Taf's Tech Treasures & Solutions

VBScript Properties

2010-10-19T18:00:00.000-04:00

I've been spending a lot (make that a LOT) of time in VBScript lately. I needed to reproduce some properties that I regularly use in .NET, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. After discovering that it's actually NOT as hard as I expected, I thought I'd post the template out here:

Class myClass
        Private ldteTime()

        Public Property Let Time(intIteration, dteValue)
                On Error Resume Next
                Dim i
                i = UBound(ldteTime)
                If (Err.Number = 0) and (i > -1) Then
                        If intIteration > i Then
                                i = UBound(ldteTime) + 1
                                ReDim Preserve ldteTime(i)
                        End If
                Else
                        i = 0
                        ReDim ldteTime(i)
                End If
                ldteTime(i) = cDate(dteValue)
        End Property
        Public Property Get Time(intIteration)
                Dim i
                i = 0
                If intIteration <= UBound(ldteTime) Then
                        i = intIteration
                Else
                        i = UBound(ldteTime)
                End If
                Time = cDate(ldteTime(i))
        End Property
        Public Property Let LastTime(dteValue)
                Dim i
                i = UBound(ldteTime)
                ldteTime(i) = cDate(dteValue)
        End Property
        Public Property Get LastTime
                Dim i
                i = UBound(ldteTime)
                LastTime = ldteTime(i)
        End Property
End Class

One user control at a time!

2010-09-06T11:02:00.003-04:00

Got the itch today and started researching Silverlight... which of course--being a developer--meant opening Visual Studio 2010 and jumping right in to poke around. Sadly, that didn't get me very far on my own.

I started searching around for a simple HOW TO on new Silverlight projects and found one by Kunal Chowdhury on .net Funda. It's part two of his Silverlight series. This article was more my speed for startup:

Open a new project

Do "Hello World" a couple different ways
1. Through a design-time text control
2. Through a run-time code block

Create additional page material (static in this case) and OOP-it around the project

More importantly (to me) I learned a few things on my own:

How to stop the web instance/port when the application is no longer viable and I can't get it to unload through VS

F5 to Run With Debugging, Shift-F5 to Stop Debugging (but not the server instance), and Terminate All will close your entire browser (even if you're blogging on another tab) but still not stop the server instance!

Intellisense error help means absolutely nothing when working with the LayoutRoot (display Grid) node

That adding a design-time text control with data and then adding an additional run-time text code block to the same LayoutRoot (display Grid) node will cause EITHER an error (see the Intellisense gripe above) or an eternal loading loop on the browser

Monday Mornings...

2010-08-09T09:47:00.004-04:00

A little off-topic for me, but I thought this was an interesting phenomenon of either Weather Underground (or it's data crunchers) or possibly Mother Nature, herself, having a 'Case of the Mondays.' I love how the start points just kind of jump all over the place!

Maybe the triangle over Northern Florida, Georgia and Alabama should have me a little freaked out... I live (on land) near the bottom-right corner of it!

Ups and Downs in Rotating Web Images

2010-06-30T18:00:00.002-04:00

I spent part of my morning preparing an e-postcard for my client's upcoming Independence Day weekend. I chose a nice picture and a nice poem, formatted it all and previewed it. It was nice, but the alignment seemed off.

The picture was a flag at a -45 degree angle and the size was just right without having to specify width and height, so I thought I'd rotate it 90 degrees, changing a landscape image to a portrait image, allowing more space to the side for verbage. I could either delete the uploaded image AND edit the existing image by rotating it clockwise AND upload it again; OR I could just rotate it 90 degrees on the page. Wow! No-brainer, right?

But, I haven't done this before, so I looked-up the CSS commands to rotate it, courtesy of an O'Reilly Answers posting:

The first rotate command affects browsers that are neither Mozilla nor Microsoft in nature, such as Safari, Opera, etc.

The second rotate command (as you might be able to guess) does affect Mozilla; and the third rotate command (shocker!) affects Microsoft.

I like the Webkit and Mozilla solutions because they give you the impression that you can rotate to degrees at-will. Microsoft, of course, is more monolithic: you WILL rotate at 0 degrees ("rotation=0"), 90 degrees ("rotation=1"), 180 degrees ("rotation=2") or 270 degrees ("rotation=3").

So, I'm happy as a clam with my preview of the message that the email service provides online as a webpage. Then I get the preview in Outlook. Outlook--if you haven't noticed--is a Microsoft product, so everything's going to be great, right?!

WRONG! I failed to consider the very basic distinction between webpages and winform applications.

Lesson learned: next time, 1) account for the target application; 2) find a more thorough way to rotate across web and windows platforms; 3) do step 2 when I've got more time to play with it.

Sadly, I wound up doing it the hard way and re-uploaded the image manually turned 90 degrees. It wasn't the best solution, but sometimes you've got to trade away COOL to get FUNCTIONAL.

Zombies are open source; humans are proprietary

2010-05-21T13:06:00.000-04:00

Zombies are open source; humans are proprietary | NetworkWorld.com Community

Awesome blog entry by Amy Vernon! She makes an interesting and memorable analogy to the differences in how Open Source software propagates compared to proprietary software. Check-out the user comments, though: there are some interesting points made in that discussion.

Nano-light switches

2010-03-26T12:29:00.001-04:00

Wanted to share a fascinating article posted yesterday on NewScientist.com. (I got this via free subscription to CodeProject.com.)

Giving credit to the designs of Charles Babbage, a team of researchers has created a nano-scale AND/OR | NAND/NOR gate (see the article's comments). What's remarkable about it is that they believe these new gates will be considerably more energy efficient (although slower) than their current counterparts.

Check it out!

Personally, I'm just glad it's not another practical excuse for using gold in computers! :)

An excellent defense on Opportunity Costs

2010-03-25T15:31:00.003-04:00

Another excellent blog from DevExpress this week:

In software development, opportunity costs come up all the time: we often have to make a decision about which project to take on, given a choice, and the opportunity cost of choosing a particular one is the best idea we didn't choose. ... "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch"... to get something we desire generally means giving up the opportunity to get something else. It "costs" us in some sense to make the choice; it is not free. This is opportunity cost.

... The opportunity cost of doing a possible new feature over here is not doing another feature over there, and that second feature may in fact be more valuable in terms of revenue. However if enough people vote for or pester us about the first feature, it may be more valuable in terms of goodwill
--Julian M. Bucknall, CTO of DevExpress

I don't usually get to check out the video side of their blog, but this one was worth the three-minutes to watch...and definitely worth the five minutes to blog about! :)

SalesLogix Field Access Problems

2010-03-05T19:39:00.003-05:00

Since I haven't had anything interesting to talk about lately, I thought I'd blog an anecdote about something silly this week while trying to work in Sage SalesLogix 7.2.1's LAN Client Architect tool.

My client wanted to move a field that tracks what user is assigned to perform a certain function for a contact: specifically, I needed to move this field from the least-specific data table, ACCOUNTS--which contains information about how each CONTACT in a relationship is related--down to the most-specific data table, OPPORTUNITIES--which contains details about how the contact came to our attention and what processes are involved in making them a client. (i.e. An ACCOUNT defines "Mr. & Mrs. Johnson" which is about a set of CONTACTS. A CONTACT--such as "Mr. Johnson", "Mrs. Johnson" and each of the kids--contains information about how to contact them and how we are pursuing them as clients. An OPPORTUNITY is the detail about the CONTACT--like "Mrs. Johnson"--responded to a marketing campaign to become a prospective client. "Mr. Johnson" may also have his own OPPORTUNITY, as may each of their adult children.)

I created the new field in the OPPORTUNITY table (in the integrated database editor) and copied the appropriate ACCOUNT table field data into the OPPORTUNITY table field. In the Administrator's testing view, everything was hunky-dory. I then logged in as my Test user and the field is blank and read-only.

Thoughts:

WTF?!
The script might be locking my user out because of a user role setting. I checked this assumption and couldn't immediately find it. Maybe the data field is somehow rights-protected. (SalesLogix Customer Support wondered that, too.) No, no view I could see showed me that.
Maybe the field was malformed. I deleted the field and copied-and-pasted a field from elsewhere on the form that called to a different target, but with the same features. Nope. Worked as Administrator; Busted as User.

So, I called in Sage SalesLogix Customer Support. We spent about 25 minutes making sure the field was properly mapped and the data was present and making sure the script was being completely unloaded after the failures so that the next test was clean.

Finally, the CS technician was as frustrated as I was. By process of elimination, we came down to a rumor that he had heard long before. He told me, "Add another new custom field." ?! Okay, I added a new custom field to that table. Guess what happened. :-) It started working perfectly!

It seems that somewhere in Sage SalesLogix's twisted history, a bug crept in that sometimes causes the database to invisibly rights-protect the most recently added custom field. When you create a new field, the field lock is released.

I felt foolish for having wasted so much time on such a weird bug, but at least it wasn't one either the CS technician or I really could have foreseen. A small comfort--and a great reminder that even really expensive tools have their hidden bugs!

Printing documents in Windows 7

2010-01-28T15:05:00.002-05:00

I've been using Windows 7 Ultimate at home since early October and have loved just about every minute of it. It's been smooth as ice (only had a couple program crashes) except for the battery sensor, but I can live with that.

A client today called me into her office to see if I could help with a problem: she needed to printout multiple MS Word 2007 documents from the directory she stored them in and she couldn't find the option to do it. As we both recalled from Windows XP, you could highlight/select multiple documents and then right-click and choose Print. Now, in Windows 7 Professional, she had about 25+- documents selected and no option to Print! We mulled it over and then started experimenting.

To make a long story short (too late!) we found you can only select up to 15 documents before the Print option disappears.

Your Comments and Test Data will come back to bite you...

2010-01-28T14:49:00.001-05:00

An excellent word-to-the-wise in this week's DevExpress newsletter:

[W]rite your code assuming that it will be public and scrutinized. Don't play funny games with it. Make sure your text -- be it error messages, test data, comments, whatever -- is squeaky clean. Don't end up on the Daily WTF with a red face.
--Julian M. Bucknall, CTO of DevExpress

The SQL ConnectionString Fiasco

2010-01-28T10:39:00.004-05:00

I've been freaked out for two hours. Last night, after I left the office, my client called and gave me a 9AM deadline for a piece of software.

In a couple hours at the office last night, I ironed-out the last few tweaks for running a VB .NET 2008 Extension for Sage SalesLogix with a Crystal Reports form. (Here's a tip: For Visual Studio 2008's Crystal Reports, you now have to install the CRRedist2008_{your processor}.msi to each terminal that will open a Crystal Viewer.) I spent an hour installing the add-ons and released it with each terminal successfully tested.

This morning the client calls to say that it's not working on his login. I jump on his workstation (as him) and it's not working. So WTF?! is going on? Dragging myself back through the code--high-level stuff first--I finally find that it's erroring on the TableAdapters' FILL routine. And why is this?! Login failed for user: {domain}\{user}

So, I've got it nailed down as a ConnectionString problem. My connectionstring looks like Data Source={server};Initial Catalog={database};Integrated Security=True;User ID={sa-type user};Password={wouldn't you like to know}; which worked just fine all through testing. I went back to a previous project to compare apples to (slightly different) apples. Low-and-behold, there was a static difference: Data Source={server};Initial Catalog={database};Persist Security Info=True;User ID={sa-type user};Password={wouldn't you like to know}; and that made the difference!

Lesson learned: I got so caught-up in the coolness of the project and the scope of the challenges that I let my visual brain fool me into glancing over the obvious difference. I couldn't see the tree for the forest! :-)

Restoring a SQL Server 2000 Database from a BAK file

2009-12-30T17:00:00.001-05:00

This is a fantastic, brief walkthrough to restoring a SQL Server 2000 database file. I had visited numerous other blog entries, but this one was just what I was looking for! Restoring a .bak file to a SQL Server database by Aaron Johnson.

I'm also PDF'ing that page in case the source ever gets deleted!

Google Voice - Creating a Quick Call by HTTP

2009-12-01T00:21:00.004-05:00

Big creds to two bloggers that helped me figure this out through their brave posts:

Steven's Space On The Web Blog
jigwashere Blog

If you have a Google Voice account, you can quickly plug this code into a script to call a dynamic number from one of your registered handsets.

<form action="https://www.google.com/voice/m/sendcall" method="post">
    <p>
        <label>_rnr_se
            <input type="text" name="_rnr_se" id="_rnr_se" value="<Google Voice ID>"> 
        </label>
    </p>
    <p>
        <label>Number to call
            <input type="text" name="number" id="number" value="<10-Digit Number To Call>">
        </label>
    </p>
    <p>
        <label>From phone
            <input type="text" name="phone" id="phone" value="+1<10-Digit Telephone Number of Your Handset>">
        </label>
    </p>
    <p>
        <label>
            <input type="submit" name="call" id="call" value="Call">
        </label>
    </p>
</form>

A Revealing Look at .Net Garbage Collection

2009-09-15T14:31:00.006-04:00

Another title to this post could be
"Why Your Program Runs Slower Even Though You Help Manage Garbage"

I highly recommend every .Net programmer watch this presentation! Personally, I'm walking away from it much more aware of when and how to help with Garbage Collection.

http://www.red-gate.com/products/ants_memory_profiler/DOTNET_Memory_Management/Index.html

I do wish the presenter had spent more time on Large Object Heaps and on the Finalization and fReachable Queues. It seems to me that Microsoft made the work of Destructors (a standard principle of Object Oriented Programming) far more cumbersome by making Finalization a multitiple Garbage Collection Iteration process. Maybe some more explanation of the purpose and function of the Finalization and fReachable Queues would explain their purpose.

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

2009-07-09T10:06:00.000-04:00

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

I love the upbeat nature of this release! They're identifying what people want--if not putting words in peoples' mouths--and telling you why this is going to be great. It doesn't answer questions because it doesn't make you want to ask questions! You just want to go "woopee!" and assume that Google knows exactly how to do everything it promises!

Free Adobe Flex Builder 3 for Unemployed Developers

2009-04-07T09:33:00.001-04:00

The development community is crying out for support and the sponsors are starting to respond!

Adobe is releasing a PERSONAL USE ONLY software bundle with license for Flex Builder 3! The goal is (ostensibly) to enable recently unemployed developers to learn the Flex platform and add it to their skill set for future employment. Read Ben Forta's blog entry about it here.

Here's my question, though: what about those of us who haven't yet been laid off? I'd love to add Flex to my skill set now while I'm still at a company, making myself more valuable. How about a personal version for us so that we can push our companies to purchase a corporate license for Flex?

Choose a License

2009-03-30T13:48:00.003-04:00

"Choose a License: License Your Work
With a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit — and only on the conditions you specify here."

Okay, folks. I've been very bad and I'm very sorry. I made a lofty promise early this year to start posting again and I've done squat.

As usual, it takes something new and exciting for me to really get involved again, and I want to show you this website in case you are as unfamiliar with it as I was: Creative Commons .ORG. In just a few simple steps you can license your work and use it to encourage others to give you credit for your source.

In keeping with giving credit, I was introduced to the site by the blog of David Strommer, a software developer/architect in the Jacksonville, FL area. It was my priviledge to attend a presentation of his preliminary reasearch on "Oslo," Microsoft's new M Language solution. I hope to start including some of my own M successes with you here soon!

Kixtart Scripting

2009-01-27T18:45:00.003-05:00

I like the poetry that I get to make the new year's first blog about a technology that is new to me!

My friend Scott recently asked me to send him a copy of the KiXtart scripts he had created with a client we have in common. In reviewing the scripts, I realized how useful, simple and practical a technology this really is.

The concept of KiXtart is that you can launch it from a network location at log-in and effect changes much more simply than trying to do Organizational Unit changes. In this case, I will show (based on his script) how to determine what script to run and assign drive letters and/or printers based upon Windows domain group memberships.

*It's important to note that the comment notation of KiXtart is a semicolon (;) and I will code with comments accordingly.

*Here's a blog entry from someone more familiar with the topic. This blog answered a few of my questions while I was writing this.

First, we'll determine what part of the network this computer is on. To this end, Scott had used a fairly simple and straight-forward naming strategy for workstation computers, laptops and public kiosks.

;--------------------
;BRANCHING.KIX
;A script run at log-in to determine settings based upon the terminal's name

;First, let's get rid of other drive mappings that were automatically created at login by the domain.
;This will NOT get rid of the drives the user has mapped by hand.
USE "*" /DELETE

;Now, we have users at OFFICE1 and OFFICE2. This could just as easily be departmental, such as SALES, IT and CORPORATE. For expediency, we won't differ based upon terminal type.
;The terminal names contain their location: OFFICE1's laptop 1 is OFFICE1_L_001.
;The scripting allows for common structures like IF/ENDIF and SELECT/ENDSELECT.
;The scripting provides INCLUDE for executing additional scripts.
;The scripting allows for functions that are installed on the server, such as INSTR ("in string").
SELECT
CASE INSTR(@HOSTNAME, "OFFICE1")
INCLUDE "\\myServer\LogInScripts\OFFICE1.KIX"
CASE INSTR(@HOSTNAME, "OFFICE2")
INCLUDE "\\myServer\LogInScripts\OFFICE2.KIX"
END SELECT
QUIT
;--------------------

That's it! That's all there is to a branching KiXtart script.

Now, let's say that OFFICE1 needs drive maps specified and OFFICE2 (a smaller, remote office) only needs the printer specified. Of course, you can mix-and-match these as you see fit, but let's keep it simple!

;--------------------
;OFFICE1.KIX
;The scripting library includes functions to look at the groups this terminal has been granted access to during log-in, such as INGROUP ("in group").
;Standard DOS/NT commands are respected and used, such as USE.
IF INGROUP ("{Group Name}")
USE {Drive Letter}: "{Share path}"
ENDIF
IF INGROUP ("SALES")
USE S: "\\myServer\SALES\"
ENDIF
;--------------------

;--------------------
;OFFICE2.KIX
;The scripting library also provides for the terminals 'Printers and Faxes' preferences with SETDEFAULTPRINTER.
SETDEFAULTPRINTER ("{Printer Name}")
SETDEFAULTPRINTER ("\\myServer\Printer 1")
;--------------------

How easy is that?!

So, you can see how by defining your scripts in pretty general ways you can accomplish a lot! OFFICE1_K_001 (OFFICE1's Kiosk #1, which happens to belong to the SALES group) would follow a path of BRANCHING.KIX (INSTR on "OFFICE1" = True) -> OFFICE1.KIX. That would give it (example) S: pointing to \\myServer\SALES\ as a drive.

Analytics in action

2008-10-09T13:57:00.003-04:00

Hi folks!

On the 6th of this month, I visited my AdSense report. (I am a real live nephew of my Uncle Sam, of course...and he takes all the profits!) The advertisement on-screen was for Google Analytics reports. Well, I've heard of collecting analytics and Google services are usually free, so let's see!

With just one script insertion into the blog's template, I can now see how many of you visit my site each day, how long you stay, what blog topics you're interested in, and what countries you're visiting me from!

Seeing these results has really boosted my enthusiasm that this blog is useful. So far, I've really only heard from four people that have questions or comments, so I was completely overwhelmed to see how many visitors I'm really getting!

So, let me say that I promise to rededicate myself to my blogging and bringing you quality material that I hope you will benefit from. It should be no surprise that over 1/3 of the visits to my site are folks looking for help with SQL and Crystal Reports, especially formatting data and tracking changes. I will endeavor to increase the range of topics in this area; however, I will still be posting my best Visual Basic coding practices, as well, and try to show you some of my best blends of the two.

Look for new topics in the coming months: C#, ASP.NET and AJAX -- and no, not because I'm a Visual Studio addict...I'm not...I can quit whenever I want! (And then starve to death with no income!) I'm also going to continue posting bits of interesting (to me!) information and technical/professional book recommendations.

Most important of all, since I know you're out there now, please drop me a line and let me know what you're interested in. Maybe I've done it and not talked about it; maybe it's something I really should know and can share my learning experience with you.

The Return of Reboot

2008-10-06T14:09:00.003-04:00

I posted my first conversation-starter on CodeProject today about the return of one of my favorite shows, ReBoot! Check it out!

Detecting User-Events as opposed to Automated Events

2008-08-29T12:34:00.007-04:00

Proper credit where credit is due: SalesLogix Developer Forum

This is a ghost from my past: how do you detect when the user has triggered an event or when the event was triggered automatically or programmatically? I didn't spend much time on this and found a different way around it than the one given in that linked discussion, but I love the simplicity!

'This class is called by the main class, presumably to perform some business logic, and will trigger that an event is needed.
Class myCalledClass

        'Event to be triggered
        Event ProcessingRequired(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

        'We'll assume that the User has to request this. (I almost always pre-set a boolean to False
        Private blnIsAutomaticallyTriggered As Boolean = False
        Public Property IsUserTriggered() As Boolean
                Get
                        Return Not blnIsAutomaticallyTriggered 'Indicates the opposite of automatic, which is user
                End Get
                Set(ByVal value As Boolean)
                        blnIsAutomaticallyTriggered = Not value 'Sets the opposite of automatic, which is user
                End Set
        End Property

        'Class method that will fire the event
        Public Sub DoAnEvent()
                RaiseEvent ProcessingRequired(Me, New System.EventArgs)
        End Sub

End Class

Class myClass

        'Object that has events and performs routines we need
        WithEvents myCC As New myCalledClass

        'Also imagine there's a button on the myClass Form called btnPush that starts the user-triggered event

        'The user clicks the button on the form...
        Sub btnPush_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnPush.Click
                Dim blnUserTriggeredStatus As Boolean = myCC.IsUserTriggered 'Get the status of the object's property as it was when we entered the routine
                myCC.IsUserTriggered = True 'We indicate that it was started by the user
                myCC.DoAnEvent()
                myCC.IsUserTriggered = blnUserTriggeredStatus 'Return the status of the object's property to what it was when we entered the routine
        End Sub

        'Calls to the other class's method (which will trigger an event) as an automated interaction rather than user-triggered
        Sub CallDoAnEvent()
                Dim blnUserTriggeredStatus As Boolean = myCC.IsUserTriggered 'Get the status of the object's property as it was when we entered the routine
                myCC.IsUserTriggered = False 'Always best to cover your bases
                myCC.DoAnEvent()
                myCC.IsUserTriggered = blnUserTriggeredStatus 'Return the status of the object's property to what it was when we entered the routine
        End Sub

        'Logic to be performed when the other class has triggered its event.
        'Remember, this is happening DURING the call to myCC.DoAnEvent() above...we've set the myCC.IsUserTriggered to a temporary value.
        'When this ends, the execution will step back through the stack to the myCC.DoAnEvent() and then continue from that point.
        Sub CCProcessing(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e as System.EventArgs) Handles myCC.ProcessingRequired
                If myCC.IsUserTriggered = True Then
                        MsgBox("Triggered by the user")
                Else
                        MsgBox("Triggered within the program")
                End If
        End Sub

        'When this class begins, we'll trigger one automatically. Then the user can trigger the event with the button once the form is displayed.
        Sub New()
                Me.CallDoAnEvent()
        End Sub

End Class

Interfaces and About

2008-08-19T16:35:00.007-04:00

It's been so long since I posted code, it's convenient that this is a twofer. I'm going to give you a brief introduction to Interfaces (by means of an example) and show you how to get (read only) some of your executable's file properties.

First, let's identify the Interface we want. In my example, I'm showing you how to get core pieces of information from the Assembly of our project: Title, Description, Version, etc. Declaring the Interface is, naturally, the easiest part. (Sticking to it can make you a bit anxious, though, as the IDE will show errors until you've finished implementing EVERY method or property.)

(Because we're talking about Assembly info, we want to make sure these are specified as ReadOnly.)

Interface IAssemblyInfo
        ReadOnly Property Title() As String
        ReadOnly Property Description() As String
        ReadOnly Property Company() As String
        ReadOnly Property Product() As String
        ReadOnly Property Copyright() As String
        ReadOnly Property Trademark() As String
        ReadOnly Property FileVersion() As String
        ReadOnly Property Version() As System.Version 'Yes, it's actually a System class!
        ReadOnly Property ExecutableDate(Optional ByVal strPath As String = "") As Date 'We're going to be able to determine a file's Creation Time or the Executable's Creation Time dependent upon the parameter
End Interface

Easy, right?! Yeah...well, that's the easy part. Now let's put them to use!



Class MyAssemblyInfo
        Implements IAssemblyInfo 'Implements Interface

        Private aiAssemblyInfo As System.Reflection.Assembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly

        Public ReadOnly Property Company() As String Implements IAssemblyInfo.Company
                Get
                        Dim rc As String = String.Empty
                        Try
                                Dim strCompany As System.Reflection.AssemblyCompanyAttribute 'How archaic, right? Most of these have their own special, typed object!
                                strCompany = CType(aiAssemblyInfo.GetCustomAttribute(GetType(System.Reflection.AssemblyCompanyAttribute), False)(0), System.Reflection.AssemblyCompanyAttribute)
                                rc = strCompany.Company.ToString.Trim
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

'It should be no surprise that the next few follow the exact same pattern, so I shall not go into details with each.

        Public ReadOnly Property Copyright() As String Implements IAssemblyInfo.Copyright
                Get
                        Dim rc As String = String.Empty
                        Try
                                Dim strCopyright As System.Reflection.AssemblyCopyrightAttribute
                                strCopyright = CType(aiAssemblyInfo.GetCustomAttribute(GetType(System.Reflection.AssemblyCopyrightAttribute), False)(0), System.Reflection.AssemblyCopyrightAttribute)
                                rc = strCopyright.Copyright.ToString.Trim
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

        Public ReadOnly Property Description() As String Implements IAssemblyInfo.Description
                Get
                        Dim rc As String = String.Empty
                        Try
                                Dim strDescription As System.Reflection.AssemblyDescriptionAttribute
                                strDescription = CType(aiAssemblyInfo.GetCustomAttribute(GetType(System.Reflection.AssemblyDescriptionAttribute), False)(0), System.Reflection.AssemblyDescriptionAttribute)
                                rc = strDescription.Description.ToString.Trim
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

        Public ReadOnly Property Product() As String Implements IAssemblyInfo.Product
                Get
                        Dim rc As String = String.Empty
                        Try
                                Dim strProduct As System.Reflection.AssemblyProductAttribute
                                strProduct = CType(aiAssemblyInfo.GetCustomAttribute(GetType(System.Reflection.AssemblyProductAttribute), False)(0), System.Reflection.AssemblyProductAttribute)
                                rc = strProduct.Product.ToString.Trim
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

        Public ReadOnly Property Title() As String Implements IAssemblyInfo.Title
                Get
                        Dim rc As String = String.Empty
                        Try
                                Dim strTitle As System.Reflection.AssemblyTitleAttribute
                                strTitle = CType(aiAssemblyInfo.GetCustomAttribute(GetType(System.Reflection.AssemblyTitleAttribute), False)(0), System.Reflection.AssemblyTitleAttribute)
                                rc = strTitle.Title.ToString.Trim
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

        Public ReadOnly Property Trademark() As String Implements IAssemblyInfo.Trademark
                Get
                        Dim rc As String = String.Empty
                        Try
                                Dim strTrademark As System.Reflection.AssemblyTrademarkAttribute
                                strTrademark = CType(aiAssemblyInfo.GetCustomAttribute(GetType(System.Reflection.AssemblyTrademarkAttribute), False)(0), System.Reflection.AssemblyTrademarkAttribute)
                                rc = strTrademark.Trademark.ToString.Trim
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

        Public ReadOnly Property FileVersion() As String Implements IAssemblyInfo.FileVersion
                Get
                        Dim rc As String = String.Empty
                        Try
                                Dim strFileVersion As System.Reflection.AssemblyFileVersionAttribute
                                strFileVersion = CType(aiAssemblyInfo.GetCustomAttribute(GetType(System.Reflection.AssemblyFileVersionAttribute), False)(0), System.Reflection.AssemblyFileVersionAttribute)
                                rc = strFileVersion.FileVersion.ToString.Trim
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

'Version is significantly different. Basically, we get the "AssemblyName" object and extract the Version from that.

        Public ReadOnly Property Version() As System.Version Implements IAssemblyInfo.Version
                Get
                        Dim rc As System.Version = Nothing
                        Try
                                Dim anAssemblyName As System.Reflection.AssemblyName = aiAssemblyInfo.GetName
                                rc = anAssemblyName.Version
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

'The next one use the IO system to determine the Creation Time. Use your imagination on expanding this one!

        Public ReadOnly Property ExecutableDate(Optional ByVal strPath As String = "") As Date Implements IAssemblyInfo.ExecutableDate
                Get
                        Dim rc As Date = Nothing
                        Try
                                If strPath = "" Then 'If parameter wasn't specified,
                                        rc = IO.File.GetCreationTime(Application.ExecutablePath) 'Then get the Executable's info
                                Else 'If parameter (file path) WAS specified,
                                        rc = IO.File.GetCreationTime(strPath) 'Then get the path's info
                                End If
                        Catch ex As Exception
                        End Try
                        Return rc
                End Get
        End Property

End Class

This is alot of information. I welcome questions and comments about it and can hopefully refine it if it's too confusing.

Get This Book!

2008-08-18T16:44:00.003-04:00

This isn't a spam message, I swear it! This is a whole-hearted recommendation of Jason Cohen's (et. al.) Best Kept Secrets of Peer Code Review: Modern Approach. Practical Advice.

I received this book at my office today. I've had the opportunity to read the first few chapters and--while a bit light-weight--this is an awesome argument for improving our best practices of coding. This is at the heart and soul of this blog...What is the best, most efficient way to do what I need to get done?

One of my favorite sections so far is in Chapter 2: Resistance to Code Review (Written by Eric Brown):
"True programmers have a sense of streaming creativity as they write code to solve problems or create innovations. This stream has a continuity that ebbs as you have to pause to answer the phone or talk with the colleague who just walked into your office, and flows after you have solved a particularly difficult obstacle or feel the surge of caffeine from the coffee you just finished. But call a department meeting or schedule a code review and the flow stops outright."

Truer words... eh?

So, like I said in the frigging title of this blog: Get This Book! It's free and won't hurt you. And while you're waiting for it to arrive, check out their whitepaper on "Best Practices for Peer Code Review."

SalesLogix Attachments

2008-08-18T13:30:00.003-04:00

I feel good today! I released someone's pain and burden.

Read the grizzly details here.

Natural Logarithms

2008-08-06T12:34:00.004-04:00

It's an interesting situation that the Google Search Result for "vb.net natural logarithm" does not have a straight-forward formula for determining the Natural Log of a number.

I spent a few minutes with a statistician and worked this out:

Public Function NaturalLog(ByVal dblVariable As Double) As Double
Return 2.303 * Math.Log10(dblVariable)
End Function