$(Brad Oyler).TryToBuild(stuff)

Google I/O conference is now streamin live.

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:02:44 -0400

Goto Google I/O live feed

When I've read Oauth specs and I did not understand anything

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:12:23 -0400

apijoy:

Team Foundation Server doing a gated check-in.

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:52:18 -0400

Waited 20mins for TFS to finish gated check-in and 1 unit test fails for absolutely NO REASON!

Hello Brad, I was checking out the jquery plugin that you wrote, but the demo seems to be down, any chance you've got another copy of it lying around?

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:28:00 -0400

Yes, try: http://www.w3portals.com/SDevents.html

It's worth diving into Javascript

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:10:00 -0400

When I get questions from non-programmers on what language to learn first, I’m fairly convinced that my best suggestion, as of today, is to seriously take up Javascript.

Even though Javascript has quite a few quirks and shortcomings, I would have to say that it is the most rewarding language to get into since there is so much you *can* do with it. Not to mention, every company needs a javascript developer (or will soon). Also, javascript isn’t really as bad as people tend to think, it is really just the most misunderstood. So if you’re going to learn it, you’re going to have to dive deep.

It has also become the swiss-army knife of programming languages. Mostly thanks to the amazingly successful projects like jQuery, Google’s V8, and Node.js. Not to mention the fast-growing community that has sprung up around Node’s Packaged Modules (NPM)

So to get started, check out:

Javascript from the Ground up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdEn3P3ZbiY [video for beginners]
Eloquent Javascript: http://eloquentjavascript.net [free e-book]
How Javascript objects work: http://helephant.com/2008/08/17/how-javascript-objects-work/
Javascript: The Good Parts: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596517748.do [also video]
Javascript Module pattern: In-Depth http://www.adequatelygood.com/JavaScript-Module-Pattern-In-Depth.html

I also suggest using these tools/libraries to get your hands dirty.

Node.js: http://nodejs.org/
NPM (comes with Node)
Express: http://expressjs.com/
BackBone.js: http://backbonejs.org/

Have fun and keep making javascript better!

Hackathon tools for 2013

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 10:53:00 -0500

Here’s what I’m currently using for my hacks / prototypes. Keep in mind a lot of these tools are chosen because they get you up and running fast and\or have some widespread use. Team-friendly tools are key.

Machine
MacBook Pro - yep, finally ditching my PC, but still have a VM for asp.net projects.

IDE / Text Editor
Sublime Text - an amazing text editor for working with almost any type of open source project. Command palette makes it fun to learn and gets better the more I use it.

Project Mgmt
Trello - try it out. May still need Basecamp for some projects, but this is a great tool to try out.

Hosting
http://nodejitsu.com
http://heroku.com

Source Control & Issue Tracking
Git + GitHub - a no brainer at this point.

Open source Tools

Bootstrap - mainly because i know it so well and gets the job done.
Foundation3 - a pretty awesome responsive front-end lib. Nice to have a decent alternative to bootstrap.
Node.js - changing the way the web is built. NPM rocks.
Meteor - this is an amazing jumpstart to building awesome apps. Serves as full-stack.
MongoDb - a must have document db, try MongoHQ.

Other tools/services

Hackpad - great for creating docs.
Cloudmine - back-end as a service
LaunchRock - creating a landing page in minutes
Keynotopia - great for a non-coder to build a usaable UI. I usually use HTML though.
Photoshop - duh.
AppGyver - build a mobile prototype from UI images in minutes.

If you think I’m missing anything, let me know. I suppose I could list some wireframing tools, but I rarely use them.

Are top web properties making the transition to mobile?

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:49:00 -0500

Are top web properties making the transition to mobile?:

arielseidman:

Comscore released unduplicated audience size across mobile and desktop (US only for now) for the top 30 web properties/services.

Using the Comscore data and the fact that more than half of US wireless subscribers are using a smartphone I color coded the data (link to Google Doc) so you can…

My choice of champagne for tonight. Happy New Year!! #2013

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 12:59:43 -0500

My choice of champagne for tonight.
Happy New Year!! #2013

Querying Abstract Multi-Map Indexes in RavenDB (C#)

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:11:00 -0500

So… let’s say you have 2 similar classes in your system, like User & Person.

Now lets say we’d like to return those documents into a single list. In order to do this you simply need to define the “AbstractMultiMapIndex”, like so:

I call it the People index, (because Users are people too!)

After we’ve done that we need to create that index, like so (on App_Start):

 IndexCreation.CreateIndexes(typeof(PeopleIndex).Assembly, ds);

Now… all that’s left is creating an Action like so:

All this does, is execute the query on the index and return the results to the View (with a dynamic ViewBag)

Enjoy!

See last post on Initializing RavenDB with StructureMap

Initializing RavenDB in MVC4 with StructureMap

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 12:31:00 -0500

I hear more and more .Net devs are starting to get into the world of NoSQL, partly in thanks to the insanely awesome product, RavenDb (from the builders of RhinoMocks and NHibernate Profiler). I feel pretty strongly this is one of the biggest contributions to .Net web developers since MVC.

So, I want to share a very simple/clean way to initialize the RavenDB DocumentStore (on app start) and ALSO the DocumentSession (on each Http Request) using a popular IoC (Inversion of Control) container called StructureMap.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create a new MVC4 project (I’m using the empty template) and use NuGet to install the RavenDB client and StructureMap from the package manager console.

PM> Install-Package RavenDB.Client -pre 
PM> Install-Package StructureMap.MVC4

2. Even though RavenDb is very simple to install locally, try out RavenHQ and get yourself a free db. All you will need is the connection string (under ‘Manage’) after you create a db.

3. Add the RavenDb connection string to your web.config, like so:

<connectionStrings>
 <add name="Raven" connectionString="Url=https://2.ravenhq.com/databases/your-db; ApiKey=your-api-key" />
</connectionStrings>

4. Find the IoC.cs file and add these 2 “Initialize expressions”.

5. Now, just add a Controller which accepts IDocumentSession in the constructor and you’re all set. Like so:

I personally don’t mind having the IDocumentSession in each of my controllers if the project isn’t too large. But there are some other ways to handle this, like a base controller or a ActionFilter, but I may have a forthcoming post on that as well.

If you have any feedback why you like\dislike this approach, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Remember, keep it simple…but not simpler.
Cheers!

Software design with cats

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:44:43 -0500

Software design with cats

How to Create a Great Interactive Tutorial for Your Web Application

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 13:53:22 -0500

How to Create a Great Interactive Tutorial for Your Web Application

User-Authenticated Event Tracking with jQuery + Google Analytics

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:54:00 -0400

You probably already know about Google Analytics, and if you use it enough you may even know about Event Tracking with Google Analytics , but haven’t quite figured out an easy and useful way to put it to use, so here’s an idea.

I typically use an MVC framework like Ruby on Rails or Asp.Net MVC to build web apps. However, any framework that allows you to authenticate a user (maybe PHP, Node.js, or Python) and return the username to your html view\page will work for this solution.

Once you have Google Analytics & jQuery working on your page, all you have to do is put this little jQuery nugget on your page:

*example uses ASP.Net Razor syntax to include the authenticated user’s username*

Now, you can easily create a custom report in GA, that looks like this:

Obviously, this can be pretty useful, since you’re now able to track the users that are logged onto your site and even try to understand user’s behavior flow.

Btw, I should disclose that storing “personally identifiable information” is against the GA terms of use, so storing a username could result in getting your GA account banned

WePay API now has a C# SDK and MVC examples

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:06:35 -0400

As you may or may not know, I like to move money. I’ve been dealing with the likes of PayPal for almost a decade and more recently Amazon “flexible” payments and have been conditioned to just live with their “kind” of customer service. I’ve also tried some smaller payment processors and most didn’t have a flexible approach to payments that I needed.

A little while ago I was forced to find an alternative. A colleague suggested WEPAY, which I glanced over about a year ago, and I’m not sure why. Long story, short. It is a pretty awesome API\service for building payment platforms\marketplaces.

Unfortunately, WePay did not have a SDK for asp.net, so I whipped one up last week. You can see source for SDK and examples in ASP.Net MVC on GitHub here: http://github.com/bradoyler/WePayASPNet

Here’s a small snippet for creating a checkout.

There’s obviously more to it, so read the API docs here: https://www.wepay.com/developer/reference

Also, I have the examples hosted at http://wepay.apphb.com (for the time-being)

The list of supported WePay SDKa are available here: https://www.wepay.com/developer/plugins

Cheers.

User Account Management For Mobile Apps

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:32:59 -0400

cloudminellc:

We’re pleased to announce a dedicated set of tools for managing user accounts on all apps developed using our platform. All examples in this tutorial use the CloudMine iOS SDK, however, all of the operations are also available through our REST API.

Creating Accounts

The CMUser class contains all the methods you need to manage user accounts. To create a new account, initialize a new CMUser object and call the createAccountWithCallback method.

(see also: https://cloudmine.me/developer_zone#ref/account_create)

Login

Once the account is created, the user can be authenticated by calling the loginWithCallback method.

(see also: https://cloudmine.me/developer_zone#ref/account_login)

There is a shortcut for creating an account and logging in with one operation called createAccountAndLoginWithCallback:

Once the user is logged in, you will need to configure the CMStore for making authenticated requests.

From now on, all requests for user-level data will be authenticated with the user’s credentials.

Logout

When you want to terminate a user’s session, call the logoutWithCallback method.

(see also: https://cloudmine.me/developer_zone#ref/account_logout)

Password Change

Users now have the ability to change their password. For security purposes, the user must provide their old password along with their new password.

(see also: https://cloudmine.me/developer_zone#ref/password_change)

Forgotten Password Reset

If a user forgets their password, they can request that an email be sent with instructions on how to reset it.

(see also: https://cloudmine.me/developer_zone#ref/password_reset)

How to Store and Retrieve User Data

There are many different methods for retrieving data from the CMStore. Each method has two versions: one to fetch app-level data, and one for user-level data. To store or retrieve user objects, call the “user” version of any method in CMStore: as long as the CMStore has been initialized with a logged-in user, requests will transparently be authenticated with that user.

For example, to retrieve all user objects, call the allUsersObjectsWithOptions method.

For more information, visit our iOS Library Documentation.

PitchSwap: Getting Entrepreneurs to listen to themselves.

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:54:00 -0400

After some thinking (over shots of tequila) on how to create a simple, fun, worthwhile event for entrepreneurs, I stumbled upon the idea of getting people together that have something they’d like to pitch, but then forcing them to pitch someone else’s idea, in hopes the favor would be reciprocated.

I initially thought this would be cool, because this concept could have a few benefits. (1) It could force people to talk to strangers about their idea for the first time, this is a big step to many aspiring entrepreneurs. (2) To the audience, it could seem a lot less like a commercial since your not hearing it from the founder. (3) As the founder, it could be great feedback to hear your pitch from another perspective, not to mention hear a bunch of other pitches in lightening talk fashion. (4) As the Pitcher, there’s not a whole lot of pressure or reason to be embarrassed, since it’s not your idea anyway. (5) With the right setting, it could be a lot of fun.

I say *could* because I have no friggin idea, but there’s only one way to find out. And that’s why PitchSwap.co was born.

So, here’s an attempt to lay out some basic ground rules for the inaugural event on June 14.

Bring an idea for someone else to pitch or be willing to pitch someone else’s idea. You can always think of something on the spot…if not, ideas are dime a dozen with this crowd.
You will have ~1 hour to network and find someone to pitch your idea of vice versa. I’m sure many will do this on the fly, but having note cards could be a great aid to transposing your pitch to someone else. Also, you’re not required to speak, if you’re not up for it, no problem. But remember, you can’t enjoy the glory of victory without getting in the game.
Pitches will be lightening talk fashion: ~2 minutes. Due the the presence of adult beverages, I’m actually hoping a lot of the pitches will attempt to be humorous. But trust me, that’s even harder that pitching a serious pitch. However, I completely encourage the silly pitch.
After the pitches commence, judges will deliberate and give awards for various categories, decided on the fly. (ie. Best Delivery, Best Idea, Best Comic, etc.)

I hope that covers most of it. But expect to be surprised. I also plan to take a lot of pictures to document the event. So put on your Sunday best (or not) and get your Tickets here.

Cheers!
- Brad

LINQ to SQL DataContext Wrapper (Adapter)

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:35:00 -0400

If plan to Mock LINQ to SQL for Unit testing (using a repository pattern). You’ll most likely need one of these:

Using CloudMine to log PageViews with ASP.Net MVC

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:09:00 -0500

I’ve used a few services in the past to do site “event tracking” (ie Google Analytics) but most didn’t give me all the data and control I need to easily track what was needed… (mostly user identity stuff). Another big difference is that this is all done server-side, which has it’s pros\cons as well.

Anyway, here’s how I did it using CloudMine’s backend service in ~20 lines of code.

Step1. Add this Action Filter to your MVC application (ie Global.asax.cs)



[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class | AttributeTargets.Method, Inherited = true, AllowMultiple = true)]
    public class UserTrackingAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
    {
        public static readonly string appId = "your CloudMine app Id";
        public static readonly string appSecret = "your CloudMine app Secret";

        class PageRequest
        {
            public int PageId { get; set; }
            public Double Created { get; set; }
            public string Url { get; set; }
            public string UserName { get; set; }
            public string UserIP { get; set; }
            public string Controller { get; set; }
            public string Action { get; set; }
        }

        public override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext context)
        {
            PageRequest preq = new PageRequest
            {
              Url = request.RawUrl, 
              UserIP = request.UserHostAddress, 
              UserName = context.HttpContext.User.Identity.Name, 
              Created = ExtensionMethods.JsonDate(DateTime.Now),
              Action = (string)context.RequestContext.RouteData.Values["action"], 
              Controller = (string)context.RouteData.Values["controller"],
              PageId = Convert.ToInt32(context.RouteData.Values["Id"]),
            };
          
          using (var client = new WebClient())
          {
           client.Headers.Add("X-CloudMine-ApiKey", appSecret);
           client.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "application/json");
           var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
           var data = serializer.Serialize(preq);
           var payload = "{\"PV_" + DateTime.Now.Ticks + "\":" + data + "}";
           var bytes = Encoding.Default.GetBytes(payload);
           client.UploadDataAsync(new Uri("https://api.cloudmine.me/v1/app/" + appId + "/text"), "PUT", bytes);
          }
        }

Then… just add the filter attribute [UserTracking] to any controller action and you’re ready to start logging…in real-time.

The full example project is on my GitHub…so go fork it.

Creating a Logo in 10 seconds with LogoType

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:14:00 -0500

I wanted to play around with the Google WebFonts API for some reason and came up with a somewhat cool little web-based utility called:

Demo here: http://www.w3portals.com/logotype

Source: https://github.com/bradoyler/LogoType

It’s a really quick way to create a “draft” logo.

So after you select your colors and Font, you can simply take a screenshot of the page and copy into your favorite image editor. If I guess enough requests, I may even add some other features and additional fonts.

P.S. I seem to get the best resolution in Firefox.
Happy branding!

AddThis just published their 2011 stats on “sharing” across the...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:47:54 -0500

AddThis just published their 2011 stats on “sharing” across the web.