BenkoBLOG : C#

BenkoTips Webcast #9 - Tips & Tricks with Visual Studio

benko — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:04:41 GMT

Here's some links from this week's webcast with Eric Maino, Kirill Osenkov and Jason Parsons:

Eric Maino's Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/eric
Kirill Osenkov's Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/kirillosenkov
Jared Parsons Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/jaredpar
Karen Liu’s TechEd talk: C# Tips and Tricks - http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/karenliuTechEd08
Dustin Campbell’s PDC talk - http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/TL46
Keybinding poster - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E5F902A8-5BB5-4CC6-907E472809749973&displaylang=en
Source code outline power tool - http://codeplex.com/SourceCodeOutliner
Get Visual Studio 2008 SP1 - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/products/cc533447.aspx
Download CodeRush Xpress! - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/dd218053.aspx

How to encrypt the Web.Config

benko — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:23:00 GMT

In the security session we did I showed in one of the sample how you can encrypt the web.config file by adding code to the global.asax file. The cool part of this is that using this technique you can secure application specific settings like connection strings and other data in the unlikely event that someone is able to get a copy of the configuration file (like by copying it to a thumb drive from the host machine or something similar).

The basic logic is to create a variable that points to a configuration section, then checking that the section is protected (i.e. encrypted). If it isn't, then call the ProtectSection method to encrypt the contents. The server uses the local DPAPI (Data Protection API) to encrypt the configuration section with a machine specific key, so only that machine can decrypt the contents. The code for this is:

    public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication
    {
        protected void Session_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            EncryptSection("appSettings");
        }


        private void EncryptSection(string sSection)
        {
            Configuration config = System.Web.Configuration
                                   .WebConfigurationManager
                                  .OpenWebConfiguration
                             (Context.Request.ApplicationPath);

            ConfigurationSection configSection =
                               config.GetSection(sSection);

            if (!configSection.SectionInformation.IsProtected)
            {
               configSection.SectionInformation.ProtectSection
                         ("DataProtectionConfigurationProvider");
                config.Save();
            }
        }

Happy Coding!

Need help with C#?

benko — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 00:15:00 GMT

Looking for love in all the right places...

What? You want to know everything there is to know about a new language?

Well, ff you're looking to learn how to develop in C# and want to learn all there is to know, you need to visit Bill Steele's website and register for one of the 22 sessions he will be presenting on this fall. He's already got a couple in, but every Monday without fail Bill (a great presenter, developer, and featured speaker for Microsoft, Nasa and others) will delve into how you can leverage the C# language and .NET environment to build better software.

Check it out: C#.NET Soup to Nuts