Geeks Place!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:03:15 PDT

C # is a programming platform released by Microsoft which is bundled with Microsoft Visual Studio dot Net. For my friends who have studied the dot Net, but still using VB Net programming language, some e-books below may be a reference to start learning C # dot Net.

e-book is free and available at the website of origin, namely: www.csharpcourse.com, and you can download at the links are below.

1. C Sharp Java from Orange Book (462K)
2. Rob Miles CSharp Yellow Book 2008.pdf (1.4M)
3. Rob Miles CSharp Yellow Book 2009.pdf (1.5M)

Hopefully this article useful.

Attract Visitors with Blog Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:04:25 PDT

World internet today offers so many opportunities in making money. Examples of Internet business today is very tempting are online store. But, at the same time, a problem faced by this online internet business. One of the problems faced is how to attract visitors to visit to your website.

Many ways can be used, one of them is doing an online promotion, such as: put an ad in the largest search engine today, ie Google or advertisements on websites where their visitors crowded, so we can attract visitors into our stores.

This opportunity led to one of the terms of the advertise on blogs, in which we asked the blogger to review our website on the advantages or shortcomings of our website. That way, visitors who read reviews from the bloggers can be lured to enter our store.

Then, how can we know which bloggers are most attractive to visitors. Now, online business that facilitated between online businessman with bloggers. Their business called blog advertising.

Their efforts are very effective for online businesses to increase the number of visitors. So if you want success in Internet business world, diligently for promotion, because business in internet world is not different from real world.
Keep the spirit up.. 

Basic features of Google Android 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:10:50 PDT

San Francisco - Google finally leaked information about the features in the latest Android will insist pinned in the phones options.

Exposure software development kit (SDK) 2.0 Android is Google's exposed to the developers, one day before the spawn Motorola phones based on open source called Droid for Verizon.

Reporting via Yahoo Tech, Wednesday (28/10/2009), some features of the development of applications that have been buried by mobile phone manufacturers and the other is a feature that can be developed more in line with the changing technology.

Here are some of the features in the oeprasi system.

1. Synchronize email and contacts with many accounts, from various sources.
2. Supports Microsoft Exchange synchronization
3. Combination inbox for many email accounts
4. Connection speed (quick connect) which allows users make calls, send SMS, email, simply by touching the contacts the intended image.
5. Camera features a good master flash, digital zoom, scenes, white balance, color effects and macro mode.
6. Virtual keyboard complete with a sensitive
7. Three-point support multitouch
8. A better browser in the form of visual thumbnail bookmarks, address bar operation one-touch, zooming the display with touch twice, and HTML5.
9. Bluetooth 2.1 technology to connect peer-to-peer and access to the profile in the phonebook.
10. Compatible applications if displayed on a large screen or small.

These features that will be used by vendors such as HTC Android phone and Motorola. For a more complete feature can be seen on the official site for Android developers

Microsoft cleans up bugs after biggest patch release

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:41:12 PDT

October's Windows Update disabled Microsoft's Communications Server product
by Robert McMillan

After releasing its largest-ever group of security patches two weeks ago, Microsoft has done a little cleaning up.

Over the past few days, the company has re-released two security updates and issued a workaround for a Windows CryptoAPI patch that caused Microsoft's own instant-messaging server to crash.

"This is the patch month that will not die," said Susan Bradley, chief technology officer with Tamiyasu, Smith, Horn and Braun, an accountancy. She added that the Communicator issue was "a big one to miss," because Microsoft is usually careful about testing its security updates with its own products.

Scott Turner, network systems administrator with the Public Health Institute in Sacramento, California, noticed the bug immediately after installing Microsoft's updates. "We deployed the patch," he said. "When I came in the next day, nobody could connect" to Communicator.

According to a support article on Microsoft's Web site, the MS09-056 update disables several services that Communications Server needs in order to operate. The bug affects Live Communications Server 2005, Office Communications Server 2007 and evaluation versions of Office Communicator 2007.

Microsoft has released a workaround for the problem, but Turner hasn't yet been able to try it out. He's had to disable the MS09-056 update in the meantime to get his company's Communicator users up and running.

Another buggy patch fixed over the past few days was the MS09-043 Office update, first released back in August. This was apparently misconfigured so that customers who use Microsoft update tools such as Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) were given bad scan results. Customers who use Microsoft's tools may believe they're fully patched, when in fact they're not due to this bug, said Eric Schultze, an independent security consultant.

Those customers should re-run their update tools to be sure that they're patched, he added.

The issue affects customers who are running the Microsoft Office Access Runtime 2003, but not any Office products, a Microsoft spokesman said via e-mail. "Essentially, the security update installer detection logic was updated to include an uncommon scenario, where a customer only installed the Microsoft Office Access Runtime 2003 without fully installing the Office 2003 suite or other individual Office 2003 products. Those who are running in this scenario should apply the re-released bulletin immediately."

Microsoft said it also corrected some "detection entries" and "file and registry key verification information" in an update to the MS09-062 patch, released Wednesday.

Windows 7 Keeps the Good, Tries to Fix Flaws

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:46:22 PDT

By DAVID POGUE
Published: October 21, 2009

Windows 7 comes out Thursday. And if the programmers at Microsoft have any strength left at all, they are high-fiving.

Their three-year Windows Vista nightmare is over. That operating system’s wretched reputation may have been overblown; at the outset, it was slow, intrusive and incompatible with a lot of gadgets, but it’s been quietly improved over the years. Nonetheless, the corporate software buyers who order copies of Windows by the gross weren’t impressed. As recently as this summer, at least two-thirds of corporate computers were still running the positively ancient Windows XP.

Windows 7 is a different story. It keeps what’s good about Windows Vista, like security, stability and generous eye candy, and addresses much of what people disliked.

Item 1: Sluggishness. As Microsoft’s triple redundancy puts it, Windows 7 offers “faster, more responsive performance.”

Item 2: Hardware requirements. They’re no steeper than Vista’s three years ago (the standard edition requires 1 gigabyte of memory and 1 gigahertz processor; more is better).

Item 3: Nagging Windows 7 is far less alarmist than Vista, which freaked out about every potential security threat. In fact, 10 categories of warnings now pile up quietly in a single, unified Action Center and don’t interrupt you at all.

Best of all, Windows 7 represents a departure from Microsoft’s usual “success is measured by the length of the feature list” philosophy. This time around, it was, “Polish, optimize and streamline what we’ve already got.” That seems to be the industry mantra for 2009 — see also Apple’s Snow Leopard release in August — and it’s fantastic news. There are three ugly aspects of Windows 7, so let’s get them out of the way up front. Upgrading from Vista is easy, but upgrading from Windows XP involves a “clean install”— moving all your programs and files off the hard drive, installing Windows 7, then copying everything back on again. It’s an all-day hassle that’s nobody’s idea of fun.

Microsoft doesn’t think XP holdouts will bother; it hopes that they’ll just get Windows 7 preinstalled on a new PC. (It’s no accident that new operating systems come out right before holiday shopping.) The second bit of nastiness is the insane matrix of versions. Again, there are five versions of Windows 7 — Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate — each with its own set of features, each in 32-bit or 64-bit flavors (except Starter), at prices from $120 to $320. Good luck figuring out why some cool Windows 7 feature, like the much-improved, TiVo-like Windows Media Center, isn’t on your PC.

(No wonder a raft of books about Windows 7 is on the way. A disclosure: I’m writing one of them.)

Finally, out of fear of antitrust headaches, Microsoft has stripped Windows 7 of some important accessory programs. Believe it or not, software for managing photos, editing videos, reading PDF documents, maintaining a calendar, managing addresses, chatting online or writing e-mail doesn’t come with Windows 7.

What kind of operating system doesn’t come with an e-mail program?

Instead, you’re supposed to download these free apps yourself from a Microsoft Web site. It’s not a huge deal; some companies, including Dell, plan to preinstall them on new computers. But a lot of people will be in for some serious confusion — especially when they discover that the Windows 7 installer has deleted their existing Vista copies of Windows Mail, Movie Maker, Calendar, Contacts and Photo Gallery. (Mercifully, it preserves your data.)

Otherwise, though, Windows 7 is mostly great news. The happiest developments help Windows live up to its name: there are some slick, efficient new features for managing windows.

You can drag a window’s edge against the top or side of your screen to make it fill the whole screen or half of it. You can give a window a little shake with the mouse — kind of fun, actually — to minimize all other windows (or to bring them back again) when you need a quick look at your desktop.

The taskbar now resembles the Dock in Apple’s Mac OS X. That is, it displays the icons for both open programs and those you’ve dragged there for quick access. (Weirdly, though, you can’t turn individual folders and documents into buttons on the taskbar, as in Mac OS X, only programs.)

Better yet, if you point to a program’s icon without clicking, you see Triscuit-size miniatures of all the windows open in that program. And if you point to one of these thumbnails, its corresponding full-size window flashes to the fore. All of this means easier navigation in a screen awash with window clutter.

Windows 7 also introduces libraries: virtual folders that display the contents of up to 50 other folders, which may be scattered all over your system. Libraries make it easy to keep project files together, back them up en masse or share them with other PC’s on the network.

Speaking of which, networking is also more refined in Windows 7. Handling of Internet hot spots is much better than before, and the new HomeGroups feature lets you unify all Windows 7 computers and printers on your home network without having to mess with accounts or permissions. You just enter the same long, one-time password on each machine. (Only at Microsoft do “user-friendly” and “write down this password: E6fQ9UX3uR” appear in the same sentence.) Once that’s done, each computer can see the photos, music and documents on all the other ones. It’s a little buggy, but it’ll get there.

Compatibility is excellent. I connected a couple dozen cameras, phones, iPods, printers and scanners, and Windows 7 recognized them all. Recent, brand-name apps fare well, too, but there are no guarantees. I found a couple of smaller, older programs that wouldn’t work in Windows 7.

Some Windows 7 developments fall under the heading, “If you build it, they might come... eventually.” For example, the updated Windows Media Player program can now send music playback to another gadget on your network: an Xbox, digital picture frame, another Windows 7 machine and so on. The catch: the other gadget has to be D.L.N.A.-certified, which you’re supposed to know refers to an industry compatibility standard.

Or take the new Device Stage screen. When you connect a gadget to your PC, you’re supposed to see its actual photograph, model name and list of relevant features. But until all the gadget makers get on board, you sometimes see only generic icons here.

Even the multitouch feature of Windows 7 falls into that hit-or-miss category. On new laptops and even desktop PCs with multitouch screens, you can drag two fingers on the screen to rotate photos, scroll and zoom, exactly the way you do on an iPhone.

Alas, software programs have to be rewritten to understand these gestures; for example, they all work in Microsoft’s Photo Gallery, but only the zoom gesture works in Google’s Picasa. You’re in for many “Doh!” moments as you realize you’ve reached out awkwardly with your arm, dragged around on the touch screen, and produced nothing but gross grease streaks.

Now, Windows 7 is still Windows. It’s still copy-protected, it still requires antivirus software and its visuals still aren’t consistent from one corner to another.

On the other hand, it’s still Windows in a good way, too, meaning that it’s your ticket to a world of choice — a huge catalog of software and computer options. This Win is a win if you’re in the market for a new machine, or if you’re running Vista now and you’re not thrilled by it.

Above all, Windows 7 means that Microsoft employees can show up in public without avoiding eye contact. Looks like 7 is a lucky number after all.

Stay safe in a virus-ridden world

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:02:17 PDT

Zatni Arbi, Contributor , Jakarta | Mon, 09/07/2009 10:32 AM
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/09/07/stay-safe-a-virusridden-world.html

Today, who dares work and go online without the protection of a set of security tools?

You can do it of course — if you don’t use a computer at all in your work. But the moment you climb into the Internet, there is no choice. A strong security application is just as essential to using a computer as its operating system.

Of course, those who use operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS may not need an anti-virus as badly as those who run Microsoft Windows. That is because the majority of the personal computers in the world run Windows, and it gives the mentally deranged virus makers a strong incentive to be creative in the totally wrong way.

There are a lot of ways viruses, Trojans and worms — Kaspersky chooses to call them collectively “malware” — can wreak havoc on our computers. Most common nowadays are those that come through email, hidden programs on websites and exchanges of USB drives.

There are a number of great anti-virus programs out there. They include AVG, McAfee and Norton. Most of them are available in bootlegged CDs or DVDs and we can get these media in almost every shopping center in Jakarta.

One thing that we are all aware of is that new viruses are created all the time and the pirated security programs will have to be updated continually. And if you do get a pirated version, remember they are usually out of date and will not protect you from the latest threats; as it isn’t a licensed copy, you cannot get the latest updates from the Web.

My daughter recently got a new HP Compaq notebook because her course required her to take her assignments wherever her teacher wanted to hold their class meeting. The new Compaq came with different Internet security software, but I wanted to use the notebook to try out Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, which the company distributed to the media for review purposes. My daughter also needs strong security protection because her friends may use the notebook with different USB drives.

Erwin Yovitanto, Kaspersky product manager at Astrindo Starvision, one of the main distributors of Kaspersky products in Indonesia, told me that I had to uninstall any security software already on the system before I could install Kaspersky. That was easy. The Compaq notebook had Windows Vista, so all I had to do was go to the Control Panel, click on the Programs and Features icon, select the existing security package and remove it completely. The installation of the full package was very quick.

Once installed, Kaspersky checked to find out whether its data files were current. To make them current, all I did was click on the Update Now button.

At a glance, the Kaspersky main window reminded me a lot of McAfee’s, although the green corporate color was obvious. Erwin explained that underneath the interface are a lot of improvements in the features that the previous version already had.

For example, Parental Control now allows us to limit the time a child can use the computer or browse the Internet per week. We can even specify from what hour to what hour a child can use the computer on which day. Of course, if necessary, we can block access to websites that contain pornography, gambling or any other unwanted materials.

Safe Run is one of the most important improvements in Kaspersky Internet Security 2010. It serves as a sandbox, much like the one that DENSUS 88, the Indonesian police’s antiterrorism detachment, uses when detonating a bomb. So, if you really need to run a downloaded program that Kaspersky considers dangerous, it will be run in quarantine. If the bomb explodes, the damage will be contained.

Another important feature is called Urgent Detection System, or UDS, although this is also available in the competing security packages. It allows participating users to send the results of their scans to Kaspersky servers to be analyzed.

In addition, Kaspersky will intelligently monitor and evaluate suspicious software on our computer until it is considered safe. This feature makes use of the data sent by around 10 million Kaspersky users who willingly participate. The good thing is that these users remain anonymous.

What I like about the latest and complete version is that, while it has more features, it runs lighter even on Vista. By the way, according to Erwin, its compatibility with Windows 7 has also been perfected. Let us see the truth when Windows 7 is launched next month.

How crucial is it to have security protection on your computer? In this country, it is exceedingly important. Indonesia has quite a bunch of virus makers who are very productive in creating security risks that put careless users in misery.

Apparently, Indonesia is so important that Eugene Kaspersky, the co-founder and CEO of the security company, will be visiting Indonesia from Oct. 7 to 11.

Regardless of which of the competing Internet security products you choose, one thing is extremely clear: You must invest in a good one and renew your subscription every year to get the latest updates.

40 years later, moon still giant leap for mankind

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:49:59 PDT

Seth Borenstein , The Associated Press , Washington | Sun, 07/19/2009 9:56 AM | Sci-Tech

The measure of what humanity can accomplish is a size 9 1/2 bootprint.

It belongs to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. It will stay on the moon for millions of years with nothing to wipe it away, serving as an almost eternal testament to a can-do mankind.

Apollo 11 is the glimmering success that failures of society are contrasted against: "If we can send a man to the moon, why can't we ..."

What put man on the moon 40 years ago was an audacious and public effort that the world hasn't seen before or since. It required rocketry that hadn't been built, or even designed, in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy declared the challenge. It needed an advance in computerization that had not happened yet. NASA would have to learn how to dock separate spaceships, how to teach astronauts to walk in space, even how to keep them alive in space - all tasks so difficult experts weren't sure they were possible.

Forty years later, the moon landing is talked about as a generic human achievement, not an American one. But Apollo at the time was more about U.S. commitment and ingenuity.

Historian Douglas Brinkley called the Apollo program "the exemplary moment of America's we-can-do-anything attitude." After the moon landing, America got soft, he said, looking for the quick payoff of a lottery ticket instead of the sweat-equity of buckling down and doing something hard.

In years since, when America faces a challenge, leaders often look to the Apollo program for inspiration. In 1971, when President Richard Nixon declared a war on cancer, his staffers called it "a moon shot for cancer." Last year, then-candidate Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore proposed a massive effort to fight global warming, comparing it to Apollo 11. An environmentalists' project to tackle climate change and promote renewable energy took the name "Apollo Alliance."

Those still-unfinished efforts recall May 25, 1961, when President Kennedy, fresh from a disastrous Bay of Pig invasion of Cuba, announced that America would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade and return him safely home.

"I thought he was crazy," said Chris Kraft, when he heard Kennedy's speech about landing on the moon.

Kraft was head of Mission Control. He was the man responsible for guiding astronauts to orbit (which hadn't been done yet) and eventually to the moon. Kraft first heard about a mission to the moon when Kennedy made the speech.

"We saw that as Buck Rogers stuff, rather than reality that would be carried out in any time period that we were dealing with," Kraft recently told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Houston.

Less than three months later, Kraft was in the White House explaining to the president just how landing on the moon would be done. Kraft still didn't believe it would work.

"Too many unknowns," he said.

It was the Cold War and Russian Yuri Gagarin had just become the first man in space. Kennedy chose landing a man on the moon because experts told him it was the one space goal that was so distant and complicated at the time that the United States could catch up and pass the Soviet Union, Kennedy adviser Ted Sorensen said.

The idea in a world where American capitalism was pitted against Soviet communism on a daily basis was "to prove to the world which system was best, which one was the future," Sorensen said.

"It's not just the fact that the president wanted it done," Sorensen recalled. "It was the fact that we had a specific goal and a specific timetable."

In another speech, Kennedy famously said America would go to the moon and try other tasks "not because they were easy, but because they were hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills."

They weren't just skills with rockets and slide rules. Bringing together countless aerospace companies, engineers, scientists, technicians, politicians and several NASA centers around the nation was a management challenge even more impressive than building the right type of rockets, said Smithsonian Institution space scholar Roger Launius.

And it cost money. The United States spent $25.4 billion on the Apollo program, which translates to nearly $150 billion in current dollars - less than the U.S. spent in both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007.

Yet, in the view of those heavily involved in the challenge, what made Apollo work was two tragedies: the assassination of Kennedy in 1963 and the fatal Apollo 1 fire in 1967.

The assassination of Kennedy made the Apollo program and its budget politically nearly untouchable. The moon-landing goal - which Kennedy later talked about modifying and even including the Soviets on - became a symbol of the martyred president. NASA's launch center was renamed from Cape Canaveral to Kennedy.

The Apollo fire, which occurred during ground testing, killed three astronauts, including Armstrong's neighbor. The main problem was that there was 100 percent oxygen in the capsule, which made fire spread rapidly.

Kraft, in a July interview said he is convinced that NASA couldn't have reached Kennedy's target were it not for the Apollo 1 fire and the way it made the space agency rethink everything: "We were building inferior hardware at that point in time.

"The whole program turned around, both from a hardware and management point of view," Kraft said. "You really learn from failure."

So NASA drilled astronauts and flight controllers ceaselessly with simulations. Failures kept being thrown at the astronauts and the controllers, some just plain unsolvable.

One of the last failures simulated before Apollo 11's launch was an alarm on the lunar lander that signaled the computer was overloaded. During the simulation, Mission Control in Houston aborted the landing. But controllers were later told it was just an "indication" signal and that if they had thought about it, the computer really was working fine. Controllers thought the test was unfair, according to an account in the new book, "Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon" by Craig Nelson.

But during the real mission, as the Eagle lunar lander approached the moon, that test-run computer signal appeared. This time controllers knew everything was OK. They didn't abort the moon landing.

Still, there were more hurdles to come. In another example, experience and nerves paid off. As Eagle neared the landing area in the spot called Sea of Tranquility, Armstrong saw too many boulders and craters to come down safely. So he kept flying horizontally, 100 feet (30 meters) off the ground, scouring the moonscape for a smooth place.

Eagle's fuel tank neared empty. Alarms went off. Mission controllers in Houston fretted.

"We still needed to get down," recalled Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. "I'm not telling Neil, 'Hey Neil, hurry up, get on the ground.' I'm sort of conveying this with body English."

There were only 17 seconds worth of fuel left.

Finally, the radio at Mission Control crackled with Armstrong's voice: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Two hours later, humans walked on a place other than Earth, a place truly foreign.

"This is a very desolate place," recalled Aldrin, second to step on the moon. "It's just boring. It's all one color that varies depending on the sun angle. But the sky is black, it's all black except the one object there, the Earth, and the object behind us, the sun."

The world watched on television as the first two men walked on the moon. But one person close to the action couldn't. He was the third crew member of Apollo 11, command module pilot Michael Collins, who was orbiting the moon alone. He didn't get to see what was happening. But he could hear Neil Armstrong say his famous first words.

Decades later, Armstrong called his first words on the moon "a pretty simple statement, talking about stepping off something."

But Armstrong wasn't merely talking about that small step of his. What came next was the big deal. It was, as he said on the moon 40 years ago, "a giant leap for mankind."

It still is.

Multimedia journalist Kevin Vineys in Washington and television producer Sara Gillesby in New York contributed to this report.

On the Net:

NASA's Apollo anniversary site: http://www.nasa.gov/mission(underscore)pages/apollo/40th/index.html

NASA interactive site showing Apollo high points by state:

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ApolloNearYou/index.html

NASA video of Apollo 11 landing on the moon: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/A11Landing.mov

source: here

www.excelprogrammer.com

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:45:59 PDT

Please Visit my new Site: www.ExcelProgrammer.com

Chinese cheer as astronauts makes first spacewalk

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:43:51 PDT

Chinese celebrated their nation's first spacewalk Saturday, gathering at outdoor TV screens to cheer live video of the milestone for a program that has ambitions of building a space station and challenging the U.S. and Russia in offworld exploration.

Stoking national pride one month after the close of the Beijing Olympics, state television's coverage reflected much of the glory onto president and Communist Party leader Hu Jintao, who was present at Thursday's launch and watched the spacewalk at Beijing's ground control center.

"Your success represents a new breakthrough in our manned space program," Hu told the astronauts in a scripted exchange that was also broadcast live.

"The motherland and the people thank you," said Hu, who is chairman of the powerful Communist Party and government military committees that oversee the space program.

The spacewalk was mainly aimed at testing China's mastery of the technology. Mission commander Zhai Zhigang's sole task was to retrieve a rack attached to the outside of the orbital module containing an experiment involving solid lubricants.

Tethered to handles attached to the Shenzhou 7 ship's orbital module, Zhai remained outside for about 13 minutes before climbing back inside through the open hatch.

"Greetings to all the people of the nation and all the people of the world," Zhai said into an external camera he floated halfway out of the open hatch.

Fellow astronaut Liu Boming also emerged briefly from the capsule to hand Zhai a Chinese flag. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module.

While successful, the spacewalk wasn't without its anxious moments.

Zhai, a 41-year-old fighter pilot, appeared to struggle with the hatch and then a fire alarm was triggered in the orbiter as he began the spacewalk.

Wang Zhaoyao, deputy director of manned space flight, conceded the combined effects of weightlessness and depressurization on the hatch opening operation hadn't been fully anticipated. He blamed a faulty sensor for the fire alarm.

"There were be no impact on the rest of the mission," Wang said.

The spacewalk required astronauts to first depressurize and then repressurize the orbital module and proved the effectiveness of Zhai's Feitian space suit, produced by China at a cost of $4.4 million. Liu wore a nearly identical Russian-made Orlan suit, state media said.

Following the spacewalk, the astronauts released an 88-pound satellite to circle the orbiter and send back images to mission control.

The spacewalk was an opening step for China's plan to assemble a space station from two Shenzhou orbital modules, the next major goal of the manned space program. China is also pursuing lunar exploration and may attempt to land a man on the moon in the next decade - possibly ahead of NASA's 2020 target date for returning to the moon.

China launched its first manned mission, Shenzhou 5, in 2003, becoming only the third country after Russia and the United States to launch a man into space. That was followed by a two-man mission in 2005.

Along with challenging Russia and the U.S., the spacewalk ups the ante in China's competition with Asia's other aspiring space powers, Japan and India. China's advances have spurred space spending by those two nations, partly for bragging rights but also in search of economic benefits such as a bigger slice of the commercial satellite launching business.

In step with its growing list of achievements, China's military-backed space program has grown progressively less secretive and officials have hinted in recent days at a desire for greater cooperation with other nations. China plans to mass produce the next version of the Shenzhou ship to service a future space station and says it may make such missions available to other countries.

Cooperation between China and other nations has so far been limited. The U.S. has refused Chinese involvement in the international space station operated with Russia for fear Beijing could gain technical secrets applicable to its arms industry.

A Chinese space program official said earlier that Russian technicians would assist in Saturday's spacewalk, but it wasn't clear what role they played.

Since blasting off from the Jiuquan launch base in northwestern China, the astronauts had been largely occupied with preparing their suits and adapting to zero gravity. Cameras inside the re-entry vehicle showed them going through checklists and napping.

Meals aboard the craft have followed a typical Chinese menu, featuring versions of kung pao chicken, shrimp and dried fruit, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Quote from here

US senator urges Justice Department to monitor Google, Yahoo deal

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:40:24 PDT

A key senator is urging the Justice Department to keep up its investigation into the antitrust implications of the Internet advertising partnership that Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. plan to launch this month.

In a letter Thursday, Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, said his panel concluded that "important competition issues are raised by this transaction." He urged the Justice Department to "continue to monitor the state of competition in this industry."

The Justice Department is already examining the deal to decide whether to intervene, and had no comment Thursday beyond reiterating that the review continues.

Under the partnership, Google will sell some of the ads displayed alongside search results on Yahoo's Web site. Because Google's system for identifying and displaying ads is more lucrative than Yahoo's own approach, Yahoo has embraced this link with its rival as an alternative to a takeover by Microsoft Corp.

But several advertisers have raised concerns about the deal, arguing that it will limit competition, raise prices and reduce choices in the online advertising market. Microsoft also has been lobbying the Justice Department to intervene.

Kohl, who expressed concerns about the partnership when it was first disclosed and held a hearing in July, did not take a formal position Thursday on whether the deal should be blocked. But his letter urged the Justice Department to step in to protect competition if it determines that Google is "gaining a dominant market position" because of the agreement.

He added that even if the department concludes that the partnership does not violate antitrust law, it "must be sure that this deal never in the future crosses the line into an unacceptable, anticompetitive collaboration among competitors which will harm consumers and advertisers."

Google and Yahoo have ramped their own campaign to defend the partnership. They insist the deal will benefit consumers and advertisers by enabling both companies to deliver targeted ads that are more relevant to viewers.

"We believe that this arrangement is good for competition and will benefit advertisers, Web site publishers and consumers," Google said in a statement.

Responding to predictions that the deal will further cement Google's grip on the online advertising marketplace, the two companies have also stressed that it will be up to Yahoo to decide when and whether to show an ad from Google's inventory. And they maintain that by driving additional revenue for Yahoo, the partnership will make it a stronger competitor to both Microsoft and Google.

Kohl is not the first member of Congress to weigh in. Last week, a handful of lawmakers from the San Francisco Bay area, where both Google and Yahoo are based, sent a letter to the Justice Department arguing that its intervention "could detrimentally affect the online advertising market and electronic commerce."

And last week, 10 members of the House Judiciary Committee urged the department to examine the deal closely "to ensure that it promotes, and does not hinder competition."

Shares of Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., fell $21.23, or 5.2 percent, to $390.49 Thursday. Shares of Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., fell $1.38, or 8.1 percent, to $15.58 Thursday.

Qoute from here

Two sides - GPS Tracking

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:56:53 PDT

Last night I was watching serial tv “Prison Break”. In one episode, there is something interesting for me. They use GPS technology to tracking the money. So, there was a guy runs away with the money, but actually he doesn’t get away, because inside the bag has been put a GPS tracking.

What interesting here is GPS tracking was? Do you ever think GPS tracking can be bad and can be good for some conditions? What do you think?

Here some example:
Police place GPS to tracking down the drugs mafia in one drugs deal. They put GPS on the bag, and following them to get the base of the mafia. This is a good of GPS Tracking.

Now, another example again:
Some bad guys plan to rob the bank. And in their plan, they must take a hostage, and the hostages are the family of the duty manager that day. In order to follow him, the bad guy places a GPS to track his address. This is a bad of GPS tracking.

If GPS tracking have two sides, and now how we maximize the useful of GPS Tracking and minimize the bad of GPS tracking? Please place your comments to discuss this GPS tracking. :)

Simple Manipulation Database with VB Express 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:32:17 PST

Ok. Let's try Linq with database now. Database I use was SQL Express 2005.

Let's begin the lessons:

First, create new project, choose windows application.

Second, choose data connection and data source of database we want to use.

Third, add new item and choose Linq to SQL Classes. The file will create and drag the tables or stored procedure in it.

Fourth, done. Hahaha.

And now, let's use Linq in database case. Here we can see how easy we can manipulate the code and the efficiency of writing code in vb 9.

Dim presen = From absensi In db.Presensi(2008, 4) Select absensi

For
Each Presensi In presen

Debug.Print(Presensi.nama_karyawan, Presensi.Uang_Makan)

Those codes above will connect to presensi where the presensi was stored procedure in my database. Below is an example of dbml (LINQ TO SQL CLASSES). Hope you enjoy it.

XML Code with VB Express 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:45:43 PDT

Function CreateDocument()

Return_

<?xml
version="1.0"
encoding="UTF-16"
standalone="yes"?>

<name>John Smith</name>

</contact>

<name>Layong</name>

<address>Indonesia</address>

</contact>

<name>Jack Brock</name>

<address>London</address>

</contact>

</organizer>

End
Function

The code above show us how to create XML code more easier and in one framework. Vb 9 can regconize the XML code and execute those code like vb do with their own code.

Those code will return the result in xml code with "organizer" as a root. What vb 9 can do with those xml code is truly amazing. We can play with xml code and generate the xml code again.

Here the example:

Sub testingXML()

Dim doc() = CreateDocument()

Console.WriteLine(doc(0))

Dim contacts = From cont In doc.Descendants("organizer") _

Where cont.Attribute("category").Value = "home" _

Select cont

Dim contacts2 = From cont2 In doc...<organizer> _

Select cont2

For
Each contact In contacts

Console.WriteLine(contact)

For
Each contact2 In contacts2.<contact>

Console.WriteLine("{0,-40} {1,-20}", contact2.<name>.Value, contact2.<address>.Value)

Console.ReadKey()

End
Sub

Try it yourself what vb 9 get with those code. It's amazing. J

Tips for choosing Powerpoint Projectors

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Sun, 25 May 2008 21:26:39 PDT

When I got this website, it’s reminding me about my business now. First, when I setup my business, I must prepare likes computers, projector and etc. Especially for projector, I learn something here. There are so many kinds of projectors likes: video projectors, powerpoint projectors, and etc.

So, when I choose the projector, I must see my needs first. If we mostly use the projector for video, then you must choose the video projector, and if you only use the projector for presentation, the powerpoint projectors is suit for your needs.

There are some features you must consider if you choose powerpoint projectors.
• Choose Higher resolutions like SXGA (1,280x1,024) or minimally XGA (1024x768).
• Choose projectors with the newer menu or features.
• Set your color and brightness with counting the size of your room
• Consider the font size too..

So, now when you present your presentation, hopefully your audiences are happy to listen.

Ups.. forgot. Review of this website: this website contains a lot of projectors. So, you can choose the right projectors for your needs. And gladly this website offers you the best price.

Join 2 variables with Linq (VB Express 2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:14:23 PDT

Class Person

Public Age As Integer

Public Name As String

End Class

Sub TestingClass2()

Dim People As New List(Of Person)

People.Add(New Person With {.Age = 16, .Name = "Angie"})

People.Add(New Person With {.Age = 20, .Name = "Brandy"})

Dim People2() = {New Person With {.Name = "Herry", .Age = 16}, _

New Person With {.Name = "Jerry", .Age = 25}}

Dim peopleDet = From peo In People Join peo2 In People2 On peo.Age Equals peo2.Age _

Where peo.Age = 16 Select peo.Name, Name2 = peo2.Name

For Each peopleDet1 In peopleDet

Console.WriteLine(peopleDet1.Name)

Console.WriteLine(peopleDet1.Name2)

Console.ReadKey()

End Sub

The codes above show us how to create variable with Person type/class. There are 2 ways how to add the value in it. Here the ways:

First way:

Dim People As
New List(Of Person)

People.Add(New Person With {.Age = 16, .Name = "Angie"})

People.Add(New Person With {.Age = 20, .Name = "Brandy"})

Second way:

Dim People2() = {New Person With {.Name = "Herry", .Age = 16}, _

New Person With {.Name = "Jerry", .Age = 25}}

The codes up there is the same, but have a major different on it. First ways is easier when we insert the new record/value in people variable, but second ways, we easy to write because we can make it one line code, but difficult to read it and also second way not friendly if we want to insert the new record in the different line.

Also, the codes above teach us how to join two variables in the simple way. I want to join 2 variables where the condition " age = 16 " and get the name of the person.

Dim peopleDet = From peo In People Join peo2 In People2 On peo.Age Equals peo2.Age _

Where peo.Age = 16 Select peo.Name, Name2 = peo2.Name

The result will return "Angie" and "Herry", because their age is same.

Ok. Have a nice coding.. :)

First Project with Visual Basic Express 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:17:46 PDT

Today, I was trying visual basic express 2008. It’s free version from Microsoft but still powerful for creating simple software. As we know, Microsoft says in Visual Studio 2008 had new feature like LinQ. LinQ is code template like SQL Query but it’s more powerful. LinQ make us easier to query database, array, and even variables.

Okay let’s try it. This is my first try and if I got it wrong, feel free to tell me at the comment side.

To begin the first project, you need Visual Basic Express 2008, which you can download at: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vb/

Let’s begin to rock VB Express 2008. :)

1. Open your VB Express 2008

2. Choose ConsoleApplication and choose “OK” button.

3. Create a simple sub procedure like this:

Sub NumQuery()

Dim numbers() = {1, 4, 2, 7, 8, 9}

Dim evenNumbers = From num In numbers Where num Mod 2 = 1 Select num

Console.WriteLine("Result :")

For Each number In evenNumbers

Console.WriteLine(number)

Console.ReadKey()

End Sub

4. Then, in “Sub Main()”, write this code like this:

Sub Main()

NumQuery()

End Sub

5. Done… hehehe

You can see at this line of code:

Dim evenNumbers = From num In numbers Where num Mod 2 = 1 Select num

Which it mean: we choose data from numbers and place in the num variable where the condition num mod 2 = 1, and last the result of num will place on evenNumbers variable.

For Each number In evenNumbers

Console.WriteLine(number)

Those codes will execute and display the result in console mode.

What do you think about this new feature of Visual Basic Express 2008. :)

Have a nice day.

Peazip – Great Compression Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:32:18 PST

Peazip is tool for compression. Peazip is free software and free to spread. Peazip can open and compress in 12 different type, likes: zip, 7z, pea, tar, etc. when I use peazip, I think peazip compression is not small than winzip or winrar, but now I change my mind. Peazip can do even better than winzip or winrar.

Benefits of peazip are:

1. Peazip is very small program (about 7 Mb).

2. Peazip is user friendly.

3. Peazip can compress good enough.

4. Peazip is free.

5. Peazip can support a lot of files type.

Now, I try to share a little about how to use peazip:

1. Choose create archive or open archive

1. Choose Add File

2. Choose type of compress and level of compress

3. Choose create .7z and type filename

4. Progress bar of peazip compress

. Different between original file and peazip file

Simple huh.. hehehe. Next time I will share how to extract with peazip.

Thx. Good day.

SumatraPDF – Simple PDF Reader

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:15:20 PDT

SumatraPDF is open-source software that useful to read a PDF files. SumatraPDF is very small software, even we didn’t need to install it. What we need just copy and paste SumatraPDF into our hard drive and run it. Here the look of SumatraPDF:

SumatraPDF was created by Krzysztof Kowalczyk. Here the look when we open the PDF files:

The benefits of SumatraPDF:
1. Simple because SumatraPDF didn’t need to be installed on our hard drive, SumatraPDF only need to be copied on our hard drive and run it.
2. Free of Cost. Sumatra is free software that we can use and spread it.
3. Fast. Because of this very small size of SumatraPDF make it very fast on opening the PDF files.

The weakness of SumatraPDF:
1. Sometimes SumatraPDF cannot open the new version of PDF Files.
2. Result of SumatraPDF printing is not good (low resolution).
3. Open the PDF files in new windows when we open the new files.

Here the site where you can download SumatraPDF: SumatraPDF-0.8-install.exe

Display Network Search Dialog box with API and VB

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:50:56 PDT

Today I want to share another post about API and VB again. How to show a network search dialog box with API in VB?

Ok. I make it quick on this post, because the codes are very long.

Here the declaration of API functions:

Private Type BrowseInfo
hWndOwner As Long
pIDLRoot As Long
pszDisplayName As Long
ulFlags As Long
lpfnCallback As Long
lParam As Long
iImage As Long
End Type

Public Enum BrowseType
BrowseForFolders = &H1
BrowseForComputers = &H1000
BrowseForPrinters = &H2000
BrowseForEverything = &H4000
End Enum

Public Enum FolderType
CSIDL_BITBUCKET = 10
CSIDL_CONTROLS = 3
CSIDL_DESKTOP = 0
CSIDL_DRIVES = 17
CSIDL_FONTS = 20
CSIDL_NETHOOD = 18
CSIDL_NETWORK = 19
CSIDL_PERSONAL = 5
CSIDL_PRINTERS = 4
CSIDL_PROGRAMS = 2
CSIDL_RECENT = 8
CSIDL_SENDTO = 9
CSIDL_STARTMENU = 11
End Enum

Private Const MAX_PATH = 260

Private Declare Sub CoTaskMemFree Lib “ole32.dll” (ByVal hMem As Long)
Private Declare Function lstrcat Lib “kernel32.dll” Alias “lstrcatA” (ByVal lpString1 As String, ByVal lpString2 As String) As Long
Private Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder Lib “shell32.dll” (lpbi As BrowseInfo) As Long
Private Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib “shell32.dll” (ByVal pidList As Long, ByVal lpBuffer As String) As Long
Private Declare Function SHGetSpecialFolderLocation Lib “shell32.dll” (ByVal hWndOwner As Long, ByVal nFolder As Long, ListId As Long) As Long

Public Function BrowseFolders(hWndOwner As Long, sMessage As String, Browse As BrowseType, ByVal RootFolder As FolderType) As String
Dim Nullpos As Integer
Dim lpIDList As Long
Dim res As Long
Dim sPath As String
Dim BInfo As BrowseInfo
Dim RootID As Long

SHGetSpecialFolderLocation hWndOwner, RootFolder, RootID
BInfo.hWndOwner = hWndOwner
BInfo.lpszTitle = lstrcat (sMessage, “”)
BInfo.ulFlags = Browse

If RootID <> 0 Then BInfo.pIDLRoot = RootID
lpIDList = SHBrowseForFolder (BInfo)

If lpIDList <> 0 then
sPath = String (MAX_PATH, 0)
res = SHGetPathFromIDList (lpIDList, sPath)
Call CoTaskMemFree (lpIDList)
If Nullpos <> 0 Then
sPath = Left(sPath, Nullpos – 1)
End If
End If
BrowseFolders = sPath
End Function

Private Sub command1_click()

Labe1.Caption = BrowseFolders(hWnd, “Choose your network”, BrowseForFolders, CSIDL_NETHOOD)

End Sub

Fuih.. very long codes. :)
Enjoy it…

Copy function with API and VB

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:19:09 PDT

Here we go, another article about API function and VB. For VB developer, maybe you all familiar with Filecopy function. Yes, that function is to use copy and paste file we want into the directory we want.

Now, I want to make my own Filecopy with API function. In API, we can use CopyFile function, where the statement is:

CopyFile(lpExistingFileName, lpNewFileName, bFailIfExists)

lpExistingFileName = Source of our file
lpNewFileName = Destination of our file
bFailIfExists = checked first if we gave value 1, and replace it if we gave value 0

Now here the code:

Declare Function CopyFile Lib “kernel32.dll” Alias “CopyFileA” (ByVal lpExistingFileName As String, ByVal lpNewFileName As String, ByVal bFailIfExists As Long)

Application I want to make is copy file from source directory into destination directory, but checking first the existing of the file and return the message whatever success or not.

Private Sub CopyData()

Dim ErrVal as Byte

ErrVal = CopyFile (“c:\autoexec.bat”, “d:\autoexec.bat”, 1)

If ErrVal = 0 then

Msgbox “Operation Not Success. File already exist”

Else

Msgbox “Operation Success.”

End If

End Sub

Now we can modify our copy function with the rules we want. Enjoy it…

Check free space of hard drive with API and VB

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:56:50 PDT

Maybe we always see the message from the installer when our hard drive space doesn’t enough. We can get the free space of our hard drive with API function and integrate it with VB.

We can use API function: GetDiskFreeSpace on Kernel32.

Here the code:

Declare Function GetDiskFreeSpace Lib “kernel32.dll” Alias “GetDiskFreeSpaceA” (ByVal lpRootPathName As String, lpSectorsPerCluster As Long, lpBytesPerSector As Long, lpNumberOfFreeClusters As Long, lpTotalNumberOfClusters As Long) As Long

Private Sub CheckFreeSpace()
Dim x As Long
Dim Free As Long

x = GetDiskFreeSpace (“c:/”, SecPerClus, BytePerSec, FreeClus, TotalClus)
Free = SecPerClus * BytePerClus * FreeClus

Msgbox “Free Space of Drive C:/ is: “ + Str(Free) + “ bytes”

End Sub

Simple.. huh.. 

Enjoy it…

How to Beep PC with API and VB

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:12:34 PDT

Today I will post code still related windows API function with VB. Now, I will show you how to beep the PC with the code on VB

First, we need declare an API function on VB:

Public Declare Function Beep Lib “kernel32” (ByVal dwFreq as Long, ByVal dwDuration As Long) As Long

That’s it. We just need it only to beep the PC.

Now, how to use on VB code:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim x As Byte

For y = 1 to 100

Beep y,100

Next

End Sub

It will beep 100 times with 100 durations.

Okay. Enjoy the Code….

Total Solutions for Your Online Store

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:49:20 PDT

Do you want to expand your business into e-store business with internet? Need shopping cart on your site? But, do you confuse to get the right software with your needs? To expensive buying a software or hire the programmer?

GET READY. We can get what you need. Good shopping cart software with a good price. Please visit us at: www.ashop.com.au. With us, CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE. We can provide you a web based application with no installation needed, Affordable e commerce software, Accept credit cards online, Thousands of features, easy to use, Start selling your products online right now, Fully customizable design, 10 day free trial.

There are 6 reasons why you should choose Ashop Commerce as your partner for creating shopping cart software, are: AFFORDABLE, EASY, TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE, GET FOUND ON SEARCH ENGINES, CUSTOMIZABLE DESIGN WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS, and TOTAL SOLUTION.

Need to try first? We can provide you with a test drive with our demo version first. You can access it at here.

Find out our features here and get the right package on your needs here.

With AShop Commerce, we give our clients the best solutions and the best pricing. Over 4 years, we have developing shopping cart software regards functionality and usability. You can read our clients testimonials at here, and don’t hesitate to contact us, we are ready to help you to find a good solutions for your online store.

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Our Website: www.ashop.com.au

UpperCase and LowerCase with API in VB

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:51:18 PDT

Uppercase and lowercase are general functions in every programming language. Now, I want to show how to use uppercase and lowercase in API functions.

I do it with visual basic 6 and windows library ( user32.dll ).

Okay, we start with uppercase first.

Uppercase is a function to generate anything string into uppercase string.

Here the code:

Declare Function CharUpper Lib “user32.dll” Alias “CharUpperA”
(ByVal lpsz As String) As String

Private sub command1_click()

Text1.Text = CharUpper(“layong”)

End Sub

The result will be: “LAYONG”

Okay. We move on the lowercase function. Lowercase is a function to change a string into the lowercase string.

Here the code:

Declare Function CharLower Lib “user32.dll” Alias “CharLowerA”
(ByVal lpsz As String) As String

Private Sub Command1_Click()

Text1.Text = CharLower (“LAYONG”)

End Sub

The result will be “layong”.

Simple huh… :)

Enjoy it…

Load Images from and Save Images to a Database

noreply@blogger.com (Humble Mafiosi) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:32:19 PST

Introduction

Sometimes you need to store images in a database instead of as physical files. This sample application will show you how to build a Windows Forms interface that allows you to do the following:

* Browse for an image on your hard disk
* Load the selected image into a PictureBox control for viewing
* Save an image displayed in the PictureBox control to the database
* Select an image from a ListBox control, and load it from the database

The new concepts in this article center around the abstract Stream class and how it's used to convert an image file to and from the Image data type that SQL Server uses to store images. Be sure not to confuse the Image data type with the word image, as if to imply that only images can be stored therein. Rather, the Image data type can store anything as variable-length binary data.

A byte array is used to send data to an Image field. Thus, the main question is: How does one convert an image file—whether a JPEG, Bitmap, or other format—into an array of bytes? There are several ways to accomplish this in .NET. One of the easiest ways is to use a concrete implementation of the Stream class. A stream in .NET is essentially an abstraction of a sequence of bytes, whether these bytes came from a file, a TCP/IP socket, a database, or wherever. Stream classes allow you to work with binary data, reading and writing back and forth between streams and data structures (such as a byte array).

Once the image is converted to a byte array, it's saved to a database by using coding.
Creating Database

The first step you have to do is to create a Database table name it Pic, which should contain the two, fields 1: Name 2: Picture. The data Type of the Name field is (nVarChar) and data type of Picture is (Image) in Sql Server 2000.

Note: This Database should be in SQLS erver. I have included the database file in the zip file that you can attach in SQL Server databases. The name of database file is Images_Data.

Browsing for and Displaying an Image

The first task is to find an image on your hard disk. To do this, use an OpenFileDialog object in conjunction with a standard Button control. In the btnBrowse_Click event handler, you can see how this is done. The first few lines of code merely set properties of the OpenFileDialog object.

With OpenFileDialog1
.InitialDirectory = "C:\"
.Filter = "All Files|*.*|Bitmaps|*.bmp|GIFs|*.gif|JPEGs|*.jpg"
.FilterIndex = 2
End With

A pipe-delimited pair of file types is provided to determine the valid file types that can be accessed through the dialog box. Among other properties, you can also set FilterIndex to the default file type that you want to appear in the dialog box's Files Of Type menu. The index is not zero-based, so in this example, Bitmaps will appear as the default.

The dialog box is not actually opened until its ShowDialogmethod is called, which can be combined in an If/Then statement to check which button was pressed and perform follow-on tasks:

If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
With PictureBox1
.Image = Image.FromFile(Me.OpenFileDialog1.FileName)
.SizeMode = PictureBoxSizeMode.CenterImage
End With

End If
Me.Label1.Text = Me.OpenFileDialog1.FileName.ToString

Although an OpenFileDialog object contains an Open button instead of an OK button, there is no DialogResult enumeration for the Open button. Instead, use the OK enumeration. Once it's confirmed that the Open button has been clicked, properties of the PictureBox control are set. Notice how the Image property—which requires an object of type System.Drawing.Image—is assigned. The Image class is abstract and exposes a number of shared methods for working with images, one of which is FromFile. This method creates an Image object from a fully qualified path; although the OpenFileDialog.FileName property might lead you to think that it contains only the file name, it actually has the full path.

Now that your image file is represented by an Image object, you can use a stream to convert it to a byte array. In the btnSave_Click event handler, the first line of code creates a MemoryStream object:

Dim ms As New MemoryStream()

A MemoryStream object is simply a stream that uses memory as its backup store instead of some other medium. As a result, a MemoryStream object usually provides better performance. Streams are flexible. You could, for example, have used a FileStream object to open the image file directly and read it in. There are certainly numerous other ways, too. The implementation here, however, is simple and straightforward.

The MemoryStream is then passed as an argument to the Save method, another member of the Image class. You can optionally pass the image format—for example, by accessing the Image's read-only RawFormat property:

picSave.Image.Save(ms, picSave.Image.RawFormat)

The actual byte array conversion comes in the next line. GetBuffer returns an array of unsigned bytes being held by the stream.

Dim arrImage() As Byte = ms.GetBuffer
ms.Close() 'It is good to always close the stream rather than
' to leave it for the garbage collector

The last data-gathering task is to extract the filename from the full path; there is no need to store the entire path in the database:

Dim strFilename As String = _
lblFilePath.Text.Substring(lblFilePath.Text.LastIndexOf("\")"+"1)

This might look a bit complex and convoluted, but all you're doing is indicating that you want a substring of the full path that starts after the last backslash.

With the filename extracted and the image converted to a byte array, you're now ready to use the ADO.NET practices you've already learned to push these to the database.

Dim cnn As New SqlConnection(connectionString)
Dim strSQL As String = _
"INSERT INTO Picture (Filename, Picture)" & _
"VALUES (@Filename, @Picture)"
Dim cmd As New SqlCommand(strSQL, cnn)

With cmd
.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("@Filename", _
SqlDbType.NVarChar, 50)).Value = strFilename
.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("@Picture", _
SqlDbType.Image)).Value = arrImage
EndWith
cnn.Open()
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
cnn.Close()

As you can see, at this point there is nothing new except the use of the SqlDbType.Image enumeration. Set the value of the @Picture parameter to the byte array, and execute the INSERT statement as you would with any other type of data.
Reading an image

From this point forward, you're essentially reversing the process. To display an image, you have to convert it from a byte array to an Image, and then assign it to the PictureBox.Image property:

Behind the ClickImagesInDatabase button, write this code:

Me.SqlConnection1.Open()
Me.SqlDataAdapter1.Fill(Me.DataSet11.Pic)

With Me.ListBox1
.DataSource = Me.DataSet11.Pic
.DisplayMember = "Name"
End With
Me.SqlConnection1.Close()

Choose from the SelectedIndexChanged Event from the Listbox event and write the code in the subroutine body:

Private Sub ListBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
Handles ListBox1.SelectedIndexChanged

Dim arrayImage() As Byte =

CType(Me.DataSet11.Tables(0).Rows(Me.ListBox1.SelectedIndex) _
("Picture"), Byte())
Dim ms As New MemoryStream(arrayImage)
With Me.PictureBox1
.Image = Image.FromStream(ms)
.SizeMode = PictureBoxSizeMode.CenterImage

End With
End Sub

The SelectedIndex property of the ListBox control is used to to retrieve the contents of the associated Picture field in the DataSet object, which is then explicitly cast to a byte array. Following this, a MemoryStream is created by passing the byte array to its constructor. The last step is to invoke the shared FromStream method to convert the stream contents to an Image, and then assign this to the PictureBox.Image property.

Note: I have generated DataAdapter and Dataset via a wizard, but you can create the Dataset and DataAdapter objects explicitly and perform the required task.

About the Author
Fatima Ahmed is a B.S. in Computer Sciences and recently working in VC++ and .NET applications. Her interests include teaching, helping others, travelling, writing articles on different topics and studying more and more.