Deploying an Avalon Express application online

Since I ran into this problem deploying my Fisheye sample, I thought it might be useful to share it with everyone.
When I deployed my application on my webserver, and clicked on the link to run it, the browser retrieved the file as XML listing (since the manifest is an XML file).
This was due to the fact that the server was sending an XML mime type back to the browser. One solution was to call/email my server admin and ask him to add the mime type for the .xapp file to the sever configuration.
Since my web programming experience is limited, I emailed some folks on the Avalon team, and got a hint about adding a .htacess file in the deployment folder.
So I created a .htaccess file in my deployment folder and added one line to it:
AddType application/x-ms-xapp xapp
And this works by telling the server that, for the folder where this .htaccess file exists, treat xapp files as ms-xapp.

I believe that Microsoft should seriously consider deploying .htaccess files with ClickOnce applications since it’s ridiculous to require everyone who wants to deploy a ClickOnce app to call/email their server admin to add the correct mime type. I am sure that it will happen eventually that servers will have the correct setting some day, but for now, please Keep It Simple Stupid…

More Avalon Grid Fun

Now that we have this fun Fisheye Gaussian deformation function, I thought about applying the concept in 2D, here are some snapshots:

Bubbles:

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FisheyeCalendar (Similar to Datelens):

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ImageGrid:

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Download:
I will be posting the binaries and source code shortly!