Before you read this post, I assume you have read getting started with a vNext project on a Mac.

ASP.Net vNext has been designed to be cloud ready. So, regardless of whether you are on Mac/linux/PC or using sublime or Visual Studio 2015 deploying a website with Github is going to be the same workflow.

Deploying ASP.Net  vNext Project using GitHub

The first thing we want to do is hook-up your vNext Project from Github to Azure using Kudu (if you don't have repository fork mine).This allows for continuous deployment from your Github repo to Azure.  Kudu is the engine that can run within and  outside of  azure that allows for git/hg deployments, WebJobs, and various other features in Azure Web Sites. Kudu does this by  generating deployment scripts under the hood and, deploy a website when pushing changes to a Github repo.Please note that I am running the Asp.net vNext beta project.

For full tutorial please visit marianaggaga.com

In a series of tutorials, I am going to be exploring using the Microsoft in an open source setting.  The tutorials are going to be exploring  how you setup your environment to getting more creative using Azure tools and Asp.Net vNext using sublime on OSX.

Getting Started series

• Installing your Stack on Azure
• LAMP Stack 

• MEAN  Stack – Coming Soon
• Getting Asp.Net vNext on your Mac
• Deploying your vNext Project to the cloud
• Having fun with Open Source & Microsoft – Coming soon

ASP.Net  is making a huge comeback! With the  ASP.Net vNext the open source version of the .Net series, has opened up it's  framework to an entirely new web developer community .  The cool thing about this lean framework is you can get use ASP.NET in the comfort of your Mac. In this tutorial , I will be going through  the tools and frameworks you need to get  ASP.NET vNext running on OS X Yosemite.

• Download Sublime Text 3
• Install Yeoman
• Install  Mono
• Install Homebrew

Before you get started installing the frameworks and PKGs you need to get ASP.NET vNext running, make sure that you have the latest version for Node and npm. Copy and paste the code below into terminal.

 node --version && npm --version

Check to see if you have git installed as well .

git --version

Install Yeoman

Yeoman is an open source sleek scaffolding tool that consists frameworks  that make it quick and easy to build web applications.  The neat thing about Yeoman is it combines several functions into one place, such as template generators which we are going to use to get the ASP.NET vNext up and running .

sudo npm install —global yo

Now that  Yeoman is installed the next step is to get our ASP.NET framework installed using the yeoman generator.

npm install -g generator-aspnet

For this examples I selected the the MVC Application. Once you have entered an appropriate name, the generator will take care of the rest.

Now that  MVC application all ready , navigate to the folder  notice the  model, view and control are all there.  Similar to what you find if you used the MVC model template in Visual Studio.

Before you can run your ASP.NET vNext in sublime there are still a couple of dependencies  that need to be installed.  A lot of tutorials I have read miss the  dependencies below but I encountered a lot of errors  when trying to configure the K commands.

Install Mono

In order to run  an ASP.NET vNext on a Mac and Linux environment you need Mono. Copy and paste the code below into your terminal.

git clone https://github.com/mono/mono.git

Install Homebrew

Homebrew is an open source software package management tool ; it enables you install all the stuff you can't directly install in terminal out of the box. To install Homebrew you will need to copy and paste the Ruby code below.

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Now, that Homebrew installed make sure to install all the extra mono dependencies.

brew install autoconf
brew install automake
brew install libtool

Install the ASP.NET vNext  Tools

brew tap aspnet/k
brew install kvm

It is important to note that in the current version of Asp.Net vNext Kestrel doesn’t come with it out of the box. So  in this case since I am  using the "Kestrel": "1.0.0-alpha4. To find out which version of  Kestrel you are running, open your project.json file in your Asp.Net project.  To install Kestrel copy and paste the code below.

kvm install 1.0.0-alpha4

Setting up your project in Sublime

Since this is possibly the first ASP.NET project you will need to install the Kulture as instructed in here using the package control plugin. If you have some issues with these steps, you can install it manually using the following steps:

• Open your project in sublime
• Click view
• Click show console and copy and paste the python code below

  import urllib.request,os,hashlib; h = '7183a2d3e96f11eeadd761d777e62404' + 'e330c659d4bb41d3bdf022e94cab3cd0'; pf = 'Package Control.sublime-package'; ipp = sublime.installed_packages_path(); urllib.request.install_opener( urllib.request.build_opener( urllib.request.ProxyHandler()) ); by = urllib.request.urlopen( 'https://packagecontrol.io/' + pf.replace(' ', '%20')).read(); dh = hashlib.sha256(by).hexdigest(); print('Error validating download (got %s instead of %s), please try manual install' % (dh, h)) if dh != h else open(os.path.join( ipp, pf), 'wb' ).write(by)

With Kulture installed you will be able to run you ASP.NET project successfully.  To check to make sure that everything is working, try adding a new namespace into your HomeControllers.cs file.  If everything is in place you will notice the intellisense is in working.

Steps to running your project

• In sublime enter Cmd + Shift + p
• Type K and  select run K Command
• Select kpm build
• Select k kestrel - If everything has installed correctly the server  should start
  
• Navigate  https://localhost:5004/
  

For more information on  my Microsoft + Open source series please check out marianaggaga.com

Vids is an app I built using App Studio.  Pulling data from SoulPancake channel on YouTube.  If you haven't checked out SoulPancake please do.  These videos are a great way to start your day and that's why I built this app.  I built Vids to get people watching and sharing the joy and humor these videos bring.  For full tutorial please visit my other blog.  It’s worth it I promise. Let's make an app

A couple of months ago  I did a post on building an app using App Studio.  Since then Windows Phone has been hard at work  making some  changes.  In an updated tutorial to the one I did in September 2013, I am going to be going  to building a new app and going over some of the new features.  To find out more click here.

“What drives Downloads ?”  Is  an experiment I conducted at the end of the year.  At the end of  2013 I did a little of experiment.  The purpose of the experiment was build 2 apps that performed exactly the same function and only change the Icons, color, name and vocabulary and examine the download numbers over 5 days.  Both apps were launched under  following conditions: No app promotion; Non-specific ASO (App Store Optimization);No extra functionality i.e. no speech to text , GEO location, OCR etc.

To read more on this topic please check out my three  part  blog series. 

This post is  summary to an blog post I wrote  last week.   Please view original post  here.  A Hacker's Guide to Windows 8 Apps is a four step guide to building apps at a hackathon on the  Windows platform.

Step1 : Build

Get  free Tools !!!

To get you on your way to free tools all you need is : a Microsoft account (Hotmail.com, Live.com, outlook.com);  and your academic account. Once  you have set up your DreamSpark account fill free to start downloading all the tools you need.

Download List 

• Download Windows 8 
• Download Visual Studio Pro or Ultimate  of 2013 / 2012 (both available)
• Download Windows 8 SDK
• Download Windows Phone 8 SDK

Step 2 :  Cloud

Get Azure

Windows Azure enables you to quickly build, deploy and manage web applications and services.  With a couple of clicks you  can simply spin websites, VMs , mobile services  just to mention a few.

How to get  Windows Azure ?

At a  hackathon there are a couple of ways you  can get  Windows Azure these are :

1. Sign up for a 30 day trial at  WindowsAzure.com
2. Sign up for BizSpark the perfect program to get your startup up and running .
   A couple  of  successful apps and startups were started at hackathons.  So, if there is ever a time to sign up for BizSpark it is now.  In addition to other resources BizSpark  provides you with a free subscription to Windows Azure for three years.
3. Give a great big smile  to the Microsoft Evangelist. If you at  Microsoft  sponsored event there is a possibility that a friendly Evangelist is close by.  SOMETIMES we may  have  BizSpark code that give  you automatic enrollment into the program.   Find us quick the codes are usually in limited supply.

Step 3: Create

Try APIs

Hackathons require their participants to be nimble and creative.  APIs are great way for you to  build  quick apps with rich content.  With APIs offered by  Mashery, APIhub, Nokia,  Open Data, Tumblr,  Bing API, Instagram, Windows APIs etc you could be building a functional app over a weekend.  Use your web skills with HTML5 & JS or  use your java or C skills to try XAML & C# to build an app.

To get you started to  APIs on the Windows platform all you have to do is :

• Register for an API key for the APIs of your choice.
• To get started with APIs on the Windows platform check out our one of our StarterKits  in  HTML5 & JS or XAML & C#.

Step 4: Launch

Win Prizes

"How do I win the cool Tablet, amazing Xbox, the latest phone,  a giftcard etc? "

The Answer

BUILD & LAUNCH A GREAT WINDOWS APP.   And most Importantly have fun !

Submit your app to the Windows Store and become a global winner.

Here's how it works

• If you have existing registered Windows Store Account you can now submit apps to the Windows Phone store at no additional cost, using the same live account(Microsoft account).
• Same applies for registered Windows Phone developers , if you can now submit to the Windows Store account at no additional cost as well using  your live account. 
• New developer you couldn't have  picked a better time to join. Developers can either register or renew their  information just once for only $19 for an individual account or $99 for a company account. Any new or renewed accounts get access to publish to both stores with one registration.
• Developers with an existing account with both a Windows Store and Windows Phone account,  using the same live account, they will receive a  code that  they can use next year for a free one year renewal. 
• For students stay tuned for my next post .

Note :  the dashboard will remain separate.

Scenario 1:  Deleting  your Word Press ClearDB Database

Accidentally deleting your sites back-end could happen is probably one of the most common reasons for  this error.   Recently,  I  created  WP site for a Windows Phone 8 application I was building and linked to the current database  I  am  using for this blog.   Long story short I decide to delete the  the new site.  It is important as I have learnt always  make sure that anything you delete isn't linked to another resource on your site.

Restoring  your database

They are two ways you can restore you  database  : (1) Through the Azure portal   (2)  Re provisioning a new DB.   Now if your situation is similar to mine , you made an accidental  de-provision call using the Azure portal. If this is the case follow the step by step instructions below to get connect you site back up and running.

Provisioning a New MySQL Database 

1. Contact  support@cleardb.com.   In your email make sure you to include :  your clearDB  ID subscription (same as  your azure login ); and the end point for your current sit  for example if  you site is East US  it would be us-cdbr-azure-east-b.cleardb.com. Wait for response 1 hour.
2. Provisioning an new clearDB.  Once support has located your old DB ,  you will be requested to create a new database at the clearDB Azure store .  Follow the instructions below to  create your new DB .

• Select Mercury Free
  
• Select Primary Region and click next
  
• Login using your Azure login details
  
• Click on create new database
• Note down your  DB details  for later
  

Yeah !  You didn't you have your backend back.  Now why  you still have the HTTP 500 error?   Do not worry we are almost done now, all you have to reconnect your new database to your existing site.    To learn how to connect an existing blog/site to a new database click here.

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