Failed the Turing Test: January 2015

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Microsoft 70-486: Plan an adaptive UI layout

Exam Objectives

Plan for running applications in browsers on multiple devices (screen resolution, CSS, HTML), plan for mobile web applications

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 2.5
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapter 10 (Mobile Web Development)
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 16 (Advanced Topics - Mobile Support)
MSDN - Creating Mobile-Optimized Views in ASP.NET MVC 4
jQuery Mobile Official Site
YouTube: jQuery Mobile 101, Intro to jQuery Mobile
ASP.NET MVC 4 Mobile Features

Microsoft 70-486: Enhance application based on browser feature detection

Exam Objectives

Detect browser features and capabilities; create a web application that runs across multiple browsers and mobile devices; enhance application behavior and style by using vendor-specific extensions, for example, CSS

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 2.4
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapter 10 (Mobile Web Development)
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 16 (Advanced Topics - Mobile Support)
MSDN - Detecting devices and their features
MozDN - Browser detection using the user agent
Browser detection versus feature detection

Browser Detection (and What to Do Instead)
MVC - Adaptive Rendering Device Views

Adaptive Rendering in ASP.NET 4.5 ASP.NET MVC 4 Mobile Features
Vendor-specific Properties

Fun with Coordinates: A story about using JavaScript to do things the hard way.

Went to a training class this morning on using Google's MyMaps. Interesting enough, though I don't see myself ever really using it. For the uninitiated, this application lets you upload a spreadsheet of locations with a bunch of metadata, and you can manipulate the visualization. Well, the map pointers are placed based on either an address or a lat and long. The presenter noted that she wasn't sure if you could use UTM or State Planar Coordinate System coordinates. Because I had pretty much exhausted my interest in playing with the MyMaps interface in about 10 minutes, I took it as a challenge to obtain and test a UTM data set. I did a search for an available dataset but didn't find anything useful, however I had at my disposal a Google Sheets spreadsheet that had the Wyoming zip codes with latitudes and longitudes (basically a truncated version of this file). "So I'll just convert the ones I have, easy..." BWAHAHAHA ok, we'll get to what that was about.

Microsoft 70-486: Design and implement UI behavior

Exam Objectives

Implement client validation, use JavaScript and the DOM to control application behavior, extend objects by using prototypal inheritance, use AJAX to make partial page updates, implement the UI by using JQuery

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 2.2
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapters 3 (Data Annotation, 4 (Client Programming) and 6 (AJAX)
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapters 6 (Data Annotation) and 8 (AJAX)

MSDN - Models and Validation in ASP.NET MVC
JQuery UI documentation
Model binding, Data Annotation, and Custom HTML Helpers

Previous blogs relevant to objective:

JavaScript: client side validation, handle events, interact with DOM, apply styling programmatically,
objects and methods, scope, AJAX and JQuery

Microsoft 70-486: Apply the user interface design for a web application

Exam Objectives

Create and apply styles by using CSS, structure and lay out the user interface by using HTML, implement dynamic page content based on a design

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 2.1
Static vs. Dynamic Content
MSDN - HtmlHelper, HtmlHelperExtensions

Previous blogs relevant to objective:
HTML: Basic HTML, HTML Forms
CSS: Style Layout, Style Text, Selectors, Animation, Cascading

Microsoft 70-486: Implement a secure site with ASP.NET

Exam Objectives

Secure communication by applying SSL certificates; salt and hash passwords for storage; use HTML encoding to prevent cross-site scripting attacks (ANTI-XSS Library); implement deferred validation and handle unvalidated requests, for example, form, querystring, and URL; prevent SQL injection attacks by parameterizing queries; prevent cross-site request forgeries (XSRF)