Jay Harris is Cpt. LoadTest

I enjoy being a speaker. I have learned a lot through my mentors, colleagues, and through other community speakers, and standing before a group of my peers and sharing my knowledge is one way that I can give back to the development community. By linking together my speaking and my blog, I can provide a central repository for the slide decks and demo code for my sessions and make these things available to the audience for further review. Here, you will find all of my slides and code for all past presentations, as well as information about all my past and future talks. This post will also be linked through my top navigation so that it can be easily found, and will also be regularly updated with any new schedules and slide decks.

Thank you to everyone who as attended any of my sessions, and as always, I encourage you to give me any feedback you have via SpeakerRate.

Upcoming Talks

I would love to speak at your meeting, event, user group, or conference; please feel free to contact me if you are interested.

.NET Users of Fort Wayne (NUFW), July 10, 2012

On July 10th, 2012, I will be presenting at the July meeting of the .NET Users of Fort Wayne (NUFW) in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The meeting's session will be "Your Spark Razored by NHaml: A Comparison of Popular ASP.NET MVC View Engines." | Event Site

St. Louis Days of .NET, August 3 & 4, 2012

On August 3rd-4th, 2012, I will be presenting two sessions at the St. Louis Days of .NET in St. Louis, Missouri. My sessions at the conference will be "Going for Speed: Testing for Performance” and “XCopy is Dead: .NET Deployment Strategies that Work." | Event Site

That Conference, August 12-14, 2012

I will be presenting at That Conference, a developer's conference in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, held August 12th through the 14th. I will be presenting "Serious Business with Node.js: Module Development." | Event Site

DevLink Technical Conference, August 29-31, 2012

At the DevLink Technical Conference, held in Chattanooga, Tennessee on August 29-31, I will be presenting three sessions covering development in Orchard and in node.js. The presentations will be "Serious Business with Node.js: Module Development," "Serious Business with Node.js: TDD for Node," and "Serious Business with OrchardCMS: Module Development." | Event Site

Presentations

ASP.NET MVC: A (Microsoft) Web Coder's Salvation

There was a time when everything was moving towards the desktop. This Internet thing was new and cool, but there was no way it would ever last. And no one knew how to code for the web, at least not anything beyond animated lava lamps and cute "Under Construction" images. So, to make coding for the web easier, they made ASP.NET to be just like coding for a desktop, using the same patterns, the same event-based model, and the same stateful approach. But the web isn't stateful, its only events are GET and POST, and is nothing like a desktop, so we tortured ourselves for years forcing a square peg through a round hole. The time has come for redemption, and its name is ASP.NET MVC. Spend an hour discovering how coding for the web is supposed to be--how it is today--and end your misery. Salvation awaits.
Slides | Code Walkthrough

Previous Sessions

Grand Rapids, Michigan | GRDevDay developer's conference | November 2011
Okemos, Michigan | Lansing Day of .NET | June 2011 | Event Site
Cincinnati, Michigan | Cincinnati .NET User Group | March 2011 | SpeakerRate
Cincinnati, Michigan | Cincinnati Financial (Internal User Group) | March 2011 | SpeakerRate
Kalamazoo, Michigan | Microsoft Developers of Southwest Michigan | September 2010 | SpeakerRate
Louisville, Kentucky | Kentucky .NET User Group | July 2010
Ann Arbor, Michigan | Ann Arbor .NET Developers | May 2010 | SpeakerRate
Lansing, Michigan | Greater Lansing User Group for .NET Developers | March 2010 | SpeakerRate
Ann Arbor, Michigan | A2<div> | February 2010 | SpeakerRate
Toledo, Ohio | North West Ohio .NET User Group | January 2010 | SpeakerRate
Flint, Michigan | Greater Lansing User Group for .NET Developers | January 2010 | SpeakerRate

Dev Basics: The ASP.NET Page Life Cycle

When a request occurs for an ASP.Net page, the response is processed through a series of events before being sent to the client browser. These events, known as the Page Life Cycle, are a complicated headache when used improperly, manifesting as odd exceptions, incorrect data, performance issues, and general confusion. It seems simple when reading yet-another-book-on-ASP.NET, but never when applied in the real world. In this session, we decompose this mess, and turn the Life Cycle into an effective and productive tool. No ASP.NET MVC, no Dynamic Data, no MonoRail, no technologies of tomorrow, just the basics of ASP.NET, using the tools we have available in the office, today.
Slides | Code

Previous Sessions

Ann Arbor, Michigan | Ann Arbor Day of .NET | May 2010 | SpeakerRate | Event Site
Flint, Michigan | Greater Lansing User Group for .NET Developers | September 2009 | SpeakerRate
Lansing, Michigan | Lansing Day of .NET developer's conference | August 2009 | SpeakerRate | Event Site
Knoxville, Tennessee | CodeStock 2009 developer's conference | June 2009 | SpeakerRate | Event Site

Bullets Kill People: A Presenter's Guide to Better Slides

Effective communication is a pivotal component of a success. Be it presenting at a user group, assisting with a Sales demo, or simply justifying to your boss the purchase of Visual Studio upgrades, you will give a presentation in your career. But the effectiveness of your presentation is not just about being well-spoken and having a prepared outline; the quality of a slide deck has as much impact on a presentation as the quality of the speaker. Slides can destroy. Slides can invigorate. Slides can shape the mood of your audience and bend it at will. Learn to harness this power; use it to tell your story effectively, persuasively, and leave your audience inspired.

Previous Sessions

Louisville, Kentucky | CodePaLOUsa | March 2012 | Event Site
New York, New York | Code Camp NYC 2011.2 developer's conference | October 2011 | Event Site
Hampton Roads, Virginia | MADExpo 2011 developer's conference | July 2011 | Event Site
Knoxville, Tennessee | CodeStock 2011 developer's conference | June 2011 | Event Site

Continuous Integration: More than just a toolset

Does your team spend days integrating code at the end of a project? Continuous Integration can help. Using Continuous Integration will eliminate that end-of-project integration stress, and at the same time will make your development process easier. But Continuous Integration is more than just a tool like CruiseControl.Net or TeamCity; it is a full development process designed to bring you closer to your mainline, increase visibility of project status throughout your team, and to streamline deployments to QA or to your client. Find out what Continuous Integration is all about, and what it can do for you.
Slides

Previous Sessions

Hampton Roads, Virginia | MADExpo 2011 developer's conference | June 2011 | Event Site
Columbus, Ohio | Central Ohio .NET Developers Group | March 2011 | SpeakerRate
Nashville, Tennessee | DevLink Technical Conference | August 2010 | SpeakerRate | Event Site
Wilmington, Ohio | Central Ohio Day of .NET | June 2010 | SpeakerRate | Event Site
Lansing, Michigan | Michigan Department of IT | December 2009 | SpeakerRate
Lansing, Michigan | Greater Lansing User Group for .NET Developers | November 2009 | SpeakerRate
Southfield, Michigan | Great Lakes Area .NET User Group | January 2009 | SpeakerRate
Toledo, Ohio | North West Ohio .NET User Group | January 2009
Sandusky, Ohio | CodeMash 2009 developer's conference | January 2009 | SpeakerRate | Event Site
Ann Arbor, Michigan | Ann Arbor .NET Developers | October 2008
Flint, Michigan | Greater Lansing User Group for .NET Developers | September 2008

The Geek's Guide to SEO

So, you have a web site. Your own soapbox to the world. As a developer, it seems easy for us to claim a spot on the world wide web, set up shop, customize the look and feel, and throw up some content. The hard part is attracting people to your new little flag in the sand. Hey, we majored in Computer Science, not Marketing. But there is hope: one hour of tips, tricks, and general how-to about promoting your site using programming, power toys, and other technical prowess. Our discussion will include ways to attract and appeal to search engine spiders using better tools that are freely available and better code that doesn't include learning new languages or frameworks.

Previous Sessions

Hampton Roads, Virginia | MADExpo 2012 developer's conference | June 2012 | Event Site
Toledo, Ohio | North West Ohio .NET User Group | October 2011
Knoxville, Tennessee | CodeStock 2011 developer's conference | June 2011 | Event Site
Nashville, Tennessee | DevLink Technical Conference | August 2010 | SpeakerRate | Event Site

Going for Speed: Testing against Performance Expectations

Unit Testing has settled into the mainstream. As developers, we write code that checks code, ensuring that the outcome matches some expected result. But, are we really? As end-users (which includes each one of us from time to time), when we ask a question, we don't just expect our answer to be right, we expect it to be right now. So as developers, why are we only validating for accuracy? Why aren't we going for speed? During this session we'll discuss meeting the performance needs of an application, including developing a performance specification, measuring application performance from stand-alone testing through unit testing, using tools ranging from Team Foundation Server to the command line, and asserting on these measurements to ensure that all expectations are met. Your application does "right." Let's focus on "right now."

Previous Sessions

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Pittsburgh Tech Fest | June 2012 | Event Site
Louisville, Kentucky | CodePaLOUsa | March 2012 | Event Site
Grand Rapids, Michigan | West Michigan .NET Users Group | September 2011 | Event Site
Dayton, Ohio | Dayton .NET Developers Group | March 2011 | SpeakerRate
Sandusky, Ohio | CodeMash 2.0.1.1 | January 2011 | SpeakerRate | Event Site
Grand Rapids, Michigan | Grand Rapids Day of .NET | October 2010 | SpeakerRate | Event Site
Cincinnati, Ohio | CINNUG Software Quality Fire Starter | October 2010 | SpeakerRate
Nashville, Tennessee | DevLink Technical Conference | August 2010 | SpeakerRate | Event Site

XCopy is Dead: .NET Deployment Strategies that Work

Back in 1995, when we first started deploying web sites, the copy command was enough. Our web sites only consisted of a static HTML file and a few graphics of animated lava lamps. But our systems are more complex now; instead of a dozen files being uploaded through FTP to a single web server, we have hundreds of files spread across multiple load-balanced web servers, dozens of applications interwoven in a tiered server architecture, and an expectation that it can be deployed error-free without impacting our stringent SLAs. When a tool is no longer sufficient to perform the task at hand, it is time to find a better tool. XCopy is dead; it is time for strategies that work.

Previous Sessions

Knoxville, Tennessee | CodeStock 2012 developer's conference | June 2012 | Event Site
Chattanooga, Tennessee | DevLink 2011 Technical Conference | August 2011 | Event Site

Serious Business with node.js: Module Development

JavaScript has left the browser and is prowling on the server. No longer just for image rollovers and AJAX, Node.js has given JavaScript a new resurgence as a server-side language with a platform for creating lightweight networked applications. In this session, we will move beyond Node’s base web servers and Twitter applications, and into module development: those small, reusable components that are the foundation for every business application on every platform. Learn how to create a module within Node.js, how to test your module and validate functionality, and how to get your creation distributed into the wild.

Previous Sessions

Hampton Roads, Virginia | MADExpo 2012 developer's conference | June 2012 | Event Site
Knoxville, Tennessee | CodeStock 2012 developer's conference | June 2012 | Event Site

Serious Business with node.js: TDD for node

If you don’t test it, how do you know it works? Over the past few years, we have been compelled to write unit and integration tests for our applications--code that validates code--and it is these tests that change a one-off tool into a well-architected, robust, business-ready application. Yet, every new framework requires a new testing framework, so in this session, we will discuss testing frameworks for node.js. You will walk away with a solid understanding of how to write tests against your node.js applications and modules, leading to confidence that your work is business-ready.

Serious Business with OrchardCMS: Module Development

So, you need a Content Management System on the .NET framework. While your business might spend wheelbarrows of money on a platform that is powerful and extensible, your personal site would abandon extensibility for a free, open-source solution. But what if we had an option that was free and powerful and extensible? We do: OrchardCMS. Since we already know that Orchard is free, in this session we will discuss the power of Orchard’s CMS engine. You will learn how to build new modules for the Orchard platform, allowing you to extend functionality as you see fit to meet the needs of your site, your business, and customers.

Your Spark Razored my NHaml: A Comparison of Popular ASP.NET MVC View Engines

If you've worked with ASP.NET MVC, you've likely worked with the WebFormsViewEngine, and have felt like you've stepped back 10 years into Classic ASP 3.0. But one of the powers of ASP.NET MVC is its flexibility to use other View Engines, allowing you to to keep the same Model and Controller while using code in your Views that doesn't bring back scary memories of COM. Spark, Razor, and NHaml are all View Engines that have each made a statement in ASP.NET MVC. Let's see what they are all about, how they compare, and how they stack up to the WebForms engine.

Previous Sessions

Indianapolis, Indiana | Indianapolis .NET Developer's Association | May 2012
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Pittsburgh .NET Users Group | April 2012 | SpeakerRate | Event Site
Findlay, Ohio | Findlay Area .NET User Group | November 2011
Chattanooga, Tennessee | DevLink 2011 Technical Conference | August 2011 | Event Site

When a request occurs for an ASP.NET page, the response is processed through a series of events before being sent to the client browser. These events, known as the ASP.NET Page Life Cycle, are a complicated headache when used improperly, manifesting as odd exceptions, incorrect data, performance issues, and general confusion. It seems simple when reading yet-another-book-on-ASP.NET, but never when applied in the real world. What is covered in a few short pages in many ASP.NET books (and sometimes even just a few short paragraphs), is much more complicated outside of a "Hello, World!" application and inside of the complex demands of the enterprise applications that developers create and maintain in their day-to-day work life. As close to the core as the life cycle is to any ASP.NET web application, the complications and catches behind this system never seems to get wide coverage on study guides or other documentation. But, they should.

Posts in this Series

Part 1: Events of the ASP.NET Page Life Cycle
Part 2: ASP.NET Page & WebControl Event Execution Order
Part 3: Getting Started with ASP.NET Data Binding
Part 4: Wiring Events to your Page

A little help on the Page Life Cycle is never a bad thing. In this series, I will go over the events that make up the ASP.NET Page Life Cycle, as well as some tips and tricks on how to get the most out of this event structure while avoiding the traps and pitfalls. Rather than pursuing broad coverage of the entire ASP.NET Framework, we'll dive deeply into the "small" portion that is the ASP.NET Page Life Cycle.

Events of the ASP.NET Page Life Cycle

I want to start at the beginning. The primary make-up of the Page Life Cycle is the events that process any ASP.NET requests. Unlike the public static void main of a WinForms application, where everything based on methods, the execution of a page request is the execution of these events. These events, which execute in a particular order, handle the entire request, including loading all of the controls, processing all of the form data, handling all user-initiated actions, and rendering the page to the web browser. Knowing the order in which these events are executed, as well as the responsibility of each event in processing your request, is important for developing solid, quality ASP.NET applications.

Start

This is where the page object is instantiated, and where the initial properties of the page are set. Page properties such as Response and Request, UICulture (similar to the UICulture property within a WinForms thread), and the value of IsPostBack are all determined and assigned. No controls are available at this time, so do not try to set the value of that TextBox control, as it doesn't exist, yet. Fortunately, no event handlers can be attached to this event, anyway, so there isn't much you can do to customize this processing or to access that TextBox's value property; "Move along. There is nothing to see here." But, be aware that this event does occur after the Constructor, so if you try to access properties such as IsPostBack prior to the Start event, they have yet to be assigned, and will likely be incorrect.

Page Initialization

During page initialization, the controls are created, initialized, and added to the Page's controls collection. This is the first time that you can access a control by its UniqueID. Do note that all control properties are set to their code values, be it from code-behind or code-in-front, regardless of what may be available in ViewState and Form Post values. Control state has yet to be restored, so ViewState and Form Post values have not yet been pushed to the controls. Finally, Initialization (specifically, PreInit) is the only time that the Theme and Master Page can be programmatically modified.

Page Load

Page Load is where control state is restored. If the request is a PostBack, rather than a new request, all available property values are restored from ViewState and Form Post data and pushed to the applicable controls. Under most scenarios, this is where you're going to get what you need from the Database, such as pulling a value from the query string and loading an item with the matching identity.

Validation

The Validation event only applies to PostBack requests, and only when Validators are present in the control collection. The Validate method is executed for each Validator present, through which the IsValid property is set for each Validator. These IsValid property values are then cascaded up to the Page's IsValid property. Be aware that even if all Validators on the page are disabled, the Validation event will still fire; if a Validator is present, Validate is executed, without regard to any other property. Also, note that the Validation event is a child of the Page's Load event, so it is executed within the Page Load event chain, after Page Load, but prior to PostBack Events and LoadComplete.

PostBack Events

Once Validation is complete (if applicable), all PostBack events are executed, including the OnChange event of a DropDownList and the OnClick event of a command button. Post Back Events are also a child of the Page's Load event, executing after Validation and before LoadComplete.

Render

Finally, once all of the data is processed and Post Back events handled, the Page is rendered within the Web Browser. The Render event consists of saving all control property data to ViewState, processing the Page and each Control into HTML, and writing the HTML to the output stream. This is the last opportunity to modify the HTML output.

Remembering the Order

If you are having trouble remembering the order, instead try and remember this simple mnemonic: SILVER; Start, Initialize, Load, Validation, Events, Render.

If you are doing a lot of ASP.NET programming, or anticipate that you will be in the near future, try to commit to memory the order of each of these events, and their scope of influence. Understanding these basic fundamentals of the ASP.NET Page Life Cycle will help ensure that you are executing your custom code at the right time, and in the right order, rather than stepping on yourself by conflicting with the core functionality.

Now that we know the order of execution on Page Events, what is the order of the Controls? Does Page.Load execute before Control.Load? How about the order of sibling controls? What is the order of myTextBox1.TextChanged versus myTextBox2.TextChanged? Also, what are some things to look out for? As this series continues, we will discuss the details of event execution order within the ASP.NET Page Life Cycle, as well as some tips, trick, and traps when developing ASP.NET applications.