Ori Calvo

Q is Qool by oric

So, you are writing more and more Java Script code. You aim for more responsive and more sophisticated web application and therefore you are moving code from server to the client side. Eventually, you will need to model your client side code. Probably you will end up with something that resembles any other client side application layering. I usually start with a DAL later that is responsible for fetching data from the server (or from local storage) than wrap it inside some BL objects that compose...

Cleaning after Knockout by oric

Using KnockoutJS is really fun. You set some data-bind attributes on your HTML and KnockoutJS does the magic of binding it to a JavaScript object (A.K.A, view model) An important fact that most of us are missing is that Knockout holds some internal data structure to manage its magic. Basically, every time you call ko.applyBindings a new management record is added to KO internal representation. This means that your view model is being held by some global data managed by KO. So in case you create and...

WDCIL Session - Building Single Page Application by oric

Yesterday I had the chance to deliver a very interesting session about building single page application to the Israeli web developer community. The WDCIL is really a cool place to here a lot about web technologies. The session was quite unique in the sense that it was focused about building infrastructure for creating SPA and was less focused about building the application itself During the session I demonstrated how one can take Backbone, Knockout, Q and of course ASP.NET MVC and create a nice environment...

Building Single Page Application–2nd Session at John Bryce by oric

Today I delivered yet another session about building single page application at John Bryce Hi Tech college At the previous presentation I demonstrated how SharpKit (a C# to JavaScript compiler) can be used to build an SPA This time I concentrated at pure JavaScript. The structure of the application remains the same but instead of writing C# code and compile it into JavaScript, this time I just wrote pure JavaScript SPA is all about loading all required resources (JavaScript + HTML + CSS) at initialization...

Building Single Page Application – Session at John Bryce Hi-Tech College by oric

Today we held an open day regarding HTML5. I delivered the third session while speaking about building single page application. With the rich HTML5 API, developers can start building a really thick client applications using web technologies only. However, richness means complication. Writing a lot of JavaScript code means that we need a way to structure our client side code in a reasonable fashion so it will be easy to maintain and troubleshoot the code. In my session I suggested a technique to combine...

CMS like URLs by oric

How do you treat your URLs? Nicely I hope ... When looking at some web sites over the internet it feels like there are developers that think that a URL is an application internal detail and the end user should completely ignore it In case you don't think the same and want to enhance your MVC web application with really nice URLs then keep reading Suppose we need to implement an application that allows the user to navigate through the server directory structure Controller code is quite simple...

Building Single Page Application by oric

Taking HTML to the extreme is all about developing Single Page Application (SPA). Fetch all required HTML + JavaScript + CSS files from the server and then use the server only for data manipulation. No more “HTML server side rendering” and no more “partial page updates”. Doing so allow you to offer your end users a much more attractive user experience. For example, since all required files are up front loaded to the browser we can use HTML5 Offline Web Application feature to allow our web application...

Doing OOP with JavaScript by oric

Currently there are two main approaches to simulate object orientation in JavaScript Classical approach - We use the prototype object to define instance methods. Every object “enjoy” the methods defined inside the prototype. Inheritance is achieved by one prototype that extends another one. Modern approach – Each object define its own methods and fields. Inheritance is achieved by one object that extends another one. Classical approach function Shape(x, y) { this .x = x; this .y = y; } Shape.prototype...

Subversion Support for Visual Studio by oric

More than a year ago I wrote about using VisualSVN+TortoiseSVN for managing source control under windows. VisualSVN offers a free SVN server and TortoiseSVN offers a free management tool for managing the server directly from Windows Explorer A few month ago I started to use a Visual Studio extension named AnkhSVN to manage SVN directly from Visual Studio without the need to work from Windows Explorer. I really enjoying using AnkhSVN. It is simple and lightweight To install AnkhSVN open Visual Studio...

ASP.NET MVC 4 and Single Page Application by oric

A few days ago Microsoft released ASP.NET MVC 4 Release Candidate As usual I was anxious to see what's new for the new release and quickly moved over the release notes Good news, Web API continues to evolve and coding web controllers looks even easier Bad news, and this was quite a surprise for me, the "Single Page Application" project is no longer part of ASP.NET MVC 4. Not sure if it will be part of future MVC release. The official statement looks something like that: "SPA won...

jQuery Deferred object by oric

Suppose you need to fetch some data from your server by executing 3 different $.ajax requests. Each request brings a different part of the total data. You don't mind in which order the requests complete. Only when the 3 requests are completed successfully you can use the data. In addition, in case one of the method fails you need to execute some error handling code. The naive solution looks something like that: function getAllData(success, error, complete) { var count = 0; var errorInvoked =...

ASP.NET MVC 4 Beta - MSDN Session at Microsoft by oric

Today I delivered yet another MSDN session at Microsoft. This time it was about ASP.NET MVC 4 Beta. The biggest news for this version is a new template project named Single Page Application (SPA). Implementing SPA is now possible using several client libraries like Knockout, upshot and History. Those libraries combined with ASP.NET Web API allow us to write desktop/mobile like application using web technologies. All samples and PPTs introduced during the session can be found here I hope you enjoyed...

What’s new in ASP.NET 4.5 – #2 Session at John Bryce by oric

Today I delivered a 3 hour session about ASP.NET 4.5 at John Bryce college. This is the second session about ASP.NET 4.5 and like the first one I displayed the major new features of the Microsoft web platform. Specifically I presented the new ASP.NET Web Forms data binding mechanism, KnockoutJS, Web API, Bundling and Minification, Visual Studio 11 IDE enhancements and ASP.NET MVC 4 new mobile support. All samples which were presented during the session can be found here Hope to see you in the next...

ASP.NET MVC 4 – SPA Video by oric

If you haven’t watch this video yet then go do it now !!! IMHO, one of the most interesting videos lately. Steve Sanderson from MS introduces ASP.NET MVC 4 combined with Upshot, Knockout and History. Using these technologies you can much easier develop a Mobile/Desktop like applications for the web. Knockout allows you to bind the local data to the UI, Upshot manages the interaction with the server and even can save data locally in case server is down and History manages the browser navigation system...

Are you using Cassette? by oric

ASP.NET 4.5 Developer Preview introduces a new capability to manage scripts bundling and minification. You can read about it here . However, the current implementation lacks a very important aspect of scripts management which is managing the dependencies. As you know, when referencing a single script file you also need to reference all its dependencies. Wouldn't it be nice if someone automatically injects the right dependencies? Enter Cassette world ... Cassette is an HttpModule which seats inside...