Web-related templates. Select ASP.NET Empty Web Application. Type values for Name, Location, and Solution Name, and then click OK to create the Web applicatio...