MDB Blog

MySQL: SUBSTRING_INDEX vs MID+INSTR (which is better)

2022-12-06T11:05:00.007+02:00

Hello there.

SUBSTRING_INDEX vs MID+INSTR

I wanted to pull from domain name out of an email (or just remove the username part of an email).

There are two simple functions (and even more...) to do it:

1] SUBSTRING_INDEX('testuser@domain.com','@',-1)

use built in function SUBSTRING_INDEX to explode the string by '@' and get the last element.

2] MID('testuser@domain.com', INSTR('testuser@domain.com','@')+1, 999)

find '@' position using INSTR and get all string from that position until the end of string by MID function.

But which one of them have better performance?

Using BENCHMARK function for Measuring the Speed of Expressions and Functions.

1] SELECT BENCHMARK(100000000, SUBSTRING_INDEX('testuser@domain.com','@',-1))

/* Affected rows: 0 Found rows: 1 Warnings: 0 Duration for 1 query: 12.625 sec. */

2] SELECT BENCHMARK(100000000, MID('testuser@domain.com', INSTR('testuser@domain.com','@')+1, 999))

/* Affected rows: 0 Found rows: 1 Warnings: 0 Duration for 1 query: 19.157 sec. */

BENCHMARK function results may vary between different devices, but on the same device can give quite clear results.

Summary:

SUBSTRING_INDEX won and have better results than MID + INSTR

JQuery serialize on form is EMPTY (ajax/post/get)

2022-07-11T10:33:00.007+03:00

Hi All,

I had several times a problem, that the collected data by jQuery API's serialize() or serializeArray() was empty, although the inputs were not empty.

Follow these checkups to by pass the problem.

1] when the input don't name attribute the result will be empty.

<form id="form1">
        <input type="text" value="test value">
        <button>submit</button>
</form>

//$('#form1').serialize()  ==> "" (empty)

SOLUTION:

<form id="form1">
        <input type="text" value="test value" value="ANYNAME">
        <button>submit</button>
</form>

//$('#form1').serialize()  ==> "ANYNAME=test+value"

2] when the input is DISABLED the result will be empty.

<form id="form1">
    <input type="text" value="test value" name="ANYNAME" disabled="true" />
    <button>submit</button>
</form>

//$('#form1').serialize()  ==> "" (empty)

NOTE: sometimes the inputs are disabled upon form submit (loader shown),

and while calling serialize/serializeArray the disabled inputs (selects/...) are ignored and empty values received.

3] make sure your form's HTML is well formatted. broken HTML code might hurt functionality.

HOPE HELPED HERE :)

using FontAwesome in PHP FPDF

2021-12-12T10:04:00.010+02:00

Hi All,

I found it impossible to use FontAwesome 4.7.0 Free version, inside FPDF PHP engine.

When trying to upload the FontAwesome.4.7.full.otf into FPDF's Font File Generation, I'm getting an error:

Error: OpenType fonts based on PostScript outlines are not supported

So my solution,

to re-build the FontAwesome font 4.7 free version (under same license!),

with mapping of regular characters to icons HEX CODES: 0x21 to 0xFF.

So for example,

character code 0x21 is now mapped to * (FontAwesome's asterisk)

And then, just use it inside PHP FPDF as follows:

// Import and prepare font for usage by engine:

$pdf->AddFont('FontAwesome47-P1','','FontAwesome47-P1.php');

...

// print FontAwesome's asterisk

$pdf->SetFont('FontAwesome47-P1' '', 14);

$pdf->Text($x, $y, chr(0x21));

Note:

Remember to upload the files FontAwesome47-P1.php + FontAwesome47-P1.z,
that generated on FPDF's Font File Generation to the FPDF's font folder.

Characters code MAP of new fonts exists as preview when opening the google-drive links below.

View MAP + DOWNLOAD: FontAwesome47-P1.otf (google drive)

View MAP + DOWNLOAD: FontAwesome47-P2.otf (google drive)

View MAP + DOWNLOAD: FontAwesome47-P3.otf (google drive)

View MAP + DOWNLOAD: FontAwesome47-P4.otf (google drive)

PHP+Z Files ready-to-use for PHP FPDF (with ISO-8859-1 encoding):

FontAwesome47-P1-4 (php+z files) DOWNLOAD (google drive)

Best regards!

Please write comments...

MySQL | join/combine 2 SMALLINT/TINYINT into 1 INT

2021-10-17T15:13:00.000+03:00

Hi All.

Today we will try to combine two MYSQL small integer values into one integer value.
Obviously, there is limit for the size of integer.
We will discuss only UNSIGNED integer column types (non negative values).

2 Solutions are suggested below:
Solution-1: concatenate base-9 value of each number with '9' separator.
Solution-2: concatenate the original values with padding (left) zeros.
[Note: if the values allowed to be NULL, solution-2 is not supported!].

# LIMITS #

First, lets learn about the range limits of each data-type:

Datatype	Type	UNSIGNED Range	Max value (base9)
INT	A normal-size integer	0 to 4294967295	-
SMALLINT	A small integer	0 to 65535	CONV(65535, 10, 9) = 108806
TINYINT	A very small integer	0 to 255	CONV(255, 10, 9) = 313

# SOLUTION-1 (Support NULL values) #

Combine and merge two small integers,
into 1 integer by converting each number to base-9 integer,
and then concatenate with the digit '9' as separator.

Two SMALLINTs cannot be saved inside INT value:
1088069108806 > 4294967295.
But combining SMALLINT with TINYINT is possible (and aswell two TINYINT).

MYSQL CODE:

############ TABLE DEFINITION:
CREATE TABLE `table_test` (
`id` INT(11) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`sint1` SMALLINT(5) UNSIGNED NULL DEFAULT NULL,
`tint2` TINYINT(3) UNSIGNED NULL DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`) USING BTREE);

############ SELECT:
SELECT  T.*, 
        CONV(SUBSTRING_INDEX(combined,'9',1), 9,10) as _sint1, 
        CONV(SUBSTRING_INDEX(combined,'9',-1),9,10) as _tint2
FROM (
	SELECT 	id, sint1, tint2, 
                CONCAT( IFNULL(CONV(sint1, 10, 9),''), 
                        '9', 
                        IFNULL(CONV(tint2, 10, 9),'')
                ) AS combined
	FROM table_test
) AS T

And output will be:

id	sint1	tint2	>combined	>_sint1	>_tint2
1	NULL	NULL	9	NULL	NULL
2	1234	NULL	16219	1234	NULL
3	NULL	255	9313	NULL	255
4	3123	38	4250942	3123	38
5	3410	243	46089300	3410	243
6	2685	207	36139250	2685	207
7	1327	224	17349268	1327	224
8	2047	102	27249123	2047	102
9	2953	189	40419230	2953	189
10	3686	117	50459140	3686	117
11	4455	18	6100920	4455	18
12	2482	66	3357973	2482	66
13	3072	74	4183982	3072	74
14	2036	42	2712946	2036	42
15	2047	139	27249164	2047	139
16	1573	236	21379282	1573	236
17	2464	173	33379212	2464	173
18	3656	155	50129182	3656	155
19	3305	120	44729143	3305	120
20	5894	121	80689144	5894	121

# SOLUTION-2 (NULLS not supported) #

Here we just merge the original values with LEFT-PADDING of zeros.

MYSQL CODE:

############ TABLE DEFINITION:
CREATE TABLE `table_test` (
`id` INT(11) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`sint1` SMALLINT(5) UNSIGNED NULL DEFAULT NULL,
`tint2` TINYINT(3) UNSIGNED NULL DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`) USING BTREE);

############ SELECT:
SELECT  T.*, 
        SUBSTR(combined,1,LENGTH(combined)-3)+0 AS _sint1,
        RIGHT(combined,3)+0 AS _tint2
FROM (
	SELECT 	id, sint1, tint2, 
                CONCAT(sint1, LPAD(tint2,3,0)) AS combined
	FROM table_test
) AS T

And output will be:

id	sint1	tint2	>combined	>_sint1	>_tint2
4	3123	38	3123038	3123	38
5	3410	243	3410243	3410	243
6	2685	207	2685207	2685	207
7	1327	224	1327224	1327	224
8	2047	102	2047102	2047	102
9	2953	189	2953189	2953	189
10	3686	117	3686117	3686	117
11	4455	18	4455018	4455	18
12	2482	66	2482066	2482	66
13	3072	74	3072074	3072	74
14	2036	42	2036042	2036	42
15	2047	139	2047139	2047	139
16	1573	236	1573236	1573	236
17	2464	173	2464173	2464	173
18	3656	155	3656155	3656	155
19	3305	120	3305120	3305	120
20	5894	121	5894121	5894	121

This solution can work with two SMALLINT,
if one of them limited up to 42949,
and it will be the left operand.

php merge dateranges code algorithm

2020-12-03T12:48:00.007+02:00

Here is a code for merging date-ranges in array. The method gives new array, with the maximum mergining between the date-ranges, meaning if there is a date-range that already exists with-in other, it can just skip, so just if two or more dates can be combined into one big date-range - it will be made :) .

-------------------------------Example #1:

  array 
  0 => 's' => '2020-01-06' 'e' => '2020-01-10'
  1 => 's' => '2020-01-07' 'e' => '2020-01-12'
  2 => 's' => '2020-01-13' 'e' => '2020-01-16'
  3 => 's' => '2020-01-22' 'e' => '2020-01-24'

RESULT:
array 
  0 => 's' => '2020-01-06' 'e' => '2020-01-16'
  1 => 's' => '2020-01-22' 'e' => '2020-01-24'

-------------------------------Example #2:

array (size=8)
  0 => 's' => '2020-01-01' 'e' => '2020-01-01'
  1 => 's' => '2020-01-03' 'e' => '2020-01-03'
  2 => 's' => '2020-01-09' 'e' => '2020-01-10'
  3 => 's' => '2020-01-11' 'e' => '2020-01-22'
  4 => 's' => '2020-01-14' 'e' => '2020-02-02'
  5 => 's' => '2020-02-02' 'e' => '2020-02-03'
  6 => 's' => '2020-02-04' 'e' => '2020-02-04'
  7 => 's' => '2020-02-05' 'e' => '2020-02-07'

RESULT:
array (size=3)           
  0 => 's' => '2020-01-01' 'e' => '2020-01-01'
  1 => 's' => '2020-01-03' 'e' => '2020-01-03'
  2 => 's' => '2020-01-09' 'e' => '2020-02-07'

And here is the CODE:


$arrDateranges = array(
    array('s' => '2020-01-22', 'e' => '2020-01-24'),
    array('s' => '2020-01-06', 'e' => '2020-01-10'),
    array('s' => '2020-01-07', 'e' => '2020-01-12'),
    array('s' => '2020-01-13', 'e' => '2020-01-16'),
);
$arrMerged = mergeDateRanges($arrDateranges);
var_dump($arrDateranges);
var_dump($arrMerged);

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

// helper funciton to get NEXT date (or any modified date)
function getRelativeDate($p_sDate, $p_sModify, $p_sFormatIn = 'Y-m-d', $p_sFormatOut = 'Y-m-d') {
    $oDT = DateTime::createFromFormat($p_sFormatIn, $p_sDate);
    $oDT->modify($p_sModify);
    return $oDT->format($p_sFormatOut);
}

function mergeDateRanges($p_arrDateranges) {
    // sort by start date
    usort($p_arrDateranges, function($a1, $a2) {
        return $a1['s'] === $a2['s'] ? 0 : ($a1['s'] < $a2['s'] ? -1 : 1);
    });
    
    $arrMerged = array();
    $arrLastDR = null;
    foreach ($p_arrDateranges as $arrDR) {
        if ($arrLastDR === null) {
            $arrLastDR = $arrDR;
            continue;
        }
        //
        // NOTE: dateS is sorted thus $sDateS >= $arrLastDR['s']
        //
        if ($arrDR['e'] <= $arrLastDR['e']) {
            continue; // already in the range.
        }
        // --- [e] > lastDR[e] ---
        $sLastDateE_1 = getRelativeDate($arrLastDR['e'], '+1 day');
        if ($arrDR['s'] <= $sLastDateE_1) { // lapping date-range until day+1
            $arrLastDR['e'] = $arrDR['e'];
            continue;
        }

        // there is gap, so need to create new date-range
        array_push($arrMerged, $arrLastDR);
        $arrLastDR = $arrDR;
    }

    if ($arrLastDR === null) {
        array_push($arrMerged, $arrLastDR);
    }
    return $arrMerged;
}

Skype | stuck on loading screen [SOLVED] [SOLUTION]

2020-02-24T13:22:00.000+02:00

Hello!

This thread is about a sign-in problem of SKYPE version 8.56.0.103,

where the application is stuck on loading screen.

here:

Here is how I've solved the problem!

I'm working at the moment with windows7,
but i assume that the solution will work for any windows version.

Step1:
make sure you have your Skype username/password saved,
as you will need to re-login later on.

Step2:
Make sure Skype on your desktop is closed. (if not - close/quit)

Step3:
Open your appdata Local folder:
C:\Users\YourUserNameHere\AppData\Roaming

alternative for opening the folder:
- search on windows start search for %appdata%
- click on Roaming

Step4:
On the Roaming folder, Enter Microsoft folder,

Find Skype for Desktop folder, and rename it to "___skype"

(just to have backup)

Step5:

Just restart your skype and everything works :)

Let me know.

c# | WebBrowser control - programmatically select item on html `select`

2016-12-22T09:37:00.000+02:00

Hi There,

As many times, we need to interact with the C# (.Net) Webbrowser Control,

it is useful to be able to interact and programmatically change the selected item

on an HTML select control.

I don't know, why it is hard to find this easy solution, but the code is as follow:

HtmlElementCollection col = webBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("select") 
foreach (HtmlElement heItem in col) 
{ 
  if (heItem.GetAttribute("className").Contains("exampleClassName") == true) 
  { 
    heItem.SetAttribute("selectedIndex", "3"); // select value at #3
    break; // incase of needed... 
  } 
}

And finally, just easy as u code...

If you need change by value and not by index,
I assume you can check the values of the select control (sometimes called: dropdown),
and once you find the correct index of the desired value,
use the code above.

MDB-BLOG :)

List of country flags (png) by ISO3

2016-10-31T17:28:00.002+02:00

As I needed a list of country flag images named with ISO3, and couldn't find,

I uploaded my version free (see license on bottom).

Above there are two ZIP containing country flags images (PNG format)

sizes of 64x64 and 128x128

of the ~250 countries

as the file name is ISO3 standard

and not two letter (ISO 3166-2) or full name as most flags out there...

Download flags_iso3_128x128.rar

http://www.megafileupload.com/gdW6/flags_iso3_128x128.rar

https://www.sendspace.com/file/5ht6yg

Example:

Download flags_iso3_64x64.rar

http://www.megafileupload.com/kq53/flags_iso3_64x64.rar

https://www.sendspace.com/file/bimuu8

Example:

license and images are all taken from:

https://github.com/stefangabos/world_countries

Free Javascript Obfuscator Online

2016-02-13T20:11:00.001+02:00

Protects JavaScript code from stealing/reading and shrinks its size.

Free Javascript Obfuscator is a professional tool for obfuscation of javascript. It Converts JavaScript source code into scrambled and completely unreadable form, preventing it from analyzing and theft.
Visit: http://freejsobfuscator.com/

u can choose if to process by your will: parameters / functions / strings / new lines / indentations and it is 100% free!

How to install php imap extension on Centos (or any)

2015-11-22T14:13:00.001+02:00

The php package (extension) for IMAP is usually:

php-imap

Sometimes, for example on amazon ec2, when installing PHP ver. 5.5 or 5.6,

In order to install this (or any other) PHP extension,

that not come with the default PHP,

You should installed the one related to your PHP version.

For example,

one of my servers have PHP 5.6 installed on it,

but when running

 yum install php-imap

which gives:

Error: php56-imap conflicts with php-imap-5.3.29-1.8.amzn1.x86_64
Error: php56-common conflicts with php-common-5.3.29-1.8.amzn1.x86_64
Error: php55-common conflicts with php-common-5.3.29-1.8.amzn1.x86_64
 You could try using --skip-broken to work around the problem
 You could try running: rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest

so instead, check first which version currently installed:

yum list installed | grep php

 which gives:

php56.x86_64                          5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates
php56-cli.x86_64                      5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates
php56-common.x86_64                   5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates
php56-imap.x86_64                     5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates
php56-jsonc.x86_64                    1.3.6-1.19.amzn1             @amzn-main
php56-mbstring.x86_64                 5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates
php56-mysqlnd.x86_64                  5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates
php56-pdo.x86_64                      5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates
php56-process.x86_64                  5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates
php56-xml.x86_64                      5.6.14-1.119.amzn1           @amzn-updates

Which means that your PHP version is 5.6 (you can also run php -v)

php -v

 which gives:

PHP 5.6.14 (cli) (built: Oct 16 2015 22:58:32)
Copyright (c) 1997-2015 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.6.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2015 Zend Technologies

All needed now is to install the correct version.

If you install php55-imap (or any other package) it won't work!

Some have several PHP versions installed.

command:

yum install php56-imap

don't forget to restart your apache after that.

service httpd restart

and done... :)

Hope it helps.

PHP | XML to Html Table elment convertion

2015-11-13T15:43:00.000+02:00

In this thread,
I will show generic & universal function that
gets XML string,
convert it,
and display it as an HTML table.
(you can add any css style to design your table later on of course)

The following code is using XML example from http://www.w3schools.com/xml/simple.xml.
The XML looks like that:

<breakfast_menu>
  <food>
    <name>Belgian Waffles</name>
    <price>$5.95</price>
    <description>Two of our famous...</description>
    <calories>650</calories>
  </food>
  <food>
    <name>Strawberry Belgian Waffles</name>
    <price>$7.95</price>
    <description>Light Belgian waffles...</description>
    <calories>900</calories>
  </food>
  <food>
    <name>Berry-Berry Belgian Waffles</name>
    <price>$8.95</price>
    <description>Light Belgian....</description>
    <calories>900</calories>
  </food>
  <food>
    <name>French Toast</name>
    <price>$4.50</price>
    <description>Thick slices made....</description>
    <calories>600</calories>
  </food>
  <food>
    <name>Homestyle Breakfast</name>
    <price>$6.95</price>
    <description>Two eggs, bacon...</description>
    <calories>950</calories>
  </food>
</breakfast_menu>

The function xmlToHtmlTable

gets a SimpleXMLElement parameter which points to main parent for which will print all his children,
and returns html table representing the XML as string.

The Code:

 <?php  
   
 // get XML remotely / locally / or / just set it as string '<root>...</root>'  
 $sXml = file_get_contents('http://www.w3schools.com/xml/simple.xml');  
   
 // parse XML  
 $oXML = simplexml_load_string($sXml);  
 if (!$oXML) {  
      die('xml format not valid or simplexml module missing.');  
 }  
   
 // assuming running the root  
 $oXmlRoot = $oXML; // or can be [$oXML->food]  
   
 //echo '<pre>'; print_r( $oXmlRoot ); echo '</pre>';  
 echo xmlToHtmlTable($oXmlRoot);  
   
   
 function xmlToHtmlTable($p_oXmlRoot) {  
      $bIsHeaderProceessed = false;  
        
      $sTHead = '';  
      $sTBody = '';       
      foreach ($p_oXmlRoot as $oNode) {  
           $sTBody .= '<tr>';  
           foreach ($oNode as $sName => $oValue){  
                if (!$bIsHeaderProceessed) {  
                     $sTHead .= "<th>{$sName}</th>";  
                }  
                $sValue = (string)$oValue;  
                $sTBody .= "<td>{$sValue}</td>";                 
           }  
           $bIsHeaderProceessed = true;  
           $sTBody .= '</tr>';  
      }  
        
      $sHTML = "<table border=1>  
                     <thead><tr>{$sTHead}</tr></thead>  
                     <tbody>{$sTBody}</tbody>  
                </table>";  
      return $sHTML;  
 }

This will output:

Hope it helps!

MDB BLOG!

MySQL | find median (Nth element) without join!

2015-06-19T15:00:00.000+03:00

This is my suggestion to find on mysql select command

the Median (Nth element) without joining the table to itself (or to new custom one).

My method, uses string manipulation,

so I'm not sure it is good for big tables.

(I tested it with medium size tables on Mysql 5.5.28)

The advantage of this method,

that it works also if we need to find the MEDIAN for each group in the select query.

the code is using: SUBSTRING_INDEX and GROUP_CONCAT methods.

Here is test code for test table:

DROP TABLE test.test_median
CREATE TABLE test.test_median AS
SELECT 'book' AS grp, 4 AS val UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 7 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 2 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 2 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 9 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 8 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 3 UNION ALL

SELECT 'note', 11 UNION ALL

SELECT 'bike', 22 UNION ALL
SELECT 'bike', 26

and the code for finding the median for each group:

SELECT grp,
         SUBSTRING_INDEX( SUBSTRING_INDEX( GROUP_CONCAT(val ORDER BY val), ',', COUNT(*)/2 ), ',', -1) as the_median,
         GROUP_CONCAT(val ORDER BY val) as all_vals_for_debug
FROM test.test_median
GROUP BY grp

The output:

grp	the_median	all_vals_for_debug
bike	22	22,26
book	4	2,2,3,4,7,8,9
note	11	11

Hope it helps you there...

php | destroy/delete all sessions

2015-05-27T12:11:00.002+03:00

I recently searched for an option deleting all running/active sessions,

for changing some important logic on my server.

Important:

just restarting apache won't help!

because php handles php-sessions by itself.

now,

I wonder how to make it, without changing php code.

The solution, is to delete the PHP session files created by PHP engine.

Step #1 - find where PHP store php files

on php.ini there is configured session.save_path

which points to the correct path.

by default, it configured to "" (empty), and it is:

On Ubuntu or Debian machines: saved on /var/lib/php5
On RHEL and CentOS systems: saved on /var/lib/php/session
If you need to find it: print session_save_path() on your php file. You may run from command line: php -r 'echo session_save_path(), "\n";'

Step #2 - just delete the files

Execute the following bash script:

rm -f /var/lib/php/session/*

or
rm -f /var/lib/php5/sess*

(-f will force delete without prompting!!)

And that's it...

Now when a user will execute web-request,

his session will be considered empty,

and will be re-generated (under the same session name)

NSIS | create CENTER aligned text control

2014-12-25T15:23:00.001+02:00

I searched on the internet for CENTER LABEL on NSIS,

but didn't find.

I saw that the ${SS_CENTER} style, not working with ${NSD_CreateLabel}

So I build my own code, using the STATIC control.

nsDialogs::CreateControl STATIC ${WS_VISIBLE}|${WS_CHILD}|${SS_CENTER} 0 29 180 439 60 "WELCOME TEXT"
Pop $0
CreateFont $1 "Arial" 9
SendMessage $0 ${WM_SETFONT} $1 1
SetCtlColors $0 0x000000 '0xff0000'

Hope it help...

c# Winforms WebBrowser - Clear all cookies

2013-02-13T16:30:00.000+02:00

Hello,

I recently search for a method to delete all cookies from the build in .NET WinForms WebBrowser control.

I didn't found any working solution for it, nor working example.

It being told to use InternetSetOption, but nothing found about it.

So, i will write here my solution for clearing and deleting all cookies.

My solution using InternetSetOption with the option flag: INTERNET_OPTION_SUPPRESS_BEHAVIOR, which described as:

A general purpose option that is used to suppress behaviors on a process-wide basis. The lpBuffer parameter of the function must be a pointer to a DWORD containing the specific behavior to suppress. This option cannot be queried with InternetQueryOption.

This option flag should be used together with INTERNET_SUPPRESS_COOKIE_PERSIST options, which means:

Suppresses the persistence of cookies, even if the server has specified them as persistent.

So the example code for it will be:

static void Main()
{
    SuppressWininetBehavior();

    Application.EnableVisualStyles();
    Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
    Application.Run(new Form1());
}

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("wininet.dll", CharSet = System.Runtime.InteropServices.CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
public static extern bool InternetSetOption(int hInternet, int dwOption, IntPtr lpBuffer, int dwBufferLength);

private static unsafe void SuppressWininetBehavior()
{
    /* SOURCE: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa385328%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
        * INTERNET_OPTION_SUPPRESS_BEHAVIOR (81):
        *      A general purpose option that is used to suppress behaviors on a process-wide basis. 
        *      The lpBuffer parameter of the function must be a pointer to a DWORD containing the specific behavior to suppress. 
        *      This option cannot be queried with InternetQueryOption. 
        *      
        * INTERNET_SUPPRESS_COOKIE_PERSIST (3):
        *      Suppresses the persistence of cookies, even if the server has specified them as persistent.
        *      Version:  Requires Internet Explorer 8.0 or later.
        */

    int option = (int)3/* INTERNET_SUPPRESS_COOKIE_PERSIST*/;
    int* optionPtr = &option;

    bool success = InternetSetOption(0, 81/*INTERNET_OPTION_SUPPRESS_BEHAVIOR*/, new IntPtr(optionPtr), sizeof(int));
    if (!success)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("Something went wrong !>?");
    }
}

Please make sure your project is allows unsafe code. (under Properties => Build Tab)

This code is deleting the COOKIES per PROCESS on startup ONLY.
[tested on WIN-7 and working great]

Best Regards,
MDB-BLOG :)

MySQL xpath ExtractValue with delimiter

2013-02-10T14:51:00.001+02:00

Hello,

I recently noticed the XPATH option inside MySQL.

What a wonderfull way for handling XML. (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/xml-functions.html)

I used ExtractFunction, and noticed that this function is space delimited:

Because ExtractValue() returns multiple matches as a single space-delimited string

So I needed to create the same function with custom text delimted (comma, semi-colon or anything you want).

The function called: EXTRACTVALUE_ALL which is the same as EXTRACTVALUE just get a delimiter text to seperate between results. (seperated text).
Tested on MySQL 5.5.28.

Create Function CODE:

DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS EXTRACTVALUE_ALL;


DELIMITER |
CREATE FUNCTION EXTRACTVALUE_ALL(p_xml TEXT, p_xpathExpr TEXT, p_delimiter TEXT) RETURNS TEXT
BEGIN
DECLARE total_elements INT;
DECLARE xpath_expression_count, xpath_expression_index  TEXT;
DECLARE single_tag, result  TEXT;

# calc TOTAL elements
SET xpath_expression_count = CONCAT('count(', p_xpathExpr, ')');
SELECT EXTRACTVALUE(p_xml, xpath_expression_count) INTO total_elements;

# run over elements (create long text)
SET result = '';
SET xpath_expression_index = CONCAT(p_xpathExpr, '[$@i]');
SET @i = 1;
WHILE @i <= total_elements DO
SET single_tag = EXTRACTVALUE(p_xml, xpath_expression_index);
SET result = IF(result='', single_tag, CONCAT(result, p_delimiter, single_tag));
SET @i = @i + 1;
END WHILE;

# return total result
RETURN result;
END |

Usage Code:

SET @XXXMMMMLLL = '  time1   time2 ';

SELECT EXTRACTVALUE_ALL(@XXXMMMMLLL, '/descendant-or-self::time', '  |  ');

Output:

time1  |  time2

Rememeber that you will need a MYSQL permission for creating new functions.

MDB-BLOG :)

NSIS - Launch a program as user from UAC elevated installer

2013-01-02T12:43:00.000+02:00

NSIS - Launch a program as user from UAC elevated installer

==========================================

I noticed that if a program is running as UAC elevated (admin or high user privileges),

any opening process by this process will get the same privileges as the executing program,

which means, that any process opened by this UAC elevated program will be elevated also.

I found a solution for it, for opening the process UN-ELEVATED from ELEVATED running program.
I show this information as for NSIS installer, but can be used in ANY development environment (C#, NSIS, C++, JAVA, VB, and any).

The idea is to run the process in UN-ELEVATED mode, using windows's file explorer process `explorer.exe` (info).
Lets say the process that we want to launch is on `$TEMP\MyUnElevatedProcess.exe`.
So, for NSIS code, I will just write:

Exec '"$WINDIR\explorer.exe" "$TEMP\MyUnElevatedProcess.exe"'

And this will do the work...
The process `MyUnElevatedProcess.exe` will run with same ELEVATION that have your windows login, as have `$WINDIR\explorer.exe`.

Execute with parameters:
In addition, if the UN-ELEVATED process need to executed with parameters, you will need to create another file that executes the UN-ELEVATED process (for example a BATCH file which just run the process with the command line parameters).
a good example can be:

; assuming that the file `MyUnElevatedProcess.exe` exists on `$TEMP\`

; create shortcut with ARGUMENTS
CreateShortCut "$TEMP\Shortcut.lnk" "$TEMP\MyUnElevatedProcess.exe" "/arg1 /arg2 /arg3"

; execute the file NON elevated
Exec '"$WINDIR\explorer.exe" "$TEMP\Shortcut.lnk"'

Remember,
if your main program (the executing), is not ELEVATED, this logic is not relevant, because then you can just run `Exec` (open-process function in NSIS) which will have the same elevation as your process.

I hope it helps,
MDB-BLOG

c# WinForm | Check form window size and location

2011-05-22T10:23:00.001+03:00

Hello,

I wanted to open a new window form, exactly near another form. (pinning one form to another).
Because of the border difference among Windows XP, Vista and Windows7 (win7), it didn't work easily.

So to determine windows size under win7/vista, I had to check if Windows Aero. (checking made by short&easy code)

Now, after checking this, I had to also support winXP (which does not have AERO technology).

For finding the left and right window border size (width) I used the SystemInformation Class which provides information about the current system environment.

Note:
I recommend to check if it works for other FormBorderStyle.

The code:

internal static bool IsAeroEnabled()
{
    bool isEnabled = false;
    if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major >= 6)
    {
        try
        {
            DwmIsCompositionEnabled(out isEnabled);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Logger.WriteLog(ex);
        }
    }
    return isEnabled;
}
[DllImport("dwmapi.dll")]
internal static extern int DwmIsCompositionEnabled(out bool enabled);

Best regard,
MDB Blog

Check HOSTS file - C# WinForms

2011-05-02T10:33:00.000+03:00

Hello,

In today's post i'm giving a good (and simple) anti-hacking tool which allow your application to CHECK for any changes in the Windows HOSTS file.

So, the operation is simple:
Just read the hosts file content, and validate that your site DNS is not included in the list.
[basiclly, check if hosts file contains your dns name]
if so, the user probably is trying to bypass your server so you can stop him from doing so.

The code:

static bool IsDnsByPassed(string p_dnsName)
{
    string path = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.System), @"drivers\etc\hosts");
    string hostsText = File.ReadAllText(path);
    return hostsText.ToLower().Contains(p_dnsName.ToLower());
}

Note:
Although reading the HOSTS file is allowed to all user, do not try to edit the HOSTS file, because on Vista & Windows7 this operation is allowed only for administrators. if your application is NOT running as Admin, then you won't have permission for this (and an Exception will be thrown).

Best regard,
MDB-Blog

MSI | Embed images inside MSI installer file

2011-02-10T10:12:00.000+02:00

In this post I show how to embed images inside MSI installer file.

The first try i made was to try adding splash image and banners to the installer through Visual-Studio User-Interface. (just added two jpg files into "Common Files Folder", and set the SplashBitmap and BannerBitmap attributes). But doing so, created a problem - when changing the image, new version installer did NOT changed the images (or the images disappeared).
So i needed another solution...

The next solution is just to INSERT those images (banner&splash) directly into the MSI file created by Visual-Studio.
I created file run.js file, which automaticlly runs when the build process finished, and edits the MSI. This is achieved by setting the PostBuildEvent on the Windows Installer project.

The event that added is to the PostBuildEvent: (remember to copy the file to the main folder of the Windows Installer project)

cscript.exe "$(ProjectDir)run.js" "$(BuiltOuputPath)"

In this way, you don't have to add any image file to your project, and it s embedded in the msi file (which u can edit any time).

The run.js file:

// run.js // Performs a post-build fixup of an msi

if (WScript.Arguments.Length != 1)
{
       WScript.StdErr.WriteLine(WScript.ScriptName + " file");
       WScript.Quit(1);
}

var filespec = WScript.Arguments(0);
var installer = WScript.CreateObject("WindowsInstaller.Installer");
var database = installer.OpenDatabase(filespec, 1/*msiOpenDatabaseModeTransact*/);

var sql
var view
var record

try {

    WScript.Echo("UPDATE default banner image");
    sql = "UPDATE `Binary` SET `Data` = ? WHERE `Name`= 'DefBannerBitmap'";
    view = database.OpenView(sql)
    record = installer.CreateRecord(1);
    record.SetStream(1, "C:\\installer_banner_img.jpg");
    view.Execute(record);
    view.Close();
       WScript.Echo("ADD splash image");
    sql = "INSERT INTO `Binary` (`Name`, `Data`) VALUES ('DefSplashBitmap', ?)";
    view = database.OpenView(sql)
    record = installer.CreateRecord(1);
    record.SetStream(1, "C:\\Installer_splash_img.jpg");
    view.Execute(record);
    view.Close();

    WScript.Echo("Update splash control");
    sql = "UPDATE `Control` SET `Text`='DefSplashBitmap' WHERE `Dialog_`='SplashForm' AND `Control`='SplashBmp'";
    view = database.OpenView(sql)
    view.Execute();
    view.Close();
       database.Commit();
}
catch (e) {
    WScript.StdErr.Write("|||ERROR||| ");
    WScript.StdErr.WriteLine(e.Message);
    WScript.Quit(1);
}

Note:
Before running this script, add a splash screen to the installer (using User-Interface view in Visual Studio)

(*) this is also a good example how to add/update binary(image) into your MSI using a sql script.

Best regard,
MDB-Blog

C# | Determine if Adobe (Macromedia) Flash player installed.

2011-02-01T18:56:00.000+02:00

All started when I needed to integrate an Adobe (Macromedia) Flash object in my C# WinForm application.
I saw several posts about it, where two solutions where presents:
1. Add WebBrowser Control and just nevigate to the "test.swf" file.
2. Create COM object of ADOBE MACROMEDIA.

I liked the 1st option more, because I don't need to handle COM objects (and to add another DLL to the app).
Here is the code I used:

WebBrowser wb = new WebBrowser();
//wb.Location = SOME LOCATION
//wb.Size = SOME SIZE
wb.AllowNavigation = false;
wb.IsWebBrowserContextMenuEnabled = false;
this.Controls.Add(wb); // this = FORM
wb.Navigate(@"C:\test.swf");

BUT, Then i noticed that when a pc do NOT have Adobe (Macromedia) Flash player installed, the webbrowser display a big red X.
SO, before I use the FLASH image in my winform application, I needed to check if FLASH player is INSTALLED or not!

The idea is to check the registry for:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\CurrentVersion

And indeed it worked!
Here is the full code for testing if FLASH installed (and also get the major Version):

internal static int? GetFlashPlayerVersion()
{
    using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer"))
    {
        if (rk != null)
        {
            string version = rk.GetValue("CurrentVersion") as string;
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(version) == false)
            {
                int idx = version.IndexOf(",");
                if (idx > 0)
                {
                    int value;
                    if (int.TryParse(version.Substring(0, idx), out value) == true)
                    {
                        return value;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return null;
}

And the code which using the method:

int? flashVersion = WindowsUtils.GetFlashPlayerVersion();
if (flashVersion.HasValue == true && flashVersion > 6)
{
    WebBrowser wb = new WebBrowser();
    wb.AllowNavigation = false;
    wb.IsWebBrowserContextMenuEnabled = false;
    this.Controls.Add(wb); // this = FORM
    wb.Navigate(@"C:\test.swf");
}

Best regards,
MDB-Blog

C# | Check if app is installed for “All users” or "Just me"

2010-12-08T16:58:00.005+02:00

Today I bring a very HARD-to-find topic about getting an installed application "Installation context".
An installation context may be Per-Machine Installation Context (ALLUSERS=1) and Per-User Installation Context (ALLUSERS="").

When installing an application, the user may select one of two options:
a. Install [APP] for yourself
b. or for anyone who uses this computer
[a] installs only for the current user(just me) while [b] installs for the Local System user which is for all-users(everyone).

In this post I will give a code for checking is an installed application was installed for "Everyone" or "Just me".

The validation process is check if the APPLICATION-NAME exists in the registry keys under UserData.
(*) Everyone - check under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\ (S-1-5-18 represents the Local System user)

(*) Just me (Current user) - check under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-?!?!?!?!\Products\ (S-?!?!?!?! represents the Current user. this value found by the code: WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().User.Value.

[Code] Method's return type:

private enum InstallationContexts { NotInstalled, Everyone, JustMe };

[Code] Method declaration:

private InstallationContexts GetInstalledContext(string p_appDisplayName)

{

    //The S-1-5-18  =

Local System user (Everyone) | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\

    //The S-XXXXXX  =

Current user (Just me)       |

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-?!?!?!?!\Products\

    string key;

    string keyFormat = @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\{0}\Products\";

    // Check if installed for -> Everyone

    key = string.Format(keyFormat, "S-1-5-18");

    bool res = GetInstalledContext_IsRegKeyExists(key, p_appDisplayName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);

    if (res == true)

    {

        return InstallationContexts.Everyone;

    }

    // Check if installed for -> Just me

    key = string.Format(keyFormat, WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().User.Value);

    res = GetInstalledContext_IsRegKeyExists(key, p_appDisplayName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);

    if (res == true)

    {

        return InstallationContexts.JustMe;

    }

    return InstallationContexts.NotInstalled;

}

private bool GetInstalledContext_IsRegKeyExists(string p_regKey, string p_appDisplayName, StringComparison p_scompare)

{

    using (RegistryKey regkey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(p_regKey))

    {

        if (regkey != null)

        {

            RegistryKey rk;

            string[] arrProducs = regkey.GetSubKeyNames();

            for (int i = 0; i < arrProducs.Length; i++) 

            {

               using (rk = regkey.OpenSubKey(arrProducs[i] + @"\InstallProperties"))

               {

                   if (rk != null &&

                        p_appDisplayName.Equals(rk.GetValue("DisplayName").ToString(), p_scompare) == true)

                   {

                        return true;

                   }

               }

            }

        }

    }

    return false;

}

[Code] Method's usage example:

InstallationContexts  appContext = GetInstalledContext("APP-DISPLAY-NAME");

This code gives the ability to detect previously installed application or previously installed software is installed to ALLUSERS (everyone) or only to CURRENT USER (just me).

Addition on 19.12.2010:
(*) This checking operation is valid ONLY for an application and software which were installed using Microsoft's Windows Installer.
For general checking for installed application, check my post about check if program/application is installed.

Enjoy...
MDB-Blog

C# | check if program/application is installed on remote computer

2010-12-02T12:04:00.000+02:00

As an advance to my previous post about checking if a program or an application is installed on my comptuer, I bringing a code for doing this validation on a remote computer.

The code is the same as checking for installed app in local comptuer (as described here) except that checking remote machine registry.
The remote machine registry checking is preformed using the static method OpenRemoteBaseKey of the class RegistryKey.

The code:

public static bool IsAppInstalled(string p_machineName, string p_name)
{
   string keyName;

   // search in: CurrentUser
   keyName = @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
   if (ExistsInRemoteSubKey(p_machineName, RegistryHive.CurrentUser, keyName, "DisplayName", p_name) == true)
   {
      return true;
   }

   // search in: LocalMachine_32
   keyName = @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
   if (ExistsInRemoteSubKey(p_machineName, RegistryHive.LocalMachine, keyName, "DisplayName", p_name) == true)
   {
      return true;
   }

   // search in: LocalMachine_64
   keyName = @"SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
   if (ExistsInRemoteSubKey(p_machineName, RegistryHive.LocalMachine, keyName, "DisplayName", p_name) == true)
   {
      return true;
   }

   return false;
}
private static bool ExistsInRemoteSubKey(string p_machineName, RegistryHive p_hive, string p_subKeyName, string p_attributeName, string p_name)
{
   RegistryKey subkey;
   string displayName;

   using (RegistryKey regHive = RegistryKey.OpenRemoteBaseKey(p_hive, p_machineName))
   {
      using (RegistryKey regKey = regHive.OpenSubKey(p_subKeyName))
      {
         if (regKey != null)
         {
            foreach (string kn in regKey.GetSubKeyNames())
            {
               using (subkey = regKey.OpenSubKey(kn))
               {
                  displayName = subkey.GetValue(p_attributeName) as string;
                  if (p_name.Equals(displayName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == true) // key found!
                  {
                     return true;
                  }
               }
            }
         }
      }
   }
   return false;
}

How to use this code:

string MACHINE_NAME = "MY-PC-NAME";
 string APPLICATION_NAME = "APP-NAME";
 try
 {
   bool isAppInstalled = IsAppInstalled(MACHINE_NAME, APPLICATION_NAME);
     string msg = string.Format("Application '{0}' is {1} on the remote-machine '{2}'!",
  APPLICATION_NAME,
  isAppInstalled ? "installed" : "NOT installed",
  MACHINE_NAME);
   MessageBox.Show(msg);
 }
 catch (Exception ex)
 {
   MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
 }
 

Enjoy...
MDB-Blog

c# | Check if VcRedist installed (x86/x64/IA64)

2010-11-28T15:03:00.000+02:00

The following code checks if vcredist (Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package) is installed.
This check is used when we want to assure that the Visual C++ 2008 SP1 is INSTALLED perior to the application launch.

The code is using the MsiQueryProductState function from the msi.dll.

We check the product codes of vcredist_x86, vcredist_x64 and vcredist_IA64 using MsiQueryProductState to validate if the product is installed or not!
(vcredist product codes are listed HERE)

The Code:

public enum INSTALLSTATE

{

   INSTALLSTATE_NOTUSED = -7,  // component disabled

   INSTALLSTATE_BADCONFIG = -6,  // configuration datacorrupt

   INSTALLSTATE_INCOMPLETE = -5,  // installationsuspended or in progress

   INSTALLSTATE_SOURCEABSENT = -4,  // run from source,source is unavailable

   INSTALLSTATE_MOREDATA = -3,  // return bufferoverflow

   INSTALLSTATE_INVALIDARG = -2,  // invalid functionargument

   INSTALLSTATE_UNKNOWN = -1,  // unrecognized productor feature

   INSTALLSTATE_BROKEN = 0,  // broken

   INSTALLSTATE_ADVERTISED = 1,  // advertised feature

   INSTALLSTATE_REMOVED = 1,  // component being removed(action state, not settable)

   INSTALLSTATE_ABSENT = 2,  // uninstalled (or actionstate absent but clients remain)

   INSTALLSTATE_LOCAL = 3,  // installed on local drive

   INSTALLSTATE_SOURCE = 4,  // run from source, CD ornet

   INSTALLSTATE_DEFAULT = 5,  // use default, local orsource

}

[DllImport("msi.dll")]

private static extern INSTALLSTATE MsiQueryProductState(string product);

public static boolIsVCRedistInstalled()

{

   string[] strCodes = newstring[]

   {

       //vcredist_x86 - ProductCode

       "{9A25302D-30C0-39D9-BD6F-21E6EC160475}",

       "{86CE1746-9EFF-3C9C-8755-81EA8903AC34}",

       "{CA8A885F-E95B-3FC6-BB91-F4D9377C7686}",

       "{820B6609-4C97-3A2B-B644-573B06A0F0CC}",

       "{6AFCA4E1-9B78-3640-8F72-A7BF33448200}",

       "{F03CB3EF-DC16-35CE-B3C1-C68EA09E5E97}",

       "{402ED4A1-8F5B-387A-8688-997ABF58B8F2}",

       "{887868A2-D6DE-3255-AA92-AA0B5A59B874}",

       "{527BBE2F-1FED-3D8B-91CB-4DB0F838E69E}",

       "{57660847-B1F7-35BD-9118-F62EB863A598}",

       //vcredist_x64 - ProductCode

       "{8220EEFE-38CD-377E-8595-13398D740ACE}",

       "{56F27690-F6EA-3356-980A-02BA379506EE}",

       "{14297226-E0A0-3781-8911-E9D529552663}",

       "{9B3F0A88-790D-3AD9-9F96-B19CF2746452}",

       "{D285FC5F-3021-32E9-9C59-24CA325BDC5C}",

       "{092EE08C-60DE-3FE6-B113-90076EC06D0D}",

       "{A96702F7-EFC8-3EED-BE46-22C809D4EBE5}",

       "{92B8FD1F-C1AE-3750-8577-631B0AA85DF5}",

       "{2DFD8316-9EF1-3210-908C-4CB61961C1AC}",

       "{E34002C7-8CE7-3F76-B36C-09FA973BC4F6}",

       //vcredist_IA64 - ProductCode

       "{5827ECE1-AEB0-328E-B813-6FC68622C1F9}",

       "{9363B366-8370-34F7-8164-25052EBF35FD}",

       "{4EC84186-70BB-3121-9C1B-C63512D7126E}",

       "{1F7B9797-A3C8-3B98-85C4-00620F221CE8}",

       "{6BE0A7C7-3462-30EE-8B77-D21D7848D967}",

       "{BF58DC07-38AB-3887-8000-70173F9650EA}",

       "{D289009A-2728-3D0A-833E-F08E0E58934C}",

       "{9476DC14-00C3-3C36-A435-00D714CF77B8}",

       "{678835D7-D524-3C0E-9C33-1D3767FDA6BF}"

   };

   INSTALLSTATE state;

   for (int i = 0;i < strCodes.Length; i++)

   {

       state = MsiQueryProductState(strCodes[i]);

       if (state == INSTALLSTATE.INSTALLSTATE_LOCAL||

           state == INSTALLSTATE.INSTALLSTATE_DEFAULT)

       {

           return true;

       }

   }

   return false;

}

You may also extent and improve this method to check only those Product Codes that matching current architecture (x86/x64/IA64).

Hope it helps,
MDB-Blog

Bootstrapper Package | detect vcredist installed | Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package

2010-11-24T14:54:00.003+02:00

As a countinue post of my previous http://mdb-blog.blogspot.com/2010/11/bootstrapper-package-visual-studio-2010.html about Bootstrapper Package ( Visual Studio 2010) of Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable, i give an example for:
Bootstrapper Package for Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package
(also known as Visual C++ 9.0 runtime redistributable package)

As I searched for many sites, I couldn't find any GOOD article about detecting this resi package.
So, I built a bootstrapper package using the information I found on Aaron's post: "How to detect the presence of the Visual C++ 9.0 runtime redistributable package" at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2009/01/29/9384143.aspx.

First of all, we have to detect if one of (vcredist_x86, vcredist_x64, vcredist_IA64) is INSTALLED!
To do so, we will use the MsiQueryProductState API inside our Product.xml in the bootstrapper package folder. (for more information about bootstrapper package files watch my previous post.
Because there is a difference in the Product-Code between the localized versions of the redistributables for VC++ 2008, i checked and write down all the product codes in the following table:

vcredist_x86.exe	ProductCode
English	{9A25302D-30C0-39D9-BD6F-21E6EC160475}
ChineseSimplified	{86CE1746-9EFF-3C9C-8755-81EA8903AC34}
ChineseTraditional	{CA8A885F-E95B-3FC6-BB91-F4D9377C7686}
French	{820B6609-4C97-3A2B-B644-573B06A0F0CC}
German	{6AFCA4E1-9B78-3640-8F72-A7BF33448200}
Italian	{F03CB3EF-DC16-35CE-B3C1-C68EA09E5E97}
Japanese	{402ED4A1-8F5B-387A-8688-997ABF58B8F2}
Korean	{887868A2-D6DE-3255-AA92-AA0B5A59B874}
Russian	{527BBE2F-1FED-3D8B-91CB-4DB0F838E69E}
Spanish	{57660847-B1F7-35BD-9118-F62EB863A598}

UpgradeCode for all {AA783A14-A7A3-3D33-95F0-9A351D530011}

vcredist_x64.exe	ProductCode
English	{8220EEFE-38CD-377E-8595-13398D740ACE}
ChineseSimplified	{56F27690-F6EA-3356-980A-02BA379506EE}
ChineseTraditional	{14297226-E0A0-3781-8911-E9D529552663}
French	{9B3F0A88-790D-3AD9-9F96-B19CF2746452}
German	{D285FC5F-3021-32E9-9C59-24CA325BDC5C}
Italian	{092EE08C-60DE-3FE6-B113-90076EC06D0D}
Japanese	{A96702F7-EFC8-3EED-BE46-22C809D4EBE5}
Korean	{92B8FD1F-C1AE-3750-8577-631B0AA85DF5}
Russian	{2DFD8316-9EF1-3210-908C-4CB61961C1AC}
Spanish	{E34002C7-8CE7-3F76-B36C-09FA973BC4F6}

UpgradeCode for all {AA783A14-A7A3-3D33-95F0-9A351D530011}

vcredist_IA64.exe	ProductCode
English	{5827ECE1-AEB0-328E-B813-6FC68622C1F9}
ChineseSimplified	{9363B366-8370-34F7-8164-25052EBF35FD}
ChineseTraditional	{4EC84186-70BB-3121-9C1B-C63512D7126E}
French	{1F7B9797-A3C8-3B98-85C4-00620F221CE8}
German	{6BE0A7C7-3462-30EE-8B77-D21D7848D967}
Italian	{BF58DC07-38AB-3887-8000-70173F9650EA}
Japanese	{D289009A-2728-3D0A-833E-F08E0E58934C}
Korean	{9476DC14-00C3-3C36-A435-00D714CF77B8}
Russian	[Installer NOT exists!]
Spanish	{678835D7-D524-3C0E-9C33-1D3767FDA6BF}

UpgradeCode for all {AA783A14-A7A3-3D33-95F0-9A351D530011}

All left is to create the bootstrapper folder (name it Vcredist2008sp1):
(*) en (FOLDER)
(*) package.xml
(*) Product.xml
(*) redist.txt
(*) vcredist_x86.exe (download here)
(*) vcredist_x64.exe (download here)
(*) vcredist_IA64.exe (download here)

package.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Package Name="DisplayName" Culture="Culture" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/2004/01/bootstrapper">
  <Strings>
    <String Name="Culture">en</String>
    <String Name="DisplayName">Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package</String>
    <String Name="AdminRequired">Administrator permissions are required to install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package Contact your administrator.</String>
    <String Name="CancelledInstall">The user has cancelled the installation. The Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package has not been installed.</String>
    <String Name="GeneralFailure">A failure occurred attempting to install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package.</String>
    <String Name="ErrorDownloading">A failure occurred while downloading Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package.</String>
  </Strings>
</Package>

Product.xml file:
1. PackageFiles (installation files):

2. InstallChecks (valiadation prefurmed):

3. for each installation check if any localized installed:

Download link for the full bootstrapper package is here:
download full package here

Hope it helps,
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