Tuesday, September 16, 2003Seems like a lot of my posts lately have started with something like "Here's a weird IE bug" or "Here's something odd in .NET" but...
Here's a weird IE thing. We do a lot of Check Imaging and Statement stuff here, so if someone wants to go online and get an image of a check, they can. We often use Web Services to talk to a Check Imaging Server. Most often we retrieve PNG, JPEG, or GIF. Sometimes, however, the client wants an Adobe Acrobat PDF.
We'll make the SOAP call, get a PDF then stream it directly to the user (You don't want to save these kinds of things, for security purposes).
Enter bug/feature Q293792. Not a lot seems to have been written about this, and not a lot of people seem to care, but apparently when opening a full ActiveX embedding window (to host Acrobat, etc) IE makes either THREE or TWO requests for the content. This is apparently "by design" as URLMON and MSHTML have trouble communicating. So, MSHTML sends a request to "sniff" for the MIME type to figure out what app to load.
Other than being a bandwidth hog, this wouldn't be a big deal - except, when the generation/retrieval of a PDF is an expensive operation involving a WS call to the back end. (Wow, a production Web Service! Madness! Heresy! ;) )
What's interesting is that IE changes the UserAgent HTTP Header to "contype" during the probe, obstensibly so we can simple return the MIME/type and not the actual data.
So, we need to handle that...something like (in classic ASP "psuedo-code"):
If Instr(1, UserAgent, "contype") > 0 Then
'Just send the mime/type
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"
Response.End
End If
So, that's not too bad. But, even the "Fixed" versions of IE still send TWO requests. So, we want to detect the second request and not return the whole thing again.
Here's the other ODD point. For reasons unknown to me, IE doesn't include the Accept-Language header when making this second call, so, we have them use what has already been sent by saying "Not-Modifed":
Dim Language
Language = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE")
If Language = "" then
Response.Clear
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"
Response.AddHeader "Last-modified", "Mon, 01 Sep 1997 01:03:33 GMT"
Response.Status = "304 Not Modified"
Response.End
End If
Ah, the fun of supporting older versions of IE. I think we need an updated IE Roadmap.
The future of browsing, dear readers, is up in the air, IMHO.
Updated Link to this post 5:05:12 PM # comment [] trackback []
Thursday, September 11, 2003Why do I code? Because I can't cook, or change my own oil, or mow lawns. Because I lettered in drama in High School but I never got discovered walking an L.A. mall. Because I never made any money doing standup. Because, God help me, if I wasn't coding the only think I'd be good at would be selling cars. (I'm REALLY good at selling cars. Seriously.)
For real, I code because I like solving problems that are decidedly solvable. I mean, I hear the problem, I think for a moment, I figure it's "possible" and then I try to figure how to solve it in a way that feels good. Because I dig physics. Because the end of the Carl Sagan's "Contact" was UNSPEAKABLY cool. I code because of that feeling I've gotten 5 or 6 times when I just NAILED a problem and (while alone) raised my arms high in victory the same way that rapid sports fans do. Except I look at them with a worried disdain when they do it, but secretly I wish I felt like that more often.
I code because coding, at its best, is art and literature and math and physics all at the same time.
Updated Link to this post 5:33:35 PM # comment [] trackback []
Wednesday, September 10, 2003So, two people commented (one email, one blog comment) with some confusion over the 11/9. Here's the explanation:
It was an internationalization joke (and a good one I thought) When we say 9/11 (formatted mmddyy) most people in the STATES assume we mean September 11. In the last two years the word 'nineeleven' means more than just a date. But it's use and newly attached deep meaning underscores how alone we are as a nation (not just politically) in things like date formatting and the measuring systems. The rest of the planet uses ddmmyy, so they would say "11/9".
The joke is, when we say "oh, ya, 9/11 was a horrible day," a non-american might say, "November 9th? What happened?" Of course, nothing happened on 11/9, we just assume that 9/11 or 4/3 or 8/12 means the same thing to us as it does to them...
P.S. There was a local news report a while back that the local news had pulled off the AP NewsWire. Some fellow came in on a Tourist Visa and transferred to a Student Visa. At some point, he was arrested for some thing or the other and the local news lady, thinking this fellow had gotten away with some clever chicanery commented slyly that his identity was called into question when the news station "discovered" that his drivers license said he was born on 4/3 but his birth certificate listed his DOB as 3/4. Oh, those wacky terrorists trying to pull one over on us. If I had a nickel for every time an international friend reversed a date on a form...
Updated Link to this post 4:16:24 PM # comment [] trackback []
Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Orlando to speak at ASPLive on Internationalization. I'll be flying exactly two years (to the minute) from September 11. Needless to say, the wife's justifiably not happy about it and I have mixed feelings.
My boss says that even flying on September 11th is safer than driving any day. I'm not sure about that, but I'll definitely be expecting some extra security. It's always a challenge to get my Insulin Pump through.
If you're in Orlando at VSLive, please do stop by my Friday afternoon session called "It's the WORLDWIDE Web." I'll be showing some cool stuff in ASP.NET like a banking site in English, Chinese, Malay, Spanish and Arabic. We'll talk all about System.Globalization and dig into the issues around Dates, Currency, Culture and Right to Left languages. It's a very interesting topic. I may try to greet the crowd in at least 10 languages. :)
Remember, when we talk about what happened on 9/11, most people in the world wonder what happened on November 9th...
Updated Link to this post 2:30:30 PM # comment [] trackback []
Well, that was a nice little spike of traffic. A few random thoughts:
- Thanks to everyone for comments and author corrections for the tools on my List o' Tools.
- Too bad Radio doesn't appear to support Trackback/Pingback from 'Stories' or I'd know who's linking to me.
- I'll continue to update the tools list as I add more. I'll also try to categorize it one day.
- Note that I only keep favorite tools - no cruft, no crap. This isn't a list of "all tools" or "favorite tools" but rather "things that make my life better"
- Some folks commented that it was mostly Windows and .NET stuff. True, true. That's where I live now, but some tools/utils I didn't include were Grep for Windows and Cygwin and Visual Studio Power Toys, etc, as I didn't think they qualified as simple little utils, although maybe they do.
- I didn't include a utilities that are internal (either Corillian-internal or Microsoft-internal) although I wish I could. There's some amazing stuff out there.
- Now only if my list could get Scobleized by Robert's 18 readers...
- As I sit here and look at my Start Menu, that fills my 1600x1200 screen and runs off the right edge, I see at least 40 other great utils that AREN'T in C:/UTILS that I missed. I'll add them one day.
Updated Link to this post 11:49:06 AM # comment [] trackback []
Tuesday, September 09, 2003Roy Osherove suggested that I post a list of the contents of my C:/UTILS folder. Everyone collects utilities, and most folks have a list of a few that they feel are indispensable. Here's mine. Each has a distinct purpose, and I probably touch each at least a few times a week. For me, util means utilitarian and it means don't clutter my tray. If it saves me time, and seamlessly integrates with my life, it's the bomb.
Here are most of the contents of my C:/UTILS folder. These are all well loved and used. I wouldn't recommend them if I didn't use them constantly. Perhaps Roy didn't realize what he was asking for.
One day I'll categorize them (if someone cares) but until the, here's "Scott Hanselman's Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tools List" for your approval.
Updated Link to this post 2:51:03 PM # comment [] trackback []
Monday, September 08, 2003Just when I'm asked to start thinking about Technology Roadmaps, I find this great dissection of the Microsoft Technology Roadmap. Some highlights:
Disappearing Code Names (Gone, But Not Forgotten)
Product Name/ "Code Name" Additional Info. Projected Ship Date "Shorthorn" (33) Stopgap release of Windows client 2003 .Net My Services/ "Hailstorm" MS thought to be building many of these into future Windows editions 2004 "BizOffice" combo BizTalk-Office application for B2B 2003 (?)
Updated Link to this post 4:53:21 PM # comment [] trackback []
Finally got around to installing my new shiny version of SoapScope, the little sniffer that could. I showed an early beta at TechEd 2003 in Dallas, but now it's released! It's wicked cheap, and when you're doing Web Services development in a workgroup situation, especially when the interface is in flux and the folks on the other side are in another time zone, it's slick.
It stores all the traffic in a built-in database and others can view and debug the service as it moves through time using a web interface served by it's internal (Apache) web server. It sniffs traffic via a packet capture OR as a proxy.
Two new features that I'm really digging are the WSDL Analyzer that checks for validity and compilance, and the Diff-er, that gives a sweet view of what's been changing from call to call, version to version.
Updated Link to this post 3:52:56 PM # comment [] trackback []
My buddy Jonas Blunck, hero of the people and maker of ComTrace and IEHttpHeaders has done it again (along with Kim Gräsman) with DeveloperPlayground. At first it looks like Process Explorer from SysInternals, but it includes such cleverness as:
DeveloperPlayground now lives happily in the hallowed halls of my C:/UTILS folder with the best of them. Great job guys, keep it up! I think be using and suggesting this util in my C# Class this fall.
Updated Link to this post 3:04:29 PM # comment [] trackback []
A nice clean way to describe the ramifications of the decisions we have to make every day. Also, a way to describe to our bosses (in term$ they understand) why doing something quick-and-dirty may bite us in the ass.
"Technical Debt is a wonderful metaphor developed by Ward Cunningham to help us think about this problem. In this metaphor, doing things the quick and dirty way sets us up with a technical debt, which is similar to a financial debt. Like a financial debt, the technical debt incurs interest payments, which come in the form of the extra effort that we have to do in future development because of the quick and dirty design choice. We can choose to continue paying the interest, or we can pay down the principal by refactoring the quick and dirty design into the better design. Although it costs to pay down the principal, we gain by reduced interest payments in the future" [Martin's Bliki]
Updated Link to this post 2:15:11 PM # comment [] trackback []
Saturday, September 06, 2003Still on vacation...it's my first one in I don't know how long and I am ALL kinds of jet-lagged. I just don't know what time it is. When we went to Zimbabwe (+10 hours) I had no jet-lag, but Malaysia (+15) is messing me up.
Anyway, turns out that the Zen of .NET presentation at TechEd Malaysia did all right. Apparently there was a short write-up in the Malaysian newspaper "The Star" on The Zen of .NET. I don't remember saying some of the quotes, but it's still nice to see that the talk resonated with folks.
Back to work, and too blogging on Monday. I've got a particularly interesting Web Services and WSE 2.0 multi-protocol problem I've got to share.
Updated Link to this post 4:22:17 PM # comment [] trackback []
Tuesday, September 02, 2003Here's an interesting idea via Bill Wagner - a code copyright watermarker...it creates an obfuscated function that contains your copyright notice. Clever...of course when you look at the generated code, you can see it isn't required and it's easily removed.
Updated Link to this post 8:37:59 PM # comment [] trackback []
Kevin Schuler's PDCBloggers.net is up and it looks like it's going to be HUGE - much bigger than TechEdBloggers. Already the list of blogging Attendees is 46 and growing!
Updated Link to this post 8:21:26 PM # comment [] trackback []
I reported in August of the Tragedy Of The Missing TechEd DEV389 Session on the Conference DVDs. Fortunately, my Malaysian buddy Fun Jim Lim pointed out that my session is available online! Glory of glories. Now the 3 people who've shown up here via Google looking for it will actually find something!
TechEd 2003's DEV389: Learning to Love WSDL is here: http://microsoft.sitestream.com/DEV/DEV389_files/default.htm
Updated Link to this post 7:58:25 PM # comment [] trackback []
My blogging buddy Jeff Key (maker of the increasingly useful NetPing) has posted yet another snazzy util, a Code Snippet Compiler. As .NET folks, we all find ourselves creating junk Console applications with a Console.WriteLine just to test a snippet of code! His utility sits in the tray and is always ready when you want to whip out a quick line or two. Very cool.
Updated Link to this post 7:54:19 PM # comment [] trackback []
Well, we're back from Malaysia, and I'm officially on my first vacation in recent memory. I've had a couple of bloggable things on my mind, but I've been limited by time and internet access.
I arrived home and checked my hanselman.com email from my home machine. (I'd been checking my email remotely with OddPost, which is only the greatest remote email client since, well, ever.) I use POP3, as I don't trust my server enough to use IMAP, and I leave the mail on the server and retrieve it from three or four different locations and client. We were gone for 10 days, and as I hit Send/Receive I notice the status bar informing me that I have 1784 emails. Seems a smidge much for only 10 days. Of this mails about 1600 were spam and the remaining ~180 were legitimate emails that I'll need to deal with.
That's it. It's whitelisting time. I refuse to deal with this much spam. For the last few months I've been using Spamnet, but I can't justify paying $1.99 a month to prevent email I didn't ask for! So, I will now use the Junk Mail features in Outlook 2003 to automatically JUNK all email until I've added emails to a local whitelist.
Next step is to look into a server-based whitelisting system for all my hanselman.com email account users and family members. Anyone have any suggestions?
Updated Link to this post 7:27:00 PM # comment [] trackback []
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