The Web Application Projects add-in provides a Visual Studio 2005 Web project model option that works like the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web project model. In this paper, the new project type is referred to as a Web application project. You can use Web application projects as an alternative to the Web site project model already available in Visual Studio 2005, which we refer to in this paper as Web site projects.

Purpose of Web Application Projects

The goal of Web application projects is to address some of the feedback we have heard from customers. Some developers find migrating Visual Studio .NET 2003 applications to the new Web site model in Visual Studio 2005 impractical, especially because precompiling (publishing) a Visual Studio 2005 Web site creates multiple assemblies.

The new Web application project type also enables some scenarios where Visual Studio 2005 Web projects are different than in the previous version of Visual Studio. For example, the new model has different semantics for Web subprojects where the subproject is not an ASP.NET or IIS application, but instead feeds its generated assembly to a parent application's Bin folder.

The new project type also provides a model that will feel familiar to developers who do not want to change how they structure their Web projects from how they use Visual Studio .NET 2003 today—for example, they want to continue to use a project file.

The new Web application project type does not replace the Web site project type introduced in Visual Studio 2005, which provides many new features and additional flexibility in how you manage Web applications. Instead, it is an alternative project type that you might choose depending on your requirements and your preferred development workflow. Some developers will find the default Visual Studio 2005 Web site project model natural and easy to use. Other developers will prefer a model in which project resources are defined explicitly (rather than implicitly by simply being in a folder) and in which they have tighter control over their project, and will therefore choose the new Web application project model. Rather than forcing developers to use just one project model, we will support both project models and allow developers to choose whichever Web project model works best for them.

Note   Web application projects do not work with Visual Web Developer Express Edition.

In This Paper

This paper describes Web application projects and offers information on when you might choose between a Web application project and a Web site project model in Visual Studio 2005. The paper also walks you through the following common scenarios:

• Creating a new Web application project in Visual Studio 2005.
• Migrating an existing Visual Studio .NET 2003 project to a Visual Studio 2005 Web application project.

In addition, an appendix lists known issues with Web application projects.

Installing Web Application Projects

Adding Web application projects to Visual Studio 2005 requires you to install both an update and an add-in to Visual Studio 2005. The two installations perform the following tasks:

• The update makes changes to Visual Studio 2005 that are required so the Web project conversion wizard and designer will work well with Web application projects. You can download the update from the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 - Update to Support Web Application Projects page on the Microsoft Download Center Web site.
• The add-in makes the new Web application projects available in Visual Studio 2005. You can download it from the Visual Studio 2005 Web Application Projects page on the ASP.NET Developer Center.

Early versions of Web application projects (V1 and V2 previews) were released in December 2005 and February 2006. The most recent version adds support for generating code to represent server controls and for converting projects directly from Visual Studio .NET 2003 to Web application projects in Visual Studio 2005.

Comparing Web Site Projects and Web Application Projects

The new Web application project model provides the same Web project semantics as Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web projects. This includes a structure based on project files and a build model where all code in the project is compiled into a single assembly. However, the new project type makes available all the new features of Visual Studio 2005 (refactoring, class diagrams, test development, generics, and so on) and of ASP.NET 2.0 (master pages, data controls, membership and login, role management, Web Parts, personalization, site navigation, themes, and so on).

The Web application project model in Visual Studio 2005 also removes two requirements from Visual Studio .NET 2003:

• Using FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE). These are no longer required, but they are supported if your site already uses them.
• Using a local copy of IIS. The new project type supports both IIS and the built-in ASP.NET Development Server.

The following two tables describe the differences between Web application projects and Web site projects. The first table highlights various scenarios and tasks and suggests which model is best suited to that task. The second table describes in more detail the behavioral differences between each model. Use the tables to guide you in selecting which model to select.

The following table lists Web project options or tasks and indicates which project model best implements those options.

The following table helps you select a project type by describing some of the key differences between Web application projects and Web site projects.

Scenario 1: Creating a New Web Application Project

This section walks you through creating a new Web application project. It also examines how page code is handled in a Visual Studio 2005 Web application project.

Note   Web application projects do not work with Visual Web Developer Express Edition.

The examples shown here are in C#. The steps for working with Visual Basic are very similar, but file names and code will differ slightly.

Step 1: Create a New Project

To start, create a new Web application project. In Visual Studio, from the File menu, click New Project, displays the New Project dialog box.

Note   To create a Web application project, you do not choose the New Web Site command, as you do to create a Web site project. Instead, you choose the New Project command.

Under Project types, open the Visual C# or Visual Basic node, and then under Visual Studio installed templates, click ASP.NET Web Application:

Figure 1. Creating a new Web Application Project

Name the project and specify a location. When you click OK, Visual Studio creates and opens a new Web project with a single page named Default.aspx, an AssemblyInfo.cs file (.vb file), and a Web.config file:

Figure 2. New Web application project

This list of project files, references, compilation information, and other metadata is stored in the project file, which is created in whatever location you specify in the New Project dialog box.

There are two class files (.cs files or .vb files) associated with the Default.aspx page. The Default.cs file (.vb file) contains the page class where you put your code and event handlers. The Default.aspx.designer.cs file (.vb file) is a new file used in Web application projects to contain the code that is generated and maintained by Visual Studio for the page. Both files contain a partial class. During compilation, the files are combined into a single code-behind class.

Step 2: Open and Edit the Page

Open the Default.aspx file and copy the following markup into it, which defines several ASP.NET server controls:

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<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="WebApplication3._Default" %>

<html>
<head runat="server">
    <title>My Visual Studio 2005 Web Application Project Test</title>
</head>
<body>
  <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
    
        <h1>My Visual Studio 2005 Web Application Project Test</h1>
        <h3>Pick a date: </h3>
        <asp:Calendar ID="Calendar1" runat="server" 
             BorderColor="#999999" DayNameFormat="Shortest" 
             Font-Names="Verdana">
          <SelectedDayStyle BackColor="#666666" 
             Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
          <TodayDayStyle BackColor="#CCCCCC" ForeColor="Black" />
          <SelectorStyle BackColor="#CCCCCC" />
          <WeekendDayStyle BackColor="#FFFFCC" />
          <OtherMonthDayStyle ForeColor="#808080" />
          <NextPrevStyle VerticalAlign="Bottom" />
          <DayHeaderStyle BackColor="#CCCCCC" Font-Bold="True" 
             Font-Size="7pt" />
           <TitleStyle BackColor="#999999" BorderColor="Black" 
             Font-Bold="True" />
        </asp:Calendar>
        <br />
        <div>
          <asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text="Label"/>
        </div>
    </div>
  </form>
</body>
</html>

In a Web application project, the Default.aspx.designer.cs file is automatically updated when you add or remove controls in the Default.aspx file. The following snippet shows what the Default.aspx.designer.cs file looks like after you add the preceding markup:

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namespace WebApplication3 
{
    public partial class _Default 
    {
        protected System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm form1;
        protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.Calendar Calendar1;
        protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.Label Label1;
    }
}

The Default.aspx.designer.cs file contains a control declaration for each server control in the .aspx (or .ascx) file. By default, the controls are declared as protected. You can open the .designer.cs file and change a field's accessor to public if you want to access the variable from outside of its class.

Note   It is not recommended that you set the accessibility of control declarations to public, because it is a better to use a property to change the accessibility of a server control variable. However, editing the access modifier for server variables in the designer file is supported for backward compatibility with Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web projects that used this coding technique.

In Web application projects, code generation for server controls is improved over the Visual Studio .NET 2003 experience in two important ways:

• You no longer have to switch the page to Design view to update the control declarations. The designer monitors both Design view and Source view and updates declarations appropriately.
• Control declarations in the base class of a page are honored and are not duplicated in a page's code-behind class.

Because the .designer.cs file is automatically updated with the control declarations, you can go directly to the Default.aspx.cs code-behind class file and program any of the controls on the page, as in the following example:

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using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Collections;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

namespace WebApplication3 {

    public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page {

        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
            Label1.Text = "Current date: " + Calendar1.SelectedDate;
        }
    }
}

Step 3: Build and Run the Project

Run the project in debug mode by pressing F5 or clicking Run in the Debug menu. By default, Web application projects use the built-in ASP.NET Development Server using a random port as the root site (for example, the site's URL might be http://localhost:12345/):

Figure 3. Running a Web application project

When you build Web application projects, all code-behind classes, stand-alone class files, and embedded resources are compiled into a single assembly that is placed in the project's Bin folder.

You can change the output location if you want to—for example, to build the project into a parent application directory. Typically, you set the build location when you have multiple subprojects in subfolders of a single ASP.NET application. Select the properties of the project to set the build location, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 4. Setting output build location

After building the project, you can examine the results. In Solution Explorer, click Show All Files:

Figure 5. Results of building a Web application project

This works the same as it does in Visual Studio .NET 2003 ASP.NET Web projects.

Setting Build and Deployment Properties for Web Application Projects

ASP.NET Web application projects use the same configuration settings and behaviors as Visual Studio 2005 class-library projects. You can access these configuration settings by right-clicking the project name in Solution Explorer and selecting Properties. This displays the project properties editor. You can use the editor to change properties such as the name of the generated assembly, the build compilation settings for the project, its references, its resource string values, and code-signing settings:

Figure 6. Changing properties of a Web application project

ASP.NET Web application projects add a tab named Web to the project properties list. You can use this tab to configure how a Web project is run and debugged. By default, ASP.NET Web application projects are configured to launch and run using the built-in ASP.NET Development Server on a random HTTP port on the machine. The following screenshots show using the ASP.NET Development Server: the Taskbar icon, and a page in the browser where you can see the server's URL in the Address box.

Figure 7. Taskbar icon for ASP.NET Development Server

Figure 8. Running a Web application project using the ASP.NET Development Server

You can change the port number if the selected port is already in use or if you want to run the Web project on a specific port:

Figure 9. Changing the port used by the ASP.NET Development Server

Alternatively, Visual Studio can run and debug the Web application using IIS. To use IIS, select Use IIS Web Server and enter the URL of the Web application:

Figure 10. Configuring a Web application project to use IIS

Note   ASP.NET Web application projects do not automatically create an IIS virtual root or application for you. To create the virtual directory and application in IIS, click the Create Virtual Directory button next to the Url box.

When you run the application, Visual Studio compiles the project into a single assembly, which follows the build semantics of Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web projects. When the application is running, Visual Studio attaches a debugger to the Web server process.

All project settings are saved in a standard MSBuild project file.

Customizing Deployment Options for Web Application Projects

After creating a Web application project, you can optionally use a Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment project to set deployment options for the Web application project.

Note   Web Deployment Projects is available as a Visual Studio 2005 add-in. You can download the add-in from the Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment Projects page on the ASP.NET Developer Center.

Web application projects compile all code into a single assembly, so you do not need a Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment project to combine assemblies. However, Web Deployment projects provide additional support for precompiling the .aspx content of a project, as well as for making post-build changes to the published configuration. Using the latest build of the Web Deployment project add-in, you will be able to do add these features for both Visual Studio 2005 Web site projects and Visual Studio 2005 Web application projects.

Scenario 2: Migrating a Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web Project to a Web Application Project

This section walks you through the process of converting an existing Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web project to a Web application project in Visual Studio 2005. The Web application project model uses the same conceptual approach as a Web project in Visual Studio .NET 2003, including a project file to include and exclude files, compilation to a single assembly, and so on. In general, Web application projects do not require any architectural changes after the conversion.

As in the preceding section, this section assumes that you are working in C#. The steps for working with Visual Basic are very similar, but file names and some of the code will differ.

Step 1: Install the Visual Studio 2005 Web Application Project Preview

Be sure you have installed Web Application Projects in Visual Studio 2005 by following the steps in the Installing Web Application Projects section earlier in this paper.

Step 2: Back Up Your Visual Studio .NET 2003 Projects

Make absolutely sure to save a backup of your Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web projects and solutions before attempting any migration. The following steps have been tested using the preview version of Web Application Projects. However, there could still be issues, and you might need to restore the Visual Studio .NET 2003 solution.

Step 3: Open and Verify your Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web Project

Before migrating a project, open your existing Visual Studio .NET 2003 solution, compile it, and then run it. Spending a few minutes to verify that everything works before you migrate can save trouble later, especially if the cause of errors is a last-minute directory change or similar.

Step 4: Migrate the Solution to Visual Studio 2005

Close the solution in Visual Studio .NET 2003, and then start Visual Studio 2005. On the File menu, click Open File, and then browse to the .sln file for the solution you want to migrate. This launches the Visual Studio 2005 Conversion wizard:

Figure 11. Visual Studio 2005 conversion wizard

Click Next to proceed through the wizard, accepting all defaults. Visual Studio 2005 will convert the solution and its contained project files to use the MSBuild format, which is the new project file format in Visual Studio 2005.

As part of the migration, Visual Studio 2005 generates an XML-based log file that provides a summary of the conversion process, flagging any issues encountered during migration. By default, the conversion log file is saved in the same directory as the .sln file. If you have issues later when compiling the project, you might need to refer back to the conversion log file.

Step 5: Verify in Visual Studio 2005

After the solution and project files are upgraded to Visual Studio 2005 format, validate that your application builds without errors and runs as expected. At this point, the most common errors or warnings will be of these types:

• Conflicts with names in introduced in the .NET Framework version 2.0.
• Warnings about using obsolete members.

To fix naming conflicts, you can either fully qualify existing names with a namespace to remove ambiguity, or rename the members so they do not conflict.

If you see a warning about using obsolete members, the warning message will usually suggest alternative APIs to use. In these cases, you can continue to use the obsolete members in the 2.0 version of the .NET Framework. However, the members will be removed in the next major release of the .NET Framework, so it is a good practice to remove the members and substitute the suggested alternatives.

When running your Web application, you might see an error that says "Directory Listing Denied" that suggests that a virtual directory does not allow its contents to be listed. If you see this error message, do the following:

1. Close the browser.
2. In Solution Explorer, right-click the application's start page and then click Set as Start Page to ensure that the correct page is invoked when the application runs.
3. Run the application again.

Step 6: Covert Code-Behind Classes to Partial Classes

As noted earlier, in Visual Studio 2005, Web application projects use partial classes to store designer-generated code. These classes are stored in a separate file from the code-behind file. By default, the Visual Studio 2005 Web project conversion wizard does not create a *.designer.cs (or *.designer.vb) file for Web pages (.aspx files) or user controls (.ascx files). Instead, the code will look and work just like it did in Visual Studio .NET 2003.

Note   The wizard makes the minimum number of changes to the code files during migration to help ensure a smooth conversion to Web application projects in Visual Studio 2005.

You can keep your code in this format. If you do, you must manually update the control field declarations in the code-behind files, but everything else will work fine in Visual Studio 2005.

To take advantage of the editor's ability to maintain field declarations in generated code, you should update your pages and controls to use the partial-class model introduced in ASP.NET 2.0. Partial classes make it easier to organize the generated code and custom code for your code-behind files. For more information on .designer.cs files, see Scenario 1: Creating a New Web Application Project earlier in this paper.

To migrate your code to use partial-class model, first make sure that your code compiles without errors. Then in Solution Explorer, right-click the project name and click Convert to Web Application. This command iterates through each page and user control in the project, moves all control declarations to a .designer.cs file, and adds event handler declarations to the server-control markup in the .aspx and .ascx files.

Note   Another option is to use the Convert to Web Application command on individual pages. You might do this first on a few pages if you want to watch closely the changes made for each page before applying the change to the entire application.

Figure 12. Converting a single page to Web application project format

When the process has finished, check the Task List window to see if any conversion errors are reported. If the task list displays errors, right-click the relevant page in Solution Explorer and choose View Code and View Code Gen File to examine the code and fix problems. Note that errors and warnings that appear in the Task List window persist between Visual Studio sessions. After you have fixed errors listed in the window, you can clear items from the task list.

Note   The Convert to Web Application command cannot be undone in Visual Studio. The best method for reverting the changes is to restore from a backup of the Visual Studio .NET 2003 project, and then to re-run the Visual Studio 2005 migration as described in Step 4 above.

Now recompile your project to ensure it compiles without errors. A possible source of errors is if you have modified the control declarations in a code-behind class and the conversion wizard mishandles your changes.

From this point, when you add new pages into your Web project, they will by default use the partial-class template.

Step 7: Examine and Resolve XHTML Compliance Issues

By default, Visual Studio 2005 generates and validates XHTML-compliant markup. This helps you build Web applications that are standards compliant and helps minimize issues with browser-specific rendering. Visual Studio .NET 2003 did not generate XHTML-compliant markup, so you might see validation and rendering issues with pages created in Visual Studio .NET 2003.

Note   Validation errors are informational only and are flagged as warnings. Validation errors do not prevent a page from running.

If you do not want to see validation errors, switch the HTML validation setting from XHTML Transitional to Internet Explorer 6.0 (which was the Visual Studio .NET 2003 default setting). In the Tools menu, click Options. In the Options dialog box, open the Text Editor node, then the HTML node, and then the Validation node. In the Target list, select Internet Explorer 6.0, and then unselect the Show Errors check box. Note that this does not fix XHTML validation errors; it simply switches the validation schema to one that is more compatible with the way markup was generated by Visual Studio .NET 2003, and it suppresses validation warnings.

Figure 13. Configuring HTML validation

You can also add the following section to your project's Web.config file, which causes ASP.NET to render legacy (non-XHTML compliant) markup from server controls:

<system.Web>

<xhtmlConformance mode="Legacy" />

</system.Web>

This will avoid the slight rendering differences you might see between pages displayed using ASP.NET 1.1 and using ASP.NET 2.0. For more information, see ASP.NET and XHTML in the MSDN Library.

The Future of Web Application Projects

Web application projects provide a compilation and build model very similar to the one used in Visual Studio .NET 2003. Depending on their requirements, some users will find the new Web site project option in Visual Studio 2005 more appropriate for their applications, while other users will prefer the Web application project option. Web application projects provide the best path for upgrading existing Visual Studio .NET 2003 applications to Visual Studio 2005, and are highly recommended for that scenario.

We want to emphasize these important points about the future of Visual Studio 2005 Web application projects:

• Going forward, we will fully support both the Visual Studio 2005 Web site project model and Visual Studio 2005 Web application project model. You can choose whichever model works best for you.
• In future versions of Visual Studio, the Web application project model will be built in, and both the Web application project model and Web site project model will be supported.

Appendix A: Known Issues

This appendix lists known issues with Web application projects.

Issue 1: Data Scenarios

• There are known issues when using data-bound controls and SQL Server 2005 Express with the April 2006 release of Web application projects. For a list of issues and workarounds, see the whitepaper named "Using Data-Bound Controls and SQL Server Express with Web Application Projects," which is available on the Visual Studio 2005 Web Application Projects page on the ASP.NET Developer Center.

Issue 2: Visual Basic Inline Code Might Not Be Converted Correctly

When you upgrade a Visual Studio .NET 2003 project to Visual Studio 2005, Visual Basic code in single-file Web pages (.aspx files) or user controls (.ascx files) is not converted to use the new Visual Basic 2005 syntax. This can lead to compile time errors when building your converted Web project. You will need to manually fix these errors and recompile the affected pages. Visual Basic code in code-behind files is converted and should compile correctly.

Issue 3: WSE and Web Application Projects

Web Services Enhancements (WSE) is an add-in to Visual Studio 2005 that provides the latest advanced Web services capabilities. When Web Application Projects is installed, the WSE configuration command on the shortcut menu in Solution Explorer will not work correctly. As a workaround, follow these steps to use the stand-alone WSE 3.0 configuration tool instead:

1. Start the configuration tool. In the Windows Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft WSE 3.0, and then click Configuration Tool.
2. In the configuration tool, in the File menu, click Open.
3. Select the Web.config file for the project.

Issue 4: Converting the Club Web Site Starter Kit (Visual Basic)

(This issue applies only when using Visual Basic.) When converting the Visual Basic version of the Club Web Site starter kit to a Web application project, you will see a run-time error similar to the following:

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Server Error in '/' Application.
Compiler Error Message: BC30451: Name 'truncate' is not declared.
Source Error: 
Line 129: <asp:Label ID="Label2" runat="server" Text='<%# truncate(CStr(Eval("description"))) %>' />
Source File: C:\vs05\328\test-club1\wap1\Default.aspx    Line: 129

To resolve the error, you must add a namespace. You can do this for individual pages or for the project as a whole. Assuming your project namespace is "wap1", follow these steps.

To add a namespace to an individual page:

1. Open the page.
2. Under the last @ Register directive, add an @ Import directive that references the namespace you want to use, as in the following example:
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   <%@ Register TagPrefix="Club" Namespace="wap1.Clubsite" Assembly="wap1">
   <%@ Import Namespace="wap1" %>

To add a namespace to the project:

1. Open the Web.config file.
2. Add or edit the <namespaces> element as a child of the <pages> element, as in the following example:
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   <pages>
     <namespaces>
       <add namespace="wap1"/>
     </namespaces>
   </pages>

Issue 5: Converting the Personal Web Site Starter Kit (Visual Basic)

(This issue applies only when using Visual Basic.) When converting the Visual Basic version of the Personal Web Site starter kit to a Web application project, you will see a run-time error similar to the following:

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Server Error in '/' Application
The type specified in the TypeName property of ObjectDataSource 'ObjectDataSource1' could not be found

To resolve the error, you must add the project namespace to the TypeName property. Assuming your project namespace is "wap1", follow these steps.

1. Open the Member_List.aspx page.
2. Change the type name in the ObjectDataSource declaration to be fully qualified, as in the following example:
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   <asp:ObjectDataSource TypeName="wap1.MemberDetails" >

Issue 6: Converting a Visual Studio 2005 Web Site project to a Web Application Project

This paper will be updated in the future to show the steps needed to convert a Visual Studio 2005 Web site project to a Web application project. In the meantime, see the entry, Tutorial 8: Migrating from VS 2005 Web Site Projects to be a VS 2005 Web Application Projects on Scott Guthrie's blog.

ClickOnce Deployment

The previous example showed a simple installation that can be done easily. However, if you

want to change the application in any way, you must move the application to each workstation

if it’s installed on multiple workstations. Also, you must include the DLL files that represent the

custom activities created in Chapter 8. In the past, this has been the issue with most Windows

based applications. Windows-based applications can have a rich user interface, but have been

difficult to deploy. To correct this, Microsoft created the ClickOnce deployment technology

and included it with VS2005.

ClickOnce deployment allows you to create a package that can be installed from a Web site

that installs the application on the client. This could also be done in earlier versions of VS. What

makes ClickOnce special is it allows you, as the developer, to set the package to look for updates.

Using the update option on a ClickOnce package as a developer, you can make an update to

the application and publish it. When the user of the application executes the application the

next time, the package will recognize there’s an update and ask the user to install it. This instal-

lation doesn’t require administrator permissions on the workstation. The only exception to

this is if the application has a prerequisite that isn’t installed on the workstation. For example,

the PurchaseOrderReceivedCheck application has a prerequisite of the .NET Framework 3. If a

workstation doesn’t have the .NET Framework 3 installed, an administrator must install it first.

This architecture allows users to install an application to their desktop from a Web site, and

when updates are available, the updates are delivered to their desktop automatically. For more

information about ClickOnce deployment, see an article I’ve written entitled “ClickOnce

Deployment with VS 2005” for the Web site ASPToday (

http://www.ASPToday.com).

Deploying a project with ClickOnce is easy. You can create the application as you normally

would. Changes need to be made when the application is ready to be installed. Open the Solution

Explorer and double-click My Project. This opens the project properties window. Click the

Publish tab on the left side. The Publish screen looks like Figure 9-1.

The publishing location is where you want the users to access the application to install it.

any updates also will be installed to this location. This doesn’t need to be a Web site, but that’s

the easiest for users to access. You can see mine is my local Web server, and a folder called

publishconsoleApplication1. You have two choices of how the user will access the applica-

tion: either online only or offline. If the application is available offline, it will be installed to the

workstation, and a shortcut will be provided in the Start menu. You can also control the version

of the publication. Each version must be unique for the update to be installed. You can configure

how updates are received by clicking the Updates button. The Application Updates dialog

appears, as in Figure 9-2.

The first choice you must make is whether updates are even to be made available. You can

use ClickOnce installation as an easier method of application installation without even using

the update features by unchecking the check box “The application should check for updates.”

Obviously, to allow the application to get updates, make sure this box is checked.

Once you’ve decided to allow updates for the application, you must choose when the

application checks for those updates. You can choose “After the application starts” or “Before

the application starts.” If you choose “After the application starts,” the checking and down-

loading of the update is done in the background while the application works. The next time the

user executes the application, the update will be available. If you choose “Before the applica-

tion starts,” the checking occurs when the user executes the application. The update is then

installed prior to the application executing, and the latest version is shown to the user. You can

also specify that all instances of this application must use a specific version of the application.

This is a way to force the updates to be installed. For this application, leave the default, “Before

the application starts” and click OK.

After choosing the updates, click the Publish Now button. This begins the process of

publishing the application to the location identified. You can follow the progress of the publishing

by looking at the status in the bottom-left corner of the project properties window. When the

publishing is completed, the status will be Publish Succeeded. Also, when the publishing is

completed, a Web browser will appear with the deployment page. The deployment page has

the application name, the version, and an Install button, as shown in Figure 9-3. Click the

Install button and install the application. Immediately after installing the application, the

application will be executed.

To demonstrate how the updates work, add a Code activity to the

ConsoleApplication1 .Change the code in the Consoleapplication .Publish the application again. This constitutes an update to the application. When the

Web browser appears at the end of the publishing just close it; don’t install from the Web

browser. Instead, click the Start menu and find the publishconsoleApplication1 application

in the Start menu and click it. You receive a message that an update is available, and you’re

asked if you want to install the update. Click OK. Once you click OK, the update is installed and

the application is executed. The necessary e-mails are sent, and the message box with “I’m

here” appears. This shows that the update was installed and is being used. As you can see, the

ClickOnce technology provides an easier way to install and update Windows applications than

in the past.

You can see this article in http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/Use_ClickOnce_Deployment.asp

The PIVOT Operator

EmpId       2005                  2006                  2007
----------- --------------------- --------------------- ---------------------
1           12000.00              18000.00              25000.00
2           15000.00              6000.00               NULL
3           NULL                  20000.00              24000.00

2005                  2006                  2007
--------------------- --------------------- ---------------------
27000.00              44000.00              49000.00

(Got from Prakash jothi)

An interesting post from Jason’s Blog which talks about a pledge which will allow people like us to publicly pledge our commitment to software development.

“I believe that the software I help to create defines me as a professional, and speaks volumes about my capability as a software developer, and my commitment to the profession of software development.”

ü  I care that the software I help to create is useful and usable

ü  I care that the software I create is simple and elegant

ü  I care that the software I help to create is reliable and robust

ü  I care that the software I help to create is responsive and scalable

ü  I care that the software I help to create can be extended and maintained

ü  I care that the software I help to create can be safely reused

ü  I care that the software I help to create is economical

ü  I care that the software I help to create is ready when it's needed

ü  I care that the people I work with also care about software as passionately as I do

As someone who cares passionately about software, I will always:

·         Look for ways to achieve higher value with greater economy in my work

·         Champion those practices which lead to higher value with greater economy in the wider software development community

·         Enthusiastically contribute to software development research, knowledge-sharing and debate with others who care as passionately as I do

·         Defend my core beliefs against poor practices, be they born out of ignorance or the special interests of people and organizations who evidently do not care about software as passionately as I do

·         Offer moral and practical support to those who care as much as I do to help them do the right thing

Original URL:

http://parlezuml.com/blog/?postid=448

http://www.pnpguidance.net/

The Tampa Roadshow was a great event. Thank you for all that attended. The event was sold out, the questions were challenging, and the participation by the crowd was awesome!

Join new and experienced Microsoft winform and web developers for a day long FREE Developer Event covering Enterprise Library and Software Factories from Microsoft Patterns and Practices. Learn to increase developer productivity and application quality using Enterprise Library building blocks, code generation, and proven practices for Smart / Mobile Clients, Web Clients, and Web Services.

Learn how to:

·         Use Enterprise Library to increase productivity and solve common development problems involving data access, logging, exception handling, security, encryption, and validation.

·         Understand concepts and benefits behind the four Software Factories, including an overview of how you can extend the factories and build your own guidance packages.

·         Develop web client applications faster and using proven practices like N-Layer Architecture, View-Presenter Pattern, Dependency Injection, Unit Testing, and Service Locators.

·         Create composite smart client desktop and mobile applications quickly and efficiently, applying proven development best practices and code patterns.

·         Build ASMX web services endpoints (.NET v2) that scale to enterprise use, and provide a built-in migration path to WCF (.NET v3) through a layered architecture and naming conventions.

http://www.pnpguidance.net/Downloads.aspx

Point and Shoot Screen Captures

Cropper is a screen capture utility written in C# on the Microsoft .Net platform. It makes it fast and easy to grab parts of your screen. Use it to easily crop out sections of vector graphic files such as Fireworks without having to flatten the files or open in a new editor. Use it to easily capture parts of a web site, including text and images. It's also great for writing documentation that needs images of your application or web site.

The files are saved straight to a folder of your choice in the format you specify or to the clipboard or printer. No more 'Print Screen'... open image editor... paste from clipboard... crop... export. Just double-click the form or press enter, and whatever is visible below the form is captured.

The source code is freely available with shared source licensing. The license information is available in each class file.

Reviews

MSDN magazine

About.com

Controls

     • Right Click: Context menu on main form.
     • Arrow Keys: Nudge form one pixel.
     • Alt + Arrow Keys: Resize form one pixel.
     • [ or ]: Resize entire form while keeping the crosshairs centered.
     • Alt + [ or ]: Resize the thumbnail indicator one pixel.
     • + Ctrl: changes all resize and nudge amounts to ten pixels.
     • DoubleClick or Enter: Take a screen shot or start/stop a recording plug-in.
     • Tab: Cycle form colors. 
     • Shift+Tab: Cycle form sizes. 
     • Esc: Hide the main form
     • F8: Showthe main form

Version 1.9.0

This is the latest stable release.

[Changes from 1.8.0]

1) .Net Framework 2.0. Cropper is now compiled against the .Net 2.0 Framework. The installer now works on systems with only the 2.0 Framework installed.

2) Vista Compatibility. A new option to hide the form during a screenshot is available in the options dialog. The new option allows Cropper to capture other transparent windows and keeps the crop form from showing up in the capture on Vista Glass. This option is automatically enable when running on Vista but may be overridden by the user.

The Alt+PrintScreen capturing now properly captures windows in Vista that have glass in the client area. 

3) Predefined Sizes. Frequently used form sizes can now be saved. The sizes are managed in the options dialog under the appearance tab. While working with cropper the sizes may be accessed via the right click menu or by pressing Shift+Tab to cycle through the different sizes.

4) Alt+PrintScreen Captures Stay on Clipbaord. The Options dialg Capturing tab allows the user to keep Croppers Alt+PrintScreen captures on the clipboard.

5) Configurable Plug-In Support. Cropper now has support for integrated plug-in configuration. A new tab named Plug-Ins will present options from plug-ins that support configuration. The new functionality also supports easily persisting a plug-in's settings into Croppers configuration file.

Two included plug-ins support the new configuration options. The clipboard plugin allows the user to choose the format of the image that is placed on the clipboard and the Jpeg plug-in has a single option for specifying the file extension. More community plug-ins with configuration support are on the way.

6) 'Prompt' File Name Template Bug Fixed. A bug that could cause a null reference exception when using the 'Prompt' file name template has been fixed. Another bug in the dialog placement when the crop form was set to always on top has also been corrected. 

        1.9 Downloads

Full release history
Download installer
Source code available at CodePlex

Version 1.5

This is the last single assembly version of Cropper. It will remain available because of its small size and all in one nature. See release history below for more version specific information.

1.5 Downloads

Full release history
Download Binaries
Download Source

Also available at ProjectDistributor.net

Community Plug-ins

Animated Gif Plugin (John Galloway) - Now on CodePlex
More info and download

Gif Output Plugin (Eric Bachtal)
More info and download

OneNote, Flickr and TinyPic Upload (Patrick Altman) - Now on CodePlex
More info and download

Mantis Bugtracking Upload (Victor Boctor)
More info and download

Known Issues

The maximum size of the crop form is smaller than the screen size. This is a limitation of the way the UI is currently drawn. There is an area of transparent form around the visible area which causes Cropper to appear to be smaller than the maximum form size. With the original usage of cropping out small areas of the screen this was not pressing problem. The next version uses a different method for drawing to the screen and will not have this limitation.

Unable to capture images of movies in WMP or Winamp. This usually applies to all screen capture programs. It's hardware acceleration / hardware video overlay that causes it. In Windows Media Player, under the performance tab, slide the video acceleration to something less than full. In Winamp, under Video Options, uncheck 'Allow hardware video overlay'. This should allow you to take screenshots with any program.

Cropper does not capture semi-transparent / layered windows. Since Cropper is itself a layered window, adding the ability to capture other layered windows causes the Cropper window to show in the screenshot. Cropper was originally designed to easily pull out parts of web pages for documentation or images out of vector graphic comps. Alternative capture methods are coming that will enable the capturing of full windows.

No plug-ins loaded and no plug-ins listed in output menu. This has happened for a few users after downloading the application. It is caused by the user's zip application not extracting the folder structure. All plug-ins should be in a subfolder named 'plugins'. Included plug-in names will usually end with Format, Plugin, or Effect.

----------

3.ATnotes

4. ProcessExplorer  more enhanced than TaskManager of Windows.

5.viewstatedecoder

 6. SlickRun

7. WordWeb

8. WinMerge

9. RssReader

10. GreatNews

Hi All,

http://searchvb.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid8_gci1262570,00.html?

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DOWNLOAD   Microsoft Interop Forms Toolkit 2.0  (May 2007)

   "This toolkit helps you bring the power of .NET to your existing VB6 applications, by allowing them to display .NET Forms and Controls from within the same application. Instead of upgrading the entire code base, these applications can now be extended one form at a time. The goal is a phased upgrade, with production releases at the end of each iteration containing both VB6 and VB.NET forms running in the same VB6 .exe process."

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DOWNLOAD   ILMerge  (Feb 2007)

   "ILMerge is a utility for merging multiple .NET assemblies into a single .NET assembly. It works on executables and DLLs alike and comes with several options for controlling the processing and format of the output."

DOWNLOAD   XML Notepad 2007  (Apr 2007)

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DOWNLOAD   Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar  (May 2007)

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