Hosam Kamel

MSMQ, WCF and IIS: Getting them to play nice Series

2008-07-18T12:35:09Z

EnjoyA nice series of articles by Tom Hollander

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Enjoy ....

SQL Load Test

2008-07-18T12:17:21Z

Project Description

This tool takes a SQL Profiler trace file and generates a unit test that replays the same sequence of database calls found in the trace file. The unit test is designed to be used in a Visual Studio Load Test. The code generated is easily modifiable so that data variation can be introduced for the purpose of doing performance testing.
The tool generates code for both Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. The source code is a Visual Studio 2005 project.
This is a V1 release with some known limitations which are specified in project description.

Why Load Test SQL?

There is a lot of code out there that makes load testing the application very difficult. The most common type is a client application that contains direct database calls. The application however is not structured to allow the business logic to be exercised without the GUI. Another common scenario is a legacy application written in a language such as Visual Basic 6. In cases like these, it can be difficult to load test the application without a GUI test tool, which introduces other disadvantages. GUI test tools are notoriously difficult to use, generally lead to brittle tests and also have limitations in scaling the load injectors sufficiently to exercise the servers.
This tool offers one possible alternative. You start with using the client application to generate a trace of the SQL statements which typically represent a usage scenario. You can then turn the trace into equivalent ADO.NET code program that can be used in a load test.

Tool Description

The tool generates a Visual Studio 2005/2008 Unit Test from a SQL Server Profiler trace. It extracts all the SQL statements and stored procedure calls from the trace and turns them into a single Visual Studio Unit Test, which can then be configured as a Visual Studio Load Test. The tool does not interact with the database itself when it analyzes the trace and generates the test code. It can therefore be used in “offline” scenarios.
The generated code needs to be customized to include a connection string to the database under test. That code also includes hooks to allow the user to customize the parameters that are passed to the SQL statements and stored procedures, so that variability can be introduced into the data to prevent caching from producing artificially high performance figures.
The tool is intended to be used in conjunction with a client program that runs against a database. A trace of the client’s SQL Server activity is captured using the SQL Server Profiler. This represents a test scenario, which is then processed by the tool to produce a Unit Test that replays the scenario.

Installing

Make sure SQL Server 2005 SDK is installed.
Copy the packaged assemblies to a convenient location.
To use the generated code in a load test you need to have one of the following installed:

Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Testers
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite

Supported Functionality

SQL Server 2005 only (others not tested).
ADO.NET 2.0 (others not tested).
Most data types.
Named input, output and input-output parameters.
Positional input parameters to stored procedures.
Operation timers generated for each database call.

Limitations

Only supports code that operates against a single database with a single connection.
Prepared statements are not supported.
The tool cannot (yet) configure and capture the trace for you, it requires you to use the SQL Profiler yourself to get a trace. With SQL 2005 it is possible to automate this.
Not (yet) integrated into Visual Studio or the DB Pro edition.
The tool has only been tested in an English environment, it is unlikely to work correctly in other environments, particularly with dates. In a future version this could be resolved by requiring the ExistingConnection event class, which lists language and date format.
The tool does not support the XML data types.
InputOutput parameters that are initialised with a NULL cannot be distinguished from Output-only parameters, so they are treated as Output only.
When the trace passes a NULL to a binary parameter (e.g. image, binary, varbinary) the generated code will generate a runtime error. The generated code needs to be modified to pass SqlBinary.Null. The custom code generation extensibility point can be used to work around this.
Positional parameters passed to SQL statements (as opposed to stored procedure calls) are not supported.

Check project page at CodePlex Here

Employee Info Starter Kit

2008-07-18T11:27:06Z

This starter kit allows for simple CRUD operations to maintain a company's employee information. It is intended to be a guideline for building enterprise level projects, by utilizing new ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 features, as well as latest best coding practices.

Download the Employee Info Starter Kit

Speeding Up FireFox When Using the ASP.NET Development Server from Localhost

2008-07-14T17:41:10Z

A nice article by Scott how to speed up FireFox when using ASP.NET Development server.

read it here.

Sandcastle Source Code published in Codeplex

2008-07-04T15:49:46Z

Sandcastle team has announced the pulpishing of SandCastle source code to CodePlex.

Project Page at CodePlex http://www.codeplex.com/Sandcastle

Source code : http://www.codeplex.com/Sandcastle/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=13873

http://www.codeplex.com/Sandcastle/SourceControl/ListDownloadableCommits.aspx

Read the formal announcement here SandCastle Blog

Free SQL Injection Vulnerability Scanner By HP

2008-06-30T21:35:49Z

Scrawlr is a free software for scanning SQL injection vulnerabilities on your web applications.

It is developed by HP Web Security Research Group in coordination with Microsoft Security Response Center.

Scrawlr crawls a website while simultaneously analyzing the parameters of each individual web page for SQL Injection vulnerabilities.

After the scanning process, if it can find, it even shows your database table names as a proof of the possible SQL injection vulnerabilities.

via :webresourcesDepot

Software Development and Programming Podcasts

2008-06-22T18:02:30Z

A list of software development and programming podcats by by alanlok

Take a look here Software Development and Programming Podcasts

The Geek toolbox

2008-06-21T19:04:48Z

The Geek Toolbox is a Facebook group which provide it's members with a collection of geek tool which are used in the day-to-day activities such as development and general operating system tools and hacks.

It also provide the members with some geek tools for fun and customization software.

hurry up and join it now The Geek Toolbox

Web.Maps.VE 2.0 Released - ASP.NET Virtual Earth Mapping Server Control

2008-06-21T18:55:00Z

Chris Pietschmann has released Web.Maps.VE v2.0.

Some of the key features in Web.Maps.VE v2.0 are:

Plot Pushpins, Polylines and Polygons with Multiple Shape Layer Support
Perform "Find" searches from Server-side ASP.NET code
Reverse Geocoding (via FindLocations) from Server-side ASP.NET code
Plot Multi-Point Driving (and Walking) Directions
Implemnt MS Virtual Earth mapping from within Server-side ASP.NET code; No JavaScript Required
Server-side Handling of Client-side Map Events (onclick, endzoom, endpan, etc.)
Ability to easily build Dynamic/Interactive style Map-based searches
Supports ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 with Design-Time Support

There are many more features to Web.Maps.VE v2.0; go Download the FREE Trial to see for your self.

New .NET 3.5 Webcasts are Coming... Mark Your Calendars!

2008-06-13T23:16:51Z

A list of Webcasts which explain .NET 3.5 feature in details ... Mark you calendars

Live Webcasts

MSDN Webcast: ADO.NET Data Services Overview (Part 1 of 2) (Level 100)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Beyond the Endpoints with Windows Communication Foundation with Juval Lowy (Level 100)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 10:00 A.M.–11:30 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: geekSpeak: Workflow Services in .NET 3.5 with Jon Flanders (Level 200)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 12:00 P.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Calling Services from Silverlight 2.0 with Jon Flanders (Level 300)

Monday, June 23, 2008 9:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: ADO.NET Data Services Overview (Part 2 of 2) (Level 100)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation Integration in Depth with Jesus Rodriguez (Level 400)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:00 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Windows Workflow Communication in Depth with Matt Milner (Level 400)

Thursday, June 26, 2008 9:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M. Pacific Time

Via : Ravings of a Developer TS

Social Bookmarking for the Tech Community

2008-06-13T13:20:25Z

To help members of the technical community bookmark useful pages and share them with others, both the MSDN and the TechNet teams recently released a preview of a new social bookmarking tool designed just for their sites. With this tool, you can browse, filter, tag, and manage your bookmarks in a way that’s very much like using the social sharing site del.icio.us or any other online bookmarking service. You can click to see what the most popular bookmarks have been over the past 7 days and you can filter the list of links to display the bookmarks that came from forums versus those that are just from regular web pages.

To get started using the social bookmarking service, you can visit any of these sites:

MSDN for Developers http://msdnbookmarks.com
TechNet for IT Professionals http://technetbookmarks.com
Expression for Designers http://expressionbookmarks.com

After signing into the service, you can use a browser bookmarklet like the one from TechNet available here to begin tagging and saving your links.

There’s also a crazy Silverlight-powered app called TICKER that offers a way to visualize the bookmarks that others are tagging via the social bookmarking system. The links float by on the screen, color-coded as to whether they originated from TechNet or MSDN. If you hover your mouse over the bookmark, it will pause and allow you to save it for yourself.

Via : Channel 10

WCF Security Guide - Formal beta now available

2008-06-13T11:39:58Z

patterns & practices Improving Web Services Security (Beta Release)

Welcome to the patterns & practices Improving Web Services Security: Scenarios and Implementation Guidance for WCF project site! This guide shows you how to make the most of WCF (Windows Communication Foundation). With end-to-end application scenarios, it shows you how to design and implement authentication and authorization in WCF. Learn how to improve the security of your WCF services through prescriptive guidance including guidelines, Q&A, practices at a glance, and step-by-step how tos. It's a collaborative effort between patterns & practices, WCF team members, and industry experts. This guide is related to our WCF Security Guidance Project.

Download the Beta Guide

Final release is available! Start using the guide today, while we continue to make improvements.

Download the Improving Web Services Security Guide(BETA)

Parts

Part I, "Security Fundamentals for Web Services"
Part II, "Fundamentals of WCF Security"
Part III, "Intranet Application Scenarios"
Part IV, "Internet Application Scenarios"

Create Your Own E-Learning with Microsoft LCDS

2008-05-17T20:07:15Z

What is the LCDS?

The Learning Content Development System (LCDS) is a tool that enables you to create high quality, interactive, online courses. Virtually anyone can publish e-learning courses by completing the easy-to-use LCDS forms that seamlessly generate highly customized content, interactivities, quizzes, games, and assessments—as well as Silverlight-based animations, demos, and other multimedia. Register to download the free LCDS release, then start creating your own e-learning courses today!

•Register to download the free LCDS tool

What does the LCDS offer?

With the LCDS, you can:

•Develop and deliver content quickly, while it is timely and relevant.

•Distribute your content via the Web or in a learning management system.

•Deliver Web content that conforms to Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) 1.2, and which can be hosted in a learning management system.

•Upload or attach your existing content. (LCDS supports multiple file formats.)

•Choose from a wide variety of forms for authoring rich e-learning content.

•Develop your course structure and easily rearrange it at any time.

Enterprise Library 4.0 Released

2008-05-17T15:39:18Z

Enterprise Library is a collection of application blocks intended for use by developers who build complex, enterprise-level applications. Enterprise Library is used when building applications that are typically to be deployed widely and to interoperate with other applications and systems. In addition, they generally have strict security, reliability, and performance requirements.

The goals of Enterprise Library are the following:

Consistency. All Enterprise Library application blocks feature consistent design patterns and implementation approaches.
Extensibility. All application blocks include defined extensibility points that allow developers to customize the behavior of the application blocks by adding their own code.
Ease of use. Enterprise Library offers numerous usability improvements, including a graphical configuration tool, a simpler installation procedure, and clearer and more complete documentation and samples.
Integration. Enterprise Library application blocks are designed to work well together or individually.

These are typically rationalized through:

Online Guidance
Scenarios or QuickStart samples
QuickStart Walkthroughs
Hands-On Labs
Sample Source Code

There will be a webcast in June 2008 giving an overview of the new features of Enterprise Library 4.0. You can find more detail on the Enterprise Library landing page.

What's New

This release of Enterprise Library includes the following:

Integration with the Unity Application Block
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) 2.0 support and improved instrumentation
Performance improvements (particularly, in the Logging Application Block)
Pluggable Cache Managers
Visual Studio 2008 support
Bug fixes

Note: existing public APIs (v3.1) are still supported.

Links

MSDN site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/entlib
Community Forum: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=119312
Community Extensions: http://codeplex.com/entlibcontrib

VIA : Mike Walker's Blog

Yahoo! Internet Location Platform

2008-05-14T21:00:06Z

Welcome to the developer preview of the Yahoo! Internet Location Platform. The Yahoo! Internet Location Platform provides a resource for managing all geo-permanent named places on Earth. Our purpose in creating the Internet Location Platform is to provide the Yahoo! Geographic Developer Community with the vocabulary and grammar to describe the world's geography in an unequivocal, permanent, and language-neutral manner.

The Internet Location Platform is designed to facilitate spatial interoperability and geographic discovery; users can traverse the spatial hierarchy, identify the geography relevant to their users and their business, and in turn, unambiguously geotag, geotarget, and geolocate data across the Web.

Getting Started

Get an Application ID
Read the online documentation
Fire up a web browser or your favorite scripting language and explore the world