Microsoft support for UDDI seems to have disappeared of late - just try tracking down anything on MSDN and you will see what I mean from all the 404's and mis-leading information you will stumble across.

UDDI is a really useful part of any SOA, and the Oracle Service Registry contained within the Oracle SOA suite (version 10.1.3) supports version 1, 2 and 3 of the specification (by the way installation of the Oracle Service Registry is not the easiest thing you will ever do).  The easiest version of the spec to implement in .NET is the version 3.

Firstly download the WSDl and supporting schema from http://uddi.xml.org.

http://uddi.org/schema/uddi_v3.xsd
http://uddi.org/wsdl/uddi_api_v3_binding.wsdl
http://uddi.org/wsdl/uddi_api_v3_portType.wsdl

download additional supporting schema from http://www.w3.org

http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd
http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core/xmldsig-core-schema.xsd

saving to the same location.

Edit xmldsig-core-schema.xsd and comment out the doctype definition - as this declaration makes svcutil barf as described in http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3065329&SiteID=1).

Generate the service proxy using svcutil, making sure to reference all required WSDL and schema.

You will need to amend the svcutil generated config to include the endpoint for the UDDI service (just add the address attribute to the endpoint config). Then you can use the proxy to access the registry.

UDDI_Inquiry_PortTypeClient proxy = new UDDI_Inquiry_PortTypeClient("UDDI_Inquiry_SoapBinding_UDDI_Inquiry_PortType");

find_binding fb = new find_binding();

fb.serviceKey = "uddi:systinet.com:uddi:service:v3_inquiry";

bindingDetail detail = proxy.find_binding(fb);

foreach (bindingTemplate template in detail.bindingTemplate)

{

   accessPoint ap = template.Item as accessPoint;

   Console.WriteLine(ap.Value);

}

The sample code defines a simple search based on the defined key of a registered service (in this case "uddi:systinet.com:uddi:service:v3_inquiry" which is a key of the UDDI inquiry service as registered in the sample data from the Oracle Service Registry install). The code then enumerates the endpoint address for each registered endpoint listed within the returned binding detail.

For more information on the use of UDDI API read http://www.uddi.org/pubs/uddi_v3.htm. 

More work with nullable DateTimes!

There are oodles of articles out there discussing data binding with the DateTimePicker control attempting to address its limitations for support of nullable types.  Of course you can define your own control, or override the built in to amend the behaviour, but I wanted to see if I could use some of the .NET syntactic sugar to provide a solution that had light impact.

The idea was based on this article http://windowsclient.net/blogs/faqs/archive/2006/05/18/what-is-the-proper-way-to-bind-nullable-datetime-property-to-datetimepicker.aspx, which was obviously posted during the .NET 2 beta as it still uses INullableValue in the implementation.  The basic of this article is to use the Format and Parse events of the Binding to deal with null using the check box.  This is pretty light touch, so I thought I would wrap this in an extension to the DateTimePicker itself.  This is the extension class:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace manik.Windows.Forms

{

    public static class NullableDateTimePickerExtension

    {

        public static void AddNullableBinding(this DateTimePicker picker, Binding binding)

        {

            picker.DataBindings.Add(binding);

            binding.Format += new ConvertEventHandler(picker.OnFormatNullableDateTimePicker);

            binding.Parse += new ConvertEventHandler(picker.OnParseNullableDateTimePicker);

        }

        public static void OnParseNullableDateTimePicker(this DateTimePicker picker, object sender, ConvertEventArgs e)

        {

            Binding binding = sender as Binding;

            if (binding != null)

            {

                DateTimePicker dtp = (binding.Control as DateTimePicker);

                if ((dtp != null) && (!dtp.Checked))

                    e.Value = new Nullable<DateTime>();

            }

        }

        public static void OnFormatNullableDateTimePicker(this DateTimePicker picker, object sender, ConvertEventArgs e)

        {

            if (e.Value == null)

            {

                Binding binding = sender as Binding;

                if (binding != null)

                {

                    DateTimePicker dtp = (binding.Control as DateTimePicker);

                    if (dtp != null)

                    {

                        dtp.Checked = false;

                        e.Value = dtp.Value;

                    }

                }

            }

        }

    }

}

The AddNullableBinding extension will take a Binding object and hook up the Parse and Format events to further extension methods on the DateTimePicker.  Usage is really simple:

Binding testDateBinding = new Binding("Value", m_dataObject, "TestDate", true);

dtTestDate.AddNullableBinding(testDateBinding);

Just create a Binding for the date object, then call the extension method (making sure you have the correct using available of course) AddNullableBinding and that's it.  Light impact...

Now a lot of people hate it, but I think the PropertyGrid is cool - excellent for quick generation of edit UI.  We have shown it to customers as part of prototype build, and they have asked for its inclusion!  I was using the PropertyGrid to define a really simple editor for some data types and was working really well until I made the DateTime properties Nullable.

public virtual DateTime? EndDate

{

    get { return m_endDate; }

    set { m_endDate = value; }

}

The PropertyGrid was not displaying the editor, bit of a bummer! Although not a massive deal, I thought I was going to need to create a UITypeEditor that would cope with Nullable dates.  Fortunately if you are explicit, the built in editor supports a Nullable DateTime. 

[EditorAttribute(typeof(DateTimeEditor), typeof(UITypeEditor))]

public virtual DateTime? EndDate

{

    get { return m_endDate; }

    set { m_endDate = value; }

}

Adding the EditorAttribute specifying the DateTimeEditor to the property forces the use of the built in editor for the Nullable type.

After checking out a Visual Studio 2008 solution from our Subversion repository to a new machine (and new physical location) I started getting failure on the post build event reporting an exit code of 9009.  As ever it was building fin on another machine (luckily for once this failure wasn't on the continuous integration server).

With an exception like that It would have been easy to go off on one!  This project had some post build processing running in batch file, including RegAsm!  Looking at the simple things first, it had been checked out to a location with long file names such that the batch file was not running correctly.

	$(ProjectDir)\Install\Install.cmd  

Just wrapping the command in quotes sorted it. 

	"$(ProjectDir)\Install\Install.cmd"  

Ridiculously simple I know, but I thought I would write this one up - the way this was reported you could easily burn an hour or so chasing your tail...

So we all love the XmlSerializer right! Probably a lot more than the DataContractSerializer, but then we have had more time to get used to it's ways.  Most of the time we don't need to care what's going on, but sometimes (and usually when we are forced into doing some custom serialization) it doesn't do exactly what we expected and after the allowable "couple of minutes" of trial and error (or is that just me) we need to step through the serialization code to see what's up.

First thing needed is to add diagnostics switches on XmlSerializer in the applications config file:

   1: <system.diagnostics>

   2:       <switches>

   3:          <add name="XmlSerialization.Compilation" value="1" />

   4:       </switches>

   5: </system.diagnostics>

Then compile and run the application in debug to the point immediately after the XmlSerializer in constructed for the type:

   1: XmlSerializer ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyType));

The dynamic assembly and c# source is created in c:\documents and settings\[user]\local settings\temp under XP or c:\users\[user]\appdata\local under Vista - open the latest created *.cs file in your debug visual studio instance and off you go!

Not sure how, but somehow I lost the ability to print to Microsoft Office Document Image Writer (MODI) delivered with Office 2003 under Vista - I was getting pretty ugly exceptions when trying and as ever needed to get it sorted 'cos I needed it quick!  The quickest way to resolve was to re-install MODI, which wasn't that painful:

• Close all running applications - if you have any Office application running, the driver will not be installed properly
• Go to the "Control Panel" and "Programs and Features"
• Click on"Microsoft Office 2003" and then click on "Change"
• Check "Add or Remove Features" and click "Next"
• On the bottom of the page check "Choose advanced customization of applications." and click "Next"
• Under Microsoft Office click on the + sign in front of "Office Tools"
• Locate "Microsoft Office Document Imaging", click the icon and select "Not Available"
• Click on "Update" - this will uninstall the broken MODI driver
• Repeat steps to get back to the point of expanding "Office Tools"
• Locate "Microsoft Office Document Imaging", click the icon and select "Run from My Computer"
• Click on "Update" - this will re-install the driver

Not sure how this got broken - I have installed a bunch of software since I last used it...

Subversion is a powerful source code control repository, but getting it to authenticate using Windows users can be a mite tricky...

In this setup the aim is to have an Apache served repository allow author details to be recorded in the subversion repository (predominantly to allow you to find out who to blame) - so the setup will be simply to allow all users read access to the repository and ensure that domain authenticated users only are allowed to write to the repository.

First step is to install the Subversion repository and get it running with Apache; I find the CollabNet package really well put together (v 1.4.6 is what is used in this setup and can be obtained from http://downloads.open.collab.net/collabnet-subversion.html).  The CollabNet install is very simple just be sure to choose Apache, and make sure the repository is working unauthenticated before moving on.

Once its all running you need to download the mod_auth_sspi Apache plug in, there are various builds available, but the one I have found to be reliable is the sourceforge project available from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mod-auth-sspi.  You need to make sure you use the correct plug in version for the version of Apache, version 1.04 from the mod_auth_sspi-1.0.4-2.0.58.zip drop works with the v1.4.6 CollabNet package.  From the downloaded zip copy the mod_auth_sspi.so file into the httpd\modules in the CollabNet install directory (default is c:\program files\CollabNet Subversion Server\httpd\modules).  Then you need to edit the httpd.conf file in the CollabNet install directory http\conf (default c:\program files\CollabNet Subversion Server\httpd\conf):

Add

	LoadModule sspi_auth_module modules/mod_auth_sspi.so

after the mod_auth.so load:

	LoadModule auth_module modules/mod_auth.so

then add

	LoadModule authz_svn_module modules/mod_authz_svn.so

	LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so

Finally add

	
	# authentication	
	AuthName "Subversion Authentication"	
	AuthType SSPI	SSPIAuth On	
	SSPIAuthoritative On	
	SSPIDomain DOMAIN.COMPANY.COM	
	SSPIOfferBasic On	
	SSPIOmitDomain On 	
	SSPIUsernameCase upper	
	<LimitExcept GET PROPFIND OPTIONS REPORT>		
		Require valid-user	
	</LimitExcept>

within the <Location> tag at the end of the file following the location defaults

	DAV svn	SVNParentPath C:/svn_repository

The settings are in the main self explanatory, AuthType SSPI is fairly obvious as are SSPIAuth and SSPIAuthoritative (turning it on).  The SSPIDomain define the domain to authenticate against, and must be the full domain name.  The SSPIOfferBasic, SSPIOmitDomain and SSPIUsernameCase settings ensure the user is correctly prompted for authentication when requesting an operation other than the basic read ones listed in LimitExcept. 

There are ways to finely control access rights at all levels of the repository - but frankly I find the simplest configuration of recording the user who made the change rather than locking down easiest to manage in the long run.

After making the config changes restart the Apache server in the services.msc control panel plug in.  If it starts then you have done everything and just need to make sure that authentication details are recorded when you make repository changes (if you are using TortoiseSVN don't try this test using the repository browser to create folders it just doesn't request the authentication!).  If the service doesn't start then you have to start trial and error!  My recommendation would be to add the config items piece by piece in the order listed above checking the Apache logs as you go.  The authentication block is usually the tricky bit, again commenting out the salient bits (like SSPIDomain and LimitExcept) until the service starts.

Once you are at this point you can start additional configuration as required to more finely control access to the repository - however now is when I normally leave it...

The mini tutorial is designed to show how easy it is to get started with CruiseControl.NET . The aim will be to get a continuous integration build of a Visual Studio 2005 solution including nUnit unit tests running as quickly as possible using Subversion as the source control provider.

As ever the first step is to download it - the version used with this is CruiseControl.NET 1.3, which can be downloaded from:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=71179&package_id=83198&release_id=517823

Grab the CruiseControl.NET-1.3-Setup.exe and CruiseControl.NET-CCTray-1.3-Setup.exe setup kits.

Run the CruiseControl.NET-1.3-Setup.exe installation on the build server - the install is really basic.  Install all the components (CruiseControl.NET Server,Web Dashbord and Examples) make sure to Install CC.NET as Service and also Create Virtual Directory for the Web Dashboard.

While you are downloading and installing grab the XML logger from:

http://ccnetlive.thoughtworks.com/MSBuildXmlLogger-Builds/

Copy the logger binary (ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MSBuild.dll) to the CruiseControl.NET install dierctory (by default C:\Program Files\CruiseControl.NET\server).

Now to configuration, starting with the server...

On the build server checkout a working copy of the Visual Studio 2005 solution to somewhere sensible.  You need to make sure that the build works using MSBuild.exe.  Tghis is best done from the command line - if you don't know msbuild.exe is in C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 and command line to test will be:

	msbuild path to solution file /t:Clean /p:Configuration=Debug
	

Make sure the build is successful before moving on!

Now you configure the CruiseControl.NET server...

Open the ccnet.config file found in the server install directory which by default is C:\Program Files\CruiseControl.NET\server.  You are going to create a basic project entry to get tested and running.

      </sourcecontrol>

      <triggers>

      </triggers>

      <tasks>

            <msbuild>

            </msbuild>

      </tasks>

</project>

Some points to note in the basic settings above; the sourcecontrol trunkUrl element is the subversion url to the solution, and working directory both in source control and msbuild task are to the local check out directory.  The msbuild element also has the solution file name and paths to the msbuild exe and the logger we downloaded earlier.  The trigger is what fires the build, in this case every minute (if there have been committed changes) the build will run.

Next step is to get the CruiseControl build running using the ccnet.exe (default location C:\Program Files\CruiseControl.NET\server) from the command line:

	ccnet.exe -project:"project name"

All being well (basically if you haven't set anything wrong in the ccnet.config) this should also successfully build.  If not you need to tweak until it does.

So finally to get the unit test running....

The simplest way to get nUnit tests running is to use the nunit task which you configure in the ccnet.config file after the msbuild.  The following is the basic config:

So nothing complex here - the path is the path to the nunit-console.exe, and for each unit test assembly add a full path to the output binary.  Again make sure everything works with the ccnet.exe from the command line, make sure the unit tests pass too, tweaking as needed to get running.   Once its all running smooth then you can start the CruiseControl.NET service.

Finally to monitor the state of the build from the development client, install the CCTray application from the CruiseControl.NET-CCTray-1.3-Setup.exe on each development machine - again a really basic installer.

Following install run cctray and in the File Settings menu select the Build Projects tab and add a Build Server.  You have choices as to which way to monitor the build, I suggest using the "Connect directly using .NET remoting" option supplying server name of the build server - even though the install recommends against this this is the only option which will support the force build option, allowing you to demand a build from the development client.

You will be displayed a list of available project(s), select the available project to monitor - you now have a nice system tray notification showing status of your CI build...

If you want to know more there is plenty to read http://confluence.public.thoughtworks.org/display/CCNET/Welcome+to+CruiseControl.NET.

We all know that users reject change - they inevitably want the new bit of software (that you have spent ages on) to look and operate 'exactly' like their last bit of software!  Clearly being one of those annoying users I have spent some time looking to making Vista operate 'exactly' like XP - well at least replicating some of the shortcuts I have got used to using. 

The first one was Send To.  I have got used to having Notepad and Notepad++ (amongst other things) in the send to menu - I find it a really quick way to get stuff done.  To edit the Send To menu in Vista you need to run:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

either in the run dialog or in an explorer.  Then you can drop in whatever shortcuts you want...

The other one I have got used to is the command prompt from the context menu.  Under XP its an addition to the registry for the directory to open a command prompt:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\CommandHere] 
@="&Command here..." 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\CommandHere\command] 
@="cmd.exe /k cd %1" 

I was dead chuffed to find that in Vista you don't have to bother as its built in - just hold down shift as you open the context menu and you get an "Open Command Window Here" option. You also (as a double bonus) get get a "Copy as Path" option - a zero hassle way to get paths for files and directories into the paste buffer.

I have used subversion as a source control repository for some time (without getting into the religious argument - I find it does the job really well); and recently I have started to use the DiffMerge tool from SourceGear (http://www.sourcegear.com/diffmerge/index.html).  I know there are loads of tools out there, I have found that this one does a reasonable job of just about everything (that's pretty much why I use it!).  I particularly like the implementation of the three file view for conflict resolution.

It doesn't take too much setting up to use with TortoiseSVN.  Open the Settings dialog from the TortoiseSVN Settings menu.

In the External Programs section select Diff Viewer and select the External radio and supply the command line argument:

path\DiffMerge.exe /t1=Mine /t2=Original %mine %base

Make sure you supply a valid path to the installed DiffMerge product! When displaying changes this will display your version changes in the left panel with base in the right. 

To get the three panel merge select the Merge Tool in the External Programs section, and as before select the External radio and supply the following command line argument:

path\DiffMerge.exe /t1=Mine /t2=Base /t3=Theirs /r=%merged %mine %base %theirs

This will display three columns with your version, followed by the base version followed by the repository version - allowing you to merge changes from both sides into the centre at your leisure...