Sunday, June 14, 2009

Continuing with the discussion on new in .NET 2.0, ...

Continuing with the discussion on new in .NET 2.0, today we are taking second of the aspect that is Administration and management. It plays very important role in deployment, management, and operations of ASP.NET servers.

Administration and Management

ASP.NET 2.0 is designed with administration and manageability in mind. We recognize that while simplifying the development experience is important, deployment and maintenance in a production environment is also a key component of an application's lifetime. ASP.NET 2.0 introduces several new features that further enhance the deployment, management, and operations of ASP.NET servers.

  • Configuration API. ASP.NET 2.0 contains new configuration management APIs, enabling users to programmatically build programs or scripts that create, read, and update Web.config and machine.config configuration files.
  • ASP.NET MMC Admin Tool. ASP.NET 2.0 provides a new comprehensive admin tool that plugs into the existing IIS Administration MMC, enabling an administrator to graphically read or change common settings within our XML configuration files.
  • Pre-compilation Tool. ASP.NET 2.0 delivers a new application deployment utility that enables both developers and administrators to precompile a dynamic ASP.NET application prior to deployment. This precompilation automatically identifies any compilation issues anywhere within the site, as well as enables ASP.NET applications to be deployed without any source being stored on the server (one can optionally remove the content of .aspx files as part of the compile phase), further protecting your intellectual property.
  • Health Monitoring and Tracing. ASP.NET 2.0 also provides new health-monitoring support to enable administrators to be automatically notified when an application on a server starts to experience problems. New tracing features will enable administrators to capture run-time and request data from a production server to better diagnose issues. ASP.NET 2.0 is delivering features that will enable developers and administrators to simplify the day-to-day management and maintenance of their Web applications.

Source: www.hanusoftware.com

. NET Solutions for Many Industries

Today’s write-up will introduce reader to the different industries where Hanu Software has proved her excellence by the providing unmatched quality solutions

We develop .NET solutions for a wide range of industries. Some of these industries and typical applications are described below.


Real Estate —Hanu Software Solutions can help realtors develop information-rich, easily navigated Web-based portals and desktop applications enabling them, their customers, and prospects to easily access accurate, up-to-date information.

Telecommunications — For telecom companies and wireless service providers, our expertise in .NET technology can build reliable, scalable hosting infrastructures; integrate computer and telephony technologies; and enable consumers and businesses to efficiently access information from PCs and other devices. This enables telecommunications companies to use Web services to create new business value.

Healthcare — Efficient, cost-effective integration of data from multiple sources is a necessity for organizations in the healthcare industry. Our .NET solutions help providers and insurers realize improvements in areas such as claims payment, rate setting, pricing, marketing, care management, prescription benefits, eligibility verification, medical records management, and customer service.

Retail — Hanu Software Solutions makes it easy for merchandisers to use .NET technology to make information available to the people who need it, when and where they need it—from customers using a store’s web site to security personnel stopping fraud at the checkout to sales reps closing deals at customer sites.

Entertainment and Media— Hanu Software Solutions is helping media and entertainment businesses realize the ability of .NET solutions to provide their customers with seamless media technologies, audio processing software, education industry solutions, gaming applications, and PDA-based gaming solutions.

Manufacturing With web-based information systems utilizing the .NET framework, manufacturers can integrate business and industrial processes, internally as well as with partners and customers. This integration is a real advantage in today’s competitive market. Hanu Software Solutions can help develop and deploy.NET-based solutions that deliver Web services benefits across the enterprise.


Source: www.hanusoftware.com

What's New in .NET 2.0- big picture

ASP.NET is a programming framework built on the common language runtime that can be used on a server to build powerful Web applications. The first version of ASP.NET offered several important advantages over previous Web development models. ASP.NET 2.0 improves upon that foundation by adding support for several new and exciting features in the areas of developer productivity, administration and management, extensibility, and performance:

Experts from Hanu software Solutions are keeping close eye on recent developments in this technology .We will discuss each area in detail and let our readers know that what new .Net 2.0 is offering to its loyals. First is the turn of developer productivity….

Developer Productivity

ASP.NET 2.0 encapsulates common Web tasks into application services and controls that can be easily reused across web sites. With these basic building blocks, many scenarios can now be implemented with far less custom code than was required in previous versions. With ASP.NET 2.0 it is possible to significantly reduce the amount of code and concepts necessary to build common scenarios on the web.

  • New Server Controls. ASP.NET 2.0 introduces many new server controls that enable powerful declarative support for data access, login security, wizard navigation, menus, treeviews, portals, and more. Many of these controls take advantage of core application services in ASP.NET for scenarios like data access, membership and roles, and personalization. Some of the new families of controls in ASP.NET 2.0 are described below.
    • Data Controls. Data access in ASP.NET 2.0 can be accomplished completely declaratively (no code) using the new data-bound and data source controls. There are new data source controls to represent different data backends such as SQL database, business objects, and XML, and there are new data-bound controls for rendering common UI for data, such as gridview, detailsview, and formview..
    • Navigation Controls. The navigation controls provide common UI for navigating between pages in your site, such as treeview, menu, and sitemappath. These controls use the site navigation service in ASP.NET 2.0 to retrieve the custom structure you have defined for your site.
    • Login Controls. The new login controls provide the building blocks to add authentication and authorization-based UI to your site, such as login forms, create user forms, password retrieval, and custom UI for logged in users or roles. These controls use the built-in membership and role services in ASP.NET 2.0 to interact with the user and role information defined for your site.
    • Web Part Controls. Web parts are an exciting new family of controls that enable you to add rich, personalized content and layout to your site, as well as the ability to edit that content and layout directly from your application pages. These controls rely on the personalization services in ASP.NET 2.0 to provide a unique experience for each user in your application.
  • Master Pages. This feature provides the ability to define common structure and interface elements for your site, such as a page header, footer, or navigation bar, in a common location called a "master page", to be shared by many pages in your site. In one simple place you can control the look, feel, and much of functionality for an entire Web site. This improves the maintainability of your site and avoids unnecessary duplication of code for shared site structure or behavior.
  • Themes and Skins. The themes and skins features in ASP.NET 2.0 allow for easy customization of your site's look-and-feel. You can define style information in a common location called a "theme", and apply that style information globally to pages or controls in your site. Like Master Pages, this improves the maintainability of your site and avoid unnecessary duplication of code for shared styles.
  • Personalization. Using the new personalization services in ASP.NET 2.0 you can easily create customized experiences within Web applications. The Profile object enables developers to easily build strongly-typed, sticky data stores for user accounts and build highly customized, relationship based experiences. At the same time, a developer can leverage Web Parts and the personalization service to enable Web site visitors to completely control the layout and behavior of the site, with the knowledge that the site is completely customized for them. Personalizaton scenarios are now easier to build than ever before and require significantly less code and effort to implement.
  • Localization. Enabling globalization and localization in Web sites today is difficult, requiring large amounts of custom code and resources. ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 provide tools and infrastructure to easily build Localizable sites including the ability to auto-detect incoming locale's and display the appropriate locale based UI. Visual Studio 2005 includes built-in tools to dynamically generate resource files and localization references. Together, building localized applications becomes a simple and integrated part of the development experience.


Source: www.hanusoftware.com

In continuation with discussion on .Net 2.0, today’...

In continuation with discussion on .Net 2.0, today’s concentration is given to Flexible Extensibility of new version.

Flexible Extensibility

ASP.NET 2.0 is a well-factored and open system, where any component can be easily replaced with a custom implementation. Whether it is server controls, page handlers, compilation, or core application services, you'll find that all are easily customizable and replaceable to tailor to your needs. Developers can plug in custom code anywhere in the page lifecycle to further customize ASP.NET 2.0 to their needs.
  • Provider-driven Application Services. ASP.NET 2.0 now includes built-in support for membership (user name/password credential storage) and role management services out of the box. The new personalization service enables quick storage/retrieval of user settings and preferences, facilitating rich customization with minimal code. The new site navigation system enables developers to quickly build link structures consistently across a site. As all of these services are provider-driven, they can be easily swapped out and replaced with your own custom implementation. With this extensibility option, you have complete control over the data store and schema that drives these rich application services.

  • Server Control Extensibility. ASP.NET 2.0 includes improved support for control extensibility, such as more base classes that encapsulate common behaviors, improved designer support, more APIs for interacting with client-side script, metadata-driven support for new features like themes and accessibility verification, better state management, and more.

  • Data Source Controls. Data access in ASP.NET 2.0 is now performed declaratively using data source controls on a page. In this model, support for new data backend storage providers can be easily added by implementing custom data source controls. Additionally, the SqlDataSource control that ships in the box has built-in support for any ADO.NET managed provider that implements the new provider factory model in ADO.NET.

  • Compilation Build Providers. Dynamic compilation in ASP.NET 2.0 is now handled by extensible compilation build providers, which associate a particular file extension with a handler that knows how to compile that extension dynamically at runtime. For example, .resx files can be dynamically compiled to resources, .wsdl files to web service proxies, and .xsd files to typed DataSet objects. In addition to the built-in support, it is easy to add support for additional extensions by implementing a custom build provider and registering it in Web.config.

  • Expression Builders. ASP.NET 2.0 introduces a declarative new syntax for referencing code to substitute values into the page, called Expression Builders. ASP.NET 2.0 includes expression builders for referencing string resources for localization, connection strings, application settings, and profile values. You can also write your own expression builders to create your own custom syntax to substitute values in a page rendering.

Source: www.hanusoftware.com

Overview

The Microsoft .NET platform marks a paradigm shift in the way applications are developed for the Internet. It incorporates open standards that enable businesses to collaborate over the Internet with minimal investment. Hanu Software Solutions Inc. (HSS) is an expert in using .NET to develop solution frameworks and applications. We have established a dedicated Center Of Excellence (COE) that leverages our expertise in the .NET platform for the benefit of our customers. Our COE team delivers technical excellence through improved system architectures, applications development capabilities, and reusable enterprise components, and also focuses on building business solutions using existing and emerging .NET technologies and standards.

www.hanusoftware.com


Source: www.hanusoftware.com


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Shuttle Endeavour grounded by hydrogen leak
Launch of the shuttle Endeavour is off until Wednesday at the earliest because of a hydrogen leak. NASA now must resolve a conflict between Endeavour and a high-priority moon mission.


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If Northwest Attendants Strike, It Could Be a Bumpy Ride
If Northwest Airlines flight attendants walk off their jobs next Tuesday, the carrier's own passengers won't be the only ones to suffer. Airline travelers who have no plans to fly Northwest could find themselves wishing they'd stayed home.


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Landmark tobacco regulation bill goes to Obama
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A landmark bill giving the U.S. government broad regulatory power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products won final approval in Congress on Friday, and President Barack Obama said he would quickly sign it into law.


New program seeks to deliver vaccines to poor
LONDON (Reuters) - Five governments and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $1.5 billion on Friday to help give poor countries better access to vaccines against pneumococcal disease such as pneumonia and meningitis.


Dell and Palm - Who needs whom?
When Dell hired Motorola’s cell phone president Ron Garriques in 2007, the talk was that the PC giant was preparing to enter the smartphone market. More than two years later, Dell is still without a handheld gadget. Instead of trying to build its own smartphone, Dell should simply acquire Palm, said Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar in [...]

When Dell hired Motorola’s cell phone president Ron Garriques in 2007, the talk was that the PC giant was preparing to enter the smartphone market.

More than two years later, Dell is still without a handheld gadget.

Instead of trying to build its own smartphone, Dell should simply acquire Palm, said Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar in a note to investors on Friday.

Kumar posits that a Dell acquisition of Palm would help both companies, giving Dell a hot new product in Palm’s recently-released Pre, while giving Palm the deep pockets necessary to hang with the big guys.

“This acquisition will be born out of mutual necessity and represent a strategic fit for both parties,” wrote Kumar in a note to investors.

Palm’s Pre has received good reviews, but there are concerns that Palm’s supply of the new gadgets may be constrained amid stiff competition from the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry.

With only $260 million in cash, Palm doesn’t have the balance sheet to go through an extended period of cash burn as it ramps its production of Pre phones to the level necessary for it to become a force in the market, wrote Kumar.

Meanwhile, Dell, which has repeatedly stated its intention to acquire outside companies, has more than enough cash to grab Palm. Kumar said Dell could afford to spend up to $3 billion, or a third of its gross cash, on an all-cash transaction and that Palm falls well below that threshold.

Writing on the Barron’s Tech Trader Daily blog, Eric Savitz cites another benefit from such a deal: newly-appointed Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein, a former Apple executive, could be just the guy to take the reins from Michael Dell.

“An ex-Apple exec at the helm of Dell is an intriguing idea, no?” wrote Savitz.

(Photo: Reuters)




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Carolyn Hax
Dear Carolyn:

Carolyn Hax
Dear Carolyn:


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Guns, not charm, expel snakes from police station
FREETOWN (Reuters) - Power hoses and AK-47 assault rifles have succeeded where Sierra Leone's snake-charmers failed by removing 400 cobras and vipers that overran a police station.


Penguins parade could be first of many for Steel City
DETROIT (Reuters) - Pittsburgh was busy planning a parade for their Stanley Cup champion Penguins on Saturday which could be the first of many to come for the Steel City.


Hart withdraws from U.S. Open, replaced by amateur Lewis
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Dudley Hart has withdrawn from next week's U.S. Open Championship because of back problems, organizers said on Saturday.



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Some long photos from NYC
Some test footage from my new 5D MKII taken near Columbus Circle and also 34th Street.

Some test footage from my new 5D MKII taken near Columbus Circle.

Download 720p

Download20090103_NYMinute_clips_1.mp4


Some test footage from my new 5D MKII taken near Columbus Circle.

Download 720p

Download20090103_NYMinute_clips_2.mp4


Thirst in the Mojave
The advantage of web video over traditional video has typically revolved around the ability to share with friends and time-shift watching content. Thirst in the Mojave tries to bring a little more web mentality to video but still utilize the linear narrative strengths that make video such a great storytelling tool.

The Thirst in the Mojave piece is my attempt at making video interactive and contextualizing its content. Video on the web is great but it lacks many web-centric features or enhancements.

The advantage of web video over traditional video has typically revolved around the ability to share with friends and time-shift watching content. Thirst in the Mojave tries to bring a little more web mentality to video but still utilize the linear narrative strengths that make video such a great storytelling tool.

I completed the project before I left the Las Vegas Sun back in August and for reasons I’m not sure of, it finally launched.


Features of Mojave


Interactive geo-coded video

Each scene in the story is geo-located to where it was shot or what you are seeing. A GPS data-logger was used on every shoot for the project and GPS coordinates were logged for each shot and photograph made.

Lower-Third Bios

Every “lower-third” for the people speaking is brought in using flash and allows you to always know who is currently speaking. If you click on the name of the person, you can see a short bio including information relevant to what they are speaking about. The idea here was to contextualize or qualify their voice of authority.

More Info!

The more info box is triggered by the video playing to bring up context specific data, facts, graphics, links or videos. This is a great way to provide content that is informative and relevant but could slow down the main narrative.


Transparency is a great tool of truth.

Another use of the more info box in this project was transparency. An example of this is a scene in part 3 where Pat Mulroy is talking about the pipeline project on Face to Face with Jon Ralston. In the narrative you see several clips from the program but in the more info box you can watch the entire Face to Face show that those clips came from. Any viewers who might be skeptical that those clips were taken out of context can watch the program and see that the clips were selected appropriately.


All together, about 20 hours of footage were shot and edited down to 22 minutes for the main narrative.

The main narrative video content is divided into 5 parts for the web. The piece was also edited for TV by cutting it into 4 parts for commercial breaks with a total run time of 22 minutes.

60 minutes of extra footage

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve edited an interview and had to lop off some really interesting information because it strayed from or didn’t fit the tight narrative I was working on. Now the viewer is in control and can let their curiosity of a subject drive them to discover more on their own. Facts spoken in the video can have links citing sources, or where to go for more info.

Curiosity

There is also approximately another 60 minutes of extra footage that shows up in the more info box during the piece. Dozens of infographics were created for the piece. Between the geocoded map items, info box extras and bios there are about 145 extra pieces of information shown.


Interactive Water Use Map


We thought this topic was strong enough to go even further. We built a database of water usage from public water records for over 1/2 a million single family homes in the valley. We then built a “water use app” to allows viewers to search a map of the Las Vegas Valley to find out how much water they’ve used in the last year. They can then compare their usage to their neighbors. On top of the search functionality we also visualized water usage density and swimming pool density on the map. Approximately 70% of the water problem falls on outdoor residential water use, I think this app is a real asset towards understanding that problem and hopefully doing something about it.



Behind the Scenes of LENS
A few people have been asking me how the LENS Blog on The New York Times site came to be and what software it was built on. I thought I'd shed a little light on the development process and answer some of these questions.

Screen-shot of the LENS Homepage

A few people have been asking me how the LENS Blog on The New York Times site came to be and what software it was built on. I thought I’d shed a little light on the development process and answer some of these questions.


Why does it scroll sideways?

When we started this project many months ago, The Big Picture was obviously one of the successful models for a photo blog, not just in terms of traffic but also in terms of presenting photographs in my favorite way. BIG.

When you go as big as The Big Picture, you can run into big problems. Depending on your monitor, the photos can’t fit on your screen. Scrolling through many large photos causes you to have scrolling precision and dexterity for an optimal viewing experience. Slide-shows on the other hand are easy to view. The scroll position remains the same and the photos scroll. We started to think of the LENS blog as a slide-show, and slide-shows within slide-shows. We fell in love with the idea of being able to stay on one page and have a mass consumption of images.


Mock-ups and Design Evolution

My first crack at a mock-up was fairly traditional and was concerned with finding a way to make the image as large as possible

lens_mock_270

As our thinking evolved to the side-scrolling approach, we mocked-up some quick Fireworks working pages so we could see what it would feel like.

lens_prototype_2_270
lens_prototype_1_270
lens_prototype_3_270


Wordpress, Flash and XML Driven

All of the NYTimes’ blogs are produced in Wordpress. Wordpress has a great API and allows you to customize the data from posts for things like RSS feeds and XML feeds without much effort.

For the homepage of LENS we built a Flash presentation that takes a custom XML feed from wordpress. The real reason we went with Flash for the front-end presentation was because of it’s full screen ability.

You can see in the spec screen-shots on the right, that we are using existing wordpress variables to construct the feed for flash. You may also notice a “custom field“. This is where we link to the slide-show, and video xml feeds exported by existing tools we use on NYTimes.com everyday.

xml_spec_1_270
xml_spec_2_270


Obviously this is a quick overview of how LENS came together and how it works. If you have specific questions, hit me up in the comments and I’ll try and answer them as best I can.




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