From Go to Deploy, hosting your website and data on Azure “How To”

Brandon Werner - How To Host Your Site and Content On Azure Quickly and Easily

“This entry seeks to provide you with a quick and easy way to get up to speed on Azure quickly by deploying your own personal website as an MVC application in to the cloud. Consider it a “Hello World”. I will do the following:

• Demonstrate how to write and deploy a simple Azure hosted website
• Demonstrate how to to create your own image and content server using Azure Storage and expose your content publically through URLs
• Demonstrate how to use new tools like Azure Storage Explorer to access your cloud storage

Introduction

Now that Azure has been released (well, in January 2010) a lot of people are busy coding a lot of awesome applications. I’m proud of you. I’m not one of them. I just have a personal website that I’ve hosted through a collection of GoDaddy, Amazon S3 (for images and PowerPoint slides, etc.) and some custom JavaScript.

So over the Thanksgiving week I decided to move all my stuff over to Azure for fun. This includes hosting my website, moving my RoR code over to a ASP.net MVC code (don’t freak, ASP.net MVC is pretty much set up like RoR and PHP as far as directories and deployment, so it’s easy), and moving all my images and other media over to Azure Storage so that I can just reference images and CCS using URLs without needing to redeploy my website (much like I did with Amazon’s S3).

SIDEBAR: If ASP doesn’t interest you, we now have PHP, Java, Eclipse, Tomcat and MySQL on Azure. Check it out here.

…

…”

I thought this was an awesome guide for getting started with Azure. Start to finish, this “how to” seems to pretty much cover it all…

The MVVM Framework Tour – This time, Silverlight styling!

JAPF - Discover and compare existing MVVM frameworks !

“A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post where I compared the existing MVVM frameworks. This post became a bit famous in the WPF/Silverlight blog world and I received a lot of feedback to update the list, fix information, etc. I also got a request from Erik suggesting me to put all the datas in a matrix.

Today I’m proud to announce the MVVM frameworks Silverlight application (click the image to open the Silverlight3 page).

…”

Nice! What a cool way to to both spending a little quality time building a simple, but cool, Sliverlight app and also represent a bunch of data intelligently…

 

Related Past Post XRef:
A MVVM framework “…three hour tour…”

PowerShell Configurator (PSConfig) – Server configuration power via PowerShell goodness

James O'Neill's blog - Announcing the PowerShell Configurator.

“For a little while I have had a beta version of a project I call PSCONFIG on codeplex. I’ve changed a couple of things but from the people who have given it a try, it seems that it is working pretty well. It’s aimed at servers running either Hyper-V server R2 Or Core installations Windows Server 2008 R2, although it can be useful on just about any version of Windows with PowerShell V2 installed. Here is breakdown of the what is included.

…”

CodePlex - Powershell Configurator for Server Core R2 / HyperV Server r2

“A PowerShell module to provide a scripted , command line, or Menu driven user interface to configure Server 2008 -R2 Core installations or Hyper-Server R2
It is recommended that you remove the "block" attribute from the ZIP file before extracting it.
This module provides PowerShell commands which can grouped together as follows

Managing installed software , drivers and updates
Add-Driver, Get-Driver
Add-HotFix ,
Add-InstalledProduct ,Get-InstalledProduct , Remove-InstalledProduct,
Add-WindowsFeature , Get-WindowsFeature, Select-WindowsFeature, Remove-WindowsFeature
Add-WindowsUpdate, Get-WindowsUpdateConfig , Set-WindowsUpdateConfig

Managing the windows Firewall
Get-FirewallConfig , Set-FirewallConfig, Get-FirewallProfile , Get-FireWallRule, New-FirewallRule

IP Networking
Get-NetworkAdapter, Select-NetworkAdapter, Get-IpConfig , New-IpConfig , Remove-IpConfig, Set-IpConfig

Licensing
Get-Registration , Register-Computer

Page file
Get-PageFile, Set-AutoPageFile

Shut down event tracker
Get-ShutDownTracker , Set-ShutDownTracker

Windows Remote management
Get-WinRMConfig , Disable-WinRm

Remote Desktop
Get-RemoteDesktopConfig , Set-RemoteDesktop

Other Windows Configuration
Rename-Computer
Set-DateConfig
Set-iSCSIConfig
Set-RegionalConfig
Show-Menu” [GD: Project description leached in full]

There are some cool sysadmin commands here that I don’t think I’ve seen powershelled before.

As a nice finishing touch, there’s a 23 page doc, which covers installation and usage.

PDC09 List Updated and MP4, WMVHigh RSS feeds now available too

Just a quick note to let you know I’ve refreshed my PDC09 list including the now available MP4 links, PDC09 Session Video List (Okay, so I lied) and also added MP4 and WMVHigh RSS Feeds in my feed post, PDC09 RSS feed file for your podcast catcher of choice (i.e. Grab all the PDC sessions for your Zune, Reader, FeedDemon, etc)

 

In short:

PDC09 Session Video List (Okay, so I lied) (HTML table of Sessions, WMVHigh, WMV, MP4, PPTX)

PDC09-Complete-RSS.xml (The above list, with item entries for all sessions with WMV videos)

PDC09-Complete-MP4.xml (The above list, with item entries for all sessions with MP4 videos)

PDC09-Complete-WMVHigh.xml (The above list, with item entries for all sessions with WMVHigh videos)

(XML files hosted on my Office Live Small Business site, jaged.net)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
PDC09 RSS feed file for your podcast catcher of choice (i.e. Grab all the PDC sessions for your Zune, Reader, FeedDemon, etc)
PDC09 Session Video List (Okay, so I lied)

“Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, Second Edition” Final (as in, stick a fork in it it’s done, version) now available

J.D. Meier's Blog - Now Available: Final PDF of the Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, Second Edition

“A final PDF is now available for our patterns & practices Application Architecture Guide, second edition.  This is our platform playbook for the Microsoft application platform.

Here are the relevant links:

…

”

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, 2nd Edition

“Brief Description

The guide is intended to help developers and solution architects design and build effective, high quality applications.

…

File Name:	Application Architecture Guide v2.pdf
Version:	2
Date Published:	11/20/2009
Language:	English
Download Size:	23 KB - 7.6 MB*

The guide helps you to:

• Understand the underlying architecture and design principles and patterns for developing successful solutions on the Microsoft platform and the .NET Framework.
• Identify appropriate strategies and design patterns that will help you design your solution's layers, components, and services.
• Identify and address the key engineering decision points for your solution.
• Identify and address the key quality attributes and crosscutting concerns for your solution.
• Create a candidate baseline architecture for your solution.
• Choose the right technologies for your solution.
• Identify patterns & practices solution assets and further guidance that will help you to implement your solution.

…”

560 pages of light reading for your long holiday weekend… ;)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Microsoft P&P App Arch Guide 2.0 (The Book) Released
Patterns and Practices Application Architecture Guide 2.0 Pocket Guides Released

The Cool Utility of the Day: TouchFreeze (Automatic disable/enable of your touchpad when typing, or not)

Addictive Tips - Auto Disable Mouse Touchpad When Typing

“It is a common annoyances with netbooks and laptops which lack the disable touchpad button. Most blogs out there are covering a single method to disable the touchpad, i.e, go to Control Panel > Mouse Properties and then disable the touchpad from there.

The above method is not suitable for those who need to disable the touchpad frequently for short periods of time. Who in his/her right mind would navigate back and forth just to enable/disable touchpad? This could be quite a hectic process.

TouchFreeze is a brilliant little app that solves this problem. It disables the touchpad temporarily the moment a keystroke is pressed. In layman’s term, it disables the touchpad automatically when you are typing and enables it back when the typing is stopped.

It will sit silently in the system tray without disturbing any of your work. Just start typing and don’t worry about the touchpad any more.

…”

Code.Google.com – touchfreeze

“Annoyed when you are typing a document and accidentally the palm of your hand brushes the touchpad, changing the position of the cursor in your document or accidentally clicking on an option. TouchFreeze is simple utility for Windows NT/2000/XP that solves this problem. It automatically disables touchpad while you are typing text. Like syndaemon on x-windows.

…”

I SO need this! I usually disable touchpads and prefer to use the J/Keyboard mouse, but on my new PDC Acer that’s not an option. And I don’t want to carry around an external mouse (nor do I have a BlueTooth mouse yet, so am on USB dongle hell with my external mouse).

So I’ve been coming to terms with the touchpad.

Yet there was a behavior that was making me crazy. As I would type, my cursor would seem to magically jump elsewhere, which of course I wouldn’t notice until a few words later… As I analyzed my type behavior I came to realize that my thumb was tapping the touchpad as I typed. Ah ha! Off with the thumbs!… errr… um… okay… maybe not. But it does seem some retraining was in order or putting a possibly installing and unsupported touchpad driver. Neither option is one I liked.

Then I saw TouchFreeze. ZOMG, that’s it! Perfect!

I’ve installed it (Win7 Ultimate x64) and it seems to be working exactly as I need it too! (And is a open source C++ app too :)

I am now a happy, touchpad using, camper

Windows 7 Ribbon for WinForms – Yes you can…

CodePlex - Windows Ribbon for WinForms

“Project Description

Windows Ribbon for WinForms is a .NET wrapper for Windows 7 Ribbon control. It will allow WinForms developers to use Microsoft Windows 7 Ribbon control in their WinForms applications.

The project includes the library RibbonLib, which adds support for Windows Ribbon to WinForms application and sample applications that demonstrates the use of the library and the different Ribbon features available.

Check my blog for more details on how to use the windows ribbon at http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/arik/

Note: you must have the Windows 7 SDK installed in order to compile the project.

Following is the list of sample application and their description:

• 01 - AddingRibbonSupport - Empty WinForms application with basic Ribbon support.
• 02 - ApplicationMenuButton - WinForms application with Ribbon that contains an application menu with some buttons.
• 03 - MenuDropDown - WinForms application with DropDownButton and SplitButton inside an application menu.
• 04 - TabGroupHelp - WinForms application that uses Tabs, Groups and HelpButton.
• 05 - Spinner - WinForms application that demonstrates the use of a Spinner control in the ribbon.
• 06 - ComboBox - WinForms application that demonstrates the use of a CombBox control in the ribbon.
• 07 - RibbonColor - WinForms application that shows how to change the ribbon global colors.
• 08 - Images - WinForms application that shows how to work set images dynamically in the ribbon.
• 09 - Galleries - WinForms application thats uses DropDownGallery, SplitButtonGallery and InRibbonGallery.
• 10 - CheckBox - WinForms application that uses CheckBox and ToggleButton control in the ribbon.
• 11 - DropDownColorPicker - WinForms application that demonstrates the use of a DropDownColorPicker control in the ribbon.
• 12 - FontControl - WinForms application that demonstrates the use of a FontControl control in the ribbon.
• 13 - ApplicationModes - WinForms application that demonstrates the use of ApplicationModes.

” [GD: Project Description Leached in Full]

Arik Poznanski's Blog - Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 16 – ApplicationModes

“Windows Ribbon for WinForms library now supports Application Modes.
The result of this post is a yet another sample, “13-ApplicationModes”, found on the project site.

 

What are application modes?
It is best to explain using examples. Applications some times have different “modes” in which they show different GUI, for example:

• Simple mode VS Advanced mode
• Regular editor mode VS Print mode

The ribbon framework support changing its GUI according to the current application mode. In order to use the ribbon application modes you need to:

• Set the available application modes for each ribbon item. This is done in design time.
• Set the current application mode. This is done in run time.

To summarize, application modes is a feature that allows the ribbon to change its GUI according to the current application context.

…”

While you’re there, make sure you check out the other posts in the series;

Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 1 – Introduction
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 2 - Basic Ribbon Wrapper
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 3 - First WinForms Ribbon Application
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 4 - Application Menu with Buttons
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 5 - Application Menu with SplitButton and DropButton
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 6 – Tabs, Groups and HelpButton
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 7 – Spinner
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 8 – ComboBox
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 9 – Changing Ribbon Colors
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 10 – Working With Images
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 11 – DropDownGallery, SplitButtonGallery and InRibbonGallery
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 12 – CheckBox and ToggleButton
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 13 – DropDownColorPicker
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 14 – FontControl
Windows Ribbon for WinForms, Part 15 – Use Ribbon as External DLL

 

Yeah, I know, WinForms? Isn’t WinForms dead?

Well, there’s dead and there’s dead. While WinForms gets no loving in .Net 4, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its place or that there aren’t tens of thousands of developers using it every day. And while there are third party vendors who have had Ribbons for while now (I’ve used Infragistics’ Ribbon at work for a few years now) I thought it cool to see the Win7 native Ribbon being wrapped and made available.

Why? Because I may want to develop WinForm apps using the Ribbon that are open source. And that’s hard to do (open sourcing it) if you’re using a commercial component. That and I just like seeing Win7 goodness being made usable in my Managed world…  ;)

Think you have to be a Local Admin for PowerShell Remoting to work? Think again…

Windows PowerShell Blog - You Don’t Have to Be An Administrator to Run Remote PowerShell Commands

“I was just read blog entry which complained about having to have administrative access to execute PowerShell commands against a remote server.  This is not the case.

We are “secure by default” which means that if you want to do something that exposes a security risk to your machines, you have to make a conscious decision to do so.  We are secure by default so that you can feel confident in putting PowerShell on all your machines.  Your risks are a function of the decisions you make after  you install PowerShell and we’ll educate you about the risks and benefits of those decisions.  (Run “Get-Help about_Execution_Policies” to see a great example of that.)

…

If you decide you want to allow others, what you do is run the command:

…

…This brings up the following dialog box which allows you to give others the ability to run commands on that machine:

…”

I love learning something new every day… :)

From code-behind to MVVM in 90 Minutes - Jason Dolinger on MVVM

Lab 49 - Jason Dolinger on Model-View-ViewModel 

“A while back, Jason Dolinger, a consultant here at Lab49, gave us a presentation on design in WPF with the Model-View-ViewModel pattern and the Unity dependency injection framework.

Jason started with an application that one would write in a “traditional” way, with button clicks handled by event-handlers in the code-behind that then updated other parts of the UI. Using WPF data-binding, Commands, and Unity, he transformed it, piece by piece, in a much more manageable, encapsulated, readable, and testable M-V-VM design. It was awesome.

It was so awesome, in fact, that after the presentation Jason recorded the demo for all to see here.

Check it out. It’s the most practically instructive explanation of WPF design I’ve seen.

UPDATE: I thought I should mention that while Jason’s presentation is geared towards WPF, the patterns he describes are very applicable for Silverlight as well. There are a few things to take note of, though: …”

This is an oldie but a still goodie (having been released last year makes it an oldie…sigh… LOL)

(via Tech Tock - From Winforms to WPF MVVM in 90 Minutes and a tweet I got a while ago from @huseyint)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
First/Alpha release of my Scrum for Team System Quickboard Project (Think “10 foot SfTS Dashboard”)

A Feed You Should Read #12 – DimeCasts.Net

Ha, tricked you didn’t I! You thought this week’s feed would be PDC09 related, didn’t you? Well, so did I… LOL. But I have to say I’ve pretty much reached the PDC saturation point. PDC is done, over, finish and frankly I’m a little tired of hearing about it. Time to move on…

My brain is now almost full, with only some smaller corners here and there available. That’s why I thought DimeCasts.net would be great for this week’s Feed.

DimeCasts.Net

Background:

DimeCasts.Net is a site that hosts short, code focused, 10 minute’ish, screencasts.

I’ve been following it since its inception last year, DimeCasts.Net - Everyday coding issues covered in 10 minutes or less, and find the name so fitting that I personally now use it to describe all short video/web/screen/pod casts. :)

In Derik Whittaker (the mind and power behind DimeCasts.net) word’s;

“A few weeks ago while putting together a screencast series on how to use NUnit (and a basic intro to testing) I got the bright idea to launch a new site.  I wanted to create a site that allows myself (and others in the future) to create, host and share short (about 10 minutes -- hence the name dimecasts.net) screencast's (I call them episodes) on how to do various different things.

...

So, who is my target audience with these episodes....everyone.  My thoughts are to create episodes that tackle everyday coding issues as well as show how to use various tools (NUnit, Mocking tools, IoC, etc).  I want the episodes to range from 100 level (Intro to XYZ) all the way to 400 level (mastering XYZ) and I want them to be short and to the point. …”

Why do I like this feed and think you might also?

What I like is how focused the content it. It’s screencast, code focused, for developers by developers. I dig that. “Content good that is content dense” (What Yoda would say if he were a Dev ;)

Also I like that the topics cover areas that are a little outside of the Redmond norm, you know Alt.Net’ish. It provides views into areas that we’re not as likely to see in “Official” MS channels and venues. This is pretty clear by just looking at the Cast Tags above.

So why do I think you might like this?

• Dev focused? Check
• Content density high? Check
• Very reasonable Ad level? Check
• Tools and code? Check
• Information I can use today? Check
• .Net? Check
• Cool? Check  :)

Snap of the latest post:

Blog Information:

Name:	DimeCasts.Net -- Inform & Educate in ~10 minutes or less
URL:	http://www.dimecasts.net/
Feed:	http://feeds.feedburner.com/Dimecastsnet--InformAndEducateIn10MinutesOrLess
Post Types:	Short Dev/code focused video/screencast sessions