Milind K Kansagara

Magento – Get Current Store Details (ID, Code, Name and Status)

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 12:11:00 +0000

// Gets   the current store's details
$store =   Mage::app()->getStore();
 
// Gets   the current store's id
$storeId =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getStoreId();
 
// Gets   the current store's code
$storeCode =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getCode();
 
// Gets   the current website's id
$websiteId =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getWebsiteId();
 
// Gets   the current store's group id
$storeGroupId =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getGroupId();
 
// Gets   the current store's name
$storeName =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getName();
 
// Gets   the current store's sort order
$storeSortOrder =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getSortOrder();
 
// Gets   the current store's status
$storeIsActive =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getIsActive();
 
// Gets   the current store's locale
$storeLocaleCode =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getLocaleCode();
 
// Gets   the current store's home url
$storeHomeUrl =   Mage::app()->getStore()->getHomeUrl();

Paypal IPN History page

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:46:00 +0000

Paypal IPN History page

To view the Instant Payment Notification (IPN) sent to your server, and the status, go to "History" at the top of the page, and select "IPN History" from the list.

You can also follow these steps:

Go to the PayPal website and log in to your account.
Click "Profile" at the top of the page.
Click "Instant Payment Notification Preferences" in the Selling Preferences column.
Click "IPN History page

Genrate Excel and CSV File in Asp.Net

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 10:09:00 +0000

Genrate Excel and CSV File in Asp.Net

Generate Excel File from Datagrid or GridView in Asp.Net
=================================================
[code]
private void GenerateExcelFile(DataSet dsData)
{
DataTable objDataTable = new DataTable();

objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("PageTitle"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("MetaData"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("Title"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("Price"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("PriceRetail"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("StyleNumber"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("DescShort"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("DescLong"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("SmallImage"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("LargeImage"));
objDataTable.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("DateDownload"));

foreach (DataRow dr in dsData.Tables[0].Rows)
{
DataRow ObjDr = objDataTable.NewRow();

ObjDr["PageTitle"] = dr["PageTitle"];
ObjDr["MetaData"] = dr["MetaData"];
ObjDr["Title"] = dr["Title"];
ObjDr["Price"] = dr["Price"];
ObjDr["PriceRetail"] = dr["PriceRetail"];
ObjDr["StyleNumber"] = dr["StyleNumber"];
ObjDr["DescShort"] = dr["DescShort"];
ObjDr["DescLong"] = dr["DescLong"];
ObjDr["SmallImage"] = dr["SmallImage"];
ObjDr["LargeImage"] = dr["LargeImage"];
ObjDr["DateDownload"] = dr["DateDownload"];

objDataTable.Rows.Add(ObjDr);
}

System.IO.StringWriter objStringWriter = new System.IO.StringWriter();
HtmlTextWriter objHtmlTextWriter = new HtmlTextWriter(objStringWriter);
Response.Clear();
Response.Charset = "";
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=File.xls;");

DataGrid dg = new DataGrid();
dg.DataSource = objDataTable;
dg.DataBind();

dg.RenderControl(objHtmlTextWriter);
Response.Write(objStringWriter.ToString());
Response.End();
}
[/code]

Generate CSV File in Asp.Net
========================

[code]
private void GenerateCSV(DataSet dsData)
{
System.Text.StringBuilder objSB = new System.Text.StringBuilder();

// Looping trough Fields name of Database
for (int i = 0; i <= dsData.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1; i++)
{
if (i < dsData.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1)
{
objSB.Append(dsData.Tables[0].Columns[i].ColumnName.ToString() + "\t");
}
else
{
objSB.Append(dsData.Tables[0].Columns[i].ColumnName.ToString() + "\r\n");
}
}
// Looping through Every rows and column.
for (int i = 0; i <= dsData.Tables[0].Rows.Count - 1; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j <= dsData.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1; j++)
{
if (j < dsData.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1)
{
objSB.Append(dsData.Tables[0].Rows[i][j].ToString() + "\t");
}
else
{
objSB.Append(string.IsNullOrEmpty(dsData.Tables[0].Rows[i][j].ToString()) ? "-" : dsData.Tables[0].Rows[i][j].ToString() + "\r\n");
}
}
}

Response.Clear();
Response.Charset = "";
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=File.csv;");

Response.Write(objSB.ToString());
Response.End();
}

[/code]

Display youtube video in asp.net mvc using "YouTubePlayerHelper"

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:47:00 +0000

Here i am explaining how you can display youtube video in asp.net mvc page using "YouTubePlayerHelper". Using "YouTubePlayerHelper" you have to just pass youtube media file name and id of the player. You can also pass the you-tube player option like width, height, color and border which are optional.

How to used "YouTubePlayerHelper"in asp.net mvc page ?

It is simple just add namespace where your "YouTubePlayerHelper"class reside and then add the following code in your asp.net mvc page.

For "YouTubePlayerHelper" you can download from here.

[code]

<%@ Import Namespace="Lesson1.Helpers" %>

<%= Html.YouTubePlayer("test","3sdJtQWlVrI", new YouTubePlayerOption { Width = 480, Height = 385, PrimaryColor = System.Drawing.Color.White, SecondaryColor = System.Drawing.Color.Pink,Border= true })%>

[\code]

Here i am just pass the youtube video file name "3sdJtQWlVrI" and pass the some option for displaying youtube video in my asp.net mvc page.

Here one question arise in your mide that Why i am creating "YouTubePlayerHelper" class?? It is simple to just right down the embedded code and give all the option and display youtube video just simple then.....

Because of creating "YouTubePlayerHelper" class is you have not right down the whole embedded code each and every page where you need ti display youtube video. If changes occurs in embedded code you have to just change "YouTubePlayerHelper" class nothing else.

jQuery AdRotator like ASP.NET AdRotator Control

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:56:00 +0000

ASP.NET AdRotator control is a useful to randomly display advertisements on the page. But asp.net AdRotator control only display adv when page is refresh. In this article i describe how to create AdRotator control using jQuery without adding asp.net Adrotator control and it refresh Adv at interval time no need to refresh the page. Using jQuery you have to just pass only three parameters intervalTime,

xmlFileName and keywords.

Following steps are used to create jQuery AdRotator

Step1 : Here i am using same xml file which is used by asp.net AdRotator control. But i have changed little bit in the xml file. Here i have add "Keywords" as a attribute of the tag and also remove tag from the tag. So create one xml file say "AR.xml" file using following xml.

[code]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

<ImageUrl>image/AR1.jpg</ImageUrl>

<NavigateUrl>http://www.google.com</NavigateUrl>

<AlternateText>ASP.NET MVC 1.0 Quickly</AlternateText>

</Ad>

<ImageUrl>image/AR2.jpg</ImageUrl>

<NavigateUrl>http://www.yahoo.com</NavigateUrl>

<AlternateText>ASP.NET 3.5 Social Networking</AlternateText>

</Ad>

<ImageUrl>image/AR3.jpg</ImageUrl>

<AlternateText>ASP.NET 3.5 Application Architecture</AlternateText>

</Ad>

</Advertisements>

[/code]

Step 2: Then add following four script file in "js" folder and refrence this four file in your page

[code]

[/code]

Step 3: Here i have create two diffrent way to display Adv

1) Without using metadata

2) Using metadata

1) Without using metadata

Step 1: In without using metadata you have to pass three parameter that is intervalTime,xmlFileName and keywords in the javascript block.Add one javscript block in the header section after adding four javascript refrence file.

[code]

$(document).ready(function () {

$("#ARDiv").adrotator({ intervalTime: 10000, xmlFileName: 'AR.xml', keywords: 'small' });

});

[/code]

Step 2: Now add one div tag between the body tag and give id "ARDiv" to that tag

[code]

[/code]

Step 3: Now run the page and see the result after 10 second Adv image will be changed and only display those Adv image which have keywords "small"

1) Using metadata

Step 1: In using metadata you have to pass three parameter that is intervalTime, xmlFileName and keywords not in the javascript block but you have to pass tree paramter to div tag this way and add this div tag between body tag.

[code]

[/code]

Step 2: Now add one javscript block in the header section

[code]

$(document).ready(function () {

$("#ARDiv1").adrotator();

});

</script>

[/code]

Step 3: Now run the page and see the result after 10 second Adv image will be changed and only display those Adv image which have keywords "small"

Here i am just do simple way. But your suggestion give me better idea to improve this script.

You can download code from here.

Fw: Pencil and Eraser-Inspirational

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:38:00 +0000

Pencil : I'm sorry....

Eraser : For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

Pencil : I'm sorry because you get hurt because of me. Whenever I made a mistake,
you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you
lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser : That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this.
I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day,
I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with
my job. So please, stop worrying.
I hate seeing you sad. :)

I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational.
Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always
there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way...
they get hurt, and become smaller (older, and eventually pass on). Though their
children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy
with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

This Is for all Parents Out There.....

Pencil and Eraser-Inspirational

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:37:00 +0000

Tower Of Hanoi

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:15:00 +0000

[Code]

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<math.h>

void hanoi(int x, char from,char to,char aux)
{
if(x==1)
{
   printf("Move Disk From %c to %c\n",from,to);
}
else
{
   hanoi(x-1,from,aux,to);
   printf("Move Disk From %c to %c\n",from,to);
   hanoi(x-1,aux,to,from);
}
}
void main()
{
int disk;
int moves;
clrscr();
printf("Enter the number of disks you want to play with:");
scanf("%d",&disk);
moves=pow(2,disk)-1;
printf("\nThe No of moves required is=%d \n",moves);
hanoi(disk,'A','C','B');
getch();
}

[/Code]

Law of simplicity

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:22:00 +0000

I came across an interesting set of principles that you might want to keep
in mind the next time you set out to design an application, a website, or even
improve your daily life. They are The Laws of Simplicity
and were conceived by John Maeda, an artist and noted computer scientist from
the MIT Media Lab. He compiled them in a short, 100-page book (and posted them
on his website as well). I found them in a back issue of Wired
magazine, in an article that applied them in
a critique some new gadget. I have since found that they increasingly
influence my own analysis of UIs and websites, and occassionally
use them as the basis for discussions with clients to keep a design
session on track.
The Laws are:
1. Reduce – The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through
thoughtful reduction of functionality.
2. Organize – Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
3. Time – Savings in time feel like simplicity.
4. Learn – Knowledge makes everything simpler.
5. Differences – Simplicity and complexity need each other.
6. Context – What lies in the periphery of simplicity is de?nitely not peripheral.
7. Emotion – More emotions are better than less.
8. Trust – In simplicity we trust.
9. Failure – Some things can never be made simple.
10. The One – Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the
meaningful.
You can find a more detailed explanation of each law on his site

guidelines for asp.net development

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:21:00 +0000

<!–

ASP.NET Development
guidelines

·
Guidelines
for ASP.NET AJAX
Performance Improvement

Among the 95% of the .NET developers that said they are
using some flavor of Ajax either in production, development or prototype, the
most used AJAX Framework is ASP.NET AJAX, with 73,7%, followed by the Ajax
Control Toolkit which is used by almost half of the .NET developer that are
using Ajax.

However ASP.NET AJAX model is showing performance problem.
The web application developed in ASP.NET AJAX makes the site slow down.

So following are the few of guideline which will help you
out to improve performance of ASP.NET AJAX application. This will basically
apply to the ASP.NET AJAX version 1.0 final release.

Use HttpWatch to check the network traffic.
1. This is one of important tool using which you can check the data returned by
  the server. There is dedicated tool available for this. Moreover to that
  you can also utilize Firebux extension of firefox to watch network
  traffic. The dedicated tool is available for the download from following
  URL: http://www.httpwatch.com/download/.
  This is a limited feature version.
Use "ScriptReferenceProfile" to show Javascript reference
1. ScriptReferenceProfiler is an open source tool on CodePlex, for analysis the JavaScript
  references of ASP.NET AJAX, we can simply add the following code to our
  page in order to show the JavaScript references imported by
  ScriptManager.
  <microsoft:scriptreferenceprofiler runat="server">

</microsoft:scriptreferenceprofiler>

You can obtain it from the following URL

Reference: http://www.codeplex.com/aspnet/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=13356

Web.Config Optimization
1. To have optimized web.config file our application, all we need to do is to
  have a compression and caching is enabled in web.config file for the
  ASP.NET AJAX Includes. You can use the following code in web.config file
  to enable compression & caching for AJAX includes.
  <system.web.extensions>
  
  <scripting>
  
  <scriptResourceHandler enableCompression="true" enableCaching="true"/>
  
  </scripting>
  
  </system.web.extensions>
  
  Also check before and after result of before and after of enabling
  caching & compression in network traffic.
  
  Now this is limited to the compression and caching for AJAX includes. In our site we also
  generally have many other script files included. There can also be no. of
  different CSS files, JS files etc. We can also compress them so that It make fewer request in bytes.
  
  Basically there is no any method available in ASP.NET which allows the
  compression of JS & CSS files. We need to do it manually and
  reference those compressed file in our application.
  
  One very key important point to consider is related to change management
  of those files. Once you have compressed file in place and referenced in
  your different pages, If your JS file or CSS
  file need to have any modification, then you again have to recompress it
  from newer version.
  
  So this method should be adopted for such scripts or CSS which are less
  frequently changed.
  
  There are different tools available which allows your script and CSS file
  compression. Following are the different methods which can be used for
  this purpose.
  
  1) Yahoo compresser (http://yui.2clics.net/)
  
  2) http://www.vlead.in/resources/tools/minify-javascript/index.php
  (The best one which I utilized)
Optimization of ScriptManager
1. The ScriptManager control manages client script for AJAX-enabled ASP.NET Web
  pages. By default, the ScriptManager control registers the script for the
  Microsoft AJAX Library with the page. This enables client script to use
  the type system extensions and to support features such as partial-page
  rendering and Web-service calls. Following, we need to setting
  the property of ScriptManager to optimize the performance of ASP.NET
  AJAX.

·
Set "scriptMode" to Release.

for e.g.

<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1″
runat="server" ScriptMode="Release">

</asp:ScriptManager>

Moreover to this set "debug" mode in "compilation" section of web.config file
to false.

·
Disable partial page rendering

If we using the UpdatePanel in the page, we must set this property to true,
conversely, if the UpdatePanel is not using in our page, it would be better
that we set the EnablePartialRendering to false.

For e.g.

<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1″ runat="server"
EnablePartialRendering="false">

</asp:ScriptManager>

Move All Script Tags After Body Content
1. ASP.NET ScriptManager control has a property "LoadScriptsBeforeUI", when set to
  false, should load all AJAX
  framework scripts after the content of the page. But it does not
  effectively push down all scripts after the content. Some framework
  scripts, extender scripts and other scripts registered by Ajax Control
  Toolkit still load before the page content loads.

So these are the basic general guidelines which can be
followed one by one to have an improved ASP.NET AJAX response.

·
Guideline
for ASP.NET Application Performance

Following, I will demonstrate some of important guideline
for the improvement of ASP.NET application. These guidelines should be
implemented carefully by taking into consideration of development needs. It is
not necessary to have all following steps followed.

Removing unnecessary HTTP MODUES from site.
1. There are several ASP.NET default HttpModules which
  sit in the request pipeline and intercept each and every request.
  For example, if you aren't using Membership and Profile provider, you
  don't need "FormsAuthentication" module. If you aren't using Windows
  Authentication for your users, you don't need "WindowsAuthentication".
  
  We can remove those unnecessary references of HTTP modules from
  web.config using <remove> tag.
  
  Generally following are the HTTP modules which are not generally used in
  our current development architecture.
  
  <remove name="WindowsAuthentication" />
  
  <remove name="PassportAuthentication" />
  
  <remove name="AnonymousIdentification" />
  
  <remove name="UrlAuthorization" />
  
  <remove name="FileAuthorization" />
Removing or compressing "VIEWSTATE" from page
1. We can override few of method of default System.Web.UI.Page class of .net
  framework.
  Use the following file and include it in your project's APP_CODE.
  Inherits rest of all your pages from this page instead of regular System.Web.UI.Page
  class.
  
  Ref: BasePage.vb
Use caching for pages which changes less frequently
1. There are several ways to use the cache; we'll focus on the easiest tricks to
  get you started, then point you toward some resources that will help you
  tackle more advanced ways to utilize the cache.
  The simplest solution is to use the OutputCache directive on your pages
  or user controls.
Disable VIEWSTATE for pages where no Grid related functionality.
1. One should set the VIEWSTATE disabled in those pages where there is no grid
  level manipulation. When we have a simple page with no complex logic, it
  should be disabled.
  Moreover to that set the following pages which are not security
  sensitive.
  
  1) EnableViewStateMac="false"
  
  2) ViewStateEncryptionMode="never"
Use classical ASP type of page for normal pages.
1. Another important point is to use a classical ASP type of pages which are simple.
  Those pages which do not have any complex display should be developed
  like normal ASP pages. Please check the following referenced page for
  this similar purpose.
  these are such files which do not have underlying code behind file
  attached to it.
  
  We can also utilize the feature of "include" file method which is there
  in classical ASP.

·
Guidelines
for structuring ASP.NET Application

In the following, I will demonstrate the basic guidelines
for the structuring of any web application.

See these guidelines are generally be best suitable for SEO
oriented sites. It can also be adopted for general site also keeping
requirement in mind.

These guidelines are prepared keeping modularized
development in mind. So there are no such tricks that by following them you
will be able to better structure your site. One should do the do modularized
development in their programming also to achieve this.

Use dedicated folders for JS & CSS files.In a site generally there are different JS & CSS files for different
functionality. These JS & CSS files should be accordingly structure
inside your website. Please take a look at the following example for the
better illustration of this method.
Say for e.g. in a site few pages have functionality to display a jQuery
zoom light box when anyone click on the image of product.

So following should be the structure of JS & CSS files.

In this example, assume there are also few global JS & CSS. So I will
also demonstrate the purpose of integrating them in site.

Root

|___js

| |___lightbox

| |___lightbox.js

|____|___global

|____jquery-1.2.6.min.js

|____common.js

|___css

| |___lighbox

| |___ lighbox.css

|________global

|____global.css

This modularization can also be used to
differentiate CSS & JS for each page of site.

Modularization is also not limited to the CSS & JS files, one can
follow same modularization concept across different type of files also
like XML content, flash content, image folders etc.



Use proper naming conversion in CSS files.
1. Care full design of CSS classes and attributes provide better traceability. As
  you just shown above that the CSS & JS can be modularized. We should
  also use proper naming convention in those CSS file. If you follow these
  conventions, you can easily identify respective class.
  Say for e.g.
  
  you set naming abbreviation of respective CSS as per below.
  
  1) global.css
  = glb
  
  2) lightbox.css = lg
  
  so now you can have following CSS class/section defined in respective css
  files.
  
  like in global.css
  
  glb-main
  
  {
  
  }
  
  .glb-title
  
  {
  
  color: #7D3D0D;
  
  font-family: Arial;
  
  font-size: 20px;
  
  font-weight: normal;
  
  text-decoration: none;
  
  clear: both;
  
  }
  
  in the same way, you can also different class in lighbox.css
  
  .lg-dvtop
  
  {
  
  width: 100%;
  
  margin: 20px 10px 10px 10px;
  
  }
  
  .lg-content
  
  {
  
  width: 700px;
  
  height: 600px;
  
  }
Configure
APP_CODE to have two sub directories. Each sub directory can be used for
different language. It is generally like following.
APP_CODE
|___VB

|___CS

Respective programming files should be placed in respective folders. Also
make sure to configure code sub directory in web.config also.

·
Guidelines
before final release of site

Following, there are some important and necessary checks
that web-sites should be checked against before the official launch.

Favicon
1. A favicon icon the tab or window in which your website is open in the
  user's browser. It is also saved with the bookmark so that users can
  easily identify pages from your website.
  for e.g.
  
  <link href="images/fav_icon.ico" rel="icon"
  type="image/Jpeg" />
Title & Meta data
1. Your page title is the most important element for SEO and is also important so
  that users know what's on the page. Make sure it changes on every page
  and relates to that page's content.
  Also one should make sure that related meta data
  details are also get placed in every pages and are changes as it should
  be to different pages.
Cross-Browser Check
1. The most popular browsers to check are Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8, Firefox
  3, Safari 3. Following are the few methods used to do cross browser check
  1) XecoCode (http://www.xenocode.com/browsers/)
  
  2) IETester (http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage)
  
  3) Browser shot (http://browsershots.org/)
Links
1. Don't just assume all your links work. Click on them. You may often forget to
  add "http://" to links to external websites. There may be case when some
  URL rewriting related prefix or postfix would be forgotten.

Getting dig into SQL CLR

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:20:00 +0000

SQL CLR is a new SQL Server feature that allows you to embed logic written in C#, VB.Net, and other managed code into the body of T-SQL objects like stored procedures, functions, triggers, aggregates and types. Client applications interact with these resulting routines like they are written in native T-SQL. Internally, things like string manipulations and complex calculations become easier to program because you are no longer restricted to using T-SQL and now have access to structured .Net languages and the reuse of base class libraries. Externally, the logic you create is wrapped in T-SQL prototypes so that the client application is not aware of the implementation details. This is advantageous because you can employ SQL CLR where you need it without rearchitecting your existing client code.

With SQL CLR, you are also freed from the constraint of logic that applies only within the context of the database. You can with appropriate permissions write logic to read and write to file systems, use logic contained in external COM or .Net DLLs. These capabilities are exciting and concerning, especially in the historical context of new feature overuse. To help you use this new feature appropriately, we want to make sure that you understand how it integrates with SQL Server and where this feature may be heading. In this chapter, we'll give you this type of overview. We'll spend the rest of the book explaining these concepts using real-world SQL CLR examples that you can use today.

Let's go through step by step for your first introduction on sql clr.

The first step in creating a stored procedure (or any database object) is to create a SQL Server project in Visual Studio:

From the File menu, create a new project
In the New Project Dialog, select and expand a language node in the Project Types area
Select the Database node
Select the SQL Server Project template
Click OK and you are done

Next you will be promted of of creating sql connection to connect to sql server. But wait, before that your datebase and server need to be configured to run/host SQL CLR.

If you dont know how to do that just run the following code in your query window

sp_configure 'clr enabled', 1

RECONFIGURE

Creating your first user defined CLR function

Open an existing SQL Server Project, or create a new one. From the Project menu, select Add New Item.
Select User Defined Function
Type a Name for the new user defined function.
Add code to run when the function is executed.
In the following code snippet, i have written a custom user defined SQL CLR function which convert the european anccented characters into regular english character.

[Code]public partial class UserDefinedFunctions

{

[Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlFunction( DataAccess = DataAccessKind.None, Name = "fnReplaceAccentedCharacters", IsDeterministic = true)] public static SqlString fnReplaceAccentedCharacters(SqlString inputString)

{

SqlString xReturnValue="";

Int16 a;

String[,] xCharGroup ={{"à", "a"}, {"â", "a"}, {"ä", "a"}, {"é", "e"}, {"è", "e"}, {"ê", "e"}, {"ë", "e"}, {"î", "i"}, {"ï", "i"}, {"ô", "o"}, {"ö", "o"}, {"û", "u"}, {"ü", "u"}, {"ù", "u"}, {"ç", "c"}, {"", "oe"}, {"", "oe"}, {" ", "-"}};

for (a = 0; a < xCharGroup.GetLongLength(0); a++)

inputString = ((String)inputString).Replace(xCharGroup[a, 0], xCharGroup[a, 1]);

return (xReturnValue=inputString);

}

};[/code]

Once the code is ready, you can build and deploy the code to the database by pressing 'F5′.

To test the deployment, there is a file in your project called test.sql. In this file, you can add script calls to the obects you just created. For example, to call the function created above, enter: Select dbo.fnReplaceAccentedCharacters('des objets de très grande qualité, originaux, épurés,')

That's it. If the stored procedure was written correctly, you will now see this item in list of functions in your management stuidio. However, you'll see the object has a lock icon next to it, as shown below. This is because the object is not editable outside of the Visual Studio project.

Software engineering fundamental

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:44:00 +0000

Introduction:

To understand the necessity for web engineering, we must pause briefly to look back at the recent history of computing. This history will help us to understand the problems that started to become obvious in the late sixties and early seventies, and the solutions that have led to the creation of the field of software & web engineering. These problems were referred to by some as "The software Crisis," so named for the symptoms of the problem. The situation might also been called "The Complexity Barrier," so named for the primary cause of the problems. Some refer to the software crisis in the past tense. The crisis is far from over, but thanks to the development of many new techniques that are now included under the title of software engineering, we have made and are continuing to make progress.
Although the topic I have written on is about very tiresome, even thought the importance of web/software engineering is very essential in all parts development life cycle. It's all about making your development process more sophisticated and well documented.
Let me first of all outline you the agenda which I am going to explain in this article.

Nature of web/software project
Engineering approach
Software/web process
A process steps
Characteristics of a good process
Role of waterfull model in the development
Project planning

First of all we will see the different kind of software or web. How they affect in the day to day life of human being. It may be different complexity, from the different domain.
Next we will examine the different engineering approach that we can apply on our development process. Generally we understand the engineering is of field civil, mechanical, architectural etc. But engineering approaches can also be used in the development process to make it more simpler.
Then after we will take a look at the different software engineering process models available. We will then define the a practical software process steps and then we will also examine the characteristics of a good software process.
Nature of web/software project
We encounter may software or web application in the our day to day life. It may be of different domain, it may be simple, it can a large enterprise portal or can be a scientific for purpose.
Typically the nature of a software system can be:

Ubiquitous, used in variety of area
Business, engineering etc.
It can be simple to complex, internal or public, one location centric or distributed, real time, information purpose, help desk etc.

Now there are many major challenges in the life of development process. Our main intension in this article is to outline the different kind of hurdles that a software developer or manager encounter in the development. They are as per below:

Effort intensive
High cost
Continuous and log development
User requirements frequently changes
Risk of failure that can be performance issue, unable to accept response of user, maintainability of project etc.

Some time web projects or say any software project involves the high cost. The software analyzers sometime fail to identify software cost properly. Sometime the development get so stretch that it start becoming very costly. The management is mostly always concern with the quick and cheap solution. Due to the more and more money invested in development and the outcome is not produces or is not upto to satisfaction as it should be.
Personally I feel that in most of development of either a web based project or enterprise application, the user's continues changing requirement never ends. In any project, the end user is the one who is going to give final review. Software engineers do make requirement engineering, but the due to many factor user's requirement keep on changing. Those factory may be managerial, market competition, changing in the government laws, marketing strategy etc. Because of these the user's requirement get changed.
Sometime everything goes well but when the final outcome of software/web project get released, it does not satisfy the user. The performance may not be upto the mark. The end user is not concern with the technical issue involved in development. They only concern for the quick and accurate output.
So these are the few hurdles that any software engineer or manager face in his past experience life.
So when can we say that software is successful:

Software project have not always been successful.
When do we consider a project is successful
- Development completed
- It is useful
- It is usable
- It is used
Software should be cost effective & maintainable

To be build up any successful software, it need to under go many engineering process. I don't mean to say that the engineering process of big science/construction engineering. Engineering Is a set up well defined process steps. By following those well defined projects you can build up successful software.

Now lets consider what are the reason of failure for making this project successful.

Schedule slippage
Cost goes over
Does not fulfill user's requirement
Poor quality

So this are the basic criteria which lead a project toward unsuccessful.
Now let's consider that what are the reasons that lead to such failure.

Unplanned development
The milestones and deliverables are not identified
User requirement changing/poor understanding user's requirement.
No review control
Technically the team is not matured
Unsuccessful planning of cost by user & developer.

If you can't plan, you can't reach to success. I personally feel during my experience life time that the unplanned work is always been major factory in the failure of software. The unplanned development may include anything from un proper utilization of human resources, the developer are forced to keep on changing on different projects, client's continues changing in requirement etc. These all and in fact many other unplanned factors lead to software failure.
Let's think that you are a smart developer who plan for all his work before he actually going to implement. Then in that case the if the deliverables or milestones are not defined, we would not be able to judges the progress of development. Milestones/deliverables are most important in the development cycle. They tells about the progress of development. It help you to identify set up next goal in development.
Requirement engineering is one of the most crucial part in development life cycle. It is always been hard to identify and model user's requirement. If the user's requirement is not identified properly then the development can't proceed further.
Constant review or control is also important part of development. The inspection and review is heart in the quality assurance. The development need to be monitored by the supervisor so that we can actually come to know how the development is going.
The developer need to be constantly updated with the latest tools and technology. Sometime the company have the projects, but they do not have such experienced or skilled resource, due to which they postpone their effort in getting such projects. Nowadays the technology is keep on changing. So many tools and technology are emerging which can really solve your many development issues. The open source platform is one of the great example. There are thousand of scripts and tools are available over the internet that a developer can learn and implement. The developer need to be in touch with different community sites and build up their knowledge bank.
So these is what I want to tell about why we engineer the web/software. If we want to overcome those issue we really need to implement those software engineering and development process in our development.
So you will say that this is the end of my talk. No, I further want to tell you something regarding the engineering terms. After reading that much, you are really free to go by leaving your seat J.
"Engineering" a solution:
According to the definition given by the professor Sarda(IIT Bombay) a engineering is: To design, develop an artifact that meets specification efficiently, cost-effective and ensure quality.
Why the other engineering projects are successful than the software?
So to understand the reason of that, lets first go through what a large engineering project is made up of.

Involve different type of peoples
Building project: civil engineers, electrical engineer, architects, workers etc.
Continuous supervision for the quality assurance.
On site supervisor
Many deliverables: architecture plan, model, structure diagrams, electric cabling etc.
Standards need to be followed
Steps and milestone are defined, reviewed and we proceed further. So the visibility of development is important aspect.

But the software engineering approach is somewhat different than these. Software architecture and planning is not same as the other engineering projects.
I will make you introduce with rest of discussion in my next series of articles.
So have a good time and have a productive coding.

DIWALI - story behing this festival

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:41:00 +0000

DIWALI
Also known as Deepawali and Deepotsav, this is the final day of the Hindu year.
Origin
Mankind is forever steeped in the misery of ãdhi (mental agony), vyãdhi (physical sufferings) and upãdhi (pain from external elements).
On the day when man is liberated from these, it becomes the day of Diwali, of bliss for him.
There are five stories celebrating this day:

Shri Krishna vanquished Narkasur, releasing people from misery.
Pruthu Raja extracted goodness from the earth.
During the Samudra Manthan, Lakshmiji emerged from the ocean.
The Pandavas returned from their forest exile.
Shri Ramchandra returned to Ayodhya after his victory over Ravan in Lanka.

In essence people light divas on this day to depict their joy on being released from suffering inflicted by evil elements. Thus, this day came to be known as Deepotsavi.
Rituals The Bhavishyottar Puran (140–14–29) cites details of how to celebrate Diwali from early morning.

To augur success, those involved in trade and business do pujan of their new ledgers, known as Chopda Pujan (also known as Sharda Pujan).
People light divas in their homes every evening.
During Diwali it is a tradition in Hindu homes for the womenfolk to decorate a rangoli at the entrance or near the doorway, after washing the floor. A rangoli is an intricate and artistic design, using coloured powders. It represents an auspicious welcome for Lakshmiji, who visits people during Diwali to grant wealth.

Sentiments

People forgive and forget misdeeds of the past year and resolve to spend the coming year in peace, harmony, purity and to earn lakshmi by observing dharma.
On this the darkest (moonless) day of the month, people light divas symbolically, praying to Paramatma for inner enlightenment.
Diwali is a festival to resolve personal discord and familial conflict, to increase love, unity and harmony in the family and society.
Finally, since we are graced by the infinite love of God and his holy Sadhu, we should feel fulfilled and contented, known as purnakampanu. Therefore we should endeavour to consolidate our dharma, gnan, vairagya and bhakti, to further receive their benediction.

Happy DIWALI to all of you and Prosperous NEW YEAR.

.Net 3.5, C#, VB.Net Language Improvement: Automatic Properties, Object initializers, Collection Initializers, Lambda expression, Anonymous type.

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:16:00 +0000

The new .net 3.5 has significant improved features. This feature makes the .net programming concept more sophisticated. You will now be able to write less code and build more dynamic application using those.

From all of them what the most I like is the LINQ, which allow you to query over variety of objects.

LINQ is all about queries, they returns a set of matching objects, a single object, or a subset of fields from an object or set of objects. In LINQ, this returned set of objects is called a sequence.

Basically LINQ comes in variety of flavors' like following:

LINQ to Objects
LINQ to XML
LINQ to Dataset
LINQ to SQL
LINQ to Entities

Well there is a detailed discussion on LINQ further in this article. Let me first make you guys introduce to the language improvements in .net 3.5. In fact I believe that these new improvements are essential to learn before we actually get dig into the LINQ J.

To summarize quickly, here are the list of new language feature that are shipped with .Net 3.5.

Automatic properties
Object initializers, Collection initializers
Anonymous types
Extension methods
Query Expression

Well if you are the C# developer, I believe you will really love to have such significant improvement. Because these features puts extra wing on your programming skill.

The important is not that you learn the latest technology of .Net 3.5 like WCF, WPF, Silverlight etc. These are the core part of basic programming. Its like you should be knowing the if syntax of C programming language before you actually write your first "Hello word" program J

So let's go through each of them step by step and try to understand what they are and how it can help the developer to create rich internet/desktop application.

Automatic Property

Before I explain you the concept of "automatic property in .net 3.5, can you guys first please try to go through the following code?

public
class
MShoppingCart

{

private
int _cartId;

public
int CartId

{

get { return _cartId; }

set { _cartId = value; }

}

private
int _customerid;

public
int Customerid

{

get { return _customerid; }

set { _customerid = value; }

}

private
int _billingaddressid;

public
int Billingaddressid

{

get { return _billingaddressid; }

set { _billingaddressid = value; }

}

private
int _shippingaddressid;

public
int Shippingaddressid

{

get { return _shippingaddressid; }

set { _shippingaddressid = value; }

}

private
MShippingCartItem _cartitem;

public
MShippingCartItem Cartitem

{

get { return _cartitem; }

set { _cartitem = value; }

}

Most of the time we are used to write such model classes. This are the most basic and popular mechanism in returning a wrapper classes. The basic purpose of writing such getter/setter property is to hide the actual private member of our classes. It has been the standard pattern to access the private method of any classes. Well you may arise with a question that why do we actually need to write such getter/setter properties. Can't we simply expose the private member? Well the answer is YES, but I would request you to remember the fundamental of object oriented programming. J

Anyway there are basically two reason of not doing so. Following are this:

You won't be easily able to bind those private variable to controls
You will not be able to modify them into property later on.

The first point is quite understandable, what do you mean by the second one? Well, say for e.g. if you need to add any business logic or validation logic when assigning value to any private variable then? You will not be able to do that.

So what if we need not to write even the private variables? Exited, yes the new version of .Net 3.5 allows you have such facility. The concept is called automatic property. All you have to do is to write the getter/setter property. You need not to worry about the private member of that property. The compiler will decide and prepare base private member for you on the fly.

See the example in the following.

public
class
MShoppingCart

{

public
int CartId

{

get;

set;

}

public
int Customerid

{

get;

set;

}

public
int Billingaddressid

{

get;

set;

}

public
int Shippingaddressid

{

get;

set;

}

private
MShippingCartItem _cartitem;

public
MShippingCartItem Cartitem

{

get;

set;

}

Now it this case when the compiler will encounter this properties while compiling your code, it will automatically expose the private variable for each of property with its associated type. For e.g. compiler automatically assume and expose the _cartid private variable of integer type. Using advantage of this is we need not to worry about the underlying private variable. In future we can add any sort of validation logic in this property.

Object initialization, collection initialization

I would like to explain this concept by taking the example of automatic property so that I maintain the continuity for you to understand. Say for e.g. when we want to use the "shopping cart" class that we created earlier. What we do is write following code.

MShoppingCart cart = new
MShoppingCart();

cart.CartId = 1;

cart.Customerid = 1001111;

cart.Shippingaddressid = 2333;

cart.Billingaddressid = 2232;

With the feature supported by the .net framework 3.5, you can take advantage of what is called "syntactic sugar", and that is object initializers.

Using object initializers, you can write the same code given above, in following way.

MShoppingCart cart = new
MShoppingCart {CartId =1, Customerid=1001111, Billingaddressid=2232, Shippingaddressid =23333 };

So it allows you to pass the value of all property at the time of initializing the object.

In fact it not only allow to initialize object's property in this way, you can also have nested initialization of object within any object.

To demonstrate you, see the following example.

MShoppingCart cart = new
MShoppingCart { CartId = 1, Customerid = 1001111, Billingaddressid = 2232, Shippingaddressid = 23333, Cartitem = new
MShippingCartItem { } };

If you see in the highlighted (underlined) part of above code, you can clearly see that the child object can also be initialized in the same way.

As if the new object initialization enhancements were not enough, someone at Microsoft must have said, "What about collections?" Collection initialization allows you to specify the initialization values for a collection, just like you would do for an object, as long as the collection implements the

System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<T> interface.

List<string> presidents = new
List<string> { "Name 1″, "Name 2″, "Name 3″ };

foreach (string president in presidents)

{

Console.WriteLine(president);

}

Anonymous types

What is anonymous type?

Well, we have been familiar till date with different types. They are either custom classes or any of .net's build in type. So what is actually the anonymous type is. The answer is that the "Anonymous type" has no type defined to it. It has no type name. Though there should be at least one type name associated in .Net. In anonymous type, the type name is specified by the developer doing the programming. It is the compiler which will identify the type to associate with the declaration of any anonymous type.

There is also another significant different in anonymous type is that it is called immutable. The definition of immutable type is that the one that is declared and initialized once. It can't be altered later on. So anonymous type has the same characteristic. Once you declared and initialized, you can't alter the anonymous type afterward.

This is also why anonymous types have been introduced. They allow us to create a type on the fly and therefore return only certain values of a given named type. This is very handy when only a subset of properties is needed, properties are joined together or even objects are joined together.

class
Program

{

static
void Main(string[] args)

{

// create a list of carts with dummy data.

List<MShoppingCart> carts = new
List<MShoppingCart>();

carts.Add(new
MShoppingCart { CartId=101, Customerid=1001, Billingaddressid=20, Shippingaddressid =30});

carts.Add(new
MShoppingCart { CartId = 102, Customerid = 1002, Billingaddressid = 22, Shippingaddressid = 33 });

carts.Add(new
MShoppingCart { CartId=103, Customerid=1003, Billingaddressid=23, Shippingaddressid =34});

// query the cart collection to collect cart with id of 101

var result = from c in carts

where c.CartId >= 101

// put the result in a anonymous type

select
new { c.Billingaddressid };

// loop over the result.

foreach (var item in result)

{

// print out the name of the item.

Console.WriteLine(item.Billingaddressid );

}

Anonymous type are mostly used when working with the LINQ. It is utilized highly while querying to your data in LINQ. It is irrespective which flavor of LINQ you are using.

Although the anonymous type can be used in your own code also. It is especially useful when we want to combine different variables into one.

Se for e.g. following example:

// create an anonymous type instance with a name.

var anonymousType = new

{

Name = name,

Age = age,

Nationality = nationality

};

// print the name to the console.

Console.WriteLine(anonymousType.Name);

Though the real time use of anonymous type Is when you use it with the LINQ. I need to write a separate article to demonstrate you actual usage LINQ. J

Extension methods

An extension method is a static method of a static class that you can call as though it were an instance method of a different class.

To make you understand the extension method, let me first re cape the class level methods (static methods) and instance methods. The primary different between these two is that the instance method can also be access by initializing object of any class. It can't be invoked by using class name only. The exact opposite of that is class method. You can only call static class method using the name of class only. You can't access them using the instance of same class.

I am not gonna give you any example for the above explanation as I expect from you guys that you are familiar with the different I explained.

Extension method is a way of extending existing classes for whatever additional functionality. Let me demonstrate you that by example.

namespace ExtensionMethods

{

public
static
class
StringExtensionMethods

{

public
static
bool IsNumeric(this
string str)

{

try

{

int i = int.Parse(str);

return
true;

}

catch

{

}

return
false;

}

In the above given example, almost everything seems to be similar what we are used to in normal programming. But, the difference is clearly seen. You should be able to notice that in the "IsNumeric" static method parameter are passed using this keyword. This keyword tells the compiler what you are going to extend for particular given type. So in this example it tells you that it extends the existing string class.

See for e.g. how to use the extension method.

string s = "someValue";

bool bs = s.IsNumeric();

// bs is false;

string i = "7″;

bool bi = i.IsNumeric();

// bi is true;

Query Expression

One of the conveniences that the C# language provides is the foreach statement. When you use foreach, the compiler translates it into a loop with calls to and MoveNext. The simplicity the foreach statement provides for enumerating through arrays and collections has made it very popular and often used.

One of the features of LINQ that seems to attract developers is the SQL-like syntax available for LINQ queries. The first few LINQ examples in the first chapter of this book use this syntax. This syntax is provided via the new C# 3.0 language enhancement known as query expressions. Query expressions allow LINQ queries to be expressed in nearly SQL form. To perform a LINQ query, it is not required to use query expressions. The alternative is to use standard C# dot notation, calling methods on objects and classes.

Although it is occupy a dedicated book for detail understanding of query expression with LINQ. Just to summarize you, here is the example that shows you what actually query expression does.

For e.g.

string[] names = {

"Adams", "Arthur", "Buchanan", "Bush", "Carter", "Cleveland",

"Clinton", "Coolidge", "Eisenhower", "Fillmore", "Ford", "Garfield",

"Grant", "Harding", "Harrison", "Hayes", "Hoover", "Jackson",

"Jefferson", "Johnson", "Kennedy", "Lincoln", "Madison", "McKinley",

"Monroe", "Nixon", "Pierce", "Polk", "Reagan", "Roosevelt", "Taft",

"Taylor", "Truman", "Tyler", "Van Buren", "Washington", "Wilson"};

IEnumerable<string> sequence = from n in names

where n.Length < 6

select n;

foreach (string name in sequence)

{

Console.WriteLine("{0}", name);

}

Though query expression can be used by two different way. 1) is using dot notation and 2) is using expression syntax.

Hope I could make you understand what are the new improvements in the newer version of .net 3.5.

Once you are aware and familiar with this feature, you are ready to get dig into dip into the word of .net 3.5 for all new existing experience in developing rich internet/enterprise application.

Debate - Asp.net vs. PHP

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:15:00 +0000

It has been a debate from long time that who is faster, asp.net or php?

So many times I have heard php guyes claim that php is so much faster than Asp.Net and that Asp.Net is clunky and slow.

I have collected few of important resource to make it very clear.

See basically both the development are different like two side of coin. Each of it have its own purpose to choose for your development need. It highly depend how is your requirement.

Any way check from here to get more detail on this debate.

http://bit.ly/4Fdqa9

http://bit.ly/QMgQy

http://misfitgeek.com/blog/aspnet/php-versus-asp-net-ndash-windows-versus-linux-ndash-who-rsquo-s-the-fastest/

Cheers

Combine/Compress/Minify JavaScript, CSS in Asp.net

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:14:00 +0000

Combine/Compress/Minify JavaScript, CSS in Asp.net

Introduction:

When we design and develop the website, the performance is in the core of development. The system you are developing must produce the result with high speed. For the web development perspective, website load performance is very essential thing to take care of. You need good working layout, easy layout and easy navigation.

Here with this article I m not going to talk about of all the aspects of web application performance improvements. But I am specifically targeting the topic when it comes to the CSS and JavaScript faster loading in the client browser. In fact Google is also counting the speed of your website site when indexing to your website.

The goal was to improve overall performance on the client side. At the same time, it will show how we can force a client side script to be coached at the browser, so that in subsequent visit, it will take those scripts from the cache. This becomes increasingly important when using AJAX techniques within an application that introduce new features and functionality.

First of all I will outline the requirements and essential steps that this project is made of. So that if you want to implement the same in your development, it become easy for you to set up project.

To download complete project, click here

Setup:

To begin with, we will have following list of files to be created in the development studio.

2 XML files, first one to hold source of JS files for each page and second to hold CSS files for each page.
A generic class that implement IHttpHandler, that will be used to delivery combined and compressed JavaScript/CSS at the client.
And at last your .ASPX file that will be used to serve combined and compressed Javascript/CSS at client side.

Step by Step Implementation:

Now let's get dig into the actual development. To summarize, let's say we have a page default.aspx that has following no. of JavaScript files and CSS files. Think of these file that we wanted to combine them and deliver at one go at the client browser.

jquery.js
script-file-1.js
style-1.css
style-2.css

As you can see, we have 2 different JavaScript file & 2 CSS files. So what basically we will do in the next is to create a utility which can combine given JavaScript and compress it, then send it to client browser. Next the same process will be done for the CSS. Both the CSS files will be combined and compressed and send to client browser.

Now it's time to take a look at into actual stuff that does this underlying work.

First of all we will create a CS class file that will hold the programming stuffs.

So perform the following steps to create & configure that CS class file.

Create CS class file with the name ScriptCombiner.cs and put the following code in that.

public
class
ScriptCombiner : IHttpHandler

{

private
readonly
static
TimeSpan CACHE_DURATION = TimeSpan.FromDays(1);

private
HttpContext context;

public
void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)

{

}

public
bool IsReusable

{

get { return
true; }

}

As you can see, we are implementing the IHttpHandler interface.

You can write custom HTTP handlers to process specific, predefined types of HTTP requests in any Common Language Specification (CLS) compliant language. Executable code defined in the HttpHandler classes, rather than conventional ASP or ASP.NET Web pages, responds to these specific requests. HTTP handlers give you a means of interacting with the low-level request and response services of the IIS Web server and provide functionality much like ISAPI extensions but with a simpler programming model.

We are also implementing IsReusable properly as it is compulsory to implement as a part of inheritance of IHttpHandler interface.

Now, let's put the nuts & bolts inside the ProcessRequest function. I will also explain you the step by step each execution that is inside this function.

We will also create another CS class file that is used to compress JavaScript. That file is named as "JavaScriptMinifier.cs". Please take a look at the attached project solution file. As it is contain long lines of code, I can't put it here.
Complete your class file with following functions.

public
void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)

{

string xStrType, xStrSet, xStrVer, xStrpagecode;

Boolean xBlnCanCompress;

this.context = context;

HttpRequest request = context.Request;

xStrType = (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(request["type"])) ? request["type"] : null;

xStrSet = (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(request["s"])) ? request["s"] : null;

xStrVer = (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(request["v"])) ? request["v"] : null;

xStrpagecode = (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(request["pcode"])) ? request["pcode"] : null;

//first check if client browser can support compressions

xBlnCanCompress = CanClientGZip(request);

using (MemoryStream memStream = new
MemoryStream(8092))

{

Stream writer;

//if browser is supporing GZip compression then create a new object using ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.GZip

//library which allow the compressed respose to send to client

if (xBlnCanCompress)

writer = (new ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.GZip.GZipOutputStream(memStream));

else

writer = memStream;

using (writer)

{

//now its time to read all the script/css files into a StringBuilder object.

StringBuilder combinedSource = new
StringBuilder();

foreach (string file in GetFileNames(xStrSet, xStrpagecode, xStrType))

combinedSource.Append(System.IO.File.ReadAllText(context.Server.MapPath(file), Encoding.UTF8));

//Upto now we have combined all css/javascript based on request.

//its now time to remove extra white spaces and other unwanted characters from respose.

//compression will take place now.

string minified;

//use the YUI Javascript/CSS minifier to compress all js files

if (xStrType == "js")

minified = combinedSource.ToString();

else

minified = CompressCSS(combinedSource.ToString());

// Send minfied string to output stream

byte[] bt = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(minified);

writer.Write(bt, 0, bt.Length);

}

//cache the respose so that in next request it can be reused

byte[] responseBytes = memStream.ToArray();

//context.Cache.Insert(GetCacheKey(xStrSet, xStrType, xStrVer, xBlnCanCompress), responseBytes, null, System.Web.Caching.Cache.NoAbsoluteExpiration, CACHE_DURATION);

// Generate the response

this.WriteBytes(responseBytes, xBlnCanCompress, xStrType);

}

private
bool CanClientGZip(HttpRequest request)

{

string acceptEncoding = request.Headers["Accept-Encoding"];

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(acceptEncoding) &&

(acceptEncoding.Contains("gzip") || acceptEncoding.Contains("deflate")))

return
true;

return
false;

}

// helper method that return an array of file names inside the text file stored in App_Data folder

private
static
string[] GetFileNames(string setName, string pagecode, string type)

{

System.Xml.XPath.XPathDocument doc2;

System.Xml.XPath.XPathNavigator navigator;

System.Xml.XPath.XPathNodeIterator iterator;

System.Collections.Generic.List<string> scripts = new System.Collections.Generic.List<string>();

string key;

if (type == "js")

key = "scriptfile";

else

key = "cssfile";

if (System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Cache[key] != null)

{

doc2 = (System.Xml.XPath.XPathDocument)System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Cache[key];

}

else

{

string filename;

filename = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(String.Format("~/App_Data/{0}.xml", setName));

doc2 = new System.Xml.XPath.XPathDocument(filename);

System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Cache.Insert(key, doc2, new System.Web.Caching.CacheDependency(filename), DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(60), TimeSpan.Zero);

}

navigator = doc2.CreateNavigator();

if (type == "js")

iterator = navigator.Select("/scripts/page[@pagecode='" + pagecode + "']/script");

else

iterator = navigator.Select("/styles/page[@pagecode='" + pagecode + "']/style");

while (iterator.MoveNext())

scripts.Add(iterator.Current.InnerXml);

return scripts.ToArray();

}

private
string GetCacheKey(string type, string setName, string version, bool cancompress)

{

return
"HttpCombiner." + setName + "." + type + "." + version + "." + cancompress;

}

private
void WriteBytes(byte[] bytes, bool isCompressed, string type)

{

HttpResponse response = context.Response;

response.AppendHeader("Content-Length", bytes.Length.ToString());

if (type == "js")

response.ContentType = "application/x-javascript";

else

response.ContentType = "text/css";

if (isCompressed)

response.AppendHeader("Content-Encoding", "gzip");

else

response.AppendHeader("Content-Encoding", "utf-8″);

context.Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.Public);

context.Response.Cache.SetExpires(DateTime.Now.Add(CACHE_DURATION));

context.Response.Cache.SetMaxAge(CACHE_DURATION);

response.ContentEncoding = Encoding.Unicode;

response.OutputStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);

response.Flush();

}

public
static
string GetScriptTag(string setname, string pageid, string type, string ver)

{

string result = "";

if (type == "js")

result += String.Format("<script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"/" + Web.Utility.Functions.GetURLPrefix() + "ScriptCombiner.axd?s={0}&v={1}&type=js&pcode={2}\"></script>", setname, ver, pageid);

else

result += String.Format("<link link href=\"ScriptCombiner.axd?s={0}&v={1}&type=css&pcode={2}\" rel=\"stylesheet\" type=\"text/css\"/>", setname, ver, pageid);

return result;

}

public
static
string CompressCSS(string body)

{

body = Regex.Replace(body, "/\\*.+?\\*/", "", RegexOptions.Singleline);

body = body.Replace(" ", string.Empty);

body = body.Replace(Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine, string.Empty);

body = body.Replace(Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine, Environment.NewLine);

body = body.Replace(Environment.NewLine, string.Empty);

body = body.Replace("\\t", string.Empty);

body = body.Replace(" {", "{");

body = body.Replace(" :", ":");

body = body.Replace(": ", ":");

body = body.Replace(", ", ",");

body = body.Replace("; ", ";");

body = body.Replace(";}", "}");

body = Regex.Replace(body, "/\\*[^\\*]*\\*+([^/\\*]*\\*+)*/", "$1″);

body = Regex.Replace(body, "(?<=[>])\\s{2,}(?=[<])|(?<=[>])\\s{2,}(?= )|(?<=&ndsp;)\\s{2,}(?=[<])", string.Empty);

return body;

}

You are now almost done with 50% of work for your project.

Now let's take a look at the few of important execution steps that are in this function.

First of all we are declaring four different string variables:

string xStrType, xStrSet, xStrVer, xStrpagecode;

They will be used to get the Querystring passed in to this handler. This is utilized later on the code.

Moving next, you will find these function call:

//first check if client browser can support compressions

xBlnCanCompress = CanClientGZip(request);

This is basically to check does client browser support GZip compression.

Gzip compression, otherwise known as content encoding, is a publicly defined way to compress textual content transferred from web servers to browsers. HTTP compression uses public domain compression algorithms, like gzip and compress, to compress XHTML, JavaScript, CSS, and other text files at the server. This standards-based method of delivering compressed content is built into HTTP 1.1, and most modern browsers that support HTTP 1.1 support ZLIB inflation of deflated documents. In other words, they can decompress compressed files automatically, which saves time and bandwidth.

In the next step it is preparing the stream object used to hold the response output. We will not take dipper look into that code. As I expect that the a beginning developer even must be able know about next few line of code. J

Let's move to the line of code:

//now its time to read all the script/css files into a StringBuilder object.

StringBuilder combinedSource = new
StringBuilder();

foreach (string file in GetFileNames(xStrSet, xStrpagecode, xStrType))

combinedSource.Append(System.IO.File.ReadAllText(context.Server.MapPath(file), Encoding.UTF8));

As you can see in the foreach loop, it is calling to method GetFileNames, by passing 3 different parameters. Here this is also core and important part of this project. Let me outline you first what this function basically do. This function will read to the "script.xml" file that hold content of script file that we want to load. Please look inside the attached project solution to understand it better. The function will read xml file and return array of string object containing JavaScript files to read.

In the subsequent line of code, it iterate through each file name and read it. Each content of read file is placed inside a StringBuilder object.

Please take look at the code inside the GetFileNames function to understand what is actually happening inside it. It fetches the JavaScript/CSS based on the parameter passed. And return either the JavaScript file name array or CSS file name array.

So now we have a combined script/CSS with us. It's a time to minify JavaScript/CSS now.

Following line of code will minify respective JavaScript/CSS based on type of client script requested.

//use the YUI Javascript/CSS minifier to compress all js files

if (xStrType == "js")

{

JavaScriptMinifier minifier = new
JavaScriptMinifier();

minified = minifier.Minify(combinedSource.ToString());

}

else

{

minified = CompressCSS(combinedSource.ToString());

}

The JavaScriptMinifier has been created in the 2^nd step. Please refer to the attached solution project for more detail regarding this class file. I have adopted this class file from one of the article

You will also see function CompressCSS that is used to compress CSS file. The compressor of CSS file is done through just few regular expression. JavaScript compression has different algorithm.

After that it is calling to WriteBytes function that will prepare the combined & compressed JavaScript & CSS response and send it to the client.

Hurray as part of implementation we are done.

Now it's time to check that in action. You can run the project attached here with and check it In live action.

To download complete project, click here

Let's compare the result of two different pages. The first one is with the compressed JavaScript & CSS. The second one is with the normal JavaScript & CSS. We will also see the difference in load time and size of content received.

Response time with compressed JavaScript & CSS.

Response time without compressed JavaScript & CSS.

As you can see from given statistics

With Combined & Compressed JavaScript and CSS ..

Total request: 3

Response size: 16.3 KB

Without Combined & Compressed JavaScript and CSS ..

Total request: 5

Response size: 96 KB

You can clearly see the difference between these two request.

To get more idea open and run the project yourself. That will give you better idea.

Hope you will find it very useful.

Happy coding. J

jQuery pager-Flicker like jQuery pager

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:07:00 +0000

Intension for the development of this PlugIn is to develop a jQuery pagination which resembles Flicker like
pagination.

jPager is a jQuery pager plugin, similar to Flickr's paging interface.

If you have ever visited Flicker photo sharing website, you would have noticed that it display a range of pages with
current page in middle. It also facilitates to have back and forth navigation. If you have very large data spread across
range of pages, and then it leave outs page numbers, displaying an ellipsis instead, followed by the last page number.

It is very integrative jQuery pager Plugin.

Although pager is generally used along with some grid controls, but there may be sometime kind of requirement where
you may require to use jQuery pager control alone itself. For e.g. you may use along with some image gallery,
rotating content, carousel like section etc.

This jQuery pager/Flicker like jQuery pager allows you to creating pagination facility into you application
with minimum effort.

How to use?

Reference jPager.js & jPager.css files in your page

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="jquery-1.2.6.min.js" /> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="jPager.js" /> <link href="jPager.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

create a HTML container for pager. Put it where you wanted to display your pager require.
<div id="content"></div>
Put the following sript in your page.
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
$(document).ready(function() { $("#content").pager({ PageCount: 5, currentPage: 1 }); });
</script>

Features:

Very lighweight & easy to use and easy to integrate. Just one line of code you need to build jQuery pager.
CSS driven so layout is fully costomizable with CSS.
Event driven facility make it easy to call any custom script whenever page get chaged.
Supports upto unlimited pages.
Display custom text for previous & next buttons.
Hide displaying previous & next buttons.

You can download the demo & source code from here.

Cheers

Reading emails from POP server in asp.net

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:07:00 +0000

In this article, I will explain you how to read email from POP3 server or read emails from POP3 server which require SSL. Although I have not developed my own library, I prefer to utilize the available resource.

Well, while being in the development, you have very limited time constraint to go and research on POP3 and then develop your own component.

It is sometime wise decision to go and do the Googling and find out your requirement.

After all we, as developer should "do smart work, not hardwork" J

Anyway, for those who have kind of requirement like reading emails from POP3 server from asp.net, reading email from email server in asp.net etc. Here is the article that you probably find it useful.

Well I had requirement in couple of project where I need to collect emails that are there in particular email's Inbox. Earlier I was used to with component "Indy.Sockets" component, which really help me to achieve my task.

You may find it from here.

www.indyproject.org/

It is an open source socket library. It supports may protocols like SMTP, POP3, NNTP, HTTP, and many more.

Then in one of the module that I come to develop, I need to read Inbox of a Gmail account!

Well as you know, Gmail requires SSL.

But the drawback with component is it does not support SSL.

So I discover Mailsystem.NET.

MailSystem is a suite of .NET components that provide users with an extensive set of email tools.

I will not explain more in detail on this, rather I will rather just explain how to integrate it and use it.

You can find more information from here..

http://www.agilecomponents.com/

Once you download it and extract it, you will require to do following steps..

Navigate to "Release" folder in extracted folder.
Find these DLLs: ActiveUp.Net.Mail.dll, ActiveUp.Net.Common.dll, ActiveUp.Net.Dns.dll, ActiveUp.Net.Pop3.dll.
Add reference of these DLLs into your file.

Hurray are almost done with you configuration.

Now, you only just need to develop your script that fetched and read emails from POP3 server.

So for that, here is the readymade script for you J.

public string[] GetDeliveryFailureEMailsAddress()

{

Pop3Client pop = new Pop3Client();

System.Collections.Generic.List<string> emails = new System.Collections.Generic.List<string>();

try {

// Connect to the pop3 client

pop.ConnectSsl(SMTPHost, Port, SMTPUserId, SMTPPass);

MessageCollection mc = new MessageCollection();

for (int n = 1; n <= pop.MessageCount; n++) {

Message newMessage = pop.RetrieveMessageObject(n);

//do your stuffs here using newMessage object.

}

} catch (Pop3Exception pexp) {

} finally {

if (pop.IsConnected) {

pop.Disconnect();

}

return emails.ToArray();

}

One important part in this script is object initialization.

// Connect to the pop3 client

pop.ConnectSsl(SMTPHost, Port, SMTPUserId, SMTPPass);

As per Gmail, you need to set:

Host: pop.gmail.com

Port: 995

As I told earlier, I want to read email from POP3 server that requires SSL in asp.net.

There are different overloaded constructors that you can use to connect to POP3 server from asp.net.

The library itself is very rich. You can achieve following functionality with POP3 server.

Read/Read email from POP3 server in asp.net with CRAM authentication.
Retrieve/Read email from POP3 server in asp.net asynchronously.
Retrieve/Read email from POP3 server in asp.net with secure connection, like SSL in Gmail.
Retrieve/Read only email count from POP3 server in asp.net.
Retrieve/Read only email header from POP3 server in asp.net.
Retrieve/Read full emails from POP3 server in asp.net.
Retrieve/Read full emails to a file from POP3 server in asp.net.

How to convert value to Enum

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:07:00 +0000

How to convert a value into Enum?

In project, we sometime come across a kind of situation where we need to convert some value to Enum and an Enum object into certain value.

One solution to this is we can write chunk of switch-case statement and return the desired result.

But is there any rationalize method to achieve this? Yes here is the piece of code that you may find it useful. I have implemented it in many of my project and it really helps me reduce some overloaded work for me.

So here is that code for you in which I demonstrate how you can convert a value into Enum object.

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

public
static
class
EnumsConverter

{

public
static T ConvertValueToEnum<T>(object value, T defaultValue)

{

Type enumType = Reflection.ExtractEnumType(typeof(T));

if (enumType == null)

{

throw
new
ArgumentException("Type T is not an enumeration", "T");

}

try

{

return (T)Enum.Parse(enumType, value.ToString());

}

catch (ArgumentException)

{

return defaultValue;

}

public
static T ConvertValueToEnum<T>(object value)

{

Type enumType = Reflection.ExtractEnumType(typeof(T));

if (enumType == null)

{

throw
new
ArgumentException("Type T is not an enumeration", "T");

}

return (T)Enum.Parse(enumType, value.ToString());

}

Here there are two overloaded methods. All you have to do is pass your desired enumeration object. The method itself will identify and return attached valued to that particular Enum object.

Happy programming

How to call Google MAP Webservice API from asp.net, call Geocoding Map API Webservice from asp.net

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:07:00 +0000

How the necessities arise?

Necessity is mother of invention.

I was assigned a task to develop a restaurant portal.

The basic aim behind creation of this project is to have a marketplace for all restaurant owner or hotel business, and provide end user with integrative google map services so that they visualize realtime.

If we are supposed to insert a simple google map, then we just have to insert a piece javascript code, and boom you are done.

But in my project, I have requirement where different restaurant/hotel owner register and give us their details and addresses.

So, What is Google Map API?

The Google Maps API lets you embed Google Maps in your own web pages with JavaScript. The API provides a number of utilities for manipulating maps and adding content to the map through a variety of services, allowing you to create robust maps applications on your website.

All map related functionalities can be achieved as seen on http://maps.google.com/

Then what was hurdle for me in using Map API?

These are the pure JavaScript code..!! You can develop whatever rich Map application you wanted to develop by writing piece of JavaScript codes.

Actually to host a map on your page, you need to have two parameters, Latitude & Longitude. But how do I get lat. and long. from server side scripting?

But I had no idea how to call Google Map API from C#/VB.NET.

So for my project, as usual, I start googling to find out my piece of sweet.

After searching for couple of hours, I come across this good article.

http://webcodeblog.com/2010/04/24/obtain-latitude-and-longitude-co-ordinates-for-an-address-using-asp-net-and-the-google-maps-api/

Here the author explained the how to obtain the latitude and longitude co-ordinates for an address using the Google Maps API.

But again here, it is pure JavaScript that utilize Google Map API to get lat & long of any address. But my problem is still there?

Hurrray.. I found the solution

Then accidently I come to across Google Maps API Web Services.

It is basically Maps API Web Services, a collection of HTTP interfaces to Google services providing geographic data for your maps applications.

In the documentation (http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/webservices/),

I see that you can utilize Google Map API web service by making HTTP request to a specific URL, providing necessary parameters with URL. Which in return, gives a response in desired format.

You can get response inform of JSON or XML.

Say for e.g. it can be called like this URL

http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=khandala, maharashtra&output=xml&key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Paste it into your browser and you will receive a XML response.

Immediately, I get one "Mantos (Dimag ki batti jala de)" and found a clue J

I thought why not to develop a library that make a call to this URL and parse the returned output to get lat & long!!?

So for that purpose I write this library.

Obviously, before doing all these, you will need to register with Google Map API and get a key so that you can utilize their API.

Sign up and get a Google Maps API Key. You will need one for the domain name of where you will be hosting the map. You can get your API Key from here (http://code.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html)

Following is the complete code that I used to call Google Map Geocoding API from Asp.net.

All you have to do Is to just create a class file and paste the following code. And you are ready to call Google Map Geocoding API.

How to call Geocoding API from Asp.net?

Step 1

/// Resolve addresses into latitude/longitude coordinates using Google MAP API webservices

public static class Geocoder{

private static string _GoogleMapsKey = Config.getAppSetting("GoogleMapsKey");

/// Google.com Geocoder

/// Url request to

/// http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=your address&output=xml&key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

public static Geolocation? ResolveAddress(string query)

{

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(_GoogleMapsKey))

_GoogleMapsKey = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["GoogleMapsKey"];

string url = "http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q={0}&output=xml&key=" + _GoogleMapsKey;

url = String.Format(url, query);

XmlNode coords = null;

try{

string xmlString = GetUrl(url);

XmlDocument xd = new XmlDocument();

xd.LoadXml(xmlString);

XmlNamespaceManager xnm = new XmlNamespaceManager(xd.NameTable);

coords = xd.GetElementsByTagName("coordinates")[0];

}

catch { }

Geolocation? gl = null;

if (coords != null){

string[] coordinateArray = coords.InnerText.Split(',');

if (coordinateArray.Length >= 2)

{

gl = new Geolocation(Convert.ToDecimal(coordinateArray[1].ToString()), Convert.ToDecimal(coordinateArray[0].ToString()));

}

return gl;

}

public static Geolocation? ResolveAddress(string address, string city, string state, string postcode, string country)

{

return ResolveAddress(address + "," + city + "," + state + "," + postcode + " " + country);

}

///
<summary>

/// Retrieve a Url via WebClient

private static string GetUrl(string url)

{

string result = string.Empty;

System.Net.WebClient Client = new WebClient();

using (Stream strm = Client.OpenRead(url))

{

StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(strm);

result = sr.ReadToEnd();

}

return result;

}

public struct Geolocation

{

public decimal Lat;

public decimal Lon;

public Geolocation(decimal lat, decimal lon)

{

Lat = lat;

Lon = lon;

}

public override string ToString()

{

return "Latitude: " + Lat.ToString() + " Longitude: " + Lon.ToString();

}

public string ToQueryString()

{

return "+to:" + Lat + "%2B" + Lon;

}

Step 2

Now, you just need to put a key in AppSetting section that hold your Google Map API key.

Step 3

I have provided 2 overloaded methods to call Geocoding Map API Webservice, named ResolveAddress.

Say for e.g. you can call method like this.

Geocoder.ResolveAddress("University road","rajkot","gujarat","","India")

I hope this will solve your purpose, those who wanted to develop Geocoding application, those who want to access Google Map Webservice API from c#/vb.net.

Happy programming

Communication - From developers point of view

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:06:00 +0000

Introduction:

By definition communication means: "It is the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another. It is essentially a bridge of meaning between people. By using the bridge of meaning, a person can safely cross the river of misunderstanding that separates all the people."

History of communication says that it comes from a Latin word: "communicare", which as three meaning imminent from it:
1. "To make common", which is probably can be derived from 2 or 3.
2. "Cum + munus", its like having a gift to share in mutual donation.
3. Building together a defence.
From the developer point of view (I hope reader is somewhere involved programming J ), communication is real important factor to improvise one's potentiality. A good leader has to be a good communicator. It's not so that communication skills means the way you talk, the way you present your idea to others. Communication skill involves many other areas. Like: Verbal communication, Non verbal communication, written communication, Gesture communication etc.

All these are nuts & bolts for being a good communicator.

Communication makes you perfect in demonstrating your ideas to front end people. Let's take few examples that give you glimpse why communication skill is so important for a developer/leader.
1. Think what if you are a technical leader and your client has given you a task. You are supposed to present him technical feasibility report or say you wanted to explain him/her flow of your system. If you are not have a good command over your English, collections vocabulary, you are not used to prepare & utilize MS word, then?
2. In number of different occasions, we as developer/leader need to talk with different users. These users may be end users of system, stack holders, clients who have given as project to work on. Different people have different emotions and different style of communication. In these cases, you need to communicate in a balanced view.
3. When I was a fresher, digging into the word of programming. We were instructed that when any CRUD operation is performed, you need to show users a message that operation successfully completed. When in an application someone create a PO from their site, I say them "operation successfully completed." But what operation? J
Well, there are many many many other points that can be put here in list, but in that case you may avoid to read my article. And I don't want to make that happen J.

So let's take a took some important characteristics of a good communication.
1. It's a two way process It's quite understandable. In any communication system there are two parties involved. One is Transmitter another is receiver. Overall motto of communication is to delivery your message to other parties. It may be comprising of debate, discussion etc.
2. It's continuous process 
  Communication process continues to the extent that ideas and messages are communicated and received. Like for e.g. if we are at system analysis stage for any project. Continues discussion is very important. As a analyst, we have to be in contact with stack holder to understand their requirement. We have to identify end user who is going to use the software/application.
3. It can be in formal way or informal way, though it may be in different medium.
Elements of communication

Why communication is so important for us?

It is important because.
1. Making enterprise run smoothly.
2. Quick decision and implementation.
3. Project planning & coordination.
4. Maximizing productivity.
5. Morale building/Motivation tool and developing your democratic leadership style.
Properly recorded communication documents, system analysis docs., technical specification, ER diagrams, these are the documents that we generally prepare so that it make ease for any new comer in organization to get settle with his project. This makes organization to run smooth.

Moreover, properly maintained documents allow you to make quick discussion in hurry.

For proper co-ordination and maintenance, developer can utilize different project management tools. To name few here are some of them.
1. www.mantisbt.org MantisBT is a popular free web-based bug tracking system.
2. Basecamp
3. Central Desktop
4. 5pm
You can get more information for such tools from this article.

http://tomuse.com/top-10-best-free-online-project-management-application-services/

There are different kinds of communication methods. Like

Verbal or oral communication
Written communication
Formal communication, informal communication

Developers are used to choose from these methods according to availability of resources and situation. Mostly verbal or written communication is widely popular among us. Formal communication has special delegation of authority, which means a project leader has given sufficient rights to make certain decision without asking to their superiors. Where in informal communication, there is no authority defined. It is conveyed by simple gesture, glance, smile, silence.

Effective communication

While you are in presentation, instructing to group of developers, doing video conferencing with other peers on remote location, Clarity of Thoughts
is really important.
Something just can't be explained by words. You have to react with your body. It is important to attach importance to actions rather than words.
Participation  as said earlier, it's a two way process which require involvement of all the parties. If you are not involved mentally in communication process, you are not going to perform your task well. Your presence is must. If your leader informed you about coding standard to be maintained, and if you don't remember those, you will in trouble.
What to communicate? Prepare the agenda that you need to talk about before you initiate. Collect all the required documents, technical specifications, proof reports, different analysis report before you talk with your superior or clients.
When to communicate? Mutually decide timing with your parties involved in. You can either initiate or let your parties to initiate and decide when to communicate. You can place meeting request in outlook, send them emails, take care of geographical difference in timing, ask for the availability and long will be the meeting etc.
How to communicate? Choose the medium that you want to communicate through. If discussion matter to be explained to a technical person, chat or peer to peer method can be best suited. If talking with non technical person, you have to represent your ideas to your parties in such a way that he can understand your thoughts. You may explain them using different diagrams, preparing documents and go through documents while you discuss, giving them references about what are trying to demonstrate him. There are no. of collaboration tools are there in market which you can use for this purpose. Like we have google wave, Webex, Skype voice chat, video conferencing through different tools etc.
How often to communicate?  As I said that it's a continuous process. You can't make sure that having discussion for 5-6 hours, you will come out with your objective. It's an iterative process. You should try to divide your agenda into groups. Discuss them at different time interval. Make all agenda clear step by step. Try to identify issues relating to each other and communicate them as well.
What is the objective of communication?  It is almost similar to identifying communication goal/agenda. But the objective of communication here is in the term of what is the outcome we are expecting to come from it. When project is running out of time, meeting by team leader is to motivate developers to encourage them to get it done at right time.
Keep the channel alive
Cordial superior  Once finished communication, it should be conveyed to your superior that what was the outcome? What where the agenda? What are clients new requirements? What do you suggest for different points to client? How was the response from client etc.
Get the feedback  Generally when you dial in to customer care of your cellular provider, right after you finish your talk with them, you receive message regarding feedback for the person you talked with. This is the process of evaluation. It's not to make garbage employees collection. It's about gathering customer's response how they like customer care person to be behaved. So gathering those feedback we can evaluate and enhance process.

To make such effective communication, what should you do? Or what should you have? Here is answer for you.

Develop a positive attitude.
Bad feelings should not hamper discussion  Human is social animal. Different people have different mentality. All have different approach to grow and perform tasks. When we are working in organization, we work in a team. It is sometime obvious that different group member have conflict with other peers. When working as team, it is must that team show their team effort rather than individuals. So your bad feeling with others should not hinder communication.
Use logic to manage difficult situations
Develop Harmonious interpersonal relationships. It is secret of business relationship.

And for effective oral communication, you should have..

Understanding and use of appropriate language.
Organize and sequence of thoughts properly.
Vocabulary power.
Command over illustrations, examples.
Proper pronunciation.
Proper use of sound system/equipments.
Listening ability.
Effective telephonic talk.

And for written communication.

Command over the language.
Word power and spelling.
Correct grammar.
Proper structuring of the written message
Use of appropriate channels like courier, e-mail, etc.
Attention to hand writing, typing, printing.

And for non verbal communication.

Observation skills.
Awareness about the body movement.
Proper interpretation of the non-verbal message.

Well no system is perfect in the world. There is always barrier in everything we do. Effective communication itself has its own. It is said that 30% communication the word are failed to success due to loss in transmission. Inaccurate translation, false impression, fear, noise etc. are the elements as barrier of communication. Though I am not going to tell you all here J.

So here I would like to conclude my article, hope I covered all skills of written communication in my article J. I also hope that I am able to convey to my message.

So see you next time till then happy communication & happy programming

Cheers..

How to : Magento - Payment Type Surcharge Without Paying for an Extension.

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:21:00 +0000

Just though I would share this little tid bit for the benefit of all who have asked for this type of functionality from magento and not been prepared to pay $64 USD for an extension to do so.

Just to clarify, this is a mod, not an extension. Also, I'm not the worlds greatest Magento user and i'm sure there is a way of making an extension to do this. But.. for the moment, the following instructional works very well and is very easy to do.

Usage: Once mods have been made, admin users will be able to create a shopping cart rule "discount" which is not actually a discount based on a percentage of the value of their shopping cart. I'm not going to educate you all how to make a shopping cart rule, but basically, until now there have been a few problems with using shopping cart rules to apply a Surcharge.

The First. You can't. You can only enter a positive number as a percentage

The Second. Magento in all their wisdom have an option to calculate the "discount" on shipping as well as shopping cart value, however the stupid system does not allow you to move the location of the "discount" / surcharge to after the shipping line. This can be very confusing for customers trying to figure out how their "discount"/surcharge is calculated.

Lastly, again in all their Wisdom, Magento went and hard coded the word "Discount" in front of the name of your discount / surcharge. So for instance if I wanted to add a surcharge using the mod below, it would read something like this :

(Discount) Credit Card Surcharge 1.5% = $15.60

Obviously that is not the smartest way to do things which is surprising for an E-Commerce system which is supposed to be flexible. Did they need to hard code the word "Discount" especially given the fact one could easily pre pend the word "discount" in the name of the shopping cart rule if they wanted it displayed.

One more gripe before I proceed to the How to is the fact the only reason I wrote this is because Magento are so pathetically poor at answer extreemly simple questions such as this. I could find absolutely no definitive solution to this issue other than to A) Pay Magento for support which is laughable given how easy this was to resolve or B)Pay $64 for an extension.

And for the disclaimer. This will involve very small modifications to core Magento files. Always make backups before changing any of the files mentioned herin. Also apparently it is illegal to apply Credit Card (or any other payment type for that matter) surcharges in some countries. Check with your Merchant provider in your country to see if this is a problem.

Let me know if you have any questions and please provide credit if you intend on posting this elsewhere.

MAGNETO CHANGES :
To create credit card surcharge :

Change the following file :
app/code/core/Mage/rule/model/rule.php

Find :

protected function _beforeSave()
{
check if discount amount > 0
if ((int)$this->getDiscountAmount() < 0) {
Mage::throwException(Mage::helper('rule')->__('Invalid discount amount.'));
}

Change to :

protected function _beforeSave()
{
// check if discount amount > 0
//if ((int)$this->getDiscountAmount() < 0) {
// Mage::throwException(Mage::helper('rule')->__('Invalid discount amount.'));
//}

Change the following file :
app/code/core/Mage/Adminhtml/block/promo/quote/edit/tab/actions.php

Find :

$fieldset->addField('discount_amount', 'text', array(
'name' => 'discount_amount',
'required' => true,
'class' => 'validate-not-negative-number',
'label' => Mage::helper('salesrule')->__('Discount amount'),

Change to :

$fieldset->addField('discount_amount', 'text', array(
'name' => 'discount_amount',
'required' => true,
// 'class' => 'validate-not-negative-number',
'label' => Mage::helper('salesrule')->__('Discount amount'),

Find :

app/locale/en_us/mage_sales.csv <you may be using a different language definition file folder ie /en_au copy changed file to both folders.

This part is important : open the file in Excel the first column is the variable name, the second is the variable value. ONLY CHANGE THE VARIABLE VALUE!! DO NOT CHANGE THE

VARIABLE NAME.

Find the row which says "Discount" in column 1 and "Discount" in column 2.
Erase the value of Discount in Column 2 ie Column 1 should read "Discount" (without the inverted commas) and column 2 should be empty.

The next step is optional and will depend if you want your surcharge to show AFTER shipping or before shipping. The Magento default is to display discounts (surcharge) BEFORE shipping- regardless of whether you've opted to have your surcharge/discount applied to shipping in the admin console. If you wish to have discount/surcharge displayed AFTER shipping, then proceed with the next step. Otherwise you're all done.

Change the following file ***THIS STEP IS OPTIONAL AND IS SUITED TO VERSIONS LOWER THAN 1.4.01 For versions Later than 1.4.01 This change can be made via the admin console Admin ->Sales >Checkout Total Sort Order. Change "Shipping" to "20″ and change the blank line above it to 30.

For versions prior to 1.4.01

app/code/core/Mage/Sales/etc/config.xml

Change the following :

<totals_sort>
<discount>20</discount>
<grand_total>100</grand_total>
<shipping>30</shipping>
<subtotal>10</subtotal>
<tax>40</tax>
</totals_sort>

To:

<totals_sort>
<discount>30</discount>
<grand_total>100</grand_total>
<shipping>20</shipping>
<subtotal>10</subtotal>
<tax>40</tax>
</totals_sort>

All Done. You should now be able to set negative values in the "Shopping Cart Price Rules" from your admin console. Make sure all rule names are descriptive so your customers know what is going on.

Life is like a database

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 03:52:00 +0000

Make your life as deep as a database
Be always as unique as a primary key
Be productive as an index
Take others good habits as a foreign key....!!!

Share your joys with others as a cluster
Keep note of your activities as good as data dictionary
Grant some privileges to others as a role
Secure the things as a dba....!!!

Do the things in order as a rowid
Follow your resolution as strict as a sequence
Light others life as a trigger
Be prepared for the worst as an exception....!!!

Always be fruitful as a function
Forgive others as a rollback transaction
Always help others like checkpoint
Choose the best path like an optimizer....!!!

Project yourself the best like a view
Don't expect anything from others(procedures) and
Be thankful to god as a commit transaction...!!!

In what order does HttpRequest go through the collections?

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:12:00 +0000

I found this question on the ASP.NET forums. The member asking this question already knew that the collections were Cookies, Form, Servervariables and Querystring but wanted to know the exact order. Well I got curious but instead of making a dedicated test project I opened up Reflector. Looking up the HttpRequest class' indexer gave me this code:

public string this[string  key]
{
    get
     {
        string str =  this.QueryString[key];
        if (str !=  null)
         {
            return  str;
         }
        str =  this.Form[key];
        if (str !=  null)
         {
            return  str;
         }
        HttpCookie cookie =  this.Cookies[key];
        if (cookie !=  null)
         {
            return  cookie.Value;
         }
        str =  this.ServerVariables[key];
        if (str  != null)
         {
            return  str;
         }
        return  null;
    }
}

It's on the other hand always better to directly call the most specific collection directly. This avoids getting strange things in your code like expecting a key in the Form collection and getting the same key from the QueryString collection which could have a different, or none at all, value than what you expect. Fun debugging sessions follow after that…

Why Upgrade to Version 2.0 of the .Net Compact Framework?

noreply@blogger.com (MILIND KANSAGARA) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:47:00 +0000

Steven Pratschner, Program Manager, .NET Compact Framework, lists down reasons why one should upgrade ot the latest version of the .NET compact framework.

Highlights:

Applications run faster
Developers are more productive
Developers are more productive
Developing secure applications is much easier
Access to Data is faster and more scalable
Developers can build more sophisticated user interfaces
Platform stability and security continues to increase

Need more information? Check out his blog post at https://blogs.msdn.com/stevenpr/archive/2005/11/30/498481.aspx