Monday, January 09, 2006

I'm off to Burlington for the January VTdotNET meeting where we are having our INETA Community Launch event. Laura Blood has been working hard on her ASP.NET 2.0 session. I have bags and bags of books and swag and of course we are raffling off 5 licenses to VS2005 Pro/SQL Server 2005 Standard/BizTalk 2006. That's 5 sets! We have a huge # of RSVPs for our little group - 35 and counting. Thom Robbins, our D.E. has offered to cover the pizza. I'm going to stop at Staples on the way and pick up raffle tickets - I'm sick of trying to deal with  how to raffle off stuff!!

It should be great fun!



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Monday, January 09, 2006 4:11:14 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 

My computers have been behaving very badly (to the tune of "now I have to rebuild my server") and now my new printer is joining in as well. It made an executive decision when it ran out of legal sized paper and just continued the print job on letter. How do you punish hardware anyway? Go to bed early? No phone for a week?



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Monday, January 09, 2006 2:30:06 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
 Sunday, January 08, 2006

By process of (hours of) elimination I have solved a problem that was driving me batty today!

I have a WSE 3.0 enabled client app that calls a WSE enabled web service.

After creating a UsernameToken, the client application was setting the credentials on the web service proxy using the generic overload:

proxy.SetClientCredential(Of UsernameToken) (myUT)

As I built the tests up one by one everything was working swimmingly... until I added in the SecureConversation into the client and service policies. (establishSecurityContext="true").

Then I was getting a 401 Access denied whenever I tried to hit the web service. I could see through the status of the tracing that I was not even touching the web server on these calls.

Setting the SecureConversation to false let everything work again.

I spent quite a lot of time experimenting and scrutinizing my settings, configs, etc.

I even loaded up the sample application for Secure Conversation which worked perfectly fine.

Both web services were in IIS and I compared everything. config files, policy files, IIS properties and security, folder security.

Combing through these, I tested every little thing that was different - folder access permissions and more. I explored differences in code such as setting the soapversion explicitly on the proxy. Nothing made a difference.

But finally, I came upon the nominal difference that was causing the problem (though I have no explanation for it).

It was the use of generics in setting the ClientCredential on the proxy.

When I used the non-generic method, as the sample uses:

proxy.SetClientCredential(myUT)

instead of

proxy.SetClientCredential(Of UsernameToken) (myUT)

suddenly I was getting a response from the server. It was still an error, but I knew I was finally getting through to the server.

The new error was my method of doing authorization on the token. This new token was "just a securityContextToken" and not a UsernameToken.

In my web service, I had cobbled together some old WSE 2.0 authorization code with some WSE 3.0 code which looked like this

dim tok as UsernameToken=RequestSoapContext.Current.IdentityToken

if tok.Principal.IsInRole(....blah blah blah

When attaching the credentials using the generic method, IdentityToken was returned as a UsernameToken, but now it is not. It has a base of UsernameToken, but it doesn't cast (I tried) to UsernameToken.

I can get the principal directly from IdentityToken anyway, so I just modified that code

dim tok as SecurityToken = RequestSoapContext.Current.IdentityToken
if tok.Principal.IsInRole(....blah blah blah

This cost me many many hours. At least now there will be something for Google to find!!



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
WSE
Sunday, January 08, 2006 9:37:27 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
 Friday, January 06, 2006

I am sending files to a web service in a vs2005 app using, of course, WSE 3.0. The only way I knew to prove to myself that it was really going up their using MTOM was to use Simon Fell's TCP Trace program that I wrote about in this past post.

Here is with the MTOM "Client On" setting. Note the MIMEBoundary data and xop. That's how the binary data gets sent with MTOM.

and here it is with the check mark off in the wse 3.0 settings. Note the lack of the MIMEBoundary info. If you saw the entire, contents of this, you would see the streamed data included - the array of base 64 bytes.

WSE
Friday, January 06, 2006 3:13:38 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
 Thursday, January 05, 2006

How do we keep at this when computers like to make you feel like an idiot or "looks like Julie is having a crappy day week ..."  Read more here...

[A DevLife post]



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Thursday, January 05, 2006 12:53:54 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 

As our HMO plan with MVP went up over $100 this year ( 17 %), Rich and I finally caved in and signed up for a Health Savings Account plan. It is high deductible and we spent a long time trying to weigh the worst case scenarios against the best case scenarios. Check back with me in a year and I'll let you know how it pans out!



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Thursday, January 05, 2006 12:29:17 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
 Wednesday, January 04, 2006
I am not much of a math geek anymore, but I have a pal who I know would be very interested in this (if he doesn't know already!)

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Wednesday, January 04, 2006 10:16:46 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 

Because I didn't realize there was something really cool about this! I finally just happened upon it accidentally. One one of the times I rebooted, I noticed the pretty little icons for cds, thumb drives and more below the toshiba logo at startup. Pressing the left and right arrow keys highlighted the icons and voila I was able to boot from my selected device - CD.

Yah , I know - RTFM. I don't happen to have it. But now that I knew what I was looking for, I was easily able to find it online.

From the manual,

"You can also manually choose the boot-up sequence by sliding the power switch, then quickly pressing the right or left arrow keys."

Very cool feature!



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Wednesday, January 04, 2006 9:58:04 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
www.SystemNetMail.com. Great resource from Dave Wanta. I just went right there when I was having some trouble with this class (which has been moved from system.web to system.net and given some shiny new buttons) and found the answer lickety split. Thanks Dave!

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Wednesday, January 04, 2006 4:43:50 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 

My old HP Laserjet 4si had buttons on it that allowed you to control a lot of it's settings. The new fangled printers do this through html based application that you install on your computer and it is driven by java. I didn't mind that it was Java but it was definitely the source of many problems

After installing this for our new Laserjet 1320, I was having a number of odd problems on my computer. Lots of hanging, for example, when attempting to open an Word doc attached to an email. As soon as I killed the javaw.exe process, word opened right up.

It was also creating problems with some old foxpro 16bit software with the same symptoms. I would attempt to start up that software and it would do nothing, until I went into the task manager and ended the javaw.exe process again.

It was also a bit of a memory hog.

I finally uninstalled the HP toolbox software and hopefully I can do what I need through the WinXP drivers, although the toolbox does control a lot more stuff.

So far, things have been much better.

There is one other problem that is not HPs, but the fault of our Canon LiDe35 scanner who's CanoScan software is incompatible with this printer (and according to tech support, others as well.) I am no longer able to use my scanner as a copier with output to the printer and have to scan to pdf's then print the pdfs. Uggh. Canon said they are revising their software.



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Wednesday, January 04, 2006 3:40:12 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
When you live by rss feeds, you miss stuff like this beautiful redesign of Michele's blog!

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Wednesday, January 04, 2006 2:32:08 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
aha!! I was wondering... (and feeling a little ashamed that I didn't realize...)

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Wednesday, January 04, 2006 11:57:14 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
 Tuesday, January 03, 2006

 

Micky Gousset points out that Billy Hollis is done with floppies. So much for his Christmas present. :-) Coasters, anyone?



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Tuesday, January 03, 2006 10:31:49 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
I have not yet played with this stuff but have noticed some moaning and groaning around this topic, so this looks like good news!

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Tuesday, January 03, 2006 10:13:38 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
A good clarification for me. One of the great and under-rated features of .NET 2.0 is the System.IO.Compression namespace which allows stream compression. But it's important to understand that this is not file compression. For example, if you want to zip up multiple files, this is not the class for you. I will definitely use these classes where it makes sense, but I will continue to use the XCeed components for more full functioned zipping in .NET.

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Tuesday, January 03, 2006 9:58:14 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
 Monday, January 02, 2006

You never know what you might find when you start digging around in old boxes...



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Monday, January 02, 2006 5:25:26 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 

From Brad McCabe's blog

Free VB 2005 and ASP.NET Training

With the holiday’s coming lots of people have some extra time on their hands, with this in mind MSDN and Microsoft Learning got to together to give you something to do, free training!

We were trying to figure out what course to give away and decided to let you pick.  That’s right pick one of 6 courses about Visual Basic 2005 or 9 courses about ASP.NET 2.0.  In addition, after you have completed your free online course you will receive 30% off the price of the next one.

You have to hurry, the free code is only good until January 4th, 2006.  You don’t have to take your free class by then, but you have to sign up and select your class before that day.  You have 90 days from the time you sign up to do the course, but with spare time this holiday season why not do it now?

Visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/learning/elearning_promo/ for all of the details and to get the free training code to sign up.



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Monday, January 02, 2006 2:50:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 

With no New Year's resolutions, this was unplanned but a very significant event in our household. A visiting friend offered to help me do something that I have been unable to do for a long time, clean out my closets (and boxes) of long unworn clothes.

I have moved households five times in the past 15 years, but have been quite unable to do major purges of clothing in those moves. What this means is that I have so many clothes that are old, outdated and unworn for years. Every time I have attempted to get rid of them, I have found that I have too many emotional or other ties to them. I was a bit of a clothes horse when I lived in NYC and had pretty expensive taste. There are also clothes of my mothers, additional beautiful things, that she gave to me when she could no longer wear them. And then there are things like a sweater my grandmother knit for my dad when he was young and it is still in perfect shape. I I wore it for years as a funky winter dress.

When Rich and I made the last move 2 1/2 years ago, I searched high and low for the organization that took clothes for women returning to the workforce. Finally I contacted them and was told that they no longer do it and to just bring it to the Salvation Army.

So, after putting this off for many many years, Debbie and I spent hours going through closets, storage containers and boxes. My husband was thrilled beyond belief. We are now well on our way to taking back the "box room" and gaining a second guest room in our house. It was a very trying and emotional thing to do and probably hard for many to understand that. These clothes had a lot of memories associated with them of my many past lives. Debbie was astonished at the gamut that ran from Italian linen skirts from Paul Stuarts to the London designer clothese from Charivari. Who would have guessed I would end up in flannel lined jeans from Eddie Bauer and fleece socks? :-)

In addition to this I actually unpacked a lot of other boxes that have been untouched for these 2 1/2 years, finding places for what Rich likes to call my knick-knacks.

Had we planned this - put it on a list of New Year's resolutions, it would probably not have happened for many many months to come. It was an amazing thing to do. I got to visit my past and let go of a lot of it as well.



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Monday, January 02, 2006 12:15:26 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 

Everybody's gotta have their list, right? Here's mine...

[A DevLife post]



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Monday, January 02, 2006 11:54:09 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  | 
 Friday, December 30, 2005

As long as I''m in the middle of a gaggle of learning curves (eg advanced ClickOnce deployment, uncommon UI threading issues, and a host of other things I'm dealing with as I port a particular app to VS2005), I added another one today - contract first web services. In addition to porting the application, I am adding in some enhancements that my client has requested. One of them required a new web service. So I thought it was a perfect time to drop everything and learn to do contract first, of course using thinktecture's WSCF tool (testing out their not yet released VS2005 version). But I'm not just learning how to use their tool. I am such a weenie when it comes to schemas, WSDL, etc. - like many non-plumbers. This process is requiring me to get a little further under the sheets with this stuff, too. One wonders why it takes me so long to finish something. Of course this is not including the hours I had to take out dealing with compatibilty issues between our scanner (Canon LiDE 35) and our new printer (HP Laserjet 1320) and continued research on DVI KVM's (I think I found what I'm looking for here) and while I was at it ordering a DVD burner (finally) so I can freakin' install the new Vista bits.

Anyway, back to it!



Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org
Friday, December 30, 2005 3:27:18 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #     |  Comments [0]  |