Mayank Sharma

Visual Studio and working with projects on UNC share

bullpit — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:47:10 GMT

This is just a note to myself on what needs to be changed while working on projects that are on a UNC share.

Problem 1: The first problem is the Trust level for Intranet Zone.

Fix: Go to Control Panel\Administrative Tools\ and launch Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration Tool.

Click on Runtime Security Policy, then in the right pane, click Adjust Zone Security. Click Local Intranet and change the trust level for this zone to Full Trust.

Then you might get this error:

Problem2: The network BIOS command limit has been reached

Probable Fix: You can try the fix discussed in this Microsoft KB, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810886. It never worked for me.

Fix: Disable File Change Notification in Registry.

1. Open RegEdit
2. 64-bit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ASP.NET
3. 32-bit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ASP.NET
4. Create a Dword called FCNMode and assign a value of 1.

Note: You might have to restart your michine.

Send Multiple InMemory Attachments Using FileUpload Controls

bullpit — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:16:11 GMT

I wanted to give users an ability to send multiple attachments from the web application. I did not want anything fancy, just a few FileUpload controls on the page and then send the email. So I dropped five FileUpload controls on the web page and created a function to send email with multiple attachments.

Here’s the code:

public static void SendMail(string fromAddress, string toAddress, string subject, string body, HttpFileCollection fileCollection)

{

// CREATE THE MailMessage OBJECT

MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();

// SET ADDRESSES

mail.From = new MailAddress(fromAddress);

mail.To.Add(toAddress);

// SET CONTENT

mail.Subject = subject;

mail.Body = body;

mail.IsBodyHtml = false;

// ATTACH FILES FROM HttpFileCollection

for (int i = 0; i < fileCollection.Count; i++)

{

HttpPostedFile file = fileCollection[i];

if (file.ContentLength > 0)

{

Attachment attachment = new Attachment(file.InputStream, Path.GetFileName(file.FileName));

mail.Attachments.Add(attachment);

}

// SEND MESSAGE

SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("127.0.0.1");

smtp.Send(mail);

}

And here’s how you call the method:

protected void uxSendMail_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

HttpFileCollection fileCollection = Request.Files;

string fromAddress = "from@abc.com";

string toAddress = "to@xyz.com";

string subject = "Multiple Mail Attachment Test";

string body = "Mail Attachments Included";

HelperClass.SendMail(fromAddress, toAddress, subject, body, fileCollection);

}

Encrypt / Decrypt Sections of App.Config file in Windows Application

bullpit — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:44:38 GMT

This is just a note to myself on how to Encrypt and Decrypt App.Config (or Web.Config if ASP.NET) in a Windows Application.

Encryption:
1. Rename App.Config to Web.Config
2. %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis -pef "connectionStrings" <Full Path to Web.Config>
3. Succeeded! implies Encryption was successful
4. Rename Web.Config to App.Config

Descryption:
1. Rename App.Config to Web.Config
2. %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis -pdf "connectionStrings" <Full Path to Web.Config>
3. Succeeded! implies Decryption was successful
4. Rename Web.Config to App.Config (if needed)

Procedure or function has too many arguments specified

bullpit — Fri, 07 May 2010 14:35:50 GMT

This error took me a while to figure out. I was using SqlDataSource with stored procedures for SELECT and UPDATE commands. The SELECT worked fine. Then I added UPDATE command and while trying to update, I would get this error:

"Procedure of function has too many arguments specified"

Apparently, good guys at .NET decided it is necessary to send SELECT parameters with the UPDATE command as well. So when I was sending the required parameters to the UPDATE sp, in reality, it was also getting my SELECT parameters, and thus failing.

I had to add the extra parameters in the UPDATE stored procedure and make them NULLABLE so that they are not required....phew...

Here is piece of SP with unused parameters.

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[UpdateMaintenanceRecord]

@RecordID INT

,@District VARCHAR(255)

,@Location VARCHAR(255)

--UNUSED PARAMETERS

,@MTBillTo VARCHAR(255) = NULL

,@SerialNumber VARCHAR(255) = NULL

,@PartNumber VARCHAR(255) = NULL

Update: I was getting that error because unkowingly, I had bound the extra fields in my GridVeiw with Bind() call. I changed all the extra one's, which did not need to be in Update, to Eval() and everything works fine.

User Already Exists in the Current Database - SQL Server

bullpit — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:59:19 GMT

I was moving a lot of databases from one SQL Server to another, and my applications were giving me errors saying "Login failed for <user>". The user was already in the database with appropriate rights to allowed objects in the database. I tried mapping the user to the database and that's when I got this message:

"User Already Exists in the Current Database"...

I googled and found this very useful post about orphaned users when moving databases.

These are the steps you should take to fix this issue:

First, make sure that this is the problem. This will lists the orphaned users:
EXEC sp_change_users_login 'Report'

If you already have a login id and password for this user, fix it by doing:
EXEC sp_change_users_login 'Auto_Fix', 'user'

If you want to create a new login id and password for this user, fix it by doing:
EXEC sp_change_users_login 'Auto_Fix', 'user', 'login', 'password'

ASP.NET WebForm Page Life Cycle Events

bullpit — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:50:21 GMT

Joe shared a nice list of page life cycle events, very useful when you are trying to figure out where to put what.

Link: http://misfitgeek.com/blog/aspnet/unwinding-the-page-lifecycle-events/

Automated password expiration notice for Active Directory users

bullpit — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:44:33 GMT

When passwords are set to expire after a certain number of days in Active Directory, the remote users suffer because they do not get a notification like the local users do that their password is going to expire.

Eventually, it becomes too late for them to change their passwords and they get locked out. I found this out recently and did not believe that there was no built in support for this. I started researching and indeed, there was no built in support. The solution was to email the users, either through a script or manually before their passwords expire.

There are simple VB Scripts out there, which do this kind of stuff.

Here’s one of them: http://windowsitpro.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=46819&cpage=1

I created a C# Console Application which emails users if their password is going to expire, and also emails the report to the administrator. You can schedule it run every day as a Windows Scheduled Task. It will start emailing users when 15 (default) days are left for their passwords to expire.

There are a few things you will need:
1. config.xml file
2. EmailBody.txt file
3. A reference to Active DS Type Library
4. SettingsProvider.cs class

config.xml settings:

AdministratorEmail: To send reports
MailServer: The mail server used to send emails
Countdown: Used as a threshold to start emailing users

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

- <config>

<AdministratorEmail>Administrator@YourCompany.com</AdministratorEmail>

<MailServer>YourMailServer</MailServer>

</config>

The SettingsProvider.cs class is used to read values from the config.xml file.

SettingsProvider.cs

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Xml;

using System.IO;

namespace PasswordNotification

{

class SettingsProvider

{

private const string CONFIG_FILE = "config.xml";

private static XmlDocument _xmlDoc = null;

private static string ConfigPath

{

get { return Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + @"\" + CONFIG_FILE; }

}

public static void Save(string key, string value)

{

XmlNode node = _xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("./config/" + key);

if (node != null)

{

node.InnerText = value;

Save();

}

else

{

// XML node doesnt exist thus create a new one

Get(key, value);

}

///<summary>

/// Gets a value of the settings. If the setting does not exist, defaultValue is returned.

///</summary>

public static string Get(string key, string defaultValue)

{

if (_xmlDoc == null)

{

_xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

// Load config.xml

string fullPath = SettingsProvider.ConfigPath;

if (!File.Exists(fullPath))

{

// Xml declaration

XmlDeclaration declaration = _xmlDoc.CreateXmlDeclaration("1.0", null, null);

_xmlDoc.AppendChild(declaration);

// Root node <config>

XmlElement rootNode = _xmlDoc.CreateElement("config");

_xmlDoc.AppendChild(rootNode);

Save();

}

else

{

_xmlDoc.Load(fullPath);

}

XmlNode node = _xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("./config/" + key);

if (node != null)

{

return node.InnerText;

}

else

{

// Add default value

XmlElement newSetting = _xmlDoc.CreateElement(key);

newSetting.InnerText = defaultValue;

_xmlDoc.ChildNodes[1].AppendChild(newSetting);

Save();

return defaultValue;

}

public static void Save()

{

if (_xmlDoc != null)

{

_xmlDoc.Save(SettingsProvider.ConfigPath);

}

Then there’s a text file called EmailBody.txt which stores a template email. It contains parameters like [USERNAME] and [DAYCOUNT] which I use to plug in custom values in code.

EmailBody.txt

<html><title></title><head></head><body style="font-size:0.7em;color:#666666;">
[USERNAME]

Your password is going to expire in [DAYCOUNT] days.
Please change your password to avoid account lockout.

The steps to change your password are as follows:

1) Log in to your machine
2) (If you are remote) Connect to YOURCOMPANY using the VPN Client
3) Once connected, press Ctrl / Alt / Del
4) From the menu, select Change Password
5) Enter your old password, then your new password twice.
6) Press OK

Administrator.

</body></html>

And here’s the main code:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.DirectoryServices;

using ActiveDs;

using System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory;

using System.IO;

using System.Configuration;

using System.Net.Mail;

using System.Resources;

using System.Reflection;

using System.Security.Principal;

namespace PasswordNotification

{

class Program

{

public static string GetAdministratorEmail()

{

return SettingsProvider.Get("AdministratorEmail", "");

}

public static string GetMailServer()

{

return SettingsProvider.Get("MailServer", "");

}

public static string GetCountdown()

{

return SettingsProvider.Get("Countdown", "15");

}

static void Main(string[] args)

{

try

{

GetPasswordExpirationSendEmailNotifications();

}

catch (System.Exception ex)

{

SendEmail("<AdminEmail>", "<AdminEmail>", "Exception: Password Notification", ex.Message, MailPriority.High);

}

// This method checks for flags like PasswordDoesNotExpire

private static bool CheckAdsFlag(AdsUserFlags flagToCheck, DirectoryEntry user)

{

AdsUserFlags userFlags = (AdsUserFlags)user.Properties["userAccountControl"].Value;

return userFlags.ToString().Contains(flagToCheck.ToString()); }

// This method gets the password expiration and sends email to
// the users and a report to the Administrator

private static void GetPasswordExpirationSendEmailNotifications()

{

string adminEmail = GetAdministratorEmail();

// Get the DOMAIN

//ActiveDs.ADSystemInfoClass objUserInformation = new ActiveDs.ADSystemInfoClass();

//string sDomain = objUserInformation.DomainDNSName;

string sDomain = Environment.UserDomainName;

// Since maxPwdAge is the Domain policy, it has to be retrieved for the
// domain

TimeSpan maxPwdAge = TimeSpan.MinValue;

int maxPwdAgeDays = 0;

using (DirectoryEntry domain = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://" + sDomain))

{

DirectorySearcher ds = new DirectorySearcher(

domain,

"(objectClass=*)",

null,

SearchScope.Base

);

SearchResult sr = ds.FindOne();

if (sr.Properties.Contains("maxPwdAge"))

{

maxPwdAge = TimeSpan.FromTicks((long)sr.Properties["maxPwdAge"][0]);

maxPwdAgeDays = maxPwdAge.Days;

}
// maxPwdAge is in negative, make it positive

if (maxPwdAgeDays < 0)

{

maxPwdAgeDays *= -1;

}

//Define the filter for your LDAP query

string filter = "(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user))";

DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(filter);

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

sb.Append("User Password Expiration Report ");

int count = 0;

bool sendReport = false;

// Read file EmailBody.txt

string filePath = String.Format("{0}\\EmailBody.txt", Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());

string fileContents = TextFileReader(filePath);

foreach (SearchResult result in search.FindAll())

{

// Do work with data returned for each address entry

DirectoryEntry entry = result.GetDirectoryEntry();

// ActiveDs.LargeInteger needs to be used to manipulate pwdLastSet value

LargeInteger liAcctPwdChange = entry.Properties["pwdLastSet"].Value as LargeInteger;

string mailValue = "";

if (entry.Properties["mail"].Value != null)

{

mailValue = entry.Properties["mail"].Value.ToString();

}

// Skip the user if there is no email id

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(mailValue))

{

continue;

}

// Skip the user if PasswordDoesNotExpire is set

if(CheckAdsFlag(AdsUserFlags.PasswordDoesNotExpire, entry))

{

continue;

}

// Manipulate LargeInteger liAcctPwdChange

long dateAcctPwdChange = (((long)(liAcctPwdChange.HighPart) << 32) + (long)liAcctPwdChange.LowPart);

// Convert FileTime to DateTime and get what today's date is.

DateTime dtNow = DateTime.Now;

// Add maxPwdAgeDays to dtAcctPwdChange

DateTime dtAcctPwdChange = DateTime.FromFileTime(dateAcctPwdChange).AddDays(maxPwdAgeDays);

// Calculate the difference between the date the pasword was changed, and

// what day it is now.

TimeSpan timeRemaining;

timeRemaining = dtAcctPwdChange - dtNow;

// Send email to users if their password is going to expire

int countdown = Convert.ToInt32(GetCountdown());

int daysRemaining = timeRemaining.Days;

if (daysRemaining <= countdown)

{

sendReport = true;

count++;

string displayName = "";

if (entry.Properties["displayname"].Value != null)

{

displayName = entry.Properties["displayname"].Value.ToString();

}

// DisplayName, Email, DaysRemaining

sb.AppendFormat("{0}. {1} {2}: {3} days remaining.{4}", count.ToString(), displayName, mailValue, daysRemaining.ToString(), " ");

string toEmail = mailValue;

string subject = String.Format("Password Expiration in {0} days", daysRemaining.ToString());

string body = fileContents.Replace("[DAYCOUNT]", daysRemaining.ToString());

body = body.Replace("[USERNAME]", displayName);

body = body.Replace("\r\n", " ");

Console.Write(String.Format("Sending email to {0}...", toEmail));

SendEmail(adminEmail, toEmail, subject, body, MailPriority.High);

Console.WriteLine("Done.");

}

// Only send email report to Administrator if required

if (sendReport)

{

Console.Write(String.Format("Sending email to {0}...", adminEmail));

SendEmail(adminEmail, adminEmail, "User Password Expiration Report", sb.ToString(), MailPriority.Normal);

Console.WriteLine("Done.");

}

private static void SendEmail(string fromEmail, string toEmail, string subject, string body, MailPriority priority)

{

string mailServer = GetMailServer();

//create the mail message

MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();

//set the addresses

mail.From = new MailAddress(fromEmail);

mail.To.Add(toEmail);

//set the content

mail.Subject = subject;

mail.Body = body;

mail.IsBodyHtml = true;

//send the message

SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient(mailServer);

smtp.Send(mail);

}

private static string TextFileReader(string filePath)

{

string fileContents = "";

// create reader & open file

using (TextReader tr = new StreamReader(filePath))

{

// read a line of text

fileContents = tr.ReadToEnd();

}

return fileContents;

}

[Flags]

internal enum AdsUserFlags

{

Script = 1, // 0x1

AccountDisabled = 2, // 0x2

HomeDirectoryRequired = 8, // 0x8

AccountLockedOut = 16, // 0x10

PasswordNotRequired = 32, // 0x20

PasswordCannotChange = 64, // 0x40

EncryptedTextPasswordAllowed = 128, // 0x80

TempDuplicateAccount = 256, // 0x100

NormalAccount = 512, // 0x200

InterDomainTrustAccount = 2048, // 0x800

WorkstationTrustAccount = 4096, // 0x1000

ServerTrustAccount = 8192, // 0x2000

PasswordDoesNotExpire = 65536, // 0x10000

MnsLogonAccount = 131072, // 0x20000

SmartCardRequired = 262144, // 0x40000

TrustedForDelegation = 524288, // 0x80000

AccountNotDelegated = 1048576, // 0x100000

UseDesKeyOnly = 2097152, // 0x200000

DontRequirePreauth = 4194304, // 0x400000

PasswordExpired = 8388608, // 0x800000

TrustedToAuthenticateForDelegation = 16777216, // 0x1000000

NoAuthDataRequired = 33554432 // 0x2000000

}

SQL Server: DateTime and Indexes

bullpit — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:52:17 GMT

A nice post about handling DateTime fields and indexing.

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/sql-server/dates-can-easily-be-the-hardest-datatype-to-work-with/

Tips n Tricks - Visual Studio

bullpit — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:37:14 GMT

1. Disable HTML Navigation bar.

Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> HTML -> Unckeck Navigation Bar option

2. Auto insert quotes when typing.

Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> HTML -> Format -> Check "Insert attribute value quotes when typing"

3. Format HTML on paste

Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> HTML -> Miscellaneous -> Format HTML on Paste

Auto-Start in .NET 4.0

bullpit — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:25:15 GMT

Here Scott talks about the new feature Auto-Start included in .NET 4.0 and IIS 7. This can prove really helpful in avoiding the initial delay experienced by the first visitor of a web ASP.NET application.

Here's the post.