Iteratively Perfecting

JQuery Version check

2012-01-12T14:48:00.001-08:00

In web dev tools console (for whatever browser you are using), just issue the following command:

$().jquery;

LINQ to SQL HA HA HA

2011-11-30T11:50:00.001-08:00

When contemplating the motivation for doing away with the impedance created between an Object Oriented app and a Relational Database, and thus ultimately LINQ and Entity Framework, I would struggle to feel convinced (I'm equally comfortable writing T-SQL in Management Studio as I am writing VB and C# in Visual Studio).

If anything stood out in my mind as inconvenient, it would certainly be the tedious and redundant variable/field names when writing queries. I was always adept at solving such problems with a good text editor at my side that could use vertical highlighting and Regular Expressions (such as Textpad), so this wasn't that big a deal. But nonetheless, I found (and am still finding) the 2008 SQL Server Management Studio's Intellisense capabilities (FINALLY!!) to be amazingly helpful. So helpful that, if I did have any desires to lower the impedance between a OOP architected app and an RDBMS, the 2008 tool would have satisfied it.

So, this is the irony. The tool's improvements were released the SAME TIME as the company (Microsoft) was pushing LINQ to SQL and Entity Framework.

And this seems a bit absurd to me.

But wait, there's more...“LINQ to SQL is dead!”

1.x DataGrid, 2.0 GridView, Declarative Syntax in HTML portion...

2011-09-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

"In Microsoft ASP.NET 1.x, one of the most commonly used ASP.NET Web controls is the DataGrid. The DataGrid control makes displaying data on an ASP.NET page a breeze: simply drag and drop the DataGrid onto your ASP.NET page, specify the columns and formatting, and write just a few lines of source code to retrieve and bind the data to the DataGrid. With a bit more effort and code, you could enable the end user to page, sort, and even edit the data within the DataGrid.

While the DataGrid was a huge improvement over pre-ASP.NET techniques for displaying data, it still suffered some limitations. For starters, binding any data to a DataGrid required some code writing, and often repetitive code at that. Furthermore, utilizing any of the DataGrid's more advanced features—handling deletes, allowing for editing of the underlying data, providing pagination, or sorting support—required additional code and time. Granted, the code for many of these additions was not terribly complex or lengthy, but any time code is written the possibility of new bugs, typos, or errors is introduced.

ASP.NET 2.0 fixes the problems of the DataGrid through a set of data source controls designed to encapsulate data that can be bound to data Web controls, and a replacement for the DataGrid—the GridView control. To access data in ASP.NET 1.x, developers had to write code; with the data source controls, however, data can be accessed through declarative syntax in the HTML portion of the ASP.NET Web page. Like other ASP.NET controls, the data source controls can be added to a page by simply dragging and dropping them from the Microsoft Visual Studio Toolbox onto the ASP.NET page Design view. Additionally, the specific data to retrieve can be specified entirely through the Design view. Once a data source control has been configured, it can be bound to a data Web control, such as the GridView, by setting the data Web control's DataSourceID property to the ID of the data source control. That's all there is to it—no code necessary!"

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479340.aspx

Basic IFrame Use with JavaScript

2011-09-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the simplest example:

<html>
<body>
<iframe id="smedly" src="http://www.google.com"></iframe>
<input type="button" onclick="dothis();" value="Yahoo">
<script>
function dothis(){
document.getElementById('smedly').setAttribute('src','http://www.yahoo.com');
}
</script>
</body>
</html>

jQuery toggleClass with Visibility

2011-08-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why jQuery uses the CSS property "display" to toggle hide and show, since "display" when set to "none" (which jQuery.hide() does) removes the space it takes up, and if you have elements adjacent, they're going to move around.

The workaround is to use toggleClass with a class you create which is used exclusively for setting "visibility" to "hidden" (instead of "visible"). When an element is "hidden", it is still there taking up space, keeping other elements properly aligned, it just is invisible.

The typical example of the use case is when you have a blank area that when hovered over displays some tool icons, or a delete X.

However, you might run into a confusing problem if you try this without giving the element to be toggled on and off the invisible class to begin with.
Ex.:


//style
.hidden{
     visibility: hidden;
}
//HTML
<span class='hidden del'>X</span>
......
//jQuery
$('.editbay').hover(function(){
    $(this).find('span').toggleClass('hidden');
});

Firebug musts

2011-07-29T00:17:00.001-07:00

for(x in console)
{
console.log(console[x].name)
};

console.dir(console);

PHP: Effortless CAPTCHA

2010-11-14T04:50:00.000-08:00

Include the following code in your form action reciever:

$verif_box = $_POST["verif_box"];

if(md5($verif_box).'a4xn' == $_COOKIE['tntcon']){

//they got the CAPTCHA correct

setcookie('tntcon','');

}else{

//they did not get CAPTCHA correct

}

Here is a snippet of the part of the form that displays the CAPTCHA:

<tr>

<td valign="top">Type number you see:</td><td valign="top">

<img src="verificationImage.php?<?php echo rand(0,9999);?>" alt="verification image, type it in the box" width="50" height="24" align="absbottom" /><br />

<?php if(isset($_GET['wrong_code'])){?>

<div style="border:1px solid #990000; background-color:#D70000; color:#FFFFFF; padding:4px; padding-left:6px;width:295px;">Wrong verification code</div><br />

<?php ;}?>

</td><td>

</td>

Contents of verificationImage.php:

// -----------------------------------------

// The Web Help .com

// -----------------------------------------

header('Content-type: image/jpeg');

$width = 50;

$height = 24;

$my_image = imagecreatetruecolor($width, $height);

imagefill($my_image, 0, 0, 0xFFFFFF);

// add noise

for ($c = 0; $c < 40; $c++){

$x = rand(0,$width-1);

$y = rand(0,$height-1);

imagesetpixel($my_image, $x, $y, 0x000000);

}

$x = rand(1,10);

$y = rand(1,10);

$rand_string = rand(1000,9999);

imagestring($my_image, 5, $x, $y, $rand_string, 0x000000);

setcookie('tntcon',(md5($rand_string).'a4xn'));

imagejpeg($my_image);

imagedestroy($my_image);

PHP: The Ultimate E-mail Verification Routine

2010-11-14T04:41:00.000-08:00

PHP and MySql Basics: Insert Query

2010-11-14T04:31:00.000-08:00

//open conn to db
mysql_connect('dbhostserver','dbusername','password') or die("Failure to connect to db");

mysql_select_db('dbname');

$as_value1 = addslashes($_POST['value1']);
$tr_value1 = trim($as_value1);

$as_value2 = addslashes($_POST['value2']);
$tr_value2 = trim($as_value2);

$query = "INSERT INTO table(value1, value2) VALUES ('$tr_value1', '$tr_value2')";
$result = mysql_query($query);
if(mysql_affected_rows()==1){
$message = "Successfully added to db.";
}else{
$message = "Could not add to db.";
}

PHP Basics: Connect to MySql and Query

2010-11-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

//open conn to db

mysql_connect('dbhostserver','dbusername','password') or die("Failure to connect to db");

mysql_select_db('dbname');

$query = "SELECT stuff FROM tablename";

$result = mysql_query($query);

while($name_row = mysql_fetch_row($result)){

    print("$name_row[0]<BR>\n");

}

Transact SQL (T-SQL) Basics

2010-11-11T11:07:00.001-08:00

DECLARE and SET Varibales
DECLARE @Mojo int
SET @Mojo = 1
SELECT @Mojo = Column FROM Table WHERE id=1

IF / ELSE IF / ELSE Statement
IF @Mojo < 1
BEGIN
'do something
END
ELSE IF @Mojo = 1
BEGIN
'do something
END
ELSE
BEGIN
'do something
END

CASE Statement
SELECT Day = CASE
WHEN (DateAdded IS NULL) THEN 'Unknown'
WHEN (DateDiff(day, DateAdded, getdate()) = 0) THEN 'Today'
WHEN (DateDiff(day, DateAdded, getdate()) = 1) THEN 'Yesterday'
WHEN (DateDiff(day, DateAdded, getdate()) = -1) THEN 'Tomorrow'
ELSE DATENAME(dw , DateAdded)
END
FROM Table

SQL: Finding DUPLICATES

2010-11-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

For some odd reason, I have it stuck in my mind that you need to use JOINS to find duplicates (maybe it was something that Access made you do way back in the day). I know there is SOMETHING out there that seems like it would be very easy to do in SQL but in fact involves duplicating the table in an alias. But finding duplicates isn't it.

SELECT username,
COUNT(username) AS NumberOfOccurences
FROM users
GROUP BY username
HAVING ( COUNT(username) > 1 )

Trying Out Amazon Associates

2010-10-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

For the first time I'm going to try and monetize this site.

Old School WScript to Make Files Read-Write

2010-10-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

If you frequently need to change the file attributes of one or more files from "Read Only" to "Read and Write" on Windows (like I have to do when dealing with the limitation of Visual SourceSafe), this quickie script will do the trick. Create a .vbs file with the following:

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim arrayFileObjects(1)
set arrayFileObjects(0) = objFSO.GetFile("C:\BudgetTracker\App.config")
set arrayFileObjects(1) = objFSO.GetFile("C:\ApeSim\App.config")

for counter = 0 to ubound(arrayFileObjects)
if arrayFileObjects(counter).Attributes AND 1 then
'read-only, so set to read/write
arrayFileObjects(counter).Attributes = arrayFileObjects(counter).Attributes XOR 1
Wscript.echo ("one changed")
else
Wscript.echo ("one already ok")
End If

next

VB.NET, DB Nulls, and strings

2010-10-19T12:14:00.001-07:00

If you are dealing with a database that isn't enforcing "no nulls" then you may frequently get nulls back when you are expecting a string. Although you could do this:

if dr.Item("middle_name") is DBNull.Value then

txtMiddleName.Text = ""

It is easier to just write:

txtMiddleName.Text = dr.Item("middle_name").ToString

because adding "ToString" will convert nulls to "" empty strings.

If you omit the "ToString", any nulls will generate an error (converting a Null to a String).

INSERT with SELECT

2010-10-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

The syntax for inserting a new row (or record) into a table using data from a select is not very intuitive.

The INSERT syntax is:
INSERT tblFred(field1, field2, field3) VALUES( 'ape', 436, 0)
or if you are insert values for all columns in order:
INSERT tblFRED VALUES (23, 'ape', 436, 0)

But to use the INSERT with a SELECT, you omit the VALUES( ) phrase:
INSERT tblFred(field1, field2, field3) SELECT fieldA, fieldB, fieldC FROM tblSmedly

or
INSERT tblFred SELECT * FROM tblSmedly

Which edition of SQL Server 2005 is that?

2010-10-15T17:40:00.001-07:00

SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition')

UNIX Date Format for SQL Server

2010-10-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

UNIX date times are most often stored as seconds from midnight, January 1, 1970. If you are running into a date format that looks like, for example, "1286790650" or "1141541097", a ten digit number, it is most likely a UNIX time stamp. (also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time ).

Here's how to convert on SQL Server:

dateadd(ss, 1234567890, '1970-01-01')

where 12345678790 is your date given in UNIX time stamp format.

This is also why 11:31 pm (in the UK) was so exciting on February 13, 2009.

Mungled SQL Server instances

2010-09-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

So, you have before you a box that has seen its share of SQL Server instances over the years, had its security settings and various broadcast settings changed inconsistently, and you just want to get a handle on what you have. To get the instance names, do a search for the "perf-*.ini" files in the various database folders (i.e., "MSSQL.1").

For example, in:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\Binn
if the instance used for this database was "SMEDLY" then you'll find:
"perf-SMEDLYsqlctr.ini"

Regular Expression Search and Replace

2010-09-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

Using Textpad's implementation of RegEx, the following will find all closing HTML/XML tags and add a carriage return after them:

search: </[^>]*>
replace: \0 \n

Same thing, to create a carriage return before starting tags:

search: <[^>]*>
replace: \n \0

This really helps when you are trying to view HTML that has been machine generated and appears in a single line.

Where Textpad uses the backslash (\) for the replacement sytax, other implementations of RegEx use the percent symbol (%).

My First Code Project Article

2010-09-03T14:58:00.001-07:00

Couldn't afford the time to do something full out, but at least I finally went ahead and put something up there.

Searching Revision History Comments in Visual SourceSafe - CodeProject

My alias on Code Project is patrickpage.

List of Fonts Installed on PC

2010-08-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

Important for Flash and Photoshop work, especially when moving to a different machine, where you might want to compare what's installed.

run: cmd
dir c:\windows\fonts > fontlist.txt

Yes, it is that easy!

Jargon, or A Rose is a Rose...

2010-08-27T13:58:00.001-07:00

Adobe calls 'em listeners, Microsoft calls 'em delegates or handlers, ANSI C++ programmers would recognize "callback function", and Java programmers would say "huh?"

Installing SQL Server 2005: Collation

2010-08-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

I had to make sure I had the collation settings set exactly as they were in a production instance of SQL Server. In the past, SQL Server gave you a single list of collation settings - code orders to pick from. I think the default was:

"SQL_Latin1_General_Cp1_CI_AI" ("sort order id" 54).

But since SQL Server 2005, the preferred way to set collation is now modular: you first select a "Collation designator" (i.e., alphabet) and then specify the "sort order" by selecting from various checkboxes:

binary
case-sensitve
accent-sensitive
binary-code point
kana sensitive
width-sensitive

So I had to figure out what the old collation setting string (in my case, "SQL Latin1_Cp1_CI_AS") meant, in this regard. As is kind of obvious, it contains the sort order settings as abbreviations. But just to make sure:

Code Page
Specifies a one- to four-digit number that identifies the code page used by the collation. CP1 specifies code page 1252, for all other code pages the complete code page number is specified. For example, CP1251 specifies code page 1251 and CP850 specifies code page 850.

Case Sensitivity
CI specifies case-insensitive, CS specifies case-sensitive.

Accent Sensitivity
AI specifies accent-insensitive, AS specifies accent-sensitive.

Ajax before there was Ajax

2010-06-20T02:49:00.000-07:00

Asynchronous Client-Server Interaction:
Hidden frame, using top/parent frame's variables to retain scope == HMLHTTPRequest (so long as the returned HTML is not significantly larger than the returned XML would be)

So long as the majority of server requests is nearly instantaneous, where "waiting for the user to pick something" is orders of magnitude more time consuming than processing the decision (which seemed to be true in 99.99% of all cases)...

The client was notified by the hidden frame calling (onload) a function in the parent/top frame. No big deal. In fact, is not this more efficient than weighing down the client script with the duty of monitoring/listening ....?

Constituent Parts

2010-06-20T02:38:00.000-07:00

...and so begins my Useful Phrases page, kind of like the Good Jargon side of Jargon. Maybe I'll have a Good Jargon page and Bad Jargon page. Or a Useful Jargon....you get the point.

Jargon is tremendously important. Can't be overstated. It signals to other parties that you already understand (supposedly) a whole bunch o' stuff, per each Jargon uttered. For the most part, in day to day life, I've seen it as a Bad Thing...it seems to have more drawbacks than benefits in what I've witnessed. Specifically, when switching back and forth between different programmer cultures (Windows vs. Linux, VB vs Java, etc), it is a major hindrance and causes more confusion than necessary. Often it seems Microsoft has deliberately adopted its own terms for Jargon that would otherwise be common between the two camps.

But I'm trying to adopt a more positive outlook on the matter. In either case, Jargon is Very Helpful when it comes to Documentation, in particular, making documentation Brief.

The other great benefit to Jargon is in exposing the genealogy of concepts. Much Jargon in programming is from upper level Mathematics, or Electrical Engineering.

Retrieving text stored as an Image data type in SQL Server

2010-06-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

So, you have an old database that relies on the Image data type to story rich text, and within the confines of SQL Management Studio, you want to read the contents. Turns out that the Image data type cannot convert to a varchar directly, like some of the newer binary data types can.

So you have to first translate it to binary and then convert that to varchar.


SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(8000),CONVERT(VARBINARY(8000),notepad_textimage)) from notepad

Incidentally, to get the size of the image data, use DATALENGTH (instead of LEN).

Mark Russinovich, Sysinternals and Malware

2010-05-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

A very well-known tool used by those who administer their own or others computers is Sysinternals. What I didn't know is that these tools were created pretty much by a single author. What's more is that this author, Mark Russinovich, is a great speaker, and his presentations are a must watch for anyone interested in the inner workings of Windows. I appreciate his attitude (perhaps because it is devoid of just that, "attitude") and I could listen to his presentations all day.

The presentation that got me started on him is Advanced Malware Cleaning, but there are other similar presentation that focus on other tools in the Sysinternals suite available from that location.

Thoughts on Alternative Narrative of Social Networking Phenomenon

2010-05-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

Perhaps its all about another desperate attempt to instantiate delusions of grandeur on the part of corporations.

A learned lesson of the Web about 6-8 years ago was no site can hope to capture users' sole attention.

To be sure, portals always tried to be that "one site". Granted, Yahoo goes back to the inception of the Web. But the battle came to a head some years later, when there was a pile on to be "THE" portal of record. But who won in the end? Google. An empty page with a textbox to enter a search term.

Corporations had a difficult time giving up on the hope of being "THE" site, and the mentality that users will spend, or care to spend, a vast amount of time on their site. Related to this desire is a desire to be ON THE (potential) CUSTOMER'S MIND. Mindshare. Similarly, a need to MANAGE customers... to hang on to some kind of control. Granted, its likely such CONTROL isn't even really necessary to succeed as provider of goods and services. But corporate mentality and record keeping require it.

So, having failed to be on the customers mind for the majority of the customer's online lifespan, corporations were seduced by the promise of SOCIAL NETWORKING as a means to be in the (potential) customer's online life....to manage and keep track of. This imperative may in fact be the driver behind SOCIAL NETWORKING and the Web 2.0 interconnectedness pursuit.

SQLCMD

2010-05-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a handy cheat sheet for Microsoft's SQLCMD, when you don't have the luxury of SQL Server Management Studio.

To run some sql and have results sent to "output.txt",on local server:


>SQLCMD -S(local) -U sa -P changeme -q "use WONDERBEAN;select * from orders;" -o output.txt

To run some sql stored in "myScript.sql" and have results logged to "output.txt",
on local server,with instance called "instanceSmedly":


>SQLCMD -S(local)\instanceSmedly -U sa -P changeme -i myScript.sql -o output.txt

Typical use would be to do a restore. Here is a handy example of some restore sql syntax:


alter database WONDERBEAN SET single_user with rollback immediate;
restore database WONDERBEAN from disk = 'C:\Users\Howard\Documents\WONDERBEAN_1_1_2010.bak' with replace,recovery;
alter database WONDERBEAN set multi_user

Virtual Box

2010-05-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

I've been digging Sun's free VirtualBox over Microsoft's Virtual PC, and not only because of the Snapshot branching functionality.

Here is how to disable the time in the guest operating system from syncing with the hosts, which is great for testing various scenarios....


vboxmanage setextradata vmname “VBoxInternal/Devices/VMMDev/0/Config/GetHostTimeDisabled” “1″

Sequence Diagrams from UML

2010-05-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been taking another look at UML. Perhaps it was the result of talking to a software ARCHITECT for the first time in a while, or sub-consciously inserted from the news that Visual Studio 2010 will have some important UML features.

Many of the projects I work on involve first familiarizing myself with legacy code. To me this is almost always fascinating, like "This Old House". I have rarely found two programmers who code the same way. If there is similar architecture to something else I've come across, it almost always turns out to be auto-generated from Microsoft.

I have improvised various note-taking schemes over the years, which is great in that it allows me flexibility to deal with the idiosyncracies of the particular project at hand. On the other hand, one does long for some standards to be handed down. This would be all the more important when working on an excavation as a team.

So, I was delighted to become reacquainted with (because I'm sure I saw it somewhere before but didn't appreciate it) Ivar Jacobson's Sequence Diagrams. When dealing with a highly optimized object oriented architecture that lacks any documentation whatsoever, this is exactly the kind of approach you'd want to take in dissecting some codebase. Sure it was intended for design, but for my purposes, it is probably even more useful in reverse engineering.

Yet, as it seems with all UML models, there is an enormous lack of creativity when it comes to the drawing of symbols. I hope to find an implementation of Sequence Diagram models that has something more creative than a stick person.

UPDATE:
Just learned that the UML creation tools in Visual Studio 2010 only come with the Ultimate version, not either the Professional nor the Premium. Bummer.

Immediate Window vs Command Window in Visual Studio

2010-03-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

To issue a Visual Studio command in the Immediate window, you must preface the command with a greater than sign (>). To enter multiple commands, switch to the Command window.

The window used to enter the EvaluateStatement command determines whether an equals sign (=) is interpreted as a comparison operator or as an assignment operator.

In the Immediate window, an equals sign (=) is interpreted as an assignment operator.

In the Command window, by contrast, an equals sign (=) is interpreted as a comparison operator. You cannot use assignment operations in the Command window.

Some useful commands:
>StopOutlining
Collapses all collapsible section of code (classes, regions, etc.)

>toolbox
opens the toolbox window

>help whatever
opens up help for the keyword (in this case, whatever)

Did you know...

2010-03-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

SQL Server started supporting multiple instances in the 2000 edition.

SQL Server Express Editions always install as a Named Instance, even if you only have one. The instance name, by default, is SQLEXPRESS.

The MSDE Edition of SQL Server 2000 installs as a Default Instance.

In SQL Server 2000, the TCP/IP port for a named Instance moves to 1434, and SQL Server 2000 directs the client to the proper Instance using SQL Server Resolution Protocol (SSRP).

In SQL Server 2005, Microsoft introduced a new service called the SQL Browser. This service listens on UDP port 1434 and directs the connection to the proper dynamically chosen TCP/IP port.

Each named Instance has a different location for program files and data files that is different from that of the other Instances of SQL Server. In SQL Server 2000, the directories look like this:

executable/program files:
\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$NameOfInstance\Binn
data files:
\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$NameOfInstance\Data

In SQL Server 2005 and higher, the files have a different structure. For the Default Instance:

executable/program files:
\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL
data files:
\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data

The maximum number of Instances supported in SQL Server 2000 and 2005 is 16 for the standard editions and lower, and 50 for the Enterprise Editions in 2005 and even more in later versions and higher edition numbers

Annoyances

2010-03-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

Many Microsoft products: having both a "Settings..." and "Options..." choice on the menu
SQL Server's Mgt Studio: "Modify" and "Open table..." in the context menu (since "Open table..." is frequently used to MODIFY data). "Modify" should be either "Schema" or "Modify table columns"....

Database DE-normalization and Violating Simplicity Principles

2010-03-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

Timothy Claason, at SQL Server Central, writes:

"Denormalization is not a design strategy. It is a design work-around. Well normalized databases represent a good design strategy, but can often lead to a great deal of complexity when it comes to support, maintenance, and new development. A well designed database can mean that, in order to get specific data you need, you need to go through 5, 10, or even more tables which represent the data you're looking for. Though there are many solutions to this dilemma,such as virtual tables (views), programmatic solutions, temporary tables, and more, I think it's important to not discount the value of well-placed denormalization in the database. The intent of this article is to consider some use cases for denormalization, and from those use cases, assert some generalizations about when and why to use denormalization."

Continued

File Hash Checker

2010-03-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Download here

This is a simple utility I wrote that displays the hash code of one or two files, and then compares them to see if they are the same. I used this to find duplicate image files (where the names of the files could be different).

Conditional Compilation

2010-03-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

#define test = true
class TestClass {
void test() {
#if test
// do something
#else
// do something else
#endif
}}

Here's the equivalent code in VB.NET:

#Const test = True
Class TestClass
Sub test()
#If test
'do something
#Else
'do something else
#End If
End Sub
End Class

Here's the same but using the DEBUG constant which is automatically set by Visual Studio based on whether you are in debug mode:

Class TestClass
Sub test()
#If DEBUG
'do something
#Else
'do something else
#End If
End Sub
End Class

Software Testing

2010-03-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

Unit Tests
The major benefits to be had from unit testing are

1. It allows the developer test parts of an application without waiting for the other parts to be available.

2. Exceptional conditions can be tested for the unit

3. The debugging process is simplified by limiting the search for bugs to a small unit rather than the complete application.

4. It helps avoid lengthy compile-build-debug cycles when debugging difficult problems.

5. Detection and removal of defects can be done at a much lower cost.

Integration Testing
The purpose of this kind of testing is to verify whether the major subsystems of the application are integrated. It helps in uncovering the errors that may arise due to conflicts between different units of an application. Integration testing is performed in different ways.

Bottom Up Approach: The testing is commenced from the smallest subsystem and progresses up the hierarchy to cover the whole system. This methodology requires the developer to write a number of test driver programs that test the integration between the subsystems.

Top down Approach: This begins at the top. The top level interfaces are first tested and then the smaller sub systems are examined. Stubs are written for modules that are not ready for testing.

Umbrella Approach: The focus in this methodology is on testing the modules that have a high degree of user interaction. Stubs are used in place of process intensive modules. This enables the developer test the graphical user interface and improves the functionality of the interface.

Regression Testing
Regression testing is performed whenever the program is modified. The process involves the rerun of all the tests mentioned in the preceding sections. It has two main goals:

Verification of known bugs that were corrected
Verification of new bugs.

Testing International Applications
Applications created for international usage are to be tested by checking for the language, the country and dependencies. The following factors are to be considered when testing such applications:

Whether the application’s data and user interface conform to the locale’s standards for date, time, numeric values, currency, list separators and measurements.
Whether the application runs on different languages and culture variants.
If Unicode has not been used in the application the culture/locale code of the operating system will have to be set to the localized version of the application.
The Input data in the language should be supported by the localized version.
In this section of the lesson we have focused upon the testing of Windows applications. In the sections that follow we shall briefly look at tracing windows applications.

ASP.NET MVC

2009-11-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

Scott Mitchell says

"In a nutshell, ASP.NET MVC allows developers much finer control over the markup rendered by their web pages, a greater and clearer separation of concerns, better testability, and cleaner, more SEO-friendly URLs."

and in his first mention of jQuery

" jQuery can certainly be used in an ASP.NET application, although integrating client-side script into a Web Forms application can sometimes be a bit trying. JavaScript development fits more naturally with ASP.NET MVC applications; in fact, the ASP.NET MVC framework includes the jQuery libraries. "

(extracted from 4guysfromrolla.com)

Javascript Error trapping

2009-02-05T13:58:00.000-08:00


onerror=handleErr;
var noErrors = true;

function handleErr(msg,url,l)
{
 if(noErrors){
  txt="There was an error detected.\n\n";
  txt+="Error: " + msg + "\n";
  txt+="URL: " + url + "\n";
  txt+="Line: " + l + "\n\n";
  txt+="Click OK to continue.\n\n";
  alert(txt);
  noErrors = false;
  return true;
 }
 else{
  return true;
 }
}

Attaching SQL Server .mdb without .ldf file

2008-10-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

If you're using SQL Server 2005:
create a database of equal size to the one you're trying to attach
shutdown the server
swap in the old mdf file
bring up the server and let the database attempt to be recovered and then go into suspect mode
put the database into emergency mode with ALTER DATABASE
run DBCC CHECKDB (dbname, REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS) which will rebuild the log and run full repair
Your database will be available again but you'll have lost data and the data won't be transactionally consistent - see the following blog posts:
https://blogs.msdn.com/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2006/06/15/632398.aspx
https://blogs.msdn.com/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2006/06/16/633645.aspx
https://blogs.msdn.com/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2006/06/18/636105.aspx
If you're on SQL Server 2000, you can still do this but you'll need to use the undocumented DBCC REBUILD_LOG at your own risk.

original post on MSDN

ASP.NET Visual Studio Project Types

2008-10-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

(thru 2008)
" Visual Studio supports two modes of project management: Web Site Projects and Web Application Projects. Web Site Projects lack a project file, whereas Web Application Projects mimic the project architecture in Visual Studio .NET 2002/2003 - they include a project file and compile the project's source code into a single assembly, which is placed in the /bin folder. Visual Studio 2005 initially only supported Web Site Projects, although the Web Application Project model was reintroduced with Service Pack 1; Visual Studio 2008 offers both project models. "
- Scott Mitchell

Useful, related links:
Converting a Web Site Project to a Web Application Project
Web Application Projects versus Web Site Projects
ASP.NET Web Application Project Deployment Overview

Flash Frame by Frame Animation

2008-08-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

Found out two great shortcuts for creating flash frame by frame animation:

1. When you begin, in the timeline, select a whole range of frames and right click, and select "Convert to Blank Keyframes"
2. Turn on Onion Skinning, of course.
3. As you draw each frame, just use the period key to move forward (and the comma key to go back to previous frame).

So much faster and easier!

Flash after 7 years...

2008-08-13T11:46:00.001-07:00

I'm getting back into Flash after about 7 years. I find it inscrutable why, after all that time, the designers still don't want to show the keyboard shortcuts on the menu for inserting a KEYFRAME and a BLANK KEYFRAME.

F5 - Insert Frame
F6 - Insert Keyframe
F7 - Insert Blank Keyframe

Unicode

2008-06-02T12:06:00.001-07:00

Succinctly puts in context:

[edit] Variable-Width Characters
Before UNICODE, there was an internationalization attempt that introduced character strings with variable-width characters. Some characters, such as the standard ASCII characters would be 1 byte long. Other characters, such as extended character sets, were two characters long. These types of character formats fell out of favor with the advent of UNICODE because they are harder to write and much harder to read. Windows does still maintain some functionality to deal with variable-width strings, but we won't discuss those here.

Unfortunately all advantages of using wide characters were lost because the number of characters needed quickly exceeded the 65,536 possible 16-bit values. Windows actually uses what is called UTF-16 to store characters, where a large number of characters actually take //two// words, these are called "surrogate pairs". This development is after much of the Windows API documentation was written and much of it is now obsolete. You should never treat string data as an "array of characters", instead always treat it as a null-terminated block. For instance always send the entire string to a function to draw it on the screen, do not attempt to draw each character. Any code that puts a square bracket after a LPSTR is wrong.

At the same time, variable-width character-based strings made a big comeback in the multi-platform standard called UTF-8, which is pretty much the same idea as UTF-16 except with 8-bit units. It's primary advantage is that there is no need for two api's, the 'a' and 'w' apis would have been the same if this was used, and since both are variable-sized, it has no disadvantage. Although most Windows programmers are unfamiliar with it, you may see increased references to using the non-UNICODE api.

-- from Windows Programming

SearchPlugins for Firefox

2008-05-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Trying to figure out this baby. In this arena, IE has Firefox beat.

In Firefox, look at the xml files in the following folder:
C:\program files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins

So far, to search Amazon MP3's, I've winnowed the search url down to:

http://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=TEST

SQL for Running Totals: The Power of Cross Join

2008-04-01T15:46:00.000-07:00


SELECT 
t.transaction_date, t.amount, t.[description], sum (t2.amount) as RunningTotal
FROM 
cash_transaction_table t 
CROSS JOIN cash_transaction_table t2
WHERE
(t2.transaction_date <= t.transaction_date)
GROUP BY
t.transaction_date,
t.amount,
t.[description]
ORDER BY
t.transaction_date

An Entity is a....Thing

2008-02-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

"In the same way queries in the relational world are formulated against tables, queries in the EDM world are formulated against entities"

IE7 and Mathematical Characters

2008-01-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

Certain mathematical characters no longer display in the default font of IE7 unless the operating system is Vista, including the "union" and "element of" characters. To get around this, in CSS you have to specify a different font, and the most common Windows font that works is 'Lucida Sans Unicode'.

Example:

∈

will display fine in both XP and Vista, but
∈
will not display correctly on XP.

Amazon Goes Ajax - New Interface Today

2007-11-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

Well, mark today down in UI design for websites and e-commerce. Amazon.com unveiled their new interface and it is Ajax (particular the Dynamic HTML aspect).

Certified E-Mail

2007-11-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

Let it be known throughout the land, I received my first ever CERTIFIED e-mail today in Yahoo Mail. Will this be a turning point in web history?

The e-mail was from Build-a-Bear Workshop, so parents of young children are probably going to be the first to notice the trend.

Also see:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/context/context-08.html

Apache losing market share to Microsoft IIS?

2007-11-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

Wow, I was startled to see this graph!

Apache has around a 10% market share advantage over IIS now, which is the smallest gap between the two since IIS was launched in 1996.

src: Netcraft

Idiot's Guide to Implementing Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling

2007-11-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

A simple tutorial for VB.NET folks.

Get Enterprise Library 3.0

Install.

In your app, add reference to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Enterprise Library 3.1—May 2007\Bin

Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.dll
Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.dll

If you con't have an app.config file, add one now (you could have this done for you later, but let's keep it simple).

Now open up "Enterprise Library Configuration", a utility installed along with the Enterprise Library that can be found off the Start menu....

Do File/Open... and point to the app.config file in your app.

Right-click the name of your app, select New... and then "Exception Handling Application Block".

Right-click the newly created tree node (it will have a red stop sign with a white X in it) and select New..Exception Policy. Name this "Global Policy".

Save it.

Now, back in Visual Studio 2005, your Try Catch blocks should be changed to the following pattern:


Try
            'for testing: Throw New Exception("This is a sample exception.")
            'put your real code here


Catch ex As Exception
            Dim rethrow As Boolean = Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.ExceptionPolicy.HandleException(ex, "Global Policy")
            If rethrow Then
                Throw
            End If
End Try

You should now be able to compile and start playing with the advanced features of the Enterprise Library 3.0 version of the old ApplicationBlocks.

Also see: C# Tutorial.

I Hate Overloads

2007-11-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

I just started working the the replacement for Microsoft's Application Blocks. ExceptionManagement, called Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary. Specifically, I'm using the Logging class. Guess how many overloads there are for the Write method? NINETEEN!!! 19 overloads, that's right. Imagine if you did not have Intellisense. In my opinion, overloads undermine the whole organization of Object Oriented Programming (OOP), and are to be used SPARINGLY.

Speech Synthesis with .NET 3.0

2007-10-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Very simple:
Reference System.Speech.dll


        Dim synth As New Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer
        synth.SpeakAsync("Hello world.")

Visual Studio 2005 Code Generation Settings

2007-09-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

Microsoft does not acknowledge the existence of an Option Setting in Visual Studio 2005.

I could not find any mention of the Windows Forms Designer, General, Code Generation Settings, Optimized Code Generation setting on MSDN, nor, surpisingly, on Google. It remains a mystery.

Flash quick notes

2007-09-18T17:07:00.001-07:00

Put this in the Action window (F9) for a movie clip's instance.

onClipEvent(enterFrame){
_x = _root._xmouse;
_y = _root._ymouse;
_alpha = _root._xmouse/10;
_rotation = _root._ymouse/10;

}

Flash quick notes

2007-09-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

Put this in the Action window (F9) for a movie clip's instance.

onClipEvent(enterFrame){
_x = _root._xmouse;
_y = _root._ymouse;
_alpha = _root._xmouse/10;
_rotation = _root._ymouse/10;

}

Adoption of Widescreen Monitors

2007-09-07T13:42:00.001-07:00

I had a good discussion today with colleagues about the impact of widescreen monitors on application and web design. I am skeptical about the usability of widescreen monitors for readability (due to the well known design principle of narrow text columns increasing readability). I've also noticed that generally stores are discounting widescreens below the cost of standard aspect ration monitors. For all I know, this is because they are having trouble getting rid of them.

Then, seemingly explaining all this, I came across this tidbit:

Philips: Widescreen adoption in LCD monitors not as quick as expected

By: Calvin Shao, Taipei; Carrie Yu, DIGITIMES [Friday 20 January 2006]
Friday, January 20, 2006 15:23

Although panel makers have aggressively pushed widescreen LCD monitor panels, the adoption rate is not expected to proceed as fast as expected, with the penetration rate of the segment now set to increase from 2% in 2005 to 9.8% in 2008, according to Sara Liu, assistant manager of market intelligence, Philips CEBLC-MMFD, Royal Philips Electronics.

Panel makers have rolled out various widescreen monitor panels, as it is more cost-efficient to cut glass substrates from later generation panel plants into widescreen models, rather than into standard (4:3 ratio) panels, sources said.

For example, a sixth-generation (6G) LCD substrate can output four more widescreen 20.1-inch panels than standard 20.1-inch panels. In addition, the utilization rate of the substrate would increase by 15 percentage points to over 90%, the sources indicated.

However, when purchasing monitors, consumers tend to judge the size of a monitor by the height of the model. As a result, widescreen models, which look smaller, may not end up being as attractive to customers, Liu said. In fact, a 16:9 20-inch LCD monitor has a 182 square-inch viewing area, compared with 194 square-inches for a 4:3 20.1-inch model, she added.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) was the main producer of 19-inch widescreen LCD monitor panels as of the end of last year. ViewSonic, Acer and CMV all use CMO panels in their 19-inch widescreen LCD monitors.

And I thought it had to do with pushing users to view movies on their computers. Instead, it looks like the marketplace is trying to push users to want to view movies on their computers so that they can sell them the less expensive widescreens.
Or something like that.

Notes from Peepcode tutorial on Prototype.js

2007-08-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

Notes from Peepcode tutorial on Prototype.js
ver 1.5.1

$H()
$A()

for Hash Object and Array Objects

var smedly = {ape:'brown',frog:'green'}
smedly.ape

var smedly = $H({ape:'brown',frog:'green'})
smedly.keys()

$A isn't really needed...
var asmedly = ['ape','frog','toad']
asmedly.first()

Element.hide('smedly')

$('smedly').hide()

$('smedly').show()

$$('boldTextCSSclass').invoke('hide')

$$('a').invoke('hide')

Anonymous Functions:

$$('a').each(takesAFunction)

$$('a').each(function(element){element.hide()})

Other selector syntaxes (generally uses CSS):
$$('a,p') selects both a's and p's
$$('div p') selects all p's in a div
$$('img') selects all images
$$('img[alt=mephisto-badge]') selects all images with 'mephisto-badge' as alt parm
--------------------------------------------------------

Modules
This is pure JavaScript. Create modules using Hashes.

var myHash = {mykey:myvalue, mykey2:myvalue2}

Now just put function in for the key:value pairs:

var HandyFunctions = {hideLinks: function(){}, showLinks: function(){}}
var HandyFunctions = {
hideLinks: function(){
$$('a').invoke('hide');
},
showLinks: function(){
$$('a').invoke('show')
}
};

Note: when you call these functions, even though they are Hash keys, make sure to put parentheses at end:
HandyFunction.hideLinks()

Classes
Note: see Yahoo video for painfully in-depth exploration of JavaScript classes.
Prototype makes it simpler. Just use Class.create() !!
They are similar to the Module concept above, but with some added functionality:
initialize,
parameters that can be passed to functions,
and you can use "this" keyword.

var Butter = Class.create()
Butter.prototype = {mykey:myvalue}

Butter.prototype = {
initialize: function(brand) {
this.brand = brand;
this.melted = false;
},
melt: function(){
this.melted = true;
}
}

var parkay = new Butter('Parkay');

Extend

addMethods

See Quirksmode for list of cross-browser behaviors (onmousever, onclick, etc)

JavaScript Hash

2007-08-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

var animalColors = {'ape':'black', 'pig':'pink', 'frog':'green'}

alert(animalColors['ape'])

alert(animalColors.ape)

Too Many Stored Procedures

2007-08-06T11:05:00.001-07:00

Is there such a thing as Too Many Stored Procedures?
Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror makes some great points that reflect my own thoughts over at:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000117.html

I think SQL Server's Object Explorer needs to have a built-in mechanism for managing the thousands of stored procedures that occupy a database, instead of trusting that a sensible naming convention will be used. In my experience, eventually any naming convention breaks down after time, as new developers and technologies arrive.

Linked to in Atwood's post is this by Frans Bouma, who seems to be the main promoter of cautionary use of Stored Procedures: http://weblogs.asp.net/fbouma/archive/2003/11/18/38178.aspx

Quick ASP Log

2007-08-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Handy for debugging errors:

function writeLog(msg)

Dim fso
Dim logfile
Dim logFileName
Dim strLog
logFileName = Server.MapPath("logfile.txt")
Set fso = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set logfile = FSO.OpenTextFile(logFileName, 8, True)
logfile.writeline now() & ":" & msg
set fso = nothing
set logfile = nothing

end function

Most Common Validators for ASP.NET

2007-08-01T13:42:00.000-07:00


     <asp:requiredfieldvalidator id="reqResendWaitDays" Runat="server" ErrorMessage="Required Field" ControlToValidate="txtResendWaitDays"
       Display="Dynamic">
</asp:requiredfieldvalidator>

      <asp:CompareValidator id="comResendWaitDays" Runat="server" ErrorMessage="Must be numeric" ControlToValidate="txtResendWaitDays"
       type="Integer" operator="DataTypeCheck">
</asp:CompareValidator>

HTML to Excel with ASP

2007-07-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

Quick and Easy method:

Response.Clear
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
Response.AddHeader "Content-Disposition", "inline;filename=requests.csv"
'Response.AddHeader "Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=requests.csv"
Dim header : header = ""
prefix = false
Dim field
for each field in rs.Fields
if(prefix) then
header = header & ","
end if
header = header & field.Name
prefix = true
next
Response.Write header & vbCRLF & rs.GetString(,,",",,"")
Response.End

IF-THEN-ELSE logic in a SELECT statement

2007-07-31T09:39:00.000-07:00

SELECT ename, CASE WHEN sal = 1000 THEN 'Minimum wage'
                   WHEN sal > 1000 THEN 'Over paid'
                   ELSE 'Under paid'
              END AS "Salary Status"
FROM   emp

3 Ways to Reload Page with JavaScript

2007-07-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

window.location.reload()

history.go(0)

window.location.href=window.location.href

JavaScript Dynamic Document Creation in New Windows

2007-07-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

newtext = document.forms.mainForm("MyTextAreaElement").value;

newwindow = window.open();

newdocument = newwindow.document;

newdocument.write(newtext);

Object doesn't support this property or method: 'EOF'

2007-07-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Happens when you forgot to use SET when assigning an object to a variable, e.g.:

set conn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
conn.open "<connection string>"
rs = conn.execute("SELECT columns FROM table")
if not rs.eof then ' error here
' ..

The line starting with "rs = " should start with "SET rs = " ...

Using Exists statement in If statements

2007-07-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

You'd think there'd be a more elegant way to do this, but...

IF NOT EXISTS(

SELECT TOP 1 1 FROM mytable WHERE myid = @myid

)

BEGIN

...do stuff

END

Annoying Issue with Float and IsNumeric

2007-07-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

Warning: When you use IsNumeric in VBScript, it will allow commas to pass. If you don't remove those commas from the string and pass it to a T-SQL procedure which expects a Float, you will get an error "

Error converting data type varchar to float."

Continuous Marquee or Scroller

2007-06-28T09:27:00.000-07:00


// Deluxe Scroller
// Author: Howard Covitz
// Date: May 4, 2007
// All rights reserved, yada yada yada
function startScroller(dn_newsID,scrollWindowHeight,scrollWindowWidth,scrollListHeight,scrollInterval,debug)
{

 // Set defaults
 if (!dn_newsID){
  dn_newsID = 'articleScroller' ;
 }
 if (!scrollWindowHeight){
  scrollWindowHeight = 200 ;
 }
 if (!scrollWindowWidth){
  scrollWindowWidth = 350;
 }
 if (!scrollListHeight){
  scrollListHeight = 900;
 }
 if (!scrollInterval){
  scrollInterval = 30;
 }
 if (!debug){
  debug= false;
 }


 var n=document.getElementById(dn_newsID);
 if(!n){return;}
 n.style.height= scrollWindowHeight + 'px'; //sets window height

 var c=n.getElementsByTagName('div')[0]; // carOne
 var d=n.getElementsByTagName('div')[1]; // carTwo
 
 
 
 c.innerHTML = d.innerHTML;
 c.style.width= (scrollWindowWidth - 30) + 'px'; //sets data list width, should be less than window width.
 d.style.width= (scrollWindowWidth - 30) + 'px'; //sets data list width, should be less than window width.
// var scrollListHeight = c.offsetHeight; 
 if(debug){
  alert(c.offsetHeight);
 }
 if (c.offsetHeight == 0){ //will hopefully only happen in IE if nested down far
  var strContent = c.innerHTML;
  //determine character count: strip out HTML tags first
  strContent = strContent.replace(/&(lt|gt);/g, function (strMatch, p1){
     return (p1 == "lt")? "<" : ">"; });
   strContent = strContent.replace(/<\/?[^>]+(>|$)/g, "");  
   var contentLen = strContent.length;
   //following optimized for stylesheet listed later
   var charsPerLine = 60;
   var lineHeight = 15;
   var numItems = 8;
   var sepLineHeight = 20;
   var buffer = 20;
   scrollListHeight = Math.round(((contentLen/charsPerLine) * lineHeight) + (numItems * sepLineHeight) + buffer);
   
 }
 else{
  scrollListHeight = c.offsetHeight + 15; //pad for firefox????
 }

 c.scrollInterval = scrollInterval;
 c.scrollListHeight= scrollListHeight;
 c.scrollWindowHeight =  scrollWindowHeight;
 if(scrollWindowHeight > scrollListHeight){
  //c.dn_startpos= scrollListHeight; // Should be presumed height of data list or window height, whichever is smaller  
 }
 c.dn_scrollpos = c.scrollWindowHeight;

 d.scrollInterval = scrollInterval;
 d.dn_endpos= scrollListHeight * -2;  //double check this logic...maybe this is no longer used below
 d.dn_startpos = scrollWindowHeight;//since it is relative positioned, it will line up right after carOne
 d.dn_scrollpos = d.dn_startpos;
 
 c.myinterval = setInterval('scrollDOMnews("' + dn_newsID + '")',c.scrollInterval);

 c.onmouseover=function(){clearInterval(c.myinterval);}
 c.onmouseout=function(){c.myinterval =setInterval('scrollDOMnews("' + dn_newsID + '")',c.scrollInterval);}
 d.onmouseover=function(){clearInterval(c.myinterval);}
 d.onmouseout=function(){c.myinterval =setInterval('scrollDOMnews("' + dn_newsID + '")',c.scrollInterval);}

}

function scrollDOMnews(dn_newsID)
{
 var c=document.getElementById(dn_newsID).getElementsByTagName('div')[0]; 
 c.style.top=c.dn_scrollpos+'px'; 
 if(c.dn_scrollpos== Math.round((c.scrollListHeight * -1))){ //ie -700
  c.dn_scrollpos=c.scrollListHeight; //directly below car two
 }
 c.dn_scrollpos--;
 scrollDOMnews2(dn_newsID); 
}
function scrollDOMnews2(dn_newsID)
{
 var c=document.getElementById(dn_newsID).getElementsByTagName('div')[1]; 
 c.style.top=c.dn_scrollpos+'px'; 
 if(c.dn_scrollpos==Math.round(c.dn_endpos)){
  c.dn_scrollpos= 0;
 }
 c.dn_scrollpos--; 
}


 /* stop scroller when window is closed */
window.onunload=function()
{
 // this will have to be a nice to have:
 //clearInterval(dn_interval);
}


/*
EXPECTED FORMAT OF HTML

<div class="marquee" id="articleScroller" style="overflow:hidden;postion:relative;">
 <div style="position:relative;"></div>
 <div style="position:relative;">
  {CONTENT GOES HERE -- just don't use DIV tags}
 </div>
</div>
USAGE:
startScroller("articleScroller",200,350,30);
startScroller("articleScroller2",200,350,30);

In IE, optimized for following styles:
.marquee{
 padding:0px;
 margin:0px;
}
.marquee ul{
 margin:0px;
 padding:0px;
}
.marquee li{
    padding-bottom:3px;
 margin:0px;
}
.marquee li a:link, .marquee li a:visited {
 font: 11px Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
 text-decoration:underline;
 font-weight:bold;
}
.marquee li a:hover, .marquee li a:active {
 font: 11px Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
 text-decoration: none;
 font-weight:bold;
}
.marquee p{
 padding:0px;
 margin:0px;
}

*/

Stripping out HTML tags with JavaScript

2007-06-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

strContent = strContent.replace(/&(ltgt);/g, function (strMatch, p1){
return (p1 == "lt")? "<" : ">"; });
strContent = strContent.replace(/<\/?[^>]+(>$)/g, "");

A quick aside on web culture

2007-06-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

I recently started checking out the notorious MySpace and Facebook some more. About a year ago I checked them out just to make sure I was up on the latest Big Thing in my industry (since I am a web programmer, after all). I think at that time you had to have a valid University e-mail, so luckily I had my Brown alumni one. But then recently I read this Facebook for Fiftysomethings at one of my daily reads (Slate.com, I regularly check out the Human Nature column, not to mention the political stuff), which motivated me to the extent that, if Emily Yoffe could do it, so could I (though in retrospect she does seem so naive). Especially in the past month, I've been trying to be more active about "participating", and as will be no surprise to those familiar with both sites, Facebook was more to my taste. Well, on the heels of that realization, I read this today:MySpace, Facebook mirror class divisions in US society.
This just confirms my own observations.

Also, isn't "Social Networking" redundant?

Classic ASP Error Handling

2007-06-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

On Error Resume Next

'this will cause the page to continue processing when it hits an error

'after all scripting

If Err.number <> 0 then

Dim msg msg = "Error Number " & Err.number & " occurred in millionDollarRequest.asp. Description: " & Err.Description & " SOURCE: " & Err.Source

msg = msg & " IPADDRESS: " & Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_HOST")

sendEmailError(msg)

Err.Clear

end if

'typical error message mailer

function sendEmailError(msg)

Dim Mailer
Set Mailer = Server.CreateObject("SMTPsvg.Mailer")
Mailer.RemoteHost = "mail.XXXXXX.com"
Mailer.Timeout = 30
Mailer.FromName = "ERROR REPORT"
Mailer.FromAddress = "webmaster@XXXXXXXXX.com"
Mailer.ReplyTo = "webmaster@XXXXXXX.com"
Mailer.AddRecipient "", "YYYYYYY@XXXXXXXXX.com"
Mailer.Subject = "ERROR Alert"
Mailer.BodyText = msg

sendEmail = Mailer.SendMail
end function

T-SQL Searching through the schema

2007-06-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

For SQL Server 2005:

Some examples:
select * from sys.objects
select * from sys.sql_modules <-- Stored Procedures and Views
select * from sys.columns
select * from sys.triggers

Searching the text of all stored procedures:
select o.name from sys.sql_modules m
inner join sys.objects o
on m.object_id = o.object_id
where m.definition like '%string you are looking for%'

Searching for tables that contain the column (field) you want:
select a.name
from sys.objects a
inner join sys.columns b
on a.object_id = b.object_id
where b.name='column name you are looking for'

Another way:

SELECT ROUTINE_NAME, ROUTINE_DEFINITION 
    FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES 
    WHERE ROUTINE_DEFINITION LIKE '%foobar%' 
    AND ROUTINE_TYPE='PROCEDURE'

For SQL Server 2000:

Searching the text of all stored procedures:
select object_name(id)
from syscomments
where objectproperty(id,'IsProcedure') = 1
and [text] like '%string you are looking for%'

Stylesheet based on existence of Javascript

2007-06-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

To help deal with those with Javascript disabled on their browsers:

This is helpful when using CSS properties like "display:none" and
"display:block" with JavaScript to hide Divs.

Reqular Expressions and SQL

2007-06-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

FIND: ^$.+$$
REPLACE: \0 = formToSql("\0")

Getting index value of new record created

2007-06-12T15:33:00.001-07:00

In your T-SQL stored procedure, after you insert the new record into a table that has an auto-incrementing index, use the following:

SELECT NEWID = SCOPE_IDENTITY()
OR (if using pre 2000 sql server)
select returnval = @@identity

You can retrieve the value in the following way:
set rs = con.Execute(strSql)
yournewID = rs(0)

Recent Projects

2007-06-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

My manager is really impressed with a documentation tool I created in C#. The mechanics of it were no big deal (aside from getting ASP.NET to behave). But I did have to get real crafty in getting at and creating the data. Used a whole grab bag of tricks to mine it. Sometimes regular expressions, sometimes Textpad features, sometimes just Excel.

Sketchpad for Blogs

2007-06-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to transfer my vast notebook of programming notes, gathered from about 7 years of work, to a blog. Problem is, I intersperse my text with sketches or doodles that server as important memory tags. I know there have been online sketching apps around for years (usually done in Flash), where you can even save the stuff online. So it would seem an easy leap to make that part of a blog. But I've been looking around for about a week and nobody seems to have done this.

This exercise also made me realize how little we've come in truly integrating sketching and word processing, regardless of online or not. It should be a lot simpler now for users of MS Word to add a sketch, but it is poorly integrated.

http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/
http://www.sketchswap.com/
http://www.cumulatelabs.com/cumulatedraw/
http://www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbook/flipbook_maker.php

Perhaps due to some synchronicity, though, I did just find this new post, which is tantalizingly close to what I'm talking about.
Julie Lerman Blog - Embedding Silverlight Annotation in my dasblog post

(which references http://silverlight.net/Samples/1.1/Scribbler/run/default.html)
Note that it dovetails with another fascination of mine: the demise of Flash.

Progressive Enhancement

2007-06-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

I'm currently digesting an article on Progressive Enhancement as a an alternative approach to web design, as opposed to Graceful Degradation. It turns out I've been a natural P.E. adopter and just never knew it.