Tweaking R2 Create Lists

1. Against all odds, my SQL server re-install actually worked. I chose just to Remove the Database Services and then used the setup cd to install just that piece. Then ran the two hotfixes and it all seemed to work! I had to re-attach both databases (R2 and appcontrol) and I had to re-configure the SQL Server to accept remote connections. It is still not accepting requests through the "real" web browser, only the dev. browser. I am hoping next restart will take care of this.

2. Remember to STOP the development browser before refreshing the page. (IE has always sucked this way!)

3. My real goals for today were to:

• alter appearance of R2 using stylesheets
• alter the Create Lists Web Form (I added a button)
• alter a function so it pops up a javascript alert (done!)
  
  I also...
  
• changed the default behavior of the web form (i.e. it Shows All instead of just 'A')

I think next time I will try to create a new R2 tab / page (with no functions) and in a tester application, perhaps try out all the ASP.NET controls to be sure I know what they are / do. I also still need to write (in English) what I want my new 'module' to do.

SQL Server Blues...

It was all working swimmingly. Then, suddenly, I could not start the SQL Server Database Services. Was it all the Removing of Programs I did one day in Add/Remove Programs? Was it related to installing the SP2 Update and Hotfix?

Plus, house guests have been here. So, no real progress since I got R2 actually running! Dismay!

As I type, I am attempting to reinstall the Database Services part of SQL Server... then will try to run R2, then install the SP2 and its hotfix. It is such a behemoth.

Why I love my sysadmins, part II

So after many failed attempts to configure the connection strings in rgproto, as well as mucking through various SQL Server and ASP.NET configurations, I finally broke down and asked Bill for help... a few minutes later and he (of course) instantly saw what I should do: use the connection strings that worked for my test database, and just substitute the initial catalog. I had been trying to use his rgproto connection strings, and somehow substitute in my server/machine/account info.
Now I have my own local instance of R2, complete with database connectivity! Joy!

Configuring ASP.NET 2.0 Application Services

Also I had to configure my ASP.NET 2.0 Application Services by running a utility from the Command Line!!! Now, I'm not afraid of the command line -- but I kinda expected that something so fundamental would be part of a GUI somewhere.... I mean, this isn't LAMP...
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479307.aspx

Why I love my sysadmins...

Today was huge! Let me just state, for the record, that I know pretty much nothing about Windows beyond the user level. So IIS, SQL Server, and the mysterious world of "Services" are pretty much totally new to me. I know IIS' default root dir is inetpub/wwwroot and I know how to set permissions on directories within. That's it.

I brought my work PC home, since my laptop was NOT beefy enough to run SQL Server. So I had to set up SQL server on the new machine, which I'll call "the new machine." This turned out to be a trick because it already had SQL Server Express, and it wouldn't upgrade. Not that it felt it necessary to inform me of this. So it installed everything but the Database Engine (kinda fundamental). Not that it felt it necessary to inform me of this. Then it kept telling me this or that service wasn't started, but they weren't in the Services List... anyway, long story short, I finally had to uninstall all things SQL and then install fresh.

OK so then I had to get my Visual Studio projects from laptop to new PC, and merely copying the files didn't quite do it - had to figure out how to add existing web site to a new solution file. Done.

THEN I had to get my SQL Server databases from laptop to new PC and unlike MySQL there seems to be no easy LOAD DATA INFILE or some such. I mean, check this out: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314546

I ended up using the detach / attach procedure, although it would have helped if they'd explained that these are simply in the Management Studio GUI. This seemed to work GREAT. Awesome.

Next was getting my IIS to serve websites to localhost. I expected it to just "do this" but it was good I went in and played with it because I had to update it from ASP 1.x to ASP 2.x and also I learned to specify that rgproto was an "application." Then guess what: it just magically appeared, AND (apparently) it connected to hollywood and actually works!!!

Next step will be to get it to connect to my local copy of the database. Then I can start mucking around for real.

Whew. Now I know even *more* reasons to appreciate system administrators (as if I needed more reasons). It's a pain to be your own.

Master Pages with JavaScript and CSS; GridView

My accomplishments for today are creating a set of master pages (one master page, one nested master page) that reference a CSS and a JavaScript file. The Javascript is used to measure screen elements and then size the header appropriately. Also, I displayed a GridView that connects to a real Access database -- woo hoo!

Stupid Microsoft ... web server angst

So I can't run my new Web application via a normal (non-Visual Studio) web browser because I have XP Home rather than Pro, so I don't have IIS to serve the web page. And the web sites that tell you how to hack it are dire.

I did install Apache just for fun, and it displayed the asp controls in text format, rather nicely, if not graphically:

asp:button id="importFT" runat="server" text="blah blah"

Had to remove the angle brackets to get the code to display in the blog!
For the record, apparently there is a non-hack way to run ASP.NET on the Apache web server: http://www.mono-project.com/

but hopefully JMU will just spring for an upgrade to XP Pro.

In the meantime I'll enjoy showing myself my own apps through the Visual Studio browser. Whee.

I happened upon what seems like an excellent walkthrough introduction to ASP.NET, called Real World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System.

That title sounds huge, but the book starts small and then builds each chapter so that by the end, you do have a CMS (which the author calls CMS.NET). And, hopefully, an understanding of the inherent structures. I think that's what I'm going to start next. I've paused in my reading of Programming ASP.NET because I'm waiting for the newer edition; my library only had 2003 in print and there's a 2005 for 2.0. The CMS.NET book is also older but I like its approach so much that I'm game to go ahead and try it. Also, it doesn't get too fancy.

I've also drawn some possible interface pictures, and outlined some classes and methods that would need to go with different features. Some of these are already in R2. I haven't decided whether to try to copy R2, or, in the interest of education, to try to write them myself first and then compare with R2 to see how I could have done it differently.

First C# program

Today I wrote my first C# program, following an example in a book: it created a window object and then two other objects that derived from the window object but overrode the window object's DrawWindow method. Then I drew each object. And indeed they overrode the window object's methods. All in the console! It was breathtaking.

Finished reading R2 admin code

Just finished reading Bill's R2 admin code - WOW. Still need to DL and read the public side of R2. Will also begin reading Programming ASP.NET or at least the parts I know I really don't get.

Learning C#

Today I finished Learning C#, by Jesse Liberty. It's rough for this perl girl to admit it, but there just might be something to appreciate here. Next step for me is to read Bill and Greg's R2 code and see if I can make sense of the structure now that I understand (or at least know of) classes, methods, interfaces, delegates, etc.

First post to My Library Syndication

So, I'm on Summer Leave until August, 2007. Awesome.

My creative project for the leave will be to learn ASP.NET, C#, and maybe a little AJAX. My subject for these technologies will be library syndication, which is all the rage on the library-related parts of this network of tubes we call the Internet.

This blog will (hopefully) help me keep track of related web sites, projects, books, and other stuff I find that seem to feed into my scope.