I have Console application which submit messages to Azure queue. Now I am trying to migrate this application to Mobile, but met reference problem with CloudStorageAccount. It requires Windows dll version but mine is Mobile.
Do you guys have any idea how I can initialize CloudStorageAccount object alternative way?
public Initializator()
{
CloudStorageAccount.SetConfigurationSettingPublisher((configName, configSetter) =>
{
// for a console app, reading from App.config
configSetter(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[configName].ConnectionString);
});
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.FromConfigurationSetting("QueueStorage");
CloudQueueClient queueClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudQueueClient();
queueIn = queueClient.GetQueueReference("queuein");
queueOut = queueClient.GetQueueReference("queueout");
queueIn.CreateIfNotExist();
queueOut.CreateIfNotExist();
}
One of the easiest ways, in my opinion, to work with Windows Azure storage (tables, blobs, & queues) from Windows Phone is to use the Phone.Storage NuGet package (http://www.nuget.org/packages/Phone.Storage). This makes working with storage on the phone nearly identical to working with storage from a server (or console app).
Be sure to check out Wade Wegner's blog post at http://www.wadewegner.com/2011/11/nuget-packages-for-windows-azure-and-windows-phone-developers/ for some additional info on the NuGet packages.
There's also a Phone.Storage.Sample package that may be worth taking a look at.
Related
I am utilizing Syncfusion's PdfViewerControl and PdfLoadedDocument classes to generate thumbnail images of a PDF. However, once I moved the project to an Azure App Service, the PdfViewerControl is throwing an exception when being initialized. I am curious if it is attempting to use system memory and Azure is blocking this. Below is the method GenerateThumbnails I've created and the exception is being thrown when creating a new PdfViewerControl. If anyone has a work around for this or has experienced something similar when moving to Azure, any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Along with that, if someone knows of another tool to create thumbnails from a PDF in this manner that'd be very helpful as well. Thanks!
Exception:
System.AccessViolationException: 'Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.'
Method:
public static List<Byte[]> GenerateThumbnails(Byte[] file)
{
Int32 resizedHeight;
Int32 resizedWidth;
List<Byte[]> thumbnails = new List<Byte[]>();
using (PdfViewerControl pdfViewerControl = new PdfViewerControl())
using (PdfLoadedDocument pdfLoadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(file, true))
{
// The PDF Viewer Control must load the PDF from a PdfLoadedDocument, rather than directly from the filename because
// when loaded from the filename, it is not disposed correctly and causes a file lock.
pdfViewerControl.Load(pdfLoadedDocument);
for (Int32 i = 0; i < pdfViewerControl.PageCount; ++i)
{
using (Bitmap originalBitmap = pdfViewerControl.ExportAsImage(i))
{
if (pdfViewerControl.LoadedDocument.Pages[i].Size.Width > pdfViewerControl.LoadedDocument.Pages[i].Size.Height)
{
resizedHeight = (PdfUtility.TARGET_THUMBNAIL_WIDTH_LANDSCAPE * originalBitmap.Height) / originalBitmap.Width;
resizedWidth = PdfUtility.TARGET_THUMBNAIL_WIDTH_LANDSCAPE;
}
else
{
resizedHeight = PdfUtility.TARGET_THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT_PORTRAIT;
resizedWidth = (PdfUtility.TARGET_THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT_PORTRAIT * originalBitmap.Width) / originalBitmap.Height;
}
using (Bitmap resizedBitmap = new Bitmap(originalBitmap, new Size(resizedWidth, resizedHeight)))
using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
resizedBitmap.Save(memoryStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
thumbnails.Add(memoryStream.ToArray());
}
}
}
}
return thumbnails;
}
Update
Web App for Containers on Windows is now supported. This allows you to bring your own docker container that runs outside of the sandbox, so the restrictions described below won't affect your application.
There are restrictions in the sandbox that the app is running in that prevents certain API calls.
Here is a list of frameworks and scenarios that have been found to be
not be usable due to one or more of the restrictions above. It's
conceivable that some will be supported in the future as the sandbox
evolves.
PDF generators failing due to restriction mentioned above:
Syncfusion Siberix Spire.PDF The following PDF generators are
supported:
SQL Reporting framework: requires the site to run in Basic or higher
(note that this currently does not work in Functions apps in
Consumptions mode) EVOPDF: See
http://www.evopdf.com/azure-html-to-pdf-converter.aspx for vendor
solution Telerik reporting: requires the site to run in Basic or
higher. More info here Rotativa / wkhtmltopdf: requires the site to
run in Basic or higher. NReco PdfGenerator (wkhtmltopdf): requires
subscription plan Basic or higher Known issue for all PDF generators
based on wkhtmltopdf or phantomjs: custom fonts are not rendered
(system-installed font is used instead) because of sandbox GDI API
limitations that present even in VM-based Azure Apps plans (Basic or
higher).
Other scenarios that are not supported:
PhantomJS/Selenium: tries to connect to local address, and also uses
GDI+.
https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu/wiki/Azure-Web-App-sandbox
I have a simple Xamarin Forms app. I've now got a simple POCO object (eg. User instance or an list of the most recent tweets or orders or whatever).
How can I store this object locally to the device? Lets imagine I serialize it as JSON.
Also, how secure is this data? Is it part of Keychains, etc? Auto backed up?
cheers!
You have a couple options.
SQLite. This option is cross-platform and works well if you have a lot of data. You get the added bonus of transaction support and async support as well. EDIT: In the past I suggested using SQLite.Net-PCL. Due to issues involving Android 7.0 support (and an apparent sunsetting of support) I now recommend making use of the project that was originally forked from: sqlite-net
Local storage. There's a great nuget that supports cross-platform storage. For more information see PCLStorage
There's also Application.Current.Properties implemented in Xamarin.Forms that allow simple Key-Value pairs of data.
I think you'll have to investigate and find out which route serves your needs best.
As far as security, that depends on where you put your data on each device. Android stores app data in a secure app folder by default (not all that secure if you're rooted). iOS has several different folders for data storage based on different needs. Read more here: iOS Data Storage
Another option is the Xamarin Forms settings plugin.
E.g. If you need to store a user instance, just serialize it to json when storing and deserialize it when reading.
Uses the native settings management
Android: SharedPreferences
iOS: NSUserDefaults
Windows Phone: IsolatedStorageSettings
Windows RT / UWP: ApplicationDataContainer
public User CurrentUser
{
get
{
User user = null;
var serializedUser = CrossSettings.Current.GetValueOrDefault<string>(UserKey);
if (serializedUser != null)
{
user = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<User>(serializedUser);
}
return user;
}
set
{
CrossSettings.Current.AddOrUpdateValue(UserKey, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(value));
}
}
EDIT:
There is a new solution for this. Just use Xamarin.Essentials.
Preferences.Set(UserKey, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(value));
var user= JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<User>(Preferences.Get(UserKey, "default_value");
Please use Xamarin.Essentials
The Preferences class helps to store application preferences in a key/value store.
To save a value:
Preferences.Set("my_key", "my_value");
To get a value:
var myValue = Preferences.Get("my_key", "default_value");
If you want to store a simple value, such as a string, follow this Example code.
setting the value of the "totalSeats.Text" to the "SeatNumbers" key from page1
Application.Current.Properties["SeatNumbers"] = totalSeats.Text;
await Application.Current.SavePropertiesAsync();
then, you can simply get the value from any other page (page2)
var value = Application.Current.Properties["SeatNumbers"].ToString();
Additionally, you can set that value to another Label or Entry etc.
SeatNumbersEntry.Text = value;
If it's Key value(one value) data storage, follow below code
Application.Current.Properties["AppNumber"] = "123"
await Application.Current.SavePropertiesAsync();
Getting the same value
var value = Application.Current.Properties["AppNumber"];
I have an app that needs to include a links to a second app in the same phone.
If the app is not installed the link should point to the windows store to install it (that part is working fine).
But if the app is already installed the link should go straight to the app and open it. How can I do that?
The app has two versions one form WP7 and other from WP8. if the solution is different for them please point the difference.
Thanks for the help...
I believe a URI Association is what you want. You should be able to create a different association in your WP7 app and in your WP8 app, and handle them accordingly.
A URI association allows your app to automatically launch when another app launches a special URI.
Also note:
If you are interested only in launching your own apps, consider using
APIs from the Windows.Phone.Management.Deployment namespace. You can
use this API to check for other apps that you’ve published, and then
launch them if they’re installed.
You basically just need to update the WMAppManifest.xml file to include the URI Association and then listen for that URI. Example:
<Extensions>
<Protocol Name="contoso" NavUriFragment="encodedLaunchUri=%s" TaskID="_default" />
</Extensions>
Then you can use a custom URI Mapper to handle your association (full example in top link above):
public override Uri MapUri(Uri uri)
{
tempUri = System.Net.HttpUtility.UrlDecode(uri.ToString());
// URI association launch for contoso.
if (tempUri.Contains("contoso:ShowProducts?CategoryID="))
{
// Get the category ID (after "CategoryID=").
int categoryIdIndex = tempUri.IndexOf("CategoryID=") + 11;
string categoryId = tempUri.Substring(categoryIdIndex);
// Map the show products request to ShowProducts.xaml
return new Uri("/ShowProducts.xaml?CategoryID=" + categoryId, UriKind.Relative);
}
// Otherwise perform normal launch.
return uri;
}
Hope this helps!
Is the secondary app one that you have created? If so, do something like this:
IEnumerable<Package> packages = InstallationManager.FindPackagesForCurrentPublisher();
foreach (Package package in packages)
{
if (package.Id.ProductId.ToString().ToLower() == "product id of secondary app")
{
//Launch the app
package.Launch();
}
}
Make sure that your publisher ids match in the WMAppManifest for both apps.
If this secondary app was published by someone else, you'll need to use a custom Uri schema. The app needs to have this feature added by the developer, you can't just launch any app.
I am working on a .NET MVC3 C# Application. This application is hosted on our own Server.
Now I want to Send Scheduled Email in my application like daily(at a specific time),Weekly, monthly and so on...
Currently I am using MVCMailer to send Emails in my application.
I tried Fluent Scheduler to send scheduled Emails, but it doesn't works with MVCMailer. It Works fine if I send mails without MVCMailer and for other scheduling jobs.
It gives me a ERROR NULLReferenceException and says HTTPContext cannot be null.
What can I do to solve this problem.
Also suggest me which will be the best way to send E-mails in my applicaton.
Windows Service (Having own server)
Scheduler (Fluent Scheduler)
SQL Scheduled jobs
I am attaching ERROR snapshot:
It could be that MVCMailer depends on an HttpContext, which will not exist on your scheduled threadlocal's.
You could consider scrapping MvcMailer and implementing your own templating solution. Something like RazorEngine (https://github.com/Antaris/RazorEngine), which gives you the full power of Razor without having to run ontop on an Http stack. You could still source your templates from disk so that your designers could modify it.
Then you could mail the results using the standard classes available from .net.
For e.g.:
string template = File.ReadAllText(fileLocation);//"Hello #Model.Name, welcome to RazorEngine!";
string emailBody = Razor.Parse(template, new { Name = "World" });
SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient();
client.Host = "mail.yourserver.com";
MailMessage mm = new MailMessage();
mm.Sender = new MailAddress("foo#bar.com", "Foo Bar");
mm.From = new MailAddress("foo#bar.com", "Foo Bar");
mm.To.Add = new MailAddress("foo#bar.com", "Foo Bar");
mm.Subject = "Test";
mm.Body = emailBody;
mm.IsBodyHtml = true;
client.Send(mm);
Obviously you could clean this all up. But it wouldn't take to much effort to use the above code and create some reusable classes. :)
Since you already have the FluentScheduler code set up, you may as well stick with that I guess. A windows service does also sound appealing, however I think that it's your call to make. If it's a simple mail service you are after I can't think of any reason not to do it via FluentScheduler.
I have created a full example of this available here: https://bitbucket.org/acleancoder/razorengine-email-example/src/dfee804d526ef3cd17fb448970fbbe33f4e4bb79?at=default
You can download the website to run locally here: https://bitbucket.org/acleancoder/razorengine-email-example/downloads
Just make sure to change the Default.aspx.cs file to have your correct mail server details.
Hope this helps.
Since MVC Mailer works best in the HTTP stack (i.e. from controllers), I've found that a very reliable way to accomplish this is by using Windows Task Schedule from a server somewhere. You could even spin up a micro instance on Amazon Web Server.
Use "curl" to call the URL of your controller that does the work and sends the emails.
Just setup a Scheduled Task (or Cron if you want to use *IX) to call "c:\path_to_curl\curl.exe http://yourserver.com/your_controller/your_action".
You could even spin up a *IX server on AWS to make it even cheaper.
I have Visual Studio 2010 solution with an Azure Service and an ASP.NET MVC 3 solution that serves as a Web Role for the Azure service. No other roles attached to the service other than that.
Every deployment to the Azure staging (or production, for that matter) environment takes up to 20 minutes to complete, form the moment I click publish on Visual Studio until all instances (2) are started.
As you can imagine this makes it a PITA to publish often, or to quick-fix some bugs. Is there a way to speed the process up? Would it be faster to upload the package to de Blob storage and upgrade from there? How would I go about achieving that?
I feel on-line docs on Azure leave a lot to be desired. Particularly when it comes to troubleshooting by the way.
Thanks.
One idea for reducing the need (and frequency) for redeploying is to move static content into blob storage, external to the package. For instance, move your css and javascript to blob storage, along with images. Once this is done, you'd only have to recompile / redeploy for .NET code changes. You can upload updated css, at any time, to blob storage. If you want to test this in staging first, you could always have a staging vs. production container name for your static content and store that container name in a config setting.
This doesn't change the deployment time when you do need to redeploy, but at least you can reduce how often you go through that process...
You should enable Web Deploy in your Azure project. It works this way :
1/ Create a RDP account (don't forget, you need to upload a certificate with its private key so that Azure can decipher the password). That is hidden in the Deploy Dialog Box for your Azure deployment project.
2/ Enable Web Deployment - same place
Once you've published the app that way, right-click in the web application (not the azure deployment project) and select Publish. The pop-up has everything defined except the password, enter that as well and you'll upload your changes to Azure in a matter of seconds.
CAVEAT : this is meant for single-instance web apps, definitely not the way to go for a production upgrade strategy, and the Blob storage answer already mentioned is the best option in that case.
Pierre
My solution to this problem is only to push a new package when I am changing code in the RoleEntryPoint or with the Service Definition. In Azure 1.3 you now have the ability to use Remote Desktop Connection. Using RDC, I will compile my code locally and use copy/paste to place it on the Azure server in the appropriate directory. Once the production code is running correctly, I can then push the fully tested version to staging and then do a VIP swap. This limits the number of times I actually have to deploy a package.
You actually have quite a long window in which you can keep modifying your code in Azure before you have to publish a new package. The new package is only really needed for those cases where Azure has to shutdown/restart your role instance.
It's a nice idea to try uploading your project to blob storage first, but unfortunately this is what Visual Studio is doing for you behind the scene anyway. As has been pointed out elsewhere, most of the time in doing the deploy is not the upload itself, but the stopping and starting of all of your update domains.
If you're just running this site in a development environment, then the only way I know to speed it up is to run just one instance. If this is the live environment, then... sorry, I think you're out of luck.
So that I don't have to deploy to the cloud to test minor changes, what I've found works quite well is to engineer the site so that it works when running in local IIS just like any other MVC site.
The biggest barrier to this working are settings that you have in the cloud config. The way we get around this is to make a copy of all of the settings in your cloud config and put them in your web.config in the appSettings. Then rather than using RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue() create a wrapper class that you call instead. This wrapper class checks RoleEnvironment.IsAvailable to see if it is running in the Azure fabric, if it is, it calls the usual config function above, if not, it calls WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings[].
There are a few other things that you'll want to do around getting the config setting change events which hopefully you can figure out from the code below:
public class SmartConfigurationManager
{
private static bool _addConfigChangeEvents;
private static string _configName;
private static Func<string, bool> _configSetter;
public static bool AddConfigChangeEvents
{
get { return _addConfigChangeEvents; }
set
{
_addConfigChangeEvents = value;
if (value)
{
RoleEnvironment.Changing += RoleEnvironmentChanging;
}
else
{
RoleEnvironment.Changing -= RoleEnvironmentChanging;
}
}
}
public static string Setting(string configName)
{
if (RoleEnvironment.IsAvailable)
{
return RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue(configName);
}
return WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings[configName];
}
public static Action<string, Func<string, bool>> GetConfigurationSettingPublisher()
{
if (RoleEnvironment.IsAvailable)
{
return AzureSettingsGet;
}
return WebAppSettingsGet;
}
public static void WebAppSettingsGet(string configName, Func<string, bool> configSetter)
{
configSetter(WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings[configName]);
}
public static void AzureSettingsGet(string configName, Func<string, bool> configSetter)
{
// We have to store these to be used in the RoleEnvironment Changed handler
_configName = configName;
_configSetter = configSetter;
// Provide the configSetter with the initial value
configSetter(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue(configName));
if (AddConfigChangeEvents)
{
RoleEnvironment.Changed += RoleEnvironmentChanged;
}
}
private static void RoleEnvironmentChanged(object anotherSender, RoleEnvironmentChangedEventArgs arg)
{
if ((arg.Changes.OfType<RoleEnvironmentConfigurationSettingChange>().Any(change => change.ConfigurationSettingName == _configName)))
{
if ((_configSetter(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue(_configName))))
{
RoleEnvironment.RequestRecycle();
}
}
}
private static void RoleEnvironmentChanging(object sender, RoleEnvironmentChangingEventArgs e)
{
// If a configuration setting is changing
if ((e.Changes.Any(change => change is RoleEnvironmentConfigurationSettingChange)))
{
// Set e.Cancel to true to restart this role instance
e.Cancel = true;
}
}
}
The uploading itself takes a bit more than a minute most of the time. It's the starting up of the instances that take up most of the time.
What you can do is to deploy your fixes to staging first (note that it costs money so don't let it be there for too long). Swapping from staging to production only takes a couple of seconds. So while your application's still running you can upload the patched version, let your testers test it on staging and when they give the go then simply swap it to production.
I haven't tested your possible alternative approach by first uploading to blob storage first. But I think that's overhead as it doesn't speed up starting up the instances.