I have already done a proof where I can include Node.JS within an ASP.NET MVC application.
Assume that I am going to use an external session provider like windows server appfabric Cache or memcache.
I have an application where there is a quite sophisticated assembly that we use to build middle tier objects that we then store in the session. The assembly and the objects it produces is our most valuable piece and I cannot justify rewriting this C# project into something this is more Node.JS friendly.
This data is stored in an external cache, and now the node.JS developers need access to that.
What techniques have you guys used in situations like this? I am pretty sure that I am going to have to have some sort of service interface provide by the asp.net side as it is the one that owns this system of record.
I am also looking for a green field option for new projects that allow both ASP.NET MVC and Node.Js work together well in a hybrid fashion anyway, so perhaps this could be solved by data being stored in a convention that works for both.
Thanks.
I wouldn't use ASP.NET session at all. Maybe a database would be a more interoperable approach. SQL Server or even NoSQL solution such as RavenDB might be a good choice.
The problem with ASP.NET out-of-proc session state providers is that they use non-interoperable serializers (such as BinaryFormatter or NetDataContractSerializer) so you cannot read the data back from NodeJs. There might even be differences in the serialization mechanism between the different versions of the .NET framework so even with 2 ASP.NET applications running on different versions of the framework it might be a challenge to share session data.
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So my first project at this new company is to convert a silverlight project to HTML5. I get mostly done with it but then in gets down to the nitty gritty. I have a legacy database. I essentially recycled the backend and made a client-side SPA solution using HTML5/CSS/Javascript. I come from an Apple/Linux background, so .NET is super new to me. I have learned that it's generally good to ditch the command line and let windows take control. Either ways, here's the problem. I figured out how to query this Pronto DB, and realized the passwords are hashed as they should be, but the mechanism that encrypted them client side was probably windows/silverlight related and I have to do the same in .NET MVC 5. Would have preferred some newer tech but all we got on the server is .NET 4.5 as the runtime env and it's in the red as far as space on the C drive, so upgrading to better software isn't an option. So basically, can anyone tell me how to tell .NET MVC 5 to reuse my DB for authentication in the same manner that a silverlight app would? Essentially, it's the same concept as how I'm re-using the backend with AJAX, but I imagine some pre-packaged GUI solution for telling windows that it should hash the client password and send it to a legacy DB. Tall order but I know they're some extremely intelligent people out there.
I am quite perplexed over the use of Web Api in a MVC application being developed at my company.I recently joined the project and wondering why they are using this.The application uses JQuery AJAX functionality to pull data for each Tab in a MultiTab Page without refreshing it.
The application here is neither providing data service nor consuming any Web API service.This can be easily achieved without using REST verbs.It is directly connecting to database like a typical web application.
I am holding back myself to raise this question with the team since I haven't used Web API much but has a conceptual idea.
Am I missing something here ?
Microsoft's Web API MVC technology is typically used for external components to interact with the system - not generally a requirement for a standard MVC Web Application.
With that said, I'm not perfectly clear on the architecture. A few points of note:
jQuery AJAX is a perfectly valid (and usually preferred) method to retrieve information for tab pages - it provides a SPA (Single Page Application) "feel" to the site and generally improves performance all around. This does not mean that they're using a Web API
MVC is a framework used for many web applications, including Microsoft's Web API projects as well as ASP.NET MVC Web projects. The use of MVC doesn't mean that they're using a Web API.
A RESTful approach isn't just for Web APIs. Indeed, many find it a cleaner approach when using regular MVC Web Applications, as it tends to be more semantic to what actions are actually being performed (GET to get a view, POST to post data, DELETE, etc.) There's no real reason not to use REST verbs (which are actually just HTTP verbs, but called "REST" when we use them in a certain way). The use of HTTP verbs doesn't mean that we're using a Web API.
To conclude, The MVC Web API framework is it's own technology that's similar to MVC Web Applications, but more geared towards working with non-visual requests and responses, instead tailored to programmatic interfacing.
If this is indeed a Web API being used and not a case of MVC practices that you happen to be unfamiliar with, then yes, I think it's a good question to raise (at least from a technical standpoint - politically, maybe not, but we can't answer that for you).
A typical setup is to have multiple projects, one of which is a Web Application, which makes use of shared project(s) for domain/business classes and data persistence. Additionally, a Web API project is often used to provide access to the system for external components, but this is a separate "presentation layer" project from the aforementioned Web Application.
There may be cases where a Web API application is written as the core interface between the internal system and the rest of the outside world, where the MVC Web Application then interacts with the Web API, but this is a corner case that should only be done with specific reason, in my opinion (unless I misread, this seems to be the case you're stating?)
Using both MVC and WebAPI together in a ASP.NET Web application is quite common. Whilst you can provide HTML through WebAPI and you can provide JSON through MVC it's much cleaner to use the best technology for each.
WebAPI in particular lets you define an API once and then generates JSON, XML, ... for you based on the request.
brief history of my project:
2 versions of application, one running in windows form, another running in the web using asp.net
current task: to revamp the project to use asp.net mvc 4 to use only one version of code base.
In final product, there will no more windows form; but only the asp.net mvc. this is with regards with short development timeline.
concern:
my concern is for offline users.
maybe i can host the asp.net mvc4 offline using localhost and sql lite.
When offline users click on check update, there will be able to get the latest version of asp.net mvc 4 ?
any other better solution that is feasible ? i prefer the architecture fits the vb.net
Have you take a look at SPA. That kind of projects, by nature, can work in online and offline mode. One thing to take into account is the ammount of data that the offline mode should handle (most SPAs are using the local storage for offline use, which is a little small)
By looking at this site you will find a lot of resourses on SPA.
http://www.johnpapa.net/spa/
Deploying MVC app with Sqlite in localhost will be quite a challenge in term of maintenance. Maybe you can develop HTML + jQuery solution which can run locally on client system and make use of client cache to hold the temp data. Also it can interact with live app by making ajax calls.
I am building a new applications architecture and I need your advice. We have a central MSSQL server database hosted as SQL Azure. This database needs to be accessed from many different applications, most of them are web applications hosted in windows azure and couple of them are winforms apps.
Accessing database for web application is straight forward with ADO.Net. For winforms applications, the wcf data services technology seems impressive along with client authentication services for security.
I need to know whether this mixed mode of database access will work? In other words, will database integrity will be maintained if it is being hit by applications using a mix of ADO.Net and Entity framework.
Thanks in advance.
If you query the database using EntityFramework it will cache the data until you call SaveChanges(). If the database is modified (e.g. using plain old ADO.NET) in the meantime there is a risk of the data from the database being overriden by the application that is using Entity Framework. To prevent from this you need to use Concurrency Token. You can find some details here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3866.aspx
Note that when you start using concurrency tokens you need to be aware of possible concurrency exceptions which you need to handle. You can take a look at this blog post http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rickandy/archive/2011/02/17/handling-optimistic-concurrency-exception-with-ef-and-mvc-3.aspx for some ideas. WCF Data Services uses ETags for concurrency (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astoriateam/archive/2008/04/22/optimistic-concurrency-data-services.aspx) but you may not need to do anything here if you setup concurrency in the EF model for the database that is exposed via WCF Data Services.
We are going with WCF RIA services. They seem to work well with multiple client types providing out of the box data access layer.
What is the best way to use live id authentication with azure based asp.net mvc project?
I find the options
1) With in Live SDK, there are options like REST, JavaScript, C# etc.
2) Since my project will be hosted in azure, there is another way "Securing Web Applications with ACS" http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg185928.aspx
Please suggest the design and also support with pros when an particular approach is good.
You definitely want to work with ACS. Not only is it intended for this purpose, there's a fully worked up example at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg185975.aspx
which will give you a flying start.
ACS, and Windows Identity Foundation in general, lets you take the approach of separating identity verification from your application altogether. This saves a ton of code and means that you have much less "plumbing" to support.