James Kovacs' Weblog

DevTeach Toronto 2010 Ultimate Edition

2010-02-23 No comments

DevTeachDevTeach is heading back to Toronto in a few weeks (March 8-12, 2010)and you’ll get a bigger dose of awesome than ever before. We’ve got a fantastic line-up of top-notch, internationally renowned speakers. 6 tracks covering Agile, Web, Windows, Silverlight, Architecture, and SharePoint. A metric ton of sessions. (I’m both the Agile and Web Track Chairs and am really excited about the speakers and sessions for each.)

ee402630.VisualStudio_lgMicrosoft Canada is a platinum sponsor and every attendee receives a full copy of Visual Studio Professional with MSDN Premium. (N.B. Conference registration costs less than this subscription alone!)

imageAnd if you can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp James Kovacs,  I’ll be there in full force with two sessions and a one-day post-con on agile development.

Convention-over-Configuration in an Agile World

As developers, we spend an inordinate amount of time writing “glue code”. We write code to transform database rows to domain objects… domain objects to view-models or DTOs… We write code to configure inversion of control containers and wire dependencies together. We write code to style our UIs and respond to UI events. Wouldn’t it be nice if this could happen automagically for us? This session will look at using convention-based approaches using Fluent NHibernate and Castle Windsor to reduce the amount of repetitive code and accelerate application development.

Convention-over-Configuration in a Web World

As developers, we spend an inordinate amount of time writing “glue code”. We write code to transform database rows to domain objects… domain objects to view-models or DTOs… We write code to configure inversion of control containers and wire dependencies together. We write code to style our UIs and respond to UI events. Wouldn’t it be nice if this could happen automagically for us? This session will look at using convention-based approaches using AutoMapper and jQuery to reduce the amount of repetitive code and accelerate application development.

Agile Development with IoC and ORM (Post-Con)

As developers we now have powerful tools in our toolbox, such inversion of control containers and object-relational mappers. But how can we use these tools to rapidly build maintainable and flexible applications? In this pre-con, we will look at advanced techniques such as convention-over-configuration in IoC containers and automapping ORMs to quickly build applications that can evolve over time. We will use test-driven development (TDD) to design and evolve a complete working application with supporting infrastructure during this one-day workshop.

Hope to see you in Toronto!

.NET General, Agile, ASP.NET, Courses, Events, Presentations, Software Design none

Releasing psake v1.00 & psake v2.00

2009-10-14 No comments

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A few announcements… First the big one. Many people have been using psake – both the PowerShell 1.0- and 2.0-compatible versions – in production without any significant issues. For that reason, we have released psake v1.00 (compatible with PowerShell 1.0). The only difference between psake v1.00 and psake v0.23 is the version number. My friend, Ayende, has a great example of converting Rhino Mocks build to use psake.

http://psake.googlecode.com/files/psake-v1.00.zip

We have released psake v2.01 (compatible with PowerShell 2.0). (This was formerly called psake v0.24, “Jorge”, and psake-ps2.) A big thanks to Jorge Matos for all his work on psake v2.01.

http://psake.googlecode.com/files/psake-v2.01.zip

A few minor changes… The source code for psake has been moved to GitHub and the SVN repository at Google Code has been retired. We will still be using Google Code for bug tracking, wiki pages, etc. If you want the latest source code, you can always download a zip file for master (aka trunk in SVN terms) – or any tags/branches – from:

http://github.com/JamesKovacs/psake

Note that there is no need to install Git to download the latest package as GitHub will create the appropriate zip file on the fly.

If you have some great idea, you can download the git repo from git://github.com/JamesKovacs/psake.git or http://github.com/JamesKovacs/psake.git. (msysgit is the Git package of choice for Windows. You can download it from http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/.) I would encourage you to read Jeremy Skinner’s excellent guide for contributing to MvcContrib via GitHub. Just mentally replace “MvcContrib” with “psake”, though I’d encourage you to contribute to MvcContrib too. 🙂

I would like to offer lots of kudos to my collaborators/conspirators on the project. Jorge Matos has been instrumental in updating/improving psake to use the new PowerShell v2 features. Thanks to Shaun Becker for patches and answering newsgroup questions. And thanks to Eric Hexter for his assistance in moderating the psake-users Google Group. I am heartened and thankful for the willing collaboration on this project and am excited to watch it grow. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Going forward, we are retiring psake v1.00 and focusing on psake v2.00. If there is demand for a PowerShell v1-compatible version of psake, we will create a branch based on the v1.00 tag, but we will mostly be focused on the PowerShell v2-compatible version (aka psake v2.00). So your next question probably is…

What’s New in psake v2.01?

(from Jorge Matos)

The main difference is that psake v2.01 has been re-written as a module that contains advanced functions.  Someone using the module could either run the import-module command with the path to the module file (i.e. import-module .\psake.psm1) or (my preference) you can copy the psake.psm1 into a folder called psake into the “Modules” folder in your profile directory (you may have to create it if it’s not there) or your machine-wide “Modules” directory:

i.e. Profile Directory:

C:\Users\Jorge\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\psake

i.e. Machine-wide Modules folder:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\psake

Once the psake folder is created and you’ve copied the psake.psm1 file into it – restart PS and type “import-module psake” – PS will find the module and load it automatically.  What I’ve done is add the “Import-Module psake” to my profile script so that it is loaded everytime I startup PS.

Module Benefits:
  1. Build scripts don’t need to know where psake is installed, they just call Invoke-psake and it works.
  2. Encapsulation… Global variables are no longer required since they can be private to a module unless explicitly exported (I haven’t gotten around to actually changing the psake code to not use global variables yet).
  3. Modules can be unloaded if needed which removes all the code and variables from memory.
Advanced Functions:

The other big difference is that the “Invoke-psake” and “Task” functions have been converted into Advanced Functions which basically means you can take advantage of comment help which means you can type help invoke-psake and you will get back real help with examples.

Minor changes:
  1. Coding style is different.
  2. Try/Catch is used instead of the “Trap” statement.
  3. Got rid of the “exec” function.
  4. You can now define “Pre” and “Post” actions for a task.
  5. You can define how the task name will be formatted.
  6. You can define a “TaskSetup” function that will be executed before every task (took that from NUnit).
  7. You can define a “TaskTearDown” function that will be executed after every task (took that from NUnit too).
  8. Create a global variable called “psake_buildSucceeded” that will be set to true if the build succeeds – scripts can check this.
  9. Also added a “$noexit” switch to Run-Psake so that the function will not use the exit() function so that you can test a build script at the command line without PS closing down (the default behavior when the build fails is to call exit(1) so that the calling code can determine if the build failed or not).
  10. The psake-buildTester.ps1 had to be changed slightly in order for it to call the Invoke-psake function.
  11. Added more examples in the .\examples folder for POST conditions, PRE and POST Actions, etc.

Happy (build) scripting!

.NET Tools, PowerShell none

TIP: How to Run Programs as a Domain User from a Non-domain Computer

2009-10-11 5 comments

As many of you know, I am an independent consultant and use my own laptop when possible. I’ve got all my tools set up the way I like them and everything else that I need to be productive. Given that I work for multiple clients, I can’t join my laptop to any particular client’s domain. First is the hassle factor, especially when switching between different clients within a week. Each domain join requires a domain admin to authorize the join by typing in his/her credentials when prompted on my laptop. Second I don’t want a client’s Group Policy being applied to my laptop. Third – and more importantly – is the non-disclosure agreements that I sign with clients. If I join my laptop to a domain, the domain admins have full rights to my machine and hence data from other clients. So domain joining just isn’t an option.

In most cases, not being joined to a client’s domain doesn’t make one iota of difference. You need to access a network share or printer, browser to it and you will be prompted for domain credentials. The fact that you’re using different domain credentials to access the resource from those that you logged in with doesn’t matter one bit. If you want to expedite the process and not wait for an authentication time-out, you can utilize NET USE from the command line to tell Windows which credentials you want to use when accessing certain computers. You can even make them persistent or roll the whole thing into a batch script that you can execute whenever at a particular client.

net use \\server /user:domain\username /persistent:yes

Unfortunately this doesn’t work in all cases. One of my longstanding development pet peeves has been certain tools – I’m looking at you SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Query Analyzer – that don’t allow you to specify alternate domain credentials for authentication. For example, SQL Server Management Studio allows you to log into a SQL Server instance using Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication. If the SQL instance requires Windows Authentication – the recommended configuration – SQL Server Management Studio uses your logged in credentials. This works well if your computer is part of the domain, but fails horribly if not. It doesn’t let you specify alternate credentials or even prompt you for alternate credentials if the log-in fails.

I’ve tried seemingly everything. NET USE doesn’t help here because NET USE is specifically for network shares.

net use \\sql-server-name /user:domain\username # DOES NOT WORK – Only provides the domain credentials when accessing shares

RUNAS also fails – either the SHIFT right-click variety or command line – as it tries to run the command locally as the domain user, who is unknown by your computer because you’re not part of the domain.

runas /user:domain\username “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe”

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For years (yes, years) I have resorted to using Remote Desktop to log into a domain computer so that I could run SQL Server Management Studio, used a domain-joined virtual machine, or begged co-workers to run commands for me. Now I feel foolish because I stumbled upon a solution that has been built into Windows for years. It is a simple command line switch for the RUNAS command that I never noticed: /netonly. (Note that the /netonly flag is not accessible via the SHIFT right-click menu, only via the command line.)

runas /netonly /user:domain\username “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe”

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Success! And SQL Server Management Studio running using /netonly domain credentials. The command is run as my local user, but uses the supplied domain credentials only when accessing the network.

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I can access remote SQL Servers using Windows Authentication without problem now! (You’ll have to take my word for it or try it yourself as it would be impolite for me to show screenshots of me accessing a client’s SQL Server.) Hopefully this makes some other consultant’s life a little bit easier.

Miscellaneous none

Edmonton Code Camp Wrap-up: Doing More with Less

2009-09-20 No comments

Darth VaderThe Edmonton Code Camp was a lot of fun. It was wonderful to catch up with friends – old and new – over lunch and dinner. Thanks to Dave Woods for inviting me.

I have been enjoying sharing my ideas about convention-over-configuration and how it can simplify software development. You expend some serious brain power over figuring out how to enable your application-specific conventions, but everything after that flows easily and without repetition. You end up doing more with less code. During the talk, I demonstrated how frameworks like Fluent NHibernate, AutoMapper, Castle Windsor, ASP.NET MVC, and jQuery support this style of development. (Links below.) I only scratched the surface though. Other frameworks like StructureMap and FubuMVC also are heavily convention-based. With a bit of creative thinking, you can use these techniques in your own code to reduce duplication and increase flexibility.

For those of you who attended, you’ll realize why Darth Vader accompanies this post. For everyone else, you’ll have to check out the slidedeck and code:

PPTX | Code

Presentations none

PowerShell Tip: Providers

2009-09-14 No comments

At first glance, PowerShell appears to be yet another command shell with the interesting twist that you pipe objects between commands rather than strings. But there is more to PowerShell than that. One fascinating area is PowerShell Providers. (PowerShell Providers aren’t anything new as they’ve been there since v1. So I’m not the first – nor will I be the last – to blog about them, but hopefully some folks starting out with PowerShell find this useful…)

We’ll start with a simple example using “ls” to list the contents of a directory:

ls c:\

Now “ls” is just a two-letter version of “dir” and both are aliases for “Get-ChildItem”. How do I know that?

ls alias:

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This prints out all current aliases. That funky “alias:” is a PowerShell provider. If you want a specific alias, you can “ls alias:ls” or “ls alias:dir”.

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To get a list of currently installed PowerShell providers, you can use Get-PSProvider:

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You should notice a few interesting entries there. You want a list of environment variables? The Environment provider does the trick:

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Note that providers aren’t read-only. Let’s say you want to temporarily add a directory to your path. In cmd.exe, you would do the following:

set PATH = %PATH%;<EXTRA_DIR>;

In PowerShell, you use the Environment provider:

$env:PATH += “;<EXTRA_DIR>”;”

Notice the env: prefix that tells PowerShell that the variable is handled by the Environment provider. (Notice above that “Env” is listed as the “drive” for the Environment provider.)

Let’s explore some more…

 

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Notice that changing drive letters is actually handled by the Function provider and are just commands.

It gets more interesting with the Registry provider through which you can access HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE via hklm: and HKEY_CURRENT_USER via hkcu:.

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You even get tab completion while typing. (Try ls hkcu:<TAB><TAB><TAB> to see various subkeys for HKEY_CURRENT_USER.) And assuming that you have write permission to the registry keys, you can set them too!

PowerShell providers aren’t limited to those shipped by Microsoft. You can in fact write your own, though I’ve never tried it. People have written their own providers for everything from SharePoint to Subversion.

So go check out PowerShell providers. Happy Scripting!

PowerShell none

.NET Rocks #475: James Kovacs on Convention-over-Configuration

2009-08-25 No comments

.NET RocksA few weeks ago Richard and Carl invited me to appear on .NET Rocks again and I jumped at the chance. I had a great time talking to them about doing more with less (writing less, but smarter code) and how convention-over-configuration changes the way that we develop software for the better. Check it out .NET Rocks #475 featuring yours truly!

Podcast none

Wrap-up: Doing More with Less

2009-08-19 No comments

image Thanks to everyone who came out to my presentation last night at the Calgary .NET User Group. I enjoyed talking using convention-over-configuration techniques for doing more with less code. I demonstrated how frameworks like Fluent NHibernate, AutoMapper, Castle Windsor, ASP.NET MVC, and jQuery support this style of development. (Links below.) I only scratched the surface though. Other frameworks like StructureMap and FubuMVC also are heavily convention-based. With a bit of creative thinking, you can use these techniques in your own code to reduce duplication and increase flexibility.

For those of you who attended, you’ll realize why Darth Vader accompanies this post. For everyone else, you’ll have to check out the slidedeck and code:

PPTX | Code

Presentations none

Doing More With Less: Accelerating Development Using Convention-over-Configuration

2009-08-13 1 comment

I’ll be presenting at the Calgary .NET User Group next week. Come out for a fun discussion and lively discussion on improving your application development using convention-over-configuration techniques.

Topic: Doing More With Less: Accelerating Development Using Convention-over-Configuration
Speaker: James Kovacs
Date: 18-August-2009
Location: Nexen Conference Center
801-7th Ave. S.W., Calgary, AB. (Plus 15 level)
Map
Registration: 5:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Presentation: 5:30 pm – ???

Abstract

As developers, we spend an inordinate amount of time writing “glue code”. We write code to transform database rows to domain objects… domain objects to view-models or DTOs… We write code to configure inversion of control containers and wire dependencies together. We write code to style our UIs and respond to UI events. Wouldn’t it be nice if this could happen automagically for us? This session will look at using convention-based approaches using Fluent NHibernate, AutoMapper, Castle Windsor, and jQuery to reduce the amount of repetitive code and accelerate application development.

Presentations none

Top 10 Reasons to Attend DevTeach Vancouver

2009-05-25 No comments

DevTeach.com DevTeach is my favourite conference of the year and it’s happening again in Vancouver on June 8-12, 2009. No, it’s not my favourite conference because I’m one of the Tech Chairs. It’s the other way around. I’m a Tech Chair because DevTeach is my favourite conference. For the curious, Tech Chairs do not receive an honorarium or other compensation. We do it because we love DevTeach and the community it brings together. Here are my Top 10 Reasons to attend DevTeach Vancouver.

  1. It’s got a dedicated Agile Track, baby! 18 sessions of agile goodness.
  2. The Agile Track has more TLAs than any other track, including TDD, BDD, DDD, ORM, IoC, and DSL!
  3. Internationally renowned speakers, including Oren Eini (aka Ayende Rahien), David Laribee, Michael Stiefel, Greg Young, Eric Renaud, Francois Tanguay, Claudio Lassala, Hamilton Verissimo, Owen Rogers, Donald Belcham, and me. And that’s just the Agile Track!
  4. More IoC than you can shake a stick at with sessions by Oren Eini (current maintainer of Castle Windsor), Hamilton Verissimo (creator of Castle Windsor and Microsoft PM on MEF), and me. (I feel so outclassed in that line-up.)
  5. 1-day pre-conference session on Agile Development with IoC and ORM with James Kovacs and Oren Eini. Register now! ($399 CAD) Spend an intense day of coding with Oren and me learning about how to build applications with Fluent NHibernate, Windsor, AutoMapper, and other agile-friendly technologies.
  6. ALT.NET Canada happening June 12-14, 2009 at the same hotel. Register now! (FREE!) (DevTeach is a major sponsor of ALT.NET Canada. Thank you, JR!)
  7. .NET Rocks will be in the house again! Carl and Richard always provide lively discussion and entertainment. DevTeach Vancouver will be no different with a .NET Rocks-hosted Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 InstallFest.
  8. At DevTeach, speakers don’t hide in the Speakers Lounge. You get to meet them face-to-face and ask them questions.
  9. DevTeach Education Stimulus Package! In difficult times, DevTeach trying to help out by providing three registrations for the price of two. You can find details on the Registration page.
  10. DevTeach is a conference where speakers go to learn. Unlike other conferences, speakers actually go to each other’s sessions and participate. This results in lively discussions that are fun for speakers and attendees alike.

Hope to see you at DevTeach Vancouver! Don’t forget to register for the day-long Oren/James extravaganza of agile fun. Or ALT.NET Canada!

Agile, Courses, Events none

Extreme ASP.NET Makeover – Getting Your House in Order

2009-05-10 6 comments

Sand Zen Garden A few months back, I announced that I was doing a series of articles for MSDN Magazine on improving a “classic” ASP.NET application with modern tooling and frameworks. As an application, I chose ScrewTurn Wiki 3.0 to use as my example throughout. The first article, Extreme ASP.NET Makeover – Getting Your House in Order, went live a few days ago. The article is purposefully a different format for MSDN Magazine than “traditional” articles in that it incorporates short screencasts where appropriate rather than just code snippets and pictures. (Code snippets and pictures are included too, though!) I tried to make the screencasts an integral part of the narrative where actually showing something was easier than text, pictures, or code. I would love to hear your feedback on the format and content.

Nitpickers Corner: In the series, I use MSBuild as the build tool. Yes, I wrote my own PowerShell-based build tool, psake. Yes, I use NAnt on many of my projects for clients. (They’re already using NAnt and PowerShell is a new skillset for them.) So why MSBuild for the series? Because it is installed by default with .NET 2.0 and above. Not my first choice, but a pragmatic choice for a series focused on improving what you have.

.NET General, Agile, ASP.NET, Screencast, Software Design none
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