Jack @ ASP.NET

Microsoft has just released BizTalk Server 2010, and it is now generally available! Along with this release comes an updated licensing structure  that will be a relief for consultants, and companies managing multiple BizTalk environments. While the cost of the Enterprise edition has increased, the cost of the Developer edition has been eliminated. The Developer edition includes the full capabilities of the Enterprise edition, with the limitation being only that you cannot use it in production.

One of the features, that will stand out the most as you open up Visual Studio 2010 to create your first new BizTalk Server 2010 project, is the new and improved BizTalk Mapper. New features include:

    * Ability to search a map for a given schema node, or functoid
    * Ability to cut, copy, and paste functoids and links between maps and pages
    * Cleaner display of map links based on how related they are to schema nodes within the view
    * Automatic highlighting of links and functoids related to the active selection
    * Automatic scrolling into view of links and functoids related to the active selection
    * Simplified configuration UI for functoids (e.g., the scripting functoid has a single tabbed window with which you can fully configure the connections and the script)
    * Indicative match functionality that suggests nodes to link

1. Browser caching

In part 1, we looked at how it was possible to set an expiration header to any static file such as JavaScript and CSS files, so the browser would cache them for a long time and thereby optimize both for bandwidth and the number of requested files going from server to browser.

The problem with setting a browser cache expiration date of i.e. a JavaScript file to a year in the future becomes clear when you change the file before it expires in your visitor’s browsers. They simply won’t see the changes until they either clear their cache or hits F5 manually.

2. Bundle multiple files

Another common website performance issue is that there are many JavaScript and CSS files included on a page. This scenario results in the browser have to download a lot of extra files and that all slows down the performance of a website. The solution to this is also very simple when you’ve first completed the above steps to register the HTTP handler in web.config and called the BundleHelper.InsertFile method when inserting JavaScript and CSS files.

3. HTTP compression

You’ve always been able to perform HTTP compression in ASP.NET by using third-party libraries or own custom built ones. With IIS 7 you can now throw that away and utilize the build-in compression available from the web.config. Add the following line to enable HTTP compression:

<urlCompression doDynamicCompression=”true” doStaticCompression=”true” dynamicCompressionBeforeCache=”true”/>

By default, only text based content types are compressed.

4. Cache static files

To speed up the load time for the visitors, it is crucial that everything that can be cached by the browser IS cached by the browser. That includes static files such as images, stylesheets and script files. By letting the browser cache all these files means it doesn’t need to request them again for the duration of the cache period. That saves you and your visitors a lot of bandwidth and makes the page load faster. A well primed browser cache also triggers the load and DOMContentLoaded event sooner.

It’s worth noticing that the output caching respects file changes and therefore refreshes ever time changes are made to the JavaScript and CSS files tunnelled through this code.