Sol 3

I'm supporting an ASP (Application Service Provider) style application for my company.  Instead of putting each client's settings into a single config file, I wanted to have the main config file point to each clients configuration.  After a bit of digging, I came up with a solution that works.  I don't know if it is the best solution but it does work.  My main config file now looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <configSections>
        <section name="FeedProvider"
                 type="Sol3.Feed.Provider.FeedProviderConfiguration, Sol3.Feed.Provider"
                 allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
    </configSections>
    <FeedProvider defaultProvider="FeedProvider01">
        <providers>
            <add name="FeedProvider01"
                 type="Sol3.Feed.FeedProvider01, Sol3.Feed"
                 connectionStringName="ConnString"
                 description="Client 01 Feed Provider" />
            <add name="FeedProvider02"
                 type="Sol3.Feed.FeedProvider02, Sol3.Feed"
                 connectionStringName="connString"
                 description="Client 02 Feed Provider" />
        </providers>
    </FeedProvider>
    <appSettings>
        <add key="EnvironmentName" value="dev"/>
        <!-- add key="EnvironmentName" value="qa"/ -->
        <!-- add key="EnvironmentName" value="uat"/ -->
        <!-- add key="EnvironmentName" value="prod"/ -->
        <add key="Clients" value="3"/>
        <add key="Client 1" value="Client Name 01"/>
        <add key="Client 2" value="Client Name 02"/>
        <add key="Client 3" value="Client Name 03"/>
    </appSettings>
</configuration>

A client config file now looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <connectionStrings>
        <clear />
        <add name="connString" connectionString="[client connection string]" />
    </connectionStrings>

    <appSettings>
        <add key="WatchPath" value="C:\Feeds\ClientN"/>
        <add key="FileName" value="sample.csv"/>
        <add key="FileType" value="*.csv;*.txt"/>
        <add key="StartTime" value="05:00"/>
        <add key="EndTime" value="05:00"/>
        <add key="ArchiveDays" value="30"/>
    </appSettings>
</configuration>

I have a service that will iterate through the appSettings and setup a file handler for each client. The service creates a new ClientInfo object for each client:

        #region Constructor
        public Service()
        {
            _clientInfo = new Dictionary<string, ClientInfo>();
            _clientList = new List<string>();

            _clientCount = Convert.ToInt32(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get("Clients").ToString());
            _environmentName = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get("EnvironmentName").ToString();
            for (int i = 0; i < _clientCount; i++)
            {
                string appKey = String.Format("Client {0}", i+1);
                string clientName = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get(appKey).ToString();
                ClientInfo thisInfo = new ClientInfo(clientName, _environmentName);
                _clientList.Add(clientName);
                _clientInfo.Add(clientName, thisInfo);
            }
        }
        #endregion

This is the ClientInfo Class and contains the code to read from another config file:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Configuration;
using Sol3.Feed;
using System.IO;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace TestHarness
{
    public class ClientInfo
    {
        #region Declarations
        private Dictionary<string, object> _config;
        private Handler _handler;
        #endregion

        #region Constructor
        public ClientInfo(string clientName, string environmentName)
        {
            clientName = clientName.Replace(" ", "_");
            ExeConfigurationFileMap fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
            fileMap.ExeConfigFilename = String.Format("{0}_{1}.config", clientName, environmentName);  // relative path names possible

            if (!File.Exists(Environment.CurrentDirectory + "\\" + fileMap.ExeConfigFilename))
            {
                EventLog.WriteEntry("TestHarness.ClientInfo"
                    , String.Format("{0} was not found!", fileMap.ExeConfigFilename)
                    , EventLogEntryType.Information);
                return;
            }

            // Open another config file
            Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(fileMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
            // Get the app settings section...
            AppSettingsSection section = (AppSettingsSection)config.GetSection("appSettings");

            // Get configuration settings and start file watcher for this client...
            _config = new Dictionary<string, object>();

            // read/write from it as usual
            _config.Add("connString", config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings[0].ConnectionString);
            _config.Add("WatchPath", section.Settings["WatchPath"].Value.ToString());
            _config.Add("FileType", section.Settings["FileType"].Value.ToString());
            _config.Add("StartTime", Convert.ToDateTime(section.Settings["StartTime"].Value.ToString()));
            _config.Add("EndTime", Convert.ToDateTime(section.Settings["EndTime"].Value.ToString()));

            _handler = new Handler(_config);
            _handler.Start();
        }
        #endregion
    }
}

There is still a lot I can do to this but this is the basics of handling a config file that is not your app or web config.  Enjoy.

Looking for events?  Are you in Ireland on May 3rd?  What better way to spend a Saturday than at an event with some funny charismatic notable characters like Plip and Sussman!  With Plip's permission I've duplicated his blog entry for this event. 

Developer Event? Ah go on, go on, go on.

Check it out at www.DDDIreland.com

Scott Guthrie just announced the availability of the ASP.NET Model-View-Controller source code.  And believe me when I say this - the ASP.NET team is doing their darndest to make sure this works for you.

Our plans are to release regular drops of the source code going forward.  We'll release source updates every time we do official preview drops.  We will also release interim source refreshes in between the preview drops if you want to be able to track and build the source more frequently.

You really need to read everything Scott wrote on this. For me, it is an exciting time when I can download the code and make fixes to it myself to get around something that does not work. And if you truly are a geek you'll be going through the code base to see how the ASP.NET team implemented the MVC pattern.  You also have a mode of feedback on CodePlex!

Scott Hanselman just announced the launching of the ASP.NET Wiki (Beta).  If you are wondering why a Wiki this is what Scott has to say:  "To provide a targeted, categorized, human-hand-edited, and living Wiki for finding answers to ASP.NET questions."

If you have some great content on your blog that is not in there, get it in there.  :)

My wife and I grew up with and owned dogs pretty much our whole lives.  We've been in our house for 20 months and have had 2 dogs that moved in with us.  All of a sudden they have become a nuisance to "someone" in the neighborhood.  We've had the cops at the house now twice.  Now, we live on a shy 1/3 acre lot with similar sized lots around us.  We have one lot to the north (long side of property line) which is not moved into yet, one lot to the south of us with their own dog and 2 lots that abut our back yard of which one is a vacant lot.  (See image below.)

Our house is the one with the yellow arrow pointed at it.  The development has sold the house on our north side and they are doing the final cleanups to let the new owners move in.  As you can see, everyone within 100 yards of us owns at least one dog, if not more.  We can go out at any point of the day and at least one of them is barking.  No big deal.  Once I go inside and close the door I cannot hear any of the dogs barking.  If I am in the dining area (slider door to backyard) or in the main room or master bedroom (both have windows onto our backyard) I can sometimes hear our dogs bark.  And yes, they are dogs, they bark on occasion.

I am trying to figure out, with no other changes over the last 18 months, why now we are getting these notices.  I can only chalk it up to our new next door neighbor to the north.  Either the actual family moving in or the workers doing all the work.  We've had people in the next door backyard walking up and down and it drives our Border Collie a bit nuts - until they are introduced of course.  What I hate is no one had the decency to come talk to us.  Instead, they hide behind anonymity and the police force.  So, we are left trying to guess what is really going on.

From the Town of Frederick Municipal Codes - (Section 7):

Sec. 7-122. Disturbance.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any owner or keeper of any animal to fail to prevent the animal from disturbing any person by barking, howling, yelping or any other audible sound.
(b) No person shall be charged with violating this Section unless a written warning was issued to the owner or keeper of the animal within twelve (12) months preceding the first date alleged as the date of violation in the complaint. The written warning shall advise the owner or keeper of the animal of the nature of the violation, the date and approximate time of the violation, and that in the event a second violation occurs within a year of the date of the written warning, a summons and complaint may be issued. The written warning shall be provided to the owner or keeper of the animal by personal service, posting upon the property of the owner or keeper of the animal or mailing first class to such person. A copy of the written warning is prima facie evidence that the warning was issued and served properly. (Ord. 383, § 34, 1994; Ord. 550, § 1, 2000; Ord. 712 § 2, 2003)

My wife is picking up a couple of bark collars for our dogs.  We'll see if that is enough to keep them quite because God forbid our dogs be allowed to be, uhm, well, dogs.  And quite frankly, the way this ordinance is written we will have to get rid of the dogs, or worse, to not face court.  But, in reality, I would like to see this go to court.  This ordinance is stupidly written.  And if we do go to court there will probably be an outbreak of complaints of dogs farting and other "audible sounds" that we find disturbing.

My wife and I have found it a sad state of man when this type of #@7&! goes on.  A person can have their vehicles going at 126 db all day long but a dog cannot bark.  I'm just wondering if I will be able to face my accuser if this does go to court.  Ridiculous!

I recently started using Windows Live Writer and have pretty much fallen in love with it.  I also operate on a couple of computers throughout each week.  I've poked around a few forums looking for a solution as WLW is not portable (yet).  I was pointed to a blog entry by Dave Donaldson which gives me a partial solution.  By using FolderShare I am able to keep my drafts and posts synched as well as my templates (see image).  I won't go through the setup again as Dave did a fine job of that already.  For anyone looking for a solution like this I've found that it works quite well.  Next step is to get Microsoft to turn this into a pen app!  ;)

Happy blogging...

My new job requires work with Classic ASP which means registering DLLs.  Glad I remembered this little trick:

1. Open the Send To folder in Windows Explorer (usually C:\Documents and Settings\[yourName]\SendTo on an XP box)
2. Create a shortcut and point it to C:\[windows]\system32\regsvr32.exe
3. Give it a title like "DLL Register"
4. Change the icon to something that makes sense to you

Now, you can navigate to any registerable DLL, right click on it, Send To, Register DLL and it will do that for you.

You can also create another shortcut to the same DLL in your Send To folder, call it DLL Unregister, edit the properties of the shortcut and include the /u switch and you can now take a DLL and "send to" DLL Unregister.

Happy shortcuts.