Blog by Hemant Gupta

ASMX service in MVC 3 Razor

2011-12-15T12:26:00.000+05:30

We at Anthem Infotech pvt. ltd. recently came across an issue with using ASP.net asmx service with ASP.net MVC 3 Razor project, so we set out on a quest to resolve the issue with a number of options in mind

Using Javascript to call and handle the service calls
consuming the service by simply adding a web reference in the page controllers (naah too easy)

so we decided to go the Javascript way as it best suited our needs and was a challenge for us in technical terms.

before moving to describing the solution, here are the 2 urls which where very helpful in working out a solution

http://dotnetbyexample.blogspot.com/2007/10/calling-asmx-web-services-directly-from.html

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7373259/getting-scriptmanagers-servicereference-generated-javascript-in-asp-net-mvc-3

Step 1 is a copy of step 3 from dotnet by example blog, to enable the service to be callable from javascript you need to add the [ScriptService] tag on the top of the web service class.

[WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
[ToolboxItem(false)]
[ScriptService]
public class DemoService : System.Web.Services.WebService
{
 [WebMethod]
 public string HelloWorld( string ToSomeone )
 {
   return "Hello World" + ToSomeone;
 }
}

Step 2: Is adding web reference of the service as we normally do in any case

Step 3:

add 2 script tags like below
src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftAjax.js")"

src="@Url.Content("service.asmx/js")"

first tag refers to the microsoftajax.js already present in the script folder of the MVC 3 project and second tag refers to the service asmx page with a trailing "/js" tag this gives the scripted version of service which can then be directly called in javascript methods.

function Regscan() {
 var   ip = hdIP.value; // hdIP is a hidden variable that has the IP value

 demoproject.service.Registeruser(ip, RegscanCallback);

 // Service call with call back method that is pass the result.

      }

 function RegscanCallback(result) {
          var id = result;
          somemethod(id);
      }

for seeing the asmx java script simply call the web service url with trailing /js you will see the methods that you can call.

ASP.net Base Page

2011-11-02T15:15:00.000+05:30

The auto-generated ASP.NET page class must extend the Page class (as shown in the code below), You can optionally create a base class from which all pages will derive from, When creating a base class, you'll typically have this base class extend the Page class. If you are using the code-behind model your code-behind classes will need to be modified to inherit from the new base class as opposed to the Page class. This gives you greater flexibility in controlling your application and reduce code significantly if done correctly for example if you where to place a simple check of user roles and check access on any number of pages by just Inheriting the page from the custom base class you created.

Standard ASP.NET page code

public class WebForm1 : System.Web.UI.Page
{
 private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
 {
  // Put user code to initialize the page here
 }

 #region Web Form Designer generated code
    ... code removed for brevity ...
 #endregion
}

Base Page class inheriting System.Web.UI.Page

public class MyBaseClass : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
    {
       // ... add custom logic here ...
       
       // Be sure to call the base class's OnLoad method!
       base.OnLoad(e);
    }
}

Now Page is inheriting from MyBaseClass and not directly from the Page Class

public class WebForm1 : MyBaseClass
{
 private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
 {
  // Put user code to initialize the page here
 }

}

Now in the above code we see that in the MyBaseClass we are overriding the page load method and can add custom code here, I posted a example of base page implementation in my earlier blog about Multilingual website where we had easily implemented the base page across the website and checked the database for user language preference and updated the page culture accordingly with minimal code.

You can get tips on good usage of Base page from this article http://dotnetslackers.com/articles/aspnet/Four-Helpful-Features-to-Add-to-Your-Base-Page-Class.aspx

In the end I would like to state that with Base page you can handle a complex task or a very simple task within the page execution cycle and not having to re-write the code at several locations.

calling Javascript methods on updatepanel events

2011-10-20T10:47:00.000+05:30

Recently came up with a scenario where I need to call a Javascript function to update a label with client side time on auto save, while auto saving was working fine, the only issue was capturing the time, since the label was updated at server we would end up with server time, so the do get client side time the option is to call a JS function at end request of update panel now the problem, there are multiple update panels on the page how do we know which panel is called, after digging a lot, I fond this discussion on stack overflow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/338702/how-to-call-a-client-side-javascript-function-after-a-specific-updatepanel-has-b

Code on stack overflow


 $(document).ready(function() {

panelsLoaded = 1; Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance().add_pageLoaded(PageLoaded)
});

function PageLoaded(sender, args) {
console.log("I have occured " + panelsLoaded++ + " times!");
var panelsCreated = args.get_panelsCreated();

for (var i = 0; i < panelsCreated.length; i++) {
console.log("Panels Updating: " + panelsCreated[i].id);
}
var panelsUpdated = args.get_panelsUpdated();

for (var i = 0; i < panelsUpdated.length; i++) {
console.log("Panels Updating: " + panelsUpdated[i].id);
}
}

My Modified version

$(document).ready(function () { Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance().add_pageLoaded(PageLoaded)
});

function PageLoaded(sender, args) {
var panelsUpdated = args.get_panelsUpdated();

for (var i = 0; i < panelsUpdated.length; i++) {
if(panelsUpdated[i].id == "<%=UpdatePanel2.ClientID%>") {
alert('timer called');
}
}
}

This enabled us to call timer string update after isolating the update panel, we thanks james for sharing this code, in the first place. Hope this is useful to you, please give your comments and share this article if you do.

Multilingual website in asp.net

2011-09-19T17:37:00.000+05:30

While its neither new nor overly complex to implement multiple languages in ASP.net, it can be at times confusing and at times bit over the top in certain scenarios. ASP.net provides resource files which can be used to update the content based on browser language choice. The other option is to have a button or user choice saved in the database which is picked up as soon as user logs in.

Before moving further let me explain a bit what need to done at the html level, first this is key as if you have not planned for this from the start doing this at the last step can get very irritating, while defining the labels/ literals that need to switched over to the other language in addition to ID and Runat tag you need to define resource key like meta:resourceKey ="FirstName" the same needs to be define in the corresponding resource file. with this out of the way, we need to set the page UICulture and Culture the same can be set at Page directive level and in web.config level if you want it to static at global level in the application.

now we need to override the page Initialize Culture method as shown below, here we are fetching user selected language from class user as a property. and rest is just setting of values no rocket science here.

protected override void InitializeCulture()

{

clsUsers obj = new cls.Users();

String selectedLanguage = obj.Language;

UICulture = selectedLanguage;

Culture = selectedLanguage;

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture =

CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture(selectedLanguage);

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new

CultureInfo(selectedLanguage);

base.InitializeCulture()

}

an alternative to doing this at every page is using a base page class, here a class is inherited by System.Web.UI.Page and above method is written once and same is applicable in all the pages that inherit from base page instead of System.Web.UI.Page. More on base page is updated on the blog.

This is how the class will look like

public class BasePage : System.Web.UI.Page

This how pages.cs will look like

public partial class UserInfo : SomeProject_BLL.BasePage

Looking forward to your comments

Jquery Graphs

2011-09-06T11:57:00.003+05:30

Recently I had to come up with a low cost graphing solution for one of my clients, little did I know that Jquery Graphs would not only be a fringe tools, but something that can be used professionally as well. That said there are both paid and free tools which meet professional standards and are as good as it gets features available. some of the key pro and cons of using jquery graphs are listed below

PROs

Light weight and very small foot print
Client side control, so resources are not consumed on the server, and jquery calls can be made to get real time data or read of a XML
Interactive UI, clicks on graphs and specific bars or section can be handled in most tools available.
Easy to implement
Most Important fact is that most of these are actually HTML 5 compliant and render well on all modern browsers

CONs

Lacks support in older browsers support, though they us excanvas.js it fails at times
If you opt for a free tool, you may struggle to find support on the tool
can be complex to use with AJAX or other scripting libraries.

Some of the tools i reviewed are listed below in particular order

JQPlot - Free but an advanced library
HighCharts - Paid but really good.... you pay $80 for a single site without any login or user based data, but if you have a login and user based data then the price moves to $360.
Flot - Good but the library lacks good examples and documentation and is sightly harder to work on.

NopCommerce - Opensource and effective

2011-05-17T19:27:00.000+05:30

This would be the first off the shelf product i am promoting, but i just cant help it, the cart is so dam good, you think that there has to be catch to it but there is none. I have been reviewing this for a while and now i am implementing it for one of my clients. I find it to be very flexible and the forum is great it help out on almost anything. The code is very well structured and does take some getting used to but in the end, it follows all the good practices and have a flexibility of any paid shopping carts. It comes highly recommended from Micosoft as well.

It is expected that there will be a MVC 3 version out somtime in july

nopCommerce offers unprecedented flexibility and control. Since it is open-source, nopCommerce’s source code is available free for download. Just click here to download your copy today.

SQL server order of precedence

2011-04-17T19:00:00.000+05:30

Anyone who has been writing queries must have come across a situation where somehow the query looks fine but the result is not matching to the expectation. Well then one major problem here is that you are not aware of the logical or arithmetic operator sequence. I have tried to simplify, present to you the order that you should have in mind.

1	~ (Bitwise NOT)
2	* (Multiply), / (Division), % (Modulo)
3	+ (Positive), - (Negative), + (Add), (+ Concatenate), - (Subtract), & (Bitwise AND), ^ (Bitwise Exclusive OR), \| (Bitwise OR)
4	=, >, <, >=, <=, <>, !=, !>, !< (Comparison operators)
5	NOT
6	AND
7	ALL, ANY, BETWEEN, IN, LIKE, OR, SOME
8	= (Assignment)

for everyone’s reference if any query has 2 operators with the sample level of precedence then the operator is evaluated from left 2 right as rule of thumb, to override this you can use brackets to increase precedence.

Links for 2011-04-18 [Digg]

2011-04-19T00:00:00-07:00

Blog by Hemant Gupta: SQL server order of precedence
Anyone who has been writing queries must have come across a situation where somehow the query looks fine but the result is not matching to the expectation. Well then one major problem here is that you are not aware of the logical or arithmetic operator sequence. I have tried to simplify, present to you the order that you should have in mind.

ASP.Net Event Sequence

2010-12-22T14:35:00.001+05:30

I have often seen developers struggle with coding due to the simple fact that they don't realize what event follows what, here is quick list of event sequence. some of the events are very rarely used and might not be so important, something like load event sequences is important and is often confused see below.

Load event Sequence

1. Content page Load event.

2. Master page Load event.

3. Master page controls Load event.

4. Content page controls Load event.

The following is the sequence in which every events occur when a master page is merged with a content page:

Content page PreInit event.
Master page controls Init event.
Content controls Init event.
Master page Init event.
Content page Init event.
Content page Load event.
Master page Load event.
Master page controls Load event.
Content page controls Load event.
Content page PreRender event.
Master page PreRender event.
Master page controls PreRender event.
Content page controls PreRender event.
Master page controls Unload event.
Content page controls Unload event.
Master page Unload event.
Content page Unload event.

Links for 2010-12-22 [Digg]

2010-12-23T00:00:00-08:00

Blog by Hemant Gupta: ASP.Net Event Sequence
developers struggle with coding due to the simple fact that they don't realize what event follows what, here is quick list of event sequence. some of the events are very rarely used and might not be so important, something like load event sequences is important and is often confused see below.

Novice with mobile apps

2010-08-11T15:06:00.000+05:30

When i started with VB6 someone told me there is nothing better than application (desktop) development, web is just a fragment of what you can do with application development, then with a shift in technology i moved to web development I did some really good work but most of it was web applications and not websites. now with almost 7 years of web development experience, i feel like a novice when i comes to mobile apps and top that off they differ based on platform OS, there is that pioneering technology call iPhone apps and then we have Android apps and of course there are those windows mobile apps, blackberry apps, and Nokia symbian apps....

my interests lie in Android and to some extent iPhone apps..... looking forward to exploring and understand the technology and frameworks.... i will update the blogs with tit-bits i learn over a period of time.

Data Types in SQL Server 2008

2009-12-14T11:31:00.002+05:30

I Read a great article on database journal lately about data types in 2008
, i am sharing some basic info.

Numeric data types

An Integer is a counting number with no decimal point or fractional piece. All negative numbers, positive numbers, and zero are integers. SQL Server breaks integers into four sizes:

BigInt: -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807

Int: -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,648

SmallInt: -32,768 to 32,767

TinyInt: 0 to 255

Here as a part of software design you need to clear what to use in which cases, it may be a simple choice to pick the largest range, but looking deep you need to understand first Bigint uses double the space as int, and the other being the application consuming the database gets what it expects and there are not overflow errors.

for decimal value numbers, there are Decimal, Numeric, Money, and SmallMoney. The types Decimal and Numeric are functionally the same thing. Meaning, they will work, calculate and behave identically, the only difference is in the mathematical definition and not in the way SQL Server utilizes them.

Money and SmallMoney are really Decimals with a fixed amount of four decimal places to the right. SmallMoney can be valued from - 214,748.3648 to 214,748.3647 while the range of Money is from -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807. One of the reasons for using Money rather than a Decimal includes the display option of dollar signs and commas after three digits.

Strings

Here we will discuss Char, VarChar, and Text. As most of you might me aware of difference between char and varchar, where when a char(50) and varchar(50) columns are defined, char takes up 50 Bytes in respective of size of content saved in the column where varchar is flexible and takes up bytes required to save the length of the content.

Char must be used in case of where it is know or understood that length of the text would be fixed like a char(1) column would make much more sense in case of a Sex column where only M/F is expected to saved instead of varchar, where as something like name should be varchar.

Varchar has a max limit of 8000, though a new introduction of Varchar(max) has made it more flexible as the size can be unlimited in this case, and the main benefit of this is that as in case of Text column string operations cannot be done, while here all the string operations can be handled easily. Also the thing to note here is that Varchar(max) is all set to replace text in the future versions of SQL server as Text is supported in 2008 only as a part of backward compatibility.

I will adding more to this, hope you like it.... please Digg, Kick or share this if you like this.

Resetting DNN passwords

2009-11-27T11:47:00.001+05:30

Yesterday me and my team came across a strange problem, we had a client DNN deployment on our server for demo, and for long the client was not interested or was too busy and suddenly he needs the see the site the problem the original developer was not available and no one else know the host or admin password

BIG PROBLEM.....

Luckily one of my team member were able to find a post with solution, i am re- posting the procedure.

CREATE procedure [dbo].[uap_ResetPassword]

@UserName NVarChar(255),

@NewPassword NVarChar(255)

as

begin

Declare @PasswordSalt NVarChar(128)

Declare @ApplicationID NVarChar(255)

Declare @ApplicationName NVarChar(255)

Set @ApplicationID = (SELECT [ApplicationID] FROM aspnet_Users WHERE UserName=@UserName)

Set @ApplicationName = (SELECT [ApplicationName] FROM aspnet_Applications WHERE ApplicationID=@ApplicationID)

Set @PasswordSalt = (SELECT PasswordSalt FROM aspnet_Membership WHERE UserID IN (SELECT UserID FROM aspnet_Users WHERE UserName=@UserName))

–select @ApplicationID, @ApplicationName

declare @RetVal as int

Exec @RetVal = dbo.aspnet_Membership_ResetPassword @ApplicationName, @UserName, @NewPassword, 10, 10, @PasswordSalt, -5

return @RetVal

end

Orignal post: http://www.devprise.com/2006/09/26/how-to-reset-a-dnn-password-at-the-database/

Thanks Tony...

SQL Server Database analysis scripts

2009-10-29T11:12:00.006+05:30

While browsing the net my team came across couple of very good analytical scripts, i would like to share this with everyone. often there is a scenario where you wonder how to find out what script or procedure is consuming most memory or have the most reads, this help to identify the possible bottle necks in the website.

The query below is really useful

1) Following Query will return top 10 queries having maximum order by number of executions:

SELECT TOP 10 qt.TEXT AS 'SP Name',
qs.execution_count AS 'Execution Count',
qs.execution_count/DATEDIFF(Second, qs.creation_time, GETDATE()) AS 'Calls/Second',
qs.total_worker_time/qs.execution_count AS 'AvgWorkerTime',
qs.total_worker_time AS 'TotalWorkerTime',
qs.total_physical_reads AS 'PhysicalReads',
qs.creation_time 'CreationTime'
FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats AS qs
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(qs.sql_handle) AS qt
WHERE qt.dbid = (
SELECT dbid
FROM sys.sysdatabases
WHERE name = 'DatabaseName')
ORDER BY qs.total_physical_reads DESC

Though this is not as useful as query one, but can be handy in case of really large databases, where you need to identify what table is consuming how much memory, and may be the the data in some tables is not all that relevant now and can be deleted conditionally, help improve the performance.

2) Query to check the size of each table:

EXEC sp_MSforeachtable @command1="EXEC sp_spaceused '?'"

One major point, you need admin/sa access to run these scripts

Look forward to your comments on the same

Performance optimizing the SQL Store Procedure

2009-07-21T11:42:00.003+05:30

I have noted below some of the key features that can be easily implemented and made a habit during the course of deveopement that can in future boost your performance.

NO COUNT
By default, every time a stored procedure is executed, a message is sent from the server to the client indicating the number of rows that were affected by the stored procedure. Rarely is this information useful to the client. By turning off this default behavior, you can reduce network traffic between the server and the client, helping to boost overall performance of your server and applications.
To turn this feature off on at the stored procedure level, you can include the statement:
SET NOCOUNT ON at the beginning of each stored procedure you write. This statement should be included in every stored procedure you write.
If you want this feature turned off for your entire server, you can do this by running these statements at your server:
SP_CONFIGURE 'user options', 512 RECONFIGURE
but i don't recommend this as in certain cases you might need that all important row count.

Keep Transact-SQL transactions as short as possible within a stored procedure. This helps to reduce the number of locks, helping to speed up the overall performance of your SQL Server application.

Three ways to help reduce the length of a transaction are to:
1) break up the entire job into smaller steps (or multiple stored procedures or user defined functions) so each step can be committed as soon as possible
2) take advantage of SQL Server statement batches, which acts to reduce the number of round-trips between the client and server.
3) if there is a certain set of statement or calculations that is being done repeatedly in procedures use user defined functions to reduce code size and improve performance
Procedure Naming
If you are creating a stored procedure to run in a database other than the Master database, don't use the prefix "sp_" in its name. This special prefix is reserved for system stored procedures. Although using this prefix will not prevent a user defined stored procedure from working, what it can do is to slow down its execution ever so slightly.
The reason for this is that by default, any stored procedure executed by SQL Server that begins with the prefix "sp_", is first attempted to be resolved in the Master database. Since it is not there, time is wasted looking for the stored procedure.
If SQL Server cannot find the stored procedure in the Master database, then it next tries to resolve the stored procedure name as if the owner of the object is "dbo". Assuming the stored procedure is in the current database, it will then execute. To avoid this unnecessary delay, don't name any of your stored procedures with the prefix "sp_"
Before you are done with your stored procedure code, review it for any unused code, parameters, or variables that you may have forgotten to remove while you were making changes, and remove them. Unused code just adds unnecessary bloat to your stored procedures, although it will not necessarily negatively affect performance of the stored procedure.
Executing Strings
When you need to execute a string of Transact-SQL, you should use the sp_executesql stored procedure instead of the EXECUTE statement. Sp_executesql offers two major advantages over EXECUTE. First, it supports parameter substitution, which gives your more options when creating your code. Second, it creates query execution plans that are more likely to be reused by SQL Server, which in turn reduces overhead on the server, boosting performance.
Sp_executesql executes a string of Transact-SQL in its own self-contained batch. When it is run, SQL Server compiles the code in the string into an execution plan that is separate from the batch that contained the sp_executesql and its string.

Benefits of Stored Procedures - Explained (Part 1)

2009-07-02T15:24:00.004+05:30

Network Latency

One of the biggest advantages of using stored procedures over not using stored procedures is the ability to significantly reduce network traffic. And the more network traffic that can be reduced, the better the overall performance of your SQL Server-based applications.

case 1.

when we call a stored procedure from your application we just make a small RPC call while image if the stored procedure encapsulates 200~500 lines of SQL code, and if the same was to be moved to application code all the SQL in form of string will first have to sent across the network creating number of network packets and now imagine if 100 users are calling the same code at once you have one very busy network.

case 2.

when we are executing a number of statements based on some business logic, it is best all the business processing is done at stored procedure level. eg. lets say we have master detail relashionship where master data and detail data is to updated or inserted in one go. now if we were to use client side or application to handle all this we will first have to createa a master insert statement (T-SQL) , that would be sent across the network like explained above and then we will need to retrieve the master id just created with the insert statement. Then we proceed to creating a update or insert statement for the details table and now following the same process of sending the T-SQL to database and then having the needful done. while it would be just one call to a stored procedure with all the required parameter to handle all the above defined.

It is recommend to move as much of business logic to the stored procedure in that you would be moving all the processing to the sql server reducing the round trip network traffic.

In case you have any questions or comments please post them i will try and respond.

Benefits of Stored Procedures

2009-06-29T14:38:00.005+05:30

Before I go on to explain the benefits, let me explain why I am writing this. We use stored procedures as a standard practice, not thinking twice of the very reason behind this.

I realized that we follow standard practice without questioning it, not understanding its perks and pit falls, so I decided to list out the benefits I understand and share it with my team via this blog. Benefits are listed below I will explain the points one by one in the future.

Stored procedures offer many benefits, including:

Reduced network traffic and latency, boosting application performance.
Stored procedure execution plans can be reused, staying cached in SQL Server's memory, reducing server overhead.
Client execution requests are more efficient. For example, if an application needs to INSERT a large binary value into an image data column not using a stored procedure, it must convert the binary value to a character string (which doubles its size), and send it to SQL Server. When SQL Server receives it, it then must convert the character value back to the binary format. This is a lot of wasted overhead. A stored procedure eliminates this issue as parameter values stay in the binary format all the way from the application to SQL Server, reducing overhead and boosting performance.
Stored procedures help promote code reuse. While this does not directly boost an application's performance, it can boost the productivity of developers by reducing the amount of code required, along with reducing debugging time.
Stored procedures can encapsulate logic. You can change stored procedure code without affecting clients (assuming you keep the parameters the same and don't remove any result sets columns). This saves developer time.
Stored procedures provide better security to your data. If you use stored procedures exclusively, you can remove direct SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE rights from the tables and force developers to use stored procedures as the method for data access.

Warning: using stored procedure does not garuntee fast speed, there has to some level of code design, to make the procedure fast and reusable.

Please add comments to blog, i would like to hear what you this of this.

Use view to improve query performance

2009-06-24T15:34:00.004+05:30

Recently I came across two such scenarios where a large dataset (1,000,000 + rows) was being retrieved using a complex set of joins in stored procedure, we did all the regular stuff
1. Checked Indexes - made sure they are on the right columns and verified the fill factor
2. Re indexed the database for better performance
3. Checked and removed the non essential joins
4. Verified join types

we did have some improvement in performance, but nothing like we had with using views instead of complex select query, we were able to get performance levels increased by 10 t0 40 times in specific cases.

Now the question is why?
I read the following while searching on another topic and it struck me, a view is an optimized query object, SQL server itself chooses the best execution plan and then when we do a filter on the view the nested loops are decreased considerably as only one select is being filtered rather that all the tables in the join..... It really helps

From the Database Management System (DBMS) perspective, a view is a description of the data (a form of metadata). When a typical view is created, the metadata is defined by encapsulating a SELECT statement that defines a result set to be represented as a virtual table. When a view is referenced in the FROM clause of another query, this metadata is retrieved from the system catalog and expanded in place of the view's reference. After view expansion, the SQL Server query optimizer compiles a single execution plan for the executing query. The query optimizer searches though a set of possible execution plans for a query, and chooses the lowest-cost plan it can find, based on estimates of the actual time it will take to execute each query plan.

FTP without FTP client on windows XP

2009-06-19T09:21:00.004+05:30

I am sure everyone has used FTP and FTP Clients one time or the other. what happens when you want to connect to a ftp and dont have a ftp client, i just got to know of connecting to FTP with DOS, so i am sharing the info

1) Open a command windows (start->run_.cmd)
2) Type ftp
3) Type open ftp.ftp.somesite.com
4) Type username: ftpuser
5) Type the password: ftppassword
6) Type “dir” to see the content
7) Type “binary” Or "ASCII" to change to download Type
8) Type: “get filename” to download

also note that the filenames are case sensitive here so be careful.

UPDATE script with Joins

2009-04-30T10:56:00.003+05:30

I know this is basic but we tend to forget the basic stuff, today when a client asked me to update the date from one table into another table with 100's of records i for a moment thought that’s manual data entry and then it struck me a simple update statement will do it. Guess this is bound to happen if you work more at client end and not development.

well here is a sample of what i did and i was amazed that if i had opted for manual data entry it would have taken me hours. and the script took me 5~6 minutes.

here is what i did

update Table1 set Table1.col1= Table2.col2 from Table2 where Table1.Id= Table2.id

of course I could have used Inner join or any other standard join as and when required.

Insert Script for MS SQL Server

2008-11-20T13:48:00.005+05:30

Browsing the net i found this great script it creates a procedure with takes table name as input and returns a insert script for table works for both SQL Server 2000 and 2005. Great to use and no additional server requirement or installs required.

/***** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[sp_CreateDataLoadScript] Script
******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ONGOSETQUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
Create Procedure[dbo].[sp_CreateDataLoadScript]@TblName
varchar(128)
as
/*execsp_CreateDataLoadScript 'MyTable'*/
create table #a (id intidentity (1,1), ColType int, ColName varchar(128))
insert #a
(ColType,ColName) select case when DATA_TYPE like '%char%' then 1 else 0 end
,COLUMN_NAME from information_schema.columns where TABLE_NAME =@TblNameorder by ORDINAL_POSITION
if not exists (select * from #a)
begin
raiserror('No columns found for table %s', 16,-1, @TblName)
return
end
declare @id int ,@maxid int,@cmd1 varchar(7000) ,@cmd2 varchar(7000)
select @id = 0 ,@maxid =max(id)from
#a
select @cmd1 = 'select '' insert ' + @TblName + ' ('select @cmd2 = ' + ''
select '' + 'while @id < @maxid begin select@id = min(id) from #a where id > @idselect
@cmd1 = @cmd1 + ColName +',' from #a where id = @idselect
@cmd2 = @cmd2+ ' casewhen ' + ColName + ' is null '+ ' then ''null'' '+ ' else '+
case when ColType = 1 then ''''''''' + ' + ColName + ' + '''''''''
else 'convert(varchar(20),' + ColName + ')' end+ ' end + '','' + 'from #a
where id = @idendselect
@cmd1 = left(@cmd1,len(@cmd1)-1) +' ) '' '
select @cmd2 = left(@cmd2,len(@cmd2)-8) + ' from ' + @tblNameselect '
/*' + @cmd1 + @cmd2 +'*/'
exec (@cmd1 + @cmd2)
droptable #a

Note: you will have to turn of identity column if you want to insert the primary key as well.

Back button with Ajax in ASP.Net

2008-11-18T14:06:00.003+05:30

I am sure anyone who is worked on AJAX grids has come accross a QA or client who wants the grid pager to go to previous page when they hit browser back button. well asp.net 3.5 Sp1 has the perfect answer, it has a history control which allows you to add history on your ajax enabled pages. it is defined in five simple steps on the blog link mentioned below.

http://geekswithblogs.net/ranganh/archive/2008/11/17/enabling-the-browserrsquos-back-button-for-grid-view-asp.net-ajax.aspx

basic logic here is that you are able to create history points to you browser on AJAX postback.

SQL Server - Tips and more

2008-11-14T15:15:00.003+05:30

I have been a great fan of MS SQL Server, I just wanted to share some of the tips and tricks i picked up that can be quite helpful.

1. Changing owner of tables/ procedure or Function.

For Tables

DECLARE @old sysname, @new sysname, @sql varchar(1000)

SELECT
@old =
'oldOwner_CHANGE_THIS'
, @new = 'dbo'
, @sql = '
IF EXISTS (SELECT
NULL FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE
QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA)+''.''+QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) = ''?''
AND
TABLE_SCHEMA = ''' + @old + '''
)
EXECUTE sp_changeobjectowner ''?'',
''' + @new + ''''

EXECUTE sp_MSforeachtable @sql

For Procedures

DECLARE @oldOwner sysname, @newOwner sysname

SELECT
@oldOwner =
'oldOwner_CHANGE_THIS'
, @newOwner = 'dbo'

select 'EXECUTE
sp_changeobjectowner
'''+QUOTENAME(a.SPECIFIC_SCHEMA)+'.'+QUOTENAME(a.ROUTINE_NAME)+''','''+@newOwner+''''
from
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES a
where
a.ROUTINE_TYPE =
'PROCEDURE'
AND a.SPECIFIC_SCHEMA = @oldOwner
AND
OBJECTPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(a.SPECIFIC_SCHEMA)+'.'+QUOTENAME(a.ROUTINE_NAME)),
'IsMSShipped') = 0

For Functions

DECLARE @oldOwner sysname, @newOwner sysname

SELECT
@oldOwner =
'oldOwner_CHANGE_THIS'
, @newOwner = 'dbo'

select 'EXECUTE
sp_changeobjectowner
'''+QUOTENAME(a.SPECIFIC_SCHEMA)+'.'+QUOTENAME(a.ROUTINE_NAME)+''','''+@newOwner+''''
from
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES a
where
a.ROUTINE_TYPE =
'Function'
AND a.SPECIFIC_SCHEMA = @oldOwner
AND
OBJECTPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(a.SPECIFIC_SCHEMA)+'.'+QUOTENAME(a.ROUTINE_NAME)),
'IsMSShipped') = 0

2. Insert Script for SQL Server

Browsing the net i found this great script it creates a procedure with takes table name as input and returns a insert script for table.

****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[sp_CreateDataLoadScript] Script Date:
09/19/2008 20:53:38 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET
QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

Create Procedure
[dbo].[sp_CreateDataLoadScript]
@TblName varchar(128)
as
/*
exec
sp_CreateDataLoadScript 'MyTable'
*/

create table #a (id int
identity (1,1), ColType int, ColName varchar(128))

insert #a (ColType,
ColName)
select case when DATA_TYPE like '%char%' then 1 else 0 end ,
COLUMN_NAME
from information_schema.columns
where TABLE_NAME =
@TblName
order by ORDINAL_POSITION

if not exists (select * from #a)
begin
raiserror('No columns found for table %s', 16,-1, @TblName)
return
end

declare @id int ,
@maxid int ,
@cmd1
varchar(7000) ,
@cmd2 varchar(7000)

select @id = 0 ,
@maxid =
max(id)
from #a

select @cmd1 = 'select '' insert ' + @TblName + ' (
'
select @cmd2 = ' + '' select '' + '
while @id < @maxid begin select
@id = min(id) from #a where id > @id

select @cmd1 = @cmd1 + ColName +
','
from #a
where id = @id

select @cmd2 = @cmd2
+ ' case
when ' + ColName + ' is null '
+ ' then ''null'' '
+ ' else '
+ case
when ColType = 1 then ''''''''' + ' + ColName + ' + ''''''''' else
'convert(varchar(20),' + ColName + ')' end
+ ' end + '','' + '
from #a
where id = @id
end

select @cmd1 = left(@cmd1,len(@cmd1)-1) +
' ) '' '
select @cmd2 = left(@cmd2,len(@cmd2)-8) + ' from ' + @tblName

select '/*' + @cmd1 + @cmd2 + '*/'

exec (@cmd1 + @cmd2)
drop
table #a

Note: you will have to turn of identity column if you want to insert the primary key as well.

Client Handling - Keeping it simple

2008-05-30T18:42:00.004+05:30

I am sure one time or the other as developer or team lead or project manager you come across finite number of issue that seem to complex to be implemented. its easy to get carried away with issues like client does not get what i am trying to say, or i don't get what the client is trying to say and client is not willing to meet you half way. well get over it

I have had a great carrier graph but a tough one with a steep learning curve, i stared of as an ASP.Net developer in a small company worked there for little more than a year and then got an offer to work as Team Lead in Graycell Technologies Exports, and have been with the company till date. moving through the ranks i have moved up to delivery head.

Handling client is like handling children, sometimes they will be unreasonable and you cannot just get your point across and sometimes you are able to sway there opinion with a bit of logic and conviction. And then there are the really smart one (well they think so at least ). I have in no way mastered client handling, but do have an opinion on it. We mess it up with the client when we try to out smart the client or force the issue on to the client (and then there are those who try to out smart us). It normally works the best if both sides are honest and straight forwards towards the objectives of the project. The prime objective should be long term relationship and not a one off thing.

Over a period what i have noted with the client i dealt with is that the clients noramlly are not that target oriented as we would like them to be, they would provide you the specs (if any) and at hope that all the will work out as per their expectations. That is where i think a agile approach to the project helps here the client is proactively involved in the project and the project is broken into small sets of deliver ables and client is demoed the project and he is able to analyze the development and provide feedback on the exactly what is right and what is wrong. But PMs needs to careful and not give away too much leaway and end up in a mess. each set of deliverable should clarly defined and scope should be clear if thats not the case the client can take you for a ride.

These are my intial thoughts about client handling, i would like to see your comments as they would help me improve.

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Agile a new methodology

2008-05-19T15:20:00.007+05:30

Software has been written for last 30+ years but the story has remained the same for trough out "you write code you create bugs". You deliver but client says its not what is asked for. I am no super coder or a masterful project manager. I have been at the short end of the stick many-a-times. The fact of the matter is that requirements change with time and longer we take to deliver more likely it is client has a change of mind/ or competition came up with better solution before we delivered and now client does not want to be undone by the competition (Fair). The problem lies in the speed at which world is changing, 2 years ago if someone was to take on 2 yr project in ASP.Net 1.1 by the time of the planned release the client would be looking for a solution in ASP.Net 3.5. Now porting it to 3.5 would be a mammoth task (not sure a good example).

For the customers it not only hard to be precise about what's needed, it's also hard to see why it should be difficult to change later. Customers expect software to be soft.Traditional methodologies establish procedures that discourage requirements changes, they resist change. This helps them maintain a predictable schedule, but it does nothing to ensure that the final results meets the customers real, changing needs. While predictability may be very desirable, it can only be achieved by seriously compromising other qualities – particularly the fit of the final result to the real (emerging) requirements.

A typical project plan will indicate that the project requires “three programmers”. Once again, the assumption is that the project can be managed using a defined process, and that the outcome won't depend on the individuals that are assigned. But in our hearts we know that this isn't true – that the outcome depends heavily on the individuals involved. Alistair Cockburn (Author - “Characterizing People as Non-linear, First-Order Components in Software Development”) in particular has presented forceful arguments as to why people need to be considered the most influential factor in project success or failure.

The points above clearly illustrate the failure of earlier methodologies like water fall, spiral etc. one may think why did these why did these work in the past, well the basic reason is that things happen much faster not then it did in the past. MS took years to come up with a new version of office 97 and then 2000 and now they plan to do that practically every year, same is true for many of there products. Customers are now more informative and want to move with the fast paced world.

Agile - Introduction

During the 90s a number of different people realised that things had somehow changed. These people became interested in developing software methodologies that were a better fit with the new business environment – more nimble, easier to manoeuvre through a turbulent business environment. Although the details of these methodologies differ, they all share certain underlying principles, to the extent that these methodologies are often now grouped under the title “agile methodologies”.Given the opportunity to reject the “software engineering” metaphor and start all over again, what would we consider as we were developing a new methodology?·

Software development is predominantly a design activity·
Characteristics of individuals are the first-order influence on project activities·
Modern software development can't rely on individuals – it requires effective teams·
Customers are unlikely to know what they want in detail before they start·
Customers need to be able to change requirements without unreasonable penalties·
The process needs to be flexible·
Responsibility should be aligned with authority

I am still a student of agile and will be writing more about it in the future.

Sharepoint Templates - Makes life easy

2008-05-14T17:08:00.007+05:30

I have recently started looking at share point as an alternate to custom coding . it is a great tool and provides great flexibility, though at times you feel lost but the end result is quite encouraging. Microsoft offers a host of free templates which can meet a vast range of requirements and with a bit of customization you are ready to roll. I see it as a great to ol for intranet based apps which are required from time to time. also with MS providing a host of templates it helps you provide a quick solution to the client which when custom coded could have taken months. Sharepoint Templates - Makes life easy

List of templates available

Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Application Templates are out-of-the-box, custom solutions tailored to address the needs and requirements of specific business processes or sets of tasks within organizations of any size। The templates can be applied to common scenarios, such as managing a help desk or tracking a marketing campaign, to easily create a dedicated Web-based application for a more efficient and effective way of working.

A set of 40 new Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is now available for download.

Server Admin Templates: Server admin templates are created as site definitions, providing tighter integration and enhanced functionality within the Windows SharePoint Services platform. They will require a server administrator to install. If you do not have Central Server Admin rights, you can still install the site admin templates (see second list below) in the sites/workspaces that you own or administrate.

Absence Request and Vacation Schedule Management
Help Desk
Budgeting and Tracking Multiple Projects
Inventory Tracking
Bug Database
IT Team Workspace
Call Center
Job Requisition and Interview Management
Change Request Management
Knowledge Base
Compliance Process Support Site
Lending Library
Contacts Management
Physical Asset Tracking and Management
Document Library and Review
Project Tracking Workspace
Event Planning
Room and Equipment Reservations
Expense Reimbursement and Approval Site
Sales Lead Pipeline Site

Admin Templates: Site admin templates are easy for site administrators to install in a template gallery without requiring server administration access.

Board of Directors
Employee Training Scheduling and Materials
Business Performance Rating
Equity Research
Case Management for Government Agencies
Integrated Marketing Campaign Tracking
Classroom Management
Manufacturing Process Management
Clinical Trial Initiation and Management
New Store Opening
Competitive Analysis Site
Product and Marketing Requirements Planning
Discussion Database
Request for Proposal
Disputed Invoice Management
Sports League
Employee Activities Site
Team Work Site
Employee Self-Service Benefits
Timecard Management

you can look at these templates at http://www.sharepointshowcase.com/default.aspx after registering.

Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites
Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites are custom templates, designed for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the My Site functionality, and tailored to address the unique needs and requirements of specific roles within an organization। The templates extend the standard My Site functionality, providing a personal portal and dashboard with data relevant to your job role and displaying information in a way that is familiar, easy, and built around the way people in the company work.

Two role-based My Site templates are available for download now, with five additional templates scheduled for release in spring 2007.

Sample Master Pages
Master Pages provide a single source for all the page design and layout elements you want to repeat on multiple pages within a SharePoint site or application. They enable you to create and update elements in one place, giving your site a more consistent appearance. Microsoft has made available a package of four sample master page sets that were built using new CSS and Master Page editing tools within Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 and are compatible with the Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

GroupBoard Workspace 2007
GroupBoard Workspace 2007 is an application template for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 designed to provide a collaborative platform for team-based information sharing and joint documentation creation. The lists in GroupBoard Workspace 2007 provide visibility for key information, including group schedules, the movements of group members, equipment reservations and memos circulated to the group.

Community Kit for SharePoint
The Community Kit for SharePoint is a set of best practices, templates, Web Parts, tools, and source code that enables practically anyone to create a community Web site based on SharePoint technology for practically any group of people with a common interest.

For more details go to MS Website

Measure the performance of QA

2008-04-23T15:01:00.004+05:30

I have been pondering on how to measure QA performance, while there are many parameters to measure performance of development team, I could not come across one for QA. I have been strongly opposed to quantitative analysis of performance as it brings in a mechanical and defensive approach to project development, though it makes our job a lot easier. We as an organization want to promote camaraderie leading to a good team spirit leading to greater things.

Defect metrics are not 'objective' and should not be used for appraisals. In-fact, as a practice metrics should not be used for performance appraisals because they may cause defensiveness and next time around one may find stuffed results (therefore devaluing the process & also cause inter/intra team conflicts -eg.if lots of bugs were found, would one conclude that the development was poor? It may have been a complex module or a buggy dependency, or even an unclear spec, a change in requirements!).
First of all, it should be understood that any evaluation IS subjective.One uses data in order to make evaluations 'fair' and normalize it over various teams (to bring about some consistency in evaluations across managers)

So how would one go about it? I would think, similar to evaluating developers.
To get a feel, involve in a sample of their work product reviews like test plans, test cases, test programs. This gives an insight into their domain knowledge and expertise.
Ask them to present how they would test a given requirement/design? Have they been innovative (eg.automated any testing)?
How have they contributed to design reviews, code reviews during the development cycles (testing does not begin after the code has been written)?
Have there been instability in the product after its release?
Has the team/ individual worked collaboratively with others (a team player)?
One needs to quote situations/events, how the individual responded, give constructive suggestions/feedback, acknowledge difficult situations.
This would, in my opinion be 'objective' and also supported by data. We can have a similar process for developers as well.

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