On Not Writting

For the past month I have struggled to finish what I've started. I think too much about what I'm trying to say and nothing comes out. Or my inner critic edits it before I can finish the bloody sentence. It can always be better.

It once was better: I start thinking about something, say on the way home from work, walking through Riverfront Park (doing laundry, driving to nowhere, etc). Regardless of what I was doing, it was brilliant. The kind of thing that changes the world. Everyone would recognize ME as the guru of whatever. So on and you know the rest… Then I get home, open up Word and… The phrases that sounded good in my head look terrible on the screen (if I can even remember them).

As the Improv Gods would say, I am in my head. I am thinking too much about things that are not important, at least not in the present moment. If I can get the words down, I can fix the style later. If I can't get the words down in the first place I have nothing. Ok, Mr. Critic it ain't perfect but it's on virtual paper.

Ok, I let Mr. Critic silence me. The only way I can grow is to put myself out there and risk being the fool. I can’t succeed if I don’t risk failure. This post, like the others, is a disappointment. It had so much promise when I was thinking it over in my mind. .. It may not meet my impossible, I'll post it anyway.

Log4Net: Minimalist demo using config settings

The other day, it was decided at work that we will be using Log4Net, Apache’s logging tool for the .NET Framwork. It was left to me to investigate this tool. This post is the beginning of this investigation. For my first post, I present a minimal demo of Log4Net using Config settings. So here are the steps I’ve come up with using Microsoft C# Express 2010:

1. Create a Console Application Project
   
2. Make sure that Target Framework is .NET Framework 4, (select the project in Solution Explorer and press Alt+Enter, Look at Target Framework), the default is .NET Framework 4 Client Profile.
   
3. Add a reference to log4net.dll
   
4. Add the following attribute outside of any class or namespace (in my project I put it in Program.cs between the using and namespace statements, in a real project I would probably put it in AssemblyInfo.cs):

   [assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator]
   

   In this case XmlConfigurator tells the Framework to look in my application's .config file for configuration information.
   
5. In app.config:

   <configSections>
   <section name="log4net" 
   type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net"/>
   </configSections>

   This tells the framework about Log4Net’s custom configuration section below.

   <log4net>
   <appender name="MyAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
   <file value="TestLog.txt"/>
   <layout type="log4net.Layout.SimpleLayout" />
     </appender>

   
   

   log4net is the configuration section we described configSections above.

   
   

   This creates an appender; an appender is an object that is writes the logged data to somewhere. A FileAppender will write it to a text file. The name is used below to tell log4net to actually use this appender;

   
   

   The file element declares the name of the file. Here we will be logging to TestLog.txt in the same directory as the program.

   
   

   The layout tells log4net how to write the data. SimpleLayout is as simple as they get, In the real world, I’d use a more flexible layout. the PatternLayout is popular.

   <root>
   <appender-ref ref="MyAppender"/>
   </root>
   </log4net>

   
   

   Declaring an appender is good, but log4net won’t use it unless you tell it to.  The appender-ref element tells log4net to use my appender. You can specify as many appenders as you want.

   
   
6. Create an instance of Log

   log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger("Some String");
   

   
   
7. And Log away.

   log.Info("For Your Information");
   log.Warn("Danger Will Robinson");
   log.Debug("Debug Message");
   try
   {
   throw new Exception("Deliberate Exception");
   }
   catch (Exception ex)
   {
   log.Error(ex.Message, ex);
   }
   log.Fatal("Die. Die. Die!", new ApplicationException("Fatal Exception"));

   
   

   Running the code above, my log looks like this (note that there are not time stamps):

   INFO - For Your Information
   WARN - Danger Will Robinson
   DEBUG - Debug Message
   ERROR - Deliberate Exception
   System.Exception: Deliberate Exception
   at Log4NetConsole001.Program.Main(String[] args) in C:\Users\jack\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\Log4NetConsole001\Log4NetConsole001\Program.cs:line 20
   FATAL - Die. Die. Die!
   System.ApplicationException: Fatal Exception
   
   

   
   

 

That is my minimalist implementation of Log4Net; it is probably too simple to be useful, but is is a start. If my ambition holds, I hope to expand on this.

Complete Sample

program.cs

using System;

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator]

namespace Log4NetConsole001
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
log4net.ILog log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger("Some String");
log.Info("For Your Information");
log.Warn("Danger Will Robinson");
log.Debug("Debug Message");
try
{
throw new Exception("Deliberate Exception");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
log.Error(ex.Message, ex);
}
log.Fatal("Die. Die. Die!", new ApplicationException("Fatal Exception"));
Console.WriteLine("======================= End ========================");
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}

app.config

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="log4net" 
     type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net"/>
</configSections>

<log4net>
  <appender name="MyAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
<file value="TestLog.txt"/>
<layout type="log4net.Layout.SimpleLayout" />
  </appender>

<root>
<appender-ref ref="MyAppender"/>
</root>
</log4net>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"/>
</startup>
</configuration>

My Nokia 900

Recently I traded my iPhone 3G for a Nokia 900. The Nokia is nicer than the Apple, but I don't think that is a fair comparison; lots have happened in the last 3 years. There are some things that the Nokia does better than the iPhone ( I love the hardware button for the camera), and things I miss about the old phone (hardware mute button, combined email).

I've had this thing for a week and I'm already making apps. There are three of my creations on there right now! They are all really lame; they will make me laugh in a couple of months -- that's a start.

I like the iPhone, I like the apps, but it locked me into the apps that already exist (yes, I could a Mac and write apps in Objective-C; I have a job and other commitments). As a developer in the Microsoft space, the Windows Phone puts me into the "What can I get this thing to do" space. With the iPhone, it's "Where can I find an app to".

I am interested in building apps it get a feel of how they work than make my first million selling Winphone apps. I want to get a better feel for the mobile metaphors. If Winphone crashes and burns, I can transfer these skills to Droid, iOS or whatever comes next. Developing for Winphone allows me to concentrate on the smaller device and not deal with Java or Objective-C until after I get the new platform.

I think it is important to learn the new stuff. Whether its iPad, Windows 8, some Android based Tablet or something I don't yet know about, the tech world is changing and I need to understand it.

Doing Notes for my Boise Code Camp Presentation

I presented this afternoon at the Boise Code Camp. All in all, it went OK. However, I had a really rough start. I am proud that I was able to brush it off and go on (I even got a couple of complements). It is important to continue on when I am bombing and debug my performance after the ordeal is over. After an Improv show (at least at the Blue Door Theatre), the performers do “Notes”.

I have observed that many code camp presentations start out scripted and eventually move into improv. It isn’t like a short games or a Harold where it can go in any direction; more like a Larry David script that has a story arc but no written dialog. This pivot usually occurs when the first question is asked. The presentation becomes a dialog that follows the outline of the presentation. I usually am good at engaging the audience in that dialog; I guess I am good at crowd work.

Rough Start

I had a lot of trouble getting started. I umed, I spoke too fast, spoke in a single note, I left stuff off (I didn’t even properly introduce myself), it took too long to get into a groove. My first 5 minutes were really weak. I didn’t rehearse that part of the presentation enough. I didn’t speak the words out loud enough. The first 5 minutes sets the pace for the rest of the show.

Improvements in Other Areas

I felt good about the rest of the talk. Last time out I had trouble talking and coding at the same time; this time I felt comfortable coding on stage. The steps of my demos were well defined and rehearsed; I even had completed demos that I could use if I had a demo failure. I also felt comfortable changing the demos based on questions or comments of my audience. I need to keep the improvements I made and fix what didn’t work

Perspective

It is not my goal to oust Scott Hanselman as the Jon Skeet of technical speaking. I am using technical speaking (and Improv for that matter) to help me get outside of myself and the traditional dweeb mindset. I am getting out of my shell and doing thing I wouldn’t have done and going places I wouldn’t have gone 3 years ago.

EF Eager Loading Using Include()

Setup for this post

(if you want to run the code as displayed)

• Building an EF 4 Model Assembly for Pubs DB – To setup my Pubs model.
• Create Entity Framework Data Context for LINQPad 4 – To set up EF in LINQPad.
• Since I’m using C# Expression, I don’t need to declare EF_CONNECTION_STRING. I’m not sure why LINQPad can pick up the connection for C# Expression but not C# Program.

Lazy Loading is cool; you don’t have to load things you don’t need. However, each item you load is more expensive for each item you load; it can be a net saving if you can avoid loading enough unneeded data.

If you, the smart human, knew that you need to load that data, wouldn’t it be nice to tell the Entity Framework to go ahead and get the data NOW. I can tell EF to Eager Load specific related tables with the Include method. All I have to do is pass in the name of the navigator property of the related object you would like to load.

NOTE: LINQPad 4 is good at displaying the results of these queries in a way that may help you visualize what is happening. I spent a good amount of time trying to include that display: it was ugly.

For example, if I ran this query (LINQPad: C# Expression):

from s in stores.Include("sales")
    select s

This query would fetch all the stores and related sales.

If I wanted to load more than related object I could chain includes like this:

from s in stores.Include("sales").Include("discounts")
    select s

I get all the stores, related sales and discounts.

If I wanted to load related objects to related objects I would put a dot (".") between each level of related objects like this:

from d in discounts.Include("store.sales")
    select d

Here I get the discounts and the stores and the sales per store; the sales will appear below the stores.

Getting TSQL Query With ToTraceString() in EF

Setup for this post

(if you want to run the code as displayed)

• Building an EF 4 Model Assembly for Pubs DB – To setup my Pubs model.
• Create Entity Framework Data Context for LINQPad 4 – To set up EF in LINQPad.
• Querying EF ObjectContext from LINQPad – Why am I using EF_CONNECTION_STRING

I use ObjectQuery.ToTraceString() to figure out what is going on behind the scenes. ToTraceString() returns the TSQL (assuming you are using the SQL Server provider) for that ObjectQuery.

Since I can see the TSQL code that EF generates I can poke around and figure what is going around behind the curtain.

For example if you ran this in LINQPad:

void Main()
{
    PubsModel.pubsEntities context = new PubsModel.pubsEntities(EF_CONNECTION_STRING);

    // Entity SQL:
    // Returns ObjectQuery<T> directly
    ObjectQuery<author> esqlq = context.CreateQuery<author>(
        "SELECT VALUE a FROM authors AS a");
    esqlq.ToTraceString().Dump("--CreateQuery");
    
    // Linq to Entities
    // ObjectQuery<T> implements IQueryable<T>
    // This statement returns an ObjectQuery<T>
    // casted as IQueryable<T>
    IQueryable<author> linqq = from a in context.authors select a;    
    // So it must be cast back to execute ToTraceString()
    ((ObjectQuery)linqq).ToTraceString().Dump("--Linq Query");
}

You would get:

--CreateQuery

SELECT 
[Extent1].[au_id] AS [au_id], 
[Extent1].[au_lname] AS [au_lname], 
[Extent1].[au_fname] AS [au_fname], 
[Extent1].[phone] AS [phone], 
[Extent1].[address] AS [address], 
[Extent1].[city] AS [city], 
[Extent1].[state] AS [state], 
[Extent1].[zip] AS [zip], 
[Extent1].[contract] AS [contract]
FROM [dbo].[authors] AS [Extent1]  

--Linq Query

SELECT 
[Extent1].[au_id] AS [au_id], 
[Extent1].[au_lname] AS [au_lname], 
[Extent1].[au_fname] AS [au_fname], 
[Extent1].[phone] AS [phone], 
[Extent1].[address] AS [address], 
[Extent1].[city] AS [city], 
[Extent1].[state] AS [state], 
[Extent1].[zip] AS [zip], 
[Extent1].[contract] AS [contract]
FROM [dbo].[authors] AS [Extent1]  

Querying EF ObjectContext from LINQPad

I have noticed that if I create an ObjectContext or a decendant of ObjectContext (like pubsEntities from Building an EF 4 Model Assembly for Pubs DB), LINQPad can’t get the connection string correctly.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="pubsEntities" 
         connectionString="metadata=res://*/PubsModel.csdl|
         res://*/PubsModel.ssdl|res://*/PubsModel.msl;
         provider=System.Data.SqlClient;
         provider connection string='data source=.\SQLEXPRESS;
         attachdbfilename=&quot;C:\MDF\pubs.mdf&quot;;
         integrated security=True;connect timeout=30;
         user instance=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework'" 
         providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />
  </connectionStrings>
</configuration>

So I take the connection string from the app.config:

And copy it to a LINQPad C# Program .linq file as a constant on the top of the file (I am calling the constant EF_CONNECTION_STRING):

const string EF_CONNECTION_STRING = 
    @"metadata=res://*/PubsModel.csdl|res://*/PubsModel.ssdl|res://*/PubsModel.msl;" +
    @"provider=System.Data.SqlClient;" +
    @"provider connection string='data source=.\SQLEXPRESS;attachdbfilename=" + "\"" + 
    @"C:\MDF\pubs.mdf" + "\"" + 
    @";;integrated security=True;connect timeout=30;user instance=True;" +
    @"multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework'";

void Main()
{
    PubsModel.pubsEntities context = new PubsModel.pubsEntities(EF_CONNECTION_STRING);
    // Use Context Here
}