.NET BASH : Vajira Jayamanna

Microsoft Visual Studio 2011 IDE Features

2011-10-21T09:49:00.001+05:30

C#.NET Generic List Sorting

2011-10-08T21:48:00.000+05:30

http://paigecsharp.blogspot.com/2007/07/generic-list-sorting.html

LINQ Query Samples

2011-10-08T21:34:00.002+05:30

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/bb688084.aspx

.Net C# Data Types and Value vs Reference Types

2011-10-08T21:29:00.002+05:30

Value Type and Reference Type: http://www.electrical-res.com/value-types-and-reference-types/
Data Types: http://www.codersource.net/microsoft-net/c-basics-tutorials/c-net-data-types.aspx

Practical UML : A Hands-On Introduction for Developers

2011-10-08T21:08:00.000+05:30

Refer : http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/31863

Enable SQL SERVER default port 1433 to fix error : 40 – could not open a connection to SQL server

2011-10-08T21:05:00.002+05:30

Refer : http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/04/23/sql-server-fix-error-40-could-not-open-a-connection-to-sql-server/

Speed Up ASP.NET Site - Performance Tips

2011-10-07T11:45:00.001+05:30

Good article on increase performance on ASP.NET site.

http://www.sitepoint.com/aspnet-performance-tips/

The Interconnected World of Tech Companies [INFOGRAPHIC]

2011-10-05T11:27:00.007+05:30

Original post and credit goes to below, do visit www.mashable.com site for more information
http://mashable.com/2011/07/19/tech-companies-infographic/

String Format for Int [C#]

2011-09-20T04:24:00.001+05:30

Integer numbers can be formatted in .NET in many ways. You can use static method String.Format or instance method int.ToString.

String.Format("{0:00000}", 15); // "00015"

String.Format("{0:00000}", -15); // "-00015"

String.Format("{0,5}", 15);              // "   15"

String.Format("{0,-5}", 15);             // "15   "

String.Format("{0,5:000}", 15);          // "  015"

String.Format("{0,-5:000}", 15);         // "015  "

String.Format("{0:+### ### ### ###}", 447900123456); // "+447 900 123 456"

String.Format("{0:##-####-####}", 8958712551);       // "89-5871-2551"

String Format for Double [C#]

2011-09-14T10:21:00.002+05:30

The following examples show how to format float numbers to string in C#. You can use static method String.Format or instance methods double.ToString and float.ToString.

// just two decimal places

String.Format("{0:0.00}", 123.4567); // "123.46"

String.Format("{0:0.00}", 123.4); // "123.40"

String.Format("{0:0.00}", 123.0); // "123.00"

// max. two decimal places

String.Format("{0:0.##}", 123.4567); // "123.46"

String.Format("{0:0.##}", 123.4); // "123.4"

String.Format("{0:0.##}", 123.0); // "123"

// at least two digits before decimal point

String.Format("{0:00.0}", 123.4567); // "123.5"

String.Format("{0:00.0}", 23.4567); // "23.5"

String.Format("{0:00.0}", 3.4567); // "03.5"

String.Format("{0:00.0}", -3.4567); // "-03.5"

String.Format("{0:0,0.0}", 12345.67); // "12,345.7"

String.Format("{0:0,0}", 12345.67); // "12,346"

String.Format("{0:0.0}", 0.0); // "0.0"

String.Format("{0:0.#}", 0.0); // "0"

String.Format("{0:#.0}", 0.0); // ".0"

String.Format("{0:#.#}", 0.0); // ""

String.Format("{0,10:0.0}", 123.4567); // " 123.5"

String.Format("{0,-10:0.0}", 123.4567); // "123.5 "

String.Format("{0,10:0.0}", -123.4567); // " -123.5"

String.Format("{0,-10:0.0}", -123.4567); // "-123.5 "

String.Format("{0:0.00;minus 0.00;zero}", 123.4567); // "123.46"

String.Format("{0:0.00;minus 0.00;zero}", -123.4567); // "minus 123.46"

String.Format("{0:0.00;minus 0.00;zero}", 0.0); // "zero"

String.Format("{0:my number is 0.0}", 12.3); // "my number is 12.3"

String.Format("{0:0aaa.bbb0}", 12.3); // "12aaa.bbb3"

Original post is this

Get Users IP Address - ASP.NET , C#.NET

2011-09-14T08:10:00.000+05:30

You can use below code to get IP address of the user.

public static string GetIPAddress()

{

System.Web.HttpContext context = System.Web.HttpContext.Current;

string sIPAddress = context.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"];

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(sIPAddress))

{

return context.Request.ServerVariables["REMOTE_ADDR"];

}

else

{

string[] ipArray = sIPAddress.Split(new Char[] { ',' });

return ipArray[0];

}

How to avoid login credentials using #if DEBUG

2011-09-05T14:22:00.002+05:30

When developing a website it will be very annoying to type username and password all the time. Most people hardcord the values and check in such cases. But there is a better way by using the #if DEBUG option. This is just a one scenario that #if DEBUG can be used.

Sample Code:

#if DEBUG

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.txtEmail.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.txtPassword.Text))

{

this.txtEmail.Text = "test@test.com";

this.txtPassword.Text = "password";

}

#endif

This is only works in debug mode. Do not forget to erase this code when publishing. Thanks to Priyan I got to know this.

Custom datatable class in C#.NET

2011-09-05T14:01:00.001+05:30

This is about a custom data table class which I needed in my last project. Scenario wise I had to store "Income Tax" data in a table dynamically, so it was very easy for me to use it as a custom data table class and access the properties.

IncomeTax.cs class

using System;

using System.Data;

using System.Runtime.Serialization;

namespace xxxxxx.CalculatorModule.IncomeCalculator

{

public delegate void IncomeTaxRowChangedDlgt(IncomeTax sender, IncomeTaxRowChangedEventArgs args);

[System.Serializable]

public class IncomeTaxRowChangedEventArgs

{

protected DataRowAction action;

protected IncomeTaxRow row;

public DataRowAction Action

{

get { return action; }

}

public IncomeTaxRow Row

{

get { return row; }

}

public IncomeTaxRowChangedEventArgs(DataRowAction action, IncomeTaxRow row)

{

this.action = action;

this.row = row;

}

[System.Serializable]

public class IncomeTax : DataTable

{

public event IncomeTaxRowChangedDlgt IncomeTaxRowChanged;

public IncomeTaxRow this[int idx]

{

get { return (IncomeTaxRow)Rows[idx]; }

}

public IncomeTax()

{

Columns.Add(new DataColumn("GrossIncome", typeof(double)));

Columns.Add(new DataColumn("Tax", typeof(double)));

Columns.Add(new DataColumn("NetIncome", typeof(double)));

}

public IncomeTax(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)

: base(info, context)

{

}

public void Add(IncomeTaxRow row)

{

Rows.Add(row);

}

public void Remove(IncomeTaxRow row)

{

Rows.Remove(row);

}

public IncomeTaxRow GetNewRow()

{

IncomeTaxRow row = (IncomeTaxRow)NewRow();

return row;

}

protected override Type GetRowType()

{

return typeof(IncomeTaxRow);

}

protected override DataRow NewRowFromBuilder(DataRowBuilder builder)

{

return new IncomeTaxRow(builder);

}

protected override void OnRowChanged(DataRowChangeEventArgs e)

{

base.OnRowChanged(e);

IncomeTaxRowChangedEventArgs args = new IncomeTaxRowChangedEventArgs(e.Action, (IncomeTaxRow)e.Row);

OnIncomeTaxRowChanged(args);

}

protected virtual void OnIncomeTaxRowChanged(IncomeTaxRowChangedEventArgs args)

{

if (IncomeTaxRowChanged != null)

{

IncomeTaxRowChanged(this, args);

}

[System.Serializable]

public class IncomeTaxRow : DataRow

{

public double GrossIncome

{

get { return (double)base["GrossIncome"]; }

set { base["GrossIncome"] = value; }

}

public double Tax

{

get { return (double)base["Tax"]; }

set { base["Tax"] = value; }

}

public double NetIncome

{

get { return (double)base["NetIncome"]; }

set { base["NetIncome"] = value; }

}

internal IncomeTaxRow(DataRowBuilder builder)

: base(builder)

{

GrossIncome = 0;

Tax = 0.00;

NetIncome = 0.00;

}

This has 3 properties which are Gross Income, Tax and Net Income. Lets see how to add data in to this. (This can be add in to another class which uses IncomeTax as property.)

public class IncomeSheet

{

public IncomeTax ClientIncomeTaxTable { get; set; }

public IncomeSheet()

{

IncomeTax pIncomeTax = new IncomeTax();

IncomeTaxRow pincomeTaxRow1 = pIncomeTax.GetNewRow();

pincomeTaxRow1.GrossIncome = 200000.00

pincomeTaxRow1.Tax = 2000.00;

pincomeTaxRow1.NetIncome = pincomeTaxRow1.GrossIncome - pincomeTaxRow1.Tax;

            pIncomeTax.Add(pincomeTaxRow1);
            ClientIncomeTaxTable = pIncomeTax;
            }
    }

By following code you can read from the table. (In aspx page or in the presentation layer)

LabelPartnerMarginalTaxRatesGrossIncome1.Text =

((IncomeTaxRow) IncomeSheet.Rows[0]).GrossIncome.ToString();

LabelPartnerMarginalTaxRatesTaxPaid1.Text =

((IncomeTaxRow) IncomeSheet.Rows[0]).Tax.ToString();

LabelPartnerMarginalTaxRatesNetIncome1.Text =

((IncomeTaxRow) IncomeSheet.Rows[0]).NetIncome.ToString();

Bind an Enum to a DropDownList control in ASP.NET

2011-09-05T13:44:00.001+05:30

Following describe how to bind a enum values in to a Dropdown list in ASP.NET and C#.NET

class InterestRate (This is the emum)

public enum InterestRate

{

Rate0000 = 0000,

Rate0050 = 0050,

Rate0100 = 0100,

Rate0150 = 0150,

Rate0200 = 0200

}

class EnumUtil (This is the class which contain the GetAll method by passing the enum)

public static IDictionary<int, string> GetAll() where TEnum : struct

{

var enumerationType = typeof(TEnum);

if (!enumerationType.IsEnum)

throw new ArgumentException("Enumeration type is expected.");

var dictionary = new Dictionary<int, string>();

foreach (int value in Enum.GetValues(enumerationType))

{

var name = Enum.GetName(enumerationType, value);

dictionary.Add(value, name);

}

return dictionary;

}

class InterestRateManager (This is just a manager class which calls the GetAll method - can skip this part)

public static IDictionary<int, string> GetAllInterestRateValues()

{

return EnumUtil.GetAll<InterestRate>();

}

How to bind DropDownList in the ASPX form

InterestRate.aspx

<asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownListInterestRate" runat="server" asp:DropDownList>

InterestRate.aspx.cs

DropDownListInterestRate.DataSource = InterestRateManager.GetAllInterestRateValues();

DropDownListInterestRate.DataTextField = "value";

DropDownListInterestRate.DataValueField = "key";

DropDownListInterestRate.DataBind();

How to read from Dropdownlist

InterestRate.aspx.cs

(InterestRate)Enum.Parse(typeof(InterestRate), DropDownListInterestRate.SelectedValue);

Assign the value according to the requirement.

Layered Architecture Sample For .NET - Using SQL Helper Class

2011-08-28T22:34:00.003+05:30

I am presenting a sample layered architecture for .NET which is using a SQL Helper class as the data persistence. Below shows the hierarchy of the architecture. On this there are 3 major layers (base on 3 tier architecture) which is Data Layer, Business Logic Layer and the Presentation Layer.

For the data layer I have use the SQL Helper class (previously described on this link) for data persistence. Full project can be found on below link and anyone can use this as a template for your projects on .NET.

I will be writing a separate post describing a project template on Entity Framework and Unit Of Work Wrapper on .NETbash soon...!

Sample SQL Helper Class in C#.NET

2011-08-26T21:56:00.004+05:30

ORM (Object Relational Mapping) uses frequently among the new developers as well as tech leads and architects, but the old fashion SQL Helper class is still among my favorite because of its reliability, speed and adaptability. So I thought of sharing a sample SQL helper class and how it can be use in a project.

Below is the simple architecture you can follow.

Note that this is a basic 3 tier architecture as you have the Data Layer, Business Layer and the Presentation Layer. The Data Layer will have the SQL Helper class which I want to highlight on this post.

I will attach the full code of a sample project about this simple architecture in a separate post so that anyone can reuse the structure on their projects.

Bellow is the SQL Helper class. This class contains all basic functions such as "ExecuteReader", "ExecuteDataSet", "ExecuteNonQuery" and "ExecuteScalar".

Many people use similar SQL Helper classes and you can also find different ways of implementations. All the latest ORM tools uses wrappers of these kind of SQL Helper classes.

SQLHelper.cs class can be download from below link.

I have paste the code below as well. Any improvements are always welcome.

  public class SqlHelper
    {
        #region Reader
  /// Returns a datareader for the sql command

public static SqlDataReader ExecuteReader( string connectionString, string cmdText, CommandType type, SqlParameter[] prms )

        {
            SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection( connectionString );
            using ( SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand( cmdText, conn ) )
            {
                cmd.CommandType = type;

                if ( prms != null )
                {
                    foreach ( SqlParameter p in prms )
                    {
                        cmd.Parameters.Add( p );
                    }
                }
                conn.Open();
                return cmd.ExecuteReader( CommandBehavior.CloseConnection );
            }
        }

  /// Returns a datareader for the sql command
  public static SqlDataReader ExecuteReader( string connectionString, string cmdText, CommandType type )
        {
            return ExecuteReader( connectionString, cmdText, type, null );
        }
        #endregion

        #region DataSet
  /// Returns a dataset for the sql command

public static DataSet ExecuteDataSet( string connectionString, string cmdText, CommandType type, SqlParameter[] prms )

        {            using ( SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection( connectionString ) )
            {
                DataSet ds = new DataSet();
                using ( SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand( cmdText, conn ) )
                {
                    cmd.CommandType = type;
                    if ( prms != null )
                    {
                        foreach ( SqlParameter p in prms )
                        {
                            cmd.Parameters.Add( p );
                        }
                    }
                    SqlDataAdapter adpt = new SqlDataAdapter( cmd );
                    adpt.Fill( ds );
                    return ds;
                }
            }
        }

/// Returns a dataset for the sql command
public static DataSet ExecuteDataSet( string connectionString, string cmdText, CommandType type )

        {
            return ExecuteDataSet( connectionString, cmdText, type, null );
        }

        #endregion

        #region NonQuery

/// Executes a non query
public static int ExecuteNonQuery( string connectionString, string cmdText, CommandType type, SqlParameter[] prms )

        {
            using ( SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection( connectionString ) )
            {
                using ( SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand( cmdText, conn ) )
                {
                    cmd.CommandType = type;

                    if ( prms != null )
                    {
                        foreach ( SqlParameter p in prms )
                        {
                            cmd.Parameters.Add( p );
                        }
                    }
                    conn.Open();
                    return cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
                }
            }
        }

  /// Executes a non query

public static int ExecuteNonQuery( string connectionString, string cmdText, CommandType type )

        {
            return ExecuteNonQuery( connectionString, cmdText, type, null );
        }
        #endregion

        #region Scalar
     /// Returns the scalar object of the query

public static object ExecuteScalar( string connectionString, string cmdText, CommandType type, SqlParameter[] prms )

        {
            using ( SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection( connectionString ) )
            {
                using ( SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand( cmdText, conn ) )
                {
                    cmd.CommandType = type;
                    if ( prms != null )
                    {
                        foreach ( SqlParameter p in prms )
                        {
                            cmd.Parameters.Add( p );
                        }
                    }
                    conn.Open();
                    return cmd.ExecuteScalar();
                }
            }
        }

/// Returns the scalar object of the query
public static object ExecuteScalar( string connectionString, string cmdText, CommandType type )

        {
            return ExecuteScalar( connectionString, cmdText, type, null );
        }
        #endregion
    }

Visual Studio 2010 Certification Paths - MCTS, MCPD, MCITP

2011-07-28T08:59:00.002+05:30

Full pdf can be found in below link.

(This is taken from the official page of Microsoft exams.)

How to send an encrypted email – C#.NET

2011-07-20T15:06:00.003+05:30

Following code can be use to send an encrypted email. Use a .cer or any other certificate file which contains certificate. You can use IsHtmlEmail = true; if you want to use rich html.

Namespaces used:

using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

using System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs;

(if above namespace is not include on Security dll please use .Net Framework 3.5 service pack updated dll)

Code:

string CertificatePath = "C:\\certfile.cer";

string MailServer = "SMTP.XXXX.XXX";

string EmailRecipient = "testrecepient@test.com.au";

string EmailSender = "testsender@test.com.au";

string EmailSubject = "sample secure email";

string EmailBody = "This is a secure email";

bool IsHtmlEmail = false;

//Load the certificate

X509Certificate2 EncryptCert = new X509Certificate2(CertificatePath);

//Build the body into a string

StringBuilder Message = new StringBuilder();

Message.AppendLine("Content-Type: text/" +((IsHtmlEmail) ? "html" : "plain") + "; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"");

Message.AppendLine("Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit");
Message.AppendLine();

Message.AppendLine(EmailBody);

//Convert the body to bytes

byte[] BodyBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(Message.ToString());

//Build the e-mail body bytes into a secure envelope

EnvelopedCms Envelope = new EnvelopedCms(new ContentInfo(BodyBytes));

CmsRecipient Recipient = new CmsRecipient(

SubjectIdentifierType.IssuerAndSerialNumber, EncryptCert);

Envelope.Encrypt(Recipient);

byte[] EncryptedBytes = Envelope.Encode();

//Creat the mail message

MailMessage Msg = new MailMessage();

Msg.To.Add(new MailAddress(EmailRecipient));

Msg.From = new MailAddress(EmailSender);

Msg.Subject = EmailSubject;

//Attach the encrypted body to the email as and ALTERNATE VIEW

MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(EncryptedBytes);

AlternateView av = new AlternateView(ms,"application/pkcs7-mime; smime-type=signed-data;name=smime.p7m");

Msg.AlternateViews.Add(av);

SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient(MailServer, 25);

//send the email

smtp.Send(Msg);

jQuery Scripts or Inline Java Script stops working after adding AJAX ScriptManager

2011-06-21T21:56:00.000+05:30

When you use jQuery or inline JavaScripts with AJAX Script Manage, some of them might not be called. Following is the work around.

Get jQuery scripts under a new method and call them on document.ready as well as on endrequest. Thanks to Samera I get to know in deep on this.

<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server">

asp:ScriptManager>

var prm = Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance();

prm.add_endRequest(EndRequest);

$(document).ready(function () {

CallDates();

});

function EndRequest(sender, args) {

CallDates();

}

function CallDates() {

$("#<%=DatepickerShipmentDateFrom.ClientID%>").datepicker();

$("#<%=DatepickerShipmentDateTo.ClientID%>").datepicker();

}

script>

You can use UpdatePanel after this.

How to use window.open method - Java Script

2011-05-06T00:42:00.001+05:30

Syntax :

window.open(URL, [windowName], [windowFeatures])

Sample:

window.open(url, "reports", "status=0,toolbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,location=0,scrollbars=1");

Description:

URL : The URL of the page to open in the new window. This argument could be blank.

windowName : A name to be given to the new window. The name can be used to refer this window again.

windowFeatures : A string that determines the various window features to be included in the popup window (like status bar, address bar etc). All the feature are as below;

status-The status bar at the bottom of the window.
toolbar-The standard browser toolbar, with buttons such as Back and Forward.
location-The Location entry field where you enter the URL.
menubar-The menu bar of the window
directories-The standard browser directory buttons, such as What’s New and What’s Cool
resizable-Allow/Disallow the user to resize the window.
scrollbars-Enable the scrollbars if the document is bigger than the window
height-Specifies the height of the window in pixels. (example: height=’350′)
width-Specifies the width of the window in pixels.

Read more form : http://www.javascript-coder.com/window-popup/javascript-window-open.phtml

Entity Framework POCO (EF4): Generic Repository and Unit of Work Prototype

2011-05-05T13:28:00.004+05:30

If you are using EF4, I can recommend you to use EF4 with Repository pattern and Unit Of Work patten. DevTalk example can be found in below link.

DevTalk Example

Following links will describe how to use this:

http://elegantcode.com/2009/12/15/entity-framework-ef4-generic-repository-and-unit-of-work-prototype/

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2009/06/16/using-repository-and-unit-of-work-patterns-with-entity-framework-4-0.aspx

http://huyrua.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/entity-framework-4-poco-repository-and-specification-pattern/

Response.Redirect() - How to open in a new window

2011-05-05T12:57:00.001+05:30

Normally Response.Redirect() method redirect the page to the same window. So if you want to open it in a new windows following extension can be used.

public static class ResponseHelper

{

public static void Redirect(HttpResponse response,

string url,

string target,

string windowFeatures)

{

if ((String.IsNullOrEmpty(target) ||

target.Equals("_self", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) &&

String.IsNullOrEmpty(windowFeatures))

{

response.Redirect(url);

}

else

{

var page = (Page) HttpContext.Current.Handler;

if (page == null)

{

throw new InvalidOperationException(

"Cannot redirect to new window outside Page context.");

}

url = page.ResolveClientUrl(url);

string script;

if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(windowFeatures))

{

script = @"window.open(""{0}"", ""{1}"", ""{2}"");";

}

else

{

script = @"window.open(""{0}"", ""{1}"");";

}

script = String.Format(script, url, target, windowFeatures);

ScriptManager.RegisterStartupScript(page,

typeof (Page),

"Redirect",

script,

true);

}

How to use this in the page or code behind

ResponseHelper.Redirect(HttpContext.Current.Response, "URL", "_blank", "status=0,toolbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,location=0");

Note that above extension code is using the java script "window.open". I will post all the features of window.open and window.showModalDialog in a separate post.

Free SSMS Tools Pack (SQL Server)

2011-05-05T12:45:00.001+05:30

SSMS Tools Pack is an add-in for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, 2011 (Denali) CTP1 and their respective Express versions. It contains a few upgrades to the SSMS IDE that seems to be missing missing. This very useful and its free.

Download the latest from below:

http://www.ssmstoolspack.com/Download

Changing the Visual Studio Background & Font Color

2011-02-15T11:25:00.001+05:30

This is a cool feature of Visual studio which most of the developers use now. You can change the default settings of background color and font colors etc of Visual Studio as you want.

Go to: Tools --> Options --> Environment --> Fonts and Colors

Change the settings as you preferred.

How to run ASP.NET MVC 3 app on a web server that doesn’t have ASP.NET MVC 3 installed

2011-01-20T16:23:00.000+05:30

Can this possible? To run a ASP.NET MVC 3 application in a server which does not have ASP.NET MVC 3 installed. ScottGu's Blog has the answer. Read this

Active HttpModules In ASP.NET - How To Get?

2010-12-22T05:17:00.003+05:30

There is a way to get the list of all active HttpModules during run time. Use following code.

//Get Application Instance from Current Content
HttpApplication httpApps = HttpContext.Current.ApplicationInstance;
        
//Get List of modules in module collections
HttpModuleCollection httpModuleCollections = httpApps.Modules;
        
Response.Write("Total Number Active HttpModule : "

+ httpModuleCollections.Count.ToString() + "");
Response.Write("List of Active Modules" + "");
foreach (string activeModule in httpModuleCollections.AllKeys)
{
Response.Write(activeModule + "");
}

Following is the result.

This is very useful if you create a custom module and you want to check whether it is loaded in runtime.

For more details refer this link.

ASP.NET GridView Tips and Tricks

2010-11-16T20:04:00.002+05:30

Jetbrains Resharper Code Cleanup Settings

2010-10-28T14:57:00.002+05:30

This is the settings which I used for code cleanup in Visual Studio using Resharper. This might help for anyone who do the same.

To change these settings go to ReSharper--> Options-->Code Cleanup

Following are the settings which seems suitable for code clean ups.

Installing and Managing Visual Studio Extensions: Visual Studio 2010 Extension Manager

2010-10-16T02:45:00.005+05:30

This is a very cool and a very useful feature of Visual Studio 2010. The Extension Manager who manage Visual Studio Extensions. From this you can get good extensions (add-ons) to visual studio which make your coding life easier.

Go to Tools--> Extension Manager

Then you will have this nice popup which shows what extensions you have already installed and what are available online and what are need to be updated etc.

Some extensions I have used...

POCO Entity Generator - For Entity Framework 4.0, To create POCO Entities.
Snippet Designer - Create code snippet in Visual Studio
Tangible T4 Editor - Provides IntelliSense and syntax highlight for T4 templates

Read more on MSDN :)

Code Coverage Using VS2010 & TFS2010

2010-09-28T08:00:00.007+05:30

This article is about one cool feature of Visual Studio 2010. Yes.. its code coverage. I am experiencing a lot of features of VS2010 and TFS2010 (Team Foundation Server) these days and this is one of my favorite. Lets see how to achieve that.

After completion of your code and the unit test of that code, 1st step is to "Create New Test" list.

Then select the unit tests to run with the build. Save the file. This .vsmdi will save under 'Solution Items'.

In the 'Solution Items' folder you can find two testsettings files.

Open them separately and apply the following modifications to it.

Code Coverage enabled in 'Data and Diagnostics' section. Go to 'Configure' in the same section and add the necessary assembles of you project.

After that go to 'Unit Test' section and configure the assembly paths as bellow. (this should be change according to you project)

Now its done. Lets check now. Double click the check list (.vsmdi file) which we created earlier under 'Solution Items' folder and run it as bellow.

Whooooh..... Now you will get the code coverage results....If the code coverage window did not appear go to 'Test-->Windows-->Code Coverage Results'.

Happy Coding.....!!!

Important: ASP.NET Security Vulnerability

2010-09-22T18:52:00.006+05:30

This came out last week. An ASP.NET Vulnerability which effect to all .NET application. For an example, this allows attackers to download files such as web.config which usually contains sensitive data and readout ViewState data also.

So this is serious but it has a fix.....More can be read from following links of ScottGu's Blog.

Full Details:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/18/important-asp-net-security-vulnerability.aspx

Updates:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/24/update-on-asp-net-vulnerability.aspx

Frequently Ask Questions:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/20/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-asp-net-security-vulnerability.aspx

Visual Studio 2010 Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-08-26T01:56:00.002+05:30

A useful article related to Visual Studio 2010 shortcuts can be found under ScottsGu's blog here

Link: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/07/29/visual-studio-2010-keyboard-shortcuts.aspx

Download Keybinding poster in PDF format from here.

SQL Server 2008 : Changing Default ‘Edit Top 200 Rows’

2010-08-05T18:52:00.001+05:30

In SQL Server 2008, The default values are 200 for Edit and Select rows. But this can be increased to 1000 or it can specify to get all rows by adding 0 value.

Go to Tools --> Options --> Commands

Specify the values as you need.

The reason behind to limit this should be because users can accidentally pull back entire tables, which can led to unnecessary resource hits on SQL.

Enable DTC When Transaction Scope Will Not Work

2010-06-12T11:07:00.002+05:30

When you implement Transaction Scope to your code, sometimes it will not work untill you enable DTC on you computer. This is the way to do so.

Go to Control Panel --> Administrative Tools

Then Go to Component Services --> Local DTC

Go to "Security" Tab and Enable following settings.

Enable DTC on "Windows Firewall" also.

That is it..This will fix most of the problems regarding Transaction Scope :)

"Saving changes is not permitted" : SQL Server 2008 Error

2010-06-05T19:02:00.002+05:30

This is something I got to know recently after working with SQL Management Studio 2008. After creating Tables and try to edit them, following error message pop-up and I am not be able to do any more changes.

This seems to be a design feature of the SQL Management Studio 2008. What you can do is to chage some settings as follows.

This will fix the problem. No more irritating messages on Management Studio :)

How To Find A SQL Server Database Object

2010-05-13T14:10:00.006+05:30

This is a way to find SQL Server objects, such as tables by querying the sysobjects system table.
Here's the command.

Select * From sysobjects Where type = 'U'

This will be very useful when you cannot see databases in the DB server (may be due to security restrictions). After seeing the tables now you can query and do any work.

Released: Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4.0, ASP.NET 4.0, MVC 2.0

2010-05-05T20:39:00.002+05:30

.NET Framework 4.0, ASP.NET 4.0, MVC 2.0 was released with Visual Studio 2010 few weeks back. VS2010 is released with 4 editions and as expected you will get all the benefits from the Ultimate one. Final release of VS2010 is more faster than Beta and RC releases. Anyway get ready with a highly configured computers as it will be worth coding on VS2010.

Enhancements To Increase Performance In Entity Framework

2010-05-02T08:17:00.011+05:30

"If you are using the .Net Entity Framework, then you need to understand and use best practices for improving its performance, or you will suffer the consequences!"
This is something we have experienced after doing projects with Entity Framework.

We have found some interesting stuffs to increase performance after googling. These are the key areas you can look into when you want to increase performance in EF.

1. View Generation (56%)
This is creating the views manually so that the the .ssdl, .csdl, and .msl files are created before run time of the project.This is the way to do so.
   1. Open the project that contains your Entity Framework project.
   2. Open the EDMX file in the designer.
   3. Click the background of the model to open the model's Properties window.
   4. Change the Metadata Artifact Processing property to: Copy to Output Directory.
   5. Save the project- this will create the .ssdl, .csdl, and .msl in bin files.
Now you need to define the Metadata to those files. Which will come under next point.

2. Initializing Metadata and Loading Metadata (25%)

Now you need to modify the connection string in web.config file as follows.

Embedded resources are specified as : Metadata=res://namesace
Note when you use wildcard for the assemblyFullName (*), the Entity Framework has to look through the calling, referenced, and side-by-side assemblies for resources with the correct name. To improve performance, always specify the assembly name instead of the wildcard. There are other ways to specify also. Read more on

3. Opening Connection (8%)
Since EF open and close DB connections itself, sometime it will create us problems. So in that case we can open and close the connections manually. Use this only if it needed, else let the EF handle it self.

using (DBEntities context = new EBEntities())
{
    // Explicitly open the connection.    
    context.Connection.Open();

// DO THE CODE
    // The connection is closed when the object context
    // is disposed because it is no longer in scope.

4. Materialization (7%)
Use Entity Framework Extensions to increase on this. You can customize your entities using this. Lot of issues with EF (3.5) can be resolved using these extensions. Thanks to my friend Manjula who found this and introduced to us.

Other Best Practices To Follow:

Use Stored Procedures, Use compiled LINQ queries if using LINQ
Return the correct amount of data
Limit the scope of the ObjectContext
Implement a caching mechanism in a proper way. But never cache data context since it will create concurrent issues (I will further write about this in future)

Importantly never use EF to a large systems which many users are connecting at one time. Because load will kill EF. Normally with concurrent users of 100+ will make an EF application crazy. Making an EF application to run in a good performance will be a challenge. I hope this post will help to do so at least in some way...!

I have taken these figures and details from Code Project and MSDN. Better to read them to get more details.
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/database/PerfEntityFramework.aspx?msg=3158409
http://blogs.msdn.com/dparys/archive/2009/04/06/improving-entity-framework-performance.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc853327.aspx
http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/02/adonet-framework-performance

refer my this post for a solution to this.

C#.NET : ? and ?? Operators

2010-03-23T15:36:00.005+05:30

This is regarding the ? and ?? Operators in C#.NET. Lets see how to use them.

if (Request.QueryString["param1"] != null)
param1 = Request.QueryString["param1"];
else
param1 = "";

How to use "?" operator (This is basically IF Else condition)

string param1 = Request.QueryString["param1"] != null ? Request.QueryString["param1"].ToString() : "";

How to use "??" Operator (This is used to replace null value)

string param1 = Request.QueryString["param1"] ?? "";

I have taken this from Nalaks's Blog. Read his blog for more details.

SQL SERVER 2008 Login Error Fix (Error : 40 could not open a connection to SQL server)

2010-03-14T13:27:00.002+05:30

This is a fix to a login error in SQL Server 2008 that occurred when try to login using SQL Server Management Studio 2008. I have using SQL server from a long time but this error occurred for me only when Im using Windows 7 64bit edition and SQL Server 2008.

This problem occurred when TCP/IP configurations are disabled in SQL Server Network Configurations.
Enable them as follows.

After SQL Server Service need to be restarted.

This will fix the problem. :)

String Format for DateTime [C#]

2010-03-08T13:01:00.005+05:30

This example shows how to format DateTime using String.Format method. All formatting can be done also using DateTime.ToString method.

[C#]
// create date time 2008-03-09 16:05:07.123
DateTime dt = new DateTime(2008, 3, 9, 16, 5, 7, 123);

String.Format("{0:y yy yyy yyyy}", dt);
// "8 08 008 2008" year

String.Format("{0:M MM MMM MMMM}", dt);
// "3 03 Mar March" month

String.Format("{0:d dd ddd dddd}", dt);
// "9 09 Sun Sunday" day

String.Format("{0:h hh H HH}", dt);
// "4 04 16 16" hour 12/24

String.Format("{0:m mm}", dt);
// "5 05" minute

String.Format("{0:s ss}", dt);
// "7 07" second

String.Format("{0:f ff fff ffff}", dt);
// "1 12 123 1230" sec.fraction

String.Format("{0:F FF FFF FFFF}", dt);
// "1 12 123 123" without zeroes

String.Format("{0:t tt}", dt);
// "P PM" A.M. or P.M.

String.Format("{0:z zz zzz}", dt);
// "-6 -06 -06:00" time zone

// date separator in german culture is "." (so "/" changes to ".")
String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt);
// "9/3/2008 16:05:07" - english (en-US)

String.Format("{0:d.M.yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt);
// "9.3.2008 16:05:07" - german (de-DE)

// month/day numbers without/with leading zeroes
String.Format("{0:M/d/yyyy}", dt);
// "3/9/2008"

String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dt);
// "03/09/2008"

// day/month names
String.Format("{0:ddd, MMM d, yyyy}", dt);
// "Sun, Mar 9, 2008"

String.Format("{0:dddd, MMMM d, yyyy}", dt);
// "Sunday, March 9, 2008"

// two/four digit year
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yy}", dt);
// "03/09/08"

String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dt);
// "03/09/2008"

More can be read from the following URL :
http://www.csharp-examples.net/string-format-datetime/

ASP.NET 4.0: New Chart Control

2010-02-07T20:27:00.002+05:30

New ASP.NET 4.0 which comes with Visual Studio 2010 has come up with a new control called "Chart".
Lets see how we can use that....

Chart Control can be found under the Data section of Toolbox. Drag and drop that to your form for the next step.

From the Chart Task option select the data source you want to include. I am going to chose SQL Data Source and I will take data from AdventureWorks database as follows. I will not show all the steps of selecting data source and DB connection as they are very basics.

After selecting and configuring the data source you can see there are 3 things to set on Chart Control,

Chart Type: This is the type of the chart you want to display.
X Value: This is value for the X axis.
Y Value: This is value for the Y axis.

Now lets run the project and see how it shows on the browser.

Thats it...it is relay a very simple job to create charts on ASP.NET 4.0
Hats off to Visual Studio 2010...!

Visual Studio 2010 - ASP.NET 4.0 : Next Generation Of Web Apps?

2010-02-06T22:51:00.007+05:30

Its all changed on Visual Studio 2010 from the API.
Lets see what are the changes we can see from the start.

Well this is the first look, which seems to have add some features in a new look :)

Lets see what are the changes with WEB Applications,

As seen in above, There are set of project types related with Web Applications.
It seems like Web Apps in Visual Studio 2010 have taken many features from MVC 1.0. because if you select 'ASP.NET Web Application' option it will have the similar structure and contents of MVC 1.0.
Anyway the old ASP.NET Apps can be created using 'Empty ASP.NET Web Application' option.
Since MVC Apps behaves differently than ASP.NET apps, MVC 2.0 applications can be created as separate project type.

Following image shows that the ASP.NET Web Apps include the similar contents and features like user registration module, jQuery integration & the structure which came with MVC 1.0.

There are more new types like 'Dynamic Data Linq to SQL Web Application' which uses LinqToSql and 'Dynamic Data Entities Web Application' which uses Entity Framework. There are more with Web Services also. I will come up in detail with them in a future post.
So it is good to see that Web Applications are moving to the new level.
Happy cording in future :)

.Net Framework : Main Changes

2010-01-27T21:54:00.002+05:30

This post is about a summary of .Net Framework 1.1 to 4.0.
I have created a draft so that everyone can remember the main changes that happened so far. Hope this will help all new comers and everyone in the world of .NET cording.

Tech.Ed 2010 Sri Lanka (Feb 8 - 10)

2010-01-15T19:04:00.002+05:30

Naming Conventions for .NET and C# Projects

2010-01-07T16:19:00.001+05:30

This post is to all the tech guys and girls uses .NET
A good naming conventions can be found in the following URL

URL : http://www.akadia.com/services/naming_conventions.html

Happy and Smart Cording...!

ASP.NET MVC Part 1: Hello World

2009-12-12T17:12:00.004+05:30

It’s time to say Hello World to ASP.NET MVC. This is Part 1 of my MVC lessons after the MVC Introduction post. From this post I'm going to show you how to create a very basic ASP.NET MVC application. I am using Visual Studio 2008 to create this application.

Step 1: Open Visual Studio 2008, Go to File-->New-->New Project. Choose the template ASP.NET MVC Web Application as shown below.

Step 2: Now you will get a pop up asking whether you wants to create a Unit Test project for this application. For the moment say ‘OK’ to that but we don’t use that in this simple application.

STEP 3: Now…You can see bunch of things already include on the project. You can see 3 main parts. That is Controllers, Models and Views. I have explained them in my previous post of MVC. And you can see you have two controllers already defined. And two Views also defined already. They are Home Controller and Account Controller. You will understand once you run the project. As shown in below on the Internet Explorer I have run the project. It has two tabs (‘Home’ and ‘About’) are from Home Controller and on the top you can see a ‘Log On’ option which comes from Account Controller. MVC has a inbuilt controller for managing users and roles.

In addition to above there are Shared folder which contains master page, common error page and a user control which uses in login. MVC also include jQuery and AJAX scripts inbuilt in ‘Script’ folder and CSS styles on ‘Context’ folder.

Step 4: Let’s do a modification to the HomeConroller.cs which affect to the About Page. Do the folowing changes highlighted in yellow.

Now lets run the project...!

You just said HELLO WORLD to MVC!!! I will be back on MVC in advance next time. :)

ASP.NET 4.0: New Change? Or Only Enhancements?

2009-11-25T22:26:00.007+05:30

Remember .NET 2.0 came with major changes like different data accessing methods/designs like LINQ, Entity Framework and WPF, WCF etc etc....The ASP.NET 4.0 which comes with Visual Studio 2010 (still in beta) has no major changes but it seems to have many improvements for WebForms, Dynamic Data & AJAX Based Web Development.

Some of the improvement and features are as follows...

Extensible Output Caching
The Incredible Shrinking Session State
Object Caching and Object Caching Extensibility
Extensible Request Validation
Performance Monitoring
ASP.NET MVC 2.0 Integration (WOW :) This will be good )
AJAX Improvements
jQuery Integration
Changes to Browser Capabilities
New Routing in ASP.NET 4 with search engine optimization (SEO)
ASP.NET Chart Control (This seems interesting :) )
Improved Data Filtering
Improved Validations
New Project Templates
CSS Improvements
Many Enhancements to the controls such as ListViews, CheckBoxLists, RadioButtonsLists, Menus, Wizards etc.
Dynamic Data
Enhancements to LINQ to SQL and Entity Framework
Web Packaging, Database Deployment (Improvements on Deployment)
many more...

More details can be found in the folowing link:
http://www.asp.net/LEARN/whitepapers/aspnet4/default.aspx

This is the poster of .NET 4.0 which is designed by "Addison Wesley". Click Here to download full PDF version. :)

We never know what will be on the final version of Visual Studio 2010 as Microsoft is know to give many surprises at the last moment :)

I will describe more details about above features in next posts.

Happy Cording In Future :)

Cheers !

Windows 7

2009-10-31T08:59:00.003+05:30

Windows 7 is the newest version of Microsoft Windows which is released few months ago. I have started to using it after Windows Vista. Not like Windows Vista, Windows 7 is very fast and light weighted. Even installing the OS it took only 10-15 minuets. It has very user friendly interface to setting up also.

Since this is released very recently Windows 7 has some minor issues. I have faced some of them so far. But hey are not critical. Hope everything will be fixed in Service Pack.
If anyone interest about Windows 7 you can experience it in the Windows 7 Social Party which will be on 6th November 2009 at Excel World. Click the following link and log in to Facebook to join it. :)

Link : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165328481181&ref=nf

Date: Friday, November 6, 2009
Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: Excel World
Street: 338, T.B. Jayah Mawatha
City/Town: Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Introduction to ASP.NET MVC

2009-10-19T13:41:00.006+05:30

WHAT IS MVC?

Model View Controller (MVC) is a architectural pattern which invented by Trygve Reenskaug (a Norwegian computer scientist born in 1930) and its first described in 1979. It’s now on all the development languages after being famous on RubyOnRails.

What I am going to describe is ASP.NET MVC, which is a Microsoft product that enables developers to easily build great web applications.

ASP.NET MVC

Model : Business Logic (Business Layer, Data layer etc) will include in the Model.
View : Takes data from Model and display in proper manner (Presentation Layer)
Controller : Calls the Model depending on the request of user and render the necessary View (Application Layer).

KEY FEATURES OF ASP.NET MVC

MVC.NET is very light weight
Fast Browsing, High Performance
No Postbacks, No Viewstates
Full control over HTML
Easy integration with Javascripts
Unit Testing Integrated
Enable Test Driven Development
Include features like membership, roles, master pages
A framework include in System.Web.MVC
No file extensions (mymvc/home/index)
Use REST URLS
Improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Quick on Development

HOW TO START?

First download and Install ASP.NET MVC framework from www.asp.net/mvc/download (~1.8MB)

ASP.NET MVC Web Application template will appear to Visual Studio 2008.

I will come up with a sample application in my next post :)