Thani's Blog

Silverlight 3 Released

MisterFantastic — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:13:34 GMT

Its great to hear that Silverlight 3 have been released. I found the news in the asp.net website. From there I found the following links .

Read and enjoy the posting's on Silverlight 3.

Thanks,

Thanigainathan.S

Silverlight 3 with Bing Translator Services

MisterFantastic — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:08:57 GMT

I was working with one of the web application localization. I was searching with couple of translator's available with the web. The most popular of them are

1. Google Translation Service

2. Bing Translator Service

I tried using the Google API for the web and it was pretty good. Then in recent times I came across Bing translator and tools link in them gave me the way to implement the Bing API. Bing is making a revolution in the search engines and so I liked to use that here.

Following URL's are referred for this.

Application can be downloaded from here.

Bing API:

Bing API is one of the new and cool features from Microsoft. We can use those API's for implementing the customization of search in our Application. There are three kinds of services available for us to implement.

AJAX Interface
HTTP
SOAP

We can use the Ajax interface for our web applications. For Silverlight application it will not be so best to use them. Instead we can use the SOAP reference which will be pretty much easy. I will explain those steps below.

Create a new "Silverlight Business Application" from the templates available or a Normal application if you don't want any prebuilt customizations.

The next step is the SOAP service reference. The SOAP API path for Bing is as follows.

http://api.microsofttranslator.com/V1/SOAP.svc

Just refer this in the silverlight Application and not in the test web application which comes with the Silverlight ptoject.

Adding this creates all the proxy files needed to work with. The next thing is the Application key. This we can get free from the Bing developer website which is given below. One needs to have a Hotmail ID to get this done.

http://www.bing.com/developers/appids.aspx

Through this link we have to create an AppId which we will be using all around the SOAP calls as this is used to give sandboxing security. Since we have taken the Silverlight Navigation Application we will use the HomePage.Xaml to give all the updates and testing. I will explain the cod below.

TranslatorService.LanguageServiceClient ls=new LanguageServiceClient();// Creating Bing SOAP Ref object

string AppId = "8ABC484831F80ABC46C07CBFF2C34FF7884A4168";// This AppId is created for my name

System.Collections.ObjectModel.ObservableCollection<string> results;

System.Collections.ObjectModel.ObservableCollection<string> langcodes;

This code block has to be declared at the page level .LanguageServiceClient is the Class which has all the methods needed to do the translation. Hence we will create instance at the page level and use that wherever needed. The ApplicationId will be used in all the calls. We can configure this at the configuration level. For now I have given this at the Page level. The result groups that are returned from the SOAP calls are in the form of ObservableCollection.

The XAML structure I very simple for now. We have source language and destination language which we can populate with the GeLangaugeNames method from SOAP calls. The textboxes are used to display source text and destination text.

<controls:Label Content="Language Source"></controls:Label>

<controls:Label Content="Destination"></controls:Label>

</StackPanel>

<TextBlock>Text to translate</TextBlock>

</StackPanel>

The silverlight calls the webservices in Asynchronous Modes only. Hence we need to handle the events to fetch the values. We have to get the results inside those event definitions. Following are the delegate for event's which we can give in the Page load event. Also we have to call the dropdown load events to load the languages.

//Event Handlers

ls.TranslateCompleted +=new EventHandler<TranslateCompletedEventArgs>(ls_TranslateCompleted);

ls.GetLanguageNamesCompleted +=new EventHandler<GetLanguageNamesCompletedEventArgs>(ls_GetLanguageNamesCompleted);

ls.GetLanguagesCompleted +=new EventHandler<GetLanguagesCompletedEventArgs>(ls_GetLanguagesCompleted);

//For filling the dropdown's and Language codes

ls.GetLanguageNamesAsync(AppId,this.Language.IetfLanguageTag);

ls.GetLanguagesAsync(AppId);

//Get the translated text

protected void ls_TranslateCompleted(Object sender,TranslateCompletedEventArgs e){

if(e.Error == null){

destTxt.Text = e.Result;

}

//Get Languages

protected void ls_GetLanguagesCompleted(object sender, GetLanguagesCompletedEventArgs e) {

if (e.Error == null) {

langcodes = e.Result;

}

//Fill the dropdown's

protected void ls_GetLanguageNamesCompleted(Object sender, GetLanguageNamesCompletedEventArgs e)

{

if (e.Error == null)

{

results = e.Result;

this.src.ItemsSource = results;

this.dest.ItemsSource = results;

}

private void PerformTranslation() {

if (src.SelectedItem != null && dest.SelectedItem != null)

{

ls.TranslateAsync(AppId, srcTxt.Text, (langcodes[src.SelectedIndex].ToString()), (langcodes[dest.SelectedIndex].ToString()));

}

//Translate on button click

private void cmdSubmit_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

PerformTranslation();

}

The final output will be like as follows.

Application can be downloaded from here.

Conclusion:

The translation so far tried is working fine. The Google service is providing more languages that this. In few months Microsoft will release those language features also. We can expect that. There is one more feature called Transliteration available in Google service. I Bing also give that then it will be so nice. Readers can also refer to how the Ajax and HTTP are used. The same code may also work for web application other than Asynchronous mode which is for Silverlight.

CheckboxList State Maintenance

MisterFantastic — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:31:05 GMT

Known is a drop, Unknown is a world. I had a small requirement where we have to show a Checkboxlist with some collection. I thought it was a easy stuff as it wa s dealing with a normal Checkbox collection. The requirement was to show some set of options in the collection, in addition there will be a option showing as "Select All" . This was a requirement given by my friend. I thought helping out and found how difficult it was. You may think easy as I first thought. We will see about that.

Liks referred:

The task was to display a Checkbox collections like below.

For demo purpose we will be hard coding the value in the <asp:ListItem> tags. This will add some values to the checkbox for now.

<asp:CheckBoxList ID="CheckBoxList1" runat="server" AutoPostBack="true" OnSelectedIndexChanged="Sel_Changed">

<asp:ListItem Text="SelectAll" Value="SelectAll"></asp:ListItem>

<asp:ListItem Text="Sample" Value="Sample"></asp:ListItem>

<asp:ListItem Text="Test" Value="Test"></asp:ListItem>

<asp:ListItem Text="Mic" Value="Mic"></asp:ListItem>

<asp:ListItem Text="Pen" Value="Pen"></asp:ListItem>

</asp:CheckBoxList>

The hardest part of the requirement comes now. I have to add one of the option like "SelectAll". The functionality that is expected from this option is explained in below points.

When this is selected the user will be able to select all other options in the collection.
When its unticked all will be deselected
When all are selected and one of the options is unticked then the control will be deselected with the "Select ALL" option.
When "SelectAll" options is not selected and all other options are selected then automatically the "Select All " option should be showing.

At first I thought it was easy. As I gradually started giving the solution I found the problem. The problem is the state of the control not being. This is a basic problem which took long time for me to identify. Because at each selected option one has to check with the previous selected option's for giving the solution . It took long time for me to find this.

Then did a little research and tried to implement the Session object. The solution is simple but powerful. It solves the problem. I am damn sure everyone who reads will get benefit because of this solution. Nowhere in the net could I find a possible solution first. The alternative will be the ViewState.

Just try to store the checkboxlist items property in the session during the first possible postback from the control. Then in the second postback do the mainpulations with the session object and current state of the object. I can give a small Algorithm.

Check Session for Previous collections.
1. If present then cast them for ListCollection instance.
2. Get the count of select item for previous and current items
3. If both count are not equal and "SelectAll" option for current object is true them we have to deselect "SelectAll" option.
4. Else If previous "SelectAll" is false and current "SelectAll" is true then select all the current options.
5. Else If previous "SelectAll" is true and current "SelectAll" is false then Deselect all the current options.
If no previous collection available then do normal operation for selecting the items.
1. Else check if the SelectAll option is deselected when all item is selected and if yes select them .
2. save the current collection in session

The Code sample is given below. This is the event for SelectIndexChanged event of Checkboxlist control.

protected void Sel_Changed(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

int cntr = 0;

int prevcntr = 0;

//Get Current count

cntr = GetCount(this.CheckBoxList1.Items);

//Check Session

if (Session["obj"] != null)

{

ListItemCollection ls = (ListItemCollection)Session["obj"];

//Get previous state count

prevcntr = GetCount(ls);

//For deselcting the SelectAll when one of the other items is selected

if (cntr != prevcntr && CheckBoxList1.Items.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected == true)

{

CheckBoxList1.Items.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected = false;

}// For SelecteAll true option

else if (ls.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected == false && CheckBoxList1.Items.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected == true)

{

SelectAllOptions(true);

}// For SelecteAll False option

else if (ls.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected == true && CheckBoxList1.Items.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected == false)

{

SelectAllOptions(false);

}

Session.Add("obj", null);

}

else

{

//Normal SelectAll option

if (this.CheckBoxList1.Items.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected == true)

{

SelectAllOptions(true);

}

else

{

//For Selecting the SelectAll option during the selection of all items

if (this.CheckBoxList1.Items.Count - cntr == 1 && CheckBoxList1.Items.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected == false)

{

CheckBoxList1.Items.FindByValue("SelectAll").Selected = true;

}

Session.Add("obj", CheckBoxList1.Items);

}

void SelectAllOptions(Boolean val) {

foreach (ListItem lst in this.CheckBoxList1.Items)

{

lst.Selected = val;

}

int GetCount(ListItemCollection ls) {

int prevcntr=0;

foreach (ListItem lst in ls)

{

if (lst.Selected == true)

{

prevcntr = prevcntr + 1;

}

return prevcntr;

Yeah that's it and all has been done. You can possibly download the sample here.

Conclucion:

This is a very peculiar scenario one may face. This will be very helpful for you.

Thanks,

Thanigainatha Siranjeevi

R&D - Interesting

MisterFantastic — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:16:04 GMT

Research and development is one of my interesting topics. I always like to do R&D. It has adventures, mining and digging in to the secrets. In my development saga I faced a lot of R&D .I mean even achieving a little thing in the learning is an R&D. For example .Net Ria Services was released last month. I was very interested in learning this and as a initiative downloaded all the necessary software's and installed. I went through some tutorials & blogs on how to achieve the functionality of RIA and connecting the same through Silverlight.

Then started the R&D phase. I did all the things as instructed in the tutorials. But I could not see the results. I tried building the application again and again. But no use. Then tried downloading the sample's given in the tutorials and tried running them and it successfully ran. I compared my sample with the one downloaded from tutorial. All were same and I could not figure out the difference.

I was thinking this same thing and worked lot of hours trying different combinations. The problem is that I did not understand the webservice reference concepts in the silverlight. RIA specifies to import the user service in the "App.XAML" then using that in the places wherever it's needed. I did this thing and could not achieve them. After doing a little bit study of the basics of RIA once again imported some namespaces and achieved that.

So the thing I learned at last was the way to do an R&D. Whenever we are struck with something and could not move further we should first of all try to achieve the working solution in the least possible way so that we can see results. Then automatically we will find the problems and fix them. Also basics are very important before proceeding. Most people see the working code examples and start's coding them before reading the basic. Please avoid this and you can avoid lot of your problems. So don't forget the basics and also try to achieve the least possible solution before proceeding. That's it R&D is done.

Thanks,

Thanigainathan S

Vertical Column Headers

MisterFantastic — Fri, 22 May 2009 01:59:09 GMT

We had a scenario where there's a necessity to display the column headers vertically. Usually the headers will be horizontals by default. Below picture shows the default headers.

The needed ouput was displayed below.

The Grid control that is used for this display is GridView. So I did a little bit of search and found some good solutions in the web. It's all achievable with styles.

Step 1:

Create the following styles in the Master page file or the Style class file or in the page where required.

.VertiColumn th {

writing-mode: tb-rl;

filter: fliph() flipV();

}

</style>

Writing-Mode defines how the text has to be written. Once style is given the header will come from top to bottom but in reverse order. In the above example StratDate will be shown from top to bottom. But I need to display them from bottom to top. Hence I used fliph() and flipv(). These styles flip the text horizontally and vertically giving the bottom to top text.

Then define the class for the Grid control's header. I am defining them for the GridView here.

That's it you can get the Vertical column's easily.

Caution:

For now these styles are supported in IE alone. I have not tested this in other browsers.

Thanks,

Thanigainathan Siranjeevi

Bulk Insert ,Update and Delete with ASP.Net ListView control

MisterFantastic — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:59:37 GMT

ASP.Net Listview is a Template Driven Grid control from Microsoft. It combines the features of DataGrid, GridView and Repeater. There is lot of web resources available about ListView. I had a scenario where the grid control has to act like an Excel control. Excel allows us to enter data in each of the cell. Then a submit button can be used to perform the Update or Delete operation on the Bulk.

Referral Links:

At first I thought of doing this so easily. But when started doing that I felt the pain. I started with a sample project "ListViewDemo". Use the "DemoList" table from the following script.

SET ANSI_NULLS ON

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[DemoList](

[DepartmentID] [smallint] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,

[Name] [dbo].[Name] NOT NULL,

[GroupName] [dbo].[Name] NOT NULL,

[ModifiedDate] [datetime] NOT NULL,

CONSTRAINT [PK_DemoList] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED

(

[DepartmentID] ASC

)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF) ON [PRIMARY]

) ON [PRIMARY]

Once the DB is ready I tried adding a LINQ Data Context control to my web application. I named that "AdventureWorks.dbml" since I used that database for testing purpose. Now browse the server explorer and drag and drop the table into the DBML layer.

The Web.Config file will now have the ConnectionStrings updated due to LINQ DataContext. The User's of this demo can customize this according to their server settings.

</connectionStrings>

Now let's start coding the ListView control. Make use of the "Defualt.aspx" page available. Place the Listview control and LinqDataSource control from the DataControls section in the toolbox.

The ListView control as is said previously is a templatedriven control. Following are the templates that one may need with the ListView Control.

ItemTemplate
AlternatingItemTemplate
EmptyDataTemplate
InsertItemTemplate
LayoutTemplate
EditItemTemplate
SelectedItemTemplate

Of these ItemTemplate, EditItemTemplate and Layout templates are very important. If we enable the paging options in the ListView it creates a DataPager control inside the layout template. The remaining are optional and used only when required. I got into problem while preparing this demo since I missed the EditItemTemplate (this template is responsible to take the values from controls and mapping them to the datasource). So make sure you don't miss them.

The LinqDataSource objects will point to the AdventureWorks dbml that we have created. The listview control will have the datasource id pointing to the LinqDataSurce and their templates are defined with their controls as follows.

<div>

<asp:ListView ID="ListView1" runat="server" DataKeyNames="DepartmentID"

DataSourceID="LinqDataSource1" InsertItemPosition="FirstItem">

<td>

<asp:CheckBox ID="CheckBox1" runat="server" />

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="DepartmentIDLabel1" runat="server"

Text='<%# Eval("DepartmentID") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="NameTextBox" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("Name") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="GroupNameTextBox" runat="server"

Text='<%# Bind("GroupName") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="ModifiedDateTextBox" runat="server"

Text='<%# Bind("ModifiedDate") %>' />

</td>

</tr>

</ItemTemplate>

<table runat="server"

style="background-color: #FFFFFF;border-collapse: collapse;border-color: #999999;border-style:none;border-width:1px;">

<tr>

<td>

No data was returned.</td>

</tr>

</table>

</EmptyDataTemplate>

<td>

<asp:Button ID="InsertButton" runat="server" CommandName="Insert"

Text="Insert" />

<asp:Button ID="CancelButton" runat="server" CommandName="Cancel"

Text="Clear" />

</td>

<td>

 </td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="NameTextBox" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("Name") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="GroupNameTextBox" runat="server"

Text='<%# Bind("GroupName") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="ModifiedDateTextBox" runat="server"

Text='<%# Bind("ModifiedDate") %>' />

</td>

</tr>

</InsertItemTemplate>

<table ID="itemPlaceholderContainer" runat="server" border="1"

style="background-color: #FFFFFF;border-collapse: collapse;border-color: #999999;border-style:none;border-width:1px;font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

</th>

DepartmentID</th>

Name</th>

GroupName</th>

ModifiedDate</th>

</tr>

</tr>

</table>

</td>

</tr>

<td runat="server"

style="text-align: center;background-color: #5D7B9D;font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color: #FFFFFF">

<asp:DataPager ID="DataPager1" runat="server">

<asp:NextPreviousPagerField ButtonType="Button" ShowFirstPageButton="True"

ShowNextPageButton="False" ShowPreviousPageButton="False" />

<asp:NumericPagerField />

<asp:NextPreviousPagerField ButtonType="Button" ShowLastPageButton="True"

ShowNextPageButton="False" ShowPreviousPageButton="False" />

</Fields>

</asp:DataPager>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

</LayoutTemplate>

<td>

<asp:Button ID="UpdateButton" runat="server" CommandName="Update"

Text="Update" />

<asp:Button ID="CancelButton" runat="server" CommandName="Cancel"

Text="Cancel" />

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="DepartmentIDLabel1" runat="server"

Text='<%# Eval("DepartmentID") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="NameTextBox" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("Name") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="GroupNameTextBox" runat="server"

Text='<%# Bind("GroupName") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="ModifiedDateTextBox" runat="server"

Text='<%# Bind("ModifiedDate") %>' />

</td>

</tr>

</EditItemTemplate>

<td>

<asp:Button ID="DeleteButton" runat="server" CommandName="Delete"

Text="Delete" />

<asp:Button ID="EditButton" runat="server" CommandName="Edit" Text="Edit" />

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="DepartmentIDLabel" runat="server"

Text='<%# Eval("DepartmentID") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="NameLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Name") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="GroupNameLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("GroupName") %>' />

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="ModifiedDateLabel" runat="server"

Text='<%# Eval("ModifiedDate") %>' />

</td>

</tr>

</SelectedItemTemplate>

</asp:ListView>

<asp:LinqDataSource ID="LinqDataSource1" runat="server"

ContextTypeName="ListViewDemo.AdventureWorksDataContext" EnableDelete="True"

EnableInsert="True" EnableUpdate="True" TableName="DemoLists">

</asp:LinqDataSource>

<asp:Button ID="cmdUpdate" runat="server" onclick="Update_Click" Text="Update Records" />

<asp:Button ID="cmdDelete" runat="server" onclick="Delete_Click" Text="Delete Records" />

</div>

The output screen will look like this.

The users can enjoy editing the data directly as excel files and can select multiple records and delete them. You can download the demo here.

So enjoy using this wonderful Grid control and let me know your thoughts on this.

Thanks,

Thanigainathan Siranjeevi

Visual Studio 2010 Beta Launch

MisterFantastic — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:41:28 GMT

The most awaited Visual Studio 2010 is launched yesterday May 20-2009 10.AM PST. You can find the download link below.

Visual Studio 2010

This page has the link to download. There are two versions available now

Visual Studio 2010 Professional Beta
Visual Studio 2010 Team Suite Beta

There are also further downloads available. The Homepage also has the features listed for VS 2010. Downloads are also coming faster.

So download them now and enjoy coding in VS2010

Thanks,

Thani

Silverlight 3 with Ria Authentication service

MisterFantastic — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:00:57 GMT

Authentication and authorization plays a key role in the web world. Going distributed makes information sharing healthier. But only if it's allowed for the know contact it will be healthy. We can very well see this in the existing web world. We have the memberships and roles for ASP.Net web applications. In addition we also have forms authentication and NTLM authentication.

Going smart client is always best. But considering security it has to be more secure since smart clients attract all the people they can be easily prey to security vulnerabilities. Ria services is one of the fantastic releases from Microsoft (though its still in beta stage) to achieve this. Its nothing but a platform to bring all the capabilities from ASP.Net web to the Silverlight .It actually tries to show a showcase a two-tier applications and behind the scene handling all the things necessary to build a three tier application. All this can be achieved by one thing called Domain Service. This article is aimed at showing how we can authenticate our Silverlight applications with ASP.Net membership objects.

Sources reffered:

I referred from all these links. Even Microsoft offer's a sample application in the Ria download page.

ASP.Net Security:

Create a new Silverlight Project called "AuthenticLight" with Web application enabled. ASP.Net offers an easy way of integrating security into web application. This we can be set up from the ASP.Net configuration in the menu. Below picture depicts that.

Selecting this option will open a web page with all the security features that a web application needs. It enables you to create the following options

Authentication
Role Based Authorization

You can refer this link User Profile . This link also shows how to customize this feature.

There will be a wizard interface for creating a new user with username, passwords, roles and role access filters. Refer below pictures in the wizard.

Fig-1 (Select security tab)

Fig-2 (Selecting the Security wizard to create the user)

Fig-3 (Select the Internet option)

Fig-4 (Provider)

Here you can customize the provider to any DB or XML source. If we left for default then an ASPNETDB.MDF will be created in the APP_Data folder in the web application. This will have all the user related tables. Next wizard is about the Roles and it has to be enabled if it's needed. Following that will ask for the role name details.

Fig-5(Role Names)

Fig-6(New User details)

Fig-7(Role and access rights)

Finishing this will finish the user creation wizard. Now we are ready with the userdb setup and to expose them for Silverlight through DomainService.

Exposing AuthenticationBase with DomainService :

Authentication base is the new class found in the System.Web.Ria.ApplicationServices. This enables us to expose the secuiryt services to the SilverlightClient. Try adding a new Domainservice class to the ASP.Net Web application ("AuthenticLight.Web"). Name this "AuthenticationSrv". The code will be looking like as follows.

namespace AuthenticLight.Web

{

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

using System.Linq;

using System.Web.Ria;

using System.Web.Ria.ApplicationServices;

using System.Web.Ria.Data;

using System.Web.DomainServices;

// TODO: Create methods containing your application logic.

[EnableClientAccess()]

public class AuthenticationSrv :AuthenticationBase<UserBase>

{

}

The UserBase which is from System.Secuirty.Principle will be exposed through the AuthenticationBase Class. Userbase has the following methods.

AuthenticationType
IsAuthenticated
Name
Roles
IsInRole

The AuthenticationSrv is the class that's intended to expose the User classes. Hence we add the EnableClientAccess()attribute to this class. Authentication base inherits from the DomainService class . So there's no need to worry about implementing the Domainservice Class here.Authentication base has the following methods available with them.

ClearAuthenticationToken
CreateUser
GetAnonymousUser
GetAuthenticatedUser
GetUser
IssueAuthenticationToken
Login
Logout
UpdateUser
UpdateUserCore
ValidateUser

These are the basic methods needed to validate the user credentials. When exposing them through the EnableClientAccess they will create the proxy classes at the client side i.e Silverlight Applciation side. The generated code file will have the name "AuthenticLight.Web.g.cs". The project structure will be like the following picture.

The Silverlight application created for this demo is created with "Silverlight Navigation Application". If you want more info on Navigation you can check my Article.

There's a few change that needs to be done on the ASP.Net page where the Silverlight page is referred .Remove the entries for registering System.Web.Silverlight and make the following changes.

<%@ Register Assembly="System.Web.Ria" Namespace="System.Web.Ria"

TagPrefix="ria" %>

Replace this code where its referred as <asp:Silverlight…

<ria:SilverlightApplication ID="Silverlight1" runat="server" Source="~/ClientBin/AuthenticLight.xap" MinimumVersion="3.0.40307.0" Width="100%" Height="100%" />

The final page will look like this.

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" %>

<%@ Register Assembly="System.Web.Ria" Namespace="System.Web.Ria"

TagPrefix="ria" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<title>AuthenticLight</title>

html, body {

height: 100%;

overflow: auto;

}

body {

padding: 0;

margin: 0;

}

</style>

</head>

<body>

<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server"></asp:ScriptManager>

<ria:SilverlightApplication ID="Silverlight1" runat="server" Source="~/ClientBin/AuthenticLight.xap" MinimumVersion="3.0.40307.0" Width="100%" Height="100%" />

</div>

</form>

</body>

</html>

For calling this Authentication service WebUserService has to be referenced from "App.Xaml" as a service. So add the following changes in the "App.Xaml"

<Application.Services>

<appsvc:WebUserService x:Name="UserServ">

</appsvc:WebUserService>

</Application.Services>

<Application.Resources>

Now in the Silverlight Application wherever there's a need to call the UserService then refer the Namespace

using System.Windows.Ria.ApplicationServices;

Referring this will enable the developer to call the user Service like

UserService.Current.Login

UserService.Current.LogOut()

….

Silverlight Client code sample below.

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Net;

using System.Windows;

using System.Windows.Controls;

using System.Windows.Documents;

using System.Windows.Input;

using System.Windows.Media;

using System.Windows.Media.Animation;

using System.Windows.Shapes;

using System.Windows.Navigation;

using System.Windows.Ria.ApplicationServices;

namespace AuthenticLight

{

public partial class HomePage : Page

{

public HomePage()

{

InitializeComponent();

}

// Executes when the user navigates to this page.

protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)

{

}

private void lgOut_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

UserService.Current.Logout();

UserService.Current.LogoutCompleted += this.HandleCompletionEvent;

}

private void HandleCompletionEvent(Object Sender, EventArgs e)

{

if(!AuthServ.IsUserAuth()){

this.NavigationService.Navigate(new Uri("/Views/LoginPage.xaml", UriKind.Relative));

}

private void Page_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

if (!AuthServ.IsUserAuth()) {

this.NavigationService.GoBack();

}

Like this we can use them in silverlight application wherever needed. You can find a demo here. There's a login page in this application which validates the username and password and then it allows the user to move around all other pages.

Conclusion:

The Article has demonstrated how one can use the ASP.Net role and membership for Silverlight application through .Net Ria service's. I will come back with some more advanced concepts on how we can customize these features for need's. Please bare with me if there is any mistakes and let me know so that I can correct them.

Thanks,

Thanigainathan Siranjeevi

Blogging with Word-2007

MisterFantastic — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:04:00 GMT

MS-Word 2007 has a beautiful feature for publishing blog posts. You can utilize the feature's present with Word for blog publishing since it's very handy. This option you can see in new file window as "New Blog Post".

After that you have to manage your accounts using the "Manage accounts" menu option. There you will be provided with provider options.

There are various provider's supported by word for blogging.

I tried registering for my GeekswithBlogs.net account and ended up in mess. This is because of the "Metablog.ashx" url provided as a default option when registering for the community server. Yes for GeekswithBlogs we have to select the community server. But if we choose like that then we have the problem of giving the picture Upload and Download Url since we are not aware of these urls. So it's advised for taking the option "Other". Choosing other will ask for the Blog details like Metablog Api details, Username and password.

"Metablog.ashx" is the default API provided by any blog websites. This has the set of Interfaces for programming the Blog. The following will be the output if you query that in browser. I had problem when I tried to access with Metablog.ashx for GWB. I did a lot of search for finding this API interface for GWB (a lot of Google search terms) ,finally I found that and I want to share that with you all. I also referred one of our community blog http://geekswithblogs.net/ksellenrode/archive/2007/04/28/112057.aspx

So it will be like http://geekswithblogs.net/"Your blog name"/services/metablogapi.aspx. Gave this in the URL and provide the Username and password and you are set to go.

The picture options should be given like this. If you have separate image server's then give "My Own Provider".

That's it use word for blogging and enjoy blogging.

Thanks,

Thani

.Net Ria May 2009 Preview

MisterFantastic — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:11:59 GMT

Hi All,

We got the .Net RIA Services available for the may month. You can get it from the following Link.

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/RiaServices/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2661

There is a inetersting post by Brad Adams which can be found here.

So let's all enjoy this download. Seems lot of bug fixes available now. The main enhancements will be on Authentication side.Making all the ASP.net authentication features available on RIA.

I will cover more on this preview in coming posts.

Thanks,

Thani

Interesting .Net String Functions

MisterFantastic — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:05:28 GMT

Introduction:

.Net 3.5 has some interesting string functions. I almost admire their usage. Following are those functions that we will be discussing here.

String.IsNullOrEmpty()
String.Split()(Available from .Net 1.0)
String.Join()(Available from .Net 1.0)

Reference Links

String.IsNullOrEmpty - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string.isnullorempty.aspx

String.Split() -http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string.split.aspx

String.Join()-http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string.join.aspx

Target Audience:

The target audience should have knowledge in VB.Net or C#.Net to get a clear understanding of these functions.

String.IsNullOrEmpty()

This is the function to test a string for either Null reference or Emptiness. This is something equal to

VB.Net

        Dim tstStr As String

        If tstStr = String.Empty Or tstStr = Nothing Then

            Response.Write("String is empty or null")

        End If

C#.Net

    string tstStr = null;

    if (tstStr == string.Empty | tstStr == null) {

        Response.Write("String is empty or null");

Which can be written with this function as

VB.Net

        If String.IsNullOrEmpty(tstStr) Then

            Response.Write("String is empty or null")

        End If

C#.Net

    string tstStr = null;

    if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(tstStr)) {

        Response.Write("String is empty or null");

This can be very useful in practical scenarios when it avoids the number of lines of code. Also performance gain will be good when using this functions.

String.Split()

I have a string which has comma separated values and want to fetch the values one by one from them. Here comes the rescue through the function Split(). Consider for example i have a String as follow’s

VB.Net

Dim strSplt As String

strSplt = "George,Clooney,James,Bond"

    string strSplt = null;

    strSplt = "George,Clooney,James,Bond";

I can use the Split function here to read the string values one by one as follows.

VB.Net

        Dim strSplt As String

        strSplt = "George,Clooney,James,Bond"

        For Each st As String In strSplt.Split(",")

            Response.Write(st)

            Response.Write("<br \>")

        Next

C#

        Dim strSplt As String

        strSplt = "George,Clooney,James,Bond"

        For Each st As String In strSplt.Split(",")

            Response.Write(st)

            Response.Write("<br \>")

        Next

There are various optional parameters available with this functions. I have listed them below.

Function	Description
Split(ByVal Paramarray separator() char) as String()	Returns a string array that contains the substrings in this instance that are delimited by elements of a specified Unicode character array.
Public Function Split(ByVal separator() As Char, ByVal count As Integer) As String()	Returns a string array that contains the substrings in this instance that are delimited by elements of a specified Unicode character array. A parameter specifies the maximum number of substrings to return.
Public Function Split(ByVal separator() As Char, ByVal count As Integer, ByVal options As System.StringSplitOptions) As String()	Returns a string array that contains the substrings in this string that are delimited by elements of a specified Unicode character array. Parameters specify the maximum number of substrings to return and whether to return empty array elements.
Public Function Split(ByVal separator() As Char, ByVal options As System.StringSplitOptions) As String()	Returns a string array that contains the substrings in this string that are delimited by elements of a specified Unicode character array. A parameter specifies whether to return empty array elements.
Public Function Split(ByVal separator() As String, ByVal count As Integer, ByVal options As System.StringSplitOptions) As String()	Returns a string array that contains the substrings in this string that are delimited by elements of a specified string array. Parameters specify the maximum number of substrings to return and whether to return empty array elements.
Public Function Split(ByVal separator() As String, ByVal options As System.StringSplitOptions) As String()	Returns a string array that contains the substrings in this string that are delimited by elements of a specified string array. A parameter specifies whether to return empty array elements.

There are two types of exceptions available for this fuction. They are

System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: count is negative.
System.ArgumentException: options is not one of the System.StringSplitOptions values

The Split() function is widely used for the ListBox controls. Particularly when there are user controls which produce the selected values as comma separated values .

String.Join()

This function is just the reverse of String.Split(). The responsibility of this function is to concatenate string values with a separator value. The separator is another character like “,” or “;”. The input for this method will be a String array. If there is string array .Then we can use the following way to join the items .

VB.Net

Dim strJn(5) As String

        strJn(0) = "Sample"

        strJn(1) = "Test"

        strJn(3) = "For"

        strJn(4) = "Joins"

        Response.Write(String.Join(",", strJn))

    string[] strJn = new string[6];

    strJn(0) = "Sample";

    strJn(1) = "Test";

    strJn(3) = "For";

    Response.Write(string.Join(",", strJn));

Following are the two options to use this function.

Name	Description
Public Shared Function Join(ByVal separator As String, ByVal value() As String) As String	Concatenates a specified separator System.String between each element of a specified System.String array, yielding a single concatenated string.
Public Shared Function Join(ByVal separator As String, ByVal value() As String, ByVal startIndex As Integer, ByVal count As Integer) As String	Concatenates a specified separator System.String between each element of a specified System.String array, yielding a single concatenated string. Parameters specify the first array element and number of elements to use.

The exception’s that are available with this method’s are

1.System.ArgumentNullException: value is null.
2.System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: startIndex or count is less than 0. -or- startIndex plus count is greater than the number of elements in value.
3.System.OutOfMemoryException: Out of memory.

This is something equal to Sql Server’s Coelesce which can be used to join the string values in Sql Server.

Conclusion:

There are a lot of function’s available with .Net. Of these i have covered these three functions as they found usage in practical scenario’s. Please let me know your feedback on this.

GridView Fixed Header

MisterFantastic — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:40:21 GMT

Gridview is one of the good controls which enables us to produce Excel like output in the webforms.You can learn more about grid view in the following link GridView Documentation

We had a scenario where we are supposed to give freeze pane like feature for Gridview. We had a lengthy Grid with some 20 or 30 columns . We had paging for about 20 records per page. So following were the requirements.

1. Grid must have a Fixed header.
2. it should be scrollable horizontally.
3. it should be scrollable vertically.

I did a lot of search and could only get solutions that worked only where the columns are limited. So I did a small R&D and derived at a solution which i will be sharing now. Take for example a Timesheet application and it has a Grid. We are going to give fixed header feature for this Grid. The GridView will look like as fallow's.

<asp:GridView ID="grdTask" runat="server" GridLines ="Both" Width ="100%" >

</asp:GridView>

The first thing we will be doing is to move this Grid inside a Div tag.

</Div>

Lets say we have a StyleSheet file "Style.Css". Please add the following styles for the Div using ID based styles. You can also use Class based styles.

div#MyGrid {
width: 1080px;
height: 500px;
overflow: scroll;
position: relative;
}

The above code will make sure of the following things.

1. We can define the height and the width of the Div We are using.
2. The scrollbars that we may need or not using the Overflow property.
3. setting the Position to relative makes the Div relative to its parent.

The next thing will be the styles for the Grid. By default the grid will be rendered as a tabel with default Div tags as

<div>
<table ......

So when you add a Div Tag before the Grid it will be rendered as

<div>
<table ......

So our styles should be accordingly designed. I have given the Grid styles below.

div#MyGrid th
{
top: expression(document.getElementById("AdjResultsDiv").scrollTop-2);
left: expression(parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.scrollLeft);
position: relative;
z-index: 20;
}

Following are the functionalities.

1.Give the Top and Left coordinates of the TH tag which will be generated for the Header inside the Grid. We are using the expression tag to dynamically assign the values through JavaScript.
2.Place the Grid relatively inside the Div tag. If this property is not set the Header will go out of the Div Box.
3.Set the Z-Index of the Grid. The z-index property sets the stack order of an element. So based on the order they will be placed in front.

So add the following in the Style sheet :-

div#AdjResultsDiv {
width: 1080px;
height: 500px;
overflow: scroll;
position: relative;
}

div#AdjResultsDiv th
{
top: expression(document.getElementById("AdjResultsDiv").scrollTop-2);
left: expression(parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.scrollLeft);
position: relative;
z-index: 20;
}

And put the Grid inside the Div tag. That's all. You are now ready with the Fixed headers for the Grid.

You can find the Demo here.

Thanks,
Thani

Dynamic Query with Entity Framework

MisterFantastic — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:47:41 GMT

Dynamic query building is most often used in the enterprise world for search screens and other operations. I remember writing code very tediously night and day for a very big search screen. Those days where the nightmares, but good experiences we got. Now these things are made very simple by means of Microsoft's Ado.Net entity framework. ADO.Net Entity Framework is an ORM extension from Microsoft. This is something similar to Linq to Sql . But this one is having some good features and we will be discussing one of them. I will demonstrate this with a sample project.

Prerequisites:

Visual Studio 2008
VS Service Pack 1
Sql Server 2005 Express Edition
VB.Net knowledge will be a added advantage

ADO.Net Entity framework will be coming with the Service Pack 1. We can take Tour Checklist search functionality for the Demo.

Create a Demo project called "LinqDemo". I am using VB.Net project files.

Fig –1 Creating New project

We will create a new database for our Demo called "DemoDb".This will be placed inside the App_Data folder. Create a table called "TourChecklist" with the following Definitions.

Fig-2 New Database

Fig-3 Table Definitions

Now we are ready to add a new item to the project by Right clicking the solution. Select ADO.Net Entity framework and name it "DemoModel.edmx"

Fig – 2 Adding the EF Model

The new model added will ask for the options for two options named Empty Model (or) Generating Model from database. We will be using the second option to generate from database. The following Picture will demonstrate that.

Fig – 3 Data Model options

Fig – 4 Connection Setting for the model

In fig –4 we are assigning the DemoDb as the database name. Now the mode needs a context name for creating instances. Name it "DemoDBEntities". As a next step the wizard will ask for the tables that have to be included in the model.

fig – 5 Table selection

This page will display all the tables that are present in the DB. Select the TourChecklist table which we are going to query. Clicking the next button will generate the model that we need.

fig – 6 Model

That's it and the model is ready. Now we can design a search WebForm to query this table. Let it be with the default name as "Default.aspx". Create a form with seven columns each containing the fields to be queried.

fig – 7 Search Form

Inside the Search button click event we will do the search functionality. Create a Instance for the DataContext . This instance will hold the details to instantiate the table entities. We also create a instance for the list of ObjectParameter. This is object is used to build the dynamic queries.

Dim dEntity As New DemoDbEntities
Dim ob As New List(Of ObjectParameter)

The traditional dynamic queries were build based upon the input conditions. We will do the same . But the query will hold only the condition and a predicate variable through which we pass the input values. Here there are two important things to be considered.

The dynamic query
The value for the dynamic fields

The dynamic query will look like

"it.Name =@Name"

"it" – This is the table alias name that will be dynamically generated

"it.Name"- This indicate the column name for which the search needs to be applied

"@Name" – This is the predicate. We have a to build the object parameter class with this name only. Then pass the object to the where condition of the Entity Class like as follows.

Dim obp=New ObjectParameter("Name", txtName.Text)
Dim qry = dEntity.TourChecklist.Where("it.Name =@Name", obp)

The above code is the syntax for applying a where condition to the Entity Framework. So the next thing is how we are going to build this for a number of search fields.

Solution:

Build a String for forming the query based upon the selected user inputs. At the same time build a list of Object parameters that has to be passed for the where condition. We will be converting the list to an array since "Where condition" can accept a array of ObjectParameters that contains the list of values for the predicates. Since we need to have a And condition between the queries we will be validating if the string is empty using "IIF" condition in VB.Net .

dynStr = IIf(dynStr.Length > 0, dynStr + " And ", dynStr)

So if the final code is listed below and you can get the whole content easily. Code can be downloaded at EFDemo

'Declare the instances for the Entities and ObjectParameter collection

Dim dEntity As New DemoDbEntities

Dim ob As New List(Of ObjectParameter)

'Declare the query holder variable

Dim dynStr As String = String.Empty

'Build the query based on the selected used inputs

If Me.txtName.Text <> String.Empty Then

dynStr += "it.Name =@Name"

'Add the object parameter into the collection

ob.Add(New ObjectParameter("Name", txtName.Text))

End If

If Me.txtGuide.Text <> String.Empty Then

dynStr = IIf(dynStr.Length > 0, dynStr + " And ", dynStr)

dynStr += "it.GuideName =@guide"

ob.Add(New ObjectParameter("guide", txtGuide.Text))

End If

If Me.txtModel.Text <> String.Empty Then

dynStr = IIf(dynStr.Length > 0, dynStr + " And ", dynStr)

dynStr += "it.Model =@Model"

ob.Add(New ObjectParameter("Model", txtModel.Text))

End If

If Me.txtJourneyDate.Text <> String.Empty Then

dynStr = IIf(dynStr.Length > 0, dynStr + " And ", dynStr)

dynStr += "it.JourneyDate =@jrDate"

ob.Add(New ObjectParameter("jrDate", CDate(txtJourneyDate.Text)))

End If

If Me.chkBk.Checked Then

dynStr = IIf(dynStr.Length > 0, dynStr + " And ", dynStr)

dynStr += "it.BookedLodge =@brlodge"

ob.Add(New ObjectParameter("brlodge", True))

End If

If Me.chkFood.Checked Then

dynStr = IIf(dynStr.Length > 0, dynStr + " And ", dynStr)

dynStr += "it.FoodBeverage =@fbr"

ob.Add(New ObjectParameter("fbr", True))

End If

If Me.chkMobile.Checked Then

dynStr = IIf(dynStr.Length > 0, dynStr + " And ", dynStr)

dynStr += "it.Mobile =@cmobile"

ob.Add(New ObjectParameter("cmobile", True))

End If

Dim qry

If dynStr.Length > 0 Then

If dynStr.EndsWith("And") Then

dynStr.Remove(dynStr.Length, -3)

End If

'Executing the query for the where condition

qry = dEntity.TourChecklist.Where(dynStr, ob.ToArray)

Else

'Executes the whole resule

qry = dEntity.TourChecklist

End If

'Bind the Grid Control

Me.grdResults.DataSource = qry

Me.grdResults.DataBind()

Conclusion:

ADO.Net has a beautiful feature. The query is executed only when the databind event in the Grid is fired. This makes the performance very good. There are a lot more features available with EF framework and i have given one of the usages. If one uses this framework effectively in their projects then they can see a good productivity and development time will be very less. Thanks for reading my article and please bar with me if I had done any mistakes.

Thanks,

Thanigainathan Siranjeevi

Silverlight - DomainUpDown Control

MisterFantastic — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:07:11 GMT

DomainUpDown control is one of the new controls available in the Silverlight 3 Toolkit which can be found in

Silverlight Toolkit

This control Represents a Windows spin box (also known as an up-down control) that displays string values.Help files for the assemblies are downloaded with them by default. This control belongs to the following namepsace.

Namespace: System.Windows.Forms

Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)

The control is bound with a datasource collection. One item from the collection will be displayed at a time. User can enter text into the control provided one of the values of the collection is matched else it will be rejected. There is readonly property which is false by default .If you want to restrict the users from entering values then you can make it readonly.

The following namespace has to be added to use this control.

xmlns:inputToolkit="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.Input.Toolkit"

The content that is selected or entered is converted to string by default so it can be displayed in there. Any shared or static member of this types are thread safe and any instance variable are not thread safe for this control. I am using a Silverlight navigation project template that is provided with .Net RIA services.

Any collection datasource can be bound with the spin controls through the itemsSource property.

Me.MyDomUpDo.ItemsSource = myDtSource

There is also a property called items through which we can add and remove the items from the control dynamically through clikc eventhandlers.

myItems.Items.Add(New String("Test1"))

myItems.Items.Add(New String("Test2"))

There is one more interested property called wrap . This property enabled the control to move through the first or last items when the lower bound or upper bound of the controls are reached.

We can bind a collection directly with the DomainUpDown control like as follows.

mySrc.Add("Sample")

mySrc.Add("Test")

mySrc.Add("Collection")

mySrc.Add("Books")

mySrc.Add("Joe")

mySrc.Add("Allmighty")

Me.myUpDown.ItemsSource = mySrc

One of the cool features is we can put our own tem plates inside the control like a StackPanel 
or Grid. Then bind the controls inside them using the Bind property. Through this we can achieve 
very cool UI's. One of the example is as follow's
Me.styledUpDown.ItemsSource = Reporsitory.GetEmpList()
We have two important evenst called ValueChanged and ValueChanging. They are explained as follow's



ValueChanging - Before rendering the control we can apply the changes needed 

ValueChanged  - After the control is rendered the post changes that has to be applied



Combining with Blend we can produce a lot more stunning results as we can see in the sample pages provided in the ToolkitHomepage.




I have a demo application demonstrating this sample. See the third row which has a DomainUpDown with two textboxe's bounded with the collections.

<Grid>
                    <StackPanel>
                        <Button x:Name="genVal" Click="genVal_Click" Content="Generate Value"></Button>
                        <TextBlock Text="Items Add - Remove" ></TextBlock>
                        <inputToolkit:DomainUpDown x:Name="myItems">
                        </inputToolkit:DomainUpDown>
                        <TextBlock Text="Collection Binding" ></TextBlock>
                        <inputToolkit:DomainUpDown x:Name="myUpDown">
                        </inputToolkit:DomainUpDown>
                      <TextBlock Text="Items Collection" ></TextBlock>
                        <inputToolkit:DomainUpDown  x:Name="styledUpDown" ValueChanged="styledUpDown_ValueChanged" ValueChanging="styledUpDown_ValueChanging">
                            <inputToolkit:DomainUpDown.ItemTemplate>
                                <DataTemplate>
                                    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">  
                                        <TextBox Width="25" Height="25" Text="{Binding EmpId}"></TextBox>
                                        <TextBox Width="75" Height="25" Text="{Binding EName}"></TextBox>
                                    </StackPanel>
                                </DataTemplate>
                            </inputToolkit:DomainUpDown.ItemTemplate>                        
                        </inputToolkit:DomainUpDown>
                    </StackPanel>
                </Grid>

Thats it . You can now download the needed softwares and start using the controls.Thanks.

Asp.Net Excel File Import and Transfer to Sql Server

MisterFantastic — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:23:54 GMT

Excel file import is one of the important repeatedly used feature in all the web applications and Windows application. The thing is Excel is very useful for ordinary people other than technical people. One doesn't need to know about queries when using Excel. Such a user friendly tool for the Business users.

So the scenario here is uploading them in Web Application , transferring the contents to a database like sql server , oracle or DB2. I am going to discusss about the Sql Server thing. There is feature available in Sql Server called DTS (upto 2000 version) and SSIS (From 2005 version). This can be done only by technical developers and DBA's.Developing the same in windows Application not seems to be challenging task . But when we tried to convert the same to Web Application it showed its own problem's. We did a lot of googling with different search terms and then found the solution.

Our application had some fileupload control through which the excel file is loaded into the server. Then clicking a button will transfer the Excel file into the Database. Searching the net we can find two connection strings which can be used to connect to the Excel file as a data source.

 <connectionStrings>

            <addname="xls"connectionString="Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=Test.xls;Extended Properties=Excel 8.0"/>

            <addname="xlsx"connectionString="Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=Test.xlsx;Extended Properties=Excel 12.0"/>

</connectionStrings>

This is what i can find which seemed to be not working when i tried in my code. Because there a lot which need's to be fixed in this when using in the Web Application.

DataSource path
Extended Properties

The datasource cannot contain the file name directly . We need to save the Excel file in the application path through file upload control. So we have to use the "Server.Mappath("Test.Xls")" . This brings up the actual file that we need to work with. The extended properties needs to be separated with a space. Then the content of this property needs to be present in a special format as "Extended Properties=""Excel 12.0""". Otherwise it will throw Jet Oleddb Error. So finally the connectionstring will be as follows.

 <connectionStrings>

            <addname="xls"connectionString="Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source="+ Server.MapPath(Test.xls) + ";Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0"""/>

            <addname="xlsx"connectionString="Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source="+ Server.MapPath(Test.xlsx) + ";Extended Properties=""Excel 12.0"""/>

</connectionStrings>

Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 -  For Reading the Excel 97-2003 format
Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0-  For reading the Excel 2007 format
 We can switch between the file extensions when we need them as per the file extensions as Xls or Xlsx.

So a Simple code for fetching the data from Excel will look like as follows.


        Dim strconn As String
        strconn = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=" + Server.MapPath("Stest.xlsx") + ";Extended Properties=""Excel 12.0"""
        Dim olConn As New OleDbConnection(strconn)
        Dim orr As OleDbDataReader
 
        olConn.Open()
        Dim od As New OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]", olConn)
        orr = od.ExecuteReader()

The Excel file Name will be the name of the Table in Database. Meaning if the table is not there we have to create . This is where we got into problem .Because there are no methods in ADO.Net to create a table or Database. Well we can use the SQL SMO or DMO objects but that needs to be done with the help of some SQLSMO or DMO object references which we don't want. Simply we created a String to create the table if its not there in DB. The columns can be crated through looping the above datareader .

SqlBulkCopy:

This is one of the ADO.Net 2.0 feature to transfer the data to a table very fastly. We can use the datareader which we got above for doing this . The msdn link for SqlBulkCopy is . The sample code for doing this is given below and its very very easy to do.

Dim sqCopy As New SqlBulkCopy(sConn)

        sqCopy.DestinationTableName = "Test"

        sqCopy.WriteToServer(orr)

sConn points to Sql Server connection. DestinationtableName is the name of the table to which the data has to be transferred. WriteToServer actually transfer's the data to the Sql Server by reading row by row of datareader. Incase if the Columns are not matching between the Excel and Sql Server then we can use the ColumnMappings of SqlBulkCopy. You can see the following sample .

sqCopy.ColumnMappings.Add("ID", "EmpId")

sqCopy.ColumnMappings.Add("Name", "EName")

Thats it. The main davnatge of using SqlBulkCopy is its speed and performance over the other 
methods.So this is one of the cool features of the ADO.Net which we can use effectively and 
with that I am finishing this post Sharing with you all very cool features of Excel config 
settings and SqlBulkCopy.Please let me know your views about this.

Silverlight 3 Navigation API

MisterFantastic — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:46:32 GMT

Silverligth 3 is the most awaited release of Microsoft. I found the download’s from the page Silverlight 3. The following are the utlities that can be found in this download page.

Silverlight 3 Beta Tools for Visual Studio
Microsoft Expression Blend 3 Preview
Silverlight Toolkit
.NET RIA Services
Silverlight 3 Beta Documentation

In this list the most attracting one is the RIA services which is making wonders with Silverlight now. I will be discussing about them in the later posts. Now I am going to discuss about the Navigation features that are introduced with this new release. Its good to explore them at the beta stage. We can learn the things by means of a sample application”NavigationDemo” in VB.Net .

This is the first step. We have to create a new Silverlight Application. Since we are going to details the Navigation features we are taking this. If we choose the “Silverlight Navigation Application” all those navigation features will be built by the template itself. Then refer the following components

System.Windows.Controls
System.Windows.Controls.Navigation

By default we will be having the System.Windows.Ria if RIA is installed. Add three menu items for the sample .

   1:  <StackPanel Background="Black" Orientation="Horizontal" Grid.Row="0">
   2:     <HyperlinkButton Name="Home" Foreground="White" FontWeight="bold" Content="Home " Tag="Home" Click="Home_Click"></HyperlinkButton>           
   3:     <HyperlinkButton Name="Employee" Foreground="White" FontWeight="bold" Content="Employee List " Tag="Employee" Click="Employee_Click"></HyperlinkButton>           
   4:     <HyperlinkButton Name="About" Foreground="White" FontWeight="bold" Content="About Us " Tag="AboutUs" Click="About_Click"></HyperlinkButton>           
   5:  </StackPanel>

We are placing the menu as Horizontal. The styles are inline now. May be they can be taken inside the App.Xaml .The hyperlinkbutton is having a property called Tag. This property is used in the code behind to navigate to the specific xaml files.

   1:      Private Sub Home_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs)
   2:          Me.MydemoFrame.Navigate(New Uri(Home.Tag, UriKind.Relative))
   3:      End Sub
   4:   
   5:      Private Sub About_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs)
   6:          Me.MydemoFrame.Navigate(New Uri(About.Tag, UriKind.Relative))
   7:      End Sub
   8:   
   9:      Private Sub Employee_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs)
  10:          Me.MydemoFrame.Navigate(New Uri(Employee.Tag, UriKind.Relative))
  11:      End Sub

Another important feature with Silverlight 3 is the Title bar support . This is similar to the HTMl title text.

   1:  <navigation:Page x:Class="NavigationDemo.AboutUs"
   2:             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
   3:             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
   4:             xmlns:navigation="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.Navigation"
   5:             Title="AboutUs Page">
   6:   
   7:  </navigation:Page>

The Navigation framework has some key features . They are

Frame Container
UriMapping
Querystring Concepts

For using the Navigation framework we have to add the Xmlns namespace to the Xaml file. In our sample we will be adding that to the “Main.Xaml”

 1:xmlns:navigation="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.Navigation"

Now that we can start using the frame container control.

   1:  <navigation:Frame x:Name="MydemoFrame"
   2:                                Source="Home"
   3:                                HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
   4:                                VerticalAlignment="Stretch"
   5:                                JournalOwnership="Automatic">
   6:  </navigation:Frame>

Here I have assigned the source as “Home” and this is a typical usage of UriMaping. If UriMapping is not used here then it would look like “/view/Home.xaml” . This is something like the UrlRewritting found in Asp>net VC pattern. So if we want to utilize the Silverlight 3 UriMapping then we can do that by mean’s of the “App.Xaml” which contains the common configuarations for a Silverlight Applciation. Following is the code that is used in App.Xaml

   1:     <Application xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

2:

   3:                       xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

   4:                       xmlns:NavigationCore="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Navigation;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.Navigation"

   5:                       x:Class="NavigationDemo.App">

   6:              <Application.Resources>

   7:                  <NavigationCore:UriMapper x:Key="uriMapper">

   8:                      <NavigationCore:UriMapping Uri="Home" MappedUri="/view/Home.xaml"></NavigationCore:UriMapping>

   9:                      <NavigationCore:UriMapping Uri="Employee" MappedUri="/View/Employee.xaml"></NavigationCore:UriMapping>

  10:                      <NavigationCore:UriMapping Uri="AboutUs" MappedUri="/View/AboutUs.xaml"></NavigationCore:UriMapping>

  11:                  </NavigationCore:UriMapper>

  12:              </Application.Resources>

  13:          </Application>

The Frame has another important property called JournalOwnership. TIts a enumerated data type in Silverlight with the following member definitions.

Member name	Description
Automatic	If the Frame control is a top-level frame, it integrates with the browser journal; otherwise, it maintains its own journal.
OwnsJournal	The Frame maintains its own journal. This option can be used with any Frame.
UsesParentJournal	The Frame integrates with the browser journal. This option can be used only with a top-level Frame; otherwise, an exception is thrown.

This feature will be useful when the application’s navigation has to be disabled for the user and controlled by the application itself. For example Bank Applications .

For our example we have created a separate folder called View. We will be placing our custom Xaml files here. Currently we are using no themes. But we can build our owns . We can find some themese in Tim Heur's Blog.

View Folder Created

New Xaml Files are added here inside View folder. The next thing will be the xaml files details (Home.Xaml, Employee.Xaml, AboutUs.Xaml).I have just added some texts on the Home and AboutUs page. For the Employee page i have created a custom object called “Employee.VB” in the Silverlight project.

Please find the code for EmployeeColl and Employee class. I have avoided DB hits here since this is a demo. I will come up with a Application using DomainServiceClass in coming posts.

 1:  Public Class EmployeeColl

   2:      Public Shared Function GetEmpList() As List(Of Employee)

   3:          Dim elist As New List(Of Employee)

   4:          elist.Add(New Employee("John", 23, 1))

   5:          elist.Add(New Employee("Samuel", 24, 2))

   6:          elist.Add(New Employee("Ram", 25, 1))

   7:          elist.Add(New Employee("Jack", 26, 2))

   8:          elist.Add(New Employee("Steve", 26, 2))

   9:          Return elist

  10:      End Function

  11:  End Class

12:

  13:  Public Class Employee

  14:      Private _name As String

  15:      Private _age As Integer

  16:      Private _Eid As Integer

  17:      Public Sub New(ByVal Ename As String, ByVal age As Integer, ByVal eid As Integer)

  18:          ' This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.

  19:          InitializeComponent()

  20:          Me.Ename = Ename

  21:          Me.age = age

  22:          Me.Eid = eid

  23:          ' Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call.

  24:      End Sub

  25:      Property Ename() As String

  26:          Get

  27:              Return _name

  28:          End Get

  29:          Set(ByVal value As String)

  30:              _name = value

  31:          End Set

  32:      End Property

  33:      Property age() As Integer

  34:          Get

  35:              Return _age

  36:          End Get

  37:          Set(ByVal value As Integer)

  38:              _age = value

  39:          End Set

  40:      End Property

  41:      Property Eid() As Integer

  42:          Get

  43:              Return _Eid

  44:          End Get

  45:          Set(ByVal value As Integer)

  46:              _Eid = value

  47:          End Set

  48:      End Property

  49:  End Class

Create a instance of this class and consume the objects in the Employee.Xaml fie. I have a Datagrid in this Xaml and we can use the instance objects here .

1:Me.EmployeeGrid.ItemsSource = EmployeeColl.GetEmpList

EmployeeList will be looking as follows

Now the browser history can be viewed as we can do with ASP.Net applications. The following picture depicts that.

I have attached the sample application with this post.

Conclusion:

I have covered an overview of the Navigation framework and their usage. A lot more can be covered in the future posts. We can see detailed posts on .Net Ria Services in detail since this is one of the good features for building a N-Tier application with ease. Please review my post and give your feedback’s.

.Net Ria and Silverlight 3

MisterFantastic — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:08:29 GMT

Hi All,

I am happy that i will be writting some posts on .Net Ria and Silverlight 3. I will also be posting some detailed articles on Entity Framework and ADO.Net Data Services. So keep checking my blogs and articles.

Thanks,
Thani