All posts by Julie

WSE 3.0 WebCast: What does a message for secure conversation look like?

WSE

Rather than paste miles (271 lines) of angle brackets in here, I am posting the section of my trace files here from today’s webcast and have renamed it so you can view it in your browser if you want. Note that in general, these trace files will contain your UNSECURED raw data as well (I have stripped those sections out in mine) so you don’t normally want to do this!

I have put comments in the file to point out what is of interest.

Here is the basic story.

Because our policy indicates SecureConversation, WSE will know that before it can make that HelloWorld call, it needs to request a security context token. So you will see not one, but TWO outgoing messages, one right afte the other. THe first is the request for an SCT that WSE deemed necessary (based on the policy). That request sends the usernameToken with the login and password we provided in code. The user is authenticated against the db and the SCT is created and sent back to the cient. Then the client creates the HelloWorld request, but instead of using the username/password for authentcation, it uses the SCT!

I have put comments in the key spots of the file so you can see the differences between the first and second request. I.E. renders them as gray. Don’t be afraid to look at this goo because it’s a good arrow to have in your problem-solving quiver! I promise you won’t have angle-bracket filled nightmares. If you do, I recommend Dr. Ewald’s CureAll Tonic for Angle Brackets.

I’m packing up the code and will write another post when it is on the presentations page of website.

[update: see this post for information on the sample code, etc.]

Demos just don’t work like real life

Presentations

I did an MSDN Webcast today on Introducing WSE 3.0. Since I had an unusually short amount of time to get through all of my demos,I practiced them over and over (even though they were old hat to me ;-)) just to make sure nothing unexpected happen.

On the very last demo, where I created a new Policy that had “SecureConversation” turned on, it threw an error when I ran the client side app. There was not time to deal with the error and since I knew I had done everything correctly, I moved on, highlighting the key take-away of the demo (which was not seeing “Hello World” on a black screen, but what SC is and how easy it is to implement.)

Now I have just gone back to see what wasn’t lined up. I ran the demo again so that I could see what the error was and make sure the code was a-ok before I posted it…. and wouldn’t you know, it just friggin worked. And I hadn’t touched anything yet.

As my grandmother and all of her grandmothers before her would say: Oy Vey!

[update: see this post for information on the sample code, etc. and this post for more info on the SecureConversation demo]

Introduction toWSE3.0 Webcast tomorrow (Thursday) at 11am EST

WSE

As part of the Web Services Webcast Series, I’ll be doing an Intro to WSE 3.0 tomorrow morning at 11am.

It will be a 1 hour session on the key features of WSE 3.0 with as many demos as I can cram in!

There’s an MP3 raffle for attendees of this series. Check it out!

Here is the whole series. Please don’t ask me why the series of web casts on Web Services (WSE, ASMX, and lot of WCF, of course) is called “Windows Vista: Improve your Deployment and Security Strategy”, but at least it’s under the WCF section, since it’s like a WCF starter kit for those who can’t wait until WCF is live!

See you tomorrow!

In the “hey, you can’t know everything” category: File Name Copy Tools

Tools

Twice, I spent some time googling around for some way of having “copy file name” in my context menu in Windows. I saw a few utilities, but couldn’t find anything (along the lines of Scott Haneslman’s Ultimate Tools list) recommending any of them. So I happened to blog “wouldn’t it be nice” and out of the woodwork come a lot comments and emails with tool (and key-combo – which I have been using but somehow I prefer the ol’ right-click) recommendations. There is even a still-functioning in XP Windows 95 PowerToy.

Mike Gunderloy, googled and emailed me a suggestion. My reponse was “hey, *you* try it first, Mikey and let me know if it blows up your computer or not.” 😉

Here’s the list of recommendations that have come through my blog and Mike’s post. Some of these people are using, others have said “found this on Google for you”

Win95 PowerToy

Ninotech PathCopy

keyboard F2 (rename) ; Ctrl+C

Clipname

ClipPath

keyboard F2; Ctrl+A; Ctrl+C

Clickie

CopyFileNames

Go forth and conquer. Let me know what your faves are.

Programming in VBA – kinda like typing with your fists

Just Rambling

Okay, bad analogy… I admit it. But it’s early and I’ve only had one cupajoe.

I was helping someone out with some VBA code in their Access 2003 database. (It was not a situation where moving to VSTO was an option, in case you were about to suggest that.) I was just helping them get something working. It’s really painful coding in VBA after years of .NET, not only the IDE experience, but going backwards with things like instantiating a variable (which you have to do separately from code to give it a variable). There are things I know how to solve, but the way I would go about it (the .NET way) isn’t an option and I have to find alternate routes. But, heck, it was a rainy weekend, and I hammered through it and put a big smile on the faces of these guys. 🙂

Don’t Forget: www.acehaid.org

Acupuncture for my old doggie

Purely Personal

I have a great vet and a dog who is suprisingly beyond the age of a typical newfoundland.

Tasha is 12 1/2 and still chases the neighbor’s cat (kinda of slowly though) but it’s a little tough for her to get up off the floor and climb the stairs, but boy does she want to so she does.

Today my vet finally suggested that Tasha is a great candidate for Acupuncture. He is a well known practioner  and though so far we have gone all allopathic/Western medicine with Tasha, I’m glad that we will get to delve into this area of his expertise! It’s the reason that I chose him as our vet – knowing that we’d have these options if they were necessary.

Poor Tasha. He said he can feel how swollen her back knees are with arthritis and that it’s not just difficult but painful for her to do those things (lifting herself up off the floor, climbing the stairs.) She’s been on awesome glucosomine related products for years (Cetyl-M) This will be the last resort of keeping her happy and healthy for as long as we can and I’m really looking forward to it. Becaues of my travel, we can’t get started until the end of June with the weekly sessios, but we have some other allopathic med for her in the meantime – which is like super duper aspirin.



Don’t Forget: www.acehaid.org