In developing apps for Windows Phone, I’ve been using the Northern Lights code library which includes Little Watson; a library for packaging exceptions and sending them to a http listener. The demo application uses a php page to send an email. Scott Hanselman’s inaugural WP7 post has him doing the same thing with an EmailComposeTask. Deep down, I’m a numbers nerd though, so culling through email to determine trends and statistics isn’t going to work for me. So I’ve created a ASP.NET webform that writes to a database. Not a huge deal, but when combined with ASP.NET dynamic data, I’ve got a live bug collection system that I can cull and extend as my needs grow more elaborate. I’ve setup three applications using this approach now, and it’s working pretty well for me.

To get this working for you, you’ll need to

1. Create a new Dynamic Data website (or add dynamic data features to an existing website).
2. Create a WatsonException entity that has the properties of the ExceptionContainer. I’m using Message, StackTrace, App Name, App Version, ExceptionRecordedDateTime.
3. Create a webpage that LittleWatson can send an HTTP post to. All of the exception data will be encoded in a variable called Exception. The Application Name is not included in the post, so I am creating a separate listener for each application.
4. In the webpage, save the exception data to the WatsonException context.

For me, this was another situation where a dynamic data website let me quickly deal with the incoming data on my terms, not letting this exception data clog my inbox. This also has the added benefit of requiring no user interaction, which makes it more likely that these reports will be submitted. If you choose to go down this route, there are two other items I would encourage you to remember.

The library uses a network connection to send the error reports (obviously). This means that your app needs to have the ID_CAP_NETWORKING or your error code won’t work. Just add it now, to save yourself the drama.

ASP.NET Dynamic Data provides a framework that enables you to quickly build a functional data-driven application, based on a LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework data model. It also adds great flexibility and functionality to the DetailsView, FormView, GridView, and ListView controls in the form of smart validation and the ability to easily change the display of these controls using templates.

Here's a link to the presentation I gave for the Rockville .NET User's Group on Dec 9, 2009. We discussed the three enabling technologies and how we can use this tool from RAD to distributed enterprise development. I read all sorts of blogs to get the background information for this presentation and suggest you check out the list of links on delicious as well.

My previous post shows how to migrate a SQL database to Azure SQL. Now we will complete the app migration by migrating the web application to Windows Azure as well.

1. We'll start by creating a "New Azure Web Cloud Service" in Visual Studio (2008 or 2010). You'll need to install the Windows Azure SDK to get this new project type. When this project starts up you'll have an Azure project, and a traditional web application.
2. Follow the directions in this blog post to add an existing web application to the project.
3. Edit the ServiceDefinition file by adding enableNativeCodeExecution="true" to the webRole element. This places the web worker role in full trust mode.
4. Upload your project and service definition into a new Windows Azure project.
5. Start your project, test it, and promote to Production.