Vikram's Blog - Vikram's look at asp.net and its related technology

HTML Encoded Code Expression

2010-02-22T10:46:25+05:30

Hi,

One of the new features in Asp.Net 4.0 is the inclusion of Code expressions which are HTML encoded by default. IN Asp.Net the code expression by default does not encode any text and hence it can leave the chance of Cross Site scripting attack.

In Asp.Net 4.0 we can now write expression which will get encoded by itself. For writing HTML encoded expression we need to use the following expression

Changes in Asp.Net Request Validation

2010-02-19T13:05:06+05:30

Hi,

When a page is submitted, users can also script along with the post data. Also unauthorized postback could be triggered. The event validation mechanism reduces the risk of unauthorized postback requests and callbacks when the EnableEventValidation property is set to true. This would help and provide default level of protection against cross site scripting.

In the previous versions of Asp.Net request validation was turned on by default but the validation would only apply to the asp.net pages (aspx pages and their code behind). This means there is no validation for other files requested like css, image etc.

HtmlEncode and UrlEncode Now Encode Single Quotation Marks

2010-02-18T14:00:01+05:30

Hi,

One of the small but important change in the Asp.Net 4.0 is the change is the Encode methods. Now the HtmlEncode and UrlEncode methods in the HttpUtility and HttpServerUtility class respectively also encode the single quote (‘).

The HtmlEncode method encodes instances of the single quotation mark as "'".

The UrlEncode method encodes instances of the single quotation mark as "%27".

Vikram

Who is your tomorrow's competitor

2010-02-10T14:24:47+05:30

Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?

Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. The answer is: None of the above. The winner is Nokia, whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cellphones.

The reason is that cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling standalone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all.

Try this. Who runs the biggest music business in India? The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel earns more than music companies do by selling albums.

Airtel is not in the music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of a competitor is difficult to detect and even more difficult to beat. By the time you have identified him, he has already gone past you. But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy, you couldn't be further from the truth.

Visual Studio 2010 RC released for MSDN Subscriber

2010-02-09T13:45:42+05:30

Hi,

Today Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2010 (VS 2010) RC for MSDN Subscriber. It will be available for the General people on RC on 10th February.

If you are an MSDN subscriber you can go ahead and download the bits right now from the link below.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/dd582936.aspx

The early feedback on Twitter seems very good already about the performance. Do check it out.

Wrapping Text Line in a label control

2010-02-04T06:29:56+05:30

Hi,

Many a times there is requirements for us to display text in multi-line in web pages. The first try that most of the people do is by giving a fixed width to the label. But this never works.

Height and Width works only for block level element. Label is an inline element and hence setting width does not work.

What you can instead do is use a textbox with CSS that will make it looks like a label. To do this we need to set the following properties.

Difference is comparison when using equals method or Double Equal to operator

2010-02-02T16:04:18+05:30

Hi,

There are normally two ways to compare 2 objects. One by using == operator and by using the equals method. But these two are not same in the way they implements the comparison.

The difference is there in the type of object (reference type or value type)

Value Type

Observer Design Pattern with example

2010-01-12T12:10:21+05:30

Hi,

Many times when programming we come across situation where by change in one change needs to be updated in multiple object. For example if a parameter is used to make multiple calculation in different objects then on change of that parameter all the objects need to be notified of the change. Or for example when the windows (operating system) or Dot Net framework shut downs or closes then it notifies all the application running on it to close so that it can make a clean close.

Microsoft MVP for the year 2010

2010-01-04T10:53:13+05:30

Hi,

I feel great joy to share with all that I have been rewarded the Microsoft MVP award for the year 2010 also. It feels great to have received the Award 2 year in succession.

A very Big Thanks to the MVP Team, My MVP lead and the Microsoft for giving the MVP award to me.

Thanks to all the friends, developers, and community members that have worked with me. I will try and continue my work forward in 2010......

Vikram

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 announced with Go Live License

2009-10-20T12:28:46+05:30

Hi,

Microsoft has announced the release of the Beta 2 of the Visual Studio 2010. MSDN Subscribers can download the same today and this will be available for the general Public of Wednesday. The link for download is

http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/vstudio/dd582936(en-us).aspx

VS 2010 and .NET 4 bring a huge number of improvements and additions. They include big advances for ASP.NET web development, WPF and Windows Forms client development, SharePoint development, Silverlight development, data development, parallel computing development, and cloud computing development. VS 2010 also delivers a ton of improvements in the core IDE, code editors, programming languages, and enterprise design, architect, and testing tools.

KolkataNet Community Techdays event in Kolkata on 11 Oct 2009

2009-10-08T00:38:04+05:30

Hi,

Although a little late in blogging this, But I would like to invite all people in and around kolkata to join the KolkataNET - KolkataITPro - Community Tech Day on 11th Oct. 2009. The event is being held at International School of Business & Media, Kolkata Campus situated at Kolkata (address below). The event does not require any registeration free and is free.

The agenda for the event are below.

Web Platform Installer 2.0 available for Web developers

2009-10-03T15:45:35+05:30

Hi,

Of late Microsoft Has been doing great job in creating an great experience for installation for both development component for Asp.net and IIS server and also available free open source software. Yes I am talking about the Web Platform Installer 2.0.

The web Platform Installer has been a great success, and is very user friendly tool to install most of the available software required for web development along with many available open source platforms and application.

Web Platform Installer 2.0 (Also known as Web PI) was released recently and can be downloaded from the link below.

http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx

LINQ Having Clause and Group By with condition

2009-09-17T00:08:22+05:30

Hi,

While querying with LINQ, some times we will have to use the group By clause. But many a times we also want to use the having clause of SQL with the group by clause in the LINQ. There is no direct having keyword in LINQ to do this we need to use the where clause itself.

You can query the LINQ to SQL to have both Group By and Having like this.

How to simulate IN Clause in LINQ queries

2009-09-15T03:32:20+05:30

Hi,

When working with the LINQ queries for SQL one of the common queries that we need to run is the select query with IN clause. In SQL IN clause is used to provide more than one value to match in the where clause.

Something like the query below

Select * from Table
where column1 in (‘Value1’, ‘Value2’, ‘Value3’)

To do a similar query in LINQ we can use

var list = from t in table
                where t.column1 = Value1’
                And t.column1 = Value2’
                t.column1 = Value3’
                Select t

Implement SECURITY INSIDE-OUT with MICROSOFT Technologies

2009-09-11T18:26:48+05:30

Hi,

There an interactive live session on September 15, 2009 on how the New Efficiency Products will help you manage security in a simpler way. This session will occur across 16 cities at NIIT centers as a live session with benefit of face-to-face teaching, each participant having their own computers to work on, and having the ability to ask questions any time. The following event is available for the following city.

Ahmedabad
Lucknow
Bangalore
Mumbai
Bhopal
Mysore
Bhubhaneswar
Nagpur
Chandigarh
Nasik
Chennai
New

Application running in localhost and debugging mode

2009-09-06T22:26:11+05:30

Hi,

Most of the time (If not all) when working on the project we view the website with the help of localhost in debugging mode. Many a times when working on some modules, for solving small problem, we want to write some code that should execute only when running in the localhost or debugging environment.

Normally developers would write the code and then take it as their responsibility to remove the code before the code goes to the next environment. But some time we might make a mistake of not removing the code and letting it go to the next environment, which can cause a lots of trouble.

In these kinds of circumstances and Asp.Net developer can take help of the IsLocal method of the Request class. The method will return true in case the application is running from localhost.

Visual Studio Changing default profile setting

2009-09-03T21:54:55+05:30

Hi,

While working with Visual Studio, was that normally we have to select the profile setting (Visula Basic profile, C# profile, web development profile etc...) when we start the Visual Studio for the first Times. But Many a time after working on a type of project for some time you start working on other types of project.

For Example, Currently I am working on a Windows Applictaion (With Language VB.Net) But before this project I was Working on Web Development in C#, and before that Windows Development in C#.

In Visual studio you can easily change the profile of the IDE by going to Tools -> Import Export Settings. This brings up Import Export Windows Wizard. Follow the simple Wizard (which also allows to save you the current settings for future use) and seletc the new profile setting (based on the kind of project you are working on) and you are ready to work with new profile.

Vikram

Programmatically Create PDF from Crystal Report

2009-08-31T05:25:13+05:30

Hi,

Some times when working with crystal report viewer you do not want to show the report to user in raw format but instead you want to pass on the report in PDF or other format without requiring user to do extra click. This can be done easily in Dot Net with the following code.

MyReport report = new MyReport();

DataSet ds = GetData();

report.SetDataSource(ds);

report.ExportToHttpResponse(ExportFormatType.PortableDocFormat, Response, false, "ExportedReport");

Received ASIA MVP Certification Hero Award 2009

2009-08-20T08:17:06+05:30

Hi,

Just received the ASIA MVP Certification Hero Award 2009. I did not knew that another award was coming. Was more than pleasantly surprised. Thanks to Microsoft, Microsoft MVP Team, Microsoft Learning Team.

Its amazing that You get awarded for Helping others with the knowledge of discounts available.

Again Thanks to Microsoft for the award.

Vikram

Asp.net 4.0 FormView Control Enhancement

2009-08-20T05:49:40+05:30

Hi,

another of the new features of Asp.net 4.0 is the enhancement(in terms of rendering) made in the Formview control. By default the Formview control would render table, tr and td tags for display of content. This can be of much trouble to many of the designer because they have little control over the rendered HTML.

With Asp.net 4.0 you can disable the rendering of these HTML elements. (Mind you in Asp.Net 4.0 by default these HTML content are rendered.) To do this all you need to do is set the RenderTable property to False.

<asp:FormView ID="FormView1" runat="server" RenderTable="false">

This enhancement can make it easier to style the content of the control with CSS, because no unexpected tags are rendered by the control.

Vikram