N a g a s a i

What is a MIME type?

2012-01-10T16:13:00.000+05:30

There are times when you would want the IIS web server to serve a file that has an extension that it does not recognize. That is, a file whose MIME type has not been defined. In such a case, IIS would return http error code, 404.3 as shown below.

HTTP Error 404.3 – Not Found
Description: The page you are requesting cannot be served because of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) map policy that is configured on the Web server. The page you requested has a file name extension that is not recognized, and therefore is not allowed.

MIME stands for Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions. MIME types form a standard way of classifying file types on the Internet. Internet programs such as Web servers and browsers all have a list of MIME types, so that they can transfer files of the same type in the same way, no matter what operating system they are working in.

A MIME type has two parts: a type and a subtype. They are separated by a slash (/). For example, the MIME type for Microsoft Word files is application and the subtype is msword. Together, the complete MIME type is application/msword.

Here is the list of available MIME types that you can add and configure on IIS

Hope this is useful.

List of MIME Types with Content types

2012-01-10T16:09:00.000+05:30

There are times when you would want the IIS web server to serve a file that has an extension that it does not recognize. That is, a file whose mime type has not been defined. In such a case, IIS would return http error code, 404.3. For the web server to serve the file with that new extension, you need to create a mapping between that extension and the MIME type.

The following MIME types are some MIME types with its File Extension and Content type.

File Extension	Content type (MIME)
.323	text/h323
.aaf	application/octet-stream
.aca	application/octet-stream
.acx	application/internet-property-stream
.afm	application/octet-stream
.ai	application/postscript
.aif	audio/x-aiff
.aifc	audio/aiff
.aiff	audio/aiff
.applicati	application/x-ms-application
.art	image/x-jg
.asd	application/octet-stream
.asf	video/x-ms-asf
.asi	application/octet-stream
.asm	text/plain
.asr	video/x-ms-asf
.asx	video/x-ms-asf
.au	audio/basic
.avi	video/x-msvideo
.axs	application/olescript
.bas	text/plain
.bcpio	application/x-bcpio
.bin	application/octet-stream
.bmp	image/bmp
.c	text/plain
.cab	application/octet-stream
.cat	application/vnd.ms-pki.seccat
.cdf	application/x-cdf
.chm	application/octet-stream
.class	application/x-java-applet
.clp	application/x-msclip
.cmx	image/x-cmx
.cnf	text/plain
.cod	image/cis-cod
.cpio	application/x-cpio
.cpp	text/plain
.crd	application/x-mscardfile
.crl	application/pkix-crl
.crt	application/x-x509-ca-cert
.csh	application/x-csh
.css	text/css
.csv	application/octet-stream
.cur	application/octet-stream
.dcr	application/x-director
.deploy	application/octet-stream
.der	application/x-x509-ca-cert
.dib	image/bmp
.dir	application/x-director
.disco	text/xml
.dll	application/x-msdownload
.dlm	text/dlm
.dnl	application/x-msdownload
.doc	application/msword
.dot	application/msword
.dsp	application/octet-stream
.dtd	text/xml
.dvi	application/x-dvi
.dwf	drawing/x-dwf
.dwp	application/octet-stream
.dxr	application/x-director
.easm	application/octet-stream
.eml	message/rfc822
.emz	application/octet-stream
.eot	application/octet-stream
.eps	application/postscript
.etx	text/x-setext
.evy	application/envoy
.ex_	application/octet-stream
.exe	application/octet-stream
.fdf	application/vnd.fdf
.fif	application/fractals
.fla	application/octet-stream
.flr	x-world/x-vrml
.flv	video/x-flv
.gif	image/gif
.gtar	application/x-gtar
.gz	application/x-gzip
.h	text/plain
.hdf	application/x-hdf
.hdml	text/x-hdml
.hhc	application/x-oleobject
.hhk	application/octet-stream
.hhp	application/octet-stream
.hlp	application/winhlp
.hqx	application/mac-binhex40
.hsf	application/octet-stream
.hta	application/hta
.htc	text/x-component
.htm	text/html
.html	text/html
.htt	text/webviewhtml
.hxt	text/html
.ica	application/x-ica
.ico	image/x-icon
.ics	application/octet-stream
.ief	image/ief
.inf	application/octet-stream
.ins	application/x-internet-signup
.isp	application/x-internet-signup
.IVF	video/x-ivf
.jar	application/java-archive
.java (Disabled in IIS 7)	application/octet-stream
.jck	application/liquidmotion
.jcz	application/liquidmotion
.jfif	image/pjpeg
.jpb	application/octet-stream
.jpe	image/jpeg
.jpeg	image/jpeg
.jpg	image/jpeg
.js	application/x-javascript
.latex	application/x-latex
.lit	application/x-ms-reader
.lpk	application/octet-stream
.lsf	video/x-la-asf
.lsx	video/x-la-asf
.lzh	application/octet-stream
.m13	application/x-msmediaview
.m14	application/x-msmediaview
.m1v	video/mpeg
.m3u	audio/x-mpegurl
.man	application/x-troff-man
.manifest	application/x-ms-manifest
.map	text/plain
.mdb	application/x-msaccess
.mdp	application/octet-stream
.me	application/x-troff-me
.mht	message/rfc822
.mhtml	message/rfc822
.mid	audio/mid
.midi	audio/mid
.mix	application/octet-stream
.mmf	application/x-smaf
.mno	text/xml
.mny	application/x-msmoney
.mov	video/quicktime
.movie	video/x-sgi-movie
.mp2	video/mpeg
.mp3	audio/mpeg
.mp4	audio/mpeg
.mpa	video/mpeg
.mpe	video/mpeg
.mpeg	video/mpeg
.mpg	video/mpeg
.mpp	application/vnd.ms-project
.mpv2	video/mpeg
.ms	application/x-troff-ms
.msi	application/octet-stream
.mvb	application/x-msmediaview
.nc	application/x-netcdf
.nsc	video/x-ms-asf
.nws	message/rfc822
.ocx	application/octet-stream
.oda	application/oda
.ods	application/oleobject
.p10	application/pkcs10
.p12	application/x-pkcs12
.p7b	application/x-pkcs7-certificates
.p7c	application/pkcs7-mime
.p7m	application/pkcs7-mime
.p7r	application/x-pkcs7-certreqresp
.p7s	application/pkcs7-signature
.pbm	image/x-portable-bitmap
.pcx	application/octet-stream
.pcz	application/octet-stream
.pdf	application/pdf
.pfb	application/octet-stream
.pfm	application/octet-stream
.pfx	application/x-pkcs12
.pgm	image/x-portable-graymap
.pko	application/vnd.ms-pki.pko
.pma	application/x-perfmon
.pmc	application/x-perfmon
.pml	application/x-perfmon
.pmr	application/x-perfmon
.pmw	application/x-perfmon
.png	image/png
.pnm	image/x-portable-anymap
.pnz	image/png
.pot	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.ppm	image/x-portable-pixmap
.pps	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.ppt	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.prf	application/pics-rules
.prm	application/octet-stream
.prx	application/octet-stream
.ps	application/postscript
.psd	application/octet-stream
.psm	application/octet-stream
.psp	application/octet-stream
.pub	application/x-mspublisher
.qt	video/quicktime
.qtl	application/x-quicktimeplayer
.qxd	application/octet-stream
.ra	audio/x-pn-realaudio
.ram	audio/x-pn-realaudio
.rar	application/octet-stream
.ras	image/x-cmu-raster
.rdf	application/rdf+xml
.rf	image/vnd.rn-realflash
.rgb	image/x-rgb
.rm	application/vnd.rn-realmedia
.rmi	audio/mid
.roff	application/x-troff
.rpm	audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin
.rtf	application/rtf
.rtx	text/richtext
.scd	application/x-msschedule
.sct	text/scriptlet
.sea	application/octet-stream
.setpay	application/set-payment-initiation
.setreg	application/set-registration-initiation
.sgml	text/sgml
.sh	application/x-sh
.shar	application/x-shar
.sit	application/x-stuffit
.sldasm	application/octet-stream
.sldprt	application/octet-stream
.smd	audio/x-smd
.smi	application/octet-stream
.smx	audio/x-smd
.smz	audio/x-smd
.snd	audio/basic
.snp	application/octet-stream
.spc	application/x-pkcs7-certificates
.spl	application/futuresplash
.src	application/x-wais-source
.ssm	application/streamingmedia
.sst	application/vnd.ms-pki.certstore
.stl	application/vnd.ms-pki.stl
.sv4cpio	application/x-sv4cpio
.sv4crc	application/x-sv4crc
.svg	application/octet-stream
.swf	application/x-shockwave-flash
.t	application/x-troff
.tar	application/x-tar
.tcl	application/x-tcl
.tex	application/x-tex
.texi	application/x-texinfo
.texinfo	application/x-texinfo
.tgz	application/x-compressed
.thn	application/octet-stream
.tif	image/tiff
.tiff	image/tiff
.toc	application/octet-stream
.tr	application/x-troff
.trm	application/x-msterminal
.tsv	text/tab-separated-values
.ttf	application/octet-stream
.txt	text/plain
.u32	application/octet-stream
.uls	text/iuls
.ustar	application/x-ustar
.vbs	text/vbscript
.vcf	text/x-vcard
.vcs	text/plain
.vdx	application/vnd.visio
.vml	text/xml
.vsd	application/vnd.visio
.vss	application/vnd.visio
.vst	application/vnd.visio
.vsw	application/vnd.visio
.vsx	application/vnd.visio
.vtx	application/vnd.visio
.wav	audio/wav
.wax	audio/x-ms-wax
.wbmp	image/vnd.wap.wbmp
.wcm	application/vnd.ms-works
.wdb	application/vnd.ms-works
.wks	application/vnd.ms-works
.wm	video/x-ms-wm
.wma	audio/x-ms-wma
.wmd	application/x-ms-wmd
.wmf	application/x-msmetafile
.wml	text/vnd.wap.wml
.wmlc	application/vnd.wap.wmlc
.wmls	text/vnd.wap.wmlscript
.wmlsc	application/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc
.wmp	video/x-ms-wmp
.wmv	video/x-ms-wmv
.wmx	video/x-ms-wmx
.wmz	application/x-ms-wmz
.world	application/octet-stream
.wps	application/vnd.ms-works
.wri	application/x-mswrite
.wrl	x-world/x-vrml
.wrz	x-world/x-vrml
.wsdl	text/xml
.wvx	video/x-ms-wvx
.x	application/directx
.xaf	x-world/x-vrml
.xbm	image/x-xbitmap
.xdr	text/plain
.xla	application/vnd.ms-excel
.xlc	application/vnd.ms-excel
.xlm	application/vnd.ms-excel
.xls	application/vnd.ms-excel
.xlt	application/vnd.ms-excel
.xlw	application/vnd.ms-excel
.xml	text/xml
.xof	x-world/x-vrml
.xpm	image/x-xpixmap
.xsd	text/xml
.xsf	text/xml
.xsl	text/xml
.xslt	text/xml
.xsn	application/octet-stream
.xwd	image/x-xwindowdump
.z	application/x-compress
.zip	application/x-zip-compressed

Add-on: User Agent Switcher

2012-01-07T00:19:00.001+05:30

The User Agent Switcher extension adds a menu to Mozilla browser and a toolbar button to switch the user agent of a browser. It is a wonderful tool for developers and designers to view different types of user agents in same browser. You can set a default user agent and can switch between different agents like Internet Explorer, Mozilla, IPhone and other Search robots. See the below image how you can switch between user agents.

You can edit the User agent options by editing user agents from toolbar menu. See this image to see available user agents.

You can download this add on for Mozilla here or you can search for this add on at Mozilla.

Time, Anger and Disrespect

2012-01-04T14:02:00.001+05:30

Time is precious to everyone. It’s a bad habit to keep other people waiting. Almost everyone feels that one of their most valued commodities is their time. This being the case, one of the ultimate slaps and most sure way to annoy someone is to keep them waiting. While most people are somewhat forgiving, keeping them waiting is a sign of disrespect. The subtle message is, “My time is more important than yours.”
Deep down, we all know that no one likes to be kept waiting. Therefore, it’s highly stressful to keep other people waiting because you know you are disappointing someone. In the back of your mind, you know well the person is looking at his watch, wondering why you are late. You may be keeping him from personal or professional commitments and that could make him angry.
There are obviously exceptions to the rule – times when factors beyond your control prevent you from being on time. Things happen to all of us, and no one has a perfect record. Truthfully, however, a vast majority of the time, being late is preventable by planning ahead, allowing a little extra time, or making allowances for unexpected problems.
Many times we compound the problem by making excuse like “traffic was horrible,” when, in reality, traffic is virtually always horrible. The problem wasn’t traffic – but the fact that we didn’t factor enough time in our schedule for the traffic. It’s likely the case that, even if traffic was horrible, or you got off to a late start, or whatever the excuse, the other person isn’t going to be interested or impressed.
I wouldn’t underestimate the negative impact of making someone wait. It drives some people crazy. And, even if they don’t express their frustration to you directly, it can show up in other ways – not taking you seriously, avoiding you when possible, being disrespectful, choosing to spend their time with others instead of you, showing up late to your future appointments, etc.

What is a Virtual Machine?

2011-12-02T21:05:00.001+05:30

Virtual machine is a tightly isolated software container that can run its own operating systems and applications as if it were a physical computer. A virtual machine behaves exactly like a physical computer and contains it own virtual (i.e., software-based) CPU, RAM hard disk and network interface card (NIC).
An operating system can’t tell the difference between a virtual machine and a physical machine, nor can applications or other computers on a network. Even the virtual machine thinks it is a “real” computer. Nevertheless, a virtual machine is composed entirely of software and contains no hardware components whatsoever. As a result, virtual machines offer a number of distinct advantages over physical hardware.

VMs are created within a virtualization layer, such as a hypervisor or a virtualization platform that runs on top of a client or server operating system. This operating system is known as the host OS. The virtualization layer can be used to create many individual, isolated VM environments.

Typically, guest operating systems and programs are not aware that they are running on a virtual platform and, as long as the VM's virtual platform is supported, this software can be installed in the same way it would be deployed to physical server hardware. For example, the guest OS might appear to have a physical hard disk attached to it, but actual I/O requests are translated by the virtualization layer so they actually occur against a file that is accessible by the host OS.

Virtual machines can provide numerous advantages over the installation of OS's and software directly on physical hardware. Isolation ensures that applications and services that run within a VM cannot interfere with the host OS or other VMs. VMs can also be easily moved, copied, and reassigned between host servers to optimize hardware resource utilization. Administrators can also take advantage of virtual environments to simply backups, disaster recovery, new deployments and basic system administration tasks. The use of virtual machines also comes with several important management considerations, many of which can be addressed through general systems administration best practices and tools that are designed to managed VMs.

Reopen the Last Browsing Session in Firefox

2011-11-26T15:42:00.000+05:30

Mozilla Firefox offers tabbed browsing, the ability to open several Web pages in a single instance of Firefox, each page opening in a new tab. One convenient feature available in Firefox is the ability for the browser to save opened tabs from a session then restore them when you re-open the browser. This way you can pick back up browsing wherever you left off. Additionally, you can access tabs from a previous browsing session, even if this feature is disabled, if you accidentally closed the browser before you were finished working. Recently I ran into a problem by accidentally closing window. But no worries we can restore by setting few settings in Firefox.

Setup Firefox To Automatically Restore Browsing Session

Open the Firefox browser on your computer.
Click on the "Firefox" option from the file menu and select "Options." A new window will open.
Click on the "General" tab in the Options window.
Click the "When Firefox starts" drop-down menu under the "Startup" section and select, "Show my windows and tabs from last time."
Click "OK" to save your settings. Each time you close the browser Firefox saves any open tabs or windows and re-opens them automatically when you start the browser again.

Restore Tabs from Previous Browsing Session

Open the Firefox browser on your computer.
Click on the "Firefox" option from the file menu, select "History" then hover over "Recently Closed Tabs." A list of closed tabs from your previous browsing session will appear.
Scroll down and click on one of the recently closed tabs. It will automatically open in a new tab within Firefox.
Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until all tabs from your previous Firefox session appear in the browser.

Validators Control to allow only Integers

2011-11-13T12:06:00.000+05:30

Here are few different ways you can use native .NET validation controls to validate to allow only integers. We can do it in two ways one by using regular expression and one with compare validators

Method 1: Compare Validator

<asp:TextBox ID="NewMobileTextBox" runat="server" Width="280px" autocomplete="off"
  CssClass="signuptxtbox" ></asp:TextBox>
 <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="NewMobileRequired" runat="server" ControlToValidate="NewMobileTextBox"
 CssClass="failureNotification" Display="Dynamic" ErrorMessage="New Mobile is required."  ToolTip="New Mobile is required." ValidationGroup="ChangeNewMobileValidationGroup">*</asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
<asp:CompareValidator ID="NewMobileCompare" runat="server" ControlToValidate="NewMobileTextBox" CssClass="failureNotification" Display="Dynamic" Operator="DataTypeCheck" ErrorMessage="Mobile Number should be numeric only." ValidationGroup="ChangeNewMobileValidationGroup" Type="Integer">*</asp:CompareValidator>

Method 2: Regular Expression Validator

<asp:TextBox ID="NewMobileTextBox" runat="server" Width="280px" autocomplete="off"
CssClass="signuptxtbox" ></asp:TextBox><asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="NewMobileRequired" runat="server" ControlToValidate="NewMobileTextBox"
CssClass="failureNotification" Display="Dynamic" ErrorMessage="New Mobile is required." ToolTip="New Mobile is required." ValidationGroup="ChangeNewMobileValidationGroup">*</asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
<asp:RegularExpressionValidator ID="mobileRGEX" runat="server" 
ControlToValidate="NewMobileTextBox" CssClass="failureNotification"  
ErrorMessage="Please Enter Only Numbers" ValidationExpression="^\d+$" 
ValidationGroup="ChangeNewMobileValidationGroup"></asp:RegularExpressionValidator>

Hot Fix For Windows 7 Start Menu Search Not Working

2011-11-12T12:12:00.000+05:30

Sometimes in windows 7 start menu search will not work. Many blogs will tell you to edit the registry. But it is not recommended. Microsoft released the hotfix for this. Download at: http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=977380&kbln=en-us

Regex validate Email address C#

2011-11-02T22:10:00.001+05:30

This is how we can validating email address through C# using Regular Expression. Here is the sample code,

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

public bool vaildateEmail(string useremail)
{
    bool istrue = false;
    Regex reNum = new Regex(@"\w+([-+.']\w+)*@\w+([-.]\w+)*\.\w+([-.]\w+)*");
    CaptureCollection cc = reNum.Match(useremail).Captures;
    if (cc.Count == 1)
    {
        istrue = true;
    }
    return istrue;
}

Delete All Files using C#

2011-11-02T00:48:00.001+05:30

For Deleting all the files first you need to get the list of file names from the specified directory (using static method Directory.GetFiles. Then delete all files from the list.

Method 1

using System.IO;

string[] filePaths = Directory.GetFiles(@"c:\Directory\");
foreach (string filePath in filePaths)
  File.Delete(filePath)

Method 2

To Delete all files using one code line, you can use Array.ForEach with combination of anonymous method.

Array.ForEach(Directory.GetFiles(@"c:\MyDirectory\"),delegate(string path) 
{ File.Delete(path); });

How to get current page Filename using C#

2011-11-02T00:31:00.001+05:30

There are different ways to get current page filename using c#. Here are 3 methods you can use for your advantage.

Method 1

string currentPageFileName = new FileInfo(this.Request.Url.LocalPath).Name;

Method 2

string sPath = HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.AbsolutePath;
string[] strarry = sPath.Split('/');
int lengh = strarry.Length;
string sReturnPage = strarry[lengh - 1];

Method 3

string absPath = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.AbsolutePath;
System.IO.FileInfo finfo = new System.IO.FileInfo(absPath);
string fileName = finfo.Name;

Out of these I like Method 1 and 3 as its straight forward. Use a per your advantage. Good luck.

C# Checking a File exists in Folder

2011-11-02T00:24:00.001+05:30

How to get all files from a folder and compare a whether that file exists in that folder or not. Here is a sample code where you can loop through the code and check the file.

I have declared a variable to check there it exists or not.

private bool isFileExists = false;

Now I have this code to check whether file exists and based on it I’ll redirect in to that page.

string searchfolder = Server.MapPath("~") + "\\TestFolder";
DirectoryInfo Dir = new DirectoryInfo(searchfolder);
FileInfo[] FileList = Dir.GetFiles("*.aspx", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
foreach (FileInfo FI in FileList)
{
    if (FI.Name == redirectPage)
    {                            
        isFileExists = true;
        break;
    }                       
}
if (isFileExists == true)
{
    Response.Redirect("~/redirectPage");
}
else
{
    Response.Redirect("~/OtherRedirect.aspx");
}

Here I have search pattern as *.aspx as I need to check these files. This can be based on the files you want to check

Silverlight Integration Pack for Microsoft Enterprise Library 5.0

2011-10-24T13:50:00.000+05:30

Silverlight Integration Pack for Enterprise Library is a collection of guidance and reusable application blocks designed to assist Silverlight application developers with common LOB development challenges. This release includes: Caching Application Block, Exception Handling Application Block, Logging Application Block, Policy Injection Application Block, Validation Application Block, and Unity Application Block. These blocks are designed to encapsulate recommended practices which facilitate consistency, ease of use, integration, and extensibility. The release also addresses the needs of those who would like to port their existing LOB applications, that already leverage Enterprise Library, to Silverlight

This release includes:

Caching Application Block with support for:
- In-memory cache
- Isolated storage cache
- Expiration and scavenging policies
- Notification of cache purging
Validation Application Block with support for:
- Multi-level complex validation
- Attribute-based specification of validation rules
- Configuration-based specification of validation rules
- Simple cross-field validation
- Self-validation
- Cross-tier validation (through WCF RIA Services integration)
- Multiple rule-sets
- Meta data type for updating entities with external classes in Silverlight
- Rich set of built-in validators
Logging Application Block, including:
- Notification trace listener
- Isolated storage trace listener
- Remote service trace listener with support of batch logging
- Implementation of a WCF Remote logging service that integrates with the desktop version of the Logging Application Block
- Logging filters
- Tracing
- Logging settings runtime change API
Exception Handling Application Block, including:
- Simple configurable, policy-based mechanism for dealing with exceptions consistently
- Wrap handler
- Replace handler
- Logging handler
Unity Application Block – a dependency injection container
Dependency injection container independence (Unity ships with the Enterprise Library, but can be replaced with a different container)
Unity Interception mechanism, with support for:
- Virtual method interception
- Interface interception
Policy Injection Application Block, including:
- Validation handler
- Exception Handling handler
- Logging handler
Flexible configuration options, including:
- XAML-based configuration support
- Asynchronous configuration loading
- Interactive configuration console supporting profiles (desktop vs. Silverlight)
- Translation tool for XAML config (needed to convert conventional XML configuration files):
  - Standalone command-line tool
  - Config console wizard
  - MS Build task
- Programmatic configuration support via a fluent interface
StockTrader V2 Reference Implementation

Download

Download the "Enterprise Library 5.0 Silverlight Integration Pack.msi" and install it. Alternatively, download specific application blocks from NuGet.
To get the optional configuration tool, install it separately from the Visual Studio gallery or download and install the Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ConfigConsole.vsix package.

Microsoft Enterprise Library 5.0

2011-10-24T13:30:00.000+05:30

Microsoft Enterprise Library is a collection of reusable application blocks designed to assist software developers with common enterprise development challenges. This release includes: Caching Application Block, Cryptography Application Block, Data Access Application Block, Exception Handling Application Block, Logging Application Block, Policy Injection Application Block, Security Application Block, Validation Application Block, and Unity Application Block.
This major release of Enterprise Library contains many compelling new features and updates that will make developers more productive. These include:

Major architectural refactoring that provides improved testability and maintainability through full support of the dependency injection style of development
Dependency injection container independence (Unity ships with Enterprise Library, but you can replace it with a container of your choice)
Programmatic configuration support, including a fluent configuration interface and an XSD schema to enable IntelliSense
Redesign of the configuration tool to provide:
- A more usable and intuitive look and feel
- Extensibility improvements through meta-data driven configuration visualizations that replace the requirement to write design time code
- A wizard framework that can help to simplify complex configuration tasks
Data accessors for more intuitive processing of data query results
Asynchronous data access support
Honoring validation attributes between Validation Application Block and DataAnnotations
Integration with Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) validation mechanisms
Support for complex configuration scenarios, including additive merge from multiple configuration sources and hierarchical merge
Optimized cache scavenging
Better performance when logging
A reduction of the number of assemblies
Support for the .NET 4.0 Framework and integration with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Improvements to Unity

Download the MSI and install

Understanding SOAP and REST

2011-10-12T22:42:00.000+05:30

Which is better SOAP or REST? One of the most common discussions. Both REST and SOAP are different approaches in writing the service oriented applications. REST is an architectural style for building client-server applications. SOAP is a protocol for exchanging data between two endpoints.

It is more appropriate if you compare REST with RPC(remote procedure call). RPC is a style of building client-server applications. Compared to RPC there won’t be generated proxy for client which is less coupled to the service.

REST relies on HTTP, requests for data[Get requests] can be cached. RPC systems not having such infrastructure even when using SOAP over HTTP.

Both REST and SOAP can used to implement similar functionality but SOAP should be used when a particular feature of SOAP is needed.

Security

Is SOAP is more secured than REST? answer is no. It is easy to make REST based service secure as it is to make SOAP service.The security in REST is in the form of HTTP-based authentication and Secure Sockets Layer(SSL). Because of WS-* specifications SOAP supports the end-to-end message security.

Transactions

This is another feature that SOAP and WS-* supports where REST has none.

WS-Atomic transactions supports distributed, two-phase commit transactional semantics over SOAP-based services. REST has no support for distributed transactions. To create something like transactions in REST you create a resource called Transaction. When client wants to do some transaction and then he creates a resource that specifies all the correct resources.

Interoperability

SOAP services are less interoperable than REST Services. In terms of platforms, For REST all you need is HTTP stack. REST has widest interoperability like mobile devices,household devices, POS devices etc. The problem in SOAP and WS-* is the large number of standards to choose from.

Metadata

There is no direct way in REST to generating client from server-side-generated metadata. In SOAP with WSDL we can generate the client proxies. In REST we can achieve the same using WADL (Web Application Description Language). WSDL makes easier in generating the proxy than writing some code fro generating for REST service.

Protocol Support

Though REST is currently tied with HTTP but you still can implement the REST features on other protocols until vendors add support for this.

IS REST is for Internet-facing apps and SOAP for enterprise apps?

Answer is no. This question comes due to lack of distributed transaction support in REST vs explicit WS-atomic transactions in SOAP.

ASP.NET doesn’t have support for distributed transactions, but does that mean ASP.NET isn’t useful for enterprises?

Enterprise applications need scalability and speed. SOAP services are much harder to scale than RESTful services. Most of the scaling features can not be used with SOAP because SOAP uses POST only over HTTP.

Conclusion

“Which is better, REST or SOAP?” is “It depends”. Both REST and SOAP has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to building the services. When you need the features that are easy to implement using REST or SOAP choose it..

Convert DateTime values to W3C DateTime format in C#

2011-09-10T19:48:00.000+05:30

ConvertDateToW3CTime() function takes a C# DateTime value and converts it to a W3C formatted date/time value.
The function works by first converting the date/time parameter to a UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) value and formatting it. It then appends the UTC offset time to the previously formatted string.

The T placed between the date and time simply indicates that the numbers following it are Time values. The UTC offset can be one 3 states, zero e.g. there is not difference in time between the UTC value and the local value. A zero value is identified by simply appending the letter Z to the end of the formatted datetime value. If the offset time is greater than 0 then it is preceded with a + sign, e.g. 2 hours and 30 minutes over the UTC time would be written as +02:30. If the offset is less than the UTC value then it is preceded with a – sign e.g. -01:00.

/// <summary>
/// Converts a datetime value to w3c format
/// </summary>
/// <param name="date"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static string ConvertDateToW3CTime(DateTime date)
{
    //Get the utc offset from the date value
    var utcOffset = TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone.GetUtcOffset(date); 
    string w3CTime = date.ToUniversalTime().ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss");
    //append the offset e.g. z=0, add 1 hour is +01:00
    w3CTime += utcOffset == TimeSpan.Zero ? "Z" :
        String.Format("{0}{1:00}:{2:00}", (utcOffset > TimeSpan.Zero ? "+" : "-")
        , utcOffset.Hours, utcOffset.Minutes);
 
    return w3CTime;
}

Here is an example, how to use it

ConvertDateToW3CTime(DateTime.Now);
//Output 2011-10-17T19:10:48+01:00

How to Close the Browser Window from a Silverlight Application

2011-08-25T12:41:00.001+05:30

All secured sites ask you to close your browser window after you sign out from a web application. This is a security measure which actually removes all session details from the browser cache.

If you are developing a secured site and want to close the browser window just after the user logs out from the application, this small tip will help you. If you want to develop the same behavior in your Silverlight application, this is how we can do the trick.

Use the "System.Windows.Browser.HtmlPage.Window.Invoke()" method to call the Close() method of the browser window, as shown in the below code snippet:

private void OnWindowCloseClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

    System.Windows.Browser.HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("close");

The above code when called will close the browser window where your Silverlight application is hosted. If it is a tab, it will close the Window tab instead. If you are using it inside Internet Explorer, it will ask you whether you really want to close the browser. If you press "No", it will remain in that page, and clicking "Yes" will close the browser tab/window

Tips for Cross Browser Compatibility

2011-08-01T17:20:00.000+05:30

Cross-browser compatibility is one of the most time consuming tasks for any web designer. We’ve seen many different articles over the net describing common problems and fixes. There are some things you should consider for Safari and Firefox also, and IE isn’t always the culprit for your CSS woes. Here is a quick summary of How to get Cross Browser Compatibility Every Time:

Always use strict doctype and standards-compliant HTML/CSS
Always use a reset at the start of your css
Use -moz-opacity:0.99 on text elements to clean up rendering in Firefox, and text-shadow: #000 0 0 0 in Safari
Never resize images in the CSS or HTML
Check font rendering in every browser. Don’t use Lucida
Size text as a % in the body, and as em’s throughout
All layout divs that are floated should include display:inline and overflow:hidden
Containers should have overflow:auto and trigger hasLayout via a width or height
Don’t use any fancy CSS3 selectors
Don’t use transparent PNG’s unless you have loaded the alpha

Keyboard Shortcuts: SQL Server Management Studio

2011-07-21T11:02:00.001+05:30

SQL Server Management Studio offers users two keyboard schemes. By default, it uses the Standard scheme, with keyboard shortcuts based on Microsoft Visual Studio. A second scheme, called SQL Server 2000, closely resembles the tools from SQL Server 2000, in particular the keyboard shortcuts from the Query Analyzer. In a few cases, SQL Server Management Studio cannot offer the keyboard shortcuts from Query Analyzer. To change the keyboard scheme or add additional keyboard shortcuts, on the Tools menu, click Options. Select the desired keyboard scheme on the Environment, Keyboard page.

For Shortcuts page. Click here to navigate.

How to: Dummy Credit card # for Testing

2011-06-24T03:59:00.000+05:30

Here are list of credit card numbers which we can use for testing purpose. You can use this numbers and give other details like year and month and cvv as dummy ones. These works for testing purpose.

Credit Card Type	Credit Card Number
American Express	378282246310005
American Express	371449635398431
AMEX Corporate	378734493671000
Diners Club	30569309025904
Diners Club	38520000023237
Discover	6011111111111117
Discover	6011000990139424
JCB	3530111333300000
JCB	3566002020360505
MasterCard	5555555555554444
MasterCard	5105105105105100
Visa	4111111111111111
Visa	4012888888881881

Difference Between Add Service Reference And Web Reference?

2011-06-06T02:13:00.001+05:30

Service References or WCF comes from VS 2008 and above with an extension as .svc and Web References are their from the beginning as .asmx.

The main difference between WCF service and Webservice while consuming, we need to add them in solution as reference to access them.

Add Web Reference is a wrapper over wsdl.exe and can be used to create proxies for .NET 1.1 or 2.0 clients. This means we are pointing to a WCF service you have to be pointing to an endpoint that uses basicHttpBinding.

Add Service Reference is a wrapper over svcutil.exe and also creates clients proxies (and additionally web.config entries). These proxies, however, can only be consumed by .NET 3.0+ clients.

Below image will show you how to add web reference from Service Reference. Right click theService References from solution explorer, then select advance button on Add Services windowyou will get to the form as in below image and then will be able to add Web Reference via Addweb Reference window..

But there is some things which changed in VS2010 about adding web references to a class library. So in VS 2010 you cannot add Web Reference directly. Here is how you need to do it.

From Project -> Add Service Reference ..., (From Solution Explorer, Right Click on Project, From the drop down Menu, Select Add Service Reference)

This window will appear, Click advanced,

On Add Service Settings window, Now click on Add Web Reference

This will open add Web reference window from where we can add web service. Hope this helps. Good luck.

How to Add validations controls Programmatically

2011-05-28T01:15:00.001+05:30

I was looking for some server side validation message which can done without posting back to server. I tried doing javascript and writing that script to literal control and I have been thinking of doing a better way. But here is the cool way to do this.

// Dynamically adding Validation control
RequiredFieldValidator Validator = new RequiredFieldValidator();
Validator.ErrorMessage = "No data to download for your request.";
// Validation group must be specified as to which group you need to bind
Validator.ValidationGroup = "Group1";
Validator.IsValid = false;
Validator.Visible = false;
Page.Form.Controls.Add(Validator);

All you need to do is Depending on your need you need to change message and validation group. We need to set up validation group properly.

Happy coding

How to add a ServiceThrottlingBehavior to a WCF Service?

2011-05-18T09:34:00.000+05:30

When working with WCF especially when middle-tier client applications uses Windows Communication Foundation, you should always think about performance and take some major design decisions and tuning parameters.

By adding ServiceThrottlingbehavior in web.config we can achieve high performance using WCF. Below is the sample serivceThrottleconfiguration settings in web.config in .NET 4.0 Framework.

 <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="CommonService">
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
          <dataContractSerializer maxItemsInObjectGraph="2147483647" />
          <serviceThrottling maxConcurrentCalls="16" 
                             maxConcurrentInstances="116"   
                             maxConcurrentSessions="100"   />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>

The main purpose for the throttling settings can be classified into the following two aspects:

Controlled resource usage: With the throttling of concurrent execution, the usage of resources such as memory or threads can be limited to a reasonable level so that the system works well without hitting reliability issues.

Balanced performance load: Systems always work in a balanced way when the load is controlled. If there are too much concurrent execution happening, a lot of contention and bookkeeping would happen and thus it would hurt the performance of the system.

In WCF 4, the default values of these settings are revised so that people don’t have to change the defaults in most cases. Here are the main changes:

MaxConcurrentSessions: default is 100 * ProcessorCount

MaxConcurrentCalls: default is 16 * ProcessorCount

MaxConcurrentInstances: default is the total of the above two, which follows the same pattern as before.

“ProcessorCount” is used as multiplier for the settings. So on a 4-proc server, you would get the default of MaxConcurrentCalls as 16 * 4 = 64. Thus the consideration is that, when you write a WCF service and you use the default settings, the service can be deployed to any system from low-end one-proc server to high-end such as 24-way server without having to change the settings. So CPU uses count as the multiplier.

Please note, these changes are for the default settings only. If you explicitly set these settings in either configuration or in code, the system would use the settings that you provided. No “ProcessCount” multiplier would be applied.

Web.config transformations in .NET 4.0

2011-05-17T23:12:00.000+05:30

The web.config has now been refactored, and with ASP.Net 4 a lot of the settings that were previously found in the web.config file have now been moved to the machine.config file. This significantly reduces the size of the file, which I think is a great bonus.

Web.config transformations cater for moving your application between your relevant environments (e.g. DEV, QA, PROD). The transformations work on the relevant configurations you setup.
To create your own Configuration build with configuration transformations, create a new ASP.NET Web Application in Visual Studio 2010. Next, in the menu select "Build" and then "Configuration Manager". In the "Active Solution Configuration" drop down, select "New". Name the relevant configuration, for example I'm calling mine "DEV" and copying the settings from the "Debug" configuration.

Make sure "Create new project configurations" is selected. Once you click okay, you will see your Web.config file now has a "+" next to it in your solution explorer.

If you don't see the "+", build you solution, right click the web.config file and select "Add Config Transformations".
You will see for each of your build configurations there will be a "Web.[Build Configuration Name].config" file. If you open any of these files, you will see place holders for different sections of your original web.config file.

To change settings per your relevant build configuration, check out the following MSDN Article:Web.config Transformation Syntax for Web Application Project Deployment

Hope this helps.

When to use .NET Framework Client Profile

2011-05-15T23:22:00.000+05:30

The .NET Framework 4 Client Profile is a subset of the .NET Framework 4 that is optimized for client applications. It provides functionality for most client applications, including Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and ClickOnce features. This enables faster deployment and a smaller install package for applications that target the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile.

Check out following MSDN Page for Client Profile:.NET Framework Client Profile