All it takes is one line of code to get this information.

public static void main(String[] args) {

  String property = System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir");
  System.out.println(property);

}

Get Temporary Folder In Java is a post from: Therefore Systems

I use a Mac so the screenshots here are from Mac but NetBeans IDE is the same on all other platforms. There should not be any differences.

First thing we need to do is download the JDBC driver for Microsoft SQL Server from Microsoft. Current version of driver is 3.0 and it can be downloaded here. Download the drivers for UNIX and extract the archive on your machine. Once you have extracted the archive you’ll get a folder sqljdbc_3.0 under which there is another folder enu. Within enu are the jar files which implement JDBC drivers.

Now we will start the process to establish our connection to SQL Server from NetBeans. First thing click on Services tab and the Right Click on Databases and then click on New Connection.

You will see this window. Next to Driver Name click on the drop-down and choose New Driver…

Here click on the Add button and browse to your jar file for SQL Server JDBC driver.

NetBeans is now aware of SQL Server JDBC driver.  You can now start creating the connection to SQL Server. Enter the details for SQL Server. You will need the IP address, port which by default is 1433 and username and password.

Click OK and you will be connected to SQL Server.

On the Server tab in NetBeans under Database you’ll see your SQL Server. You can browse server objects, view tables, stored procedures etc.

You can also run SQL queries on your SQL Server from NetBeans IDE.

Connect To SQL Server 2008 From NetBeans IDE On A Mac is a post from: Therefore Systems

To start Glassfish in verbose mode on a command prompt or Terminal on a mac you’ll use this command.

asadmin start-domain –verbose

This will show you a nice verbose log of Glassfish activity on the Terminal.

From NetBeans all you need to do is start Glassfish as you normally would.

Now click on View Server Log and you’ll see a log of all Glassfish activity in NetBeans IDE.

Running Glassfish In Verbose Mode From NetBeans is a post from: Therefore Systems

Make sure that you have proper certificates installed in the Local Machine certificate store. Because communication is two way SSL you will also have your private key installed.

Because your communication occurs via ASP.NET application this is a permissions issue . Your ASP.NET applications runs under the identity configured in the App Pool. You must grant permissions to that account under which your application is running to access the private key. Here’s how to do it.

Download WinHttpCertCfg tool from this link. Don’t worry about the system requirement on the page. I was able to run the tool successfully on Windows 7. After installing the tool go to your command prompt and go to the directory where WinHttpCertCfg is installed. On my machine WinHttpCertCfg is installed at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools.

Run WinHttpCertCfg using this command. Substitute “IssuedToName” with the appropriate name for your certificate and same for “AccountName”. If your App Pool runs under NetworkService then that’s the account you’ll put in.

WinHttpCertCfg.exe -g -c LOCAL_MACHINE\MY -s "IssuedToName" -a "AccountName"

This should take care of the permission issue and hopefully things will run as expected. In case this doesn’t work then investigate that your certificates are installed in the right store. I know you would have already done this but it doesn’t hurt to have another look. If all else fails then leave a comment and maybe I’ll also learn something new. In any case leave a comment :)

Could Not Create SSL/TSL Secure Channel Solution is a post from: Therefore Systems

Step 1

Launch IIS manager and in Filter type “Certificates” to see the Server Certificates Feature.

Step 2

Double click on Server Certificates feature and click on Create Self-Signed Certificate… in Actions panel on the right.

Step 3

Give your certificate a friendly name and click OK.

Congratulations you have just generated your self signed certificate. You can right click on the certificate you generated and export it to a file.

Generate Self Signed Certificates On Windows 7 is a post from: Therefore Systems

My forays into Java and other non-Microsoft technologies is a post for another day. Today I just want to share some simple code which I wrote while I was struggling with a simple requirement. The requirement is to add x number of hours to current Date-Time.

I found that the best way to do this is by using Calendar class from java.utils package. Here is the code I wrote.

public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Create a new calendar object
        Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();

        System.out.println(calendar);

        // Add 5 hours to current time
        calendar.add(Calendar.HOUR, 5);

        System.out.println(calendar);

    }

Each day as I work with Java I find things that seem interesting especially for a .NET guy. I’ll keep posting them.

Add Hours To Date In Java is a post from: Therefore Systems

1. It did not ripple through masses.
2. The tide was not on it’s side.
3. It did not create waves in hearts or minds of people.
4. The sail was in opposite direction.
5. The product itself was shallow.

So it is finally time to wave it goodbye.

For the record this was getting way out of hand for our geeky minds and we were attracting unwanted attention at the restaurant. We decided to abandon the idea of coming out with more reasons.

Five Reasons Why Google Wave Failed is a post from: Therefore Systems

Problem Statement

At present we have Ctrl + . which opens intellisense and lists all methods, properties events available for the corresponding object. There are times when I and I assume other users are only interested in looking at either events, methods or properties.

Proposed Solution

I suggest the following shortcuts which will filter the list:
Ctrl + . + p – Display only properties
Ctrl + . + e – Display only events
Ctrl + . + m – Display only methods

And the response from Microsoft today is:

Thanks for taking the time to submit this suggestion! I sincerely apologize for the amount of time that has taken to get back to you.
When we locked down on our final feature set for the next version of Visual Studio, IntelliSense completion set filtering for member types didn’t make the cut–though it was considered. However, his is a commonly requested feature, and we’ll consider it for a future release of Visual Studio. Please feel free to contact me directly at … if you have any further thoughts.

I am glad to know that this will at-least be considered for a future release. I’ll be happy if it ever gets implemented.

Intellisense Enhancements I want is a post from: Therefore Systems

First of all forget that you have Visual Studio, SSMS or anything so big and fancy. You just want to get a connection string baked up pronto. I usually end up creating a .udl file. UDL which stands for Universal Data Link allows you to establish a connection and then stores the connection string in text format. Doing this is very simple. Create a file in any folder or desktop and call it test.udl.

Now double click the file and you’ll get a window where you can enter your connection properties.

You can also select different providers.

Once you have filled in the information about your server, security and database just click on Test Connection to verify connectivity. Click OK to close the window.

To get a connection string with information you just entered just open the test.udl file in a text editor and you’ll see the connection string.

That’s it. Simple and easy ninja style.

Easiest Way to Generate Connection String And Verify Database Connectivity is a post from: Therefore Systems

A list of data providers can also be retrieved by code. This sample shows you how to retrieve a list of data providers in code.

DataTable dataProviders = DbProviderFactories.GetFactoryClasses();

foreach (DataRow provider in dataProviders.Rows)
{
  Console.WriteLine(provider[0].ToString());
}  

In the code above I am displaying the name of provider. Here is my output.

Find All Data Providers Installed On A Machine is a post from: Therefore Systems