Nothing in Particular

Something is wrong !

2010-07-14T04:00:00.001-07:00

You know something is wrong when even applications like Acrobat Reader require a restart to update themself!

A simple class to read and write application settings

2010-05-01T01:31:00.000-07:00

I'll come straight to the point. All I want to do is save a few setting for my little .NET application like

MaxSizeOfText=256.

Ok, that not all. I want each user to have his own settings. I can do this by storing such settings to a file in the user's appData folder.

Programming in the .NET world is usually pretty easy though a bit frustrating because at times it is painfully easy. There are also times when exisitng classes can get the work done but finding out how exaclty to use these classes is so darned unintuitive that its easier to write the functionality all by yourself.

I consider all classes present in the base-class-library revolving around reading / writing application configuration a big fiasco. There aren't many areas which are as confusing as this. With each version of .NET new ways to access appSettings keep cropping up. Come on, how difficult is to define an easy to understand programmatic access to some XML data? and if you can't do that why not just hide those classes from end developers, we are capable of writing our own.

Here is a class I quickly wrote which allows you to store application settings in a 'name'-'value' form in XML. The file can be located anywhere on your computer. It has just 3 menthods for interacting with it so it's very simple to use. Settings can be added without any special methods, setting can be read and setting can be removed. Minimum requirement, a target file should be present with atleast following xml:

Rest is taken care of by the class. I am sure there must be lots of improvement that can be made and I would appreciate any comments.

The class diagrams is presented below:

Here is the complete code for the XmlSettings class:

// ++
// (C) Copyright Siddharth Barman, 2010.
// Copyright notice: You are free to use this material with or without the copyright notice.
// Author is not reponsible for any damage/problems arising out of the use of this material.
// --

using System.Xml;

namespace Sid.Utilities
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Allows reading and writing settings to XML files. The XML files should have
    /// the following structure <settings><setting name="ABC" value="XYZ" /></settings>
    /// </summary>
    public class XmlSettings
    {
        #region Public interface

        /// <summary>
        /// Path to the settings file. The file must exist.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="file"></param>
        public XmlSettings(string file)
        {
            this.file = file;
            doc = new XmlDocument();
            doc.Load(file);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Returns the settings file being used.
        /// </summary>
        public string SettingsFile
        {
            get { return file; }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Allows a setting to be read or written. Each setting is referred by it's name. 
        /// Null is returned if a setting does not exist while reading. 
        /// A new setting is created if it does not exist while writing.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="name"></param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public string this[string name]
        {
            get 
            {
                return ReadSetting(name);
            }
            set 
            {
                SetSetting(name, value);
            }
        }

        public void Remove(string name)
        {
            XmlNode node = GetSettingNode(name);

            if (node != null)
            {
                RootNode.RemoveChild(node);
            }
        }

        public void Save()
        {
            doc.Save(file);
        }

        #endregion

        #region Protected and Private members

        protected XmlNode RootNode
        {
            get
            {
                return doc.SelectSingleNode("/settings");
            }
        }

        protected string ReadSetting(string name)
        {
            XmlNode node = GetSettingNode(name);

            if (node == null || node.Attributes.Count == 0 || node.Attributes["value"] == null)
            {
                return null;
            }

            return node.Attributes["value"].Value;
        }

        protected void SetSetting(string name, string value)
        {
            XmlNode node = GetSettingNode(name);

            if (node == null)
            {
                node = CreateSettingNode(name);
            }

            node.Attributes["value"].Value = value;
        }

        protected XmlNode GetSettingNode(string name)
        {
            return doc.SelectSingleNode(string.Format("/settings/setting[@name='{0}']", name));
        }

        protected XmlNode CreateSettingNode(string name)
        {
            XmlNode node = doc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element, "setting", string.Empty);
            RootNode.AppendChild(node);

            XmlAttribute nameAtt = doc.CreateAttribute("name");
            node.Attributes.Append(nameAtt);
            nameAtt.Value = name;

            XmlAttribute valueAtt = doc.CreateAttribute("value");
            node.Attributes.Append(valueAtt);

            return node;
        }

        protected string file;
        protected XmlDocument doc;

        #endregion
    }
}

Survival of the cheapest

2010-02-22T03:48:00.000-08:00

Working as a software engineer, I have seen a few lay offs, mostly in the United States and the UK. Anyway, I'm working in India so I should be safe, right? Right?

No, a resounding No!

I used to work for a British company. I was sent to the UK to do knowledge-transfers so that the work could be done from India (Bangalore). Oh yes, 'you have been Bangalored'.

I met a lot of developers and project managers in the UK who were all really nice people and I was helping the company to get them (the developers and PMs in the UK) laid off and move the work to India.

I never did feel the need to ask if it was the right thing for a company to do.
But now, four years later, every time I hear a speech made by any CEO, I can't believe the amount of hypocrisy. Each CEO tries to brain-wash the employees into believing their tag-line. Things like, 'customer first', 'we do this better than anyone'. You also hear words like 'costs', 'competitive advantages' a lot. Beware, the moment such words start getting tossed around, its very likely that things are about to change ... and perhaps for you.

With China offering cheaper labor, Indian I.T. professionals should no longer think their jobs secure.

It isn't 'survival of the fittest', it's survival of the cheapest'.

Remove Nissan.exe trojan / NewsPaedia

2009-12-22T21:22:00.000-08:00

If your browser keeps opening on its own with websites like thenewpaedia.com, it is quite likely that you have a trojan/backdoor program nissan.exe.

This exe resides in your recycle-bin. It makes entries in the system registry so it gets loaded everytime someone logs in. The exe remains in memory all the time and detects any registry modification on a key and writes back its own values.

First let's see where the exe resides. It probably resides in a path like "C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-3028898713-0813311981-684376638-1852\nissan.exe".
Open a command-prompt,
C:\>
C:\>cd \
C:\>cd "Recycler"
C:\>dir /a hsr *.*
You should now see an entry for nissan.exe. This exe has to be removed. Right now, it will not be possible as this exe is already loaded in memory.

Now lets see where in the registry the entry exists for loading the exe:
Open regedit.exe
Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"
Here you should see an entry named 'Taskman' having a value like "C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-3028898713-0813311981-684376638-1852\nissan.exe".
We need to somehow get this entry deleted.
We cannot delete it right now as the nissan.exe will detect the 'delete' and will immediately write back the value.

How to get rid of this:
1. Create a user on the system who is not an Administrator
2. Log off from any account which may have Admin rights.
3. Log in as a regular (non-admin user).
4. Navigate to Windows\System32 folder and do a RunAs->Administrator on
- Regedt32.exe
- Cmd.exe
- TaskMgr.exe
5. Switch to TaskMgr instance which you started in Step 4. Kill all instances of
Explorer.exe
6. Now switch to Regedit instance and search for Nissan.exe and remove all values where it shows up. Do a find for 'nissan.exe' a few times just to make sure.
7. Switch to command prompt instance and del all entries of nissan.exe by running
C:\>
C:\>cd \
C:\>cd "Recycler"
C:\>dir /a hsr *.*
This will display exactly where nissan.exe is for e.g.
"C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-3028898713-0813311981-684376638-1852\nissan.exe".
Now to delete the entries:
C:\>attrib -hsr "C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-3028898713-0813311981-684376638-1852\nissan.exe"
C:\>del "C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-3028898713-0813311981-684376638-1852\nissan.exe"

Do a dir nissan.exe and check if you missed out any entry.
By now all entries which launch the exe should have been removed.

I have a suspicion that USB drives get affected and when such 'affected' drives auto-run, the system gets infected. I would therefore recommend that you disable AUTORUN on all drives. Follow the instructions in the link:
Disable autorun

Download FULL SQL Express 2008

2009-09-17T01:16:00.000-07:00

Here are the links where the full installer for SQL Express may be found:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=58CE885D-508B-45C8-9FD3-118EDD8E6FFF&displaylang=en

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=08E52AC2-1D62-45F6-9A4A-4B76A8564A2B&displaylang=en

Installing Microsoft products really sucks

2009-08-25T04:30:00.001-07:00

Installing Microsoft applications is a fu**ed-up experience.
Why can't they ever get them right?
Ever since the highly touted .NET framework made its appearance, installing anything coming out of Microsoft has become a royal pain.

Thought I'd install SQL Server 2008 developer edition and see the new features. What I am greeted with? A long long long download process from the Internet to get .NET 3.5 SP1. Man! why couldn't they package the offline version on the DVD?

Anyway, after the download is complete, the installation of .NET 3.5 SP1 itself took almost an hour. Why? It takes that much time to install Windows OS in the first place?

Ok, now at least I can select all the cool 'features' of SQL I want to install, I select almost everything and click the dreaded 'Next' button. Whay do I see? I am now told to install SP1 of Visual Studio first before installing SQL 2008 Man, that's the final straw. Is this the way to make software?

That's not all, go to the download page for .NET SP1 on Microsoft's site:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ab99342f-5d1a-413d-8319-81da479ab0d7&displaylang=en

This is taken right from the page:
"IMPORTANT: After installing the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 package (either the bootstrapper or the full package) you should immediately install the update KB959209 to address a set of known application compatibility issues.
In addition, on Windows Vista x64 and Windows Server 2008 x64, install the update KB967190 to address a file association issue for XPS documents."

HAHAHA! Installing SP1 itself requires installing another fix on it immediately! hehehe.. Don't ask if installing the fix requires you to install another something, I am too scared to go check.

Where have all the 'real' developers gone from Microsoft?

Thought provoking site

2009-05-25T03:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.spaceship-earth.de/PoS/Index_PoS.htm

Big shops, big names or the small local ones

2009-05-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between a big shop (e.g. Excite/Croma/Vijay Sales etc) and the local across the street computer dealer?

- Big shops have more products on display
- Big shops have better ambiance
- Big shops are more customer friendly
- Big shops offer better product support
- Big shops are hassle free one stop shop for your needs

Really?

I think its the exact opposite. I don't just 'think' that, but I have experienced that many times in many different 'big' shops.

Big shops have more products:
Few days back, the customer likes an LG LCD TV on display, wants to buy it so ordered it from Excite. 'Big' shop says we don't have it in stock but we 'can' get it for you.
Now, how is it that a 'big' shop have such a paltry stock of items? If they are having products in display then why not in stock?

Moving on, 'big' shop says they will get it ... 'if customer pays 75% of the price in advance'! wow!
The customer has to pay the price of bad stock keeping!.. OK..

Customer pays the advance, big shops says 'the piece will come in 1-2 days'. Customer waits for 2 weeks! Customer eventually wants his money back. 'Big' shop says, if will take 1 month to reverse the Credit Card payment! Amazing! ... Customer cannot even get back the money for something he did not purchase!

So, products on display, big shops win,
but
they do not win at delivering the final product.

Better ambiance & customer friendliness:
You enter you local dealer, he says 'Hi Sid, how's your kid .. etc'.
You enter 'big shop', 2 ladies come rushing at you with 'welcome to ... Sir!'. You cover your face and say 'thanks, I'm just taking a look at stuff, please don't kill me!'. After that you have one person rushing at you with a leaflet saying 'you must fill up this form to become a member to avail 'great' discounts, 'free' gift' and whatnot.
As you browse through the neatly arranged products, a security person keeps moving behind and to make sure you're not a thief.
As all this is happening, you being to sweat. You wonder why... the 'big' shop attendants have probably been ordered NOT to turn on the A/C when number of customers are low by the owner.
Finally when your trying to make the payment, you ask how much points will you get for the 'big purchase' you are about to make. He says 'No points for this Sir!, you are buying it at a sale'!
Why do they even take the trouble to make us members?

So as you see, everything that is happening is against the customer. Customer satisfaction is LEAST important.

So, a small shop with just a 'hi sir, how are you?' is MUCH more friendly than big shops who have so many things which are useless for the customer.

Big shops offer better product support:
Most people will have different experience around this. For me, I somehow feel so intimidated by 'big' shops, I usually don't phone them. I personally take the item (if it is small) and try to get it replaced. On the other hand, the local shops are more than happy to send 'Ramu' with a replacement piece.
So, I'd say, smaller shops still have better customer support which is a result of better customer relation.

Big shops are hassle free one stop shop for your needs:
They are hassle free for finding out which product you want to buy.
But to actually buy the product it looks like the smaller shop is better for all the above reasons.

What could be the reason for the failure of these big retailers?
- I think the problem is that they (owners) have too much money already so they could not care less about their customers.
- The owners are no longer personally involved with the shops and customers.
- Human beings are basically greedy and ungrateful.
- The employees of the big shops in turn don't care about customers since they anyway are getting their salaries customers or not. Even if they get chucked out, working in a shop is anyway not such a big deal, they can get equivalent jobs elsewhere.

Does all this seem familiar?

Which SQL Jobs are currently executing

2009-05-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

Following script lists currently executing SQL jobs.

select
j.job_id, j.name
from
msdb..sysjobactivity a (NOLOCK)
inner join
msdb..sysjobs j (NOLOCK)
on
j.job_id=a.job_id
where
a.start_execution_date is not null
and
a.job_history_id is null

Horror of installing XP on ASUS M3N78-EM

2009-05-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

After trying to get comfortable with Vista x64 on my new machine (ASUS M3N78-EM, Phenom Triple Core, 4 GB RAM), I decided that it's just not gonna happen. I couldn't connect my Sony HandyCam as drivers were not present, my plain old HP Deskjet 64bit drivers weren't working..basically the whole experience was pretty miserable.

Anyway, decided that XP 32bit is still the way to go. Installed slipstreamed version of XP SP3. Everthing worked except ... THE SOUND! Searched google and found lots of forums where people had similar problems with the RealTek Hi definition audio drivers. I tried ALL solutions I came across including installing XP UAA drivers (available with HP), installing latest drivers from ASUS for my MOBO, drivers from RealTek, nothing worked. Finally there was a post which suggested installing only SP2 of XP and then installing the Realtek Drivers and guess what? THIS WORKED!

Hope this helps anyone else having similar problems.

Guns n' Roses still rock

2008-12-25T21:11:00.000-08:00

Went to Landmarks, MG Road, Pune on Christmas day and say big posters of Chinese Democracy but could not locate the CDs. After asking the staff turns out that they are all sold out. Sure I was sad I could not get my copy but I was also quite happy, after all these years Gn'R (my favorite band since school days) still kicks ass and manages to sell out 100%.

Setting up a wireless network with DLink DER 300 and Airtel broadband

2008-12-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

Setting up home networks can be either a total pleasure or a total pain; there are no in-betweens.

Here is an east step by step instruction so you have a ‘total pleasure’able experience.

I am assuming:
The Airtel DSL router has it’s IP set to 192.168.1.1
The DLINK router’s IP is set to 192.168.0.1

Step1:
While still connected to the airtel DSL directly, log into the Airtel DSL router’s administration website using your favorite browser: http://192.168.1.1
- Enter the user-id and password. The default one is ‘admin’ for login and ‘password’ for password.
- Now click the ‘LAN’ link on the left side of the web-page.
- Select the ‘Disable DHCP Server’ as shown below:

Click Save.

Step 2:
Remove the network cable which connects the Airtel DSL router to your PC from your PC and connect it to the socket marked ‘Internet’ on the DLink router.

Step 3:
Connect your PC to one of the LAN ports of the DLink router using the supplied LAN cable (supplied with the DLink router).

Bring up the Command Prompt in Windows by typing cmd in the Programs…Run menu. Now type: ping 192.168.0.1
Your screen should look something like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\Siddharth.PIXIE.000>ping 192.168.0.1
Pinging 192.168.1.2 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=64

This means that your DLink router is connect properly to the PC.

Step 4:
Now to setup the PC’s network properties:

You can specify an IP address starting from 192.168.1.3 to 192.168.1.255.
Just make sure you don’t give 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.2 as these will be used by the routers.

Step 5:
Configure the DLink router Open the following URL in your favorite browser: http://192.168.0.1
Enter the user name as admin. The default password is blank so just leave it empty.

Disable DHCP:
In the next screen, click the “LAN Setup” from the left side of the website. I usually disable DHCP so that is what I am going to suggest here. In the “Enable DHCP Server” checkbox is checked, uncheck it.

Router Settings:
In the Router settings section specify the following details:

Click ‘Save Settings’.

Internet connection:
Click the “Internet Setup” link from the left side of the web-page.
Click the “Manual Internet Connection Setup” button.

In the next screen, set the ‘My Internet Connection is’ as ‘Static IP’. The properties should look like this:

Click ‘Save Settings’. If everything has worked fine, you should see the following icon on the left side of the web-page:

You should now be able to connect to the Internet through your wireless router.

Set of useful command line utilities

2008-08-06T09:59:00.001-07:00

Fresh from the factory, a set of useful command line utilities from your's truly:

whereis
This program allows you to locate a file on the machine using standard windows module locating logic.
For example if you are looking for a file notepad.exe and it is present in a particular known folder or in the PATH, the program will display where notepad.exe will be located by Windows.

paths
Prints paths which are set in your system.

winver
Prints the Windows version.

Download

Good site on Taoism to visit

2008-06-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.taoism.net/enter.htm

The Walk of Life

2008-05-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

It's not WHAT you get, it's HOW you get it - with principles, honour and dignity OR with dishonesty, lack of character and of ethics.
It's not WHERE you reach, it's the ROAD you select - sunshine and butterflies or thorns and shadows. If trying hard does not work, try soft. When you don't know what to do, do nothing. Just wait and watch. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you. Destiny must be embraced with courage and spirit. The means are more important than the ends, the Journey is more important than the Destination.
.... Prof. Rao

Borland C++ is back, slicker than ever

2008-01-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

It's been sometime since I touched C++ programming. Everything seems to be .NET.
.NET is cool, a decent concept, a good base class library and a good enough IDE (Visual Studio 2005), yeah, but there still something missing; raw power. I first saw "Raw Power" delivered yet in a simple to use way in Delphi when VB was still in its infancy and VC++ programmers were considered cool. However coming from the C++ side of things, I was most delighted when Borland released Borland C++ Builder 1.0 - this was a very easy to use, TRULY RAD and powerful developer environment. The last release I used without any problems was Borland C++ Builder 6.0. After 6.0, ... nothing ... there was a C++ Builder Personal edition but the IDE was quite buggy, installation was a pain, .NET integration sucked (though I didn't care much for that)...all in all a pretty 'not happening' period of programming for me. The only thing available was .NET and its various version. Seriously, I hear people vehemently saying .NET programs are always optimized for the target platform since the runtime on the target machine is optimized for the target architecture etc etc etc...hogwash! A managed application still can't come even close to a C++ application as far raw speed is concerned. If I have to develop something for myself, nothing lesser than C++ will do! Sure VC++/MFC is there, but its a royal pain to do even slighlty complicated UI application using it; so I need Borland C++!. Good news: Borland is back, back with a spanking new IDE called CodeGear. I cannot recommend another IDE as highly as Borland's C++ Builder 2007. You can download the trial version at http://www.codegear.com/products/cppbuilder
Happy days are back!

iTunes or WMP11

2008-01-20T09:04:00.000-08:00

I have been using WMP 11 for watching a lot of movies, never really faced any issues.
Today, I tried burning an audio cd for myself, WMP would not do it, c'mon, every CD I put in the burner, Windows Media Player kept saying insert a blank CD. The only way out was to save the song-list as a .m3u play-list file, open this file in iTunes and burn it without any hitches.

So, which media player do you use?

Programming language names getting ridiculous

2008-01-20T00:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, we had 'C'. Then we had 'C++', quite catchy.
C#? ok, we can tolerate this. F#? wait a minute, what's going on here?
D? damn...I can't stand this anymore!

XP Customization

2008-01-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

Seemed like I had seen every possible wallpaper and customization for XP, till I chanced upon http://www.crystalxp.net/. Highly recommended, specially the BricoPacks customization software which make Windows XP look exactly like Vista. They also have an amazing collection of wallpapers! The WWW is fun again!

Odyssey Bookstore Pune

2007-12-16T07:12:00.001-08:00

Finally a book-store which had almost all the stuff I've been looking for, for the last 2-3 months. Though the store looks small compared to others like Landmarks or Crosswords, they have a sophisticated collection of books and CDs. I went there looking for the 'Tao of Jeet Kune Do', though they didn't have it, I got 2 other amazing books on the same subject which were also on my list. I must say the customer care is pretty good, they took down the request the 'Tao...', lets see how soon they can get it!

They also must have a pretty neat collection of CDs. I say 'must have' since I didn't have much time to browse through their collection, I just asked for "Deep Purple - Knocking at your back door" and "Best of Shania Twain", they handed me both without much searching, amazing!

Crosswords, you could learn a few things from these guys.

Sparring fear

2007-12-03T03:54:00.000-08:00

Two days back I sparred with four or five different students. Everyone one of them used me as a punching bag with my 100% co-operation!

I travel out of my city for my Martial Arts classes so there is usually a gap of 2 - 3 week between the days I attend. I train at home 1 - 2 hours everyday when I'm not attending and keep picturing techniques and moves I can try the next time I spar.

Never has it happened that a single technique I had thought of earlier could be executed during actual sparring. I seem to freeze during sparring and all the grand plans I have disappears into smoke.

I finally searched google for "fear of sparring" and came across some good blogs. I chanced upon some sayings which have motivated me:

'When practicing martial arts, don't be the artist; become the art'

'Every Black Belt is a White Belt who did not quit'

If things work out for me I'll try and analyze how these saying motivated me and helped me to act differently in my next sparring session. Till then keep training.

Patenting the conecpt of Patents and links

2007-10-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

I wonder if the concept of Patents is patented.
Anyway, a few links which discuss the stupidity and greed of people concerning patents:

Believe it or not! Some ass**** patented the idea of swinging on a swing, and I'm not even talking about Java.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6368227-fulltext.html

Legendary Richard Stallman talks about the implications of software patents.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/jun/20/comment.comment

Read this idea for a patent.

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220050160005%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20050160005&RS=DN/20050160005

A small article software programmers.

http://gadgetopia.com/post/2727

Kudos MediaMax !!!

2007-08-22T04:06:00.000-07:00

MediaMax users have been facing problems with their accounts for sometime now.
I too couldn't access any of my files.....TILL TODAY!
How happy I am to see all my pics and programs back online!!
MediaMax rocks!

SqlDependency not firing

2007-08-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

Grrrr...after hours of trying various pieces of C# code and tinkering with SQL Server 2005 settings it turns out that the database owner was the problem.

class Program
{
static string connStr = "Server=DARKSTAR; Initial Catalog=MyDatabase; Integrated Security=false; User Id=sa; Password=XXXXXXXXXX";

static SqlDependency dep;

static void Main(string[] args)
{
SqlDependency.Start(connStr);
TestSqlNotificiation();
SqlDependency.Stop(connStr);
}

static void TestSqlNotificiation()
{
try
{
using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr))
{
conn.Open();

SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand();

cmd.CommandText = "Select RollNo, [Name] from dbo.Students";

dep = new SqlDependency(cmd);

dep.OnChange += new OnChangeEventHandler(OnDataChange);

SqlDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
{
while (dr.Read())
{
Console.WriteLine("Name = " + dr[1].ToString());
}
}

dr.Close();

Console.WriteLine("Waiting for any data changes...\nPress to end program.");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
finally
{
//SqlDependency.Stop(connStr);
}
}

static void OnDataChange(object sender, SqlNotificationEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Info.ToString());
Console.WriteLine(e.Source.ToString());
}
}
}

This is the program which should fire the OnDataChange function when rows change in the Students table. However, the event was simply not firing.

Finally I chanced upon this article which made everything work right. It turned out that I was having problems with the database owner. I just changed it to 'sa' for the time-being:

ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON DATABASE::MyDatabase TO sa;

SQL Server 2005 Express Advanced Edition reports AGTACCOUNT error during Setup

2007-08-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

SQL Server 2005 Express Advanced Edition reports following error during setup:

"SQL Server Setup has determined that the following account properties are not specified: 'AGTACCOUNT' . The properties specify the startup account for the services that are installed. To proceed, refer to the template.ini and set the properties to valid account names. If you are specifying a windows user account, you must also specify the password for the account."

After trying some of the stuff mentions at http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=365116&SiteID=1 I finally gave up.

But wait a minute, there was something about a template.ini file.
This is what I did and it worked. First copy the install files from your Read-Only media (CD/DVD) to a folder on your hard-drive. Open the template.ini file (directly under the root folder containing the setup files).

Look for the following section:

; Note that if SQLBrowser is already installed, SQLBROWSERACCOUNT and SQLBROWSERPASSWORD are ignored.

SQLBROWSERACCOUNT=
SQLBROWSERPASSWORD=

SQLACCOUNT=
SQLPASSWORD=

AGTACCOUNT="NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"
AGTPASSWORD=

ASACCOUNT=
ASPASSWORD=

RSACCOUNT=
RSPASSWORD=
;--------------------------------------------------------------------
; To use the *AUTOSTART features, specify 1 to start automatically or 0 to start manually.

See the bolded line, all you need to is specify the account for it and then launch setup.exe with the following parameters:
setup.exe /settings c:\template.ini

Looking at the command line, it seems likely that you could get away by copying and editing just the template.ini file instead of all the installation files to hard-disk.

CSV Reader Quick and Dirty

2007-05-13T04:03:00.000-07:00

Well, this program like many others was developed by me, for me.
I needed a better utility than notepad to view my log files which
are in CSV format. What better way to spend a weekend than developing
a new utility?

The CSV format may look simple but it can get pretty complicated if
you take into account "all" capabilities of CSV format. If you don't
believe me take a look at this:
http://www.shaftek.org/publications/drafts/mime-csv/draft-shafranovich-mime-csv-02.html

Anyway, I didn't really need a CSV reader which supports the full CSV
specification. I just needed something which can read "my" log files!
As it turned out, many of the data-exports and log files generated by
other applicatoin were also read successfully by CSV Reader.
This was reason enough for me to believe that this little utility might
be useful to others and this is why I am making it available on the www.

Here's a screenshot:

MD5 Hash of Executable: E9D023ECEB07A8AF421F155CCD6224BF
MD5 Hash of ZIP: 63CB43CF9AF08CFA0629540B96E175F8

Download It!

A Paradoxical approach to Energy Saving and ECO Friendliness

2007-05-07T03:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a post about an electric sports car.
http://news.com.com/Silicon+Valley+engineers+peek+at+the+Tesla/2100-11389_3-6181574.html?tag=nefd.lede
Good thing: "its electric" and should be Eco-friendly.
Paradox: It a two seater! Why not use a bike? If you are going to waste so much energy running a car, at least make sure 4 people can travel in it!

Version 1.1 of Net Use

2007-05-06T03:35:00.000-07:00

Just 2 days since I posted the "NetUse" utility and there's already a new version!
Improvements:
- Old "net use" connections are remembered so that when you want to connect to 'that server' you never seem to remember, its listed in the 'New Connection' dialog along with the login id you had used for it. Passwords are not remembered so you will need to put in the password again.

Download It
MD5 Hash of Setup: 875FFDC77AA32242748BDA7FD0A3D734

Thanks to Harsha for giving the idea.

My Favorite Breakfast

2007-05-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

Here's an tasty and easy to make breakfast for those days when YOU have to do the cooking and your wife wants to take it easy:
3 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic
1 whole onion cut fine
1 can of baked beans
Whole grain brown bread
1 teaspoon of olive oil

Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan for 2 minutes
Add the garlic and onions for about a minute
Just as the garlic and onions start getting golden yellow, add the entire can of baked beans.
Add 2 tablespoons of red-chilly sauce
Add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce
Add 2 dried red-chillies broken into 1cm sized pieces
Heat for another 2 minutes
Serve piping hot with toasted bread.

YUM!!!!

GUI version of Net Use

2007-04-27T08:57:00.001-07:00

Here's a GUI version of the useful "net use" command.
You can create net use connections, delete existing connections, view list of existing connections and you can also create Drive Mappings.
Screenshot:

Size : 1.3 MB
MD5 Hash of package (setup.exe): F25BBB701DB8E84AA532AEFC59B6E78A
Download It!
Hope you like. Mail any comments/bugs to siddharth_b@yahoo.com

It's a Timing Thing

2007-04-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a small program I quickly whipped up. It shuts down Windows at a specified date and time. Its written in C++, you don't require .NET or any other runtimes.

Screenshot:

Download size: 156 KB
MD5 Hash of ZIP: 508FBAFDD04C72057EAB7F350DF22EE0
Download It

Service Removal Utility

2007-04-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a utility by your's truly which will remove Windows Services from your computers. Its written in C++, you don't require .NET or any other runtimes.

Download Size: 109 KB
MD5 Hash of EXE: 36ca0af19cb9bda78bd39a956095029b

Download Now

Hope you liked it.

Compile error while using SHBrowseForFolder API in Borland C++ Builder

2007-04-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

How annoying to see a perfectly good piece of code not compile!
That too for no fault of your own.

If you're using SHBrowseForFolder Shell API in a Borland C++ Builder project, you might run into the following problem:

To get around this all you need to do is define NO_WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN in the project settings like this:

Happy coding.

Auto increment build number of .NET assemblies

2007-04-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

Found a simple way to automatically increment the build number of .NET assemblies.
You need a program which will parse the AssemblyInfo.cs file and pick up the build number from there, increment and write back the file.

You'll need to call this program as part of your Pre Build step.

The program is a small C++ utility which does all the parsing and stuff. Its also not very intelligent, it can handle only versions specified as:
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.3.0")]

In the pre-build event command line, enter:
..\..\..\..\tools\IncBuildNumber.exe $(ProjectDir)Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs -build
This is for my project which has a directory structure like this:
Logman
|
- Tools
|
-Source
|
- Sid.Utilities

The Tools folder contains IncBuildNumber.exe
The Source\Sid.Utilities contains my C# project.

Note, for older .NET project, the AssemblyInfo.cs will not be under Project\Properties folder, it will be directly under the Project folder.

Last point, when building from the IDE, do not keep the AssemblyInfo.cs file open since this will cause the IDE to ask for reloading the file.

Here is the source code for the utility.
Here is a link to download the utility.

Visual Studio SP1 - Absolutely Amazing!

2007-03-31T05:08:00.000-07:00

Installing Visual Studio 2005 SP1 is a pain in itself.
Slip-streaming SP1 into the main Visual Studio 2005 installer seemed like a good idea until:

Anyway, if you want to slip-stream SP1, here's the link.

Here's a link that might speed thing up a bit.

Code (S)talkers

2007-01-20T06:53:00.000-08:00

I bet there must be more than a few people you know who seem to have a solution for all your programming (software development in general incl. design et all) problems. In fact listening to them you almost always end up agreeing that they are correct, this is until you actually try putting their suggestions into practice. They almost never work. The solutions usually involve less work, but they screw up the design, all the beautiful decoupling you had done, everything good the project ever had suddenly goes up in smoke.

You'll also notice that such people rarely write any code themselves, what I mean is that you must be writing tonnes of codes while making cool utilities, reusable classes etc, but this bunch never does any of this. They just talk.

So, beware of the code (s)talkers!

DVD for Developers

2007-01-20T03:23:00.000-08:00

Good bye CDs, hello DVDs.

We still get Visual Studio installation disks in the form of CDs so also MSDN cds.
I prefer having just one DVD containing both Visual Studio and its MSDN documentation. Here is a link to an article which tells you how make such a DVD.

Also, having a Directory synchronization for such tasks really helps. I wrote my own folder synchronizer which is pretty easy to use. All you need is to have Microsoft .NET 2.0 framework installed on your PC.

You can download DirSynch here.

Happy burning!

Closing the box

2007-01-15T05:31:00.000-08:00

As software development matures, doesn't it look like developers are becoming less and less programming-literate?

No offense, but when was the last time you thought about writing a linked list? Isn't it all there already? Our dependence on ready-to-use libraries is increasing at an alarming rate. Hell, once you program in C# you don't even feel like touching C++!

This of course is a natural evolutionary path for software languages. Isn't this what reuse is all about? Having utility classes like collection classes, windowing classes etc. help the developer to concentrate more on the business logic instead of spending large part of development time on such code.

This is good, but not always. Traditional knowledge of computers like pointers, memory, paging etc. are being lost quite fast. Only a small amount of developers are left who attempt working on stuff like compilers, OS, database systems etc. With lesser developers working on such projects, there will be lesser new operating systems, databases and other important software leaving end users with very little choice.

Here is a link to a very good story by Richard Stallman. It almost makes me think of various Asimov novels I have read.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

Installing VisualStudio 2003 in MY folder

2007-01-09T03:14:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to install Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 on my machine for some time now.
Usually, its pretty easy, just select the components, their folders and there you go but this time the installer wasn't allowing me to choose the folder for the main (root) component.

I used to have it installed at c:\program files\... but I had uninstalled this few weeks back. Now I wanted to install it in f:\program files\...

I tried searching google for finding a solution for this problem but couldn't find much. Finally, I manually removed all registry entries having the path to the previous installation of Visual Studio 2003 and it worked!

Bad Wafers

2007-01-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

Has anyone noticed that the quality of Lay Wafers (take any flovor) getting worse since the last few months?

I noticed that this phonemenon coincided with the introduction of the 'Pringles' style of new wafer by Lays.

I shout 'not fair'! since the older packs (big size) is for Rs. 20 while the new ones is for 55 odd rupees.