.NET, Silverlight, Windows Azure, and other ramblings (from the UK)

Back to Blogging

2010-11-26T06:24:00.001-08:00

I think it’s fair to say that I’ve pretty much done zero blogging in the past year and a half.

The reasons are pretty simple. I’ve been snowed under between work and my book Azure in Action. I’m pleased to say that I’ve got a lot to say, and some of my time has been freed up. So I should get back to blogging.

All my blogging will now take place at http://blog.chrishayuk.com/ rather than http://silverlightuk.blogspot.com

The reason is that I don’t want my blog just to be about Silverlight, got lots more to talk about

Cheers

Chris

Roadtrip and Deep Fried Bytes

2009-09-09T15:22:00.001-07:00

I just offered to do a family favor which means I will be taking a roadtrip up to the north of Scotland via my parents next week. I have to admit I’m really looking forward to the drive and a small break from the book :)

I’m gonna load up my iPhone with the backlog of Deep Fried Bytes episodes

If you haven’t checked it out, it really is an awesome podcast show. I’ve listened to the first 4 episodes so far and they are just great. The shows are particularly cool for me as I hung out with one of the hosts (Keith Elder) and many of the guests at Nashville. I’m especially looking forward to listening to the Devlink podcast, which is just out.

So far I’ve listened to the interview war stories (awesome), twitter podcast (very good), digg interview (really cool, nice to hear a non .net perspective), and the developing .net on a mac episode (again awesome episode). I’m incredibly impressed with the diversity off the podcast and really looking forward to listening to more on the trip.

This show is just as good as DNR or Hanselminutes but has a bit of a different flavor (a deep fried one even), if you haven’t checked it out yet, do it now. Listening to the show on the way to Scotland is obviously appropriate with it being the land of the Deep Fried Mars bar, Pizza and well anything really.

Obviously looking forward to spending a little time with my family, I don’t think I’ve been back across the border in a while now. So will be nice to see how much my accent digresses back to it’s Scottish roots :)

Silverlight: Offline talk at Devlink

2009-08-31T08:59:00.001-07:00

I just want to say a big thanks to everyone who came to my session at Devlink. I had an absolutely fantastic time and I really enjoyed presenting this session to you guys.

I really felt that this session was more than just a presentation but also a conversation and I thank you for participating in it with me.

I really hope to return to Devlink next year (and other U.S. Conferences) so I hope to see you again. I will post up my Devlink experiences later on this week hopefully.

Again, a big thank you for coming to my talk and the slides and demo code are available from here.

SQL Azure Database Session Database

2009-08-30T16:14:00.001-07:00

Ok, so here is the good news and the bad news.

The good news is that I created my SQL Azure Session Database Script (from hacking InstallPersistSQLState.SQL) you can’t use InstallSQLState.sql as it uses tempdb.

The bad news is that to make it work you need to create a custom session provider (no easy task). You need a custom provider as the SQL Session Provider needs to use the @@ parameter in the GetMajorVersion Stored Procedure which SQL Azure database doesn’t support. I also haven’t tested this script, so use at your own risk

I am realizing I don’t have time to write the provider at the moment as I am still in the middle of writing my “Azure in Action” book (along with Brian Prince), so here is the script for the database.

All you need to do is Create a Database in SQL Azure called ASPState and run this script.

/*********************************************************************
InstallPersistSqlState.SQL
Installs the tables, and stored procedures necessary for
supporting ASP.NET session state.

Copyright Microsoft, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Modified by chrishayuk to work in SQL Azure Database
P.S. You will need a worker role or console session to clean up expired sessions

*********************************************************************/

--SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
--GO
--SET ANSI_NULLS ON
--GO

PRINT ''
PRINT '------------------------------------------------'
PRINT 'Starting execution of InstallPersistSqlState.SQL'
PRINT '------------------------------------------------'
PRINT ''
PRINT '--------------------------------------------------'
PRINT 'Note:                                             '
PRINT 'This file is included for backward compatibility '
PRINT 'only. You should use aspnet_regsql.exe to install'
PRINT 'and uninstall SQL session state.                  '
PRINT ''
PRINT 'Run ''aspnet_regsql.exe -?'' for details.         '
PRINT '--------------------------------------------------'
GO

/*****************************************************************************/

-- chrishayuk -- Commented out the creation of the database
--/* Create and populate the session state database */
--IF DB_ID(N'ASPState') IS NULL BEGIN
--    DECLARE @cmd nvarchar(500)
--    SET @cmd = N'CREATE DATABASE [ASPState]'
--    EXEC(@cmd)
--END
--GO

/* Drop all tables, startup procedures, stored procedures and types. */

/* Drop the DeleteExpiredSessions_Job */

-- chrishayuk -- Commented out the dropping of the DeleteExpiredSessions Job
--DECLARE @jobname nvarchar(200)
--SET @jobname = N'ASPState' + '_Job_DeleteExpiredSessions'
-- Delete the [local] job
-- We expected to get an error if the job doesn't exist.
--PRINT 'If the job does not exist, an error from msdb.dbo.sp_delete_job is expected.'
--EXECUTE msdb.dbo.sp_delete_job @job_name = @jobname
--GO

DECLARE @sstype nvarchar(128)
SET @sstype = N'sstype_persisted'

IF UPPER(@sstype) = 'SSTYPE_TEMP' AND OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.ASPState_Startup', 'P') IS NOT NULL BEGIN
DROP PROCEDURE dbo.ASPState_Startup
END

IF OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.ASPStateTempSessions','U') IS NOT NULL BEGIN
DROP TABLE dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
END

IF OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.ASPStateTempApplications','U') IS NOT NULL BEGIN
DROP TABLE dbo.ASPStateTempApplications
END

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'GetMajorVersion') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].GetMajorVersion
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'CreateTempTables') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].CreateTempTables
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempGetVersion') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempGetVersion
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'GetHashCode') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].GetHashCode
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempGetAppID') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempGetAppID
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempGetStateItem') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempGetStateItem
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempGetStateItem2') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempGetStateItem2
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempGetStateItem3') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempGetStateItem3
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempGetStateItemExclusive') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempGetStateItemExclusive
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempGetStateItemExclusive2') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempGetStateItemExclusive2
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempGetStateItemExclusive3') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempGetStateItemExclusive3
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempReleaseStateItemExclusive') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempReleaseStateItemExclusive
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempInsertUninitializedItem') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempInsertUninitializedItem
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempInsertStateItemShort') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempInsertStateItemShort
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempInsertStateItemLong') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempInsertStateItemLong
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempUpdateStateItemShort') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempUpdateStateItemShort
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempUpdateStateItemShortNullLong') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempUpdateStateItemShortNullLong
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempUpdateStateItemLong') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempUpdateStateItemLong
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempUpdateStateItemLongNullShort') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempUpdateStateItemLongNullShort
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempRemoveStateItem') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempRemoveStateItem
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'TempResetTimeout') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].TempResetTimeout
GO

IF (EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE (name = N'DeleteExpiredSessions') AND (type = 'P')))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].DeleteExpiredSessions
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempGetVersion
    @ver      char(10) OUTPUT
AS
    SELECT @ver = '2'
    RETURN 0
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.GetMajorVersion
@ver int OUTPUT
AS
BEGIN
SET @ver = 10
END
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.CreateTempTables
AS
    CREATE TABLE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions (
        SessionId           nvarchar(88)    NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
        Created             datetime        NOT NULL DEFAULT GETUTCDATE(),
        Expires             datetime        NOT NULL,
        LockDate            datetime        NOT NULL,
        LockDateLocal       datetime        NOT NULL,
        LockCookie          int             NOT NULL,
        Timeout             int             NOT NULL,
        Locked              bit             NOT NULL,
        SessionItemShort    varbinary(7000) NULL,
        SessionItemLong     varbinary(max) NULL,
        Flags               int             NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
    )

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX Index_Expires ON [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions(Expires)

    CREATE TABLE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempApplications (
        AppId               int             NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
        AppName             char(280)       NOT NULL,
    )

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX Index_AppName ON [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempApplications(AppName)

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.GetHashCode
    @input varchar(280),
    @hash int OUTPUT
AS
    /*
       This sproc is based on this C# hash function:

        int GetHashCode(string s)
        {
            int     hash = 5381;
            int     len = s.Length;

            for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
                int     c = Convert.ToInt32(s[i]);
                hash = ((hash << 5) + hash) ^ c;
            }

return hash;
}

        However, SQL 7 doesn't provide a 32-bit integer
        type that allows rollover of bits, we have to
        divide our 32bit integer into the upper and lower
        16 bits to do our calculation.
    */
    DECLARE @hi_16bit   int
    DECLARE @lo_16bit   int
    DECLARE @hi_t       int
    DECLARE @lo_t       int
    DECLARE @len        int
    DECLARE @i          int
    DECLARE @c          int
    DECLARE @carry      int

    SET @hi_16bit = 0
    SET @lo_16bit = 5381
    SET @len = DATALENGTH(@input)
    SET @i = 1
    WHILE (@i <= @len)
    BEGIN
        SET @c = ASCII(SUBSTRING(@input, @i, 1))

/* Formula:
hash = ((hash << 5) + hash) ^ c */

        /* hash << 5 */
        SET @hi_t = @hi_16bit * 32 /* high 16bits << 5 */
        SET @hi_t = @hi_t & 0xFFFF /* zero out overflow */
        SET @lo_t = @lo_16bit * 32 /* low 16bits << 5 */
        SET @carry = @lo_16bit & 0x1F0000 /* move low 16bits carryover to hi 16bits */
        SET @carry = @carry / 0x10000 /* >> 16 */
        SET @hi_t = @hi_t + @carry
        SET @hi_t = @hi_t & 0xFFFF /* zero out overflow */

        /* + hash */
        SET @lo_16bit = @lo_16bit + @lo_t
        SET @hi_16bit = @hi_16bit + @hi_t + (@lo_16bit / 0x10000)
        /* delay clearing the overflow */

/* ^c */
SET @lo_16bit = @lo_16bit ^ @c

        /* Now clear the overflow bits */
        SET @hi_16bit = @hi_16bit & 0xFFFF
        SET @lo_16bit = @lo_16bit & 0xFFFF

SET @i = @i + 1
END

    /* Do a sign extension of the hi-16bit if needed */
    IF (@hi_16bit & 0x8000 <> 0)
        SET @hi_16bit = 0xFFFF0000 | @hi_16bit

    /* Merge hi and lo 16bit back together */
    SET @hi_16bit = @hi_16bit * 0x10000 /* << 16 */
    SET @hash = @hi_16bit | @lo_16bit

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
    CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempGetAppID
    @appName    varchar(280),
    @appId      int OUTPUT
    AS
    SET @appName = LOWER(@appName)
    SET @appId = NULL

    SELECT @appId = AppId
    FROM [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempApplications
    WHERE AppName = @appName

IF @appId IS NULL BEGIN
BEGIN TRAN

        SELECT @appId = AppId
        FROM [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempApplications WITH (TABLOCKX)
        WHERE AppName = @appName
        IF @appId IS NULL
        BEGIN
            EXEC GetHashCode @appName, @appId OUTPUT
            INSERT [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempApplications
            VALUES
            (@appId, @appName)
            IF @@ERROR = 2627
            BEGIN
                DECLARE @dupApp varchar(280)
                SELECT @dupApp = RTRIM(AppName)
                FROM [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempApplications
                WHERE AppId = @appId
                RAISERROR('SQL session state fatal error: hash-code collision between applications ''%s'' and ''%s''. Please rename the 1st application to resolve the problem.',
                            18, 1, @appName, @dupApp)
            END
        END

COMMIT
END

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempGetStateItem
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000) OUTPUT,
    @locked     bit OUTPUT,
    @lockDate   datetime OUTPUT,
    @lockCookie int OUTPUT
AS
    DECLARE @textptr AS varbinary(max)
    DECLARE @length AS int
    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()

    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, Timeout, @now),
        @locked = Locked,
        @lockDate = LockDateLocal,
        @lockCookie = LockCookie,
        @itemShort = CASE @locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemShort
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @textptr = CASE @locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemLong
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @length = CASE @locked
            WHEN 0 THEN DATALENGTH(SessionItemLong)
            ELSE NULL
            END
    WHERE SessionId = @id

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempGetStateItem2
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000) OUTPUT,
    @locked     bit OUTPUT,
    @lockAge    int OUTPUT,
    @lockCookie int OUTPUT
AS
    DECLARE @textptr AS varbinary(max)
    DECLARE @length AS int
    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()

    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, Timeout, @now),
        @locked = Locked,
        @lockAge = DATEDIFF(second, LockDate, @now),
        @lockCookie = LockCookie,
        @itemShort = CASE @locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemShort
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @textptr = CASE @locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemLong
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @length = CASE @locked
            WHEN 0 THEN DATALENGTH(SessionItemLong)
            ELSE NULL
            END
    WHERE SessionId = @id

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempGetStateItem3
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000) OUTPUT,
    @locked     bit OUTPUT,
    @lockAge    int OUTPUT,
    @lockCookie int OUTPUT,
    @actionFlags int OUTPUT
AS
    DECLARE @textptr AS varbinary(max)
    DECLARE @length AS int
    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()

        /* If the Uninitialized flag (0x1) if it is set,
           remove it and return InitializeItem (0x1) in actionFlags */
        Flags = CASE
            WHEN (Flags & 1) <> 0 THEN (Flags & ~1)
            ELSE Flags
            END,
        @actionFlags = CASE
            WHEN (Flags & 1) <> 0 THEN 1
            ELSE 0
            END
    WHERE SessionId = @id

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempGetStateItemExclusive
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000) OUTPUT,
    @locked     bit OUTPUT,
    @lockDate   datetime OUTPUT,
    @lockCookie int OUTPUT
AS
    DECLARE @textptr AS varbinary(max)
    DECLARE @length AS int
    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    DECLARE @nowLocal AS datetime

    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()
    SET @nowLocal = GETDATE()
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, Timeout, @now),
        LockDate = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN @now
            ELSE LockDate
            END,
        @lockDate = LockDateLocal = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN @nowLocal
            ELSE LockDateLocal
            END,
        @lockCookie = LockCookie = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN LockCookie + 1
            ELSE LockCookie
            END,
        @itemShort = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemShort
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @textptr = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemLong
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @length = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN DATALENGTH(SessionItemLong)
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @locked = Locked,
        Locked = 1
    WHERE SessionId = @id

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempGetStateItemExclusive2
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000) OUTPUT,
    @locked     bit OUTPUT,
    @lockAge    int OUTPUT,
    @lockCookie int OUTPUT
AS
    DECLARE @textptr AS varbinary(max)
    DECLARE @length AS int
    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    DECLARE @nowLocal AS datetime

    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()
    SET @nowLocal = GETDATE()
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, Timeout, @now),
        LockDate = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN @now
            ELSE LockDate
            END,
        LockDateLocal = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN @nowLocal
            ELSE LockDateLocal
            END,
        @lockAge = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN 0
            ELSE DATEDIFF(second, LockDate, @now)
            END,
        @lockCookie = LockCookie = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN LockCookie + 1
            ELSE LockCookie
            END,
        @itemShort = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemShort
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @textptr = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemLong
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @length = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN DATALENGTH(SessionItemLong)
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @locked = Locked,
        Locked = 1
    WHERE SessionId = @id

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempGetStateItemExclusive3
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000) OUTPUT,
    @locked     bit OUTPUT,
    @lockAge    int OUTPUT,
    @lockCookie int OUTPUT,
    @actionFlags int OUTPUT
AS
    DECLARE @textptr AS varbinary(max)
    DECLARE @length AS int
    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    DECLARE @nowLocal AS datetime

    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()
    SET @nowLocal = GETDATE()
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, Timeout, @now),
        LockDate = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN @now
            ELSE LockDate
            END,
        LockDateLocal = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN @nowLocal
            ELSE LockDateLocal
            END,
        @lockAge = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN 0
            ELSE DATEDIFF(second, LockDate, @now)
            END,
        @lockCookie = LockCookie = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN LockCookie + 1
            ELSE LockCookie
            END,
        @itemShort = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemShort
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @textptr = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN SessionItemLong
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @length = CASE Locked
            WHEN 0 THEN DATALENGTH(SessionItemLong)
            ELSE NULL
            END,
        @locked = Locked,
        Locked = 1,

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempReleaseStateItemExclusive
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @lockCookie int
AS
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, Timeout, GETUTCDATE()),
        Locked = 0
    WHERE SessionId = @id AND LockCookie = @lockCookie

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempInsertUninitializedItem
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000),
    @timeout    int
AS

    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    DECLARE @nowLocal AS datetime
    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()
    SET @nowLocal = GETDATE()

    INSERT [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
        (SessionId,
         SessionItemShort,
         Timeout,
         Expires,
         Locked,
         LockDate,
         LockDateLocal,
         LockCookie,
         Flags)
    VALUES
        (@id,
         @itemShort,
         @timeout,
         DATEADD(n, @timeout, @now),
         0,
         @now,
         @nowLocal,
         1,
         1)

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempInsertStateItemShort
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000),
    @timeout    int
AS

    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    DECLARE @nowLocal AS datetime
    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()
    SET @nowLocal = GETDATE()

    INSERT [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
        (SessionId,
         SessionItemShort,
         Timeout,
         Expires,
         Locked,
         LockDate,
         LockDateLocal,
         LockCookie)
    VALUES
        (@id,
         @itemShort,
         @timeout,
         DATEADD(n, @timeout, @now),
         0,
         @now,
         @nowLocal,
         1)

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempInsertStateItemLong
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemLong   varbinary(max),
    @timeout    int
AS
    DECLARE @now AS datetime
    DECLARE @nowLocal AS datetime
    SET @now = GETUTCDATE()
    SET @nowLocal = GETDATE()

    INSERT [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
        (SessionId,
         SessionItemLong,
         Timeout,
         Expires,
         Locked,
         LockDate,
         LockDateLocal,
         LockCookie)
    VALUES
        (@id,
         @itemLong,
         @timeout,
         DATEADD(n, @timeout, @now),
         0,
         @now,
         @nowLocal,
         1)

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempUpdateStateItemShort
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000),
    @timeout    int,
    @lockCookie int
AS
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, @timeout, GETUTCDATE()),
        SessionItemShort = @itemShort,
        Timeout = @timeout,
        Locked = 0
    WHERE SessionId = @id AND LockCookie = @lockCookie

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempUpdateStateItemShortNullLong
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemShort varbinary(7000),
    @timeout    int,
    @lockCookie int
AS
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, @timeout, GETUTCDATE()),
        SessionItemShort = @itemShort,
        SessionItemLong = NULL,
        Timeout = @timeout,
        Locked = 0
    WHERE SessionId = @id AND LockCookie = @lockCookie

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempUpdateStateItemLong
        @id         nvarchar(88),
        @itemLong   varbinary(max),
        @timeout    int,
        @lockCookie int
AS
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, @timeout, GETUTCDATE()),
        SessionItemLong = @itemLong,
        Timeout = @timeout,
        Locked = 0
    WHERE SessionId = @id AND LockCookie = @lockCookie

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempUpdateStateItemLongNullShort
    @id         nvarchar(88),
    @itemLong   varbinary(max),
    @timeout    int,
    @lockCookie int
AS
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, @timeout, GETUTCDATE()),
        SessionItemLong = @itemLong,
        SessionItemShort = NULL,
        Timeout = @timeout,
        Locked = 0
    WHERE SessionId = @id AND LockCookie = @lockCookie

RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempRemoveStateItem
        @id     nvarchar(88),
        @lockCookie int
AS
    DELETE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    WHERE SessionId = @id AND LockCookie = @lockCookie
    RETURN 0
GO
/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TempResetTimeout
    @id     nvarchar(88)
AS
    UPDATE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
    SET Expires = DATEADD(n, Timeout, GETUTCDATE())
    WHERE SessionId = @id
    RETURN 0
GO

/*****************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.DeleteExpiredSessions
AS
DECLARE @now datetime
SET @now = GETUTCDATE()

DELETE [ASPState].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
WHERE Expires < @now

RETURN 0
GO

--/*****************************************************************************/

EXECUTE dbo.CreateTempTables
GO

DECLARE @sstype nvarchar(128)
SET @sstype = N'sstype_persisted'

IF UPPER(@sstype) = 'SSTYPE_TEMP' BEGIN
DECLARE @cmd nchar(4000)

    SET @cmd = N'
        /* Create the startup procedure */
        CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.ASPState_Startup
        AS
            EXECUTE ASPState.dbo.CreateTempTables

            RETURN 0'
    EXEC(@cmd)
    EXECUTE sp_procoption @ProcName='dbo.ASPState_Startup', @OptionName='startup', @OptionValue='true'
END

-- chrishayuk -- Commented out the creation of the DeleteExpiredSessions Job
--/*****************************************************************************/

--/* Create the job to delete expired sessions */

---- Add job category
---- We expect an error if the category already exists.
--PRINT 'If the category already exists, an error from msdb.dbo.sp_add_category is expected.'
--EXECUTE msdb.dbo.sp_add_category @name = N'[Uncategorized (Local)]'
--GO

--BEGIN TRANSACTION
--    DECLARE @JobID BINARY(16)
--    DECLARE @ReturnCode int
--    DECLARE @nameT nchar(200)
--    SELECT @ReturnCode = 0

--    -- Add the job
--    SET @nameT = N'ASPState' + '_Job_DeleteExpiredSessions'
--    EXECUTE @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_job
--            @job_id = @JobID OUTPUT,
--            @job_name = @nameT,
--            @owner_login_name = NULL,
--            @description = N'Deletes expired sessions from the session state database.',
--            @category_name = N'[Uncategorized (Local)]',
--            @enabled = 1,
--            @notify_level_email = 0,
--            @notify_level_page = 0,
--            @notify_level_netsend = 0,
--            @notify_level_eventlog = 0,
--            @delete_level= 0

--    IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
--    -- Add the job steps
--    SET @nameT = N'ASPState' + '_JobStep_DeleteExpiredSessions'
--    EXECUTE @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep
--            @job_id = @JobID,
--            @step_id = 1,
--            @step_name = @nameT,
--            @command = N'EXECUTE DeleteExpiredSessions',
--            @database_name = N'ASPState',
--            @server = N'',
--            @database_user_name = N'',
--            @subsystem = N'TSQL',
--            @cmdexec_success_code = 0,
--            @flags = 0,
--            @retry_attempts = 0,
--            @retry_interval = 1,
--            @output_file_name = N'',
--            @on_success_step_id = 0,
--            @on_success_action = 1,
--            @on_fail_step_id = 0,
--            @on_fail_action = 2

-- IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback

--    EXECUTE @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_update_job @job_id = @JobID, @start_step_id = 1
--    IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
--    -- Add the job schedules
--    SET @nameT = N'ASPState' + '_JobSchedule_DeleteExpiredSessions'
--    EXECUTE @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobschedule
--            @job_id = @JobID,
--            @name = @nameT,
--            @enabled = 1,
--            @freq_type = 4,
--            @active_start_date = 20001016,
--            @active_start_time = 0,
--            @freq_interval = 1,
--            @freq_subday_type = 4,
--            @freq_subday_interval = 1,
--            @freq_relative_interval = 0,
--            @freq_recurrence_factor = 0,
--            @active_end_date = 99991231,
--            @active_end_time = 235959

--    IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
--    -- Add the Target Servers
--    EXECUTE @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver @job_id = @JobID, @server_name = N'(local)'
--    IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
--    COMMIT TRANSACTION
--    GOTO   EndSave
--QuitWithRollback:
--    IF (@@TRANCOUNT > 0) ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
--EndSave:
--GO

--/*************************************************************/
--/*************************************************************/
--/*************************************************************/
--/*************************************************************/

PRINT ''
PRINT '-------------------------------------------------'
PRINT 'Completed execution of InstallPersistSqlState.SQL'
PRINT '-------------------------------------------------'

Using SQL Azure Database in SQL Management Studio

2009-08-24T07:44:00.001-07:00

OK, so I’ve figured it now. You can use SQL Azure Database in SQL Azure Management Studio, you just can’t use object explorer.

So this means you will be able to run queries but not be able to view stored proc lists, tables etc in the Object Explorer window. If you need to do that then you can always use Universal SQL Editor as described in my previous article

So the simplest way of doing this is to

When connected to your existing database

Click New Query button
Within Query Window

Right Click and Select Change Connection

Enter the server name (including ctp.database.windows.net e.g. servername.ctp.database.windows.net)
Select SQL Server Authentication
Enter Username (including servername, excluding ctp.database.windows.net e.g chris@servername
Enter Password
Click Options

In Connection Properties Tab

Change Connect to Database to database name (e.g. HawaiianShirts), just type it

This will allow you to run queries in SQL Management Studio but not use object explorer

Alternatively you can login as normal but disable object explorer

Tools->Options->(Environment->General)->At Startup = "Open New Query Window" instead of "Open Object Explorer"

Connecting to SQL Azure Database with a management tool

2009-08-23T10:14:00.001-07:00

Whilst working on my new book Azure in Action (first 3 chapters are available now online), I thought I’d write up how to connect to SQL Azure Database using a database browser tool.

If you are lucky enough to have received your SQL Azure Database invitation token you will have noticed that you cannot connect SQL Server Management Studio to your cloud database.

However this is not to say that you cannot use another tool to perform the same job.

Universal SQL Editor

The Tool I have used is Universal SQL Editor which has a 14 day trial and is a reasonable cost at $39 beyond that. It’s a pretty good tool actually (please note I’m not affiliated with them in any way), it has intellisense and can talk to loads of different db types.

Setting up a DSN Connection

In the SQL Azure Portal I already created a database called “HawaiianShirts” which I will now connect to using the tool. To do that I created a file DSN which points to my DB. I called the DSN file “HawaiianShirts.dsn” and the contents of the DSN are below:

[ODBC]
DRIVER=SQL Server Native Client 10.0
UID=<myusername>@<myservername>
WSID=<mypcname>
APP=2007 Microsoft Office system
SERVER=<myservername>.ctp.database.windows.net
DATABASE=HawaiianShirts

So for example (not real data)

[ODBC]
DRIVER=SQL Server Native Client 10.0
UID=chris@a123456
WSID=CHRIS-PC
APP=2007 Microsoft Office system
SERVER=a123456.ctp.database.windows.net
DATABASE=HawaiianShirts

I can now use this file DSN to open a connection to the database. I can use this editor to both create tables, stored procedures and view/edit data.

Here is a screenshot of me using the tool to edit some data in a table in SQL Azure Database

Azure in Action book page up on Manning Site

2009-07-30T02:27:00.001-07:00

I’m pleased to say that Manning have put up the page for our “Azure in Action” book on the Manning site.

Check it out at: http://www.manning.com/hay/

I will be posting up some details of the progress soon and some more details of how you can get early access to the chapters.

You can also check out our funky book cover

SQLBits

2009-07-29T04:03:00.001-07:00

SQLBits which really is one of the top SQL Server conferences in the world is now accepting session submissions.

I had the pleasure of doing a session at SQL Bits 3 last year and I absolutely loved it. Unfortunately since the timing is so close to the PDC, I don’t think I will be able to attend or present :(

However, if you are interested in submitting a session then you should go to the site

Even if you don’t want to submit a session you should make a note of the date in your diary and take a jaunt down to Wales (each conference is held in a different location in the UK).

Anyways check it out 19th-21st November 2009

Silverlight: iPhone Apps

2009-07-20T02:28:00.001-07:00

So this was a tweet I picked up from @scottGu who picked it up from @techarch (by the way my twitter address is @chrishayuk)

So the Mono folks are working on a version of Mono that can compile to the iPhone which will eventually mean you will be able to run Silverlight Applications.

For more details see the MonoTouch Roadmap

This is absolute awesome as someone who has done a lot of Silverlight development and some iPhone development this is great news.

If you have ever tried to develop on the iPhone it’s like stepping back 10 years. The prospect of being able to write C# / Silverlight code is just cool.

Once my book is complete this is one of the first set of technologies that I will be messing around, way cool.

Silverlight: See you at Devlink

2009-07-09T09:15:00.001-07:00

I’m very pleased to say that I will be spending a week in August at Nashville at Devlink

I’ve heard Nashville is an awesome place to be and I can’t wait to check it out. I’ll be spending a few days before the conference chilling out and checking out the sites. Hopefully I will get a chance to eat some good southern food and of course many many Cheeseburgers.

The attendee party looks great, I’ve never seen a baseball game before so I’m looking forward to it. The conference agenda looks amazing with an incredible speaker line up.

My session is on Silverlight Offline at 4.00pm on the Friday night.

It will be nice to concentrate on Silverlight again as I’ve been pretty Azure focused over the past few months :)

Looking forward to seeing you there, please say hello.

SQLBits V

2009-07-08T14:31:00.001-07:00

This time it's in Wales and is lasting 3 days, with the third being a community day. Wow it looks a cracker.

Its on Thursday 19th November to Saturday 21st (unfortunately PDC week but I will try and be back for it).

For more details visit SQLBits

I've taken the liberty of translating the official sqlbits v announcement translated from Welsh to English using an online translator below.

"We are being we ' heartburn pleased I announce be SQLBits crookedly go West , the rhandaliad he conferences SQLBits. We are being doing the happening he drives even morely and crookedly better naâ€™a time last , in over 3 day with much more contain , except continuing I keep everything who is has worked as well crookedly the happenings previous. nferred the ddygwiddiad running he Thursday 19fed I Saturday 21ain November to the Celtic d to divine striped in Nghasnewydd , right Wales , nearly I ' group traffordd M4..) happening most yet , with contain gwethaf SQL Server. He will be en begin with day instruction before the happening , with details coming soon. We are being we has listened iâ€™ch.) about happening evening time , ey tasted time self y had scorned we has planned day happening with tall signs Friday the 20few with theme SQL 2008 and R2. He will be Saturday 21fed crookedly day society usual , with speakers around the world speaking about text SQL Server"

Modifying web.configs on the fly in Windows Azure

2009-07-04T08:19:00.001-07:00

This has caught me out often enough that I should blog about it.

If you are working with a web role in Windows Azure your web project is copied into the bin directory of your cloud project and is ran from there. This allows the Windows Azure Development environment to simulate running within the cloud.

If you need to therefore modify a web.config setting then modifying your web.config on the fly from your source file won’t make the slightest bit of difference.

You need to either modify the web.config in the bin directory of your cloud project, or stop and re-run your role again.

In my case, I was messing with the maxRequestLength attribute of the httpRuntime element.

Azure Pricing

2009-07-04T04:03:00.001-07:00

So we will soon know the pricing model of Windows Azure (yay), we will probably find this out on the 13th of July but we will certainly know this by 4.30pm on Tuesday the 14th of July.

If we don’t have the information on this date then the folks attending session “SS006 – The Azure Service Platform Partner Model and Pricing” could be in for a surprise. The Microsoft Worldwide Partner conference site has more details of this. This session also seems to indicate that we may get pricing not just on Windows Azure but on SQL Data Services and .NET Services.

There are some other clues that we might be able to guess from the proposed session list. One of the sessions (SS003) refers to Windows Azure, Business Edition. This may mean that Microsoft may be offering different levels of service (and pricing) depending on your needs. This could be good news for developers, maybe we will see a developer edition at some point :)

I can’t wait for this information as it will allow me to complete the section on pricing / SLA’s in the new book I am writing with Brian Prince for Manning titled “Azure in Action”.

Loosely couple code/data for static known types

2009-07-01T15:47:00.001-07:00

So the title is a bit of a mouthful but I couldn't think of a better one.

The problem is simple and we have all faced it. We have a database with static data that never or hardly changes. The major issue we have is that we keep a copy of the data on the database and the we make loose runtime references to the code which can break our application.

For example lets say I have a payroll database. Some employees are paid weekly, every 2 weeks or ever calendar month. So I may choose to represent this data in a table called payfrequencytypes where i store my 3 rows. From a database perspective this is cool. I can join to this table, I can run reports etc.

From my application layer this is not so great. If I wish to create some application business logic to determine when to pay my employee, I will need to check their pay frequency. At this point I need to mix code and data, typically you will see something like

if (emp.PayFrequency == "Monthly")
PayEmployee();

PayFequency types will never change so I want static compiler checking. I really want my code to be something like

if (emp.PayFrequency == PayFrequencies.Monthly)
PayEmployee();

This is much better for me at the app layer however the problem here is that I need to keep my 2 layers in sync now (app and code).

I think code generation solves this problem. Really we need to define in our application what static data we require, how we generate it the database and validation routines to make sure it is correct in the db. We can then make our application responsible for generation and validation meaning we can feel sure that we can use static types

Obviously this example can get more complicated but you see the point.

I will try and put some code generation stuff when I have time that solves that issue for simple examples.

In the future I think this is exactly the sort of problem that Oslo could solve for us.

NULLS FIRST LAST

2009-07-01T15:06:00.001-07:00

As I said in my previous post, I've been looking at other technologies in my continuing quest to become a better developer.

One technology is open source database called postgresql. I haven't installed it yet just looking at the manuals and comparing to sql server. Perhaps after the book is done I'll get a chance to play.

One of the features that I spotted that I think would pretty cool in SQL Server is the ability to specify sort order of nulls in SELECT statements.

By default in SQL Server nulls are returned first and it's a little nasty to return them last but in PostgreSQL it is easy.

SELECT Firstname, Surname
FROM Customers
ORDER BY Firstname NULLS LAST

In SQL Server you have to do some pretty nasty things that to get the same result. Some folks often go for case statements or coalesces in the order statement to get a similar result. I urge against this (hence why I am not showing you the code) as it produces inefficient query plans. There are also other potential solutions that I am not going to go into (may'be another day),

My point is, I like this feature PostgreSQL has it, I think Oracle has it too and I think it might be a part of the SQL 2003 standard. Whether it is standardized or not is a little fuzzy but I can't check as it costs lots of money to get a copy. This leads me onto another point, the ISO standards should be free, end of story.

Finally if Microsoft are looking for a new T-SQL language feature to implement in the next version, this would be cool.

I think it meets the criteria of being something that is sufficiently hard to do and therefore should be covered in the core engine.

I’ve got lots to say just not enough time

2009-06-30T02:13:00.001-07:00

I haven’t really spent anytime blogging in the past few months. I have a tons of things to say, unfortunately just don’t have enough time at the moment.

I’ve obviously been writing my book on Azure and have loads to blog about regarding.

I’ve also spent time messing around with

design patterns
Data Layers
OR/M’s,
Caching

I’ve also been looking outside of the Microsoft stack which reaffirms my position of why I’m glad I work with Microsoft. However it has broadened my horizons and realize there is a lot of cool stuff other folks in other platforms are doing. Some of it the same, some of it different.

Specifically I was looking at:

Postgres
Objective C
IPhone development

I’m currently looking forward to .NET 4.0 (haven’t really played with it yet as I’ve been focused on the book). The thing that excites me the most is ADO.NET Entity Framework 4.0.

I’ve also got a big list of things to play with once the first draft of the book is done.

I’m behind on loads of blogging and screencasts (especially with Silverlight).

Anyways I hope to be able to fit in some time soon and catch up with my blog posts.

It’s been a busy time.

If you’re interested in the book.

I’ve finished the first drafts of chapter 1 and chapter 5. I’m nearly finished my first draft of chapter 4. My co-author Brian Prince has finished his first draft of chapter 2 and has nearly finished his draft of chapter 3.

All in all we are nearly a third of the way through the book.

Silverlight: (and Azure) Range Http Request Header

2009-06-06T05:46:00.001-07:00

So this one is for the Azure team.

Can we have in Windows Azure Blob Storage the ability to pass through as an http request header key x-ms-range as well as range.

Both Silverlight and Flash don't allow the ability to pass the range in the header. I suspect that the NSAPI plug-in is preventing this. This means we can't make us of range downloads (and other functionality such as authorization) unless the Azure teams adds some extra support.

Please make the classes in RestHelpers.cs public

2009-06-04T14:42:00.001-07:00

There are a bunch of very cool set of helper classes (resthelpers.cs) in the Windows Azure storageclient library.

If these could be made public rather than internal my life would be so much happier

Blob Scenarios for the Azure in Action book

2009-06-04T14:05:00.001-07:00

So I’m currently looking at the Blobs chapter of the “Azure in Action” book that myself and Brian Prince are writing.

In our call with the publisher the other night, our very cool publishing company (Manning) encouraged us to get as much input from folks in the community as possible. I love this philosophy and I love working with such an enlightened company.

So if there any cool samples that you would love to see done, then please give me a shout. We do have lots of cool scenarios and samples that I think will be particularly exciting, however I’m keen not to miss the mark on anything.

I hope to post a little bit more on some of the cool stuff in book, pretty soon.

My new Azure Book

2009-05-24T08:32:00.001-07:00

So I've just agreed to write a book on Azure for Manning. The timeline is very aggressive so I'm going to pretty focused on Azure for the next few months.

I'm incredibly pleased and honored to have had my proposal accepted and today is my first day of writing. Actually, when I say first day of writing, it's more of my first day setting up my environment for writing the book.

Today has so far consisted of:

Downloading lots of Software
Clearing up my desk
Uninstallaing and Installing Software

Anyways I will therefore pretty much exclusively focused on Azure rather than Silverlight for a few months, that's not to say that there is not some synergy in some areas.

I think the next few months will be a lot of fun but a lot of hard work.

The book should be available in all good bookstores (and some of the dodgy ones too) from January.

Anyways, enough waffling and back to some serious work.

Silverlight: Toronto Code Camp Slides + Samples

2009-04-28T14:33:00.001-07:00

A big thanks to everyone who came to my session on Silverlight Communication at Toronto Code Camp.

Also a big mega thanks to everyone I met, and everyone involved in the organization. What a great event.

My slides are available here and my samples are available here

Silverlight: Multiple Http Requests Screencast

2009-04-19T15:00:00.001-07:00

It's important to remember that Silverlight is a browser technology and is therefore subject to the limits imposed by the browser.

This is especially true in the networking stack and Silverlight is limited to the number of connections it can make just as the browser is.

I show you this is the case in my latest screencast, Multiple Http Requests in Silverlight

The video is embedded below for you to view also:

Silverlight: Who cares if Binary Encoding is not interoperable?

2009-04-18T15:39:00.001-07:00

I know the title of this post is a little tongue in cheek but actually who cares?

Just to put this in context in SL3, Microsoft have added support for binary encoding of soap messages for communication between Silverlight 3 applications and WCF Services.

Binary encoding means that the server can process messages faster, meaning higher throughput and the ability to handle more clients than the SL2 text encoding for SOAP.

The downside that the binary encoding is a proprietary Microsoft format (not MTOM), infact its the same one used by NetTCPBinding.

Since performance doesn't seem to be worse than text encoding in any situation, Microsoft have made this the default encoding for building Silverlight enabled WCF Services.

Does it matter if the default encoding is not interoperable? No, because you can always set it back to a text encoding if you need interoperability.

Also, Silverlight by default does not encourage interoperability. To allow other browser clients to connect to your webservice you need to set you cross domain policy file. By default cross domain browser clients are shut out.

Finally if you are building a truly public interoperable api, you probably wouldn't make it SOAP based anyways, you would be likely to build a REST api

Good Move Microsoft, Binary Encoding Rocks!

I wish I was at WebDD

2009-04-18T10:55:00.001-07:00

I have to admit, I wish I was at WebDD as an attendee or a speaker.

I decided not to submit a session (not because I didn't want to), but because I am working on my session for Toronto next week, which is the same reason I can't attend.

Looks like it was a cracking day, lots of webby things.

Silverlight: Toronto Code Camp Session

2009-04-16T02:08:00.001-07:00

I guess I’m getting a little excited about going to Toronto Code Camp next week.

At the same time, things are hectic, lots of preparation to do :)

I am presenting a session on Silverlight 3 Communication. Funnily enough although the title suggests that I will be focusing on the new Silverlight 3 WCF Features (which I will be), this is not the complete story.

In order to truly understand the improvements made to networking in Silverlight 3, you need to understand the networking stack as it relates to Silverlight, the design decisions made and the effects these decisions have on the Silverlight 2 networking story, and how some of these things have been resolved in Silverlight 3.

Finally having this understanding allows you to build better applications, allows you to design the right system, and to understand why you hit certain walls and how to get around them.

Since this stack is at the heart of all Silverlight networking, this means that if you are using technology such as .NET RIA Services, or ADO.NET Data Services for Silverlight, these core fundamentals ring true.

So as much as I cover the new features of SL3, more of the focus will be on the underlying networking stack and allowing you to understand the fundamentals. So this will help you both in Silverlight 2, Silverlight 3, and Silverlight of the Future.

Anyways, I’ve had a lot of fun building this presentation, and I hope you will enjoy the session at code camp.

I also plan to bring this session to the UK in June for NxtGenUG Fest09 :)

Hope to see you there

I'm a PC (thankfully)

2009-04-13T04:24:00.001-07:00

This Easter bank holiday weekend, I decided I wanted to learn some new stuff. So since I have been sporting my new IPhone for the last few weeks, I thought learning how to develop on the IPhone would be cool.

So I have borrowed my mates MacPowerbook Pro, and I picked some books on IPhone development and Objective-C.

I haven't developed any IPhone apps yet, as I thought I would concentrate on the Objective-C language, which I feel I have a good grip of now.

So later today, I will attempt to create my first IPhone application, however I just want to say one thing. I am a PC (and thank God I am).

Using XCode, and Objective C is like taking a step back 7/8 years. I so much prefer Visual Studio over XCode and I so much prefer C# over Objective-C.

Don't get me wrong I can see the influences of other languages (such as Objective-C) that have shaped C#, and I can see features in Objective-C that are now coming to C# or that I would love to see in C#, but I have to say I prefer C# and the .NET Framework. I will probably expand up on this in future posts.

The one thing I want to say about Objective-C is that it is a little weird having to go back to explicit memory management (it really is like stepping in a time machine). However at the same time it feels kind of nice, going back to the core (just not sure I would want to do this everyday). I can easily see that with Mac Development most of your time will be spent thinking about Memory Management (which is just something we don't worry about so much these days).

Anyways, no matter what, after spending the weekend with Objective-C, I feel like a better developer but boy it makes me a appreciate Visual Studio, C# and the .NET Framework

Silverlight: Toronto Code Camp

2009-04-13T04:13:00.001-07:00

I'm pleased to say that I will be presenting at Toronto Code Camp in a few weeks time.

I will be doing a session on Silverlight 3 communication, covering lots of WCF stuff, Local Messaging and the new networking api used for Out of Browser.

I'm really looking forward to my first trip to Canada and meeting lots of cool people.

I hope to see you there.

Enabling Hardware Virtualization on a Sony Laptop

2009-04-10T08:21:00.001-07:00

This post is important to me as this was a real pain for me.

So virtualization is increasingly important today, and today I was needing to run a VM, and it turned out the VM was running a little slower than I was expecting. This is because my laptop didn't have Virtualization enabled on the bios.

This is normally very simple, just go to your bios settings on bootup and enable it, however I own a Sony. I love Sony Vaio's however you can't switch on hardware virtualization easily.

In the end I had to hack the bios (very scary).

To do this I created a boot disk on a usb stick (another painful thing), and then run the following tool from dos

symcmos.exe -L

I then opened the literal.txt file and changed register 0285 from 0000 to 0001 (using Edit in dos).

I then ran

symcmos.exe -v2 -uliteral.txt

This register is specific to my laptop with BIOS (R2090J8) so unless you have the same bios it won't work.

I then powered off my laptop, and hardware virtualization was enabled.

The following posts were very useful to me:

http://www.linuxformat.gr/?q=content/how-unlock-and-enable-hardware-accelerated-virtualization-technology-vt-sony-vaio-laptop-and

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=189228&page=14

If you have the same problem there is a lot to do, and it's very scary but it's worth it. Don't follow my instructions literally as it might fry your laptop, and I'm not responsible for that.

Read the posts, and then decide to do what is best for you

Silverlight: DDD Belfast Silverlight 3 talk

2009-04-07T06:33:00.001-07:00

A big thanks to everyone who came to my session at DDD Belfast on Silverlight 3 at the weekend.

I really enjoyed presenting in Belfast and I had a great a time all round, and glad that it went so well. In the end I pretty much covered nearly every new feature of SL3 (which was a challenge). I worked out that it took me about 80-100 hours to prepare that presentation. So I think I will now take a few evenings off this week to relax.

The slides are available here:

http://cid-f6bb92b5df4cfec0.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Public/Speaking/SL3Peek

A big thanks to Barry, Martha, Craig, Phil and everyone else I have missed out for putting together a great day.

Silverlight: Screencast: Silverlight 3 Derived Styles

2009-04-06T15:29:00.001-07:00

In this short screencast, I show you how to quickly get started with style inheritance in Silverlight 3.

You can download the video from here, or watch below

Demo Gremlins

2009-04-02T07:31:00.001-07:00

So everytime I build a new presentation, I try and find an unsuspecting audience to try it out on before I present it for real.

I have a brand new presentation on Silverlight 3 in Belfast, and today I did my dummy run in Cambridge for a company that I work with. They are a very forgiving audience :)

So I got really great feedback and it went really well (even though I was still changing things last night). However the demo gods did strike on more than one occasion. As I said they are very forgiving.

Again this proved how useful this strategy is, and on Saturday I will put the appropriate steps in place to stop the demo gremlins.

Just in case you are wondering Visual Studio 2008 and the Web Development Server kept locking up. In the end I went for an open browser, building and refreshing (rather than clicking the play button). This seemed to please the demo gods more.

I also discovered that doing a demo on network addresses changing (when you are not connected to a network), is not a clever thing to do.

Silverlight: SL3 Navigation Screencasts

2009-03-30T16:26:00.001-07:00

In this first video, I show how to get started with the new Silverlight 3 Navigation feature.

In this second video, I show you how to use the new Uri Mapper and deep linking feature.

Silverlight: GPU reverts to CPU Screencast

2009-03-26T17:07:00.001-07:00

In my previous screencast, i showed you the benefits of GPU acceleration in Silverlight 3 and how to make use of it, as well of an instance where enabling GPU acceleration will harm performance.

In this screencast, I will show you that in certain scenarios even though you have enabled GPU acceleration, Silverlight will revert to the CPU. Specifically we cover RenderTransforms, Pixel Shader Effects and 3D Perspective (Plane Projections). Video is below.

Silverlight: GPU Acceleration Screencast

2009-03-25T17:34:00.001-07:00

I wanted to do a screencast on Silverlight GPU Acceleration

Hopefully this video should show how to use GPU acceleration and when to use it, and an instance of when you might not want to use it.

There are lots of other instances of when you would want to, and not want to use GPU acceleration (and I will probably cover them in future videos), as I like to keep the screencasts short.

Silverlight: SL3 WriteableBitmap Video

2009-03-24T17:16:00.001-07:00

I've spent a little time now with the Silverlight 3 WriteableBitmap stuff (playing with my Spectrum Emulator). So I thought I'd make a little video going through using it.

I show you how to use WriteableBitmap to generate some random noise, some gotchas and show how the emulator makes use of WriteableBitmap.

Silverlight 3 WriteableBitmap can be viewed from here or below

Silverlight: SLLauncher

2009-03-23T03:32:00.001-07:00

This is just a quick post about debugging in Silverlight 3 “Out of Browser” mode.

Your offline Silverlight application does not run in Internet Explore but will run in the a standalone executable called “SLLauncher.exe” which ships with Silverlight. SLLauncher is essentially a windows application which hosts a browser control (and on the Mac it hosts webkit). In windows look at (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Silverlight\3.0.40307.0\sllauncher.exe).

This means that is you were to look for your “out of browser” silverlight application in Task Manager it will be listed as “SLLauncher.exe”. The bad new is that (for the beta) it does not list in taskmanager any details of the application running, it will just show as “sllauncher.exe”, this means you can’t distinguish between multiple “out of browser” applications running on your machine.

Debugging

This means if you wish to debug your SLOOB application, then you will need to attach to the sllauncher process. Visual Studio will not automatically attach to your SLOOB application.

Silverlight: Web Pixel Shader Compiler

2009-03-21T17:45:00.001-07:00

So I've built a very quick silverlight application (I will tidy it up later), that will compile your pixel shader code for you. This saves you from downloading the DirectX SDK.

The url to use the compiler is here: http://www.voxpeeps.com/slpixelshadercompiler/

A little screenshot is below:

In the first textbox, enter the name of your .ps file (do not include the .ps extension).

In the second textbox, enter the contents of your .fx file.

Click on the compile button, and it will give you a link to download your .ps file.

You can the include your .ps file into your silverlight 3 application.

For more details on creating custom pixel shaders see this blog entry from Andy Beaulieu

I will probably do a quick video on using this tool soon, and will tidy it up to make it look a little more professional at a later date.

In the mean time, feel free to go to: http://wpffx.codeplex.com/ and compile them for use in Silverlight at http://www.voxpeeps.com/slpixelshadercompiler/

Silverlight: WriteableBitmap Gotchas

2009-03-21T14:40:00.001-07:00

So I updated my Silverlight Spectrum Emulator to work with Silverlight 3 and in this process I used the new WriteableBitmap class.

I just wanted to make you aware of a few gotchas that I experienced whilst working with this.

Set the Image Source everytime

Gotcha number 1, for some reason after updating a bitmap, you must reset the source of the image to your bitmap. If you don't then you will get very jerky updates (it won't re-render every time).

Out of Memory Exceptions

Due to gotcha number 1, you may be tempted touse a local variable for the WriteableBitmap, and then set the source of the image. DO NOT do this, as it will steal all your memory, and you will get an out of memory exception.

To get around this you should scope your WriteableBitmap to your page, and thus you will avoid the out of memory exception

Silverlight: Pixel Shader Libraries

2009-03-21T04:55:00.001-07:00

So I absolutely love the support for pixel shaders in Silverlight 3. You can apply some pretty cool effects (DropShadow and Blur are built in), or you can apply custom effects.

The method for producing custom shaders in SL3 is the same as WPF, which means that any custom shaders that are produced for WPF should work for Silverlight (this is a big assumption as I haven't tried it yet)

Creating custom pixel shaders is not the sort of task that everyday coders (including me), do. However any shaders produced by other people, we are quite happy to use.

In codeplex there is a nice custom shader library for WPF (for which I see no reason wouldn't work for silverlight 3, caveat is I haven't tried it yet).

http://www.codeplex.com/wpffx/

Effects include

Effects: BandedSwirl, Bloom, BrightExtract, ColorKeyAlpha, ColorTone, ContrastAdjust, DirectionalBlur, Embossed, Gloom, GrowablePoissonDiskEffect, InvertColor, LightStreak, Magnify, Monochrome, Pinch, Pixelate, Ripple, Sharpen, SmoothMagnify, Swirl, Tone, Toon, and ZoomBlur

I will try and grab some time, and try sticking one of the effects on SL3, and let you know the results

Silverlight: SL3 Dropshadows are slow

2009-03-20T16:34:00.001-07:00

This is probably no great surprise to anyone but bitmap effects have quite a significant performance hit on your CPU.

The following code is an example of how to apply a drop shadow

<StackPanel>
  <Button Content="Drop Shadow Under Me"  Width="200">
    <Button.Effect>
         <DropShadowEffect Color="Black" Direction="320" 
           ShadowDepth="25" BlurRadius="5" Opacity="0.5" />
    </Button.Effect>
  </Button>
</StackPanel>

So just be aware before you start apply dropshadows to every button / element on the page that it will slow your application down.

Just be considerate in your use (and always check your performance), especially since some effects (such as dropshadow) can easily be produced using more performant techniques.

Silverlight: SL3 Spectrum Emulator

2009-03-19T16:14:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I updated the spectrum emulator to run in Silverlight 3.

The performance is now amazing, due to GPU Acceleration, WriteableBitmap, and it also runs out of browser (right click and install).

I guess I will update it with more SL3 features at some point. Have fun writing spectrum basic, and playing manic miner etc.

http://www.voxpeeps.com/silverlightspectrumemulator/SL3Emulator.aspx

Instructions

Click your mouse within the emulator to begin

Symbol Shift is the Home Key, Remember Shift 0 is backspace, and Symbol Shift (home) P is a quote mark.

The emulator works with .SNA files, which you should be able to download from various sites and run via the Open File option, just search for .sna and whatever game.

Click here for an the layout of the spectrum keyboard

Play with it

Silverlight: OOB: Detach, user cancelling and exceptions

2009-03-18T17:27:00.001-07:00

So there is a couple of things I want you to be aware of when detaching your Silverlight application

App.Current.Detach() returns a boolean

If the user selects cancel, then it will return false, otherwise it will return true. You need to check for this, rather than assuming it worked.

Exceptions if you are already detached

You will receive a very nice InvalidOperationException with a message stating your application is already detached (if you attempt to detach your application, and you are already detached).

You need to catch this, you can't test for this in the Execution State, because if the user has installed, and then uninstalled your application straight away, but then decides to install it once more, in the same instance, then your "In Browser" application will believe you are detached when you are not.

Exceptions (badly), if you detach and you are not detachable

If you attempt to detach (via code), and your application is not detachable (you didn't setup the xml in your manifest). SL3 will throw a big wobbly, be careful.

Silverlight: Out of Browser Videos

2009-03-18T17:15:00.001-07:00

So I've posted a couple of videos, on working with the new Silverlight 3 Out of Browser feature.

These videos are less than 10 minutes each, so hopefully should be quite short.

Part 1: Shows you how to make your Silverlight 3 applications "Out of Browser"

Silverlight 3 OOB 1

Part 2: Shows you how to track if you have a network connection, what happens if you are working offline, and how to track if your application is installed as "Out of Browser"

Silverlight Out Of Browser Part 2

I'm sure I will do more videos

Silverlight: Out of Browser, uninstalling doesn't update execution state

2009-03-18T17:06:00.001-07:00

So lets say I have my Silverlight 3 application, and I decide to run my app "Out of Browser".

The Execution State allows me to determine if my application is detached (i.e. installed as an Out Of Browser application, or Running Online, there are some other states)

Application.Current.ExecutionState

As soon as I install my application as an out of browser application, then both my "In Browser" and "Out of Browser" can detect that my application is detached (i.e. is installed as out of browser).

However if I then subsequently uninstall my "Out of Browser" application, the "In Browser" application is not notified of the update, and still thinks I am in the detached state. This state isn't refreshed until I reload my Silverlight application

Silverlight: GetIsNetworkAvailable doesn't capture working offline

2009-03-18T17:00:00.001-07:00

The new Silverlight 3 feature call:

System.Net.NetworkInformation.NetworkInterface.GetIsNetworkAvailable()

will tell you if your machine as an available network connection.

This allows you to determine if your application is running disconnected from the network (e.g. on a network connection).

One of the purposes of this call is to allow you to decided if you need to store data to isolated storage and sync back to the server later, or if you can sync with the server just now.

However be aware, if you have set your browser to "Working Offline", GetIsNetworkAvailable will not take this into account.

Last night at NxtGen – Doing software large

2009-03-18T06:43:00.001-07:00

Last night I had the pleasure of watching an absolutely fantastic presentation in Cambridge UK.

We had Alisson Sol of Microsoft Research (who used to work in the product teams at Redmond). He gave the user group, a very frank, very entertaining presentation on developing software in large companies (specifically Microsoft).

We also got a great insight into how things work at Microsoft.

A big thanks to Alisson for this great presentation

Mix is nearly here

2009-03-16T15:33:00.001-07:00

The blogging frenzy will resume shortly :)

Google Chrome the Resource Hog

2009-03-03T08:26:00.001-08:00

On my little netbook, I run Google Chrome rather than IE6 as my web browser (IE6 is the default, and I don't really want to put IE7 on due to various reasons). Google Chrome is extremely fast on my netbook and i have a good browsing experience, it definitely seems much better than IE6.

I have started to notice that just running Chrome takes on average between 5-10% of my CPU time just for it to sit there. That's an awful lot of CPU time for having a browser window open (that is essentially doing nothing). I think it's time to change browser. I might give the new Safari Browser a go.

Silverlight: Register for DDD South West

2009-03-03T06:08:00.001-08:00

Go! Quickly! Stop reading this and register now! Registration for DDD South West is now open. Be able to tell your grandchildren that you were there at the very beginning. Remember, there can be only one first time.

DDD South West is a free one day technical event on Saturday 23rd May 2009 at Queens College, Taunton with 13 top speakers providing 19 technical presentations

I'll be doing an Azure talk, Richard Costall will be doing a Silverlight talk (including some SL3), plus loads of more great talks.

Silverlight: DDD Belfast - A peek at Silverlight 3

2009-03-01T12:51:00.001-08:00

So a big thanks to everyone who voted for my session. I feel very honored that my session has been voted in.

So if you are interested in Silverlight 3 and in Belfast on the 4th of April (a saturday), then I will see you there.

For more info on DDD Belfast, click on the link

Silverlight: At the MVP Summit in Seattle

2009-03-01T12:48:00.001-08:00

So I'm at the MVP Summit in Seattle.

If you wanna say hello please do so. I always wear a Hawaiian shirt at conferences, so I'm pretty easy to spot.

Anyways, this is gonna be a great few days, and looking forward to meeting lots of great folks

Removing Duplicate Items from Xml using XPath

2009-02-26T06:37:00.001-08:00

I needed this today, and I figured I will need it again in the future, hence my need to blog this.

I need some XPath which would remove duplicate elements from xml depending on an attribute on the item, e.g.

<Items>
   <Item ItemNumber=”1”/>
   <Item ItemNumber=”1”/>
   <Item ItemNumber=”2”/>
</Items>

The following XPath does the job perfectly (for my needs)

//Items/Item[not(@ItemNumber=preceding::Item/@ItemNumber)]/@ItemNumber

Which returns the following list:

<Items>
   <Item ItemNumber=”1”/>
   <Item ItemNumber=”2”/>
</Items>

DDD Southwest

2009-02-17T05:32:00.001-08:00

So I want to take a little time out to mention DDD Southwest. If you are based in the South West of England, then this is a great conference for you to attend. It’s on a Saturday (the 23rd of May), and it’s free. Even if you are not based in Taunton, I think it’s worth travelling down for.

Let me explain Why. The conference is run by Guy Smith-Ferrier who is one of the most community focused individuals, and one of my favorite speakers.

Main Agenda

The main agenda is great, great speakers + topics.

Silverlight (i’m sure there will be some SL3 in there, knowing Richard) – Richard Costall
ASP.NET MVC – Steve Sanderson (great book on MVC)
Oslo – Robert Hogg
C# 4.0 – Guy Smith-Ferrier
MEF – Ben Hall
Refacoring – Gary Short
Scrum – Richard Fenell
Quantum Computing – Dave McMahon
Windows Azure – Chris Hay (a little biased I know).

Don’t get me wrong it’s a real honor to be asked to speak at this conference, and the speaker line and topics is superb, but this isn’t what is exciting me the most.

A call for new speakers

This really excites me, there is a call for new speakers. So there will be a bunch of sessions from new speakers, with new takes on various topics. It will be superb and I can’t wait. It wasn’t that long ago when I was a new speaker, and it’s a great opportunity for new speakers to get sessions without competing against the big guns.

I think this is a great format that gives new speakers a chance to cut their teeth, in a supportive environment.

Alternative Track

I think this track however excites me the most, as I haven’t seen this format before.

It’s the Conference Party Games Track :)

Park Bench Discussion

Rotating Speaker Panel, where anyone can join in answering

Small is beautiful and hard

Make beautiful code from average code

Workshop for single handed developers
Balloon Debate

One Ballon, 5 languages represented by 5 people. The ballon is sinking and you need to ditch languages to gain height. For the first 30 minutes, each person representing a language has to argue their cause. After 30 minutes the audience throws out 3 of the people / languages. It’s then head to head. Winner takes all

Planning Poker

Looks super cool, everyone estimates a problem and shows their estimate simultaneously and then has to come to a consensus of the estimate

What a superb looking day, and it’s looks pretty different from other conferences.

Well done Guy on producing such a great format, and I’ll see you there.

May'be we've got databases all wrong

2009-02-15T12:29:00.001-08:00

I sometimes wonder if we've got databases all wrong.

We organize the data into logical blocks, and then we connect those blocks together in such a way that we think makes sense. We then spend our lives arguing about what should be in the blocks and how we should connect them together. We also worry about where the blocks should live and the best way of connecting the blocks together. We worry about the best way of keeping the blocks as small as possible (and so it goes on and on).

In the end we realize that our blocks and connections don't scale so well, and the best method of scaling is one big block, which we can chop up into little pieces.

Perhaps we are not so good at organizing the data, maybe we should let the data organize itself.

I Love Visual Studio, .NET and C#

2009-02-14T15:07:00.001-08:00

This morning I had a play around with Java ME and Netbeans.

There is a good reason for this, I don't like not understanding things, and I don't like being limited in ways and methods.

Now I achieved an awful lot in a few hours and I feel I have enough of an understanding of Java ME to build mobile applications (which could interact with .NET backends).

As much as developing for Java ME is simple and there is a lot of things I liked, it makes me appreciate .NET, C# and Visual Studio.

Wow, in my humble opinion, C# is far superior to Java and applications are far quicker and easier to develop with the .NET Framework and Visual Studio. I could not contemplate ever developing a back end solution in Java.

That's not to say that I don't see little Java ME applications talking to WCF Rest based Services. I I feel I have now opened that possibility to myself. However I have to say developing Silverlight applications is much preferred.

Please make Silverlight for Mobile appear on as many mobile phones as possible :)

Blacklight: A wicked set of Silverlight controls

2009-02-12T15:36:00.001-08:00

So I stumbled upon this set of wicked Silverlight controls created by a bunch of UX Designery folks at Microsoft Consulting UK.

These are a really stylish set of black Silverlight controls. The best thing is they are free to use / download and they come with source.

http://mightymeaty.members.winisp.net/blacklight.silverlight/

Silverlight Games and the real time web

2009-02-07T16:05:00.001-08:00

So following on from my last post, where i was talking about High Score Services.

Perhaps the high score service concept could be taken further.

Why not have your application automatically integrate with your facebook account (or twitter)m and automatically publish your high scores to your friends.

Let your friends know your status realtime in the game.

Chris has just scored 20,000 points in Kangaroo Man (a made up game title). Chris is currently on Level 2 of Big Bad Space Aliens. Chris has just been wiped out by a big scary Alien.

Again, this would be cool functionality. A real pain for a casual game developer to do on his/her own, but if a common library / service was available to integrate too, it would raise the bar of games.

P.S. Don't read this as a service / library I plan to write. I'm merely pontificating.

Silverlight Secure High Score Service

2009-02-07T09:59:00.001-08:00

Just to qualify this, I'm not building any games but it has occurred to me that there is a challenge in building a secure High Score Service for games.

I'm now of the opinion that it is probably such a challenge for the average casual game developer, that is probably worth someone developing a service (and library code), for other casual game developers to use.

Here is the reason it is a challenge. If you implement a simple service where the Silverlight Application simple sends back the high score to the server, it is easily manipulated.

Just grab Fiddler, capture the request, modify the high score, and send it back.

So now to stop this sort of attack you need to bring in lots more mechanisms.

Some thoughts are:

Encryption
Capturing of in-game data
Hashing with GameId
Hashing with SessionId

I guess it depends how far you want to go, total security, or enough of a deterrent.

Even if the request is encrypted and cannot be tampered with, you could reflect the game and work out the logic.

I will ponder this some more, however

Silverlight 3 Session DDD Scotland

2009-02-04T06:33:00.001-08:00

So I have submitted a Silverlight 3 session for DDD Scotland.

If you are going to Glasgow in May and you want to see a session on Silverlight 3, then please vote for my session.

Also feel free to vote for other sessions you might wish to see ;)

Finally, please vote for this session :)

I know it sounds a little pleady but it would be nice to visit my parents :), whilst I am there

BigTable, MapReduce and Hadoop

2009-02-03T15:43:00.001-08:00

This post won't make much sense as this is just a reminder to myself.

Over the next few weeks, I want to spend sometime looking at MapReduce and how it can be applied with Windows Azure (big thanks to Gary Short for mentioning this).

I also want to look at how BigTable compares to Windows Azure Table Storage Services, and finally i want to look into Hadoop.

Sorry this is just a list of things I want to look at, but I will expand out on this later

I'm also wondering how this can relate to Silverlight. Perhaps you could have multiple Silverlight Nodes running with MapReduce talking back to Windows Azure (via a proxy web service), as well as queues and worker roles

Silverlight Assault Course: Dublin, Cork, Upavon

2009-01-26T13:51:00.001-08:00

Big thanks once more to everyone attended. As promised I would provide a link to my samples, enjoy.

http://cid-f6bb92b5df4cfec0.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Speaking/SilverlightAssaultCourse.zip

Silverlight Essentials in Upavon

2009-01-23T02:25:00.001-08:00

So after an intense weekend in Dublin and Cork, myself and Rich do it all again, this time in Upavon, Wiltshire.

If you’re going to be there, see you tomorrow, it should be a lot of fun.

For details of the event, see the following link:

http://www.richplum.co.uk/meetings/20090124.pdf

Silverlight Assault Course Ireland: Thanks

2009-01-20T03:21:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone attended the Assault Course in Dublin and Cork.

Also a big thanks to Microsoft Ireland + MTUG Ireland (especially Martha and Joe) for organizing everything.

We will try and get the links up for the samples, soon.

For a great overview of the weekend, check out Johns Blog

January is the month of Design in NxtGenUG

2009-01-12T09:25:00.001-08:00

Have we all forgotten we are developers at NxtGenUG, the majority of our sessions across all our user groups for January are to do with design.

To be honest, they all look great as well :)

For a different view on the world

Southampton

Tricky + Dr Neill

http://www.nxtgenug.net/ViewEvent.aspx?EventID=184

Coventry

The Designer / Developer story, Simon Sturgess and Timothy Hustler

http://www.nxtgenug.net/ViewEvent.aspx?EventID=176

Birmingham

Tricky again

http://www.nxtgenug.net/ViewEvent.aspx?EventID=173

Cambridge and Oxford are the only ones not going all designy.

Dr Neil and Tricky in Southampton

2009-01-12T09:20:00.001-08:00

Both Tricky and Dr Neil are in Southampton this Thursday Evening

I really wish I could make this event, looks a cracker.

http://www.nxtgenug.net/ViewEvent.aspx?EventID=184

DDD7: Thanks for the great feedback

2009-01-12T05:57:00.001-08:00

I just got my feedback for my “Introduction to Windows Azure” session (or as it was titled “Welcome to the Cloud”.

Looking at the scores and comments, the feedback was incredibly high.

Big thanks to everyone who attended my session and gave me such great scores, it really is appreciated.

Even bigger thanks to everyone who was involved in the organization of DDD7, it was just a superb day, well done guys.

Silverlight Assault Course: Ireland

2009-01-09T04:26:00.001-08:00

It looks like we might be sold out for the Dublin & Cork legs of the Silverlight Assault Course :)

I’m really looking forward to coming across to Ireland and doing the assault course with Richard Costall, John McLoughlin, John Price and Martha Rotter.

On Saturday we are at Microsoft in Sandyford and on the Sunday we are in Cork.

I’m really looking forward to this as I lived in Dun Laoghaire for about a year (about 12 years ago)

Anyways, can’t wait to be back across, see you in Ireland.

17th Dublin - Details to Follow - see Martha's Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/martharotter/

18th Cork - http://www.cork.mtug.ie/Events/EventInfo.aspx?ID=a607584a-2fa2-475b-ba8e-4ba9786d9814

Azure: Replication delay updating blobs in storage

2009-01-05T15:14:00.001-08:00

I blogged about this about a week back, and I was thoroughly confused and thought I was imagining things. I now know I wasn't dreaming and can now reproduce it.

If you update (overwrite or (delete + add)) an existing blob in Azure Storage Services there is a chance you will be served up stale data, if you are working on multiple servers (note single server is ok)

My Test Environment

To prove I wasn't mad, I ran my Azure Blob Browser application on 2 different machines (my local machine + on a remove desktop machine).

All I did was Add / Delete / Update blobs in a container in my storage account.

Adding + Deleting a blob

So if I added a blob or deleted a blob, the change was reflected instantaneously (or at least as quick as my mouse) on both machines.

Updating a blob (replication delays)

If however if I updated a blob (either by overwriting the blob or by deleting and adding a new blob), the blob had not replicated to the storage account server that the remote machine connected to.

The blob was still correct in my blob browser on my local machine, however on my remote machine it was still displaying (etag + last modified) and downloading stale data.

Conclusion

Although you can assume that once you add or delete a blob in azure blob storage services that all instances of your application will have access to the data, at the moment you cannot make the same assumption for an update (unless you are a single instance service).

I'm not sure if this is intentional or is a bug (after all this a CTP release).

As I said on my previous post, I do need to dig into things a little more and get more details on the replication mechanism used.

Silverlight Assault Course in Cork (free)

2009-01-05T14:48:00.001-08:00

So if you want a day's worth of Silverlight presentations for free, you live near Cork, and are free on Sunday the 18th of January then you better come along to the Silverlight Assault Course.

Places are limited to 20 folks (sign up here)

For more details on the cork event see Martha Rotter's blog

For a full breakdown of the agenda see the NxtGenUG website

And I'll see you there :)

Generating a new guid in powershell

2009-01-03T08:53:00.001-08:00

This one is for me, so I don't need to keep trawling for this.

If you need to create a new guid in powershell, the following command will do it.

[System.Guid]::NewGuid().ToString()

Silverlight: I've been made MVP

2009-01-01T09:09:00.001-08:00

Wow, I've just got the best new year news.

I've just been awarded MVP status (in Client App Dev) :)

I'm just blown away to be given this. Thanks to everyone :)

Happy New Year

Azure Blobs - Container names must be lower case

2008-12-31T06:49:00.001-08:00

I've just noticed that container names must be lower case in Azure Blob Storage.

In-fact it will blow up and exception if you try and create a container name with a capital letter.

Be aware of that if you use my Azure Blob Browser I do not handle the exception (infact there is no exception handling whatsoever. I will put a fix out later for it.

Windows Azure Blob Storage - uri's are case sensitive

2008-12-28T15:26:00.001-08:00

This was driving me batty for about 10 minutes.

If you click on the following link it will return a pretty picture of the Acropolis

http://maheshwar.blob.core.windows.net/livesearchimages/Acropolis1641358469.jpg

If you click on this link it will return a not so pretty 404

http://maheshwar.blob.core.windows.net/livesearchimages/acropolis1641358469.jpg

Please note the only difference is the capital letter in Acropolis

Azure Storage + Replication

2008-12-28T12:23:00.001-08:00

This came into my head last night when uploading a couple of blobs into the cloud.

Since I developed my blob browser, I've found myself using it to transfer files from one machine to another.

For the sake of efficiency I found myself with one remote desktop connection to one machine, and me being on my main machine. Since this was an update to an existing file that I was transferring, I copied over the existing zip file in the cloud. I was being particularly lazy, and I just used a public uri to get the file at the other side (rather than using a private uri, and my browser).

The interesting thing is that when I retrieved the file at the remote site, i didn't get the update version of the file, it served me up the previous version.

At first I thought there was something odd with the replication mechanism, session affinity with the posting machine, now I just think that I had some caching getting in the way, as I can't seem to reproduce what i saw last night.

If I post a file into blob storage services, I should be able to retrieve the file straight away. This is different to Amazon's model which is that the file might not be there when you attempt to access it (as it hasn't been replicated yet).

To be honest I'm not quite sure how this is achieved in Azure. I know that data must be replicated at least 3 times. I don't know if it has to replicate 3 times before a response is given, replicated to all participating machines or whether the replication is completely loosely coupled. (I will try and do some digging).

I guess my point here is that I need to look a bit more into the workings of replication with Azure

Windows Azure Blob Browser

2008-12-27T16:31:00.001-08:00

So I've just released version 0.1 of my Windows Azure Blob Browser / Viewer.

This is a little WPF application that allows you to browse / download blobs residing in Windows Azure Blob storage services. This works against the current CTP release.

You can download the application from here

This gives the following functionality

List Containers
Add / Delete Containers
View Container Properties
List Blobs in Container
Add / Delete Blob in container
View Blob Properties
Download Blob

There is still a bunch of stuff that I want to include in future versions

Set content type
View / Set Metadata for container / blob

All you need to get started is your Azure Storage account name + Shared Key (this should also work against your dev account)

Silverlight: Sky Player has no adaptive streaming

2008-12-23T15:36:00.001-08:00

So looking at the Sky Player a little closer, I am very disappointed to see that there is no adaptive streaming solution (like the olympics), but they have opted for the easier solution of offering high, medium, low quality dropdown instead.

Silverlight: + Sky Television

2008-12-23T15:23:00.001-08:00

So Sky Television have just launched their own Web Based TV Service developed with Silverlight 2 + PlayReady.

The following channels are available:

Sky Sports 1
Sky Sports 2
MTV
Eurosport
National Geographic
Nickelodeon
Nick Jr
Disney Channel

No existing Sky Connection / Dish necessary.

Supports up to 1.8Mb, which interestingly enough (if you watch the PDC Olympics and Silverlight session) is the optimal limit they found during Olympics + Democratic National Convention

I'm pretty excited about this as it should increase the Silverlight install base in the UK and it really shows that Silverlight (especially in the UK) is making its name in media. BBC, Sky + ITV (UK's biggest networks) all have (or about to have) Silverlight based Internet TV Offerings. Very cool.

I know this has been out for a few weeks now (i'm not the quickest off the mark, but it's still v.cool)

Check out more about Sky's offering below:

https://skyplayer.sky.com/vod/page/home.do

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/dec08/12-04SkyPlayerPR.mspx

Windows Azure Table Browser

2008-12-23T02:06:00.001-08:00

I had this discussion last week and may’be if I have time over Christmas, I might build one.

What would be really cool if someone built a little tool to allow you to browse / view data held in a table in Windows Azure Storage Services.

I don’t think this would take long to build, would be pretty simple and would be incredibly useful.

All the browser would need to do really is take the serialized data, and extract it out to equivalent rows and columns.

Maybe one exists already? If so, let me know.

Silverlight: REST API Microformat

2008-12-16T16:50:00.001-08:00

So my question is how about a Microformat for when describing REST API's?

I've been wanting to create lots of cool little Silverlight applications against all the various cool api's that have sprung up over the years (and more frequently recently). An example list is below.

Blogger
You Tube
MTV
Twitter
and many many more

All of these API's are REST / Simple HTTP based protocols, not SOAP.

Very quickly, I have got annoyed with the API's as it's been to much of a pain, trying to get a decent client library to work with the API's. All have different flavors, support different features, not supported any more, lots of assemblies and integration, a real pain.

Even if you do find a decent client library, it might not work with Silverlight and even if it does, you end up with API assembly bloat.

Client Proxies

The big issue as far as I can see it is that decent client proxy generators don't seem to exist. You either have to download a client library built by the developer / an open source project / build one yourself.

This issue is being tackled in many places trying to simplify the issue

WCF REST Starter Kit
DSL's (OSLO)
C# 4.0 (dynamic)

From my point of view, I really want to just fire visual studio at a url, let it generate me a proxy, and then start working with it.

SOAP Proxies

One of the real advantages of SOAP based web services is that you can do just that, you point Visual Studio at the service and it will generate a nice little proxy with some lovely intellisense and you can work with the service very quickly.

This is great for enterprise / internal projects, not so great for Internet based projects, as REST is generally the chosen way forward.

The reason it's easy to generate a proxy with SOAP is that SOAP based Web Services have a WSDL document that describes the service interface.

WADL

So in the Java world, they are trying to push a similar concept to WSDL which is WADL. The WADL document will describe your service interface (just like WSDL). I don't personally like WADL and I don't think it will catch on, it doesn't really fit well with REST (in my opinion). This hasn't seemed to have taken off in the .NET world, and I don't expect it to either.

Microformats

So why do I think there should be a Microformat for REST / simple http based API's. Well pretty much of these API companies seem to write lots of html based documentation on how to use their lovely new api. Pretty much of all of these companies have pretty much the same sort of descriptions / formats.

Therefore it isn't too much of a pain to use a Microformat within the html. This would allow me to point Visual Studio straight at the documentation, and have it generate me a proxy, bizarre I know.

This would also allow all the existing api's to support it, with very little effort, not get in the way of any other service definition standardization etc, etc.

It would also be platform / language agnostic.

I know it seems a little crazy but how long would it take these companies to mark up their existing documents with the Microformat (not very long), you could then use whatever mechanism in your toolset to autogenerate docs.

So this is my crazy idea for the day, feel free to slate it.

The following is a sample address microformat



<div class="adr">
 <div class="street-address">665 3rd St.</div>
 <div class="extended-address">Suite 207</div>
 <span class="locality">San Francisco</span>,
 <span class="region">CA</span>
 <span class="postal-code">94107</span>
 <div class="country-name">U.S.A.</div>
</div>

Tha type of format could be easily modified to suit description of services, which ultimately would mean that a human could read it, and Visual Studio could generate a proxy from it.

Query parameters could be marked up with their type, their description.  Base Uri's could be marked up.

Anways, let the slating begin :)

If it seems a reasonable suggestion however, then I think its something that could be done quickly and could work with todays toolsets.

My Technical Highlights of 2008

2008-12-14T15:04:00.001-08:00

So it's coming to the end of the year, and I'm taking the time to reflect, and plan out the year ahead (as much as it can be).

For me technically, it has been a great year. My highlights have been

Presenting at Remix08 UK
Presenting at DDD7
PDC 2008 (attending, hanging out with friends, interviewing so many cool people)
Watching NxtGenUG Cambridge grow to an unbelievable level
Advancing my knowledge of SQL Server (I'm not an out and out SQL Developer) to a level that I was happy to present at SQLBits
Silverlight Spectrum Emulator on PDC 2008 Show Off
Silverlight Assault Course
Various gallery entries on silverlight.net (throughout course of year)
Meeting so many great people

My new technology highlights have been:

Silverlight 2
Windows Azure
Microsoft Small Basic (I love it)

I really have loved this year in the community, I really hope next year goes half as well.

My favourite sessions of 2008

2008-12-14T14:21:00.001-08:00

So in the past year, I have been at various conferences (Remix08, DDD7, SQLBits 2&3, NxtGenUG Fest08), been to various user groups (not as much as I would have liked), and watched many sessions online (Mix08, Channel9).

I thought I'd take the time out to call out the sessions I have enjoyed the most (all for very different reasons) in 2008.

The back of the napkin, Dan Roam, Mix08
ADO.Net Entity Framework, Mike Taulty, NxtGenUG Cambridge
Micropresentations, (especially the Sara Ford one), Remix08 UK
Silverlight as a Gaming Platform, Joel Neubeck, Mix08
Windows Azure, Cloud Service Development Best Practices, Sriram Krishnan, PDC08
Remix08 UK Keynote, Bill Buxton, Remix08 UK
Lap around Windows Azure, Steve Marx, PDC08
The Expert Panel Thing, Scott Guthrie & Co, Remix08 UK
F#, Oliver Sturm, NxtGenUG Fest08
Whose session is it anyways, Loads of folk, NxtGenUG Fest08

This list is a made up for very different reaons, a great inspiring presenter, a great session in a particular area of interest, or a session that was just a lot of fun. I've only included sessions that I have watched in whole (I don't see to many sessions in full at Cambridge)

If you weren't on this list, this is no reflection on you or your session (please note that my all time favourite speaker, Chris Anderson is not on this list).

There is still loads of sessions from Mix08, Remix08 UK, DDD7, SQLBits 3, Channel 9 that I haven't yet watched, may'be this would have changed the list, may'be not.

Silverlight: PDC Podcast (Part 2)

2008-12-13T16:16:00.001-08:00

So when we were across at the PDC myself and John McLoughlin did a bunch of podcast interviews. We replaced regular hosts Rich & Dave for one week only, we had such a blast and thanks to the guys for letting us guest host. Also massive thanks to everyone we interviewed.

We've just released the second part of our PDC podcast. In this interview we talk about Day 3 of the PDC, and we have interviews with:

Shawn Burke (Silverlight & WPF Controls Team)
Tim Sneath (PDC Keynote Technical Content owner) &
Mike Swanson (PDC Technical Content Owner)

If you missed the first part of the podcast, we interviewed:

Daniel Moth
Dan Fernandez & Brian Keller
Martin Gudgin
Chris Anderson
Don Box

There is one more PDC podcast to go featuring (will let you know when it is up).

In the meantime go check out other NxtGenUG Podcasts, which include the fabulous series of podcasts at TechEd Europe 2008

Classic ASP.NET

2008-12-13T05:15:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday night at NxtGenUG Cambridge, Mel Harbour was doing a nugget on ASP.NET MVC, in which he used the term "Classic ASP.NET".

As someone who quite likes "Classic ASP.NET", and is not a big fan of ASP.NET MVC, I am not convinced by this new terminology.

May I suggest "Traditional ASP.NET", or "Standard ASP.NET" as more acceptable terms :)

Silverlight: and Google Chrome

2008-12-11T11:23:00.001-08:00

So Google Chrome has now been released and it seems to be playing nicely with Silverlight now.

Previously you had to constantly resize your browser to use Silverlight, now seems to be working fine :)

Introduction to Windows Azure session in Cambridge

2008-12-09T15:06:00.001-08:00

Big thanks to everyone who attended my "Introduction to Windows Azure" session in Cambridge.

As one of co-founders / coordinators of the Cambridge region of NxtGenUG it's always nice to do a session in my home turf, and this is the second year that I have now done the Christmas session.

The slides and demos are now available to download on my skydrive.

Thanks again for coming!

NxtGenUG – Cambridge – Introduction to Windows Azure

2008-12-05T03:16:00.001-08:00

I’m doing the same session that I did at DDD7 for NxtGenUG Cambridge (which I run with Allister Frost).

So if you are based in Cambridgeshire, want an introduction to Microsoft’s Cloud Platform, a small nugget on ASP.NET MVC (Mel Harbour from Red-Gate is doing this one), Pizza and Swag, then I’ll see you there.

You can register here.

DDD7: Welcome to the cloud (Windows Azure)

2008-11-25T02:54:00.001-08:00

Big thanks to everyone who turned up to my session at DDD7. I really enjoyed doing the session, and hope you all found it useful.

The slides and demos are now available to download on my skydrive.

The session was also recorded, I will let you know the link when it is made available.

For those wondering in the end I did do a demo of a Silverlight application running in storage services (i.e no webrole / website). I think I will record that as a screencast soon.

Silverlight 3 – 3D and GPU Support

2008-11-21T04:04:00.001-08:00

I guess I am a little slow off the mark on this one but the new GPU Hardware Accelerated graphics and the 3D support just sounds great. I can’t wait to see the Spectrum Emulator run under that :)

I really want to play with it now, the downside is I suspect we won’t see any builds until Mix09

See ScottGu’s Post about it.

Azure Tables, Entities and Partition Diagrams

2008-11-20T14:49:00.001-08:00

It's always nice to explain things with diagrams, no matter how bad the diagrams are :)

A picture of a Table

The following diagram summarizes how a table of NxtGenUG (a UK user group) Coordinators might look in a Table in Windows Azure Storage Services.

This diagram shows that Chris Hay and Allister Frost are coordinators for the Cambridge region of NxtGenUG, and that Dave McMahon and Geff Lombardi are coordinators for the Birmingham region of NxtGenUG.

I have scribbled with my crayons how this relates to tables / partitions and entities in Windows Azure Tables.

The key thing to note about this table is that regions are partitions (birmingham, cambridge). The row keys are unique within a partition (but not outside of the partition, Chris and Dave have the same row key). Combinations of Partition Key and Row Key are unique.

Scaled Partitions

The following diagram shows how this table might be scaled in Windows Azure using Table partitioning.

The key thing to note is that entities within a partition always remain together (i.e. reside physically on the same server).

However partitions may not necessarily reside together, hence why querying across partitions is slower than querying exclusively within a partition

Silverlight and Tables

So this is how the tables look in the back end of Azure. This is a great structure and I can see this is something that Silverlight Applications could heavily utilize.

A lot of Silverlight applications don't necessarily need the full blown power of SQL Servers, and really want to save simple data in the backend, and be able to retrieve.

I can see this table type structure really being utilized within Silverlight. The downside is that Silverlight can't access it directly (you need to go via a ASMX / WCF Service). As I have said before I'm not sure you want to be able to give direct access, however perhaps some sort of delegated authentication scheme could work?

I think this will require more thought???

Azure Presentation

2008-11-20T06:48:00.001-08:00

So I’ve just done my first version of the “Introduction to Windows Azure” presentation (the same one I am doing at DDD, called “Welcome to the Cloud”). This was an internal presentation to a local company in Cambridge.

The feedback was superb (one chap said, it was a better presentation than I had seen at TechEd, which was very nice).

From my point of view, there is a couple of things that I want to change for Saturday (DDD7) however nothing particularly major.

One thing that disappoints me about Saturdays is that there is no Silverlight whatsoever in the day, I am now considering changing one of my demos last minute to have a some Silverlight :) , I'm not sure I can cope with a full day without Silverlight

Anyways, I look forward to seeing folks on Saturday (Silverlight or no Silverlight)

First presentation of "Welcome to the Cloud" tomorrow

2008-11-19T14:15:00.001-08:00

If you are going to DDD7 and you plan to attend my talk entitled "Welcome to the Cloud", which is a talk on Windows Azure, you will be pleased to hear that you won't be the Guinea pigs for this talk.

Very luckily I get to do a run through tomorrow for a local Cambridge company called Sagentia.

This should allow me iron out any glitches hopefully in time for Saturday :)

This has been a pretty tough presentation to put together, learning a new technology + presenting on it in 2.5 weeks (evenings + weekends to prepare only). I wish i was one of those lucky folks who got to see it before PDC but I didn't, so I really have had 2.5 weeks to prepare this (i.e. when i got back from LA).

It's nice to be finally be presenting it for the first time :)

Silverlight: and Windows Azure

2008-11-19T13:47:00.001-08:00

In my last article I was discussing Silverlight and Amazon's new CloudFront service.

I wanted now to discuss what the options with Azure are?

Hosting your Silverlight application in Azure

You can obviously host your Silverlight Application by hosting your website (which includes your Silverlight app) in Windows Azure, but I thought I'd explore avoidin the website, similar to what i was suggesting doing with Amazons Cloud Front.

The good news is that you can actually host your html file, your silverlight .xap file (set the mime type correctly), you will even be able to interact with web / wcf services via clientaccesspolicy / crossdomain files. You can host your Silverlight application completely in Windows Azure today (subject to the terms of service).

There are some caveats however at the moment:

Your silverlight application won't be able to access private blob storage (can't sign the http request)
Your silverlight application won't be able to access table or queues
Haven't figured how to control cache yet (not saying it's not possible, I just haven't spent enough time to figure if it is possible)

To be honest I'm not sure I want my silverlight applications to access these services directly. Certainly not at the moment (wouldn't want my shared key in the wild). May'be with a good authentication method this would be attractive.

The big difference between CloudFront and Azure for this type of thing is:

Content Expiry / Caching
Terms of Service / Pricing
Low Latency due to multiple datacenters and good routing

As I said, I think when Azure is out this will be a non issue.

Silverlight: Amazon CloudFront

2008-11-19T09:28:00.001-08:00

I’ve been looking at Amazon CloudFront today, and it seems to me that Amazon is aggressively going for the CDN market.

This really is a CDN (Content Delivery Network) solution (and it’s cheap). All it is a method of serving up assets (images, documents, html, even Silverlight) with low latency by using a delivery network (so if your user is in hong kong, the asset will be served from the hong kong server).

The good news is that it is ridiculously cheap. 17 cents per GB data transfer, and 1 cent per 10,000 requests.

Silverlight

It also seems to me (although I haven’t tried it yet), that if you wanted to host your Silverlight application within Amazon CloudFront you could do so. You could have an HTML page (hosted in CloudFront), assets (hosted in cloudfront), silverlight XAP file (hosted in CloudFront), and then you could even allow calls to a back end web service (hosted in azure, or your normal boring old web server) via cross domain policies.

UPDATE: This is confirmed as working, be careful with setting your Content Types, see Tim Heur's comments in the comment section of this post. Thanks Tim.

Azure

I think once Microsoft have setup their many data centers, I would expect a similar type of offering from Azure also. To be honest I don’t think Azure is too far away from this. All Microsoft need to do is provide multiple datacenters, allow us to control the cache for Blob Storage Services, and use the closest data center to server up public url’s. To offer this a separate offering from Azure’s point of view would be wrong (i think).

I think that the competition between Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud space is going to be really great, and will drive down the cost of hosting / scaling.

DDD7 – My Session Picklist

2008-11-17T03:45:00.001-08:00

So I am looking over the agenda for DDD7 and I am trying to work out which sessions I will attend.

Slot 1

I am in 2 minds about this one, I am in-between “Top 10 WCF tips” and “Seperating REST Facts from Fallacies”.

I really want to see the session on REST but we are bringing that session to Cambridge, unfortunately I don’t often get to see the full presentation at Cambridge because we have the business of running the user group.

I also love WCF and don’t think there are enough sessions on WCF, hence why I would quite like to go to this one also.

It’s a tough choice.

Slot 2

I think I am going to go to “ASP.NET MVC – Show me the code”. ASP.NET MVC is one of those technologies I have wanted to play with for a while and that I haven’t seen any full sessions on. I know this sounds odd as it’s been around for a bit now, but there is so much new stuff, some things just get pushed to the side. I also haven’t heard Steven Sanderson speak before, so that will be cool also.

I would like to see Network Admin one (Dave McMahon is a brilliant speaker), however I just can’t commit to a double session, also I want to look at Developery things rather than IT Pro things.

Again the Virtualisation session is tempting however the MVC one happens to swing it.

Slot 3

This one is a no brainer to me “ASP.NET 4.0”, I didn’t go to any ASP.NET 4.0 sessions at PDC, and Dave and Phil are great speakers, so this will be a superb session. Actually this is one of the reasons I avoided ASP.NET 4.0 at PDC, because I knew that this session was coming up :)

Slot 4

This is a tough one, I have seen enough of Oslo that I want to see for just now, so I am going to skip over that.

I am not really that interested in testing (also I am sure that we will have Ben across to Cambridge to do that session also), so I think I will skip that also.

I am interested in the Cores one but Daniel Moth covers that area so well, that I think I will go to the “Trust me, I know what you want” session. There are a few reasons, this isn’t a typical developer session, it’s about requirements. I also haven’t heard Beverly speak so it’s always great to hear speakers I haven’t heard before. I also think that there isn’t enough Girly Geek Speakers so I think I will come along to this one.

Slot 5

Errgh, this is a No brainer for me, since I am presenting “Welcome to the Cloud”. I think there may’be a few annoyed folks if I went to watch one of the other sessions.

Finally

All in all, it looks like a good day ahead. It’s quite an interesting looking DDD. There is quite a varied choice of sessions that are not just development sessions.

There are sessions that are about IT Pro (2 slots), Requirements (1 slot), and Virtualization (1 slot).

3 out of 20 slots are IT Pro (Developer Admin Guide, Virtualization)
1 Slot is about requirements
1 Slot is on Linux (c# on ubuntu)
4 talks are about ASP.NET / Web (ASP.NET 4.0, MVC, CSS, Scaling)
2 sessions on concurrency
2 sessions of Services / Protocols (WCF, REST)
1 IoC container session
1 WPF Session
1 LINQ Session
1 Azure Session (Welcome to the Cloud)
1 Oslo Session

I think the following did surprise me though:

No Silverlight Sessions
No C# 4.0 sessions
No VB Sessions
No F# Sessions

One thing I think is clear, the UK community is pretty diverse (both attendees and speakers). I say this because these sessions have been proposed and have been voted for.

One thing for sure is that by attending sessions that are not necessarily straight technology sessions (like my one is), that you will gain an insight into different methodologies, technologies which will make you a better developer.

The other interesting thing to note about this DDD is that it seems to be about the now, not the future. Only 4-5 sessions are about technologies that haven’t shipped (azure (cloud), 0.5 concurrency, 1 parallel, oslo, asp.net 4.0). 3/4 quarters of the sessions are about today. Now I am not sure if this is because we had to propose sessions prior to the PDC, would this DDD agenda look different if it was in 3 months time? Alternatively it could be because folks want to be focused on today, not tomorrow.

Anyways, DDD, I love it, and I am really looking forward to it, and I hope to see you there.

Silverlight: Are sockets only suitable in intranets?

2008-11-15T15:23:00.001-08:00

There was a big push by the community at large for Silverlight Sockets to which Microsoft responded by providing said functionality. However can you really use such a feature in an Internet application?

Sockets allow high performance real time data updates, very useful for messaging / real time feeds etc.

Port Range

The fact is that Silverlight Sockets requires the policy file to be served on port 943 and sockets only work on ports 4502-4534. This means that your customers must have those ports open on their Firewall. In a world of locked down security is this really likely? I think not!

Controlled Customer Base

Therefore I think it's fair to say that you can only really use such functionality either an Intranet environment, or to a small controlled customer base. If your product is a mass market product do you wish to prevent your customers from using your application, especially if it's something they may have no control over (strict IT managers etc).

Simple Mode and Advanced Mode

I guess one option would be to offer two levels of functionality, simple mode (for those without those ports open), and advanced (for those with the ports open) where advanced users can gain the benefit of the extra performance gains on the real time feed.

Other Alternatives

Use of ASMX / WCF Services provides an alternative to sockets, as does the Duplex Polling feature of WCF. Although these technologies are very good and will meet the requirements of most users, they probably do not provide the performance needed for some applications. They could be offered as options in the simple version of the application.

The Future

So whatabout the future? For this space I guess some folks would like to see a wider range of available ports (e.g. ones that may'be already opened on the firewall), another hope could be more performant WCF based solutions.

For just now, I would say think about your market, your users, and the experience you would like to give them and make the best choice from there

Azure: Fabric + Fabric Controller

2008-11-13T14:14:00.001-08:00

So I've been preparing for my session at DDD7 next week and since I couldn't find any suitable readymade diagrams of the Fabric and the Fabric Controller, I had to create my own.

I thought I would share it with the community at large (feel free to steal it, I happily give up any rights that I would be too ashamed to assert).

Purple Blob - Fabric Controller
Blue Blob - Server
Orange Blob - Virtual Machine
Yellow Blob - Role
Green Blob - Agent

SQLBits Session Video Online

2008-11-13T02:27:00.001-08:00

So a few months I did a session at SQLBits called Useful Sql’y Stuff wot I learned. I am pleased to say that the SQLBits team have made a video of the session available.

I really did have a great day, and I really enjoyed doing that session. For me it was of the sessions I enjoyed doing the most (especially since I wouldn’t consider myself as a SQL Server Dev).

It was a lot of fun, and I got some really great feedback from it.

I warn you if you are a hardened SQL Dev, you won’t get a lot out of this session, but if you are a .NET Developer that does SQL Server, then there is a lot of information that should help you out.

Apologies to Silverlight.Net Community Feed

2008-11-12T09:26:00.001-08:00

It looks like an update to Feedrinse (at the feedrinse side), seems to have cleared my filters (nice one guys).

This has meant my non silverlight posts have been making their way through to the silverlight community news section.

I have now went into my Feedrinse account and setup new filters to stop this.

I apologize for this happening (but this truly was not my fault), and I have now rectified the situation.

More Spectrum Emulator (blah, blah)

2008-11-11T15:50:00.001-08:00

I really have to stop posting about the Silverlight Spectrum Emulator, however I have just watched This Week on Channel 9 (for last week), confusing I know, and just noticed the Spectrum Emulator has made it onto the show.

It is also listed in the Press Room for Day 1 of the PDC

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/pdc/videos.mspx

I am totally blown away how well this has been received.

Anyways, I will stop talking about it.

I have a presentation on Windows Azure to build :)

Azure: Hotmail should move to Azure

2008-11-10T08:01:00.001-08:00

Maybe it’s time Hotmail moved to Azure.

This is the error message I got when I tried to login from messenger

In Azure they would be able to just spin up some more instances to cope with the load :)