base keyword in c#

The base keyword in C# is used from within the derived class to access the members / constructor of the base class. What i mean here is if the derived class wants to use a method of the base class that is overridden by another method or the derived class wants to specify which base class constructor should be used while creating instance of the derived class. Example to come... Thanks, Hussain

Using Remote Desktop Connection Manager with Windows Azure Virtual Machines

In the Earlier post, I have explained how to use (RDP Man) to Remote Desktop machines, recently I was in a situation where in I had to work on Windows Azure Virtual machines. 

The Network team who created the VM’s had sent an email with the DNS names and the port numbers (of course login details in separate email. To my surprise, there was no ip address mentioned for the VM’s in the email. (I could have got it sending an email).

Below are the steps to add / manage connections to virtual Machines in Windows Azure using the Remote Desktop manager (Rdp Man)

1.   Open RDP Manager (if not installed here is the link )

2.   Now Add a Server Group (just to separate these servers from other servers and put it in a separate Group).

Note: The actual benefit of adding a group (in case you are managing large number of connections) is you can navigate quickly and manage setting for a single point (specifying the settings that are common to all servers in the group properties, which will be inherited by all the servers in the group) Although this is not a mandatory setting / option

3.   Right click on Group and select Add Server. This will bring up the add Server dialog box.

4.   In this dialog box you have to add the Windows Azure server (vm’s) details. Note: The only difference as compared to normal server is the port number and the DNS name (In case you don’t have the ip address).

a.    Click on Server settings tab and enter the DNS name / ip address next to Server Name

b.    Type some description (optional) next to Description.

c.    Now click on the connection Settings tab, in this tab un-check the option inherit from parent and Connect to console, enter the port number next to port

d.   You can also add login details by clicking on the login Credentials tab (or can set it for once in the Group that was created in step 2 above)

5.   Now you can simply double click to connect to the machine whenever you want.

Remote Desktop Manager - Excellent Tool

I have been using this tool for almost a year now and found to be the best tool for Remote Desktop.

If you are using Remote Desktop to login into machines many times a day, for your work and you are using mstc to remote desktop or have created .rdp files. There is a solution for this.

Use Remote Dektop Manager.

Grab a copy of the same from here Remote Desktop Manager

Details on how to add the server and login Details..  ( coming)

Dependency Injection - Design Patterns

Dependency Injection

Definition:

Dependency injection is a technique used in Oops. in this technique the component are loosely coupled by passing the dependencies to the object, rather than the object instantiating it own dependencies.

Explain in detail dependency injection?

Understanding Namespaces in c#

Understanding Namespace in C#

1000’s and 1000’s of classes are defined in .NET framework and all these classes are organized under different Namespaces. You can think of Namespaces as boxes with Names on it and all the classes relevant to the box are put in it – Under that namespace, so when a class is used we can refer to the class as namespace.class name.

In C# namespaces are used extensively - first while using the .NET classes, their respective namespaces are used and secondly while creating our own types – we are creating our own / user defined namespaces.

Having namespaces helps you to control the scope of the class and its methods. If there are no namespaces, we would not be able to use multiple classes having same name. Eg. we can have a class called Console having a method WriteLine under namespace MyNamespace – (MyNameSpace.Console.WriteLine - . I agree - it’s a bad idea to create such class and method. As we already know there’s a similar class in .NET framework under System Namespace. System.Console.WriteLine.

But in reality we might come across such situation where in we have same class name as a class in .Net framework or a third party dlls is having a same class name, in such cases namespaces help us to differentiate the classes and use them efficiently.

Note:  Visual Studio IDE helps us to organize the classes under different namespaces, by defaulting the project name as namespace of the class, but it is not mandatory. Namespaces do not refer to or correspond to a file or a directory.

Using namespaces:- A class can be invoked from a namespace using 3 ways.

1.     Writing the fully qualified name ( see below example)
2.     Implementing the using directive,
3.     Implementing using alias ( see below example

Note: The above ways are used for calling classes for both .NET namespaces or from custom/ own namespaces.

The using directive allows us to use the classes / types without having to specify the namespace. 

The using alias allows us to create and identifier for a namespace or class. The identifier is assigned a fully qualified name. Ex using project = MyNamesapce.MyClassName;

Namespace alias qualifier:

The namespace alias qualifier (::) is used search for identifiers. It is used to reference a namespace alias and global:: us used to reference the global namespace. (Note: global is not an predefined alias qualifier, it gets this special status after its used with (::). Also you cannot used the global word with using alias (eg. Using global = MyNamespace.MyClass), this is a compiler error, because as mentioned earlier, global:: always reference the global namespace and not and alias.

Use of Global namespace alias:- 

global:: - is used to access the global namespace.

The global namespace access is required in scenarios where the user defined class / type has the same name as the system defined .NET class and the System defined class is now hidden from in the current namespace – See below example.

    

Open Visual Studio IDE from Run command of your choice ( when you have 2 different versions of Visual Studio)

Question:

When you have two versions of Visual Studio installed on the same machine, for example Visual Studio 2010 and Visual Studio 2012, you want to always open Visual Studio 2012 as default?

Solution: 

When you have two versions of Visual Studio installed, say first you installed Visual Studio 2010 and then installed Visual Studio 2012. If you are using shortcut to open Visual Studio IDE

Start - Run - devenv.exe

By default Visual Studio 2010 will be opened. As Visual Studio 2010 was installed first and a register entry was done.

Now that you have installed Visual Studio 2012 without uninstalling Visual Studio 2010, this registry entry is not made for Visual Studio 2012

You can make Visual Studio 2012 to open as default, by modifying the registry entry. See below the steps.

• Click on Windows Start button.
• Type regedit.exe in the search text box, regedit.exe will appear. 
• Click on the regedit.exe. This will open the Registry Editor.
• Navigate to the following path in the left section
•  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE => SOFTWARE => Microsoft => Windows => CurrentVersion => App Paths => devenv.exe
• Click on devenv.exe you will see the default key on the right section.
• Double click on default to change the value.
• In this case for Visual Studio 2010 the value would be  (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe)
• Change this value to the path where Visual Studio 2012 devenv.exe is located, in this case (C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe) and click Ok.
• Close Registry editor.
• Now when you type devenv.exe from Run it is open Visual Studio 2012.

Following are default path where Visual Studio IDE is installed by default 

Visual Studio 2008

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe

Visual Studio 2010

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe 

Visual Studio 2012

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe 

Thanks,

Hussain Patel

How to: Set the Startup Form in a WPF Application

Question: In my WPF project, I have two .xaml WPF forms (MainWindow.xaml and Window1.xaml), how do I set Window1.xaml as a startup form for my WPFproject.?

Solution: 

• Double click on the App.xaml file, in the Solution Explorer window.
• App.xmal file would open and would have the following xml

<Application x:Class="WPFTutorialDemo.App"

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

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

             StartupUri="MainWindow.xaml">

    <Application.Resources>

         

    </Application.Resources>

</Application>

You need to change the StartupUri attribute (highlighted yellow) with the name of the form you want to set as startup, in this case Window1.xaml, Save and close the file.

Thanks,

Hussain Patel

Refactoring

Refactoring

Definition: I will go with the dictionary definition

Refactoring (noun): A change made to the internal structure of software to make it easier to understand and cheaper to modify without changing its observable behavior.

Refactor:

So, what is refactoring?

Does it mean just cleaning of code, the answer is just, but I feel it’s more than just cleaning code. Refactoring provides a technique for cleaning code in a more controlled manner and efficiently.

Developer productivity will increase the more they learn about refactoring methods, the more they use them the more they can reduce bugs in their code.

Purpose of refactoring:

1. Make the code easier to understand and modify
2. Refactoring make little or no changes to the overall functionality of the component (observable behavior)
3. Like Performance tuning – helps in improving the speed of the application, without altering the actual functionality, similarly refactoring help in cleaning small amount of internal code without changing the actual functionality. 

In next post i will start with other refactoring methods

Thanks,

Hussain Patel

Categories of Patterns - Design Pattern

Types of Design Patterns

As mentioned in earlier post, there are 3 categories of deign patterns.

1. Creational Patterns
2. Structural patterns
3. Behavioral Patterns

Creational patterns

The names creational itself conveys, that the design patterns under this category, all revolve around object creation in terms of who, what, how and when. Creational patterns all the systems separate the process of object creation, composition and representation. Creational pattern hide the detail of how the object / instance of classes are created.

Patterns falling under this category are:

• Singleton pattern
• Factory pattern
• Abstract factory pattern
• Prototype and 
• Builder pattern

Structural patterns

Structural patterns revolve around the class and object composition, what I mean is it helps us to understand how different classes in a system are glued together in a extensible and flexible manner. The object composition shows ways to compose objects to obtain new functionality.

Patterns falling under this category are

• Adapter pattern
• Bridge
• Composite
• Façade
• Proxy
• Flyweight
• Decorator

Behavioral pattern

Describe the way object and classes behave / interact and divide the responsibility among them. Thee pattern are more concerned with the communication between objects and classes.

Pattern falling under this category are:

• Command
• Interpreter
• Iterator
• Mediator
• Observer
• State

In the next post I will tart explaining in detail patterns falling under Creational pattern

Thanks,
Husain Patel

Installing IIS 8.0 in windows 2012

Installing IIS 8.0 on windows 2012 and Windows 8.0

Note: IIS 8.0 is only available on windows 8.0  and windows 2012.

IIS is cannot installed as per the traditional method in windows 2012, the introduction of Server Manager in 2012 has changed the user experience as well

Prerequisites:

• Windows Server 2012 has been installed.

Below are the step-by-step instructions for installing IIS.  (Note: the steps below are for installing IIS with default settings.)

1. Open Server Manager.          
2. Under Manage menu, select Add Roles and Features:
3.  Select Role-based or Feature-based Installation:

4. Select the appropriate server (local is selected by default), as shown below:

5. Select Web Server (IIS):         

6. No additional features are needed for IIS, so click Next:

7. Click Next:                              

8. Customize your installation of IIS, or accept the default settings that have already been selected for you, and then click Next:         

9. Click Install:                            
   
   
10. When the IIS installation completes, the wizard reflects the installation status:
    
11. Click Close to exit the wizard.   

Thanks,
Hussain Patel

Chromecast

Hi,

Yesterday i got a chrome-cast for $35 for tax, and here are some of my review comments.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Easy to setup the devices
• Quick install of the software
• Easy /two click cast
• Sharing Desktop (Crashes sometimes)
• Streams you tube and chrome apps from dongle rather from the laptop / tablet

Cons

• Needs Chrome to be installed for casting internet stuff
• Does not allow screen extending. ( i know its a streaming dongle)
• Only Google apps ( are cast in full screen) - eg - you tube
• app that are not tied to Google are not cast full screen, so user cannot do any thing if the laptop screen is made full.

More details on this..

Hussain Patel

Hussain’s Quest…

Thanks for reading my new blog. I welcome you all.

Who am I?

• A Developer /Consultant
• Photographer / Capturing world in pixels - Passion (http://digitaldays2.blogspot.com)
• Travel freak 
• Loves cooking the most / Eating variety of foods..
• Learning to Speak different languages
• Whistling on Songs..

I was born in India. I grew up in Mumbai and have a post-graduate degree in Computer Management . Currently am working for a software company; 

What this blog contains? 

This blog  is  my quest – Search for something and everything … , It contains good Quotes, travel guides, entrepreneurship, motivation, productivity, tips & tricks, links and hacks and more. It is also an online diary of my quest for all.. and everything I think about. 

If you are someone like me and share the same quest like me, motivated, inspired and wondering to be something of your own, you might find some of my post useful..

Signing off

Hussain

Opportunities!

You create your opportunities by asking for them.  -Shakti Gawain

Mistake… Humans

The Greatest mistake we HUMANS make in our Relationships: “We listen Half,Understood Quarter , Think Zero and React DOUBLE !!! :)..

Displaying Curly Braces { } in Console ouptut

Recently I was working on a sample console application for my tutorial and I happen to have a requirement, where in I had to display the curly braces as part of the formatted output.

Here’s the example ; Output of the console program should be: The number is -{124}

Solution:

As you are completely aware that curly braces is part of the c# keywords, for formatting object (e.g. numeric or string or class object etc.)
{
string x = “124″;
Console.WriteLine(“The number is -{x}”, x);
}

output : The number is -124

in the above example the output is still missing the curly braces, the solution to this is adding twice open and close {{ }} curly braces to get the desired output. Note is only for curely braces for all other special characters you need to use ‘\’
{
string x = “124″;
Console.WriteLine(“The number is -{{x}}”, x);
}

output : The number is -{124}

Thanks,

Hussain Patel

Design patterns – Introduction

Design Patterns

Every one who is in the software industry has heard it about design pattern,have worked on it (knowingly an unknowingly) . Software engineers with 1-2 years of experience gets impressed with people, who is talking on design patterns and explaining one or two patterns. Everyone is interested in learning and knowing design patterns, a single search in Google would give 1000 of search pages, explaining design but for some reason it never been explained in a simple or lucid way. At least the type of material available make it more complex and second most important is the time invested in understanding them and trying to implement them.

In this and future post I will explain what design patterns are in an easy and simple language (avoiding the jargon). 

Take an example.. while making a recipe /cooking, we do one of the two things, 1. start cooking (if we know cooking ) or 2. search on the web for recipes before we start to cook, so that we can get help and make make a dish.. We try following exactly the same steps, use the same same ingredients and quantity, so that recipe comes out good, a lot of them succeed in getting the recipe to the mark and this continues.. people follow it..

Design pattern are some what, recipes – they were tried and tested solutions and now they have been documented for other to use. Design pattern are not a complete solution to software problem, but guide you to in getting started to solve the problem..

The 3 mains areas where in design pattern are in creating objects.., defining structure of software solution/ Architectural and defining communication between objects. This clearly indicates design patterns revolve around object creation, architectural structure and object communication..

They are broadly classified..

1. Creational

2. Structural

3. Behavioral.

Thanks,

Hussain

Console.WriteLine(“Welcome to {0}{{days}}{1}”, x,y);

input- x = “dotNET”, y = “2″;

output – Welcome to dotNET{days}2

My name is Hussain Patel, Thanks for reading my new blog. I welcome you all.

Who am I? I am .NET Solutions Developer / Consultant. I was born in India. I grew up in Mumbai and have a post-graduate degree in Computer Management . I am working for a software company;

What this blog contains?

This blog speaks about Microsoft .NET and technologies. This blog will contains day to day to learnings in C#, wcf, wpf, silverlight, CCF, asp.net , .NET code, video’s, FAQ’s, links, work arounds and lot of Knowledge Sharing……

Why 2 after dotnet days … actually thats my birthdate day….

signed off dated Dec 6th 2009

-Hussain

Debugging a Javascript in ASP.NET

There are two ways you can debug a javascript code in ASP.NET (visual Studio IDE)

I. Usingthe Internet Explorer Process  in the Attach to Process window

II. Using the debugger keyword.

Method I

• In the Visual studio IDE open javascript .js file  and a breakpoint at the line you want to start debugging the code.  Now click on the menu (Debug | Attach to Process) on the top to open the Attach to Process dialog window (see below) select the  Internet Explorer process (iexplore.exe) from the list of available process a. Execute the code you want to debug in Internet Explorer.

Method II

• In the Visual studio IDE open javascript .js file  and type the keyword debugger where you want the code to break in to debugging. this
•  . Write your JavaScript and place the debugger keyword where ever you want the code to break into debugging. The JavaScript interpreter hits this  keyword and halts execution and returns the control back to the IDE. This is like setting a breakpoint inside of Visual Studio.

Note: you must enable script debugging in Internet Explorer to be able to debug. Go to Internet Options inside Internet Explorer and then go to the Advanced tab. Uncheck Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer).

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Management Studio Express

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Management Studio Express is completely free for download.
It can be used for accessing, configuring, managing, administering, and developing all components of SQL Server.

Click the below link to download

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Management Studio Express

Cheers,
Hussain

How to completely remove TFS (source control) bindings from a visual studio 2008 solution

There are two ways to remove source control bindings for a solution:
1. Open the solution in VS, then click on File Menu – - >> Source Control –>> Change Source Control and then unbind and/or disconnect all projects and the solution. This changes will remove all bindings from the solution and project files on the local folder.
This solution when distributed or provide will not poup for TFS connection or TFS ofline when opened in VS IDE.
Once this is done you can again you can switch the Souce Contro provider in Tools -> Options -> Source Control -> Plug-in Selection) to get TFS

2. The simplet way to unbind a solution from TFS is to, open the solution you want to clean in VS IDE and remove the TFS Plugins from IDE using Tools menu –>> Options –>> Source control –>> Plug-in Selection. Select None from the dropdown and click ok. Visual Studio will ask to remove source controls bindings
Close the solution and reopen the solution. THe solution is now completely unbinded from TFS..

signed off

Hussain Patel