IWeb

IWebWF Released

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:19:00 GMT

IWebWF has been released. It really has nothing to do with the IWeb project except the name and that it is created by the same people who create IWeb.

It is a non-DotNetNuke stand-alone program used to host Windows Workflows as web services. The project is here:

http://www.codeplex.com/IWebWF

IWeb Security Release

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:10:00 GMT

A minor security issue has been discovered in all versions of IWeb. A potential hacker could construct a url that will allow access to the web service configuration page. This is only possible if a hacker has been granted access to the page that IWeb is on (for example you have the IWeb module available to your registered users or publicly available).

All versions of IWeb have been updated. You can download the update from http://iweb.adefwebserver.com.

IWeb reaches 1000

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:45:00 GMT

Today IWeb reached 1000 members. This is not a big number because the DotNetNuke project can grow by 1000 members in a single day. However, IWeb is just a small project that provides code to call web service methods inside DotNetNuke. It is not really designed for end-users. When a project with such a small user base reaches 1000 members it says a lot about the health and growth of the main DotNetNuke project.

This milestone sticks out for me personally because IWeb started as a small idea. It has grown and taken a life of its own. Eventually it has grown bigger than me and taught me a lot about what Open Source is really about.

Initially IWeb was just a code sample. Nearly two years ago, I needed to call a web service that was inside a DotNetNuke module. I found an article on wwwcoder.com. My example used the new (at the time) WSP dynamic compilation model so I decided to publish the code.

After I published the code a lot of discussion with Shawn Mehaffie, Andrew Nurse, and Rutger Buijzen led to the creation of a method to secure the web service methods. IWeb allows you to secure each individual method by role and to optionally encrypt the transmission.

Then I had what I thought was a brilliant idea. I could create a “mini-framework” that would allow developers to create web service methods and share them with other developers. This “bright idea” stands out because it was a total failure. Ian Lackey is the only person to ever contribute any web service methods to the project. However the methods he contributed were for file management. His web service methods, together with a Windows Forms client he also provided, allow you to upload and download files into your DotNetNuke site through web services.

It was Ian’s contribution which took the project from about 200 members in its first year, to 1000 members 9 months later. “Web service methods” is an abstract idea, but moving files without FTP using a windows forms client is useful and exciting.

In his desire to allow for large file uploads via web services, Ian started work on IWebCF which is a version of IWeb that uses Windows Communication Foundation. His expert grasp of the complexities of implementing WCF led me to the decision to step aside and name him the project leader of the IWeb project.

The experience of the IWeb project and its unanticipated evolution has led me to two conclusions:

It’s not the code it’s the people. IWeb grew not because I wrote a good module; it grew because of the influence of its members. I would not have put in the role based security had Shawn not suggested it. I considered a simple file upload but it was Ian who decided to make a full featured file manager and took the time to make it a reality.
An Open Source project can only survive when its team uses the project regularly themselves. We take for granted that the DotNetNuke team uses DotNetNuke not only for DotNEtNuke.com but in their personal and professional projects. This allows you to be constantly dedicated to a project and to continually fix it. With IWeb, I needed to constantly update the security methods because I needed them for my DotNetNuke AJAX projects and later my Silverlight code. The last major addition I made was a C# version of IWeb because... well basically *I* needed it for my own use. Ian spent a massive amount of time working on IWebCF challenges because he wanted to use WCF with DotNetNuke.

Today the majority of my time is spent working on a DotNetNuke module of SilverlightDesktop.net. This is a project that borrowed all of its web service code from the IWeb project. This web service code represents about 30% of its current code. I have another project in the planning stages that may need to use WCF certificates so don’t be surprised if you see me “getting my hands dirty” with IWebCF in the future.

A small idea now has 1000 people joined in a common purpose and desire. I find that exciting.

IWebCSharp

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:10:00 GMT

Using IWeb is very simple. You install the IWeb module and then you start adding you own methods. You will automatically have security for your methods that can be administered from the configuration screen. The only problem is you have to write the methods in VB.

We hoped to allow you to have VB and C# methods in IWebCF (the Windows Communication Foundation based version of IWeb that is also on it's way). So far we haven't figured out a way to do that. So, we decided to make a C# version of IWeb for those who want to write their methods in C#.

The module is called IWebCSharp and can be installed side-by-side with IWeb (also IWebCF can also be installed side-by-side with the other versions of IWeb).

Note: the entry point for IWebCsharp is different then the normal IWeb so you will have to use the client that comes with it not the normal IWeb client connector.

Ian Lackey named Project Leader of IWeb

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:19:00 GMT

I am proud to announce that Ian Lackey has been named project leader of IWeb. I will step down and serve as co-project leader. The reason for this change is due to the fact that he is far more advanced in WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) than I am and is better able to lead the IWeb project as we prepare to release IWebCF (the new version of IWeb that uses WCF). He is already the author of more than 60% of the code in both IWeb and IWebCF. Please join me in welcoming him to his new position.

Looks like the C# IWeb method will not work :(

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:13:00 GMT

I had hoped to allow you to create your IWeb methods in C#. My early prototypes seemed to work but I devoted most of the day trying and I can't get it to work.

Making IWebCF work with VS 2005 (.asmx) clients

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:59:00 GMT

When the next IWeb comes out it will be called IWebCF and you will be able to run it side by site with the current IWeb. The new IWeb uses WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) and it is completely different than the web services in the current IWeb.

The problem I faced today was allowing a client created with Visual Studio 2005 to connect with IWebCF. It is SUPPOSE to work because WCF is backward compatible... and it is... mostly. But, of course we ran into issues.

I have it working. I'm still waiting for Ian to look at my solution (it is checked into source code if you want to take a look yourself). Here are my emails to him today which describe my painful process. I'm posting it in case my notes help somone else working with WCF:

From: Michael Washington
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 10:59 AM
To: 'Ian Lackey'
Subject: Making IWeb work with VS 2005 (.asmx)

I have been trying to use VS 2005 to create a normal web service. It will create the proxy but when you try to call it you get this error:

Method CoreService.GetVersion cannot be reflected.

{"The XML element 'IWebRequest' from namespace 'http://webservices.DotNetNuke.com/2007/12/CoreService' references a method and a type. Change the method's message name using WebMethodAttribute or change the type's root element using the XmlRootAttribute."}

This post recommends exposing your WCF methods as a .asmx:

http://kjellsj.blogspot.com/2006/12/how-to-expose-wcf-service-also-as-asmx.html

here is a good article describing the process:

http://www.topxml.com/rbnews/WSCF-WCF/re-65681_Integrating-WCF-with-your-existing-ASMX-Services.aspx

I added the attributes and it works!

I just checked the code in. I did not alter the Filemanager methods because I didn’t want to mess you up so you will have to add the attributes to those.

I will make a version of the IWeb connector this weekend.

From: Michael Washington
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 11:25 AM
To: 'Ian Lackey'
Subject: RE: Making IWeb work with VS 2005 (.asmx)

Arrgg

It works on the .asmx side but it now throws this error on the .svc :

Type 'System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHeader' cannot be serialized. Consider marking it with the DataContractAttribute attribute, and marking all of its members you want serialized with the DataMemberAttribute attribute.

It’s because I added “SoapHeader“ to IWebAuthenticationHeader otherwise the .asmx header would not work:

Public Class IWebAuthenticationHeader

Inherits SoapHeader

I tried overloading all the properties of SoapHeader but I still get the error.

If I comment the line out it works with .svc but with .asmx I get:

"System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. ---> System.InvalidOperationException: Method CoreService.PortalsOnServer can not be reflected. ---> System.Exception: The header property/field CoreService.IWebCredentials must be of type SoapHeader or a derived type, or an array of SoapHeader or SoapUnknownHeader.\n at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapReflector.ReflectMethod(LogicalMethodInfo methodInfo, Boolean client, XmlReflectionImporter xmlImporter, SoapReflectionImporter soapImporter, String defaultNs)\n --- End of inner exception stack trace ---\n at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapReflector.ReflectMethod(LogicalMethodInfo methodInfo, Boolean client, XmlReflectionImporter xmlImporter, SoapReflectionImporter soapImporter, String defaultNs)\n at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapServerType..ctor(Type type, WebServiceProtocols protocolsSupported)\n at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapServerProtocol.Initialize()\n at System.Web.Services.Protocols.ServerProtocolFactory.Create(Type type, HttpContext context, HttpRequest request, HttpResponse response, Boolean& abortProcessing)\n --- End of inner exception stack trace ---"

I also tried overloading all the properties of SoapHeader but I still get the error.

I commented it out for now and cheked it in again so the .svc is not broken.

From: Michael Washington
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 11:35 AM
To: 'Ian Lackey'
Subject: RE: Making IWeb work with VS 2005 (.asmx)

I think this may help:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/03/05/WebServices/

I will try it this weekend.

From: Michael Washington
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 2:57 PM
To: 'Ian Lackey'
Subject: RE: Making IWeb work with VS 2005 (.asmx)

I hate to email bomb you but of course I could not let this go. So I’m screwing around trying everything under the sun and this seems to work:

1) Remove “SoapHeader("IWebCredentials")” from the attributes on all the methods

2) This of course causes the Headers to go away for every method except “GetUser” and “Portals on server”

3) I did more poking around and saw that those had contracts that had “Private _header As New IWebAuthenticationHeader” directly in their method parameter type. The others did not., They inherited from IWebRequest and should therefore have it but they didn’t.

4) I removed the inheritance of IWebRequest and placed the “Private _header As New IWebAuthenticationHeader” directly in the classes

5) Now the .asmx and the .svc works J

I just checked everything in. Please tell me I didn’t break something!

Fix for ASP.NET "Could not load file or assembly App_Web..." Error

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:53:00 GMT

The new IWebCF that we are working on uses Windows Communication Foundation. It will only bind to one web address so you have to select one from a drop-down on the configuration screen. Sometimes after you change it and then browse to the service address you get an error that starts off like this:

"Could not load file or assembly App_Web..."

The fix can be found at this thread. Basically you go to this directory on the computer:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files

and delete all the files you find there (or if you can the files for the application you're running).

Configuring WCF - how to fix "HTTP Error 404.3 - Not Found"

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 18:07:00 GMT

When trying to navigate to a file with the extension .svc when using II7 (that is in Windows Vista and Windows 2008), you may get an error like this:

Server Error in Application "Default Web Site/DotNetNuke_IWeb"

HTTP Error 404.3 - Not Found

Description: The page you are requesting cannot be served because of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) map policy that is configured on the Web server. The page you requested has a file name extension that is not recognized, and is not allowed.

Error Code: 0x80070032

Notification: ExecuteRequestHandler

Module: StaticFileModule

Requested URL: http://localhost:80/DotNetNuke_IWeb/DesktopModules/IWebCF/CoreService.svc

Physical Path: C:\Users\Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\IWeb\Website\DesktopModules\IWebCF\CoreService.svc

Logon User: Anonymous

Logon Method: Anonymous

Handler: StaticFile

Most likely causes:

It is possible that a handler mapping is missing. By default, the static file handler processes all content.
The feature you are trying to use may not be installed.
The appropriate MIME map is not enabled for the Web site or application. (Warning: Do not create a MIME map for content that users should not download, such as .ASPX pages or .config files.)

What you can try:

In system.webServer/handlers:
Ensure that the expected handler for the current page is mapped.
Pay careful attention to preconditions (e.g. runtimeVersion, pipelineMode, bitness) and compare them to the settings for your application pool.
Pay careful attention to typographical errors in the expected handler line.
Please verify that the feature you are trying to use is installed.
Verify that the MIME map is enabled or add the MIME map for the Web site using the command-line tool appcmd.exe.
1. Open a command prompt and change directory to %windir%\system32\inetsrv.
2. To set a MIME type, use the following syntax: appcmd set config /section:staticContent /+[fileExtension='string',mimeType='string']
3. The variable fileExtension string is the file name extension and the variable mimeType string is the file type description.
4. For example, to add a MIME map for a file which has the extension ".xyz", type the following at the command prompt, and then press Enter:
5. appcmd set config /section:staticContent /+[fileExtension='.xyz',mimeType='text/plain']
Warning: Ensure that this MIME mapping is needed for your Web server before adding it to the list. Configuration files such as .CONFIG or dynamic scripting pages such as .ASP or .ASPX, should not be downloaded directly and should always be processed through a handler. Other files such as database files or those used to store configuration, like .XML or .MDF, are sometimes used to store configuration information. Determine if clients can download these file types before enabling them.
Create a tracing rule to track failed requests for this HTTP status code. For more information about creating a tracing rule for failed requests, click here.

More Information...

This error occurs when the file extension of the requested URL is for a MIME type that is not configured on the server. You can add a MIME type for the file extension for files that are not dynamic scripting pages, database, or configuration files. Process those file types using a handler. You should not allows direct downloads of dynamic scripting pages, database or configuration files.

Server Version Information: Internet Information Services 7.0.

To resolve this:

1) Select "run" from the Start menu

2) Enter "cmd" and click OK

3) enter "cd c:\windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\" and press Enter.

4) Enter "ServiceModelReg -i" and press Enter.

5) WCF will now be installed:

Also see:

http://blogs.msdn.com/davidwaddleton/archive/2007/11/02/wcf-and-404-3-errors.aspx

We are working on the new version of IWeb 04.00.00

Webmaster@adefwebserver.com — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:29:00 GMT

Just wanted to drop a note that Ian and I are working on the next version of IWeb.

IWeb 04.00.00 will use Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and require that you have ASP.NET 3.0 or higher installed (For IWeb 03.00.00 you only need ASP.NET 2.0 installed).

Using WCF we will be able to allow you to expose any method from your custom module as web services method and still use the extensive IWeb security configuration screen to set granular access to those methods.

You will be able to write those methods in any ASP.NET language and you will not have to actually add the methods to IWeb. IWeb will "discover" that the methods exist (because you will use a partial class).

We anticipate a release sometime in 2nd quarter of 2008.