A Taste of Logic : Orcas

Third Party ASP.NET Controls and Visual Studio 2008

jamesche — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:36:21 GMT

We've had a few cases recently where customers are using third-party ASP.NET server controls (either written by a third-party company or by the customer) and finding that the controls are not rendering correctly in the Visual Studio 2008 design surface. Most recently, we had an issue where a popular third-party control company's custom property editor was not working correctly in Visual Studio 2008.

In all of these cases, we've investigated the issue and found the problem to be that as the third-party was developing their controls in Visual Studio 2005, they relied on our implementation in the Visual Studio design surface. What they did not anticipate was that our implementation would change with Visual Studio 2008.

The HTML design surface in Visual Studio 2008 is completely new. In order to get a much better representation of page rendering and to add new features, we incorporated the Expression Web design surface into Visual Studio 2008. (That decision also gives you the great new CSS features in Visual Studio 2008.) In almost all cases, controls that were developed against Visual Studio 2005 will work without any problems, but there are cases where the change in the designer causes undesirable behavior for server controls built against Visual Studio 2005. For example, one company found that the hierarchy of the control tree in the Visual Studio 2008 designer differed slightly from Visual Studio 2005. This change caused their control's code to incorrectly parse the page.

It is highly unlikely that you will encounter a problem with any controls in the Visual Studio 2008 designer. If you do, it's very likely that a change will be required in the control itself in order to take into account any implementation changes in the new designer.

Jim

Automating aspnet_compiler in Visual Web Developer

jamesche — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:39:48 GMT

Visual Studio has a cool user interface for publishing a website using the Publish Web Site dialog, accessible by selecting Build, Publish Web Site. You can use this dialog to pre-compile your website and avoid having to deploy source code.

Visual Web Developer Express doesn't offer this dialog, but because the Publish Web Site dialog is just a front-end for aspnet_compiler.exe, you can use aspnet_compiler.exe from a command prompt to accomplish the same thing if you are a VWD user. While using aspnet_compiler.exe from a command prompt gives you the same functionality, using a menu option is a lot more user-friendly and avoids possibly typos that can be frustrating.

In this post, I'm going to show you how you can add some menu options to VWD that will automate the user of aspnet_compiler. It won't give you the same flexibility and convenience you get with the full-blown Visual Studio, but it will come darn close.

Note: While I will show these steps in Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, you can use the same steps for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition.

To add the new menu item, I'll use the External Tools option on the Tools menu in VWD. (This menu option is also available in Visual Studio.) Using the External Tools dialog, you can add menu items that will execute external applications, and you can also control command line arguments that are passed to your external application and more.

Note: I also explain how to do this in my book, The Expression Web Developer's Guide to ASP.NET 3.5.

We'll create two menu items; one for pre-compiling an updatable application and another for a non-updatable application.

Launch Visual Web Developer Express.
Select Tools, External Tools to display the External Tools dialog.
In the Title box, enter Pre-&Compile (non-updatable).
Click the browse button next to the Command box and browse to aspnet_compiler.exe located in c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727.
Click Open to add the command line for aspnet_compiler.exe.

Now that you've got the correct command line for the aspnet_compiler.exe, it's time to add the arguments that will correctly pre-compile your application. This is where you'll see the true power of the External Tools dialog.

Type -p " in the Arguments box. (That's an opening double-quote after the p.)
Click the right-facing arrow next to the Arguments box and select Project Directory.
Add a trailing double-quote to the Arguments box.
Press the spacebar to add a space at the end of the existing arguments.
Type -v / " after the space you just entered.
Click the right-facing arrow next to the Arguments box and select Project Directory.
Type \..\CompiledApp" after the existing arguments.

At this point, the Arguments box should contain the following:

-p "$(ProjectDir)" -v / "$(ProjectDir)\..\CompiledApp"

Now check the Close on Exit checkbox and click OK to add the new command to your Tools menu.

You can create another menu item that will compile the application and allow it to be updated by creating another entry using Pre-Co&mpile (updatable) as the Title and by appending -u to the arguments.

After you complete these steps, your pre-compiled application will be saved at the same level as your application's folder. For example, if your website exists in the c:\MyWebsites\WebApplication1, the pre-compiled application will be saved to c:\MyWebsites\CompiledApp. If that folder structure doesn't suit you, you can alter the steps above for your own purposes.

ASP.NET Version Madness

jamesche — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:22:00 GMT

With the impending release of Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Web Developer 2008, along with the .NET Framework 3.5, there is a bit of confusion around version numbers for ASP.NET. Before I get too far into this, let me just say right now that this post has little hope for clarifying things too much, but at least you won't feel so alone in your confusion.

If you've already installed one of the betas of the 3.5 Framework, you may have noticed that the C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5 directory doesn't contain all of the files you would normally see in a .NET Framework release. In fact, the .NET Framework 3.5 is not a full release like version 2.0 was, or even like 1.1 was for that matter. Instead, version 3.5 kind of sits on top of version 2.0 and adds new features (significant new features) to the existing Framework.

How exactly does the 3.5 version affect ASP.NET developers? You'll get new features (like the AJAX Extensions built-in and LINQ features) and you'll get some fixes that we rolled up into the 3.5 Framework. Technically, however, you don't have a new version of ASP.NET. In fact, if you look at a standard ASP.NET error message after installing the 3.5 Framework, you'll see the ASP.NET version reported as 2.0.50727.xxxx.

Here's a bulleted list of some facts that apply after an install of the 3.5 Framework that may not seem intuitive:

You won't find ASP.NET 3.5 listed in the ASP.NET configuration dialogs for IIS. Application pools will still be configured to run ASP.NET 2.0.50727.
If you need to run aspnet_regiis, aspnet_compiler, etc., you'll still run them from the C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 folder.
In order to use AJAX Extensions and the new LinqDataSource control in Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer 2008, you'll need to configure your project to target the .NET Framework 3.5. (See the docs that ship with your respective product for details.)
ASP.NET error pages (non-custom) will still report the ASP.NET version as v2.0.50727.xxxx.
Script maps in IIS will still be mapped to the 2.0.50727.xxxx version of the aspnet_isapi.dll.

With that in mind, you're probably thinking that we will continue to refer to ASP.NET as ASP.NET 2.0 after Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Web Developer 2008 release, right? Wrong! The official name for ASP.NET will be "ASP.NET in the .NET Framework 3.5", but the shorthand name is simply ASP.NET 3.5. But don't be confused. ASP.NET 3.5 is really ASP.NET 2.0 with the .NET Framework 3.5 installed running ASP.NET 2.0 binaries, even if your ASP.NET project in Visual Studio is targeting the .NET Framework 3.5. :)

Hopefully that clears up some of the confusion for ASP.NET developers. If it doesn't, there's always therapy.

Jim

Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 Available - Now with VWD 2008

jamesche — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:44:00 GMT

We recently announced the RTW of Visual Studio 2008 beta 2. What you might not know is that beta 2 also introduces the new Visual Web Developer Express Edition 2008. ASP.NET developers should be pretty excited about the new features, and this product will be available free once it RTMs.

You can download the beta 2 build of VWD 2008 from the following URL:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/express/future/bb421473.aspx

If you're new to ASP.NET and want a great introduction to architecture and building web applications using VWD 2008 without a focus on writing a lot of server-side code, you might want to pre-order my book, The Expression Web Developer's Guide to ASP.NET 3.5. While the title does mention Expression Web, this isn't an Expression Web book. My publisher wanted to target Expression Web users because many of them are feeling the push to ASP.NET and we wanted to give them a strong foundation book.

You can pre-order my book on Amazon right now.

Jim

March CTP of Orcas Has Arrived

jamesche — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:21:00 GMT

A short while back, I blogged about the great new features in Orcas that ASP.NET developers will enjoy thanks to the incorporation of the Expression Web designer into Visual Studio. At that time, these features were set to debut in the February CTP version of Orcas which was slated to release in March. In our great wisdom, we've renamed that CTP to the March CTP, and you can get it right now by visiting the Microsoft download site.

I should clarify that statement. You can start downloading it right now, but because it comes in a set of many very large files, you'll be downloading for a very long time. So go ahead, kick off your download, run off and have lunch, dinner, a little nap, a good night's sleep, and you'll be about halfway to experiencing the next evolution in ASP.NET development. (Yeah, there's plenty for you old-school Windows developers, too!)

Speaking of ASP.NET, you should know that Orcas uses version 2.0 of ASP.NET. We aren't shipping a new version of ASP.NET with the next version of Visual Studio, so don't worry about going through those growing pains all over again.

Incidentally, I am working on a book right now that will focus on teaching the ins and outs of the new designer in Orcas. It will be targeted primarily at web designers who aren't interested in getting deep into ASP.NET. Even so, the book will walk you through the development of an ASP.NET application from start to finish in order to delve into all of the great new features that Orcas brings to web design. If you want to keep up to date with my book, check out my public web site.

A Train or a Beast

jamesche — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:56:00 GMT

Expression Web is Microsoft's latest web design tool. It should be no surprise to you that we put a lot of effort into making sure that Expression Web supported the design-time elements of ASP.NET 2.0. Doing so has proven to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, a lot of ASP.NET developers who have been frustrated by Visual Studio's lackluster designer are excited to have a standards-compliant design tool that supports ASP.NET in the designer. On the other hand, web designers who don't bring a vested interest in ASP.NET to the table quickly begin to feel that something's missing. That "something" is support for writing ASP.NET server-side code, support for using 3rd party controls in the toolbox, etc.

The next version of Visual Studio (code-named "Orcas") will use the designer from Expression Web, so ASP.NET developers will have great new tools inside of Visual Studio. See my earlier post for more information.

When the ramblings of discontent first began over the limited ASP.NET support in Expression Web, I was clinging to the mantra of "designer vs. developer." Expression Web is, after all, a design tool. Therefore, it only makes sense that its development features would be limited. As time has gone by, I've found myself deviating from that position, and it's my love for ASP.NET that is pushing me off of my post.

Expression Web is being adopted (or at least looked at) by a huge number of FrontPage users who are reacting to the warnings that FrontPage is going away. The exodus of FrontPage users is placing a huge number of people smack in front of the ASP.NET train and we have two options available; squash them like pennies or invite them onboard. Unfortunately, the partial implementation of ASP.NET support in Expression Web is turning these early adopters into slivers of copper. (Okay, enough of that analogy.)

Let's be fair. Expression Web is a version 1 product, and features are usually still being fleshed out when version 1 products release. Even so, I think we've missed a real opportunity. One of our shortcomings at Microsoft is that we often don't see the lions chasing us until we feel the warm breath on our neck. In this case, the lion is PHP (coupled with MySQL), and because it's not burdened by a reliance on any particular platform, the lion is flat-out fast. Personally, I think ASP.NET is a much better technology (there's no doubt about it being more feature-rich) and Visual Web Developer makes using ASP.NET easy and cost effective. Even so, many web designers are already using PHP and our goal should be to take very opportunity to move them to a better beast.

What's my point? Primarily, it's to let folks outside of Microsoft know that we do think about such things. After all, you can bet that if an ASP.NET escalation engineer like myself is mulling this over, the product group is way farther down the track. (Geez, there I go with the train analogy again even after I promised to stop. Sorry.) I think that future versions of Expression Web will beef up this feature-set. The release of the next Visual Studio version will also change the landscape because it will be accompanied by a new (and free) release of Visual Web Developer Express and it offers many of the enticing features of Expression Web without any limitations on ASP.NET development.

One thing's for sure; it's a great time to be a web developer!

Orcas - Not just blowing air!

jamesche — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 06:36:00 GMT

I haven't blogged in a long time, partly because I've been very busy with other things, but mostly because I made the mistake of making this a debugging blog when I started it. Little did I know that one of the most prolific technical bloggers the world has ever known had already started a debugging blog. (If you question that label, check out Tess's blog.) So I decided to rename my blog to The Striped Cat and open myself up to any topic I see fit to ramble on about. (After all, who reads this kind of dribble anyway?) This time around, I feel inclined to ramble on about Orcas because it's incredibly cool.

In case you don't know, Orcas is the code-name (y'all hear that. . . we're using code names) for the next version of Visual Studio. For ASP.NET developers, you'll still be using ASP.NET 2.0 with Orcas, but even so, ASP.NET developers will get to experience a great enhancement to Visual Studio because Orcas incorporates the designer from Expression Web, our latest Web design tool.

For years I've listened to ASP.NET developers gripe and moan about the lack of good CSS tools in Visual Studio. Not only that, but code preservation (although greatly improved over the years) isn't as good as it should be. These two major problems (and many others) are solved in a big way with Orcas.

I first started using Expression Web a little over a year ago when I started writing my book, Special Edition Using Microsoft Expression Web. After using it for a while, I really began to appreciate the power of the CSS tools available in it. All of those great CSS tools have made their way to Visual Studio with the release of Orcas. (For more information and screen shots, see Mikhail's blog.) Not only that, but you'll also see a great improvement in IntelliSense and code preservation.

I recently installed the latest bits to play around with Orcas. (Sorry, you won't be able to see these new enhancements until the February CTP ships next month.) When I first talked to Mikhail about these enhancements, I was in the process of writing a book on Visual Web Developer and Expression Web. Once I had a chance to play around with Orcas, I scrapped that book almost 300 pages into it and started a new book on Orcas. It really is that good and I can't wait to hear from ASP.NET developers using this product next month. You will love it.

You can download the January CTP of Orcas right now, but it's a seven-file download, 6 of which are 700MB in size. If you want the new designer, you'll have to wait for the February CTP version next month. (I know, February CTP in March. We're just trying to be contrary.) If you want a preview of the really cool CSS features you'll get, you can check out my video tutorial that shows you how to use these same features in Expression Web. (View the Basic CSS tutorial.)

Until next time, remember not to smile.