The Magic Provider (also call Universal Providers)

My first Azure project was the migration of an existing web site in the cloud.  “Piece of cake”, I think. I was not so far, but I got one little issue why the membership and the session state.
Back then the best solution was to use the AspProviders, a project in Microsoft Azure Samples.  The projet need to add to the solution and special SQL script, done by the Azure Team, need to be run to modify the AzureSQL database.  Once some tweaks to the config files were done, it was working.  Not bad, but it could be easier.
Today, thanks to the NuGet magic, we have the ASP.NET Universal Providers! With this package we only need to execute one command: Install-Package System.Web.Providers, and voilà! No more config files manipulations, no more SQL script to run, no more nothing.   Just install and run it.
It really works! 

Of course it’s still in alpha (version 0.1) but it’s all ready working nice.  For a more complete introduction I suggest you to read the great post that Scott Handselman wrote on is blog: Introducing System.Web.Providers - ASP.NET Universal Providers for Session, Membership, Roles and User Profile on SQL Compact and SQL Azure.

~ Franky

References:

• Asp.Net Universal Provider - http://nuget.org/List/Packages/System.Web.Providers
• Scott Handselman Bog - http://www.hanselman.com/blog/MakingAwesomeWeddingDocumentsUsingOpenTypeLigaturesAndStylisticSetsInMicrosoftWord2010AndGabriola.aspx
• Microsoft Azure Samples - http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsazure/

Lecture de la semaine #7

• Windows Azure Design Patterns, Part 1 (David Pallmann) - Très bon post. Les symboles sont beaux et clairs. Je vais les utiliser assurément. Reste plus qu’à attendre le volume 2 : The Windows Azure Handbook. (Suite à une mise à jour les icônes peuvent sont disponible ici).
• Microsoft CIO Tony Scott: How to Avoid “Cloud Paralysis” (CIO, Microsoft Tony Scott) – Cinq leçons apprise suite à une courte utilisation du « cloud computing ».
• The Microsoft Cloud Like You’ve Never Seen It Before – (vidéo) Ce vidéo parle des différentes itérations des Data Center de Microsoft. Très intéressant.
• The Guide to Creating Quality Technical Screencasts (hanselman.com) – Grâce à Scott j’ai quelque chose de bien à lire chaque semaine! De prime à bord les conseils semblent peut-être faciles, mais la simplicité est la clé… Et les valeurs par défaut aussi ;)
• Using MSBuild to deploy your AppFabric Application (Justin Beckwith) – Un article très complet avec beaucoup d’information. Un exemple à faire pour tout retenir.
• node.js running in a Windows Azure Worker Role – Je crois que Node.js à beaucoup de potentiel. J’ai aimé cette « expérience ». À suivre…
• OData Feed Fun Or There's no Atom/RSS Feed, but there is OData, so there IS an Atom feed – Modifier un flux RSS pour obtenir, ou garder, exactement ce que l’on veut… Ça, c’est une bonne idée!
• 25 Ways To Become A Better Writer – Oui, je sais, encore d’autres articles non techniques, mais ce « post » est très stimulant. Lisez, vous verrez!
• Chatty DM, Freelancer – Une série intéressante, un parcours tortueux pour « bien » finir… ça me fait penser à quelqu’un… ;)
• Part 1: Lessons from Academia
• Part 2: Lessons from Day Jobs
• Part 3: RPG Blogging, The Revelation
• Chatty DM, Freelancer, Part 4: The Pit and The Plan

~ Franky

Lecture de la semaine #6

 

• A JavaScript Trick You Should Know - Nice tricks I need to remember this one... so simple!
• Why is the Cloud so important to software developers? - Nice post. Simple word that show you the picture
• Easily Add Performance Counters to Your MVC Application - Really nice post
  del.icio.us Tags: AppFabric,Tools,Azure,Cloud,video
  about using MVC filter tag to replace repetitive code. Great job!

“to read more about the filter attribute, see bit.ly/kMPBYB”
“The list of built-in MVC filters can be found here: bit.ly/jSaD5N”

• The cloud will have no impact on IT departments - Compare the madness of cloud computing to the introduction of Excel a few years ago.
• Using Moq to mock ASP.NET MVC HttpContextBase - If you never try Moq, this is a good sample to show how everything is easy.
• Developing a Windows Azure AppFabric Application (Windows Azure Team) - Part 1 of 2 steps to build a simple application using Windows Azure Appfabric application.
• Configuring, Deploying, and Monitoring Applications using AppFabric Application Manager - Part 2 of 2, well documented with a lot of screen shot how to bring and configure a Windows Azure Appfabric application.
• Does Size Really Matter? – This is absolutely not a technical article, more a geeky one. But AD&D is good stuff too! ;)
• Scripting vs. Coding vs. Programming - Ooooh I like this one. It’s a classic. What do YOU think?
• Tools and Techniques for .NET Code Profiling (MSDN Magazize - Toolbox) - A lot of good references on articles and tools. You should bookmark this one.

“Profiling Your .NET Code : bit.ly/dDXWsF”
“ - Guide to Improving Code Performance in .NET: Part I” by Satesh Arveti on C# Corner (bit.ly/gyImk9)
- Writing Efficient C and C Code Optimization” by Koushik Ghosh on Code Project (bit.ly/icnYEi)
- Writing High Performance .NET Code” by Juan A Rodriguez and Simonijt Dutta from Intel (intel.ly/fvweaP)”

• Evaluating jQuery Plugins for Use in your Projects - Some simples (but needed) requirements for a JQuery plugin to be interesting.
• 7 Blogging Statistics Rules (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post as usual. If I must say an one liner for this post I would say: “Blog for yourself and ... enjoy!”
• Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles (Maarten Balliauw) – I really good post again, that answer the question: Does Windows Azure is interesting for me?

“Deploy sites to Windows Azure in less than 30 seconds Enables deployments to multiple Web Role instances using Web Deploy Saves Web Deploy packages & IIS configuration in Windows Azure storage to provide durability A web administrator portal for managing web sites deployed to the role The ability to upload and manage SSL certificates Simple logging and diagnostics tools.”
“Installing the WAAWR is as easy as download, extract, buildme.cmd and you’re done.”

• Cloud Cover Episode 50 - Episode 51 - Builds an AppFabric Application and Web Deploy and the Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles.
• Getting Started with the Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles – Really nice, short a quick intro that show the big picture.
• Design Patterns,Practices and Techniques with the Windows Azure – This is a advanced video, but it contain everything.

~ Franky