I know I am late but I've just seen the following article announced on Christian Nagels blog:

The Economic Value of Linux by David Chappell

9/14/2003 8:20:57 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

For the last couple of weeks I had two MSDN article links on my desktop to read as soon as time permits. When I had two office days last week I read both of them and think that they are really excellent.

The first article by Dino Esposito is called The ASP.NET HTTP Runtime and covers the complete flow a request takes:

1. coming into IIS
2. handing over to the ASPNET_ISAPI extension
3. passing it through named pipe to the worker process where managed code processing is taking place
4. picking up a HttpApplication instance from the HttpApplicationFactory pool
5. calling into ProcessRequest/ProcessRequestMain

The last chapter covers some basic aspects about dynamic compilation and the file structure in the "Temporary ASP.NET Files" folder.

I used the article as a guided Reflector tour through the down-level classes of the System.Web namespace by reading a bit and then checking what I've read in the source code (and vice versa).

The second article called Use Threads and Build Asynchronous Handlers in Your Server-Side Web Code by Fritz Onion is not directly related with the first one but picks up some learnings from it. Basically, Fritz describes the typical problem that the main executing thread is waiting for an external resource causing it to be blocked thus resulting in bad scalability. He develops an async HttpHandler that starts a separate thread which does not belong to the ASP.NET thread pool. Pretty cool is the base class he provides that can be used as a replacement for System.Web.UI.Page for individual ASPX pages.

Both articles are very much worth reading.

I am still missing one aspect of ASP.NET written down in an article: dynamic code generation from ASPX markup language to C#/VB code (PageParser etc.). Does anyone know a good article covering this topic?

9/10/2003 12:15:23 AM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

Most of the feedback emails I recieved during the last two weeks asked for guidance on using HierarGrid.TemplateDataMode=Table. This flag can be used to nest a DataGrid or another HierarGrid inside the child template.

Therefore, I extended the HierarGridDemo by another page called NestHierarGridDemo.aspx that shows how to build 3 layers of grids. You can view and download the demo here (sourcode available in VB.NET and C#).

9/8/2003 10:38:10 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

The new HierarGrid version 1.4 contains the following features and bugfixes:

• Feature: keeps rowstate (expanded/collapsed) between postbacks
• Feature: property "RowExpanded" to initially expand rows
• Bugfix: HierarColumn not added to Columns collection
• Bugfix: Exception with DataViews as DataSource and TemplateDataMode=Table
• Bugfix: When TemplateDataMode=Table and DataSet.EnforceContraints=true an exception occured
• Bugfix: Designer declaration corrected

Download here.

9/8/2003 10:35:14 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

I wanted to thank everybody for the nice feedback to my HierarGrid article on ASPAlliance.

I've just published a new version 1.3 that includes two minor fixes:

• a JavaScript error occurred when the ShowHeader attribute was set to false (thanks to Blaž Vrabec)
• when the TemplateDataMode attribute was set to Table and the Grid was bound to a DataSet instead of a DataTable a cast error occurred in line 319 (thanks to Johannes Rest)

Download here. If you find any other problems please let me know.

8/25/2003 1:28:28 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

I've just published my first article on ASPAlliance that talks about how to use the HierarGrid.

It is a tutorial for VB.NET and C# that explains all the steps necessary to use the grid on a webpage:

1. adding a DataRelation between two DataTables
2. binding the DataSet to the HierarGrid
3. creating the UserControls for the child data
4. wiring up the TemplateSelection event

Additionally, some advanced topics like caching and showing one template for all child elements (e.g. to nest a DataGrid) are covered quickly.

You can find the article here and the source code for the HierarGrid here. Any feedback is more than welcome.

8/15/2003 4:07:31 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [1] 

No to forget: I'll be at the PDC! And I am not the only one: 50 of my colleagues from MS Services Germany will attend the show.
I'll arrive in LA on Thursday, 23rd and return to Munich on Friday 31st. Let me know if you are coming earlier, maybe we can take a dring together.

8/10/2003 6:14:40 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

I haven't been blogging for a while due to several reasons:

• Our project is in the final stages of development and piloting has already started which was quite team-consuming in the beginning
• I've moved from a small village outside of Munich to the city (Schwabing). From the new appartment it is only 10 min. to the "Englischer Garten" park by bike and even shorter to the swimming pool - best you can do at this temperatures.
• I've been playing around with Whidbey Alpha (especially ASP.NET) and Longhorn a bit - all not public yet => come to the PDC
• I've prepared my first article on ASPAlliance to be published pretty soon

8/10/2003 6:08:51 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

The ASP.NET Version Switcher is a little utility that can be used to quickly switch the .NET Framework version that the ASPX pages are compiled against. This is helpful for developers who often have to test their web applications for compatibility with different version of the .NET Framework.

Internally, it uses the command line tool called ASPNET_REGIIS that is included in the Microsoft.NET Framework.

Additional features:
- toggle if only selected vroot should be version switched or child vroots recursively (-s or -sn command line parameter)
- double click on node opens explorer in respective directory
- quick link to IIS Manager

Download (V1.0):
ASPNETVersionSwitcher.exe

If you have any questions or comments please let me know.

6/4/2003 5:06:34 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

Recently we have been on a short trip to Lisbon, Portugal from which we have taken two really good restaurant recommendations back home.

Lisbon is famous for its excellent sea food but as I don't enjoy fish too much we were looking out for some steaks.

The first evening we found a very nice and stylish restaurant in Bairro Alto called Sul (Rua do Norte 13) which served steaks on the hot stone - very delicious.

The second evening we went to a place called Kais (Rua da Cintura) which is located at the docks in an old factory building. But inside everything was styled very elegantly and the food was excellent as well.

If you go to any of these two, let me know if you liked it as much as we did.

5/29/2003 8:01:17 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [1] 

Chris van de Steeg pointed out that the DynamicControlsPlaceholder currently doesn't restore User Controls that have a "_" in the filename.

He proposed a fix for the RestoreChildStructure method that I have now compiled into the new version 1.0.2.0 which can be downloaded at http://www.denisbauer.com/ASPNETControls/DynamicControlsPlaceholder.aspx  

Thanks Chris!

5/29/2003 7:19:33 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

After I have recieved several request for Netscape support, I sat down and tried to modify the JavaScript code. Et voila, the new Version 1.2 has been tested with Netscape 7.0 but should also work with 6.0.

You can download it here: http://www.DenisBauer.com/ASPNETControls.aspx

4/28/2003 5:23:34 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

Meanwhile, everybody seems to be blogging. So I may not be missing ;)

4/28/2003 5:22:37 PM (W. Europe Standard Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]