Microsoft WebsiteSpark Program!!! An opportunity to boom your business

WebsiteSpark is a recently announced program by Microsoft. Basically this program is for freelance developers and companies who are providing web development and design services to their customers. Through this program they will get free software and support from Microsoft for three years.

Eligibility Criteria and Enrollment in WebsiteSpark
Eligibility Criteria is very simple:-

• Companies whose primary business is to provide Web development and design services to their customer.
• Company must have 10 or less employees

So, if you want to get benefits from this program, go to WebsiteSpark Homepage and signup now.
In enrollment process you have to get an ‘Approval Code’ from a Microsoft Champ, Network Partner or Hosting Partner. For further details about enrollment visit WebsiteSpark Faqs.

What software are available for free in WebsiteSpark Program?
WebsiteSpark program provides following softwares to their members for free of cost for three years:-

Development Tools

• Visual Studio® 2008 Professional Edition 3 user licenses
• Expression® Studio 2 (or 3) 1 user license, available only to the Primary Contact for the Web Pro
• Expression® Web 2 (or 3) 2 user licenses
• Windows Web Server® 2008 (or Windows Web Server 2008 R2 when available) 3 user licenses
• SQL Server® 2008 Web 3 user licenses  

Production and Deployment

• Windows Web Server® 2008 (or Windows Web Server 2008 R2, when available) (4 Processor License)
• SQL Server® 2008 Web (4 Processor License)

What are other benefits of WebsiteSpark Program?
There are other benefits from WebsiteSpark Program as well which are listed below:-

• Professional Support from Microsoft
• Free online training
• Managed newsgroups on MSDN (a community of over six million developers) and/or other Microsoft online properties
• Access to broad community support through connections with Network Partners, Hosting Partners, and peers with complementary services and technologies
• You will also qualify for Special Offers from Microsoft

What will happen once 3 year period is completed?
After the completion of three years there is no obligation to continue use of any of software and there is no cost for those three years except $100 program fee at end of three years.
Also WebsiteSpark members can purchase all software (mentioned above) in only $999/year. Another offer is to purchase only production server software i.e. Windows Web Server® 2008 R2 and SQL Server® 2008 Web in only $199/year.

Conclusion
In the current period of recession, WebsiteSpark program is a great opportunity for freelance developers and companies to establish and grow their business through support and trainings from Microsoft. Anyone who feels interested should go to WebsiteSpark home page. Also it is my humble request to share this with all freelancers and small companies to help them.

How to Test System Generated Emails without Internet in Vista

Recenetly I have to develop a system which generates highly formatted emails. And I decided that I will do that in my home instead of office. After spending some time I figure out a way to do this. I configured IIS server in Windows Vista to save emails in my local drive. and I can see those emails from my outlook express. Here are the details that how to configure IIS:-
1- Run IIS from Start->run->inetmgr
2- Select your PC name from connections pane. and Right Click on SMTP E-Mail in middle pane.

3- In Features screen select Store e-mail in a pickup directory.

4- I have entered D:\Mails in the path.
5- Now goto D:\Mails (or what ever folder you mentioend).
6- When your application sends mail , mails will be saved in that folder with .eml extension. You can view those files with outlook.

7- If still not getting emails in your folder then try to add this line in your code before sending email:-

smtpClient.DeliveryMethod = SmtpDeliveryMethod.PickupDirectoryFromIis;

How to Auto Refresh / Re Load Page

Sometimes we need a page which shows real time date e.g. Stock exchange, cricket match, etc. To add auto refresh / re load you need to add the following meta tag in your markup's head section.

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="600">

If you want to add this from code behing, then you can add it like this:-

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
        HtmlMeta hmRefresh = new HtmlMeta();
        hmRefresh.HttpEquiv = "Refresh";
        hmRefresh.Content = "10";//Time in seconds
        Page.Header.Controls.Add(hmRefresh);
}

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\...' is denied

CodeProject
This exception is a very common exception. It usually occurs when we move our application to IIS server (usually on production environment).

This exception occurs because IIS uses ASP .Net (IIS_IUser in Vista) user account and ASP .Net is not authorized to access that location.

To give a quick fix to this, follow these steps:-

1. Give read/write rights to ASP.NET user to C:\Inetpub\yourfolder\ folder:-
1. Right Click on FOlder and Select Properties
2. Go to Security Tab
3. Click Add, then click Location.
4. Select your pc name, usually first item.
5. Press Ok, then press advance and then Find Now.
6. Select ASP.NET user if not exist then select Authenticated Users.
7. Press Ok. And Select Read/Write/Modify/List Folder Contents.
2. Go to IIS->WebSites->DefaultWebSite->YourSiteName->Properties, and at Virtual Directory Tab check 'Read' and 'Write' button.

How to Enable Internet Explorer Advance Tab in Vista

CodeProject
Recently my system got crashed and IT guys installed windows Vista on it, by default they have disabled Advance Tab in Tools-> Internet Options. And I was unable to debug Javascript through my Visual Studio.

After searching the net for a while i found a registry key which opens that option:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel]
"AdvancedTab"=dword:00000000

Save this code as IE.reg and double click on it. After that I was able to view Advance Tab in IE and enabled javascript debugging in IE.

Just for refrence I am adding the path to enable javascript debugging in IE.

Tools-> Internet Options -> Advance -> Check Disable Script debugging (Internet Explorer)

Tools-> Internet Options -> Advance -> Check Disable Script debugging (Others)