In the last article, I have introduced How to Install Mono 2.4.2.3 on CentOS 5 , forgot telling you, why I want to install Mono on CentOS, I want to try to run ASP.NET under Linux.

Mono has an implementation of ASP.NET 2.0 and ASP.NET AJAX, and to run your ASP.NET applications with Mono, you have three classes of options:

• Apache hosting: use mod_mono, a module that allows Apache to serve ASP.NET applications.
• FastCGI hosting: use the FastCGI hosting if you have a web server that supports the FastCGI protocol for extending the server. You also may use a web server that only has support for CGI using cgi-fcgi.
• XSP: this is a simple way to get started, a lightweight and simple webserver written in C#.

XSP is a standalone web server written in C# that can be used to run your ASP.NET applications with minimal effort.
The mod_mono Apache module is used to run ASP.NET applications within the Apache (http://httpd.apache.org) web server.

Let’s continue install XSP and mod_mono now.
1.Go to this page and download xsp-2.4.2.tar.bz2,
#wget http://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/xsp/xsp-2.4.2.tar.bz2

2. Extract the download file,
# tar jxvf xsp-2.4.2.tar.bz2

3. In to the xsp-2.4.2 folder,
#cd xsp-2.4.2

4.configure, build and install XSP,
# ./configure –prefix=/opt/mono; make; make install
because I installed mono in /opt/mono, so the same treat to XSP

5.go to the parent folder,
#cd ..

6.by default, Apache 2 has been installed, make sure you have installed httpd-devel, or you will get error message like”**** apxs was not found,” when you build mod_mono,
#yum -y install httpd-devel

7.Go to this page and download mod_mono-2.4.2.tar.bz2

8. Extract the download file,
# tar jxvf mod_mono-2.4.2.tar.bz2

9. In to the mod_mono-2.4.2 folder,
#cd mod_mono-2.4.2

10.configure, build and install mod_mono,
# ./configure –prefix=/opt/mono; make; make install

11.You may want to verify a few thigns to make sure the configuration is ready to rock. In my case, I am keeping the mono configuration in a separate file for sanity sake. You can do that or put it all in your httpd.conf, it’s up to you,

<IfModule !mod_mono.c>
LoadModule mono_module /usr/lib/httpd/modules/mod_mono.so
AddType application/x-asp-net .aspx
AddType application/x-asp-net .asmx
AddType application/x-asp-net .ashx
AddType application/x-asp-net .asax
AddType application/x-asp-net .ascx
AddType application/x-asp-net .soap
AddType application/x-asp-net .rem
AddType application/x-asp-net .axd
AddType application/x-asp-net .cs
AddType application/x-asp-net .config
AddType application/x-asp-net .Config
AddType application/x-asp-net .dll
DirectoryIndex index.aspx
DirectoryIndex Default.aspx
DirectoryIndex default.aspx
</IfModule>

<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /home/httpd/aspx/html
ServerName aspx.yoursite.com
Alias /demo /opt/mono/lib/xsp/test
MonoApplications "/demo:/opt/mono/lib/xsp/test"
MonoServerPath /opt/mono/bin/mod-mono-server2
<Directory /opt/mono/lib/xps/test>
SetHandler mono
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>


12.restart httpd service,
#service httpd restart

13.Test it,
visit http://aspx.yoursite.com/demo in your browser, and if you get the page with the title “Welcome to Mono XSP!”, congratulation!

references,
ASP.NET and Mono
My Adventures Installing mono 2.0 on CentOS 4 to work with Apache via mod_mono

PDFMiner is a suite of programs that help extracting and analyzing text data of PDF documents. Unlike other PDF-related tools, it allows to obtain the exact location of texts in a page, as well as other extra information such as font information or ruled lines. It includes a PDF converter that can transform PDF files into other text formats (such as HTML). It has an extensible PDF parser that can be used for other purposes instead of text analysis.
for details, please visit Extract and Analyze Text Data of PDF Documents with PDFMiner

pdf-parser.py
This tool will parse a PDF document to identify the fundamental elements used in the analyzed file. It will not render a PDF document. The code of the parser is quick-and-dirty, I’m not recommending this as text book case for PDF parsers, but it gets the job done.
for details, please visit, PDF Tools

PyPDF

A Pure-Python library built as a PDF toolkit. It is capable of:

• extracting document information (title, author, …),
• splitting documents page by page,
• merging documents page by page,
• cropping pages,
• merging multiple pages into a single page,
• encrypting and decrypting PDF files.

By being Pure-Python, it should run on any Python platform without
any dependencies on external libraries. It can also work entirely on
StringIO objects rather than file streams, allowing for PDF
manipulation in memory. It is therefore a useful tool for websites
that manage or manipulate PDFs.

for details, please visit http://pybrary.net/pyPdf/

Google Book Downloader is small utility(developed in .NET) which allows you to save book as PDF from google to your local filesystem and with many features,

• Download any book from Google Books marked as ‘Full view’
• Partially download any book from Google Books marked as ‘Limited preview’
• Access to any book available only for US citizens (instructions)
• Searching for hidden pages (not indexed by Google Books)

The Google Book Downloader application allows users to enter a book’s ISBN number or Google link to pull up the desired book and begin a download, fishing off with exporting the file to a PDF.

P.S.

If you want books, but don’t want to pay for them, there is a better way than walking into your local book store and pocketing them. Try grabbing them online, from Google!

Everyone must be aware of the Google Books Library project by now. If you’re not, it’s basically a way for Google to ensure all of the world’s book content is accessible and searchable. Through the Book Project, Google works with libraries to scan and archive their older and out of print materials.

–from How to download books from Google

references,
* How to use Google Book Downloader?
* How to use geolocation to download a book available only for US citizens?
* Google Book Downloader Homepage
* Google Books Library project