Features

Google Responds to the Bing Challenge

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST

"At Google, we run anywhere from 50 to 200 experiments at any given time on Google sites all over the world," notes a Google spokesman in a recent statement on The Google Official Blog. "Right now, we are running a small experiment of a new Google homepage design that shows links when a user mouses over the screen. This is just a test and a way for us see whether our users will celebrate an even simpler search interface."

Is the Ladder We’re Climbing Resting on the Wrong Wall?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:15:00 EST

John Strano came to Los Angeles on part of the PowerBuilder 12.0 ISUG road show. If you have an opportunity to attend one in your area, run by either John or Dave Fish, they’re well worth attending. John demonstrated some impressive new features of the new version of PowerBuilder, including a fly-away image effect (see Figures 1 and 2) as well as DataWindow skinning (see Figure 3).

Deploying a Web Part with Code Access Security

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:30:00 EST

By now, you have heard about how the SharePoint 2010 development experience has been improved. We can easily deploy web parts and other code without having to manually manipulate any XML files. What about under partial trust though? Many of you that know me know that I have pushed using Code Access Security quite a bit through a series of blog posts and talks. So it would be irresponsible of me not to talk about how we can do that in Visual Studio 2010. The good news is that it is a lot easier.

Let’s start by creating a new SharePoint project in Visual Studio 2010 and creating a new Web Part project item. In this case we are talking about deploying a Farm Solution, not a Sandboxed Solution. Note: we are going to talk about a traditional web part today, and not a Visual Web Part. There are some issues with Visual Web Parts under CAS that I have not resolved yet. More on that later. My web part has some simple code which uses ASP.NET and also hits the SharePoint object model to display the title of the site in a label. Here is what the code looks like.

protected override void CreateChildControls()
{
    Controls.Add(new Label(){Text = "<div>My Cool Web Part!</div>"});
    Controls.Add(new Label() { Text = string.Format("Site Title: {0}", SPContext.Current.Web.Title) });
 
    base.CreateChildControls();
}

When you create a new project, it deploys to the GAC by default. We start by changing this on the project properties.

This effectively changes the DeploymentTarget attribute on Assembly element in the Manifest.xml. At this point, you may be asking. “Sweet, is that it? Does it take care of the CAS policy for me?” The answer to that of course is “No.” However, it is quite easy to add it. Let’s see what happens if we try to deploy it as is. I’ll just hit F5 to start debugging. I then add my web part to any existing page, and I immediately get hit with the following in Visual Studio.

System.Security.SecurityException: Request for the permission of type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Security.SharePointPermission, Microsoft.SharePoint.Security, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c' failed.

Luckily we know how to fix this. Hopefully, this will also help new developers when they get this error in the future and aren’t sure what to do. We need to grant permissions to this assembly to use the object model as well as a few other things. We’ll start by using a standard set of IPermission elements that I have used in past posts. This gives me basic ASP.NET, SharePoint object model, and Security permissions.

<CodeAccessSecurity>
  <PolicyItem>
    <PermissionSet class="NamedPermissionSet" version="1" Description="Permission set for SouthwesternEnergy.Partners.Web.">
      <IPermission class="AspNetHostingPermission" version="1" Level="Minimal" />
      <IPermission class="SecurityPermission" version="1" Flags="Execution,ControlPrincipal,ControlAppDomain,ControlDomainPolicy,ControlEvidence,ControlThread" />
      <IPermission class="Microsoft.SharePoint.Security.SharePointPermission, Microsoft.SharePoint.Security, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
                   version="1" ObjectModel="True"  />
      <IPermission class="System.Security.Permissions.EnvironmentPermission, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" version="1" Read="UserName" />
      <IPermission class="System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermission, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" version="1" Read="$AppDir$" Write="$AppDir$" Append="$AppDir$" PathDiscovery="$AppDir$" />
    </PermissionSet>
    <Assemblies>
      <Assembly Name="VisualWebPartProject1"  />
    </Assemblies>
  </PolicyItem>
</CodeAccessSecurity>

You can use this in your code almost exactly but two small changes are required. First, you need to change your assembly name to whatever you have called yours. Secondly, if you look at that SharePointPermission, you’ll notice it says version 12.0.0.0. We need to change this to 14.0.0.0 since we are working with SharePoint 2010 now. Adding this to your package is quite easy. In the Solution Explorer, locate Package and then Package.package and open it. This will bring open the package designer. Click on the Manifest tab at the bottom and then expand Edit Options. The way this works is that you can paste any additional elements here and it will merge your items with the ones it automatically generates. Here is what I would paste in.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Solution xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <CodeAccessSecurity>
    <PolicyItem>
      <PermissionSet class="NamedPermissionSet" version="1" Description="Permission set for SouthwesternEnergy.Partners.Web.">
        <IPermission class="AspNetHostingPermission" version="1" Level="Minimal" />
        <IPermission class="SecurityPermission" version="1" Flags="Execution,ControlPrincipal,ControlAppDomain,ControlDomainPolicy,ControlEvidence,ControlThread" />
        <IPermission class="Microsoft.SharePoint.Security.SharePointPermission, Microsoft.SharePoint.Security, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
                     version="1" ObjectModel="True"  />
        <IPermission class="System.Security.Permissions.EnvironmentPermission, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" version="1" Read="UserName" />
        <IPermission class="System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermission, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" version="1" Read="$AppDir$;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES\VisualWebPartProject1" Write="$AppDir$" Append="$AppDir$" PathDiscovery="$AppDir$" />
      </PermissionSet>
      <Assemblies>
        <Assembly Name="VisualWebPartProject1"  />
      </Assemblies>
    </PolicyItem>
  </CodeAccessSecurity>
</Solution>

Here is what it would look like on the screen.

If everything is correct, you will see the merged result up top. If there is an error in your XML, you will also see it there. Now let’s deploy the solution and see if we can add the web part to an existing page.

Unfortunately, this is the error we get and it actually gives us good information. We simply forgot to add the APTCA attribute (or AllowPartiallyTrustedCallers). Just open your AssmeblyInfo.cs file and add the following line.

[assembly: AllowPartiallyTrustedCallers()]

Redeploy your solution and try to add your web part again. If all goes well, you will have a lovely web part on the screen that looks like this.

With the above set of CAS policies, you can probably get most of the code you want to do to work. I mentioned Visual Web Parts above. Here is the issue I am currently seeing. If you remember my post on the Visual Web Part, you will know that this is just a web part with a Page.LoadControl() method calling a User Control (.ascx). Page.LoadControl requires a ton of permissions and I haven’t been able to figure them out. This means, it simply will not work. I posted something to the forums about it here. Hopefully, we will get an answer soon.

This may seem like a lot of steps, but really I just posted a lot of pictures. Trust me it’s a lot fewer steps than it was before in MOSS 2007. Just look at my old post if you don’t believe me. Now, you might ask why would I do this instead of a Sandboxed solution? Sandboxed solutions are severely limited on what they can do with the SharePoint object model. By default, the CAS policy that defines them can’t even connect to a database. I can specify at a per assembly level here what each one can do. That is a big advantage.

The Benefits of Virtualization in a Cloud

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:15:00 EDT

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) that have previously considered virtualization in the cloud but decided that it is too expensive or simply not viable should think again. Virtualization and cloud computing enables SMBs to green their operations and build IT infrastructures that are agile, resilient and highly scalable.

Practical Approaches for Optimizing Website Performance

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Optimizing website performance is a challenging task. Websites are composed of many moving parts – both on the client and on the server – and optimizing performance requires a multi-faceted approach that addresses potential problems in all moving parts. Performance bottlenecks are caused by an array of problems, from browser mechanics to server configuration, and a clear understanding of how to address these problems will provide AJAX ASP.NET developers with the tools necessary to make any website faster.

Visual Studio 2008 Integration with SCM Tools

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EDT

This article describes the integration between the SCM AllFusion Harvest Version Control Interface (VCI) and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 for version control. It will show how to make the necessary connections using the interface, demonstrate check-outs and check-ins, how to delete files in proper order using SCM tools, demonstrate file comparison and how to exclude files, add new files, load the initial baseline via the Visual Studio IDE and promote the Change Request (CR) Package in SCM AllFusion Harvest through the entire lifecycle leaving the initial baseline footprint across all SCM AllFusion Harvest states.

Flexing Your .NET 3.5 Skillset

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:00:00 EDT

With the arrival of .NET 3.5, WPF and the RTM of Silverlight 2, .NET developers have more choices than ever for designing, developing and deploying compelling applications with rich user interfaces. However, there are other mainstream alternatives that don’t fall into the .NET camp. When it comes to the RIA world, technologies such as Adobe Flex and Flash may seem more foreign to some of us then driving on the left side of the road would be to an American.

New Features in PowerBuilder 11.5

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:00:00 EDT

In the previous articles in this series, we looked at FDCC changes (part 1) and GUI enhancements (part 2) in PowerBuilder 11.5. In this article, we’ll be looking at the enhancements that were added to PowerBuilder 11.5 that are specifically related to .NET targets. The one thing we won’t be covering in this regard is the .NET security enhancements that were covered in a previous PBDJ article: “Applying Code Access Security in PowerBuilder .NET Applications” by Maggie Lv.

If It’s Worth Doing, It’s Worth Doing...Twice?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:45:00 EDT

There’s been a lot of discussion among the .NET folks recently about the magnitude of the changes that are being introduced in the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) in .NET 4.0. See, for example, “Windows Workflow Changes Direction” by Kathleen Dollard. It’s just another anecdote that backs up the old saying about Microsoft technologies, best stated by Karl E. Peterson.

Taking .NET Development to the Cloud

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:45:00 EDT

Cloud computing platforms, such as Microsoft Azure, offer compelling advantages for building new scalable .NET applications. But can the Cloud be used for developing existing .NET applications? In this article, I’ll explain how we’ve made the leap to Cloud-based development for our internal applications and the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

RIAs for Web 3.0 Using the Microsoft Platform

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:45:00 EDT

The level of functionality on the Web is changing and the bar is rising on what is considered a true rich Internet application (RIA). This fact and the emergence of the Web as an interconnected platform is once again changing the landscape and moving us into the next phase of the Web, which is called Web 3.0. It might be a little early to completely define what Web 3.0 will be but there are many indications of what will shape it.

Supporting Events from .NET Visual Components in PowerBuilder

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:30:00 EDT

This article seems like it should be the fourth in a series of articles. The first two were on non-visual components in August 2006 and July of 2007. The last one was in August of 2007. In that one, we looked at using the Interop Forms Toolkit to provide a COM wrapper for Visual .NET components – essentially making them ActiveX controls – so that PowerBuilder could use them.

Consuming a SQL Anywhere Native Web Service Using a .NET Client

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:45:00 EDT

Enabling interoperability is one of the greatest benefits of using web services. In the business world, applications work on different platforms with different operating systems running applications whose programming languages vary wildly. For applications to interact with each other there should be a common method to transparently talk to all the different systems.

Standardized Tooling: Building Bridges, Not Walls

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:45:00 EDT

Some walls are necessary. We use brick-and-mortar walls to support buildings and firewalls to protect our computers from attack. But not all walls are good. Consider the Berlin Wall, a wall of segregation. It divided a country and its citizens, but has subsequently been brought down by people working together because upon re-evaluation the Wall did more harm than good.

PowerBuilder Developer's Journal: Legacy Isn't a Dirty Word

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EDT

People always like the shiny and new, regardless of whether it’s gadgets, clothes, cars, or technology. It’s exciting to get something new; we feel good about ourselves, like we’re a part of an elite group, ahead of the curve, “in the know.” Yet “buyer’s remorse” is also a well-known phenomenon because many purchases end up being not quite what we expected.

First Time with AJAX.NET

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:00:00 EDT

In a former life, I was a web developer. Back in the late '90s, I vividly remember being told by more than one of my computer science professors that in 10 years, everything would run in a web browser. Even the operating system (it was claimed at the time) would be browser based. On startup, the machine would load the thinnest of all possible operating systems, and everything else – applications, data, you name it – would be stored on the network and accessed via a hyper-dynamic web browser.

Benefit Now with Cloud-Hosted Desktops

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:00:00 EDT

The excitement around virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is being tempered by the concern that VDI can’t be cost-justified if it doesn’t completely transform traditional desktop management – and by the belief that the only way to achieve this is with stateless desktops. The bad news is that truly stateless desktops won’t be commonly available for at least another five years.

Building XNA 2.0 Games

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EDT

This book is a great introductory and tutorial book for XNA programming. It’s clearly written, assumes no significant prior knowledge, and will have even beginners creating basic games by the end of the book. Chapter 1 gives a crash course in .NET and programming in C#. It’s a nice lead-in to the book, but too short to be of any value in learning .NET or C#.

Customizing the .NET SQL Membership Provider

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:40:00 EST

With the release of ASP.NET 2.0, Microsoft introduced Web developers to the "provider" model that addresses common application infrastructure needs using a system of pluggable modules adhering to common interfaces. ASP.NET shipped with modules to cover Membership (authentication), Roles (authorization), Sitemap (navigation), and others.

Realizing SharePoint's Potential for On-Demand Collaboration

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:45:00 EST

Mid-size and enterprise companies are using Web 2.0 collaboration systems to build solutions that service several different parts of the organization. In many cases, line-of-business users from many departments are interested in using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 as an integrated platform as part of their solution.

LINQ Unleashed: Programming with Anonymous Types

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:00:00 EST

Finding a beginning is always a little subjective in computer books. This is because so many things depend on so many other things. Often, the best we can do is put a stake in the ground and start from that point. Anonymous types are our stake. Anonymous types use the keyword var. Var is an interesting choice because it is still used in Pascal and Delphi today, but var in Delphi is like ByRef in Visual Basic (VB) or ref in C#.

A Study of XPath Performance in .NET Programming

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:15:00 EST

One day, I received an e-mail from a customer complaining that there was 100% CPU occupancy on our program, EDC (Engineering Data Collection) service, while handling certain XPath queries. I decided to do some tests on the program and some other alternative solutions. I set two goals for this test: to verify if the XML parser is the part causing 100% CPU usage; if so, to try to find alternative solutions for better performance.

Lowering TCO Through .NET Application Management

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:00:00 EST

Today's fast-paced business environment has put pressure on organizations to develop and maintain applications at an unsurpassed rate to drive increased employee productivity, company revenue, and customer satisfaction. The ultimate goal is to improve operational efficiencies while lowering total cost of ownership (TCO) and increase return on investment.

Design for Developers

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:00:00 EST

A few years ago I had the opportunity to sit down with a designer possessed of a rare talent. We were both part of the same team and he was creating some UI elements that I was to wire up. As I sat there (in awe) watching him work I realized that much of his considerable skill was rooted in fundamentals not unlike the art of programming. Of course, there are design skills that are intuitive that can’t be "learned."

WOA for the Enterprise

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:00:00 EST

WOA, or web-oriented architecture, has proven itself as a viable approach to building large-scale, worldwide web services. This article introduces the principles behind WOA, how it is applied, and why it should be used even inside the enterprise. Before diving into the meat of this article, let's quickly review where WOA came from and why it has gained traction among many new technology companies.

PowerBuilder .NET Web Services with Various Front Ends

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:10:00 EST

Last year I wrote an article in PBDJ describing an ASP.NET project that was done with DataWindow.NET in the browser ("Prognos," Volume 14, Issue 4) and PowerBuilder Web Services in the back end. The front end consisted of an intro page, two data entry pages, and one page with the result. The front end was rewritten in a couple of other technologies to test different ways to create browser-based applications.

How to Use PowerBuilder .NET Applications on Linux

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:30:00 EDT

With PowerBuilder 11 Sybase gave developers what we have long hoped for – the possibility of taking an application created in a client/server architecture and turning it into a Web application, almost without having to move the code; and it's better if you don't use a server application. Once the Web Form application is ready, it looks like I have a "multi-platform" application and any operating system can use it.

Needle in an App Stack

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Although the .NET Framework simplifies the challenge of developing distributed Web applications, it increases the complexity of deploying, and then managing, those applications. The adoption of Web 2.0 techniques and SOA Web Services only amplify this complexity, making performance assurance a serious challenge as applications move from a limited staging server into a full-scale production setting.

Dare to Use the Current Capabilities of Windows Presentation Foundation

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:30:00 EDT

The Windows Presentation Foundation community is growing because WPF facilitates the development of better graphical user interfaces and graphical applications. But WPF's tri-dimensional resources are not developed compared to DirectX’s capabilities and existing hardware potential. This article will explain how to develop panels to make it easier to lay out tri-dimensional figures in a Viewport3D.

Timing the Market with Distributed Genetics - Part 2

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:48:00 EDT

At the end of my previous article (DNDJ, Vol. 6, issue 4), I explained the theory behind the two major technologies to be used in timing the market. On the one hand, we are dealing with distributed computing – a process whereby large computationally intensive tasks can be broken up and shared among multiple computers in order to be processed in a shorter amount of time.

Continuous Integration with Team Foundation Server 2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:00:00 EDT

In the recent past, it was common for Windows applications to be manually compiled and built directly on a developer's desktop computer. This caused many problems. For example, the developer may have had a different version of a component used in the application, or you couldn't build when he was on vacation let alone left the company, and it introduced a high degree of error if the developer made changes for future features (or testing code) without realizing it was included in the build.

XNA or Game Development for Everyone - Part 2

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:30:00 EDT

In Part 1 we started to develop a small racing game using XNA Game Studio Express 2.0. We learned about the game loop and how it's implemented by the XNA (by using the Update and Draw methods) framework. We also created our first track on the screen and four cars started moving on the screen, but, sadly enough, they left the track and weren't seen again. What does that mean?

Why Code Snippets Are Not My Cup of Tea

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Call me a purist but I like to make my code as object-oriented and well structured as possible. I like to tweak the design and to work toward the overall quality of the code. My refactoring olfactory sense is quick to react to any offending odor in the code and it's becoming more sensitive and less tolerant with time.

Timing the Market with Distributed Genetics

Fri, 30 May 2008 12:30:00 EDT

I've always been puzzled by the ability of some traders to consistently make money. A cynic would say that anyone who is able to profit in all adverse economic environments (recessions, depressions, etc.) is most likely able to do so because they are getting information that is not generally available. Although the cynic might mean 'inside' information by this statement, I believe that there is a non-cynical interpretation of this statement that is, to some degree, correct.

The Next Battle for the Desktop

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:30:00 EDT

The computer desktop today is what the television was to people in the 1980s. It's the single most important channel for consumer entertainment and information. The computer desktop - as was the case with newspapers before there was radio and radio before there was television - has become the high ground from which empires are built.

Microsoft .NET Feature — Comparing Migration Methodologies

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:15:00 EDT

The programming language dictates how developers can describe data structures, interfaces, and algorithms. The libraries provide an extensive array of advanced services to the program such as data access, communications, and graphical user interface. The language and libraries are called the platform. The platform sets the rules and makes the system possible. However, over the course of a system's lifespan, the platform can and will change: languages and libraries inevitably evolve and are replaced by next-generation technologies. Usually, the changes are gradual with an appropriate measure of backward compatibility, so we can adapt through standard maintenance activities. Sometimes, however, the changes are more radical and disruptive, so a more focused effort, called a migration project, is called for.

Engelbart's Usability Dilemma: Efficiency vs Ease-of-Use

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:15:00 EDT

The mouse was the original idea of Doug Engelbart who was the head of the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at Stanford Research Institute. Engelbart's philosophy is best embodied, in my opinion, in the design of another device that he invented, the five-finger keyboard - with keys like a piano, used by one hand. The problem was, Engelbart's five-finger keyboard and mouse combination was very difficult to learn.

Publishing .NET Web Services Using SQL Anywhere 10.0.1

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

In this article we're going to take a database and create our own mini version of an 'Amazon-like' item lookup. That is to say, any .NET or .NET-compatible client will be able to look up items in our database via the Web by simply providing a UPC. This article will show you how. To complete this project, you'll need a few items...

XNA, Game Development for Everyone

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Maybe some of you remember a time when we created a sprite on a piece of graph paper and afterwards hacked zeroes and ones in so we could see something eventually move on a TV screen. I have to admit that those days have been gone for a long time and a lot of things have happened in IT since I developed simple games on my C64. And one of these new things is XNA Game Studio (the current version is 2.0).

db4o in the Mirror of JPA/EJB and Hibernate

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:15:00 EST

db4o, an open source object database system with broad industry applicability, belongs to a popular database management systems that has close to 2 million downloads to date. Here we'll illustrate the features and application areas of such a database and compare db4o against relational DBMS/object relational (OR) mappers.