Dotnet Creep's Blog

Bad Disk Failure Message in Visio

2010-03-18T17:07:00.004+05:30

Recently while trying to save a draft visio diagram I created in my newly built PC, it gave me an annoying error exactly like what you can see in the below screenshot. After a few minutes I came across the solution, which is to install an update to the Web Folders Component of the OS provided by Microsoft.

Software Update for Web Folders (KB907306)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=17C36612-632E-4C04-9382-987622ED1D64&displaylang=en

We're really lucky to have a helping hand from the community and I beleive we have to give and take. This is the first post I made since 2007???

Microsoft CRM 3.0 Customizing Integration Using ISV.Config Part 1

2007-07-05T17:30:00.000+05:30

haMicrosoft CRM 3.0 allows the customization of navigation by the use of three tools.

ISV.Config
sitemap.xml
Entity Display Areas

In this post I will be looking in to the ways of using the ISV.config file to customize MSCRM3.0 navigation.

ISV.config file is an XML file, therefore we must keep in mind basic XML related concepts such as case sensitivity etc.

ISV.config file could be found in the _Resources folder inside the web installation path of a particular CRM server installation. It's C:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM\CRMWeb\_Resources in my CRM server.

You can download the ISV.config file to be edited by navigating to Settings => Customization and thereafter selecting the ISV.config from the list shown in the grid. Please see figure below.

The CRM system will popup a warning message as given below

It is a best practice to give a meaningful name most probably "ISV Config.xml" as the file name when you download it to your local machine. The default file name is customizations.xml. See below figures.

Once you have saved a local copy of the ISV config please remember to keep a back up of the original file. It might be helpful if anything goes wrong during the operation.

Use your favourite XML editor to edit the ISV.config file. Mine is Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.

The main application menu bar is located right after the root node of the xml file.

Adding a Menu to the CRM Application

You can add a menu to the main menu by pasting the following lines of code between the MenuBar Tags.

save the changes you made and you're now ready to import the customization that you did in to the CRM. CRM provides an import tool to apply your customization to the CRM system.

You can find it if you navigate to Settings => Customizations => Import Customizations.

In the import tool you will find a browse button which allows you to browse and select the modified ISV.Config file in your local machine. And also you will find an Upload button to upload the selected file to the CRM server. Once the file is successfully uploaded you will get a screen similar to the one below, having the ISV Config listed in the grid. Make sure you have selected the ISV Config Entry in the grid and click on the "Import All Customizations" button from the Grid Toolbar.

If the import is successful the popup message shown below will appear.

Otherwise you will be shown a message like the following. Check the formatting of the ISV config file, sometimes you might have forgotten to close an opened tag.

Now it's time to see the result of the customization. If everything goes as expected the Application Menu similar to the following must appear.

Code Snippets?

2006-02-07T14:50:00.000+06:00

What are Code Snippets?
Code snippets are a solution to implement reusable blocks of code which developers use very often during their day to day programming activities. Such as for...loops, if...else.., try..catch..., and many other similar code blocks.
Code snippets are a new feature which comes with VS2005, and it drastically reduces coding time. You can even write your own code snippets to suite your situation.

Share the code snippets that you write and get code snippets that other developers has developed, it’s all free from http://www.gotcodesnippets.net/

Learn more about code snippets from the following links.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165392.aspx
http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showID=131
http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/showpost.aspx?postid=61654&siteid=1
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=121821

Be more careful when handling dynamically generated SQL queries

2006-01-30T12:14:00.000+06:00

Last Friday I encountered an issue in a system which we provide support. It was caused by a dynamic SQL query.
A dynamic sql query is a query which is generated in the run time, stored usually in a variable, and executed usually using
sp_executesql to return the results.

I found comments placed by the developer who has developed it inside the sql query string it self, which was executed after building it dynamically.
But that query string is appended more dynamic parameters before execution (ORDER BY Field and ASC/DESC). After executing the query the sproc returned data but the sorting field and the ascending descending parameters did not seem to be working.
The reason was a comment started right after the last statement has made all other appended code as part of the comment.

I give below an example query (@sortedByField and @sortType are passed in to the sproc as parameters)

DECLARE @SqlStatement nvarchar(1000)

SET @SqlStatement = 'SELECT * FROM SomeTable
WHERE SomeField = 6 --POD => Proff Of Delivery'

(Please notice the comments given by the developer inside the string are in bold)

SET @SqlStatement = @SqlStatement + ' ORDER BY [' + @sortedBy + '] ' + @sortType

(Appending code after the comment line, results appended code to be treated as comments)

'SELECT * FROM SomeTable WHERE SomeField = 6 --POD => Proff Of Delivery ORDER BY Field1 DESC'
('SELECT * FROM SomeTable WHERE SomeField = 6' is the only effective part of the dynamically generated query)

So we better be more careful when we are working with dynamically generated sql in the future. And if possible reduce the use of the as much as possible.

SysAdmins becomes a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

2006-01-10T14:16:00.000+06:00

I just got the news from Nick (our managing director) that SysAdmins (the company I work for) has been awarded the Microsoft Gold Certified Partnership. It's a wonderful news to hear at the beginning of the year. If I'm correct we are the second company in Sri Lanka to achieve the Gold Certified Partnership. Great effort team! Let's keep it up.

Sigiriya will remain as the 8th wonder of the world forever

2006-01-03T15:41:00.000+06:00

While browsing google news I came across an important link http://www.new7wonders.com, There is a process going on to choose the new 7 wonders of the world. And the best thing is we can call up and vote to choose the new 7 wonders of the world. And the bad thing is that since ages we were calling "Sigiriya" as the 8th wonder of the world, and we can call it the 8th wonder of the world rest of our lives, because huge cement structures are also amongst the 21 finalists. For people who don't know what sigiriya is you can get a brief idea from this link http://www.sritravel.8m.net/sigiriya.htm

Specify Guids for a RowFilter property of a DataView object

2005-12-12T16:52:00.000+06:00

As many of you are aware we can provide an expression to filter out records from a DataView to the RowFilter property of a DataView object. For a recent development that I was involved I wanted to provide a list of Guids as the expression with an 'IN' operator.
Ex:

SomeDataTable.DefaultView.RowFilter = "customerid IN (" + guidString +")"; // The guidString is the string variable which contains the list of Guids.
( the field customerid is of Type Guid )

First I created the guidString as "{7F901912-DD67-47B9-A5B3-B702B9F84680},{85823FC5-1F2E-4034-B1CB-6DEE954AC4D4},.......and so on"

But this did not work as I expected. It gave an error saying "Cannot interpret token '{' at position 16."
Then I created the string as "'{7F901912-DD67-47B9-A5B3-B702B9F84680}','{85823FC5-1F2E-4034-B1CB-6DEE954AC4D4}',.......and so on"
This also did not work and gave an error saying "Cannot perform '=' operation on System.Guid and System.String."
Aftter that I found the solution from the MSDN itself.
I should format the guidString as "CONVERT('{7F901912-DD67-47B9-A5B3-B702B9F84680}','System.Guid'),CONVERT('{85823FC5-1F2E-4034-B1CB-6DEE954AC4D4}', .... and so on"
Ex:

SomeDataTable.DefaultView.RowFilter = "customerid IN (CONVERT('{7F901912-DD67-47B9-A5B3-B702B9F84680}','System.Guid'),CONVERT('{85823FC5-1F2E-4034-B1CB-6DEE954AC4D4}', .... and so on )"

New Generation of Certifications from MSFT

2005-11-01T08:37:00.000+06:00

I extracted the introduction given below from Microsoft Learning website.

"The New Generation of Microsoft Certifications

The new generation of Microsoft certifications is more specific and targeted to reflect the detail of what you do and to prove your expertise to those who need to know.
Consisting of three series and four credentials, the new generation of Microsoft certifications provides a simpler and more targeted framework for IT managers to validate core technical skills, professional skills, and architectural skills. It also provides professionals in the IT industry with a more relevant, flexible, and cost-effective way to showcase their skills."

Interested??? Read More from here!!!

I guess it will make life easier for both parties employees and the employers since the employees have a way of showing what area they are really good at and employers can figure out easily "who fits that empty slot?"

So lets get started.... I'm gonna take a move on to this way

MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer

SysAdmins is Hiring

2005-10-11T11:46:00.000+06:00

SysAdmins is Hiring...

2005-08-12T15:58:00.000+06:00

The Company I work for SysAdmins is currently in the process of hiring new development staff for the new Development Centre in Sri Lanka. If any of you guys are interested in applying please forward your CV with two non-related referees. Given below is the advertisement I extracted from the Sri lankan dotnet developers user group.

"Permanent - Software Engineers required for company in Sri Lanka (WTC office). Several positions available including, senior, junior, support and project management. Microsoft technologies with the following skills:

1. Bachelor's degree in IT or equivalent.
2. Over 1 year of industry experience in Microsoft development technologies. (ASP.NET, C#, VB.NET., ASP, VB. SQL server.)
3. Good understanding of software development .NET in team environment.
4. Sound knowledge in object oriented design and application development.
5. Good knowledge of UML and computer science fundamentals.
6. Very good analytical and problem solving skills.
7. Excellent communication skills.
8. Flexibility in working under changing.
9. MCP prefered.

Salary range 30k to 60k dependant on experience
Fw your CVs to jobs@sysadmins.co.uk
Country: Sri Lanka Email: jobs@sysadmins.co.uk "

How to Set Measurement Unit of MS Word Print Dialog Programatically

2005-08-08T20:36:00.000+06:00

In a recent project that I'm working for at my current work place, We were using Office Interop for printing some word documents from HTML files and we wanted to set the measurement unit of the page to print (Inches, Millimeters, Centimiters etc...) . We were struggling over this issue for a while; Since the Word API was not so easy to be familiar with. At last I found the way to set it. I give below a sample of the code we came up with. I hope this will someday could be used by many.
N.B: Code is in VB.Net

Public objWord As Word.Application ' Word Application Object

Private Function printHTML(ByVal document As String, ByVal nums As Int32, ByVal orientation As Int32, ByVal leftMargin As Int32, ByVal topMargin As Int32, ByVal rightMargin As Int32, ByVal bottomMargin As Int32, ByVal pageSize As Int32, ByVal printdest As String) As Boolean

Const ForWriting = 2 ' Input OutPut mode
Const Create = True

Dim MyFile As String
Dim FSO As File 'Variable to deal with parameters to the Word Interop that we don't need to pass
Dim NoParam As Object
NoParam = Type.Missing

MyFile = Path & document & ".html" ' HTML File to Print

If FSO.Exists(MyFile) Then
objWord.Documents.Open(MyFile, False, True, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam)

' Setting destination printer
With objWord.Application.Dialogs.Item(Word.WdWordDialog.wdDialogFilePrintSetup)
.Printer = printdest
.DoNotSetAsSysDefault = True
.Execute()
End With

' setting up Page Orientation
If orientation = 2 Then
objWord.ActiveDocument.PageSetup.Orientation = Word.WdOrientation.wdOrientLandscape
Else
objWord.ActiveDocument.PageSetup.Orientation = Word.WdOrientation.wdOrientPortrait
End If

' Setting pages Measurement Unit to Millimeters
With objWord
.Application.Options.MeasurementUnit = Word.WdMeasurementUnits.wdMillimeters
End With

'Setting the Page Size
objWord.ActiveDocument.PageSetup.PaperSize = pageSize

' Setting the Margins
objWord.ActiveDocument.PageSetup.LeftMargin = leftMargin
objWord.ActiveDocument.PageSetup.RightMargin = rightMargin
objWord.ActiveDocument.PageSetup.TopMargin = topMargin
objWord.ActiveDocument.PageSetup.BottomMargin = bottomMargin

objWord.Options.PrintBackground = False 'Do not print the background
'Call the Print method
objWord.ActiveDocument.PrintOut(False, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, CStr(nums), NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam, NoParam)

'Closing the File
objWord.ActiveDocument.Close(False)

' clean up files
If (FSO.Exists(MyFile)) Then FSO.Delete(MyFile)

End Function

The Youngest MCP in Pakistan

2005-08-08T15:49:00.000+06:00

Arfa Karim a nine year old girl from pakistan has got her Microsoft Certification recently which makes her one of the under ten year old MCPs in the world (only a few you can find). I wish you all the best Arfa. May all your dreams come true since all of them are really good ones as I can see. Check out more information about Arfa by following the links given below.

Bill Gates to Stay at World's Youngest MCP's Home in Pakistan
Arfa's Trip to Redmond
Interview with Arfa Karim
Youngest MCP in Pakistan

A New SysAdmin

2005-07-26T15:47:00.000+06:00

I joined Systems Administrators Ltd. (UK) recently and I'm currently in Cambridge UK, for a short training. I could not blog for the past few weeks (nearly a month I guess) because I was so busy settling stuff and getting my visa. I'll be back in Sri Lanka hopefully in about 2 months. I was recruited as a Senior Developer. SysAdmins is a Microsoft partnering company.

NUnit and NUnitAsp Demo.

2005-06-20T11:51:00.000+06:00

Last Friday I introduced NUnit as a unit testing tool to my team. It was a one and a half hours demonstration. And I also introduced NUnitAsp an extension to the NUnit Framework which is used to Unit Test ASP.Net User Interfaces.

The NUnitAsp uses an HttpClient to download the output of an ASP.Net page and runs unit testing on the page using Tester controls.

NUnitAsp contains Tester controls for the controls listed below found in the namespace System.Web.UI.WebControls
Button
CheckBox
DataGrid
DropDownList
ImageButton
Label
LinkButton
ListBox
Panel
RadioButton
TextBox
UserControl
ValidationSummary

and two Testers for the controls in the System.Web.UI.HtmlControls namespace
HtmlAnchor
HtmlInputCheckBox

I give below a simple sample which I demonstrated to my team, but I assume that you're familiar with unit testing using NUnit GUI or console based version.

The first thing is to create your unit testing application and adding a reference to nunit.framework.dll and NUnitAsp.dll assembly files
which enables you to use the following using directives.

using NUnit.Framework;
using NUnit.Extensions.Asp;
using NUnit.Extensions.Asp.AspTester;
using NUnit.Extensions.Asp.HtmlTester;

the next step is to create a test fixture which enables you to define your tests.
but you don't have to mark the class with the TestFixture attribute as in NUnit.

public class ASPUITester:WebFormTestCase
{
//Implementation ommitted.

}

the next step is to create your test methods. Always remember to mark your test methods with the Test attribute, otherwise Nunit framework would not be informed to test the particular method.

[Test()]
public void TestTransfer()
{
// Implementation omitted.
}

After creating a Tester object for a control on your web form you can manipulate the properties of the control using the Tester Control. Before start testing you must load the web form you want to the Browser object.

Browser.GetPage(@"http://localhost/AccountsManagerWebUI/TransactionManager.aspx");

Ex: If you want to set the Text property of a text box control you do the following steps.
Create an instance of the TextBoxTester class you'll have to provide the TextBoxes id as a constructor parameter.
Set the Text Property of the TextBoxTester instance to the value you wish.

TextBoxTester textBoxTester = new TextBoxTester("transferAmountTextBox",CurrentWebForm);

ButtonTester buttonTester = new ButtonTester("transferButton",CurrentWebForm);

LabelTester labelTester = new LabelTester("resultLabel",CurrentWebForm);

textBoxTester.Text = "500";

You can then call methods of the Tester objects to perform actions such as button click to perform post back of the WebForm.

//Click the button
buttonTester.Click();
//Assert the result.
AssertEquals("Result is incorrect",labelTester.Text,"500");

Another thing to note is that NUnitAsp does not use [SetUp()] and [TearDown()] attributes to define pre-test and post-test methods, rather we override the SetUp() and TearDown() methods.

protected override void SetUp()
{
textBoxTester = new TextBoxTester("transferAmountTextBox",CurrentWebForm);
buttonTester = new ButtonTester("transferButton",CurrentWebForm);
labelTester = new LabelTester("resultLabel",CurrentWebForm);
}

There are tester controls for most of the ASP.Net controls provided with VS.Net, even the DataGrid.
Most of the simple UI's could be unit tested using NUnitAsp. But currently NUnitAsp does not support frames, JavaScripts, Pop-up windows and a number of HtmlControls provided with VS.Net.
The main idea behind using NUnitAsp for UI testing is testing the code-behind logic.
You can find NUnitAsp at http://nunitasp.sourceforge.net/ and NUnit at http://www.nunit.org/

Now an MCAD

2005-06-07T13:57:00.000+06:00

It feels great to announce that I got through my 070-320 examination yesterday with 824/1000, which makes me an MCAD. I'm going to pause my process of getting MCSD for a two months period since I have to submit my BIT project documentation to the University of Colombo School of Computing.
I'm using C#.Net to implement my project and I use some other things as EAB, FxCop, NUnit, NHibernate as supporting tools.

We missed a meeting with Ingo Rammer

2005-06-07T13:36:00.000+06:00

I found out that Ingo Rammer who is an expert in the area of distributed application design and development has visited Sri Lanka on the 17th of May. I read this news when I was reading Buddhike's blog. I left a comment on his blog asking to inform us at the Sri Lankan .Net user group since we could have arranged a special meeting to meet this geek from Austria.
Ingo Rammer is the author of the award winning book "Advanced .Net Remoting" and he's the co-founder of Thinktecture.
And I'm happy since Ingo says that he will definitely try to arrange a meeting with the Sri Lankan .net User group during his next visit.
Thanks Ingo & Buddhike. And wish you all the best with your new Job with the thinktects Buddhike.

Enterprise Library 1.0 Hands On Labs

2005-05-25T10:02:00.000+06:00

Those who wanna get hands on the Enterprise Library 1.0, Here is the chance you've been waiting for!!!

Download the Enterprise Library 1.0 Hands On Labs from here!

.Net Audio and Video that I Listen and Watch

2005-05-18T13:47:00.000+06:00

One of my colleagues caught me watching a downloaded MSDN TV recording so he asked me from where I get these from. I know that most of you geeky .netters out there know these links, but for the people who does not know here are the links.
And for your information I have most of them downloaded (300K versions) with me so any one can ask me before downloading whether it's available with me.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/

http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/

http://channel9.msdn.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/events/nuggets.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/

And if you guys know any more links where I can download more audio or video content on .Net please make comments.

Imagine Cup Sri Lankan Finals

2005-05-18T12:47:00.000+06:00

Imagine cup Sri Lanka winners has been announced. The team is from the Moratuwa University. And the project is called Value Chain Integration System. And the team made their way to success under the supervision by our friend Wellington Perera a.k.a Wela ( one of the Sri Lankan MVPs )
My Congratulations to Wela and The Team who will be flying to Yokohama, Japan. I hope that you will bring the Imagine Cup Home.

SQL Server 2005: CLR Integration Blog

2005-05-17T13:17:00.000+06:00

The SQL Server 2005 CLR integration team recently has started blogging.
SQL-CLR enables writing sprocs, funcs, triggers, etc... using any of the .Net Languages.

You can watch the action at http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlclr/default.aspx

Code Snippet Collection From Ted Gamble

2005-05-16T15:25:00.000+06:00

Ted Gamble shares his code snippet collection which contains code samples, tips, tricks, hacks which he has created or encountered during his life as a Software Engineer.

You can view them Here

Another free e-book from "The Server Side"

2005-05-13T11:11:00.000+06:00

You can freely download a good e-book with the title

Essential XML Quick Reference:
A Programmer's Reference to XML, XPath, XSLT, XML Schema, SOAP, and More By Aaron Skonnard & Martin Gudgin.

A structured way to handle URLs in ASP.Net Applications

2005-05-13T10:56:00.000+06:00

I extracted the following from the site of PageMethods which is a solution to define a structured method to define URLs and Calling them.

Introduction
Linking to a web page is very easy, both in simple HTML and in ASP.NET. Linking to a page that really exists, passing the right parameters, and parsing these parameters, is a bit different.

Features and Benefits
"PageMethods provides a solution for the limitations of the standard way of handling pages, URLs and parameters.The usual way to proceed is not structured. With PageMethods, the code of your pages is simpler, cleaner and more reliable.
The approach is based on strict page inputs and declarative parameter binding. With PageMethods, each page exposes a set of methods that represent the different ways to call the page.All you have to do to start benefiting from sharp URLs is to add methods to your pages, and mark these methods with attributes provided by PageMethods."

check it out here!!!

Discussion on Naming Guidelines

2005-05-11T09:46:00.000+06:00

I started a thread on the Sri Lankan .Net User Group to discuss about .Net Naming Guidelines and practices the discussion is going pretty cool [ 150 views and 15 comments at the moment (DateTime.Now!!) ] you can check it out here .
If you also have any comments on this please do.

Free e-book on COM and .Net Interop.

2005-05-11T09:42:00.000+06:00

A free e-book from the Server Side on COM and .Net interoperability we can download it here!!!

What Gender Is Your Brain?

2005-04-29T12:30:00.000+06:00

Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female

You are both sensitive and savvy

Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed

But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

2005-04-29T11:45:00.000+06:00

This is my linguistic profile when I tested it... Does it make any sense? These days Most of the time at office is spent doing nothing. So why not taking a test like this. It's just took less than 5 minutes. I must get ready for my other MCP certification rather than wasting time.

Your Linguistic Profile:

55% General American English

25% Yankee

15% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

Ahhhh.... Now I know that I'm not Midwestern definitely. I am Sri Lankan!!!!!!

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Got through 70-315 with 962/1000

2005-04-26T15:01:00.000+06:00

Yesterday (25th of April 2005) I did my Developing Web Applications using C#.Net Examination (70-315). I felt that I'm not prepared so well on the 18th so I postponed it to the 25th (Sorry could not blog about it ;-> ). I managed to score 962 out of 1000. I'm planning to do Developing XML Web Services and Server Components (70-320) Examination on the 16th of May. If I pass it successfully I will be a MCAD.

Creating Visual Studio .Net Setup Projects With Custom User Interfaces and Actions

2005-04-21T12:37:00.000+06:00

Given Below is a Problem that one Member of the Sri Lankan Dotnet UserGroup came up with..

"As you all of them aware that we can build setups using setup wizard or setup project in visual studio.NET enviornment. Once we have build a setup and when installing the same, the dialog boxes which directs the
user to successfull installations are fixed in the visual studio.NET envrionment. But we can add additional Read Me, License Agreement, Register User,..etc through the User Interface.
My problem is this, if I need to request additional data from the user while he was installing the application such as Server Name, User Name, Password. how can I do this....
note : - the application which is insalled in the client machine depends on the data which he has entered while he was installing.
(for example : when we are installing SQL Server, Oracle or any other
applications the setup will ask for the Server Name, user name, passwords...like wise I have to do with my setup project)
if anyone know the anwer for this, please help me..!
tks,
Ammar."

Here is the answer I came up with

"You can add Dialogs which contain text boxes for the user to input some data for you. Did you notice there are 3 builtin Textbox Dialogs.Namely TextBoxes (A),TextBoxes (B),TextBoxes (C)
You can set the labels for these text boxes and also you can make them visible/invisible using the properties window.

Ok. You now have the information from the user, Now you want to configure your application using this information.

To achieve this you have to add a custom action to your setup.

What differs from the solution given in the c-sharpcorner ????

We're not going to create an Installer Class rather we use a simple executable file (.exe/.dll).
To this executable file we can pass the information we got from the user as arguments. Lets say that you want to pass Information from the Textboxes (A) window to the custom action. Then we set the Custom Actions
Arguments property to [EDITA1], [EDITA2],[EDITA3],[EDITA4] (you must include them in square braces when you are refering to the textboxes exactly as given above also notice that I have included a comma
to separate the arguments)

Since we are not going to use an Installer Class we have to set the Custom Actions InstallerClass Property To False. In the executable file you have to write code to modify your applications configuration file or where you plan to store configuration information.

Lolitha"

Our friend Prasanna(MVP) gave a solution too....

"You can use the user interface option to create new screen in your
deployment.

But if you want something advanced you can try creating custom actions to
show the UI you want and customizing the setup as per that. Also try out
the following URL on creating custom actions for your setup
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/Code/2003/Dec/CustomInstallMG.asp

Just try it out and if you face any problems shoot a msg here.

Prasanna(MVP)"

If any one comes up with such a problem above information will help you to get a solution.

Visual Studio .Net 2005 Beta 2 released

2005-04-18T11:19:00.000+06:00

It's a great news to hear that VS .Net 2005 beta 2 has been released. It's the hottest news in the world of .net developers.

get more information

Update for WeRock247.Net

2005-04-08T11:18:00.000+06:00

Got to know that there is an update for WeRock247.Net it has been released on the February 15th 2005.

"WeRock 247 .NET Update
A new and exciting update for the WeRock247 mobile application suite. This updated Windows Mobile Smartphone application is a showcase of how easy it is to develop compelling and graphically rich applications on the Windows Mobile Smartphone platform.
The zip file contains: Cool stand alone demo; Visual Studio solution with code comments and Corresponding word document.
Go right ahead and dig into the code to see just how easy it is! To download the zipped update"

Check it out

WeFly247 release is nearing

2005-04-08T10:54:00.000+06:00

I received a notification from Learn247.Net today saying that they plan to release WeFly247 within the month of April. They are gonna run a series of webcasts before the release.

The WeFly247 scenario focuses on a fictitious airline company and contains everything that a developer needs to know about building applications with Visual Studio 2005 beta 2.

The applications for WeFly247 scenario are broken down into 3 areas covering all areas of development, including Windows Mobile, VSTO, Smart Client, and InfoPath and much more....

Given below is the schedule of the first webcast

18 April: 5pm - 6:15pm GMT

WeFly247 Application Walkthrough and Technologies

Come and learn about the WeFly247 project, learn about the technologies used to build the solution and the architecture design.
This session will give you a chance to get an understanding of the entire project and see all the applications working together as well as hear from the developers of the applications that built each application.
AGENDA:
WeFly247 Application Overview
WeFly247 System Architecture
Building the Pilot applications (Windows Forms, VSTO)
Building the Passenger application (ASP.NET 2.0)
Building the Crew application (.NET CF)
Wrap up / Q&A

Interesting Ha....
Get your self registered for the event today.

MSN Messenger 7.0 is released

2005-04-07T17:26:00.000+06:00

I've been using the MSN messenger 7.0 beta for the past few months. And I'm glad to hear that the MSN Messenger 7.0 has been released today.

And you know that I also have the MSN Messenger Plus Pack by Patchou installed on with MSN messenger which provides some extra features as chat logs, boss protection, automated replies, customized statuses and much more...

You can download or get more information here MSN Messenger Plus Pack

April Sri Lankan Dotnet User Group Meeting

2005-04-07T11:09:00.000+06:00

In the April meeting of the Sri Lankan Dotnet forum Prasanna (one of the MVPs in Sri lanka) presented us with an introduction to NHibernate which is a .Net based object persistence library. It is an open source project from sourceforge. NHibernate is a direct port from Hibernate Hibernate 2.0.3 which is a java based object persistence tool.

Given below are some links to get to know Nhibernate

HQL Query Analyzer

Prasanna's Presentation

NHibernate Forum Posted Questions in CHM Format

Thank you prasanna for the nice presentation I am pretty impressed about exploring more of NHibernate which of course previously I did not do.

And Merill encouraged people who were at the meeting to start bloging. I think we might get quite a lot of dotnet forum blogers in the future.

I must keep mine also alive....

Now a MCP

2005-04-06T17:11:00.000+06:00

On the 28th of March I took my first MCP examination Developing Windows Applications in C#.Net, Guess what...! I got 960 marks out of 1000. I felt great. I was planning to take the examination from about one or two years back but never did because I never felt that I'm ready enough. I had only one week to get prepared since I was so busy at my work place to launch the Toyota Formula1 Ticket Ordering Application.
So I first paid for the examination and fixed a date, then I told all my friends that I'm gonna take the examination on the 28th. So I had to keep the promise.

I must thank my family for all the support they provided me.
And also Priyakara one of our Sri Lankan Dotnet Forum Members.
The Company that I'm working at E-Code Lanka.
And My Wife Uchini and My Son Manuda ........ your smiles I always think of and see, are encouraging me to face challenges.

Ok. I announce that I'm taking my Developing Web Applications using C#.Net Examination (70-315) on the 18th of April. Here we go again......

Wela Starts Blogging

2005-04-06T15:54:00.000+06:00

Our friend Wela (MVP) at the Sri Lankan Dotnet Forum has started blogging you can checkout his blog at http://www.welasharp.net/
The greatest thing is that he created every bit & byte of his blog by him self.
Great work man.

Hey Wela, Welcome to the world of blogs.

Draw a Line between Two Checked List Items of Two CheckedListBoxes

2005-04-06T15:38:00.000+06:00

I saw a message on the SLDotnetDevelopers2005 ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SLDotNetDevelopers2005/ ) posted by a sri lankan developer named shiran.

Shiran wanted to draw a line between two checkedlistItems of two checkedlistboxes on a windows form. Similar to the SQL server Design Query View. Given below is my answer I gave to him.

( Hey hey shiran you must be upto something very interesting .....??? )

Hello Shiran,

I have given below the most primitive approch that you can get this solved using the GDI+.

I think you may have time to improve it more to suite your need.

////////////////////////

//Add Items to the 1st CheckedListBox

checkedListBox1.Items.Add"ABC",true);

checkedListBox1.Items.Add("DEF",true);

checkedListBox1.Items.Add("GHI",true);

checkedListBox1.Items.Add("JKL",true);

//Add Items to the 2nd CheckedListBox

checkedListBox2.Items.Add("123",true);

checkedListBox2.Items.Add("456",true);

checkedListBox2.Items.Add("789",true);

checkedListBox2.Items.Add("111",true);

checkedListBox2.Items.Add("222",true);

checkedListBox2.Items.Add("333",true);

// Get the Fourth Items Rectangle of the First CheckedListBox

System.Drawing.Rectangle FromRectangle = this.RectangleToClient(checkedListBox1.RectangleToScreen(checkedListBox1.GetItemRectangle(3)));

// Get the Third Items Rectangle of the Second CheckedListBox

System.Drawing.Rectangle ToRectangle = this.RectangleToClient(checkedListBox2.RectangleToScreen(checkedListBox2.GetItemRectangle(2)));

//Create a Graphics Object

System.Drawing.Graphics graphics = this.CreateGraphics();

//Create Points From Screen Rectangles

Point FromPoint = FromRectangle.Location;

Point ToPoint = ToRectangle.Location;

//Draw the Line From Start Point To the End Point

graphics.DrawLine(Pens.Black,
FromRectangle.X,
FromRectangle.Y,
ToRectangle.X,
ToRectangle.Y);

//Dispose Graphics Object

graphics.Dispose();

////////////////////////////////

If you have any more questions do not hesitate to throw it to us.

Bye

Lolitha Samarajeewa

P.S:

I have searched google for you and came up with one link(since i don't have much time these days ;-) )

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/2/gdi_plus.asp

You better search on MSDN also where you get more samples.

Busy With Ticket Ordering Web Application caused blog holidays

2005-04-06T14:33:00.000+06:00

I was heavily busy for the last few weeks because we got a project (CodeName: toyotaf1 ) on very tight schedule. It came with a one months deadline. This kept me away from many things I liked to do including blogging.
What we had to do was to add new functionality to an existing application done by some other development team in Belgium ( poor guys were unable to complete ontime due to the bad design I say). The design of the web application was very bad ( they were running the whole application using one web form (index.aspx) and loading and unloading controls at runtime using the querystring ( Request.QueryString ).
The whole team did not see the daylight for long five/six weeks except for some weekends. The whole team has developed an allergy against Pizza, Chinese Food, Coke and Pepsi ;-). I say to all people who are developing web applications using ASP.Net please use web forms as much as you want. There is no limitation saying that you must restrict your self to one and only one web form.
Some how after all the struggle we have delivered a some what stable version of the application to the client.

Harry Lays an Egg - Fun

2005-02-17T09:58:00.000+06:00

Harry did like he always does, kissing his wife, crawling into bed and falling to sleep. All of a sudden, he wakes up with an elderly man dressed in a cowl standing in front of his bed. "What the hell are you doing in my bedroom?......and who are you?" he asked. "This is not your bedroom," the man replied, "I am St. Peter, and you are in heaven." "WHAT!?? Are you saying I'm dead? I don't want to die.....I'm too young." said Harry. "If I'm dead, I want you to send me back immediately." "It's not that easy", said St.Peter, "you can only return as a dog or a hen. You can choose on your own..." Harry thought about it for a while, and figured out that being a dog is too tiring, but a hen probably has a nice and relaxed life. Running around with a rooster can't be that bad. "I want to return as a hen." Harry replied. And in the next second, he found himself in a chicken run, really nicely feathered. But man, now "he" felt like the rear end was gonna blow........then along came the rooster. "Hey, you must be the new hen on the farm." he said. "How does it feel?" "Well, it's OK I guess, but it feels like my rear end is blowing up." "Oh that!" said the rooster. "That's only the ovulation going on. Have you never laid an egg before??" "No, how do I do that?" Harry asked. "Cluck twice, and then you push all you can." Harry clucked twice, and pushed more than he was good for, and then 'Plop' and an egg was on the ground. "Wow" Harry said "that felt really good!" So he clucked again and squeezed. And you better believe that there was yet another egg on the ground. The third time he clucked, he heard his wife shout: "Harry, for Gods sake wake up, you're shitting all over the bed!"

Special C++ Program For All Lovers !!! - Fun

2005-02-16T23:14:00.000+06:00

Given below is a C++ code segment meant for lover this was sent to me by my colleague Kamal Mahendra who is a C++ programmer him self

#include
#include
#define Cute beautiful_lady

main()
{
goto college;

scanf("100%",&ladies);

if(lady ==Cute )

line++;

while( !reply )
{
printf("I Love U");
scanf("100%",&reply);
}
if(reply == "GAALI")
main(); /* go back and repeat the process */

else if(reply == "SANDAL ")
exit(1);
else if(reply == "I Love U")
{
lover =Cute ; love = (heart*)malloc(sizeof(lover));
} goto restaurant;

restaurant:
{
food++;
smile++;
pay->money = lover->money;
return(college);
}

if(time==2.30)
goto cinema;

cinema:
{
watch++;
if(intermission)
{
coke++;
Popecorn++;
}
}

if(time ==6.00)
goto park;

park:
{
for(time=6.30;time<=8.30;time+=0.001) kiss = kiss+1; } free(lover); return(home); if(time ==9.30) goto pub; pub: { friends++; party++; booze++; smoke++; if(pub.close()) { pay->bill;
come->out; }
}
if (highly->intoxicated)
goto friendsroom;
else {
sweetpan++;
polo++;
goto home;
}

friendsroom:
{
goto sleep;
}

home: {
if(mom.shouts())
{
reason=(combinedstudy projectwork friendsbday);
say->reason;
}
if(dad.shouts())
shut->yourmouth;
call->lover;
if(phone->voice==(lover_dad->voice lover_mom->voice))
{
hang++;
}
else if(phone->voice==lover->voice)
{
for(time=12:30;time<=1.30;time+=0.001) { say->ILuvU;
scanf("100%",&reply);
/* "I Love U" already stored in reply */ }
}
goto sleep;
}

sleep:
{
*(dream)=love;
}

}

Here I Come ......

2005-02-15T23:51:00.000+06:00

Thought of starting my own blog today, In the morning I started reading some well known blogs of other people and came across some really interesting stuff about .Net development which is my most favorite subject these days. So I thought why not starting my own blog today itself to let other people also have the same benefit from my ideas, and I get the chance of getting their ideas. May be which might help a little more easier to breath.

So Let's Blog my friends. Here I Come ......