A few good men (or women for that matter)
No, the forum web part hasn’t been released yet. I need to do a quick test (aka within days) from a small set of willing volunteers. As I was working on multiple users and caching and crazy stuff like this appeared:
It really wasn’t what I was after. I mean, there were 3 registered users on the forum and only 2 of them were online (me and me) so 15 was definitely out of the question. All has been well with things so far, but all of a sudden big, bad SharePoint came along and wrote into the ASP.NET cache object.
How dare SharePoint!
How dare they fill my cache with crazy stuff like search box IDs and page output cache. Didn’t they see me putting my user names in there? Why didn’t they just leave me alone?
So I fixed this problem without too much effort but wanted to do a sanity check before millions of SharePoint installations out there tried things out for real.
In any case, I want to run the web part through some quick tests with people who have a setup with a bunch of users to pound on it (a guy can only do so much in a single virtual machine with two browsers). What I need is a quick test where you’ll install the web part in whatever environment you want and throw as few or as many people as you want at it, and let me know what the results are.
Rules of engagement for this test:
- You can put the web part on as many sites, areas, etc. as you like (it will create it’s own internal lists as needed and hide them) but please don’t use this for “production” or “real” data
- Please do no provide “feature” feedback right now as I’m already swamped as it is. If you do want to jot ideas down and send me a note later I’ll add it to the wish list for future changes.
- There is no support on this test but I will listen to any feedback you have and what you have to say. Again, it’s crunch time and I’m interested in getting a good first release out but can’t spend weeks distracted with one-on-one support.
- The software will be provided as a “raw” install (i.e. no installer). Copy the dll into your bin directory, add an entry to your SafeControls section in web.config and upload the .dwp file. You’ll be responsible for removing things after the test (including lists and data).
- You may not place this on a SharePoint site that is externally facing to the general public.
- If you can’t commit to testing it in the short period available (e.g. you won’t get to it until next week because of other commitments) then please don’t ask for a copy. I only want people that can dedicate the time now so we can do a public release asap.
- There are no guarantees that this is going to work in your environment. I’ve tested it out in various “known” configurations, but you might have some crazy setup that I’ve never seen before. If it doesn’t work, we’ll see about how to get it going and what makes your environment unique, but it may take a few days to get to you.
NOTE: there are several “features” that will be turned off (like NNTP synchronization) that I’m either still working on or deferring to a later release. This test is going to be a bare bones release and not meant to be used past the test period.
So if you’re up to the challenge, please email me with your name and I’ll send you off a copy. I’m limiting this to 10 people because I don’t want to try to get into following up with dozens of nameless faces out there. Testing will start when I get the 10 and end about 2–3 days later (if that).
First come, first served.