Embedding Windows Forms Applications directly in a WebBrowser

11. January 2013 01:03 by Mrojas in IIS, Javascript, Migration, Port, VB6 Migration, Visual Studio, WebBrowser, WinForms  //  Tags: , , , ,   //   Comments (0)

"In the past, Web developers often used ActiveX controls to provide rich client-side functionality in their Web applications. Now developers can easily build objects using the Microsoft .NET Framework that are more compact, lightweight, secure and can be hosted within Internet Explorer. By hosting .NET Windows Forms controls in Internet Explorer, developers can accomplish many client-side Web development goals..." 

This is an excellent introduction from Thiru Thangarathinam article in CodeGuru 

http://www.codeguru.com/csharp/.net/net_general/internet/article.php/c19639/Hosting-NET-Windows-Forms-Controls-in-IE.htm 

 In the rest of this article he provides great details on how to accomplish this task.   

 

Figure 1: Example of simple Hello Word Windows Forms App embedded in Browser

 

 

Figure 2: Example of a more complex Windows Forms App consuming data from a Web Service

 

" However before using Windows Forms controls in IE, you need to be aware of the benefits and limitations. The main benefits include: 

  •          The ability to deliver dynamic rich user experience through the Web 

  •          Automatic caching of compiled code on the client 

  •          Seamless integration with .NET Code Access Security that allows you to leverage the .NET security model from within the client side 

  •          Improved performance over Java applets 

The constraints include: 

  •           It requires Windows operating system on the client side 

  •           Internet Explorer 6.0-9.0 is the only browser that provides support for this type of hosting 

  •           It requires .NET runtime to be installed on the client machine. 

  •           It also requires Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0 or above on the server side" 


Currently my tests indicate that this technique does not apply for Windows 8. Also issues with .NET code security should be reviewed or additional configuration might be needed in order for restricted operations to be available. (This article from Dino Esposito provides more insight on these security aspects http://devcenter.infragistics.com/Articles/ArticleTemplate.Aspx?ArticleID=1264) 

Using ClickOnce deployment over the web to simplify Windows Form Application deployment

11. January 2013 00:45 by Mrojas in ActiveX, ASP.NET, C#, ClickOnce, IIS, Installation, VB6 Migration, Visual Studio, WinForms  //  Tags: , , , ,   //   Comments (0)

 

Artinsoft\Mobilize.Net helps legacy application to be modernized using the Windows Forms technology. Doing this upgrade revitalizes your application code and allows you to take advantage of the new platforms features like ClickOnce deployment. 

What is ClickOnce deployment?   

From http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/t71a733d(v=vs.110).aspx 

 
"ClickOnce is a deployment technology that enables you to create self-updating Windows-based applications that can be installed and run with minimal user interaction. Visual Studio provides full support for publishing and updating applications deployed with ClickOnce technology if you have developed your projects with Visual Basic and Visual C#.

ClickOnce deployment overcomes three major issues in deployment: 

  •          Difficulties in updating applications. With Microsoft Windows Installer deployment, whenever an application is updated, the user can install an update, an msp file, and apply it to the installed product; with ClickOnce deployment, you can provide updates automatically. Only those parts of the application that have changed are downloaded, and then the full, updated application is reinstalled from a new side-by-side folder. 

  •          Impact to the user's computer. With Windows Installer deployment, applications often rely on shared components, with the potential for versioning conflicts; with ClickOnce deployment, each application is self-contained and cannot interfere with other applications. 

  •          Security permissions. Windows Installer deployment requires administrative permissions and allows only limited user installation; ClickOnce deployment enables non-administrative users to install and grants only those Code Access Security permissions necessary for the application. 

In the past, these issues sometimes caused developers to decide to create Web applications instead of Windows-based applications, sacrificing a rich user interface for ease of installation. By using applications deployed using ClickOnce, you can have the best of both technologies."


Click Once Deployment Strategies 

 

There are 3 deployment strategies: 

  • Install from Web or a Network Share 
  • Install from a CD 
  • Start from the Web or Network share 


Quick Overview 


 

For a quick overview of how to use the ClickOnce deployment take a look at Shahar Gvirtz's post http://weblogs.asp.net/shahar/archive/2008/01/29/how-to-use-clickonce-to-deploy-your-applications.aspx

 

Profiling and Couldn't open metabase error when profiling for ASP .NET in IIS

27. November 2012 10:25 by Mrojas in ASP.NET, IIS, Profiling  //  Tags:   //   Comments (0)

I was trying to profile an ASP.NET application that was hosted on my local IIS.

But everytime I started the profiler I got a message like:

"Could not start IIS"

"Couldn't open metabase ..." "account has reduced privileges..." bla bla.

I could not understand why? My account is in the administrator group and yes,

Visual Studio was running as Administrator

Solution:

1. Run cmd as Administrator

2. c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v4.0.30319

3. aspnet_regiis 

4. aspnet_regiis -ga Domain\User

 

And then log off and log in