[Mono-list] ASP.NET, mod_mono, Apache

[David A. Cornelson]

Dear Mono Developers,   I’d like to thank everyone that’s working on this project. Being a more or less evangelical Microsoft technologies consultant, you’ll probably find it surprising that I not only support Mono, but am avidly waiting for the day that I can publish my VS.NET projects to my Debian Linux server.   I think I bring an interesting perspective to your project too. Although I run a linux server, I am by no means an expert. I still get extremely frustrated with installing things when they simply don’t work out of the box. The expectations of linux software developers on linux users are extraordinarily high if you ask me. But then again, some people get just as frustrated with what is commonly called Microsoft Voodoo so I shouldn’t complain too much.   But I do laugh at this because I feel rather confident that I have a clear understanding of Microsoft voodoo and have leveraged that knowledge as a senior consultant. So there’s Linux voodoo and MS voodoo.   Mono offers the hope of bridging that gap.   So now you’re getting very close to making my wishes come true and I want to help. I can’t write code since my career has always revolved around business processes, not nuts and bolts development. I think there’s a place for people like me, but so far the focus of the Mono project has _been_ on the nuts and bolts. That will very likely continue for awhile.   But it seems to me that there’s a void in the sense that there are developers of the framework, but now you really need people to start _using_ it. You almost need to start a Mono Users Group or Developers Group. If there is one, I’m unaware of it.   Anyway, I have issues with the whole linux/apache voodoo part of this and maybe it’s inappropriate, but I’ll toss these ideas out anyway:   -          Is it possible to make the ASP.NET/Apache installation very fool proof? I have found some typically rough install guides, but they only mention Apache 2. I still run Apache 1.3 because I have many users on my linux server and they’ve lobbied against Apache 2. So my request would be that mod_mono have very clear, foolproof instructions or packages that work with the latest official releases of Apache (1.3.27 and 2). The idea is that someone like me (a business type developer with some knowledge of DEB’s and RPM’s) could execute an install and have a sample website running automatically. Samples for web forms in this installation would be extraordinarily helpful. I have played with the Mono testing web server, but I think mod_mono is really the killer app that needs to be pushed for people like myself. Maybe there should be an automatically installed test website under Apache that runs as localhost/monotest or something. I could help in this are if you think it’s a good idea. -          Is it possible to show code behind functioning as it does in ASP.NET/IIS? I’ve been doing .NET for 18 months now and nearly no one I know recommends using inline script in their ASPX files. I would even go so far as to say that code behind needs to be stressed and inline script should be minimalized, but maybe that’s my own opinion.   I promise to work on testing things and reporting issues in the near future. My focus is really from a business perspective (again). How can I write a very typical presentation tier, business tier, and data tier in Mono connected to a PostgreSQL or MySQL database? Well, I know how to write the code in .NET and I know all the voodoo of .NET on IIS 5/6. I want to do whatever it takes to help Mono start showing _real_ examples of this in Linux/Apache. So the most important namespaces are System.Data, System.Data.MySqlClient, System.Xml (less so), System.Web.UI.WebControls, System.Web.UI.HtmlControls, and System.Collections. I’m sure I’m forgetting something.   Again – I love it and have been playing with it for awhile. It’s installed on my public server Plover.Net. If there’s anything I can do for the Mono project with my Windows 2003 Server RC2 (Placet.Com) or Plover.Net (Debian Linux), please let me know.   Thanks,   David A. Cornelson [EMAIL PROTECTED]