Ideas on my head on .NET

Latest browser javascript test result

2011-03-16T07:04:00.001-07:00

This is a test for javascript to compare in different browsers. They are Firefox 4 RC, Internet Explorer 9, Opera 11 and Chrome 10.

I use web kit sun spider as tester in URL : http://www.webkit.org/perf/sunspider/sunspider.html

This is the result

Testee	Firefox 4 RC	IE 9 RTM	Chrome 10	Opera 11
3d	47.5ms	41.5ms	57.3ms	46.2ms
cube	20.3ms	17.1ms	16.6ms	13.0ms
morph	9.2ms	6.2ms	17.1ms	18.7ms
raytrace	18.0ms	18.2ms	23.6ms	14.5ms

access	44.8ms	43.2ms	47.8ms	46.5ms
binary-trees	7.0ms	6.2ms	2.9ms	2.8ms
fannkuch	21.3ms	15.5ms	28.1ms	23.0ms
nbody	8.1ms	17.1ms	10.9ms	13.2ms
nsieve	8.4ms	4.4ms	5.9ms	7.5ms

bitops	19.0ms	28.9ms	36.5ms	17.7ms
3bit-bits-in-byte	1.0ms	1.9ms	3.7ms	1.7ms
bits-in-byte	8.5ms	7.1ms	8.5ms	3.3ms
bitwise-and	2.4ms	8.8ms	11.8ms	2.1ms
nsieve-bits	7.1ms	11.1ms	12.5ms	10.6ms

controlflow	3.4ms	3.0ms	4.9ms	3.9ms
recursive	3.4ms	3.0ms	4.9ms	3.9ms

crypto	20.2ms	18.6ms	29.8ms	20.5ms
aes	11.3ms	7.1ms	12.6ms	12.1ms
md5	4.9ms	5.4ms	7.8ms	4.5ms
sha1	4.0ms	6.1ms	9.4ms	3.9ms

date	45.9ms	29.0ms	37.0ms	36.0ms
format-tofte	23.9ms	11.1ms	17.2ms	15.7ms
format-xparb	22.0ms	17.9ms	19.8ms	20.3ms

math	27.7ms	26.0ms	28.7ms	37.6ms
cordic	9.2ms	1.0ms	5.3ms	8.2ms
partial-sums	13.2ms	18.4ms	18.2ms	24.8ms
spectral-norm	5.3ms	6.6ms	5.2ms	4.6ms

regexp	17.2ms	10.9ms	14.5ms	14.6ms
dna	17.2ms	10.9ms	14.5ms	14.6ms

string	88.9ms	93.2ms	104.4ms	108.9ms
base64	5.8ms	5.8ms	8.2ms	11.9ms
fasta	14.0ms	23.8ms	18.9ms	21.0ms
tagcloud	28.0ms	29.6ms	25.1ms	31.3ms
unpack-code	30.0ms	20.5ms	34.4ms	22.8ms
validate-input	11.1ms	13.5ms	17.8ms	21.9ms

Technorati Tags: Internet Explorer 9,Firefox 4 RC,Opera 11,Chrome 10,Javascript,Javascript test

Choose : Parallel or not in .NET 4.0 beta 2; Part 1

2010-01-12T02:25:00.001-08:00

This is a little sample to choose parallel or not. It is used LINQ to object.

Example of source code:

DateTime start = DateTime.MinValue;
DateTime stop = DateTime.MinValue;
TimeSpan seleisih;
Console.WriteLine("Sequential");

IEnumerable<int> cobaAss = Enumerable.Range(0, 30000000);
var hh = from x in cobaAss
         where x % 3 == 0
         select Math.Sqrt(x);
start = DateTime.Now;
foreach (var item in hh)
{
    double x = item * 1.5;
}
stop = DateTime.Now;
seleisih = stop - start;

Console.WriteLine("Start : {0}", start);
Console.WriteLine("Stop : {0}", stop);
Console.WriteLine("Selisih (tick) : {0}", seleisih.Ticks);

// --

Console.WriteLine("Parallel");

cobaAss = Enumerable.Range(0, 30000000);
hh = from x in cobaAss.AsParallel()
     where x % 3 == 0
     select Math.Sqrt(x);
start = DateTime.Now;
//Parallel.ForEach<double>(hh, (item) => { });
foreach (var item in hh)
{
    double x = item * 1.5;
}
stop = DateTime.Now;
seleisih = stop - start;

Console.WriteLine("Start : {0}", start);
Console.WriteLine("Stop : {0}", stop);
Console.WriteLine("Selisih (tick) : {0}", seleisih.Ticks);

Console.WriteLine("Parallel Doit manually");

var cobaAss1 = Enumerable.Range(0, 10000000);
var cobaAss2 = Enumerable.Range(10000000, 10000000);
var cobaAss3 = Enumerable.Range(20000000, 10000000);

Console.WriteLine("Start : {0}", start);
Console.WriteLine("Stop : {0}", stop);
Console.WriteLine("Selisih (tick) : {0}", seleisih.Ticks);

Console.ReadLine();

I use console project to use it. You can try your own test

Below is the result:

This is strange since sequential is faster than parallel using AsParallel() or manually to do in parallel.

Summary: Parallelism is not always fasten the query

Forcing parallelism in .NET 4 b2

2010-01-10T23:23:00.001-08:00

Concurrent and parallel programming is really hard to develop. In the old days like .NET 3.x, 2.0 or older, developer can obtain parallel by creating a new thread, maintain their own thread manually; that can harm system performance and execution when not managed carefully.

The past approach (.NET 2.x-3.x)

public static void DoSomething()
{
      // do something hard and time consuming like counting with loop
      while(true)
      {
             int x = 3 + 5;
       }
}

public static void Run()
{
      Thread t = new Thread(new ThreadStart(DoSomething));
      t.Start();
      t.Join();
      // do whatever
}

In the .NET 4.0 (right now I use beta 2), It is easier to develop by using Invoke method from Parallel class
public static void Run()
{
Parallel.Invoke(()=>{ DoSomething(); });
}

Code above will pause main thread and run all code inside Invoke until all running thread terminated. This method deliver more safety than manual ones.

Developer can easily set processor affinity for specific thread by assigning them into the methods. Processor affinity is a bit flags. The documentation is available on microsoft MSDN on class Process with property ProcessorAffinity.

For example, the thread will be executed on second processor, set affinity by

public static void Run()
{
      Parallel.Invoke(()=>{
              Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessorAffinity = (IntPtr)2;
              DoSomething(); }
      );
}

In task manager. the process will make second processor runs high.

When to use F#.NET and C#.NET/VB.NET

2009-11-15T10:32:00.001-08:00

F# is a new development language that is available on Visual Studio 2010; It can be downloaded separately from Microsoft research F# for Visual Studio 2008. It is a new language that has paradigm of functional programming. It is differs from C# or VB that has paradigm of imperative by design.

Functional means preventing state and mutable data, and treats as mathematic functional. This is in contrast of imperative that can change state using statement.

In a software development project, F# is use on financial or math. Some banking applications for example needs financial project like counting interest, pmt, value manipulation or else. C#/VB is useful on UI interaction, data/io interaction.

Make IEnumerable to BindingListas datasource for collection control

2009-11-15T09:40:00.001-08:00

IEnumerable<T> can be used as datasource for some controls especially on collection thing like gridview or else. It happens when assigning Datasource property from the control with data in it.

for example:

IEnumerable<Sales> sales = GetAllSales(); // return value from GetSales is IEnumerable<Sales>
GridView1.DataSource = sales;
GridView1.DataBind();

The samples above will display all sales from methods. This is good when there is no paging in GridView. For advanced use like paging or else; Try to cast or convert to BindingList<T> so it can be use in the control.

public static BindingList<T> ToBindingList<T>(this IEnumerable<T> data)
{
    BindingList<T> result = null;
    if (data != null)
    {
        result = new BindingList<T>();
        foreach (T item in data)
        {
            result.Add(item);
        }
    }
    return result;
}

The method above will help to convert to BindingList<T> and ready to use as datasource in control

Internet Explorer 8 still not supported DOM 2 Events

2009-04-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

I am surprised that until today, Internet Explorer 8 is not supporting DOM 2 Events. This can be tested using method that is described on DOM 2 Events like addEventListener.

I try to make a very simple sample like in Javascript:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
     var btn = document.getElementById('btnShow');
     btn.addEventListener('click', function() {
                alert('DOM 2 Alert A');
            }, false);
     btn.addEventListener('click', function() {
                alert('DOM 2 Alert B');
            }, false);

</script>

Code above in Firefox 3.0.8 and Google Chrome 1.0 work perfectly. It will register functions that will executed when the button click. It will display dialog box twice. I try in Internet Explorer 7 and 8. It says that object doesn;t have property or methods.

Internet Explorer have methods that similar to DOM 2 addEventListener; that is called attachEvent. This methods work the same as addEventListener by registering many functions that is executed when event triggers. The only different is attachEvent register the functions in LIFO while addEventListener register in FIFO.

Below is the simple complete html + javascript:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
        var btn = document.getElementById('btnShow');
        var browserName = navigator.appName;
        
        if (browserName == 'Microsoft Internet Explorer') {
            btn.attachEvent('onclick', function() {
                alert('NON DOM 2 Alert A');
            });
            btn.attachEvent('onclick', function() {
                alert('NON DOM 2 Alert B');
            }
            );
         }
        else {
            btn.addEventListener('click', function() {
                alert('DOM 2 Alert A');
            }, false);
            btn.addEventListener('click', function() {
                alert('DOM 2 Alert B');
            }, false);
        }

</script>

In the Internet Explorer, dialog with NON DOM 2 Alert B will appear first and then NON DOM 2 Alert A because attachEvent is registering in LIFO

In the Firefox and Google Chrome, dialog with DOM 2 Alert A will appear first then DOM 2 Alert B because attachEvent is registering in FIFO

Technorati Tags: DOM 2 Events,HTML,Javascript

Checking .NET framework installed using ASP.NET

2009-02-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

Some articles in codeproject or other site help me on checking the version of .NET Framework installed on a machine. They use techniques to get information from various resources such as Registry or even look at the windows folder. You can see the articles on :

Code Project xFxDetection : http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/XFxDetect.aspx

The article above show about searching keys and values in specific location on registry. It can detect version including RTM and Service pack.

This is good for desktop application and not for web application. In web application, most of system administrator prevent access specific resource like registry. So I came with an idea of checking some features that is available in that machine with specific assembly.

First thing is about assembly that come with .NET Framework 2.0. We can easily choose any assembly that come from .NET Framework for example is mscorlib.dll. This is a basic assembly that must be existed. I just is it available by load that assembly into current application domain. Other assembly can be loaded with the same way.

In .NET Framework 3.0, There are 3 pillars of the Framework; There are Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). Those all pillars come with new assembly. I choose PresentationCore as an assembly to load in my current application domain. That assembly belongs to WPF.

In .NET Framework 3.5, There are new functionality like LINQ and ASP.NET 3.5 Ajax. I choose System.Core since this assembly contain LINQ

In .NET Framework 3.5 with Service Pack 1, There is functionality like web routing. I choose System.Web.Abstraction to load because it belongs to web routing techniques.

The technique is really simple. I just load all that assembly with their culture, version and token; into my current application domain. If this process throw exception, the machine is not supporting that framework version.

The code below is a sample. I use an aspx without code behind so user can reuse and put on web server easily.

I give a name of this file : TestedFramework.aspx

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Collections.Generic" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title></title>
    <script type="text/C#" runat="server">
        public const string Net20KnownAssembly = "mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089";
        public const string Net30KnownAssembly = "PresentationCore, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35";
        public const string Net35KnownAssembly = "System.Core, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089";
        public const string Net35Sp1KnownAssembly = "System.Web.Abstractions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35";

        public const string ResponseFormat = ".Net Version {0} is {1}";
        public enum ServerNetVersionInstalled
        {
            // not implemented
            Net1x,
            Net20,
            Net30,
            Net35,
            Net35SP1,
        }

        public IEnumerable<ServerNetVersionInstalled> GetInstalledVersion()
        {
            List<ServerNetVersionInstalled> lstVersion = new List<ServerNetVersionInstalled>();
            // try for .NET 2.0
            try
            {
                AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(testedframework_aspx.Net20KnownAssembly);
                lstVersion.Add(ServerNetVersionInstalled.Net20);
            }
            catch { }

            // try for .NET 3.0
            try
            {
                AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(testedframework_aspx.Net30KnownAssembly);
                lstVersion.Add(ServerNetVersionInstalled.Net30);
            }
            catch { }

            // try for .NET 3.5
            try
            {
                AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(testedframework_aspx.Net35KnownAssembly);
                lstVersion.Add(ServerNetVersionInstalled.Net35);
            }
            catch { }

            // try for .NET 3.5 Sp1
            try
            {
                AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(testedframework_aspx.Net35Sp1KnownAssembly);
                lstVersion.Add(ServerNetVersionInstalled.Net35SP1);
            }
            catch { }
            // try for .NET 1x
            // not implemented
            return lstVersion;
        }
    </script>
    <style media="screen" type="text/css">
        em {color:Red; font-weight:lighter; font-size:large;}
        strong {color:Blue; font-weight:bolder; font-size:large;}
    </style>
</head>
<body style="font-family:Arial;">
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div style="height:100px; background-color:#66CCFF; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center;">
        <h1>List of Framework Version Installed</h1>
    </div>
    <hr />
    <div style="background-color:#CEE9F0;">
        <%
            List<ServerNetVersionInstalled> lstVersion = new List<ServerNetVersionInstalled>(this.GetInstalledVersion());
            List<string> lstResponse = new List<string>();
            string formated = "";
            // .NET 2.0
            if (lstVersion.IndexOf(ServerNetVersionInstalled.Net20) >= 0)
            {
                formated = string.Format(testedframework_aspx.ResponseFormat, "2.0", "<strong>Installed</strong>");
            }
            else
            {
                formated = string.Format(testedframework_aspx.ResponseFormat, "2.0", "<em>Not Installed</em>");
            }
            lstResponse.Add(formated);

            // .NET 3.0
            if (lstVersion.IndexOf(ServerNetVersionInstalled.Net30) >= 0)
            {
                formated = string.Format(testedframework_aspx.ResponseFormat, "3.0", "<strong>Installed</strong>");
            }
            else
            {
                formated = string.Format(testedframework_aspx.ResponseFormat, "3.0", "<em>Not Installed</em>");
            }
            lstResponse.Add(formated);

            // .NET 3.5
            if (lstVersion.IndexOf(ServerNetVersionInstalled.Net35) >= 0)
            {
                formated = string.Format(testedframework_aspx.ResponseFormat, "3.5", "<strong>Installed</strong>");
            }
            else
            {
                formated = string.Format(testedframework_aspx.ResponseFormat, "3.5", "<em>Not Installed</em>");
            }
            lstResponse.Add(formated);

            // .NET 3.5 SP 1
            if (lstVersion.IndexOf(ServerNetVersionInstalled.Net35SP1) >= 0)
            {

                formated = string.Format(testedframework_aspx.ResponseFormat, "3.5 SP 1", "<strong>Installed</strong>");
            }
            else
            {
                formated = string.Format(testedframework_aspx.ResponseFormat, "3.5 SP 1", "<em>Not Installed</em>");
            }
            lstResponse.Add(formated);

            this.Response.Write("");
            foreach (string item in lstResponse)
            {
                string html = string.Format("<p>{0}</p>",item);
                this.Response.Write(html);
            }
             %>
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Technorati Tags: ASP.NET,Visual Studio 2008,Visual Studio 2005,.NET Framework

Problem overriding Page.InitializeCulture in ASP.NET

2009-01-28T20:52:00.001-08:00

Some articles on MSDN said that you can do some magic things using culture. You can see it in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bz9tc508.aspx. It is good when inherited page that does not use master page and the ASP.NET page is directly derived from Page class.

It will be a problem if you are not directly inherit from a page class expecially if you define a contentplaceholder in your masterpage, and use it in your inherited page.

Quick example:

File : Masterpage.master

<%@ Master Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" Codebehind="MasterPage.Master.cs"
    Inherits="Yourpage.Master" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title>Your Master Page</title>
</head>
<body>
   <form id="form1" runat="server">
         <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="cph1" runat="server">
                                </asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
   </form>
</body>

File: Inherited.cs

Public Class Inherited : System.Web.UI.Page

{

Protected override void InitializeCulture()

{

base.InitializeCulture();

// do it your own

}

File: YourASP.aspx

<%@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/MasterPage.Master" AutoEventWireup="true"    Codebehind="YourASP.aspx.cs" Inherits=""YourASP" Title="Untitled Page" %>

<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="cp1" runat="server">
</asp:Content>

File: YourASP.aspx.cs

public partial class YourASP : Inherited

{

/// Make it your own methods or whatever

}

The problem is when I add any ASP.NET controls into Content1, The control will not be displayed. I already make some debug and find out in watch that Template_cp1 is null. You can see it in debug visualization. Just browse its visualization to instance of the Master property of that page, drill down to ASP.Masterpage_master, you can see that Template is set to null.

That is solved when I am not overriding InitializeCulture. In Template property, it will set to System.Web.UI.CompiledTemplateBuilder instance, so any controls you define in Content1 will be displayed.

To provide your own culture mechanism, do not override InitializeCulture methods. You can use any override methods like OnPreInit or OnInit or others to initialize your own culture mechanism.

Technorati Tags: ASP.NET,Culture,Globalization

Immutable state and fluent interface

2008-10-13T19:59:00.001-07:00

Based on the video from Anders in Anders' keynote on language futures , one of the issue is about functional programming. One aspect of functional programming is avoiding mutable state. It is possible for imperative programming like C# or VB to avoid it with adopting functional style.

Fluent interface is an object oriented construct that defines a behavior capable of relaying the instruction context of a subsequent call. Based on Martin Fowler bliki of DSL, we can provide a more fluid feel to the code. This has an advantage that the coder will write code easier to read because the semantic is clear.

The combination of them will produce more functional

Technorati Tags: Functional Programming,C#,.NET,Fluent Interface,DSL,Internal DSL,Immutable state

and readable code. Below is my example of both combination.

Meeting class

/// <summary>

/// Define meeting

/// </summary>

public class Meeting

{

private readonly DateTime? startTime;

private readonly DateTime? finishTime;

/// <summary>

/// Default Constructor

/// </summary>

public Meeting()

{

}

/// <summary>

/// Constructor

/// </summary>

/// <param name="start"></param>

/// <param name="finish"></param>

internal Meeting(DateTime? start, DateTime? finish)

{

this.startTime = start;

this.finishTime = finish;

}

/// <summary>

/// Define start meeting

/// </summary>

/// <param name="start"></param>

/// <returns></returns>

public Meeting Start(DateTime start)

{

DateTime? temp = this.finishTime;

Meeting meet = null;

if (temp != null)

{

meet = new Meeting(start, temp);

}

else

{

meet = new Meeting(start, null);

}

return meet;

}

/// <summary>

/// Define finish meeting

/// </summary>

/// <param name="finish"></param>

/// <returns></returns>

public Meeting Finish(DateTime finish)

{

DateTime? temp = this.startTime;

Meeting meet = null;

if (temp != null)

{

meet = new Meeting(temp, finish);

}

else

{

meet = new Meeting(null, finish);

}

return meet;

}

/// <summary>

///

/// </summary>

public DateTime? StartTime

{

get { return this.startTime; }

}

/// <summary>

///

/// </summary>

public DateTime? FinishTime

{

get { return this.finishTime; }

}

Main Class

class Program

{

static void Main(string[] args)

{

Meeting meet = new Meeting().Start(DateTime.Now).Finish(DateTime.Now.AddDays(20));

Console.WriteLine("StartTime = " + meet.StartTime);

Console.WriteLine("FinishTime = " + meet.FinishTime);

Console.ReadLine();

}

In the meeting class, I use readonly field, so the state of the field can be accessed only on constructor. This code style I just copy from Anders video.

Method Start and Finish is fluent interface style. Those methods use in main class; you can see in the statement “Meeting meet = new Meeting().Start(DateTime.Now).Finish(DateTime.Now.AddDays(20));”

Web development skill

2008-09-12T03:42:00.001-07:00

Today we face many technologies to build a web application; from simple static html to complex business application. Even there are many consortium / organization that make standard web, but it is still complex. People ask about studying web are really "bloody hell". That's true.. even I am web developer right now, I still have to learn a web.

There are basic thing that you MUST study in a web development.

HTML. This is most important think to study. It is because the HTML describes structure of the document. It can be HTML or XHTML.
CSS. After you can make a document in HTML, you need to know it. It is because the CSS describe presentation of the document. You can make a nice layout, color and font there.
Javascript. is one of the available script that you can use to manipulate the documents. The other is VBScript that comes only in Internet Explorer.
DOM. Describe element in HTML. This is required by Javascript to inspect and modify page dynamically.
HTTP Principle. It is stateless protocol. So after you get the whole page from server, you disconnected.

Technorati Tags: Web,HTML,CSS,Javascript,DOM

Reading RSS from Blogger, display to ASP.NET

2008-08-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

Blogger use 2 type of syndication :

RSS 2.0
Atom

to read and display it to ASP.NET, I use XSLT to transform the RSS into HTML.
below is a sample of my XSLT file.


<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="html">
<xsl:template match="/">
<style>
<xsl:comment>
</xsl:comment>
</style>
<xsl:apply-templates select="/rss/channel">
</xsl:template>
<!-- Blogger Information -->
<xsl:template match="/rss/channel">
<div class="blogreader">
<h1>
<a href="{link}">
 <xsl:value-of select="title">
</a>
</h1>
<xsl:apply-templates select="item">
</div>
</xsl:template>
<!--Blogger Items-->
<xsl:template match="/rss/channel/item">
<div class="item">
<h3>
<a href="{link}">
 <xsl:value-of select="title">
</a>
</h3>
<hr/>
<span class="date">
Publication date : <xsl:value-of select="pubDate">
</span>
<br/>
<xsl:value-of select="description">
</div>
<span>
<a class="top" href="#top">Go to top</a>
</span>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

That XSLT above will be used in the code using XslTransform.
RSS file will be loaded using XmlDocument class and XSLT using XSLTransform class; and do it some transform. Here is a quick sample of my code.


internal static string ReadXmlToHTML(string path, string xslpath)
{
   StringBuilder strBuilder = new StringBuilder();
   TextWriter strWriter = new StringWriter(strBuilder);

   Uri uri = null;

   if (Uri.TryCreate(path, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute, out uri))
   {
       Stream stream = null;
       if (uri != null && uri.Scheme == Uri.UriSchemeHttp)
       {
           WebClient client = new WebClient();
           byte[] datas = client.DownloadData(uri);
           stream = new MemoryStream(datas);
       }
       if (stream != null)
       {
           XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
           document.Load(stream);

           XslTransform xslt = new XslTransform();
           xslt.Load(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(xslpath));
           xslt.Transform(document, null, strWriter);
       }
   }
   return strBuilder.ToString();
}

It will return a string that contain HTML that can be used in the ASP.NET

Test my plugs ins for windows live writer

2008-07-15T21:44:00.001-07:00

Since I make my plug ins for windows live writer, I want to know it is works well or not.

In C#

public static string GetProductName(bool withTag)

{

string bareProductName = GetBareProductName();

string productNameFormat = PdnResources.GetString("Application.ProductName.Format");

string tag;

if (withTag)

{

string tagFormat = PdnResources.GetString("Application.ProductName.Tag.Format");

tag = string.Format(tagFormat, GetAppConfig());

}

else

{

tag = string.Empty;

}

string version = GetVersionNumberString(GetVersion(), 2);

string productName = string.Format(

productNameFormat,

bareProductName,

version,

tag);

return productName;

}

In VB

Public Sub SomeMethods

Dim baseProductName As String = GetBareProductName()

End Sub

Technorati Tags: Windows Live Writer,Test

Choosing third party UI component / control

2008-06-20T03:37:00.001-07:00

Software development today is more complex than before. Some of the software development company want to focus to its business process / logic while they try to skip the complex logic of UI control by using third party UI controls.

Of course there are many providers that supplies controls for you, but what controls are suites for the project. Some controls is built nice; They have many features to manipulate by developer and end user and others have limited feature. Some controls are expensive while others are free or open source.

Here are tips :

Test controls by following them like the tutorial or demos. Try to create a small/simple project or recreate a demos to test it.
What to test :

Time to learn and use it.
The features are working well.
The features are matching to documentation.
The features are expecting to be used in the project.
Complete online or offline documentation
Support from customer support or forums to ask

From simple test, I expect:

productivity when use the controls
any support to help
feature that are really needed

Test controls by supplying properties from value types to complex reference types. Value types like integer, simple reference type like array, Color or just IEnumerable, complex reference type like datatable or dataset.

What to test:

Assign properties with its data type
Assign properties with array or IEnumerable if its datatype is implementing IEnumerable
Assign properties with datatable or dataset if possible
Handle error on unmatch datatypes or unknown datatypes

From datatype test, I expect:

Controls run on multiple/many scenarios
Controls will not run while datatypes error or unmatch
Error handles when datatype error or inconsistence
Check if the control is a provider agnostic control.

Test controls by supplying fake data. Data can be single data or complex data.
What to test:

Performance to parse data dan display data
Performance to manipulate data
Exception and error happens when manipulating
Handle null data, zero data, incosistent data
Handle controls state
Controls responsiveness

From data test, I expect:

Controls performance
Handle data state and control state
Error handles when data

Test controls by supplying real data. This is the same as fake data, but can be tested against thousand or maybe billions of records.

Test controls in a small projects. This project can be archieved projects or running projects. It will make me sure that controls can run well and easily composed.

Test controls in a running projects with a small team and use branching mechanism in software development. The controls will be used in the main project in the next iteration.

A new release of the controls will be tested again.

Technorati Tags: UI,Controls,Components

Dream Notebook

2008-05-20T06:37:00.000-07:00

Several hours in internet cafe,
I found notebooks that I want

High End notebook

1. Custom Alienware type: Area-51® m17x
Specification :
Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8700M GT – SLI Enabled
Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology – Black
Includes Non-Illuminated Keyboard – Exclusive Design!
System Lighting: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Blue
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9500 2.6GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 2048MB
Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Ultimate with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Without Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 500GB (250GB x 2) 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
Optical Drives : Dual Layer Blu-ray Disc Reader (BD-ROM, DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Wireless: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mesh Cap
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mobile Binder
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Personalized Nameplate
Alienware Extras: Owner Identification Card
Alienware Extras: Area-51® m17x Protective Cloth Sleeve
Alienware Extras: Area-51® m17x Keyboard Diagram Overlay
Alienware Extras: Area-51® m17x Smooth Mylar Touchpad

2. MacBook Pro
I like 17" inch LCD Screen.
You can see the specification in : http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html

Middle end notebook/ I have money but think twice about your stomach

1. Asus G1S22LU
Specification
Processor Type :Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Processor Onboard :Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2 GHz, FSB 800, Cache 4 MB)
Chipset :Intel 965PM
Standard Memory :2 GB (2x 1 GB) DDR2 SDRAM PC-5300
Max. Memory :4 GB (2 DIMMs)
Video Type :NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 256 MB
Display Size :15.4" WXGA TFT
Display Max. Resolution :1680 x 1050
Display Technology :ColorShine TFT
Audio Type :Integrated
Speakers Type :Integrated
Hard Drive Type :250 GB Serial ATA 5400 RPM
Optical Drive Type :DVD±RW
Modem :Integrated
Networking :Integrated
Network Speed ;10 / 100 / 1000 Mbps
Wireless Network Type :Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
Wireless Network Protocol :IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
Wireless Bluetooth :Integrated
Keyboard Type :Ergonomics 88 keys
Input Device Type :Touch Pad
Slot Provided :ExpressCard/ 34/ 54
Card Reader Provided :SD, MMC, Memory Stick / Stick PRO
Interface Provided :4x USB 2.0, Firewire, VGA, LAN, Audio
O/S Provided :Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
Battery Type :Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery
Power Supply :External AC Adapter
Dimension (WHD) :324 x 37.4 x 284 mm
Weight :3.1 kg
Standard Warranty :2-year Limited Warranty by Authorized Distributor
Bundled Peripherals :Carrying Case
Others :Integrated 1.3 Mega Pixels Camera

2. Asus M50Sv
Specification:

Processor Type :Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Processor Onboard :Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50 GHz, FSB 800, Cache 6 MB)
Chipset :Intel 965PM
Standard Memory :2 GB (2x 1 GB) DDR2 SDRAM PC-5300
Max. Memory :4 GB (2 DIMMs)
Video Type :NVIDIA GeForce 9500M G 512 MB
Display Size :15" WXGA TFT
Display Max. Resolution :1440 x 900
Display Technology :ColorShine TFT
Audio Type :Integrated
Speakers Type :Integrated
Hard Drive Type :300 GB Serial ATA 4200 rpm
Optical Drive Type :DVD±RW
Modem :Integrated
Networking :Integrated
Network Speed :10 / 100 Mbps
Wireless Network Type :Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN
Wireless Network Protocol :IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
Wireless Bluetooth :Integrated
Keyboard Type :QWERTY 88 keys
Input Device Type :Touch Pad
Slot Provided :Optional
Card Reader Provided :SD, Memory Stick, MMC, xD-picture Card, Memory Stick Pro
Interface Provided :4x USB 2.0, Firewire, VGA, LAN, Audio
O/S Provided :Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Battery Type :Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery
Power Supply :External AC Adapter
Dimension (WHD) :37.5 x 4.4 x 26.9 cm
Weight :3 kg
Standard Warranty :2-year Limited Warranty by Authorized Distributor
Bundled Peripherals :Carrying Case
Others :Built-in 1.3 Mega Pixel swivel web camera

Simple IEnumerable generic operation : Sort, Filter and Map

2008-05-06T00:31:00.000-07:00

In .NET 3.5, there is a static class that implement functions to manipulate IEnumerable<T> like sorting, filtering and mapping. You can see that method as orderby, where and select in System.Linq.Enumerable class from assembly of System.Code.dll

I try to find in .NET 2.0 but I cannot find any methods. So I try to use reflector to disassembled System.Core.DLL and look what happen. It still confusing to look at the result from it. So I try to reproduce it by writing code myself in C#.

First I write the delegate generic that is similar to delegate generic of Func<T,TResult> in .NET 3.5.

public delegate B MyFunction<A, B>(A input);

Mapped(select)/Projection

It is simply mapping from source IEnumerable generic to target IEnumerable<T>. The result of IEnumerable <T> target is not the same type as IEnumerable<T>source.The delegate generic MyFunction will specify the mapping mechanism from source to target.

public static IEnumerable<XTarget> Mapped<XSource, XTarget>(IEnumerable<XSource> source,
    MyFunction<XSource, XTarget> function)
{
    foreach (XSource item in source)
    {
        yield return function(item);
    }
}

Filter(where)

It is simply make a filter from source IEnumerable<T> to target IEnumerable<T>. The result of IEnumerable generic target is the same type as IEnumerable<T>source but the item inside can be different.

public static IEnumerable<XSource> Filter<XSource>(IEnumerable<XSource> source,
    MyFunction<XSource, bool> function)
{
    foreach (XSource item in source)
    {
        if (function(item))
        {
            yield return item;
        }

    }
}

Sort (orderby)

It simply make a sorting from source IEnumerable<T>to target IEnumerable<T>. It is intended to sort object that have many properties. The properties can be string or valuetype. For example; I have a collection of user that has properties of Name and Age. Name is a type of string and Age is a type of integer.

First we need a class that implement an IComparer<T>.

public class CompareDefinition<X, Y> : IComparer<X> where Y : IComparable<Y>
    {
        private MyFunction<X,Y> function = null;
        private bool descending = false;

        /// <summary>
        /// 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="kembali"></param>
        public CompareDefinition(MyFunction<X,Y> function):this(function,false)
        {
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="kembali"></param>
        /// <param name="descending"></param>
        public CompareDefinition(MyFunction<X, Y> function,bool descending)
        {
            this.function = function;
            this.descending = descending;
        }

        #region IComparer<XSource> Members

        /// <summary>
        /// Compare methods
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="x"></param>
        /// <param name="y"></param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public int Compare(X x, X y)
        {
            int result = 0;
            Y value = function(x);
            if (value != null)
            {
                if (value is string)
                {
                    result = StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase.Compare(value, function(y));
                }
                else if (value is ValueType)
                {
                    result = value.CompareTo(function(y));
                }
                else
                {
                    throw new ArgumentException
                        ("The object is not string or valuetype that implements IComparable");
                }

            }
            return this.descending ? -result : result;
        }

        #endregion
    }

This class define how the content to be compared. The X is the object and Y is the property to compare. The method Compare will compare string and any valuetype. If it finds string, than it will use StringComparer to compare the strings. I use OrdinalIgnoreCase compare just in case of quick coding. If it finds, than it will use their own CompareTo methods.

public static IEnumerable<XSource> Sorting<XSource, XKey>(IEnumerable<XSource> source,
             MyFunction<XSource, XKey> function, bool IsDsc) where XKey : IComparable<XKey>
        {
            if (source != null)
            {
                XSource[] array = (XSource[])source;

                Array.Sort(array, new CompareDefinition<XSource, XKey>(function, IsDsc));

                foreach (XSource item in array)
                {
                    yield return item;
                }
            }
        }

Method above explain how to sort IEnumerable <T>. For simple use I just cast from IEnumerable<T> to array of T; to use Sort method. The sort method above will sort the array and use my compare definition.

To use the code. I give a small sample.

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Get All process from this computer
            IEnumerable<Process> procss = Process.GetProcesses();

            // Soring descending by process name
            IEnumerable<Process> descendingProcess =
                Sorting<Process, String>(procss,
                    delegate(Process p) { return p.ProcessName; }
            ,
            true
            );

            // filter the process only working set more than 1MB
            IEnumerable<Process> filteredProcess =
                Filter<Process>(descendingProcess,
                delegate(Process p) { return p.WorkingSet64 > (1024 * 1024); });

            string processNameTitle = "Process Name";
            string memoryUsedTitle = "Memory Used";
            string processIDTitle = "Process ID ";
            Console.WriteLine("Sorting descending and Filter process only working set more than 1MB");
            Console.WriteLine("{0}                   {1}                    {2}", 
                processNameTitle, memoryUsedTitle, processIDTitle);
            foreach (Process proc in filteredProcess)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("{0}                   {1}                         {2}", 
                    proc.ProcessName, proc.WorkingSet64,proc.Id);
            }
            Console.ReadLine();
            // show only process id
            IEnumerable<int> mapping =
               Mapped<Process, int>(filteredProcess,
               delegate(Process p) { return p.Id; });

            Console.WriteLine("Show Process ID only from above");
            foreach (int item in mapping)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(item);
            }
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

Get all process from this machine assign them to IEnumerable of Process. The result in IEnumerable<Process> will sort descending by process name and produce IEnumerable<Process> too. After that, it will be filtered and produce IEnumerable<Process>. The result will be displayed in console.

IEnumerable<Process> will be mapped into IEnumerable<int>. The result will be displayed in console and only the process ID will be displayed

Technorati Tags: .NET 2.0,Visual Studio 2005,IEnumerable<T>,Data Manipulation

Make .NET Assembly from an IDL(Interface Definition Language)

2008-03-31T03:31:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, I want to make a .NET assembly from IDL file since some component vendors still delivers on COM technology.

To do that we need Microsoft Windows SDK that you can download one of these SDK

- Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5(SDK for Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista/Windows Server 2003/Windows XP)

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

- Windows SDK Update for Windows Vista and .NET Framework 3.0 (SDK for all editions of Windows Vista/Windows XP/Windows Server 2003)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ff6467e6-5bba-4bf5-b562-9199be864d29&displaylang=en

- Windows Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK (SDK for all editions of Windows 2000/Windows XP/Windows Server 2003)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E15438AC-60BE-41BD-AA14-7F1E0F19CA0D

After you download and install the SDK, run the command shell from the SDK. For now, I will use bits.idl as a sample.

In the Command Shell, run "midl bits.idl", without quote, to make the type library from the idl. it will produce some .h, c files and a bits.tlb file.

Convert the tlb file to dll file using tlbimp. for example:

run "tlbimp bits.tlb /out:bits.dll /namespace:Nicko.Bits.COM" without quote. So the assembly bits.dll with namespace Nicko.Bits.COM is ready as a assembly reference in Visual Studio .NET.

Happy coding

Mathematical function in VS 2008

2008-03-26T00:41:00.001-07:00

In Visual Studio 2008, we can make a function like mathematics.

For example, I have a function like :

f(x) = x +1, x is element of integer,

You can make in the VS 2008 like :

Func<int,int> f = (x) => x + 1;

I think it is a nice feature, since we can make many mathematics function in the short statement. The declaration above using new feature of Lambda Expression that is available in the Visual Studio 2008. You can just use the function above like:

int result = f(3);

Step by Step building a project template and wizard in VS 2005

2008-02-27T02:58:00.001-08:00

Project template is a template that contains classes,resource files, or any files that come together into a project. They usually use to accelerate development process by providing reusable projects and items so the developer can remove repetitive task to create projects from scratch.

Project template can use wizard to get input from user. Developer only implements IWizard interface and simple Windows Form.

This step by step assume that you know how to use Visual Studio 2005, .NET 2.0 Configuration, and Windows Explorer.

Step 1, Create class library project as template project

First thing to do builds a blank projects with classes or any files that you want and give parameters do you like. The parameters can be reserved or custom; and case sensitive. For reserve and custom template you can see in the MSDN. For the sample, I use 1 class and 1 text file.

Sample Class File : Class1.cs

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

namespace $safeprojectname$
{
    /// <summary>
    /// This class is build at $time$
    /// By: $usercreated$
    /// </summary>
    public class Class1
    {
    }
}

Sample text file : readme.txt

Project name : $projectname$

Motivation : $motivation$

Remember, that project above cannot compile because of the parameters.

On the sample above, there are 5 template parameters; $safeprojectname$, $time$, and $projectname$ are reserved template parameters and, $usercreated$ and $motivation$ are custom template parameters.

After all class is ready, just export the template using menu File --> Export Template and choose project template. When it finish, just unload it from Visual Studio 2005. Look the result in C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\My Exported Templates, when User name is your current user folder in my document.

Step 2, Create Windows Application project

In the Form1, You can add textbox as an input in the Form designer, give a nice name to the control like txtProjectName; and button to accept it.

Add a property as a collection of parameters.

private Dictionary<string,string> parameters;
public Dictionary<string,string> Parameters
{
    get { return parameters; }
}

In the button click, added all value from textbox into collection.

private void btnOK_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    parameters = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    Parameters.Add("$projectname$", this.txtProjectName.Text);
    Parameters.Add("$usercreated$", this.txtUserCreated.Text);
    Parameters.Add("$safeprojectname$", this.txtSafeProjectName.Text);
    Parameters.Add("$time$", this.txtTime.Text);
    Parameters.Add("$motivation$", this.txtMotivation.Text);
    this.DialogResult = DialogResult.OK
}

Just compile and run it, and try it if there is error.

Step 3, Create Class Library Project.

Add reference of EnvDTE and Microsoft.VisualStudio.TemplateWizardInterface.dll, System.Drawing and System.Windows.Forms. Rename the Class1 to a better name like WizardImplementation and implement IWizard interface.

Copy the Form1 above into this projects.

The code in the WizardImplementation.cs

namespace Class.Wizard
{
    public class WizardImplementation:IWizard
    {
        #region IWizard Members

        void IWizard.BeforeOpeningFile(ProjectItem projectItem)
        {
        }

        void IWizard.ProjectFinishedGenerating(Project project)
        {
        }

        void IWizard.ProjectItemFinishedGenerating(ProjectItem projectItem)
        {
        }

        void IWizard.RunFinished()
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Finish", "Info", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
        }

        void IWizard.RunStarted(object automationObject, Dictionary<string, string> replacementsDictionary, WizardRunKind runKind, object[] customParams)
        {
            try
            {
                Form1 form = new Form1();
                DialogResult dlg = form.ShowDialog();
                if (dlg == DialogResult.OK)
                {
                    foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> pair in form.Parameters)
                    {
                        if (!replacementsDictionary.ContainsKey(pair.Key))
                            replacementsDictionary.Add(pair.Key, pair.Value);
                        else
                            replacementsDictionary[pair.Key] = pair.Value;
                    }
                }
                form.Close();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error : "+ex.Message,"Error",MessageBoxButtons.OK,MessageBoxIcon.Error);
            }
            
        }

        bool IWizard.ShouldAddProjectItem(string filePath)
        {
            return true;
        }

        #endregion
    }
}

Sign the assembly using strong name. You can add it from the project properties, find the tab signing and create a new strong name key file if you don;t have one. Compile and make it sure there is no compile error.

Step 4, Create Setup Project

Open File System views, it will show 2 panel, left panel is the folder and right panel is the files. Goto left panel and add special folder --> Global Assembly Cache folder. Click the GAC folder and right click to choose add Project output. Choose the wizard project from step 3. Exclude all output/assembly/files except the primary output. Build the setup project and try to install it.

Step 5, Write the assembly in the GAC Information

Open .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration, and choose Assembly cache from the tree view, view the list and search for the assembly of the wizard. Open the assembly properties like sample below :

Technorati Tags: Visual Studio 2005,Wizard,Project Template,IWizard,vstemplate

Write all information above the note and just close it.

Step 6, Rewrite vstemplate file

Find the file from Step 1, usually in the C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\My Exported Templates. Extract the zip files and edit the .vstemplate

Add WizardExtension to :

<VSTemplate Version="2.0.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/vstemplate/2005" Type="Project">

<TemplateData>

    ...

</TemplateData>

<TemplateContent>

    ...

</TemplateContent>

<WizardExtension>

    <Assembly>Quick.Template.Wizard, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=3542a3b786264129, Custom=null</Assembly>

    <FullClassName>Quick.Template.Wizard.WizardImplementation</FullClassName>

</WizardExtension>

</VSTemplate>

I just use the information from properties above to fill the assembly and full class name. Save the vstemplate file.

Select the extracted files, right click --> choose Sent to -->Compressed(zipped) folder.

Move the result zip files to C:\Documents and Settings\Nicko\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#

Step 7, Use the template

From the solutions, add new project and choose your template project from Visual C# My Templates. You can see that the form that implement wizard will shown.

Small and Lightweight Reuse Library for .NET

2008-02-13T00:20:00.001-08:00

I started an open source project in the codeplex. The project name is Small and Lightweight Reuse Library for .NET. It contains classes that encapsulate some of the .NET classes, make it simple and reuseable.

The feature for this development:

Encapsulate .NET Policy. (completed)
Encapsulate Cryptography (beginning)
Encapsulate Certificate (beginning)
Encapsulate Directory Services (think)
Encapsulate Directory Services - Active Directory (Windows platform) (think)
Encapsulate Remoting (think)
Encapsulate Transaction (think)
Encapsulate Networking (think)
Encapsulate Regular Expression and make user define expression (think)
Encapsulate Database and Table Schema (think)
Encapsulate Threading (think)

I use Visual Studio 2005 SP1 and .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 for development. Some of them will be compiled in VS 2008

The project URL http://www.codeplex.com/reuselibrary

Web Deployment Project for VS 2008 Released

2008-02-06T00:12:00.001-08:00

Web Deployment Project for VS 2008 Released. It is useful since you can easily deploy the web project. You can use the command line aspnet_compiler.exe as a compiler that includes in .NET Framework 2.0 and aspnet_merge.exe that includes in the installation of Web Deployment Project for VS 2008

You can download the web deployment project for vs 2008 in http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0aa30ae8-c73b-4bdd-bb1b-fe697256c459&displaylang=en.

Visual Studio Policy is not available in the Visual Studio 2008?

2008-02-03T23:08:00.001-08:00

Today I open MSDN for Visual Studio 2005 and MSDN for Visual Studio 2008. I want to find article about Visual Studio policy that is available in the Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005.

First I look in the MSDN for Visual Studio 2005 offline and MSDN for Visual Studio 2008 offline. In the VS 2005 version, I saw Visual Studio policy exist there in the Visual Studio template documentation and in the VS 2008 not. And then I check the online version of http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx; When I open the Visual Studio 2005 section, it is existed and Visual Studio 2008 is not.

Could it be that the Microsoft will not support / remove the Visual Studio Policy from Visual Studio 2008.

Cheap development cost in .NET

2008-01-27T08:09:00.001-08:00

I always hear that many people in Indonesia said that develop in .NET platform is expensive. That because you have to buy many tools from vendors, but some tools is not actually used in the production. Many companies spend on the very expensive tools, controls or library to accelerate development process.
The only software you have to buy is Windows, such as Windows XP, 2003 Server, Vista or 2008, depends on the project.

If you have enough budget, you can buy Visual Studio professional or the team edition. For starter software development company and doesn't have enough budget, you can easily use many free tools.

First thing to buy is a windows operating system. It is the heard of everything. You need this to make your computer live :). Choosing the right windows version for you is more important. Below is the suggested matrix that you can use as a reference.

Green box means the suggested operating system for the project.


	Windows XP Home	Windows XP Prof	Windows Vista Home Basic	Windows Vista Home Premium	Windows Vista Business	Windows Vista Ultimate	Windows Server 2003	Windows Server 2008
Windows Form with data
Windows Form tools
Windows Form client-server
Windows Form consuming web service		IIS must be installed			IIS must be installed	IIS must be installed	IIS must be installed	IIS must be installed
Windows Services application
Windows Form consuming remoting	Cannot use HTTP Channel		Cannot use HTTP Channel	Cannot use HTTP Channel
Windows Form component and controls
Windows Form using Direct X
Windows Presentation Foundation

table 1: Matrix for common Windows form or WPF project type


	Windows XP Home	Windows XP Prof	Windows Vista Home Basic	Windows Vista Home Premium	Windows Vista Business	Windows Vista Ultimate	Windows Server 2003	Windows Server 2008
Common Web Application
Web Application with AJAX
Web Services as producers
Web Application consuming web services
Web services as orchestrator
Web Application using Silverlight
Web Component and Controls
Web with design focus
WPF XBAP

table 2: Matrix for common Web Form project type

If you want to develop on .NET Framework 2.0, you can download the free IDE of Visual Studio 2005 Express edition in http://www.microsoft.com/express/2005/ , but I suggest you download the latest version of Visual Studio 2008 Express edition in http://www.microsoft.com/express/. In the Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition, you can easily switch the target from .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 in the projects.

The next step is getting the latest Windows SDK and .NET Framework. Until today, There is Windows SDK for Windows Vista has released. You can download on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ff6467e6-5bba-4bf5-b562-9199be864d29&DisplayLang=en. For .NET Framework 3.5 runtime you can download on http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/0/f/60fc5854-3cb8-4892-b6db-bd4f42510f28/dotnetfx35.exe.

While developing a solutions, you need a documentation. You can download the offline version of MSDN on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6ff3bc60-32c8-4c22-8591-a20bf8dff1a2&DisplayLang=en

Web deployment is not so easy since in the Visual Web Developer 2008 Express, there is no web publishing function available. There are small command line tools from Microsoft to help web deployment. The aspnet_compiler.exe is the compiler that come from .NET Framework 2.0. You can find it in the directory: Windows --> Microsoft.NET --> Framework --> v2.0.50727. The other is web deployment project. You can download in the http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/asp.net/aa336619.aspx. This tools will help to publish web application and web site project using command line tools of aspnet_merge.exe

You can use MSBuild to automate build the project.

To make a setup or installation, you can use WIX.

The other free tools that can help:

Free office application that can help to make documentation or manual from open office http://www.openoffice.org/.
Free and simple web bug tracking and issue tools from BugTracker.NET on http://ifdefined.com/bugtrackernet.html
Free version control using Subversion can be downloaded on http://subversion.tigris.org/
Free database server of SqlServer 2005 express edition on http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/express/default.mspx;
Free database server of Oracle database express edition on http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/xe/index.html
Free database server of IBM DB/2 Express-C on http://www.ibm.com/db2/express
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Using ASP.NET as a source of MediaElement to play video on demand

2008-01-14T23:01:00.001-08:00

I search on the internet about to load video to use MediaElement dinamically and still not found. I have come the idea to use an aspx file as an media source. The aspx itself will produce binary stream that can feed as a source for MediaElement.
First prepare the aspx file and wmv/mpg files. The aspx will act as contents

/// <summary>
/// Read Video
/// </summary>
/// <param name="videoID">Video ID, assume you have more than one video</param>
/// <returns></returns>
private byte[] ReadVideo(string videoID)
{
   byte[] bufferTemp = null;
   string videofilePath = "";
   switch (videoID)
   {
      case "1": { videofilePath = "WinVideo-Winforms-MenusToolbarsandStatus.wmv"; break; }
      case "2": { videofilePath = ""; break; }
      default: break;
   }
   if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(videofilePath))
   {
      videofilePath = Server.MapPath(videofilePath);
      bufferTemp = File.ReadAllBytes(videofilePath);
   }
   return bufferTemp;
}

The code above will read the file and convert to the video data (array of byte). You can use many of video in the sample. Just add to the switch of the video file name.

/// <summary>

/// Write Video as an aspx file
/// </summary>
/// <param name="videoData"></param>
private void WriteToPage(byte[] videoData)
{
  if (videoData.Length > 0)
  {
      this.Response.ContentType = "video/x-ms-wmv";
      BinaryWriter binWriter = new BinaryWriter(this.Response.OutputStream);
      binWriter.Write(videoData);
      binWriter.Close();
  }
}

The code above will write the video data to the aspx file. Don't forget to add ContentType (MIME Type) of this aspx, so it can automatically recognize by the agent. If you want to play another format such as MPEFG file or AVI, you have to change the MIME type in the ContentType property.

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
  if (Request.QueryString.Count > 0)
  {
      if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.QueryString["videoid"]))
      {
          byte[] bufferTemp = ReadVideo(Request.QueryString["videoid"]);
          if (bufferTemp.Length > 0)
          {
              WriteToPage(bufferTemp);
          }
      }
  }
}

The code above will read the query string. It will search videoid. If not found just show the blank pages. If it is found, it will call ReadVideo method and WriteToPage method. For example in the browser, I write : http://localhost/ShowVideo.aspx?videoid=1 in the browser, It will launch Windows Media Player to play the video.

After I finish with the ASPX file, I create an WPF Application project. I add the code below in the Window1.xaml:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
    <Grid>
        <MediaElement Source="http://localhost/ShowVideo.aspx?videoid=1" Height="200" Width="200" />
    </Grid>
</Window>

The MediaElement call the ShowVideo.aspx with the query string of videoid. If the video is exist then MediaElement will read the aspx as a video stream.