Well, this has been on my mind for some time now. Posting by email!! There is nothing much to this post except for the fact that it is a test. However, as far as development is concerned I have been a bit off lately about posting anything. I have become pretty inactive on asp.net forum considering that I aggregated a 100 points within a fortnight.
The exciting bit is that I explored a bit of ASP.NET AJAX and I think I will be involved with it a lot more in the coming days. Lets see. Meanwhile hopefully with email posting enabled you will see a lot more posts now.
Till the next post!
Friday, March 7, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Making the World a Better Place - The Microsoft Way
In my previous post I had talked about Microsoft and how it has had to bow down to open source and change some of its strategies. So how does this impact you and me and the world in general? Some people may argue with the Microsoft way of doing things. As far as the Web is concerned I tend to agree with them. Google has outwitted Microsoft on the web by leaps and bounds. But come to the desktop and Windows is THE operating system used worldwide. Using Windows is so easy that anybody can learn it! That is why it is so popular. Another thing which I have liked about Microsoft is Visual Studio and the way they want developers to to develop applications. Many Java people would tend to disagree with that, but frankly speaking, I was tired of setting the environment and classpath and whatever you do to get a simple "Hello World" program to run.
Java is a beautiful language to learn. I have touched Java, and perhaps that is the reason why I like C#(which is a rip off from Java). But I never could end up programming in Java. Its not that I did not try, but I just wasnt able to acquaint myself with the IDE or the language. Probably, I needed some good company to learn Java.
Anyway, I find Microsoft tools easy and familiar to use. Many of the things in .NET framework are taken care of and you dont have to worry about them. Of course, you may curse Microsooft when you are stuck in a runtime exception and not knowing if the fault is in your code or Microsoft generated code!
But the crux of the matter is, for guys like me who are beginning web development, if you dont keep things simple, we would end up studying finance!!When you have an idea which can change the way the world is today, implementing that idea should be as easy and simple as possible. I believe Microsoft does this and hence enables hundreds of dreamers like me to pursue and try ideas which may destroy the world! Just imagine right at this moment, a hundred people are thinking/working on an idea which may change the world, fine tuning the idea and not worrying about how to do it.
These ideas may make the World a better place - and Microsoft IMO is helping them immensely.
Java is a beautiful language to learn. I have touched Java, and perhaps that is the reason why I like C#(which is a rip off from Java). But I never could end up programming in Java. Its not that I did not try, but I just wasnt able to acquaint myself with the IDE or the language. Probably, I needed some good company to learn Java.
Anyway, I find Microsoft tools easy and familiar to use. Many of the things in .NET framework are taken care of and you dont have to worry about them. Of course, you may curse Microsooft when you are stuck in a runtime exception and not knowing if the fault is in your code or Microsoft generated code!
But the crux of the matter is, for guys like me who are beginning web development, if you dont keep things simple, we would end up studying finance!!When you have an idea which can change the way the world is today, implementing that idea should be as easy and simple as possible. I believe Microsoft does this and hence enables hundreds of dreamers like me to pursue and try ideas which may destroy the world! Just imagine right at this moment, a hundred people are thinking/working on an idea which may change the world, fine tuning the idea and not worrying about how to do it.
These ideas may make the World a better place - and Microsoft IMO is helping them immensely.
Microsoft vs Open Source - Strike 2!!
I wasn't really aware about the open source hoopla till my first year in college when thanks to my dear friends Shashank Shekhar and Darshan Santani, I heard about Linux. It was the first time that I had heard of an operating system other than Windows. Well, I have come a long way since then. I even gave a seminar on Linux to educate and spread awareness amongst my classmates about the Open Source and Free Software Movement. Though I tried at times to learn Linux I never really could get over using Windows.
Anyway, I have always liked people who love Linux. They remind you of the Freedom Fighters of India, fighting for Independence through non-violent means; the 60's and 70's generation of US fighting for world peace and an end to the Vietnam War through Rock Music. Those kind of people in this decade and the previous ones have been fighting against the Microsoft View of software. It has been a long and hard battle between the 2, but clearly we see a strong movement in Open Source and Free Software which has gained momentum which has sent alarm bells ringing in Redmond. Read this and you will know how the movement has forced Microsoft to change its viewpoint.
You must be wondering why I called this post as Strike 2!! Well, in my previous post I had mentioned how the Express Editions of Microsoft tools were really a response to the growing popularity of Open Source and Free Software Development packages. That in my view was Strike 1 for Microsoft! Recently, Microsoft announced that it is going to provide students with its Professional Development tools for free. Also, it is going to share details of some of its technology with open source developers. This for me has been Strike 2!
I am not a Microsoft hater like some people. I just tend to disagree with some of their moves at times. I am just happy that more people will be able to contribute to innovation using Microsoft tools!
Anyway, I have always liked people who love Linux. They remind you of the Freedom Fighters of India, fighting for Independence through non-violent means; the 60's and 70's generation of US fighting for world peace and an end to the Vietnam War through Rock Music. Those kind of people in this decade and the previous ones have been fighting against the Microsoft View of software. It has been a long and hard battle between the 2, but clearly we see a strong movement in Open Source and Free Software which has gained momentum which has sent alarm bells ringing in Redmond. Read this and you will know how the movement has forced Microsoft to change its viewpoint.
You must be wondering why I called this post as Strike 2!! Well, in my previous post I had mentioned how the Express Editions of Microsoft tools were really a response to the growing popularity of Open Source and Free Software Development packages. That in my view was Strike 1 for Microsoft! Recently, Microsoft announced that it is going to provide students with its Professional Development tools for free. Also, it is going to share details of some of its technology with open source developers. This for me has been Strike 2!
I am not a Microsoft hater like some people. I just tend to disagree with some of their moves at times. I am just happy that more people will be able to contribute to innovation using Microsoft tools!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Passing Values between Web Pages (Beginner)
During a coffee break at work, I was explaining my friend how I had used a Wizard control in my Web App for the User registration process and had saved myself from headaches involving passing data between pages, storing user selection of choices in each page etc. My friend was pretty impressed with what the Wizard control could achieve and commended Scott & his team at Redmond for making things simple for programmers. "Developing Web Apps is pretty challenging compared to a Windows Application. And that is the sex appeal of developing Web Apps.."
True!! I started to wonder about the difference in approach between a Web App and a Windows Application. In case of a windows application passing data between 2 forms is a piece of cake. But how do I pass values between web pages? I was sure that it wasn't something very complex, but I realized that it was something I did not know. So I decided to try that and did so in a matter of minutes. Thanks to the documentation and example at msdn! This is what I did.
1. I created a new website with 2 pages Default.aspx and Default2.aspx
2. In Default.aspx I added a Textbox and a button.
3. In Default2.aspx I added a Label. My Objective was to display text entered in the text box in the label on click of the button.
4. I set the PostbackUrl of button to Default2.aspx
5. Next I write the following code in the page load of Default2.aspx
6. And that's it! The value of the text box is passed onto the Label on the second page.
This is one of the many ways of passing data between pages. I will explore and post about them in the coming weeks.
Till Then Happy Programming !!
True!! I started to wonder about the difference in approach between a Web App and a Windows Application. In case of a windows application passing data between 2 forms is a piece of cake. But how do I pass values between web pages? I was sure that it wasn't something very complex, but I realized that it was something I did not know. So I decided to try that and did so in a matter of minutes. Thanks to the documentation and example at msdn! This is what I did.
1. I created a new website with 2 pages Default.aspx and Default2.aspx
2. In Default.aspx I added a Textbox and a button.
3. In Default2.aspx I added a Label. My Objective was to display text entered in the text box in the label on click of the button.
4. I set the PostbackUrl of button to Default2.aspx
ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Button" PostBackUrl="~/Default2.aspx"
5. Next I write the following code in the page load of Default2.aspx
if (Page.PreviousPage != null)
{
TextBox SourceTextBox = (TextBox)Page.PreviousPage.FindControl("TextBox1");
if (SourceTextBox != null)
{
Label1.Text = SourceTextBox.Text;
}
}
6. And that's it! The value of the text box is passed onto the Label on the second page.
This is one of the many ways of passing data between pages. I will explore and post about them in the coming weeks.
Till Then Happy Programming !!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Techsassy Now also available at Wordpress!!
In my last post, I said that I would be posting a few tips over the weekend. But 3 weekends have passed since my last post and nothing has come!! Well the weekends after my last post have been involved in learning new things about ASP.NET, catching up with my cousins and whats been happening back home. And yeah on one of the weekends there was a power surge which resulted in my UPS blasting and smoking off. I have given it for repair and hope it will be functional by next weekend. Also we have been facing a few electrical problems( meaning no electricity ) since last week which was fixed just today. So I guess you pretty much get the idea WHY there have been no posts for quite some time.
Anyway, for the past three weeks I have been trying to build a sort of registration page using the WIZARD control of ASP.NET 2.0. This has been quite challenging. I am on the verge of finishing it off ( hopefully I will do that by tomorrow). I will then be posting an article on CodeProject about how I used the wizard control to achieve my objectives. Of course, you will find that here as well.
Over the past few weeks, I have also started using the asp.net forums to post queries and answer whatever I can. Using the forums, I definitely feel a part of the ASP.NET developer community. The community is very active and I got replies to my queries within the hour.
Which reminds of one of the headlines in tech news for today. Microsoft, is about announce a program wherein it is going to give software like Visual Studio Professional Edition, Windows Server, SQL Server Developer etc. to student across eight countries for free.More about that here Definitely this is good news but India is not in that list. This to me is a defining moment. This is what Open Source and Free Software have done.
And before I end, I have made a copy of this blog at wordpress. It is http://techsassy.wordpress.com. Why wordpress? Till not it is now completely blocked at my office. Dont know what is the company achieving by blocking blogger and other blogs.
Anyway, hopefully my next post will be helpful for developers and should be up soon. Till then, Happy Programming!!
Anyway, for the past three weeks I have been trying to build a sort of registration page using the WIZARD control of ASP.NET 2.0. This has been quite challenging. I am on the verge of finishing it off ( hopefully I will do that by tomorrow). I will then be posting an article on CodeProject about how I used the wizard control to achieve my objectives. Of course, you will find that here as well.
Over the past few weeks, I have also started using the asp.net forums to post queries and answer whatever I can. Using the forums, I definitely feel a part of the ASP.NET developer community. The community is very active and I got replies to my queries within the hour.
Which reminds of one of the headlines in tech news for today. Microsoft, is about announce a program wherein it is going to give software like Visual Studio Professional Edition, Windows Server, SQL Server Developer etc. to student across eight countries for free.More about that here Definitely this is good news but India is not in that list. This to me is a defining moment. This is what Open Source and Free Software have done.
And before I end, I have made a copy of this blog at wordpress. It is http://techsassy.wordpress.com. Why wordpress? Till not it is now completely blocked at my office. Dont know what is the company achieving by blocking blogger and other blogs.
Anyway, hopefully my next post will be helpful for developers and should be up soon. Till then, Happy Programming!!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
What A Rough Day!!
That was yesterday!! It was a very bad one in terms of productivity. We literally spent the whole day trying to access one instance of SQL Server from other system on the network. But in vain. Microsoft does provide a Knowledge Article on what changes to make to enable remote access but even after that we were left high and dry!
My aim was to understand how data flows in a 3-Tier architecture. But without database connectivity, building the DAL itself was impossible. In the end we decided to proceed with local databases instead of Remote access and try and meet some of the fast approaching deadlines.
Today, was a fruitful one! Referring to msdn and my MCTS prep book I was trying to build one small module and that too with the proper architecture. Some of my team-mates were initially averse in building separate layers for Business Logic and Data Access but I pressed and convinced them. For the time being at least.
The best part was after a days work, of the three Unit Test Cases I had written for this module, I was successful in 2 of them at the first shot. And the third case which failed was debugged in no time, thanks to the proper segregation of business logic and data access from the presentation.
The coming days are going to be more exciting as I hope to learn more about Disconnected classes for data access in ADO.NET. Will surely post a few useful tips around the weekend!! Hopefully!
Till then, Happy Programming!
My aim was to understand how data flows in a 3-Tier architecture. But without database connectivity, building the DAL itself was impossible. In the end we decided to proceed with local databases instead of Remote access and try and meet some of the fast approaching deadlines.
Today, was a fruitful one! Referring to msdn and my MCTS prep book I was trying to build one small module and that too with the proper architecture. Some of my team-mates were initially averse in building separate layers for Business Logic and Data Access but I pressed and convinced them. For the time being at least.
The best part was after a days work, of the three Unit Test Cases I had written for this module, I was successful in 2 of them at the first shot. And the third case which failed was debugged in no time, thanks to the proper segregation of business logic and data access from the presentation.
The coming days are going to be more exciting as I hope to learn more about Disconnected classes for data access in ADO.NET. Will surely post a few useful tips around the weekend!! Hopefully!
Till then, Happy Programming!
Happy New Year!!
Wishing all a Very Happy New Year!! Though we are already a month into it!!
Well, its been quite a while since I posted anything here. DO NOT think that my inactivity at this blog means that nothing is happening at the tech front! In fact, a lot has been happening and I really haven't had the time to write things down. Also, the buggers at my company have now blocked all access to blogger. Forget about posting, I can't even visit this blog anymore from my company to refer to some links and ideas that I had posted here!!
Anyway, this week we have kicked off with development for our project so a lot of exciting times lie ahead. Lots of things to learn and share with you all :). Also I hope to kick off development of my own trial project in 3 weeks time or so. Lets see where that ends up. I seem to have lost all motivation to work on that idea anymore. i also got a new idea which seems to be fairly simple but attractive. I just hope that it doesn't end up being another Wild Goose Chase!
Expect some useful posts soon....till then ...... Happy Programming!!
Well, its been quite a while since I posted anything here. DO NOT think that my inactivity at this blog means that nothing is happening at the tech front! In fact, a lot has been happening and I really haven't had the time to write things down. Also, the buggers at my company have now blocked all access to blogger. Forget about posting, I can't even visit this blog anymore from my company to refer to some links and ideas that I had posted here!!
Anyway, this week we have kicked off with development for our project so a lot of exciting times lie ahead. Lots of things to learn and share with you all :). Also I hope to kick off development of my own trial project in 3 weeks time or so. Lets see where that ends up. I seem to have lost all motivation to work on that idea anymore. i also got a new idea which seems to be fairly simple but attractive. I just hope that it doesn't end up being another Wild Goose Chase!
Expect some useful posts soon....till then ...... Happy Programming!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)