Javier Perez's Blog

jQuery hasClassName prototypejs function: How to check if element has class with JQuery

2010-12-15T12:15:00.003-06:00

To determine if an element has a class register with jQuery you can use the function .hasClass() which is shorter for .hasClassName() in prototypejs



if($('#target').hasClass('foo')){
  // Do something
}

// With Prototype js you would use...

if($('target').hasClassName('foo')){
  // Do something
}

jQuery check element is visible : How to check if div is visible with jQuery

2010-12-15T11:52:00.003-06:00

Unlike Prototypejs where there is a dedicate function .visible() that return true/false when element style is 'none', jQuery has this function .is() to check the value of given properties.

This is how you can determine if an element is visible.


<div id="target" style="display:none"></div>


if( $('#target').is(':visible') ) {
     // this element is visible
}
// Check if its hidden
if( $('#target').is(':hidden') ) {
     // this element is hidden
}

jQuery add class to element: How to add a class to a div

2010-12-14T12:21:00.001-06:00

Adding class or removing a css class from an element with jQuery or Prototypejs is very simple.



// With JQuery

$('#target').addClass('bar');

// With Prototypejs...

$('target').addClassName('bar');

// Removing a class with Jquery

$('#target').removeClass('bar');

// With Prototypejs...
$('target').removeClassName('bar');

Once again, jQuery has shorter function names which is awesome!

Linq Lamba Expressions Performance Problems SingleOrDefault Super Slow

2010-10-13T12:15:00.008-05:00

A few months ago a release my website www.puertovallarta-bienesraices.com for real estate properties in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco Mexico. In the last few nights I decided to start optimizing the site and noticed huge performance problems when using SubSonic 3 with Linq. I used to use SubSonic 2 on a high traffic site without any problems. However, with Linq I have been having High CPU Peaks and Memory consumption. I throw some webtests/Load tests with Visual Studio 2010 and started noticed the performance issues especially with Linq. No problems with Subsonic since its just a layer to Linq to Sql.

In particular I was surprise with the function .SingleOrDefault() on a single call for a Property it was taking 0.2 seconds on a database with ~4,000 records. The database has already been optimized.

I did some reading and found an article from JD in regards to this issue

http://www.jdconley.com/blog/archive/2007/11/28/linq-to-sql-surprise-performance-hit.aspx

I decided to implement on the Property class the static for delegates:

public static Func> _propertyGetQuery =

SubSonic.Linq.Structure.QueryCompiler.Compile((PropertyRentalDB db, int id) =>

from p in db.Properties

where p.PropertyId == id

select p);

public static Property GetById(int propertyId)

{

var db = new PropertyRentalDB();

Property p = _propertyGetQuery(db, propertyId).SingleOrDefault();

return p;

}

Compile and run Ants performance profiler and the load tests and the performance results here HUGE!

Total hits 71. Average from 0.20 to 0.011.

Now I can go and optimized more of the code where I use similar instances.

However, I think on my next project I will just go back and use SubSonic 2 and forget about Linq.

SDC Tasks Failed to Update IIS website on Windows Server 2008 R2 IIS7

2010-08-25T16:31:00.005-05:00

I just moved a website to IIS 7 on Windows Server 2008 R2 and the automate deployment builds failed to update IIS to set the website in maintenance mode (app offline) by simply changing the website path using the SDCTasks.

Error:

A task error has occured. Message = Unknown error (0x80005000) MachineName = \\LOCALQA01 HostName = Description = acme.com Path = D:\websites\app_offline\acme Identifier = AuthFlags = AppPoolId = AnonymousUsername = AnonymousPassword = HttpExpires = DirBrowseFlags = DefaultDocs = at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind(Boolean throwIfFail) at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind() at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.get_IsContainer() at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.ChildEnumerator..ctor(DirectoryEntry container) at Microsoft.Sdc.Tasks.Configuration.Web.WebSite.GetIdentifierFromDescription(String machineName, String description) in c:\projects\codeplex\sdctasks\Solutions\Main\Tasks\Configuration\Web\WebSite.cs:line 264 at Microsoft.Sdc.Tasks.Configuration.Web.WebSite.Exists(String machineName, String description) in c:\projects\codeplex\sdctasks\Solutions\Main\Tasks\Configuration\Web\WebSite.cs:line 241 at Microsoft.Sdc.Tasks.Web.WebSite.Modify.InternalExecute() in c:\projects\codeplex\sdctasks\Solutions\Main\Tasks\Web\WebSite\Modify.cs:line 225 at Microsoft.Sdc.Tasks.TaskBase.Execute() in c:\projects\codeplex\sdctasks\Solutions\Main\Tasks\TaskBase.cs:line 67

I did just digging around and finally go to the real issue. Looks like DirectoryServices which is what SDC tasks uses to update the IIS was the caused of this problem.

I created a simple consolde app to try updating the website with DirectoryServices:


static void Main(string[] args)
{

    try
    {

    string MachineName = "LOCALQA01";
    var Identifier = GetIdentifierFromDescription("LOCALQA01", "Acme.com").ToString();
    string path = @"D:\websites\app_offline\Acme";

    // load the site
    DirectoryEntry site = new DirectoryEntry("IIS://" + MachineName + "/w3svc/" + Identifier + "/ROOT");

    // make the changes we need to make
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(System.IO.Path.GetFullPath(path)))
    {
     //   Log.LogMessage(string.Format("Setting Path: {0}", path));
        site.Properties["Path"][0] = path;
    }
    site.CommitChanges();

    Console.WriteLine(Identifier);

    }
    catch(Exception ex){
        Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());

    }

    Console.ReadLine();
}

public static int GetIdentifierFromDescription(string machineName, string description)
{
    // load the W3SVC and check all the children for a property that matches

    DirectoryEntry de = new DirectoryEntry("IIS://" + machineName + "/W3SVC");

    foreach (DirectoryEntry o in de.Children)
    {
        if (o.SchemaClassName == "IIsWebServer")
        {
            if ((string)o.Properties["ServerComment"][0] == description)
            {
                return Convert.ToInt32(o.Name);
            }
        }
    }
    return 0;
}

Bu when I run this from the build machine I was then getting this error:

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException] {"Unknown error (0x80005000)"}
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException

Unknown error (0x80005000)
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind(Boolean throwIfFail)
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind()
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.get_IsContainer()
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.CheckIsContainer()
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.Find(String name, String schemaC
lassName)

Without going to further details the caused of this error was because I did not had IIS 6 Metabase Compability role service installed for IIS7 on the build machine where I was running the scripts from. You can installed this by going to :

Server Manager > Roles> Web Server (IIS) > Add Role Services

After you fix this and still have issues probably the next error will be "Access Denied".

This is because of the UAC in Windows Server 2008 R2 which is annoying if you ask me. You can then make the account service that runs your builds local admin on the server your trying to update. This will take care of the issue. Or you can just disable the UAC and be done with it.

Hope this helps.

How to disable flash debugger Error Messages in FireFox

2010-08-19T11:15:00.004-05:00

If you have the flash debugger installed or have Flash or Flex builder you will get annoying error messages from many of the websites that you visit today where developers have errors in their flash applications.

You can disable this by creating a file mm.cfg under your users settings folder

Windows Vista / Windows 7:
c:\users\\mm.cfg

Windows XP:

c:\Documents and Settings\

OS X:

/Library/Application Support/Macromedia

Enter this in this file and save it.

SuppressDebuggerExceptionDialogs=1

Restart Firefox and the errors will no longer show.
If you need to display the debugger error messages set the value to:

SuppressDebuggerExceptionDialogs=0

IIS 7 WebResource.axd forbidden Windows Server 2008

2010-08-11T11:05:00.012-05:00

New site deployment using IIS 7.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2.


HttpException: Because your server does not support reflection or you  set the attribute 'reflectionAlloweded="false"', You must specify a  non-autogenerated machine key in your web.config to compress  Webresource.axd


System.Web.HttpException
Mensagem: Because your server does not support reflection or you set the attribute 'reflectionAlloweded="false"', You must specify a non-autogenerated machine key in your web.config to compress Webresource.axd
Source: MbCompression
at Miron.Web.MbCompression.WebResourceCompressionModule.ThrowHttpException(Int32 num, String SRName)
at Miron.Web.MbCompression.WebResourceCompressionModule.GetDataFromQuery(NameValueCollection queryString)
at Miron.Web.MbCompression.WebResourceCompressionModule.OnPreRequestHandlerExecute(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

This issue is generated via the MbCompression library used to dynamically compress requests for Javascript files including the WebResources in asp.net 2.
My web.config does not have any configuration settings in the web.config for the Mbcompression library. The solution is very simple and was fixed by adding the Machinekey in the web.config in the section.

IIS 7.5 Windows Server 2008 R2: Access Denied Permissions

2010-07-29T15:35:00.004-05:00

I'll just be short about this error. New to IIS 7.5 Windows Server 2008 R2 and have issues with permissions write access on folders that the application is using?

Write Access to folders will not cut it by simply giving permissions to IUSR or IIS_IUSRS group.

If the application pool is using “ApplicationPoolIdentity” this means that the application pool has its own user account.

You need to add the App Pool use to that folder and give it access.

Puerto Vallarta Apartments is now in English

2010-07-28T23:38:00.003-05:00

My website Puerto Vallarta Bienes Raices is now available for the English speaking visitors to find Properties for Sale or Rent in Puerto Vallarta, Condos or Homes in Sayulita, or find homes, condos, apartments in other near by areas such as Bahia de Banderas, Nayarit.

It took me about total of 2 weeks on part time basis to localize and translate all text and images in English but it all pays at the end. I used tools from ReSharper Jetbrains that allow me to easily extract strings in spanish and move then to resource files to be translated into English. I want to offer a website for native English speakers in the USA and Canada to easily locate vacation rentals for their vacations in Puerto Vallarta or to find their retirement home in Sayulita which a very nice community as well as Punta de Mita with great real estate properties.

Please feel free if you have any comments or suggestions about the this website. I am open to hear from any one.

Verizon's Router has issues when you connect 3 or more devices drops Internet Connections

2010-07-27T08:17:00.004-05:00

Recently I have been working from home for often and got another computer connected in my LAN network. After this change I started noticing internet drops very often. So I contacted Verizon Technical Support (let me say that I hate Verizon’s call centers, you have to enter a hundred keys to get to the right agent). Any ways, tech support did some trouble shooting and made changes to the router etc. Problem still persists.

I called again, they send a technician to troubleshoot it and he just replaced the router and was out of the door in less than 5 minutes. OK it was fine for 2-3 days and then the problem again.

I called tech support again and yes again they send over another technician which he just change my router from Ethernet to Coax cable. It was good for 1 day and then the problem as still going on. The internet was dropping every 5 minutes. It was actually recycling the entire router powering itself on and off. I had three machines connected via Ethernet cable and 2 devices on the wireless network. Normal activities except for one machine which I might be transferring 1-2 Gigs of data, but noticed that the drops were occurring even If I wasn’t at home, as long as the computers where connected the internet was dropping. By this time I was already in the 3^rd router.

Technical support sent another technical and he stayed for a while until he visually saw the drops himself. This time he decides to replace the box outside and put in a brand new router (same router of course Verizon only carries one type of router). Any ways I believe it worked at least for 4-5 days and Yes again the same problem. This was a nightmare I could not do my work and it was embarrassing with my clients when I had video conference calls and online meetings since it will drop my internet connecting on random times.

Frustrated, I called Technical support again and they put their Special Team on the line and said that it might be a problem on their central office so they said they were going to change me to another slot. That probably means to another server. Not sure but it worked for 1 day and still the same problem. Finally they send another technical to my house again and said dude you have 4 computers connected. I am like “So” it’s a router it was four Ethernet ports it’s mean to handle that. And he responded “Normally not a lot of people use all ports, they have 1 or 2 computers connected”. I asked if Verizon had another router perhaps the business account might come with a different router and he said “no, it’s the same router”. So it occurred to me that it’s possible that the router had an issue since they had replaced almost everything from my house to their central office. I decided to connect an ether hub and plugged in all my devices there and only connect the hub to the Verizon router and that did it. Since then connections have only dropped 1 or 2 times, still not a perfect solution but what am I doing to do. They are the only ones that have the speeds that I want.

Debugging Flash Player Actionscript errors. How to get the amf response.

2010-07-06T16:27:00.004-05:00

Just found out about a very useful tool that allows you to see the request and response for amf types when flash makes a request to the server. Fiddler does not show the actually data that comes back from the server. But there is this tool called AppPuncher that shows in details the amf response with the request arguments and the return data or any error information.

Puerto Vallarta Real Estate | Bienes Raices

2010-06-24T14:23:00.006-05:00

I have recently got interested in the real estate market in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. As result I did an investment in Mexico to build a 6 unit apartments in downtown Puerto Vallarta. After searching for several deals I finally pulled the trigger on a 260 square meters lot where I plan to build 6 apartments that will built with similar designs here in the United States. As results since I am a developer of course I decided to create my own website here I would be listing my apartments for rent and after 1 month I launched this website to find real estate properties in puerto vallarta . Decided to setup the site for public visitors to find apartments for rent or sale, homes, condos, lots, villas and vacation rentals in puerto vallarta and bahia de banderas like Buceria, nuevo vallarta, sayulita, punta mita and others. I integrated several Google API to do things like translations from Spanish to English. My goal is to allow Mexican users to post their ads in their native language and like my site handle the North America market in United States and Canada.

The type or namespace name 'Office' does not exist in the namespace 'Microsoft' (are you missing an assembly reference?)

2010-06-24T13:51:00.003-05:00

After installing Visual Studio 2010 on the new server I found this error.

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets (1360): Could not resolve this reference. Could not locate the assembly "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c". Check to make sure the assembly exists on disk. If this reference is required by your code, you may get compilation errors.

I had a project referencing Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.dll with the path
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Visual Studio Tools for Office\PIA\Office11\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.dll
If you did not installed the office tools for visual studio 2010 you can download the PIA VSTO Install here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=06c32242-2289-4471-93aa-ce96aa5cbc36

I went to the project and updated the reference to use the new path for VS.NET 2010 using %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Visual Studio Tools for Office\PIA\Office14 and it compiled perfectly fine.

SQL80001: Incorrect syntax near ':'

2010-05-07T10:29:00.004-05:00

I just upgraded 15 C# projects to visual studio 2010 and started with issues on the dbproj file.
My pre deployment and post deployment scripts have sqlcmd syntax and visual studio .net 2010 cant understand it. Error: SQL80001: Incorrect syntax near ':'

Alienware m17x Windows 7 HDMI Stop working - FIX SOLUTION

2010-03-21T13:20:00.002-05:00

I went to a little bit of hell when upgraded my Dell Alienware m17x to windows 7 64 bit ultimate. It's been working great for a while but out of no ware the HDMI output stopped working. I check the HDMI cable but it was a good cable. I could not get my HDMI working to my external dell 24" monitor nor my HDTV. After digging around I went to dell.com downloaded the latest BIOS driver for A03 release on 1/11/2011. To to dell.com and get the latest windows 7 BIOS driver. http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R254103&SystemID=ALW_LP_M17X&servicetag=&os=W764&osl=en&deviceid=19197&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=4&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=0&libid=1&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&fileid=372828

After updating the flash bios it started working like a charm.

Request for the permission of type 'System.Web.AspNetHostingPermission, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' failed.

2010-03-05T13:18:00.001-06:00

Just started using Umbraco CMS. I follow all the install guide steps but when I first ran the website I got this error message:

Exception Details: System.Security.SecurityException: Request for the permission of type 'System.Web.AspNetHostingPermission, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' failed.

I check several security settings in the directory where the website source code existed with no lock.

The Fix:

IIS 7 – > Select the application pool –> Advance Settings – > Load User Profile = “True”

Load User Profile was set to “false” setting it to “true” solved the problem.

rubygems.rb:827:in `report_activate_error': RubyGem version error: rack(1.0.0 not ~> 1.0.1) (Gem::LoadError)

2010-02-17T11:38:00.001-06:00


c:\dev\AwesomeDudes>ruby script/server
C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:827:in `report_activate_error': RubyGem version error: rack(1.0.0 not ~> 1.0.1) (Gem::LoadError)
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:261:in `activate'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:68:in `gem'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.5/lib/action_controller.rb:34
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `gem_original_require'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `require'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:156:in `require'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:521:in `new_constants_in'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:156:in `require'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.3.5/lib/commands/server.rb:2
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `gem_original_require'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `require'
        from script/server:3

c:\dev\AwesomeDudes>gem install -v=1.0.1 rack --source http://chneukirchen.org/releases/gems
Successfully installed rack-1.0.1
1 gem installed
Installing ri documentation for rack-1.0.1...
Installing RDoc documentation for rack-1.0.1...

c:\dev\AwesomeDudes>ruby script/server
=> Booting Mongrel
=> Rails 2.3.5 application starting on http://0.0.0.0:3000
C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.5/lib/action_controller/mime_type.rb:80: warning: already initialized constant FBML
=> Call with -d to detach
=> Ctrl-C to shutdown server

Windows 7 64-bit Replace Notepad.exe with Notepad2

2010-01-05T10:54:00.003-06:00

Download from the link below the files you need to replace notepad.exe with the famous notepad2 on your 64-bit Windows 7 machine.

http://www.box.net/shared/r6mzqoi4tu

Before you replace the old windows notepad.exe
Make sure you turn off the windows notifications in windows 7.
You can read this post for detail instructions.on how to configure UAC in Windows 7. You need to drag the slider all the way down to Never Notify.

then...

Right click on replace.bat and select "Run as administrator".

That should do it!

The zip file contains all the steps specify in this post
http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/replace-notepad-with-notepad2/

Enjoy!

Holiday Christmas Card - Greeting Cards

2009-12-07T16:47:00.005-06:00

If you haven't got you Christmas cards this year. This is a really cool site to get them.

CardsDirect offers your personalized Christmas cards

Really nice cards. This is a funny holiday card.

Funny Dog Christmas Cards with Holiday Greetings

IE Javascript Error: object doesn't support this property or method

2009-11-08T18:52:00.004-06:00

I was working on a page for www.cardsdirect.com and got this JavaScript error in IE:

object doesn't support this property or method

I debug the DOM and noticed that none of the extended prototype functions provided by the prototype.js framework (http://prototypejs.org) were register with IE.

No problems with FF (as usual) and other browsers but IE was just not registering the extended functions. After some time debugging I concluded that the error was caused by multiple prototype versions. I didn't have multiple prototype.js files register but instead one of the chat software used in the site had it's own prototype functions that were conflicting with the prototype function $().

Removing the function $() from the chat software solve the problem.

The other solution was to register the prototype.js file at the end of the page so that I will override any other prototype functions registered.

Solution:
Check for multiple prototypes.

TFS VS.NET 2008 Testing Fails Corrupt Installer

2009-09-30T12:36:00.004-05:00

I recently tried to install vs.net 2008 for testers and was not able to run testing projects succesfully.
I was getting the this error:

I tried re-installing vs.net 2008 for testers ( I already had vs.net Team Foundation 2008 installed) but I had error with the installer.

These are the errors in the Application Event Logs:

Error in Template (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\Web\VisualBasic\1033\AdoNetEntityDataModelVB_ASPNET.zip), file (ModelObjectItemVB_ASPNET.vstemplate). Invalid template element (TemplateID) value (Microsoft.Data.Entity.Design.VSTemplate.ModelObjectItemVB_ASPNET).

Finally I tried to re-install Visual Studio .NET 2008 SP1 and that fixed the problems with the test projects.

My setup was in this order:

1) VS.net 2008 Team Foundation Server
2) Vs.net 2008 SP1
3) Vs.net 2008 for Testers (Didn't work)
So I went back and Re-install SP1 and fixed all my vs.net issues.

Microsoft Enterprise Library Logging Vs Log4NET

2009-09-28T09:28:00.005-05:00

I have doing some research about the available logging services out there and found this interesting article. I have used both logging services MS and Log4NET and great thing about both is that configuration is simple and straigth forward. The problem that I had most of the time with Microsoft Enterprise Library Logging Block is that I had to create a wrapper on top so that I can log messages for different categories and handle them little bit different + formatting without having to do a lot of configuration via the configuration files.

Here is the article I am referring.

http://weblogs.asp.net/lorenh/archive/2005/02/18/376191.aspx
Here is part two:
http://weblogs.asp.net/lorenh/archive/2005/03/20/395289.aspx

Whats interesting are his stats.

See below.

	Avg Requests per Sec	% Slower Than baseline
No Logging (baseline)	470.54
Log4net empty appender	470.46	0%
EntLib empty sink	328.19	30%
Log4net to file	441.05	6%
EntLib to file	260.75	45%

Using Beyond Compare in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server for Comparing and Merging

2009-06-29T11:39:00.004-05:00

This is how you get Beyond Compare working for comparing/merging in vs.net TFS. The default viewer is not as great as beyond compare so it comes very handy when you change to bc.

In Visual Studio do the following:

Click on Tools menu
Click on Options menu item
Expand Source Control tree item
Select Visual Studio Team Foundation Server tree item
Click on Configure User Tools... button
Click the Add... button
For Extension, type * (for all files)
For Operation, select Compare
For Command, browse for C:\Program Files\Beyond Compare 2\BC2.exe
For Arguments, type /%1 %2
Click OK to accept

Do the same for Merging.

SQL Server 2008 Annoying warning when saving changes : Saving Changes Not Permitted

2009-06-16T22:20:00.007-05:00

When I started working with SQL server 2008 express edition I got a new message that I have not seen in previous versions of SQL Server. The designer does not allow to save table changes like before.

This is the warning message:

Saving changes is not permitted. The changes you have made require the following tables to be dropped and re-created. You have either made changes to a table that can't be re-created or enabled the option Prevent saving changes that require the table to be re-created.
After searching at the options menu I noticed you can disable this warning by unchecking the "Prevent saving changes that require table re-creation".

Since it's a warning message there is a way to remove this simply by unchecking an option in the Tools -> Options -> Designer menu context.

Uncheck the option

"Prevent saving changes that require table re-creation"

This will take care of the issue.

Enjoy!

svn: This client is too old to work with working copy; please get a newer Subversion client

2009-01-23T11:40:00.003-06:00

When I tried downloading the latest ActiveScaffold plug-in (script/plugin install git://github.com/activescaffold/active_scaffold.git -r rails-2.2 ) for my rails app. I got this error

svn: This client is too old to work with working copy;
please get a newer Subversion client

I check my svn version and I was running 1.4.6.28521. I downloaded the client from the CollabNet website http://www.open.collab.net/downloads/subversion/ and installed it. At the installer I had to change the install path to match my old installation folder(C:\Program Files\Subversion).

After upgrading to svn version 1.5 i was able to run the plug-in update without any errors.

CC.NET Fails: Task failed because "sgen.exe" was not found:

2009-01-22T14:37:00.004-06:00

When deploying an application to Windows Server 2008 I found the following error.

Could not locate the expected version of the Microsoft Windows SDK. Looked for a location specified in the "InstallationFolder" value of the registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A". If your build process does not need the SDK then this can be ignored. Otherwise you can solve the problem by doing one of the following: 1) Install the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5. 2) Install Visual Studio 2008. 3) Manually set the above registry key to the correct location.

To solve this I downloaded and installed the v3.5 SDK for Windows server 2008.

This is the ISO:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F26B1AA4-741A-433A-9BE5-FA919850BDBF&displaylang=en

If you are doing it remote you need to download the web installer
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E6E1C3DF-A74F-4207-8586-711EBE331CDC&displaylang=en

Rails Error: Rails requires RubyGems >= 1.3.1 (you have 1.2.0).

2009-01-21T16:13:00.001-06:00

I tried setting up a new rails project today. After I updated to the new rails version 2.2.2, I got the following error when attempting to run my WEBrick server.

"Rails requires RubyGems >= 1.3.1 (you have 1.2.0). Please `gem update --system` and try again.

So I did what It said.

gem update --system
and it returned 'Nothing to Update'

I solved this problem by running
gem install rubygems-update
and then...
update_rubygems

that actually did the updating.
After the gem updates I was back in business.

Javascript to show and hide input default text

2009-01-16T14:09:00.004-06:00

Here is a script that I got from one of the sites I worked on.
It has come very handy and re-usable in other sites.

Just add the class 'default_value' to your Textbox or input controls <input class="'default_value' /> and that's it. When you click on the textbox the default text will disappear. If you don't enter any value on blur the default value will be displayed in the input again.

Multiple Default Buttons on a single asp.net Form

2008-12-05T10:30:00.003-06:00

When in need of multiple default buttons on a single form. I set the onKeypress event to handle the postback if user hit on the "Enter" key. This works great to set a default button for any input control.

Verdadera Felicidad: Proverbio Chino

2008-11-20T16:29:00.001-06:00

"Si quieres felicidad por una hora, toma una siesta.

Si queires felicidad por un día, ve a pescar.

Si quieres felicidad por un mes, cásate.

Si quieres felicidad por un año, hereda una fortuna.

Si quieres felicidad por toda una vida, ayuda a los demás."

Proverbio Chino

"If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month, get married.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help others. "

Chinese Proverb

Kentico Error: Unable to cast object of type 'ASP.cmstemplatelayouts_blankmasterpage_ascx' to type 'CMS.PortalControls.CMSAbstractLayout

2008-11-06T11:22:00.002-06:00

While working with Kentico CMS I have came across this annoying error.

Unable to cast object of type 'ASP.cmstemplatelayouts_blankmasterpage_ascx' to type 'CMS.PortalControls.CMSAbstractLayout

This is due the fact that the website is currently precompiling or related with a pre-compilation error with the website.

I normally fix this error my restart IIS or the app pool for the website.

Hotmail Embedded Images in HTML email not working

2008-10-27T16:39:00.004-05:00

With one of my recent projects going live I experienced an issue with hotmail email client not showing the emails sent by my application correctly. Especially embedded images in the email. These images were replace by a gray box "i_safe.gif" making the email look bad. This was only happening in hotmail. Again Microsoft had to be special.
Gmail, Yahoo, Exchange Outlook etc was rendering the email perfectly fine.

Hotmail just need to have additional information in the email LinkedResource object.

Setting the properties LinkedResource.ContentType.Name and LinkedResource.TransferEncodig fixed this problem.

backImageResource.ContentType.Name = "dress_back";

backImageResource.TransferEncoding = TransferEncoding.Base64;
Here is my code example that work the emails working.






// Create the html AlternateView

AlternateView htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(template.Body, null, "text/html");

// Add Linked Resources for the embedded images

LinkedResource frontImageResource = new LinkedResource(Utility.GetImageStream(DressFrontView, ImageFormat.Jpeg), MediaTypeNames.Image.Jpeg);

frontImageResource.ContentId = "dress_front";

frontImageResource.ContentType.Name = "dress_front";

frontImageResource.TransferEncoding = TransferEncoding.Base64;  

 

LinkedResource backImageResource = new LinkedResource(Utility.GetImageStream(DressBackView, ImageFormat.Jpeg), MediaTypeNames.Image.Jpeg);

backImageResource.ContentId = "dress_back";

backImageResource.ContentType.Name = "dress_back";

backImageResource.TransferEncoding = TransferEncoding.Base64;  

 



// Relate resources with AlternativeView

htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(frontImageResource);

htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(backImageResource);

After adding the ContentType.Name and TransferEncoding the e-mails displayed corrently in hotmail.

Flash uploading large files to ASP.NET: HTTP 500 Error

2008-10-24T17:47:00.005-05:00

If you are having trouble uploading large files via flash or standard asp.net form its probably because there is a max request length set in the machine.config file. Max request length by default is set to 4MB.

When exceeding the max request length you get a HTTP 500 error code.
If you check the Application Event viewer on the server side you might see errors such as this:

Event code: 3004
Event message: Post size exceeded allowed limits.
Event time: 10/24/2008 5:11:39 PM
Event time (UTC): 10/24/2008 10:11:39 PM
Event ID: 640ae5c3a03349b18112b5289fd09989
Event sequence: 12
Event occurrence: 3
Event detail code: 0

To solve this problem override your web.config with the following configuration element.

Also update the executionTimeout to allow more time before it shuts down the request.


<configuration>

  <system.web>

    <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="11000" executionTimeout="60" />

 <!-- 50MB max request size-->

More information can be found at the MSDN site

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e1f13641(VS.71).aspx

IE7 very picky with Javascript & Json: IE counts null objects.

2008-10-24T14:45:00.003-05:00

I just came across with another debugging situation with javascript code in IE7.
IE7 takes in consideration null objects.

For example, below is a JSon array of objects.




var markers = [
{
'abbr': '1',
'latitude':33.029764,
'longitude':-97.090090,
 'dealer': {
    "companyName": "Armstrong Office Interiors","address1" : "3205 Dwyer St","city" : "Flower Mound","state" : "TX","website": "www.armstrongofficeconcepts.com","phone" : "469-568-6648", "address2": "", "zipCode": "75022" , "fax": "(469) 293-6602" , "email": "jarmstrong@armstrongoffice.com" , "dealerType": 1 , "distance": "3.0" , "showcase": "N" , "locationId": "19830" , "contactName": "Armstrong Office Interiors" , "gsa": "Y"}
,
 'wp':'n'
}];

In this case as you can see there is only 1 object.
If you do markers.length, you get a total of 1. And that's correct.

No lets say we add a comma "," to the end of the first object.




var markers = [
{
'abbr': '1',
'latitude':33.029764,
'longitude':-97.090090,
 'dealer': {
    "companyName": "Armstrong Office Interiors","address1" : "3205 Dwyer St","city" : "Flower Mound","state" : "TX","website": "www.armstrongofficeconcepts.com","phone" : "469-568-6648", "address2": "", "zipCode": "75022" , "fax": "(469) 293-6602" , "email": "jarmstrong@armstrongoffice.com" , "dealerType": 1 , "distance": "3.0" , "showcase": "N" , "locationId": "19830" , "contactName": "Armstrong Office Interiors" , "gsa": "Y"}
,
 'wp':'n'
}
, // Added extra comma here.
];

run markers.length again and now you will get a count of 2.
In firefox you will still get a count of 1.

OnItemCommand event does not fire on Repeater

2008-10-15T10:41:00.003-05:00

After breaking my brain into species figuring out why the OnItemCommand event was not firing for my repeater, I finally come to very simple & stupid conclusion.

You need to rebind the repeater on the Page_Load event every time.
I was only binding the repeater if(!Page.IsPostBack) { // Bind Repeater }...

Binding the repeater in the Page_Load event took care of the issue.



      <asp:Repeater ID="repAvailableFilters" runat="server" OnItemCommand="repFilters_ItemCommand">

            <HeaderTemplate>

                <ul class="style-1">

            </HeaderTemplate>

            <ItemTemplate>

                <li>

                    <asp:LinkButton ID="lbtnAddFilter" runat="server" CommandArgument='<%# Eval("ID") %>'

                        CommandName="AddFilter"  ><%# Eval("Name") %></asp:LinkButton>

                        

                </li>

            </ItemTemplate>

            <FooterTemplate>

                </ul>

            </FooterTemplate>

        </asp:Repeater>

ToString() Number format

2008-10-14T13:33:00.005-05:00

To write a number in a formatted numeric format. Use the 'N' argument in the ToString() method.




int n = 1000;

Console.WriteLine(n.ToString("N"));

// Will produce

1,000.00

// If you don't decimals 
Console.WriteLine(n.ToString("N0"));

// Will produce
1,000

Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server.

2008-10-13T16:10:00.003-05:00

I ran across this error when trying to export the grid view data to excel.
I do have a form tag setup runat=server. But it continue to fail.

Solution: Create an HtmlForm object and add the grid view to the form in code.



string style = @" ";

           Response.ClearContent();

           // Create form tag

           HtmlForm form1 = new HtmlForm();

           form1.Controls.Add(gvData);

           Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "myfilename.xls");

           Response.ContentType = "application/excel";

           StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
           StringWriter header= new StringWriter();

          
           HtmlTextWriter htw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw);

           gvData.RenderControl(htw);
          

           // Style is added dynamically

           Response.Write(style);

           Response.Write(sw.ToString());

           Response.End();

Delete svn folders /files Recursive Subfolders batch file

2008-10-07T15:34:00.001-05:00

Create a batch file with the following code to remove all svn files + folders from your trunk.


FOR /F "tokens=*" %%G IN ('DIR /B /AD /S *.svn*') DO RMDIR /S /Q "%%G"

Visual Studio WebSites vs Web Projects

2008-09-12T14:27:00.002-05:00

I am having a hard time right now dealing with a huge VS.Net 2008 Website.

We are using a CMS Solution which contains many features for the site. Navigation through source files in the VS.Net IDE seems to be slower and slower. This is due the fact the compiler continues to recompile the modified files as you make changes. I prefer to work with Web Application projects because I am more in control with the compilation and I actually we a compiled dll instead of hundreds for assemblies for vs.net websites.

One of the solutions to fix this problem is to remove the CMS features that I am not using so that the website can compile faster. However, this is not an option based on client feedback.

My recommendation is that if you intend to have a large site, use Visual Studio .Net Web Application Projects instead of Websites. Trust me!

Video captions with effects!

2008-09-04T17:01:00.003-05:00

I finally got some time to work on my free nights on the video player for TubeCaption.com

You can now customize the player with reach features.

You can change:

Font type
Color
Background color
Font size
Embedded player size
Caption Effects.

Check out this video playing captions with blur in effects.

http://tubecaption.com/watch?v=xo0bpPbiUlM&vcId=257

Common Phone validator RegEx , E-mail validator Regular Expression

2008-08-28T15:52:00.005-05:00

I use custom validators to validate my forms email and phone numbers.
In most of the public website that I developed I use this two common javascript functions to work with ASP.NET validators.



<asp:textbox id="txtPhoneNumber" maxlength="13" runat="server"></asp:textbox>

<asp:customvalidator id="valPhone" runat="server" cssclass="ErrorLabel" errormessage="* required" clientvalidationfunction="validatePhone" controltovalidate="txtPhoneNumber" validateemptytext="true"></asp:customvalidator>

function validatePhone(sender, args)
{
if(args.Value.length > 0)
{
   var ex = /\(?([0-9]{3})\)?[-. ]?([0-9]{3})[-. ]?([0-9]{4})$/;
   var re = new RegExp(ex);

   if(re.exec(args.Value))
   {
       args.IsValid = true;
   }
   else
   {
       sender.errormessage= "* invalid";
       sender.innerHTML= sender.errormessage;
       args.IsValid = false;
   }   
}
else
{
   sender.errormessage= "* required";
   sender.innerHTML= sender.errormessage;
   args.IsValid = false;
}
}

function validateEmail(sender, args)
{
if(args.Value.length > 0)
{
   var ex = /^([a-zA-Z0-9_.+-])+@([a-zA-Z0-9_.-])+\.([a-zA-Z])+([a-zA-Z])+/;
   var re = new RegExp(ex );

   if(re.exec(args.Value))
   {
       args.IsValid = true;
   }
   else
   {
       sender.errormessage= "* invalid";
       sender.innerHTML= sender.errormessage;
       args.IsValid = false;
   }   
}
else
{
   sender.errormessage= "* required";
   sender.innerHTML= sender.errormessage;
   args.IsValid = false;
}
}

How to override .NET validator error message font color

2008-08-28T14:49:00.002-05:00

I hate the red color in the asp.net validators using the inline style attribute.

If you create a css class defining your color will do no good since the inline style will override your set color.

Instead of setting the FontColor Property in every single control, create a css class with the following code:

.error {
color:#e95e31 !important;
}

This will look like this My Error Message!

Error starting rails WEBRick server - ActionController::Caching::Fragments::MemCacheStore (NameError)

2008-08-25T22:07:00.004-05:00

I go into error when trying to update my gems this week. After an unsuccessful gem update I found my self with the following error when trying to run my WEBRick server.

c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.0.2/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:263:in `load_missing_constant': uninitialized constant
ActionController::Caching::Fragments::MemCacheStore (NameError)

I checked to see if my memcached-client was installed and it was there. I compared with another developer and the same files were there. After unsuccessful debugging I took the choice to uninstall the entire ruby language and also rails framework.

I follow this tutorial http://tubecaption.com/watch?v=c0jR_hptpdA that demonstrate the order of how to uninstall / remove your gems.

Montez de Durango - Que Vuelva Video con Lyrics

2008-08-21T16:20:00.000-05:00

Aqui esta el video de montez de durango con el titulo "Que Vuelva".
Con TubeCaption.com puedes poner la letra/lyrics de la cancion.

Aqui esta la pagina completa:
http://tubecaption.com/watch?v=KRiDz-7UpBo&vcId=278

http://tubecaption.com/watch?v=KRiDz-7UpBo&vcId=278

Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its depend

2008-08-20T11:50:00.003-05:00

I deployed a site that was using the AjaxToolKit and had references to the System.Web.Extensions.

I found this error Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its depend

This is due that it could not find that assembly System.Web.Extensions or System.Web.Extensions.Design in the bin or the GAC folder C:\Windows\assembly.

I solved this error my installing the ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 package from Microsoft.
You can download it at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ca9d90fa-e8c9-42e3-aa19-08e2c027f5d6&displaylang=en

This msi installs in your GAC (C:\Windows\assembly) the correct assemblies System.Web.Extensions version 1.0.61025.0

MSBuild Error with Web Application Project : errorMSB4019

2008-07-29T15:55:00.004-05:00

On windows server 2003 I am using CruiseControl.net (CCNet) to create builds of my application. However, I experience an issue when compiling a web application project (WAP).

This is the reported error:

errorMSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v9.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.

Probably because with vs.net 2005 and vs.net 2008 you need the Web Application Project extension to get the web projects work just like vs.net 2003.

I fixed this error buy installing the Web Application Project Extension from Microsoft. You can download it here.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/0/6/906064ce-0bd1-4328-af40-49dca1aef87c/WebApplicationProjectSetup.msi

This msi takes care of putting the missing MSbuild files required for compile web application project files.

No 802.11g WIFI in Dallas, TX Suburns

2008-07-25T18:07:00.001-05:00

With my current relocation to Lewisville, Texas relocation process, I have found myself stuck with WFI 80211b network everywhere I go. I can’t believe this NO G WIFI! I used jiwire.com to search for WIFI and HotSpots so that I can work. Until I with my placed setup with Internet I am stuck working from Starbucks, Panera Bread, Barnes & nobles etc. But all these places have 80211b networks. Some of them have G but requires an ATT account or pay for 2 hours of wifi. I have T-Mobile and I am having a really hard time getting fast connects.

See the results from jiwire.com

http://www.jiwire.com/search-wifi-hotspots-general.htm?radius=5.0&venue_group_id=0&radius_unit=mi&latitude=33.007591&longitude=-96.974252&address=2325+S+Stemmons+Frwy&city=Lewisville&city_id=131871&state_id=44&state=TX&country_id=1&country=US&zip=75067&hotspot_name=&location_type_id=0&technology_id=0&pay_free=&provider_id=0&ssid=&jump_letter=&wisp=&limit=&startnum=1&num_per_page=&tab=5&&result_display=list

I keep on asking and no one knows what I am talking about. I talked to someone at Starbucks and they are like “Yeah, we just got new equipment from ATT for the WIFI” and guess what? It’s a 80211b connection! What good of an upgrade, uh?

So if you are around the Lewisville, Texas or Flower Mound, Texas Area and you are in need of High speed WiFi, be prepare. Make sure you spend some time thinking of where you are going to be going for your HotSpot.

Time Ago in Words for .NET C#

2008-07-22T09:22:00.005-05:00

I saw the need for a C# version of the time_ago_in_words function in Ruby. I translated the code below into C# from my existing post I published for Ruby.



static string TimeAgo(DateTime time)
{
    DateTime startDate = DateTime.Now;
    TimeSpan deltaMinutes = startDate.Subtract(time);
    string distance = string.Empty;
    if (deltaMinutes.TotalMinutes <= (8724 * 60))
    {
        distance = DistanceOfTimeInWords(deltaMinutes.TotalMinutes);
        if (deltaMinutes.Minutes < 0)
        {
            return distance + " from  now";
        }
        else
        {
            return distance + " ago";
        }
    }
    else
    {
        return "on " + time.ToString();
    }
}


static string DistanceOfTimeInWords(double minutes)
{
    if (minutes < 1)
    {
        return "less than a minute";
    }
    else if (minutes < 50)
    {
        return minutes.ToString() + " minutes";
    }
    else if (minutes < 90)
    {
        return "about one hour";
    }
    else if (minutes < 1080)
    {
        return Math.Round(new decimal((minutes / 60))).ToString() + " hours";
    }
    else if (minutes < 1440)
    {
        return "one day";
    }
    else if (minutes < 2880)
    {
        return "about one day";
    }
    else
    {
        return Math.Round(new decimal((minutes / 1440))).ToString() + " days";
    }
}

You can download the complete source here: http://www.box.net/shared/3fmhllxq8g

Hide Submit button to prevent double click using JavaScript in .NET

2008-07-08T16:35:00.008-05:00

Here is snippet of JavaScript to hide the submit button to prevent users from double-clicking on the button multiple times causing several server requests.

What I like to do is hide the submit button and show a message to notify the user that the action is in progress.

This is my front-end code. I have an image button that OnClick is submits an order.


<asp:ImageButton ID="btnPlaceOrder" runat="server" Visible="False" OnClick="btnPlaceOrder_Click" />
<div id="process_message" style="display:none;">
<p> Processing your order...</p>
</div>

The code-behind looks like this:


btnPlaceOrder.Attributes.Add("onclick", "this.disabled = true;this.hide(); $('process_message').show();" + ClientScript.GetPostBackEventReference(btnPlaceOrder, null) + ";");

Flash unable to request swf files from another subdomain within the same web server.

2008-06-30T16:07:00.000-05:00

Flash unable to request swf files from another sub-domain within the same web server.

I just experienced an issue with flash loading other swf files in the same web server but requesting from another sub-domain.
For example:
http://www.mywebsite.com/flash/shell.swf is requesting http://mywebsite.com/flash/game.swf

The crossdomain.xml is not issue. This is configured to allow * all access.
The website path is provided to shell.swf via a param. If I change the param to provide “http://www.mywebsite.com” it will work when the user is using www.mywebsite.com. This is very weir because everything is stored in the same location is just an issue with host headers.
I solved this issue my simply providing the current url host header to the shell.swf via the param.

So if the user is using “www” I will use www.mywebsite.com. If the user is using “origin.mywebsite.com”, then flash will use origin.mywebsite.com.
I am not sure 100% why flash is unable to request files from other sub-domains. But this was the quickest solution to this problem.

Strip numbers from String : C# .NET Remove numbers from string

2008-06-27T10:18:00.007-05:00

Here is a simple function I created to strip/remove numbers from a string.
I used the regular expressions to check if a char is number.
I choose to use regular expressions than using the Double.TryParse() because I feel RegEx are faster then the TryParse function. I could be wrong but at this point is doing the job.



public string StripNumbers(string input)
{
    Regex regEx = new Regex("[0-9]+");
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    foreach (char a in input)
    {
        if (!regEx.IsMatch(a.ToString()))
        {
            sb.Append(a);
        }
    }

    return sb.ToString();
}

The next steps will be to test performance and find out what method is faster to check for IsNumber().

The transaction manager has disabled its support for remote/network transactions. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8004D024)

2008-06-25T20:21:00.004-05:00

In .Net this exception occurs when using the TransactionScope.

using (TransactionScope ts = new TransactionScope())
{

}

Follow this instructions on all database servers and web servers to configure properly the MSDTC service.

First verify the "Distribute Transaction Coordinator" Service is
running on both database server computer and client computers
1. Go to "Administrative Tools > Services"
2. Turn on the "Distribute Transaction Coordinator" Service if it is not running

If it is running and client application is not on the same computer as
the database server, on the computer running database server
1. Go to "Administrative Tools > Component Services"
2. On the left navigation tree, go to "Component Services > Computers
> My Computer" (you may need to double click and wait as some nodes
need time to expand)
3. Right click on "My Computer", select "Properties"
4. Select "MSDTC" tab
5. Click "Security Configuration"
6. Make sure you check "Network DTC Access", "Allow Remote Client",
"Allow Inbound/Outbound", "Enable TIP" (Not required if the client machine and remote machines are in the same domain)
7. The MSDTC service will restart.

On the client computer use the same above procedure to open the
"Security Configuration" setting, make sure you check "Network DTC
Access", "Allow Inbound/Outbound" option, restart service and computer
if necessary.

On the SQL server service manager, click "Service" dropdown, select
"Distribute Transaction Coordinator", it should be also running on
the SQL server computer.

Is this does not solve the issue, check the web server to ensure if DTC is enable.
1) Go To Control Panel
2) Add Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components
4) Select the Application Server and Click on the Details button
5) Ensure that Enable DTC Service is selected.

Additional Reading about MSDTC here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_Transaction_Coordinator

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms684146.aspx

C# Get Person Age In Years By Birth Date ( DOB )

2008-06-23T15:55:00.004-05:00

Here is quick method for C# to get the age of a person given the birth date.



public int GetAge(DateTime dob)
{
    // Get year diff
    int years = DateTime.Now.Year - dob.Year;
    // Add year diff to birth day
    dob = dob.AddYears(years);

    // Subtract another year if its one day before the birth day
    if (DateTime.Today.CompareTo(dob) < 0) { years--; }
    
    return years;
}

ASP.NET LinkButton does not work in FireFox as the DefaultButton

2008-06-20T15:53:00.003-05:00

I recently discover that LinkButtons do not work in FireFox as the form's default button to trigger the form submit on the Enter keystroke.

I tried doing this:

this.Form.DefaultButton = this.lbtnLogin.UniqueID;

And no luck.
I also tried
and this also did not work.

But here is more info to solve this issue.
I worked around by making my button and ImageButton instead of a LinkButton.

http://kpumuk.info/asp-net/using-panel-defaultbutton-property-with-linkbutton-control-in-asp-net

Bookmarking with Flash and Javascript

2008-06-13T11:40:00.004-05:00

Bookmarking using Flash

To bookmark a page from a Flash call, flash needs to call an external JavaScript function in your page to actually do the bookmarking any browser.

But here is the trick....

In order for the bookmarking prompt window for example in IE to show up the focus needs to be outside the flash object. So you need to set a focus to a DOM element outside flash.

Here is an example script that works.

function bookMarkPage(url, title) {
// set focus to a DOM element, otherwise it won't work.
$('flash_container').focus();

switch(BrowserDetect.browser){
case "Firefox":
   window.location.hash = url;//set the hash value
   alert("Please press 'Ctrl + D' to bookmark this page.");
 break;

 case "Explorer":
   window.external.AddFavorite(url, title);
 break;

 case "Safari":
   alert("Please press 'Ctrl + D' to bookmark this page.");
 break;

 case "Opera":
   // Create document element dynamic and invoke
   var bookMark = document.createElement('a');
   bookMark.setAttribute('rel','sidebar');
   bookMark.setAttribute('href',url);
   bookMark.setAttribute('title',title);
   bookMark.click();
 break;

 default:
   alert("Please bookmark this page manually.");
 break;
}
}

The problem with video captions today?

2008-06-12T22:44:00.003-05:00

What’s the problem with adding closed-captions to online videos up until today?

As I dig more into the online video closed-captioning market and get more convince that TubeCaption.com has the yet the best web editor for adding captions to your captions.

You see the #1 problem with the websites today such as Google Video Captioning, dotSub.com, YouTube.com, veoTag, and many others is that they force the user to use minutes and seconds. The user does not want to remember or even set the start and end time for the captions. That’s too painful. I have tried it and I hate it! Adding captions should be more simplified and super easy to use. Everyone knows that adding captions is not as easy as it looks. So, that’s why you have to provide the best out of the web for these users. Features like, copy and paste, resizing, drag and drop, delete, etc are small features that makes the user experience a much better one.

This is why I am very passionate about TubeCaption.com. On top of rewarding the users that provide the captions with money (cash $), we are trying to make a better and a more pleasant experience when it comes to adding captions (closed-captions) to their favorite videos. Try the caption editor here to start playing with the “captionizer” and add captions in seconds.

Video captions will take video viewing, searching, and of course the advertising to another level. This is the next step to online video viewing. The users will be able to find exactly what they are looking for just by simply entering short keywords that are found somewhere in a video with captions.

Oh, I am forgetting, TubeCaption.com is 100% free and will always be. Every can add captions, comments, transcripts, and etc to any online video. At this point only YouTube.com is supported but with good response from the public we will be able to add support to other video providers.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

IIS Error: You have attempted to execute a CGI, ISAPI..

2008-06-10T11:18:00.002-05:00

I setup a new asp.net 2.0 application under IIS web service and I come across this error:

The page cannot be displayed
You have attempted to execute a CGI, ISAPI, or other executable program from a directory that does not allow programs to be executed.

When you get this error it usually means that you have not set execute permissions to "Scripts only" under the "home directory" tab in your website properties. When creating a new website the value for execute permission is set to "none". Changing to "Scripts only" will solve this problem.

TubeCaption.com | Videos with Captions

2008-06-07T15:16:00.005-05:00

Here is an example video I created for my wife. Its a song by Enrique Iglesias in spanish. I added the music lyrics to the video I pull from YouTube.com

In the beginning I added my own video annotations.

http://tubecaption.com/watch?v=agcZMnqqJ-0&vcId=20

Amazon website down??

2008-06-06T13:52:00.003-05:00

Just when to amazon.com and to find out that there website is down.

Why?

TubeCaption.com Videos with Closed Captions

2008-06-05T23:59:00.004-05:00

It’s been a very good journey working on my latest website TubeCaption.com.
I started this experiment site with my friend Alex Le. I took on this challenge primary to learn something else other than .NET. Yes, I started to learn ruby on rails. We started this project 2 months ago to be exact. Our dedication was just part-time since we both have real jobs. However, the project got more and more interesting (actually a lot more fun than work) that we spend more and more time on in and in 3 occasions we coded through the night. No we are so happy that we can at least provide a beta version out in the web so that users can start experimenting with TubeCaption.com.

I learned a lot working with Alex as a team. We both worked remotely and we did pear to pear programming in our laptops over IM.
Early in the game I had the opportunity to chat with Rohit Kumar, new CIO for the Chicago Sun-times newspaper (http://www.topix.com/com/hlr/2008/02/rohit-kumar-named-stmgs-new-cio) at an i.cstars event. Rohit and I had a great chat about online video broadcasting and advertising. Up to today videos are only searchable by the title and the description. Some companies are trying tagging the videos with keywords so that searches and ads are more targeted and related to the video content. But with TubeCaption.com you can take this to the next level. Our videos are not just searchable by the title, description, and tags but also by the entire video content. One of my first videos I added captions was a music video by 3 Doors Down (Without you). Two (2) minutes after my captions were published the ads next to the video were about 3 Doors down music rings. Then I experiment with the movie trailer from Iron Man and same thing. A minute later the ads next to the video displayed a video ad for the new Hulk movie. How cool is that?
I believe TubeCaption.com has lots of potential.

I am personally going to use it to record my own videos, upload them to YouTube, and add captions to provide teaching and how to for the i.cstars community of interns and alumni.
What’s great about TubeCaption?
One nice feature about our site is that we share the revenue with you!
Once you have created an account us, you can link your Google Adsense account and we will display Google ads using your account when your video captions are displayed, about 50% of the time. In the near future will ad support for additional advertising providers.
Well, that’s if for my starter. I have plenty to say but I got to keep in short for today.
Thanks for reading and make sure to visit TubeCaption.com

ruby on rails: will_paginate anchor param

2008-06-02T01:18:00.004-05:00

Recently I discover that I can add an anchor to the will_paginate helper for the will_paginate plugin in rails.

This will create the url as "path/?page=2#myanchor".



<%= will_paginate @videos, :params => {:anchor => "myanchor" }%>

IIS 5.1 Server Application Unavailable Error

2008-05-28T10:20:00.006-05:00

I get this error sometimes when I change the default application in IIS.
When trying to browse my default.aspx page I get the big red font error "Server Application Unavailable".

I fix this issue by executing the following commands:
1) Give modify access to the "IIS_WPG"and "Internet Guest Account" users to your web directory. Try see if that works, if not continue with step2.

2) aspnet_regiis -i
3) iisreset

Microsoft Instructions:
To fix IIS mappings for ASP.NET, run the aspnet_regiis.exe utility:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open text box, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
3. At the command prompt, type the following, and then press ENTER:
"%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\aspnet_regiis.exe" -i
In this path, version represents the version number of the .NET Framework that you installed on your server. You must replace this placeholder with the actual version number when you type the command.

Then,

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open text box, type iisreset.

Done! Go check out your site it should be up and running.

Ruby: Display datetime - time in words - timeago helper function.

2008-05-28T00:09:00.008-05:00

I found this function on the web and putted right into my helper class to display DateTime or Time into words. Displaying time in words is now more used on the web. Popular pages such as YouTube and Yahoo videos use this approach.

Copy the code and plugged into your helper class.



 def timeago(time, options = {})
   start_date = options.delete(:start_date) || Time.new
   date_format = options.delete(:date_format) || :default
   delta_minutes = (start_date.to_i - time.to_i).floor / 60
   if delta_minutes.abs <= (8724*60)       
     distance = distance_of_time_in_words(delta_minutes)       
     if delta_minutes < 0
        return "#{distance} from now"
     else
        return "#{distance} ago"
     end
   else
      return "on #{DateTime.now.to_formatted_s(date_format)}"
   end
 end
 def distance_of_time_in_words(minutes)
   case
     when minutes < 1
       "less than a minute"
     when minutes < 50
       pluralize(minutes, "minute")
     when minutes < 90
       "about one hour"
     when minutes < 1080
       "#{(minutes / 60).round} hours"
     when minutes < 1440
       "one day"
     when minutes < 2880
       "about one day"
     else
       "#{(minutes / 1440).round} days"
   end
 end



Ruby: Format seconds into minutes to_minutes function
2008-05-27T23:46:00.015-05:00
I created this function to turn seconds into minutes.
Example: 500 seconds should be displayed as 8:00 minutes.




 def to_minutes(seconds)
  
  m = (seconds/60).floor
  s = (seconds - (m * 60)).round
 
  # add leading zero to one-digit minute
  if m < 10
   m = "0#{m}"
  end
  # add leading zero to one-digit second
  if s < 10
   s = "0#{s}"
   end
  # return formatted time
  return "#{m}:#{s}"
 end





IE caches IFrame pages. Page load does not fire in IFrame page.
2008-03-25T10:04:00.000-05:00
I had this issue on a project that I was working on. I created an IFrame to load a page in a modal window. On the close of the modal window I will close the frame, and then when the user clicks on a button to open the window I will recreate the frame with the same url to load the page. This worked fine with FireFox. On every load of the modal window I the Page_Load event will fire, however, with IE this was not the case. I solve the problem by creating a unique request every time setting a parameter with a random number in the source of the IFrame.


Iframe.src="MyPage.aspx?unique="+ Math.random();



Aivea eShop Shopping Cart is NOT Enterprise Ready (Review)
2008-03-20T08:39:00.008-05:00
After looking for e-commerce solution for my store shopping cart I made the decision to go with Aivea eShop product. Their website ‘professional’ looking was what convinced me to buy it. However, when I downloaded the product with the source code I was shock. I have work in “Enterprise wide” applications and the eShop source code is not enterprise ready as they claim in their website.

These are my disappointment factors:

Source code uses Hungarian notation.

In store front website source code they persists almost every value in the session in the session.

They don’t use strong typed entities. I only noticed 3 or 4 object to used to get data

Heavy used of data sets instead of objects

Not a flexible architecture. Business rules and data access is all in the App_Code folder. If you have more than one interface that needs to access the shopping cart to process order or retrieve order orders you can’t accomplish it without serious re-factoring and extracting the source code to reusable components.


I am sure I can find other reasons but I will stop here. This was the reason I decided not to use it in my application. Towards the end of the project I was so happy that I did not use this out of the shelf solution that encouraged me to write this article.


I am not writing this post to drive off their business, but to express my believe and make them be aware of what a user is thinking about their product. By the way the version that I used was 2.5+.


You can find more reviews here at
http://www.411asp.net/func/review?id=6449910&rid=&proc=anony


DetailsView Edit Mode never changes after Update command. DetailsView Edit button requires to clicks to change to edit mode.
2008-03-18T10:54:00.004-05:00
I was stocked for sometime using the asp.net 2.0 DetailsView control to Edit/Update data. I wanted to do my custom implementation for the Update command instead of using the DataBinding Object sources but I found my self in trouble with several road blocks.

Problem 1: When clicking on the Edit button the DetailsView will not change the mode until the second click. The edit button required two clicks to change the mode to Edit instead of ReadOnly. 
I solved this problem by changing the mode in the ModeChanging event handler and then rebinding the DetailsView control.


ModeChanging Event Handler:

protected void dvOrder_ModeChanging(object sender, DetailsViewModeEventArgs e)
        {
            dvOrders.ChangeMode(e.NewMode);

            if (e.NewMode != DetailsViewMode.Insert)
            {
                RefreshOrderDetails();
            }
        }




Problem 2: When clicking the update button I handle the updating of the order in the ItemUpdating event but the ItemUpdated never fires and the DetailsView never change the mode to ReadOnly after the data was updated. DetailsView control always stayed on the Edit Mode.


I solve this problem by canceling the ItemUpdating event, changing the mode, and rebinding the details view data source.


ItemUpdating Event Handler:

  protected void dvOrder_ItemUpdating(object sender, DetailsViewUpdateEventArgs e)
        {

            UpdateOrder();

            e.Cancel = true;

            dvOrders.ChangeMode(DetailsViewMode.ReadOnly);
            
            RefreshOrderDetails();
        } 



This was the only way I got things to worked for me. The ItemUpdated event never fired but I got the DetailsView to works how I wanted. I wish there was an easier way to do this or at least more documentation on Microsoft’s website.


IE Autocomplete Dropdown wrong location in Modal/Dialog window ASP.NET 2.0
2008-03-11T09:19:00.008-05:00
I recently discover that if the AutoCompleteType attribute is not specify explicitly in the input control IE will display the autocomplete options dropdown in offset location in modal/dialog windows.

This is not the case if you are using Yahoo's tool bar or Google's auto fill feature in its tool bar, but IE is more stupid.

I fixed this issue my explicitly settings the AutoCompleteType attribute in the Textbox control.

Example textbox for first name field.


<asp:TextBox ID="txtFirstName" CssClass="input" runat="server" AutoCompleteType="firstname"></asp:TextBox>




By setting the AutoCompleteType attribute the problem was corrected.


JavaScript Validate Email using RegEx
2008-02-26T14:16:00.006-06:00
Use the code below with an asp.net custom validator to check if an email is valid.
The code below check for a value if no value is provided then is not a valid email.

The pattern below will work with gmail's email address with "+" such as johnsmith+test@gmail.com



function ValidateEmail(sender, args)
{
   if(args.Value.trim().length > 0)
   {
       var ex = /^([a-zA-Z0-9_.+-])+@([a-zA-Z0-9_.-])+\.([a-zA-Z])+([a-zA-Z])+/;
       var re = new RegExp(ex );
       
       if(re.exec(args.Value))
       {
           args.IsValid = true;
       }
       else
       {
           args.IsValid = false;
       }
      
   }
   else
   {
       args.IsValid = false;
   }
}






Credit Card Expiration Date Validation -Javascript Function
2008-02-18T13:48:00.004-06:00



function ValidateExpDate()

{

    var ccExpYear = 20 + $F('<%= txtCCExpirationYear.ClientID%>');

    var ccExpMonth = $F('<%= txtCCExpirationMonth.ClientID%>');

    

    var expDate=new Date();

    expDate.setFullYear(ccExpYear, ccExpMonth, 1);



    var today = new Date();



    if (expDate<today)

    {

        // Credit Card is expire

        return false;

    }

    else

    {

        // Credit is valid

        return true;

    }

}






Compilation Error CS0433
2008-02-13T15:10:00.002-06:00
I fixed this error by changing the Page Property CodeFile to CodeBehind on the mater page and the content pages.

Use CodeBehind when working on Web Application projects in ASP.NET 2.0


VS.NET 2005 Close Tab on Double-Click
2008-01-22T14:51:00.000-06:00
Anyone out there knows how to enable the functionality to close a tab document in vs.net 2005 on the double-click action just like firefox extensions?

I hate to use the middle button and will like to use the double click.

Thanks


17 Search Engine Reputation Management Optimization Tips
2007-12-08T21:36:00.000-06:00
I recently got this e-mail from a friend of mine. The tips listed below are very true for increasing your website to be in the top of search results when searching for keywords related to your site. I followed several of these tips when I worked for a software automation company.  In one to two weeks I started noticing that the bots were checking for often the company's website and the keywords searched in Google were listing the company's website to the top.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Search Engine              Reputation Management Optimization Tips
by Rob Garner, Wednesday,              November 7, 2007               AS IT IS BECOMING MORE              commonly accepted that Google, Yahoo and MSN are reputation              management engines just as much as they are search engines, more              folks are seeking information on how to increase positive visibility              for a personal or corporate name.  Here is a quick list of 17              different ways to optimize for positive visibility for your personal              or brand name:
   
             1)      Add your              profile to LinkedIn, and build a real page with real              connections.  
             2)      Create a site              with your exact keyword or name domain, and add useful and              unique content.  
             3)      Use paid              search to enhance your site visibility.  The engines              give you two basic opportunities for placement -- paid and natural.              Consider using them both if it will help achieve your end              goals.  This does not mean that a defensive stance is required              in the copy, but it can help increase visibility, if              needed.
             4)      Take              inventory of all of your existing sites.  Determine if              they are properly optimized for your target brand or name keyword              set.  If not, start filling in the gaps with optimized pages,              and optimized title and meta elements.
             5)      Use various              optimized digital assets -- particularly video.  Video              and image results can attract eyeballs away from everything else on              the page.  Make it useful, funny, or otherwise unique and              entertaining.
             6)      Write useful              content and establish yourself or your company as an expert, either              for your own site, or for other blogs.  Good content              naturally finds itself at the top of the search results, and its              creators are often rewarded with link citations, writer profile              pages ! and high rankings as a result.  
             7)      Link              strategically.  I don't want to sell this one short,              as it is one of the most important elements, but leverage your              on-theme sites and link to other relevant sites to help push them up              higher in the results. 
             8)      Leverage your              good domain for search benefits by creating a subdomain for your              target term.  Add valuable and useful content.               Corporate sites should seriously consider architecting around              subdomains, as they are treated as separate domains by the              engines.
             9)      Create a              profile on various social media sites like MySpace and              Flickr.  Also note that content entered into Flickr is              entered into a Creative Commons license.
             10)  Start a blog on WordPress.               Plan on investing time and making it a real              blog.  
             11) Start a WordPress blog on your own domain.              
             12)  Avoid putting out any material that              you wouldn't want in your primary namespace.  An ounce              of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
             13)  Create a Naymz profile.
             14)  Send out a press release, or              two.  Or twenty (over time, of course).
             15) Have someone interview you about your              passion.  Publish the interview on your site.
             16) Create a search roll at Rollyo of              search engines and topics you really like.  
             17) Be very, very patient.  
             Post              your response to the public Search Insider blog.

See what others              are saying on the Search Insider blog. 
                                                            
                 Rob Garner is                    strategy director for interactive marketing and search agency                    iCrossing and                    writes for Great                    Finds, the iCrossing blog. He is president-elect of the                    Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association, and                    also serves on the board of the Dallas/Fort Worth Interactive                    Marketing Association.



Enterprise Library Logging Timestamp format
2007-12-07T12:20:00.000-06:00
Just for awareness the Microsoft Enterprise Library Logging Application Block for flat file trace lister allows to specified the time stamp format in the template formatter as
{timestamp(local)} for local time zone time stamp or optionally you can specified your DateTime format such as MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss.

See .NET Standard DateTime String Formats at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/az4se3k1(vs.71).aspx


i.c.stars is recruiting for Cycle 16 January 2008 – Technology Jobs
2007-12-06T12:32:00.000-06:00
i.cstars is currently taking applications for cycle 16 of technology, business and leadership training. You can apply online at www.howcanicstars.org.

i.cstars offers free training for high school or GED graduates that want to acquire technology, business, and leadership skills. At the end for the intensive training,  graduates will have a change to be recruit by companies seeking i.cstars graduates to fill positions in Software Development, Business Analyst, Testing, Networking, Computer Technicians, Computer Design, Game Development, and other technology related jobs.

Information sessions are held every 2nd Tuesday at 6p.m at the Chicago location. Find more information about the information sessions at i.cstars.org.

I am an i.cstars Alumni from Cycle 7 and I join i.cstars right after graduating from High School in Chicago Illinois. Five months after completing my training I was working as a Software Developer for a Software company in Chicago at 19 years old with a great salary.


If you think this interest you, don’t wait any more. Call i.cstars now. Oh by the way I forgot to mention. During the time you are learning at i.cstars you get a monthly check!


WebLoad posting form data as files for Ajax applications
2007-11-30T14:14:00.000-06:00
I have an application that is doing and Ajax callback XHTMLrequest to an .ashx handler. Web launch WebLoad to record an agenda to capture the Ajax posts WebLoad was recording the agenda using the CopyFile function similar to:

 CopyFile("wl3941127422.dat","wl3941127422.dat")

After digging I found out that there was a setting in the recording options "Record unknown post types as file". I un-check this settings and tried again to record the agenda an changed the way the form was posting recording the actual form data in the JavaScript Agenda.


Change this setting by going to:

WebLoad IDE --> Tools --> Recording Options --> Post Data --> and un-check the "Record unknown Post Types as File"


Google's Grand Central - The New Way To Use Your Phone Number
2007-11-29T08:29:00.000-06:00
I recently got an invitation to use Google's GrandCentral online service that allows me to pick a phone number and have it forward to any telephone I want. It simply can be your only phone number for life. At any time you can change the forwarding number. 

I used to have AT&T VOIP service and they have an online service where I can check my incoming and outgoing calls, check voice mail and other similar functions.

GrandCentral can send all your voice mails to your e-mail so that you don't miss a voice mail message. 

What I think is best is the availability to block callers, reject calls, send calls to your voice mail.

This is how it works:

Caller calls your GrandCentral number  GrandCentral calls your phones  You get a call and you take an action
 
Here is a screen shot of the control panel:



So far the service now is for free for one phone number. However, when it comes out of beta I am not sure how much they will charge for the service.


How to use the SubSonic Collection Find() method with Predicate
2007-11-27T14:25:00.001-06:00
Here is a code example to find a particular item within a collection of entities.




Instead of creating a loop to go over the collection to find your entity, you can take advantage of the Predicates.

Model.Person foundPerson =(Model.Person) personCollection.Find(delegate(Model.Person e) { return e.FirstName == "John"; });




I hope this is helpful. I did not find anything in the SubSonic forums regarding the Find method. This worked for me instead of creating a loop to go over all items in the collection.


SubSonic Updated Templates to Delete Entities With Children
2007-11-26T23:15:00.000-06:00
In a recent project that I worked on I had a need to delete a top entity that had multiple children. With the generated code out of the box from SubSonic I found it difficult to delete the parent entity and all the children that depend on the parent entity since I had to specifically invoke the child entity for a delete operation. So I decided to mess with the templates. In particular with the 'Controller' (CS_ODSController.aspx).

I decided to create a method named "DeleteWithChildren()" that will take the primary key id of the parent entity to follow the same controller pattern already in place similar methods.


DeleteWithChildren() will go load the parent entity using the primary key and then invoke the corresponding controller class for each of each children.

For example,



public void DeleteWithChildren(object keyID)
{

// Load the entity
MyCompany.Model.Employee entity = new MyCompany.Model.Employee(keyID);
      
foreach(MyCompany.Model.SiteEmployee child in entity.SiteEmployeeRecords)
{
                             

MyCompany.Controller.SiteEmployeeCtrl.Instance.DeleteWithChildren(child.SiteEmployeeId);
                                                             
}


}




This allowed me to simple invoke the parent entity controller such as Controller.ParentEntity.DeleteWithChildren(5000); and have the controller delete everything the hangs off the ParentEntity object by calling the DeleteWithChildren() method for each child. This allows to delete hierarchical entities.

You can download the template file from my online box here.

My template was code to first check that a transaction was started since you might not want to attempt to delete everything from that entity without a transaction.


Dell Inspiron 1720 Windows XP Pro Working Audio Driver SIGMATEL STAC 92XX
2007-11-26T21:44:00.000-06:00
After wiping out Windows Vista and installing Windows XP Pro SP2 in my Dell Inspiron 1720 I found my self in trouble. I could not find any where in Dell's web site or forums the driver for the sound device for my laptop.

After several hours of search and trying different drivers I found a driver only available in Dell's German Language for the SigmaTel sound card R153908.exe.

You can download it from Dell's website here or you can get it from my online box here.
Just donwload run the file it will extract all the files to a directory default "c:\dell\drivers" and the setup will be launched.


Free Screen Capture For Windows  - Cropper
2007-11-21T08:50:00.000-06:00
Cropper is an open source screen capture tool written in C# .NET that allows users to mark a region in their desktop and take a screen capture and save it to any image type format.
    Its simple, light weight and its free.
    Cropper was support for plug-ins (extensions, add-ons what ever you want to call it). You can create your own extension in .NET to enhance the functionality of cropper. 
     
I used it for my development for to take a snapshot of an error for example and then automatically uploading the capture image to the issue management application such as “Mantis”.
Compare to SnagIt, cropper does not have all the features in SnagIt out of the box but there are several extensions for cropper our there that can provide a similar functionality. You’ll find the plug-ins download sites here.



Agile Testing: Performance vs. load vs. stress testing
2007-11-16T12:17:00.000-06:00
Here is a good blog about performance and load testing for web applications.

Agile Testing: Performance vs. load vs. stress testing

I am currently working on adding load to an application I have been working for the past six months.
So far I can say that this is probably one of the most time and effort consuming phase of the entire project for me. Lucky I have WebLOAD to create the load scripts and simulate the user for the application.

WebLOAD was easy to get started. Initially I could not getting it  work under Windows Vista but when I had my new machine with Windows XP it worked like a charm.

WebLOAD can connect to the web server and collection metrics. It also shows you a nice graph of all the stats collected.

When adding load to the application I was able to identify potential issues what would come up once we bring the application live.

Where I am having some difficulties is identifying the state of the application. I am trying to identify what is an acceptable response/performance so that I can say "The web servers can support x number of concurring users" Or "If you want to support x number of users" here are the specs you need for the web servers.

If any has a good experience with loading testings such as what are the key metrics to collection, please shared them with the public.

Thanks!


xplorer² (Windows File Manager Replacement)
2007-11-16T08:02:00.000-06:00
Since I was introduced to Xplorer2 my a friend at work, I have not gone back using the traditional windows explorer.

The first thing I do when my boot my laptop when I get to work is "Ctrl + space which launches the bad ass launch and then I type "xplorer" to open Xplorer2.

Xplorer2 allows you to have dual panes so that you can navigate multiple directory structures. With dual panes you can transfer files from one location to another simply by using the F5 shortcut. You need need to open another windows explorer window.

In the Xplorer2 address bar of your path location you can set filter so that you only see the files you care such "D:\Music\*.mp3 to display all the mp3 files in the Music directory.

The find window allows you to enter multiple filters so that you can find exactly what you are looking for.




Xplorer2 is $30 bucks and its worth it.
You can download the trial version here.


String.Format()  JavaScript equivalent to .NET
2007-11-15T12:01:00.000-06:00
Here is a JavaScript function to format strings on the Client-Side as if you were using in the the .NET String.Format() method in your code-behind.




String.Format = function()
{


    // Check for arguments
    if( arguments.length == 0 ) return null;
    // Get the string which is the first argument
    var stringToFormat = arguments[0];
    for(var i=1; i < arguments.length;i++)
    {
        var replaceExpression = new RegExp('\\{' + (i-1) + '\\}','gm');
        // Replace argument
        stringToFormat = stringToFormat.replace(replaceExpression, arguments[i]);
    }

    // Return the formated string
    return stringToFormat;

}



Alternative you can used the JavaScript prototype framework 'Template' object to do string formatting using variable names instead of argument indexes.

See http://prototypejs.org/api/template for the Template object API.


A long night fixing defects....
2007-11-14T08:10:00.000-06:00
We did it again...

We work all day yesterday from 7:30am to 10:30am fixing all possible defects log in our defect tracking application "Mantis". We are in a code freeze phase and we are fixing the issues logged from the user acceptance testing group.



Here is Eric with his krispy kreme hat. All happy about staying late fixing all the defects. Eric is great an paying attention to details and can really put him self in the shoes of the user. Its important to have someone like him in a team.



Enabling/Disabling ASP.NET Checkbox in client side via JavaScript
2007-11-13T20:42:00.000-06:00
If you are wondering why you cannot disable and enable a simple asp.net checkbox in IE using simple script like this...




function ToggleEnableCheckbox(checkboxObj)
{

checkboxObj.disabled = !checkboxObj.disabled;
}





Well the answer is because IE goes one level up and also adds a span which wraps the input checkbox.

<span disabled="disabled">
<input id="myCheckbox" disabled="disabled" type="checkbox">
</span>




To make it work in IE you also need to update the parent node node.




function ToggleEnableCheckbox(checkboxObj)
{

checkboxObj.disable = !checkboxObj.disable;
checkboxObj.parenNode.disabled = !checkboxObj.parenNode.disabled;
}





This was a pain in the beginning until I looked at the output html source of the page. First procedure works fine in FireFox but IE adds the disabled attribute to the span, therefore you have to compile for both browsers.

I hope this helpful.

The next step is to create your own checkbox list control that inherits from the ASP.NET Checkbox List and override the source writing for better simplicity.

Good Luck!


Visual Studio .NET environment fonts that don't hurt your eyes.
2007-11-13T07:46:00.001-06:00
After working long hours in the Visual Studio .NET 2005 environment the default colors and environment settings start hurting your eyes.

When working with Alex Lee with Ruby on Rails for his game, I started using E-text editor. I found that "E editor" had a nicer and less ease to your eyes environment with a black background and multi-color fonts. During the day I used Visual Studio .Net 2005 and sometimes in the afternoon I was using E. So I decided to make the environment match so that the transition was not harsh.


Visual Studio .NET 2005 Class Editor Colors:



Visual Studio .NEt 2005 html source editor colors:



You can download my font setting here.
Use the visual studio Import settings utility under the Tools menu to import the fonts. For the text I use a MONACO font not install in Windows XP by default. You can also download the font here.


Inspiron 1720 with Windows XP nVidia GeForce 8600M GT driver
2007-11-08T12:59:00.000-06:00
About a week ago a got my new Inspiron 1720 laptop from dell.
Of course dell push me to Window Vista Home edition but we all know that developer's cannot work with this. I was running Window Vista Business edition in my previous laptop a Lenovo 3000N100 which a got to say that it was a piece of junk. My friend Alex got the same Lenovo machine and he blog about how bad the keyboard is. Read he's blog post here.


As soon as I open the box with my new Inspiron 1720 I fire it up with the Windows XP Pro CD.
I had difficulties installing the Windows XP Pro, since the laptop was targeting Vista. But thanks to some blogs out there I finally got it working.

However, the trouble came when installing the drivers. Dell doest not have any driver downloads at there website for Window XP operating system, therefore, I had to search the entire internet.

I tried several nVidia drivers from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ but what got it working for my nVidia 256mb 8600M GT graphics card was the driver version 163.75 with the modded inf file.

You can download the driver here from the http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/

I hate that Microsoft and the retailers are trying to get everyone stuck with Vista.
I don't have any problem with Vista. But as a developer I need to used reliable tools and applications and many out there are still not up to date for Vista.

If laptopvideo2go.com is down, you can download the driver here.
The modified .inf file you get download it here.

Good luck!


SubSonic - Using the Exist() Method using predicates
2007-11-06T21:45:00.000-06:00
Here is a simple example on how to use the Exist() method that hangs of the collection entities generated by SubSonic.




for (int i = 0; i < originalentitycollection.Count; i++)
{
   Predicate exist = delegate(Model.Person match)
   {
      if (match.PersonId == originalentitycollection[i].PersonId)
         return true;
      else return false;
    };


   if (!distinctpersoncollection.exists(exist))
   {
                              
      distinctpersoncollection.add(originalentitycollection[i]);
   }
}





You can visit MSDN for more information about the predicate delegates:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bfcke1bz.aspx


How secure can you get with PDF files
2007-11-03T11:52:00.000-05:00
You have an application that provides a service for your customers where your users are allowed to download a produced pdf document by your application.

To protect your business you need to secure and protect the output PDF documents as much as possible. But can you really protect a PDF document?

Let's step back for a second....

The application's requirement is to protect the produced  document and restrict user's from modifying the document. At the same time the produced document needs to be in  a standard format that an average user with internet access can download. Oh and did I mentioned that the output document can be many pages long.

We know our constraints:
Standard format
 Average internet user( that means non-technical users)
Many pages long

This means we cannot produced a proprietary document that can only be view with a in house viewer. It cannot be an image since it's many pages long. That leaves us with PDF documents.

Yes we can secure a PDF document with Adobe PDF Digital Right Management (DRM).
But at the same time there are several application out there that can removed the protection of the PDF document.

How can you prepare and handle this situation? Well I still have not figure it out. If you can think of a better alternative please comment in this blog.

The reality is that once your document goes out from your control. In this once the user has downloaded the document they can do anything! They can print it, ORC, modified and re-used it. Of course that will mean that the user is violation legal rights.


As the article at this link mentions " The only way to keep PDF secure is to keep it your self"
www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Adobe/Gallery/PDFsecurity.pdf





TortoiseSVN & Beyond Compare Settings
2007-11-02T15:17:00.000-05:00
Here are my settings for TortoiseSVN to use Beyond compare as the file difference tools.





Building Wars of Earth
2007-10-03T13:57:00.000-05:00
About 3 months ago I met a new friend (Alex Le) at work. He is also very young and we both have the same age. Alex is very talented. Two days later we meet he introduced me to Ruby on Rails. He is building an RPG game "Wars of Earth". You can check out the official game web site at www.warsofearth.com. Occasionally Alex brings it off line.  

Ruby sounded very interesting and I said why not give it a shot. I have spend a few night helping Alex to develop his game. So far a build the guild and user messaging pages for the game. It's very exiting. Learning Ruby on rails is no brainier, but there are some bridges you need to cross. I look forward on the release of Wars of Earth.



Subversion integration with Visual Studio .NET 2005 (AnkhSvn)
2007-10-03T08:48:00.000-05:00
AnkhSVN is an awesome add-in for Visual Studio .NET when working with subversion source depository.

You can download AnkhSVN from Scott Hanselman's blog (Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen - AnkhSVN: Using Subversion within Visual Studio).

Once install you may want to edit the default configuration by going to Tools --> AnkhSVN --> Edit AnkhSVN Configuration in Visual Studio .NET IDE.

I turn off "AutoAddNewFiles" since I don't really want to add to the depository new files that I add to my project. Having this property turn on to "true" made my life annoying.

Here are my setting found in the ankhsvn.xml under my application data folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\AnkhSVN\ankhsvn.xml


You can download the xml file here:
http://www.box.net/shared/iz7jefzos4







SQL Server 2005 Management Studio Intellisense
2007-10-02T12:05:00.000-05:00
In the quest for sql intellisense for the SQL Server 2005 Management Studio I came across SQL Assist for SSMS 2005 from company Round Polygons. SQLAssist can be download it here.

SQL assist works great. Its lighter weight compare to the RedGate tools.
I think its definitely worth the $50 bucks. I initially downloaded the beta version 2.0.210.0, however, this did not work for Windows Vista Business.  After installing version 1.5.185.0 I was in business.

Make sure you have SQL Server 2005 Management Studio (Standard or Enterprise) version since this tool will not work with SQL Server 2005 Management Studio Express.


Replacing old notepad in Windows Vista
2007-10-02T09:55:00.000-05:00
I am have been trying to find a good tool to replace the old windows notepad in Windows vista.
For a developer notepad.exe just doesn't cut it.
So far I have using notepad 2, notepad ++ and programmer's notepad 2.
These are all great tools, but I have not been able to replace notepad.exe from the c:\windows and c:\window\system32 directory. I have follow the instructions from Matt Berther's blog  but the instructions do not seem to work for vista.

If any one has accomplish this task, please share it.

Thanks.


Coming Soon Send To GMail
2007-09-20T10:03:00.000-05:00
I created a little windows app that allows users to right-click on a file in windows explorer and select from the context menu 'Send To Gmail' and allows the user to e-mail attachements using your gmail account.

I will post the download link later...