Tech Notes

Inversion of Control

2011-01-13T10:32:00.015+11:00

It breaks dependencies between classes and promote loose coupling.
IoC is about programming to interface, if A uses B, then you can create an interface I that B implements and then let A uses an instance of I.
Dependency Injection & Service Locator are two ways of implementing IoC.
Dependency Injection

Constructor injection: Constructor Injection is the DI technique of passing an object's dependencies to its constructor.
Property injection

IoC is vital for doing Test Driven Development. To be able to unit test your ASP.NET application, we will need to loose couple the business logic layer and data access layer, a mock object can be used. A mock object simulates the responses of an actual object, acting as if it's using a real resource. They're great for mocking access to a database, mocking calls to IO, mocking calls to a web service, etc.

References:

Dependency Injection for Loose Coupling

Inversion of Control – An Introduction with Examples in .NET

ASP.NET Caching

2010-03-05T17:09:00.007+11:00

The ASP.NET 2.0 Framework supports the following types of caching:

Page Output Caching
Partial Page Caching
DataSource Caching
Data Caching
- When using the cache, it is important to understand that items that you add to the cache might not be there when you attempt to retrieve the item in the future. The cache supports scavenging. When memory resources become low, items are automatically evicted from the cache.
- When you add an item to the Cache, you can specify a particular priority for the item. Specifying a priority provides you with some control over when an item gets evicted from the Cache.
- You can add almost any object to the cache. For example, you can add custom components, DataSets, DataTables, ArrayLists, and Lists to the cache.
- You shouldn’t add items to the cache that depend on an external resource. For example, it does not make sense to add a SqlDataReader or a FileStream to the cache. When using a SqlDataReader, you need to copy the contents of the SqlDataReader into a static representation such as an ArrayList or List collection.
- Adding Items with Dependencies: When you add an item to the Cache object, you can make the item dependent on an external object. If the external object is modified, then the item is automatically dropped from the cache.
- You can configure the size of the cache by using the web configuration file. Notice that you can’t set the size of the cache directly. However, you can specify limits on the overall memory that your application consumes, which indirectly limits the size of the cache.

Code Sample:

private string GetDataFromCache()

{

var data = context.Cache["data"];

if (data == null)

{

lock (lockString)

{

if (data == null)

{

data = GetData();

context.Cache.Insert("data", data, null, DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(5), System.Web.Caching.Cache.NoSlidingExpiration);

}

return data.ToString();

}

References:

ASP.NET 2.0 Unleashed

What is the best way to lock cache in asp.net?

Kentico BizForm Custom Validation

2010-03-04T17:52:00.005+11:00

Here is how you can custom validate Kentico BizForm fields:

protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        BizForm.FormName = KenticoHelper.GetDocumentValueByKey("BizFormName");

        BizForm.OnBeforeSave += BizForm_OnBeforeSave;
 
    }

protected void BizForm_OnBeforeSave()
    {

        CMS.FormControls.FormEngineUserControl em1 = (CMS.FormControls.FormEngineUserControl)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldControls["EmailAddress"];

        CMS.FormControls.FormEngineUserControl em2 = (CMS.FormControls.FormEngineUserControl)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldControls["ConfirmEmailAddress"];

        string EmailAddress = em1.Value.ToString();

        string ValidateEmailAddress = em2.Value.ToString();
 
        if (EmailAddress != ValidateEmailAddress)

        {

            CMS.ExtendedControls.LocalizedLabel ictrl = (CMS.ExtendedControls.LocalizedLabel)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldErrorLabels["ConfirmEmailAddress"];

            ictrl.Visible = true;

            ictrl.Text = "The e-mail addresses do not match, please check it.";

            this.BizForm.StopProcessing = true;

        }
 
        CheckBox cbAgreeTerms = (CheckBox)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldControls["AgreeTerms"];

        if (!cbAgreeTerms.Checked)

        {

            CMS.ExtendedControls.LocalizedLabel agreeTerms_ErrorLabel = (CMS.ExtendedControls.LocalizedLabel)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldErrorLabels["AgreeTerms"];

            agreeTerms_ErrorLabel.Visible = true;

            agreeTerms_ErrorLabel.Text = "Field Required.";

            this.BizForm.StopProcessing = true;

        }
 
        CheckBox cbUnderstandConfidential = (CheckBox)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldControls["UnderstandConfidential"];

        if (!cbUnderstandConfidential.Checked)

        {

            CMS.ExtendedControls.LocalizedLabel understandConfidential_ErrorLabel = (CMS.ExtendedControls.LocalizedLabel)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldErrorLabels["UnderstandConfidential"];

            understandConfidential_ErrorLabel.Visible = true;

            understandConfidential_ErrorLabel.Text = "Field Required.";

            this.BizForm.StopProcessing = true;

        }
 
        CheckBox cbUnderstandChecks = (CheckBox)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldControls["UnderstandChecks"];

        if (!cbUnderstandChecks.Checked)

        {

            CMS.ExtendedControls.LocalizedLabel understandChecks_ErrorLabel = (CMS.ExtendedControls.LocalizedLabel)BizForm.BasicForm.FieldErrorLabels["UnderstandChecks"];

            understandChecks_ErrorLabel.Visible = true;

            understandChecks_ErrorLabel.Text = "Field Required.";

            this.BizForm.StopProcessing = true;

        }
    }

WCF Basics

2010-01-18T16:16:00.006+11:00

Service Contract

A Service Contract describes what the service can do. It defines some properties about the service, and a set of actions called Operation Contracts. Operation Contracts are equivalent to web methods in ASMX, or to operation element in WSDL.
A service contract is an interface that the WCF tools and infrastructure can convert into a WSDL document, listing the operations for a service as a series of SOAP messages and message responses.
You provide an implementation of these methods in a class in the service. When a service executes, the WCF runtime creates a channel stack by using the bindings specified in the service configuration file and listens for client requests in the form of one of these messages. The WCF runtime then converts each SOAP message sent by a client application into a method call and invokes the corresponding method in an instance of the class implementing the service. Any data returned by the method is converted back into a SOAP response message and is sent back through the channel stack for transmission to the client application.
WCF assumes that nothing is exposed by default. So, if you do not specify your class with Data Contract attributes, WCF doesn’t allow serialization to the wire.

Data Contracts

Service Contracts by default, can handle simple service calls. Calls which can have simple type arguments (build-in types), and which return also simple types values. The problem comes when you want to return a custom type, or accept it as an argument for your service operation. In order to do that, the messaging world, has a concept called Data Contract. Data Contract is the normalization of your custom messaging structures. It defines the members of your operation arguments or return values. In WSDL, the Data Contract is equivalent to the type element.

References:

WCF Basics - Service Contracts

WCF Basics - Data Contracts

Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation Step by Step

Cannot resolve the collation conflict between "Latin1_General_CI_AS" and "SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS" in the equal to operation.

2010-01-07T16:44:00.006+11:00

If you are using a stored procedures that use temporary tables, then be aware that temporary tables created within a stored procedure use the tempdb database’s collation instead of the current user database’s collation. Tempdb is created at installation and is assigned the default collation.

Use 'COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT' to resolve the collation conflict, e.g.

SELECT * FROM TableA
WHERE ID COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT
IN (SELECT TableAID FROM #temp)

References:
SQL SERVER – Cannot resolve collation conflict for equal to operation
Collation Conflict

Find the name of the server where the site is hosted on

2010-01-07T16:32:00.003+11:00

How to find out which website is assigned to which server on your network?

1. Start a command prompt windows (start menu, click on run, type in CMD and press OK/run)

2. Type in the following command and press enter

Nslookup www.yoursite.com.au
It will return an ip – xxx.xx.xx.xxx

3. Now – we type the same command – with the ip above

Nslookup xxx.xx.xx.xxx

It will return the name of the server where the site is hosted on.

Give it a shot……… knock yourself out!

Filter & Sort DataTable using LINQ

2009-12-15T16:42:00.005+11:00

You need to add reference to System.Data.DataSetExtensions to be able to use AsEnumerable() on a datatable.

Dim dt As New DataTable

dt.Load(myDataReader)

'get name of distinct root taxonomies 

Dim root_names As IEnumerable(Of String) = From myRow In dt.AsEnumerable() _

Select myRow.Field(Of String)("root_name") Distinct

'get a list of the root taxonomy objects based on the name

Dim list As New List(Of Taxon.Taxon)

For Each root_name As String In root_names

Dim t As Taxon.Taxon = Taxon.TaxonDAL.Instance.GetOnName(root_name)

If t IsNot Nothing Then

list.Add(t)

End If

Next

'sort the root taxons by Product_DisplayOrder

list.Sort(Function(p1, p2) p1.Product_DisplayOrder.CompareTo(p2.Product_DisplayOrder))

For Each t As Taxon.Taxon In list

Dim currentRootName As String = t.name

'get the children of the current root taxon 

Dim drRows As IEnumerable(Of DataRow) = From myRow In dt.AsEnumerable() _

Where myRow.Field(Of String)("root_name") = currentRootName _

Order By myRow.Field(Of Double)("Product_DisplayOrder") Ascending _

Select myRow

For Each rv As DataRow In drRows

Dim ThisTaxonId As String = rv("taxon_id")

Next

Next

Reference:

LINQ query on a DataTable

While loop in sql

2009-12-09T21:58:00.004+11:00

Here is how to do while loop in sql:

--script to copy UserOrganisationId record from User table to User_Organisation

Declare @UserID as int

Declare @MaxUserID as int

Declare @OrgID int

select @UserID = MIN(intuserid) from [user]

select @MaxUserID = MAX(intuserid) from [user]

WHILE (@UserID <= @MaxUserID)

BEGIN

if exists(Select * from [user] where intuserid=@UserID)

begin

select @UserID=intuserid, @OrgID=UserOrganisationId

from [user] where intuserid = @UserID

if @orgID is not null and @orgID > 0

begin

INSERT INTO User_Organisation (UserID, OrganisationID, IsDefaultOrganisation)

VALUES (@UserID, @OrgID, 1)

end

set @UserID=@UserID+1

END

-- alternative script

INSERT INTO User_Organisation (UserID, OrganisationID, IsDefaultOrganisation)

SELECT intUserID, UserOrganisationId, 1

FROM [User]

WHERE (UserOrganisationId IS NOT NULL) AND (UserOrganisationId > 0)

Get comma seperated string

2009-12-09T21:32:00.005+11:00

This is how you can get comma seperated string:

Public Function GetUserOrganisationIds(ByVal userID As Integer) As String

Dim dbCon As New SqlConnection(ConnectionString)

dbCon.Open()

Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("GetUserOrganisationIds", dbCon)

cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure

Try

Dim dr As SqlDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader

Dim orgList As New List(Of String)

While dr.Read

orgList.Add(dr("OrganisationID").ToString)

End While

If orgList.Count > 0 Then

Return String.Join(",", orgList.ToArray())

Else

Return ""

End If

Catch ex As Exception

Throw (ex)

Finally

dbCon.Close()

End Try

End Function

Here is how to do it in sql:

--declare holder var

DECLARE @list VARCHAR(8000)

--build comma separated list

SELECT @list = COALESCE(@list + ',', '') + CAST(DZName AS VARCHAR(5) )

FROM ClubDZlocation where ClubId = 201

--show results

SELECT @list AS 'list'

JQuery Validation

2009-11-18T16:28:00.006+11:00

Just wanna share some JQuery validation sample code which might be useful:

//if you put CssClass="required" on the dropdownlist, 

//then JQuery's default required field validator will valiate the dropdownlist, 

//but it only returns false if there is no items in the dropdownlist 

// -------------------Custom function: Required Validator for Drop Down List----------------------------------------------------

jQuery.validator.addMethod("Validate_ddls", function(value, element) {

if (null != element) {

var iValue = new Number(element[element.selectedIndex].value);

//if ddlColumns is not populated, selectedIndex will be -1

if (iValue <= 0 iValue == NaN) {

return false;

}

else {

return true;

}

}

else {

return false;

}

}, jQuery.validator.messages.required);

// -------------------Custom function: Positive_Integer_Exclude_Zero----------------------------------------------------

jQuery.validator.addMethod("Positive_Integer_Exclude_Zero", function(value, element) {

return this.optional(element) /^[1-9]\d*$/.test(value);

}, "Positive Integer Only");

// -------------------Custom function: Positive_Integer----------------------------------------------------

jQuery.validator.addMethod("Positive_Integer", function(value, element) {

return this.optional(element) /^[0-9]\d*$/.test(value);

}, "Positive Integer Only");

// -------------------Custom function: Positive_Decimal_Exclude_Zero----------------------------------------------------

jQuery.validator.addMethod("Positive_Decimal_Exclude_Zero", function(value, element) {

return this.optional(element) /(^\d*\.?\d*[1-9]+\d*$)(^[1-9]+\d*\.\d*$)/.test(value);

}, "Invalid Amount");

// -------------------Custom function: Positive_Decimal----------------------------------------------------

jQuery.validator.addMethod("Positive_Decimal", function(value, element) {

return this.optional(element) /(^\d*\.?\d*[0-9]+\d*$)(^[0-9]+\d*\.\d*$)/.test(value);

}, "Invalid Amount");

// -------------------Custom function: Validate_Email----------------------------------------------------

jQuery.validator.addMethod("Validate_Email", function(value, element) {

return this.optional(element) /^[\w-\.]+@([\w-]+\.)+[\w-]{2,4}$/.test(value);

}, "Invalid Email address");

// -------------------Validate the whole Form----------------------------------------------------

$(document).ready(function() {

$("#aspnetForm").validate({

rules: {

<%=txtTag.UniqueID %>:{

required: true

},

<%=ddlTables.UniqueID %>:{

Validate_ddls: true

},

<%=ddlColumns.UniqueID %>:{

Validate_ddls: true

}

},

messages: {

<%=txtTag.UniqueID %>:{ 

required: "Tag is required"

},

<%=ddlColumns.UniqueID %>:{ 

required: "Field is required"

}

}

});

});

<script type="text/javascript" src="../include/APF_js/jquery-1.3.2.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="../include/APF_js/jquery.validate.js"></script>

DesignMode - fix body tag as literal control

2009-09-28T14:42:00.006+10:00

Sometimes, you might want to put html body tag in a literal control. Then you lost intellisense from Visual Studio. You can use DesignMode property to fix it:

<% If DesignMode Then%><body>
<%
Else%>
<asp:Literal ID="litBodyTag" runat="server" />
<% End If%>

Load balancing issues for ASP.NET applications

2009-08-24T16:40:00.005+10:00

Rencently, our company started to change our hosting to adapt cluster servers and Mirrored SQL Servers. We just used DFS replication, we did not use a load balancer server.

There are a couple of issues we need to address because of the change:

when put a object in session, make sure it is Serializable, so later in the clustered environment, if you manage session in sql server, it can be stored in sql server
We were using a third party control for uploading images called I-Load which created some issues with temp image folder, luckily we fixed it. So when buying third-party control like ILoad, make sure it supports web farm
We were using a third party control called DynamicControlsPlaceholder which does not work in cluster environment until we modified it a bit to make it work
view state needs to have shared machinekey set up in web.config for web farm environment (in iis7 use sharekey section to share key with other web servers in the farm, then use iis7 to generate unique machinekey for every application in the iis, so that applications do not interrupt with each other)
Cache & Application variable

The cached object is stored in process, which means it doesn’t persist if the application domain is restarted and it can’t be shared between computers in a web farm.
Once a worker process recycles, the entire Cache is lost because it was within this process.
Microsoft has tried to fix this a bit with SQL Server cache invalidation (ASP.NET Cache SqlCacheDependency), but it could have potential performance issue and according to Scott Watermasysk he has not seen many be successful with this approach.
There are a couple third party tools to fix this: Memcached ScaleOut NCache SharedCache
The good news is Microsoft is making some strides here. They are working on an out of processing caching component called Velocity.
We have to get rid of cache and application variables to address the problem

References:

ASP.Net Caching Is Too Easy

Delete files older than certain period

2009-08-14T16:08:00.004+10:00

Public Shared Sub ClearTemporaryFiles(ByVal folderPath As String, ByVal maxLifeTime As Integer)
Dim timeLimit As DateTime = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(0 - maxLifeTime)
Dim filePaths() As String = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(folderPath, "*.jpg")
For i As Integer = 0 To filePaths.Length - 1
Dim filePath As String = filePaths(i)
If (System.IO.File.GetLastWriteTime(filePath) < timeLimit) Then
Try
System.IO.File.Delete(filePath)
Catch
End Try
End If
Next
End Sub

Handle file upload timeout

2009-07-24T16:35:00.004+10:00

Put the following in the Global.asax.vb, it will check the MaxRequestLength and send you to the error page before uploading the file.

Sub Application_BeginRequest(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Fires at the beginning of each request, session not available here
'check for file upload size, 
'MaxRequestLength: Int32, the maximum request size in kilobytes. The default size is 4096 KB (4 MB).
'ContentLength: Int64, the number of bytes of data to send to the Internet resource. 
If ConfigurationManager.GetSection("system.web/httpRuntime").MaxRequestLength IsNot Nothing Then
Dim maxSize As Integer = CInt(ConfigurationManager.GetSection("system.web/httpRuntime").MaxRequestLength)
maxSize = maxSize * 1024
If Request.ContentLength > maxSize Then
'do not redirect to itself, it will create an infinite loop
Response.Redirect("~/ErrorPage.aspx?ErrMsg=You have reached the maximum upload file limit, please try again!")
End If
End If
End Sub

Reference:
Dealing With the ASP.Net Upload File Size Problem

Javascript: Clear Form Elements

2009-06-24T21:16:00.003+10:00

function ClearValue() {
var myContainer = document.getElementById("myFormElement");
var options = myContainer.getElementsByTagName('input');
for (i = 0; i < options.length; i++) {
var opt = options[i];
if (opt.type == 'text') {
opt.value = "";
}
else if (opt.type == 'checkbox'  opt.type == 'radio') {
if (opt.checked) {
opt.checked = false;
}
}
}
var options = myContainer.getElementsByTagName('textarea');
for (i = 0; i < options.length; i++) {
var opt = options[i];
opt.value = "";
}
var options = myContainer.getElementsByTagName('select');
for (i = 0; i < options.length; i++) {
var opt = options[i];
opt.selectedIndex = -1;
}
}

Reference:
Using JavaScript to reset or clear a form

sort table randomly

2009-04-21T20:33:00.003+10:00

The following sample shows you on how to sort sql table randomly:

select * from(
select top 20 firstname, lastname from [user]
) as result order by NEWID()

identity_insert

2009-04-21T20:18:00.004+10:00

The following example shows you on how to insert explicit value into the identity column of a table:

set identity_insert [MyModuleElement] on 
Insert into MyModuleElement
(intID, strName, strDescription, intControllerID)
Values
(48, 'test name', 'desc', 46)
set identity_insert [MyModuleElement] off

Get the current page name in javascript

2009-04-21T20:09:00.001+10:00

<script type="text/javascript">
        var sPath = window.location.pathname;
        var sPage = sPath.substring(sPath.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
        alert(sPage);
</script>

Reference:

Get the current page name

Javascript refresh page

2009-04-21T19:45:00.003+10:00

If you want to use javascript to refresh the page, you can use

location.reload(); => post request, same as click the refresh button on the browser
window.location=window.location; => get request
self.location=self.location; => get request

If you want to use javascript to redirect to another page, you can use

location.replace('webform1.aspx'); => get request, does not create a history entry so browser back button disabled if no history before
location.href='webform1.aspx'; => get request, create a history entry so browser back button works
window.location='webform1.aspx'; => get request, create a history entry so browser back button works

IE buttons

Back button => get request
Forward button => post request
Refresh button => post request

If you get an IE error saying 'To display the webpage again, Internet Explorer needs to resend the information you've previously submitted', you can use window.location=window.location; to refresh the page instead of location.reload();

Sample code:

<%@ Page Language="vb" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.vb" Inherits="PostMethod_Test._Default" %>
 
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title></title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
        <asp:Literal ID="litJavascript" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
        <div>
            Post:
            <div>
                <asp:TextBox ID="txt" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                Post Method:<asp:Button ID="btnPost" runat="server" Text="PostBack" />
            </div>
        </div>
        <hr />
        <div>
            Redirect:
            <div>
                Get Method:<asp:Button ID="btnRedirect" runat="server" Text="ResponseRedirect" />
            </div>
            <div>
                Get Method:<a href="javascript:location.replace('webform1.aspx');">JS Location Replace</a>
                (does not create a history entry so browser back button disabled if no history before)
            </div>
            <div>
                Get Method:<a href="javascript:location.href='webform1.aspx';">JS Location Href</a>
                (create a history entry so browser back button works)
            </div>
            <div>
                Get Method:<a href="javascript:window.location='webform1.aspx';">JS Window Location</a>
                (create a history entry so browser back button works)
            </div>
            <div>
                Get Method: IE Back button
            </div>
            <div>
                Post Method: IE Forward button
            </div>
        </div>
        <hr />
        <div>
            Refresh:
            <div>
                Get/Post Method:<a href="javascript:location.reload();">JS Location Reload</a> (if
                there is any control in the form then after the form was submitted for the first
                time, if you click this, it will be a post method coming with the IE alert)
            </div>
            <div>
                Get Method:<a href="javascript:window.location=window.location;">JS Window Location</a>
                (does not create a history entry) (if there is any control in the form then after
                the form was submitted for the first time, if you click this, it will still be a
                get method which means the form will not be submitted again)
            </div>
            <div>
                Get Method:<a href="javascript:self.location=self.location;">JS Self Location</a>
                (Same as above)
            </div>
            <div>
                Get/Post Method: IE Refresh button - same as location.reload()
            </div>
        </div>
        <hr />
        <div>
            Open New Window:
            <div>
                No Method:<a href="javascript:var a = window.open('webform1.aspx');">JS Window Open</a>
                (just open)
            </div>
            <div>
                Post Method for parent page:<asp:Button ID="btnOpen" Text="Open Window" runat="server" />
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Partial Public Class _Default
    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
 
    Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
 
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub btnRedirect_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnRedirect.Click
        Response.Redirect("Default.aspx")
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub btnPost_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnPost.Click
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub btnOpen_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnOpen.Click
 
        Dim mstrMessage As New StringBuilder("")
 
        mstrMessage.AppendFormat("<script type=""text/javascript"" >{0}", ControlChars.CrLf)
        mstrMessage.AppendFormat(" window.open(""webform1.aspx"");{0}", ControlChars.CrLf)
        mstrMessage.AppendFormat(" </script>")
        litJavascript.Text = mstrMessage.ToString
 
    End Sub
End Class

Reasons to Use Proxy Server

2009-04-17T23:44:00.003+10:00

Increased internet security since:

Users are authenticated
Client requests are filtered
All content, inbound and outbound, is validated
All access is logged
All of the internal network details are hidden
Internet access performance is improved

Create a screenshot image of a web page

2009-04-12T11:16:00.003+10:00

I use HtmlCapture to capture a screenshot of a web page:

Imports HtmlCapture
Module Module1
Sub Main()
CreatePreviewImage()
End Sub
Private Sub CreatePreviewImage()
Dim theURL As String = "http://www.google.com.au/"
Dim snap As New SnapShooter
Dim snapResult As HtmlCaptureResult
snap.SetRegInfo("username", "licencekey")
snap.SetDelayTime(6000)
snap.SetTimeOut(15000)
snap.SetMinBrowserSize(SnapDimensions.BrowserWidth, SnapDimensions.BrowserHeight)
snap.SetClipRect(0, 0, SnapDimensions.ClipWidth, SnapDimensions.ClipHeight)
snap.SetThumbSize(SnapDimensions.ThumbWidth, SnapDimensions.ThumbHeight, True)
snap.SetJpegQuality(CByte(SnapDimensions.JpegQuality))
snapResult = snap.SnapUrl(theURL)
If snapResult = HtmlCaptureResult.HCR_SUCCESS Then
' success, save the image as a JPEG 
snap.SaveImage("screenshot.jpg")
Else
' timeout, so throw error
Dim ex As New Exception("Timeout on capturing.")
Throw ex
End If
End Sub
Public Enum SnapDimensions As Integer
ThumbWidth = 200
ThumbHeight = 150
BrowserWidth = 1024
BrowserHeight = 768
ClipWidth = 1024
ClipHeight = 768
JpegQuality = 70
End Enum
End Module

Reference:

HtmlCapture Support

Clear form values

2009-04-12T10:57:00.003+10:00

The following code will clear values entered in the form, currently only works with drop down list and textbox, you can expand it to cater for more controls.

Private Sub btnClear_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnClear.Click
ClearValues(Me.FindControl("MyControlID"))
End Sub
Private Sub ClearValues(ByVal container As Control)
For Each ctl As Control In container.Controls
Dim textBox As TextBox = TryCast(ctl, TextBox)
If textBox IsNot Nothing Then
If textBox.Text.Trim().Length <> 0 Then
textBox.Text = ""
End If
End If
If TypeOf ctl Is UI.WebControls.DropDownList Then
Dim ddl As UI.WebControls.DropDownList = DirectCast(ctl, UI.WebControls.DropDownList)
Dim li As ListItem = ddl.Items.FindByText("(none)")
If li IsNot Nothing Then
ddl.SelectedValue = li.Value
End If
li = ddl.Items.FindByText("Select")
If li IsNot Nothing Then
ddl.SelectedValue = li.Value
End If
End If
If ctl.Controls.Count > 0 Then
ClearValues(ctl)
End If
Next
End Sub

Save a CSV File in Browser

2009-04-12T10:48:00.002+10:00

Private Sub lbCSVTemplate_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles lbCSVTemplate.Click
If File.Exists(Server.MapPath("~/CSVUploaded/template.csv")) Then
Response.ContentType = "text/csv"
'Some browsers open the file directly in browser, so this will cause a file "Save as" dialogue to appear.
Response.AppendHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=template.csv")
Response.TransmitFile(Server.MapPath("~/CSVUploaded/template.csv"))
Response.End()
Else
lblMsg.Text = MessagesDAL.Instance.Get_MessageByID(Messages.MessageCodes.CSVTemplateNotAvailable)
lblMsg.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Red
End If
End Sub

Reference:
Downloading a File with a Save As Dialog in ASP.NET

robocopy

2009-04-10T17:14:00.007+10:00

robocopy, or "Robust File Copy", is a command-line directory replication command.
It was available as part of the Windows Resource Kit, and introduced as a standard feature of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
Robocopy is notable for capabilities above and beyond the built-in Windows copy and xcopy commands.
You can script the commands and save them as .cmd files to deploy asp.net files to staging site or live site.

Command Examples:

Copy test.dll from bin folder under folder1 to bin folder under folder2, if test.dll has already existed in folder2, then it will be overwritten. It will not delete any files in folder2 which do not extist in folder1.

robocopy C:\folder1\bin C:\folder2\bin test.dll

Copy content from test to test, including subfolders, excludes folders named .svn, excludes files with .vb extension. If test folder does not exist in folder2, it will create one for you.

robocopy C:\folder1\test C:\folder2\test /S /XD .svn /XF *.vb

Create test folder only
- robocopy C:\folder1\test C:\folder2\test /xf *.*

Reference:

robocopy

Disable Table Constraints

2009-04-10T12:25:00.002+10:00

The following code will:

Disable/Enable All Table Constraints
E.g. if you have an user table and an UserLog table, UserLog have a foreign key which reference the UserID in the user table.
Now you can disable the foreign key Constraint on the UserLog table and insert a userid which does not exist in the user table into the UserLog table. After that you can enable the constraint.

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[procDisableEnableAllTableConstraints]
@TblName VARCHAR(128),
@IsCheck BIT = 1
AS
DECLARE @SQLState VARCHAR(500)
IF @IsCheck = 0
BEGIN
SET @SQLState = 'ALTER TABLE [' + @TblName + '] NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SET @SQLState = 'ALTER TABLE [' + @TblName + '] CHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'
END
EXEC (@SQLState)

Public Shared Sub DisableEnableAllTableConstraints(ByVal tableName As String, ByVal isCheck As Boolean)
        Dim dbCon As New SqlConnection(clsConfig.BaseConnectionString)
        dbCon.Open()
 
        Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("[procDisableEnableAllTableConstraints]", dbCon)
        cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TblName", tableName)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@IsCheck", IIf(isCheck, 1, 0))
 
        Try
            cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
        Catch ex As Exception
            Throw (ex)
        Finally
            dbCon.Close()
        End Try
 
    End Sub

Reference:

Stored Procedure to Disable/Reenable All Constraints on a Given Table

Get Client IP address

2009-04-08T17:31:00.001+10:00

Public Shared Function GetClientIPAddress() As String
 
        Dim strIpAddress As String
        Try
            strIpAddress = HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR")
            If strIpAddress = "" Then
                strIpAddress = HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR")
            End If
        Catch
            strIpAddress = ""
        End Try
        Return strIpAddress
 
    End Function

Custom Validator

2009-04-05T12:03:00.006+10:00

In the following example:

Required field validator for drop down list
Validate if any of the txtPostcode, txtSuburb, ddlCountry is filled in, then txtAddress is required.
ValidateEmptyText property is important for the validator to work

<%@ Page Language="vb" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.vb" Inherits="CustomValidator._Default" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title>Untitled Page</title>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
function cv_Validate(source, args)
{
var txtPostcode = document.getElementById("<%=txtPostcode.ClientID %>").value;
var txtSuburb = document.getElementById("<%=txtSuburb.ClientID %>").value;
var ddlCountry = document.getElementById("<%=ddlCountry.ClientID %>");
//alert(ddlCountry.selectedIndex);
if (txtPostcode.length > 0 txtSuburb.length > 0 ddlCountry.selectedIndex > 0)
{
If (args.Value.length <= 0) 
{
args.IsValid = false;
}
else
{
args.IsValid = true;
}
}
else
{
args.IsValid = true;
}
}
function ValidateDropDown(source, arguments) {
var ddlCountry = document.getElementById("<%=ddlCountry.ClientID %>");
if (null != ddlCountry) {
var iValue = new Number(ddlCountry[ddlCountry.selectedIndex].value);
arguments.IsValid = (iValue > 0);
}
else {
arguments.IsValid = false;
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<asp:TextBox ID="txtAddress" runat="server" Width="290px" CssClass="clsNormal"></asp:TextBox>
<asp:CustomValidator ID="CustomValidator4" ControlToValidate="txtAddress" Text="Address Required!"
ClientValidationFunction="cv_Validate" runat="server" Display="Dynamic" ValidateEmptyText="true" />
<asp:TextBox ID="txtSuburb" runat="server" Width="290px" CssClass="clsNormal"></asp:TextBox>
<asp:TextBox ID="txtPostcode" runat="server" Width="290px" CssClass="clsNormal"></asp:TextBox>
<asp:DropDownList ID="ddlCountry" runat="server" CssClass="clsNormal">
<asp:ListItem Text="Select" Value="0"></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="Aus" Value="1"></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="NZ" Value="2"></asp:ListItem>
</asp:DropDownList>
<asp:CustomValidator ID="CustomValidator1" runat="server" ClientValidationFunction="ValidateDropDown"
ErrorMessage="*" ForeColor="Red" Display="Dynamic"></asp:CustomValidator>
<asp:Button ID="btnSubmit" runat="server" Text="Submit" />
</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>

Reference:

Custom Validator On DropdownList Control

JavaScript Events

2009-04-04T11:24:00.003+11:00

onblur Event

The onblur event occurs when an object loses focus.
E.g. Make input uppercase.
Applies to: button, checkbox, fileUpload, layer, frame, password, radio, reset, submit, text, textarea, window

onkeydown Event

The onkeydown event occurs when a keyboard key is pressed.
E.g. user cannot type numbers into the input field
Applies to: document, image, link, textarea, text

onfocus Event

The onfocus event occurs when an object gets focus.
E.g. make the background color of the input fields change when they get focus.
Applies to: button, checkbox, fileUpload, layer, frame, password, radio, reset, select, submit, text, textarea, window

onkeypress Event

The onkeydown event occurs when a keyboard key is pressed or held down.
E.g. user cannot type numbers into the input field
Applies to: document, image, link, textarea, text

ondblclick Event

The ondblclick event occurs when an object gets double-clicked.
E.g. Copy field A's text to field B when a button gets double-clicked.
Applies to: button, document, link

onmouseover Event

The onmouseover event occurs when the mouse pointer moves over a specified object.
E.g. display an alert box when the user moves the mouse pointer over an image.
Applies to: layer, link, image

onmouseout Event

The onmouseout event occurs when the mouse pointer moves away from a specified object.
E.g. display an alert box when the user moves the mouse pointer away from an image.
Applies to: layer, link, image

onmousedown Event

The onmousedown event occurs when a mouse button is clicked.
E.g. an alert box is displayed when clicking on an image.
Applies to: button, document, link, image

onmouseup Event

The onmouseup event occurs when a mouse button is released.
E.g. an alert box is displayed when the mouse button is released after clicking an image.
Applies to: button, document, link, image

Reference:

JavaScript Event Reference

Print web page as PDF in VB.NET

2009-04-03T16:48:00.003+11:00

I use ABCpdf .NET to print web page as pdf:

Add reference ABCpdf.dll
Render web page in pdf in landscape or portrait format
Write pdf to browser or save to disk
Save HTML as pdf or save the whole web page as pdf by given URL

<%@ Page Language="vb" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.vb" Inherits="PrintToPDF._Default" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head runat="server">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<asp:Button ID="btnWriteToBrowserByHTML" runat="server" Text="Write To Browser By HTML"/>
<asp:Button ID="btnWriteToDiskByHTML" runat="server" Text="Write To Disk By HTML"/>
<asp:Button ID="btnWriteToBrowserByURL" runat="server" Text="Write To Browser By URL"/>
<asp:Button ID="btnWriteToDiskByURL" runat="server" Text="Write To Disk By URL"/>
</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>

Imports WebSupergoo.ABCpdf6
Imports System.Text
Imports System.IO
Partial Public Class _Default
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
End Sub
Private Function GenerateQuoteInHTML() As String
Dim sb As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder
Dim sw As StringWriter = New StringWriter(sb)
Dim hw As HtmlTextWriter = New HtmlTextWriter(sw)
Dim litTop As New Literal
Dim litTopText As New StringBuilder()
'the width on div makes the table readable in landscape format
litTopText.AppendLine("<div style='width:1300px'><b>Title</b><br /><br />")
litTop.Text = litTopText.ToString()
Dim litBottom As New Literal
Dim litBottomText As New StringBuilder()
litBottomText.AppendFormat("</div>")
litBottom.Text = litBottomText.ToString()
litTop.RenderControl(hw)
litBottom.RenderControl(hw)
Return sb.ToString
End Function
Private Sub GeneratePDF(ByVal source As String, ByVal exportType As ExportType, ByVal sourceType As SourceType)
'set properties
Dim theDoc As New Doc
theDoc.HtmlOptions.PageCacheEnabled = False
theDoc.HtmlOptions.BrowserWidth = 0
theDoc.HtmlOptions.ImageQuality = 101
theDoc.MediaBox.Width = 1000
theDoc.Rect.Width = 1000
Dim theID As Integer
If sourceType = PrintToPDF.SourceType.HTML Then
'Renders a web page specified as HTML.
theID = theDoc.AddImageHtml(source)
ElseIf sourceType = PrintToPDF.SourceType.URL Then
'Renders a web page specified by URL.
theID = theDoc.AddImageUrl(source)
End If
'paging
'http://www.websupergoo.com/helppdf5/default.html?page=source%2F4-examples%2F08-landscape.htm
Do While True
theDoc.FrameRect()
If (theDoc.Chainable(theID) = False) Then
Exit Do
End If
theDoc.Page = theDoc.AddPage()
theID = theDoc.AddImageToChain(theID)
Loop
theDoc.HtmlOptions.LinkPages()
For x As Integer = 1 To theDoc.PageCount
theDoc.PageNumber = x
theDoc.Flatten()
Next
If exportType = PrintToPDF.ExportType.Browser Then
'write to browser
Dim theData As Byte() = theDoc.GetData()
Response.Expires = -1000
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"
Response.AddHeader("content-length", theData.Length.ToString())
Dim timestamp As String = String.Format("{0}_{1}_{2}_{3}_{4}_{5}", Date.Now.Year.ToString, Date.Now.Month.ToString, Date.Now.Day.ToString, Date.Now.Hour.ToString, Date.Now.Minute.ToString, Date.Now.Second.ToString)
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=MyPDF" + timestamp + ".PDF")
Response.BinaryWrite(theData)
theDoc.Clear()
ElseIf exportType = PrintToPDF.ExportType.Disk Then
'write to disk
Dim file As String = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("CSVUploaded"), "test.pdf")
theDoc.Save(file)
End If
End Sub
Private Sub btnWriteToBrowserByHTML_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnWriteToBrowserByHTML.Click
Dim strHTML As String = GenerateQuoteInHTML()
GeneratePDF(strHTML, ExportType.Browser, SourceType.HTML)
End Sub
Private Sub btnWriteToBrowserByURL_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnWriteToBrowserByURL.Click
GeneratePDF("http://www.google.com.au", ExportType.Browser, SourceType.URL)
End Sub
Private Sub btnWriteToDiskByHTML_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnWriteToDiskByHTML.Click
Dim strHTML As String = GenerateQuoteInHTML()
GeneratePDF(strHTML, ExportType.Disk, SourceType.HTML)
End Sub
Private Sub btnWriteToDiskByURL_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnWriteToDiskByURL.Click
GeneratePDF("http://www.google.com.au", ExportType.Disk, SourceType.URL)
End Sub
End Class
Enum SourceType
URL
HTML
End Enum
Enum ExportType
Browser
Disk
End Enum

Reference:

ABCpdf PDF Component for ASP & VB

ClientID vs. UniqueID

2009-03-28T11:52:00.003+11:00

UniqueID is the fully qualified control name which is used by Asp.net for postbacks. You hardly need to use it.
ClientID is the value that will appear in the id attribute of the control, it is a translation of the UniqueID to be a html compliant id tag (leading underscores are not really html compliant). So you need to use document.getElementById with ClientID.

References:

UniqueID vs ClientID

The difference between ID, ClientID and UniqueID

Backup & Restore Tips

2009-03-24T17:07:00.002+11:00

Use UNC path when doing backup and restore
Create a new web application as well as a site collection before restoring, so that it does not restore on the default web application (C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80). It will now be something like C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\test.elcom.com.au
But before restoring, you need to delete the content database of this web application, otherwise it will prompt you with a database exists error.
When restoring, if it says access denied to the backup folder, you need to give folder write permission to the timer service account.
Remember local folder permission is not the same as network shared folder permission
Whenever you have an access denied error, check the followings:
- Database security
- Service account security
- Folder security
- Sharepoint group security

FBA: Create and enable FBA Database

2009-03-22T21:20:00.010+11:00

Steps:

1. Under the C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.0.50727 folder, run aspnet_regsql -S servername -A all -E > press Enter

2. Go to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\windowsauthenticationappfolder, make a copy of the web.config file and edit the web.config file

3. Go to system.web tag, replace the <system.web> tag with the following:

</connectionStrings>

<system.web>

</providers>

</membership>

</providers>

</roleManager>

4. Replace the </configuration> with the following:

<system.net>

</smtp>

</mailSettings>

</system.net>

</configuration>

5. Go to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\fbaappfolder, make a copy of the web.config file and edit the web.config file, make the same change as above.

6. Copy the FBA tools to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\windowsauthenticationappfolder as well as C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\fbaappfolder

7. Run iisreset /noforce

8. Go to your windows authentication site, run the FBA tools and add a user with username and password.

9. Go to People and Groups > Select the e.g. the Visitor Group > New > get the username just added > give permission to the account > click OK, so this user has been added to the windows authentication site successfully.

10. Go to the FBA site, it shoule allow you to see the home page since we enabled the anonymous access previously.

11. Click Sign In > type in the user you have just created in the windows authentication site (default zone) > Click Sign In > Now you are logged in as that user > you can then access the FBA tool to recover your password, it will send the password to you via email.

12. If you encounter an error in the recover page, you can change the customErrors's mode to RemoteOnly in the web.config and run iisreset /noforce to investigate.

13. Go to Central Admin > Application Management > Application Security > Authentication Providers > click on Extranet > uncheck Enable anonymous access > click Save > do the same for the default windows zone.

FBA: Create new zone

2009-03-22T19:47:00.004+11:00

Steps:

1. Central Admin > Application Management > Create or Extend Web application > Extend an existing Web application

2. Select the web application that you want to extend > Create a new IIS web site > give it a description > use port 80 > enter Host Header (e.g. test1.elcom.com) > leave the security configuration at default values

3. Choose the Zone (e.g. Extranet) > click OK

4. Central Admin > Application Management > Application Security > Authentication providers

5. Click Extranet > Change the Authentication Type to Forms > Check Enable anonymous access

6. Fill in AspNetSqlMembershipProvider as the Membership provider name.

7. Fill in AspNetSqlRoleProvider as the Role Manager name.

8. Leave the Enable Client Integration as No. FBA does not work well with Office integration. It is because FBA relies on cookies and most users disable persistent cookies in the browser, that is the default security settings. So if you want to enable client integration in FBA, you have to enable persistent cookies on each client, if you do not do that, if you try to open a Word document in a FBA web application, you will get the FBA logon screen in Word. So we will almost always select No here. It is just too hard to get integration working with FBA.

9. Click Save > Go to Operation tab > Alternate Access Mappings, you will see that it creates a mapping for extranet

Import csv file into SQL server

2009-03-16T17:18:00.007+11:00

The following code will:

Import csv file into database
Validate csv file before import

Create Schema.ini ==> Schema.ini is a information file, used to define the data structure and format of each column that contains data in the CSV file.
Check Duplicate Rows
Check Column Header Exist

Private Function GetCSV() As System.Data.DataTable
If ViewState("SaveLocation") Is Nothing Then
Return Nothing
End If
Dim SaveLocation As String = ViewState("SaveLocation").ToString()
Using conn As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OleDb.4.0; Data Source = " & Path.GetDirectoryName(SaveLocation) & "; Extended Properties = ""Text;HDR=YES;FMT=Delimited""")
conn.Open()
Dim strQuery As String = "SELECT * FROM [" & Path.GetFileName(SaveLocation) & "]"
Dim adapter As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter(strQuery, conn)
Dim ds As New System.Data.DataSet("CSV File")
adapter.Fill(ds)
Return ds.Tables(0)
End Using
End Function

Private Function UploadCSV() As Boolean
If Not Path.GetExtension(fileUploadCSV.PostedFile.FileName).ToLower.Equals(".csv") Then
lblMsg.Text = MessagesDAL.Instance.Get_MessageByID(Messages.MessageCodes.CSVExtensionRequired)
lblMsg.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Red
Return False
End If
If Not fileUploadCSV.PostedFile Is Nothing And fileUploadCSV.PostedFile.ContentLength > 0 Then
Dim fn As String = Path.GetFileName(fileUploadCSV.PostedFile.FileName)
Dim SaveLocation As String = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("CSVUploaded"), fn)
Try
fileUploadCSV.PostedFile.SaveAs(SaveLocation)
CreateSchemaFile(fn)
ViewState("SaveLocation") = SaveLocation
Catch Exc As Exception
lblMsg.Text = "Error: " & Exc.Message
lblMsg.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Red
Return False
End Try
Else
lblMsg.Text = MessagesDAL.Instance.Get_MessageByID(Messages.MessageCodes.UploadFileRequired)
lblMsg.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Red
Return False
End If
Return True
End Function

Private Function IsColumnHeaderExist(ByVal columnName As String) As Boolean
If ViewState("SaveLocation") Is Nothing Then
Return Nothing
End If
Dim SaveLocation As String = ViewState("SaveLocation").ToString()
Dim sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader(SaveLocation)
Dim headerline As String = sr.ReadLine()
sr.Close()
Dim values As String()
values = headerline.Split(",")
For i As Integer = 0 To values.Length - 1
If values(i).ToString.Equals(columnName) Then
Return True
End If
Next
Return False
End Function

Private Function CheckDuplicateRows() As Integer
If ViewState("SaveLocation") Is Nothing Then
Return Nothing
End If
Dim SaveLocation As String = ViewState("SaveLocation").ToString()
Dim FileContent As String() = File.ReadAllLines(SaveLocation)
Dim al As New ArrayList()
Dim lineNo As Integer = 1
'ignore the header row
For i As Integer = 1 To FileContent.Length - 1
lineNo += 1
If al.Contains(FileContent(i)) Then
Return lineNo
Else
al.Add(FileContent(i))
End If
Next
Return 1
End Function

Private Sub CreateSchemaFile(ByVal fileName As String)
'Create a schema.ini file to define data types for every csv file uploaded
'Otherwise the OleDbDataAdapter will convert e.g. 01/01/09 to datetime automatically rather than string 
Dim strFilePath As String = Server.MapPath("CSVUploaded")
Using filestr As New FileStream(strFilePath & "\schema.ini", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write)
Using writer As New StreamWriter(filestr)
writer.WriteLine("[" & fileName & "]")
writer.WriteLine("ColNameHeader=True")
writer.WriteLine("Format=CSVDelimited")
writer.WriteLine("Col1=""Agent Registration Number"" Text")
writer.WriteLine("Col2=""Agent Family Name"" Text")
writer.WriteLine("Col3=""CPD Activity Item Number"" Long")
writer.WriteLine("Col4=""CPD Activity Start Date"" Text")
writer.WriteLine("Col5=""CPD Activity Start Time"" Text")
writer.WriteLine("Col6=""CPD Activity End Date"" Text")
writer.WriteLine("Col7=""CPD Activity End Time"" Text")
writer.WriteLine("Col8=Location Text")
writer.Close()
writer.Dispose()
End Using
filestr.Close()
filestr.Dispose()
End Using
End Sub

References:

Import CSV file to DataTable

Importing CSV file into Database with Schema.ini

Removing Duplicate Records from Dataset/DataTable

Insert CSV File to Array using C#

Get the post back control

2009-03-14T10:50:00.011+11:00

You can handle all the events in Page_PreRender like this:

Private Sub Page_PreRender(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.PreRender

If GetPostBackControl(Me.Page) IsNot Nothing AndAlso GetPostBackControl(Me.Page).UniqueID = ddlFolder.UniqueID Then

'<<Handle Folder DropDownList Post Back>>

'...

ElseIf GetPostBackControl(Me.Page) IsNot Nothing AndAlso GetPostBackControl(Me.Page).UniqueID = btnEdit.UniqueID Then

'<<Handle Edit Button Post Back>>

'...

End If

End Sub

Public Shared Function GetPostBackControl(ByVal page As System.Web.UI.Page) As System.Web.UI.Control

Dim control As Control = Nothing

Dim ctrlname As String = page.Request.Params("__EVENTTARGET")

If ctrlname IsNot Nothing AndAlso ctrlname <> [String].Empty Then

control = page.FindControl(ctrlname)

Else

' if __EVENTTARGET is null, the control is a button type and we need to

' iterate over the form collection to find it

Dim ctrlStr As String = [String].Empty

Dim c As Control = Nothing

For Each ctl As String In page.Request.Form

' handle ImageButton controls ...

If ctl.EndsWith(".x") OrElse ctl.EndsWith(".y") Then

ctrlStr = ctl.Substring(0, ctl.Length - 2)

c = page.FindControl(ctrlStr)

Else

c = page.FindControl(ctl)

End If

If TypeOf c Is System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button OrElse TypeOf c Is System.Web.UI.WebControls.ImageButton Then

control = c

Exit For

End If

Return control

End Function

Notes extracted from Peter's article:

Most ASP.NET Controls are "Server Controls". This means that when an action occurs, the Page, which hosts all its controls inside the FORM, makes a regular old HTTP POST, with itself being the target URL. This is referred to as a "POSTBACK".
For non-button server controls, ASP.Net provides the javascript __doPostBack() function to be called by the onclick or onchange event of the control. This function records the name of the object that fired the event, as well as any additional event information, places it into the hidden form fields __EVENTTARGET and __EVENTARGUMENT, and then submits the form, initiating the PostBack.
Button types

Button type controls DO NOT run the "__doPostBack" script method
Button types don't populate __EVENTTARGET
All they actually do is SUBMIT the form.

On the server side, any controls that implement either the IPostBackDataHandler or IPostBackEventHandler interfaces will examine the PostBack data(__EVENTTARGET, __EVENTARGUMENT) and see if they have raised the client-side event. If so, the corresponding server-side event is raised and the event handler method is called.

The __doPostBack function:

function __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument) {

if (!theForm.onsubmit (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {

theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;

theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;

theForm.submit();

}

References:

ASP.NET: Which Control Posted Back?

Understanding the JavaScript __doPostBack Function

Form Based Authentication

2009-03-11T15:08:00.008+11:00

By default, Moss uses windows authentication. But for external users who are not part of your domain, you need to use form based authentication.

Steps:

1. Enable anonymous access on the web application, that allows you to get in and add users using FBA.

2. Create a new zone for the web application by extending the current web application to another IIS web site. Each zone has a different URL that you can use to address the same web application. So you can use one URL for internal users, and a different URL for external users which can be authenticated through FBA.

3. Add a DNS Host A record for the sub-domain

4. Create a database to store membership

5. Edit the web.config

6. Add FBA tools to the web application, Microsoft does not provide the FBA tools.

7. Add FBA users to the web application using the FBA tool.

8. Optionally disable anonymous access. FBA usernames and passwords are entered in clear text, you will need to secure the FBA site with SSL.

Create Zones

Zones exposes the same content to different audiences
Allow more than one address:
http://www.test.com/ (Default)
http://www.test1.com/ (Extranet)

Adding to DNS

Create Host A record in DNS to provide internal access
Create Host A record at ISP to provide external access

Creating the FBA Database

Use aspnet_regsql utility provided by .NET Framework
It creates the aspnetdb database by default, you can name it whatever you want
It registered that database as a membership provider on the server

Enabling Forms Authentication

In order to use that database, you need to edit web.config for the web application
Add connection settings are set in:

connectionStrings tag
membership tag
roleManager tag

You can also add e-mail information for ASP.NET (allows the FBA tools to send out the users password if they forget it)

system.net tag
mailSettings tag
smtp tag

FBA Tools

Not provided by Microsoft
You can create them yourself or obtain from third party vendors

Adding FBA Users

Add the users using the FBA tools
Set the user's permissions in SharePoint

Turning Off Anonymous Access

Finally, when you all done setting things up, you need to disable anonymous access in general.
Anonymous is required first to add first users, it is a chicken and egg issue.
You then use Central Admin > Application Management to disable anonymous access

SQL server open connections exist in a database

2009-03-09T16:38:00.005+11:00

If you get a “timeout connection in the database because there are no connections available in the connection pool” error, the following queries will help you diagnose the problem:

To allow users to view current activity on the database:
sp_who2
To give you the total number of connections per database on a database server:
SELECT DB_NAME(dbid) as 'Database Name',
COUNT(dbid) as 'Total Connections'
FROM master.dbo.sysprocesses WITH (nolock)
WHERE dbid > 0
GROUP BY dbid
To get the dbid from database name
SELECT DB_ID('MyDBName') as [Database ID]
To give you the process Ids of existing connections in the database (not necessarily open but existing):
SELECT spid
FROM master.dbo.sysprocesses WITH (nolock)
WHERE dbid = (SELECT DB_ID('MyDBName') as [Database ID])
To give you information about the actual process id (replace 1018 with the spid):
dbcc inputbuffer (1018)
To kill a process
kill 1018

Thanks Tracey.

Unable to connect to the remote server

2009-02-28T10:47:00.019+11:00

I was programming a payment gateway for NAB. I construct the xml in vb.net and then send the web request of xml contenttype to the NAB payment gateway URL using the WebRequest class:

Imports System.Reflection

Imports System.Web

Imports System.Net

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Text

Public Class clsNABTransact

Private mstrErrorMessage As String = ""

Public Property strErrorMessage() As String

Get

strErrorMessage = mstrErrorMessage

End Get

Set(ByVal Value As String)

mstrErrorMessage = Value

End Set

End Property

Public Function ReadHtmlPagePost(ByVal sURL As String, ByVal sPostData As String) As String

Dim objResponse As WebResponse

Dim objRequest As WebRequest

Dim result As String

Dim myWriter As StreamWriter

Try

objRequest = WebRequest.Create(sURL)

objRequest.Method = "POST"

objRequest.ContentLength = sPostData.Length()

objRequest.ContentType = "text/xml"

Try

myWriter = New StreamWriter(objRequest.GetRequestStream())

myWriter.Write(sPostData)

myWriter.Close()

objResponse = objRequest.GetResponse()

Dim sr As New StreamReader(objResponse.GetResponseStream())

result += sr.ReadToEnd()

'clean up StreamReader

sr.Close()

Return result

Catch Ex As Exception

strErrorMessage = Ex.ToString

Return ""

End Try

Catch E As Exception

strErrorMessage = E.ToString

Return ""

End Try

End Function

End Class

When I tested on my local, I can get the response XML from NAB with no problems. But when the client test it on their end, they get the following error:

Credit card payment unsuccessful Problem in Payment Gateway Error:System.Net.WebException: Unable to connect to the remote server ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it XXX.XX.XXX.XXX:XXX at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress) at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.InternalConnect(EndPoint remoteEP) at System.Net.ServicePoint.ConnectSocketInternal(Boolean connectFailure, Socket s4, Socket s6, Socket& socket, IPAddress& address, ConnectSocketState state, IAsyncResult asyncResult, Int32 timeout, Exception& exception) — End of inner exception stack trace — at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetRequestStream() at clsNABTransact.ReadHtmlPagePost(String sURL, String sPostData)()

Reason:

Cannot connet to the Remote Server (NAB), because the proxy server is blocking the your access to the NAB server.
The ISA server (proxy server) on the client side is set such that you need to be a member of a windows security group to browse the internet.

What I tried:

1. Firstly, I add the following in the web.config:

<system.net>

</defaultProxy>

</system.net>

2. Then I got a different error says:

Credit card payment unsuccessful Problem in Payment Gateway Error:System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (407) Proxy Authentication Required. at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetRequestStream() at CMDotNet.Common.clsNABTransact.ReadHtmlPagePost(String sURL, String sPostData)()

3. Then what I did was: on the proxy server, there’s some site that all users are able to access regardless of whether you are a member of a windows security group or not, I added the Nab URl to this allow access list.

4. Then everything is working.

5. But I think what the real reason is that:

Firstly, it says it cannot connect to the NAB server is because

The Network Service account is a special built in account that is local and unique to each machine. That means the Network Service account on Server A is different from the Network Service on Server B. If it is the Network Service account that running your application pool identity in IIS, it is a low access account which does not have access to the machine proxy configuration settings which are stored in the registry under HKLM keys. So you can’t get the proxy settings.

When I added the proxy info in the web.config, the web.config tells the application where to find the proxy, then it will try to connect to the NAB URL throught the proxy server, but since Network Service is a local account, it may not have the access to the NAB URL, so you got the Proxy Authentication Required.
Then I added the URL to the access list which means everyone can access the URL. Here are the better solutions which does not require you to change the web.config:

You can try to change the application pool identity to a domain account whose password never expires.
Alternatively, when you are using WebRequest, you can set WebRequest.UseDefaultCredentials or WebRequest.Credentials in the code or web.config.

Terms:

bypassonlocal : if you do not want the proxy server computer to be used when you connect to a computer on the local network (this may speed up performance).
usesystemdefault : if true, then it will pick up the default proxy you set in the IE. If false, then it will pick up the proxy in the control panel. My company is using a transparent proxy setting which means that you do not get to see what proxy you are using in the IE, the proxy is set in a way that it is both the default proxy and a transparent proxy.

If you are expericing slow connection, but finally you can connect to the internet, then you can disables automatic Proxy detection. According to Rick, the reasons it happened is because

In .NET 1.1 no proxy is set, it would try to connect directly.
.NET 2.0 uses the machine’s default proxy configuration by default. The default proxy configuration is the configuration you see in the IE proxy configuration settings.
NETWORK SERVICE is a low access account which does not have access to the machine proxy configuration settings which are stored in the registry under HKLM keys. So you can’t get the proxy settings.

There are two ways you can solve this:

Set usesystemdefault="false" in the web.config
In the code to explicitly set the Proxy property of the Http object (WebRequest, XmlDom, Web Service Client etc.) to null

proxy server

A server that sits between a client application, such as a Web browser, and a real server. It intercepts all requests to the real server to see if it can fulfill the requests itself. If not, it forwards the request to the real server.
Proxy servers have two main purposes:
- Improve Performance
- Filter Requests

References:

Sending HttpWebRequest via firewall & over SSL

Unable to connect to the remote server

Slow Http client calls from ASP.NET 2.0? Make sure you check your Proxy Settings!

proxy server

Is it possible to specify proxy credentials in your web.config?
(407) proxy authentication required : Use HttpWebRequest with Proxy

Load unreferenced dll at runtime

2009-02-21T19:44:00.005+11:00

If you want to call methods in another dll which was not referenced in the current project, here is how:

Public Sub ExportXML(ByVal userID As Integer, _

ByVal oldPassword As String, _

ByVal newPassword As String)

Try

Dim isExportXML As String = WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings("IsExportXMLWhenPasswordChanged")

If isExportXML IsNot Nothing AndAlso isExportXML.ToLower() = "yes" Then

Dim ht As New Hashtable

Dim binPath As String = Path.Combine(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~"), "bin\Test.Common.dll")

Dim myDllAssembly As Assembly = Assembly.LoadFile(binPath)

Dim o As Object = myDllAssembly.CreateInstance("Test.Common.ExportXML")

Dim objUser As New clsUser(mstrConn)

objUser.getData(userID)

Dim logon As String = objUser.strLogon

Dim argstopass As Object() = New Object() {ht, "AgentID", logon}

o.GetType.GetMethod("InsertHash").Invoke(o, argstopass)

argstopass = New Object() {ht, "OldWebPassWord", oldPassword}

o.GetType.GetMethod("InsertHash").Invoke(o, argstopass)

argstopass = New Object() {ht, "NewWebPassWord", newPassword}

o.GetType.GetMethod("InsertHash").Invoke(o, argstopass)

Dim argstopass1 As Object() = New Object() {ht, 7}

o.GetType.GetMethod("ExportUsingHash").Invoke(o, argstopass1)

End If

Catch e As Exception

clsLog.log(e.ToString)

Throw e

End Try

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Reflection

Public Class ExportXML

Public Sub New()

End Sub

Public Sub ExportUsingHash(ByVal ht As Hashtable, ByVal exportType As ExportType)

Try

If ht.Count <= 0 Then

Return

End If

'header open

Dim sb As New StringBuilder()

sb.Append("<DataRoot>")

sb.Append("<TestNode>")

'loop content

For Each item As DictionaryEntry In ht

sb.AppendFormat("<{0}>{1}</{2}>", item.Key, item.Value, item.Key)

sb.Append("</TestNode>")

sb.Append("</DataRoot>")

'output xml

Dim logFilePath As String = _

String.Format("{0}\Integration\{1}{2}({3}).xml", _

HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~"), _

exportType.ToString(), _

String.Format("{0:ddMMyyyyHHmmss}", DateTime.Now), _

System.Guid.NewGuid().ToString())

Using sw As New StreamWriter(logFilePath, True)

sw.WriteLine("<?xml version=""1.0"" ?>")

sw.Write(sb.ToString())

sw.Close()

End Using

Catch ex As Exception

Throw ex

End Try

End Sub

'Compare object changes

Public Sub Export(ByVal obj_Before As Object, _

ByVal obj_After As Object, _

ByVal exportType As ExportType, _

ByVal actionMode As ActionMode)

Try

'header open

Dim sb As New StringBuilder()

sb.Append("<DataRoot>")

sb.Append("<TestNode>")

'if add mode, add all to the xml

If actionMode = Common.ActionMode.Add Then

If obj_After IsNot Nothing Then

Dim t2 As Type = obj_After.GetType()

For Each p2 As PropertyInfo In t2.GetProperties()

WriteContent(p2.Name, p2.GetValue(obj_After, Nothing), exportType, sb, actionMode, False)

End If

ElseIf actionMode = Common.ActionMode.Edit Then

'if edit mode, only add changed ones to xml

If obj_Before IsNot Nothing AndAlso obj_After IsNot Nothing Then

Dim t1 As Type = obj_Before.GetType()

Dim t2 As Type = obj_After.GetType()

For Each p1 As PropertyInfo In t1.GetProperties()

For Each p2 As PropertyInfo In t2.GetProperties()

If p1.Name = p2.Name Then

Dim IsEqual As Boolean = False

IsEqual = p1.GetValue(obj_Before, Nothing).Equals(p2.GetValue(obj_After, Nothing))

WriteContent(p2.Name, p2.GetValue(obj_After, Nothing), exportType, sb, actionMode, IsEqual)

Exit For

End If

ElseIf actionMode = Common.ActionMode.Delete Then

If obj_Before IsNot Nothing Then

Dim t1 As Type = obj_Before.GetType()

For Each p1 As PropertyInfo In t1.GetProperties()

WriteContent(p1.Name, p1.GetValue(obj_Before, Nothing), exportType, sb, actionMode, False)

End If

sb.Append("</TestNode>")

sb.Append("</DataRoot>")

'output xml

Dim logFilePath As String = _

String.Format("{0}\Integration\{1}{2}({3}).xml", _

HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~"), _

exportType.ToString(), _

String.Format("{0:ddMMyyyyHHmmss}", DateTime.Now), _

System.Guid.NewGuid().ToString())

Using sw As New StreamWriter(logFilePath, True)

sw.WriteLine("<?xml version=""1.0"" ?>")

sw.Write(sb.ToString())

sw.Close()

End Using

Catch ex As Exception

Throw ex

End Try

End Sub

Public Sub InsertHash(ByVal ht As Hashtable, _

ByVal key As String, _

ByVal val As Object)

If Not IsDBNull(key) AndAlso key IsNot Nothing Then

ht(key) = val.ToString()

End If

End Sub

End Class

Reference:

Using Reflection to load unreferenced assemblies at runtime in C#

Javascript page redirection

2009-02-15T19:13:00.010+11:00

The following javascript will:

Create a form on the fly and send post request without using the underlying form action tag
Post only the fields you want
You can put the following code in the RadEditor

<label for="salutation">Salutation</label>

</select><br>

<label for="first_name">First Name</label><input id="first_name" maxlength="40" name="first_name" size="20" type="text" /><br>

<label for="email">Email</label><input id="email" maxlength="80" name="email" size="20" type="text" /><br>

<label for="phone">Phone</label><input id="phone" maxlength="40" name="phone" size="20" type="text" /><br>

<label for="description">Description</label><textarea name="description"></textarea><br>

<label for="street">Address</label><textarea name="street"></textarea><br>

<label for="state">State/Province</label><input id="state" maxlength="20" name="state" size="20" type="text" /><br>

<label for="title">Title</label><input id="title" maxlength="40" name="title" size="20" type="text" /><br>

<label for="mobile">Mobile</label><input id="mobile" maxlength="40" name="mobile" size="20" type="text" /><br>

<label for="lead_source">Lead Source</label><select id="lead_source" name="lead_source"><option value="">--None--</option><option value="Details Referred">Details Referred</option>

<option value="Direct Mail">Direct Mail</option>

<option value="Display">Display</option>

<option value="Email">Email</option>

<option value="Event">Event</option>

<option value="Mobile">Mobile</option>

<option value="Open House">Open House</option>

<option value="Phone">Phone</option>

<option value="Website">Website</option>

</select><br>

Project Office:<select id="00N20000000lQgj" name="00N20000000lQgj" title="Project Office"><option value="">--None--</option><option value="Abervale">Abervale</option>

<option value="Bingara Gorge">Bingara Gorge</option>

<option value="Blakeview">Blakeview</option>

<option value="Burwood Terrace">Burwood Terrace</option>

<option value="Caesia Gardens">Caesia Gardens</option>

<option value="Caroline Springs">Caroline Springs</option>

<option value="Craigieburn">Craigieburn</option>

<option value="Daikyo">Daikyo</option>

<option value="Edgewater">Edgewater</option>

<option value="Fiddlers Green">Fiddlers Green</option>

<option value="Forest Gardens">Forest Gardens</option>

<option value="Forest Hills">Forest Hills</option>

<option value="Glenaeon">Glenaeon</option>

<option value="Gawler East">Gawler East</option>

<option value="Highvale">Highvale</option>

<option value="Jacksons Landing">Jacksons Landing</option>

<option value="Keperra">Keperra</option>

<option value="Lakeside Pakenham">Lakeside Pakenham</option>

<option value="Laurimar">Laurimar</option>

<option value="Lutanda">Lutanda</option>

<option value="Mawson Lakes">Mawson Lakes</option>

<option value="Nelsons Grove">Nelsons Grove</option>

<option value="Nelsons Ridge">Nelsons Ridge</option>

<option value="Peppertree Hills">Peppertree Hills</option>

<option value="Pittwater">Pittwater</option>

<option value="Rochford Place">Rochford Place</option>

<option value="Rocky Springs">Rocky Springs</option>

<option value="Rouse Hill">Rouse Hill</option>

<option value="Springfield Lakes">Springfield Lakes</option>

<option value="St Marys">St Marys</option>

<option value="St Patricks Estate">St Patricks Estate</option>

<option value="Sunshine Coast">Sunshine Coast</option>

<option value="The Terraces">The Terraces</option>

<option value="Trinity Green">Trinity Green</option>

<option value="Varsity Lakes">Varsity Lakes</option>

<option value="Victoria Harbour">Victoria Harbour</option>

<option value="Woodlands">Woodlands</option>

<option value="Yarrabilba">Yarrabilba</option>

</select><br>

<label for="emailOptOut">Email Opt Out</label>

function post_to_url(path, method)

{

method = method "post"; // Set method to post by default, if not specified.

// The rest of this code assumes you are not using a library.

// It can be made less wordy if you use one.

var form = document.createElement("form");

form.setAttribute("method", method);

form.setAttribute("action", path);

var sal = document.getElementById("salutation");

createHidden("salutation", sal.options[sal.selectedIndex].value, form);

createHidden("first_name", document.getElementById('first_name').value, form);

createHidden("last_name", document.getElementById('last_name').value, form);

createHidden("email", document.getElementById('email').value, form);

createHidden("phone", document.getElementById('phone').value, form);

createHidden("description", document.getElementById('description').value, form);

createHidden("street", document.getElementById('street').value, form);

createHidden("city", document.getElementById('city').value, form);

createHidden("state", document.getElementById('state').value, form);

createHidden("zip", document.getElementById('zip').value, form);

createHidden("title", document.getElementById('title').value, form);

createHidden("fax", document.getElementById('fax').value, form);

createHidden("mobile", document.getElementById('mobile').value, form);

var lead = document.getElementById("lead_source");

createHidden("lead_source", lead.options[lead.selectedIndex].value, form);

var projOffice = document.getElementById("00N20000000lQgj");

createHidden("00N20000000lQgj", projOffice.options[projOffice.selectedIndex].value, form);

var opt = document.getElementById("emailOptOut");

var ischecked;

if(opt.checked){

ischecked = 1

}

else{

ischecked = 0

}

createHidden("emailOptOut", ischecked, form);

document.body.appendChild(form); //This is necessary

form.submit();

}

function createHidden(hiddenName, hiddenValue, myForm)

{

var hiddenField = document.createElement("input");

hiddenField.setAttribute("type", "hidden");

hiddenField.setAttribute("name", hiddenName);

hiddenField.setAttribute("value", hiddenValue);

myForm.appendChild(hiddenField);

}

</script>

Reference:
Javascript Post Request like a Form Submit

Loop through all the text box in a form

2009-01-26T22:31:00.004+11:00

Private Function ValidateTextboxes(ByVal container As Control) As Boolean

For Each ctl As Control In container.Controls

Dim textBox = TryCast(ctl, TextBox)

If textBox IsNot Nothing Then

If textBox.Text.ToString.Trim().Length <> 0 AndAlso Not Regex.IsMatch(textBox.Text, "^[a-zA-Z'.\s\d+]{1,40}$") Then

Dim cs As ClientScriptManager = Me.ClientScript

cs.RegisterClientScriptBlock(Me.GetType(), "ValidateFile", "alert('Invalid input, please try again!');", True)

textBox.Focus()

Return False

End If

If ctl.Controls.Count > 0 Then

ValidateTextboxes(ctl)

End If

Return True

End Function

References:

Recursion method to clear TextBoxes in nested Container Controls

How To: Protect From Injection Attacks in ASP.NET

Deleting subdirectory restarts AppDomain

2008-12-10T21:53:00.004+11:00

When you deletes a subfolder either manually or programatically from the application root folder of IIS, the ASP.NET runtime automatically restarts AppDomain. To fix this, we will need to turn off the folder monitoring in the Application_Start of the Global.asax.vb, this does not apply on bin folder.

Sub Application_Start(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

StopMonitorFolderChange()

End Sub

Private Sub StopMonitorFolderChange()

Dim p As System.Reflection.PropertyInfo = GetType(System.Web.HttpRuntime).GetProperty("FileChangesMonitor", _

System.Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic Or System.Reflection.BindingFlags.[Public] Or System.Reflection.BindingFlags.[Static])

Dim o As Object = p.GetValue(Nothing, Nothing)

Dim f As System.Reflection.FieldInfo = o.[GetType]().GetField("_dirMonSubdirs", _

System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance Or System.Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic Or System.Reflection.BindingFlags.IgnoreCase)

Dim monitor As Object = f.GetValue(o)

Dim m As System.Reflection.MethodInfo = monitor.[GetType]().GetMethod("StopMonitoring", _

System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance Or System.Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic)

m.Invoke(monitor, New Object() {})

End Sub

Reference:

issue C#: Delete directory kills session

HttpHandler

2008-12-09T21:12:00.016+11:00

Basics

An HTTP Handler is a .NET class that executes whenever you make a request for a file at a certain path.
The Page class is an HTTP Handler because it implements the IHttpHandler interface.
The IsReusable property indicates whether ASP.NET can keep the handler in memory to service multiple requests, or if it must create a new instance of the handler for every request.
Unless you maintain some sort of state in the handler, which is uncommon, IsReusable should always return true.
Two ways to create an HTTP Handler:

Generic Handler (.ashx): you cannot execute a Generic Handler whenever someone requests a file with the extension .gif. If you need more control over when an HTTP Handler executes, create a class implements IHttpHandler.
Custom class implement the IHttpHandler interface.

Class implements IHttpHandler

IIS 6.0

In the httpHandlers section of the web.config, add an entry for the file-name extension. Specify the following four attributes:

path: specify the path associated with the handler.
verb: specify the HTTP verbs, such as GET or POST, associated with the handler. You can specify multiple verbs in a comma-separated list. You can represent any verb with the * wildcard.
type: specify the name of the class that implements the handler.
validate: specify whether the handler is loaded during application startup. When true, the handler is loaded at startup. When false, the handler is not loaded until a request associated with the handler is made.

add the file extension to map to Aspnet_isapi.dll
Verify that file exists check box

Check. The file-name extension represents a physical file in the application. If the requested file does not exist on disk, IIS displays an error.
Uncheck. The file-name extension does not represent a physical file. Instead, the extension is handled dynamically by a class that is mapped to the extension in ASP.NET.

IIS 7.0 (Classic or Integrated mode)
- Using IIS Manager in IIS 7.0 to add a custom handler extension is equivalent to registering the handler extension in the Web.config file of an ASP.NET application. The registration adds a handler element in the handlers section of the system.webServer group.
- In the httpHandlers section of the web.config, add an entry for the file-name extension.

References:

ASP.NET 2.0 Unleashed

How to: Configure an HTTP Handler Extension in IIS

How to: Register HTTP Handlers

Loop through files in a directory

2008-11-12T23:22:00.006+11:00

The following example shows you how to programme path in ASP.NET:

Imports System.IO

Partial Public Class WebForm1

Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

'Note: TestPath is configured the root folder in IIS

Print("-------Path------------")

Print(Server.MapPath("~")) 'Root folder: C:\ALL\Dev\TestPath\

Print(Server.MapPath("~/")) 'Root folder: C:\ALL\Dev\TestPath\

Print(Server.MapPath(".")) 'Current folder: C:\ALL\Dev\TestPath\Folder1\Folder2

Print(Server.MapPath("..")) 'Upper-level folder: C:\ALL\Dev\TestPath\Folder1

Print(Server.MapPath("../..")) 'Upper-upper-level folder: C:\ALL\Dev\TestPath

Print("--------URL-----------")

Print(Request.RawUrl()) '/TestPath/Folder1/Folder2/WebForm1.aspx

Print(Request.PhysicalPath) 'C:\ALL\Dev\TestPath\Folder1\Folder2\WebForm1.aspx

Print(Request.PhysicalApplicationPath) 'C:\ALL\Dev\TestPath\

Print(Request.Url.AbsolutePath) '/TestPath/Folder1/Folder2/WebForm1.aspx

Print(Request.Url.LocalPath) '/TestPath/Folder1/Folder2/WebForm1.aspx

Print("--------File/Folder-----------")

Print(GetCurrentPageName) 'WebForm1.aspx

Print(GetFileExtension(Request.PhysicalPath)) '.aspx

Print(GetFileExtension1(Request.PhysicalPath)) '.aspx

Print(IsFileExist(Request.PhysicalPath)) 'True

Print(IsFolderExist(Server.MapPath(".."))) 'True

Print(IsFolderExist1(Server.MapPath(".."))) 'True

Print(FindFile(Server.MapPath("."), "form1")) 'WebForm1.aspx

End Sub

Private Sub Print(ByVal val As String)

Response.Write(val + "<br>")

End Sub

Public Function GetCurrentPageName() As String

Dim path As String = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.AbsolutePath

Dim file As New System.IO.FileInfo(path)

Return file.Name

End Function

Private Function GetFileExtension(ByVal path As String) As String

Dim file As New System.IO.FileInfo(path)

Return file.Extension

End Function

Private Function GetFileExtension1(ByVal path As String) As String

Return System.IO.Path.GetExtension(path)

End Function

Public Shared Function GetFileExtension2(ByVal filename As String) As String

Dim index As Integer = filename.LastIndexOf(".")

Return filename.Substring(index + 1, filename.Length - index - 1)

End Function

Private Function IsFileExist(ByVal path As String) As Boolean

Return File.Exists(path)

End Function

Private Function IsFolderExist(ByVal folder As String) As Boolean

Return Directory.Exists(folder)

End Function

Private Function IsFolderExist1(ByVal folder As String) As Boolean

Return My.Computer.FileSystem.DirectoryExists(folder)

End Function

Private Function FindFile(ByVal path As String, ByVal contains As String) As String

Dim wildcards As String() = {"*.jpg", "*.jpeg", "*.gif", "*.aspx"}

Dim Files As System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String) _

= My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles(path, FileIO.SearchOption.SearchTopLevelOnly, wildcards)

For Each f In Files

If f.IndexOf(contains, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase) >= 0 Then

Return System.IO.Path.GetFileName(f)

End If

Return "Not Found"

End Function

End Class

Loop through properties of a .NET Class

2008-11-02T19:31:00.005+11:00

You could use reflection to return all the public properties of a current class, such as the name and value of the property.

Sample Code:

Imports System.Web

Imports System.Reflection

Partial Class HCNLogin

Private Sub CreateHCNCookies(ByVal userID As Integer)

If Request.Browser.Cookies Then

Dim hcnUser As HCNUser = hcnUser.GetByID(userID)

If hcnUser IsNot Nothing Then

Dim t As Type = hcnUser.GetType()

For Each p As PropertyInfo In t.GetProperties()

If Not p.Name.Equals("ID") AndAlso Not p.Name.Equals("intUserID") Then

Response.Cookies(p.Name).Value = p.GetValue(hcnUser, Nothing)

Response.Cookies(p.Name).Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(10)

End If

End Sub

End Class

Reference:
Loop through object properties?

Running custom HttpHandler in IIS 7

2008-11-02T19:10:00.006+11:00

When I am using a custom HttpModule/HttpHandler in IIS 7 under Vista, the handler does not fire. The fix is to change the application in IIS to the "Classic .NET AppPool". You can also use the DefaulAppPool by changing the web.config, refer to the references.
Also, IIS7 on Vista Client doesn't currently supports ASP.NET substitution caching while running in integrated mode. If you change it to classic mode it does.

References:

Using HttpModules and HttpHandlers under IIS7

HttpModule and HttpHandler sections in IIS 7 web.config files

IIS 7 Apppool "integrated" fails with ASP.NET Substitution

LINQ Connection String - app.config vs web.config

2008-11-02T17:27:00.008+11:00

When you are using Linq to SQL, if you have your dbml in a class library project and you drag and drop a database table from the Server Explorer onto the dbml designer, VS2008 will automatically create the app.config for you which contains the connectionstring.
If you have a web application project which references the Linq class library and you want to put the connectionstring in the web.config, here is how:

1. Remove the default constructor in the dbml designer class. Create a partial class for the datacontext class which contains the constructor to re-set the connectionstring.

2. You need to set the dbml's connection to none whenever new stuff has been dragged onto the design surface.

3. Put the connectionstring in the web.config

Sample Code:

Imports System.Configuration

'We don't want to use app.config to store connectionstring, we need to use web.config

'So we need to set the dbml's connection to none whenever new stuff has been dragged onto the design surface

Partial Public Class MyDataContext

Public Sub New()

MyBase.New(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("MyConnectionString").ConnectionString, mappingSource)

End Sub

End Class

References:

How to set the connection string in your LINQ dbml file dynamically (based on web.config)

LINQ and Web Application Connection Strings

Importing Excel - Truncates at 255 characters

2008-11-02T17:05:00.004+11:00

When you importing an excel file into database, if you are using OLEDB, the text being read from each cell will be truncated at 255 characters.

Solutions:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Jet\4.0\Engines\Excel\TypeGuessRows was set to 1. You can change it to a larger value and it now work.
You might consider using ODBC instead of OLEDB.

Sample code:

Imports System.Data.OleDb

Imports System.Data.Odbc

Module ImportExcel

Sub Main()

DoJob1()

End Sub

'Private Function GetData() As OleDbDataReader

' Dim cnAdo As New OleDbConnection()

' Dim cmCommand As New OleDbCommand()

' Try

' cnAdo.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Extended Properties='Excel 8.0;HDR=YES';Data Source=E:\\test.xls;"

' cnAdo.Open()

' cmCommand.Connection = cnAdo

' cmCommand.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]"

' cmCommand.CommandType = CommandType.Text

' Return cmCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection)

' Catch ex As Exception

' If cnAdo.State = ConnectionState.Open Then

' cnAdo.Close()

' End If

' Throw ex

' End Try

'End Function

'Private Sub DoJob()

' Dim drExcel As OleDbDataReader = GetData()

' Try

' Dim dc As New Enware_eStoreDataContext()

' Dim count As Integer = 0

' While drExcel.Read()

' If drExcel("ProductID") IsNot DBNull.Value Then

' Dim p As eStore_Product = dc.eStore_Products.FirstOrDefault(Function(s As eStore_Product) s.ID = CInt(drExcel("ProductID")))

' If p IsNot Nothing Then

' p.Name = drExcel("Name").ToString()

' p.Description = drExcel("Description").ToString()

' p.Image = drExcel("Image").ToString()

' p.Keyword = drExcel("Keyword").ToString()

' p.GroupCode = drExcel("GroupCode").ToString()

' p.Brochure = drExcel("Brochure").ToString()

' dc.SubmitChanges()

' Else

' Exit While

' End If

' Else

' Exit While

' End If

' count = count + 1

' End While

' Console.WriteLine("finished! - " + count.ToString() + " rows processed!")

' Console.ReadLine()

' Catch ex As Exception

' Console.WriteLine(ex)

' Console.ReadLine()

' Finally

' If drExcel IsNot Nothing Then

' drExcel.Close()

' End If

' End Try

'End Sub

Private Function GetOdbcDataReader() As OdbcDataReader

Dim con As New OdbcConnection()

Dim cmd As New OdbcCommand()

Try

con.ConnectionString = "Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)};DBQ=E:\\test.xls;"

con.Open()

cmd.Connection = con

cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]"

cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text

Return cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection)

Catch ex As Exception

If con.State = ConnectionState.Open Then

con.Close()

End If

Throw ex

End Try

End Function

Private Sub DoJob1()

Dim drExcel As OdbcDataReader = GetOdbcDataReader()

Try

Dim dc As New Enware_eStoreDataContext()

Dim count As Integer = 0

While drExcel.Read()

If drExcel("ProductID") IsNot DBNull.Value Then

Dim p As eStore_Product = dc.eStore_Products.FirstOrDefault(Function(s As eStore_Product) s.ID = CInt(drExcel("ProductID")))

If p IsNot Nothing Then

p.Name = drExcel("Name").ToString()

p.Description = drExcel("Description").ToString()

p.Image = drExcel("Image").ToString()

p.Keyword = drExcel("Keyword").ToString()

p.GroupCode = drExcel("GroupCode").ToString()

p.Brochure = drExcel("Brochure").ToString()

dc.SubmitChanges()

Else

Exit While

End If

Else

Exit While

End If

count = count + 1

End While

Console.WriteLine("finished! - " + count.ToString() + " rows processed!")

Console.ReadLine()

Catch ex As Exception

Console.WriteLine(ex)

Console.ReadLine()

Finally

If drExcel IsNot Nothing Then

drExcel.Close()

End If

End Try

End Sub

End Module

Reference:

Reading and Writing Excel using OLEDB

MOSS Video Format

2008-11-02T16:36:00.002+11:00

SharePoint will play all files that windows media player can play. If you have all codecs correctly installed for Media player, then you can host any file in SharePoint and then add a code that will make windows media player play the file.
But since the user may not have the correct codecs installed for their media player, the best format is wmv since windows media player is made to play .wmv files.
By Default Moss will allow us to upload File size up to 50 MB. Upload File size can be adjusted to up to 2 GB.
The best file size will be less than 20MB.

Reference:

Does Sharepoint play any video file?