Wayne Wilkerson

Locating your MediaElement Video Source File in a Silverlight 3 Control

2009-11-19T13:24:37-05:00:00

In this Demo I will show 3 ways to have your web page locate your MediaElement’s video file.

I have created a Silverlight 3 application and let it automatically create a web site to host the control.

Drag a <MediaElement> onto the UserControl and set its source file attribute.

Drag the video file using window explorer and drop it in the root of my Silverlight’s UserControl project.

Note the size of this file is about 25mb.

I will demo 3 different methods for setting the location so that the web page can find it.

Method 1

Highlight the video and set its “Build Action” to “Content”

Your properties will look like below:

Change the source attribute to have a forward slash before the video name.

Build the solution.

Test using the test aspx page (TestMediaTestPage.aspx) in your web project and the video should work fine.

Check the size of your xap in the ClientBin folder. Notice that it includes the video file.

Method 2

Again from a fresh Silverlight solution containing the 2 projects, drag the video to the root of the Silverlight project.

Highlight the video and set its “Build Action” to “Resource”.

Add a <MediaElement> onto the UserControl and set its source file attribute.

In this case a slash is not used in front of the file name in the MediaElement

Build the solution.

Once again check the size of your xap in the ClientBin folder. Notice that it includes the video file.

Test using the test aspx page (TestMediaTestPage.aspx) in your web project and the video should work fine.

Method 3

Again from a fresh Silverlight solution containing the 2 projects, drag the video to the root of the Silverlight project.

Highlight the video and verify its “Build Action” is set to “None”.

Add a <MediaElement> onto the UserControl and set its source file attribute.

It does not matter if a slash is in front of the file name or not in the MediaElement

Build the solution and using windows explorer check the size of the xap file in the ClientBin.

Notice that it does not include the video file.

Using windows explorer, drag the video file into the ClientBin folder.

Test using the test aspx page (TestMediaTestPage.aspx) in your web project and the video should work fine.

Here is a video recap.

Hiding Secrets in a Web.Config Section

2009-11-12T12:43:44-05:00:00

Sometimes while developing websites on your dev machine you may want to encrypt sections of your web.config to hide user ids, passwords or other secret type stuff.

To do this by using a particular directory path, as in a file system hosted website, you can use the ASPNET_REGIIS utility with the –pef switch. If you are using IIS to host your site rather than a website, you can use the ASPNET_REGIIS utility with the –pe switch and a –app switch to point to the virtual directory. Either of these two techniques can be used to encrypt using the RSAProtectedConfigurationProvider and the machine key.

In this example I have a website hosted in the file system and will use the –pef switch. My website has an <appSettings> section that contains secrets.

To encrypt this section first open a .Net command prompt.

Execute the ASPNET_REGIIS command using the –pef switch followed by the section name (case sensitive) and the directory path as shown below.

After you hit enter and you will receive a success message:

Returning to the IDE, if you left your web.config displayed, you will be prompted to reload the file.

Click “Yes” to view the web.config again.

Notice that the <appSettings> has changed.

You will see some squiggles concerning invalid child elements. To clear them modify the configuration element by adding a namespace.

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/.NetConfiguration/v2.0

Below is an example.

The retrieval of the encrypted values is done automatically. In the button click handler shown below, I retrieve the unencrypted value no different than when unencrypted.

To decrypt the web.config file, use the ASPNET_REGIIS command again from a .Net command prompt. The difference is you replace the –pef switch with –pdf switch to decrypt the section.

This command will return your web.config section to its unencrypted format.

Again, if you are not using a website but IIS, you may want to use the ASPNET_REGIIS utility with the –pe switch.

Also the machine key may need permissions granted depending under which identity the site is running. It should be located at \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys.

(BTW Ssuper was either a typo or stands for Super, super. Take your pick)

Technorati Tags: C#,.NET,ASP.NET

Binding an ASP.NET GridView to a typed dataset

2009-11-11T03:16:00-05:00:00

Often we have typed datasets coming back from component methods that we want to bind to a GridView at runtime. There are multiple ways to do this. The first technique is without using an ObjectDataSource, the second one is with an ObjectDataSource. Although with either technique its not to difficult to do the bind, formatting the gridview can be a challenge.

I have a small app for a library that keeps track of a library’s membership, books checked out, etc. I have a business component that has a method which returns information about a member and another method that returns the books currently checked out by a member. This is returned in a typed dataset

My sample form looks like this.

Technique 1: Without an ObjectDataSource

The user of the page can enter a member number in the textbox and click the button. In the button click event handler the binding and formatting takes place.

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        //get a instance of business layer class

        JL.LibraryBusiness.BusinessLayer bl = new JL.LibraryBusiness.BusinessLayer();

        //get page data (non grid) by calling method

        JL.LibraryEntities.Member mymember= bl.GetMember(short.Parse(TextBox1.Text));

        TextBox2.Text = mymember.LastName;

        //get grid data by calling method and returning typed dataset

        JL.LibraryEntities.ItemsDataSet myitems= bl.GetMemberItemsOnLoan(short.Parse(TextBox1.Text));

        GridView1.Columns.Clear();

        // set the datsource of the grid

        GridView1.DataSource = myitems;

        // sets some props of the grid

        GridView1.Attributes.Add("style", "table-layout:fixed");

        //we will add columns for more control - so dont generate them 

        GridView1.AutoGenerateColumns = false;

        // add a select button

        GridView1.AutoGenerateSelectButton=true;

        //ISBNColumn

        BoundField isbn = new BoundField();

        isbn.DataField = myitems.Items.ISBNColumn.ColumnName;

        isbn.HeaderText = "ISBN";

        isbn.ItemStyle.HorizontalAlign = HorizontalAlign.Center;

        GridView1.Columns.Add(isbn);

        //CopyNumberColumn

        BoundField copyno = new BoundField();

        copyno.DataField = myitems.Items.CopyNumberColumn.ColumnName;

        copyno.HeaderText = "Copy Number";

        copyno.ItemStyle.HorizontalAlign = HorizontalAlign.Center;

        GridView1.Columns.Add(copyno);

        //TitleColumn

        BoundField title = new BoundField();

        title.DataField = myitems.Items.TitleColumn.ColumnName;

        title.HeaderText = "Title";

        GridView1.Columns.Add(title);

        //CheckoutDateColumn

        BoundField outdate = new BoundField();

        outdate.DataField = myitems.Items.CheckoutDateColumn.ColumnName;

        outdate.HeaderText = "Out Date";

        outdate.DataFormatString = "{0:MMM-dd-yyyy}"; 

        GridView1.Columns.Add(outdate);

        //DueDateColumn

        BoundField duedate = new BoundField();

        duedate.DataField = myitems.Items.DueDateColumn.ColumnName;

        duedate.HeaderText = "due date";

        duedate.DataFormatString = "{0:MMM-dd-yyyy}"; 

        GridView1.Columns.Add(duedate);

        // Bind the Grid   

        GridView1.DataBind();        

    }

The above code adds a select button to the grid. To capture row info when the select button is clicked you can use the SelectedIndexChanged event handler.

protected void GridView1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

    //to get the row that was selected in the grid

    //cell 0 is the button

    Label1.Text = "You have selected isbn " + GridView1.SelectedRow.Cells[1].Text +

        " and copy number " + GridView1.SelectedRow.Cells[2].Text;

}

Some formatting is best done while the grid is being populated with data, especially if the formatting depends on the data. The code below highlights the due date column red if the book is overdue. This uses the RowDataBound event handler. The width of cells can also be changed here.

 
    protected void GridView1_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)

    {

        //change the width of a column

        e.Row.Cells[3].Width = 250;

        if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)

        {

            if ((DateTime.Parse(e.Row.Cells[5].Text)).Date < DateTime.Now.Date)

            {

                //change the backcolor of a cell if overdue

                e.Row.Cells[5].BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;

            }

        }

    }

Technique 2: With an ObjectDatasource

Drag an ObjectDataSource onto the page

Use the ObjectDataSource’s smart tag to configure.

A wizard will start. Choose your business layer component.

Choose the same business component method that you called from the button click in technique 1.

Choose the field on the form to pass into that method. In this example it is Textbox1.

Click Finish. The default formatted grid is displayed.

The next step is to format each column as you want. Click the GridView’s smart tag and choose Edit Columns.

Remove columns you don't want by highlighting them in the selected fields box and click the red X.

Change column properties like header text and alignment.

Format dates using format strings.

Set column widths by using ItemStyle

Add a Select Button

Move the Select button to the first position using the up arrow.

Click OK, now the grid is formatted as desired.

Change the Button Click to use the Select method of the ObjectDataSource. Notice there is a lot less code.

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

    //get a instance of business layer class

    JL.LibraryBusiness.BusinessLayer bl = new JL.LibraryBusiness.BusinessLayer();

    //get page data (non grid) by calling method

    JL.LibraryEntities.Member mymember = bl.GetMember(short.Parse(TextBox1.Text));

    TextBox2.Text = mymember.LastName;

    // fill the grid

    ObjectDataSource1.Select();

}

The SelectedIndexChanged event handler is the same as technique 1.

The column sizing can be removed from RowDatabound, otherwise it is also the same.

In both techniques the page displays with proper formatting.

That is it. Good luck with your formatting!

Technorati Tags: C#,.NET,ASP.NET

Adding your WPF control to the toolbox

2009-07-15T18:10:00-04:00:00

We all reuse our windows controls out of the toolbox so why not our WPF user controls? The process is really the same. To show the steps involved let’s first write a simple WPF user control.

After renaming the control and adding a WPF application project to my solution(to test with), my solution looks like this

Since the functionality of the control is not important in this article, I just pasted in some animation code from msdn into my MyDemoControl.xaml file.

<UserControl x:Class="MyDemoControl.MyDemoControl"

    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

    Height="156" Width="267">

    <!-- This example :

    from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.media.animation.pointanimation.aspx

    shows how to use PointAnimation to animate the

    position of an ellipse by animating the Center property of an 

    EllipseGeometry. PointAnimation is used because the Center property

    takes a Point value. -->

        <Canvas>

            <Path Fill="Blue" Margin="15,15,15,15">

                <Path.Data>

                    <!-- Describes an ellipse. -->

                    <EllipseGeometry x:Name="MyAnimatedEllipseGeometry"

                    Center="0,0" RadiusX="15" RadiusY="15" />

                </Path.Data>

                <Path.Triggers>

                    <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Path.Loaded">

                        <BeginStoryboard Name="MyBeginStoryboard">

                            <Storyboard>

                                <!-- Animate the Center property so that the ellipse animates from 

                                one point on the screen to another. -->

                                <PointAnimation

                                Storyboard.TargetProperty="Center"

                                Storyboard.TargetName="MyAnimatedEllipseGeometry"

                                Duration="0:0:2" From="0,0" To="156,267" RepeatBehavior="Forever" />

                            </Storyboard>

                        </BeginStoryboard>

                    </EventTrigger>

                </Path.Triggers>

            </Path>

        </Canvas>

</UserControl>

Now let’s add the control to the toolbox!

Step 1:

Add a using statement to the top of you control's .cs file. This is needed for the ToolboxBitmap we will be using.

using System.Drawing;

Step 2:

Add a image resource to the project for an icon. (right click the project in solution explorer, choose properties, choose Resources tab)

You can use an existing or create a new icon. I created a new one.

First select Images from the left dropdown

Then click the add resource button

Enter the image name in the dialog that pops up.

The name you use is extremely important.

Note it should be the class name followed by a period then the word “icon”.

I tried to draw a “W” for my icon.

In the properties window change the Build Action property for the BMP to Embedded Resource.

Note the full name of the file is the class + “icon” + the extension

Step 3:

Add an ToolboxBitmap attribute to your control class.

[ToolboxBitmap(typeof(MyDemoControl))]

public partial class MyDemoControl : UserControl

{

    public MyDemoControl()

    {

        InitializeComponent();

Notice only the type is needed because of our naming convention used on our bitmap.

Build the control project.

Step 4:

Now to add it to the toolbox,

Right click in the toolbox (where you want the control to be located) and select Choose Items.

You may need to wait a bit for the Choose Toolbox Items dialog to appear. When it does,

Choose the WPF Components tab. This is important! The .Net tab will not work for WPF controls.

Click the browse button and navigate out to your DLL, choose it, click Open.

Once you have selected your DLL you should see the icon that will be used for your control on the dialog

Click OK. You should now see the control in your toolbox with proper icon.

Step 5:

Switch back to the WPF Application project in the solution.

Drag your new control out of the toolbox and position it in the Window element.

Set the WPF Application project to be startup.

Run to test the behavior.

Technorati Tags: WPF,Controls,Toolbox,Visual Studio

Santa checked his list, do you?

2009-07-08T14:12:16-04:00:00

Have you ever tried to implicitly cast a larger data type into a smaller type (as far as the number of bits) through a plain old assignment? c# wont let you do it!

In this case the long’s value of 5 will definitely fit into an int but the compiler will still give you a no-no. Its avoiding possibly dropping some of the 64 bits when assigning the value to 32 bits. Not to worry, you can always do the explicit cast.

int myInt;

long myLong = 5; 

myInt = (int)myLong;

This lets the compiler know that you purposely want to do the cast even though bits may be lost. But wait, what happens if the long’s value is too big to fit into an int and you do the explicit cast anyway without knowing. Well the default behavior is to do the cast, drop some bits and keep quiet about it. Unfortunately your value in the int probably wont be what you wanted. Sadly you wont know about it until you try to use it.

The same thing is true in the situation below.

int c = 2147483647;    //will fit in 32 bits

int d = 2147483647;    //will fit in 32 bits   

myInt = c * d;         //product wont fit

No exception will be thrown. To remedy this situation you can use a checked block. By wrapping the code which may drop or overflow bits in a checked block, you can for an force an OverflowException to be thrown if it occurs.

//the setup

int myInt;

long myLong = 2147483648; //too big to fit in an int

myInt = (int)myLong;

try

{

    checked

    {

        myInt = (int)myLong;

        //bits were lost OverflowException is thrown

    }

    //never will reach this

}

catch (OverflowException ex)

{

    //do something

}

Using the checked block will work for either of the cases described above. There is also an unchecked block to say not to check for overflow and you can also create checked and unchecked expressions. There is even a compiler option to turn checked or unchecked on globally for your code (Project Properties => Build tab => Advanced button).

Using the checked or unchecked blocks in your code will override any compiler option for that block of code.

Technorati Tags: C#,.Net

Being Sensitive in an Insensitive World

2009-07-03T22:43:00-04:00:00

SQL Server allows you to set a case sensitive collation at both the database and column level but often you will need to do a case sensitive search when everything is case insensitive. Not to worry, you can set the collation directly in the query.

/*

To test string equality including case when the DB is 

not case sensitive you must 

include collation as part of the test as follows:

*/

declare @mystring1 varchar(10) 

declare @mystring2 varchar(10) 

set @mystring1 ='abc'

set @mystring2 ='ABC'

-- by default

if @mystring1 = @mystring2

                print 'match'

else

                print 'not a match'

-- by adding a case sensitive colation whe can check case

if @mystring1 = @mystring2 COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AS

                print 'match'

else

                print 'not a match'

-- now make them equal in case and test again

set @mystring2 ='abc'

if @mystring1 = @mystring2 COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AS

                print 'match'

else

                print 'not a match'

/*Here is a sample use */

use Northwind

go

select * from customers 

where companyname='alfreds futterkiste' -- works

select * from customers 

where companyname='alfreds futterkiste' COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AS  --fails

select * from customers 

where companyname='Alfreds Futterkiste' COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AS  --works

Technorati Tags: TSQL,SQL SERVER