A blog by Jason Gaylord

Only One Dialog Box is Allowed in Silverlight

Mon, 21 May 2012 21:20:40 GMT

Today I came across an interesting issue. I have a Silverlight project in which I’d like to be able to show the OpenFileDialog as well as a JavaScript alert. However, I was able to determine (and confirmed at StackOverflow), that the alert cannot happen first as the OpenFileDialog would be a second dialog on a single user action to the browser. By commenting out the alert, I was able to continue just as planned.

The error that results is the following:

The text reads: [FileDialog_UserInitiated] Arguments:

Debugging resource strings are unavailable. Often the key and arguments provide sufficient information to diagnose the problem. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=106663&Version=4.1.10111.0& File=System.Windows.dll&Key=FileDialog_UserInitiated

However, when browsing to the URL, you’ll notice that the link no longer exists.

I don’t use Silverlight much and so I haven’t come across this before. Hopefully this helps someone in the future.

Why the US is Helping Itself go Bankrupt

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:23:34 GMT

Earlier today, I received an email chain from a family member. I usually read these, but very rarely forward them off. However, this one brings up very interesting points. The tone of the email was against the current Obama administration. I’m going to try to do my best to remove the President’s office from this discussion. My reason for it is that whether or not I agree with the current Administration, I think this uncovers a larger problem with government spending.

Setting the Tone

Remember back to when you were young and in elementary school. You may remember your first Social Studies/History discussion. One of the first items discussed was the US Government, it’s branches, and the approval process. At some point during discussions, you may remember the running joke of a “$20” toilet seat costing well over $500 due to the testing and approval process. While, we’re not going to talk about grants to pay for toilet seats, I want to set the stage for outlandish spending through grants.

Disasters

One of the most difficult scenarios that any individual or family can face is when a disaster strikes. I commend the government for stepping in and assisting during these times. Just last September, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania suffered from one of the worst floods the county has ever witnessed. Several homes were completely destroyed.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stepped in. Several homeowners were told that they could or would be bought out by the government for 75% of their fair market value (FMV). Nearly 9 months after the flooding, the first 22 homes were ready to receive funding for buyout. This process typically takes 18 months. So, issue number one for the taxpayers is that if you do have a disaster where your home is destroyed, get ready to find temporary living for up to 18 months. The second issue is that if you’re house is on the buyout list (which we’ll ignore, but can be another issue in itself), you’ll only receive 75% of the FMV. If you recently purchased a house, you may owe more than the buyout. The third issue has to deal with the state of your house before you receive your funds. Several home owners that are on the Luzerne County buyout list have informed me that you must bring your home back to a livable state. If not, the FMV for the property will be taken at the state the home is left in. I have heard that this changes if the home suffers structural damage to the foundation, but do not have a confirmation on this.

Bringing America Back: Jobs and Infrastructure

Back to the original mention of an email that I received. The email mentions that bridges listed on the structural deficiency list are being built or repaired by Chinese firms. This was captured in a report by Diane Sawyer from ABC’s 20/20 show. This may be the biggest issue, issue number four, that we’ve mentioned thus far. It’s not that US workers are superior or that the quality of the work would be better with a US firm, but that funds are going abroad.

One of the respondents to the email took another angle.

Most Federally funded construction projects require compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act (DBWA). The respondent used a recent project that her firm just finished that was for a new school. She cited an example of the wages the contractors would be required to pay their employees per hour:

Electrician $32.61
Structural or ornamental ironworker $37.83
Pipefitter $35.22
Crane operator $37.08
Ductwork Installer $35.78

Then, she jumped into details. She broke down the ductwork installer’s rate. A normal scale rate for this trade in the particular county of this project is between $11 to $19 per hour depending on skill level. Under the DBWA, contractors are required to pay the most inexperienced employee that touches a piece of ductwork $35.78 per hour. It’s pretty obvious that the increase in pay is the fifth issue as this is costing taxpayers money.

In her example, she cited that each week, her company must produce proper documentation to prove that the higher rate was paid. They are subject to audits for verification. The documentation takes hours to complete, creates more overhead, and thus adds more cost to the project. Failure six?

Now, assume you hold the position of a Procurement Office for a municipality. You are given the task of building a bridge. By using federally funded monies you could incur cost of labor at 2.4 times the normal scale rate which significantly increases the cost of the project. In her specific project, the school they finished had a 20% cost increase in mechanical costs alone due the DBWA wages.

Unions

I’m not going to go on the books to agree or disagree with unions. However, I will state a few items that I’m aware of. Backing up just a bit to the discussion we were just having about DBWA. The respondent offered her opinion on why the wages are so high. She stated that on numerous occasions, unions would lobby to increase the wage determinations in areas where federal funds were being allocated. In her opinion, this was being done so they could compete in the bidding process.

I believe the issue is much worse in other industries. Let’s look at higher education as an example. One of my colleagues is a consultant and has performed work for a state school. Recently, they were discussing the implementation of a new three credit course. However, they hit some red tape. The issue they ran into was that the union considered denying the course. Why? When I asked him more about it, he had said it stemmed from previous conversations with the instructors. Apparently, the union instructors were so used to teaching what they have always taught, they were afraid they wouldn’t be capable of teaching a new course. Students were being denied more current ideas and principals merely on the fact that this was allowed. Those same instructors were observed leaving school grounds nearly everyday just after lunch or delaying coming in until right before lunch. At this point, I was so intrigued as to what he was saying, I bombarded him with questions. The long and the short was that it appears that instructors are only on campus 60-70% of “normal” working hours. Now, you may be saying that this could be an isolated issue with this school or with the state of PA. However, last I checked, the US government provides funding to these same schools.

Now to Solve This

I can’t. At least, not by myself. I could pull a “show the world we need to change and go vote” attitude, but I won’t. What I will say is that you should start asking questions. Start getting involved. Find out what’s going on in your area.

So Where Have I Been Now?

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:46:37 GMT

I figured you may ask. Since my last post, I have been working hard to prepare and organize Northeastern PA’s only true technology conference, TECHbash 2012. The event was great! Everything was a huge success and the attendees seem to be pumped up for TECHbash 2013. Although we’re still 11 months away from our next event, we are already planning for the next one. If you think you may be interested in speaking, sponsoring, or volunteering, please let me know. We’ll have our first meeting regarding the event in August to begin carving out the details.

Thanks to all that made this year’s event a success!

Visual Studio 11 - Now with some Color

Wed, 09 May 2012 17:03:46 GMT

The Visual Studio is constantly reviewing items that have been posted to their User Voice site. One of the items that I’ve been asking for, installation customization in Visual Studio, has been voted up to number 4 on the list. Keep the votes coming.

Another item that I have voted for is adding color back to Visual Studio. Yesterday morning, the Visual Studio team announced that changes have been made and will be reflected in the Visual Studio Release Candidate. While I still feel there can be more work on the UI, I think it is heading back in the right direction. I get the consistent look that the teams are going for across products and Microsoft is betting heavily in the metro-style.

Some of the items that have been changed include changes to the icons, adding in more color to icons and menu items, and creating a lighter background.

Here’s a quick before and after shot borrowed from their post:

Here’s what it looks like based on the state of your development process:

Hopefully we’ll continue to see more improvement before the RC.

Open Source Microsoft - Build MVC, WebAPI, Razor, and WebPages

Wed, 09 May 2012 17:03:25 GMT

Scott Guthrie has announced on his blog that as of this very moment, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET WebAPI, and WebPages with Razor syntax have all been open sourced on CodePlex at http://aspnetwebstack.codeplex.com. That’s huge news. Oh and the ASP.NET Web Stack can be repo’d using TFS, SubVersion, Mercurial, and newly added Git.

So, you may be thinking “This sounds cool. But, what does it mean for me?” It means your awesome. It means that you can now take your favorite features and patches to their framework and submit it back to the team for review. It means you can use their framework when it is eventually ported over to Mono and other open-source platforms. It means, you’ll eventually be able to run ASP.NET wherever you’d like.

Be sure to check it out and provide feedback to the team. If you’re not sure what type of feedback to provide, choose from the following:

“The ASP.NET team just knocked it out of the park with this: http://aspnetwebstack.codeplex.com. Go OSS!”
“ScottGu and his team delivered yet again.”
“Who said that Microsoft can’t release software using an open source license?”
“Congrats to the ASP.NET team for, yet again, exceeding expectations!”

Your choice. In the meantime, great job Microsoft!

Should Microsoft and Amazon put Windows 8 on the Kindle?

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:20:30 GMT

A co-worker of mine sent off a Fox News article yesterday about a Former Microsoft employee that is “fixing” Windows 8. After reading the article, my first take away was another person explaining the Windows 8 UI flaws. Seriously? Those articles are a dime a dozen. Whenever you change the user interface of any system there will always be resistance. Don’t believe me? How about when Facebook users were upset about the Facebook UI changes? They didn’t up and leave to Google+ now did they? Rather than dive into what’s right with Windows 8, I’d like to explain my second take away a bit more.

I started to wonder, what if Amazon struck a deal with Microsoft to put Windows 8 on the second generation Kindle Fire? They’d obviously have to give something in return. So what if that something was their cloud offering? I mean, if ScottGu’s team can focus on the Azure UI, but the back end was Amazon, would that be the best of both worlds? My wife has a Kindle Fire. Comparing the screen size to my Samsung Series 7 Windows 8 slate, I can easily see Windows 8 on it. For one, the Kindle does not have Google Apps (unless you root the device). The reason for this is that Google can’t get over Amazon building a better UI than Android. Secondly, think of the power house that Microsoft and Amazon would create. Together, the two of them would help compete against both Apple and Google. Creativity would be injected into both. Let that soak in.

What if Microsoft started offering Amazon Payments, Kindle devices in their Store, and even search capabilities over Amazon’s entire Kindle library? What if Amazon was able to offer an updated and stronger cloud service, a larger footprint for Windows 8 devices, and even Microsoft Advertising across more devices and platforms?

What if?

Preventing Web Applications from Inheriting Parent Dependencies (bin)

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:12:11 GMT

Have you ever created a web application for something specific such as a standalone web app (forum, photo gallery, web service, etc.) while using ASP.NET and received this:

If you have, you probably became frustrated. I know I have. The reason this occurs is that sub-applications under the main web application inherit the uplevel web.config settings. This means that the machine.config and other system config files filter into the main web’s web.config file as well.

You can prevent this from occurring as details quite well at http://jasong.us/yXCV8P.

To do this, you’ll need to pull your dependencies and wrap them in a location element and add a attribute as shown below:

This will now load only the dependencies within the application.

<location path="." inheritInChildApplications="false">
    <system.web>
        <!-- Compilation section with assemblies -->
    </system.web>
</location>

You can also circumvent this issue by using sub-domain or another domain altogether.

JavaScript onClick Navigation Issues within Google Chrome are Solved

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:49:18 GMT

For the longest time, If I needed to use an onclick event for navigation (div or some other page element), I’d use something similar to:

<div onClick="location.href('/admin');"><!-- Something here --></div>

However, Google Chrome interprets the href property as a method or an object initializer. Instead, to get the onclick navigation to work properly in Chrome, set the property to a value using a typical setter such as:

<div onClick="location.href='/admin';"><!-- Something here --></div>

This simple change will allow Google Chrome to properly navigate to the page.

Hope that helps!

Finding Microsoft File Transfer Manager

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:23:01 GMT

Earlier today, Microsoft released Windows 8 Beta. Of course, when I was downloading it, I had to leave and head to another building. So, I paused my download in the Microsoft File Transfer Manager. However, I couldn’t find it easily again. I finally found a blog post saying it was called TransferMgr.exe. I searched my machine and found it at "C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files\TransferMgr.exe". Be sure to look for it there first in the event of needing it.

Bring Back Visual Studio 11 Installation Customization

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:56:41 GMT

Earlier today Microsoft released Visual Studio 11 Beta as a general release. One of the first things you may notice is that the installation customization of VS11 Beta has been removed. If you are installing VS11 on Windows 8 Beta, you’re looking at consuming around 20GB of disk.

So Microsoft already released the beta so their mind is made up, right?

Not exactly. The team is constantly looking at feedback on the http://visualstudio.uservoice.com website. One of the items that I’ve submitted is to bring back the customization. You can use up to three (3) of your User Voice votes for Visual Studio by voting for this item below:

“We want to Bring Back Visual Studio 11 Installation Customization Options”

Thanks in advance for your support!

Using Data Annotations in the .NET Framework

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:58:59 GMT

Starting with .NET 4 or MVC3, a developer could use a data annotation on a property to force data validation. This is extremely powerful especially for MVC developers. The same data annotations can also be used when building custom modules for Orchard CMS.

The annotations built into the framework include the following:

Required – Allows you to mark a property as being required.
StringLength – Allows a maximum string length to be specified for a property.
Range – Validates the value of the specified property is between a range of values.
RegularExpression – Allows you to specify a regular expression to validate the content against. A comprehensive list of regular expressions can be found at http://regexlib.com/.

In addition to these above, custom annotations can be built by inheriting from the base class ValidationAttribute.

An example of a custom data annotation is shown below. This sample asks for a start and an end date to be specified as strings. The assumption is that these strings will be in a correct date format. A property value will be specified as a string. The property value must be between the two dates specified.

public class DateRange : System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.ValidationAttribute
{
    public string StartDate { get; set; }
    public string EndDate { get; set; }

    public DateRange() {
        this.StartDate = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1).ToString();
        this.EndDate = new DateTime(2099, 1, 1).ToString();
    }

    public override bool IsValid(object value) {
        var valueToString = value as string;
            
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(valueToString)) {
            DateTime dateTimeResult;
                
            if (DateTime.TryParse(valueToString, out dateTimeResult)) {
                return ((dateTimeResult >= DateTime.Parse(this.StartDate)) && (dateTimeResult <= DateTime.Parse(this.EndDate)));
            }

            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }
}

Notice that in the code snippet above, I’m allowing null or empty strings to be passed in. Keep in mind that the Required annotation already checks for nulls or empty strings.

To use the DateRange annotation, simply add it to a property in the model like below:

[DateRange(StartDate="1/1/2012", EndDate="12/31/2012", ErrorMessage="The date must be during the 2012 calendar year.")]
public string EventDate { get; set; }

Additional data annotations can be downloaded from a project started by Scott Kirkland at http://dataannotationsextensions.org/.

Resolving an SmtpException stating 'Too many messages for this session'

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:33:11 GMT

Have you ever noticed an exception being thrown by your application stating something like the following:

System.Net.Mail.SmtpException: Service not available, closing transmission channel. 
The server response was: #4.x.2 Too many messages for this session

This has been an issue since early versions of the System.Net.Mail namespace. The SmtpServer object never included a Dispose() method that properly shutdown the connection to the server. So, even if you are creating new objects, the GC never disposed of the original thus causing this exception.

There are two workarounds for this exception as document on the Connect website:

Upgrade to the .NET Framework 4.0 or later. This version of the framework now includes a Dispose() method that properly closes the connection to the server. Anytime you are connecting to the server to send a message, you should dispose the object afterwards.
If you are using older versions of the framework (.NET Framework 3.5 or earlier), you can set the MaxIdleTime property to 0 and the ConnectionLimit to 1 on the SmtpClient’s ServicePoint object. For example, your code may look like the following:

var client = new SmtpClient("hostname");
client.ServicePoint.MaxIdleTime = 0;
client.ServicePoint.ConnectionLimit = 1;
...
client.Send(new MailMessage(...));

// at this point, the connection will get closed 
// since the ServicePoint idle time is now 0.

Hope this helps to solve any issues you’ve had with this.

TECHbash 2012: A Free Technology Conference in Northeastern Pennsylvania

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:25:48 GMT

Ever want to check out the latest technologies but have been too busy dealing with kids, co-workers, or angry birds? Now’s your chance. Push everything aside and get ready to attend the coolest conference in town. Well, it’s not in a town. Pennsylvania only has one of those. Rather, it’s at Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke, PA. If you’re not familiar with Nanticoke, it’s a small township just south of the City of Wilkes-Barre and approximately 30 minutes south of Scranton, Pennsylvania. While the registration page is not available for TECHbash 2012 just yet, it doesn’t mean that you can’t prepare for the event. It’s really, really important that you do the following. It’s confusing so I’ll outline things for you:

If you are a potential speaker, visit http://techbash.com/news/call-for-speakers-2012. There are a few things we’ll need from you such as your first born, some DNA, your bank account information, … or maybe just a short bio, mugshot, topics, and short description of each proposed talk. But, don’t take my word for it, click the link above and see the “official” post.
If you are a potential sponsor, visit http://techbash.com/news/sponsors-wanted. You’ll find additional information about the event and a method for obtaining the sponsorship packet.
If you are looking to just attend, learn some cool stuff, pick up some swag (software, shirts, etc.) and meet new people, we have nothing for you yet. I know. That’s horrible. Your pumped up, but can’t do anything. Well, that’s not entirely true. If you want to know when TECHbash 2012 registration will be available, you can sign-up for the notification list here: http://techbash2012.kickofflabs.com/. In addition, besides just adding a reminder, you’ll get a special referral code. Whatever attendee gets the most people to add a reminder using their specific referral code will win a super cool prize.

Thanks for taking the time to learn more. On behalf of .NET Valley and the TECHbash coordination team, we look forward to seeing you at TECHbash 2012.

The Orchard CMS Gazette

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:46:20 GMT

Since my new site is based on Orchard and I’m hyped to start creating modules and customizing Orchard, I figured I’d share the links that I find on Twitter and Facebook with all. Subscribe today to the Orchard CMS Gazette by visiting http://tinyurl.com/orchardcms. The publication will pull recent posts and articles submitted on Twitter and Facebook containing popular Orchard search terms. If you have any suggestions to improve this digital publication, please let me know by leaving a comment.

Grow Your Website using Orchard

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:45:56 GMT

I’m just wrapping up a trip to Eastern Tennessee’s CodeStock 2011 (in Knoxville to be precise). While I was down here, I presented on the Orchard CMS. Both the conference and talk were great and while I’m never really satisfied with any of my talks, I have recorded it. It will soon be available on the CodeStock website for all to view at a later date and time. However, I know that Michael Neel is quite busy and it may take him another day (or week) to get everything up there. So, I’ve jumped the gun and published it up myself. Be sure to check it out:

Grow Your Website Using Orchard from Jason Gaylord on Vimeo.

By now you probably have heard of a new content management system called Orchard. You may already have a CMS, but this one that’s been released by The Outercurve Foundation is different. We’ll discuss some of the features and benefits to using Orchard. We’ll also see some tips and tricks. By the end of this session, you’ll not only have an understanding of how to use Orchard, but will have a fully functional website as an added bonus.

The WeatherDotCom Widget for Orchard CMS

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:45:08 GMT

If you’ve checked out my new website recently, you may have noticed that I have included the weather on the site. Mouse over on the right-hand side and you’ll notice a “bing-like” box that will appear. I’ll talk about this a bit more in a bit, but you’ll notice that the weather pulls for my local zip code. These are the results from the Weather Channel’s weather.com.

To take advantage of this service, you must first register on their website at http://www.weather.com/services/xmloap.html. During this process, you’ll be provided with a Partner ID and a License Key. Be sure to take note of these as you’ll need them at a later point.

Note: If you are not a programmer or web developer, you may want to skip past the next two sections and go to Adding the Widget to Orchard.

Weather Data from the Web Service

I wanted to take advantage of all of the data being returned from the Weather Channel’s current conditions web service. So, I converted the result into two strongly-typed class objects. The first class object is called LocationInfo and is defined as:

public class LocationInfo
{
    public string LocationName { get; set; }
    public string Latitude { get; set; }
    public string Longitude { get; set; }
    public string Sunrise { get; set; }
    public string Sunset { get; set; }
    public string TimeZone { get; set; }
}

The second class object is called CurrentConditions and is defined as:

public class CurrentConditions
{
    public string Temperature { get; set; }
    public string FeelsLike { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }
    public string DescriptionIconNumber { get; set; }
    public string BarometricPressure { get; set; }
    public string BarometricPressureDirection { get; set; }
    public string WindSpeed { get; set; }
    public string WindDirection { get; set; }
    public string WindGust { get; set; }
    public string Humidity { get; set; }
    public string Visibility { get; set; }
    public string UvIndex { get; set; }
    public string UvDescription { get; set; }
    public string Dewpoint { get; set; }
    public string MoonIconNumber { get; set; }
    public string MoonType { get; set; }
}

In both of these instances, these are the properties that will be exposed to any custom views being rendered. I’ve included both of these class objects in another class object that is returned when the call is made to obtain the current weather. This class object is called Weather and is defined as:

public class Weather
{        
    public LocationInfo LocationInfo { get; set; }
    public CurrentConditions CurrentConditions { get; set; }
    public DateTime TimeCached { get; set; }
    public String ApiStatus { get; set; }
}

Customizing the Weather View

In my particular instance, I wanted to be able to cache the weather every 15 minutes. I also wanted to show a current weather image in the background and hide the text details for the weather. Then, I would show the text details in a div. To get this to work, I decided to add some custom JavaScript.

The first step in this task was to randomly generate where my first “bing-like” box would appear hinting that a mouseover was needed. To do this, I randomly calculated the location from the top and left and subtracted the size of the details box. This helped me to better place the boxes while staying within the background image location.

$(document).ready(function () {
    /* Randomize Divs */
    var ranHeight = Math.ceil(Math.random() * 115) + 5; /* Always 85 less than height */
    var ranIndent = Math.ceil(Math.random() * 120) + 5; /* Always 180 less than height */

    /* Get the Divs */
    var spot = $('#weatherSpot');
    var details = $('#weatherDetails');

    /* Add the new positions */
    spot.css("top", ranHeight + "px");
    details.css("top", ranHeight + "px");
    spot.css("right", ranIndent + 155 + "px");
    details.css("right", ranIndent + "px");
});

The next step in the process was to use jQuery to fade in and out the boxes.

$('#weatherBlock').mouseenter(function () {
    $('#weatherSpot').fadeIn('slow', function () {
        // Nothing happens when animation completes
    });
}).mouseleave(function () {
    $('#weatherSpot').fadeOut('slow', function () {
        // Nothing happens when animation completes
    });
});

$('#weatherSpot').mouseenter(function () {
    $('#weatherDetails').fadeIn('slow', function () {
        // Nothing happens when animation completes
    });
}).mouseleave(function () {
    $('#weatherDetails').fadeOut('slow', function () {
        // Nothing happens when animation completes
    });
});

Finally, I needed to layout my view. Since it’s a custom view, I had complete control over the rendering and decision of the data. I choose to use many of the default fields.

@using System.Web.Hosting
@{
    Script.Include("weatherDotCom.js");
   
    var imgPath = "~/Themes/MyTheme/Content/weathericons/";
    var weathericon = "";

    weathericon = Url.Content(imgPath + Model.WeatherResults.CurrentConditions.DescriptionIconNumber + ".png");
}

<div id="weatherBlock" class="weatherBlock" style="background: url('@weathericon') no-repeat;">
    <div id="weatherSpot" class="weatherSpot">
    </div>
    <div id="weatherDetails" class="weatherDetails">
        <span class="weatherTemp">@Model.WeatherResults.CurrentConditions.Temperature&deg;F</span><br />
        @Model.WeatherResults.CurrentConditions.Description<br />
        Feels Like: @Model.WeatherResults.CurrentConditions.FeelsLike&deg;<br />
        Wind: From @Model.WeatherResults.CurrentConditions.WindDirection at @Model.WeatherResults.CurrentConditions.WindSpeed mph
    </div>
</div>

I created custom weather icons for each of the potential weather patterns. The Weather Channel includes default images with your connection to their service.

You may customize the widget as I have shown above or use the default view which is provided.

Adding the Widget to Orchard

To install the widget, you can log into your Orchard CMS version 1.1 dashboard and go to Modules (If you are running Orchard version 1.0, I’d strongly urge you to upgrade your instance as this instance is much more stable and more user friendly). In the Modules section, choose Gallery and type in Weather in the search box. Choose the WeatherDotCom widget and click Install. After its finished installing, you’ll be prompted to enable this feature.

If you’d like to install the widget offline, you can download it directly from the Orchard Gallery website.

Once it’s enabled, it’s now a new part that can be added to a page, a blog post, or as a widget. In most cases, you’ll want to add it as a widget. To add it as a Widget, choose Widgets in the dashboard. In the appropriate zone click the Add button. I’d recommend using it in AsideFirst, AsideSecond, or one of the zones found AfterMain. On the next screen, choose Web Part Record.

When it’s added, you’ll have a property window screen that allows you to specify the properties for the widget. The screen looks like the following:

Conclusion

The source code and the widget can be downloaded by using the links below. If you find any bugs or have any suggestions, be sure to enter them on the CodePlex site, not the Orchard Gallery website, by using the Issue page or Discussion page respectively.

Module Package for Orchard CMS

Full Source Code

Disneyland Adventures due out November 15th

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:44:39 GMT

Earlier today at the E3 Expo, Microsoft unveiled several new features to Xbox Live, Kinect, and announced several new games including Halo 4, Kinect Sports Season Two, and Kinect Disneyland Adventures. Kinect Disneyland Adventures is pegged to be the first Kinect game including Disney characters. I stumbled across a screenshot that appears the game will be released on November 15th this year.

While additional specifics cannot be confirmed, this definitely looks to be in line for the holiday season.

Orchard CMS Command Line Exception

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:44:14 GMT

Late last week when I was at CodeStock 2011, I ran into an error with the orchard.exe command line utility. The exception generated looked similar to the following:

c:\inetpub\wwwroot\Orchard\Modules\Orchard.Packaging\Services\FileBaseProjectSystem.cs(33): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'FrameworkName' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

Exception Details: System.Web.HttpCompileException: c:\inetpub\wwwroot\Orchard\Modules\Orchard.Packaging\Services\FileBaseProjectSystem.cs(33): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'FrameworkName' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

After talking with individuals on the Orchard team, this appears to be an open item that they hope to solve for Orchard 1.2. If you run into this, please contact me directly by responding with a comment or messaging me on Twitter so I can pass on a potential resolution. I’m hoping that we can track whether or not the supposed solution does actually solve this issue.

Since, this is a random exception, we can use your help.

Using Web.config Transforms in ASP.NET

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:43:51 GMT

One of my team members was working on an issue today within an application. The application is setup to use web.config transformations. Web.config transforms are a great way to create multiple build configurations (including, but not limited to, the debug and release build configuration that are built-in) and allow different configuration settings based on the build. For instance, you may have a database connection set to your localhost when you are debugging locally. However, you can use web.config transforms to change the server name when you publish the application using the release build configuration. This can also be used to ensure that every time you publish an application as a release, debug and trace are disabled for your application.

Our application is setup so that we use transforms to set the connectionString attribute of each SQL connection in the configuration. We have multiple connection strings in this area.. We had multiple connection strings such as:

<connectionStrings>
    <clear/>
    <add name="DefaultSqlServer" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Data.Sql.SqlEntities.csdl|res://*/Data.Sql.SqlEntities.ssdl|res://*/Data.Sql.SqlEntities.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=Test;User ID=sa;Password=password;MultipleActiveResultSets=True&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient"/>
    <add name="DefaultProviderConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=Test;User ID=sa;Password=password;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
</connectionStrings>

In other words, one connection is used for connecting to the SQL database using Entity Framework while the other is used to connect to the database using the built-in providers. When we published the application using the release build configuration, both connectionString values were set to the same. After digging around for some time we forgot a simple part of the transform.

When performing web.config transforms on a Key/Value dictionary pair in the web.config file, make sure that use also include an xdt:Locator attribute that contains the method Match. This allows you to pair up the specific value to a particular key.

So, your connection strings should resemble something like the following in your web.release.config file:

<add name="DefaultSqlServer" connectionString="..." xdt:Transform="SetAttributes(connectionString)" xdt:Locator="Match(name)" />

In my case, I’m replacing the DefaultSqlServer value with the value defined in the connectionString above. I can replace other attributes by separating the attribute names in the SetAttributes method with a comma.

For additional config transform options, be sure to visit the MSDN page at http://jasong.us/mhgvPh.

Changing the Title in the Tile Icon of a Windows Phone 7 Application

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:43:31 GMT

If you’ve built a Windows Phone 7 application, you may have noticed that if you pin your application to the Start menu, the name of your application appears in the lower, left-hand side of the tile. You can change the text in this tile, by right-clicking on the application and going to properties. On the Application menu, modify the Tile title properties. A sample of this area is displayed below:

You’ll notice that the title text is blank in my screenshot. To accomplish this, you’ll need to perform a little magic. If you wipe this out in Visual Studio 2010, you’ll receive the error message stating “An empty string is not allowed for Title” like the following:

However, you can blank out this field my modifying the WMAppManifest.xml file located in your project’s properties folder. Modify the section of this file that is highlighted below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Deployment xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windowsphone/2009/deployment" AppPlatformVersion="7.0">
    ...
    <Tokens>
      <PrimaryToken TokenID="BarefootToken" TaskName="_default">
        <TemplateType5>
          <BackgroundImageURI IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">Application_TileImage_173x173.png</BackgroundImageURI>
          <Count>0</Count>
          <Title></Title>
        </TemplateType5>
      </PrimaryToken>
    </Tokens>
  </App>
</Deployment>

This will allow your title to be blank and also allow your tile to appear on your device without the title.