DateTimeFormatterConverter for WinRT

With there being no StringFormat on a binding in WinRT yet you can use this converter to leverage the crazy (different) DateTimeFormatter object:

    public class DateTimeFormatterConverter : IValueConverter
    {
        public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
        {
            var formatter = new Windows.Globalization.DateTimeFormatting.DateTimeFormatter(parameter.ToString());
            return formatter.Format((DateTime)value);
        }

        public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
    }

Usage:

<converters1:DateTimeFormatterConverter x:Key="DateTimeFormatterConverter" />

<TextBlock Text="{Binding DealDate, 
                               Converter={StaticResource DateTimeFormatterConverter},
                               ConverterParameter=day month year}"

Slow Silverlight debugging

If you’ve added a Xaml binding breakpoint and now have really slow performance when debugging, like your app being slow to load, animations not running smoothly etc then try this…

1. Remove all xaml breakpoints
2. Add System.Windows.Data.Binding.IsDebuggingEnabled = false within the App.xaml.cs constructor.

Run it once then you can remove the line, hope this helps some peeps out!

WCF Bindings

Carrying on from an excellent MSDN blog post by Rick Rainey comparing the performance of various WCF bindings here is an example including NetNamePipes and ProtoBuf-Net:

Original blog post:  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rickrain/archive/2012/05/20/which-wcf-binding-is-best.aspx

protobuf-net

Is available via Nuget or its Google project hosting: http://code.google.com/p/protobuf-net/

AddressAccessDeniedException

If you come across the following exception:

HTTP could not register URL http://+:9001/. Your process does not have access rights to this namespace (see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=70353 for details).

Either run Visual Studio using “Run as Administrator” or visit the following link for a more complete resolution:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/amitlale/archive/2007/01/29/addressaccessdeniedexception-cause-and-solution.aspx

Source

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Text;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.ServiceModel.Channels;
using System.Diagnostics;
using ProtoBuf;
using ProtoBuf.ServiceModel;

namespace BindingTest
{
    [ServiceContract]
    public interface ITestService
    {
        [OperationContract]
        void Execute(TestData data);
    }

    [DataContract]
    [ProtoContract]
    public class TestData
    {
        [DataMember]
        [ProtoMember(1)]
        public List<string> Data { get; set; }
    }

    public class TestService : ITestService
    {
        public void Execute(TestData data)
        {
            // empty service implementation
        }
    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var bindingElements = new BindingElement[] {
                new BinaryMessageEncodingBindingElement(),
                new ReliableSessionBindingElement(true),
                new HttpTransportBindingElement()
            };

            var bindings = new Binding[] 
            {
                new WSHttpBinding() { MaxReceivedMessageSize = Int32.MaxValue },
                new NetTcpBinding
                    {
                        Name = "NetTcpBinding (SecurityMode.Message)",
                        Security = { Mode = SecurityMode.Message },
                        MaxReceivedMessageSize = Int32.MaxValue
                    },
                new CustomBinding(bindingElements)
                    {
                        Name = "CustomBinding (HTTP/Binary/ReliableSession(ordered)/NoSecurity"
                    },
                new NetTcpBinding(),
                new NetNamedPipeBinding(NetNamedPipeSecurityMode.Transport),
                new NetNamedPipeBinding(NetNamedPipeSecurityMode.None)
            };

            var payloadSize = 15000;
            var iterations = 5;

            OutputTitle(payloadSize, iterations);

            // Compare all the bindings in the bindings array.
            CompareBindings(bindings, payloadSize, iterations, false);

            // Compare all the bindings using protobuf-net
            CompareBindings(bindings, payloadSize, iterations, true);

            OutputNote();
        }

        public static void OutputTitle(int payloadSize, int iterations)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Test parameters: {0} byte payload, {1} iterations", 
                payloadSize.ToString("N0"), 
                iterations);
            Console.WriteLine();
        }
        
        private static void OutputNote()
        {
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("NOTE: NetNamedPipe is only used for same machine inter process communication");
            Console.WriteLine();
        }

        public static string GenerateRandomStringData(int stringSize)
        {
            var r = new Random();
            var sb = new StringBuilder(stringSize);
            while (sb.Length < stringSize)
                sb.Append((char)(r.Next(0, 256)));
            return sb.ToString();
        }

        public static TestData GenerateTestData(int payloadSize)
        {
            const int itemDataSize = 4096;

            var data = new TestData {Data = new List<string>()};

            int numDataItems = payloadSize / itemDataSize;

            for (int item = 0; item < numDataItems; item++)
                data.Data.Add(GenerateRandomStringData(itemDataSize));

            data.Data.Add(GenerateRandomStringData(payloadSize - (numDataItems * itemDataSize)));

            return data;
        }

        public static void CompareBindings(Binding[] bindings, int payloadSize, int iterations, bool useProtoBuf)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Using {0} serialisation", useProtoBuf ? "protobuf" : "normal");
            var data = GenerateTestData(payloadSize);

            foreach (var b in bindings)
            {
                try
                {
                    // Run the test on this binding.
                    Stopwatch result = TestBinding(b, data, iterations, useProtoBuf);

                    // Output the results.
                    Console.Write(b.Name);
                    //Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Payload Size: {0}, Iterations: {1}", payloadSize, iterations));
                    //Console.WriteLine("    Binding Elements:");
                    //foreach (BindingElement be in b.CreateBindingElements())
                    //    Console.WriteLine("        {0}", be.GetType());
                    Console.WriteLine(", time: {0} ms", result.ElapsedMilliseconds);
                }
                catch (Exception e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("EXCEPTION: {0}", e.Message);
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine();
        }

        public static Stopwatch TestBinding(Binding binding, TestData data, int iterations, bool useProtoBuf)
        {
            var address = GetAddress(binding);

            // Start the host using the binding provided
            var host = new ServiceHost(typeof(TestService), new Uri(address));
            var endpoint = host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(ITestService), binding, "");
            
            if (useProtoBuf)
                endpoint.Behaviors.Add(new ProtoEndpointBehavior());
            
            host.Open();

            var sw = new Stopwatch();
            sw.Restart();
            
            // Create a client proxy using the binding provided
            var cf = new ChannelFactory<ITestService>(binding, address);
            ITestService proxy = cf.CreateChannel();
            
            // Call the service
            for (int count = 0; count < iterations; count++)
                proxy.Execute(data);

            // Close the client proxy and host.
            cf.Close();
            sw.Stop(); 
            host.Close();

            return sw;
        }

        private static string GetAddress(Binding binding)
        {
            var machine = "localhost";
            var port = (binding.Scheme == "net.pipe")
                        ? ""
                        : ":9001";

            return string.Concat(binding.Scheme, "://", machine, port, "/", Guid.NewGuid().ToString());
        }
    }
}

Download:  http://stevenhollidge.com/blog-source-code/BindingTestSolution.zip