Fiddler and Android SDK

So, I've been trying to get my android emulator to talk through fiddler. I've run through all the settings, command line options, and nothing seems to work. I ran across one quote that I suspect is true, in Android 2 it ignores any proxy settings and is broke. It works great in 1.5.

Even though we aren't using Android 2.2 OS, I decided, why not. Kick it off, tweak the settings, and sure enough, it actually works. Since what I'm needing to test isn't specific to 2.1 or 2.2, this is good enough for me. YMMV, but try it with 2.2 and it should work. (if only Google would go back and fix 2.1)...

Custom Membership Provider in winforms

So, I've been tasked to create users on one system into another. No prob. I just create a simple console app, add our custom membership provider to the right config section, borrow some code from another app, and loop it. Whee....

... Until, that is, I kept getting the error, Unable to find XXXX.Membership in System.Web....

There's all kinds of references of how to use the default membership provider in a winform or console app, but not much on a custom membership provider. After a good bit of digging, I found this blog: http://geekswithblogs.net/Shadowin/archive/2007/04/05/110864.aspx

I failed to put ", AssemblyName" in the reference in the config. So it was defaulting to System.Web.

Your entry for the custom membership provider should look something like this:

< add name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider" 
type="XXXXWeb.Security.CustomMembershipProvider, XXXXMembership" 
connectionstringname="SiteSqlServer" / >

'standardEndpoints' cannot be read because it is missing a section declaration

I just tried to publish my first WCF RESTful service to our 2k8 box, and hit the wall with the following error:

The configuration section 'standardEndpoints' cannot be read because it is missing a section declaration

Well, after much searching, trying different options, reconfiguring, reading documentation, I finally found a post that should clear it out:

NET 4.0 Beta1/Beta2 Web Application Configuration section missing declaration error

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958854/en-us

Appearently, on a windows server 2008 box, most .net 40 stuff works (well stuff that I've tried), but a couple of the items were missed. I didn't see an sp2 for win2k8 in the updates, so I downloaded and ran the HotFix. And what do you know? That worked. I've seen a bunch of posts on how to fix this error. This might just be the solution you're looking for.

Okay... i've been busy...

Currently, I'm working on a new project using asp.net MVC 2, StructureMap, and all those goodies. I just ran across a nice blog that combines all those, plus some:
Maintainable MVC series.

The main point was this little nugget, that I figured out on my own, but would have been nice to know about in the beginning:

If a class is created by StructureMap it defaults to the constructor with the most parameters.

Oh well. Even though it takes longer, you often remember things better when you have to struggle to find the answer than it being given to you.

Thanks anyways!

Windows 7 BSOD

Hey!  I’m so excited!  I thought they got rid of the blue screen of death with Vista (though those reports were vastly over exaggerated).

 

I got my first BSOD in Windows 7 the other day, and I thought I’d post a screen shot for all to see:

 

Of course, I was only able to get the BSOD from windows 7 running in a VM.

CHM files and Vista

I’m working on installing on a new server, TFS 2008, and in the setup directories there is an Install Guide.  Being the diligent (for once) developer, I opened it up, and it said to download the latest install guide giving me a link. 

However, after downloading the new chm file from Microsoft, it wouldn’t open.  On one system, it said to check my dns server.  and on my host Vista system, it just wouldn’t display.  I opened up IE, checked the local intranet settings and didn’t see anything there.

The solution?  I right-clicked the file, and noticed that there was an Unblock button.  After clicking that, it opened just fine.  Apparently, Vista was preventing me from viewing the web pages inside the help file because they came from a different zone.

 

Once unblocked, the button no longer shows up, and I can read it just fine.

Stored Procedure taking forever.

Today, I came across an issue where from Sql Server Management Studio, a stored procedure was taking forever to run.  But from the application it was running just fine, and if I executed the sql from within the proc on it’s own, it ran just fine. 

Luckily, a friend, Chris Brandsma had stumbled across this about a year ago, and posted it and a solution on Elegant Code.

http://elegantcode.com/2008/05/17/sql-parameter-sniffing-and-what-to-do-about-it/

It’s called SQL Parameter sniffing, and MS (as well as Oracle and the others) use it to improve performance of stored procs.  However, if you have a large or sudden variance in the number of rows returned, the proc will seem to “hang up.”

At least I know what the fix is, and what to look for if it happens again on one of those “random” timeout bugs.