.Net and Some (may be MORE) Random Thoughts

What is JQuery? “A new type of JavaScript Library” Jquery really made my UI developement Fun. If you are not familiar with JQuery, i strongly suggest you check it out. We can do more with less code using JQuery.

And then there is ASP.NET MVC to make make web development clean and TDD friendly. If you are not familiar with ASP.NET MVC you should check out Scott Gu’s Blog posts on different previews (currently Preview 4).

There are quite a few articles on how to integrate ASP.NET MVC and JQuery to make our lifes happier. A simple google search for “ASP.NET MVC with JQuery” return quite a few articles.

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I have had been using DealFlakes.com as my technical playground for a while. I have experimented with some cool AJAX JSON based communication and some nifty Server side tricks. With the arrival (well, the previews) of ASP.NET MVC, I was so excited that i wanted to re-write the DealFlakes.com on MVC framework (not a lot once i know what i wanted to do and how to organize the data).

DealFlakes is basically a Deal Aggregation portal !

1. JQUERY (for communication and User Experience effects)
2. LINQ - (Linq-to-SQL and Linq-to-XML to talk to my data stores)
3. And at this point ASP.NET MVC Preview 4 (I love the caching and Authentication modules in this preview)
4. SQL Server (2005) with some XML files
5. And hosted on IIS7 (Windows Server 2008)

I have learned quite a bit of JavaScript while working with Jquery and i encourage all of you to have a look at it. I am sure, you are going to love it. And my CSS skills are getting better Well, layout is kind of similar to Digg, umm(they invented the wheel)!!!

Any how, if you are a bargain hunter and would like to keep some money in your pocket (May be more available balance on your credit card) you should check out dealflakes.com. I am going to keep this as a serious website and not going to play with it any more (at least that effects the Functionality and User Experience). And yes, i will be adding some very exciting features very soon. So, stay tuned.

Go DealFlakes…

Budigelli

The move to windows server 2008 is mostly done. I have the sites hosted on server 2008 and i still need to update my mail servers. It took a while to get them running but i am happy that its done.

I had some trouble with web.config file migration in the beginning (need to migrate web.config file to work on server 2008’s integrated mode).

All the projects i am working on going through a face-lift at this time. I will update the progress as i make them available.

Thanks for your time..

Misguiding advertisements on AdSense? How bad is it (if at all)!!!

I have couple of blog posts on my journey to find a reasonably priced (read, under my budget) windows server 2008 host with decent SQL Server 2005 data storage space. Like you find in most blogs, i have AdSense all over my blog:( So, i was going through the blog the other day and found a new advertisement for SQL Server hosting.

Having done substantial research on the existing hosting providers, i was surprised with this new provider. For a second, i thought may be i didn’t really search right!!! With Google’s AdSense TOC in mind (i believe i should not click on the AdSense links on my own site ), i patiently opened a new window and typed in the site’s name. Well, I got a web site that has nothing to do with either SQL Server or Hosting. I guess they choose to bid on SQL Server hosting related keywords (May be they are cheaper compared to the right keywords in the market sector they are in).

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Today, I was trying to find some good resources on Forms Authentication for ASP.NET MVC framework. So, i typed in “asp.net mvc forms authentication”. Google surprised me with the search results.

For some reason, the search phrase “asp.net mvc forms authentication” looks like an auto-generated search! Umm, i am sure i have searched before along those lines with out any problem. Any one ever had this issue!!

Check the below screen shot..

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As i mentioned in my previous post, i have signed up with Godaddy.com Basic VPS plan (running Windows server 2003). Even though i was able to run the application with pretty url (using ISAPI ReWrite Lite), i had few issues with the approach.

My biggest concern is the testing! I develop on Vista running IIS7 and to deploy it on Windows Server 2003 running on IIS6 seems to be a big risk. I don’t have any Windows server 2003 machines to set up a stage environment! So, to minimize the potential risk, i am again in the hunt for a hosting provider with Windows Server 2008. I have upped my budget to $70-80 per month.

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As i am moving in to hosting my application on an external server, i am finding some interesting and annoying (time consuming for research) things. i will try to address them as they come along…

One of the main thing was the way i handle my Data Layer. My Data Layer is a class library project and I have separate Business, Entity, and UI layers. My Data Layer is done using LINQ to SQL with stored procedures (All my interaction with Database are using Stored Procedures). When i dragged and dropped required tables and stored procedures in to the designer, behind the scenes, the DBML file, (specifically, the DataContext class) hasa default constructor that stores the connection string. To Re-iterate, we have this connection string defined in Web.Config, and app.Config (gets created for class library projects), and this hard coded value in “.dbml” File.

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After spending good amount of time on trying to find a hosting provider to host my asp.net MVC application, i have decided to move up to a VPS (Virtual Private Server). It is still running IIS6 on Windows Server 2003 but at least gives me the option of installing a ISAPI rewrite module.

I could not find a decent host with the following requirements for (under)  $50.00

I was looking for

• Windows Server 2008 (for IIS7)
• Decent amount of storage (about 5-10 GB)
• Reasonable Bandwidth (Not sure, but may be around 100-200 GB)
• SQL Server Space min 1 GB (The most important thing)

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Ok, i have had FUN working with ASP.NET MVC (the official site, more info on Scott Gu’s Blog) Preview 3. I was doing some fun stuff.  Wanting to  play with different technologies of late, i found (really found) ways to use LINQ (to SQL, to XML, and on Entities). To complement all this i have used JQUERY with very good plugins like “Listen” and “SuperFlyDom”.

This whole thing is very cool and works great on my local machine with Vista Ultimate running IIS7. I was excited and wanted to put it on my hosting account only to realize, my hosting account only supports IIS6 (some cheap Shared Hosting, right!). Now, all my pretty looking URL are going to look bad with that “.MVC” extension, right?. After a quick a google search, i found an interesting idea on doing a ReWrites with ISAPI modules. Having done this a lot in my previous jobs, i assumed the job.

My Host, does not support main ISAPI_ReWrite modules, and kind of suggested me to get “LinkFreeze” from the same company. In my excitement to get my website online, i bought that license (about $50.00) and asked my hosting provider to install and let me know how to set up the configuration i needed to do.

Apparently, this is quite different from the main module and is very limited in what it does. I finally figured (or not) that this is not the right software for what i wanted to do.

Now, i am in the HUNT for Web Host.

Either a decent Windows Serer 2008 Shared Host with reasonable SQL Serever Space or a Virtual Dedicated Windows Server 2003 (then i can install SQL Serer Express).

I would appreciate any feed back with your hosting providers. I have had some bad experiences with couple over this last weekend.

(One Provider went on to say that i can install ISAPI_Rewrite module and assured me that all the things i am asking for are already in the package, only for the Tech REP to tell me, after sign-up, that they don’t support it.) Now, i am canceling that account and asking for a refund. Please share your experience.

The solution i am mentioning about hosing ASP.NET MVC apps with pretty URLs on IIS6 are This ONE and This ONE.

Good Luck Hosting with hosting ASP.NET MVC apps. Microsoft, Could you Please provide us some DEV HOSTING PACKAGES for some decent price to play with new technologies. Thanks!!!

Its amazing how time files…Almost an year since my last entry. Even though i have couple of good excuses for not writing frequently, almost one year is not something i could explain.

From now on, i would like to try to write some short entries and hopefully keep this blog active.

Happy Blogging…