Gayani's Blog

Speech #3

2011-10-14T19:54:00.001+05:30

SDNUG October Meeting - 2009

2009-10-03T06:26:00.001+05:30

Last Thursday the 1st of October I attended the Sydney Deep .NET User Group meeting. This was the first time I attended an Australian user group meeting after my arrival in Australia and it was a great experience for me.

The session was about ASP.NET V4 - New Features by Paul Glavich. It was a very informative session which he introduced the new features of ASP.NET V4 in terms of Core Services, AJAX, Web Forms, MVC, Dynamic Data, Design Improvements and Web App development in VS 2010.

I gained a lot insight to ASP.NET V4 and thank you very much.

May to October

2009-09-30T07:14:00.000+05:30

My blog has been pretty quite for a while, so let me fill in the gaps with some of the shots I've captured :)

May .NET User Group Meeting - 2009

2009-05-09T20:41:00.001+05:30

Colombo .NET User Group (CDNUG) meeting took place last Thursday the 7th May and Chandana did the first session on Windows Azure Services Platform.

The next session was take by me. My presentation was on 'LINQ to SQL to build your Data Access Layer.' On this session I talked about how to build a DAL using LINQ to SQL for a disconnected environment and highlighted some points to gain better performance as well. The full explanation and the code downloads can be found here.

It was interesting to see questions coming up from the audience and their enthusiasm on the subject. Hope it was useful and do feel free to buzz me if you find any thing interesting on this or have any queries.

Microsoft ISV Training on Dynamic Data

2009-04-24T00:02:00.001+05:30

Yesterday I did a training program for ISVs on ASP.NET Dynamic Data. Apart from the setting up and customization, I talked and demo a bit on the very latest concept of using a Domain Service with Dynamic Data. So in other words it opens up a way to take more control on your data, in DD.

It was pretty interesting to see various queries from different aspects. And I hope it was an informative and a useful session for all of you. By the way, some one asked me to post all the references in my blog. So here they are...

Dynamic Data Official Site

Dynamic Data - MSDN

Dynamic Data - CodePlex

Dynamic Data - Forum

April .NET User Group Meeting - 2009

2009-04-03T07:49:00.001+05:30

I did my very first presentation at Colombo .NET User Group (CDNUG) yesterday on Dynamic Data titled as 'Building Data-Driven Web Applications using Dynamic Data'.

The session touched the key areas of Dynamic Data customization apart from setting up and configuration. I was so happy to see the audience coming up questions :) I enjoyed doing the session a lot and do feel free to buzz me if you come up with any problems or something interesting on Dynamic Data.

By the way, there are couple of snap shots..and will be posting them once I receive them.

Here are they are..

Designing A Data Access Layer in LINQ to SQL

2009-03-04T22:29:00.000+05:30

I wrote an article on Designing A Data Access Layer in LINQ to SQL It discusses how LINQ to SQL can be used to design a data access layer and lists some best practices that can help to improve the performance of the application. The complete source code is available for download with my article.

Dynamic Data Templates in ASP.NET 3.5

2008-11-27T00:19:00.000+05:30

My Article on Dynamic Data Templates in ASP.NET 3.5 was published in Simple Talk web site on 17th Nov' 2008.

This article gives an introduction to Dynamic Data Templates in ASP.NET 3.5 and explains how one can save a great deal of time and effort when building data-driven web sites by using them and highlights some of the ways of customizing DDT to suit the industry needs.

This was released in the Simple Talk Newsletter as a feature article on the 26th Nov 2008 Edition.

Some thing I really enjoyed...

2008-10-07T22:45:00.001+05:30

Today I did a presentation on LINQ at my office for my technical colleagues. It basically focused on giving an insight to LINQ and brief intro to LINQ to SQL, LINQ to Entity & LINQ to XML. Of course I was bombarded with all kinds of questions but end of the day it turned out to be a productive session.I simply love it.

Extracting XML and Insert Bulk Data using LINQ to XML and LINQ to SQL in .NET 3.5

2008-10-04T19:06:00.001+05:30

Today I published an article in CodeProject, I am so excited about it because its the first time I published some thing outside my Blog.

Mainly this article focuses on how to read XML content and insert bulk data to the database using LINQ to XML, LINQ to SQL & LINQ and discusses the significance of LINQ.

You can find the article here : http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/LINQ_FOR_OPERATIONS.aspx

Enhancements in C# Code Editor in VS 2008

2008-08-30T15:22:00.001+05:30

Explicit compilation was often needed to Identify the semantic errors in C# code in Visual Studio 2005 and earlier versions. For instance if we declare and use an unknown data type in C# code, it required compilation for identification of the errors.

Now with the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 C# code editor instantly identifies and mark these errors with squiggles in red with out the need of explicit compilation.

This adds up value to the developer experience plus saves the building time.

Exciting Tools

2008-06-12T22:20:00.001+05:30

Recently, I came across with some interesting free tools that makes your life easy, especially if you are in to web development.

Color Pix

An exciting cute little color picker that identifies the pixel by the movement of the mouse and converts the pined color in to various different color formats.

JavaScript Editor

An Editor that basically supports intelligence, built-in-previews, syntax highlighting and a lot more.

Yes it definitely excited me and that’s why I thought to write about these two tools in my Blog. Enjoy scripting and color picking…

Dynamically Generating Images using ASP.NET Handlers

2008-06-07T18:16:00.000+05:30

Introduction

Dynamic image generation in web applications are expensive tasks. More often we tend to access images from a location in a web server, or the regularly accessed images are often stored in cache objects. In some cases we need to draw images dynamically.

In any of these cases, more the resource are consumed the performance of the application reduces. There fore it is vital to use techniques that will improve the application performance. This article introduces the HttpHander and how it can be used to dynamically generate images providing a better performance to the application.

The HttpHander

It’s all to do with how the IIS handles a request. When the web application receives a request, it checks with its ISAPI filter. Internet Server Application Program Interface (ASPNET_ISAPI.DLL). This is responsible for getting the control on http requests. So when we have configured the application to handle the image types we require it will process them.

In this example jpeg is used. The configuration in the IIS will be explained later in this article.

Common Class to Handle Images

We need a class that will basically handle the images in our application. First we need to make this class, process the request that we get from the web page.

There fore, let us create a class that implements IhttpHandler. From the IhttpHandler implement the default members namely, the IsReusable and ProcessRequest. IsReusable method is responsible of indicating whether this particular instance can be used by another request or not, so here we will specify return false, as to indicate that it will be used by a single request. ProcessRequest is basically responsible of processing the http web request. So in this example I will transmit a particular person’s image based on the person’s name.

Utilizing the Common Class

Let us create a web page with a RadioButtonList control specifying the values (a,b,c) and text (person names) and a Panel control to load the images. Our objective is to display the person's image for selecting the name from the RadioButtonList control. And for this let us use the created class above.

Image control is created and the required ImageUrl is constructed and assigned to the ImageUrl property of the Image control before adding the control to the panel. Here, image URL is pointed to Test.jpg image, which actually does not exists in the solution.

So, how does this actually work? Let us dive deep to this and see what happens inside. When passing the selected value as the query string to the Test.jpg, the IIS identifies that it is an image to be processed of type jpeg and then the ImageHandler class will response with the relevant image.

Setting the Web.config

For our application to inform that .jpg file types are handled by the HttpHandlers, a tag is added to the <httpHandlers> section specifying the path as *.jpg and verb as * to handle any jpg request and by using the class ImageHandler which is specified in the type.

Configuring IIS

As we mentioned earlier, to make IIS identify the images, an application mapping for the .jpg (The file Type) that is handled by HttpHander needs to be configured in IIS. Follow are the steps for configuration.

· Open the IIS.

· Right Click on the Web Site.

· Properties -> Configuration -> Application Configuration-> Mapping

· Click Add

· Browse the aspnet_isapi .dll, type the extension as .jpg,

. Click on “Check that file exists” option.

Note (Only for Windows XP Professional Edition users) : In a Windows XP Professional Edition, OK button is disabled in this configuration. To overcome this, Once you select the dll, just bring your cursor to that field and make it focused. You must click on the Executable field and you must click on the Detention fields. And then OK will be enabled.

After configuring the application let us run at application. And here is how it appears.

Performance Evaluation

The following performance report depicts the most called functions and functions with more work.

Conclusion

Loading images dynamically using the handlers are much faster and less memory consuming compared to other techniques. Further, from a coding perspective it reduces the lines of code and keep things more clean and neat, from a performance perspective it improving the overall web application performance.

References

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317948

70-551

2008-06-02T22:56:00.000+05:30

After attempting for 4 times, I finally passed the exam 70-551. So thought to share some significant areas of interests and where more questions were targeted.

As you know, this exam consists of 3 parts. The order, which part comes first is random and here is a glance on the content. There are questions from all the chapters but here are some highlights of which most questioned are asked.

For Web Application related :

Mobile applications
Web Parts & Personalization
Deploying Tools
Custom Controls such as Wizard control, Login Control.

For the Application Foundation related :

Compression Techniques
Application Security
Serialization

For Application Design related :

Deploying Applications
Testing Applications
WMI, WSAT
Design Evaluation

One thing I noticed was that the exam content updates so fast, and it always comprises of latest changes.

Glimpse on LINQ TO SQL

2008-05-18T19:01:00.001+05:30

What is Linq to SQL Server

So far all this time we have been using the ADO.NET to communicate with the Database, extracting and manipulating data. Linq to SQL opens a new window to do non other than the same thing. Linq to SQL provides ways of extracting and manipulating data on SQL Server Databases only.

How does it do it?

So, how does LINQ do it? The concept behind it is, it converts a Linq Expression to a SQL query at the backstage. But it’s not straight forward as such.

In Linq, first will look how it querys SQL data? Obviously, the DB structure should be mapped to some format understandable by linq. And that is done using the Linq to SQL class. I assume that application is already connected to some datasource.

Add a Linq to SQL Class to your solution; this class automatically creates necessary functionality to work with the table in the DB.
Open the server explores, connect to your DB and add some tables to this class; when tables are added a Linq to SQL Class which in this example the ContactDBDataContext is updated with the necessary functionality to deal with the DB.
Take a look at the code below.

ContactDBDataContext context = new ContactDBDataContext();
var contactData = from Course in context.Courses
select new { Course.Name, Course.Certification };

ContactDBDataContext is the Linq to SQL Class I added. Course is the table I added to that class. It references the course table as Courses. I’ve written a linq expression to get all the course names and certification names from the course table.

When you add your table to that class, it makes that added table identified as a System.Data.Linq.Table<TypeOfTable> and this is accessible from the Linq expression. Ok, now linq is aware of what tables to work with. Now how does it fetch the data? When linq expression is run on a Table<T> it returns an object of type System.Data.Linq.DataQuery, which has all the details to fetch the data you want. Even the SQL statement preview could be viewed by called the ‘ToString()’ on the particular DataQuery object.

This object of type System.Data.Linq.DataQuery implements the IEnumerable interface allowing it to traverse through its items using a ‘for’ loop. This object contains all the data you need to access, in this sample.

- This is just a surface of an ocean to dive in.

LINQ in Brief

2008-05-12T00:59:00.001+05:30

What is LINQ?

LINQ stands for Language INtegrated Query. Basically this presents a mechanism for retrieving, sorting, manipulating data which are in various sources. As LINQ is new to .NET so as the syntax.

List<int> Prices = new List<int> {456,789,235,723 };

var myPriceList = from p in Prices orderby p descending select p

In the above line of code, from the Prices List<int>, p is specified as a representation of an item in the collection, saying to get p which are in Prices List<int> based on the ordering clause and finally selecting the item.

Difference between LINQ & SQL, .NET 3.5

Seeing LINQ in .NET 3.5 suddenly made me guess whether it operates like SQL too? Linq uses similar syntax as in SQL but its functionality is totally different to SQL.

SQL basically operates on tables, while LINQ could be operated on collections, and other datasources such as databases or xml. Unlike dealing with rows in a table, these collections could be manipulated using LINQ, whether they have values in them or even objects. Let’s look at some interesting features in LINQ.

Some Interesting Features in LINQ

A collection could be modified retaining the initial values of the collection as it is. For an example, let’s say you retrieve prices and you want to add the currency symbol to the prices. In spite of LINQ, if we were to retrieve the values and add the currency symbol to it, may require traversing through the collection. But LINQ does it simply as this.

private static void GetPriceList()

{

List<int> Prices = new List<int> {456,789,235,723 };

var myPriceList = from p in Prices orderby p descending select p.ToString("C");

foreach (string i in myPriceList)
{
Console.WriteLine(i);

}

}

Not only that, calculations too could be performed on them. Let’s say in the above list you want to get the average price. Here is how to get it.

Console.WriteLine("The average is {0:F2}", Prices.Average());

The important point here is that, method Average() is not a method of the List. It’s available due to LINQ. Such methods are called extension methods. That is basically used to extend the functionality of List in this example. Saving the manipulated collection to an array, dictionary or a list is also possible by the extension methods such as ToArray(), ToDictionary(), ToList().

For a programmer using .net 2.0 for and the previous versions for some time LINQ might seem a bit odd and alien. But when you look deep in to it, it does cuts off lot of code and thinking which you would invest to do some complex work out. For example a simple selection from a list, will require you to traverse through a loop and then check for a condition and extract the data.Linq makes this task easy by giving a whole new look in to the Visual Studio 2008 environment, giving the new key words and a lot of functionality to what you want to achieve.

Solution to Dynamic Length Arrays in C#

2008-04-25T23:33:00.001+05:30

Creating dynamic length arrays is often a requirement, but arrays do have a limitation in this point. C# allows you to create dynamic length arrays as follows.

int[] intAry = new int[] { 1, 2, 3 };

If your requirement is simple as this, then fine. But what if you want to create an array based on the elements you add and specify the length accordingly.

You could use : Array.Resize<int>(ref intAry, 2); to resize. But again you may have to traverse through the array or use another array to copy the elements.

Arrays do have a limitation where you cannot make it grow dynamically. Collections on the other hand grows dynamically. Here's a solution to the dynamic length arrays.

List<int> oNumList = new List<int>(); //Haven't specified the size

oNumList.Add(1123); //Add items to the list

int[] oNums = new int[oNumList.Count]; //Create an int Array

oNums = oNumList.ToArray(); //Convert the List to an Array

C# List<> allows you to create a List<T> specifying the type in T. So, create a List<int> of type int and add the items to it, with out specifying the count of the List. Then convert it back to an Array. There could be other solutions to this as well..

Validate DataTypes using the CompareValidator

2008-02-03T19:24:00.001+05:30

Tiny tip on Validation. CompareValidator in ASP.NET, could be used in an effective way such as to validate inputs for either Integer, Double, Date or Currency. Here is how you could do so.

In the CompareValidator, set the ControlToValidate to the input control and set the Type to the expected data type you need to validate, and then set the Operator to the DataTypeCheck. And just leave the ControlToCompare property empty.

<asp:CompareValidator ID="CompareValidator1" runat="server" ControlToValidate="TextBox1" Display="Dynamic" Operator="DataTypeCheck" Type="Date">InValid Date</asp:CompareValidator>

Significant point to note here is, that this validates the Type and not the format of the type. There fore if you expect to specify a format for example, number of decimal points for a double value or specific date format for the date this is not the ideal validation control to go for. (rather uses default date format to check)

But if you need to validate the specific Data Type only, I think this is a quick and clean way.

Resource Saving Dynamic Word Doc Generation.

2007-11-04T00:37:00.001+05:30

Most often in web development we may require to export web content or contents of a database query to some other media such as word. Creating a word document, writing the content and saving it in the web server and downloading at demand is often time and resource consuming. Here is a quick way to dynamically generate the word document using the Http Response.

To start with, lets assume you already have some content ready to write to a word doc as a response to a button click event of your web page.

Response.Clear();

Response.Charset = "";

Response.AppendHeader("Content-Type", "application/msword");

Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + "MyWord.doc");

Response.AddHeader("Content-Length", sb.ToString().Length.ToString());

Response.Write(sb.ToString());

Response.End();

Response.Flush();

/* section (A) */

Here is a way to add a little formatting to the word document. Lets assume you need to make the page orientation to landscape and want to view in the Print View with the zoom 75%. Here is how you do it.

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

sb.Append("<html xmlns:o='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' " +

"xmlns:w='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word'" +

"xmlns='http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40'>" +

"<head><title>My Title</title>") ;

string sStyle = "<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>" +

"<w:WordDocument>" +

"<w:View>Print</w:View>" +

"<w:Zoom>75</w:Zoom>" +

"<w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/>" +

"</w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]-->";

sb.Append(sStyle);

sb.Append("<style>" +

"<!-- /* Style Definitions */" +

"@page Section1" +

" {size:841.9pt 595.3pt; " +

" mso-page-orientation:landscape; " +

" margin:.5in 1.0in 1.0in .5in ; " +

" mso-header-margin:.5in; " +

" mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0; }" +

" div.Section1" +

" {page:Section1;}" +

"-->" +

"</style></head>");

sb.Append("<body lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in'><div class=Section1>" );

/*Now append the content to be written to the word document.*/

sb.Append("<b>Sample Test <b>");

sb.Append("<div></body></html>");

And use Response.Write() section (section (A) )mentioned in the above to obtain the response as a word document.

As an overview, this is more useful when you want to extract large amount of information in a predefined word format. Such as extracting transaction information from the online bank statement for example.

Think Different

2007-10-06T20:24:00.001+05:30

Found this great article, with some interesting tips for those who wish to become a supper star in their career.

Aim to be a superstar so that you can have more options in your career for creating a life you want. Here are things to think about while planning your path to superstardom.... Brazen Careerist: Five Ways To Make Yourself A Workplace Superstar

Efficient way of combining Strings using StringBuilder Class

2007-09-16T20:53:00.001+05:30

In C#.NET, when combining strings, we often tend to combine as follows. This article discusses an efficient way of doing it.

public string createContent()
{
string sMessage = string.Empty;
sMessage += "Introduction.. ";
sMessage += "Welcome to Strings.. ";
sMessage += "This is a demo.. ";
return sMessage;
}

As you know String is a refernce type, and each time sMessage will be assigned by a value, but we only use the last assigned value. The others will be disposed by the GC. To avoid unneccasary garbage collection we could use StringBuilder. This is how we could use it.

public string createNextContent()
{
StringBuilder sbTest = new StringBuilder();
sbTest.Append("Introduction.. ");
sbTest.Append("Welcome to Strings.. ");
sbTest.Append("This is a demo.. ");
return sbTest.ToString();
}

StringBuilder creates a buffer of 16bytes long by default and grows as needed. It is possible to specify the initial size and the maximum size as well.

How to upgrade a DotNetNuke web site in version 3.2.x to version 4.4.1

2007-06-08T13:07:00.001+05:30

Upgrading web sites that was created in DNN 3.2 or older versions to newer versions has become a common need today, due to the latest browsers and upcoming features that new versions provide. For example the IE7.0 does not display the tool bar of the FreeTextBox of the site created in DNN3.2 or later versions.

So here are the steps to follow to convert a DNN 3.2 web site to DNN 4.4. First, test this in a QA environment rather than trying on the production server.

Backup the web site database and the web sites folder that contain all the files.
Unzip the DNN 4.x installation package to any of the folders, then open up the web.config file.
And do the following changes, and use the web sites web.config file as the source to obtain the following details.
Set the
- Database name
- Machine Validation key value.
- DecryptionKey value.
- Database Owner
- ObjectQualifier

as same as the web.config file of the web site. Also make sure you copy any other settings you have made in the web sites web.config file.

Now that you have done the necessary changes; copy the dnn4 folder contents to the web sites folder contents, this process will over ride the web config as well a so other files.
Now go to IIS and select the folder that you have set this site to run and change the DotNet engine to 2.0 version.
Now our web.config file will still be pointed to the production database of the test machine. Once we browse this site; what happens is that the contents for a DNN4 database will be installed on top of your production database through the application. And it will show up an upgrading screen in the portal. Once it is success it will create a link to browse the site.

If you check the database; some of the existing tables will now appear with additional fields. Further, during the upgrading if there was any problems it will be logged and the log will be pointed for you knowledge.

The process of converting is very straight forward, but its always advisable to get a back up of your files and convert the site.

Its often the case where some of the custom modules you've created, may give problems during a site upgrading. One solution to this would be to uninstall the module and convert that particular module to DotNet 2.0 and then re-install.

DotNetNuke upgrading allows you to retain your data as it is and upgrade the web site successfully.

Briefing on Installing DotNetNuke 4.x

2007-06-08T13:06:00.001+05:30

Thought to share a tiny sereat, since its a bit messy to figure out the process of installing DNN4. Well, its basically same as DotNetNuke 3.x but rather you should have .NET Framework 2.0 already installed as a prerequisite.

First visit the site DotNetNuke and download the latest version of DotNetNuke source. Now, there are two files to download, but select based on your requirements for example if you are developing your own nuke modules, its advisable to install the source, or else go for the general installation.

One significant point about nuke is that; its so easy to mess unless you don't know what to be done. For a simple example, if you unzip the downloaded source to a folder name you desire then you are in trouble. Just extract to the contents to a folder that creates by default in the same driver. Then go to C:\DotNetNuke_4.4.1_Source\Website\Documentation\Readme.txt path and you will find a read me text document; which explains every step to follow. In simple terms it goes as follows.

Now that you have un-zip the folder, and now create a virtual directory in IIS. Now If you open the folder of the contents you will come across with the Website folder, Library folder and the solution file, just point the virtual directory path to the Website folder since it has the project file.

If you already have dnn3 installed; there is nothing to bother since you will be installing this to a completely different folder and we will be mapping to a new database.

Once you create the virtual directory, make default.aspx as the top and make the Dotnet version to 2.0xxx Now go back to your folder and properties and make sure you have given the permission for the Network services user and as well as aspnet user, full control. Now open up Sqlserver 2000 or 2005. and create a database by any name.

once that is done, go back to the folder and rename the release.config to web.config and change the connection string properties. In Nuke version 4.x it the database connection is specified in two places. So it needs to be changed accordingly.

Now open the IE and browse http://localhost/VirtualFolderName and there you go the DotNetNuke4.x will be installed nice and smoothly.

Image Gallery Control

2007-04-08T16:43:00.000+05:30

Here are some important points to remember when using the Image Gallery control with the Freetextbox, in ASP.NET.

The image gallery control that is packed with the Freetext box control has some significant functionality that we could use instead of spending time to develop the Image uploads, resizing retaining its resolutions and maintaining your own image gallery in a web application. Freetext box, gives you facility of editing some content and save with its formatting. What it saves is basically HTML.

First you should download the Freetext box control from http://www.FreeTextbox.com/ site and add the control to the Tools. Then double click on the Freetext box and add the control to your web page.

Set the Validate Request of the ASPX page to false on the page directive.

ValidateRequest="false"

By default in ASPX pages the RequestValidation is set to true to avoid un-encoded HTML content being submitted to the server. But we will set this status false, since we need to send HTML to the server.

Now lets add the Image Gallery to this Freetextbox. Go to the folder that you downloaded and Freetextbox ->examples ->fullyloaded->ftb.imagegallery.aspx and add this to your web application.

Under the Freetextbox properties Click on ToolbarLayout property, and copy the following.

ParagraphMenu,FontFacesMenu,FontSizesMenu,

FontForeColorsMenuBold,Italic,Underline,Strikethrough;Superscript,

Subscript,RemoveFormatJustifyLeft,JustifyRight,JustifyCenter,

JustifyFull;BulletedList,NumberedList,Indent,Outdent;CreateLink,

Unlink,InsertImage,InsertRuleCut,Copy,Paste;Undo,Redo,

Print,InsertImageFromGallery,Preview,

SelectAll,WordClean,NetSpell

The ToolbarLayout property will contain the functionality of the Freetextbox and the blue colored parts indicated the image gallery functionalities, that we added newly.

Now we need to set some properties as to Create folders, Upload Images, Delete Images and etc, so click on the ftb.imagegallery.aspx and in the code find where it references the freetextbox and set the following properties.

<FTB:ImageGallery id="ImageGallery1"
AllowImageDelete="true" AllowImageUpload="true" AllowDirectoryCreate="true" AllowDirectoryDelete="true" runat="Server" />

One significant point is that by default all the images are saved in the "images" folder in your application and any directory we create will also be created in side the "images" folder. There fore its a point to remember that if your site uses any other images that you do not require user involvements (such as images in banners or buttons) better place then in a separate folder, and create a folder with the name of "images" inside your web application.

If you user master pages then there is a small change you need to do in the ftb.imagegallery.aspx. Make the header part runat server.

<title>Image Gallery</title>

</head>

Freetextbox is used as to allow the user to have the flexibility to design the content as he wishes, there for the length of the text we need to store would be a problem there for by using a data type "text" in the SQL server would give the facility to store enough text as requests.

Now that all are done lets take a look at how it appears.

Freetextbox

Image Gallery

Release Me...

2007-02-10T11:50:00.000+05:30

When I was just 5 I heard my daddy singing some of the songs, by ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK...just remember it slightly... Recently...I came across with song - Release Me by EH and was listening to it....it was so amazing....I simply love it...So I thought I need to write some thing in my Blog on this..

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK was the spot light in music in 60s..with an amazing strong voice that would touch many generations, being the king of kings of romance he really has some extraordinary talent of course. Great music, great voice, great lyrics...simply it takes you to heaven.. I continuously listen to it more than 10 time or may be more...and I became a fan of him just like my daddy ;) those days.

Some Lyrics I picked up from Walk Through This World...

walk through this world with me - go where I go
share all your dreams with me - I need you so
in life we search - its some ones smile
I've looked for you my love-- for a long long time
and now that I found - new horizons I see
come take my hand - and walk thorough this world with me

one go...

2007-01-13T23:45:00.000+05:30

Recently I came across with this site meebo.com where you can connect to yahoo, MSN, gtalk and any other in one go, its meebo.com.

Good thing about this site is that, you don't need to install any of these software in your PC, further...every thing will appear in a one window and simple.

This is useful at times, since it cuts off the multiple processes of running many messenger services, in the machine. And for me it was useful at times..and hope it will be useful for you too.

Short Cut Keys.

2007-01-07T11:40:00.000+05:30

Here are some short cut keys that will be useful in working with VS 2005.

Guess its no point introducing some thing common, only the uncommon ones are listed here. Most of you may already be familiar, but for the ones who don't know...hope its useful.

Format a line : Ctrl + K + D

Delete a line : Ctrl + L

If you need to delete or format a code segment, you may select the expected area of code before going for the key combination.

Get a blank line on top of a line of code : Ctrl + Enter

Search for a line number : Ctrl + G

Find and replace : Ctrl + F

Obtain full screen mode : Alt + Shift + Enter

Build the solution : Ctrl + Shift + B

Comment a block of code : Ctrl + K + C

Un-comment a block of code : Ctrl + K + U

Two days from my diary...

2006-11-04T12:23:00.000+05:30

Subject : Hi this is for U

7^th September 2004, An anonymous mail was received; with just initials(pw) saying “I see you every day”… that was just a simple message but the receiver replied with thundering words blaming “why cant you come out and talk”…because she knew by identity who the person behind the bars, even she has never met him before… that was indeed a surprise for the sender…, because he never expected her to know who he was and never expected such a reply…so, he thought that this was better to keep away….

Things went by…..They passed each other not knowing who they were….never met, never talked a word..…he saw her but, she was too proud to reach…she never saw him… she comple tely forgot, nor didn’t remember how the guy felt by reading her mail …. But they remembered their names very well…and paid close attention where ever they head them…

Time flew.... lot of things changed…..

After 2 years …on 1^st October 2006, a bright shinny day; they coincidentally met each other and “hello” was the first reply… they talked….and realized they could be great friends … they had built the misunderstanding because, they never met nor talked before….

It was sort of funny for both of them…they saw each other and laughed together…it was simply sweet and stupid J

They indeed became great friends…

Validating a decimal number of specified integers and factional points; using a regular expression.

2006-10-27T11:54:00.000+05:30

It’s often the case where we stick to a specified number of integer and fractional number in decimal numbers. But some times the requirement arises to validate the decimal numbers which we specify the number of integers and fractions in it.

Here is a solution to such a problem.

Following is a regular expression I wrote will validate 0 to i number of integers and 0 to f number of fractional points.

string sTest = @"^\d{0," + i + @"}\.\d{0," + f + "}$";

string i = iNumericLength.ToString();

string f = iDecimalPoints.ToString();

string sTest = @"^\d{0," + i + @"}\.\d{0," + f + "}$";

Regex ex = new Regex(sTest);

string st = txtEnteredValue.Text;

if (!ex.IsMatch(st))

{

MessageBox.Show("This is a decimal field which supports max. of " + i + " numbers and max. of " + f+ " decimal numbers.");

}

Windows Live Writer(Beta)

2006-08-31T13:14:00.000+05:30

One of my good frinds gave me this link and said its gr8 and easy to post articles in the Blog using this software..So I thought to give it a try

So here is the link

http://WindowsLiveWriter(Beta)DownLoads

I find it easy...guess it will be useful for those of us who always have the trouble in publishing posts; using the Blog itself.

allowDefinition='MachineToApplication' beyond application level.

2006-08-13T09:49:00.000+05:30

It is an error to use a section registered as allowDefinition='MachineToApplication' beyond application level. This error can be caused by a virtual directory not being configured as an application in IIS.

Above is an error which I continuously faced when I was trying to deploy a WebService written using VS2005.

I wrote a web service in vs 2005 and was trying to deploy it in IIS. What I did was created an empty folder and mapped the virtual folder to it. Then I published the Web Service giving that empty folder as the destination. In the IIS, I changed the ASP.NET version in IIS to 2.0 , but when I was trying to publish it gave the above error.

Well, after searching the web for so long; one day I tried out this..

created the web service and build it(no errors) then clicked on the publish option from the menu that drops down from the project I need to publish; it then requested the http URL, where I specified as http://localhost/TestSomeService, then it was published creating a folder in IIS as TestSomeService and mappings all done, and all I had to do was to change the ASP.NET version in IIS to 2.0. And there it worked fine....

One thing I learnt was that the new Visual Studio 2005; provides an inbuilt webhosting facility. it uses a Cassini to host the web service locally. This is good for developments; but as far as deployment is concerned; you got to go for IIS.

Accessing the ConnectionString in ASP.NET 2.0

2006-08-11T21:08:00.000+05:30

It is a general practise; we define the connection string in the web.config file and access it from else where of the application when we need to handle database activities. In asp.net 1.1 and lower versions; in web.config file we define the connection string by specifying it as a key value pair tag under the . That is, we specify the connection details under the section of application settings. Just to recap, this is the way we’ve been using in normally.

And access the connection string as follows. string ConnectionString = Configuration.AppSettings[“ConnectionString”].ToString(); The asp.net2.0 takes a one step forward and changes this by adding a tag just after the . So with in this we can specify any amounts of connections to the database. It will look as follows. Let’s see how we can do it in asp.net 2.0.

This is how we could access this connection defined in the web.config file. string strCon = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["NorthwindConnectionString"].ConnectionString; The asp.net 2.0 uses the ConfigurationManager class which exposes the property of ConnnectionStrings where we could specify the key and access the connection string. If we want to get the application settings we could use the ConfigurationManager.AppSettings where this will give us the application settings of the web application.

Inorder to access the ConfigurationManager class we need to add the System.Configuration dll manually.

As you’ve seen now; ConfigurationManager class which is a new introduction in asp.net 2.0 allows us to carry out the general tasks in a bit different way; but guess; it’s trying to put things in to right places. Is it?

Few Guidelines in Creating a Custom Module in DotNetNuke 3.0

2006-07-22T17:07:00.000+05:30

First step in creating custom modules in DotNetNuke is to load the empty module successfully in to the nuke portal. There onwards, of course adding functionality to it is as same as working with ASP.NET. So, in this article I focus on few steps pertaining to nuke, that would help you to load a module to the nuke portal with out any errors. Also I assume that one should have some familiarity with the DotNetNuke portal before reading this material.

When we are working in the nuke portal we should have a little idea about how nuke portal works. This explanation is a bit large. So I would simply say that; we should stick to the pattern that the core team used to create and deploy the module in the nuke. That is it follows a standard.
(How DotNetNuke works will be explained in detail in the another article)

Here are some points which need you need to keep in mind.

-> Open the nuke solution.
-> Add a nuke project to the solution. EX: TrainModule

Building the project out side the nuke solution is also possible; but in order to run the project, the entire solution is needed. Since the module that to be loaded can only be tested with in the nuke portal and not outside of it. There for adding the project to the solution is very important.

-> Since we are not doing any functionality at this phase just comment all the method implementations.

-> Add the SQLDataProvider project to the solution; as per the location; select the provider folder of the first module (EX: TrainModule) you already created.
Now you have 2 projects in the solution apart from what was already there in the solution.
It will look as follows.

Now before you build the solution, make sure set the dll paths correctly so; right click on the solution and select properties -> configuration and click on output path, and select the location as; DotNetNuke(where the DotNetNuke is installed the main folder name )-> Bin. (This will be the common place where you save all your dlls, in nuke modules). And build the projects separately and then the solution.

When building the Dnn solution make sure that you do not build the existing modules which were not developed by you; by this way you can avoid building the existing modules.

One significant point here is that lets just assume that you need to create a module which will not have and dealings with the database. But still you would need to add the SQLDataProvider module as per each project. Why is this? This is because nuke portal keeps a track of every module that’s been installed to the nuke portal with in its database. There fore when we try to load a module that’s been installed to the portal; at the load time it searches the database for the information required for loading the module; this connectivity will not be available if we do not have a SQLDataProvider project linking to your module. – (Please note that this particular explanation depict the way I understood; and not from any references)

Now you have two projects, one with the TrainModule and the other TrainModule.SQLDataProvider with in the DNN solution and the corresponding dlls of them as well.

Now let’s see how we can add this module to the Nuke portal.

There are two main ways of doing it. Either we could upload the module; which is simple as uploading a zip file. And the other is to add the module specifying the view/edit and settings. Here I will explain the second method; since most of the problems encounter there, and since it involves few things to remember.

Here are the steps we need to perform in order to add a module to the nuke portal.

-> Add a New Page to your Portal.
(This is not explained here; hope you already know how to do that)

-> Host -> Module Definitions -> Add Module Definition
There you will get a page as follows to fill. Just give the module name, folder name, friendly name (the way you want it to appear in the module list) and a brief description (which will help you to identify the module once you do to its definitions)

Then paste the module name in the New Definition section and click on Add definition. Then you will get an empty location where you have to specify the control, title and the source.
Now to add your controls, click on Add Control.

The following screen shot displays once all controls are added.

Let me show you how to add the controls which are listed above.
There are 3 main ascx pages we need to set as controls. They are the view page, edit page and the settings page.

View Page
Key:
Source: TrainModule.ascx
Type: View
Edit Page
Key: Edit
Source: TrainModuleEdit.ascx
Type: Edit

Settings Page
Key: Settings
Source: Settings.ascx
Type: Edit

Title is not given since you may give an appropriate title such as: TrainModule Settings.
Also please note that the source need to be the full path where you can select from the drop down list but there I’ve mentioned the name of the file which you need to look for.

Now that the module is installed, let’s add this module to a page and see how it is.
Go to the page where you need to add the module and select the module and the containers of the page where you need the module to be displayed and click on add.
If every thing had worked fine, you will get a result as follows.

As you see this module does not have any functionality yet, it’s a matter of adding the functionalities and the coding is as same as working in asp.net. Now that you have a successfully loaded module in hand, you can start off implementing the functionalities you expect.

2006-06-14T10:01:00.000+05:30

" What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow:

Our life is the creation of our mind . . . "

- Lord Buddha -

June11Th2006...In-restrospect

2006-06-12T11:21:00.000+05:30

Among certain capabilities and habits of some people certain are valuable while others are useless. ...So thought to open up my mind and see some positive points only. These are few things which pin in my mind so thought to make a note on that, on a great friend of mine. And as per my view these could be the key points for his educational and career success.

Writing them with heart felt gratitude…

HELP
Teaching what you know … and helping others to be successful in their career and education…and be happy for another’s success…

DETERMINTION
Over comes tiredness… never ever waste time… takes the maximum use of time. This is some thing I have asked often, “What you would do after work”. And has told me that he often listens to some music just to get over with the tiredness and start off work again, never ever lie in bed…. And never sleep other than the regular sleeping times… the determination of using the time effectively.

EFFORT
In achieving goals…The desire it self of achieving some thing is not enough at all, rather utmost effort is essential. Deep motivation...

Today I thought to add up these points in my life since it will place in value to mine as well. So thank you dear friend...

Creating a proxy class using wsdl.exe tool.

2006-06-06T22:39:00.000+05:30

Why do we need to create a proxy class if we can add the web service as a reference? Good question, well… the answer is simple; because we could write web services not only in .NET languages; but others as well. So in any case where we are given only the WSDL document as to work with the web service client here is what we need to do.

We need to create a proxy class in order to create objects from it and expose the methods available. As to do this task, .NET Framework gives the WSDL.EXE tool, you may easily find it if you do a simple search for wsdl.exe in your machine.

Following is the syntax to generate the proxy class.

Go to Visual Studio command prompt.

Wsdl /language:language /protocol:protocol /namespace:myNameSpace
/out:filename /username:username /password:password
/domain:domain url or path

Out of the parameters above the URL is the only mandatory parameter, and others are optional.

This command will create the proxy class in the current directory path you are; in the command prompt. What you need to do is add this created class into the web service client and then start using.
It’s as simple as it is.

There are some few tips we need to remember rather just getting a copy of the proxy class and use. Here is a brief glimpse to it.

When WSDL.EXE creates a proxy class, it converts array lists to object arrays. So there for we got to open the proxy class and do this change in the data types.

Further, in the proxy classes if we are using out parameters and in parameters we need to declare the in parameters first and then the out parameters.
Guess this gives a complete proxy class to work with the web service client.

.NET Framework 1.1 does not have the Compression namespace.

2006-05-11T10:10:00.000+05:30

Recently I was searching for the compression namespace in .NET framework 1.1...but didn’t find it... that’s because actually the .NET 1.1 does not have the compression namespace. So, thought to make a note on that. The .NET framework 1.1 does not contain any general purpose libraries for compression. But it’s possible to use free third part libraries. So, here are 2 links I got from friends.

http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SharpZipLib/Download.aspx http://www.chilkatsoft.com/dotNetDoc//ClassZip.htm

But .NET framework 2.0 contains the System.IO.Compression namespace. :)

Exam 320

2006-05-02T13:07:00.000+05:30

Few hours back I did my exam 70-320 which is on XML web services and server components.The most questions were targeted from the areas of ADO.NET and web services and not much on .NET Remoting.
Glad I passed it!!! I really like this subject and happy that it broadened the knowledge. But I need to strengthen my study areas on testing and debugging as well.

Thank you very much my dear friends who helped me and encouraged me for this achievement.

Easter Eggs

2006-04-25T10:09:00.000+05:30

What are Easter Eggs?
Easter eggs are hidden features that are developed with in the software. These could include commands, jokes, short cuts, animations, and some times knowing these will make your life easy. Some of the most of the popular software has these features, such as microsoft.

How come this be "Easter Eggs" ?
Generally, easter eggs are the eggs which were decorated at the time of celibrating the easter holiday. Today they are eggs made with choco or filled with candies.

The name is believed to come from the movie Return of the Living Dead, where a military officer uses it as a code word for lost U.S. govt. containers of zombies created by a chemical spill.

Here is an easter egg in MS Word 2003
Open MS Word. And type =rand(2,2) and press enter.
You can fill two lines by dummy text as follows
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

SQL Exception meanings and error codes

2006-04-25T09:58:00.000+05:30

Recently I was looking for the SQLException meanings with their corresponding error codes. I finally found it. This is how you can find it.

Just go to query analyzer. And select Master database and type the following query.

select *
from sysmessages

There you will result with all the error codes and their meanings, such as follows.

This is a description of a one instance.
ERROR : 1
SEVERITY: 10
DLEVEL: 0
DESCRIPTION: Version date of last upgrade: 10/11/90.
MSGLANGID: 1033

Polymorphism

2006-04-18T21:40:00.000+05:30

Polymorphism implies that different objects behave in different forms, by exposing different functionalities that is the properties and methods; by the use of the same public interface.

The behavior differs since various classes can implement many different un-related interfaces and the same interface can be implemented by various classes.

- Interface Polymorphism -

One class can implement from one or more interfaces; resulting a class that instantiated objects will behave in a specific way.
Let’s see what an interface is. An interface defines the agreed structure of a class behavior. Behavior of an object will be determined by the properties and the methods which they expose. There for an interface has the method definitions, where the class can implement and override them.

interface IVehicle
{
void drive();
// this is the method definition
}

// -------------------------------------------

public class Car : IVehicle
{
virtual void drive()
{
// this is the method implementation
}
}
According to the above example; if we create a Lorry class which will implement from the IVehicle, and write a method implementation for the drive() method; then the objects created from the car class will differ from the objects created from the lorry class. As you see now its clear that even the both classes implements from a single interface the end result would differ.

Note: Further the methods defined with in the interface are by default public and abstract.
When you are overriding a method is an interface you need to use the key word “virtual”, in order to override. Further, you are allowed to define properties in interfaces but not fields, this ensures that (classes that interact with the interfaces) it does not have access to the internal data of objects.

- Inheritance polymorphism –

One class can inherit from another, where the base class will contain the complete functionality. That is, the base class will contain the method implementations; and the inherited classes will contain the base class functionality plus the additional functionalities as well.
Let’s see how we can do this in code.

public abstract class vehicle
{
public abstract void drive();

}
-------------------------------------
public class car : vehicle
{
public override void drive()
{
//this is the new implementation
}
}

In this scenario as well, another class which will inherit the vehicle class will have the same drive() method plus some additional functionality.

In the case of maintainability, as you may see, when we code for abstract classes; and once we need some additional functionality, we need to change the existing base class. But if we have code for interfaces; then it’s a matter of adding new functionality, with out touching the existing code. There fore coding for interfaces are easy; in the case of maintenance when adding new functionality.

Software Development – Time Matters

2006-04-06T23:38:00.000+06:00

As most of us are developers which mostly deal with coding or some times in design, we tend to work on tough targets where we strive to win the battle with the knowledge, time and the perfection or the completion of the product. Question is how we approach this? Ofcourse need not to mention that one should ofcourse have the high focuss and clear mind and very good visualisation.

After doing a brief survey from most of the Software Experts I learnt that, one such approach they take is to focus on the skeleton first. Let me explain a bit more on this. In this approach we see the main functionalities as the outline of work. Try to focus on them and get the working product. Then focus on the details, for example enhancements and find out efficient ways of solving the problem.

If we have a complex work; what will we do? Basically we will devide it to smaller parts. Work on the small units or parts and get it working. In coding, there are two points which spots on. One is the Technical Approach and the other is the Logical Approach taken in solving a problem.

Let’s look at this a bit deep. There you will face some technical challengers. At the time we face technical concerns there is always web for reference. Or simply we can post questions or search the web, where others have posted same or similar problems. We can carefully go through them and find out where exactly our problem fits. Once you get keen on this, you will feel as if u are like a detective trying to find pieces to solve a plot.

Logic is tricky. Not every one can learn the rocket science….but not to forget that rocket science was invented by the man...Not any one else. So, let’s just start visualising the work flow involved behind and try to model it.

Completion of a given development work with in a time span, is a one major skill of a developer. Of course there are other skills as well, such as working till the completion of the product and the quality of it too matters. But since this article focuses on time concerns…let me leave an open end to this. So feel free to comment…Because I am in the process of developing that special skill. :d.

Few thoughts to light up your articles…

2006-04-01T17:20:00.000+06:00

Recently one of my blog viewers sent me a mail requesting some advice to enhance their blog. As a result, for all the readers, I thought to publish this small article that would encapsulate my thoughts to shed a little light on their blogs:) hope that it would help her and the others who were interested in the same…

In my case I use my blog as to publish articles, not as just anything and every thing. In what ever I publish I do take a deep concern in it, because it’s mostly on business domain or in technology.

So keeping that in mind, here are some points that I’ve observed, which we could use when we are writing articles.

First of all before we start writing, examine the purpose, or the objective of writing the article. In simple terms, ask your self what exactly you want to convey.

Then decide on the targeted audience. For example, if the article is much to do with the business try eliminating the too much technical explanations, because it might lose the interest of readers or it could make the reader dreary. In some instances, if you expect some level of technical understanding from the reader in order for him to read your article, make sure to mention it in a very pleasant way.

Then think of an appropriate approach for presenting your idea. This should also be well balanced with the topic as well as the audience. Following are some of those commonly used approaches.
- Convey direct idea: this is good when explaining theories. With are strait forward or technical.
- Explanation with a story: this is also a good approach when the idea is too complex for a general person to understand. And further we need them to walk through it. There for stories are effective in this sense. Anyway, every one loves stories I guess:)
- Use a work flow: this is a combination of above both. Where the idea could be so lengthy in explanations and we need to explain every little part in it. In this case, try to break it in to pieces, arrange them and explain each separately with out breaking the links to one another.

After selecting the approach we should structure the article with concern. It should be seen as three separate parts, begin, body and end. Beginning could be a question, or a solution to a problem or an exciting topic, where the attention of the reader is captured. The body need to be presented in detail and with facts where it will be solid and crisp with appropriate information and the end can picture with either the conclusions or suggestions….or an open thought.

Writing an article is as same as giving a GIFT to a friend. Even if the gift is of value if the wrapper is messy or unappealing it would not serve your purpose. This is same vice versa. There fore take a little concern and a bit of attempt not only to convey your idea, but also to convey in an inspiring manner.

All the best to you all and enjoy writing...!!!

bloG statuS ..... :D

2006-03-17T11:40:00.000+06:00

private string myBlogStatus = "InProcess";

private string CheckBlogStaus(Blog myBlog)
{

string publishStatus = this.publish(myBlog);
swtch (publishStatus)
{
case("001 java.io.IOException: EOF while reading from control connection "):
myBlogStatus = "stoped";

break;
case("550 Could not open: No such file or ... "):
myBlogStatus = "attempting to publish";
break;
}
return myBlogStatus;
}

A simple transaction in SQL

2006-03-17T11:10:00.002+06:00

How to write a simple transaction in SQL

Transaction is a set of SQL commands that need to be executed in order to fulfill a batch of activities relevant to a database.
Let’s look at an example.
In simple terms, if we were to delete a record; which is a foreign key field of another table; that also need to be deleted at the same time; this could be considered as a set of activities that need to be performed in one attempt.
So ideal would be to go for a transaction.

The purpose: Once I delete a record in the Orders table the corresponding entry should be deleted in the Order Details table as well.

Create procedure DeleteOrder
(
@OrderID int
)
as

Declare @err1 int,@err2 int

-- start transaction
Begin tran

-- execute the delete
Delete from Orders
Where [OrderID] = @OrderID
Select @err1 = @@Error

Delete from OrderDetails
Where [OrderID] = @OrderID
Select @err2 = @@Error

If (@err1 = 0) and (err2 = 0)
Begin
-- commit the transaction
Commit tran
End
Else
Begin
-- rollback the transaction
Rollback tran
End

What is @@Error?

This contains the error ID from the finally executed SQL statement. So in other words, this is an indication whether the last SQL statement was executed successfully or not. If it has executed successfully, the value of @@Error will be 0.

So at the end we could check the value of the variable which the @@Error was saved and based on that; commit or rollback.

Sending mail using ASPNET

2006-02-01T09:06:00.000+06:00

Sending mail using ASPNET

This article will mainly focus in two parts. First sending a mail with out attachments and then sending a mail with the attachments. Further this article gives some points concerning when creating an email control using DotNetNuke. As to illustrate the points; code written below is in C#.

In order to send a mail first we need to reference the Web.Mail class library as follows.

using System.Web.Mail;

If you have already designed the page layout with the relevant controls that you will need, now let’s take a look at the code for the SEND button.
Lets assume you have four text boxes for the, To address, From Address, Subject and the Description in the UI and a link button to SEND the mail.

MailMessage objMail = new MailMessage();

objMail.To = txtToAddress.Text;
objMail.From = txtFromAddress.Text;
objMail.Subject = txtSubjectTitle.Text;
objMail.Body = txtDescription.Text;

The MailMessage class in .NET is in charge of sending emails. There fore, first we create an object from MailMessage class. Once you create a mail object, you need to assign the vales for the properties of the mail object. It has the properties such as to, from, subject, body and so on. In the above code we have assigned the relevant values from the controls.

When sending a mail we need to specify for which email server we are sending the mail to. As for that, we should set a value for the SMTPMail.SMTPServer. This value should be your email server IP Address. If you have hosted in the production server the corresponding email server used with in the organisation should be referenced.

SmtpMail.SmtpServer = "192.167.0.24"

To send the mail, we could pass the mail object to the send method of the SmtpMail.

SmtpMail.Send(objMail);

Sending a mail with attachments.

Since we are attaching a file, first we need to create an HTML Input File as below.

protected System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlInputFile my_attFile;

MailAttachment is a class which is responsible for handing mail attachments. There fore we will create a MailAttachment object and assign the relevant file to it as shown in the code below. But first we could check whether a file is attached or not.

if (my_attFile.PostedFile.FileName.ToString() != "" )
{
MailAttachment objmyAtt = new MailAttachment(my_attFile.PostedFile.FileName);
objMail.Attachments.Add(objmyAtt);
}

But, do keep in mind that you will come across some problems as below.

The files or directories with names with spaces will not be attached by this method.
As a solution to this problem the following approach could be used.
Save the attached file in a directory with a unique name and store the file in the server till it’s attached. Once the mail is sent; delete the directory containing the attachment.

As an extension of the above article, following guide will provide some additional points to concern when creating an email control in DNN.

Email control in dnn

Apart from the above code, when creating an email control in DNN; which is will be used with in the portal, it needs to correspond to a common IP to the entire site. In host settings in dnn, there are SMTP settings which are allowed for host to set. As per the SMTP IP address; we could use the common IP address which will be entered by the host.

First you need to access the Host Settings of the nuke. This returns a hash table; giving the key of the SMTP IP we could retrieve the corresponding value of the SMTP IP Address, by this way it will be possible to set up mails (using an email control) for which, a one mail server for the entire site. And your dnn email control could pick up the IP automatically by this way.

Stating that this control has been used with in a user module in DNN, in order to deploy the control in the DNN portal following should be done.
First you need to copy the email control dll to the common DotNetNuke bin directory. The corresponding .cscx file should be copied to the controls folder and the corresponding .resx file should be copied to the app_resouces folder which is which in the controls folder.

Please note that deployment of a module is not explained here.

A Brief Insight to Corporate Travel Management Systems

2006-01-12T13:40:00.000+06:00

o Brief introduction

Almost any company which operates globally where there many sectors physically located in various places would require its employees to travel for some work related activities quite often. In an instance like such, it is very important for the company’s finance and logistics or admin to track their employee’s information for various reporting and tracking purposes.

One such solution would be a corporate travel management system (CTMS). A fully web based- distributed system that would enable multiple users across destinations to track, record and report.

Following are some of the basic features in a typical CTMS.

Ø Employee information upon approval
Ø Passport, Visa and Ticket tracking the status and the obtained information
Ø Logging, transport and food
Ø Arrivals and departures with transit information
Ø Payments and expense claims
Ø Length of stay, its extensions

o What is a Corporate Travel Management System?

With in an organisation; upon an employees travel from one location to the other is vital to be tracked. Why is it so? Since the management might expect the presence of that employee or might inquire where will he be at a stated time of the year? Or in certain cases if the company provides logging, the logistics may search for how many employees have occupied the apartment X till a stated date. In the other hand, the finance may request the total claims made by a particular employee with in his travel. And the same employee might be subjected to arrangements at the source as well as the destination.

A distributed web-based system; which has customized for each user group would eliminate the conflicts and will offer a clear solution to many of the corporate with similar requirements.

The work flow (process) the company’s user groups (management, logistics, admin, finance) operate on the activity of tracking and employee will certainly differ from one company to the other, based on company’s operational structure and the size.

But for a general CTMS the above motioned features will be adequate.

o Advantages and benefits a corporate can obtain by using such a system.

Companies can gain an estimation of the cost per employee on travel.
Can do advanced visa process for the required employees after travel approval.
For the employees who have the confirmation of travel; could proceed with the other necessary arrangements.
The company’s logistics would not have a hassle in the arrivals for the transport and logging.
Payments and the claims could be settled in the appropriate time lines

Above are some of the basic benefits.
But a company could benefit more since the entire process is organised and there fore each users (user groups) will have its own set of work/duties pertaining to the process of an employee’s travel.

When we need to pay attention to detail…

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No matter what kind of subject area you are functioning, even in your careers or studies, some times you may have come across that you got to pay attention to detail things most of the time. So, let me share with you some valuable thoughts, on this.

Whether you are reading a material or listening to a documentary or in the middle of a discussion where you need to grasp as much as details possible and re-explain them again or use the gathered information for some purpose. The first thing is we need to have is the attention. Simply, paying attention to detail, but this is not as easy as it sounds. Since, in most cases even if we do pay attention, we tend to lose some parts of the story. Why is this?

When we are listening, try to visualize and represent the details in the mind very clearly. It also should be represented in such a way, that it could be easily manipulated and be flexible enough to relate with other things. And no matter how much detail it is, if your visual representation is strong; then there will always be a place where each detail fit in to.

Especially, if we are facing exams or if you are in the middle of a discussion of a previously discussed topic; we tend to search are represented area of mind very regularly and there fore we become capable of finding answers more quickly. This is because when we search the represented area of mind very regularly and as a result we become fast in searching and obtaining it back. So to search on and on the representation of details in our mind is important. And we may question after discussions or read more and more as to fill the gaps in our visual image. By any of these ways, we should make the visual image stronger.

It is interesting to realize that how much attention you actually pay at times. And compare with times where you have lots of details to work with and times where you feel you are completely lost. And see and excavate how and why…