.Net Scraps

uCertify Prepkit

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:48:57 +0500

I have got an offer from uCertify to review their PrepKit and I have accepted that challenge. I am currently reviewing 70-680 Exam PrepKit from uCertify. I am not a very big fan of braindumps, and I thought initially that it is just another braindump. A few things that quickly jumped out and almost forced me to look at it…

    100% pass guarantee
    439 questions with full explanations
    Chapter by chapter study guide
    Interactive quizzes and study notes
    Test history and performance review

They go on to claim…

"We are equally proud of our NO braindump policy for 70-680 exam. uCertify material for MCTS: Windows 7, Configuring is 100% braindump free. Exam dumps may or may not help you pass, but two things are certain. The content in our practice tests is original and guaranteed to help you learn the material and pass the 70-680 exam honestly."

All this sounds pretty good to me. Especially, the part where it says 100% guarantee and questions with full explanations. It remains yet to be seen about how good it really is. I will review it soon and post it for you all once I am done with it.

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive. - Robert Heinlein

Insert Youtube Videos in your blog with FullScreen capability

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:44:54 +0500

If you like inserting Youtube videos in your blog posts, you might be already aware of Insert Video plugin. This plug-in is great. One shortcoming of this plugin is that when you insert videos using this plugin, the video cannot be run in Full Screen mode. Resizing has its own hassles with this way of embedding.

Take a look at the following using the Insert Video plugin.

Since this did not suffice my needs, I have created another plugin for Youtube which you can download now.

Once you have downloaded and set it up, you will be able to get a new plug-in inside Windows Live Writer -> Insert.

This will bring you a pop up like this…

Just paste your URL, and click Done. Take a look at the following embedded video. Not only it has a different size, it can also be changed to Full Screen without going to Youtube first.

I hope this helps!
Rahul

Quote of the day:
I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. - Will Rogers

What to do if you get 'WebForm_PostBackOptions' is undefined with MOSS 2007

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:24:29 +0500

Recently, while working with MOSS 2007 on my VM I noticed that most of my pages, including Central Administration pages was throwing Javascript error. I did a lot of random things to fix, but realized very soon that fixing an issue should always be a focused and thoughtful process. Troubleshooting in the dark wasn't taking me anywhere, so this was the thought process that bailed me out.

Step 1> Since it is a Javascript error, let's isolate and ensure that it is a problem with 1 site, or all the sites. In my case, it happened to be all the sites. Conclusion > Something wrong with the Javascript. Let's try clearing IE cache and recheck. Okay, still doesn't work. Where does this JavaScript come from… ? Let's track that!

Step 2> Run Fiddler and see if the WebResource.axd is happy [along with other .js file requests]. Apparently the response code in my case was 200 ?!? When I selected the entry for WebResource.axd, I found that the server has simply thrown the custom error, but the error code was eaten away [hence, the HTTP Response code was 200]. Conclusion > Something wrong with the server!

Step 3> Make the following changes in web.config of any SharePoint application that is throwing this error.

Step 4> Reproduce the error. In my case, it was the following error that came out. Conclusion > Error code 500 and the description will show exactly what needs to be done. A little research, and I am all set. Seems like a time synchronization issue. Changed my VM Time, and browsed again. Voila!

ERROR>

Specified argument was out of the range of valid values.
Parameter name: utcDate

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Specified argument was out of the range of valid values.
Parameter name: utcDate]
   System.Web.HttpCachePolicy.UtcSetLastModified(DateTime utcDate) +2816706
   System.Web.Handlers.AssemblyResourceLoader.System.Web.IHttpHandler.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) +1939
   System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +181
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +75

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Art is science made clear. - Jean Cocteau

Assembly redirection in .NET

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:30:16 +0500

In this blog post, I'll discuss some of the techniques that you can use for loading the assemblies in .NET and troubleshoot the loading process in case you get stuck. Basically, you will learn…

How to rename an assembly and still be able to load it
How to redirect to a specific version
How to use two different versions of the DLL in the same application
How to use fusion log and troubleshoot while doing the above exercise

Without further ado, and scaring you with the mumbo jumbo of assemblyBinding, probing and other processes, let us get straight to action. We shall learn along the way.

Create a new Project using Visual Studio. You can use any name, but for the sake of this post, it would be better if you stick with the ones I use. So, the project name is AssemblyLoadExample, and it is created in C:\Sample

Open Program.cs file and replace the existing code with…
using System;
using MyClassLibrary;

namespace AssemblyLoadExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(MyClass.Foo());
        }
    }
}
Create a new class library project in a SEPARATE instance of Visual Studio with the following details… MyClassLibrary in folder C:\Sample

Go to Class1.cs file in the classlibrary, and delete every line of code. Replace it with…
using System.Reflection;

namespace MyClassLibrary
{
    public class MyClass
    {
        public static string Foo()
        {
            return string.Format("Returning from MyClass Version = {0}", 
Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().ToString());
        }
    }
}
Open AssemblyInfo.cs file and change the AssemblyVersion from 1.0.0.0 to 1.0.0.1
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.1")]
    Go to the project properties… and select Signing. Then click New…

    Provide a Strong Name key, uncheck Protect my key…. check box and click OK.

    Compile the class library now. Let's get on with the main project -> AssemblyLoadExample
    DO NOT add a project reference. Instead, add a Reference and click Browse to locate the assembly. Locate the assembly, and click Add.

    If you have done everything correctly so far you would have a console application that shows the following when executed.

    The boring part is done. Now, some interesting bits.
    Remove MyClassLibrary reference from the Project AssemblyLoadExample.
    Rename "C:\Sample\MyClassLibrary\MyClassLibrary\bin\Debug\MyClassLibrary.dll" to "C:\Sample\MyClassLibrary\MyClassLibrary\bin\Debug\MyClassLibraryV1.dll"
    Add the reference "C:\Sample\MyClassLibrary\MyClassLibrary\bin\Debug\MyClassLibraryV1.dll" to the project.
    Does the project Compile? -> Yes.
    Does the project Run? -> NO!!!
    It would throw an error message…

Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or ass
embly 'MyClassLibrary, Version=1.0.0.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=9fe6f24b
59015723' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

   at AssemblyLoadExample.Program.Main(String[] args)

    Why? Notice the fact that while loading the assembly it is still referencing MyClassLibrary whereas, you have already changed the name of the file to MyClassLibraryV1
    Open Fusion Log Viewer. Mine is located at…

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools\x64\FUSLOGVW.exe"

    Click Settings and change the Custom log path. Also change ensure that Log all binds to disk is checked along with Enable Custom Log path.

    Now, run the application AssemblyLoadExample directly from "C:\Sample\AssemblyLoadExample\AssemblyLoadExample\bin\Debug"
    Switch to Fusion Log Viewer and refresh. You should be able to see some entries there…

    Double click on the 2nd one which shows MyClassLibrary as Description… and it will open a browser that will show you how probing happened and why your application failed.

    Our job is to now help the application in finding the correct name of the assembly.
    Switch back to your AssemblyLoadExample and add an app.config file.

    Modify your app.config file to look like the following…
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="MyClassLibrary" culture="neutral" 
publicKeyToken="9fe6f24b59015723"/>
        <codeBase version="1.0.0.1" 
href="file:///C:/Sample/MyClassLibrary/MyClassLibrary/bin/Debug/MyClassLibraryV1.dll"/>
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
</configuration>
    Do remember to change the publicKeyToken. You can use sn -T <assemblyName.dll> or simply use the fusion
log output that you saw earlier.
    Run the application now, and you should be successfully able to see the output.

    Essentially, what you have just done is to use assemblyIdentity tag to figure out which assembly you want to set the redirection to. This redirection is set by <codeBase> tag as you can see above.
    Let's assume that somebody want to upgrade the DLL now.
    Copy the existing MyClassLibrary project and paste it as MyClassLibraryV2

    Open the solution from C:\Sample\MyClassLibraryV2
    Change the assembly version to 2.0.0.0 and change the code to…
using System.Reflection;

namespace MyClassLibrary
{
    public class MyClass
    {
        public static string Foo()
        {
            return string.Format("Giving back from MyClass Version = {0}", 
Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().ToString());
        }
    }
}
    Recompile the class library and close visual studio.
    Switch back to AssemblyLoadExample and remove MyClassLibrary reference.
    Rename "C:\Sample\MyClassLibraryV2\MyClassLibrary\bin\Debug\MyClassLibrary.dll" to "C:\Sample\MyClassLibraryV2\MyClassLibrary\bin\Debug\MyClassLibraryV2.dll"
    Now change the App.config to the following and ensure everything works as expected…
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="MyClassLibrary" culture="neutral" 
publicKeyToken="9fe6f24b59015723"/>
        <codeBase version="2.0.0.0" 
href="file:///C:/Sample/MyClassLibraryV2/MyClassLibrary/bin/Debug/MyClassLibraryV2.dll"/>
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
    As you can see, you can change the version and codefile at the same time.
    What if you want to use the different versions of the DLL in the same console?
    Let's try to add both the references.

    Will this compile? -> NO. Obviously, it is because of the conflict!

    In this case, you are out of luck since Visual Studio doesn't provide enough support. Do remember that, you will have to rename the files back to the original file names, MyClassLibrary. Naturally, the locations will differ. Before you proceed further, deploy the assemblies into the GAC and use command line to compile your application.

    First of all, change your code to look like the following…
extern alias oldMyClass;
extern alias newMyClass;
using System;

namespace AssemblyLoadExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(oldMyClass::MyClassLibrary.MyClass.Foo());
            Console.WriteLine(newMyClass::MyClassLibrary.MyClass.Foo());
        }
    }
}
    Then, go the Visual Studio command prompt and issue the following command…

csc.exe /out:"C:\Sample\AssemblyLoadExample\AssemblyLoadExample\bin\Debug\AssemblyLoadExample.exe" "C:\Sample\AssemblyLoadExample\AssemblyLoadExample\Program.cs"
/r:oldMyClass="C:\Sample\MyClassLibrary\MyClassLibrary\bin\Debug\MyClassLibrary.dll"
/r:newMyClass="C:\Sample\MyClassLibraryV2\MyClassLibrary\bin\Debug\MyClassLibrary.dll"

    Also, now that everything is getting referenced directly from GAC, you will need to clear off your app.config.
    Run your application now…

Returning from MyClass Version = MyClassLibrary, Version=1.0.0.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=9fe6f24b59015723
Giving back from MyClass Version = MyClassLibrary, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=9fe6f24b59015723

    There you go… both the versions in the same application.

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Some people will never learn anything because they understand everything too soon. - Alexander Pope

Sharing my experience with Windows Phone 7 vs iPhone

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:47:07 +0500

Well, please don't consider this a comparison between WP7 (Mango - HTC Mozart) and iPhone. I work for Microsoft, and it is quite possible that you will consider my views biased. Nevertheless, I just wanted to let you know that these are my personal views and I am not a marketing guy .

The reason I am sharing my experience is because I have used iPhone for a long time, and it is almost 6 months [as on 10th September, 2011] since I switched over from an iPhone. I thought it would be a good exercise for me to write what I am liking about Windows Phone 7 and what I still miss [the iPhone is with wifey, and she doesn't mind sharing it with me sporadically!].

Every person has a specific type of smart phone usage… and the phone suits him [or doesn't] based on it. Here are some of the things that I am absolutely in love with when it comes to WP7… [it did take some time to get used to it]

    Live Tiles -> When I looked at WP7 interface for the first time, I was like "yuck… who would like this ever!". 6 months later, I really feel wow… I didn't think apps can update the home screen in such a way. One quick glance and the phone tells me…

My next Alarm is about to ring at 5:30 PM [Alarm]

I have no appointments lined up today, and I can easily [Calendar]

Weather of Bangalore [WeatherDuck]

Missed calls + Messages + Mails if any

Facebook updates [Me tile + People Hub]

Latest pictures that I took [Picture hub]

My favorite pictures [Keeps rotating, since I usually long press the photos and add them to the favorites. Typically photos of my daughter and wife get this honor ]

My news application reminds me that I may want to catch up on news. -> NewsIndia

I don't keep my home screen cluttered with a lot of applications. Hence all this information is really at a glance. With an iPhone I had to do "something extra" to get this information. It was NOT a glance.

    EMail navigation -> WP7 wins hands down for me. Absolutely in love with the Metro interface. I can easily read and view my Unread mails at one shot using the Unread pivot. You need to use it to realize how fantastic it is.

    Rights protected messages -> WP7 has no issues in reading rights protected messages after Mango update… on an iPhone it was a just not possible. Absolutely love this fact since I get a lot of protected messages.

    Application opening experience -> I still miss the application opening experience on iPhone. Now that the glancing is over, let's really do something. To open an application on an iPhone I had to do the following…

iPhone

Organize them using different folders. I absolutely loved it, and still do.

In case I forgot, to search I simply pressed the center button twice to get to the search screen and searched for it. Simple and Effective.

WP7

There is a long list of applications, and I am not a very big fan of scrolling.

Thankfully, with Mango update Microsoft came up with Jump List and that made the job a lot easier.

But let's say I want to search for MineSweeper [a game] it won't come up in the search list if I try to search . What if I go to XBOX live and try to search? No go… I have to still scroll and find it!

    Bing Maps -> It has come a long way in WP7 with Mango update. I adore the local scout. Unfortunately, I am not very satisfied with it when it comes to guidance on the road. I liked Google maps on iPhone on a lot better when it comes to real time navigation.

    Calendar -> Amazingly much more useful on WP7 and one of the reasons I am not switching back to iPhone

    There are quite a few other features… but they aren't deal makers or breakers for me, but they definitely add up to the experience.

    Internet Tethering / WiFi hotspot -> How much I miss it on my WP7 . With an iPhone it was a breeze and I loved it since I didn't have to carry the Internet USB stick and pay extra every month! My phone would take care of all that. This would be the 2nd top most feature I miss the most, and this can definitely force me to switch back to an iPhone or an Android phone.

    The top on my list of what I currently miss, are the games and utilities. With iPhone I had so much of choice, and the games were quite cheap too. Even the demos were a lot bigger and worthwhile to have. Take for instance, FlightControl… a demo on iPhone let's you play the game decently. The same demo on WP7 allows only 10 flights to be landed . Crap!!! There are countless other games and applications that I badly miss on the Windows Phone 7, especially now… since I have unhooked myself from the Facebook/Twitter bandwagon. The phone no longer entertains me as much as it used to due to the lack of games and other time pass applications.

Since I am a professional and care more for the professional features like calendar, maps, email etc. I am not switching back to an iPhone yet. On the other hand, I sincerely hope and wish that more and more applications come on WP7 and make the phone worth a purchase. These are still early days, and I am hoping for the best.

Apart from marketplace issues, internet tethering and gazillions of applications on an iPhone, there is not much I am missing… but then isn't that some of the main reasons why people buy and use smart phones?

Did you know - Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 09:35:31 +0500

The extensibility of Visual Studio keeps surprising me. Did you know that there is an extension called Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2? Well, I discovered it not very long ago. Here is how you can get it, and others…

    Select Tools -> Extension Manager…

    Select Online Gallery and search for feature pack.

    If you are an MSDN Subscriber, you should be directed to a page from where you can download it.
    Download and install it. It is just 2 MB odd.
    Restart Visual Studio and create an MVC Project [just for fun]

    Notice that the Architecture menu will have two more menu items at your disposal…
    Select By Web Site with Code Dependencies.
    Click on the image below to a sample output.

     Fantastic! Did I say earlier… this is just one feature of the "Feature Pack"?
     Read more about it here and here.

Hope it helps!

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. - David Russell

Get rid of (use Blank ringtone for) Junk calls in Windows Phone 7 or iPhone

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:02:00 +0500

You can reject the calls with one touch on smart phones, but if you live in a country where you keep getting pesky marketing calls throughout the day, here is what may help you.

If you get those Junk calls from a specific number or numbers, save it as the name Junk (or anything you prefer). Once saved, assign them BLANK ringtones. So the phone would ring, but not ring, hence it is automatically ignored.

    Download the following blank.zip file.

    Extract the Blank-WP7.mp3 if you use WP7 or Blank-iPhone.m4r if you use an iPhone.
    Drop the MP3 file to Zune (WP7) or M4R file to iTunes (iPhone)
    Once dropped, sync as usual.
    Now, edit your contact called Junk, and specify this Blank ringtone.

As they say… silence is bliss! Enjoy it.

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do. - Jean-Paul Sartre

A few free applications for WP7

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:40:04 +0500

If you are a parent with young kids and own a Windows Phone 7, you may like to check these out. There is a Smart Dialer for Windows Phone 7 too, in case you are interested.

Memory match - FREE

Antonyms - FREE

Time Teacher

Have fun. And if you like it, please spread the word. Thanks!

Rahul

Quote of the day:
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. - J. R. R. Tolkien

The [NeutralResourceLanguage] attribute is missing on the entry assembly. (2003)

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:49:45 +0500

While upgrading or submitting new application, you may get an error message from the App Hub saying…

The [NeutralResourceLanguage] attribute is missing on the entry assembly. (2003)

Here is what you need to do. If you don't want to do all of that, try doing this…

    Go the Properties page of your Project
    Click Assembly Information, in the Application Tab.
    Set it to English

    Compile and resubmit.
    I was facing the same issue, and this got me running. YMMV!

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible. - Oscar Wilde

What is so special about ObservableCollection?

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:37:00 +0500

Simple answer is… it is just like a regular collection except that it implements a couple of pretty interesting interfaces, INotifyCollectionChanged and INotifyPropertyChanged. Let's dive in.

Take a look below.

What is so special about the ObservableCollection then? When would you use it?

The reason why you would use it, is the magic word called DataBinding, which is a lifesaver, especially when you are using Silverlight/WPF applications.

To bind to any variable/class is easy. The framework takes care of updating the value in the UI through an interface called INotifyPropertyChanged. As easy implementation can be found here. INotifyCollectionChanged interface implementation takes care of notifying the UI elements about items that are removed, updated, or inserted in the ObservableCollection.

Let's say you have a Country class as shown below.

public class Country
{
    public Country(string name, string capital, string currency)
    {
        Name = name;
        Capital = capital;
    }

    public Country()
    {
        // TODO: Complete member initialization
    }

    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Capital { get; set; }
}

If you want to create a List<Country> you can definitely do that! The issue would arise when you want to do data binding of the UI elements with this list. To avoid the extra hassle and code (implementing INotifyPropertyChanged and INotifyCollectionChanged interfaces yourself), you would use ObservableCollection<T> as follows.

public class AllCountryList : ObservableCollection<Country>
{
    private static AllCountryList list = new AllCountryList();

    static AllCountryList()
    {
        AddCountries();
    }

    private static void AddCountries()
    {
        list.Add(new Country { Name = "India", Capital = "New Delhi" });
        list.Add(new Country { Name = "Pakistan", Capital = "Islamabad" });
        list.Add(new Country { Name = "Sri Lanka", Capital = "Colombo" });
    }

    public static AllCountryList GetList()
    {
        return list;
    }
}

The class is neat and is totally bindable. Assuming that CountryList is a list, you just need to do the following.

this.CountryList.ItemsSource = AllCountryList.GetList();

Create your UI appropriately (read more for help and an example), and it would be fully aware of the changes going on in the ObservableCollection!

Hope this helps.

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. - Jane Austen

IIS 7 / IIS 7.5 Security Best Practices (nothing official about it)

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 10:46:35 +0500

We have IIS 7 released for quite some time now and we haven’t seen any best practices document released by Microsoft IIS 7 team. IIS 6 have good document in place and even though IIS 7 is secure by default, we need some document to keep us in-check.

Here are few I prepared for myself:

Installing IIS 7 / 7.5

Install IIS 7 / 7.5 with minimum required components.
If a feature is not required e.g. Basic Authentication or Directory Browsing, do not install it.
If you are using scripts to automate Web Sites creation in IIS, make sure you use the new IIS 7 Scripting module rather than sticking to the old IIS 6 modules which requires IIS 6 Management Compatibility installed.
Always have Tracing feature installed under Health and Diagnostics such that you can enable/disable Tracing on the Web Site level whenever required to troubleshoot the issue.

NOTE: Disable Tracing on the Web Site when troubleshooting is done. Tracing is an overhead and can cause Performance issues.
Move inetpub folder from C drive to a non-system drive. You can use the tool moveiis7root from thomad

NOTE: In case of SharePoint 2010 installation, since IIS 7 / 7.5 is a prerequisite. You need to first install default IIS 7 / 7.5 with IIS 6 Management Compatibility features and then use the moveiis7root tool to move the inetpub folder. You cannot move the folder after SharePoint is installed. When you run the prerequisite installation step when installing SharePoint 2010, SharePoint will detect the IIS installation location and enable additional features whatever is required.
Please create a backup of the configuration file by firing the command: appcmd.exe add backup "<backup_name>" from the folder C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv.

NOTE: IIS 7 does not creates auto backup of the configuration changes, so it is recommended to create a backup of the configuration file before making any changes at IIS level.

Application Pool

Application Pool should run under ApplicationPoolIdentity or Service Account (domain account). Never configure the Application Pool to run under Local System account.
Service Account should not be a part of Administrators Group.
Service Account should not have 'Act as part of the operating system' privilege

Configuration

Connection time-out should not be more than 120 seconds. If your application gives "Connection timed out" you will need to troubleshoot the issue rather than increasing the timeout value.
I have written some blogs on steps to configure IIS 7 features, these can be helpful if you are not used to IIS 7 UI.
Make sure Custom Errors is set to "Detailed errors for local requests and custom error pages for remote requests". Sometimes accessing the Web Site locally does not give the same error seen when accessed remotely hence Tracing at the application level can be a good option.

NOTE: Tracing is resource intensive and can cause Performance issues, make sure you turn it off once you are done troubleshooting the issue.
Make sure your application web.config has Debug="false" and Trace="false". If you are looking for problems caused by debug="true", check this out.

Permissions

Windows Server 2008 / 2008 R2 comes with default secure NTFS permissions. If you need to add additional permissions for a particular User/Group make sure you document the same.
It is highly recommended you do not use Service Accounts to login on the server. Login on the server using your account and make the necessary configuration changes.

I will keep adding more to this document as I come across more such configurations which can be added in a Best Practices document.

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Smart Dialer for Windows Phone 7

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:36:41 +0500

If you use Windows Phone 7, this post might save you some time! Read on…

Do you have a long list of people in your contact list?
Do you like to speed dial?
Do you like to keep your contact organized?
Do you have a friend list whom you send SMS often?
How about group SMS?

If you have answered to 1 or more questions above with YES, Smart Dialer is for you.

It is a Speed Dial + Multiple SMS + Group SMS utility and all of this is rolled into one.

You can add multiple contacts in a lot of different groups.

If you make multiple calls to a specific contact, it would automatically bubble up in a specific group. You can clear call history. Although, if you do not like this behavior, you can change it through the settings screen.

You may also choose to hide the number of calls that you are making to a specific contact through the settings screen.

Download here…

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous. - Henry Ford

Dependency Property explained

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Fri, 06 May 2011 22:12:08 +0500

The concept of dependency property is fascinating. I have seen a lot of confusion around it, and here is my take on it. Without further ado, let me take you to XAML, and its output.

XAML

<UserControl x:Class="Dependency_Sample.MainPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
    mc:Ignorable="d"
    d:DesignHeight="75" d:DesignWidth="448" FontSize="12">

    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
        <StackPanel>
            <ItemsControl>
                <TextBlock Text="No color or font set." />
            </ItemsControl>
            <ItemsControl Foreground="Blue" FontSize="18" >
                <StackPanel>
                    <TextBlock Text="No color or font set." />
                </StackPanel>
                <TextBlock Text="Color set to Red. Font NOT set." Foreground="Red" />
            </ItemsControl>
        </StackPanel>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

Output

Let me ask some questions now. All set? Here we go…

1. FontSize is set to 12 at root, but not at Grid level, StackPanel or ItemsControl level. Yet, the font size for first textbox is set to 12. How?

2. ForeGround color is set to Blue for ItemsControl and FontSize is set to 18. Just below the ItemsControl, there is a StackPanel, which doesn't support any property like FontSize or ForeGround. Still the 2nd TextBlock appears to have gone 1 more level up and appears Blue with size 18.

It appears that somehow, WPF/Silverlight controls go up the stack of the Control Tree and fetch the appropriate value. But then, if that was the case, how did StackPanel not break the hierarchy. It doesn't support the FontSize and ForeGround properties, after all? As a matter of fact, if you remove FontSize=18, it will default to 12 which is set at the Root!

All of this magic happens due to dependency property. There are a few things that you need to understand about it.

A Sample dependency property

public string Header
{
    get
    {
        return (string)GetValue(HeaderProperty);
    }
    set
    {
        SetValue(HeaderProperty, value);
    }
}

public static readonly DependencyProperty HeaderProperty =
    DependencyProperty.Register("Header", typeof(string),
    typeof(CustomNotification), new PropertyMetadata("Header Default", 
    new PropertyChangedCallback(OnHeaderChanged)));


private static void OnHeaderChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Called");
    d.SetValue(CustomNotification.HeaderProperty, e.NewValue);
}

Compare it to a normal property…

private int myVar;

public int MyProperty
{
    get { return myVar; }
    set { myVar = value; }
}

Point 1. Dependency property is not "stored" and "retrieved". It is "computed" at runtime by the WPF/Silverlight engine. Notice the usage of GetValue, SetValue. This goes on to show that there is no direct property bag from where the value is being "retrieved from" or "stored to". It is good since it reduces a lot of memory foot print by ensuring that the objects are not pre-populated with default values. Also notice the usage of HeaderProperty naming convention.

Point 2. Notice the static readonly DependencyProperty HeaderPoperty… above. This statement takes care of registering the property in such a way that now you can bind the property directly in XAML and whenever the property changes, your UI will be notified based on data binding. This is not the case with the normal property, since there is no way of notification.

Point 3. What if you have to manipulate the setter in dependency property? Should you be modifying the SetValue method directly? Well… no! Although it may work in majority of the cases, it can introduce some hard to find bugs!!! Do you remember I told you that the Framework takes care of calling SetValue and GetValue? What if the .NET code directly accesses the internal variables and sets it, instead of calling SetValue? Then in that case, although you would have written the code in SetValue, it won't be executed. Don't worry, there is an easy way out. First thing first, ensure that you never modify SetValue. What you really should do is to use a PropertyMetadata to provide a default value if required, and a callback function. Write your setter validation method in the callback method and you should be good. See the sample above.

For more information, please check the following…

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.dependencyobject.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.dependencyproperty.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms752914.aspx

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it. - Rita Mae Brown

Create Trial applications for Windows Phone 7 MarketPlace

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:03:45 +0500

There are a few ways in which you can easily create Trial applications for Windows Phone 7 marketplace. Here is what I prefer to do it fairly quickly.

    Create a new Project or use an existing project. Select Configuration Manager

    From the Active Solution Configuration drop down list, select New…
    Name it Release_Trial, and copy the settings from Release.

    Now, you will three options… Debug, Release and Release_Trial
    While you are debugging for full blown version of your application, use Debug or Release options.
    For Trial version we need a little more work…
    Declare a Conditional Compilation Symbol called TRIAL as you see below.

    Final few steps… Insert the following code in App.xaml.cs

using Microsoft.Phone.Marketplace; -> Should be added at the top
Boolean _IsTrial;

public Boolean IsTrial
{
    get { return _IsTrial; }
    set { _IsTrial = value; }
}

private void InitializeIsTrial()
{
    _IsTrial = new LicenseInformation().IsTrial();

    #if TRIAL
          _IsTrial = true;
    #endif
}
Almost done…. call this method from Application_Launching and Application_Activated events and you are done!
// Code to execute when the application is launching (eg, from Start)
// This code will not execute when the application is reactivated
private void Application_Launching(object sender, LaunchingEventArgs e)
{
    InitializeIsTrial();
}

// Code to execute when the application is activated (brought to foreground)
// This code will not execute when the application is first launched
private void Application_Activated(object sender, ActivatedEventArgs e)
{
    InitializeIsTrial();
}

All you have to do now is to check the IsTrial property in your other application pages, and allow/prohibit features based on it. Something like this…
App thisApp;
thisApp = Application.Current as <YOUR_APPLICATION_NAMESPACE>.App;
if (thisApp.IsTrial)
{
    //Your code goes here
}

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. - James Thurber

Microsoft Premier Field Engineer India Team is hiring

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:08:49 +0500

Location: Gurgaon

Travel Required: Yes

Job Description:

The purpose of the Premier Field Engineer (PFE) position is to provide Microsoft customers with reliable technical solutions to the complex integration problems associated with business solutions built on the Microsoft platform. The PFE Team supports a diverse variety of technical solutions built with Microsoft technology and products.

The position requires you to go onsite to a customer location and help in the root cause analysis and resolution. PFE also delivers proactive Health Checks (HC) and advisory assistance. This involves sharing MS best practices and analyzing the customer environment and setup against the best practices. The role also requires some amount of workshop delivery to Premier customers. You will manage critical customer escalations by maintaining clearly documented action plans, clear and consistent communication and documentation.

Candidate Profile:

Candidates must have exceptional customer service, problem solving, and communication skills, and the ability to work in a team environment. Must have sufficient technical depth to communicate with development and other internal organizations at a peer level as well as convey technical concepts to non-technical individuals. Must possess the ability to work with minimal supervision and operate as a self-contained business unit within the PFE team. Must have the ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Educational Qualification and Experience:

The ideal candidate will have a B.E degree or equivalent. The candidate should have 3 to 5 years product support experience or the equivalent in work experience. MCDBA, MCSD, MCAD, or other applicable advanced certification is strongly preferred.

The PFE position requires a long list of technology experience or demonstrated understanding of these technologies. The ideal PFE skill set is grounded in a solid understanding of the Microsoft Windows platform. From this foundation, the PFE position is exposed to many technologies.

Prior knowledge and experience in the following disciplines is required: SQL Server 2005/2008 relational engine, T-SQL scripting, MDX, Analysis Services, Reporting Services, Integration Services, data access technologies. Hands-on experience with troubleshooting performance issues using tools such as Profiler / Blocking scripts / Performance Monitor etc. is highly recommended. The candidate must be totally proficient with basic database administration activities such as disaster recovery, replication, configuration etc. The candidate must also be aware or have hands-on experience with SQL Server in a clustered environment. Experience with complex replication / mirroring topologies is desired.

Knowledge in .Net Framework 2.0/3.0/3.5, ASP.Net, and IIS 6.0/7.0 is an added advantage.

Candidates must possess current passport or be able to obtain passport within 60 days of hire. This job would require you to travel and at times will require 24x7 availability.

Mail me at rahulso AT microsoft DOT come if you are interested.

Good luck!

Winsxs folder space in Windows 7

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:30:17 +0500

I wasn't particularly glad when I found that my C:\Windows\winsxs started taking more than 10 GB of hard disk space. Windows 7 creates those files for a reason and I wasn't able to find the steps to clear the folder which would get rid of some of the junk [just in case].

Thanks to my friend Satya, who pointed me to the right post. Just now claimed 4 GB space on my C Drive, and I don't feel bad about that .

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Nothing changes your opinion of a friend so surely as success - yours or his. - Franklin P. Jones

ETag and IIS demystified

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:17:29 +0500

Let me quote from Wikipedia straight away…

<snip>

An ETag, or entity tag, is part of HTTP, the protocol for the World Wide Web. It is one of several mechanisms that HTTP provides for cache validation, and which allows a client to make conditional requests. This allows caches to be more efficient, and saves bandwidth, as a web server does not need to send a full response if the content has not changed…..

An ETag is an opaque identifier assigned by a web server to a specific version of a resource found at a URL. If the resource content at that URL ever changes, a new and different ETag is assigned. Used in this manner ETags are similar to fingerprints, and they can be quickly compared to determine if two versions of a resource are the same or are different. Comparing ETags only makes sense with respect to one URL - ETags for resources obtained from different URLs may or may not be equal and no meaning can be inferred from their comparison.

</snip>

In case, you are not much aware of ETags, read the above again… seriously… read it! Okay. You can see that it looks like Etag is meant to do good. Well… I won't disagree either. The only thing I want to add here is that IF you are using IIS and IF there is a Network Load Balancer involved, you may have to go an extra mile and ensure things are properly configured! If you don't configure it properly, you may end up with unnecessary retransmission of a file, degrading the performance instead!

So to check if things are NOT well configured, let's understand how it all appears when things are properly configured!

Install Fiddler from www.fiddlertool.com and run it. You can repeat the exercise once you are done reading this. For the time being let me put some snapshots, so that it is easy to understand.

    I have just browsed www.bing.com and fiddler tool captured the following traces…

    Notice above… the request was for a specific page… Windows7_T.png and we got a 200 OK response from the server, along with an ETag.
    I have done F5 (Refresh) on my IE browser, and fiddler catches another few requests. [Notice that CTRL + F5 would fetch the latest file anyways, so you don't need to do CTRL + F5 for this test]

    Notice how the response code changed to 304. Also notice that the If-None-Match header was sent to the server. The server in turn checked the tag, and sent a response header with 304 AND BODY Size = 0 Bytes! This is where you save your bandwidth. Had the Etag, been mismatched the server would have sent the entire file to your client, even if IE has the cached copy.
    Now that we know how things look like when everything is good, let me tell you how you can sync the ETAG on all your servers in the NLB.
    Locate adsutil.vbs (typically in %systemroot%\inetpub\adminscripts)
    In that directory, issue the following command:

cscript adsutil.vbs set w3svc/etag_changenumber 0

    Repeat this step on all the IIS 6 servers. On IIS 7, this is not required, since the value automatically defaults to 0.
    You can also follow the Workaround #1 in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922703 in case you like to do it using GUI

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else. - Umberto Eco

A couple of applications for Windows Phone 7

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 06:15:18 +0500

Finally I was able to get Windows Marketplace account. Although the initial experience with the marketplace was a bit "hiccupy", I liked the creation piece of small utilities for my kid, Anika… whom I fondly call nikkul.

I have hosted those utilities on Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, and you can find more details on www.nikkul.com…

If you are a parent with young kids, you should check these out. Memory match is a game, where as the second one is a tool with which you can teach time easily to your kid. I hope you find it useful.

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Thought: Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage. - Woody Allen

Bind your Silverlight elements to local variables

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:25:32 +0500

So you have a XAML page, and in the code behind you have a couple of variables. How do you bind the elements with the local variables?

To begin with, you will need the property with which you can bind the XAML element.
Implement the following interface… INotifyPropertyChanged

       public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
       private void NotifyPropertyChanged(String info)
       {
           if (PropertyChanged != null)
           {
               PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(info));
           }
       }

       int _hour;
       public int Hour
       {
           get { return _hour; }
           set {
               if (value != _hour)
               {
                   _hour = value;
                   NotifyPropertyChanged("Hour");
               } 
           }
       }

Inside the constructor of your page, add the following line…

         this.DataContext = this;

Now, bind as usual…

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Hour}" />

Yep, that simple!

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Sometimes what's right isn't as important as what's profitable. - Trey Parker and Matt Ston

Play multiple sound files in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:10:20 +0500

Windows Phone 7 doesn't support multiple MediaElement. In order to play multiple sounds in the same page, you may use the following approach.

Add a reference to Microsoft.Xna.Framework

Add the following using statements…
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Audio; 

Add the sound files and ensure that Copy to Output directory is set to Content

Add the following method to your page…

public void PlaySound(string soundFile)
{
    using (var stream = TitleContainer.OpenStream(soundFile))
    {
        var effect = SoundEffect.FromStream(stream);
        FrameworkDispatcher.Update();
        effect.Play();
        //Thread.Sleep(effect.Duration);
    }
}

You can now call this Method with a valid Sound file (WAV file) and it should play.
Notice the commented code above. If the sound file take a while to play, you may decide to uncomment this line so that the entire sound clip is played. This would be a blocking call though.

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them. - Pierre Beaumarchais

How to view only Unread Mails in Microsoft Outlook 2010

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:37:17 +0500

In my humble opinion, MS Outlook 2010 should have provided a default way of viewing ONLY Unread Mails. It is a lot easier to change the view of your folders and take a look at only Unread mails. Here is how you can do it [in case you aren't aware]…

    Click on View -> Change View -> Manage Views…

    Click on New… button

    Name it Unread and ensure Table is selected. Also ensure All Mails and Post folders is selected. Click Ok.

    Click Filter on the dialog box…

    Go to More Choices and check Only Items that are: Unread

    Click Ok thrice… and you will be back to the main Outlook Window.
    Now, you will get one more option for Unread mails in your Views.

    This should work on all of your folders.

I hope this helps!

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. - Elvis Costello

LinkedIn Group for Premier Field Engineering India

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 13:41:04 +0500

My team, Premier Field Engineering (India) recently created a group on LinkedIn.

- http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3761475&trk=hb_side_g

Membership is open to all, so I welcome you to take this opportunity to connect with us!

This LinkedIn group offers a common forum for the employees and customers of Microsoft India Premier Field Engineering to connect, share experiences, comments, feedback etc. about PFE services. In addition we will also use this forum to promote upcoming offerings from Microsoft Premier Field Engineering (India) as well as career openings.

Let's get Linked!

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
It is always the best policy to speak the truth--unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar. - Jerome K. Jerome

Silverlight - How to load and clip an image in code

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:21:08 +0500

Let's say you have an image like the following…

Fig 1

And you want to clip it using a hexagon [see Fig 2]. Or may be a rectangle with rounded edges. Clipping an image using a Geometry makes it really easy for you. You can use Expression Blend and easily do the clipping. The problem arises if you have to do the same thing in code.

Fig 2

In this post, you will see how easily it can be done in code. The code is annotated with comments, and I hope you will find it useful.

using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Media;

namespace ImageClip
{
    public partial class MainPage : UserControl
    {
        public int Image_Top_X { get; set; }
        public int Image_Top_Y { get; set; }
        public int Image_Bottom_X { get; set; }
        public int Image_Bottom_Y { get; set; }
        public int Image_Radius_X { get; set; }
        public int Image_Radius_Y { get; set; }

        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            //Initialize the size of the images
            Image_Top_X = 0;
            Image_Top_Y = 0;
            Image_Bottom_X = 200;
            Image_Bottom_Y = 200;
            Image_Radius_X = 10;
            Image_Radius_Y = 10;

            //Load the Peacock image at runtime
            Uri uri = new Uri("Images/peacock.png", UriKind.Relative);
            ImageSource img = new System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage(uri);

            //Set the value for Image1
            image1.SetValue(Image.SourceProperty, img);
            image1.Width = Image_Bottom_X;
            image1.Height = Image_Bottom_Y;
            image1.Stretch = Stretch.Fill;

            //Set Hexagon geometry as its clipping path
            PathGeometry myPathGeometry = HexagonGeometry();
            image1.Clip = myPathGeometry;

            //Set the value for Image1
            image2.SetValue(Image.SourceProperty, img);
            image2.Width = Image_Bottom_X;
            image2.Height = Image_Bottom_Y;
            image2.Stretch = Stretch.Fill;
            
            //Make the corners rounded
            RectangleGeometry myRectangleGeometry = RoundedRectangleGeometry();
            image2.Clip = myRectangleGeometry;
        }

        private PathGeometry HexagonGeometry()
        {
            PathFigure pf = new PathFigure();
            pf.IsClosed = true;

            //Declare the starting point for the path
            pf.StartPoint = new Point((Image_Bottom_X - Image_Top_X) * .25, Image_Top_Y);

            //Add Line segments
            LineSegment l1 = new LineSegment();
            l1.Point = new Point(Image_Bottom_X * .75, Image_Top_Y);
            LineSegment l2 = new LineSegment();
            l2.Point = new Point(Image_Bottom_X, Image_Bottom_Y * .5);
            LineSegment l3 = new LineSegment();
            l3.Point = new Point(Image_Bottom_X * .75, Image_Bottom_Y);
            LineSegment l4 = new LineSegment();
            l4.Point = new Point((Image_Bottom_X - Image_Top_X) * .25, Image_Bottom_Y);
            LineSegment l5 = new LineSegment();
            l5.Point = new Point(Image_Top_X, Image_Bottom_Y / 2);

            //Add the Line Segments to the Path Segment
            PathSegmentCollection CustomPathSegmentCollection = new PathSegmentCollection();
            CustomPathSegmentCollection.Add(l1);
            CustomPathSegmentCollection.Add(l2);
            CustomPathSegmentCollection.Add(l3);
            CustomPathSegmentCollection.Add(l4);
            CustomPathSegmentCollection.Add(l5);

            //Specify the PathFigure segment
            pf.Segments = CustomPathSegmentCollection;

            PathFigureCollection CustomPathFigureCollection = new PathFigureCollection();
            CustomPathFigureCollection.Add(pf);

            PathGeometry myPathGeometry = new PathGeometry();
            myPathGeometry.Figures = CustomPathFigureCollection;
            return myPathGeometry;
        }

        private RectangleGeometry RoundedRectangleGeometry()
        {
            //This one is fairly simple when compared to Path geometry. 
            //All that is required is a rectangle geometry
            RectangleGeometry r = new RectangleGeometry();
            r.RadiusX = Image_Radius_X;
            r.RadiusY = Image_Radius_Y;
            r.Rect = (new Rect(Image_Top_X, Image_Top_Y, Image_Bottom_X, Image_Bottom_Y));
            return r;
        }
    }
}

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
When ideas fail, words come in very handy. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Did You Know : Using SkipWhile() feature of LINQ

Santosh@dotnetscraps.com (Santosh) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 08:37:00 +0500

SkipWhile() a function that bypass the elements from the sequence till the condition becomes true and will return the rest of the elements of the sequence.

Example 1 : XML data

<Products>
  <Product Name="Football"></Product>
  <Product Name="Bat"></Product>
  <Product Name="Glows"></Product>
  <Product Name="Ball"></Product>
  <Product Name="Racket"></Product>
  <Product Name="Shoes"></Product>
</Products>

Code is as follows:

Import the namespace using System.Xml.Linq; to use LINQ with XML.

            XDocument xdoc = new XDocument();
            xdoc = XDocument.Load("Product.xml");
            var ProductList = (from productList in (from products in xdoc.Descendants("Products")
                               select products).Descendants("Product")
                               select productList).SkipWhile(delegate(XElement prdElement) 
                                    { if (prdElement.Attribute("Name").Value == "Glows") 
                                        { return false; } else { return true; } 
                                    }).ToList();

            foreach (XElement prdElements in ProductList)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Product Name : {0} " , prdElements.Attribute("Name").Value);
            }

Check the delegate written for SkipWhile has XElement delegate(XElement prdElement) parameter.

The parameter given depends on the output given from the Linq statement., in this case it is XElement

Here, it will skip the below elements

  <Product Name="Football"></Product>
  <Product Name="Bat"></Product>

and will return the elements as shown below:

Example 2 : Array of Integers

Import using System.Linq; to use LINQ features with other data types

Here the input data is array of integers as shown below:

            //Input Data
            int[] data = new int[] { 1, 11, 2, 22, 3,  33, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 };

            //Use Linq to get the result
            int[] calculateOutput  = data.SkipWhile(delegate(int number)
                { if (number > 14) { return false; } else { return true; } }).ToArray();

            Console.WriteLine("Following is the data:");
            foreach (int i in calculateOutput)
            {
                Console.Write("{0}, ",  i);    
            }
            Console.WriteLine("");

The delegate has a delegate(int number) parameter and it will skip till it find the first occurs of number > 14 and then it will store the rest of the data in array calculateOutput

The output is as follows:

Hope this will help using feature SkipWhile().

Thank You.

Santosh

Future of Silverlight

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:31:31 +0500

You’re invited to a very special event on December 2^nd, 2010

Learn about the future of Silverlight from Corporate Vice President, Scott Guthrie and other experts, direct from Microsoft’s HQ.

Hear about our plans for the next version of Silverlight, the latest developments as well as in-depth sessions on building applications with Silverlight.

Registration is free – take part in-person or online.

Find out more and Register online

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there. - George Burns

Did You Know : The difference in a Rectangle with or without a Fill in Silverlight/WPF?

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:34:20 +0500

Check out the following XAML and notice the difference in Fill of the following three rectangles.

        <StackPanel>
            <Rectangle Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="3" Width="100" Height="100"
                   Margin="5" MouseLeftButtonUp="rect_MouseLeftButtonUp" Fill="Transparent" />
            <Rectangle Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="3" Width="100" Height="100"
                   Margin="5" MouseLeftButtonUp="rect_MouseLeftButtonUp" Fill="{x:Null}" />
            <Rectangle Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="3" Width="100" Height="100"
                   Margin="5" MouseLeftButtonUp="rect_MouseLeftButtonUp" />
        </StackPanel>

As you can see, the first rectangle has Transparent fill, 2nd one has Null fill, and the third one doesn't talk about Fill at all. You can
easily guess how it would appear…

So, what's the difference? Well… it is a very subtle one. Write a code for rect_MouseLeftButtonUp as follows…

private void rect_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Test");
}

You will find that the first rectangle will respond wholly to click. The border, and the empty area as well. For the 2nd and 3rd
rectangle, you will not get any message box if you click in the empty area. Borders will respond though. Thus, 2nd and 3rd are rectangles are similar.

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. - Albert Einstein

Installing and Configuring SharePoint 2010 and FAST Search 2010–Part 6

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:00:00 +0500

Today we will create FAST Search Query SSA which will provide query results from the content that is crawled by FAST Search Content SSA.

Create and setup Query SSA

Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Home Page, under Application Management and click Manage Service Applications
In Manage Service Applications page, click New –> Search Service Applications
In Create New Search Service Application page, fill in the details (here’s what I filled)
1. Name: FAST Query SSA
2. FAST Service Application: FAST Search Query
3. Search Service Account: selected the default value
4. Application Pool for Search Admin Web Service: FAST_Query_Admin_App_Pool
  I also decided to let the AppPool run under dotnetscraps\svcaccnt service account.
5. Application Pool for Search Query and Site Settings Web Service: FAST_Query_App_Pool
  I also decided to let the AppPool run under dotnetscraps\svcaccnt service account.
6. Refer %fastsearch%\install_info.txt on FAST Search Server for the following details|
  
  e.g.: Query Service Location (since our queries are HTTP based): http://WIN-FS.dotnetscraps.com:13287
  Administration Service Location: http://WIN-FS.dotnetscraps.com:13257
  Resource Store Location: http://WIN-FS.dotnetscraps.com:13255
  Account for Administration Service: dotnetscraps\fastuser
7. Click OK
8. When finished, you will get a confirmation that a new Content SSA is created and is added in the list of Service Applications –> click OK
Now to configure SharePoint 2010 to use FAST Search as a default search provider
1. Open SharePoint Central Administration –> Application Management and click Configure service application associations
2. Under Application Proxy Group, click default
3. Select FAST Query SSA (or the Query SSA you created earlier) and click [set as default].
  NOTE: I decided to uncheck Search Service Application as I won’t be using it for our http://win-sp site.
  
  So now, all search done on our team site will use FAST Search to perform the query.
We haven’t finished yet, SharePoint 2010 uses Claims for authentication. We will need to export a certificate from SharePoint 2010 Server and import it on the FAST Search query server(s). This does not mean your query traffic is HTTPS base.
1. On SharePoint Server 2010, Start –> All Programs –> Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products –> right click on SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and Run as administrator
2. Type the following command
  
  $stsCert = (Get-SPSecurityTokenServiceConfig).LocalLoginProvider.SigningCertificate
  $stsCert.Export("cert") | Set-Content -encoding byte MOSS_STS.cer
3. Copy the MOSS_STS.cer on the FAST Search Server
4. On FAST Search Server, Start –> All Programs –> Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint –> right click on Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint shell and Run as administrator
5. Navigate to the folder %FASTSEARCH%\installer\scripts, and type the command
  
  .\InstallSTSCertificateForClaims.ps1 -certPath <"path_to_MOSS_STS.cer_file">
Finally, we will need to activate SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure under Site Collection Administration.
1. Open the Web Site (http://win-sp, this is a Team site I created using the Configuration Wizard).
2. Click Site Actions –> click Site Settings
3. Under Site Collection Administration –> click Site collection features
4. Scroll down and look for SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure and click Activate

Let us also verify the Office Web Application feature of viewing and editing Office documents directly from the browser is enabled on the server.

Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Home Page, under System Settings and click Manage services on server
On the Services page, verify that Excel Calculation Services, Word Viewing Service, and PowerPoint Service are Started.

Looks good now.

Open a new browser windows and hit http://win-sp, right hand top corner in the search bar type “document” (I typed “topology” as I know some of the documents I have uploaded have topology as a keyword.)

Success !! The FAST Search is working fine

Click on View In Browser in the screenshot above.

Click Edit in Browser, you can Edit the document Format it and Save it.

Done.

Looks pretty decent. We will explore more on FAST Search 2010 with more different kind of Content Sources and adding some media files and see how it all works. Hope to work along with Rahul and get Silverlight Web Part imported on to my team site and play around it as well.

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities. - Walt Kelly

Installing and Configuring SharePoint 2010 and FAST Search 2010–Part 5

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:00:00 +0500

Now with all the software's installed and configured, let us now create and setup Content SSA and Query SSA. Content SSA crawls the content and feed it into FAST Search back-end while Query SSA provides the query results from the content that is crawled by Content SSA.

Create and setup Content SSA

Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Home Page, under Application Management and click Manage Service Applications
In Manage Service Applications page, click New –> Search Service Applications
In Create New Search Service Application page, fill in the details (here’s what I filled)
1. Name: FAST Content SSA
2. FAST Service Application, select FAST Search Connector
3. Search Service Account, selected the default value
4. Application Pool for Search Admin Web Service, entered FAST_Content_Admin_App_Pool
  I also decided to let the AppPool run under dotnetscraps\svcaccnt service account.
5. Content Distributors and Content Collection Name, you can get the value from install_info.txt from D:\FASTSearch on the FAST Search Server (type %fastsearch% to jump to the FAST Search installation folder)
  
  e.g.: Content Distributor: WIN-FS.dotnetscraps.com:13391
  Content Collection Name: sp
6. Click OK
7. When finished, you will get a confirmation that a new Content SSA is created and is added in the list of Service Applications –> click OK
Once you have created Content SSA, you must configure the communication channel to feed content to FAST Search. This communication channel is SSL enabled and is the must.
1. You will need to copy securefastsearchconnector.ps1 from %fastsearch%\installer\scripts and FASTSearchCert.pfx from %fastsearch%\data\data_security\cert on to the SharePoint Server (WIN-SP)
2. On the SharePoint Server, Start –> All Programs –> Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products –> right click on SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and Run as administrator
3. Navigate to the folder where you copied the above two files
4. type the command
  
  .\SecureFASTSearchConnector.ps1 –certPath "path_of_certificate\certificate_name.pfx" –ssaName "name_of_content_SSA" –username “domain\username”
  
  NOTE: if you are not sure about the domain\username, check the account under which SharePoint Server Search 14 (OSearch 14) service is running.
  
  When prompted for password, enter the password you entered during the FAST Search post-setup configuration i.e. in step 6 in the previous post
Now that we have setup Content SSA, let us verify FAST Search by adding a content source and performing a full crawl.
1. Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Home Page, under Application Management and click Manage Service Applications
2. click FAST Content SSA (managed search service application you created)
3. On Search Administration Page, in the Crawling section, click Content Sources
4. click New Content Source
5. Fill in the details as shown below
  
  Name: fastdemo Content Source
  Content Source Type: select SharePoint Sites (since we would like to search documents that's in SharePoint). We can add multiple Content Source and different type of content source as needed.
  Start Addresses: type the URL http://win-sp (is the link for my Team Site)
  Crawl Setting: Everything that's under that URL (http://win-sp)
  Crawl Schedule: None (we will schedule it later)
  Content Source Priority: Normal
  Start Full Crawl: (unselected) as I will do that manually
6. Click OK
On the Manage Content Source, click beside fastdemo Content Source (the content source we created) –> click Start Full Crawl
On the FAST Search, open the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint shell and type Get-FASTSearchContentCollection, to show all the content collections i.e. documents crawled and feed.

So, the documents have been crawled and now we need to add Query capability. Let’s keep it for a bit later.

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. - Ian Fleming

Silverlight - Application Structure - 2 - Load assembly on demand

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:55:46 +0500

In the previous post, we discussed about how to use Application Library Caching and its benefits. Although it sounds beneficial, you need to keep in mind that the benefits are more from a re-visit perspective. Sometimes, your application will have a bunch of pages, may be nested… and hence you may not require some part of functionality right away. In that case, it might not be considered wise to create the structure in such a way that each and everything is loaded right from the word, Go!

This post is a direct continuation of the previous post. In here, let's take a look at the 3rd bullet point of the previous post…

1. How is a XAP file formed and what are the contents inside it?
2. What would be a good way to maintain the size of an application - Application Library Caching?
3. How to load assemblies on demand?

Add a new Silverlight Class Library to the existing project from previous post.
Modify the code of SilverlightClassLibrary2 -> Class1.cs…

namespace SilverlightClassLibrary2
{
    public class Message
    {
        public string DisplayMessage { get; set; }
    }
}

Add a Project reference to Silverlight Application

Change the RootVisual to Page2 in App.xaml.cs -> Application_Startup.

private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
    this.RootVisual = new Page2();
}

Page2.xaml should be changed to…

<navigation:Page x:Class="SilverlightApplication.Page2" 
   xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
   xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" 
   xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
   xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
   mc:Ignorable="d"
   xmlns:navigation="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.Navigation"
           d:DesignWidth="640" d:DesignHeight="480"
           Title="Page2 Page">
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
        <StackPanel>
            <TextBlock x:Name="txtMessage">This is Page 2</TextBlock>
            <Button Click="Button_Click">
                Click Here to Display a UI from the Library Assembly
            </Button>
        </StackPanel>
    </Grid>
</navigation:Page>

Page2.xaml.cs should be changed to…

using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Navigation;

namespace SilverlightApplication
{
    public partial class Page2 : Page
    {
        public Page2()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        // Executes when the user navigates to this page.
        protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)
        {
        }

        private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            txtMessage.Text = "Time now is " + SilverlightClassLibrary2.Class1.CurrentTime();
        }

    }
}

Run your application now, and if you have followed everything correctly, you should be able to see.

We already discussed that all the assemblies would have been pushed inside the XAP file as you can see below…

Let's change a few things now. First up, I don't want to have SilverlightClassLibrary2 to be present inside the XAP file. Hence, change Copy Local property to False for the Reference properties in project SilverlightApplication

Nice. Now run the application. It will come up fine, but the moment you click on the button, it should error out. This is expected since the library has gone missing now.

Let's fix this. First of all, copy the following file to ClientBin of your web application…

Modify Page2.xaml.cs to…

using System.Windows;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System;

namespace SilverlightApplication
{
    public partial class Page2 : Page
    {
        public Page2()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        // Executes when the user navigates to this page.
        protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)
        {
        }

        private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            // Download the assembly now
            WebClient wc = new WebClient();
            wc.OpenReadCompleted += new OpenReadCompletedEventHandler(wc_OpenReadCompleted);
            wc.OpenReadAsync(new Uri("SilverlightClassLibrary2.dll", UriKind.Relative));
        }

        private void wc_OpenReadCompleted(
          object sender, OpenReadCompletedEventArgs e)
        {
            if ((e.Error == null) && (e.Cancelled == false))
            {
                // Convert the downloaded stream into an assembly
                AssemblyPart assemblyPart = new AssemblyPart();
                assemblyPart.Load(e.Result);
                DisplayCurrentTime();
            }
        }

        private void DisplayCurrentTime()
        {
            SilverlightClassLibrary2.Message m = new SilverlightClassLibrary2.Message();
            m.DisplayMessage = "Current Time " + DateTime.Now;
            txtMessage.Text = m.DisplayMessage;           
        }
    }
}

The code should now work!

I hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content. - Louis L'Amour

Silverlight - Application Structure - 1

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:20:15 +0500

This post will try to shed some light on the Silverlight Application and cater to the following questions…

1. How is a XAP file formed and what are the contents inside it?
2. What would be a good way to maintain the size of an application - Application Library Caching?
3. How to load assemblies on demand?

    Create a new Project, called ApplicationStructure using IIS. This is required since later on we will need to use Fiddler to analyze request and response packets.

    Add a new Project to this solution… called SilverlightApplication, click Ok

    You will get another prompt. Click Ok.

    This is how the project structure will look like…

    Get rid of MainPage.xaml. Delete it.
    Add two new pages called Page1.xaml and Page2.xaml

    The following screenshot shows the event that ensures your appropriate page loads when you start your Silverlight application. This is like your Main() method. We'll change this MainPage to Page1, or Page2 as required.

    Before you proceed any further, change MainPage to Page1 or Page2, and ensure your Silverlight Application comes up fine.
    Page1.xaml looks as follows..

<navigation:Page x:Class="SilverlightApplication.Page1" 
           xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
           xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" 
           xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
           xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
           mc:Ignorable="d"
           xmlns:navigation="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.Navigation"
           d:DesignWidth="640" d:DesignHeight="480"
           Title="Page1 Page">
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
        <TextBlock x:Name="txtMessage">This is Page 1</TextBlock>
    </Grid>
</navigation:Page>

    Page2.xaml is exactly same as Page 1 except that TextBlock reads… Page 2.
    Okay, the fun part begins now…
    Check your Solution Explorer.

    The XAP file that you see here is a ZIP file renamed as XAP.
    Notice the following when you open the SilverlightApplication.ZIP. There is an AppManifest.xaml that contains information about DLLs as <AssemblyPart> tag.

    Okay, let's add a couple of libraries and see how all this changes.
    Install Fiddler, if you haven't done so already.
    Add a Silverlight class library called SilverLightClassLibrary1

    Add a reference in SilverlightApplication.

    Recompile the solution.
    Go back to the ClientBin folder and rename the XAP file to Zip. Notice the presence of SilverlightClassLibrary1.dll.

    The way this Project is structured, you will find all the Class Libraries going into the same XAP file.
    This can lead to two major issues…
       1. Bloating up of your XAP file that might take a long time for the end users to download
       2. If the application changes in due course, and the SilverlightClassLibrary1.dll doesn't… STILL THE WHOLE XAP will be downloaded. That's a waste of precious bandwidth.

    Let's see what can be done to make the experience a bit better. What you are going to do next is what we call Application Library Caching.
    Go to the properties of SilverlightClassLibrary1. Sign this assembly with a new Key as you can see below.

    Recompile the class library and go to the Debug folder. Create a new file called SilverlightClassLibrary1.extmap.xml

    Modify the XML as follows… Don't forget to change the Public key token, or it won't work the way it is expected to!
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<manifest xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
          xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <assembly>
    <name>SilverlightClassLibrary1</name>
    <version>1.0.0.0</version>
    <publickeytoken>de9bf50b7f561d6e</publickeytoken>
    <relpath>SilverlightClassLibrary1.dll</relpath>
    <extension downloadUri="SilverlightClassLibrary1.zip" />
  </assembly>
</manifest>
    One last thing, and you will be all set from configuration perspective. Change the Silverlight application property to
Reduce XAP size.

    Done. Now recompile and you will notice that that the folder structure for your web application would change to…

   Notice that there is a new Zip file created for you.
   Also notice the AppManifest.xaml inside the xap file. You will find Deployment.ExternalParts in addition to Deployment.Parts!

   Time to test the application now. Modify SilverlightClassLibary1 -> Class1.cs
namespace SilverlightClassLibrary1
{
    public class Class1
    {
        static public string CurrentTime()
        {
            return DateTime.Now.ToString();
        }
    }
}

In the Page.xaml.cs… do the following modification…

public Page1()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    txtMessage.Text = "Time now is " + SilverlightClassLibrary1.Class1.CurrentTime();
}

    Run Fiddler, and browse /ApplicationStructure/SilverlightApplicationTestpage.aspx">http://<YOUR_HOSTNAME>/ApplicationStructure/SilverlightApplicationTestpage.aspx

    Notice the status code is 200.
    Open a new IE Window and browse your application again…

    Notice that instead of Status code 200, you will now get 304… which means "Not Modified". Also notice the body size is 0 KB.
    In the next post, we will build on top of this application. You will find out how you can load the assembly later when required, instead of everything being available at one shot when you browse your application. Stay tuned!

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death. - James F. Byrnes