why 'EasingDoubleKeyFrame' does not exist in XML namespace 'http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation'.

if you get this error that means you are trying to use a WPF4 feature in 3.5

easyway out is to change it to change it to SplineDoubleKeyFrame

how to solve The attachable property 'VisualStateGroups' was not found in type 'VisualStateManager'. exception in VS2008

No need to move to VS2010 to solve this problem,

just have to install these two patches to get the VisualStateGroups in XAML view

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB958017/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=1719
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB958017/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=1719

then it works like a magic.

"{"Attempt to access the method failed: System.IO.FileInfo..ctor(System.String)"}" on WP7

I got this error and had to crack my head to find out what went wrong. it was a simple mistake i did when i named the "WMInteropManifest.xml" but the correct name should be "WPInteropManifest.xml"

How to get the Domain Name by Controller Name or Server Name using C#

Today I ran into this problem and after few hours of googling i came up with this. Hope this will help someone as well.

static void Main() {

string domainservername = "xxx";
string domainusername = "xxx";
string domainpassword = "xxx";

Add reference to System.DirectoryServices.dll

DirectoryContext context = new DirectoryContext(DirectoryContextType.DirectoryServer, domainservername, domainusername, domainpassword);

DomainController controller = DomainController.FindOne(context);
string domainName = controller.Domain.Name;
}

How to determine the install directory of ASP.NET aspnet_regiis.exe ?

here is a cool tip to find the installed install directory of ASP.NET aspnet_regiis.exe

string aspNetInstallDir = HttpRuntime.ClrInstallDirectory;

Component SQL Server 2008 Express has failed to install with the following error message:

I was tring to deploy MS SQL Express 2008 SP 1 version as a merge module with my application.
When it's running on silent mode, it's not easy to find error messages thats greates errors like this.

easyest way to solve problem is goto Log directory located here

%programfiles%\microsoft sql server\100\setup bootstrap\log

and sort the folders by date and check the latest one

Error: SqlDateTime overflow. Must be between 1/1/1753 12:00:00 AM and 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM

I got this error few days back when i was using SubSonic to do some Database updates. Most of the time this error occures if.

1. Date Time Format is wrong. - Always stick to yyyy-MM-dd format. it will makes life so easy
2. Check for current culture for the execution thread. if it's running in a different culture thread this error is likely to occur

Process exited with code -2068578301

Most of the time this error occures if your SQL Server instance name is greater than 16 characters.
Instance names are limited to 16 characters.

WinForms Wait Screen in C#

I know there are lots of waiting screens for Web UIs but this one for WinForms using Windows Applications

Special Thanks to Microsoft !

Public class WaitScreen
{
// Fields
private object lockObject = new object();
private string message = "Please Wait...";
private Form waitScreen;

// Methods
public void Close()
{
lock (this.lockObject)
{
if (this.IsShowing)
{
try
{
this.waitScreen.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(this.CloseWindow));
}
catch (NullReferenceException)
{
}
this.waitScreen = null;
}
}
}

private void CloseWindow()
{
this.waitScreen.Dispose();
}

public void Show(string message)
{
if (this.IsShowing)
{
this.Close();
}
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(message))
{
this.message = message;
}
using (ManualResetEvent event2 = new ManualResetEvent(false))
{
Thread thread = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(this.ThreadStart));
thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
thread.Start(event2);
event2.WaitOne();
}
}

private void ThreadStart(object parameter)
{
Application.SetUnhandledExceptionMode(UnhandledExceptionMode.ThrowException);
ManualResetEvent event2 = (ManualResetEvent) parameter;
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
this.waitScreen = new Form();
this.waitScreen.Tag = event2;
this.waitScreen.ShowIcon = false;
this.waitScreen.AutoSize = true;
this.waitScreen.AutoSizeMode = AutoSizeMode.GrowAndShrink;
this.waitScreen.BackColor = SystemColors.Window;
this.waitScreen.ControlBox = false;
this.waitScreen.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.FixedToolWindow;
this.waitScreen.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.CenterScreen;
this.waitScreen.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor;
this.waitScreen.Text = SR.WaitScreenTitle;
this.waitScreen.FormClosing += new FormClosingEventHandler(this.WaitScreenClosing);
this.waitScreen.Shown += new EventHandler(this.WaitScreenShown);
Label label = new Label();
label.Text = this.message;
label.AutoSize = true;
label.Padding = new Padding(20, 40, 20, 30);
this.waitScreen.Controls.Add(label);
Application.Run(this.waitScreen);
Application.ExitThread();
}

private void WaitScreenClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e)
{
if (e.CloseReason == CloseReason.UserClosing)
{
e.Cancel = true;
}
}

private void WaitScreenShown(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Form form = (Form) sender;
form.Shown -= new EventHandler(this.WaitScreenShown);
ManualResetEvent tag = (ManualResetEvent) form.Tag;
form.Tag = null;
tag.Set();
}

// Properties
public bool IsShowing
{
get
{
return (this.waitScreen != null);
}
}
}


-------------------
How to use
-------------------

WaitScreen waitScreen = new WaitScreen();
waitScreen.Show("Please wait for me!");

Things I learn new this week

1. Never ever use WCF.
---------------------

here is why
1. IIS 7 doesn't support .svc file format by default. So you need to install some extension files. so it's lot of work for a new product.

2. I found it very hard to configure security settings. when i tried to configure for the first time it threw all kind of errors.

3. After installing WCF in IIS, sometimes it's trowing an exception that refers to the temp directory. To solve this problem you have to re compile the application and re-distribute

and a lot more...


2. Deploying digitalpersona for Window 7 64bit.
-------------------------

this can be easy but tricky, here is why.

if you are trying to install digitalpersona dlls to a fresh Windows 7 64-Bit PC you should include
DpCore.msm module because this module contains the core files like dphost.exe. surprisingly they have not included those files in DpCore_x64.msm. Dphost to this day remains 32 bit, which is why you need to install both modules. The 64bit module contains some dlls necessary for your 64bit application to communicate with dphost.

3. install location for prerequisites has not been set to 'component vendor's web site' and the file 'SqlExpress2008\SQLEXPR32_x86_ENU.EXE' in item 'SQL Server 2008 Express' can not be located on disk. See Help for more information.

do solve this , you need to download sqlexpr32_x86_enu.exe and place it in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages\SqlExpress2008\en

4. most of the time when we want to do something small, we write a function. I found this nice piece of code to support kind of inline function

Action d = (bool x) =>
{
var win = MainWindow as MainWindow;
if (win == null) return;
win.ApendArgs(args.CommandLineArgs);
win.Activate(x);
};

Dispatcher.Invoke(d, true);

// or

d.Invoke(true);

dynamic span insertion logic

last few days i have been cracking my head around to find a logic to insert spans dynamically and mark intersections in a different color.

most of the text editors i have seen doesn't support this feature, i hope i am the first one !

Problem



I have a text like this

"You are advised to grant access to these settings only if you are sure you want to allow this program to run automatically when your computer starts. Otherwise it is better to deny access."

and i have 3 selections,

1. StartIndex = 8, Length = 16 // "advised to grant"
2. StartIndex = 16, Length = 33 //"to grant access to these settings"
3. StartIndex = 35, Length = 26 // "these settings only if you"

i need to insert span tags and highlight selections, and intersections of words should be highlighted in different color,

result should be something like this

"You are advised  to grant  advised  access to 

these settings

only if you   sure you want to allow this program to run automatically when your computer starts. Otherwise it is better to deny access."

Solution,

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Reflection;

namespace ConsoleApplication5
{
public enum SortDirection
{
Ascending, Descending
}

public enum SpanType
{
Intersection, InnerSpan, Undefined
}

class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string MessageText = @"You are advised to grant access to these settings only if you are sure you want to allow this program to run automatically when your computer starts. Otherwise it is better to deny access.";

List spanList = new List();
List intersectionSpanList = new List();

spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span1", Text = "advised to grant", ElementType = SpanType.Undefined, StartIndex = 8, Length = 16 });
spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span2", Text = "to grant access to these settings", ElementType = SpanType.Undefined, StartIndex = 16, Length = 33 });
spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span3", Text = "these settings only if you", ElementType = SpanType.Undefined, StartIndex = 35, Length = 26 });

// simple interseciotn
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span1", Text = "advised to grant", ElementType = TagType.Undefined, StartIndex = 8, Length = 16 });
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span2", Text = "to grant access", ElementType = TagType.Undefined, StartIndex = 16, Length = 15 });

// two different spans
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span1", Text = "advised to grant", ElementType = TagType.Undefined, StartIndex = 8, Length = 16 });
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span2", Text = "only if you are ", ElementType = TagType.Undefined, StartIndex = 50, Length = 16 });

// inner span
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span1", Text = "to grant access to these settings", ElementType = TagType.Undefined , StartIndex = 16, Length = 33 });
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span2", Text = "access to these", ElementType = TagType.Undefined, StartIndex = 25, Length = 15 });

// one inner span, and complex
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span1", Text = "to grant access to these settings only ", ElementType = TagType.Undefined, StartIndex = 16, Length = 39 });
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span2", Text = "access to these", ElementType = TagType.Undefined, StartIndex = 25, Length = 15 });
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span3", Text = "only if you are sure", ElementType = TagType.Undefined, StartIndex = 50, Length = 20 });

// one large span, and two intersections
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span1", Text = "grant access to these settings only if you are sure you want to allow this program to run automatically when", ElementType = SpanType.Undefined, StartIndex = 19, Length = 108 });
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span2", Text = "these settings only", ElementType = SpanType.Undefined, StartIndex = 35, Length = 19 });
//spanList.Add(new Span() { SpanID = "span3", Text = "you want to allow this", ElementType = SpanType.Undefined, StartIndex = 71, Length = 22 });

spanList.Sort("StartIndex asc");

foreach (var item in spanList)
item.SplitSpans(ref spanList, ref intersectionSpanList, ref MessageText);


// join intersections with span collection
foreach (var item in intersectionSpanList)
spanList.Add(item);

//remove duplicates
spanList = RemoveDuplicateSpans(spanList);

// sort spans by index ..
spanList.Sort("StartIndex asc"); //desc


foreach (var item in spanList)
{
item.InsertStartSpan(ref spanList, ref MessageText);
}



foreach (var item in spanList)
{
item.InsertEndSpan(ref spanList, ref MessageText);
}

//int count = spanList.Count -1;

//while (count > 0)
//{
// Span currentSpan = spanList[count];
// currentSpan.InsertEndSpan(ref spanList, ref MessageText);
// count--;
//}



}

internal static List RemoveDuplicateSpans(List list)
{
List uniqueList = new List();

for (int i = 0; i < j =" 0;" startindex ="="" endpossition ="="" elementtype ="="">(this List list, string sortExpression)
{
string[] sortExpressions = sortExpression.Split(new string[] { "," }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

List comparers = new List();

foreach (string sortExpress in sortExpressions)
{
string sortProperty = sortExpress.Trim().Split(' ')[0].Trim();
string sortDirection = sortExpress.Trim().Split(' ')[1].Trim();

Type type = typeof(T);
PropertyInfo PropertyInfo = type.GetProperty(sortProperty);
if (PropertyInfo == null)
{
PropertyInfo[] props = type.GetProperties();
foreach (PropertyInfo info in props)
{
if (info.Name.ToString().ToLower() == sortProperty.ToLower())
{
PropertyInfo = info;
break;
}
}
if (PropertyInfo == null)
{
throw new Exception(String.Format("{0} is not a valid property of type: \"{1}\"", sortProperty, type.Name));
}
}

SortDirection SortDirection = SortDirection.Ascending;
if (sortDirection.ToLower() == "asc" || sortDirection.ToLower() == "ascending")
{
SortDirection = SortDirection.Ascending;
}
else if (sortDirection.ToLower() == "desc" || sortDirection.ToLower() == "descending")
{
SortDirection = SortDirection.Descending;
}
else
{
throw new Exception("Valid SortDirections are: asc, ascending, desc and descending");
}

comparers.Add(new GenericComparer { SortDirection = SortDirection, PropertyInfo = PropertyInfo, comparers = comparers });
}
list.Sort(comparers[0].Compare);
}
}

public class GenericComparer
{
public List comparers { get; set; }
int level = 0;

public SortDirection SortDirection { get; set; }
public PropertyInfo PropertyInfo { get; set; }

public int Compare(T t1, T t2)
{
int ret = 0;

if (level >= comparers.Count)
return 0;

object t1Value = comparers[level].PropertyInfo.GetValue(t1, null);
object t2Value = comparers[level].PropertyInfo.GetValue(t2, null);

if (t1 == null || t1Value == null)
{
if (t2 == null || t2Value == null)
{
ret = 0;
}
else
{
ret = -1;
}
}
else
{
if (t2 == null || t2Value == null)
{
ret = 1;
}
else
{
ret = ((IComparable)t1Value).CompareTo(((IComparable)t2Value));
}
}
if (ret == 0)
{
level += 1;
ret = Compare(t1, t2);
level -= 1;
}
else
{
if (comparers[level].SortDirection == SortDirection.Descending)
{
ret *= -1;
}
}
return ret;
}
}

public class Span
{
string _Color = "#F9DA00";

public const int SPAN_START_LENGTH = 40;
public const int SPAN_END_LENGTH = 7;
public const int SPAN_TOTAL_LENGTH = 47;

public string Color
{
get
{
return _Color;
}
set
{
_Color = value;
}
}

public string SpanID { get; set; }

public int StartIndex { get; set; }

public int HTMLTagEndPossition { get; set; }

public Span ParentSpan { get; set; }

public int Length { get; set; }

public SpanType ElementType { get; set; }

public string Text { get; set; }

public int EndPossition
{
get
{
return StartIndex + Length;
}
}

public string GetStartSpanHtml()
{
return "" + this.Text;
}

public string GetEndSpanHtml()
{
return "";
}

public bool IsProcessed { get; set; }

internal void PostProcess(Span span, ref List spanList, ref string MessageText)
{
MessageText = MessageText.Remove(span.StartIndex, span.Length);
MessageText = MessageText.Insert(span.StartIndex, span.GetStartSpanHtml());

int offset = Span.SPAN_TOTAL_LENGTH;

AdjustStartOffsetOfSpans(spanList, span, offset);

}

internal void SplitSpans(ref List spanList, ref List intersectionSpanList, ref string MessageText)
{
foreach (var item in spanList)
{
if (this.SpanID == item.SpanID)
continue;

if (this.StartIndex <> item.EndPossition)
{
// inner

int innerSpanLength = this.EndPossition - item.StartIndex;
int innerSpanStartPos = this.StartIndex;
string innerSpanText = MessageText.Substring(item.StartIndex, item.Length);

Span innerSpan = new Span();
innerSpan.SpanID = "innerSpan" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString().Replace("-", "");
innerSpan.ElementType = SpanType.InnerSpan;
innerSpan.Text = innerSpanText;
innerSpan.Length = item.Length;
innerSpan.StartIndex = item.StartIndex;
innerSpan.ParentSpan = this;
intersectionSpanList.Add(innerSpan);

}
if (this.StartIndex <> this.EndPossition && this.EndPossition > item.StartIndex)
{
// end is overlapping

int intersectionLength = this.EndPossition - item.StartIndex;
int intersectionStartPos = item.StartIndex;
string intersectionText = MessageText.Substring(item.StartIndex, intersectionLength);

// Build intersection span
Span intersectonSpan = new Span();
intersectonSpan.SpanID = "intersectonSpan" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString().Replace("-", "");
intersectonSpan.Text = intersectionText;
intersectonSpan.Length = intersectionLength;
intersectonSpan.StartIndex = intersectionStartPos;
intersectonSpan.ElementType = SpanType.Intersection;
intersectionSpanList.Add(intersectonSpan);

// adjust my end pos.
this.Length = this.Length - intersectionLength;
this.Text = this.Text.Substring(0, this.Length);

item.StartIndex += intersectionLength;
item.Length -= intersectionLength;
item.Text = item.Text.Substring(intersectionLength, item.Length);

}
else if (this.StartIndex <> this.EndPossition && this.EndPossition <> spanList, Span span, int SPAN_END_LENGTH)
{
bool adjustAfterThisSpan = false;

foreach (var item in spanList)
{
if (item.SpanID == span.SpanID)
{
adjustAfterThisSpan = true;
continue;
}

if (adjustAfterThisSpan)
{
if (item.ParentSpan == null)
{
item.HTMLTagEndPossition += SPAN_END_LENGTH;

}
else if (span.ParentSpan != null && this.SpanID == item.ParentSpan.SpanID)
{ }
}
}
}

internal static void AdjustStartOffsetOfSpans(List spanList, Span fromSpan, int offset)
{
bool adjustAfterThisSpan = false;

foreach (var item in spanList)
{
if (item.SpanID == fromSpan.SpanID)
{
adjustAfterThisSpan = true;
continue;
}

if (adjustAfterThisSpan)
item.StartIndex += offset;
}
}


internal void InsertStartSpan(ref List spanList, ref string MessageText)
{

MessageText = MessageText.Remove(this.StartIndex, this.Length);
MessageText = MessageText.Insert(this.StartIndex, this.GetStartSpanHtml());


AdjustStartOffsetOfSpans(spanList, this, SPAN_START_LENGTH);

// Adjust end element tag
switch (this.ElementType)
{
case SpanType.Intersection:
{
this.HTMLTagEndPossition = this.Length + SPAN_START_LENGTH + this.StartIndex;
break;
}
case SpanType.InnerSpan:
{
this.HTMLTagEndPossition = this.Length + SPAN_START_LENGTH + this.StartIndex;

// increase the parent's tag offset conent length
this.ParentSpan.HTMLTagEndPossition += SPAN_START_LENGTH;
break;
}
case SpanType.Undefined:
{
this.HTMLTagEndPossition = this.Length + SPAN_START_LENGTH + this.StartIndex;
break;
}
default:
break;
}




}

internal void InsertEndSpan(ref List spanList, ref string MessageText)
{
switch (this.ElementType)
{
case SpanType.Intersection:
{
MessageText = MessageText.Insert(this.HTMLTagEndPossition, this.GetEndSpanHtml());
break;
}
case SpanType.InnerSpan:
{
MessageText = MessageText.Insert(this.HTMLTagEndPossition, this.GetEndSpanHtml());
break;
}
case SpanType.Undefined:
{
MessageText = MessageText.Insert(this.HTMLTagEndPossition, this.GetEndSpanHtml());
break;
}
default:
break;
}

AdjustEndOffsetOfSpans(spanList, this, SPAN_END_LENGTH);


}


}

}

SelectedIndexChanged not firing ?

Today i was trying to figure out why this is happening,

1. AutoPost = false

2. adding the same value Eg (new ListItem(string, value)) repeatedly will also stop firing SelectedIndexChanged