I've been investigating this problem for a couple of days and hope that this post would save others some grief. Here's the situation: 2 web servers, same configuration (at least that's what it seemed), and on one server I can successfully export data to a downloadable CSV file but on the other server the CSV export downloads as an ASPX page instead of the CSV file. Seems strange when all configurations on the server is supposedly the same. After several unsuccessful comparisons of configuration settings ...etc I've gone down to the level of analyzing the HTTP traffic from/to both servers and comparing the differences and that's when one difference became apparent. On one server I can see that the HTTP traffic has been compressed and on the other that wasn't the case. Strange ...eh. For both sites the settings below were the same, which lead me think that probably the command line HTTP Compression settings were not configured correctly on one of the servers. So after reconfiguring compression on both servers the issue of exporting the CSV file was now occurring on both servers.
So the only possible way to resolve this problem was by disabling compression and given this was not desirable at a global site level the only other option left was to turn off compression for a specific folder. As a result I've moved the CSV export ASPX page into its own folder and disabled compression there and there you go that was the solution!!
To find out more about enabling HTTP Compression check the Enabling HTTP Compression (IIS 6.0) page.
At the bottom of the page there's the reference below on enabling compression on a directory specific basis.
adsutil set w3svc/1/root/Home/StyleSheets/DoStaticCompression false
The number 1 shown above represents you're site ID, for the default website the value is one, for other sites the value will be different. To obtain the Site ID of your site in IIS6 follow Chris Crowe's blog post IIS Website Identifiers which provides detailed info on how to obtain your Site ID.
Hope this helps.
Thoughts on my mind as I get ready for upgrading my MCAD .NET to MCPD Web...
Getting certified was something that I got interested in doing not long after finishing my degree at university back in 2005. Given that I was involved with Microsoft stuff and .NET at the time my choice of certification was to be Microsoft Certified and more specifically Certified in .NET so in 2006 I started working towards the Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) .NET certification and had that completed, this of course was in .NET 1.1.
I personally find a lot of value in getting certified, I think other than the prestige and self satisfaction you get from certification they provide good awareness of products and technologies and with new technologies coming out everyday it becomes very very hard to keep up with them if you don't use them on daily basis as there are probably many areas you never get to use, so the alternative can be working towards a certification. I think for me these are two reasons I like getting certified: personal satisfaction/prestige (whatever you want to call it really) from certification as well as awareness of new technologies, being aware of what is possible can help in decision making when you get to a situation where you need to get something done and are looking for a solution.
Nic (who is an MCP by the way) is one person I know who questions what certifications imply about developers who have them (this is specific to Microsoft Certifications AFAIK) and he may have good reason for that. The reason is, he has come across several MC** developers who happened to be not so great as developers or not as good as non certified developers. He can probably say more on this one...
So this gets me back to the question of this post, should people get certified or not, and what value will it add? I've already given my thought on this one from my perspective so I would personally like to continuously get certified for the reasons I mentioned above.
I don't think that MC** (dev track) certifications should be used as an indicator of whether or not you are a good programmer or developer but as an indicator that you are familiar with what the framework ...etc can do and how to get started on things. Even if you've done all the labs ...etc this doesn't really mean you are a good developer but means you know how the code in a certain area works.
The above issue has been improved slightly in the new generation of MS certifications, with .NET 1.1 pretty much all material was very specific to the framework and surrounding technologies but with the .NET 2.0 a good chunk of the exam covers some generic concepts (within the context of MS technologies and products) such as unit testing ...etc.
Another way to maybe think about this is asking this question: does having a degree with IT/CS majors imply you are a good developer? The answer is probably not still.
The planning for the the first Code Camp in Christchurch is moving along pretty well but the main thing we need for this event to succeed is YOU, if you have not registered for the event already please do so. Below are updated details on the event.
TO REGISTER GO TO: http://www.codecamp.net.nz
Trimble Navigation, Birmingham Drive, Addington, Christchurch. Map here
Speakers are confirmed and sessions are close to finalised.
Chris Auld (Intergen, MVP)
Jeremy Boyd (Mindscape, MVP)
Darryl Burling (Microsoft)
Chris Crowe (Trimble, MVP)
Edwin Dando (Clarus)
Peter Jones (Intergen, MVP)
Bryn Lewis (Clarus)
Pat Martin (Microsoft)
Nathan Mercer (Microsoft)
Ivan Porto-Carrero (Xero)
Andrew Tokeley (Intergen)
Ivan Towleson (ECN Group)
John-Daniel Trask (Mindscape)
Evan Williams (HP)
View full speaker details here
We have plenty of sessions chock full of critical information.
View full session details here. (More coming soon).
AND ...
Free lunch
Spot Prize
Competitions
Camp Fire Dinner (Saturday night - about $30 each).
Lots more!
TO REGISTER GO TO: http://www.codecamp.net.nz
Saw this in the DotNetJunkies newsletter today. I haven't played much with O/R Mappers myself but thought it may be of interest to some of you.