Here's a fun one for all you LAMP fans out there.  I have inherited a PHP/PostgreSQL based website from another company.  Scenario:

• UBuntu Linux 7.02
• PHP 5
• PostgreSQL 8.2
• Apache 2.2

Beautiful setup, works great.  Problem.  I need PHP 4.4 for this project.  I figured, no problem, just revert to PHP 4.4. No go. UBuntu doesn't do PHP 4.X anymore and PHP 5 breaks the code.  I figured I would download and compile PHP 4.4.  Stonewalled again.  Apache 2.2 is not supported by PHP 4.X (or posssibly more accurately, Apache doesn't support PHP 4.X?)  So now I have to revert the webserver.  I realized that this was getting a little crazy.  Since I dual boot my computer with Windows XP, I jumped over the XP, installed PHP 4.4 and PostgreSQL 8.2 had the site up in less than an hour.  It was far simpler than trying to deal with Linux and the fact I would have to recompile PHP 4.X (and hope that I didn't miss a required module and have to re-configure / compile / install or get a configuration switch wrong, and other such problems).  So I guess you could say I WIPP'd the LAMP. Yes, that's a bad joke, I'm a programmer not a comedian.

 On a positive note though, I am quite impressed with Aptana for PHP editing.  It is well done and made my work a lot easier.  Now if only they could fix Ruby code completion (see previous articles about my adventures with Ruby on Rails).  I am also trying to convince the stakeholders in the project that ASP.NET would be a better platform, but that will take time...

The ASP.NET AJAX Showcase demonstrates how businesses are using ASP.NET AJAX to add functionality and provide greater user experiences in their Web-based applications. The three exciting new additions include Foonance, Lottery Post and RoundPegs. If you too have created a cool Web site leveraging ASP.NET AJAX, please let us know.

We've been using Visual Studio 2008 for a few months now at my job, and now we're launching our first .NET 3.5 web project. It's using a full LINQ (to SQL) backend for all of the data access needs. Other than the LINQ, there aren't many changes from a standard 2.0 web app (membership, profiles, roles, etc).

I have greatly appreciated the language features that come with C# 3.0 and .NET 3.5. Something I recommend you try out for your string validation (which is a must in web apps because everything comes across as strings) is to make a single "Extensions" class and add some extension methods (in C#3 and VB9). Because the application that I've been working on will deal with contractor information, I've had to build the standard "address" validation stuff... IsZipCode, IsPhoneNumber, etc. Here's what the code looks like to make those extension methods:

One of the things I love about extension methods is that you are garunteed to get an instance of the object that you are extended passed in. Meaning, I will NEVER have to check if "input" (the parameter passed in) is null. This is because extension methods add methods on to class instances.

Now, it is true that you could call your "IsZipCode" method and pass in the variable instead of calling "myString.IsZipCode()", but if you do that, then that's your own fault and I hope your code blows up :P)

.NET 3.5 and LINQ in Production

For those of you who are skeptical about .NET 3.5, LINQ, ASP.NET AJAX or WCF - I've been using these in production environments for a while now, and they're beautiful. As soon as things cool off at "work work", I plan on finishing the redesign of Eels using .NET 3.5, WCF (which is in 3.0), ASP.NET AJAX and LINQ. We have already added LINQ keyword highlighting in the article engine as we have had a few articles on LINQ so far.

I'll keep you all posted!

We just completed the .NET Framework 3.5 update to the Commonly Used Types and Namespaces poster. Here's a link to the PDF if you want to grab it now and be the first on your block to get it on your wall. We'll be using it at a variety of places, if you...(read more)

With the release of ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 just around the corner, now is the time to discover the new features that will empower your Web development and make building great Web sites easier than ever.

In this week's videos you will learn how to use the ASP.NET validation controls for both server-side and client-side validation and the basics of building a custom user control that can be reused across multiple pages.

My favorite .NET Community site DotNetSlackers recently launched a contest, the prizes are really cool, all you have to do post questions and answers and become the top 3 contributor of the forum. The Prizes are:

• 1st Prize: Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET(worth $799) and XBox 360 Elite (worth $499)
• 2nd Prize: ANTS Profiler Pro - (worth $495) and The ASP.NET 2.0 Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks (worth $39.95)
• 3rd Prize: The ASP.NET 2.0 Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks (worth $39.95)

You must have to have an account in DotNetSlackers to participate in the contest. Check out the details.

I'm here in Calgary this week, not here:

No. I will no be attending TechEd Barcelona. In not doing this, I will not be checking out Agbar tower at night:

Nor will I be taking a tour of the Barcelona Palace:

And I definitely will not be visiting the Casa Mila la Pedrea.

If you are at TechEd Barcelona, feel free to check out these sites. I will however be working in Calgary, Alberta where the weather is basically crap and nothing like Barcelona.

Just wanted to make this clear for everyone who was wondering.

This article explains how to manage sessions ending when using the ASP.NET StateServer (which does not fire the Session_End event)

You can now find the open-source projects on one Starter Kits and Community Projects page. Check out the newly listed DinnerNow.net and Umbraco CMS for examples of building a connected application and a fast, flexible content management system

Liron asked via the Contact link (long enough ago that the point about not sending me time sensitive questions is likely clearer than it had to be):

Hey Michael,

I've read a lot about the subject of keyboard layouts, being interested in the programming side along with the linguistic side, and since I'm pretty sure you have the most intimate knowledge of the subject, and since this question requires insight, I think you're the man to ask:

I want to be able to find out which physical key a user is pressing, in Javascript. The "closest" I get to scancodes is virtual keys, that I can get from keyup and keydown events, but I have no way to tell if the user is using QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ, Dvorak, or who knows what.

I actually only need "sane" options that 99% of the people use, so I'd settle for QWERTY, QWERTZ and AZERTY (And please correct me if this assertion is wrong)...

I thought that maybe I could try to match the VK I get with the text the browser sends in response (For example, if VK_Y sends ט then I can assume it's QWERTY because that's a character that's only mapped to the QWERTY Y key, in any mapping), but that leaves me hanging in German, for example, where I can't tell if VK_Z+"z" came from QWERTY's Y key or Z key location.

Short of asking the user to hit some specific keys before starting, is there any way you can think of to get this data? Ultimately, I want to be able to map each keystroke to its physical location (=scancode, for my purposes)...

Thank you for your time, and good day,
Liron.

Unfortunately, there is no great answer here. I usually look to references like Jan Wolter's JavaScript Madness: Keyboard Events and the like, which spend a lot of time showing the differences between browsers and platforms.

As you can see from that document, there is no readily accessible way of getting at keyboard scan codes. It makes a lot more sense to go with the VK values (and as that page indicates, not even them for lots of the punctuation characters).

Or better yet, if you need a bunch of characters in a specific layout on the keyboard, then you can do the work to configure the keys for the application (let the user type to assign the keys they want to use, and then you know what they decided and can take advantage of it....

Now in some specific script hosts, more information is provided, but in general these are even less consistent than the core language, which is itself not consistent with very much!

 

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  The first PopFly Explorer Beta is finally released. It supports Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions and higher.

Screenshots:

More information:
http://www.popfly.ms/Overview/Explorer.aspx

Awesomeness: High

This article provides a quick and comprehensive overview of ASP.NET and ATL Web Services

We're sitting here at Scott Guthrie's keynote this morning as he starts to discuss Visual Studio 2008 and development on the platform. Scott reiterated the announcement from last night that Visual Studio 2008 will be released later this month, available to MSDN subscribers and they will also be sending out copies to the attendees of DevConnections. Sitting here this morning I've seen quite a few core team members walking by. Phil Beadle Jon Henning Vincenc Manasas (sorry Vincenc) Joe Brinkman After...(read more)

Using LinFu.DynamicObject to add mixins, duck typing and multiple dispatch to your favorite .NET languages

It was formally announced by Microsoft today that Visual Studio 2008 will be released at the end of this month. The only thing I'm going to say at this point is that it seems WAY too soon to me. I'll make blog posts after the release and we'll see if my gut feeling was right or wrong (and I have absolutely no problem being wrong).