Getting Started with BidNow

The following notes will help you get started with BidNow. If you would like to watch a video tutorial, please review Setting Up the BidNow Sample Application for Windows Azure.

If you would like to deploy BidNow to Windows Azure, review the Deploy BidNow to the Cloud page.

Pre-requisites

To get started with the Bid Now sample application you will need the following:

Configuration Tasks

To use the sample you will have to perform the following configuration tasks:
  1. If you don't already have one, create a Project and Service Namespace in the Windows Azure AppFabric Labs Developer Preview.
  2. Download the latest release of BidNow.
  3. Double-click BidNow.exe to launch the installer. Note: this is a self-extracting executable; nothing is registered on the machine.
    1. Accept the License Agreement.
    2. Choose a destination folder (or leave the default).
    3. Click Install.
  4. BidNow comes with a setup script that will help you configure SQL Azure, Access Control, and Caching. Double-click and run the file StartHere.cmd found in the root of the BidNow folder. This will start the Configuration Wizard.
    1. Scan to ensure that all required software has been installed. If you are missing any required software, use the provided link to acquire the software.
    2. Setup Access Control
      1. Enter the service namespace (found at http://portal.appfabriclabs.com/)
      2. Enter the management service password credential. You can find this at Access Control -> Manage Access Control -> ManagementClient -> Symmetric Key -> Key.
      3. (optional) Enter your Facebook Application ID (details found at http://acs.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Facebook)
      4. (optional) Enter your Facebook Application Secret
      5. If you plan to deploy to Windows Azure (rather than run locally on the compute emulator), enter your hosted service DNS name (e.g. bidnow.cloudapp.net). Otherise, leave blank and hit ENTER.
    3. (optional) Setup the Caching service
      1. Enter your Caching service address (e.g. YOURSERVICENAMESPACE.cache.appfabriclabs.com)
      2. Enter your Caching service authorization token
    4. Importing Blobs
      1. If you plan to deploy to Windows Azure storage (rather than local storage), enter your storage acount name (e.g. bnowstorage).
      2. Similarly, enter your storage account key (not required if storing in local storage).
    5. Setup the Database
      1. If SQL Server Express is chosen (in option 1 or 3) it will automatically install.
      2. (optional) Enter your SQL Azure database server name (e.g. YOURDBSERVER.database.windows.net)
      3. (optional) Enter your SQL Azure user name (e.g. USERNAME@YOURDBSERVER)
      4. (optional) Enter your SQL Azure password
  5. Open the "code" folder in the BidNow root
  6. Open the BidNow solution (i.e. BidNow.sln) in Visual Studio 2010 with elevated permissions
  7. If deploying to Windows Azure, review the "Deploying BidNow to Windows Azure.docx" document for additional steps.
  8. Build and run the solution