So, this is the code I was writing:

string pathToFile =                    Server.MapPath(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get(”SmartCardMaker_PathToPdfForm”));

FileStream _stream = new FileStream(pathToFile,FileMode.Open,FileAccess.ReadWrite);

Seems pretty straightforward, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why the code would run locally and on the dev server, but not on the staging environment, where I was getting a SecurityAccessException. Here’s the catch;

I’m using a WebDeployment Project on this gig (like I nearly always do) with sections of web.config being overwritten based on build configuration. I forgot to add the key for the path to the replacement files and the call to Server.MapPath() was returning the path to the folder of the page that was making the call.

I didn’t find it on the dev box, because I was using the “publish” function rather than the deployment script, so the same web.config file was being used locally and on dev.

It would have been nice if the call to ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get had thrown an exception on the missing key item rather than failing silently, but it would have been smarter for me to make the changes to web.config replacement files in the first place.

Some days, I’m a real dummy.

It’s simple, but it works. I’m going to be creating a lot of these custom validators now that I know how easy it is. Let’s go to the code:

public class IsStateAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
private static string stateAbbreviationsRegex =  @”\A(?:AL|AK|AS|AZ|AR|CA|CO|CT|DE|DC|FL|FM|GA|GU|HI|ID|IL|IN|

IA|KS|KY|LA|ME|MH|MD|MA|MI|MN|MS|MO|MT|NE|NV|NH|NJ|NM|NY|

NC|ND|MP|OH|OK|OR|PW|PR|RI|SC|SD|TN|TX|UT|VT|VI|VA|WA|WV|WI|

WY|AE|AA|AP)\Z”;
public override bool IsValid(object value)
{
if (value == null)
{
return true;
}
var state = (string)value;
if (Regex.IsMatch(state, stateAbbreviationsRegex))
{
return true;
}

return false;
}
}

A couple of things to notice:

1. If there is no entry, the attribute returns true. This is another tidbit I got from Phil, let the RequiredAttribute do its thing. We’re only here to validate if the value is present.

2. For the keen-eyed, there are more than 50 entries in the regex. Why? Because I included U.S. Territories like Guam (Guam is a funny word in and of itself. Back in the stand-up comedy days, I used it more than once in a punchline. Sorry if I’m offending anyone reading this in Guam.) as well as military abbreviations. You don’t have to use them in whatever drop-down you’re filling this field with, I added them for completeness.

Usage is what you would expect:

[IsState(ErrorMessage="Please Enter a Valid State Abbreviation")]
[Required(ErrorMessage = "State is Required")]
public string State { get; set; }

Enjoy!

Because a view doesn’t have a primary key and without one there is nothing to track.

Set a PK, save, and watch the magic happen.

So, since late last year I’ve been back in the game full-time. And now I will be transitioning this blog to more technical matters. For those who like web programming, Agile development practices, and long discussions about how to properly caffeinate oneself for a long night of coding, welcome. For the few of you (and you know who you are), many thanks for the time that you did hang with me here.

There, that feels better already.

Things have dropped more than a little since then, mostly because I have less time to write. But also because I am, in the real world, trying to be less argumentative. Or at least less of a jerk about it.

Not to put too fine a point on it, Howie ol’ boy, but this has nothing to do with courage. This has to do with saving your own ass and the company you built. Here’s a little test for you: go to one of the people you just laid off and tell them how courageous you are for fucking up their life.

I won’t hold my breath.

Every horse he sees he calls Barbaro. He talks about how he can run now, something I agree with.

I distinctly remember that Kentucky Derby and KJ yelling for Barbaro to win. I think he just like the sound of the name.

He’ll probably learn about Santa before this.

Haven’t we been here before? Like many things, Monty Python says it best…

I’d dearly love to find some reference to an Iraq War supporter who doesn’t modify “withdrawal” with “precipitous”, but I doubt there are any to be found.