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Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Yesterday I mentioned that Jeff Atwood and Jon Galloway wrote an Identicon implementation for .NET. It works beautifully, but they distributed the code as a Web Site Project, which I cannot deploy to my blog as is.

For those of us who prefer Web Application projects, I repackaged their code as compiled DLL and a handler file. This distribution will work for both Web Application Projects as well as Website Projects.

Just download the binaries, copy the DLL to your bin directory, copy the IdenticonHandler.ashx file to your website directory, and you are good to go. You can simply add an image tag that references your identicon handler.

<img src="IdenticonHandler.ashx?hash=hash-of-ip-address" />

[Download Binaries]

You can also grab the Solution I used to prepare the binaries.

[Download Source]

Gravatar Tip!

If you use Gravatar, consider using the identicon handler as the default image. That’s what I did for this website. That way, if the user does not have a gravatar, the identicon will show up instead. Better than nothing!

What others have said

Jeff Atwood Jan 22, 2007 9:46 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Does it work? It doesn't show a preview of the Identicon :(

This is a test comment

Jon Galloway Jan 22, 2007 10:34 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

I can't wait to see my identicon!

Jeff Atwood Jan 22, 2007 10:52 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

We gotta get rid of that sub background, it really doesn't work with the Identicon overlaid. IMHO.

Haacked Jan 22, 2007 11:15 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Jeff, you probably have my stylesheet cached. Hit CTRL+F5.

matt Jan 22, 2007 11:23 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

my identicon?

Daruku Jan 22, 2007 12:27 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Do I have an identicon?

Jeff Atwood Jan 22, 2007 12:44 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

The identicon really needs to be part of "Live Comment Preview", below ;)

Haacked Jan 22, 2007 1:08 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Yeah, I know. But I don't have the time for all that right now. This was a spur of the moment "Hack" job.

chadly Jan 22, 2007 1:36 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

one for me too?

Daruku Jan 22, 2007 2:16 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Do I still have the same identicon?

Dan Jan 22, 2007 2:30 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

just want to see my gravatar

Jeremy Jan 22, 2007 3:16 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Can't wait to see what mine is... it's like opening a Christmas present.

Scott Hanselman Jan 22, 2007 3:44 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Very exciting!

Scott Hanselman Jan 22, 2007 3:55 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Hm...my IP hasn't changed, why is my icon different HERE than at Don's?

Haacked Jan 22, 2007 4:08 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

I'm using a different salt value. It's not a straight hash of your IP. There's a bit of salt thrown in. So it'll only be consistent on my blog.

Keyvan Nayyeri Jan 22, 2007 8:28 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Very nice :-)

Don Park Jan 22, 2007 11:12 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Identicons being site-specific enhance privacy, meaning that no one can notice that a comment at a porn torrent forum and a comment here was posted by the same person. ;-)

F'yth Jan 23, 2007 3:56 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Well my identicon was pink over at Don's.. I wonder what it looks like here. ;D

Haacked Jan 23, 2007 8:36 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Oh good, then I'm free to post on my porn message boards again. ;)

Jon Galloway Jan 24, 2007 12:02 AM

# Identicons - Ported from Java Servlet to HttpHandler

Summary Identicons provide a nice visual indicator that's unique to each user on a website. It's unique

Jan Bannister Jan 24, 2007 2:53 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

These are really cool

jayson knight Jan 24, 2007 3:13 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Shall be implementing this on CS very soon...nice work.

Luke Jan 24, 2007 4:53 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

And mine looks like?

Asif Raza Jan 24, 2007 4:55 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

what will mine look likes

matt Jan 24, 2007 7:34 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

i'm back! i'm addicted to my identicon. what a novel idea.

Adam Jan 24, 2007 9:03 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Gotta see it

Jackal Jan 24, 2007 10:04 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Gotta See one.

Thanks for porting this

pieter Jan 24, 2007 11:53 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

please show me mine. ;)

Jon Jan 24, 2007 2:00 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

What does mine look like?

rachel Jan 24, 2007 2:04 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

this is neat!

Bruce Jan 24, 2007 2:51 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

I can't help myself, I just have to see.

Ben Hyrman Jan 24, 2007 10:18 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

You're a life-saver. I wanted a fairly anonymous way to show the last five authors on my site and this fits that bill perfectly. Excellent examples the other day on what an identicon was and great followup today with the handler port.

I've implemented identicons at AintMySite.com, a site that anyone can edit at any time as they see fit (as a result, warning, may or may not be work safe). I think it's a perfect solution for my needs.

Ricardo Peres Jan 25, 2007 4:53 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Just testing...

jayson knight Jan 25, 2007 8:51 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Having some issues with the "Easy to Deploy" part. Gimme a shout or I can give details in this thread.

Jeff Atwood Jan 26, 2007 4:10 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

We said EASY TO DEPLOY! Does it help if we say it louder? ;)

jayson knight Jan 27, 2007 1:22 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Yup, it's perfectly clear now, volume always helps ;-).

"hash=hash-of-ip-address"

What hash is it looking for? I've tried using the Code member in the Util class to hash the IP, I've tried a hashcode, which doesn't work b/c the IP is rehashed in the handler. Red X's abound, and the resulting hash looks way off.

As is usually the case with me, I'm sure I'm overlooking something glaringly obvious and simple.

Haacked Jan 27, 2007 1:25 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

The "hash" query string parameter ought to be a salted hash of the IP Address. When testing, cut and paste the URL into your address bar to see what error messages occur.

Make sure you don't have some sort of rewriting rule intercepting the request to the ashx page.

Jason Haley Jan 27, 2007 8:21 AM

# Interesting Finds: January 27, 2007

Ayende Rahien Jan 27, 2007 11:40 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

What about mine?

Tada Feb 04, 2007 11:30 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

So this is not useless how?

Simone Chiaretta Feb 05, 2007 3:54 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Let's see mine

Simone Feb 05, 2007 7:56 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Trying without specifying email :)

Vittorio Feb 08, 2007 6:50 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

my gravatar please :O

Dan Jul 12, 2007 3:49 PM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

I'll check into the identicon bit- thanks for the tip.

*testing my gravatar*

Qwaider قويدر Oct 17, 2007 10:52 AM

# re: Easy To Deploy Identicon Handler

Hi there,
I loved the idea, but decided to implement it for Email addresses instead of IP addresses. And the result was STUNNING!(seriously!)
So now, instead of Gravatar (which is based on Email) I use Gravatar and the default picture is an Identicon. Best part is. Once the identicon is created, I cache it so I don't have to create it once more :)

Thank you that was very helpful