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• Part 2&ndash;Load Testing In The Cloud

  - by Tarun Arora

  Welcome to Part 2, In Part 1 we discussed the advantages of creating a Test Rig in the cloud, the Azure edge and the Test Rig Topology we want to get to. In Part 2, Let’s start by understanding the components of Azure we’ll be making use of followed by manually putting them together to create the test rig, so… let’s get down dirty start setting up the Test Rig.  What Components of Azure will I be using for building the Test Rig in the Cloud? To run the Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Compute and to enable communication between Test Controller and Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect.  Azure Connect The Test Controller is on premise and the Test Agents are in the cloud (How will they talk?). To enable communication between the two, we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect. With Windows Azure Connect, you can use a simple user interface to configure IPsec protected connections between computers or virtual machines (VMs) in your organization’s network, and roles running in Windows Azure. With this you can now join Windows Azure role instances to your domain, so that you can use your existing methods for domain authentication, name resolution, or other domain-wide maintenance actions. For more details refer to an overview of Windows Azure connect. A very useful video explaining everything you wanted to know about Windows Azure connect.  Azure Compute Windows Azure compute provides developers a platform to host and manage applications in Microsoft’s data centres across the globe. A Windows Azure application is built from one or more components called ‘roles.’ Roles come in three different types: Web role, Worker role, and Virtual Machine (VM) role, we’ll be using the Worker role to set up the Test Agents. A very nice blog post discussing the difference between the 3 role types. Developers are free to use the .NET framework or other software that runs on Windows with the Worker role or Web role. Developers can also create applications using languages such as PHP and Java. More on Windows Azure Compute. Each Windows Azure compute instance represents a virtual server... Virtual Machine Size CPU Cores Memory Cost Per Hour Extra Small Shared 768 MB $0.04 Small 1 1.75 GB $0.12 Medium 2 3.50 GB $0.24 Large 4 7.00 GB $0.48 Extra Large 8 14.00 GB $0.96   You might want to review the Windows Azure Pricing FAQ. Let’s Get Started building the Test Rig… Configuration Machine Role Comments VM – 1 Domain Controller for Playpit.com On Premise VM – 2 TFS, Test Controller On Premise VM – 3 Test Agent Cloud   In this blog post I would assume that you have the domain, Team Foundation Server and Test Controller Installed and set up already. If not, please refer to the TFS 2010 Installation Guide and this walkthrough on MSDN to set up your Test Controller. You can also download a preconfigured TFS 2010 VM from Brian Keller's blog, Brian also has some great hands on Labs on TFS 2010 that you may want to explore. I. Lets start building VM – 3: The Test Agent Download the Windows Azure SDK and Tools Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Azure Project using the Cloud Template                   Choose the Worker Role for reasons explained in the earlier post         The WorkerRole.cs implements the Run() and OnStart() methods, no code changes required. You should be able to compile the project and run it in the compute emulator (The compute emulator should have been installed as part of the Windows Azure Toolkit) on your local machine.                   We will only be making changes to WindowsAzureProject, open ServiceDefinition.csdef. Ensure that the vmsize is small (remember the cost chart above). Import the “Connect” module. I am importing the Connect module because I need to join the Worker role VM to the Playpit domain. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect"/> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg and note that settings with key ‘Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.%%%%’ have been added to the configuration file. This is because you decided to import the connect module. See the config below. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="1" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>             Let’s go step by step and understand all the highlighted parameters and where you can find the values for them.       osFamily – By default this is set to 1 (Windows Server 2008 SP2). Change this to 2 if you want the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. The Advantage of using osFamily = “2” is that you get Powershell 2.0 rather than Powershell 1.0. In Powershell 2.0 you could simply use “powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted ./myscript.ps1” and it will work while in Powershell 1.0 you will have to change the registry key by including the following in your command file “reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell /v ExecutionPolicy /d Unrestricted /f” before you can execute any power shell. The other reason you might want to move to os2 is if you wanted IIS 7.5.       Activation Token – To enable communication between the on premise machine and the Windows Azure Worker role VM both need to have the same token. Log on to Windows Azure Management Portal, click on Connect, click on Get Activation Token, this should give you the activation token, copy the activation token to the clipboard and paste it in the configuration file. Note – Later in the blog I’ll be showing you how to install connect on the on premise machine.                       EnableDomainJoin – Set the value to true, ofcourse we want to join the on windows azure worker role VM to the domain.       DomainFQDN, DomainControllerFQDN, DomainAccountName, DomainPassword, DomainOU, Administrators – This information is specific to your domain. I have extracted this information from the ‘service manager’ and ‘Active Directory Users and Computers’. Also, i created a new Domain-OU namely ‘CloudInstances’ so all my cloud instances joined to my domain show up here, this is optional. You can encrypt the DomainPassword – refer to the instructions here. Or hold fire, I’ll be covering that when i come to certificates and encryption in the coming section.       Now once you have filled all this information up, the configuration file should look something like below, <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration> Next we will be enabling the Remote Desktop module in to the ServiceDefinition.csdef, we could make changes manually or allow a beautiful wizard to help us make changes. I prefer the second option. So right click on the Windows Azure project and choose Publish       Now once you get the publish wizard, if you haven’t already you would be asked to import your Windows Azure subscription, this is simply the Msdn subscription activation key xml. Once you have done click Next to go to the Settings page and check ‘Enable Remote Desktop for all roles’.       As soon as you do that you get another pop up asking you the details for the user that you would be logging in with (make sure you enter a reasonable expiry date, you do not want the user account to expire today). Notice the more information tag at the bottom, click that to get access to the certificate section. See screen shot below.       From the drop down select the option to create a new certificate        In the pop up window enter the friendly name for your certificate. In my case I entered ‘WAC – Test Rig’ and click ok. This will create a new certificate for you. Click on the view button to see the certificate details. Do you see the Thumbprint, this is the value that will go in the config file (very important). Now click on the Copy to File button to copy the certificate, we will need to import the certificate to the windows Azure Management portal later. So, make sure you save it a safe location.                                Click Finish and enter details of the user you would like to create with permissions for remote desktop access, once you have entered the details on the ‘Remote desktop configuration’ screen click on Ok. From the Publish Windows Azure Wizard screen press Cancel. Cancel because we don’t want to publish the role just yet and Yes because we want to save all the changes in the config file.       Now if you go to the ServiceDefinition.csdef file you will see that the RemoteAccess and RemoteForwarder roles have been imported for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteAccess" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteForwarder" /> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Now go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg file and you see a whole bunch for setting “Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.%%%” values added for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.Enabled" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountUsername" value="Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountEncryptedPassword" value="MIIBnQYJKoZIhvcNAQcDoIIBjjCCAYoCAQAxggFOMIIBSgIBADAyMB4xHDAaBgNVBAMME1dpbmRvd 3MgQXp1cmUgVG9vbHMCEGa+B46voeO5T305N7TSG9QwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQAEggEABg4ol5Xol66Ip6QKLbAPWdmD4ae ADZ7aKj6fg4D+ATr0DXBllZHG5Umwf+84Sj2nsPeCyrg3ZDQuxrfhSbdnJwuChKV6ukXdGjX0hlowJu/4dfH4jTJC7sBWS AKaEFU7CxvqYEAL1Hf9VPL5fW6HZVmq1z+qmm4ecGKSTOJ20Fptb463wcXgR8CWGa+1w9xqJ7UmmfGeGeCHQ4QGW0IDSBU6ccg vzF2ug8/FY60K1vrWaCYOhKkxD3YBs8U9X/kOB0yQm2Git0d5tFlIPCBT2AC57bgsAYncXfHvPesI0qs7VZyghk8LVa9g5IqaM Cp6cQ7rmY/dLsKBMkDcdBHuCTAzBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwFAYIKoZIhvcNAwcECDRVifSXbA43gBApNrp40L1VTVZ1iGag+3O1" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountExpiration" value="2012-11-27T23:59:59.0000000+00:00" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteForwarder.Enabled" value="true" /> </ConfigurationSettings> <Certificates> <Certificate name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.PasswordEncryption" thumbprint="AA23016CF0BDFC344400B5B82706B608B92E4217" thumbprintAlgorithm="sha1" /> </Certificates> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>          Okay let’s look at them one at a time,       Enabled - Yes, we would like to enable Remote Access.       AccountUserName – This is the user name you entered while you were on the publish windows azure role screen, as detailed above.       AccountEncrytedPassword – Try and decode that, the certificate is used to encrypt the password you specified for the user account. Remember earlier i said, either use the instructions or wait and i’ll be showing you encryption, now the user account i am using for rdp has the same password as my domain password, so i can simply copy the value of the AccountEncryptedPassword to the DomainPassword as well.       AccountExpiration – This is the expiration as you specified in the wizard earlier, make sure your account does not expire today.       Remote Forwarder – Check out the documentation, below is how I understand it, -- One role in an application that implements a remote desktop connection must import the RemoteForwarder module. The two modules work together to enable the remote desktop connections to role instances. -- If you have multiple roles defined in the service model, it does not matter which role you add the RemoteForwarder module to, but you must add it to only one of the role definitions.       Certificate – Remember the certificate thumbprint from the wizard, the on premise machine and windows azure role machine that need to speak to each other must have the same thumbprint. More on that when we install Windows Azure connect Endpoints on the on premise machine. As i said earlier, in this blog post, I’ll be showing you the manual process so i won’t be scripting any star up tasks to install the test agent or register the test agent with the TFS Server. I’ll be showing you all this cool stuff in the next blog post, that’s because it’s important to understand the manual side of it, it becomes easier for you to troubleshoot in case something fails. Having said that, the changes we have made are sufficient to spin up the Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent VM, have it connected with the play.pit.com domain and have remote access enabled on it. Before we deploy the Test Agent VM we need to set up Windows Azure Connect on the TFS Server. II. Windows Azure Connect: Setting up Connect on VM – 2 i.e. TFS & Test Controller Glad you made it so far, now to enable communication between the on premise TFS/Test Controller and Azure-ed Test Agent we need to enable communication. We have set up the Azure connect module in the Test Agent configuration, now the connect end points need to be enabled on the on premise machines, let’s have a look at how we can do this. Log on to VM – 2 running the TFS Server and Test Controller Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network Click on Virtual Network, if you already have a subscription you should see the below screen shot, if not, you would be asked to complete the subscription first        Click on Install Local Endpoints from the top left on the panel and you get a url appended with a token id in it, remember the token i showed you earlier, in theory the token you get here should match the token you added to the Test Agent config file.        Copy the url to the clip board and paste it in IE explorer (important, the installation at present only works out of IE and you need to have cookies enabled in order to complete the installation). As stated in the pop up, you can NOT download and run the software later, you need to run it as is, since it contains a token. Once the installation completes you should see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray.                         Right click the Azure Connect icon, choose Diagnostics and refer to this link for diagnostic detail terminology. NOTE – Unfortunately I could not see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray, a bit of binging with Google revealed that the azure connect icon is only shown when the ‘Windows Azure Connect Endpoint’ Service is started. So go to services.msc and make sure that the service is started, if not start it, unfortunately again, the service did not start for me on a manual start and i realised that one of the dependant services was disabled, you can look at the service dependencies and start them and then start windows azure connect. Bottom line, you need to start Windows Azure connect service before you can proceed. Please refer here on MSDN for more on Troubleshooting Windows Azure connect. (Follow the next step as well)   Now go back to the Windows Azure Management Portal and from Groups and Roles create a new group, lets call it ‘Test Rig’. Make sure you add the VM – 2 (the TFS Server VM where you just installed the endpoint).       Now if you go back to the Azure Connect icon in the system tray and click ‘Refresh Policy’ you will notice that the disconnected status of the icon should change to ready for connection. III. Importing Certificate in to Windows Azure Management Portal But before that you need to import the certificate you created in Step I in to the Windows Azure Management Portal. Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on ‘Hosted Services, Storage Accounts & CDN’ and then ‘Management Certificates’ followed by Add Certificates as shown in the screen shot below        Browse to the location where you saved the certificate earlier, remember… Refer to Step I in case you forgot.        Now you should be able to see the imported certificate here, make sure the thumbprint of the certificate matches the one you inserted in the config files        IV. Publish Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent Having completed I, II and III, you are ready to publish the Test Agent VM – 3 to the cloud. Go to Visual Studio and right click the Windows Azure project and select Publish. Verify the infomration in the wizard, from the advanced settings tab, you can also enabled capture of intellitrace or profiling information.         Click Next and Click Publish! From the view menu bar select the Windows Azure Activity Log window.       Now you should be able to see the deployment progress in real time.             In the Windows Azure Management Portal, you should also be able to see the progress of creation of a new Worker Role.       Once the deployment is complete you should be able to RDP (go to run prompt type mstsc and in the pop up the machine name) in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM from the Playpit network using the domain admin user account. In case you are unable to log in to the Test Agent using the domain admin user account it means the process of joining the Test Agent to the domain has failed! But the good news is, because you imported the connect module, you can connect to the Test Agent machine using Windows Azure Management Portal and troubleshoot the reason for failure, you will be able to log in with the user name and password you specified in the config file for the keys ‘RemoteAccess.AccountUsername, RemoteAccess.EncryptedPassword (just that enter the password unencrypted)’, fix it or manually join the machine to the domain. Once you have managed to Join the Test Agent VM to the Domain move to the next step.      So, log in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM with the Playpit Domain Administrator and verify that you can log in, the machine is connected to the domain and the connect service is successfully running. If yes, give your self a pat on the back, you are 80% mission accomplished!         Go to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network, click on Groups and Roles and click on Test Rig, click Edit Group, the edit the Test Rig group you created earlier. In the Connect to section, click on Add to select the worker role you have just deployed. Also, check the ‘Allow connections between endpoints in the group’ with this you will enable to communication between test controller and test agents and test agents/test agents. Click Save.      Now, you are ready to deploy the Test Agent software on the Worker Role Test Agent VM and configure it to work with the Test Controller. V. Configuring VM – 3: Installing Test Agent and Associating Test Agent to Controller Log in to the Worker Role Test Agent VM that you have just successfully deployed, make sure you log in with the domain administrator account. Download the All Agents software from MSDN, ‘en_visual_studio_agents_2010_x86_x64_dvd_509679.iso’, extract the iso and navigate to where you have extracted the iso. In my case, i have extracted the iso to “C:\Resources\Temp\VsAgentSetup”. Open the Test Agent folder and double click on setup.exe. Once you have installed the Test Agent you should reach the configuration window. If you face any issues installing TFS Test Agent on the VM, refer to the walkthrough on MSDN.       Once you have successfully installed the Test Agent software you will need to configure the test agent. Right click the test agent configuration tool and run as a different user. i.e. an Administrator. This is really to run the configuration wizard with elevated privileges (you might have UAC block something's otherwise).        In the run options, you can select ‘service’ you do not need to run the agent as interactive un less you are running coded UI tests. I have specified the domain administrator to connect to the TFS Test Controller. In real life, i would never do that, i would create a separate test user service account for this purpose. But for the blog post, we are using the most powerful user so that any policies or restrictions don’t block you.        Click the Apply Settings button and you should be all green! If not, the summary usually gives helpful error messages that you can resolve and proceed. As per my experience, you may run in to either a permission or a firewall blocking communication issue.        And now the moment of truth! Go to VM –2 open up Visual Studio and from the Test Menu select Manage Test Controller       Mission Accomplished! You should be able to see the Test Agent that you have just configured here,         VI. Creating and Running Load Tests on your brand new Azure-ed Test Rig I have various blog posts on Performance Testing with Visual Studio Ultimate, you can follow the links and videos below, Blog Posts: - Part 1 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 2 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 3 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Videos: - Test Tools Configuration & Settings in Visual Studio - Why & How to Record Web Performance Tests in Visual Studio Ultimate - Goal Driven Load Testing using Visual Studio Ultimate Now that you have created your load tests, there is one last change you need to make before you can run the tests on your Azure Test Rig, create a new Test settings file, and change the Test Execution method to ‘Remote Execution’ and select the test controller you have configured the Worker Role Test Agent against in our case VM – 2 So, go on, fire off a test run and see the results of the test being executed on the Azur-ed Test Rig. Review and What’s next? A quick recap of the benefits of running the Test Rig in the cloud and what i will be covering in the next blog post AND I would love to hear your feedback! Advantages Utilizing the power of Azure compute to run a heavy virtual user load. Benefiting from the Azure flexibility, destroy Test Agents when not in use, takes < 25 minutes to spin up a new Test Agent. Most important test Network Latency, (network latency and speed of connection are two different things – usually network latency is very hard to test), by placing the Test Agents in Microsoft Data centres around the globe, one can actually test the lag in transferring the bytes not because of a slow connection but because the page has been requested from the other side of the globe. Next Steps The process of spinning up the Test Agents in windows Azure is not 100% automated. I am working on the Worker process and power shell scripts to make the role deployment, unattended install of test agent software and registration of the test agent to the test controller automated. In the next blog post I will show you how to make the complete process unattended and automated. Remember to subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/TarunArora. Hope you enjoyed this post, I would love to hear your feedback! If you have any recommendations on things that I should consider or any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment. See you in Part III.   Share this post : CodeProject

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• MS Dynamics CRM trapping .NET error before I can handle it

  - by clifgriffin

  This is a fun one. I have written a custom search page that provides faster, more user friendly searches than the default Contacts view and also allows searching of Leads and Contacts simultaneously. It uses GridViews bound to SqlDataSources that query filtered views. I'm sure someone will complain that I'm not using the web services for this, but this is just the design decision we made. These GridViews live in UpdatePanels to enable very slick AJAX updates upon search. It's all working great. Nearly ready to be deployed, except for one thing: Some long running searches are triggering an uncatchable SQL timeout exception. [SqlException: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.] at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.ConsumeMetaData() at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.get_MetaData() at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.FinishExecuteReader(SqlDataReader ds, RunBehavior runBehavior, String resetOptionsString) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReaderTds(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, Boolean async) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, DbAsyncResult result) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteDbDataReader(CommandBehavior behavior) at System.Data.Common.DbCommand.System.Data.IDbCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior) at System.Data.Common.DbDataAdapter.FillInternal(DataSet dataset, DataTable[] datatables, Int32 startRecord, Int32 maxRecords, String srcTable, IDbCommand command, CommandBehavior behavior) at System.Data.Common.DbDataAdapter.Fill(DataSet dataSet, Int32 startRecord, Int32 maxRecords, String srcTable, IDbCommand command, CommandBehavior behavior) at System.Data.Common.DbDataAdapter.Fill(DataSet dataSet, String srcTable) at System.Web.UI.WebControls.SqlDataSourceView.ExecuteSelect(DataSourceSelectArguments arguments) at System.Web.UI.DataSourceView.Select(DataSourceSelectArguments arguments, DataSourceViewSelectCallback callback) at System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataBoundControl.PerformSelect() at System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseDataBoundControl.DataBind() at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.DataBind() at System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseDataBoundControl.EnsureDataBound() at System.Web.UI.WebControls.CompositeDataBoundControl.CreateChildControls() at System.Web.UI.Control.EnsureChildControls() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) I found that CRM is doing a server.transfer to capture this error because my UpdatePanels started throwing JavaSript errors when this error would occur. I was only able to get the full error message by using the JavaScript debugger in IE. Having found this error, I thought the solution would be simple. I just needed to wrap my databind calls in try/catch blocks to capture any errors. Unfortunately it seems CRM's IIS configuration has the magic ability to capture this error before it ever gets back to my code. Using the debugger I never see it. It never gets to my catch blocks, but it's clearly happening in the SQL Data Source which is clearly (by the stack trace) being triggered by my GridView bind. Any ideas on this? It's driving me crazy. Code Behind (with some irrelevant functions omitted): protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { //Initialize some stuff this.bannerOracle = new OdbcConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["OracleConnectionString"].ConnectionString); //Prospect default HideProspects(); HideProspectAddressColumn(); //Contacts default HideContactAddressColumn(); //Default error messages gvContacts.EmptyDataText = "Sad day. Your search returned no contacts."; gvProspects.EmptyDataText = "Sad day. Your search returned no prospects."; //New search try { SearchContact(null, -1); } catch { gvContacts.EmptyDataText = "Oops! An error occured. This may have been a timeout. Please try your search again."; gvContacts.DataSource = null; gvContacts.DataBind(); } } protected void txtSearchString_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) { if(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(txtSearchString.Text)) { try { SearchContact(txtSearchString.Text, Convert.ToInt16(lstSearchType.SelectedValue)); } catch { gvContacts.EmptyDataText = "Oops! An error occured. This may have been a timeout. Please try your search again."; gvContacts.DataSource = null; gvContacts.DataBind(); } if (chkProspects.Checked == true) { try { SearchProspect(txtSearchString.Text, Convert.ToInt16(lstSearchType.SelectedValue)); } catch { gvProspects.EmptyDataText = "Oops! An error occured. This may have been a timeout. Please try your search again."; gvProspects.DataSource = null; gvProspects.DataBind(); } finally { ShowProspects(); } } else { HideProspects(); } } } protected void SearchContact(string search, int type) { SqlCRM_Contact.ConnectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["MSSQLConnectionString"].ConnectionString; gvContacts.DataSourceID = "SqlCRM_Contact"; string strQuery = ""; string baseQuery = @"SELECT filteredcontact.contactid, filteredcontact.new_libertyid, filteredcontact.fullname, 'none' AS line1, filteredcontact.emailaddress1, filteredcontact.telephone1, filteredcontact.birthdateutc AS birthdate, filteredcontact.gendercodename FROM filteredcontact "; switch(type) { case LASTFIRST: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE fullname LIKE @value AND filteredcontact.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case LAST: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE lastname LIKE @value AND filteredcontact.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case FIRST: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE firstname LIKE @value AND filteredcontact.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case LIBERTYID: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE new_libertyid LIKE @value AND filteredcontact.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case EMAIL: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE emailaddress1 LIKE @value AND filteredcontact.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case TELEPHONE: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE telephone1 LIKE @value AND filteredcontact.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case BIRTHDAY: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE filteredcontact.birthdateutc BETWEEN @dateStart AND @dateEnd AND filteredcontact.statecode = 0"; try { DateTime temp = DateTime.Parse(search); if (temp.Year < 1753 || temp.Year > 9999) { search = string.Empty; } else { search = temp.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"); } } catch { search = string.Empty; } SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("dateStart", DbType.String, search.Trim() + " 00:00:00.000"); SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("dateEnd", DbType.String, search.Trim() + " 23:59:59.999"); break; case SSN: //Do something break; case ADDRESS: strQuery = @"SELECT contactid, new_libertyid, fullname, line1, emailaddress1, telephone1, birthdate, gendercodename FROM (SELECT FC.contactid, FC.new_libertyid, FC.fullname, FA.line1, FC.emailaddress1, FC.telephone1, FC.birthdateutc AS birthdate, FC.gendercodename, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY FC.contactid ORDER BY FC.contactid DESC) AS rn FROM filteredcontact FC INNER JOIN FilteredCustomerAddress FA ON FC.contactid = FA.parentid WHERE FA.line1 LIKE @value AND FA.addressnumber <> 1 AND FC.statecode = 0 ) AS RESULTS WHERE rn = 1"; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); ShowContactAddressColumn(); break; default: strQuery = @"SELECT TOP 500 filteredcontact.contactid, filteredcontact.new_libertyid, filteredcontact.fullname, 'none' AS line1, filteredcontact.emailaddress1, filteredcontact.telephone1, filteredcontact.birthdateutc AS birthdate, filteredcontact.gendercodename FROM filteredcontact WHERE filteredcontact.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Contact.SelectCommand = strQuery; break; } if (type != ADDRESS) { HideContactAddressColumn(); } gvContacts.PageIndex = 0; //try //{ // SqlCRM_Contact.DataBind(); //} //catch //{ // SqlCRM_Contact.DataBind(); //} gvContacts.DataBind(); } protected void SearchProspect(string search, int type) { SqlCRM_Prospect.ConnectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["MSSQLConnectionString"].ConnectionString; gvProspects.DataSourceID = "SqlCRM_Prospect"; string strQuery = ""; string baseQuery = @"SELECT filteredlead.leadid, filteredlead.fullname, 'none' AS address1_line1, filteredlead.emailaddress1, filteredlead.telephone1, filteredlead.lu_dateofbirthutc AS lu_dateofbirth, filteredlead.lu_gendername FROM filteredlead "; switch (type) { case LASTFIRST: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE fullname LIKE @value AND filteredlead.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case LAST: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE lastname LIKE @value AND filteredlead.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case FIRST: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE firstname LIKE @value AND filteredlead.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case LIBERTYID: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE new_libertyid LIKE @value AND filteredlead.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case EMAIL: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE emailaddress1 LIKE @value AND filteredlead.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case TELEPHONE: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE telephone1 LIKE @value AND filteredlead.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); break; case BIRTHDAY: strQuery = baseQuery + "WHERE filteredlead.lu_dateofbirth BETWEEN @dateStart AND @dateEnd AND filteredlead.statecode = 0"; try { DateTime temp = DateTime.Parse(search); if (temp.Year < 1753 || temp.Year > 9999) { search = string.Empty; } else { search = temp.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"); } } catch { search = string.Empty; } SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("dateStart", DbType.String, search.Trim() + " 00:00:00.000"); SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("dateEnd", DbType.String, search.Trim() + " 23:59:59.999"); break; case SSN: //Do nothing break; case ADDRESS: strQuery = @"SELECT filteredlead.leadid, filteredlead.fullname, filteredlead.address1_line1, filteredlead.emailaddress1, filteredlead.telephone1, filteredlead.lu_dateofbirthutc AS lu_dateofbirth, filteredlead.lu_gendername FROM filteredlead WHERE address1_line1 LIKE @value AND filteredlead.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectParameters.Add("value", DbType.String, search.Trim() + "%"); ShowProspectAddressColumn(); break; default: strQuery = @"SELECT TOP 500 filteredlead.leadid, filteredlead.fullname, 'none' AS address1_line1 filteredlead.emailaddress1, filteredlead.telephone1, filteredlead.lu_dateofbirthutc AS lu_dateofbirth, filteredlead.lu_gendername FROM filteredlead WHERE filteredlead.statecode = 0"; SqlCRM_Prospect.SelectCommand = strQuery; break; } if (type != ADDRESS) { HideProspectAddressColumn(); } gvProspects.PageIndex = 0; //try //{ // SqlCRM_Prospect.DataBind(); //} //catch (Exception ex) //{ // SqlCRM_Prospect.DataBind(); //} gvProspects.DataBind(); }

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• Hosting the Razor Engine for Templating in Non-Web Applications

  - by Rick Strahl

  Microsoft’s new Razor HTML Rendering Engine that is currently shipping with ASP.NET MVC previews can be used outside of ASP.NET. Razor is an alternative view engine that can be used instead of the ASP.NET Page engine that currently works with ASP.NET WebForms and MVC. It provides a simpler and more readable markup syntax and is much more light weight in terms of functionality than the full blown WebForms Page engine, focusing only on features that are more along the lines of a pure view engine (or classic ASP!) with focus on expression and code rendering rather than a complex control/object model. Like the Page engine though, the parser understands .NET code syntax which can be embedded into templates, and behind the scenes the engine compiles markup and script code into an executing piece of .NET code in an assembly. Although it ships as part of the ASP.NET MVC and WebMatrix the Razor Engine itself is not directly dependent on ASP.NET or IIS or HTTP in any way. And although there are some markup and rendering features that are optimized for HTML based output generation, Razor is essentially a free standing template engine. And what’s really nice is that unlike the ASP.NET Runtime, Razor is fairly easy to host inside of your own non-Web applications to provide templating functionality. Templating in non-Web Applications? Yes please! So why might you host a template engine in your non-Web application? Template rendering is useful in many places and I have a number of applications that make heavy use of it. One of my applications – West Wind Html Help Builder - exclusively uses template based rendering to merge user supplied help text content into customizable and executable HTML markup templates that provide HTML output for CHM style HTML Help. This is an older product and it’s not actually using .NET at the moment – and this is one reason I’m looking at Razor for script hosting at the moment. For a few .NET applications though I’ve actually used the ASP.NET Runtime hosting to provide templating and mail merge style functionality and while that works reasonably well it’s a very heavy handed approach. It’s very resource intensive and has potential issues with versioning in various different versions of .NET. The generic implementation I created in the article above requires a lot of fix up to mimic an HTTP request in a non-HTTP environment and there are a lot of little things that have to happen to ensure that the ASP.NET runtime works properly most of it having nothing to do with the templating aspect but just satisfying ASP.NET’s requirements. The Razor Engine on the other hand is fairly light weight and completely decoupled from the ASP.NET runtime and the HTTP processing. Rather it’s a pure template engine whose sole purpose is to render text templates. Hosting this engine in your own applications can be accomplished with a reasonable amount of code (actually just a few lines with the tools I’m about to describe) and without having to fake HTTP requests. It’s also much lighter on resource usage and you can easily attach custom properties to your base template implementation to easily pass context from the parent application into templates all of which was rather complicated with ASP.NET runtime hosting. Installing the Razor Template Engine You can get Razor as part of the MVC 3 (RC and later) or Web Matrix. Both are available as downloadable components from the Web Platform Installer Version 3.0 (!important – V2 doesn’t show these components). If you already have that version of the WPI installed just fire it up. You can get the latest version of the Web Platform Installer from here: http://www.microsoft.com/web/gallery/install.aspx Once the platform Installer 3.0 is installed install either MVC 3 or ASP.NET Web Pages. Once installed you’ll find a System.Web.Razor assembly in C:\Program Files\Microsoft ASP.NET\ASP.NET Web Pages\v1.0\Assemblies\System.Web.Razor.dll which you can add as a reference to your project. Creating a Wrapper The basic Razor Hosting API is pretty simple and you can host Razor with a (large-ish) handful of lines of code. I’ll show the basics of it later in this article. However, if you want to customize the rendering and handle assembly and namespace includes for the markup as well as deal with text and file inputs as well as forcing Razor to run in a separate AppDomain so you can unload the code-generated assemblies and deal with assembly caching for re-used templates little more work is required to create something that is more easily reusable. For this reason I created a Razor Hosting wrapper project that combines a bunch of this functionality into an easy to use hosting class, a hosting factory that can load the engine in a separate AppDomain and a couple of hosting containers that provided folder based and string based caching for templates for an easily embeddable and reusable engine with easy to use syntax. If you just want the code and play with the samples and source go grab the latest code from the Subversion Repository at: http://www.west-wind.com:8080/svn/articles/trunk/RazorHosting/ or a snapshot from: http://www.west-wind.com/files/tools/RazorHosting.zip Getting Started Before I get into how hosting with Razor works, let’s take a look at how you can get up and running quickly with the wrapper classes provided. It only takes a few lines of code. The easiest way to use these Razor Hosting Wrappers is to use one of the two HostContainers provided. One is for hosting Razor scripts in a directory and rendering them as relative paths from these script files on disk. The other HostContainer serves razor scripts from string templates… Let’s start with a very simple template that displays some simple expressions, some code blocks and demonstrates rendering some data from contextual data that you pass to the template in the form of a ‘context’. Here’s a simple Razor template: @using System.Reflection Hello @Context.FirstName! Your entry was entered on: @Context.Entered @{ // Code block: Update the host Windows Form passed in through the context Context.WinForm.Text = "Hello World from Razor at " + DateTime.Now.ToString(); } AppDomain Id: @AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName Assembly: @Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName Code based output: @{ // Write output with Response object from code string output = string.Empty; for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { output += i.ToString() + " "; } Response.Write(output); } Pretty easy to see what’s going on here. The only unusual thing in this code is the Context object which is an arbitrary object I’m passing from the host to the template by way of the template base class. I’m also displaying the current AppDomain and the executing Assembly name so you can see how compiling and running a template actually loads up new assemblies. Also note that as part of my context I’m passing a reference to the current Windows Form down to the template and changing the title from within the script. It’s a silly example, but it demonstrates two-way communication between host and template and back which can be very powerful. The easiest way to quickly render this template is to use the RazorEngine<TTemplateBase> class. The generic parameter specifies a template base class type that is used by Razor internally to generate the class it generates from a template. The default implementation provided in my RazorHosting wrapper is RazorTemplateBase. Here’s a simple one that renders from a string and outputs a string: var engine = new RazorEngine<RazorTemplateBase>(); // we can pass any object as context - here create a custom context var context = new CustomContext() { WinForm = this, FirstName = "Rick", Entered = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-10) }; string output = engine.RenderTemplate(this.txtSource.Text new string[] { "System.Windows.Forms.dll" }, context); if (output == null) this.txtResult.Text = "*** ERROR:\r\n" + engine.ErrorMessage; else this.txtResult.Text = output; Simple enough. This code renders a template from a string input and returns a result back as a string. It  creates a custom context and passes that to the template which can then access the Context’s properties. Note that anything passed as ‘context’ must be serializable (or MarshalByRefObject) – otherwise you get an exception when passing the reference over AppDomain boundaries (discussed later). Passing a context is optional, but is a key feature in being able to share data between the host application and the template. Note that we use the Context object to access FirstName, Entered and even the host Windows Form object which is used in the template to change the Window caption from within the script! In the code above all the work happens in the RenderTemplate method which provide a variety of overloads to read and write to and from strings, files and TextReaders/Writers. Here’s another example that renders from a file input using a TextReader: using (reader = new StreamReader("templates\\simple.csHtml", true)) { result = host.RenderTemplate(reader, new string[] { "System.Windows.Forms.dll" }, this.CustomContext); } RenderTemplate() is fairly high level and it handles loading of the runtime, compiling into an assembly and rendering of the template. If you want more control you can use the lower level methods to control each step of the way which is important for the HostContainers I’ll discuss later. Basically for those scenarios you want to separate out loading of the engine, compiling into an assembly and then rendering the template from the assembly. Why? So we can keep assemblies cached. In the code above a new assembly is created for each template rendered which is inefficient and uses up resources. Depending on the size of your templates and how often you fire them you can chew through memory very quickly. This slighter lower level approach is only a couple of extra steps: // we can pass any object as context - here create a custom context var context = new CustomContext() { WinForm = this, FirstName = "Rick", Entered = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-10) }; var engine = new RazorEngine<RazorTemplateBase>(); string assId = null; using (StringReader reader = new StringReader(this.txtSource.Text)) { assId = engine.ParseAndCompileTemplate(new string[] { "System.Windows.Forms.dll" }, reader); } string output = engine.RenderTemplateFromAssembly(assId, context); if (output == null) this.txtResult.Text = "*** ERROR:\r\n" + engine.ErrorMessage; else this.txtResult.Text = output; The difference here is that you can capture the assembly – or rather an Id to it – and potentially hold on to it to render again later assuming the template hasn’t changed. The HostContainers take advantage of this feature to cache the assemblies based on certain criteria like a filename and file time step or a string hash that if not change indicate that an assembly can be reused. Note that ParseAndCompileTemplate returns an assembly Id rather than the assembly itself. This is done so that that the assembly always stays in the host’s AppDomain and is not passed across AppDomain boundaries which would cause load failures. We’ll talk more about this in a minute but for now just realize that assemblies references are stored in a list and are accessible by this ID to allow locating and re-executing of the assembly based on that id. Reuse of the assembly avoids recompilation overhead and creation of yet another assembly that loads into the current AppDomain. You can play around with several different versions of the above code in the main sample form:   Using Hosting Containers for more Control and Caching The above examples simply render templates into assemblies each and every time they are executed. While this works and is even reasonably fast, it’s not terribly efficient. If you render templates more than once it would be nice if you could cache the generated assemblies for example to avoid re-compiling and creating of a new assembly each time. Additionally it would be nice to load template assemblies into a separate AppDomain optionally to be able to be able to unload assembli es and also to protect your host application from scripting attacks with malicious template code. Hosting containers provide also provide a wrapper around the RazorEngine<T> instance, a factory (which allows creation in separate AppDomains) and an easy way to start and stop the container ‘runtime’. The Razor Hosting samples provide two hosting containers: RazorFolderHostContainer and StringHostContainer. The folder host provides a simple runtime environment for a folder structure similar in the way that the ASP.NET runtime handles a virtual directory as it’s ‘application' root. Templates are loaded from disk in relative paths and the resulting assemblies are cached unless the template on disk is changed. The string host also caches templates based on string hashes – if the same string is passed a second time a cached version of the assembly is used. Here’s how HostContainers work. I’ll use the FolderHostContainer because it’s likely the most common way you’d use templates – from disk based templates that can be easily edited and maintained on disk. The first step is to create an instance of it and keep it around somewhere (in the example it’s attached as a property to the Form): RazorFolderHostContainer Host = new RazorFolderHostContainer(); public RazorFolderHostForm() { InitializeComponent(); // The base path for templates - templates are rendered with relative paths // based on this path. Host.TemplatePath = Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, TemplateBaseFolder); // Add any assemblies you want reference in your templates Host.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Windows.Forms.dll"); // Start up the host container Host.Start(); } Next anytime you want to render a template you can use simple code like this: private void RenderTemplate(string fileName) { // Pass the template path via the Context var relativePath = Utilities.GetRelativePath(fileName, Host.TemplatePath); if (!Host.RenderTemplate(relativePath, this.Context, Host.RenderingOutputFile)) { MessageBox.Show("Error: " + Host.ErrorMessage); return; } this.webBrowser1.Navigate("file://" + Host.RenderingOutputFile); } You can also render the output to a string instead of to a file: string result = Host.RenderTemplateToString(relativePath,context); Finally if you want to release the engine and shut down the hosting AppDomain you can simply do: Host.Stop(); Stopping the AppDomain and restarting it (ie. calling Stop(); followed by Start()) is also a nice way to release all resources in the AppDomain. The FolderBased domain also supports partial Rendering based on root path based relative paths with the same caching characteristics as the main templates. From within a template you can call out to a partial like this: @RenderPartial(@"partials\PartialRendering.cshtml", Context) where partials\PartialRendering.cshtml is a relative to the template root folder. The folder host example lets you load up templates from disk and display the result in a Web Browser control which demonstrates using Razor HTML output from templates that contain HTML syntax which happens to me my target scenario for Html Help Builder.   The Razor Engine Wrapper Project The project I created to wrap Razor hosting has a fair bit of code and a number of classes associated with it. Most of the components are internally used and as you can see using the final RazorEngine<T> and HostContainer classes is pretty easy. The classes are extensible and I suspect developers will want to build more customized host containers for their applications. Host containers are the key to wrapping up all functionality – Engine, BaseTemplate, AppDomain Hosting, Caching etc in a logical piece that is ready to be plugged into an application. When looking at the code there are a couple of core features provided: Core Razor Engine Hosting This is the core Razor hosting which provides the basics of loading a template, compiling it into an assembly and executing it. This is fairly straightforward, but without a host container that can cache assemblies based on some criteria templates are recompiled and re-created each time which is inefficient (although pretty fast). The base engine wrapper implementation also supports hosting the Razor runtime in a separate AppDomain for security and the ability to unload it on demand. Host Containers The engine hosting itself doesn’t provide any sort of ‘runtime’ service like picking up files from disk, caching assemblies and so forth. So my implementation provides two HostContainers: RazorFolderHostContainer and RazorStringHostContainer. The FolderHost works off a base directory and loads templates based on relative paths (sort of like the ASP.NET runtime does off a virtual). The HostContainers also deal with caching of template assemblies – for the folder host the file date is tracked and checked for updates and unless the template is changed a cached assembly is reused. The StringHostContainer similiarily checks string hashes to figure out whether a particular string template was previously compiled and executed. The HostContainers also act as a simple startup environment and a single reference to easily store and reuse in an application. TemplateBase Classes The template base classes are the base classes that from which the Razor engine generates .NET code. A template is parsed into a class with an Execute() method and the class is based on this template type you can specify. RazorEngine<TBaseTemplate> can receive this type and the HostContainers default to specific templates in their base implementations. Template classes are customizable to allow you to create templates that provide application specific features and interaction from the template to your host application. How does the RazorEngine wrapper work? You can browse the source code in the links above or in the repository or download the source, but I’ll highlight some key features here. Here’s part of the RazorEngine implementation that can be used to host the runtime and that demonstrates the key code required to host the Razor runtime. The RazorEngine class is implemented as a generic class to reflect the Template base class type: public class RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> : MarshalByRefObject where TBaseTemplateType : RazorTemplateBase The generic type is used to internally provide easier access to the template type and assignments on it as part of the template processing. The class also inherits MarshalByRefObject to allow execution over AppDomain boundaries – something that all the classes discussed here need to do since there is much interaction between the host and the template. The first two key methods deal with creating a template assembly: /// <summary> /// Creates an instance of the RazorHost with various options applied. /// Applies basic namespace imports and the name of the class to generate /// </summary> /// <param name="generatedNamespace"></param> /// <param name="generatedClass"></param> /// <returns></returns> protected RazorTemplateEngine CreateHost(string generatedNamespace, string generatedClass) { Type baseClassType = typeof(TBaseTemplateType); RazorEngineHost host = new RazorEngineHost(new CSharpRazorCodeLanguage()); host.DefaultBaseClass = baseClassType.FullName; host.DefaultClassName = generatedClass; host.DefaultNamespace = generatedNamespace; host.NamespaceImports.Add("System"); host.NamespaceImports.Add("System.Text"); host.NamespaceImports.Add("System.Collections.Generic"); host.NamespaceImports.Add("System.Linq"); host.NamespaceImports.Add("System.IO"); return new RazorTemplateEngine(host); } /// <summary> /// Parses and compiles a markup template into an assembly and returns /// an assembly name. The name is an ID that can be passed to /// ExecuteTemplateByAssembly which picks up a cached instance of the /// loaded assembly. /// /// </summary> /// <param name="namespaceOfGeneratedClass">The namespace of the class to generate from the template</param> /// <param name="generatedClassName">The name of the class to generate from the template</param> /// <param name="ReferencedAssemblies">Any referenced assemblies by dll name only. Assemblies must be in execution path of host or in GAC.</param> /// <param name="templateSourceReader">Textreader that loads the template</param> /// <remarks> /// The actual assembly isn't returned here to allow for cross-AppDomain /// operation. If the assembly was returned it would fail for cross-AppDomain /// calls. /// </remarks> /// <returns>An assembly Id. The Assembly is cached in memory and can be used with RenderFromAssembly.</returns> public string ParseAndCompileTemplate( string namespaceOfGeneratedClass, string generatedClassName, string[] ReferencedAssemblies, TextReader templateSourceReader) { RazorTemplateEngine engine = CreateHost(namespaceOfGeneratedClass, generatedClassName); // Generate the template class as CodeDom GeneratorResults razorResults = engine.GenerateCode(templateSourceReader); // Create code from the codeDom and compile CSharpCodeProvider codeProvider = new CSharpCodeProvider(); CodeGeneratorOptions options = new CodeGeneratorOptions(); // Capture Code Generated as a string for error info // and debugging LastGeneratedCode = null; using (StringWriter writer = new StringWriter()) { codeProvider.GenerateCodeFromCompileUnit(razorResults.GeneratedCode, writer, options); LastGeneratedCode = writer.ToString(); } CompilerParameters compilerParameters = new CompilerParameters(ReferencedAssemblies); // Standard Assembly References compilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.dll"); compilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Core.dll"); compilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("Microsoft.CSharp.dll"); // dynamic support! // Also add the current assembly so RazorTemplateBase is available compilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase.Substring(8)); compilerParameters.GenerateInMemory = Configuration.CompileToMemory; if (!Configuration.CompileToMemory) compilerParameters.OutputAssembly = Path.Combine(Configuration.TempAssemblyPath, "_" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString("n") + ".dll"); CompilerResults compilerResults = codeProvider.CompileAssemblyFromDom(compilerParameters, razorResults.GeneratedCode); if (compilerResults.Errors.Count > 0) { var compileErrors = new StringBuilder(); foreach (System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerError compileError in compilerResults.Errors) compileErrors.Append(String.Format(Resources.LineX0TColX1TErrorX2RN, compileError.Line, compileError.Column, compileError.ErrorText)); this.SetError(compileErrors.ToString() + "\r\n" + LastGeneratedCode); return null; } AssemblyCache.Add(compilerResults.CompiledAssembly.FullName, compilerResults.CompiledAssembly); return compilerResults.CompiledAssembly.FullName; } Think of the internal CreateHost() method as setting up the assembly generated from each template. Each template compiles into a separate assembly. It sets up namespaces, and assembly references, the base class used and the name and namespace for the generated class. ParseAndCompileTemplate() then calls the CreateHost() method to receive the template engine generator which effectively generates a CodeDom from the template – the template is turned into .NET code. The code generated from our earlier example looks something like this: //------------------------------------------------------------------------------ // <auto-generated> // This code was generated by a tool. // Runtime Version:4.0.30319.1 // // Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if // the code is regenerated. // </auto-generated> //------------------------------------------------------------------------------ namespace RazorTest { using System; using System.Text; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.IO; using System.Reflection; public class RazorTemplate : RazorHosting.RazorTemplateBase { #line hidden public RazorTemplate() { } public override void Execute() { WriteLiteral("Hello "); Write(Context.FirstName); WriteLiteral("! Your entry was entered on: "); Write(Context.Entered); WriteLiteral("\r\n\r\n"); // Code block: Update the host Windows Form passed in through the context Context.WinForm.Text = "Hello World from Razor at " + DateTime.Now.ToString(); WriteLiteral("\r\nAppDomain Id:\r\n "); Write(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName); WriteLiteral("\r\n \r\nAssembly:\r\n "); Write(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName); WriteLiteral("\r\n\r\nCode based output: \r\n"); // Write output with Response object from code string output = string.Empty; for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { output += i.ToString() + " "; } } } } Basically the template’s body is turned into code in an Execute method that is called. Internally the template’s Write method is fired to actually generate the output. Note that the class inherits from RazorTemplateBase which is the generic parameter I used to specify the base class when creating an instance in my RazorEngine host: var engine = new RazorEngine<RazorTemplateBase>(); This template class must be provided and it must implement an Execute() and Write() method. Beyond that you can create any class you chose and attach your own properties. My RazorTemplateBase class implementation is very simple: public class RazorTemplateBase : MarshalByRefObject, IDisposable { /// <summary> /// You can pass in a generic context object /// to use in your template code /// </summary> public dynamic Context { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Class that generates output. Currently ultra simple /// with only Response.Write() implementation. /// </summary> public RazorResponse Response { get; set; } public object HostContainer {get; set; } public object Engine { get; set; } public RazorTemplateBase() { Response = new RazorResponse(); } public virtual void Write(object value) { Response.Write(value); } public virtual void WriteLiteral(object value) { Response.Write(value); } /// <summary> /// Razor Parser implements this method /// </summary> public virtual void Execute() {} public virtual void Dispose() { if (Response != null) { Response.Dispose(); Response = null; } } } Razor fills in the Execute method when it generates its subclass and uses the Write() method to output content. As you can see I use a RazorResponse() class here to generate output. This isn’t necessary really, as you could use a StringBuilder or StringWriter() directly, but I prefer using Response object so I can extend the Response behavior as needed. The RazorResponse class is also very simple and merely acts as a wrapper around a TextWriter: public class RazorResponse : IDisposable { /// <summary> /// Internal text writer - default to StringWriter() /// </summary> public TextWriter Writer = new StringWriter(); public virtual void Write(object value) { Writer.Write(value); } public virtual void WriteLine(object value) { Write(value); Write("\r\n"); } public virtual void WriteFormat(string format, params object[] args) { Write(string.Format(format, args)); } public override string ToString() { return Writer.ToString(); } public virtual void Dispose() { Writer.Close(); } public virtual void SetTextWriter(TextWriter writer) { // Close original writer if (Writer != null) Writer.Close(); Writer = writer; } } The Rendering Methods of RazorEngine At this point I’ve talked about the assembly generation logic and the template implementation itself. What’s left is that once you’ve generated the assembly is to execute it. The code to do this is handled in the various RenderXXX methods of the RazorEngine class. Let’s look at the lowest level one of these which is RenderTemplateFromAssembly() and a couple of internal support methods that handle instantiating and invoking of the generated template method: public string RenderTemplateFromAssembly( string assemblyId, string generatedNamespace, string generatedClass, object context, TextWriter outputWriter) { this.SetError(); Assembly generatedAssembly = AssemblyCache[assemblyId]; if (generatedAssembly == null) { this.SetError(Resources.PreviouslyCompiledAssemblyNotFound); return null; } string className = generatedNamespace + "." + generatedClass; Type type; try { type = generatedAssembly.GetType(className); } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(Resources.UnableToCreateType + className + ": " + ex.Message); return null; } // Start with empty non-error response (if we use a writer) string result = string.Empty; using(TBaseTemplateType instance = InstantiateTemplateClass(type)) { if (instance == null) return null; if (outputWriter != null) instance.Response.SetTextWriter(outputWriter); if (!InvokeTemplateInstance(instance, context)) return null; // Capture string output if implemented and return // otherwise null is returned if (outputWriter == null) result = instance.Response.ToString(); } return result; } protected virtual TBaseTemplateType InstantiateTemplateClass(Type type) { TBaseTemplateType instance = Activator.CreateInstance(type) as TBaseTemplateType; if (instance == null) { SetError(Resources.CouldnTActivateTypeInstance + type.FullName); return null; } instance.Engine = this; // If a HostContainer was set pass that to the template too instance.HostContainer = this.HostContainer; return instance; } /// <summary> /// Internally executes an instance of the template, /// captures errors on execution and returns true or false /// </summary> /// <param name="instance">An instance of the generated template</param> /// <returns>true or false - check ErrorMessage for errors</returns> protected virtual bool InvokeTemplateInstance(TBaseTemplateType instance, object context) { try { instance.Context = context; instance.Execute(); } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(Resources.TemplateExecutionError + ex.Message); return false; } finally { // Must make sure Response is closed instance.Response.Dispose(); } return true; } The RenderTemplateFromAssembly method basically requires the namespace and class to instantate and creates an instance of the class using InstantiateTemplateClass(). It then invokes the method with InvokeTemplateInstance(). These two methods are broken out because they are re-used by various other rendering methods and also to allow subclassing and providing additional configuration tasks to set properties and pass values to templates at execution time. In the default mode instantiation sets the Engine and HostContainer (discussed later) so the template can call back into the template engine, and the context is set when the template method is invoked. The various RenderXXX methods use similar code although they create the assemblies first. If you’re after potentially cashing assemblies the method is the one to call and that’s exactly what the two HostContainer classes do. More on that in a minute, but before we get into HostContainers let’s talk about AppDomain hosting and the like. Running Templates in their own AppDomain With the RazorEngine class above, when a template is parsed into an assembly and executed the assembly is created (in memory or on disk – you can configure that) and cached in the current AppDomain. In .NET once an assembly has been loaded it can never be unloaded so if you’re loading lots of templates and at some time you want to release them there’s no way to do so. If however you load the assemblies in a separate AppDomain that new AppDomain can be unloaded and the assemblies loaded in it with it. In order to host the templates in a separate AppDomain the easiest thing to do is to run the entire RazorEngine in a separate AppDomain. Then all interaction occurs in the other AppDomain and no further changes have to be made. To facilitate this there is a RazorEngineFactory which has methods that can instantiate the RazorHost in a separate AppDomain as well as in the local AppDomain. The host creates the remote instance and then hangs on to it to keep it alive as well as providing methods to shut down the AppDomain and reload the engine. Sounds complicated but cross-AppDomain invocation is actually fairly easy to implement. Here’s some of the relevant code from the RazorEngineFactory class. Like the RazorEngine this class is generic and requires a template base type in the generic class name: public class RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType> where TBaseTemplateType : RazorTemplateBase Here are the key methods of interest: /// <summary> /// Creates an instance of the RazorHost in a new AppDomain. This /// version creates a static singleton that that is cached and you /// can call UnloadRazorHostInAppDomain to unload it. /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public static RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> CreateRazorHostInAppDomain() { if (Current == null) Current = new RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType>(); return Current.GetRazorHostInAppDomain(); } public static void UnloadRazorHostInAppDomain() { if (Current != null) Current.UnloadHost(); Current = null; } /// <summary> /// Instance method that creates a RazorHost in a new AppDomain. /// This method requires that you keep the Factory around in /// order to keep the AppDomain alive and be able to unload it. /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> GetRazorHostInAppDomain() { LocalAppDomain = CreateAppDomain(null); if (LocalAppDomain == null) return null; /// Create the instance inside of the new AppDomain /// Note: remote domain uses local EXE's AppBasePath!!! RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> host = null; try { Assembly ass = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(); string AssemblyPath = ass.Location; host = (RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType>) LocalAppDomain.CreateInstanceFrom(AssemblyPath, typeof(RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType>).FullName).Unwrap(); } catch (Exception ex) { ErrorMessage = ex.Message; return null; } return host; } /// <summary> /// Internally creates a new AppDomain in which Razor templates can /// be run. /// </summary> /// <param name="appDomainName"></param> /// <returns></returns> private AppDomain CreateAppDomain(string appDomainName) { if (appDomainName == null) appDomainName = "RazorHost_" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString("n"); AppDomainSetup setup = new AppDomainSetup(); // *** Point at current directory setup.ApplicationBase = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory; AppDomain localDomain = AppDomain.CreateDomain(appDomainName, null, setup); return localDomain; } /// <summary> /// Allow unloading of the created AppDomain to release resources /// All internal resources in the AppDomain are released including /// in memory compiled Razor assemblies. /// </summary> public void UnloadHost() { if (this.LocalAppDomain != null) { AppDomain.Unload(this.LocalAppDomain); this.LocalAppDomain = null; } } The static CreateRazorHostInAppDomain() is the key method that startup code usually calls. It uses a Current singleton instance to an instance of itself that is created cross AppDomain and is kept alive because it’s static. GetRazorHostInAppDomain actually creates a cross-AppDomain instance which first creates a new AppDomain and then loads the RazorEngine into it. The remote Proxy instance is returned as a result to the method and can be used the same as a local instance. The code to run with a remote AppDomain is simple: private RazorEngine<RazorTemplateBase> CreateHost() { if (this.Host != null) return this.Host; // Use Static Methods - no error message if host doesn't load this.Host = RazorEngineFactory<RazorTemplateBase>.CreateRazorHostInAppDomain(); if (this.Host == null) { MessageBox.Show("Unable to load Razor Template Host", "Razor Hosting", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation); } return this.Host; } This code relies on a local reference of the Host which is kept around for the duration of the app (in this case a form reference). To use this you’d simply do: this.Host = CreateHost(); if (host == null) return; string result = host.RenderTemplate( this.txtSource.Text, new string[] { "System.Windows.Forms.dll", "Westwind.Utilities.dll" }, this.CustomContext); if (result == null) { MessageBox.Show(host.ErrorMessage, "Template Execution Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation); return; } this.txtResult.Text = result; Now all templates run in a remote AppDomain and can be unloaded with simple code like this: RazorEngineFactory<RazorTemplateBase>.UnloadRazorHostInAppDomain(); this.Host = null; One Step further – Providing a caching ‘Runtime’ Once we can load templates in a remote AppDomain we can add some additional functionality like assembly caching based on application specific features. One of my typical scenarios is to render templates out of a scripts folder. So all templates live in a folder and they change infrequently. So a Folder based host that can compile these templates once and then only recompile them if something changes would be ideal. Enter host containers which are basically wrappers around the RazorEngine<t> and RazorEngineFactory<t>. They provide additional logic for things like file caching based on changes on disk or string hashes for string based template inputs. The folder host also provides for partial rendering logic through a custom template base implementation. There’s a base implementation in RazorBaseHostContainer, which provides the basics for hosting a RazorEngine, which includes the ability to start and stop the engine, cache assemblies and add references: public abstract class RazorBaseHostContainer<TBaseTemplateType> : MarshalByRefObject where TBaseTemplateType : RazorTemplateBase, new() { public RazorBaseHostContainer() { UseAppDomain = true; GeneratedNamespace = "__RazorHost"; } /// <summary> /// Determines whether the Container hosts Razor /// in a separate AppDomain. Seperate AppDomain /// hosting allows unloading and releasing of /// resources. /// </summary> public bool UseAppDomain { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Base folder location where the AppDomain /// is hosted. By default uses the same folder /// as the host application. /// /// Determines where binary dependencies are /// found for assembly references. /// </summary> public string BaseBinaryFolder { get; set; } /// <summary> /// List of referenced assemblies as string values. /// Must be in GAC or in the current folder of the host app/ /// base BinaryFolder /// </summary> public List<string> ReferencedAssemblies = new List<string>(); /// <summary> /// Name of the generated namespace for template classes /// </summary> public string GeneratedNamespace {get; set; } /// <summary> /// Any error messages /// </summary> public string ErrorMessage { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Cached instance of the Host. Required to keep the /// reference to the host alive for multiple uses. /// </summary> public RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> Engine; /// <summary> /// Cached instance of the Host Factory - so we can unload /// the host and its associated AppDomain. /// </summary> protected RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType> EngineFactory; /// <summary> /// Keep track of each compiled assembly /// and when it was compiled. /// /// Use a hash of the string to identify string /// changes. /// </summary> protected Dictionary<int, CompiledAssemblyItem> LoadedAssemblies = new Dictionary<int, CompiledAssemblyItem>(); /// <summary> /// Call to start the Host running. Follow by a calls to RenderTemplate to /// render individual templates. Call Stop when done. /// </summary> /// <returns>true or false - check ErrorMessage on false </returns> public virtual bool Start() { if (Engine == null) { if (UseAppDomain) Engine = RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType>.CreateRazorHostInAppDomain(); else Engine = RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType>.CreateRazorHost(); Engine.Configuration.CompileToMemory = true; Engine.HostContainer = this; if (Engine == null) { this.ErrorMessage = EngineFactory.ErrorMessage; return false; } } return true; } /// <summary> /// Stops the Host and releases the host AppDomain and cached /// assemblies. /// </summary> /// <returns>true or false</returns> public bool Stop() { this.LoadedAssemblies.Clear(); RazorEngineFactory<RazorTemplateBase>.UnloadRazorHostInAppDomain(); this.Engine = null; return true; } … } This base class provides most of the mechanics to host the runtime, but no application specific implementation for rendering. There are rendering functions but they just call the engine directly and provide no caching – there’s no context to decide how to cache and reuse templates. The key methods are Start and Stop and their main purpose is to start a new AppDomain (optionally) and shut it down when requested. The RazorFolderHostContainer – Folder Based Runtime Hosting Let’s look at the more application specific RazorFolderHostContainer implementation which is defined like this: public class RazorFolderHostContainer : RazorBaseHostContainer<RazorTemplateFolderHost> Note that a customized RazorTemplateFolderHost class template is used for this implementation that supports partial rendering in form of a RenderPartial() method that’s available to templates. The folder host’s features are: Render templates based on a Template Base Path (a ‘virtual’ if you will) Cache compiled assemblies based on the relative path and file time stamp File changes on templates cause templates to be recompiled into new assemblies Support for partial rendering using base folder relative pathing As shown in the startup examples earlier host containers require some startup code with a HostContainer tied to a persistent property (like a Form property): // The base path for templates - templates are rendered with relative paths // based on this path. HostContainer.TemplatePath = Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, TemplateBaseFolder); // Default output rendering disk location HostContainer.RenderingOutputFile = Path.Combine(HostContainer.TemplatePath, "__Preview.htm"); // Add any assemblies you want reference in your templates HostContainer.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Windows.Forms.dll"); // Start up the host container HostContainer.Start(); Once that’s done, you can render templates with the host container: // Pass the template path for full filename seleted with OpenFile Dialog // relativepath is: subdir\file.cshtml or file.cshtml or ..\file.cshtml var relativePath = Utilities.GetRelativePath(fileName, HostContainer.TemplatePath); if (!HostContainer.RenderTemplate(relativePath, Context, HostContainer.RenderingOutputFile)) { MessageBox.Show("Error: " + HostContainer.ErrorMessage); return; } webBrowser1.Navigate("file://" + HostContainer.RenderingOutputFile); The most critical task of the RazorFolderHostContainer implementation is to retrieve a template from disk, compile and cache it and then deal with deciding whether subsequent requests need to re-compile the template or simply use a cached version. Internally the GetAssemblyFromFileAndCache() handles this task: /// <summary> /// Internally checks if a cached assembly exists and if it does uses it /// else creates and compiles one. Returns an assembly Id to be /// used with the LoadedAssembly list. /// </summary> /// <param name="relativePath"></param> /// <param name="context"></param> /// <returns></returns> protected virtual CompiledAssemblyItem GetAssemblyFromFileAndCache(string relativePath) { string fileName = Path.Combine(TemplatePath, relativePath).ToLower(); int fileNameHash = fileName.GetHashCode(); if (!File.Exists(fileName)) { this.SetError(Resources.TemplateFileDoesnTExist + fileName); return null; } CompiledAssemblyItem item = null; this.LoadedAssemblies.TryGetValue(fileNameHash, out item); string assemblyId = null; // Check for cached instance if (item != null) { var fileTime = File.GetLastWriteTimeUtc(fileName); if (fileTime <= item.CompileTimeUtc) assemblyId = item.AssemblyId; } else item = new CompiledAssemblyItem(); // No cached instance - create assembly and cache if (assemblyId == null) { string safeClassName = GetSafeClassName(fileName); StreamReader reader = null; try { reader = new StreamReader(fileName, true); } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(Resources.ErrorReadingTemplateFile + fileName); return null; } assemblyId = Engine.ParseAndCompileTemplate(this.ReferencedAssemblies.ToArray(), reader); // need to ensure reader is closed if (reader != null) reader.Close(); if (assemblyId == null) { this.SetError(Engine.ErrorMessage); return null; } item.AssemblyId = assemblyId; item.CompileTimeUtc = DateTime.UtcNow; item.FileName = fileName; item.SafeClassName = safeClassName; this.LoadedAssemblies[fileNameHash] = item; } return item; } This code uses a LoadedAssembly dictionary which is comprised of a structure that holds a reference to a compiled assembly, a full filename and file timestamp and an assembly id. LoadedAssemblies (defined on the base class shown earlier) is essentially a cache for compiled assemblies and they are identified by a hash id. In the case of files the hash is a GetHashCode() from the full filename of the template. The template is checked for in the cache and if not found the file stamp is checked. If that’s newer than the cache’s compilation date the template is recompiled otherwise the version in the cache is used. All the core work defers to a RazorEngine<T> instance to ParseAndCompileTemplate(). The three rendering specific methods then are rather simple implementations with just a few lines of code dealing with parameter and return value parsing: /// <summary> /// Renders a template to a TextWriter. Useful to write output into a stream or /// the Response object. Used for partial rendering. /// </summary> /// <param name="relativePath">Relative path to the file in the folder structure</param> /// <param name="context">Optional context object or null</param> /// <param name="writer">The textwriter to write output into</param> /// <returns></returns> public bool RenderTemplate(string relativePath, object context, TextWriter writer) { // Set configuration data that is to be passed to the template (any object) Engine.TemplatePerRequestConfigurationData = new RazorFolderHostTemplateConfiguration() { TemplatePath = Path.Combine(this.TemplatePath, relativePath), TemplateRelativePath = relativePath, }; CompiledAssemblyItem item = GetAssemblyFromFileAndCache(relativePath); if (item == null) { writer.Close(); return false; } try { // String result will be empty as output will be rendered into the // Response object's stream output. However a null result denotes // an error string result = Engine.RenderTemplateFromAssembly(item.AssemblyId, context, writer); if (result == null) { this.SetError(Engine.ErrorMessage); return false; } } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(ex.Message); return false; } finally { writer.Close(); } return true; } /// <summary> /// Render a template from a source file on disk to a specified outputfile. /// </summary> /// <param name="relativePath">Relative path off the template root folder. Format: path/filename.cshtml</param> /// <param name="context">Any object that will be available in the template as a dynamic of this.Context</param> /// <param name="outputFile">Optional - output file where output is written to. If not specified the /// RenderingOutputFile property is used instead /// </param> /// <returns>true if rendering succeeds, false on failure - check ErrorMessage</returns> public bool RenderTemplate(string relativePath, object context, string outputFile) { if (outputFile == null) outputFile = RenderingOutputFile; try { using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(outputFile, false, Engine.Configuration.OutputEncoding, Engine.Configuration.StreamBufferSize)) { return RenderTemplate(relativePath, context, writer); } } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(ex.Message); return false; } return true; } /// <summary> /// Renders a template to string. Useful for RenderTemplate /// </summary> /// <param name="relativePath"></param> /// <param name="context"></param> /// <returns></returns> public string RenderTemplateToString(string relativePath, object context) { string result = string.Empty; try { using (StringWriter writer = new StringWriter()) { // String result will be empty as output will be rendered into the // Response object's stream output. However a null result denotes // an error if (!RenderTemplate(relativePath, context, writer)) { this.SetError(Engine.ErrorMessage); return null; } result = writer.ToString(); } } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(ex.Message); return null; } return result; } The idea is that you can create custom host container implementations that do exactly what you want fairly easily. Take a look at both the RazorFolderHostContainer and RazorStringHostContainer classes for the basic concepts you can use to create custom implementations. Notice also that you can set the engine’s PerRequestConfigurationData() from the host container: // Set configuration data that is to be passed to the template (any object) Engine.TemplatePerRequestConfigurationData = new RazorFolderHostTemplateConfiguration() { TemplatePath = Path.Combine(this.TemplatePath, relativePath), TemplateRelativePath = relativePath, }; which when set to a non-null value is passed to the Template’s InitializeTemplate() method. This method receives an object parameter which you can cast as needed: public override void InitializeTemplate(object configurationData) { // Pick up configuration data and stuff into Request object RazorFolderHostTemplateConfiguration config = configurationData as RazorFolderHostTemplateConfiguration; this.Request.TemplatePath = config.TemplatePath; this.Request.TemplateRelativePath = config.TemplateRelativePath; } With this data you can then configure any custom properties or objects on your main template class. It’s an easy way to pass data from the HostContainer all the way down into the template. The type you use is of type object so you have to cast it yourself, and it must be serializable since it will likely run in a separate AppDomain. This might seem like an ugly way to pass data around – normally I’d use an event delegate to call back from the engine to the host, but since this is running over AppDomain boundaries events get really tricky and passing a template instance back up into the host over AppDomain boundaries doesn’t work due to serialization issues. So it’s easier to pass the data from the host down into the template using this rather clumsy approach of set and forward. It’s ugly, but it’s something that can be hidden in the host container implementation as I’ve done here. It’s also not something you have to do in every implementation so this is kind of an edge case, but I know I’ll need to pass a bunch of data in some of my applications and this will be the easiest way to do so. Summing Up Hosting the Razor runtime is something I got jazzed up about quite a bit because I have an immediate need for this type of templating/merging/scripting capability in an application I’m working on. I’ve also been using templating in many apps and it’s always been a pain to deal with. The Razor engine makes this whole experience a lot cleaner and more light weight and with these wrappers I can now plug .NET based templating into my code literally with a few lines of code. That’s something to cheer about… I hope some of you will find this useful as well… Resources The examples and code require that you download the Razor runtimes. Projects are for Visual Studio 2010 running on .NET 4.0 Platform Installer 3.0 (install WebMatrix or MVC 3 for Razor Runtimes) Latest Code in Subversion Repository Download Snapshot of the Code Documentation (CHM Help File) © Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in ASP.NET  .NET  

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• $_POST data returns empty when headers are > POST_MAX_SIZE

  - by Jared

  Hi Hopefully someone here might have an answer to my question. I have a basic form that contains simple fields, like name, number, email address etc and 1 file upload field. I am trying to add some validation into my script that detects if the file is too large and then rejects the user back to the form to select/upload a smaller file. My problem is, if a user selects a file that is bigger than my validation file size rule and larger than php.ini POST_MAX_SIZE/UPLOAD_MAX_FILESIZE and pushes submit, then PHP seems to try process the form only to fail on the POST_MAX_SIZE settings and then clears the entire $_POST array and returns nothing back to the form. Is there a way around this? Surely if someone uploads something than the max size configured in the php.ini then you can still get the rest of the $_POST data??? Here is my code. <?php function validEmail($email) { $isValid = true; $atIndex = strrpos($email, "@"); if (is_bool($atIndex) && !$atIndex) { $isValid = false; } else { $domain = substr($email, $atIndex+1); $local = substr($email, 0, $atIndex); $localLen = strlen($local); $domainLen = strlen($domain); if ($localLen < 1 || $localLen > 64) { // local part length exceeded $isValid = false; } else if ($domainLen < 1 || $domainLen > 255) { // domain part length exceeded $isValid = false; } else if ($local[0] == '.' || $local[$localLen-1] == '.') { // local part starts or ends with '.' $isValid = false; } else if (preg_match('/\\.\\./', $local)) { // local part has two consecutive dots $isValid = false; } else if (!preg_match('/^[A-Za-z0-9\\-\\.]+$/', $domain)) { // character not valid in domain part $isValid = false; } else if (preg_match('/\\.\\./', $domain)) { // domain part has two consecutive dots $isValid = false; } else if (!preg_match('/^(\\\\.|[A-Za-z0-9!#%&`_=\\/$\'*+?^{}|~.-])+$/', str_replace("\\\\","",$local))) { // character not valid in local part unless // local part is quoted if (!preg_match('/^"(\\\\"|[^"])+"$/', str_replace("\\\\","",$local))) { $isValid = false; } } } return $isValid; } //setup post variables @$name = htmlspecialchars(trim($_REQUEST['name'])); @$emailCheck = htmlspecialchars(trim($_REQUEST['email'])); @$organisation = htmlspecialchars(trim($_REQUEST['organisation'])); @$title = htmlspecialchars(trim($_REQUEST['title'])); @$phone = htmlspecialchars(trim($_REQUEST['phone'])); @$location = htmlspecialchars(trim($_REQUEST['location'])); @$description = htmlspecialchars(trim($_REQUEST['description'])); @$fileError = 0; @$phoneError = ""; //setup file upload handler $target_path = 'uploads/'; $filename = basename( @$_FILES['uploadedfile']['name']); $max_size = 8000000; // maximum file size (8mb in bytes) NB: php.ini max filesize upload is 10MB on test environment. $allowed_filetypes = Array(".pdf", ".doc", ".zip", ".txt", ".xls", ".docx", ".csv", ".rtf"); //put extensions in here that should be uploaded only. $ext = substr($filename, strpos($filename,'.'), strlen($filename)-1); // Get the extension from the filename. if(!is_writable($target_path)) die('You cannot upload to the specified directory, please CHMOD it to 777.'); //Check if we can upload to the specified upload folder. //display form function function displayForm($name, $emailCheck, $organisation, $phone, $title, $location, $description, $phoneError, $allowed_filetypes, $ext, $filename, $fileError) { //make $emailCheck global so function can get value from global scope. global $emailCheck; global $max_size; echo '<form action="geodetic_form.php" method="post" name="contact" id="contact" enctype="multipart/form-data">'."\n". '<fieldset>'."\n".'<div>'."\n"; //name echo '<label for="name"><span class="mandatory">*</span>Your name:</label>'."\n". '<input type="text" name="name" id="name" class="inputText required" value="'. $name .'" />'."\n"; //check if name field is filled out if (isset($_REQUEST['submit']) && empty($name)) { echo '<label for="name" class="error">Please enter your name.</label>'."\n"; } echo '</div>'."\n". '<div>'."\n"; //Email echo '<label for="email"><span class="mandatory">*</span>Your email:</label>'."\n". '<input type="text" name="email" id="email" class="inputText required email" value="'. $emailCheck .'" />'."\n"; // check if email field is filled out and proper format if (isset($_REQUEST['submit']) && validEmail($emailCheck) == false) { echo '<label for="email" class="error">Invalid email address entered.</label>'."\n"; } echo '</div>'."\n". '<div>'."\n"; //organisation echo '<label for="phone">Organisation:</label>'."\n". '<input type="text" name="organisation" id="organisation" class="inputText" value="'. $organisation .'" />'."\n"; echo '</div>'."\n". '</fieldset>'."\n".'<fieldset>'. "\n" . '<div>'."\n"; //title echo '<label for="phone">Title:</label>'."\n". '<input type="text" name="title" id="title" class="inputText" value="'. $title .'" />'."\n"; echo '</div>'."\n". '</fieldset>'."\n".'<fieldset>'. "\n" . '<div>'."\n"; //phone echo '<label for="phone"><span class="mandatory">*</span>Phone <br /><span class="small">(include area code)</span>:</label>'."\n". '<input type="text" name="phone" id="phone" class="inputText required" value="'. $phone .'" />'."\n"; // check if phone field is filled out that it has numbers and not characters if (isset($_REQUEST['submit']) && $phoneError == "true" && empty($phone)) echo '<label for="email" class="error">Please enter a valid phone number.</label>'."\n"; echo '</div>'."\n". '</fieldset>'."\n".'<fieldset>'. "\n" . '<div>'."\n"; //Location echo '<label class="location" for="location"><span class="mandatory">*</span>Location:</label>'."\n". '<textarea name="location" id="location" class="required">'. $location .'</textarea>'."\n"; //check if message field is filled out if (isset($_REQUEST['submit']) && empty($_REQUEST['location'])) echo '<label for="location" class="error">This field is required.</label>'."\n"; echo '</div>'."\n". '</fieldset>'."\n".'<fieldset>'. "\n" . '<div>'."\n"; //description echo '<label class="description" for="description">Description:</label>'."\n". '<textarea name="description" id="queryComments">'. $description .'</textarea>'."\n"; echo '</div>'."\n". '</fieldset>'."\n".'<fieldset>'. "\n" . '<div>'."\n"; //file upload echo '<label class="uploadedfile" for="uploadedfile">File:</label>'."\n". '<input type="file" name="uploadedfile" id="uploadedfile" value="'. $filename .'" />'."\n"; // Check if the filetype is allowed, if not DIE and inform the user. switch ($fileError) { case "1": echo '<label for="uploadedfile" class="error">The file you attempted to upload is not allowed.</label>'; break; case "2": echo '<label for="uploadedfile" class="error">The file you attempted to upload is too large.</label>'; break; } echo '</div>'."\n". '</fieldset>'; //end of form echo '<div class="submit"><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" id="submit" /></div>'. '<div class="clear"><p><br /></p></div>'; } //end function //setup error validations if (isset($_REQUEST['submit']) && !empty($_REQUEST['phone']) && !is_numeric($_REQUEST['phone'])) $phoneError = "true"; if (isset($_REQUEST['submit']) && $_FILES['uploadedfile']['error'] != 4 && !in_array($ext, $allowed_filetypes)) $fileError = 1; if (isset($_REQUEST['submit']) && $_FILES["uploadedfile"]["size"] > $max_size) $fileError = 2; echo "this condition " . $fileError; $POST_MAX_SIZE = ini_get('post_max_size'); $mul = substr($POST_MAX_SIZE, -1); $mul = ($mul == 'M' ? 1048576 : ($mul == 'K' ? 1024 : ($mul == 'G' ? 1073741824 : 1))); if ($_SERVER['CONTENT_LENGTH'] > $mul*(int)$POST_MAX_SIZE && $POST_MAX_SIZE) echo "too big!!"; echo $POST_MAX_SIZE; if(empty($name) || empty($phone) || empty($location) || validEmail($emailCheck) == false || $phoneError == "true" || $fileError != 0) { displayForm($name, $emailCheck, $organisation, $phone, $title, $location, $description, $phoneError, $allowed_filetypes, $ext, $filename, $fileError); echo $fileError; echo "max size is: " .$max_size; echo "and file size is: " . $_FILES["uploadedfile"]["size"]; exit; } else { //copy file from temp to upload directory $path_of_uploaded_file = $target_path . $filename; $tmp_path = $_FILES["uploadedfile"]["tmp_name"]; echo $tmp_path; echo "and file size is: " . filesize($_FILES["uploadedfile"]["tmp_name"]); exit; if(is_uploaded_file($tmp_path)) { if(!copy($tmp_path,$path_of_uploaded_file)) { echo 'error while copying the uploaded file'; } } //test debug stuff echo "sending email..."; exit; } ?> PHP is returning this error in the log: [29-Apr-2010 10:32:47] PHP Warning: POST Content-Length of 57885895 bytes exceeds the limit of 10485760 bytes in Unknown on line 0 Excuse all the debug stuff :) FTR, I am running PHP 5.1.2 on IIS. TIA Jared

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• Can't connect to SSL web service with WS-Security using PHP SOAP extension - certificate, complex WSDL

  - by BillF

  Using the PHP5 SOAP extension I have been unable to connect to a web service having an https endpoint, with client certificate and using WS-Security, although I can connect using soapUI with the exact same wsdl and client certificate, and obtain the normal response to the request. There is no HTTP authentication and no proxy is involved. The message I get is 'Could not connect to host'. Have been able to verify that I am NOT hitting the host server. (Earlier I wrongly said that I was hitting the server.) The self-signed client SSL certificate is a .pem file converted by openssl from a .p12 keystore which in turn was converted by keytool from a .jks keystore having a single entry consisting of private key and client certificate. In soapUI I did not need to supply a server private certificate, the only two files I gave it were the wdsl and pem. I did have to supply the pem and its passphrase to be able to connect. I am speculating that despite the error message my problem might actually be in the formation of the XML request rather than the SSL connection itself. The wsdl I have been given has nested complex types. The php server is on my Windows XP laptop with IIS. The code, data values and WSDL extracts are shown below. (The WSSoapClient class simply extends SoapClient, adding a WS-Security Username Token header with mustUnderstand = true and including a nonce, both of which the soapUI call had required.) Would so much appreciate any help. I'm a newbie thrown in at the deep end, and how! Have done vast amounts of Googling on this over many days, following many suggestions and have read Pro PHP by Kevin McArthur. An attempt to use classmaps in place of nested arrays also fell flat. The Code class STEeService { public function invokeWebService(array $connection, $operation, array $request) { try { $localCertificateFilespec = $connection['localCertificateFilespec']; $localCertificatePassphrase = $connection['localCertificatePassphrase']; $sslOptions = array( 'ssl' => array( 'local_cert' => $localCertificateFilespec, 'passphrase' => $localCertificatePassphrase, 'allow_self-signed' => true, 'verify_peer' => false ) ); $sslContext = stream_context_create($sslOptions); $clientArguments = array( 'stream_context' => $sslContext, 'local_cert' => $localCertificateFilespec, 'passphrase' => $localCertificatePassphrase, 'trace' => true, 'exceptions' => true, 'encoding' => 'UTF-8', 'soap_version' => SOAP_1_1 ); $oClient = new WSSoapClient($connection['wsdlFilespec'], $clientArguments); $oClient->__setUsernameToken($connection['username'], $connection['password']); return $oClient->__soapCall($operation, $request); } catch (exception $e) { throw new Exception("Exception in eServices " . $operation . " ," . $e->getMessage(), "\n"); } } } $connection is as follows: array(5) { ["username"]=> string(8) "DFU00050" ["password"]=> string(10) "Fabricate1" ["wsdlFilespec"]=> string (63) "c:/inetpub/wwwroot/DMZExternalService_Concrete_WSDL_Staging.xml" ["localCertificateFilespec"]=> string(37) "c:/inetpub/wwwroot/ClientKeystore.pem" ["localCertificatePassphrase"]=> string(14) "password123456" } $clientArguments is as follows: array(7) { ["stream_context"]=> resource(8) of type (stream-context) ["local_cert"]=> string(37) "c:/inetpub/wwwroot/ClientKeystore.pem" ["passphrase"]=> string(14) "password123456" ["trace"]=> bool(true) ["exceptions"]=> bool(true) ["encoding"]=> string(5) "UTF-8" ["soap_version"]=> int(1) } $operation is as follows: 'getConsignmentDetails' $request is as follows: array(1) { [0]=> array(2) { ["header"]=> array(2) { ["source"]=> string(9) "customerA" ["accountNo"]=> string(8) "10072906" } ["consignmentId"]=> string(11) "GKQ00000085" } } Note how there is an extra level of nesting, an array wrapping the request which is itself an array. This was suggested in a post although I don't see the reason, but it seems to help avoid other exceptions. The exception thrown by ___soapCall is as follows: object(SoapFault)#6 (9) { ["message":protected]=> string(25) "Could not connect to host" ["string":"Exception":private]=> string(0) "" ["code":protected]=> int(0) ["file":protected]=> string(43) "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\eServices\WSSecurity.php" ["line":protected]=> int(85) ["trace":"Exception":private]=> array(5) { [0]=> array(6) { ["file"]=> string(43) "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\eServices\WSSecurity.php" ["line"]=> int(85) ["function"]=> string(11) "__doRequest" ["class"]=> string(10) "SoapClient" ["type"]=> string(2) "->" ["args"]=> array(4) { [0]=> string(1240) " DFU00050 Fabricate1 E0ByMUA= 2010-10-28T13:13:52Z customerA10072906GKQ00000085 " [1]=> string(127) "https://services.startrackexpress.com.au:7560/DMZExternalService/InterfaceServices/ExternalOps.serviceagent/OperationsEndpoint1" [2]=> string(104) "/DMZExternalService/InterfaceServices/ExternalOps.serviceagent/OperationsEndpoint1/getConsignmentDetails" [3]=> int(1) } } [1]=> array(4) { ["function"]=> string(11) "__doRequest" ["class"]=> string(39) "startrackexpress\eservices\WSSoapClient" ["type"]=> string(2) "->" ["args"]=> array(5) { [0]=> string(1240) " DFU00050 Fabricate1 E0ByMUA= 2010-10-28T13:13:52Z customerA10072906GKQ00000085 " [1]=> string(127) "https://services.startrackexpress.com.au:7560/DMZExternalService/InterfaceServices/ExternalOps.serviceagent/OperationsEndpoint1" [2]=> string(104) "/DMZExternalService/InterfaceServices/ExternalOps.serviceagent/OperationsEndpoint1/getConsignmentDetails" [3]=> int(1) [4]=> int(0) } } [2]=> array(6) { ["file"]=> string(43) "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\eServices\WSSecurity.php" ["line"]=> int(70) ["function"]=> string(10) "__soapCall" ["class"]=> string(10) "SoapClient" ["type"]=> string(2) "->" ["args"]=> array(4) { [0]=> string(21) "getConsignmentDetails" [1]=> array(1) { [0]=> array(2) { ["header"]=> array(2) { ["source"]=> string(9) "customerA" ["accountNo"]=> string(8) "10072906" } ["consignmentId"]=> string(11) "GKQ00000085" } } [2]=> NULL [3]=> object(SoapHeader)#5 (4) { ["namespace"]=> string(81) "http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd" ["name"]=> string(8) "Security" ["data"]=> object(SoapVar)#4 (2) { ["enc_type"]=> int(147) ["enc_value"]=> string(594) " DFU00050 Fabricate1 E0ByMUA= 2010-10-28T13:13:52Z " } ["mustUnderstand"]=> bool(true) } } } [3]=> array(6) { ["file"]=> string(42) "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\eServices\eServices.php" ["line"]=> int(87) ["function"]=> string(10) "__soapCall" ["class"]=> string(39) "startrackexpress\eservices\WSSoapClient" ["type"]=> string(2) "->" ["args"]=> array(2) { [0]=> string(21) "getConsignmentDetails" [1]=> array(1) { [0]=> array(2) { ["header"]=> array(2) { ["source"]=> string(9) "customerA" ["accountNo"]=> string(8) "10072906" } ["consignmentId"]=> string(11) "GKQ00000085" } } } } [4]=> array(6) { ["file"]=> string(58) "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\eServices\EnquireConsignmentDetails.php" ["line"]=> int(44) ["function"]=> string(16) "invokeWebService" ["class"]=> string(38) "startrackexpress\eservices\STEeService" ["type"]=> string(2) "->" ["args"]=> array(3) { [0]=> array(5) { ["username"]=> string(10) "DFU00050 " ["password"]=> string(12) "Fabricate1 " ["wsdlFilespec"]=> string(63) "c:/inetpub/wwwroot/DMZExternalService_Concrete_WSDL_Staging.xml" ["localCertificateFilespec"]=> string(37) "c:/inetpub/wwwroot/ClientKeystore.pem" ["localCertificatePassphrase"]=> string(14) "password123456" } [1]=> string(21) "getConsignmentDetails" [2]=> array(1) { [0]=> array(2) { ["header"]=> array(2) { ["source"]=> string(9) "customerA" ["accountNo"]=> string(8) "10072906" } ["consignmentId"]=> string(11) "GKQ00000085" } } } } } ["previous":"Exception":private]=> NULL ["faultstring"]=> string(25) "Could not connect to host" ["faultcode"]=> string(4) "HTTP" } Here are some WSDL extracts (TIBCO BusinessWorks): <xsd:complexType name="TransactionHeaderType"> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="source" type="xsd:string"/> <xsd:element name="accountNo" type="xsd:integer"/> <xsd:element name="userId" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0"/> <xsd:element name="transactionId" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0"/> <xsd:element name="transactionDatetime" type="xsd:dateTime" minOccurs="0"/> </xsd:sequence> </xsd:complexType> <xsd:element name="getConsignmentDetailRequest"> <xsd:complexType> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="header" type="prim:TransactionHeaderType"/> <xsd:element name="consignmentId" type="prim:ID" maxOccurs="unbounded"/> </xsd:sequence> </xsd:complexType> </xsd:element> <xsd:element name="getConsignmentDetailResponse"> <xsd:complexType> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="consignment" type="freight:consignmentType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/> </xsd:sequence> </xsd:complexType> </xsd:element> <xsd:element name="getConsignmentDetailRequest"> <xsd:complexType> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="header" type="prim:TransactionHeaderType"/> <xsd:element name="consignmentId" type="prim:ID" maxOccurs="unbounded"/> </xsd:sequence> </xsd:complexType> </xsd:element> <xsd:element name="getConsignmentDetailResponse"> <xsd:complexType> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="consignment" type="freight:consignmentType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/> </xsd:sequence> </xsd:complexType> </xsd:element> <wsdl:operation name="getConsignmentDetails"> <wsdl:input message="tns:getConsignmentDetailsRequest"/> <wsdl:output message="tns:getConsignmentDetailsResponse"/> <wsdl:fault name="fault1" message="tns:fault"/> </wsdl:operation> <wsdl:service name="ExternalOps"> <wsdl:port name="OperationsEndpoint1" binding="tns:OperationsEndpoint1Binding"> <soap:address location="https://services.startrackexpress.com.au:7560/DMZExternalService/InterfaceServices/ExternalOps.serviceagent/OperationsEndpoint1"/> </wsdl:port> </wsdl:service> And here in case it's relevant is the WSSoapClient class: <?PHP namespace startrackexpress\eservices; use SoapClient, SoapVar, SoapHeader; class WSSoapClient extends SoapClient { private $username; private $password; /*Generates a WS-Security header*/ private function wssecurity_header() { $timestamp = gmdate('Y-m-d\TH:i:s\Z'); $nonce = mt_rand(); $passdigest = base64_encode(pack('H*', sha1(pack('H*', $nonce).pack('a*', $timestamp).pack('a*', $this->password)))); $auth = ' <wsse:Security SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd"> <wsse:UsernameToken> <wsse:Username>' . $this->username . '</wsse:Username> <wsse:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText">' . $this->password . '</wsse:Password> <wsse:Nonce>' . base64_encode(pack('H*', $nonce)).'</wsse:Nonce> <wsu:Created xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">' . $timestamp . '</wsu:Created> </wsse:UsernameToken> </wsse:Security> '; $authvalues = new SoapVar($auth, XSD_ANYXML); $header = new SoapHeader("http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd", "Security",$authvalues, true); return $header; } // Sets a username and passphrase public function __setUsernameToken($username,$password) { $this->username=$username; $this->password=$password; } // Overwrites the original method, adding the security header public function __soapCall($function_name, $arguments, $options=null, $input_headers=null, $output_headers=null) { try { $result = parent::__soapCall($function_name, $arguments, $options, $this->wssecurity_header()); return $result; } catch (exception $e) { throw new Exception("Exception in __soapCall, " . $e->getMessage(), "\n"); } } } ?> Update: The request XML would have been as follows: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:ns1="http://startrackexpress/Common/Primitives/v1" xmlns:ns2="http://startrackexpress/Common/actions/externals/Consignment/v1" xmlns:ns3="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd"> <SOAP-ENV:Header> <wsse:Security SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd"> <wsse:UsernameToken> <wsse:Username>DFU00050</wsse:Username> <wsse:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText">Fabricate1</wsse:Password> <wsse:Nonce>M4FIeGA=</wsse:Nonce> <wsu:Created xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">2010-10-29T14:05:27Z</wsu:Created> </wsse:UsernameToken> </wsse:Security> </SOAP-ENV:Header> <SOAP-ENV:Body><ns2:getConsignmentDetailRequest> <ns2:header><ns1:source>customerA</ns1:source><ns1:accountNo>10072906</ns1:accountNo></ns2:header> <ns2:consignmentId>GKQ00000085</ns2:consignmentId> </ns2:getConsignmentDetailRequest></SOAP-ENV:Body> </SOAP-ENV:Envelope> This was obtained with the following code in WSSoapClient: public function __doRequest($request, $location, $action, $version) { echo "<p> " . htmlspecialchars($request) . " </p>" ; return parent::__doRequest($request, $location, $action, $version); }

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• .NET Winform AJAX Login Services

  - by AdamSane

  I am working on a Windows Form that connects to a ASP.NET membership database and I am trying to use the AJAX Login Service. No matter what I do I keep on getting 404 errors on the Authentication_JSON_AppService.axd call. Web Config Below <?xml version="1.0"?> <!-- Note: As an alternative to hand editing this file you can use the web admin tool to configure settings for your application. Use the Website->Asp.Net Configuration option in Visual Studio. A full list of settings and comments can be found in machine.config.comments usually located in \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.x\Config --> <configuration> <configSections> <sectionGroup name="system.web.extensions" type="System.Web.Configuration.SystemWebExtensionsSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"> <sectionGroup name="scripting" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"> <section name="scriptResourceHandler" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingScriptResourceHandlerSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/> <sectionGroup name="webServices" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingWebServicesSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"> <section name="jsonSerialization" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingJsonSerializationSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="Everywhere"/> <section name="profileService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingProfileServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/> <section name="authenticationService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingAuthenticationServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/> <section name="roleService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingRoleServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/> </sectionGroup> </sectionGroup> </sectionGroup> </configSections> <connectionStrings <!-- Removed --> /> <appSettings/> <system.web> <!-- Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging symbols into the compiled page. Because this affects performance, set this value to true only during development. --> <compilation debug="true"> <assemblies> <add assembly="System.Core, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/> <add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> <add assembly="System.Xml.Linq, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/> <add assembly="System.Data.DataSetExtensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/> <add assembly="System.Data.Linq, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/> </assemblies> </compilation> <membership defaultProvider="dbSqlMembershipProvider"> <providers> <add name="dbSqlMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" connectionStringName="Fire.Common.Properties.Settings.dbFireConnectionString" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="true" applicationName="/" requiresUniqueEmail="false" passwordFormat="Hashed" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="7" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="1" passwordAttemptWindow="10" passwordStrengthRegularExpression=""/> </providers> </membership> <roleManager enabled="true" defaultProvider="dbSqlRoleProvider"> <providers> <add connectionStringName="Fire.Common.Properties.Settings.dbFireConnectionString" applicationName="/" name="dbSqlRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlRoleProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"/> </providers> </roleManager> <authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="Login.aspx" cookieless="UseCookies" protection="All" timeout="30" requireSSL="false" slidingExpiration="true" defaultUrl="default.aspx" enableCrossAppRedirects="false"/> </authentication> <authorization> <allow users="*"/> <allow users="?"/> </authorization> <customErrors mode="Off"> </customErrors> <pages> <controls> <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> </controls> </pages> <httpHandlers> <remove verb="*" path="*.asmx"/> <add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> <add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> <add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> </httpHandlers> <httpModules> <add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> </httpModules> </system.web> <location path="~/Admin"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow roles="Admin"/> <allow roles="System"/> <deny users="*"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/Admin/System"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow roles="System"/> <deny users="*"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/Export"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow roles="Export"/> <deny users="*"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/Field"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow roles="Field"/> <deny users="*"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/Default.aspx"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow roles="Admin"/> <allow roles="System"/> <allow roles="Export"/> <allow roles="Field"/> <deny users="?"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/Login.aspx"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow users="*"/> <allow users="?"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/App_Themes"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow users="*"/> <allow users="?"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/Includes"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow users="*"/> <allow users="?"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/WebServices"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow users="*"/> <allow users="?"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <location path="~/Authentication_JSON_AppService.axd"> <system.web> <authorization> <allow users="*"/> <allow users="?"/> </authorization> </system.web> </location> <system.codedom> <compilers> <compiler language="c#;cs;csharp" extension=".cs" type="Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider,System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" warningLevel="4"> <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5"/> <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false"/> </compiler> <compiler language="vb;vbs;visualbasic;vbscript" extension=".vb" type="Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" warningLevel="4"> <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5"/> <providerOption name="OptionInfer" value="true"/> <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false"/> </compiler> </compilers> </system.codedom> <!-- The system.webServer section is required for running ASP.NET AJAX under Internet Information Services 7.0. It is not necessary for previous version of IIS. --> <system.webServer> <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false"/> <modules> <remove name="ScriptModule"/> <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="managedHandler" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> </modules> <handlers> <remove name="WebServiceHandlerFactory-Integrated"/> <remove name="ScriptHandlerFactory"/> <remove name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices"/> <remove name="ScriptResource"/> <add name="ScriptHandlerFactory" verb="*" path="*.asmx" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> <add name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> <add name="ScriptResource" verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/> </handlers> </system.webServer> <runtime> <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1"> <dependentAssembly> <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/> <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-1.1.0.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0"/> </dependentAssembly> <dependentAssembly> <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions.Design" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/> <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-1.1.0.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0"/> </dependentAssembly> </assemblyBinding> </runtime> </configuration>

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