October 2006 - Posts
Today would be the last day of my 20's. I still feel about 23. Maybe the denial will fade one day and I will realise that I have actually left that decade behind. On second thoughts, perhaps not. I think I am just turning 24, maybe even 22. 
Neovolve.Schema.Extensions is a project that will do entity mapping for web reference code generations from a WSDL.
When you update a web reference in the Visual Studio IDE, it will get the latest version of the WSDL and generate code to access the web service. As part of this process, it will generate any object types that are exposed by the web service. If you have access to those object definitions on the consumer end point, you will have problems with these object types because the code generated Reference.cs class will use it's own code generated versions of your object types rather than the ones you really want to use.
The schema extensions get around this problem. When the IDE updates a web reference, it will check against the schema extensions to ask whether the extension understands the object type. The extension has the opportunity to return a different object type, include namespaces and also include assembly references.
This project is configuration driven so that when a web service changes, the configuration can be changed to support the new entity mappings.
After the package is installed, add your object mappings to the configuration file. The configuration for the mappings looks like this:
<MapperItem key="MyService.XmlNodeKey"
xmlName="XmlNode"
xmlNamespace="http://www.myservice.com/project" />
<MapperItem key="MyService.XmlNodeCollectionKey"
xmlName="ArrayOfXmlNode"
xmlNamespace="http://www.myservice.com/project"
name="List<XmlNode>">
<AssemblyDependencies>
<AssemblyDependency assemblyName="SomeAssembly.dll" />
<AssemblyDependency assemblyName="Another.dll" />
</AssemblyDependencies>
<NamespaceDependencies>
<NamespaceDependency namespace="System.Collections.Generic" />
<NamespaceDependency namespace="System.Xml" />
</NamespaceDependencies>
</MapperItem>
Check the log file for the project (found through the start menu) to identify the object types that have not been successfully mapped when web references are updated (assuming logging is enabled in the configuration file). The start menu also has a shortcut to the schema for the configuration file. Because the IDE doesn't restart when a configuration file changes, the IDE must be restarted before changes to the configuration will be reflected in updates to web references.
I have to say, Geoff has a very unique take on CAPTCHA which has just gone live on his site. I think his GAPTCHA control is so much fun that it is going to backfire on him. Geoff is going to end up with a whole lot of comment spam regardless because people will want to play with his new toy!
Sorry people. This is just a note to myself because every few months I come across the same problems with a new development build.
Failed to access IIS metabase:
aspnet_regiis -i
Mutex Could not be Created:
Solution posted here by Joao Morais.
I have got the same issue. It seems like Visual studio 2005 and the web application pool running ASP.NET 2.0 are having a conflict over the temporary folder.
The workaround I have got for now is:
- If you have visual studio 2005 is open, close it
- Go tot the ASP.NET temporary folder for v2.0 of the framework
<Windows dir>\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.0<extra numbers>\Temporary ASpNET pages
- Remove the folder for your application (or all of them)
- Reset IIS (on a command line window, >iisreset) [not always needed, but I had to use it sometimes]
- First Browse your page from IE (http://localhost/your app)
- Then reopen Visual studio
Gaming is a tough calling.
This one is a couple of weeks old, but Soma has indicated that VS2002 and VS2003 will not be supported as development environments in Vista. This is yet another reason why you should make the move to VS2005 sooner rather than later.
Over the last week, I have been reading and commenting about CAPTCHA's in Sara Ford's post about her New Comment Policy. This is riding on the back of me implementing CAPTCHA for this site. Sara has some really interesting things to say regarding CAPTCHA and accessibility. I wonder if anyone has actually implemented an accessible CAPTCHA system.
I have made a few posts recently about some great little tools that I have been using. As far as RSS readers go, I have used just about all of them over the last couple of years. I have always found things that I didn't like with the readers that I used, so much so that I wrote my own (limited as it was). In recently weeks, I went on the RSS hunt again.
I have found an answer to just about every problem I have with RSS readers in the form of GreatNews. This reader is a fantastic piece of software. If you want to try another reader, I can highly recommend this one.
Ever had explorer.exe crash, or perhaps more likely, had to kill it off yourself? I always hated not having Outlook, followed by Visual Studio, followed by everything else on the taskbar when explorer started up again.
Taskbar Shuffle is the ultimate answer. This sweet little utility will allow you to drag and drop your taskbar buttons to your re-ordering hearts content.
Today I have been playing with a WCF service hosted in IIS. Previously, I have always used the self-hosted services running from a console application.
I am having issues with IIS hosting because although the service code is running correctly, the client is throwing a response error because the connection with the server is being unexpectedly closed. Still haven't figured this one out.
Tonight, I have been doing a little bit of reading about this topic and came across this interesting note from the Hosting Services page in the SDK.
The message-based activation provided for an WCF service by IIS 5.1 on Windows XP blocks any other self-hosted WCF service on the same box from using port 80 to communicate.
The Hosting Services page is a great reference for helping you to figure out the best way of hosting your [WCF] service. Windows Activation Service seems like the most comprehensive hosting solution, but obviously requires Vista as the platform.
I did a grading on the weekend with a few other students of my Taekwondo club. We started with some kicking and punching for a warm-up. The two beginners who were grading displayed their patterns. Myself and two other red belts then did the advanced patterns (Chil Jang and Pal Jang) followed by the first black belt pattern (Koryo). Patterns were followed by 3 and 1 step sparring which is always quite a bit to get your head around in a grading! This was all topped off with some board breaking (three for me).
The grading went really well and I was very happy with my performance. I am now a Cho Dan Bo.
Just came across this post in my feeds this morning. Interesting read.
I think there is a lack of consistency in implementations (event handlers being the classic case), but the contract/interface argument leans me towards always wrapping fields in properties. Using properties also means that you can change the code without having to change the structure of the class.
Any thoughts? Is Ian Cooper a witch? Should he be burnt at the stake? Is there a Monty Python take on this?
I have just tried to view some XBAP applications using RC1 of NetFx. Unfortunately it didn't go so well because I am sitting behind a proxy server. IE has it's connection settings defined for how to go through the proxy, but it seems that the XBAP host isn't doing the same. I am getting this error:
System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (407) Proxy Authentication Required.
I have found some references (such as here and here) which mention changes to the machine.config, but this hasn't solved the problem. Has anyone been able to get around this problem?
I thought that I would not give in to comment spam. You might be thinking that I did give in, but you would be wrong. Ok, so I kinda did give in, it just depends on your point of view.
Comment spam has been getting more than rediculous over the last couple of weeks. I guess I am flattered that people think that this site gets enough readership that attempting to flood me with comment spam is a worthwhile venture. Unfortunately for me, the spammers still haven't caught on to the fact that moderation is turned on. Hello!!! No link love for the spammers!
So I've had enough of deleting the spam. Enter Dave's awesome CAPTCHA control for Community Server. This should free up those few wasted minutes a day 
. Download it here.
I'm quite sure it is not because of the long weekend blog catchup this morning, but there seems to be a ton of people blogging about their Most Valuable Professional status over the weekend. There are lots of new MVPs, lots of renewed MVPs, and one person who has lost their MVP status. Is it that time of year?
On another note, shock of the day goes to Joel Pobar for leaving [Microsoft].