dripcode

SQL Server 2008, Table Valued Parameters, and LINQ

2011-03-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

Mike Gleason jr's Blog: SQL 2008 TVP (Table Valued Parameters) and LINQ - It is Possible?! (Sorta)

DOS CMD - List All Directory Names Only

2011-02-20T22:29:00.000-08:00

dir /AD /B

more commands

DOS CMD - List All File Names Only

2010-12-21T22:23:00.000-08:00

dir /a:-d /b

cheers to fheartman

more commands

New Collaboration In Technology

2010-10-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

Sometimes technologies seem to cause conflict, and epic battles erupt between companies, leaving their users and developers baffled.

Every once in a while these same companies and technologies find themselves in harmony, leaving their users and developer just as baffled.

Apple is getting along with Adobe?
ActionScript 3.0 IDE was written in C#?

la musica

2010-08-14T05:42:00.000-07:00

Getting Date from DateTime Type in SQL Server 2005 vs. 2008

2010-08-01T19:06:00.001-07:00

In 2008:

Convert(Date,GETDATE())

Select * from myTable where
Convert(Date,ModifiedDate) = Convert(Date,GETDATE())

In 2005:

CONVERT(CHAR(10), GETDATE(), 1)

Select * from myTable where
  CONVERT(CHAR(10), ModifiedDate, 1) = CONVERT(CHAR(10), GETDATE(), 1)

Old School:

cast(floor(cast(ModifiedDate as float))as datetime)

Extending With Extension Methods

2010-06-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace DripCode.Text
{
    public static class ExtensionMethods
    {
        public static Boolean ContainsAt(this string line, string template, int location)
        {
            return line.Contains(template) && line.Length >= template.Length + location && line.Substring(location, template.Length) == template;
        }
    }
}

Usage:


string Test = "hello world!"
Console.WriteLine(Test.ContainsAt("hello",0).ToString());
Console.WriteLine(Test.ContainsAt("world",6).ToString());

Extension Methods (C# Programming Guide)

Table Template

2010-06-15T21:44:00.000-07:00


USE [PrinterUsage]
GO
/****** Object:  StoredProcedure [shared].[CreateNewTable]    Script Date: 06/30/2010 11:08:32 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
-- =============================================
-- Author:  
-- Create date: 
-- Description: 
-- =============================================
ALTER PROCEDURE [CreateNewTable] 
 -- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here
 @TableSchema nvarchar(100) = null,@NewTableName nvarchar(150)
AS
BEGIN
 -- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
 -- interfering with SELECT statements.
 SET NOCOUNT ON;

    -- Insert statements for procedure here


declare @command nvarchar(max)
set @command='
CREATE TABLE ['+isnull(@TableSchema,'dbo')+'].['+@NewTableName+'](
 ['+@NewTableName+'Id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT FOR REPLICATION NOT NULL, 
 [Created] [datetime] NOT NULL,
 [Modified] [datetime] NOT NULL,
 CONSTRAINT [PK_'+@NewTableName+'] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 
(
 ['+@NewTableName+'Id] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]
'
exec sp_executesql @command


SET ANSI_PADDING OFF


set @command='ALTER TABLE ['+isnull(@TableSchema,'dbo')+'].['+@NewTableName+'] ADD  CONSTRAINT ['+@NewTableName+'_Created]  DEFAULT (getdate()) FOR [Created]'

exec sp_executesql @command


set @command='ALTER TABLE ['+isnull(@TableSchema,'dbo')+'].['+@NewTableName+'] ADD  CONSTRAINT ['+@NewTableName+'_Updated]  DEFAULT (getdate()) FOR [Modified]'
exec sp_executesql @command



SET ANSI_NULLS ON


SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

set @command='



CREATE TRIGGER [UpDate_'+@NewTableName+']
   ON  ['+isnull(@TableSchema,'dbo')+'].['+@NewTableName+']
   AFTER UPDATE
AS 
BEGIN
 SET NOCOUNT ON;

 declare @ID int

 select @ID=['+@NewTableName+'ID] from inserted
    
 UPDATE ['+isnull(@TableSchema,'dbo')+'].['+@NewTableName+']
 SET [Modified] = getdate()
 WHERE  ['+@NewTableName+'ID]=@ID

END

'
EXEC sp_executesql @command

END

Usage:


EXEC @return_value = [dbo].[CreateNewTable]
  @TableSchema = N'mySchema',
  @NewTableName = N'myTable'


EXEC @return_value = [dbo].[CreateNewTable]
  @NewTableName = N'myTable'

Dancing Robots and Images That Morph With Depth Perception

2010-04-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

Hybrid Image Gallery
Hybrid Image Explained
Wikipedia - Hybrid Image

Get your Keepon robot today.
Programmable Robot from Sony
More Dancing Robots on YouTube
Robots for Theorapy

Multiple Order By in LINQ

2010-03-28T22:36:00.002-07:00

This is how you do it:

List orderedItems = items.OrderBy(o => o.Group).ThenBy(o => o.Name).ToList();

Example Code:
Class

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace TestLinqOrderBy
{
    

    class SomeItem
    {
        private String _group;
        private String _name;
        
        public SomeItem(String group, String name)
        {
            this._group = group;
            this._name = name;
        }

        public String Group
        {
            get { return _group; }
            set { _group = value; }
        }

        public String Name
        {
            get { return _name; }
            set { _name = value; }
        }
    }
}

Main

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace TestLinqOrderBy
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            List items = new List();

            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 1","All"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 1","How"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 1","Are"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 1","You"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 1","Today?"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 1", "Cat"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 1", "Ball"));

            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 2", "All"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 2", "How"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 2", "Are"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 2", "You"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 2", "Today?"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 2", "Cat"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 2", "Ball"));

            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 3", "All"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 3", "How"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 3", "Are"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 3", "You"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 3", "Today?"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 3", "Cat"));
            items.Add(new SomeItem("group 3", "Ball"));

            List orderedItems = items.OrderBy(o => o.Group).ThenBy(o => o.Name).ToList();

        }
    }
}

Thanks to Jonas Stawski

Can't Access .OST File in Outlook

2010-03-28T17:58:00.001-07:00

I got the following message when I opened Outlook today:

Then when I tried to send an email or delete an email I got, "... outlook.ost. could not be accessed."

When I look at the directory where it the ost file was everything looked fine. Permission looked fine.

While googling I found the following link, which gave these two suggestions:

Disable cache: control panel->mail->email accounts->next->change->more settings->advanced tab-> then uncheck "Use Cahced Exchange Mode" and click OK->Next->Finish->Close. You may have to restart Outlook for the change to work.

Not Admin? Locate ost file: control panel->mail->email accounts->next->change->more settings->advanced tab->offline folder file settings

Disabling the cache seemed to work for me. One side-effect is that it somehow changed my caching in IE8. I didn't have time to research it any further, but will follow-up with an explanation as to why this happened and why I wasn't able to access the .ost file in the first place.

Picture: Worth a Thousands Words

2010-03-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

Ignite goes global—from March 1-5, 2010
Brisbane Ignite
I even spoke.

Automated User Interface (UI) Testing with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010

2010-03-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

reference site
where to buy

Taste of 80s

2010-03-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

Links to Internal Page Sections

2010-03-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

My Section


My Section
My Section

top

My Section

Thanks to Ross Shannon
top

WCF: System.Net.SocketException - Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted

2010-03-02T15:29:00.000-08:00

When testing a web service in Visual Studio I got the "System.Net.SocketException - Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted" error, which prevented me from testing the code. I quickly google the
error and got the following solution:

Open regedit.
Open key HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Create or Edit DWORD with MaxUserPort as the value.
Set it to a higher number. (i.e. 50000 Decimal)

Answered by JRista

WCF Service Data Types Are Unknown to PHP

2010-02-25T14:22:00.000-08:00

I wrote this WCF web service the other day, tested the BasicHttpBinding against SOAPUI and all seemed well. Until some of our PHP developers told me that all web methods signatures where showing as UNKNOWN data types (e.g. UNKNOWN SomeWebMethod(UNKNOWN parameter). I noticed that theres was no NameSpace prefix for some of the Serialized objects in SOAP, double checked the NameSpace in the service, and noticed it was blank. I added the a random namespace to my .cs file and everthing was sorted out.

So, if you get an unknown data type when calling a .net webservice from a PHP client, just make sure there is a namespace. I hope this helps.

Link of the Day

2010-02-22T22:27:00.000-08:00

Visual Studio 2008, where do I find the reason why publish failed?

iPhone Application written in C#

2010-01-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

If you are a C# developer you can also create iPhone application without learning Objective C. Check out MonoTouch.

iPhone Application Using Flash and Mobile Flex

2010-01-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

Check out Packager for iPhone.
Writing iPhone appliation using mobile flex in Flash Builder(the new Flex Builder).

You can use Flex to develop iPhone applications, but it won't be optimized for mobile devices. It's recommeded to use mobile flex

Query XML in SQL Server

2010-01-17T16:33:00.001-08:00

-----------------------returns nodes-----------------------


select top 1 
   EventXML.query('/residential/agentID'),EventXML.query
   ('/residential/listingAgent/name'), * from Event (nolock)
   where RowStateTypeId =1 
    and EventTypeID in (1,5) and listingId= 654 
   order by created desc

-----------------------returns data in the nodes-----------------------


select top 1 
   EventXML.value('data((//agentID)[1])','nvarchar(max)') as agentId
   ,EventXML.value('data((//listingAgent/name)[1])','nvarchar(max)') as agentName
   , * 
   from Event (nolock)
    where RowStateTypeId =1 and EventTypeID in (1,5) 
     and listingId= 329
    order by created desc

You can also extract attributes and index the xml type based on an XSD schema.

Helpful links:

XML data type in SLQ Server 2005

Learning XQeury/XPath

38 Special

2010-01-14T05:03:00.001-08:00

ReplaceAll() or .Replace()

2009-12-22T20:46:00.000-08:00

SomeString.Replace() only replaces the first instance of the string it finds. Use the following code to replace all instances.


   private function replaceAll(org:String, fnd:String, rpl:String):String 
   { 
      return org.split(fnd).join(rpl);
   }

split and join out performs .replace()

thanks to snipplr

Remember Chump

2009-12-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

LINQ Equivalent To A T-SQL IN

2009-11-24T23:00:00.000-08:00


SELECT * FROM MemberInfomation WHERE @samAccount IN ('adf','asfd','wqewe')

Similarly you can do a IN like filter in LINQ:


 public List GetInformation(String[] samAccounts)
        {
            SomeDataContextdc = new SomeDataContext();
            return dc.MemberInfomation.Where(
                              o => samAccounts.Contains(o.samaccount)
                                         ).ToList(); 
        }

Got help from here.

Unit Testing Thrown Exceptions

2009-11-24T08:09:00.000-08:00


  #region Throwing Exception Tests
        private void MethodToTest()
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("blah");
        }

Using ExpectedException attribute to test exception throwing is pretty straight forward:


        [TestMethod]
        [ExpectedException(typeof(ArgumentException))]
        public void Test_ExceptionThrown_Attribute()
        {
            try
            {
                MethodToTest();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                if (ex.Message == "blah") //test message value
                    throw new ArgumentException(ex.Message);
            }
        }

Another approach might be:



        [TestMethod]
        [ExpectedException(typeof(ArgumentException))]
        public void Test_ExceptionThrown_Attribute_Function()
        {
            VerifyExceptionThrown_Throw(() => MethodToTest(), "blah"); // simple, single line, and generic.
        }


        // Method accepts an action delegate, a generic Exception type, and an exception message to check
        public static void VerifyExceptionThrown_Throw(Action action, String exMessage)
           where TException : Exception
        {
            // Verify arguments - action can't be null
            if (action == null)
                throw new ArgumentException("Action to test cannot be null!");

            // Verify arguments - TException cannot be of type Exception
            if (typeof(TException).Equals(typeof(Exception)))
                throw new ArgumentException("TException type cannot be of type Exception");

            // Actually call it
            try
            {
                action();
            }
            catch (TException ex)
            {
                if (ex.Message == exMessage)
                {
                    throw new ArgumentException("good job"); //we must rethrow an exception because of ExpectedException attribute 
                }
            }

            // If it gets here, fail the test
            Assert.Fail("Action does not throw the exception expected");
        }

Test for exception throwing without the ExpectedException attribute:



        //
        [TestMethod]
        public void Test_ExceptionThrown_NoAttribute()
        {
            try
            {
                MethodToTest();
                Assert.Fail("Action does not throw the exception expected");
            }
            catch (ArgumentException ex)//specifing the type of exception to test for
            {
                if (ex.Message != "blah") //test message value
                    Assert.Fail("Action does not throw the exception expected"); //failed 
            }
        }

My preferred way to test exceptions:


        [TestMethod]
        public void Test_ExceptionThrown_NoAttribute_Function()
        {
            VerifyExceptionThrown_NoThrow(() => MethodToTest(), "blah"); //simple, generic, message parameter is optional... and the TestMethod doesn't need the attribute
        }


        // Method accepts an action delegate, a generic Exception type, and an exception message to check (optional)
        public static void VerifyExceptionThrown_NoThrow(Action action, String exMessage)
           where TException : Exception
        {
            // Verify arguments - action can't be null
            if (action == null)
                throw new ArgumentException("Action to test cannot be null!");

            // Verify arguments - TException cannot be of type Exception
            if (typeof(TException).Equals(typeof(Exception)))
                throw new ArgumentException("TException type cannot be of type Exception");

            // Actually call it
            try
            {
                action();
            }
            catch (TException ex)
            {
                if (ex.Message == null) //don't want to consider the message
                {
                    return;
                }
                else //otherwise consider the message 
                {
                    if (ex.Message == exMessage)
                    {
                        return;
                    }
                }
            }

            // If it gets here, fail the test
            Assert.Fail("Action does not throw the exception expected");
        }
        #endregion

I used code from this example here.

Digital Music

2009-11-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

Reducing Shape Function In SQL Server 2008

2009-11-09T23:01:00.000-08:00


USE [Region]
GO
/****** Object:  UserDefinedFunction [dbo].[GetReducedShape]    Script Date: 11/10/2009 16:44:40 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
-- =============================================
-- Author:  
-- Create date: 
-- Description: 
-- =============================================
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[GetReducedShape] 
(
 -- Add the parameters for the function here
 @shapeToReduce geometry
 --, @reduceFactor double 
 --0.001
 
)
RETURNS Geometry
AS
BEGIN
 ---- Declare the return variable here
 --DECLARE <@ResultVar, sysname, @Result> 

 ---- Add the T-SQL statements to compute the return value here
 --SELECT <@ResultVar, sysname, @Result> = <@Param1, sysname, @p1>

 DECLARE @reducedShape geometry, @border geometry, @BUFFER geometry,@diff geometry

 SELECT @border = @shapeToReduce.STBoundary()
 --SELECT @BUFFER=@border.BufferWithTolerance(0.1, @reduceFactor, 0)
 --SELECT @BUFFER=@border.BufferWithTolerance(0.1, 0.001, 0)
 --SELECT @BUFFER=@border.BufferWithTolerance(0.003, 0.001, 0)
 SELECT @BUFFER=@border.BufferWithTolerance(0.048, 0.001, 0)
 
 SELECT @diff=@BUFFER.STIntersection(@shapeToReduce)
 SELECT @reducedShape = @shapeToReduce.STSymDifference(@diff) 
 return @reducedShape--@reducedShape
 
 -- Return the result of the function
 --RETURN <@ResultVar, sysname, @Result>

END

Syntax Coloring on Blogger

2009-11-06T07:25:00.000-08:00


String test = "hello";
String this = "world";
string btest = "hello";
string bthis = "world";


DECLARE @BLAH int
SET @BALH = 5
Select * from myTable where somecolumn = 'hello'

Thanks to:
SyntaxHighlighter
SyntaxHighlighter: Tips for Blogger, More tips, A bit more
Side track: Google Sites

Visual Studio 2010 Overview

2009-11-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Course

Trimming Spatial Fat

2009-11-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

I had some map data from a 3rd party that wasn't quite correct. Region boundaries where overlapping. This made my query of finding regions within regions come back with bad results. I thought if I could reduce the region polygon by some factor, that it would help avoid picking up the subtley overlapping regions. I was looking for a STShrinkShape(int factor) function but couldn't see anything. If someone knows of a better way, I would appreciate the enlightenment. Here is how I did it:

1. Identify polygon and it's boundary. In this example I create a point and buffer it to create a polygon.

DECLARE @g geometry
DECLARE @h geometry
DECLARE @border geometry
DECLARE @BUFFER geometry

SET @g = geometry::STGeomFromText('POINT(0 0)', 0);
SELECT @g.BufferWithTolerance(1, .5, 0).ToString();
SELECT @h=@g.BufferWithTolerance(1, .5, 0)

SELECT @h as h

SELECT @border = @h.STBoundary()
SELECT @border as border

2. Add a buffer, with some buffer factor, around the border and create a new shape. The the inner part of this buffer is going to get subtracted from the original polygon/shape.

SELECT @BUFFER=@border.BufferWithTolerance(0.1, 0.001, 0)

SELECT @border as border
union all
SELECT @BUFFER as test

SELECT @BUFFER as test

3. Identify the polygon/shape of the inner part of the buffer by getting the polygon that intersect the buffer and the original shape.

SELECT @BUFFER as test
union all
select @h as h

declare @diff geometry
SELECT @diff=@BUFFER.STIntersection(@h)
select @diff as diff

4. Subtract this overlapping polygon from the original shape and we get our desired results.

SELECT @h.STSymDifference(@diff) as blah

OGC Methods on Geometry Instances

My 1907FPC Dell LCD Monitor Power Button Broke

2009-10-31T05:47:00.000-07:00

I moved over seas a while ago and you know how things go when you move. Something always breaks. After I unpacked and setup my computer, I pressed the power button on one of my monitors and it didn't spring back. It turned on, but it didn't feel right. Several months later it broke and I couldn't turn my monitor on or off.

I knew the monitor worked, but the button didn't. Determined to fix it, I Googled "how to take apart a dell 1907 fpc lcd monitor".

To my surprise I wasn't the only victim. In fact my Google search had nothing to do with a broken power button, but it came up on the Dell Forum.

After reading a few blogs I came up the a hybrid solution:

Opening the monitor's case:

Unplugged the power cable and remove the video cable.

Remove the monitor from the mount or the stand.

Remove 4 screws found after removing from the stand.

Gently pry the front casing of the screen w by using a small flat head screw driver or wood chisel. Be careful, the buttons are connected to the front case by a thin wire that is screwed on to the front case.

Remove 5 screws and remove the buttons and button circuit.

Solution:

Take the front casing and drill a 3/32 hole just left to where the power button is.

Reassemble monitor:

To make it easier to screw in the 5 tiny screw, remove back case from the LCD monitor, by simply sliding it out.

You will notice where the cable for the button circuit is being held in place by the case. Try to slide the cable out to give you more wiggle room for screwing the 5 tiny screws back into the front case.

Put the buttons back in and put the button circuit board over the buttons the screw the 5 screws into place, and tuck the cable back in to the case.

Slide the screen and front case into the back case.

Screw in the four screws in the back.

Snap the front case into the back case.

Remount the monitor on the stand and plug in the cables.

Using a flat-ended toothpick , sawed-off Q-Tip, stylus, or even a new button. You now have a hole where you can turn your monitor on.

Spend 20 minutes and save $400+.

Google Base API - Insert a Housing Entry via a Batch Feed

2009-10-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for a straight forward .Net example on how to upload a "Housing" item entry via a batch in the Google Base API, but to no avail. Mind you this is for Australia, so the required attributes are a bit different for the United States. After talking with someone at Google, we got it sorted out. Here's my example:


using Google.GData.Client;
using Google.GData.GoogleBase;


public static class GoogleBaseFacade
{
     private static GBaseService service;

     private static void Connect()
     {
          if (service == null)
          {
               service = new GBaseService("TEST - Homes for Sale", <google key>);
               service.setUserCredentials(<login>, <password>);
               service.NewAtomEntry += new FeedParserEventHandler(service_NewAtomEntry);
          }
     }

     static void service_NewAtomEntry(object sender, FeedParserEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Feed != null && e.Feed.Entries != null && e.Feed.Entries.Count > 0)
            {
                foreach (AtomEntry entry in e.Feed.Entries)
                {
                    if (entry.BatchData != null)
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("New Entry STATUS CODE: " + entry.BatchData.Status.Code.ToString());
                    }
                    else if (entry.Id != null && entry.Id.Uri != null)
                    {

                        Console.WriteLine("New Entry URI: " + entry.Id.Uri);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("New Entry ???");
                    }
                }
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("No Feed or Entries in feed.  Possible single entry");
            }
        }

     public static void AddAHome()
     {
          Connect();
          //create an entry
          GBaseEntry entry = new GBaseEntry();
          AtomPerson author = new AtomPerson(AtomPersonType.Author,"James Smith");
          author.Email="jamessmith@example.com";
          entry.Authors.Add(author);
          entry.GBaseAttributes.AddTextAttribute("target_country", "AU");
          entry.GBaseAttributes.ItemType = "Housing";
          entry.GBaseAttributes.AddNumberAttribute("bathrooms", 2);
          entry.GBaseAttributes.AddNumberAttribute("bedrooms", 3);
          entry.GBaseAttributes.AddTextAttribute("description", "A fantastic underground house.");
          entry.Links.Add(new AtomLink("http://www.velociraptorz.org"));
          entry.GBaseAttributes.AddTextAttribute("listing_type", "residential for sale");
          entry.GBaseAttributes.AddNumberAttribute("price", 1200000);
          entry.GBaseAttributes.AddTextAttribute("property_type", "house");
          entry.GBaseAttributes.Location = "1 Market St, Sydney, NSW, 2000";
          entry.Title.Text = "A safe haven, underground.";
          entry.BatchData = new GDataBatchEntryData("blahblah", GDataBatchOperationType.insert);
          entry.BatchData.Id = "batch1234";

          AtomFeed batchFeed = new AtomFeed(GBaseUriFactory.Default.ItemsFeedUri, service);
          batchFeed.Entries.Add(entry);

          GBaseFeed returnFeed = service.Batch(batchFeed, GBaseUriFactory.Default.ItemsFeedBatchUri) as GBaseFeed;
     }
}

Here are some useful links:

Google Base Home
Interactive Google Base data API Demo

Google Base Attribute List (for AU)

Google Realestate (for AU)

Google Housing Item Policy (for AU), currently doesn't exist...hence why Housing entries are not being approved

Google Base Attribute List (for US)
Google Realestate(for US)

Google Housing Item Policy (for US)

I hope this helps someone.

Install Badge and AIR MIME

2009-09-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

I just ran into an issue with installing the Install Badge to allow people to people to download and install my new Weather Widget AIR application. When you click on the Install Badge, you get a #2032 Error. As it turns out there could be due to two issues (there maybe others, but check these first):

missing the MIME type on the webserver
didn't provide the full url for the AIR file in the badge's flashVars

Here is the MIME value and extension:

Value: application/vnd.adobe.air-applicationinstaller-package+zip
Extension: .air

Thanks goes out to Google (for finding these guys), Josh Buhler, and Ashutosh Sharma

Flex Resources

2009-09-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some good resources for Flex:

Flex Doc

Adobe Labs

ActionScript 3.0

papervision3d

Others:

Get Date and Time from the DateTime in SQL Server

2009-09-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Have you wanted to create a where clause the brings back all records for a given date? More specifically, today's date?

SELECT * FROM [database].[dbo].[myTable] Where Convert(varchar(8),CreatedDate,112) = Convert(varchar(8),getdate(),112)

For a date range you can use the between key word:

SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE createdate BETWEEN '2001-01-01' AND '2021-12-31'

or records for the last 5 days:

SELECT * FROM [database].[dbo].[myTable] Where CreatedDate BETWEEN getdate()-5 AND getdate()

To extract the time from a datetime value you can do the following:

declare @time datetime
set @time=CONVERT(varchar(8), GETDATE(), 108)

Thanks to Dankov for the time and date extraction code.

Looking For a Table or Stored Procedure in a Database

2009-09-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

While I've designed a lot of databases, I've maintained even more. Often databases have hundreds of tables and thousands of stored procedures. Some company's have good naming conventions and others get a glazed look when you mention naming conventions. When trying to find a stored procedure that no one knows the name of, but know it has a variable called @UserName in it, can be quite a daunting task. It be nice if there was a way to query the text of the stored procedure for @UserName (we are using a database after all). Well you can. Here is the code:

Template:

SELECT sc.[id], sc.[text], so.[name]
FROM dbo.syscomments sc
INNER JOIN dbo.sysobjects so
ON sc.[id] = so.[id]
WHERE [Text] LIKE '%query text%'
ORDER BY so.[Name]

Example:

SELECT sc.[id], sc.[text], so.[name]
FROM dbo.syscomments sc
INNER JOIN dbo.sysobjects so
ON sc.[id] = so.[id]
WHERE [Text] LIKE '%@UserName%'
ORDER BY so.[Name]

GrooveShark Widget

2009-09-10T07:05:00.001-07:00

Augmented Reality - Pratical Use

2009-09-02T20:42:00.002-07:00

Augmented Reality - Interactive Models and Games

2009-09-02T20:42:00.001-07:00

Augmented Reality - Serious Costumes 2

2009-09-02T20:41:00.004-07:00

Augmented Reality - Serious Costumes

2009-09-02T20:41:00.003-07:00

Augmented Reality - Fun Costumes

2009-09-02T20:41:00.001-07:00

Augmented Reality - Fun

2009-09-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

Weather Widget Enhanced

2009-09-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

displays weather for more than one city

saves application state using sharedobjects

created by John Roth

see www.dripcode.com

Wind Creatures

2009-08-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

Behind Flex Effects

2009-08-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Adobe TV and Codedependent

Weather Widget

2009-08-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

created by John Roth

see www.dripcode.com

Testing Live ASMX Webservices Using the Protocols Tag in Your Web.config

2009-07-28T17:51:00.000-07:00


<system.web>
      <webServices>
            <protocols>
                  <add name="HttpGet"/>
                  <add name="HttpPost"/>
            </protocols>
      </webServices>

      .
      .
      .
</system.web>

JavaScript Finding Your Place in a Textbox

2009-07-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

Finding the location of the cursor in a texbox is straight forward if you only want to support one browser. There are various reasons why you will want to know the location of the cursor in a textbox. For me, it was a request to create one of those auto completion dropdown lists that suggest the word you are trying to type. While simple enough to do, the twist in the requirement was to prompt the user for each word that was entered followed by a comma. That is to say make a suggestion for Aspley if the user types "Asp" and also make a suggestion for Toowomba if the text string is "Aspley, Too". In-other-words, I had to know the location of the cursor in order to suggest the correct city name in Queensland, Australia.

Here is my solutions:




function getposition(txt1)
{
     try  //ie
     {
 var position=0;
        var currentRange=document.selection.createRange();
        var workRange=currentRange.duplicate();

        txt1.select();  

        var allRange=document.selection.createRange();
  
        while(workRange.compareEndPoints("StartToStart",allRange)>0)     
        {       
            workRange.moveStart("character",-1);
            position++;     
        }
                
        currentRange.select();
 return position;
     }
     catch(Err) //firefox
     {
        return txt1.selectionStart;
     }
}

Usage:
var cursorPosition = GetPosition(document.getElementById('<%= txtTextBoxNameInASPdotNET.ClientID %>'));

Note: To get an element's id in JavaScript from an ASP.net control use the following javascript and inline asp.net code:

var txt1=document.getElementById('<%= [asp.net control name].ClientID %>');

I found the following solution here:

Augmented Reality, ActionScript 3, and PaperVision 3d

2009-07-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

FLARToolKit
PaperVision3d
Demo

Adding a Web Reference to a Class Library in .net 3.5

2009-05-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered how to add a Web Reference to a Class Library in .net 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008? This is how you do it: Right click on Service References > Add Service Reference > Advanced... (bottom left) > Add Web Reference... (bottom left again). Very nice.

Cheers

Installing an assembly (DLL) in the GAC (Global Assembly Cache)

2009-05-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

It's pretty easy to install an assembly (dll) in the global assembly cache (GAC). All you do is copy it to the C:\WINDOWS\assembly folder and run gacutil /i myAssembly.dll and you're done. There are a few things you may want to know before you do this. See links below for more details: more details,even more details.

Save Darfur

2009-05-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

SaveDarfur.org, lend your support by visiting them.

10 C# Tips

2009-04-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

10 C# Tips - by Martijn

WCF, BAL, and Serializing LINQ Objects

2009-04-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

With LINQ to SQL as an O/RM (object relational mapper) it's never been easier to consume data in your business logic, but how do you expose these data objects through a webservice so that they can be easily consumed by an applicaton. I've created a short video demo that show's how to create a LINQ to SQL class in a business access layer library and expose it through a WCF Webservice.

Watch my video on how to expose a LINQ to SQL Class via WCF.

SQL Server Tricks - Order By IN Order

2009-04-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

SQL Server Tricks - Order By IN Order

Have you ever wanted to return the rows of select statement in the order of the list you were querying IN? Did that sentence even make sense...

Here's the solutions:

SELECT *
FROM SomeDataTable
where someID in (5,6000,5000,1000,2)
ORDER BY CHARINDEX( ','+Convert(varchar,someID)+',',',5,6000,5000,1000,2,' )

While this is elegant, in some situations (perhaps where indexing is not done) it is costly. Darian Ford, a colleage of mine, found a solution from Kapil Srivastava which solves this problem:

select * from publishers
Order by (CASE City
WHEN 'Paris' THEN 1
WHEN 'Chicago' THEN 2
WHEN 'Boston' THEN 3
WHEN 'New York' THEN 4
WHEN 'Berkeley' THEN 5
WHEN 'Dallas' THEN 6
ELSE 100 END) ASC,City DESC

See eggheadcafe
Kapil's solution

WCF, SOAP, JSON, and the REST of us

2009-04-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

The more I learn about the power and flexiblity of WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) the more I like it.

See this blog by Anthony Steele's REST from WCF 3.5.

Be Coded or Be Cast Out - a XMLInclude and Casting issue

2009-04-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

Problem:

When you don't have access to the code of a class in a webservice and you inherit from that class, you can't use xmlinclude. The reason is you need to put the XMLInclude attribute on the base class.

So when I pass my derived class to the webmethod, it complains.

Fine no worries. I will cast it to the base class type and that should work, right? Wrong!

Objects are reference types and the variable that you are assinging the cast to, even if it's defined as the base class, in pointing to the derived class has the type of the derived class. Even though you can only access the properties and methods of the base class at design time (makes sense since this object is declared as the base class type). Why is this? It's because it's a reference type.

You don't believe me. Run your code in debug mode and mouse over the variable that was assigned the cast object (base class type). Reflection will show you it's the derived class, even though you just casted it to a base class.

What does this mean? You can't use XMLInclude and you can't cast the derived class object to work with the webservice method.

Solution:

You need to create a new instance of the base class object and copy all the properities manually (in code) from the derived class object. I put this in a method (e.g. BaseClass DerivedClass.ToBaseClass())

I wish there was a better way. If you have access to the base class and it can see the derived class definition. All you have to do is use XMLInclude to include the derived class type.

See XmlInclude - Not Quite as Useless as I Thought

Converting One Array Type to Another - Hacking with Lambda

2009-04-21T00:25:00.000-07:00

Started with this:

private ResponseListing[] PopulateListings
(ListingFindResult[] listings)
{
List newListings = new List();
ResponseListing newListing;

foreach (ListingFindResult listing in listings)
{
newListing = new ResponseListing(listing);
newListings.Add(newListing);
}
return newListings.ToArray();
}

Hacked to this:

private ResponseListing[] PopulateListings
(ListingFindResult[] listings)
{
return Array.ConvertAll(listings, delegate
(ListingServiceProxy.ListingFindResult d)
{ return new ResponseListing(d); });
}

Final hack with lambda function:

return Array.ConvertAll(listings, d => new ResponseListing(d));

For generic list you can do the following:

List<Pnts> myPoints = GetListOfMyPoints();

List<Point> yourPoints = myPoints.ConvertAll<Point>(p => new Point(p));

Note: the constructor of Point has to be able to take and translate Pnts object

public static TOutput[] ConvertAll(TInput[] array, Converter converter);

string[] sa2 = Array.ConvertAll(data, delegate(double d) { return d.ToString(); });

string[] lambdaSA = Array.ConvertAll(data, d => d.ToString());

Credit goes to Patrick Steele's Blog Loops, Conversions and Lambdas and MSDN Array.ConvertAll

Enum, LINQ, and Lookup Tables in C#/SQL Server

2009-04-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Three options:

1. Auto generate ENUM from a lookup table (still have to compile). Here's some helpful links:

Enum Support With LINQ To SQL And SqlMetal

Using Enums With LINQ To SQL

Enum Code Generator

2. Just use a dataset object directly (but is a bit ambiguous when coding).

3. Use something that implements IDictionary. This is not as nice as an Enum, but you get the dynamic benefit and it's not as ambiguous when you code. Here's an example:


//put this in a static class, singleton, abstract class, or whatever fits your need

private SortedList _CriteriaItem;

//get data from database and iterate over the dataset to populate the list
public void Add(object Key, object Value)
{
       _CriteriaItem.Add(Key, Value);
}

public String GetDescriptionByCode(String key)
{
       if (_Item.ContainsKey(key))
       {
              return _Item[key].ToString();
       }

       return "";
}


public String GetCodeByDescriptionBy(String description)
{
       if (_Item.ContainsValue(description))
       {
              foreach (String key in _Item.Keys)
              {
                     if (_Item[key].ToString() == description)
                     {
                            return key.ToString();
                     }
              }
       }

       return "";
}

Enum Databinding to DropDownList in C#

2009-04-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

//Enumerator
public enum Month
{
Jan = 1,
Feb = 2,
Mar = 3,
Apr = 4,
May = 5,
Jun = 6,
Jul = 7,
Aug = 8,
Sep = 9,
Oct = 10,
Nov = 11,
Dec = 12
}

//Databinding enum text values
ddlMonth.DataSource = Enum.GetNames(typeof(Month));

//Assigning enum text value to a databound object
ddlMonth.SelectedValue = ((Month)object.Date.Value.Month).ToString();

2009-04-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

I wrote this little game based on Asteroids. Tell me what you think. Click image to play or watch video below.

spacebar to fire, right and left arrow to rotate, and up arrow for thrusters... once the game is over, hit any key to start a new game

My Site

2009-03-23T20:17:00.001-07:00

Come visit my site at http://www.dripcode.com

2008-12-05T23:42:00.000-08:00

This is nice.