Are You in the Know? Find Out What's New with Code Access Security in the .NET Framework 2.0 -- MSDN Magazine, November 2005

I've got to read this some time soon.

It's Me, and Here's My Proof: Why Identity and Authentication Must Remain Distinct -- TechNet Column - Security Management - February 2006

Why you can't rely on just biometrics for authentication. Your fingerprint tells who you are (your ID). So what if someone chopped off your finger?

Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER") - What is going on?

NIS by default blocks the header "HTTP_REFERER" to be sent from the browser to the server. If your web application is depending on this servervariable, and your clients are using NIS, then do the following:

NIS:
- Privacy control - configure
- Advanced button
- Global settings tab
- "Information about visited sites"

If blocked (this appears to be the default) then HTTP-REFERER is wiped out. Change this option to allow the header to be sent.

.NET Tools: Ten Must-Have Tools Every Developer Should Download Now -- MSDN Magazine, July 2004

You cannot expect to build a first-class application unless you use the best available tools. Besides well-known tools such as Visual Studio® .NET, there are a multitude of small, lesser-known tools available from the .NET community. In this article, James Avery describes some of the best free tools available today that target .NET development.

FuzzyEnumParse

This function takes an Enum type and a text representing the value of the enum, and if the Enum has a field with a name contained in the text (enumText), then it returns that value.

For use when for instance the database field to parse from has been extended somewhat... Modify to suit your needs!

private object FuzzyEnumParse(System.Type type, string enumText)
{
  System.Reflection.FieldInfo[] fis = type.GetFields();
  foreach(System.Reflection.FieldInfo fi in fis)
  {
    if(fi.Name!="value__")
    {
      object obj=fi.GetValue(null);
      if(enumText.IndexOf(obj.ToString())>-1)
      {
        return obj;
      }
    }
  }
  return null;
}

Serialising doesn't work for read-only properties in webservices

I have been puzzled by the behavior of my webservice. I have a couple of properties in an object that is sent as a parameter to the webservice. Since these properties are not assigned directly by any code, I didn't implement a "set" method for the properies. (As it turns out: Bad mistake!)

What happened was that the values were set in the client to "true", but when the object arrived inside the webservice, the values were suddenly "false".

It turns out, if you don't implement both "get" and "set" for a property, it will not be serialised.

#2413 : Why do I get non-database-related 80004005 errors?: "Request object, ASP 0104
Operation not allowed"

I got this error at a customer's after they upgraded their web servers to Windows Server 2003. The error appears when trying to upload files through the web. Turns out there is a setting in the metabase.xml file (located in the Windows\System32\inetsrv directory) called AspMaxRequestEntityAllowed, that sets the maximum filesize allowed to be uploaded. This is set very low as a default, to only 204 Kb. In Windows 2000 Server you could upload files much larger (well at or above 1 Meg anyway, I believe).

Best Practices for Microsoft Business Intelligence : Checks used for remoting a query to the server

Describes different reasons why a query can not be executed on the server.

Discworld Quotes

A page with lots of cool quotes from the Discworld series (Terry Prattchett).

My favorite (from "Thief of Time):
If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-Of-The-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.

Another good one:
"I'll tell you, the day someone pulls the plug out of the bottom of the universe, the chain will lead all the way to Ankh-Morpork and some bugger saying, 'I just wanted to see what would happen.'"

OleDbException E_FAIL(0x80004005)

Got this message when I was trying to connect to Analysis Services:
Exception: System.Data.OleDb.OleDbException
Message: No error information available: E_FAIL(0x80004005).

Looks like the most common explanation is that one of the field names in the query is a SQL reserved word, like for instance "Name", "Size" or "Read". If you use bracketed field names this should not be a problem.

LinkD

A little comparation of the subst command and the LinkD tool. From Craig Andera's blog. Craig also published the now legendary "The last config section handler I'll ever need".

MSDN TV: Special Holiday Episode III: Connecting People, Programs and Devices Using WinFX: "Special Holiday Episode III: Connecting People, Programs and Devices Using WinFX"

Don Box and Chris Anderson show how to build real applications that leverage the major components in WinFX. With rich UI, robust communication, and workflow control, they build an application that integrates with various devices laying around Don's home to demonstrate how to use WinFX together.

Setting where calculated members in an OLAP cube should be processed

This post says:
"Because, for example, if your query return less then 1000 members by dimension in your query, all the data is retrieve to the client and the calculated members are calculated on the client side."

So actually the calculated members are by default calculated by the client. This explains why so much CPU is used on the client when there are a lot of calculated members.

To set the location for calculating the members to the server, you can use this parameter in the query string:
Execution Location=3

AutoAccept Sink for Exchange

The AutoAccept Sink for Exchange is a tool for Exchange 2000 that allows resource mailboxes to automatically accept/decline meeting requests based on a combination of factors. These factors include the free/busy status of the resource, whether the requestor is authorized, and many other configurable settings.

Using the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Debugger with ASP.NET Applications

A very annoing part of VS is debugging. Debugging always hangs after some steps... The article answers some of the questions around debugging. Except my solution still hangs after 3-5 steps...

Performance Considerations for Making Web Service Calls from ASPX Pages: "At Your Service: Performance Considerations for Making Web Service Calls from ASPX Pages"

This article describes a way of connection to a web service asynchronously that is 8 times faster than the usual synchronous method.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol"

Shows how to run a manual mail session to test connectivity to a mail server.

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services Performance Guide

OLAP Performance

Microsoft OLAP Technical Info (articles, whitepapers etc)

As you may have guessed, I am struggling with OLAP performance at the time being. These links provide some information on the subject.

Rick LaPlante's WebLog

Today I'm meeting Rick LaPlante, who is responsible for the development of Microsofts new Team System (VSTS). Looking forward to it... Hope I can come up with some good questions.

Mike Woodring's .NET Sample Page

Stumbled across this page... Nice samples.