Wanted to provide a quick heads up about the MvcFutures assembly within ASP.NET MVC CodePlex Preview 5 . As mentioned in various places, this assembly contains various experimental features we are considering for future versions of ASP.NET MVC. When we release the BETA for ASP.NET MVC, it will not automatically be included in the project template by the installer. We’ve included it in the various previews for convenience, but we want the BETA installer to be as close to the RTM installer experience as possible. We will make sure that the assembly remains available on CodePlex . I just wanted to make you aware of this so there is no surprises when we release the Beta regarding this. Thanks! Technorati Tags: aspnetmvc Read More......(read more)

One of the things that I noticed immediately when I made the SmallestDotNet was that Firefox was reporting the version of the .NET Framework installed. There's a Firefox extension that is installed with .NET 3.5SP1. I was stoked about this because I'd like users of BabySmash to be able to use ClickOnce from Firefox to launch it. ClickOnce and Firefox When you install .NET Framework 3.5SP1, there's a key written to the registry whether Firefox is installed or not. If Firefox is installed later, it will notice the key and use the plugin. If it's already installed, it'll just work. The registry key points to a Firefox Extension (XPI) that acts like the 3rd party FFClickOnce extension that a lot of us installed before. The registry...(read more)

In this series of blog entries, I build an entire ASP.NET MVC Forums application from scratch. In this blog entry, I create my first unit test for the Forums application and implement the code necessary to pass the test. Before reading this blog entry, you might want to read the first entry in this series: ASP.NET MVC Application Building: Forums #1 – Create the Perfect Application – Describes the goals of the ASP.NET MVC Forums application. Create the ASP.NET MVC Application Let me start by creating a new ASP.NET MVC application. Launch Visual Studio 2008 and select the menu option File, New Project. Select the ASP.NET MVC Web Application project type, give the project the name MvcForums, and click the OK button. When the dialog...(read more)

In this series of blog entries, I build an entire ASP.NET MVC Forums application from start to finish. The goal is to discover and promote best-practices for building applications with the ASP.NET MVC framework. In this first entry, I discuss the overall goals for the forums application. I discuss the importance of avoiding code smells and how software design principles and patterns can help you write code that is resilient to future change. I also justify my choice to use test-driven development while building the Forums application. What is Good Software? I don’t want to build just any forums application. The goal is to build the best forums application possible . My modest goal is to build the perfect forums application. This goal immediately...(read more)

While I like to think of my blog as a “must read”, I wanted to give out a list of some of the blogs that I think are really important to keep up with, either by visiting the blog or by subscribing to the RSS feed. Microsoft Update WSUS WSUS issues Security SWI blog Malware protection Vista Security Minded – from Kai the Security Guy ScottGu Somasegar http://www.securedeveloper.com/ IEBlog If you have any others that you visit regularly, I’d like to hear about them.  I tried to focus on blogs that are important to more then just ASP.NET folks, but I’d be glad to hear about ASP.NET blogs as well. Read More......(read more)

I'd love to hear feedback and thoughts you have about building business focused applications with Silverlight.  What is motivating you to consider Silverlight?  if you have already started to evaluating, what is easy or hard about it? Related, Blaine recently posted a survey on his blog about much the same thing focused on gathering data for Prism 2.0   Please take the survey! Thanks! Read More......(read more)

I haven’t seen a whole lot of information coming out about how Microsoft can help you optimize your IT infrastructure so I thought I could mention it. You can read more about the whole program at http://www.microsoft.com/optimization/default.mspx There is more information on our Server and Tools site at http://www.microsoft.com/servers/optimization.mspx There are also some learning links that you can use to help also at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/optimization/default.mspx .   So what is this Optimization about anyway? Well, it is a set of three models that we have build to enable a business to realize the full value of its IT infrastructure and platform investments.  This is all about putting more of your time and effort...(read more)

In this series of blog entries, I build an entire ASP.NET MVC application from start to finish. In this entry, I integrate the Silverlight Media Player into the Family Videos MVC application so I can play videos. Before reading this blog entry, you might want to first read the previous two entries: Family Video Website #1 – Upload the Videos – In this entry, I create an MVC controller that accepts large file uploads. Family Video Website #2 –Add the Database – In this entry, I added a database so that I could associate additional information, such as a title and description, with each video. In this blog entry, I make two major changes to the Family Videos Website. First, I redesign the view that renders the uploaded...(read more)

Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets: Andrew King: Books ISBN : 0596515081 ISBN-13 : 9780596515089 The folks at O'Reilly recently published this gem ! From the book description: This book is a comprehensive guide to the tips, techniques, secrets, standards, and methods of website optimization. From increasing site traffic to maximizing leads, from revving up responsiveness to increasing navigability, from prospect retention to closing more sales, the world of 21st century website optimization is explored, exemplified and explained. Though I've just started readying it I'm already convinced it's a must have ! [ Click Here to get your copy ! ] Read More......(read more)

Back in the early days of VS2008 planning, I captured some of our thoughts on planning and looks like some of them might be catching on.  I just ran across this entry .  I guess if a few more people use "Peanut Buttering" in this context we could make it into the dictionary!  Catchword : peanut buttering Filed Under : English , Technology , Slang Part of Speech : n. Quotation : Peanut buttering (v)—The tendency to evenly distribute resources across the full range of a product rather than focusing on a few core Value Propositions. While discussing this issue recently someone described it as “peanut buttering” the product. By spreading out all our resources evenly across the product we lose the opportunity...(read more)

So there is this very smart guy on the ASP.NET team named David Hunter who is one of the guys working on Dynamic Data ! He has just added a sample of using Dynamic Data with Stored Procedures to the Dynamic Data Samples on CodePlex. Click [ HERE ] for the Sample Project home page. Click [ HERE ] for a forums discussion on Dynamic Data with Stored Procedures. Read More......(read more)

So I recently posted Known issues for ASP.NET with .NET 3.5 SP1 , what I wanted to do is see how SP1 was working out for everyone so far.  The things I am wondering are: Did you have any problems installing SP1 Have any existing applications run into any problems Have any new projects been adjusted because of SP1 What are your overall impressions of SP1 If you have any other thoughts, I’d like to hear them too.  I’m hoping there aren’t many problems and that it is proving useful to everyone. Read More......(read more)

In part 1 , we saw how to use DataView to render JavaScript data using a simple template. In this post, we'll see how rich bindings unlock richer scenarios where user changes automatically propagate back to the data and to all UI that is bound to it. In part 1 , we used the simplest type of binding, one-way, one-time bindings. These bindings are created using the {{ expression }} syntax, which is both simple and rich in that it enables arbitrary JavaScript expressions. This is made possible by the fact that templates are compiled by the Ajax framework into a JavaScript function and these bindings get embedded right into that generated function. Because of that, the binding gets evaluated only once, when the template is instantiated. For...(read more)

The Deep Fried Bytes guys caught up with me at DevLink and we had a talk about developer security needs, mistakes, activities, etc ! Listen Here http://deepfriedbytes.com/ Read More......(read more)

One of my favorite features of VS2008 is the ability to target older versions of the .NET Framework.  This allows developers to use the latest and greatest tools even if some client machines can't be upgraded to the latest version of framework right away. While there is really good support for this in VS2008 for example, VS 2008 is smart enough to keep you from adding a reference to assemblies that are not found in the target version of the framework (for example, you can't use WPF if your target framework is .NET Framework 2.0).    But what about the case when new methods are added to existing classes or new classes in existing assemblies?  For example the DateTimeOffsite?   For those we added a new...(read more)