Ash Tewari

cloud

KeyNode with Node.js and Microsoft Azure

tewari

KeyNode is a application to issue and verify software license keys. Technology stack for KeyNode is Node.js, MongoDB and Microsoft Azure. I had built this functionality with C9.io (a cloud-based IDE with a built-in source code repository and debugger), mongohq (MongoDB as a service – now part of compose.io) and appfog (Cloud PAAS built on top of CloudFoundry). It used SMTP/gmail to email license files. That was the version I created a couple of years ago to issue tamper-proof signed xml license files for CodeDemo (a code snippet tool for developers, presenters and instructors). For KeyNode (open source) I switched to a different toolset : Visual Studio Code and Windows Azure, simplified the code to remove signed xml file and open-sourced it on GitHub. Signed […]

PackRaft with Xamarin and Microsoft Azure

tewari

PackRaft is a cross-platform mobile application built with Xamarin. It integrates with Microsoft Azure services, such as Azure Table Storage and Azure App Service. It is created with Xamarin.Forms for iOS and Android (Windows version will be coming soon).     The purpose of creating this sample application was to expand expertise in cross-platform mobile development with Windows Azure integration, specifically with Xamarin.Forms and Azure App Service. With Xamarin.Forms, it is possible to achieve close to 100% code reuse across these platforms for certain type of apps. Azure App Service provide a set of rich cloud backend services for your mobile applications. PackRaft allows the user to setup a fleet of vehicles of various seating capacities. Groups of riders are assigned to these rides according to the […]

Protecting Your Api Keys

tewari

I am working on a Windows 8 app (details to follow in a subsequent post) and the code is published in a public repo on github. My app uses third-party APIs and after I committed the first cut to github, I realized that I had included my api keys in the code. The whole world had access to my keys. I did not want to publish the developer keys for those APIs to the entire world. When the app will be released and distributed, those keys will need to be included in the app somehow. Once the keys are out there they can not be 100% protected from a determined mind. So, why bother? Why would I want to hide […]

SQL Azure Notes

tewari

My invitation code for SQL Azure CTP finally arrived. I had been waiting for this. You can create a database in from the SQL Azure Management page, shown above. After you have created the database, of course, you can use DbUpdater with your SQL Azure databases. Here is the command-line : DbUpdater.exe ..\SqlScripts /server:”tcp:SERVER.ctp.database.windows.net” /db:DATABASE /user:”USER@SERVER” /password:PASSWORD /confirm:true And you will need this DbUpdater.exe.config file : <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″ ?> <configuration> <appSettings> <add key=”file-prefix” value=”db” /> <add key=”file-extension” value=”sql” /> <add key=”schema-versions-name” value=”schema-versions-table.sql” /> <add key=”baseline-name” value=”baseline.sql” /> <add key=”post-script-prefix” value=”post” /> <add key=”post-script-always-apply” value=”true” /> <add key=”exe-file” value=”C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn\SQLCMD.EXE” /> <add key=”exe-args” value=’-U %UserName% -P %Password% -S “%ServerName%” -d %DbName% -i “%SqlFile%”‘ /> <add key=”dialect” value=”NHibernate.Dialect.MsSql2000Dialect” /> <add […]