Adventures in GAC#

MSKB 317540 article Global Assembly Cache (GAC) APIs Are Not Documented in the .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) Documentation came in handy when I recently experienced writing a deployment script to GAC an assembly. While MS Windows Installer should have been the most natural choice, I wrote a C# APP to spawn gacutil with System.Diagnostic’s Process class and used System.IO for file copying and folder creation. This App determined .NET framework path at run-time to invoke gacutil.exe and it worked like a charm on my machine; however, it failed during platform-test since gacutil isn’t distributed with runtime.

 

With some experience, it turned out that this approach to GAC isn’t smartest choice when it comes to network deployment; (C# version of this KB article is here: Install an Assembly into the Global Assembly Cache in Visual C# .NET). Windows Application deployment wizard turned out to be the most feasible solution but exploring how mono or DotGNU may implement gacutil will be a good learning experience.

 

Couple of good reads: Using a Custom Action to Pre-Compile an Assembly During Installation,

Frequently Asked Questions About Windows Installer

 

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I learn.-

-Confucius


3/31/2004 11:35:48 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [16]  |  Trackback

 

My links farm - distributed goodness#

 

Things I found interesting enough to share.

 

My amazon wishlist, for those who may want to buy me a gift! Ken, are you reading this?


3/28/2004 2:52:27 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [10]  |  Trackback

 

Steve Kapsinow starts blogging#

Steve, Editor of 15seconds.com started blogging on weblogs.asp.net . Tech Writing - What Is It Good For? is an interesting read for those interested in tech writing.

hmm...wondering if last sentence is an oxymoron?


3/28/2004 2:07:47 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [3]  |  Trackback

 

Web Application frameworks - Struts, ASP.NET & yummy wafers (non VLSI) #

A December 2003 MSDN Article on ASP.NET and Struts: Web Application Architectures was discussed exhaustively on various technical forums including theserverside.com; it’s an interesting reading to understand the how comparative analysis of architectures unfold.

There is another framework comparative studies project Wafer (Web Application Framework Research project) as defined on their website.

"Wafer is a research project which compares the many open source web application frameworks which are available using a common example application. This research project is designed to compare the application frameworks on a level field by specifying an example application so that the application features become irrelevent and the merits of each framework becomes the focus"

Just read ASP.NET Overtakes JSP and Java Servlets; a bit hostile but we are catching up!
 

MSDN has a section on migration which provides various knowledgeable articles collectively. But I reserve rights not to agree with this particular case study of JLCA because my experience with conversion of Bayesian corpus classification library wasn’t very pleasant.


3/24/2004 7:04:01 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [4]  |  Trackback

 

Generalized Callbacks: C++ and C##

Couple of good articles I was going through lately.

  • Generalized Callbacks: C++ and C# - Dr. Dobb's Journal March 2003
  • Build intelligent Web applications through conditional probability
  • Apply probability models to Web data using PHP
  • Spam filtering techniques
  • What UML Is and Isn't Craig Larman, Java Pro March/April 2004
  • Adventures in Palindromes Putting backtracking strategies to work William R. Mahoney, Ph.D.
    Dr. Dobb's Journal April 2004
  • Web Services & Relational Databases Alexander Vaschillo Dr. Dobb's Journal April 2004
  • Time-lapse mpeg animations
    Generating time-lapse animations starts with acquiring and storing images, then combining them in a single file.
    by Stephen B. Jenkin Dr. Dobb's Journal April 2004
  • Building a Custom Rule Engine With Prolog
    Rule-based and logic-based tools for encoding logical knowledge Dennis Merritt Dr. Dobb's Journal March 2004  

I was having a weird problem in windows XP as defined here. I suppose it’s a major file system parse point error which should be fixed WinXP SP2 whose RC1 was made available yesterday.


3/21/2004 1:42:33 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [12]  |  Trackback

 

DevDays 2004 Round-Up#

Adnan Masood just returned from DevDays 2004 in Los Angeles. Here he provides some thoughts and insights into the Web application security-focused conference.

www.15seconds.com

Direct link to Article
http://www.15seconds.com/Issue/040318.htm

 


3/18/2004 1:50:43 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [0]  |  Trackback

 

Impossible is nothing.#

Yesterday at DevDays2004, I read this quote on an adidas billboard in front of LA convention center. It's really inspiring;

 

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.

Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion.
Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare.
Impossible is potential.
Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing. 


3/16/2004 1:23:02 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [0]  |  Trackback

 

MS Architects Journal#

Microsoft EMEA Architects Journal January 2004 Issue is out. PDF could be downloaded from here. This journal comprises of the following writings.

  • Enterprise Arhictecture Design and the Integrated Architecture Framework
    Andrew Macaulay, CGEY 
  • Understanding Service Oriented Architecture
    David Sprott and Lawrence Wilkes, CBDI Forum 
  • Business Process Decomposition and Service Identification using Communication Patterns
    Gerke Geurts and Adrie Geelhoed, LogicaCMG  
  • Metadata-driven Application Design and Development
    Kevin S. Perera, Temenos 
  • Best Practices for Rule-Based Application Development
    Dennis Merritt, Amzi! Inc. 
  • DasBlog: Notes from Building a Distributed .NET Collaboration System
    Clemens Vasters, newtelligence AG

    And an good basic intro about Basics of Bayesian Inference and Belief Networks at Microsoft Research.

3/15/2004 12:09:39 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [14]  |  Trackback

 

Portal announcement & .NET goodies#
Nauman Laghari announced the launch of BlogWeaver.com - .NET focused feeds portal and Devmobile.net - Bradford University Mobile Developer's Portal. Kudos to Laghari & the fellas!
 
Also, some sneak peaks from mydevdays2004.com
 

ASP.NET Exposed
Learn about ASP.NET from the Microsoft Product Team, including a brief introduction to ASP.NET, development tips and tricks, security best practices, and an overview of ASP.NET Whidbey.
Slides Demos

FREE Personalized Learning Plan

Free .NET Skills Assessments 
 
Webcasts & Shows
 
Also
and last but not the least
Developing XML Web Services Using Microsoft ASP.NET free modules 1 and 2 for download.
 
Happy dotNetting!

3/14/2004 10:13:16 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [0]  |  Trackback

 

Intellectual Property Protection and Code Obfuscation#

My new article is published on 15seconds.com

Mar 10, 2004 - Intellectual Property Protection and Code Obfuscation
Learn about the execution process of CLR-based programs and how to protect your applications from being easily disassembled back into source code.

Its broken down into five parts.

  • Introduction
  • PEManifest
  • Code Obfuscation
  • How Open Source Works?
  • Conclusion
  • For an archieve of my writings, visit http://www.15seconds.com/Issue/wa.htm#masood


    3/10/2004 2:10:48 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [1]  |  Trackback

     

    Microsoft Research Explores Quantum Computer#

    Does nature abhor a quantum computer?

    That's what Michael Freedman, a senior researcher in Microsoft Research, is trying to find out. It's his job to figure out how to build a physical quantum computer, and the challenge is not easy.

    http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=297


    3/7/2004 1:26:32 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [3]  |  Trackback

     

    Prime Obsession - Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Puzzles#

    Keith Delvin in "The Millennium Problems: The Seven Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Puzzles of Our Time" ASIN 0465017290 which was recently reviewed by Guardian describes the following as seven greatest mathematical puzzles.

    I googled and saved links for later reading; Not in a position to say of they are seven greatest of all times but they pretty much look like it.


    3/3/2004 8:52:30 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [9]  |  Trackback

     

    Dev Days 2004#

    The trend of events websites is thriving; Microsoft's Dev Days 2004 is the simillar effort concentrating on community process and resource listing making it a one stop shop. Local News, USer groups in the area, presentation slides, Developer Centers, Content Catalogue and special offer listings are some of the features of this website.

    I'm attending Smart Client Track at DevDays 2004 on 15th March 2004 in Los Angeles, CA. As said on website "With a focus on building secure smart client and Web applications using Microsoft® Visual Studio® .NET, this event will help you add power and security to your applications the moment you walk out the do"

    Looking forward to get bags full of goodies!

     


    3/2/2004 10:17:40 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) #    Comments [1]  |  Trackback

     

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