A few months ago, I got tired of ASP.Net.  I was tired of developers who depended on server-side controls, the Microsoft ajax implementations (as opposed to under-the-hood javascript ajax), excessive use of session and view state.  My preferred method of coding which relies more on the html than on the “runat=server” attribute, was considered old fashioned.

photo credit: paulb

So, I wanted to look at something else.  In my mind, Asp.net was getting too bloated and heavy.  I started learning Ruby on Rails.  RoR is a fantastic framework which integrates testability and maintainability.  Rails is the framework—Ruby is the language.  It’s easy to set up an Model View Controller site very quickly.  I love Rails, but I hate Ruby.  I had to lean how to do everything over again in Ruby.  It was like learning to speak a new language—even the simple things were hard.

Then, I looked at the ASP.net MVC framework that was released earlier this year.  The MVC framework is like Rails for ASP.  It keeps aspects of ASP.Net that I really like (like master pages and C#) and moves away from the bulky server-side, viewstate heavy, controls (like the DataGrid) that slow down ASP.Net performance.

My faith in ASP.Net is restored.  My brief foray into the hip and trendy world of Ruby development has given way to working on Microsoft code again.

I’ve been using the MVC framework in a few projects now.  I’ve started writing a Chinese Dictionary application (using the CEDict database) and am enjoying every minute of it.  I don’t know if I’ll every put this site live, but coding it is helping me learn the finer points of the framework.

There are some great MVC tutorials here:

http://www.asp.net/mvc/learn/

The best video tutorial (to start off with) is “Creating a Movie Database Application with ASP.NET MVC”.

One of the highest traffic posts I get on this blog is the brief post on accessing the Nike+ API with C#. I’m pretty proud of that post, but I don’t keep up with how the API works.

The Nike+ API is not published, so it’s not public.  It can change at any time.

If you are interested in the Nike+ iPod API, there is a much more up-to-date blog you may want to have a look at.  It’s called Running Tracker.  I’ve been subscribed to the RSS feed of this site.  They’ve created a cross-platform desktop application to examine the data stored with Nike.  I know about their API changes through Running Tracker.

If you have come to this site about the API, by all means, use the code if you can– but also check out the Running Tracker site as it is more up-to-date on the subject than I have been.  Their application doesn’t use C#, but it might be able to help you out with more information.

photo credit: marksteelenz

I’ve uploaded my Nike+ API to a new SVN repository. Previously, I used Google Code, but it required people to register with Google and I couldn’t find the way to open it up to anonymous users.

So, here it is again. I have it on my own server in a repository:

https://svn.overpass-software.com/svn/nikeplus/trunk

I didn’t run (or go to work) at all last week because of the heavy snow and a bout of the flu. I should be ready to head out this morning, but I think I broke a toe yesterday. I walked right into a door jam barefoot in the house and now they are starting to swell up. I sound like someone who is always looking for excuses, but he Reading Half Marathon is 7 weeks away, and I’m already registered.

Update 12 Oct 2009: Since this post was written, I have moved the code to the Google Code repository at https://nikepluscsharp.googlecode.com/svn/trunk. Use your Google username and password to access it. It is not a complete working app and will require some C# knowledge to see what it does.

A lot of people are emailing me with problems they are having downloading the Nike+ api code from Google Code.  In order to access it, you need a google api login and password.  This sucks, I know.

I will try to find a more open svn repository for this.  I use some for Overpass, but don’t really want to mix my pet project with it.  For the meantime, here is the project as it stands now.  If you are finding this post at a day later than 28 January 2009, you might want to look for a future post where I give more up to date source code. 

The is mostly the API, so don’t expect a nice GUI.  However, I have included a windows app which I use for quick tests.  I also have some unit tests, but these need to be maintained a little better.  My plan was to work on this a bit more before releasing it, but a lot of people seem to be looking for something like this.

http://www.wroolie.co.uk/files/Nike+.zip

There is no rocket science here.  The only difficult bit is connecting to Nike+.  You can lift the code from this project if you want to.  Ideally, see if you can access the SVN repository.  If you add anything cool to it, please let me know.  I mostly work on this when I have a few spare minutes here and there (and I don’t have much of those), so it would be nice to see it grow or see if it is used anywhere interesting.

I’ve been working on this API off and on for a while now.

I have a Google Code repository where it is hosted.

I’ve put the code at https://nikepluscsharp.googlecode.com/svn/trunk

The unit tests are working quite the way I would like them to.  I mentioned this in a post I did last year and never put any real projects up.

The (so far) very blank project pages are located at:

http://code.google.com/p/nikepluscsharp/

Any problems you see with the code, please let me know.

I’ve got some emails and comments from people looking for my api wrapper for the Nike+ Api and have been sending it out to whoever wants it. I hope it is proving useful.

Last night I finally for around to setting up a project on code.google.com to make the source code more available and open to modification by others.

I’ll post the URL and svn repository location when I finish uploading everything in the next few days.