Screen shot of sample application

• Is the sky falling? No.
• Is it great situation? No.
• Will be fixed with .NET 2.0 SP2? Yes
• When? Maybe this summer, maybe later - they aren’t sure.
• Does this affect WCF and ASP.NET? Probably not. The bug, no. The new ThreadPool behavior, yes.
• Is there a work around? Yes, create threads more slowly. This is automatic on the server.

1. T22 - Developing ASP.NET Applications Using the Model View Controller Pattern
   Scott Hanselman
   
   
2. T01 - Creating a RESTful API with Windows Communication Foundation
   Aaron Sloman and Haider Sabri
   
   
3. UX03 - The Back of the Napkin: Solving Design Problems (and Selling Your Solutions) with Pictures
   Dan Roam
   
   
4. T11 - What's New in Windows Presentation Foundation 3.5
   Rob Relyea
   
   
5. T26 - Building Applicaitons and Services with.NET Framework 3.5
   Justin Smith

I often have to send large files around by email. For example, I had to email a colleague a 10 MB file. It seems a little rude to hit him out of the blue with a 10 MB email. I wanted something cleaner and less intrusive.

So I created a simple utility I called "Big Mailer". I figured I'd blog about it and share it with the world. Feel free to use it as you see fit. This program consists of both a client and server piece that simplifies uploading content to your web site. Then the program gives you a regular web link you can send via email.

Here's a screen shot:

You can download and install it via ClickOnce here:

Install Big Mailer (700 KB)

You must have the following to use this program:

1. .NET 3.5 Framework installed on the client
2. .NET 3.5 Framework on the server
3. An ASP.NET web site to host the WCF service

After you install the client, click "Host Service" and you'll get the server side code to drop onto your ASP.NET web site. There is a test web site with instructions in that code.

If you don't have an ASP.NET web site to host the service at you can always use public services like Drop Boks (a great service!) or other file sharing sites. The benefit of this program / service is that you retain control of the files and you can conceivably send more sensitive content.

You can also just use FTP if you have that for your web site, but I hate FTP personally. I don't like fighting the firewall issues and I don't want it running on my servers.

So this program allows you to upload content of unlimited size, without FTP, without sending your files to a third party. Also, it sends everything in 16KB blocks, rather than one giant http message. So you get the benefit of both being able to send huge files (say 1 GB) and you get progress / cancel support.

One feature that's notably lacking is authentication. I'll probably release an update with security built-in. For now, take that into consideration before using it.

Enjoy!

 privatestaticvoid UseThreadPool(int count)

        {

            for ( int i = 0;
i < count; i++ )

            {

                ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(

                    delegate {
SlowMethod(); } );

            }

        }

 privatestaticvoid UseThreadPool(int count)

        {

            for ( int i = 0;
i < count; i++ )

            {

                ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(

                    delegate {
SlowMethod(); } );

Thread.Sleep(1);

            }

        }

using System;
using System.Threading;

namespace NewThreadPoolBehavior

{

    internalclass Program

    {

        privatestaticvoid Main(string[]
args)

        {

            Console.WriteLine( "Running
on "+ Environment.Version
);

            int w,
c;

            ThreadPool.GetMaxThreads( out w, out c
);

            Console.WriteLine( "Max
Currently: "+ w +",
"+ c
);

            ThreadPool.GetMinThreads( out w, out c
);

            Console.WriteLine( "Min
Currently: "+ w +",
"+ c
);


            Console.WriteLine( "Set
min thread count 20? (y/n) " );

            string txt = Console.ReadLine();

            if (
txt == "y" )

            {

                Console.WriteLine( "Setting
min to 20" );

                ThreadPool.SetMinThreads(
20, 100 );

                ThreadPool.GetMinThreads( out w, out c
);

                Console.WriteLine( "Min
Currently: "+ w +",
"+ c
);

            }

            UseThreadPool(
200 );


            Console.ReadLine();

        }


        privatestatic DateTime
startTime;


        privatestaticvoid UseThreadPool(int count)

        {

            startTime = DateTime.Now;

            for ( int i = 0;
i < count; i++ )

            {

                ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(

                    delegate {
SlowMethod(); } );

            }

        }


        privatestaticint concurrent = 0;


        privatestaticvoid SlowMethod()

        {

            TimeSpan dt = DateTime.Now - startTime;

            concurrent++;

            Console.WriteLine( "Starting
ops ("+ concurrent +"
concurrent, elapsed="+
dt.TotalSeconds.ToString( "N3" ) +"
sec.) " );

            Thread.Sleep(
20000 );

            Console.WriteLine( "Finished
ops ("+ concurrent +"
concurrent)" );

            concurrent--;

        }

    }

}