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November 2003 - Posts

Book Review: A First Look at ASP.NET v. 2.0

An in-depth review of "A First Look at ASP.NET v2.0" published by Addison Wesley, authored by Alex Homer, Dave Sussman, and Rob Howard, foreword by Scott Guthrie. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this new title from the folks at Addison-Wesley...

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Posted: Nov 28 2003, 09:23 PM by Rob Chartier | with 2 comment(s)
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Base64 Encoding with the SOAP Toolkit...

We recently had a project where I tried to encrypt a bit of data (Rijndael), base64 encode it in a VB6 client, and send it over to a .NET managed Web Service via a byte()/byte[].  What a pain in the ass.  Of course this whole thing had to be wrapped up in a complex object, and I decided to use the IXMLDomNodeList method of wrapping up the message.

After spending a complete day trying to figgure out how to do it, and then try to determine why the decryption was not working, I gave up.  This stuff is supposed to be easy.  I definetly do not want to put in place a Transaction based system that rely's on something so flakey. 

We decided to take a step back from it all and determine an alternative method.  I just hate not using the technology.

Anyways, if anyone can show some sample code that actually works I think it would be a create accomplishment.  :)  Both Rijndael and Base64 algorithms are freely available everywhere.

 

 

Posted: Nov 28 2003, 10:21 AM by Rob Chartier | with 8 comment(s)
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cdXpo, Vegas, Slayer...

The conference went well.  Our presentation (2 - 1 hour sessions) went off without a hitch.  We had hoped for a bit larger audience.  Some excellent Q and A session in the second half.

I managed to drag Dave and my girlfriend (who came on the trip with me) to a Slayer concert while there.  Hatebreed, Skinlab and Arch Enemy all were opener's for it.  What an amazing show.  I just wish that Hatebreed would work on their live performances, they suck live, but buying their latest CD is well worth the cash.

Once i get a few pictures together Ill post them up.

Posted: Nov 20 2003, 12:56 PM by Rob Chartier | with 1 comment(s)
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Upgrading ASP.NET 1.0, 1.2, 1.2, and beyond...

Maybe someone can shed some light on the readme.htm file that Im completely not reading regarding the installations of a new version ASP.NET along side existing versions, which explains that magic flag to not automatically upgrade script maps.

The few machines that I have recently upgraded from 1.0 to 1.1 and even a few up to 1.2 (v2 bits) I have noticed that it does replace the script maps for all of the existing applications. (aspnet_regiis -i).  It would be nice to know of some flag that I can pass into the installation that PREVENTS this from happening.  Rolling out new builds is usually a good thing, until it breaks existing applications.

IMHO: The installation should NOT upgrade existing applications script maps at all.  The system admin should have to explicitly migrate these applications on their own with the aspnet_regiis tool (or even this cool tool). 

 

Posted: Nov 20 2003, 12:34 PM by Rob Chartier | with 2 comment(s)
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Leaving for CdXpo Tonight!

Heading down to Las Vegas tonight for the CdXpo Conference. 

If your there, come by our presentation and say hello!

 

RSS in Longhorn...

I wonder why stuff like this is getting any coverage at all.  Displaying RSS feeds on the desktop is defintely not a new thing.  Its nice to see that Microsoft is taking RSS on, but who really cares who does it exactly, just as long as its done.

I personally would continue to use Samurize for this very task (and I dont need Longhorn for it).

 

Posted: Nov 17 2003, 10:20 AM by Rob Chartier | with 1 comment(s)
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Plugins for MSN? MSNPlus!

For those of you that use the MSN Plus! add on for MSN you will be happy to know that it does have some (weak) support for plugins.  Its essentially COM which adhears to their calling convention, an interface that is not enforced but expected.

I decided to make a few managed plugins and a plugin manager all in C#.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

 

BUG: Game Advisor

I just noticed the post regarding the new Game Advisor tool for Windows Xp, so i decided to give it a try on my Windows 2000 Server box, over RDP (hell, why not!)

It says my machine is rated at 911% above what is needed, I found this to be a pretty bad assesment, so i clicked the link “Component Comparison“.  It nicely shows my machine's config and what the game needs:  (If you notice below, this machine is too pathetic to even run the game (MS Fligh Sim).  Whats up with the 911% rating?! --Looks like a BUG to me.)

 

Your PC configuration

Processor: Intel Celeron 334MHz
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440
Memory: 512 MB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000
 
Minimum configuration for this game
Windows PC 450MHz, Win2000/XP: 128MB RAM, 98/Me: 64MB RAM, 8MB 3D display card with DirectX 7.0 or later drivers, Win2000/XP/98/Me
Other requirements
Hard drive space: 1.8GB, DirectX 9 or later, mouse, joystick/yoke, sound card, speakers/headphones, online/multiplayer: 56.6 kbps modem or LAN
 

 

Posted: Nov 10 2003, 12:54 PM by Rob Chartier | with 1 comment(s)
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AspAlliance: 96 Authors?

Can someone tell me when we hit 96 Authors for the AspAlliance.com site? 

Ive been on the bandwagon for over 3 years now and just realized that we are about to hit 100 authors very soon. 

Some article stats:

Total: 1107
Average: 11.5
Max: 115
Min: 0

Chris Garrett is the work-horse with 115 published.

Amazing.

 

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