Category: free

Browser history–part 5–conclusions

This is the part 5 of 5 of my implementing of a MVC Browser history

MVC browser history – idea

Browser history –2 – implementing, small bugs

Browser history 3–trying to Nuget – modifications in order to can be transformed from an application to a component

Browser history 4–NuGet again -  finally Nuget deployment

Browser history–part 5–conclusions  – conclusions

 

 

I have reached the (partial) final for my MVC Browser History .  It has started as a simple application – and now it is a NuGet component ready to be used and a demo project at app harbour

What can do for you as a MVC programmer :

  • The component can be integrated in any MVC application easily (via NuGet)
  • you will have a page that displays the list of links that are part of the project and the top 5(configurable) accessed pages
  • You can have this filtered per user basis – or per administrator( small changes in the controller action)
  • It can save the history in memory or in sql server database( configurable in History page, ) or you can make your saving data by implementing  IBrowserUserHistoryRepository

    •  

    You can see in action at app harbour

    If you use, please send me an email.

    If you worry about code source, you can find at github . If you want to improve, feel free to participate Winking smile

    Browser history 4–NuGet again

    This is the part 4 of 5 of my implementing of a MVC Browser history

    MVC browser history – idea

    Browser history –2 – implementing, small bugs

    Browser history 3–trying to Nuget – modifications in order to can be transformed from an application to a component

    Browser history 4–NuGet again – finally Nuget deployment

    Browser history–part 5–conclusions – conclusions

    Prior to Nuget, I think that will be better if the user of my app could play with sql server or memory implementation. So the new GUI is here:

    image

     

    But how could I show to the user where it is saved? Easy – to the history page

    image

     

    And now I can make the NuGet Package .

    In order to can download a controller and not overwrite the Home controller, I must create a controller of its own – so make a modification : History Controller

    Now adding dependencies, fighting with NuGet Explorer,

    In the first test  StructureMap dll reference missing and the Views folder was in the wrong place.

    In the second test , I discovered that I was missing adding the following essential lines

    filters.Add(new BrowserHistory.Models.BrowserUserHistoryFilter());
    ObjectFactory.Configure(ce => ce.For<IBrowserUserHistoryRepository>().Use<BrowserUserHistoryRepositoryMemory>());

     

    So I began reading how to add to global.asax at nuget package installing time – and coming with this:http://blogs.msdn.com/b/davidebb/archive/2010/10/11/light-up-your-nupacks-with-startup-code-and-webactivator.aspx

    Adding code,testing -  another 15 minutes.

    Adding readme.txt – in order to explain what have I done and how to use it – another 30 minutes.

    Now it is ready to be used by you.

    If you want to test it, you can see in action at http://browserhistory.apphb.com/
    Detailed history of creating project at http://msprogrammer.serviciipeweb.ro/category/browserhistory/
    Source code at https://github.com/ignatandrei/MVCbrowserHistory

     

    Next time will do a summary of what I have done in order to build this simple utility project.

    Browser history 3–trying to Nuget

    This is the part 3 of 5 of my implementing of a MVC Browser history

    MVC browser history – idea

    Browser history –2 – implementing, small bugs

    Browser history 3–trying to Nuget – modifications in order to can be transformed from an application to a component

    Browser history 4–NuGet again – finally Nuget deployment

    Browser history–part 5–conclusions – conclusions

    TL;DR : Trying to add a feature (NuGET ) will conduce you to other features – apparently easy to implement – but took 2 hours…

     

    Content:

     

    First, source control is more important – http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html .I choose github  – deploy is a breeze with GitHub for windows . More, appharbor integration with github is awesome – you can see the application live at http://browserhistory.apphb.com/ .

     

    Now , for generating Nuget package, I should be moving the classes on their own assembly / dll. Also , added this blog to the info. Ensure it works the same. Uploaded to GitHub

    image

    And appharbor just deployed

    image

     

    Now, it will be good if I let user switch implementation between memory saving  and database saving… in order to developers( that have installed the dll with  NuGet  ) switch easily to their database.

    Created 

    BrowserUserHistoryRepositorySqlServer

    and , after some implementing of IBrowserUserHistoryRepository , the method

    public IBrowserUserHistoryRepository FilterByUser(string UserName)

    put some problems – but solved with a private variable.

     

    Now must decide the best way to switch between MemoryRepository and SqlServerRepository in 

    public static T AddOrRetrieveFromApplication<T>(HttpApplicationStateBase app)
    where T:new()

    First, we must retrieve at runtime the instance of the interface – so structuremap to the rescure.

    Second, if we need to retrieve a class – must have at least a default constructor.

    So the constraint of the T was gone away   – and the code is

    T result;

    if (typeof(T).IsInterface) {

    result =(T) ObjectFactory.GetInstance(type) ;

    }

    else

    {

    result = (T)Activator.CreateInstance(type);

    }

    Also, in global.asax the following lines were added:

    //ObjectFactory.Configure(ce => ce.For<IBrowserUserHistoryRepository>().Use<BrowserUserHistoryRepositoryMemory>());             //uncomment those for sql server ce             ObjectFactory.Configure(ce => ce.For<IBrowserUserHistoryRepository>().Use<BrowserUserHistoryRepositorySqlServer>());

    Now, when deploy , AppHarbor will NOT found EntityFramework dll.

    Added HintPath to csproj to find EF

    <HintPath>..\packages\EntityFramework.5.0.0\lib\net40\EntityFramework.dll</HintPath>
    as seen at
    http://blog.appharbor.com/2012/04/24/automatic-migrations-with-entity-framework-4-3

    and it works!

    More, it works with sql server AppHarbor addon  and transformation of web.config.

    image

     
    It took 2 hours to do this thing, apparently simple.
    image
    Now you can find the code source on github at https://github.com/ignatandrei/MVCbrowserHistory
    You can browse the application at http://browserhistory.apphb.com/

    Next time: (maybe some tests and ) NuGET!

    Browser history -2

    This is the part 2 of 5 of my implementing of a MVC Browser history

    MVC browser history – idea

    Browser history –2 – implementing, small bugs

    Browser history 3–trying to Nuget – modifications in order to can be transformed from an application to a component

    Browser history 4–NuGet again – finally Nuget deployment

    Browser history–part 5–conclusions – conclusions

    Now we repair the important issues and make some GUI adjustements to be nicer to the user GUI.

    1. Why the history does not display?
      • Because OnResultExecuted  is executed AFTER the View that display the results  is executed
      • Fix: do not display the ones that have no title. Modified ViewModel to take an IEnumerable.
    2. Why the count does not display after 2 clicks?
      • Because it was not saved in BrowserUserHistoryRepositoryMemory – only after SaveToRepositoryInterval links number
      • Fix: In the action save again to have latest clicks. Also modified interface Save to take an IEnumerable – and not a class.
    3. Modified GUI interface to have links where the URL displays – add ViewUrl shared VIew in MVC.
    4. Add numbering to the table ( 1,2,…)
    5. Add texts ( instead of My MVC application – My Browser History application)
    6. Add Filter By User – to be easier for the programmers that will use the program.
    7. Maybe will be useful to add sorting and filtering   – but only if someone asks.

    The code is here

    MVC browser history

    This is the part 5 of 5 of my implementing of a MVC Browser history

    MVC browser history – idea

    Browser history –2 – implementing, small bugs

    Browser history 3–trying to Nuget – modifications in order to can be transformed from an application to a component

    Browser history 4–NuGet again – finally Nuget deployment

    Browser history–part 5–conclusions – conclusions

    I want to do another small open source utilities project – MVC browser history . That seems simple at the beginning – but , yet , there are small tasks to do that are not so easy .

    What does MVC browser history  does? Well, keep an history of the links the user clicks through an MVC site. I must eliminate the ajax requests and Child requests – so keep the just the URL’s

    So what I have learned after one hour:

    Thinking process :

    I must somehow maintain the url’s – either in database , either in memory – so a Repository concept came handy.

    Data to be saved includes :

    1. URL –easy –  HttpContext.Request.Url.ToString();
    2. Date – easy – DateTime.Now;
    3. UserName – not so easy – what if user not registered?
    4. PageName – it should belong to that, but, from a RelationalDatabase in a 3rd form, should be another table.

    Named this class BrowserUserHistoryData ( rather a long name, but descriptive)

    Now detailing:
    URL – possible problem : differentiate between Person/Edit/1 and Person/Edit/2. It’s a feature, not a bug Winking smile : browser history, not Action history. More, the User can have acces to Person/Edit/1 and NOT Person/Edit/2.
    UserName – maybe Session , if not registered? (con.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated ? con.User.Identity.Name : con.Session.SessionID); , if not WebApp, then … ok, not for this time.

    How to obtain the data? The global filter from http://bradwilson.typepad.com/blog/2010/07/aspnet-mvc-filters-and-statefulness.html

    What to obtain ? A user history and first 5 links order by count

    Programming:

    Errors repaired:

    1. Brad Wilson put data in context.HttpContext.Items . Forget that is good for one request only. Thinking about how to persist and obtain data in MVC action and Global filter- and storing to Application . Made public static T AddOrRetrieveFromApplication
    2. Adding ViewName in OnResultExecuting, not in OnResultExecuted.
    3. Reading data from Repository WITHOUT persisting there Winking smile.
    4. Thinking that the Model of the page is just the list of user history. Nope, it is also the first 5 links order by count : HistoryViewModel 
      public class HistoryViewModel
    {
        public BrowserUserHistory UserHis;
        public IBrowserUserHistoryRepository rep;
    }

    Errors not repaired:

    1. Not showing just HIS user browser history, but all ( not to be repaired, since Cassini changes session_id all the time) . NOT TO BE REPAIRED.
    2. Latest links, history himself, not show view name

    image

    What I have enjoyed:

    1. Programming process
    2. The idea that will be useful to other people
    3. Linq:  – can be translated to database also. 
       public IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string,int>> MostUsed(int Count, DateTime? date)
        {
            var data= historyMemory.Where(item =>(date==null || item.Date.Subtract(date.Value).Days == 0)).GroupBy(item=>item.Url).OrderByDescending(g=>g.Count()).Take(Count);
            return data.Select(i =>new KeyValuePair<string,int>( i.Key,i.Count()));
        }

    What to do next:

    1. Correct the error
    2. Test more the application with a real application
    3. Make the application understandable – comments.
    4. Make the application publicly available
    5. Spread the word ( already did, but not enough).

    Code can be downloaded from BrowserHistory

    . Play with it – and, if you like, drop a comment.

    This software is free

    image

     

    This is an MVC add-on to add a messaging system to any MVC application. It costs me 0$ to make this program ( not yet finished, but free source at http://messagemvc.codeplex.com/  and the related posts are at http://msprogrammer.serviciipeweb.ro/category/howto/asp-net-mvc/mvc-4/mvc-messaging-system-mvc-4-asp-net-mvc-howto/ )

    Home Computer – already done for browsing the internet.

    Download Visual Studio Express – free .

    Download Sql Server Express – free.

    Download latest bits of EF 4.2 – to work with SqlServer Compact too – free.

    (Connection to internet : 25 $ – but was already done for browsing the internet)

    Installing and configuring software on my PC – 0 $.

    All I have done is to sit on my home desk and tapping into the keyboard. But this is does not costs , right?

    Making, Planning, testing, deploying – 0$.

    [quote from=http://www.petapixel.com/2012/01/10/this-photograph-is-not-free/ ]

    So if you’re a magazine, website, corporation, sports team, or advertiser developer who wishes to use this photo  software , please don’t   come and ask to use it for free, or in exchange for credit or “exposure”.

    [/quote]

    Do not give feedback . Just rant about how bad code smells ,about how OOP and SOLID and Design Patterns are not made clear and how Testing is not properly handled. After all, it is free , right?

    Html Agility Pack

    This is the ultimate reference of reading web pages.

    IF you want to do it yourself , you can try with WebRequest , http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.webrequest.aspx . But not all HTML is an XML – so you must find a method to parse. But am I the only one ?No – so I found the  HTML Agility Pack , http://www.codeplex.com/htmlagilitypack , that knows how to transform HTML in XML. The code is easy :

    HtmlWeb hw = new HtmlWeb();
    hw.AutoDetectEncoding = true;
    HtmlDocument  doc = hw.Load(Url);
    HtmlNode NodeRoot = doc.DocumentNode;

    And from NodeRoot you can start XPATH with SelectNodes . Try it – it is awesome!

    Andrei Ignat weekly software news(mostly .NET)

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