Updating DotNetNuke module from another app - asp.net

I have several DNN modules that I wish to update silently, using the portal's built-in module upgrade facilities called from a separate application, in this case a Windows service. I was able to make it all work with version 4.3 of the portal by modifying the DNN source in key areas to allow DotNetNuke.dll to function outside of a web application. I'm now trying to do the same thing with the 4.9.0 source code and I'm having problems.
Everything works fine until DNN tries to read from the database. I have my Windows service project, the DNN library project, and several other related projects loaded in one VS solution (the additional projects are the same ones that are in the main solution file provided with the DNN source). I call PaInstaller.Install in my service to update each module. Execution gets to reflection.vb and then it tries to create a DotNetNuke.Data.SqlDataProvider object based on the type name. It raises an exception when calling System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetType. The exception says:
Could not load type 'DotNetNuke.Data.SqlDataProvider' from assembly 'System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a'
I read this to mean it simply couldn't locate the DotNetNuke.SqlDataProvider.dll assembly. What's strange is that assembly is in the Bin folder for the DNN library project, and I also have it in the folder where my Windows service is running. The actual SqlDataProvider project is also loaded in the solution. I can't for the life of me understand why the runtime environment can't locate the assembly.
Has anyone tried something like this before, or know what could cause an assembly not to be found while stepping through the DNN source? Am I better off using something other than BuildManager.GetType to get an instance of the SQL provider type?

Chris,
Honestly depending on your needs, I would look at doing this a different way, as this is going to be very fragile with each DNN upgrade that happens in the future.
I'd look more towards using the "bulk install" option that DNN already has. Have your service upload the module zips to the /install/modules folder, then from there, call /install/install.aspx?mode=installresources and you are done!
If you need a third party solution to parse the results, have your windows service go through and pull the HTML response and parse it to validate success.

Related

Error when calling method in custom assembly from Azure functions

see screenshot for the express version:
I have an Azure function (in Visual Studio), that triggers correctly an Service Bus event. In its run-method I want to call a method in a custom assembly. This works ok, until I use any method that uses Dynamics CRM assemblies. (I have tried both the assemblies from the downloadable sdk and the nuget package. I get the exact dll it asks for in the error message.
As soon as I call the my method I get the error below. I can run this exact method from a console app. (my custom assembly is a standard (not core) class library...
Additional information: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
This is not an answer, but rather an advice to anyone getting this problem (and its also a rant).
Avoid Azure functions at all cost and use "web jobs" instead when you can. After doing this with webjobs it was as simple as it should be, I have spent a week with different Azure-function-related problems
Cons with Azure functions:
Dynamic crappy scripting language (.csx), which gives you mysterious runtime error messages refering wrong places
Lock-in to azure platform
The usage on the browser editor is a joke unless its a really simple method and the error messages there comes up over and over again in least most annoying way (second to popups) and make you spread out your code
Pros:
Maybe you get a pad on the head from your MS-indoctinated architect for using the latest technologies so he might be able to squeeze in the word "Microservices" on some powerpoint presentation.

Could not load file or assembly when trying to remove/delete Resource/Application

I have a Biztalk application that is basically a housing for a schema that other applications are using. I now want to remove this application, but am unable to from the BizTalk Server Admin Console, when I right-click --> Remove I get an error that says
Could not load file or assembly <assembly_name>.dll or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the path specified (mscorlib)
followed by:
The system cannot find the path specified (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070003)
So I go to remove the assembly from the Application and get the exact same error. I remove all references to it in other biztalk resources and still the same error when trying to delete the application or resource. I did notice that in the Modify Resouces dialog of referencing assemblies, this rogue assembly is listed as a dependency status of Not Found.
The strange thing is, when Messages come through, the resources which depend on the rogue assembly, still work fine and no errors are thrown (despite them using components of the assembly which shows as Not Found).
I have made sure to check the GAC and the assembly is loaded to it.
So now I have to ask:
where is Biztalk actually looking for this assembly?
is there a way I can just force a deletion of this application?
why does it care if the assembly is not found, when I'm trying to delete it?
why does it show as Not Found, yet still work?
Thanks.
I think the key is "or one of its dependencies." If it's a dependency it may be using the standard windows mechanism for finding a dll. It searches the current directory and the windows directory for them.
"where is Biztalk actually looking for this assembly?"
Look in the 'resources' section of your application in the biztalk management console. It shows a column with the location of the assembly.
I'd stop all the host instances/orchestrations, and then unload all your stuff from the GAC - if messages are actually still going through then stuff is still loaded that is using your schema.

Get .NET assembly version for aspx file

I want to make a "properties style web form" that shows the application version for various .NET applications.
If I know the URL e.g. /someapp/default.aspx is it possible via reflection to execute that page and figure out the assembly version?
It's quite easy to find the executing assembly version, but without modifying the other application, is it possible?
Both the property page and the other application is running on the same server and in the same application pool.
Update: I've had some luck with
var url = "~/SomeApp/default.aspx";
var appType = System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetCompiledType(url);
But navigating appType to find the assembly file version is not the same everytime.
Without modifying the web application to expose the version number through some URL-based retrieval (a simple page GET being the easy, obvious one), you're going to need to find a way to figure out where the DLL for the web application is from the URL.
If you can know the DLL's location, either by some convention (e.g. /appX/ is always at D:\Sites\appX\bin\appX.dll) or some configuration (you manually enter where each URL base's DLL is in a database), then you can retrieve that DLL's assembly version using the following code:
Assembly assembly = Assembly.LoadFrom("MyAssembly.dll");
Version ver = assembly.GetName().Version;
Code taken from this question.
Edit:
I've had a little look around, and there are some APIs to inspect the IIS configuration, so this is certainly a route to explore if you're trying to get from the URL to the assembly location. This question has an example of getting the physical path from the application/site name, for example. Microsoft.Web.Administration is the assembly to explore.
The ASP.NET engine streams nothing but HTML, javascript, etc.. to the client. There is nothing left of the assembly that gets passed in the response that can show what version of .net/asp.net that the application is running unless the developer on the server side adds it.
That said, you can gather some information from a utility at http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph that will give you some server information. Not down to the assembly version, but this is as close as I believe you are going to get.
You may implement custom HttpModule, put it to the bin folder of each application that you wish to monitor and append register this module in web.config files. In this module for example you should handle request, retrieve all required information and put it to response cookie.

Web Deployment Project failed to map path for include virtual

I am building my site with a web deployment project but the build fails with a number of errors all relating to the "#include virtual" directives in my master page.
The includes are necessary to import a set of centrally managed html template files.
Here is an example of the include directive and associated error:
<!-- #include virtual="/v3/sits/pdpdev/assets-templates/inc/head.html" -->
/PDPRegistration.csproj/Pages/ContentPage.Master(15):
error ASPPARSE: Failed to map the path
'/v3/sits/pdpdev/assets-templates/inc/head.html'.
The error for each included file actually appears multiple times. I'm not sure what is being mapped or why, but this was never a problem until I started using WDP (which I wanted to alter web.config depending on the build environment, among other things.)
The project is built locally on my PC and then copied to the web server via a mapped drive. I found a few solutions on the 'net involving IIS metabase - they weren't quite clear to me, and I'm not sure if they apply given how I build and deploy the project (that is, would I have to build on the same system as IIS in order to make use of the metabase?)
Can anyone suggest how I can get my project to build with WDP?
Although SSI's are available within the Framework, the preferred way of doing include is to wrap the content from the file into a User Control (.ascx) as per the MSDN documentation See also: support.microsoft.com/kb/306575

System.IO.FileNotFoundException when loading web service

I've a simple, if not primitive, C++/CLI .NET 2.0 class library. It is used in order to wrap some C++ legacy code for the Web Service. The following facts appear to be true:
Primitive C# test program calls class library and it works.
If class library does not refer to any modules of our code base, it works as well as part of the web service. That is, I load the web service and invoke the methods and receive proper response.
The same moment I replace the copied and pasted code by the calls from our code base libraries, the Web Service stops to load. I get System.IO.FileNotFoundException message.
The problem: I cannot find any place where the file name that couldn't be found is written.
I googled it and gave some permissions to some ASP.NET user on my computer. I copied all the DLLs of our libraries into the same directory where web service is installed. I searched in IIS logs, event logs, etc - no where could I find the name of the module that prevents the web service from coming up.
Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Boris
Make sure all the dependent DLLs are in the path (Path meaning not the directory where your assembly is, because ASP.net copies your assembly away into a temporary folder, but rather a directory that's included in the System path environment variable).
What calls are you replacing? Could it be the original code gracefully handles missing files (which may not even be important) and yours does not?
Add same rights to the iusr-account that you did to the asp.net-account.

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