I figure I would share this as I’ve been having a heck of a time adding the NUnit test framework to ASP.NET MVC project in VS2008 Professional.  I’m running Windows 7 RTM 64-bit and most of the examples on the web don’t take into account the differences associated with a 64-bit OS.  So keep in mind this template is for a 64-bit OS, specifically Windows 7. 

To start, the path in the registry where the NUnit entries need to get added is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\MVC\TestProjectTemplates\NUnit\C#

Also, the template zip file needs to get copied to the following folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\CSharp\Test\1033

A lot of people instruct people to place it one directory above the one I listed, which wouldn’t work for some reason.  I zipped everything up so just download the zip file, unzip it, and run the regnunittomvc.bat to install.  Also keep in mind that this will work with any version of NUnit.  I just installed this with NUnit 2.5.2.9222 and it worked beautifully.  I also included Rhino.Mocks with this template also (version 3.6).  Enjoy.

While searching for a potential docking station for my new iPhone, I came across this DIY Paper Dock that, well, is simply awesome!

Be sure to check out the link as there is also an instructional video.  I think I’m going to go with this one :)

I just reformatted one of my boxes at home here where I run IIS, SQL Server 2008, host my subversion repositories, and CruiseControl.NET.  I upgraded the OS on this box from Vista Ultimate SP1 to Windows 7 Ultimate RTM.  During the process of reinstalling all of my apps, development tools and reconfiguring those tools I ran into the problem of getting CC.NET to work under IIS 7.  One of the issues I had was that the virtual directory that the CC.NET installer creates was not getting created.  I then manually created the virtual directory and pointed it to the webdashboard directory where CC.NET was installed.  This didn't work either.  After doing some searching I found that the virtual directory needs to have the "Classic .NET AppPool" application pool in order for it to work propertly.  After I made that change I got a little further but received this error when trying to view the project web page:

Server Error
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HTTP Error 404.11 – URL_DOUBLE_ESCAPED
HRESULT: 0
Description of HRESULT # The operation completed successfully.

I found a Microsoft KB article that describes the problem and how to fix it, offering several ways to get around it.  The option I chose was to open a command prompt and issue the following command:

Appcmd set config "Default Web Site" /section:system.webServer/Security/requestFiltering -allowDoubleEscaping:True

I then reset IIS and boom, all was running properly.  Hope this helps anyone encountering these problems trying to get CC.NET running on IIS 7.

Curt Monash has a nice article on why every IT person should have his/her own blog.  I used to have reservations about having a blog.  I used to think no one would want to read what I had to say, or even worse, I’d have nothing to actually say.  But the reasons he gives to have a blog counter those thoughts.  Go give it a read here.

Steve Dunn recently released a new version of his Windows Live Writer plugin that allows you to insert code into your blog posts that properly formats and highlights everything.  It’s customizable and easy to use with a plethora of options.  This is by far the best code formatter for Live Writer out there.  And best of all, its FREE!  Here are a few samples of the different formats you can use:

Highlighted code:

        /// <summary>
        /// Retrieves all articles.
        /// </summary>
        public override List<ArticleDetails> GetArticles(int pageIndex, int pageSize)
        {
            List<ArticleDetails> articles = new List<ArticleDetails>();
            using (SqlConnection cn = new SqlConnection(this.ConnectionString))

Formatted code:

        /// <summary>
        /// Retrieves all articles.
        /// </summary>
        public override List<ArticleDetails> GetArticles(int pageIndex, int pageSize)
        {
            List<ArticleDetails> articles = new List<ArticleDetails>();
            using (SqlConnection cn = new SqlConnection(this.ConnectionString))

Code as bitmap:

This is a great tool – you can download the plugin here.  Enjoy!

I just received an email from Joe Albahari, creator of LINQPad, about a webinar he’s giving on April 16, 2009.  Joe has added some great new features to the upcoming version and has even placed the beta on his web site for us to preview.  Some of the new features are:

• The ability to query your own LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework classes
• ESQL querying
• First-class support for 1:1 relationships
• Enhanced autocompletion support including smart tags
• The ability to edit stored procedures, functions and views within LINQPad

Very good stuff.  You can get the preview here.

I guess Microsoft wanted to generate some excitement at MIX09 so it looks as if they released the final version for ASP.NET MVC 1.0.  You can download it here from Microsoft Downloads.

For those of you new to ASP.NET MVC, David Hayden has compiled a list of ASP.NET MVC Sample Web Applications.  This is a great place to visit if you’re just starting out with ASP.NET MVC.

Doug

90% Bush + 9% Cheney + 1% Maverick + 0% Knowledge of the Economy = 100% John McCain.

From a comment on this CNN article.