Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia

When I'm asked for learning resources on ASP.NET 2.0, I recommend the Essential ASP.NET 2.0 MSDN Webcast series (Level 200) by Fritz Onion . The 15 part series that was conducted in 2005 covers a breadth of topics in video sessions of roughly 45 minutes. The videos are freely downloadable but require registration. The slides (in PDF format), demos & labs related to the sessions are available from Fritz Onion's Webcasts page . This series is also good, inexpensive training material for organizations that need to educate novice Web developers on ASP.NET 2.0. With a projector, popcorn (optional) & an experienced developer as a moderator to respond to impromptu questions that may come up, an enjoyable & engaging training can be conducted. The following topics are covered - Introduction to ASP.NET 2.0 ASP.NET 2.0 Architecture New Code-Behind tool Page Lifecycle Compilation Special Compilation Directories - App_code, App_GlobalResources, App_Data etc Master pages, Theme...

"whenever you allow a user to upload a document that is saved to a web accessible folder, and then you allow others to visit that document directly through their browser, there exists the possibility that a nefarious user will upload a script file so that they can execute code when the file is visited through a browser." [ Scott Mitchell ] Counter-Measure: configure IIS so as not to allow script execution on the folder (and subfolders) where files are uploaded. " A nefarious user could .. upload a HTML file for an XSS or phishing attack, stealing your authenticated users' sessions and cookies or worse." [ Ryan ] Counter-Measure: have a whitelist of content types and file extensions. "Denial of service is one of the threats that you need to consider while implementing file upload functionality in your web application. If a user uploads a huge file, it will clog the network and consume server’s memory." [ Varun, ACE Team ] Counter-Measure: By setti...

Use the free open-source online service - Browsershots . Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. All you need to do is specify for which of the 40 browsers on Linux, 12 browsers on Windows & 4 browsers on Mac OS you want your screenshots and submit your web address. You can optionally configure settings like screen size, color depth, Javascript/Java/Flash support on the browsers you want to test for. These requests are queued & processed by a number of distributed computers. The estimated time range is specified and you can reload or bookmark the page to view the generated screenshots. Browsrcamp is yet another useful service that I have tried & liked. It lets you test the compatibility of your design with Mac OS X browsers. If you just have to test a few pages, these online services obviate the need for purchasing costly hardware.