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IIS7 ASP Routing not working on live server

Filed under IIS , work

We had an issue at work the other day where one of the developers was having an issue with asp routing in IIS7. It was the first time this particular server was asked to run a .net 4 website so naturally some fine tuning was required. When we tried to navigate to the webpage the following error appeared: 403: Access Permission Denied

I thought this looked odd as all permissions were applied correct and the webpage in question was coming up for us when we included it's extension. I took a look at the web.config file and noticed the rule to use asp routing was missing so we added that:

However, this didn't fix our issue. I was puzzled and spent a further 30mins exploring all the different options and settings in IIS. Eventually I took a look at the Global.asax where the page routing was detailed. I noticed that there was a folder by the same name as the page we were calling. We had Directory Browsing turned off - hence the Access Denied Permission error that was throwing me off!

So I guess the bottom line is, add the above code to your web.config and if it's still not working then make sure you don't have a folder in the project with the same name that you're trying to route to!!

Hertz4Ryanair.com get's a new update offering even more choice for customers

Filed under C# , General , work

I've been extremely busy the past few months working on a new version of Hertz4Ryanair.com that will be rolling out to all European countries very soon. This new version of the website includes many new additions including:

• New Hertz Advantage branded area
• Dual Hertz/Advantage pricing screen
• Updated languages for Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch and Swedish
• Improved admin area with charting controls, export to excel options, full control over when to display dual pricing, etc.

I'm also very excited about this project because it is the first project that I've worked on which sits on multiple servers for both the web servers and database servers. The raw power of the server setup is huge and I am very curious to see how it handles all of the traffic from launching in 26 countries.

The work never stops though and once this project is finished and live there are some new exciting changes coming to our online store software that will be launching in the early part of next year for customers so stay tuned!

Simple Resx Editor - A good alternative to using Visual Studio for Resx / Resource Files

Filed under C# , General , Visual Studio , work

I've noticed that some members of my team were having difficulties with Visual Studio when using resource files. Any time they would open a file it would crash Visual Studio. As you can imagine this was very frustrating for all involved.

After a quick search I found a pretty neat alterative editor called 'Simple Resx Editor' by Matías. Currently this resource editor is at version 0.6.2 but it is being worked on at the time to improve the functions available.

The main benefit I like about this editor is that you can open all your resource files, side by side and edit them all in one quick go. This is a perfect setup when dealing with multiple languages as it really speeds things up. If you just want to work on one resource file and you need to know what the Key Name values are simply click on the big Key icon on the top of the app. This little app is small, quick to use and really offers a benefit over the built in editor in Visual Studio in my opinion.

The only snag I noticed while working with the editor is that if you had a very long Value field there are no scrollbars showing. I've left a message to Matías about this issue and I'm sure this will be fixed in the next version of this software.

Book a taxi online using GlobalTaxiNetworks.com

Filed under C# , General , work , Linq to SQL

GlobalTaxiNetworks.com has finally launched! Now any business can book a taxi, know how much it's going to cost in advance, save favourite journeys, re-book previous journey's, add via routes and even print off invoices all in the click of a button....ok it's a few clicks but it's still a slick system if I say so myself :D

Using the power of Google maps with help from jQuery, C# and Linq to SQL we're able to work out rates for your journey anywhere in Ireland. This system has been built with multiple markets in mind and we're hoping to help roll out the system for Tiománaí Services Ltd (the site system owners) into the UK, western Europe and further over the next 12months.

Initially when I started building the system I wasn't sure if it could be done but from trial and error - and countless late nights! - the site is finally up and running. I have to say that it's been one of the best projects I've worked on while at Dragnet Systems. It's also one of the first systems powered by our newest admin tool technology. The owners of this new system can look after any aspect of this complex system with ease. Everything from approving users who sign up, setting pricing and saving locations on Google maps can all be easily added/updated/deleted in a matter of seconds. As with everything we develop we have ensures that the admin tools get as much love as the front end of the website itself.

I'm really excited by the possibilities this site brings to the market and I'd like to wish everyone in Tiománaí Services Ltd all the best with the site going forward!

Dragnet Systems launched it's newest online store for HennessyCycles.com

Filed under General , Online Stores , work

Dragnet Systems has launched its newest online store for Hennessy Cycles in Fermoy, Cork - http://www.hennessycycles.com. This new store is designed to help Hennessy Cycles race ahead of their competition and offer their customers something a bit different from the usual online bike stores.

Hennessy Cycles will deliver throughout Ireland and UK. Irish deliveries are free. UK orders over €50 will also get free delivery which is fantastic.

It's great to see such a fresh take on the design for our stores, which to date have typically had white backgrounds. I think the darker design really works with the images used on the site. Unfortunately I didn't have any input into this project as it was handled by others in our team but I thought the finished product turned out so well I had to blog about it. Go Team Dragnet! *ahem*

How to stop the nslivemarkservice.js Firebug error messages appearing

Filed under General , work

Since I've been running Firebug 1.5.x I've noticed these weird error messages from a javascript file called nslivemarkservice.js. I did a bit of digging around and it looks like this is a leak is happening for some other people as well.

The solution to this issue is quite simple and requires you to download the latest (not fully released) version of Firebug. I'm sure once version 1.6 is given an official release this will fix the issue for all users but for those of us who would like to debug our code now without seeing these annoying error messages you can download an alpha version of 1.6 of Firebug over at the Firebug website - http://getfirebug.com/downloads

Estuary Wholesale Suppliers goes lives on ews.ie

Filed under General , work

Dragnet Systems has launched a new website for Estuary Wholesale Suppliers who are an electrical equipment supplier based in Limerick, Ireland.

The site itself is a very simple design with the focus very much on getting the information across in an easy, uncluttered way. The site was built by our designer Raul and the tech was handled by Sinead. I think they both did a fantastic job getting this site out the door considering that they have other projects on the go as well.

My next project should be launching around April 20th if everything goes to plan. It's a brand new concept for booking a taxi for businesses and I can't wait until the site goes live when I can talk more about it.

Dragnet Systems launches Hertz4Ryanair.com a brand new micro site for Hertz Europe and Ryanair

Filed under General , work

It's been a long time coming but today is the day that Dragnet Systems finally launches its newest micro site for Hertz Europe: Hertz4Ryanair.com. As you can tell from the screenshot above this new site was designed very much with Ryanair and Hertz in mind. The style and approach to the design also follows on from our Hertz Aerlingus project we released 6 months ago - HertzFlyDrive.com. There is a nice clean interface for selecting your cars and accessories that we think really add to the overall user experience. It is also a much faster booking process for booking your car compared to the micro site that this replaces.

The site contains a brand new offer system that allows Hertz to easily manage the offers to be displayed on the site. This offer system enables different layouts to be selected for offers, built in preview functionality and also scheduling.

The new site also display more information on the car you are looking to rent including CO2 emissions, the number of suitcases that will fit in the car and any extras that come with the car like heated seats, passenger airbags, etc.

It will be exciting to see how the public take to the new site over the next few weeks. We're hoping that this site will be a big success for both Hertz and Ryanair going forward.

You can view the new site over at Hertz4Ryanair.com. Let me know what you think.

Dragnet Systems launches VGWines.com

Filed under C# , General , Online Stores , work

It's a new year and thankfully the work inside in Dragnet Systems shows no signs of slowing down. VGWines.com is a brand new online store for an existing wine retailer based in Kerry, Vanilla Grape Wines Ltd.

The store uses Dragnet Systems own online store software. We have rebuilt the front end engine to make it easier for our in-house designers to build templates for any new stores going forward. It will also help increase the speed at which we can build new stores for clients now which is fantastic news.

It was interesting to note that due to legal issues with selling alcohol online VGWines.com can only sell to Irish consumers. This is the first time one of our stores has been faced with such a restriction but it makes sense. As always Rebecca has done a fantastic job with the design of the site and it definitely has a perfect 'wine' mood about it. I'm getting thirsty just looking at it :)

Force domain.com to redirect to www.domain.com using IIS 7

Filed under General , work

Yesterday I wrote a post about how to achive a redirect for domain.com to www.domain.com using IIS 6. Today I will show you how easy it is to set this up for IIS 7 on Win Server 2008.

You should be aware that this install requires a reboot. Only install on your server if you are in a position to restart your server.

First thing you need to do is download the rewrite module for IIS 7 from Microsoft. The 32bit version is here and the 64bit version here.

Before you can install this module you need to stop some services running on your server. Open the command prompt (Start -> Run -> type cmd and press enter) and type: net stop was /y

Now double click on the file you just downloaded and install the product. It can take a few mins and look like it's after hanging but give it a moment and it will install for you. You will be prompted to restart your server. Do this now as without a restart IIS will give you a 503 HTTP error when attempting to display a webpage.

Once the server has restarted open IIS Manager and make sure that both your domain and relevant application pool have been restarted.

Open up your browser and test your site just to double check everything is ok after the install. You should find that everything is working as normal.

You can now put the following rule in your web.config file within the <system.webServer> tag:

Save and FTP the web.config file to your server. If you type in yourdomain.com (without www.) you should notice that it redirects you to www.yourdomain.com now.

For more information about rerouting your traffic you can visit the IIS site for more details. A great place to start is on the Rule with Rewrite Map page.