I am developing a mobile service. When I run it locally, it uses a local db (I think it is Sql Server Express). When it runs on Azure, it uses an azure sql server instance.
Everything works fine but I don't want to put the local db mdf file into git (it's not really a part of the project - just a temp db for development purposes).
I want to have a script or a piece of code that will create the local database if it does not exist. This way, when a developer clones the project for the first time, she will run the script and it will create an empty mdf file. Db and schema creation will be taken care by the database initializer and the entity framework.
I'm new to MS technologies and I don't know where to start.
What should I use to write such a script? Power shell? And how do I create an empty mdf file?
The .mdf file will actually be created automatically if one does not exist. You can see this in the connection string located in your Web.config.
<add name="MS_TableConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=(localdb) ...
This connection string value gets overwritten when you publish to the cloud. Instead, the service will use a connections string configured in the portal.
So for your scenario, you just want to make sure that file isn't getting into your repo. You might look at creating a .gitignore file. You could create rule for ignoring all such files, with *.mdf
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I am using advanced installer (simple) to create the setup project of a GUI i am making in visual studio. upon installation, it is possible to read data from the databse i.e the records that are already added can be read but as i try to save data in databse that function is not working and the application stops working. i think that the connection string is right that is why iam able to read data from it but why cant i update data. plz help.
the databse is is service-based local database
This might happen if you have the database stored in the same install location as your application binaries. Usually that is a folder under Program Files.
You're application cannot write under this location when running as a standard user, and it should never write/store data in that location.
If you're not using the Application Data folder to store your database, I suggest you update your app to do so, this should solve your problem.
We have an Website project that's hosted in Azure, and we use Web.config transforms for setting environment variables. However, our current approach for building the system for different environments is to build the project multiple times (currently this is 3), which is inefficient.
We'd like to move to using Web Deploy, as this would then set us up nicely for using Release Manager.
Our issue is around using Web Deploy parameters instead of web.config transforms; we need to substitute multiple xml elements, rather than single values.
After much research, I found these 2 articles which detail almost exactly what I'm trying to do
http://blogs.iis.net/elliotth/web-deploy-xml-file-parameterization
http://www.iis.net/learn/publish/using-web-deploy/parameterization-improvements-in-web-deploy-v3
Essentially I'm trying to replicate Scenario 5, but using a separate Set Parameter file for the value.
Unfortunately, in the examples, referencing an external xml file only works if it is on the target machine. Some testing with a colleague confirmed this; works on local machine, but not on Azure.
Is there a way I can force Web Deploy to look in a particular location for the external configuration files?
As you've already noticed, Web Deploy is only able to read replacement values on the local machine or on a UNC share. It can't read that specific file over HTTP.
If you're deploying to an Azure Web App, then one thing you could try would be to use Kudu/FTP to manually upload that file one level above your wwwroot folder. Then you could specify the file location like so:
D:\home\site\prices.xml:://book[#name='book1']/price
Of course this implies that you'd have to pre-upload this file before publishing to your site, so it's not a perfect solution, but it should work for what you're trying to accomplish.
I am creating a Windows 10 Universal App which uses a local SQLite Database.
In order for the app to use the database file It must be placed in:
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Packages\<Name of Package>\Local State
Now I understand this is the 'local' file structure for the application. However I have a pre-made database that the app needs to interact with and therefore should be bundled as part of the app on install.
Is there a method of including my database in a usable fashion when distributing my application via a side-load install?
Furthermore, This problem is of paramount importance as This 'C:\' Directory will not exist when pushing my application to the mobile phone or other Windows 10 (not a desktop) device.
You cannot package the database directly as read-write data (local state). If you only ever need to read from the database, you can just include it in your project and read it from Package.Current.InstalledLocation.
If you need to write to the database, but it contains some initial values you want to ship with your app, then you still need to include the database in your project, but then copy it from the InstalledLocation to ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder if it doesn't exist when your app starts up.
You can all ways export your existing data base as SQL script and save it in your project assets.
On the first run of your application you can create the Sqlite file in your LocalFolder, and run the script with CREATE and INSERT queries.
I have created a mvc4 application with text file. I write some data in a file "ddd.txt". I wrote such address at my PC: "#D://Project//ddd.txt" and it worked finely. However, when I deploy my website on "azurewebsites.net", then I should write another address.
It is very important text file for me. And I would like to read data from it.
What address of directory should I write in my application to work him on Windows Azure server?
I would try using App_Data (you can just add the directory if it doesn't exist in your project).
You could then load the file like this:
string path = HttpContext.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/ddd.txt");
// load file here
The other option would be to store it in Blob storage, there is a good walkthough of the different features here: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/blob-storage/
I have a brilliantly designed app_offline.htm file that I'd like to display on my site periodically when I'm doing things like backing up the DB. On a server with a real file system, this wouldn't be a problem: I'd just copy app_offline.htm to the my app's root, and IIS will work its magic and redirect all requests to this file.
However, I'm using Azure, so there's no real file system and there's no easy way move files around from one location to another.
How I can I make app_offline.htm play nicely with Azure?
I figured I'd add this, I haven't seen it mentioned yet. You can actually do this via web publish from Visual Studio (or WebMatrix) as well, just put app_offline.htm in the root of your project - the same level as your main web.config. When done, just rename it and redeploy to go back online. 2 clicks - easy.
The manual option is to drop it into your /site/wwwroot via FTP.
A little personal secret, none of your site files will be accessible, style sheets etc. So put your includes into an azure blob container, and viola.
Actually there is a real file system, as each VM instance runs on Windows 2008 Server (SP2 or R2 SP1). To see this for yourself, enable Remote Desktop for your deployment and connect to a running instance.
Knowing this, you should be able to set up a mechanism to perform a file-copy of your app_offline.htm to your app root based on some type of administrative command. You'll just need to make sure each of your web role instances perform this action.
David has provided you with a good answer. However, you might be missing out on what Azure can do for you. You should be able to virtually eliminate down time with Azure by running multiple instances and using SQL Azure which is triple backed up for you. You can also backup SQL Azure using http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff951624.aspx