Microsoft 70-486: Configure and apply authorization

Exam Objectives

Create roles, authorize roles by using configuration, authorize roles programmatically, create custom role providers, implement WCF service authorization

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 5.2
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapters 9 (§ "Securing an Application")
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 7
Creating and Managing Roles (C#)

Assigning Roles to Users (C#)

Role-Based Authorization (C#)
Setting authorization rules for a particular page or folder in web.config

MSDN - Implementing a Role Provider
MSDN - Authentication and Authorization in WCF Services Part 1, Part 2
MSDN - Authentication, Authorization, and Identities in WCF
PluralSight - Introduction to Identity and Access Control in .NET 4.5 (Paid)
PluralSight - Identity and Access Control in ASP.NET 4.5 (Paid)

Microsoft 70-486: Configure authentication

Exam Objectives

Authenticate users; enforce authentication settings; choose between Windows, Forms, and custom authentication; manage user session by using cookies; configure membership providers; create custom membership providers; configure ASP.NET Identity

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 5.1
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapters 9 (§ "Securing an Application")
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 7

How to configure IIS client certificate mapping authentication for IIS7

Configuring Authentication in IIS 7

How To Implement Forms-Based Authentication
Forms Authentication Configuration and Advanced Topics

Understanding the Forms Auth Ticket and Cookie
Understanding OWIN Forms Authentication in MVC 5
Don't be That Guy when it comes to Forms Authentication

MSDN - Implementing a Membership Provider

MSDN - How to: Implement a Custom Membership User

Custom Membership Providers
SimpleMembership, Membership Providers, Universal Providers

ASP.NET Identity
MSDN - Cutting Edge: A First Look at ASP.NET Identity

Adding ASP.NET Identity to an Empty or Existing Web Forms Project
Overview of Custom Storage Providers for ASP.NET Identity

PluralSight - ASP.NET MVC 5 Fundamentals: Identity and Security (Free)
PluralSight - Introduction to Identity and Access Control in .NET 4.5 (Paid)
PluralSight - Identity and Access Control in ASP.NET 4.5 (Paid)

Microsoft 70-486: Design and implement claims-based authentication across federated identity stores

Exam Objectives

Implement federated authentication by using Azure Access Control Service; create a custom security token by using Windows Identity Foundation; handle token formats (for example, oAuth, OpenID, Microsoft Account, Google, Twitter, and Facebook) for SAML and SWT tokens

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 5.3
MSDN - A Guide to Claims-Based Identity and Access Control (2e)
MSDN - Windows Identity Foundation
MSDN - How to Authenticate with Azure Active Directory Access Control
MSDN - ACS How To's
MSDN - WIF Code Sample Index
Google Identity Platform - OpenID Connect
Federate with Windows Live using OAuth and SAML
Facebook Developer Console
Google Developer Console
Using Windows Azure ACS in MVC 5 Application Using VS 2013
Write a custom security token and handler in WIF
PluralSight - Windows Azure Access Control Service (a bit dated, but not bad)
PluralSight - Claims-based Identity for Windows: The Big Picture (Paid)
PluralSight - Identity and Access Control in ASP.NET 4.5 (Paid)
PluralSight - Introduction to Identity and Access Control in .NET 4.5 (Paid)
Dominik Baier - Claims and Tokens become the standard Model (Video)

Consolidated Code Samples on GitHub

Where to learn Ruby on Rails

For our developer book club, we chose "Engineering Software as a Service", and are working through the associated MOOC through EdX.  The book focuses on using Agile and TDD to build apps using Ruby on Rails.  Because I'm the book clubs facilitator, I thought it would be a good idea if I knew what the hell I was doing when we met every week, so I set out to learn Ruby and Rails.  These are some of the resources I found and my thoughts on them...

Microsoft 70-486: Prevent and troubleshoot runtime issues

Exam Objectives

Troubleshoot performance, security, and errors; implement tracing, logging (including using attributes for logging), and debugging (including IntelliTrace); enforce conditions by using code contracts; enable and configure health monitoring (including Performance Monitor)

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 4.1
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapter 16 (Logging, tracing)
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 17 (ELMAH, Profiling)
Debugging, Tracing and Instrumentation in .NET and ASP.NET
MSDN - Debugging, Tracing, and Profiling
MSDN - Code Contracts
MSDN - ASP.NET Health Monitoring Overview
MSDN - MVC Music Store Application logging feature
MSDN - ASP.NET Performance Monitoring, and When to Alert Administrators
MSDN - Beginners Guild to Performance Profiling
MSDN - Tracing and Instrumenting Applications
MSDN - Using IntelliTrace
Code Contracts in C#

My post on Debug an Azure Application overlaps with this one somewhat.
My demo code for this objective on Github.

Microsoft 70-486: Plan and implement globalization and localization

Exam Objectives

Plan a localization strategy; create and apply resources to UI, including JavaScript resources; set cultures; create satellite resource assemblies

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 3.2
MSDN - Creating Satellite Assemblies for Desktop Apps
Globalization, I18n and L10n in ASP.NET MVC 3, JavaScript and jQuery

Beginner's Tutorial on Globalization and Localization in ASP.NET MVC

Resource Files and ASP.NET MVC Projects

ASP.NET MVC 5 Internationalization
MSDN - Globalization Step-by-Step

Wikipedia - Internationalization and localization
Simple ASP.Net MVC Globalization with Graceful Fallback

My example project on Github

Microsoft 70-486: Design an exception handling strategy

Exam Objectives

Handle exceptions across multiple layers, display custom error pages using global.asax or creating your own HTTPHandler or set web.config attributes, handle first chance exceptions

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 4.2
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapters 16 (Logging)
StackOverflow - Exception handling in n-tier applications?
MSDN - How to: Receive First-Chance Exception Notifications
MSDN - AppDomain.FirstChanceException Event
MSDN Social - Handling Errors in Multi-Tier Application - Advice
Exceptions in the rainforest

How to dismantle a poorly designed registration wall

Mr. SiteOwner... tear down this wall!

Sorry, couldn't resist.  Let's ignore the fact that I was five years old when Ronald Reagan spoke those words.  I hate forced registration.  If your content is free, make it free.  If I want to get your shitty emails, then I'll sign up, but this whole passive-aggressive "you can look if you give me your email address" bullshit just gets on my nerves.

Microsoft 70-486: Reduce network bandwidth

Exam Objectives

Bundle and minify scripts (CSS and JavaScript), compress and decompress data (using gzip/deflate; storage), plan a content delivery network (CDN) strategy (for example, Azure CDN)

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 3.6
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapter 13
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 8 (§ on Improving Ajax Performance).
(MSDN) How to: Compress and Extract Files
Using CDN for Azure
How to Enable Content Delivery Network (CDN) for Azure

Microsoft 70-486: Debug an Azure application

Exam Objectives

Collect diagnostic information by using Azure Diagnostics API and appropriately implement on demand versus scheduled; choose log types (for example, event logs, performance counters, and crash dumps); debug an Azure application by using IntelliTrace, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), and remote debugging; interact directly with remote Azure websites using Server Explorer.

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 4.4
Enabling Diagnostics in Azure Cloud Services and Virtual Machines
Microsoft Azure Diagnostics: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Create and use performance counters in an Azure application
Initialize or Change Azure Diagnostics Configuration
Store and view diagnostic data in Azure Storage

Cloud Diagnostics - Take Control of Logging and Tracing in Windows Azure

Enable diagnostics logging for web apps in Azure App Service

Azure SDK 2.6 Diagnostics Improvements for Cloud Services
MSDN - Using Dump Files
Debugging an Azure cloud service or virtual machine in Visual Studio

This post has about 4 billion screenshots, so I apologize in advance...

Using Maven and Google Plugin for Eclipse together in harmony

So, this post is mostly about documenting, for myself, how to get Eclipse and Maven set up correctly for my current project, but I think there might also be some bits of useful wisdom for other devs who might be working with similar circumstances.  The basic, 30k foot look at my problem is something like this:


   I have a Google Web Toolkit (GWT) project that is to run on Google App Engine (GAE).  How do I use Maven to manage dependencies, while still maintaining the functionality that the Google Plugin for Eclipse (GPE) gives me?

Microsoft 70-486: Test a web application

Exam Objectives

Create and run unit tests (for example, use the Assert class), create mocks; create and run web tests, including using Browser Link; debug a web application in multiple browsers and mobile emulators

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 4.3
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapters 17 (Automated Testing)
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 14 (Unit Testing)
The Art of Unit Testing
Using Browser Link in Visual Studio 2013

Isolating Code Under Test with Microsoft Fakes
MSDN - Understanding Web Tests
YouTube - Creating Web Test and Load Test using Microsoft Visual Studio

YouTube - Load Testing SharePoint 2013 using Visual Studio 2013

My four part post on unit testing: Setup, Fake Database, Fake Context, Writing Tests

PluralSight - Automated ASP.NET MVC Testing: End to End

Microsoft 70-486: Design and implement routes

Exam Objectives

Define a route to handle a URL pattern, apply route constraints, ignore URL patterns, add custom route parameters, define areas

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 3.4
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapters 1 (§ on Routing), 14 (Advanced Routing)
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 9 (Routing)
MSDN - ASP.NET Routing
MSDN - RouteCollection Class
My Github repo with example code

Microsoft 70-486: Control application behavior by using MVC extensibility points

Exam Objectives

Implement MVC filters and controller factories; control application behavior by using action results, view engines, model binders, and route handlers

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications - Objective 3.5
Programming ASP.NET MVC 4 (OReilly) - Chapter 14 (Advanced Routing)
Professional ASP.NET MVC 5 (WROX) - Chapter 15 (Extending MVC)

Custom Controller Factory in ASP.NET MVC

An Introduction to ASP.NET MVC Extensibility

ASP.NET MVC Routing Extensibility

ASP.NET Application Lifecycle

Creating a custom route handler in ASP.NET MVC

DefaultControllerFactory in ASP.NET MVC
Custom ASP.NET MVC ActionResults
A Custom View Engine with Dynamic View Location
Custom View Engine in ASP.NET 5 (vNext) and MVC 6 

Creating your own MVC View Engine For MVC Application
ASP.NET MVC Custom Model Binder

My example code on GitHub

I beat filters and action results to death in a previous post for Objective 3.3

MIT 6.006 Intro to Algorithms

Resources:

• MIT OpenCourseware Site for this course: MIT OCW
• Textbook:  Introduction to Algorithms (often referred to as "CLRS")
• Instructors manual for CLRS
• YouTube playlist: youtube.com
• GitHub repo for solutions and such: MIT6.006
• Relavant HackerRank challenges:
• Sorting: Insertion, Merge, Counting
• Graphs: Dijkstra
• Tons on Dynamic Programming (DP): Knapsack, Increasing Subsequence
• Khan Academy series on algorithms

Migrating AppEngine Datastore Entities to a SQL Database: Jenkins Automation

In two previous posts I laid out the process for extracting the entities from the Google AppEngine datastore and then loading them into Azure SQL.  While this process was successful, it was also a bit labor intensive.  I felt pretty certain that the process could be automated, so I set out to script it out and run it from Jenkins.

My initial goal was to complete the entire process, from initiating the datastore backup to pushing to Azure, without modifying the existing app in any way.  So, while the most straight forward way to backup the enties periodically is with a (shocker) cron job, I wanted to try to trigger the backup from outside the app.

Berkeley CS61B - Data structures (Projects)

Back in May I worked through the Data Structures class through UC Berkeley.  I got the homeworks finished, but I put off working on the projects right away.  In August I got projects 0 and 1 finished.
In late October I finally got around to finishing Project 2.  Finally, in early December I finished Project 3 (I got sidetracked working through MIT's Intro to Algorithms class... and doing like, a billion HackerRank challenges lol)

Migrating AppEngine Datastore Entities to a SQL Database: Azure Load

In my last post, I went over the process of getting our datastore entities from into a .csv file via BigQuery.  This seemed like a good split point, since getting a .csv or Excel file into an Azure SQL database might be of interest regardless of where the .csv came from.  I'll also quickly go over some Azure gotcha's to look out for.

As a bit of background, initially I was just going to do all the querying from within BigQuery.  But it was a bit clunky, and kind of intimately tied me in to the process of getting the data the supervisors wanted.  My manager pointed out that a more general solution was probably preferable, so I looked into getting the .csv data into a SQL database.  This is the rest of the story...

Migrating AppEngine Datastore Entities to a SQL Database: Extraction

Handwavy, tl;dr version: 

• Back up entities to Cloud Storage
• Import into BigQuery
• Export .csv
• Migrate with SQL Server Import - Export Data tool

Our help ticket system at work (creatively named "HTS") is hosted on Google AppEngine, with data persisted to the HR datastore.  My manager approached me (since I'm the "appengine developer") and asked me if it would be possible to do a "data dump".  Nothing pretty, just get it all out and into a spreadsheet or something so that supervisors could run some rudimentary reporting (the build-in capabilities in HTS weren't cutting it). So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.  Here's how it all went down...

Coursera Machine Learning by Stanford

Just finished up my first full blown course from Coursera, a course from Stanford University on Machine Learning.  I'd watched through the lecture series for the Stanford Natural Language Processing class, but I didn't do the programming exercises (yet...) so I don't really count that one. Finished up way ahead of schedule, though to be fair, they set a pretty leisurely pace.