I thought it will be useful to share with you set of images and diagrams I use for depicting Windows Azure AppFabric Access Control Service scenarios.

Download the diagrams in Visio format.

• Web Scenario – Solution
• WCF Service Scenario - Solution
• WIF – Authorization
• Generic scenario
• Management Service Scenarios
• ACS and SaaS Scenario
• ACS and PaaS Clouds Scenarios
• ACS and SaaS Cloud Scenarios
• ACS Components
• Web Application Scenario
• Challenge
• Cloud Challenge
• Traditional Authentication
• WCF Service Scenario
• Windows Phone 7 Scenario
• Windows Phone 7 Scenario – Solution
• Working With ACS – Workflow

Web Scenario – Solution

WCF Service Scenario - Solution

WIF – Authorization

Generic scenario

Management Service Scenarios

ACS and SaaS Scenario

ACS and PaaS Clouds Scenarios

ACS and SaaS Cloud Scenarios

ACS Components

Web Application Scenario

Challenge

Cloud Challenge

Traditional Authentication

WCF Service Scenario

Windows Phone 7 Scenario

Windows Phone 7 Scenario – Solution

Working With ACS – Workflow

[UPDATE April 6, 2011] Dominick Baier of www.leastprivilege.com brought to my attention several important things to have in mind when using this technique:

• This technique is not suitable for multi instance scenarios rather for single instance scenario.
• This technique is only for troubleshooting/dev purposes and not for production changes.
• Those changes would get the local solution out of sync with the online solution.
• In multi-instance scenario such changes result in time window where the instances are configured differently - but the load balancer will still round robin requests potentially resulting in different behavior among the instances.
• The web.config changes will get lost as soon as the fabric controller heals or moves your VM.

To change web.config setting directly in the Windows Azure role you need to configure your Windows Azure role for Remote Desktop administration. Detailed walkthrough is here: Using Remote Desktop with Windows Azure Roles.

Initially the application needs to be deployed entirely to Windows Azure with the required setting applied in order to enable direct configuration of web.config without re-deploying the application. Web.config located under E:\Approot\_WASR\0.

Summary of steps in the walkthrough:

• Step 1 – Configure Remote Desktop Connections Using Visual Studio
• Step 2 – Upload Certificate For Remote Access Connection To Windows Azure
• Step 3 – Publish Your Application To Windows Azure
• Step 4 – Connect To Windows Azure Role Using RDP

Download Windows Azure SDK

Related Materials

• Widows Azure Content And Guidance Map For Developers – Part 1, Getting Started
• Widows Azure Content And Guidance Map For Developers – Part 2, Case Studies
• New Content Available For Windows Azure Developers - Windows Azure Code Quick Launch Samples and Walkthroughs

I needed a functionality that allows me to generate Word documents out of email items managed in my Outlook 2010. The scenario would be:

• Search emails using Outlook 2010 instant search.
• Copy related items to a designated folder
• Press a button
• Work document is generated including all email items in the designated folder

I used this resource to get started – Building and deploying an Outlook 2010 Add-in (part 1 of 2). Part 2 is here - Building and deploying an Outlook 2010 Add-in (part 2 of 2).

After completing the steps of adding a button to a ribbon, I added a code to the button click event handler that collects all email items in the specific folder (3rd one under the Inbox folder).

Here is the code that runs:

MAPIFolder inBox = (MAPIFolder)e.Control.Context.Application.ActiveExplorer().Session.GetDefaultFolder
   (OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox);
try
{
    MAPIFolder inBoxfolder = inBox.Folders[3];
    e.Control.Context.Application.Application.ActiveExplorer().CurrentFolder = inBoxfolder;
    e.Control.Context.Application.Application.ActiveExplorer().CurrentFolder.Display();
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    for (int i = 1; i <= inBoxfolder.Items.Count; i++)
    {
        if (inBoxfolder.Items[i] is PostItem)
        {
            PostItem pi = (PostItem)inBoxfolder.Items[i];
            sb.Append("<h1>");
            sb.Append(pi.Subject);
            sb.Append("</h1>");
            sb.Append(pi.HTMLBody);
        }
    }
    using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(@"C:\GeneratedFile.doc"))
    {
        sb.Replace("<html>", "");
        sb.Replace("</html>", "");
        sw.Write(sb.ToString());

        Process.Start(@"C:\GeneratedFile.doc");
    } 
}

NTOE: This code is less than optimal and should be improved for its quality. But it can perfectly get you started if you have the same goal as I did in first place.

Related materials

• Generate Documents Out Of Mail Items Directly From Outlook 2007.