e Blog Book

How to check windows application is running in IDE or as EXE

2011-12-06T05:39:00.000-08:00

This is one the most useful post I have ever written, and I am sure you will find it useful.

In Windows Application some times we may need to check whether our application is running in IDE or is running as EXE.

A typical example would be, developer may need to provide user name and password every time he runs the windows application from IDE. As a developer I always use developer/administrator account while developing any windows application.

We might use Development Server while working in development/debug mode. Once the application is deployed we will be using Live Server. It is very hard if you keep on changing the server names each time like while dev change the server to development and while live change it back to live. We might make mistakes while switching these servers. To avoid these difficulties we can use the following function to see whether our application is running in IDE or running as standalone EXE.

Module modMain
    Sub Main()
        If IsApplicationRunningInIDE() Then
            Console.WriteLine("I am working on IDE")
             txtUserName.text = “admin”
             txtUserName.password = “admin123”
        Else
            Console.WriteLine("I am working on standalone EXE")
             txtUserName.text = “”
             txtUserName.password = “”
        End If
    End Sub
    Public Function IsApplicationRunningInIDE() As Boolean
        Return System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsAttached()
    End Function
End Module

I welcome you comments

Facebook tips to write your status or comment in blue text

2011-11-24T22:36:00.000-08:00

I like facebook very much and always try to be in touch with my friend using facebook. One of my new friend Manish has teach me hot to write my status or comment in blue text which I am sharing with you. I hope you like it.

Want to Write YOUR Status/Comment in Blue Text:

Copy and Paste This On Your Wall:

@+@+[0:[120251138048541:0: "YOUR TEXT" ]+]

...

Replace "YOUR TEXT"

with whatever you want to write in "BLUE"...

"And Remove all the "+" signs."

It works only on profile walls not in groups.

Hint text in textbox control

2011-09-07T01:37:00.000-07:00

We can provide textbox watermark in windows application as its available in ASP.NET AJAX extender. Textbox watermark means a textbox a value we can set for some helper text if the value is not set.

When a textbox is empty, it displays a message to the user. Once the user has typed some text into the textbox, the watermark appearance goes away. The typical purpose of a watermark is to provide more information to the user about the textbox itself without cluttering up the rest of the page.

Typically you use this when you want to provide helper text for some input, as an example here:
You may have seen hint textbox which Microsoft has used in Outlook or website.

I have created a windows form which asks for user name and password from user (see the screenshot). I had to implement that functionality today and it is surprisingly easy to achieve.

The standard winform textbox does not support this functionality natively, so this code will address that shortcoming by handling the display of the prompt text ourselves.

This useful program has beautiful and easy to use interface. Feel free to provide your comments.

Website performance checking

2011-08-30T01:59:00.000-07:00

At the time of website designing, performance and speed is most important factor. I have seen people complaining about slow running website.

Normally website which takes more then 10 seconds is not most acceptable. Loading of an image, processes to retrieve data from database etc may consume time to load a site. This is a free tool which you can use to investigate the detail of your website.

If you have a worldwide audience, or your site is hosted in a different country from where your visitors live, it is useful to see how long it takes to load your web pages. With loads.in you simply enter the full URL of the page you want to check, and the page is retrieved by a browser at a random location. For each subsequent check you can choose a specific location and browser profile.

Following details you can check with within few minutes.

The load time of the web page.
Snapshots of the webpage at different times during load.
Errors or warnings if they occur.
A complete timing breaks down of all elements of your page in a waterfall chart.

Website - http://loads.in

Game development in Microsoft Visual Studio with source code

2011-08-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

I love paying games.
My friend has sent me game which is developed using visual studio. I am sharing with you and am sure you like it.
This game has used advance GDI+ graphics, vector scrolling, pickups, modern upbeat music and heaps of other special effects.
The all very powerful FMOD sound engine is implemented for MP3 music and wav sound effects. It is written in Visual Basic 2008.

The all very powerful FMOD sound engine is implemented for MP3 music and wav sound effects. GDI+ is used entirely throughout for rendering.

Typing Assistant AutoCompletes Utility

2011-08-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

This FREE utility is for fast and accurate typing in any application. You effort will be reduce and you will be free from the pain of laborious typing.

As you type in any application, suggestion window opens to show you the possible words you are typing, then, with one key stroke; it automatically completes the word for you.

This utility is intelligent enough to learn the words you type. No need for any installation or setting.

Features

· No cost – completely FREE.

· No installation

· No setting require

· Universal Compatibility: Works with virtually all programs.

· Auto-Learn: Learns unknown and recently typed words.

· Auto-Expand: Expands shorthand to full text.

· Portable: Runs from a USB memory device.

· Multi-Language support.

ASP.NET Page Event Life Cycle

2011-08-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

In this article, we will explore the various events that occur when an asp.net 2.0 page is requested from the server. Before exploring that, let us briefly take a look at the various components that participate in the request and response model for asp.net pages.

When a request is made to the server using HTTP (GET), IIS receives the request and passes it to the asp.net engine (dll) that compiles the page that is requested. The request passes through two sections:

Http Module – Monitors the request and takes action. Authentication and Authorization take place over here.
Http Handler – Responsible for compiling the page and generating output using System.Web.UI.PageHandlerFactory (we are considering .aspx page for this article).
Once compilation is done, the page is sent back to the Http module which then sends it to the IIS and back to the browser.
The events occur in the following sequence. Its best to turn on tracing (<% @Page Trace=”true”%>) and track the flow of events :
PreInit – This event represents the entry point of the page life cycle. If you need to change the Master page or theme programmatically, then this would be the event to do so. Dynamic controls are created in this event.
Init – Each control in the control collection is initialized.
Init Complete* - Page is initialized and the process is completed.
PreLoad* - This event is called before the loading of the page is completed.
Load – This event is raised for the Page and then all child controls. The controls properties and view state can be accessed at this stage. This event indicates that the controls have been fully loaded.
LoadComplete* - This event signals indicates that the page has been loaded in the memory. It also marks the beginning of the rendering stage.
PreRender – If you need to make any final updates to the contents of the controls or the page, then use this event. It first fires for the page and then for all the controls.
PreRenderComplete* - Is called to explicitly state that the PreRender phase is completed.
SaveStateComplete* - In this event, the current state of the control is completely saved to the ViewState.
Unload – This event is typically used for closing files and database connections. At times, it is also used for logging some wrap-up tasks.
I welcome your comments

Sending mails without mail server in asp.net

2011-08-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

My friend has asked me about sending test emails without mail server, so here I am providing your step by step tutorial. Assume you are creating an application and need to test a module that sends out bulk mails, like a newsletter. Your first thought would be to configure an SMTP server to test the email module. However there is a trick that you can make use of while testing your code. Use the following setting in your web.config.

<system.net>
  <mailSettings>
  <smtp deliveryMethod="SpecifiedPickupDirectory">
    <specifiedPickupDirectory pickupDirectoryLocation="C:\Email\"/>
  </smtp>
  </mailSettings>
</system.net>

The specifiedPickupDirectory element configures the local directory for a Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) server. The pickupDirectoryLocation is a directory where the application saves e-mail for later processing by the SMTP server. Make sure the directory exists before using it.

That all. Test this setting using the following code:

protected void btnMail_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    MailMessage message = new MailMessage(

        "FromEmail@somedomain.com",
        "ToEmail@abcdefgh.com",
        "Email Subject - Newsletter",
        "This is a test mail");

    SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient("localhost");
    client.Send(message);
}

Run the application and click on the Send button. Now open the Mails folder in your C Drive and you should see your mail there. Similarly you can test your entire newsletter module without sending out mails to real email addresses.
Hope this will be useful in your development, just make sure that if you are using IIS, it should have read-write permissions to this folder.
You may download the attached file containing source code.
I welcome your comments

SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers

2011-07-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here I am providing some SQL server interview questions which are very helpful in interviews.
Interview Questions and Answer contains questions from beginner to advance users.
Many of my friends have asked me to write on SQL server where they can get all the information to be a good database developer.

These sql server interview questions provide a lot of information.

Some of the questions which I have covered are as follows.

What Is Database?
What is Relational Database?
Explain some SQL Server Query?
What are the null values in SQL SERVER?
What is normalization?
What are different normalization forms?
What is Stored Procedure?
What is Trigger?
Difference between Triggers and Stored Procedures
What is View?
What is partitioned view?
What is Index?
What is cursor?
Types of cursors:
What is difference between DELETE & TRUNCATE commands?
What is User Defined Functions?
Difference between Function and Stored Procedure?
What types of Joins are possible with SQL Server?
What is SQL Profiler?
What is SQL server agent?
What is OLTP (OnLine Transaction Processing)?
What is a transaction and what are ACID properties?
...and many more

You may download the attached file containing questions and answer. I welcome your comments

Free Blogger Templates

2011-07-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers,
The idea of this post is to provide you fresh Blogger template which you can use freely. Creating your blog is very easy where you just need to select a name for your blog and then start posting.

Important part of your blog is look and feel. Google does provide you with the basic blogger templates, but the best part is that you can customize your blog and add whichever template you want.
While creating this blog I found very high quality Blogger templates which I am sharing with you. Hope you like it. Provide me your feedback.

http://www.bloggertemplatesfree.com/
http://www.raytemplates.com/

Tips to speed or improve or increase your computer performance by optimizing your system

2011-06-24T03:21:00.000-07:00

Providing you simple tips and tricks which will surely increase your computer performance

Let your PC boot up completely before opening any applications.
Refresh the desktop after closing any application. This will remove any unused files from the RAM
Do not set very large file size images as your wallpaper. Do not keep a wallpaper at all if your PC is low on RAM (less than 64 MB).
Do not clutter your Desktop with a lot of shortcuts. Each shortcut on the desktop uses up to 500 bytes of RAM
Empty the recycle bin regularly. The files are not really deleted from your hard drive until you empty the recycle bin.
Delete the temporary internet files regularly.
Defragment your hard drive once every two months. This will free up a lot of space on your hard drive and rearrange the files so that your applications run faster.
Always make two partitions in your hard drive. Install all large software (like PSP, Photoshop, 3DS Max etc) in the second partition. Windows uses all the available empty space in C drive as virtual memory when your Computer RAM is full. Keep the C Drive as empty as possible.
When installing new software disable the option of having a tray icon. The tray icons use up available RAM, and also slow down the booting of your PC. Also disable the option of starting the application automatically when the PC boots. You can disable these options later on also from the Tools or preferences menu in your application.
Protect your PC from dust. Dust causes the CPU cooling fan to jam and slow down thereby gradually heating your CPU and affecting the processing speed. Use compressed air to blow out any dust from the CPU. Never use vacuum.

I welcome your comments
www.facebook.com/FreeSourceCode

Learning Visual Basic .NET with Samples source code

2011-06-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

People often asked me about how to program in VB.NET. The best way to start learning is from examples. Its fun, easy, and very addicting as you being to learn the ins and outs of Visual Basic .NET.

The next generation of Visual Basic, Visual Basic .NET is designed to be the easiest and most productive tool for creating .NET applications, including Windows applications, Web Services, and Web applications.
College or university students who are taking VB related courses should find this useful.

Now you can become a VB.NET Expert. To help you learn I am providing you link from which you can download source code which describe various functionality.

This download includes a master set of Visual Basic .NET code samples demonstrating various aspects of the language in the following areas:

Source Code available for -

Language Syntax
Data access
Windows Forms
Web development and Web services, XML
Security
File system and file I/O
COM+
ADO.NET

and advanced topics like

GDI+
Remoting
Serialization
MSMQ
Windows services.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=4305

Connection string builder generator for any data source like SQL Server Oracle Microsoft Access OLEDB Etc using visual basic .Net

2011-06-17T03:06:00.000-07:00

Generally, one of the first steps when you are trying to work with databases is open it. Each has a different mode of connection. When you try to connect with your database sometimes, you do not know the correct connection string that you must use. It is for that I have written this application.

I have worked with visual basic .Net and I have noticed that there is a not GUI tool for editing and creating connection strings runtime, that is why I created my own, with similar behavior to the common dialogs. I implemented editing for connection string of the most used Net Data providers shipped with visual studio: SQLServer (SQLClient), Oracle (OracleClient), Microsoft Access (OleDB), OleDb Net Provider(OleDb) and ODBC Net Provider (ODBC). Note that for ODBC I make support for DSN and DSN-less Connection Strings.

Building N-tier multitier architecture in .Net application with source code , distributed database application

2011-06-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Many people e-mail me regarding a tutorial or an article for N-tire architecture in .Net, so I have decided to write on the subject. This will explain you with the help of source code.
It's good practice to explain with an example, so I have attached a small project with source code where I used N-tire.

What is N-Tier?
N-Tier is an architecture where different layers are maintained and developed independently. You can implement distributed application design pattern in you application. Two tier and client server applications may seems easy to implement and easy to use for rapid prototyping but these applications can be a pain to maintain and secure over time.

Different Layers of an N-Tier application
In a usual implementation, for example, you will most likely have at least some of the following layers, if not all: Presentation, Business Rules, Data Access, and Database. In some instances, it could be possible to split one or more of these different layers in to many different sub layers. It is possible to develop each of these layers separately from the others, as long as it can communicate with the other layers and adhere to the standards that have been set out in the specifications.

N-tier architecture is typically thus defined by the following layers:
Presentation Layer: Its also call thin client. The presentation tier is the tier in which users interact with an application. The presentation logic layer consists of standard ASP.NET web forms, ASP pages, documents, and Windows Forms, etc.

Business Logic Layer: This tire is mainly working as the bridge between data tier and presentation tier. Business tier is the sum of business logic layer, data access layer and value object and other components used to add business logic.

Data Access Logic Layer: Provides access to the database by executing a set of SQL statements or stored procedures. This is where you will write generic methods to interface with your data. For example, you will write a method for creating and opening a SqlConnection object, create a SqlCommand object for executing a stored procedure, etc. As the name suggests, the data access logic layer contains no business rules or data manipulation/transformation logic. It is merely a reusable interface to the database.

Database Layer: Made up of a RDBMS database component such as SQL Server that provides the mechanism to store and retrieve data.

Hope you will like information useful. I welcome your comments
You may download sample application for more detail.

Download Sample Application

Login Control

2011-05-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

I have created login screen which is using visual basic 6 and access to authenticate user.
Provided code will connect to the access database to check for the user authentication.
Once the user name and password is entered by the user system will validated and if its match with the database you will be allow entering in the application.
Source code is attached and which is self explanatory.

Extended Datagrid View Sample

2011-05-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

This article will help you to understand how you can extend the DataGridView class. To provide edit functionality in DataGridView it is very much necessary to provide various controls inside DataGridView. Many readers have asked me to provide code so that they can use it with their existing application.

I am using DataGridView since long and sometime default functionality provided is very limited for DataGridView. I have extended Data Grid View for additional functionality.

At this point I have added following feature in DataGridView

1. ComboBox for user selection.
2. CheckBox functionality
3. Integrated Button inside the DataGridView and handle the respective events

Additional events are added are as follows
1. SelectionChangedHandler
2. TextChangedHanlder
3. CheckChangedHanlder
4. ButtonClickedHanlder

I have kept the code simple so that user will understand easily.

Please do share and provide your feedback

2011-05-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

This is a desktop organizer that helps users to free the desktop from icons folders and file by moving them to the menu. Desktop shortcut menu is a one-click way for launching any user-defined program. It can launch programs, shortcuts, URL's, email shortcuts and much more.

No need for any installation or setting.

Three tier architecture with code

2011-04-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

Three tire architecture contains following layers

Presentation Layer
Presentation layer contains windows form where data is presented.

Business Access Layer (BAL) or Business Logic Layer
BAL contains business logic, validations or calculations related with the data, if needed. I will call it Business Access Layer in my demo.

Data Access Layer (DAL)
DAL contains methods that helps business layer to connect the data and perform required action, might be returning data or manipulating data (insert, update, delete etc). For this demo application, I have taken a very simple example.

I have created sample application using three tire architecture and attached here which you can freely download.

Desktop Shortcut Menu

2011-03-22T03:37:00.000-07:00

No need for any installation or setting.

Free inventory management software

2011-03-14T00:43:00.000-07:00

I have used Visual basic 6 [VB6, access] for development.

Following modules are available

1) Product Master

2) Stock In

3) Stock Out

4) Stock Monitoring

5) Daily Sales Records

6) Reports

Provide me your feedback.

Invoice Management System

2011-02-28T23:35:00.000-08:00

This is FREE application developed using n-Tier architecture. I have used n-Tier architecture to demonstrate performance, scalability and better control for future development.
In N-Tire each layer interacts with only the layer directly below and has specific function that it is responsible for.
This application is invoicing system that allows you to create and manage invoice easily. I have keep user interface very simple and very easy for customization.

Use it provide me your feedback.

Debugging Stored Procedure

2011-02-03T04:38:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Debugging is a necessary process in almost any new software development process.

We write complex business logic in store procedure and many companies using store procedure extensively. One of my ERP project have stored procedure which has more then 50 thousand lines and it was very difficult for me to debug them. I had struggled with really challenging bugs in my SQL store procedures. I had been spending many days and sometime weeks just to figure out the exact error for my store procedures.

I am sharing my experience so that you can gain from knowledge and improve your debugging skill for SQL store procedure.

Reader is assumed to have basic knowledge of Visual Studio and SQL store procedures.

Demonstration

To follow this demonstration you need SQL server and Microsoft Visual Studio.

So let’s start step-by-step tutorial for debugging SQL sever 2005 store procedure using Visual Studio IDE.

Add data connection in your Visual Studio 2005.

We first need data connection.

To add a data connection in the Visual Studio 2005 Servers windows right click on "Data Connections" and click on "Add New Connection"

Provide credential for Northwind database

Once we are connected to Northwind database we will have following window

We will debug usp_Region_Insert in our tutorial. You may use different server as well as procedure.

Open the procedure in code window

Debugging Procedure

Right click on usp_Region_Insert store procedure and click "Step Into Stored Procedure"

We will be asked to provide parameters.

I have provided RegionID = 5 and RegionDescription = Southwest

Debugger will execute first line and wait for our instruction.

If you are using VB [F-8] or C# [F-11] is your key to execute next line of code.

We can step by step execute each line of code and debugger will show the value of the variable. We can even modify the value while debugging.

Hovering your mouse on the variable will provide value of it.

We can place breakpoints in a store procedure that is very useful if you are dealing with large store procedure

Conclusion

Debugging is a huge step forward and I am sure it will be very much useful to you.

By now you can debug any store procedure.

I have tried to keep this tutorial as simple as I can, but if you have any queries or comments please feel free to write at umisha.shah@gmail.com.

Service Oriented Architecture and Web Service

2011-01-30T23:52:00.000-08:00

Definition

Service Oriented Architecture is a type of architecture whose goal is to accomplish loose coupling among interacting software agents/services”. A service is a unit of work performed by a service provider to achieve expected end results for a service consumer. Both provider and consumer are functions layered by software agents on behalf of their owners. Service Oriented Architecture is a fresh paradigm which supports modularized implementation of services (business logic). This architecture is especially relevant when multiple application programs running on varied technologies and platforms have to communicate with each other.

The components of SOA include:

Service providers: A service provider is a component or set of components that execute a business function in a stateless fashion, accepting predefined inputs and outputs.

Service consumers: A service consumer is a set of components interested in using one or more of the services provided by service providers.

Service repository: A service repository contains the descriptions of the services. Service providers register their services in this repository and service consumers access the repository to discover the services being provided.

SOA Characteristics

Services are

· Discoverable and dynamically bound

· Self-contained and modular

· Stress interoperability

· Loosely coupled

· Network-addressable interface

· Coarse-grained interfaces

· Location-transparent

Basic SOA Model

A basic service-oriented architecture can be depicted as follows

WebServices – Definition

A Web service is a software application identified by a URI, whose interface and bindings are capable of being identified, described and discovered by XML artifacts and supports direct interactions with other software applications using XML based messages via Internet-based protocols.

What is a Web Service?

Application components
Communicate using open protocols
Self-contained and self-describing
Discovered using UDDI
Can be used by other applications
XML is the basis for Web services

For detail presentation and explanation about SOA and Web Service please download the presentation.

Download Presentation

Product Management in C# (Source Code)

2011-01-27T23:56:00.000-08:00

This small Product Management is of using C#.

Application will perform all CRUD operation like Add/View/Edit/Delete.

Access database is included with attachment. Feel free to ask me about more source code or any kind of feedback.