Rob Howard: Extending the ASP.NET Roadshow

I went to the Roadshow here in Chicago in January. The site was changed a few days before since the event outgrew the original location. The new location was a circus tent attached to a restaurant.

To make matters worse, they turned off the heaters when the presentation started. I lasted 15 minutes...

Kirk Allen Evans:

A Better ExceptionXmlPublisher for the Exception Management Application Block. This snippet incorporates part of a post from microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.  It shows how to allow multiple threads to write to the same file at once, using a mutex to provide concurrency.  This example is integrated with the Exception Management Block to provide a means of logging errors in multi-user applications to XML files.

I use the EMAB as well to log to a file. I need to put this mutex code in my solution -- Thanks Kirk. However, the log file in Kirk's example may not be well-formed. He is appending exceptionInfo.OuterXml to the file each time. My version: ExceptionPublisher.htm

I spent some time looking at SmarterTools. It is designed for an ISP to generate reports for their customers. For example, you create "sites" and define where to find the logs for that site. The location can be local, UNC paths or FTP sites. It will then collect the log files and update its internal statistics in the background.

I am very impressed. I won't be using the tool, however. Although I built the websites for a number of organizations, I am not hosting a statistics service for them. If I were, SmarterTools would get serious consideration.

I found a .Net-based program that will generate statistical reports from your webserver log files. SmarterTools is fee for use on your development machine, so it is perfect for in-frequent requests about traffic.  Very nice.

While I can understand code written in C#, I still feel more comfortable in VB. To fill in the blanks, I use the converter page at Clarity Consulting to help with the translation. Thanks Clarity Consulting!

http://www.chamisplace.com/colorizer/cc.asp Very nice.

Thanks to a tip from Torsten, I've setup w.bloggar to support titles and categories. Thanks!

I have one little bit to add -- after changing the settings, re-login to your blog (press F9). If all is working, then you should get a Title text box and Category drop-down in the w.bloggar UI.

BTW - are you the Torsten from the BlogWorks XML forums?

I'm not sure the w.bloggar (or any other) pc-based blog program is going to work. w.bloggar tries to talk to the server upon launch. If that happens to be while I'm disconnected, I have to wait for the network error. In true developer fashion, I'll probably try to create my own tool. I have dasBlog loaded on the laptop, so I'm thinking that I post to the local machine. My tool will reconcile the entries on the laptop with those on the server.

UPDATE: Microsoft just release the Offline Application Block, which is exactly what I need. But, I don't know if I have the time for a full-featured winform application.

The blog engine I am using is dasBlog from newtelligence. It is written in .Net and stores the data in the file system. It is a great learing tool for ASP.Net and object oriented development. Very highly recommended.

I use FeedDemon from Nick Bradbury.

I'm re-starting my blog.