Patrick’s Bytes

If you want to pass large binary files via a WCF channel, you need to increase the maxStringContentLength on your WCF host app.config/web.config file. From my sample on my IssueTracker project, I added a new bindings element to the system.serviceModel section as below:
        <bindings>
            <wsHttpBinding>
                <binding name=”WSHttpBinding_IDataService” closeTimeout=”00:01:00″
                    openTimeout=”00:01:00″ receiveTimeout=”00:10:00″ sendTimeout=”00:01:00″
                    bypassProxyOnLocal=”false” transactionFlow=”false” hostNameComparisonMode=”StrongWildcard”
                    maxBufferPoolSize=”2147483647″ maxReceivedMessageSize=”2147483647″
                    messageEncoding=”Text” textEncoding=”utf-8″ useDefaultWebProxy=”true”
                    allowCookies=”false”>
                    <readerQuotas maxDepth=”2147483647″ maxStringContentLength=”2147483647″ maxArrayLength=”2147483647″
                        maxBytesPerRead=”2147483647″ maxNameTableCharCount=”2147483647″ />
                    <reliableSession ordered=”true” inactivityTimeout=”00:10:00″
                        enabled=”false” />
                    <security mode=”Message”>
                        <transport clientCredentialType=”Windows” proxyCredentialType=”None”
                            realm=”" />
                        <message clientCredentialType=”Windows” negotiateServiceCredential=”true”
                            algorithmSuite=”Default” establishSecurityContext=”true” />
                    </security>
                </binding>
            </wsHttpBinding>
        </bindings>
        Having done that, your service will still not using this binding configuration, you need to add the binding name to the bindingConfiguration attribute inside your service element.

  <services>
      <service behaviorConfiguration=”DataServiceBehavior” name=”Zuko.Service.DataService”>
        <endpoint address=”" binding=”wsHttpBinding” contract=”Zuko.Service.IDataService” bindingConfiguration=”WSHttpBinding_IDataService”>
          <identity>
            <dns value=”localhost” />
          </identity>
        </endpoint>
        <endpoint address=”mex” binding=”mexHttpBinding” contract=”IMetadataExchange” />
      </service>
    </services>

Awhile ago I blogged about Microsoft releasing products protocol documentation which are essential design specifications. That was about 2 months ago and the documents are of beta version.

Today the official version 1 is out that it covers the following products.

1. Windows
2. WCF
3. Windows Server Protocol
4. .NET Framework
5. Office
6. Office Binary File Format
7. SharePoint
8. Exchange
9. SQL Server
10. VBA Language Spec
11. XAML

I am creating some Unit Test for my IssueTracker project. My unit test class will connect to a WCF service and execute command. Whenever I start testing the code, after awhile the test just hang there until timeout and returns the follow message.

Failed    TestAddIssueAttachment    IssueTrackerTest    Assert.Fail failed. The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:01:00. Increase the timeout value passed to the call to Request or increase the SendTimeout value on the Binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.   

I am suspecting something is not right with my code. So I start searching the web, and I came across the following post by fellow MVP Benjamin Day. He had the same issue and realized actually he forgot to close the proxy connection. Yup, WCF proxy has to be closed, refer the unit test code sample below

                        [TestMethod]
        public void TestDeleteIssueAttachment()
        {
            IssueTrackerService.IssueTrackerServiceClient client
                = new IssueTrackerService.IssueTrackerServiceClient();

            try
            {

                client.Open();

                list = client.ListIssueAttachments().ToList();

                …..

            } finally {

                 client.Close();

            }

         }

Just finish watching CSI New York tonight. Tonight’s episode (titled You one die once) featured a team of robbers with high tech James Bond gears like a self healing + laser cutter sport cars and tuxedoes wired with wireless connection to steal data from nearby digital devices. But the CSI NY squad themselves are also armed with some high tech stuff (I think CSI NY is the most geeky one among 3 with showcase of gadgets suited for si-fi) like a touch UI based laptop that works like iPhone of the recently showcased Windows 7. It is pretty cool seeing Mac Taylor carry one around his office and information is just at the touch of his finger tips.

Mac Taylor holding a Touch UI laptop

YouTube - Windows 7 seven First Official Video

The art work of this website is just too damn cool to ignore. The loading page (because it is running on Flash) looks like a Command & Conquer game loading screen. And not to mention the theme music of the website rocks (yea… they got theme music some more)

Speaking of Command & Conquer, 2advanced Studios actually did the mini/ teaser site for Tiberium Sun game and also Star War’s The Force Unleashed.

Currently they put version 5.0 for this website, so I guess it went thru a few make over. Go here and pay a visit. Enjoy your weekend. http://www.2advanced.com/

After months of testing, Hyper-V reached RTM status today. What is Hyper-V? Below is the explanation from Microsoft’s website.

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, allows you to make the best use of your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) running on a single physical machine. With Hyper-V, you can also efficiently run multiple different operating systems—Windows, Linux, and others—in parallel, on a single server, and fully leverage the power of x64 computing.

You can download it here. I will do the same and test it out over the weekend.

Base on the idea behind the Issue Tracker project in www.asp.net, I am developing a new version with the intention of

1. To help people to sump start .NET 3.5 development
2. To help people to jump start an application based on the S+S vision
3. To serve as a base of the future Start.NET course I plan to write

I got the help of Poh Sze and Ervin to help me on part of the project and I hope to showcase it in Tech.Ed SEA 2008.

Please be aware of a malicious email circulating around the web that claims to be able to see who has blocked or deleted you from Windows Live Messenger. This is a hoax email which redirects you to a site when you click on the link in the email. The site then requests your Hotmail/Messenger password or Windows Live ID and starts spamming everyone on your contact list with this hoax.

Some of these sites even automatically infect your computer with a Trojan/Virus that steals all passwords on your computer. Below is an example of how the email looks like, these change over time so please be aware of suspicious emails such as this.

Found out about this microspoting blog by someone at MSFT campus who

creep around campus talking to my favorite kinds of people: geeks who are passionate about what they do.

Interesting gig she has there, it looks like a Web 2.0 journalist or something like that. But the site has some cool stuffs about life at MST Corp with blogs, photos and videos.

Wonder will she comes to Tech.Ed SEA…

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