I am very curious about the new .NET Core, ASP.NET 5, EF 7 and Visual Studio Code for Linux, Mac and Windows. I have tried it out on an Ubuntu 15.04 machine. The installation and configuration required a few steps, so it is not an usual “Next-next-next”-installation. But, hey, it is just a beta, a preview so far, and first of all: It worked. I am sharing a couple of screenshots and the commands I ran in the terminal, mixed with comments and links:   [source language=“bash”] #install latest node and npm #https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-node-js-on-an-ubuntu-14-04-server curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup | sudo bash - sudo apt-get install -y nodejs sudo npm install -g yo sudo npm install -g generator-aspnet # download VS Code and make a link # make a folder mkdir workspace/tryvs cd workspace/tryvs # create “src/global.json” file: # http://docs.asp.net/en/latest/tutorials/your-first-mac-aspnet.html { “sdk”: { “version”: “1.0.0-beta7” } } nano src/global.json # start VS Code # create # install omnisharp: # http://docs.asp.net/en/latest/getting-started/installing-on-linux.html#installing-on-debian-ubuntu-and-derivatives curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aspnet/Home/dev/dnvminstall.sh | DNX_BRANCH=dev sh && source ~/.dnx/dnvm/dnvm.sh dnvm #install dnx sudo apt-get install -y libunwind8 gettext libssl-dev libcurl3-dev zlib1g libicu-dev dnvm upgrade -r coreclr cd EmptyApplication dnu restore #install libuv #http://docs.asp.net/en/latest/getting-started/installing-on-linux.html#using-docker sudo apt-get install make automake libtool curl curl -sSL https://github.com/libuv/libuv/archive/v1.4.2.tar.gz | sudo tar zxfv - -C /usr/local/src cd /usr/local/src/libuv-1.4.2 sudo sh autogen.sh sudo ./configure sudo make sudo make install sudo rm -rf /usr/local/src/libuv-1.4.2 && cd ~/ sudo ldconfig #build, I got an error here dnu build #start the web server dnx web [/source]

console.log is the best tool for debugging javascript. In Firefox Firebug and Chrome Dev Tools you can even log objects which are represented as tree nodes of properties. If Firebug or Dev Tools in Chrome and IE9 are not opened, all these messages are ignored. But IE8 doesn’t understand console (if Dev Tools are closed) and raises an error: To avoid these errors, just declare an empty function just for IE8–:

$.ajax is great, it hides much of the complexity. But sometimes we need to work with “raw” javascript :) So let’s look behind the scenes. The XMLHttpRequest (or just XHR) is used to open a connection to a server without a page reload. Internet Explorer calls it ActiveXObject and it differs in IE versions. Wikipedia article gives a good example how to create one constructor for all browsers: [sourcecode language=“javascript”]if (typeof XMLHttpRequest == “undefined”) XMLHttpRequest = function () { try { return new ActiveXObject(“Msxml2.XMLHTTP.6.0”); } catch (e) {} try { return new ActiveXObject(“Msxml2.XMLHTTP.3.0”); } catch (e) {} try { return new ActiveXObject(“Microsoft.XMLHTTP”); } catch (e) {} //Microsoft.XMLHTTP points to Msxml2.XMLHTTP and is redundant throw new Error(“This browser does not support XMLHttpRequest.”); };[/sourcecode] The remainder is more or less the same among the browsers. We open a connection defining the HTTP verb, URI and async mode (true or false): [sourcecode language=“javascript”]var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest(); xhr.open(“GET”, “/_vti_bin/listdata.svc”, true); xhr.onreadystatechange = onStateChange; xhr.send(null);[/sourcecode] Pay attention to onreadystatechange (only lower case letters). If we choose async=false, the UI waits for the response which is not so kind to users, but maybe it is easier to write a program. Well, there is actually no option but to have async=true. To provide the callback for success and error we can write the responding function onreadystatechange. This function will be called every time the state is changed. There are 5 states:

In one of my previous blogs I wrote about serializing of javascript objects. You can do it with JSON.stringify or Sys.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer.serialize. Both methods work fine… almost. There is a big difference when it comes to datetime objects. MS treats dates a little bit different (like RegEx and much more). Let’s try this one:

var writer = { name: "Ajgi", birthdate: new Date(1934, 8-1, 21) };
var json = JSON.stringify(writer);
var msjson = Sys.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer.serialize(writer);

What happens if we try to parse back msjson with JSON.parse: Well, the date isn’t a valid date anymore. How can we improve it. Rick Strahl gives a solution with custom functions for serializing and deserializing of ms date. But the thing is: we don’t need any custom functions for this, not if you run ASP.NET. The only thing we need is to use serialize and deserialize functions from Sys.Serialization.JavascriptSerializer namespace which you get automatically when you add ScriptManager in ASP.NET (and you get it even automagically in SharePoint). But what about $.ajax and functions I wrote about for retrieving list items and populating them, and updating list items with listdata.svc? Well, there comes the really nice tip from Rick Strahl: not to force $.ajax to parse the response. So instead of dataType: “json”, use the plain dataType: “text”. As the result we’ll get just a text, which we, of course, will deserialize with the native code for Microsoft:…. Use text when possible. When you define json as response format:

sprintf is actually the best javascript implementation of sprintf (string.format). But wait, shouldn’t it be some more .NET-like stuff in SharePoint environment? Indeed there is! (Well, not only in SP, but ASP.NET) String.format(“Hello {0}”, “world”) does exactly the same thing as on server side. Wow, it opens for many opportunities, e.g. in jQuery tmpl: String.format validates arguments, and if all is OK, it invokes another function String._toFormattedString:

function String$\_toFormattedString(useLocale, args) {
    var result = '';
    var format = args\[0\];
    for (var i=0;;) {
        var open = format.indexOf('{', i);
        var close = format.indexOf('}', i);
        if ((open < 0) && (close < 0)) {             
            result += format.slice(i);
            break;
        }
        if ((close > 0) && ((close < open) || (open < 0))) {
            if (format.charAt(close + 1) !== '}') {
                throw Error.argument('format', Sys.Res.stringFormatBraceMismatch);
            }
            result += format.slice(i, close + 1);
            i = close + 2;
            continue;
        }
        result += format.slice(i, open);
        i = open + 1;
        if (format.charAt(i) === '{') {
            result += '{';
            i++;
            continue;
        }
        if (close < 0) throw Error.argument('format', Sys.Res.stringFormatBraceMismatch);
        var brace = format.substring(i, close);
        var colonIndex = brace.indexOf(':');
        var argNumber = parseInt((colonIndex < 0)? brace : brace.substring(0, colonIndex), 10) + 1;
        if (isNaN(argNumber)) throw Error.argument('format', Sys.Res.stringFormatInvalid);
        var argFormat = (colonIndex < 0)? '' : brace.substring(colonIndex + 1);
        var arg = args\[argNumber\];
        if (typeof(arg) === "undefined" || arg === null) {
            arg = '';
        }
        if (arg.toFormattedString) {
            result += arg.toFormattedString(argFormat);
        }
        else if (useLocale && arg.localeFormat) {
            result += arg.localeFormat(argFormat);
        }
        else if (arg.format) {
            result += arg.format(argFormat);
        }
        else
            result += arg.toString();
        i = close + 1;
    }
    return result;
}
```By the way, take a look at summary part of String.format:

/// /// /// ///

To integrate ASP.NET Ajax Toolkit is not the most straight forward task in SharePoint. If you want to take the risk, “Inspired by Technology” provides the best guide so far.

To reduce postbacks and database calls, a copy of the current object(s) can be pushed down to the client in JSON format. Say a webpart renders information about a person, another webpart shows related information which is retrieved dynamically (like web services). Instead of getting the current person from the database in the second webpart again, we can reuse the same person object from the first webpart. To do so we must provide a DataContract for the Person class:

There is a very handy JSON lib for serializing javascript objects. It is hosted on github under douglas crockford. Download json2.js and serialize with JSON.stringify function: EDIT: There is actually this function in core javascript. It exists since javascript 1.7 and ecmascript 5. So you don’t have to add anything to get this functionality:

var t = { name: "dev", city: "new york" };
JSON.stringify(t);
```There are actually built-in goodies for serializing javascript objects in [ASP.NET](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb310857.aspx): Sys.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer.serialize

var t = { name: “dev”, city: “new york” }; Sys.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer.serialize(t);

Om du vill behålla dina värden på variabler mellan postbacks, använd ViewState:

if (ViewState\["MaxNumberOfArticles"\] != null)
{
	MaxNumberOfArticles = (int) ViewState\["MaxNumberOfArticles"\];
}
MaxNumberOfArticles += 10;
ViewState.Add("MaxNumberOfArticles", MaxNumberOfArticles);
RenderNews();

Ett mycket bra inlägg från Tom Puleos blogg om SPSecurityTrimmedControl. Måste absolut testa det.

Mycket bra verktyg för att skapa appar i php, c# och javascript.

Om man söker på Sharepoint i codeplex.com får man 729 projekt som är alltså öppna. Det är inte illa. Bland dem finns till exempel Sharepoint Log Viewer. Till det kommer 713 öppna projekt som är taggade ASP.NET som kan användas väldigt mycket i Sharepoint-utveckling. Bland ASP.NET-taggade finns smidiga Telerik Extensions. Powershell är också absolut en tag som man ska söka på i codeplex. codeplex.com är Microsofts officiella OpenSource-portal. Det måste finnas andra sidor där öppna projekt inom Sharepoint och ASP.NET samlas. Tipsa gärna i kommentarer.