The Error

I was getting this error when running an ASP.NET solution using NancyFx:

System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException: 'Invalid read type request '115'.'

on this statement in my NancyBootstrapper:

container.Register<ITokenizer>(new Tokenizer());

There is only one mention of this error when searching Google, and it refers to using a sync service of some kind. So, not apparently related.

After quite a bit of sleuthing, I wondered about Nancy's keyChain.bin file, which I knew had been modified during a recent git rebase operation.

Sure enough, I checked out the file from a working branch and the bug went away. Interestingly, I had renamed and saved the "bad" file. When I renamed it back, the bug didn't recur. So, I don't really understand what went wrong, but it got fixed.

A simpler way to fix this would have been to rename or delete the keyChain.bin file, then let Nancy regenerate it.

Make it Better

I also was doing the wrong thing for the right reason. The (deprected) Nancy Token-Authentication requires a writable keyStore folder. By default, it gets created in the project root. I was marking the keyChain.bin file Build Type as Content and Copy Always, so it would be created in a first-deployment. But that meant storing the file in Git and it was always changing.

My current solution is to use a readme.txt placeholder file, and ignore keyChain.bin.

The better solution...I'll blog if successful...will be to write a custom FileSystemTokenKeyStore that stores the keyStore folder in App_Data, which is always writable.

Where I'm Headed

I've been meaning to blog about my ideal Mardown editor requirements, and which editors today get close to being my dream-editor-come-true.

I'll probably be editing this post, but it gives a good idea of what matters to me. In upcoming parts, I'll review some--not all--of the editors and announce a winner.

Spoiler!
My current Markdown editor is Markdown Monster, and I'm not expecting that to change. Still...we'll see!

Requirements

1. Use a Git parser that at least supports GFM.
2. Ideally, support MarkDig because it's fast and, itself, supports all MD flavors.
3. Scripting/snippet support.
   1. Specifically, journal datetime, but I have other snippets I've become used to.
4. Addin support.
   1. Want to be able to create/publish using my static site generator.
5. Standard MD behaviors
6. Standard Editor behaviors
   1. Including block editing
7. Supported. Editors seem to come and go.
8. Drag-and-drop image paths.

Extras I've Found I Like

1. Preview window outside the editor.
2. Automatic check-box bullets.
   1. And, auto-checking from the editor. See the Android app iA Writer.
3. Open to end of document. Would love to do this per-document, so my journal opens to the end.
4. YAML handling.
5. Tabbed interface simultaneous with separate instances. I love being able to do my journal summary without changing settings.
6. Using Ctrl-K (or whatever creates a link), automatically includes whatever's in the clipboard.'
7. When pasting HTML, the ability to strip extras down to just the Markdown, instead of pasting the HTML styles, etc.
8. When pasting a link, if it's just a link then automatically surround with <>.

Editors

Desktop

• Markdown Monster
• Markdown Edit
• Visual Studio Code
• Typora
• Haroopad
• Write!
• Caret
• Ghostwriter
• Markdown Pad 2 (no longer updated, but mention it)
• Texts
• WriteMonkey
• Markdown Plus
• Abricotine
• MarkText

Android

• iA Writer
• JotterPad
• Monospace
• Writer Plus
• WYSIWYG Markdown Editor

References

• Awesome Markdown Text Editors
• The Best Markdown Editor for Windows
• 18 Best Markdown Editors for Windows 2018

I'd been pretty happy using Cmd to run my Git command line. I didn't have requirements that forced me to use something else. But I hadn't really compared the three main command-line shells for Git on Windows (Command, Powershell, Git-Bash), or thought about features I wanted or maybe didn't know I wanted.

I didn't do an extensive review, just an exploration to see whether I wanted to change my default. The answer turned out to be "yes"!

Contents

• Skip to the End!
  • Step 1 - Install Git for Windows
  • Step 2 - Install posh-git
  • Step 3 - Create a Powershell profile
  • Step 4 - Add Context Menu Entry
  • Step 5 - Add Custom posh-git entry to Visual Studio Open Command Line Extension
  • Results
• A Summary of How I Got Here
• References
  • posh-git
  • Creating Context Menu Entry
  • TFS from Powershell
  • Git-Bash and/or Bash on Windows (they're not the same)
  • Miscellaneous

Skip to the End!

I was persuaded by all things git's Edward Thomson's argument that Windows users shouldn't use Git-Bash for the simple reason that we shouldn't have to use a foreign operating system's shell to work with Git.

I was also persuaded by Scott Hanselman and Phil Haack that using Powershell with posh-git was an awesome Windows solution. I was even more convinced by Dave Hein's article showing how to create a simple transcription method to record git sessions. That could be a lifesaver.

Here's my current setup.

Step 1 - Install Git for Windows

You can follow the defaults and be fine. Some people recommend not changing your local PATH environment variable, but I think it's OK and reduces some friction. I do have preferred configuration answers and may blog them in the future.

Step 2 - Install posh-git

These steps assume git.exe is on your path. Steps mostly copied from Dave Hein.

1. Open Powershell. Check the execution policy with Get-ExecutionPolicy. It should be RemoteSigned or Unrestricted¹.
2. cd ~\Documents and create directory GitHub.
3. cd GitHub
4. git clone https://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git.git.

Step 3 - Create a Powershell profile

Warning
Many sites that show examples of Powershell profiles for posh-git are for older versions, especially when it comes to changing the prompt.

1. Open Documents and create a directory WindowsPowerShell if necessary.
2. In WindowsPowerShell, use a text editor to create a file named posh-git.profile.ps1

This is my script.

    $Host.UI.RawUI.BackgroundColor = 'Black'
    $Host.UI.RawUI.ForegroundColor = 'Gray'
    Clear-Host
    
    $Env:Path = "$Env:ProgramFiles\Git\bin" + ";" + $Env:Path
    Push-Location (Resolve-Path "$Env:USERPROFILE\Documents\GitHub\posh-git")
    
    # Import the posh-git module, first via installed posh-git module.
    # If the module isn't installed, then attempt to load it from the cloned posh-git Git repo.
    $poshGitModule = Get-Module posh-git -ListAvailable | Sort-Object Version -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
    if ($poshGitModule) {
        $poshGitModule | Import-Module
    }
    elseif (Test-Path -LiteralPath ($modulePath = Join-Path (Get-Location) (Join-Path src 'posh-git.psd1'))) {
        Import-Module $modulePath
    }
    else {
        throw "Failed to import posh-git."
    }
    
    Pop-Location
    
    # Settings for the prompt are in GitPrompt.ps1, so add any desired settings changes here.
    # Example:
    #     $Global:GitPromptSettings.BranchBehindAndAheadDisplay = "Compact"
    
    $Global:GitPromptSettings.DefaultPromptBeforeSuffix.Text = "`r`n"
    $Global:GitPromptSettings.DefaultPromptPath.ForegroundColor = 'Orange'
    
    Start-SshAgent -Quiet
    
    # Start a transcript
    #
    if (!(Test-Path "$Env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Transcripts"))
    {
        if (!(Test-Path "$Env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell"))
        {
            $rc = New-Item -Path "$Env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell" -ItemType directory
        }
        $rc = New-Item -Path "$Env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Transcripts" -ItemType directory
    }
    $curdate = $(get-date -Format "yyyyMMddhhmmss")
    Start-Transcript -Path "$Env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Transcripts\PowerShell_transcript.$curdate.txt"
    
    # Alias TFS command line
    Set-Alias tf "${Env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\TeamFoundation\Team Explorer\tf.exe"

Step 4 - Add Context Menu Entry

I frequently want to open a Git console by right-clicking in the folder. Git for Windows adds that for Git-Bash (unless you say not to). Here's the registry file to add context menu entries for our new posh-git setup.

Note
You need to replace the user profile path below with your own.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

# Right-click on Explorer folder's empty space in right pane
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\011PowershellPoshGit]
@="Open with Powershell posh-git"
"Icon"="powershell.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\011PowershellPoshGit\command]
@="powershell.exe -NoExit -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -File C:\\users\\charl\\Documents\\WindowsPowerShell\\posh-git.profile.ps1"

Step 5 - Add Custom posh-git entry to Visual Studio Open Command Line Extension

I like Mads Kristensen's Open Command Line extension to Alt-Space open a command window. If you don't use it, skip this part.

1. Open Visual Studio > Tools > Options > Environment > Command Line
2. In "Select preset", choose Custom.
3. Change "Friendly name" to something like "My posh-git"
4. Command = powershell.exe
5. Command arguments = -NoExit -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -File C:\users\charl\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\posh-git.profile.ps1
6. Save and exit

Results

You can now right-click inside a folder and open posh-git from a menu item.

Which, in my case, gives this console. I can run both Git commands and TFS commands.

I'll get the same console if I have a solution open in Visual Studio and press ALT-Space.

To Do

• Explore installing and using the TFS cmdlets, which might improve my weird workflow, (see below).

A Summary of How I Got Here

I originally was going to make this a review/comparison of the three command lines, but by the end of my research I realized there wasn't much point (to me) in that.

Git-Bash was off the table. The only reason I could see using it was for git aliases that rely on Unix commands, and even that seemed iffy. I'd rather rewrite such alises using native Windows commands.

My requirements were:

1. Open the console by right-clicking an Explorer folder and choosing from the menu.
2. Open the console by using Mads Kristensen's Open Command Line extension.
3. Be able to run TFS commands (tf.exe)².
4. Copy/paste to/from the console easily, i.e. CTRL-C, CTRL-V.
5. Open an explorer window into my current folder using explorer . (note the dot after the command, which means "open here".)
6. Dynamically resize the console contents.
7. Scroll back through commands.
8. Powerful command line if needed.

References

posh-git

• posh-git Github Repo
• What's neat about this one is creating transcripts of your Git sessions.
  • Dave Hein - Using Git with PowerShell (and posh-git) on Windows 10
• posh-git: Customizing Your PowerShell Prompt
• Prompts and Directories - Even Better Git (and Mercurial) with PowerShell
• Visualizing your real-time blood sugar values AND a Git Prompt on Windows PowerShell and Linux Bash
• Better Git with PowerShell

Creating Context Menu Entry

• How add context menu item to Windows Explorer for folders
• Enhancing the Open Command Prompt Here Menu
• How to use reg_expand_sz from the command line
• Managing Windows Registry from the Command Prompt

TFS from Powershell

• Adding TFS to you Powershell Commandline
• TFS Cmdlets GitHub
• Installing TFS PowerShell Cmdlets
• Powershell and TFS: The Basic and Beyond
• tf.exe Promoting Candidate Files (cannot be done)
• Using Local workspaces – Promote Excluded changes with TFS 2012 API

Git-Bash and/or Bash on Windows (they're not the same)

• Have any of you switched to Bsh on Windows?
• On Windows, PowerShell vs. Bash comparison gets interesting

Miscellaneous

• All Things Git Podcast
• If you want your Powershell windows to always be the "noble" colors, you can do this. I tried it, but then realized it got in my way.
  Powershell's Noble Blue
• Fail to extract PROGRAMFILES(X86) environment variable using powershell