IIS 8 ASP.Net Error “configuration section cannot be used…”

April 11, 2013 chrisbitting.net, asp.net, config, error, iis, windowsLeave a comment

When working with IIS 8 (or even 7 or 7.5), you may have run across this little gem / error: “This configuration section cannot be used at this path”

HTTP Error 500.19 – Internal Server Error
The requested page cannot be accessed because the related configuration data for the page is invalid.

Module / Handler IIS Web Core

Notification BeginRequest
Handler Not yet determined

You’ll want to open the applicationhost.config located in: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config

And now find the lines like this:

<section name="handlers" overrideModeDefault="Deny" />
<section name="modules" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" overrideModeDefault="Deny" />

And change the Deny to Allow, like this:

<section name="handlers" overrideModeDefault="Allow" />
<section name="modules" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" overrideModeDefault="Allow" />

Save the file, and you should be good!

WordPress Multisite Windows / IIS Login Redirect / Loop Issue

March 26, 2013 chrisbittingblog, iis, multisite, php, wordpress10 Comments

If you have WordPress installed on Windows (2008 / IIS) with multisite + sub domains enabled you may have run into the issue of login loops / redirects when accessing /wp-admin. Below are a few spots you may want to confirm you have the correct URLs:

In the database:

Table / Field

wp_blogs / domain
wp_options / siteurl
wp_options / home
wp_sitemeta / siteurl    (don't forget this one!)

Also check these tables in any additional sites (ie: wp_2_options).

Config Files
wp-config.php:

define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'www.yourdomain.com');

I also have this in my wp-config.php:

define('ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', '/');
define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');
define('COOKIEPATH', '');
define('SITECOOKIEPATH', '');

Web Config
Below is my successful web.config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <rewrite>
      <rules>
        <rule name="WordPress Rule 1" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^index\.php$" ignoreCase="false" />
          <action type="None" />
        </rule>
        <rule name="WordPress Rule 2" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$" ignoreCase="false" />
          <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}wp-admin/" redirectType="Permanent" />
        </rule>
        <rule name="WordPress Rule 3" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^" ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny">
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" ignoreCase="false" />
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" ignoreCase="false" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="None" />
        </rule>
        <rule name="WordPress Rule 4" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^" ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny">
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" ignoreCase="false" />
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" ignoreCase="false" />
            <add input="{URL}" pattern="([a-zA-Z0-9\./_-]+)\.axd" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="None" />
        </rule>
        <rule name="WordPress Rule 5" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(wp-(content|admin|includes).*)" ignoreCase="false" />
          <action type="Rewrite" url="{R:1}" />
        </rule>
        <rule name="WordPress Rule 6" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="." ignoreCase="false" />
          <action type="Rewrite" url="index.php" />
        </rule>
      </rules>
    </rewrite>
    <httpRedirect enabled="false" destination="http://www.yourdomain.com" />
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Google Analytics Custom Report Filters – RegEx

March 25, 2013 chrisbittinganalytics, google, google analytics, regex, Regular expression, reportingLeave a comment

If you’ve noticed, Google Analytics doesn’t seem to allow you to filter on standard reports using multiple dimensions if you’re only showing one. You can easily create a custom report and add your filters using multiple dimensions and only show one. However, many users get scared by the RegEx option under Filters (the only other choice is Exact). It’s not that complex, below is a simple example showing multiple filters using a simple RegEx ‘contains’. Continue reading “Google Analytics Custom Report Filters – RegEx” →

Disable ‘Compatibility Mode’ in Internet Explorer (IE) 8 / 9

March 7, 2013September 17, 2014 chrisbittingc#, compatibility mode, ie, internet explorer, metaLeave a comment

compatibilty-mode Over the past few months you put tons of time and effort into your awesome new site. However, your roll it live and find out that someone accidentally has Compatibility Mode mode in IE turned on. Now your scripts don’t function exactly how you imagined and your layout is acting funky. There are some Meta tags that apparently take care of this if you add them to your page (<meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Compatible” content=”IE=edge,chrome=1″ />) but personally I haven’t had great success with these. Below is the way I found best in .net to disable and turn off Compatibility Mode in IE:

On your page (preferably master page in web forms or mvc) add this line:

<% Response.AddHeader(“X-UA-Compatible”, “IE=edge,chrome=1”); %>

In my case I’m adding it below the <%@ Master Language=”C#” … line before the start of content (doctype).

Update: You can also easily add the header in IIS (no need to update your code) by going to ‘http response headers’ and choosing ‘add’:

Twilio SMS Messages In Non-web .net Application with Twilio REST API (c#)

February 28, 2013 chrisbittingapi, c#, proxy, rest, sms, twilio, webrequestLeave a comment

Twilio is a great SMS (text message) gateway to use for sending and receiving SMS messages. The process is super simple and flexible to get started using (the Twilio REST API helper library is great). However, in my case, I wanted to access the API through a “windows form” application, but the API needs a little something extra to get this to function. In my experience, a proxy. Below are the steps from start to finish to retrieve messages from your Twilio account: Continue reading “Twilio SMS Messages In Non-web .net Application with Twilio REST API (c#)” →

Update – More Details: Retrieving Email using Exchange Web Services Managed API 2.0 (c#)

February 26, 2013 chrisbittingapi, asp.net, c#, exchange, html, inbox, web service4 Comments

So maybe you have started to use the Exchange Web Services Managed API to get email from inboxes and wanted to get a few additional details. Below are two of the most popular issues: Continue reading “Update – More Details: Retrieving Email using Exchange Web Services Managed API 2.0 (c#)” →

Retrieving and Sending Email using Exchange Web Services Managed API 2.0 (c#)

February 21, 2013February 27, 2013 chrisbittingasp.net, c#, email, exchange, web services7 Comments

If you haven’t already had the need, I’m sure you will at some point, to either retrieve email or send email through Exchange (not just relay or connect to Outlook) using .net. Since Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Exchange Web Services Managed API 2.0 this task has become much more efficient No more clunky 2.0 type web service references etc. Below is a complete chuck of code with a few samples. One sample function sends an email, the other retrieves email messages from an inbox with the option of filters.

Continue reading “Retrieving and Sending Email using Exchange Web Services Managed API 2.0 (c#)” →

Display Weather Alerts From NOAA Using Atom (WPF Example)

February 8, 2013 chrisbittingatom, c#, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, NOAA, rss, Syndication, wpf, xaml2 Comments

So since there is this impending storm (blizzard, snow storm, snowmageddon, snowpocalypse, snowzilla) “Nemo” hitting us here on the East coast within a few hours, I figured a good topic might be on weather alert data. There is a bunch of data available from the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) on their site. Data is available in several categories, including Forecasts, Watch/warnings, Storm Prediction Center Forecast Products, etc. In my very quick example I’m going to pick the “Watch / Warning” data for my region and display this using WPF for an easy visualization. Continue reading “Display Weather Alerts From NOAA Using Atom (WPF Example)” →

c# DataTable Copy / Filter / Sort & Clone

January 22, 2013 chrisbittingado, c#, clone, copy, data, datatable, importrow, sqlLeave a comment

If you’re like me (I hope not too much like me) you probably find yourself using DataTables to hold lots of data for fast, flexible in memory usage. I get asked often, “how can I copy a DataTable?” or even more often, “how can I copy a DataTable, but change the sort or modify the rows”. Look no further. Below you’ll find my thoughts:

Example one (a simple copy with a sort difference):

    //datatable
    var table = new DataTable();

    //get some data
    using (var conn = new SqlConnection(yourSqlConn))
        {
            var comm = new SqlCommand(@"select * from someTable order by someColumn", conn);
            comm.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
            conn.Open();
            var data = comm.ExecuteReader();
            table.Load(data);
        }

    //bind to some control (repeater)
    rptFirstList.DataSource = table;
    rptFirstList.DataBind();

    //second table
    var secondTable = new DataTable();
    secondTable = table.Copy();
    secondTable.DefaultView.Sort = "someOtherColumn";

    //bind second
    rptSecondList.DataSource = secondTable;
    rptSecondList.DataBind();

Example two (creating a copy of the table but allowing a filter, sort or other criteria):

    //datatable
    var table = new DataTable();

    //get some data
    using (var conn = new SqlConnection(yourSqlConn))
        {
            var comm = new SqlCommand(@"select * from someTable order by someColumn", conn);
            comm.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
            conn.Open();
            var data = comm.ExecuteReader();
            table.Load(data);
        }

    //bind to some control (repeater)
    rptFirstList.DataSource = table;
    rptFirstList.DataBind();

    //second table
    var secondTable = new DataTable();

    //clone to get columns - NO data is copied
    secondTable = table.Clone();
    //loop through rows and import based on filter
    foreach (DataRow dr in table.Select("someColumn = 'value'","someColumnToSort")) {

    secondTable.ImportRow(dr);

    }

    //bind second
    rptSecondList.DataSource = secondTable;
    rptSecondList.DataBind();

Windows Drive Compression – Reducing Image Size of VMWare Workstation Virtual Machines

January 15, 2013January 14, 2013 chrisbittingcompression, Hyper-V, Virtual machine, vmware, vmware workstation, Windows Server 2008Leave a comment

If you’re like me, I’m sure you have more than one virtual machine setup and running Windows (in my case, 4 VM’s running Windows Server 2008 R2 – on a laptop [yes an older laptop]). As you already know, Windows Server 2008, besides being AWESOME, is also DISK HOG. Sure, you could install only the Core, but that’s no fun!

One solution to reduce the amount of disk space is the use the Windows drive compression for large files and directories. Of course this takes a small performance hit (in my case, about 10% probably, but it’s for development anyhow) – (read the Microsoft best practices for compression), but you’ll be able to regain space, and better utilize your VM’s!

I compressed some major folders, and was able to regain a few gigs!

Chris Bitting

Random, I know.

Author: chrisbitting