primoz.tech.blog

In this post I'll show you:

• what applications are required to run umbraco,
• how to configure umbraco,
  
• how to create first simple website.
  

To run umbraco you need Windows operationg system, IIS web server, .NET Framework 2.0, ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 and Microsoft SQL Server. I will  show you how to install everything in video, but first download all required components. You can get .NET Framework 2.0, ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 and SQL Server 2005 Express from Microsoft Download Center.

When all components are installed then you are ready to install umbraco. First download package from umbraco codeplex website. If you have Windows Vista or 2003 you can use installer, otherwise download zip package. It is recommended that you install umbraco as separate webiste. If you have Windows XP I recommend that you use XP PRO IIS Admin application from jetstat. This application allows you to configure more than one website on Windows XP.

You have to configure IIS that http://localhost will point to umbraco website. You can also change port number or create new row in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file. Keep this in mind when you wants to access umbraco for first time.

In the following video you can see how to install umbraco on Windows 2003 and how to create very simple website.



In next post I will show you more advanced scenarios. We will look at document types, template hierarchy, macros (XSLT, user controls)...

If you are going to install VMWare Server 1.0.4 on Vista x64 be prepared. First reboot you machine and press F8 at startup and choose "Driver Signature Enforcment Disable". VMWare server installs a bunch of unsigned drivers and if you don't choose this option it won't work.

I google about this driver enforcment policy and I think that there is no other option to disable this. Windows pathces removes all other workarounds with Bcdedit.exe. People say that VistaBootPRO or EasyBCD can do the trick, but I'm not a fan of 3party tools which mess with system files. If somebody tried, please report.

I didn't abandon my blog, I was just fully occupied with my degree for last 2 months. I'm working on mobile application for Windows Mobile platform and integration with IBM Asset Management Software.

Beside common .NET and ASP.NET coding I'm also working with / I'm interested in following technologies:

• umbraco CMS system
• Lucene.NET full text search engine
• Facebook .NET Development Kit

In the future  you can expect new articles about this interesting topics.

redFIVElabs developed own Compact Framework which is compatible with Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 and works on Symbian powered mobile phones. This is really great news and it will expand usage of all .NET CF applications. Net60 is redFIVElabs name for their framework. Currently it is in beta stage, I hope they release final version soon.



I hope that there will be a release of Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition for Symbian phones in the future.

If you are receiving unexpected problems with new Visual Studio 2008 it could be that some plugin for VS 2005 is incompatible with VS 2008. We have problems with Visual SVN 1.2.2. The solution is - uninstall plugin or upgrade to new version (1.3.1).



If you see this error, check all your plugins.

I'am working on one mobile project. It is hard for ASP.NET developer to adapt all this mobile forms concepts. First of all I found out that there are a no useful resources compared to ASP.NET. (Community, Controls, Articles, Demos,...) If you are in the same sh... as me, then check out this resources.

Web

• Pocet PC Developer Network
• MSDN .NET Compact Framework
• MSDN Windows Mobile
• Mobile Client Software Factory
• Channel9 Mobile Developers
• Windows For Devices

Blogs

• Windows Mobile Team Blog

Controls

• Orientation Aware
• Resco

Books

• Microsoft Mobile Development Handbook

Stuff

• Windows Mobile 6 Developer Resource Kit
• Dinner Now Sample Application

If you have any resource about .NET Compact Framework programming please post comment.

You can find new and very cool Ajax Data Controls on CodePlex. Project is maintained by DotNetSlackers team and currently contains an AjaxGridView, AjaxDataList and AjaxRepeater. Check out samples page.

Project home on CodePlex: http://www.codeplex.com/AjaxDataControls

Live Samples: http://dotnetslackers.com/projects/AjaxDataControls

If you use Panel.DefaultButton property with LinkButton and use this page in Firefox you will recive error.  Firefox does noting on enter pressed or even worst, it creates postback but target of this event is null. I found great article which describes solution for this problem. This solution is for LinkButton only. I have to change my solution from ImageButtons to LinkButtons, because ImageButton didn't work for me in any way.

I decided that I will change most of payable and shareware programs for their free alternatives. I use all this free programs on Windows XP and Vista and for now I didn't have any problems.

List of programs that should be replaced:

• Nero (CD, DVD burning)
  
• WinRAR ali WinZIP (.rar and .zip files)
  
• Adobe Photoshop (handling pictures)
  
• Adobe Reader (.pdf files)
  
• Microsoft Office
• Windows media player, Power DVD, QuickTime player in Real player (video players)
  
• NOD32 (antivirus)

New free alternatives

• InfraRecorder (CD, DVD burning)
• 7-zip (.zip in .rar files)
• Paint.NET in Picasa (handling picutres)
• Foxit Reader (pdf files)
• Open Office
• Notepad++ (super notepad)
• Media Player Classic, QuickTimeAlternative in RealAlternative (video players)
• AVG (antivirus)
• CCleaner (crap cleaner)
• FileZilla (FTP client)
• FireFox (browser)

All this programs are also available in different languages and they don't install all possible toolbars and other crap on your system.

I am search for some packages which makes interoperability between Java and .NET world. Currently I found and tested following packages:

• JNBridge
• J-Integra for .NET
• EZ JCom

I need solution which can call Java objects from .NET. JNBridge and EZ JCom breaks at start, I have very large .jar file and they can't handle it. J-Integra works fine, but I still have minor problems with remoting configuration. And I have to find solution for static methods in java objects, because this technology doesn't support it.

//update
I received response from JNBridge support. With their help I solved outOfMemory problems. Now I think this package will fit right into my needs.