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Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘.NET’ Category

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Simple example to show DateTime.Now in ISO 8601 format on ideone.com | Online C# Compiler & Debugging Tool

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/17

I’m a fan of ISO 8601, as it is a universal way of expressing dates and times (no more MDY confusion ).

I wrote about using ISO 8601 in batch-files and with Google Calendar before.

Now it is time to give you a simple C# example.

When you realize that XML uses ISO 8601 for their date and time formats, the .NET conversion is very easy:

using System;
using System.Xml;

public class Test
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string Iso8601DateTime =
            XmlConvert.ToString(DateTime.Now, XmlDateTimeSerializationMode.Local);
        Console.WriteLine(Iso8601DateTime);
    }
}

I wrote about ideone.com before: it is an excellent place to run sample C# code (and other languages).

When running this on ideone.com, you can see their local server time in ISO 8601 format.
Cute :-)

BTW: There are more ways to run your C# code online.

–jeroen

via: Simple example to show DateTime.Now in ISO 8601 format on Ideone.com | Online C# Compiler & Debugging Tool.

Posted in .NET, C#, Development, ISO 8601, Power User, Software Development | 1 Comment »

How to Get Paths and URL fragments from the HttpRequest object

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/12

There are many ASP.NET HttpRequest properties.

Sadly, the MSDN documentation does not have many examples telling you which property maps to which portion of the URL.

So it usually is a big fight extracting the sub portions you need.

Luckily, Steve Lautenschlager has the How Do I Get Paths and URL fragments from the HttpRequest object? article online.
The article has a table with the properties and portions of the URL that end up in those properties.

Really neat, as it saves a lot of time.

–jeroen

Posted in .NET, ASP.NET, Development, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

Martin Kulov’s Blog: Any CPU vs. x86 vs. x64

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/11

Thanks to Martin Kulov’s Blog: Any CPU vs. x86 vs. x64 I got a reference to a great article explaining this in more detail.

The obvious points are 1., 2. and 3., but it is 4..7 that makes the article really worth reading.

–jeroen

PS: a few more relevant links

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/247098/x64-net-compilation-process-explorer-oddity

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/311158/why-doesnt-the-corflags-utility-warn-when-marking-x64-assemblies-as-x86

Posted in .NET, ASP.NET, C#, Development, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

FM USB Library

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/10

The FM USB Library is on my research list.

–jeroen

PS: a few raw links that might fit in:

http://www.silabs.com/usbradio / http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBFMRadioRD.aspx

http://code.google.com/p/silabsradiodll/

http://parts.digikey.nl/1/1/543483-usb-fm-radio-stick-usbfmradio-rd.html

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Silicon-Laboratories/USBFMRADIO-RD/?qs=42TdBvIR%2fY7X5XVJkFBvBg%3d%3d

http://nl.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=1186925

http://www.newark.com/jsp/Non-Stocked/All+Non-Stocked+Products/SILICON+LABORATORIES/USBFMRADIO-RD/displayProduct.jsp?sku=98K2140

http://www.mp3car.com/hardware-development/64550-usb-fm-rds-solution-with-sofware-40.html

http://www.mp3car.com/hardware-development/64550-usb-fm-rds-solution-with-sofware-41.html

http://usb.brando.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00136

http://usb.brando.com/usb-radio-ii_p1785c35d15.html

http://www.whitebream.com/p811.shtml?id=p811

http://khason.net/blog/read-and-use-fm-radio-or-any-other-usb-hid-device-from-c/

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-digital-radio-receiver-dongle-fm-76-108mhz-1929

http://www.silabs.com/products/audiovideo/fmreceivers/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=usb+fm+rds+site%3Amouser.com

http://www.mp3car.com/hardware-development/69493-hqct-module-new-thread-following-hu-rds-rdbs.html

http://www.mp3car.com/hardware-development/64550-usb-fm-rds-solution-with-sofware-2.html

http://www.cartft.com/catalog/il/1139

http://www.digital-car.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?12194-New-CarTFT-FM-(Automotive-USB-FM-RDS-tuner)

http://www.cartft.com/catalog/il/1017

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/download.html

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/supportedcards.html

http://www.alibri.it/RRMobile/Silab%20USB%20Radio.htm

http://www.mo-co-so.com/Car-TFT-FM-Tuner-with-RDS-p/mcs-tft-rad.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q311272

Posted in .NET, C#, Delphi, Development, Prism, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

Don’t sleep when you use your Entity Framework model from a separate assembly

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/05

The Entity Framework needs you to have a connection string in your App.Config.

It is good practice having your Entity Framework model in a separate assembly.

When using it in your main app, be aware that the connection string that belongs to your model needs to be in the App.config of your main app.

If not, you get an exception like this:

System.ArgumentException was unhandled
Message=The specified named connection is either not found in the configuration, not intended to be used with the EntityClient provider, or not valid.
Source=System.Data.Entity
StackTrace:
at System.Data.EntityClient.EntityConnection.ChangeConnectionString(String newConnectionString)
at System.Data.EntityClient.EntityConnection..ctor(String connectionString)
at System.Data.Objects.ObjectContext.CreateEntityConnection(String connectionString)
at System.Data.Objects.ObjectContext..ctor(String connectionString, String defaultContainerName)

The clue is the contents of the defaultContainerName parameter: you will see that in the App.config of your Entity Framework assembly.

Copy that over to the App.config of your main assembly, then make sure it points to your right database (if you use OTAP), then go :-)

Your App.config then looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="MyEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/My_EntityModel.csdl|res://*/My_EntityModel.ssdl|res://*/My_EntityModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=my-sql-server;initial catalog=my-database;persist security info=True;user id=my-user;password=my-password;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />
  </connectionStrings>
</configuration>

–jeroen

Posted in .NET, C#, Database Development, Development, EF Entity Framework, Software Development, SQL Server | Leave a Comment »

SmackFu: Shoutcast Metadata Protocol

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/04

The SmackFu: Shoutcast Metadata Protocol page describes how the Icecast and Shoutcast meta-data (like song title) are being sent inside their streams.

Notes:

  • The above only explains the song meta data (artist-title); you cannot update the Stream Title without performing a reconnect, as they are in the stream meta data; this post explains why.
  • The stream headers are explained here, but they don’t contain the song title!
  • Icecast uses the dash “-” as separator between artist and title of the song, so if an Artist contains a dash, you are out of luck, as this thread shows.

–jeroen

Posted in .NET, BASS, Development, Power User, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

DealExtreme uses ASP.NET

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/03

It is always fun to see error messages on web-sites; they reveal a lot about the technology they use.

For instance, DealExtreme – a very popular site to order electronics and gadgets from the far east – uses ASP.NET.

They have verbose logging enabled, which even includes a warning to turn it off in production sits, as per this comment in the page source:

This error page might contain sensitive information because ASP.NET is configured to show verbose error messages using <customErrors mode=”Off”/>. Consider using <customErrors mode=”On”/> or <customErrors mode=”RemoteOnly”/> in production environments.

This is the full text, indicating they use .NET 2.0 and SQL Server with connection pooling (which is a good thing), and the BLToolkit extensions, Callbacks, a separation of Business Logic and Data Abstraction (BLL, DAL/DAO) probably using Spring.net and Data Binding by calling BindData() in stead of DataBind().

Server Error in ‘/’ Application.

A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 – Could not open a connection to SQL Server)

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 – Could not open a connection to SQL Server)

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[SqlException (0x80131904): A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)]
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.GetConnection(DbConnection owningObject) +578
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection) +88
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory) +6265031
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open() +258
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.ExecuteOperation(OperationType operationType, Action operation) +64
[DataException: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)]
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.OnOperationException(OperationType op, DataException ex) +176
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.ExecuteOperation(OperationType operationType, Action operation) +135
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.OpenConnection() +91
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.get_Connection() +42
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.OnInitCommand(IDbCommand command) +31
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.get_SelectCommand() +28
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.GetCommand(CommandAction commandAction, CommandType commandType, String sql) +18
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.PrepareCommand(CommandAction commandAction, CommandType commandType, String commandText, IDbDataParameter[] commandParameters) +91
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.SetCommand(CommandAction commandAction, CommandType commandType, String commandText, IDbDataParameter[] commandParameters) +51
   BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.SetCommand(String commandText, IDbDataParameter[] commandParameters) +25
   DealExtreme.Mall.Common.DAL.DAO.BLToolkitExtension.CategoryAccessor.GetAll() +168
   DealExtreme.Mall.Common.BLL.CategoryBL.CategoryLogic.GetAllCategory() +53
   DealExtreme.Mall.Common.Caching.ProductCaching.CategoryCache.GetAllCategories() +9
   DealExtreme.Mall.Common.Caching.ProductCaching.BLToolkitExtension.CategoryCache.GetAllCategories() +433
   DealExtreme.Mall.Search.BLL.SearchLogic.GetSearchedCategory(String request) +255
   DealExtreme.Mall.Search.Web.Search.BindData() +416
   DealExtreme.Mall.Search.Web.Search.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +16
   System.Web.Util.CalliHelper.EventArgFunctionCaller(IntPtr fp, Object o, Object t, EventArgs e) +25
   System.Web.Util.CalliEventHandlerDelegateProxy.Callback(Object sender, EventArgs e) +42
   System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +132
   System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +66
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +2428


[SqlException]: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.GetConnection(DbConnection owningObject)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open()
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.ExecuteOperation(OperationType operationType, Action operation)
[DataException]: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.OnOperationException(OperationType op, DataException ex)
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.ExecuteOperation(OperationType operationType, Action operation)
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.OpenConnection()
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.get_Connection()
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.OnInitCommand(IDbCommand command)
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.get_SelectCommand()
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.GetCommand(CommandAction commandAction, CommandType commandType, String sql)
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.PrepareCommand(CommandAction commandAction, CommandType commandType, String commandText, IDbDataParameter[] commandParameters)
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.SetCommand(CommandAction commandAction, CommandType commandType, String commandText, IDbDataParameter[] commandParameters)
at BLToolkit.Data.DbManager.SetCommand(String commandText, IDbDataParameter[] commandParameters)
at DealExtreme.Mall.Common.DAL.DAO.BLToolkitExtension.CategoryAccessor.GetAll()
at DealExtreme.Mall.Common.BLL.CategoryBL.CategoryLogic.GetAllCategory()
at DealExtreme.Mall.Common.Caching.ProductCaching.CategoryCache.GetAllCategories()
at DealExtreme.Mall.Common.Caching.ProductCaching.BLToolkitExtension.CategoryCache.GetAllCategories()
at DealExtreme.Mall.Search.BLL.SearchLogic.GetSearchedCategory(String request)
at DealExtreme.Mall.Search.Web.Search.BindData()
at DealExtreme.Mall.Search.Web.Search.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Web.Util.CalliHelper.EventArgFunctionCaller(IntPtr fp, Object o, Object t, EventArgs e)
at System.Web.Util.CalliEventHandlerDelegateProxy.Callback(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive()
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
[HttpUnhandledException]: Exception of type 'System.Web.HttpUnhandledException' was thrown.
at System.Web.UI.Page.HandleError(Exception e)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest()
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
at ASP.search_aspx.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.4952; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.4955

Posted in .NET, ASP.NET, C#, Development, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

Tortoise SVN Global Ignore Pattern for Delphi and Visual Studio

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/04/26

Since I use (among others) both Visual Studio and Delphi, I changed the Tortoise Global Ignore Pattern to be this:

Debug lib *.identcache *.local *bin *obj RECYCLER Bin *.user *.suo *.dcu __history ModelSupport_* *.rsm thumbs.db *.bak *.~* __recovery *.tvsconfig *.o *.lo *.la *.al .libs *.so *.so.[0-9]* *.a *.pyc *.pyo *.rej *~ #*# .#* .*.swp .DS_Store

The bold portion is what I changed when compared to the original one:

*.o *.lo *.la *.al .libs *.so *.so.[0-9]* *.a *.pyc *.pyo *.rej *~ #*# .#* .*.swp .DS_Store

Input from [WayBack] Tortoise SVN Global Ignore Pattern for Visual Studio (which also included some of the Delphi patterns), [WayBack] this Stackoverflow question (that indicated the patterns are case sensitive) and [WayBack] Shawn Oster | TortoiseSVN global ignore pattern for Visual Studio and Delphi.

–jeroen

PS: Added __recovery as Delphi 10.* started to use that for recovery files, which – unlike __history  is not documented, see [WayBack] What is the __recovery folder ? In C++ Seattle 10 Professional running under Win 7 I now get a folder called __recovery.

Posted in .NET, Delphi, Development, Software Development, Source Code Management, Subversion/SVN | Leave a Comment »

Delphi Constraints in Generics – RAD Studio XE documentation wiki

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/04/21

Quite a few things are similar when doing Generics in both Delphi and C#.

But constraints are a bit different.

To quote the Delphi Wiki page on Constraints in Generics – RAD Studio XE:

Constraints can be associated with a type parameter of a generic. Constraints declare items that must be supported by any particular type passed to that parameter in a construction of the generic type

Constraint items include:

  • Zero, one, or multiple interface types
  • Zero or one class type
  • The reserved word “constructor“, “class“, or “record“

You can specify both “constructor” and “class” for a constraint. However, “record” cannot be combined with other reserved words.
Multiple constraints act as an additive union (“AND” logic).

A few other differences are these:

  • In .NET, there is a unified typing system: everything descends from System.Object, including both value types and reference types. In Delphi this is not the case. In .NET, when you don’t specify a constraint, but use the type in a reference way, it will do automatic boxing. Delphi has no concept of automatic boxing, so you cannot use a non-constrained type as a reference
  • In both .NET and Delphi, you cannot specify a constraint on an enumeration type. In .NET you can work around this by constraining on the underlying interfaces. In Delphi you cannot do that because enumeration types are ordinal types that do not implement interfaces.
  • In Delphi you cannot constrain on ordinal types.

Note that – like the Delphi documentation – the C# constraints on type parameters documentation is not complete on those either.

Related: a great post [WayBack] Using Generics in Delphi – Phil Gilmore covering the comparison between C# and Delphi in more depth.

–jeroen

via: Constraints in Generics – RAD Studio XE.

Posted in C#, Delphi, Development, Software Development | 10 Comments »

human readable number formatting – C#: File-size format provider – Stack Overflow

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/04/20

Boy, I love stackoverflow.

Unlike a forum – which is focussed on discussion – stackoverflow is focussed on questions and answers, and they have lots of good answers.

Recently, I had to format numbers in a human readable way.

The formatting – C#: File-size format provider – Stack Overflow question had at least 3 good ways.

I chose the FileSizeFormatProvider answer, as it best fitted my goal and it is easy to extend, but the StrFormatByteSize answer works very well too if you need an ‘out of the box’ solution that works on native Windows.

–jeroen

Posted in .NET, C#, C# 2.0, C# 3.0, C# 4.0, Development, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

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