N a g a s a i: July 2007

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Design Time Debugging during server control development in asp.net2.0

Design Time Debugging during server control development in asp.net2.0 in Visual Studio 2005
source:
http://brennan.offwhite.net/blog/2006/08/30/design-time-debugging-aspnet-20-in-visual-studio-2005/

Rules for better software development

Rules to follow for the whole software development life cycle.You will find rules to follow for Management, Application Design, Website, Communication, Networking, Third Party product, Testing, Documentation etc.

http://www.ssw.com.au/SSW/Standards/Default.aspx

Friday, July 13, 2007

ASP.NET Website Paths

Determining Physical Path of an Application

The MapPath method returns the complete physical path for a virtual path that you pass to the method. For example, the following code returns the file path for the root of your Web site:
String rootPath = Server.MapPath("~");

Client Elements

Elements that are not Web server controls on a page—client elements—are passed through as-is to the browser. Therefore, when referring to a resource from a client element, you construct paths according to standard rules for URLs in HTML. You can use a fully qualified (which is also known as absolute) URL path or various types of relative paths. For example, if your page contains an img element, you can set its src attribute using one of the following paths:

1) An absolute URL path. An absolute URL path is useful if you are referencing resources in another location, such as an external Web site.
img src="http://www.yahoo.com/MyApplication/Images/SampleImage.jpg"

2) A site-root relative path, which is resolved against the site root (not the application root). Site-root relative paths are useful if you keep cross-application resources, such as images or client script files, in a folder that is located under the Web site root.

This example path assumes that an Images folder is located under the Web site root.
img src="/Images/SampleImage.jpg"

Here, If your Web site is http://www.yahoo.com, the path would resolve to the following.
http://www.yahoo.com/Images/SampleImage.jpg

3) A relative path that is resolved against the current page path.
img src="Images/SampleImage.jpg"

4) A relative path that is resolved as a peer of the current page path.
img src="../Images/SampleImage.jpg"

Server Controls

Absolute and relative path references in a server control have the following disadvantages:

i) Absolute paths are not portable between applications. If you move the application that the absolute path points to, the links will break.

ii) Relative paths in the style of client elements can be difficult to maintain if you move resources or pages to different folders.

To overcome these disadvantages, ASP.NET includes the Web application root operator (~), which you can use when specifying a path in server controls. ASP.NET resolves the ~ operator to the root of the current application. You can use the ~ operator in conjunction with folders to specify a path that is based on the current root.

The following example shows the ~ operator used to specify a root-relative path for an image when using the Image server control In this example, the image file is read from the Images folder that is located directly under the root of the Web application, regardless of where in the Web site the page is located.
asp:image runat="server" id="Image1" ImageUrl="~/Images/SampleImage.jpg"

Difference between "==" and "object.equalsto"

What is the difference between "==" and "object.EqualsTo"

"==" Vs "Object.EqualsTo"

'==' only compares the value where as 'object.equalsto' compares the both value as well as type

Both are used for comparison and both returns the boolean value (true/false)

Case 1. In case a and b both are different datatype then also a.Equals(b) can be used to compare but incase of == we cant even compile the code if a and b are different data type

Example1 for "==" Vs "Object.EqualsTo":

int a=0;
string b="o";

if(a.Equals(b))
{
//do something
}

//above code will compile successfully and internally the int b will convert to object type and compare

if(a==b)
{
//do something
}
//above code will give you the compilation error

Case 2. by using == we cant compare two object but Equals method will able to compare both the object internally

Example 2 for "==" Vs "Object.EqualsTo":
a==b is used to compare references where as a.Equals(b) is used to compare the values they are having.
for e.g

class Mycar
{
string colour;
Mycar(string str)
{
colour = str;
}
}

Mycar a = new Mycar("blue");
Mycar b = new Mycar("blue");
a==b // Returns false
a.Equals(b) // Returns true

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Acropolis is around the corner

If you are working with the CAB (Composite UI Application Block) or the SCSF (Smart Client Software Factory), you should check out Acropolis. If you are not using CAB or SCSF but you need to develop Windows applications, you should take a look at Acropolis too!

Acropolis has just been announced by Brad Abrams and others. It's supposed to be the integration of ideas and concepts from CAB and SCSF into Visual Studio.

Acropolis is an initial “experiment” at up leveling the .NET Framework application model to enable more modular application that enables developers to focus on their business logic while reaping the benefits of Xaml and WPF and of course carrying forward all of your existing Windows Forms assets.

Acropolis builds on the rich capabilities of Microsoft Windows and the .NET Framework, including Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), by providing tools and pre-built components that help developers quickly assemble applications from loosely-coupled parts and services. With Acropolis you will be able to:

Quickly create WPF enabled user experiences for your client applications.
Build client applications from reusable, connectable, modules that allow you to easily create complex, business-focused applications in less time.
Integrate and host your modules in applications such as Microsoft Office, or quickly build stand-alone client interfaces.
Change the look and feel of your application quickly using built-in themes, or custom designs using XAML.
Add features such as workflow navigation and user-specific views with minimal coding.
Manage, update, and deploy your application modules quickly and easily.
Acropolis requires Visual Studio 2008 (Orcas) Beta 1. The first preview can be downloaded here. Acropolis also has a home page, where you'll be able to find an introduction video.
At first sight, Acropolis looks very different from the CAB and SCSF.

WebService Books Catalogue

XML and Web Services Unleashed
XML, Web Services, and the Data Revolution
Professional XSL
Professional XML Meta Data
Professional XML Schemas
XML Programming Using the Microsoft XML Parser
Web Services Essentials
XML .NET Developer's Guide
Professional XML for .NET Developers
Programming Web Services with SOAP
Architecting Web Services

Programmatically accessing Tracing info in Asp.Net 2.0

For enabling Tracing we normally Tweak the config file right....

But in asp.net 2.0 you can do a bit more...

void Page_Load (object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Trace.TraceFinished +=
new TraceContextEventHandler (TraceHasFinished);
}

void TraceHasFinished (object sender, TraceContextEventArgs e)
{
foreach (TraceContextRecord traceContextRecord in e.TraceRecords)
{
Response.Write (traceContextRecord.Category + "
");
Response.Write (traceContextRecord.Message + "
");
//..... Do your bits .......
//...Write as XML....
//....Or Write to Database....Up to you....
}
}

How cool is that! you have now programmatic access. Just register to the event TraceFinished of the TraceContext class and loop through the e.TraceRecords.

The new 7 Wonders!!

The Taj Mahal, Agra

At a glittering ceremony in Lisbon held on 07-07-07, the world inherited a brand new list of seven wonders.
This list was not put together by an ancient historian.
Or a Greek scholar aeons ago.
It was created by all of us across the world when we participated in a massive online and SMS campaign!.
Come and meet the seven new wonders of the world:

Commissioned by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child, the Taj Mahal was completed in 1648.
One thousand or more elephants lent their heft to the 16-year project. Workmen, sculptors and artists came from Turkey, Syria, Baluchistan, Persia and Bukhara to work on the Taj.
The marble was sourced from Rajasthan, the jade and crystal from China, the lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, the sapphires from Sri Lanka, the turquoise from Tibet and the carnelians from Arabia.
Nearly every inch of the entire 55-metre high Taj Mahal is decorated.
Dubbed a masterpiece of world heritage by UNESCO, Rabindranath Tagore called the Taj 'a tear on the face of eternity.'
Some facts you probably didn't know:
· During World War II a scaffolding was built around the Taj to protect it from possible Japanese bombing. Scaffolding was again erected during the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars.
· By the First War of Independence in 1857 the Taj was in a state of disrepair. Lord Curzon, the British Viceroy at the turn of the 20th century, ordered it refurbished. He had the lawns redone in a more manicured British manner; originally the gardens were full of fruit trees and flowers like daffodils and roses.
· More than three million people visit the Taj each year.

The Coliseum, Rome

The Leaning Tower of Pisa didn't even make the semi-finals, but the solitary Roman representative was one of the first monuments to get a confirmed spot on the list of new seven wonders of the world.
Some facts you probably did not know:
· If Roman emperor Nero did indeed order the Christians to be fed to the lions, as it has been recorded with not total certainty, then the persecution would have happened in this amphitheatre. It is believed that after Rome was destroyed by a huge fire, Nero, who was considered unstable, blamed the fire on the Christians and had them punished.
· The Coliseum, work on which was begun in 72 BC by Emperor Vespasian, took about 10 years to complete.
· Now a crumbling magnificent edifice that adds majesty to downtown Rome, it could seat 50,000 in its heyday. · The Coliseum was used for 500 years. Games, re-staging of battles, hunts, animal fights and executions were all held here. Apparently 9,000 animals were killed during its inauguration.

The Great Wall of China

The Chinese call the Great Wall -- which runs along the border of Mongolia from the Shanhai Pass to Lop Nur -- Wanli Changcheng which mean the long wall of 10,000 Li (a Chinese unit of length).
Some facts you probably did not know:
· It is the longest man-made structure in the world measuring 4,000 miles. Mao Zedong once remarked, 'You are not a real man if you have not climbed the Great Wall.'
· The Great Wall of China was built by the Ming dynasty to defend its borders from marauding Mongols.
· The wall was not successful in keeping out the Manchus, who hailed from Manchuria, and mounted several invasions on the Ming empire. They finally infiltrated through the wall at the Shanhai Pass in 1644 by bribing a Ming general and took control of Beijing. Thus began the Quing rule of China
· The wall is the biggest military installation on the planet. It amazingly scales lofty mountains and plunges back down into steep valleys.
· The largest number of guards are posted at the Badaling portion of the wall to guard Beijing.
· The Great Wall of China, it is claimed, is visible from spacecraft orbiting the earth.

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro

The statue of Christ, which was unveiled in 1931 and is locally called Cristo Redentor, has become a symbol for the city of Rio.
It is 125 feet high and stands on the 2,300 ft Corcovado hill, which along with Sugar Loaf mountain towers over Rio harbour.
Some facts you probably did not know:
· The statue weighs 1,000 tonnes.
· French sculptor Paul Landowski, who created 35 statues for Paris, designed the Cristo Redentor.
· On the day of its inauguration the lights were meant to be turned on by legendary inventor Guglielmo Marconi from his yacht close to Naples, Italy, using radio technology. That plan failed and the lights were switched on from the hill in Rio.

Machu Picchu, Peru

The ancient citadel of the Incas -- also called the Lost City of the Incas -- is perched 7,900 feet above in the mountain jungles of the Andes, near the Amazon basin. It is considered one of the most mysterious sights in the world. And it is man-made.
For nearly 500 years it remained hidden.
It was built around 1450 AD very close to the Inca capital. Hardly 50 years later, the Inca kingdom was conquered by Spanish adventurers. Machu Picchu for some reason escaped the notice of the Spaniards and the jungle swallowed it up. It was re-discovered by American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911.
Some facts you probably did not know:
· In 1913, National Geographic magazine, which funded Bingham's expedition, dedicated an entire issue to Machu Picchu.
· Peru's top tourist site is not faring well under the tourist stampede and UNESCO has deemed it at risk. · Bingham, a professor at Yale university, was led to Machu Picchu by a local who knew of its existence. It is believed a missionary duo had discovered the site a decade or so earlier.

Chichen Itza, Mexico

This famous and sacred Mayan site, located in the Yucatan peninsula in southern Mexico, is about one thouand years old and showcases the Mayan-Toltec civilisation. The Kukulcan temple, also called El Castillo and the Temple of the Warriors, are both focal points of Chichen Itza.
Some facts you probably did not know:
· The word Chichen Itza means at the mouth of the well of the Itza, which seems to indicate its location near a limestone swallow hole (depression filled with water).

Petra, Jordan

The Nabataean ruins, carved in the steep rocks at Petra, lie in a valley between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.
Once the capital of a sect of cave-dwelling Semites, who spoke Aramaic, located on an early caravan route to Gaza, the Persian Gulf and Damascus, Petra was a flourishing city.
Some facts you probably did not know:
· Petra was also called Rekem and is mentioned in the Dead Sea scrolls (the 850-odd Hebrew documents that pre-date the Bible and give knowledge of that era).
· The people who lived here had special knowledge of water engineering and used special drainage systems, cisterns for water storage and dams to protect their capital from the habitual suddden floods that occurred.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

ASP.NET User Control Development

A Crash Course on ASP.NET Control Development: Design-Time Features and Capabilities
http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnaspp/html/CCCDesign.asp

Turning an .ascx User Control into a Redistributable Custom Control
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnaspp/html/ccctemplates.asp

How to get different date formats in SQL Sever

How can we gets date in different formats

Here are examles:

SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(8),GETDATE(),101) -- 07/10/20
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(20),GETDATE(),100) -- Jul 10 2007 12:23PM
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),102) -- 2007.07.10
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),103) -- 10/07/2007
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),104) -- 10.07.2007
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),105) -- 10-07-2007
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),106) -- 10 Jul 2007
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),107) -- Jul 10, 2007
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(10),GETDATE(),108) -- 12:17:50
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(20),GETDATE(),109) -- Jul 10 2007 12:21:27
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),110) -- 07-10-20
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),111) -- 2007/07/10
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),GETDATE(),112) -- 20070710
SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(20),GETDATE(),113) -- 10 Jul 2007 12:20:36

Hope this helps..

Asp.Net Tools for Developers

Fiddler HTTP Debugger - HTTP debugging proxy
Lutz Roeder's .NET Reflector - .NET assembly browser, explorer, analyser and decompiler
FxCop - . NET best-practice code analyser
C# Snippet Compiler - Lightweight C# code snippet compiler
Sysinternals DebugView - Monitors debug output on a local or remote computer
WinMerge - Visual text file differencing and merging tool
GhostDoc - Visual Studio add-in that automatically generates XML documentation
CopySourceAsHtml - Visual Studio add-in that copies syntax-highlighted code to the clipboard as HTML
NUnit - Unit-testing framework for .NET
SQL Prompt - IntelliSense style auto-completion for SQL Server

Enterprise Library June 2005 Instrumentation Issue

Enterprise Library June 2005 Instrumentation Issue

I got this error in one of the site that I am recently when i did my installation ( win 2000, .Net 1.1) Access to performance data was denied to ASPNET as attempted from C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspnet_wp.exe Access to performance data was denied to ASPNET as attempted from C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspnet_wp.exe System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for "Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Instrumentation.DataConnectionFailedEvent" threw an exception. ---> System.Security.SecurityException: Requested registry access is not allowed. at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.OpenSubKey(String name, Boolean writable) at System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource(String source, String logName, String machineName, Boolean useMutex) at System.Diagnostics.EventLog.WriteEntry(String message, EventLogEntryType type, Int32 eventID, Int16 category, Byte[] rawData) at System.Diagnostics.EventLog.WriteEntry(String message, EventLogEntryType type, Int32 eventID, Int16 category) at System.Diagnostics.EventLog.WriteEntry(String message, EventLogEntryType type, Int32 eventID) at System.Diagnostics.EventLog.WriteEntry(String message, EventLogEntryType type) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Instrumentation.PerformanceCounterInstances.ReportCounterFailure(String message) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Instrumentation.PerformanceCounterInstances..ctor(String categoryName, String counterName, Boolean createNewInstance) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Instrumentation.InstrumentedEvent.AddPerformanceCounter(String category, String[] counterNames, Boolean createNewInstance) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Instrumentation.InstrumentedEvent.Initialize(String counterCategory, String[] counterNames, Boolean createNewInstance, String eventLogSource, EventLogIdentifier[] eventIds) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Instrumentation.InstrumentedEvent..ctor(String counterCategory, String[] counterNames, Boolean createNewInstance, String eventLogSource, EventLogIdentifier[] eventIds) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Instrumentation.DataServiceEvent..ctor(String[] counterNames, EventLogIdentifier[] eventLogIds) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Instrumentation.DataConnectionFailedEvent..ctor(String[] counterNames, EventLogIdentifier[] eventLogIDs) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Instrumentation.DataConnectionFailedEvent..cctor() --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Instrumentation.DataConnectionFailedEvent.Fire(String connectionString) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Instrumentation.DataInstrumentationFacade.ConnectionFailed(String connectionString) at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Database.OpenConnection() at Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Database.ExecuteReader(DBCommandWrapper command) at Abn.DataAccessLayer.SqlClient.SqlCancerTypeProviderBase.GetAll(TransactionManager transactionManager, Int32 start, Int32 pageLength) at Abn.DataAccessLayer.Bases.CancerTypeProviderBase.GetAll() at Abn.Facade.AbnOncologyFacade.GetAllCancerType() at AbnWebApplication.OncologySearchPage.LoadCancerType() at AbnWebApplication.OncologySearchPage.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) at System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() After doing some googling found couple of direction to solve the problem. Thought I should post all the link for future reference.

http://blogs.msdn.com/tomholl/archive/2005/02/18/376187.aspx
http://scottonwriting.net/sowblog/posts/3406.aspx
http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/022305-1.aspx
http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/030905-1.aspx
http://codebetter.com/blogs/eric.wise/archive/2005/03/21/60163.aspx
http://www.thescripts.com/forum/thread376376.html
http://objectsharp.com/blogs/bruce/archive/2003/12/05/222.aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329291

This was giving a hard time even after assigning permission to the registry and following most the resolutions suggested in the above links etc. But at the end rebooting the server probably did the trick and things started working as expected.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Quick start Tutorials and videos for Asp.Net Ajax /xml

All the following Videos are available in this blog
http://blogs.interfacett.com/dan-wahlins-blog/

Video: Viewing Albums with WPF/E and ASP.NET AJAX
Video: Edit XML Data with the XmlDocument Class
Video: Using XPath with the XmlDocument Class
Video: Parsing XML with the XmlDocument Class
Video: Debugging ASP.NET AJAX Applications with VS.NET 2005
Video: Calling Web Services with ASP.NET AJAX and JavaScript
Video: Using the ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel, Triggers and PageRequestManager
Video: Minimize Code with TableAdapters and Strongly-Typed DataSets
Video: ASP.NET AJAX, XML and Web Services (with a little Virtual Earth)

Difference between ExecuteReader,ExecuteScalar and ExecuteNonQuery

ExecuteReader: Use for accessing data, it provides a forward-only, read-only, connected recordset.
ExecuteScalar: Use for retriving Single value i.e 1 row 1 column value. Eg: for retriving aggregate function. Its faster than other ways fo retriving a single value from Database
ExecuteNonQurey: Use for data manipulation, such as Insert, update and delete

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Sharepoint Resources