New Fun Inside of Facebook’s C# SDK

Two weeks ago Facebook released their own C# SDK for developers to use. I downloaded it right off the bat but noticed that it had a few holes in it but did give a clean way to call their new Graph API.

One of the most glaring issues was that it can’t authenticate fully. I looked all over Google for it and finally found out that it’s an issue with the cookie that Facebook itself writes. The first key in the cookie is access_token and that passes the token from Facebook that allows you to make calls on behalf of the logged in user. Well the cookie’s value itself is one big string wrapped inside of quotation marks so the key is “access_token rather than access_token. This caused some hairpulling on my part but now that it is coded for it, it is working like a charm.

So the code should read like this if you’re using C#:

GetFacebookCookieValue("\"access_token")

Hope that helps anyone who ran into that as I did.

Good Service vs GoDaddy’s Service

A few days ago I was working on a project for a client here at work. I had a situation where I just needed to create a simple web service that made a call to ExactTarget’s API. Was pretty easy and had it working flawlessly on my local computer within a couple of hours. I pushed it up to our site on GoDaddy to test and received an error. I found out that there is an assembly that the ExactTarget code needs to work and that it needed to run with elevated trust. Well apparently GoDaddy doesn’t allow for that.

So in my nerd rage, I posted to Twitter that I was upset:

Is @GoDaddy really an ASP.NET host or do they pretend to be? Anything I try to do mildly difficult, their shared hosting fails on.

I had seen that GoDaddy was pretty quick on their responses that day but not with my message. The next day, I did receive a message from them asking what my issue/question was and I promptly responded. I still haven’t heard back.

But what was interesting to me about this was that not long after my response to GoDaddy, I received a message from WinHost:

@digijustin What was it that GoDaddy had issues with doing?

I was pretty impressed and responded quickly and they even responded back saying that they could in fact do with GoDaddy couldn’t. Cool. Score one for them and hang another zero for GoDaddy.

Right after my response to WinHost, I received another Tweet. This time from DiscountASP to tell me that they too support what I was trying to do.

I was really impressed with these 2 hosts that they would jump in to help me out while GoDaddy left me hanging. I didn’t end up needing a Windows solution as the PHP option I was chasing ended up working but still time after time, GoDaddy fails me every time I try to do something that deviates from easy.

Next time I need a Windows host, I will have an easier time looking in the direction of WinHost and DiscountASP before I even think about GoDaddy.

How Do You Code?

I consider myself a decent programmer but I know that there is a ton more to learn and no one programmer will ever know everything as programming is evolving all the time. But occasionally, programmers come across a decision on how to program a certain site/job. As a C# developer, I always prefer to code in C# but does it make sense to not always do what you’re comfortable in?

For example, if I have a site that I need to create and server isn’t an issue, do I do it in what I’m good at with C# or do I try coding it in PHP?

I guess my question is “would you rather be better at one thing or pretty good at a few things?” What is better for you?

My Thoughts on the iPad Announcement Party

Well there it is. The iPad is born and while I’m impressed with the product, it’s still just what I thought it would be, a big iPod Touch. I was really disappointed in that they didn’t really go over anything that I wanted in terms of the iTunes update, AT&T exclusivity, 4.0 update.

They have made a great new product that will be really useful in schools I feel. But I have a hard time thinking that most people with an iPhone or iPod Touch will find it necessary to get an iPad. Seems like one extra thing to carry around and it won’t even fit in a pocket.

I absolutely loved the MLB app as well as the Need for Speed game demo. They both looked solid. The video quality on the MLB app seems like a must have for any baseball fan.

I also liked the iBook app. While I’m not that much of a book reader, I can see that this is Apple’s answer to the Kindle and will probably cause Amazon to make some changes. The book store is really nice.

But I still can’t get over the disappointment of really nothing else coming out. I don’t have iWork so I’m a bit biased there as I don’t care about that. But I guess most of the rumors other than the iPad were just that. Cool stuff but nothing materialized.

Today’s Apple Announcement Including My Rumors

So today is the big Apple announcement of the super, over-hyped Tablet, iSlate, iPad, iHypeMachine… I’m actually less concerned over that as I already have an iPhone and an iPod Touch. What is super interesting to me is the iPhone exclusivity coming to an end. As a iPhone jailbreaker with T-Mobile, I would love to hear that I can’t unjailbreak my iPhone and not have to worry about it bricking anymore.

I am also curious as to the rumors of the iPhone 4.0 software being announced. I’m hoping that it includes the ability for apps to run in the background. That is something huge and I’m okay with taking a hit to the battery if that’s what it takes. I have a charger that I use everyday.

There’s also the tablet. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not really all that interested in it but I am curious as to what it will be other than a huge iPod Touch.

So as to my rumors about the event:

• The tablet of course will be announced. It will essentially be a huge iPod Touch with at data plan and GPS. I agree with the other rumors that it will need a contract with Verizon for 3G connectivity. I don’t think AT&T will be a provider for this.
• Apple will move away from AT&T and open its iPhone to multiple carriers but only announce a partnership with Verizon today for the iPhone and the tablet.
• Announcement of iPhone/iPod 4.0 firmware update. This will include background apps and better memory usage.
• Twitter will go down about 28 minutes into the announcement. Facebook will soon follow.
• New Macbook Pros will be announced using the new Intel i5 and i7 chips. Usual upgrade of features while staying at current prices.
• Updated iTunes.
• Updated Apple TV firmware update.

Those are a few of my ideas/wishes. I guess I’ll find out if I’m right or wrong in an hour or so. What do you think?