lazy loungy Boston weekend

I am suddenly unable to begin explaining how much I'll miss Boston.

another myopic realist

"I have never met anyone who was as _______ as they claimed.
[... and] I need new glasses."

-random OKCupid profile

fixed ExpertPDF caching my pdf.css file

This drove me nuts so I was one happy camper when I figured out what was happening!

I appended a "?ver=<%= DateTime.Now.ToString() %>" to the link tag href value.

<link id="lnkPdfStylesheet" runat="server" href="/css/pdf.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" />

ExpertPDF and Caching of URLs

execute Javascript inside ASP.NET UpdatePanel

inside the Page_Load:

//upnlControl is an UpdatePanel defined in the .aspx
ScriptManager.RegisterClientScriptBlock(upnlControl, 
upnlControl.GetType(), upnlControl.ClientID,
"$(document).ready(someNamespace.init);", true);

inside the js file:

// namespace
var someNamespace = someNamespace ? someNamespace : {
   /*
    * handleSomeClickEvent
    * handles some click event 
    * when something is clicked 
    * inside the update panel 
    */
    handleSomeClickEvent:function() {
       alert('Wow! This runs every time the element is clicked!');
    },     
   /*
    * Init
    * Initializer that will run 
    * on each page load.
    */
    init: function() {
       // setup event handlers
       $('.someSelector').click(someNamespace.handleSomeClickEvent);
    }
};
// kickoff someNamespace.init when DOM is ready.
$(document).ready(someNamespace.init);

birthday resolutions

MUST DO
1. bake red velvet cake
2. study for the GRE (to take in August and in October if necessary)
3. take an anthropology class this fall
4. remember to send cards on time for each immediate family members' birthday, anniversary, mother's day, and father's day

TO DO
1. talk more to MJ... in Zhōngwén!*
*saying something cute is sometimes the only way to get him to correct me or talk back
2. sew more... pajama pants, skirts, etc
4. take winter yoga class
5. visit a friend living abroad

I just got back from VT...

and that pretty much sums it up.

I'm reading Mountains Beyond Mountains. I'm at the part where Ophelia, with the inherent task in life of being Roald Dahl's daughter, is experiencing the fortune, and eventual misfortune, of falling in love with Paul Farmer.

Its the second book I've read in a really long time. Which makes me happy about my current state of affairs.

I suddenly got weirded out about being 26. Today I ordered the best crepe on the menu at Mr. Crepe, after 1.5 years of visiting Boston, and 1.5 of living in Boston (Fresh tomatoes with scallions and cilantro with brie). Then I also suddenly got weirded out by people leaving: some for a short while, some for good, some already gone. Maybe its empathy for getting left behind, because I've started feeling like maybe my time might be coming, too.

MJ: the 5 - 10 year travel list http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/21/postcards_from_hell?page=full
MJ: but seriously
MJ: are there any countries that you'd rather see?

fixed my missing HTTP Response Content-Type Header in Firefox

And so I posted to the Aspose forums to help a brother out!

http://www.aspose.com/community/forums/245095/response.flush-clears-content-type-header-in-documentation-example-for-aspose.slides-for-.net-.sa/showthread.aspx#245095

"In IIS7 integrated pipeline mode, a call to Response.Flush causes the response to be sent without the content-type header unless a content-length has also been specified. In IIS6 or classic pipeline mode, the content-type header is sent as expected."

Posted by richard_deeming on 8/4/2009 at 7:44 AM
The issue appears to be in the internal HttpResponse.UpdateNativeResponse method:

if (((this._contentType != null) && this._contentTypeSet) && ((bufferedLength > 0L) || this._contentLengthSet))
{
HttpHeaderCollection headers = this.Headers as HttpHeaderCollection;
string str = this.AppendCharSetToContentType(this._contentType);
headers.Set("Content-Type", str);
this._contentTypeSet = false;
}

If the content length has not been set and no content has been generated, the content type header will not be sent.

In contrast, for IIS6 or classic pipeline mode, the WriteHeaders method calls GenerateResponseHeaders, which has:

if ((this._statusCode != 0xcc) && (this._contentType != null))
{
string str2 = this.AppendCharSetToContentType(this._contentType);
headers.Add(new HttpResponseHeader(12, str2));
}

Posted by Microsoft on 8/5/2009 at 2:55 AM
Thank you for your feedback, We are currently reviewing the issue you have submitted. If this issue is urgent, please contact support directly(http://support.microsoft.com/)

Posted by Microsoft on 8/6/2009 at 8:13 PM
Thanks for your feedback.
We are rerouting this issue to the appropriate group within the Visual Studio Product Team for triage and resolution. These specialized experts will follow-up with your issue.
Thank you

Posted by Microsoft on 9/23/2009 at 10:16 AM
This issue will be fixed in the next major release of the ASP.NET and the .NET Framework.
Thank you for submitting this issue on Connect.

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/480689/response-flush-clears-content-type-header

I just got back from India...

and that pretty much sums it up.

I'm reading Three Cups of Tea.

Its the first book I've read in a really long time. Which makes me both sad and happy about my current state of affairs.

C# Dictionary, Hashtable, and HashSet

C# Data Structures: Dictionary, Hashtable, Set

Dictionary<>

The Dictionary C# data structure is extremely useful data structure since it allows the programmer to handle the index keys. What does that mean? Well an ArrayList automatically makes its "keys" integers that go up one by one, 1, 2, etc, so to access a value in an ArrayList one goes like: myArrayList[2];

So what the C# Dictionary data structure does is let us specify the keys, which can be any type of object. For example:

Dictionary<string, int> myDictionary = new Dictionary<string, int>();
myDictionary.Add("one", 1);
myDictionary.Add("twenty", 20);

Retrieving a value is pretty straight forward:

int myInt = myDictionary["one"];

Notice how convenient the Dictionary data structure is, in that there is no need to cast between types. Also there is nothing stopping you from creating a Dictionary like so:

Dictionary<int, Dictionary<string, int>> nestedDictionary = 
            new Dictionary<int, Dictionary<string, int>>();

That is a nested Dictionary C# data structure and it is fair game.

I understand that it can be confusing on how to go about getting all the values out of a Dictionary data structure since we have no way to knowing the pattern in the keys. Luckily we don't have to, here is the code to transverse a C#.Net Dictionary:

//List<[same type as index]>
List<string> keyList = new List<string>(myDictionary.Keys);
for (int i = 0; i < keyList.Count; i++)
{
    int myInt = myDictionary[keyList[i]];
}

Hashtable

The C# Hashtable data structure is very much like the Dictionary data structure. A Hashtable also takes in a key/value pair, but it does so as generic objects as opposed to typed data.

Values are then stored in order according to their key's HashCode. Meaning that the order in which items are added to a C# Hashtable is not preserved. On the other hand, the Dictionary data structure does keep items in the same order.

The reason is speed. A C# Hashtable stores items faster than a C# Dictionary, which sacrifices speed for the sake of order..

(For those Java programmers, a Dictionary is more or less a TreeMap and a Hashtable is a HashMap).

Hashtable myTable = new Hashtable();

HashSet

The HashSet data structure was introduced in C#.NET 3.5. This particular C# data structure very strongly resembles the List<> data strucuture.

So what is the difference? A HashSet has the very important characteristic that it does not allow duplicate values. For example:

HashSet<int> mySet = new HashSet<int>();
mySet.Add(3);
mySet.Add(5);
mySet.Add(3);
mySet.Add(10);

List<int> myListFromSet = mySet.ToList<int>();
int myInt = myListFromSet[2];

If mySet were a regular List data structure, the index 2 should return the value 3 (count it out). But if you run the example you will see that myInt actually returns the value 10. This is because the HashSet C# data structure ignored the duplicate addition of the value 3.

You might wonder what is the point of this. After all, you could achieve the same behavior with a List data structure. Something like:

if (!myList.Contains(element))
     myList.Add(element);

The result is indeed the same. But what is not apparent is the speed at which this happens. When an element is added to a HashSet, internally the same thing happens: the data structure makes sure the element doesn't already exist. However a HashSet is not a simple array, it is specifically designed to allow fast search times which dramatically improves the performace of checking whether a new element is a duplicate or not.

to be read backwards

lol

SJM: Wait, is this the same guy who called you a firecracker?

LS: RP is the new guy who was at training yesterday.

HP: FYI - no idea what this means. Beware men with long ponytails.

RP: Yes and yes.

HP: Are you serious???? Can I tell Sue that? Is it the guy with the long ponytail?

RP: The trainer just called Sue a “wildcat” and a “wild mare”.

Awkward.

JavaScript Sorting

Many of you are aware of the built-in sort function for sorting JavaScript arrays. But you might not realize the true power of this function. This tip will talk about how this built-in function can be used to sort multi-dimensional arrays.

If you have a one-dimensional JavaScript array, then calling the built-in sort method on the array will sort the array in ascending order. But what about the case where you have an array of first names, an array of last names, and an array of ages? You may want to sort the array of first names, but keep the corresponding positions in the last names and ages. This is done by setting up a multi-dimensional array and sorting the proper "column" of the multi-dimensional array.

First, setting up a multi-dimensional array is pretty easy. If you know the values ahead of time, they can be specified in your javascript code:

var myData = new Array();
myData[0] = {FirstName:"John", LastName:"Doe", Age:40};
myData[1] = {FirstName:"Fred", LastName:"Smith", Age:41};
and so on.

If you don't know the values ahead of time, then the easiest thing to do is to build a "constructor" function:

var myData = new Array();
function person(firstName, lastName, age) {
this.FirstName = firstName;
this.LastName = lastName;
this.Age = parseInt(parseFloat(age));
}

Then, to add a new entry to the array, it's just a matter of creating a new person object:

people[people.length++] = new person(form.FirstName.value, form.LastName.value, form.Age.value);

(The example has the values coming from user input on a form).

To sort the array, we need to tell JavaScript how to sort. This comes from a function that returns -1, 0, or +1 as a value. -1 will put the first value before the second in the sorted array, +1 will put the second value before the first, and 0 means the values are equal. For example, if we want to sort by the first names, here is a function that can be used:

function sortByFirstName(a, b) {
var x = a.FirstName.toLowerCase();
var y = b.FirstName.toLowerCase();
return ((x < y) ? -1 : ((x > y) ? 1 : 0));
}

Two values are passed to this function. The values are array objects. If the first name part of the first object is alphabetically less than the second, -1 is returned. If the first name part of the first object is alphabetically greater than the second, +1 is returned. Otherwise, the first name values must be identical and 0 is returned.

But where does this function come in to play? There's an optional parameter to the built-in sort method that can be used. If you pass in a function name, that function name is used to compare elements in the array for sorting purposes. So, using this javascript call:

people.sort(sortByFirstName);

the array will be sorted in ascending order by the first name part of each array object. Similar functions and calls can be created to sort by the last name or by the age.

Note that JavaScript sorts in ascending order by default. But our function returns how things should be ordered. If we changed +1 to -1 in the function (and vice-versa) then the array would sort the first names in descending order. This is how you can sort by descending order.

JavaScript Sorting

day 43 and I write poetry

today (in particular)
I miss speaking the language
that we created,
learned,
and in which only we are fluent,
the one comprised of sound effects, hand effects,
the one reserved for perfectly communicating
thoughts that are like
unfinished sentences, tongue clicks, stuffed animal psyche,
a language like a try/catch block,
collecting thoughts mildly ignorant, conjecture and insecure,
unspeakably offensive and intoxicating,
(but today, its)
a language that feels like
a short-term memory, like
being stuck
(without you)
in a jar of peanut butter
(with which to speak it)

how to query duplicate records in SQL

SELECT *
FROM Person.Address A
INNER JOIN (SELECT AddressLine1, City
FROM Person.[Address]
GROUP BY AddressLine1, City
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1) AS A1
ON A.AddressLine1 = A1.AddressLine1
AND A.City = A1.City
ORDER BY A.AddressLine1, A.City, A.AddressID

how to get a list of tables in a database using C#

Unsurprisingly, if a table doesn't exist in a database, you can't use a select query to determine whether it exists. But using GetSchema() with no parameters, you can obtain a schema table, which is essentially a list of tables you can specify to get more specific schema information. In this case, I wanted to get a list of tables in the database. After transforming the results into a list of strings, I could then safely search the list to determine whether it exists.

SqlConnection con =
new SqlConnection("connection_string");
con.Open();
DataTable tbl = 
con.GetSchema("Tables");

Schema and metadata retrieval using ADO.NET

this also works, depending on whether you need these extra parameters, but its a big uglier:

DataTable tables = 
con.GetOleDbSchemaTable
(OleDbSchemaGuid.Tables,
new object[]{null,null,null,"TABLE"});

Get all table names

fixed my "Restore failed...The file cannot be overwritten. It is being used by database..." error

The "Database -> Restore Database... -> Options pane -> Restore the database files as" file names in the "Restore As" fields were not "Test1Copy1" as entered into the "General pane -> Destination for restore -> To database" field as the database restore destination. The file names were in fact "Test1," the same name of the "General pane -> Destination for restore -> From database" field. Basically, the file names should be Test1Copy1, but for some reason default to Test1.

The... error is resolved by clicking into the "Options pane -> Restore the database files as" file names in the Restore As fields and manually changing the file names...

FROM: Test1.mdf
TO: Test1Copy1.mdf

and

FROM: Test1_log.ldf
TO: Test1Copy1_log.ldf

This could be a SQL Server Management Studio bug, but it is just as likely a misunderstanding by a user who is just realizing he not only doesn't know his @ss from a hole in the ground; he didn't even know there was a hole in the ground ;-)

<%= Clinton Gallagher

Slightly scathing at the very end, Clinton Gallagher, very sneaky, but I do appreciate the apparent concern for my virgin eyes and for the bug fix :-P

http://www.sqlnewsgroups.net/group/microsoft.public.sqlserver.server/topic12008.aspx

fixed my " TypeLoadException: Could not load type from string value" error

3.2.4.1. Object creation of generic types via constructor invocation
The following examples shows the definition of simple generic types and how they can be created in Spring's XML based configuration file.

namespace GenericsPlay
{
    public class FilterableList<T>
    {
        private List<T> list;        
        private String name;

        public List<T> Contents
        {
            get { return list; }
            set { list = value; }
        }

        public String Name
        {
            get { return name; }
            set { name = value; }
        }
        
        public List<T> ApplyFilter(string filterExpression)
        {
            /// should really apply filter to list ;)
            return new List<T>();
        }
    }
}

The XML configuration to create and configure this object is shown below

<object id="myFilteredIntList" type="GenericsPlay.FilterableList&lt;int&gt;, GenericsPlay">
  <property name="Name" value="My Integer List"/>
</object>

Chapter 3. Objects, Object Factories, and Application Contexts

MJ
3:41 PM
I am actually surprised
3:42 PM
because I realized over the weekend
3:42 PM
it would be really nice to live with you

how to add a Global.asax code behind file

One of the subtle differences I've found while working with web projects in Visual Studio 2005 is the Global.asax code is placed in script tags within the actual .asax page, not a codebehind file, as it was with .NET 1.1. This article describes how to set up the Global.asax file to utilize the Global.asax.cs codebehind file.

First off, go to files->add new and select the "Global Application Class" file. You'll notice right off the bat that the option to put the code in a separate file is grayed out. Ignore this and click "Add".

Next, go back to files->add new and select a "Class" file. Type in the name "Global.asax.cs" and click "Add". Visual Studio will prompt you to add this file to the App_Code directory, select "Yes" and continue.

Now that the files are in place, we need to do some slight manipulation of the existing code to get this solution to compile.

To start, the Global class in the Global.asax.cs file needs to implement HttpApplication.

public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication

Next, move the code within the script tags from the Global.asax file to the Global.asax.cs file -within the Global class.

void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Code that runs on application startup
}

...snip...

void Session_End(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Code that runs when a session ends.
}

Once the code has been moved, remove the script tags from Global.asax:



Add the following to the Application directive at the top of the same page:

CodeBehind="Global.asax.cs" Inherits="Global"

The entire contents of the Global.asax file should look like:

<%@ Application Language="C#" CodeBehind="Global.asax.cs" Inherits="Global" %>

The solution should compile and the Global events should fire correctly as well.

http://www.xerratus.com/2006/10/20/NET20GlobalasaxCodeInSeparateFile.aspx