stephan-brenner.com

Hello Windows Azure

Stephan — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:46:33 +0000

To get familiar with Windows Azure I created a new web application:

www.instantprojector.com

Currently the application only provides some basic functionality, but I intentionally wanted to publish an early stage to be able to work with it in real life. I plan to add more features over time.

These are some of the technologies I am using:

Apple’s Password Strength Indicator

Stephan — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:06:55 +0000

I like the password strength indicator for the Apple ID. While typing it is visualized which criteria are met and which not.

Creating Stack Traces with MDbg

Stephan — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:30:46 +0000

Recently I have written about the Managed Stack Explorer. In the meantime MDbg (.NET Framework Command-Line Debugger) is my favorite tool for creating stack traces of running .NET applications in customer or test environments.

Download: MDbg_2.1.zip (412 KB)

Usage:

Start MDbg.exe (if you want to trace a process that is running in 32 bit compatibility mode in a 64 bit environment, use MDbg32.exe).
Enter “a” to list all running .NET processes and their process IDs.
Enter “a ” (e.g. “a 1234″) to attach the debugger to a specific process.
Enter “fo w” to display stack traces of all threads within the attached process.
Enter “de” to detach the debugger from the process.

Example:

Managed Stack Explorer

Stephan — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:03:43 +0000

To easily get stack traces of a running .NET application I was searching for a small tool and found the Managed Stack Explorer from Microsoft. Unfortunately it was not maintained anymore since 2006 and thus didn’t support Windows 7 and 64 bit. I fixed these issues and built a version 1.01. It currently only can trace .NET 2/3/3.5 applications and not .NET 4 applications.

Download: ManagedStackExplorer-1.0.1.zip

I mostly use the tool from the command line:

List process IDs (needed for step 2):
```
MSE /p
```
Dump stack traces of all threads from a certain process to a text file (1234 is a placeholder for the process ID):
```
MSE /p 1234 /s > c:\temp\StackTraces.txt
```

The package now additionally contains a MSE32.exe. Use it if you want to monitor an application that is running in 32 bit compatibility mode on a 64 bit OS.

Hello Silverlight

Stephan — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:17:44 +0000

I had some time to play with Silverlight 2. I like editing Silverlight XAML by hand (in Visual Studio that is the only possiblility), but to get a nice design or add some effects, Expression Blend is helpful. I’m a bit disappointed that there is no SVG support in any of the Microsoft tools – so you cannot easily integrate existing SVG graphics or icons (e.g. from Open Clip Art Library). The free tool Inkscape can help here.

The first outcome of my coding is here (click on the items to edit them; drag the items to change the order).

DoNothing.exe

Stephan — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:27:28 +0000

Sometimes you just need an executable file that does nothing: DoNothing.zip.

I use it to outsmart a tool that always calls on every start a configuration wizard – even though it already is configured. Now it calls DoNothing.exe.

Wall Arch’s Sudden Death

Stephan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:02:21 +0000

Only a few weeks after I visited Wall Arch, it collapsed. It was one of the most favorite landmarks in Arches National Park. See the photo – I was standing right below the arch. How lucky that I was not there last Monday!

The Touch Bezel

Stephan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:06:34 +0000

I like the new Forerunner 405! And Garmin seems to have copied ‘Touch Bezel‘ navigation from iPod

Low Cost Home Server

Stephan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:57:47 +0000

Recently set up a new home server with the Gigabyte STA. The power consumption is only 18 W inclusive hard drive and it is absolutely quite because it does not need a ventilator. This is made possible through the Via C7 chip….really nice!

.NET Reference Explorer 1.2

Stephan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:51:43 +0000

I’ve uploaded a new version of .NET Reference Explorer:

- New: Using global assemblies as entry assemblies
- New: Multi-selection in ‘Open File’ dialog
- New: Config files of entry assemblies now get processed
- New: No installation needed anymore.
- Fixed: Loading of global assemblies with publisher policies