Jason N. Gaylord's Blog : .NET Languages

Common (and all System) Exceptions in .NET

Jason N. Gaylord — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:27:08 GMT

I couldn’t find a list of exceptions for .NET anywhere on the web, although, I didn’t look hard. Below is a list of the exceptions that are in the System namespace. The exceptions in bold are, what I would consider, the most common.

AccessViolationException
AppDomainUnloadedException
ApplicationException
ArgumentException
ArgumentNullException
ArgumentOutOfRangeException
ArithmeticException
ArrayTypeMismatchException
BadImageFormatException
CannotUnloadAppDomainException
ContextMarshalException
DataMisalignedException
DivideByZeroException
DllNotFoundException
DuplicateWaitObjectException
EntryPointNotFoundException
Exception
ExecutingEngineException
FieldAccessException
FormatException
IndexOutOfRangeException
InsufficientMemoryException
InvalidCastException
InvalidOperationException
InvalidProgramException
InvalidTimeZoneException
MemberAccessException
MethodAccessException
MissingFieldException
MissingMemberException
MissingMethodException
MulticastNotSupportedException
NotFinateNumberException
NotSupportedException
NullReferenceException
ObjectDisposedException
OperationCanceledException
OutOfMemoryException
OverflowException
PlatformNotSupportedException
RankException
StackOverflowException
SystemException
TimeoutException
TimeZoneNotFoundException
TypeInitializationException
TypeLoadException
TypeUnloadedException
UnauthorizedAccessException
UniFormatException

If there are any additional exceptions you’d recommend me listing from other namespaces, let me know.

Microsoft Releases the ASP.NET MVC 1.0 Release Candidate

Jason N. Gaylord — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:12:56 GMT

First off, congratulations to the Microsoft ASP.NET team for their hard work on the MVC out-of-band releases over the past few months. It’s nice to see these OOB releases on Codeplex. Earlier, Scott Guthrie announced that the team has released the ASP.NET MVC 1.0 RC1. A release candidate is very similar to an RTM release except for the fact that a few minor bugs still may be fixed between the current release and RTM. Scott has a list of the new features in the RC on his blog. Be sure to check it out!

Team Foundation and 64 bit Machines

Jason N. Gaylord — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:06:43 GMT

Just to be clear from the start, Team Foundation Server is not supported on x64 machines.

Recently, I setup a Windows Server 2008 box and was looking to install a fresh TFS database to use from this point forward. To my surprise, I received an error message when installing TFS that said that it is not supported on Windows Server 2003 x64. The error message details, although wrong about the version, were right. TFS is not supported on x64. My only option now is to setup Hyper-V if I’d like to run it on the box.

Brian Harry seems to hint that x64 support will be available in the VS2010 release. Mike Warriner also posted a workaround to getting it up and running. However, I’d strongly advise that you wait for 2010 if you need it to be on an x64 machine.

So What Happens When Technology and Holidays Come Together???

Jason N. Gaylord — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:53:37 GMT

This is one of my favorite times of the year. It’s a busy time of the year, but it’s fun. If you’re not into the holidays, chances are you’re too busy and you need a vacation. Even the busiest individuals can enjoy the holidays. Since I was little, I was always fascinated with Christmas lights and decorations. (1980’s photograph will be inserted at a later date)

There’s nothing like seeing the faces of the young and old when they see the glow of Christmas lights. Over the years, things have changed quite a bit. We’ve gone from C7/C9 bulbs to more energy-efficient LED lights. We’ve decided to save on space by eBay’ing our classic, plastic blowmold figures to make more room for our collapsible wire frame deer and Airblown inflatables. Over the past 5 years or so, I’ve started my own collection of items. I’ve grown to have over 10,000 lights including 33 blowmold figures, 3 inflatables, and over 1200 feet of extension cords.

Recently I decided that wasn’t enough. I needed to fancy my inner-geekness. This is where synchronized lighting fit in.

There are a couple of different ways to get a synchronized light display as well as various different technologies to take you from start to finish.

1) Mr. Christmas Lights and Sounds (Better known to brand-name shoppers as the GE Lights and Sounds) – These devices are already pre-built and contain basic functionality. They can control between 6-10 channels and have 20 built-in songs. However, they limit the amount of lights and customization that can be handled by a single box. For $50-$150, they’ll get you started. (I used one last year and have it available if anyone wants it.)

2) From Scratch (ie: Phidget Interface Kits) – Brian Peek from ASPSoft wrote a very good article over at the Coding4Fun website. In his example, he uses a Phidget Interface Kit and C# 2008 to build his display. This is great to learn how the system works, but again, you are limited to the number of channels you can utilize. I really wish Phidget would release some higher power boards. I’d love to be able to control my lights from within a .NET application. That would be too cool.

3) Using the Experts – Controlled lighting isn’t new, it’s just new(er) to Christmas. In fact, many of the “experts” just began to support the classic controlled lighting interface known as DMX. There are quite a few companies out there, but I’d recommend Light-O-Rama, D-Light, or Animated Lighting. I personally own a single 16-channel 1602 controller from Light-O-Rama. Most of the synchronized displays that you see use Light-O-Rama hardware and software. Although, D-Light is picking up ground especially in some “virtual Christmas” communities.

So, what does this all mean? Well, if you’re into the holiday season as much as I am, you better get started.

Want to know what I’ve done this year? Hop on over to my holiday blog at mylightdisplay.com. Over there I talk a little bit more about my specific display including how to setup an FM transmitter, using the Light-O-Rama software and system, and much much more. If you’re in the Northeastern Pennsylvania area, be sure to stop by my display. You can also find local displays by visiting the Display Links at SynchronizedChristmasLights.com. If you’d like to participate further in the Christmas talk, hop on over to MyHolidayDisplays.com.

I’ll leave you with a link to the video of my house on YouTube.

Have a safe and happy holiday season!

2 Great ASP.NET Podcasts

Jason N. Gaylord — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:55:03 GMT

I’ve been quite busy working on a side project in which I’ll post more details very soon. However, I came across the two latest ASP.NET Podcasts in which I thought I’d share:

Summary of the MSDN Freedom Roadshow

Jason N. Gaylord — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:10:26 GMT

For those not at the MSDN Freedom Roadshow in Scranton, PA today, you are missed a good show. Here’s what happened:

David Solivan – David presented a talk called UI, UX, U confused? The purpose was to show the various options we have and to explain when one option may be better than another by stepping through the design process. There’s a URL he had mentioned during his talk that will show your best options. Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/59vk7b.
Lindsay Rutter started off by talking about the PDC 08. She mentioned that all should come out and attend the MSDN Conference in New York City. The best part is that PDC was between $2000 and $3000 per developer. The MSDN conference is $99. Furthmore, Lindsay plugged our user group, .NET Valley. If you are not a member, join today! Also, register for the MSDN Flash newsletter. It’s a great way to get the latest news on events, news, and more.
Lindsay then decided to build an ADO.NET Entity Framework based on David’s proof of concept app he spoke about earlier.
Dani Diaz followed up Lindsay by showing how to use a WCF/REST solution for connecting to the Entity Framework and serving up the data. He also showed how to use MVC, jQuery, and Json during his talk. Dani recommended following Rob Bagby’s and Dan Rigsby for more information about WCF/REST.
Lindsay came after Dani and talked about how XAML and WPF works for developers and designers. She also showed off the final product including the UI/UX decisions, EF stuff, WCF, and WPF that we saw throughout the day.
Finally, Dani wrapped up the day by talking about IE8 development.

Great work team! I hope the MSDN team visits Scranton more often!

.NET Valley Pub Night on November 13th

Jason N. Gaylord — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:22:59 GMT

Join the MSDN Team (Lindsay Rutter, Dani Diaz, and David Solivan) and the rest of .NET Valley for the "Best Wings" in the area. On November 13th, we'll be meeting at the new Quaker Steak & Lube found in Dickson City. The evening will begin at 6pm. .NET Valley will be sponsoring some Wings and beverages.

If you are going to attend, we need you to register as soon as possible so we can give an accurate count to the restaurant. Register today at dotnetvalley.com!

MSDN Freedom Roadshow in NEPA

Jason N. Gaylord — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:21:31 GMT

The local MSDN team (Lindsay, Dani, and David) will be at Scranton University on November 14th all day giving some awesome talks! If you think you’ll be in the area and want to stop by, be sure to register today! For more details about the event, be sure to visit .NET Valley.

In addition, the MSDN team will be at .NET Valley’s Pub Night the evening before. Be sure to register for that too!

CodeRush Xpress for Free!

Jason N. Gaylord — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:44:28 GMT

DevExpress and Microsoft announced a partnership today to offer CodeRush Xpress for free. At the present time it’s only available for non-express versions of Visual Studio and will only work with C# (per their post). I’m sure the other support will be just around the corner. If you’re interested be sure to download Xpress here.

.NET Gets a New Logo

Jason N. Gaylord — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:53:55 GMT

The Microsoft .NET Framework received a new logo and a revised site recently. The new logo can be found at http://blogs.msdn.com/sayanghosh/archive/2008/10/26/new-net-logo.aspx. The new site can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/net/. Nice logo! It’s very slick and fits within the other modern day Microsoft logos.

Improvements in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

Jason N. Gaylord — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:52:51 GMT

I was just checking out the improvements the team has made in beta 2 of Internet Explorer 8. While I haven't had time to mess with all of the improvements, I see lots of opportunities to create enhancements for my sites to allow visitors to get what they are looking for faster. Be sure to check out the full list of improvements at http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/08/28/part-i-better-everyday-browsing.aspx. You can download IE8 Beta 2 at http://www.microsoft.com/ie8.

Use LINQ to XML to Generate Excel Documents

Jason N. Gaylord — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:01:25 GMT

I was looking for a quick and easy solution to export data from SQL into an Excel format from within my ASP.NET application. I came across a great video posted by Beth Massi on the asp.net website (Video #7 at the bottom at http://www.asp.net/learn/linq-videos/). Beth steps through creating the LINQ to XML and how you can populate your Excel document. When I used this in an ASP.NET application, I added the XML declaration to the Response.Write so that Excel could understand the document. In ASP.NET, the XMLDocument type has a tendency to drop the XML declaration when writing out the document using .ToString.

It's quite easy to get this to work. Imagine thatweI have a simple result set of products that contains column ID, Product, and Price. We'd create an Excel document that would look like the following:

Save this document as XML Spreadsheet 2003 (in Office 2007) or XML Spreadsheet (in Office 2003). This will save our sample spreadsheet with the proper XML markup. If you open the newly created XML file in Notepad, you'd see the XML that makes up this spreadsheet.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?mso-application progid="Excel.Sheet"?>
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
    <DocumentProperties xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">
        <Author>Jason N. Gaylord</Author>
        <LastAuthor>Jason N. Gaylord</LastAuthor>
        <Created>2008-08-11T18:01:35Z</Created>
        <Company>Jason N. Gaylord</Company>
        <Version>12.00</Version>
    </DocumentProperties>
    <ExcelWorkbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel">
        <WindowHeight>12240</WindowHeight>
        <WindowWidth>24855</WindowWidth>
        <WindowTopX>240</WindowTopX>
        <WindowTopY>105</WindowTopY>
        <ProtectStructure>False</ProtectStructure>
        <ProtectWindows>False</ProtectWindows>
    </ExcelWorkbook>
    <Styles>
        <Style ss:ID="Default" ss:Name="Normal">
            <Alignment ss:Vertical="Bottom"/>
            <Borders/>
            <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"/>
            <Interior/>
            <NumberFormat/>
            <Protection/>
        </Style>
        <Style ss:ID="s18" ss:Name="Currency">
            <NumberFormat
             ss:Format="_(&quot;$&quot;* #,##0.00_);_(&quot;$&quot;* \(#,##0.00\);_(&quot;$&quot;* &quot;-&quot;??_);_(@_)"/>
        </Style>
        <Style ss:ID="s66">
            <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"/>
        </Style>
        <Style ss:ID="s68" ss:Parent="s18">
            <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"/>
        </Style>
        <Style ss:ID="s69">
            <Alignment ss:Horizontal="Center" ss:Vertical="Bottom"/>
            <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"
             ss:Bold="1"/>
        </Style>
        <Style ss:ID="s70" ss:Parent="s18">
            <Alignment ss:Horizontal="Center" ss:Vertical="Bottom"/>
            <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"
             ss:Bold="1"/>
        </Style>
        <Style ss:ID="s73">
            <Alignment ss:Horizontal="Center" ss:Vertical="Bottom"/>
            <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"/>
        </Style>
    </Styles>
    <Worksheet ss:Name="Sheet1">
        <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="3" ss:ExpandedRowCount="3" x:FullColumns="1"
         x:FullRows="1" ss:StyleID="s66" ss:DefaultRowHeight="15">
            <Column ss:StyleID="s73" ss:AutoFitWidth="0" ss:Width="35.25"/>
            <Column ss:StyleID="s66" ss:AutoFitWidth="0" ss:Width="135"/>
            <Column ss:StyleID="s68" ss:AutoFitWidth="0" ss:Width="82.5"/>
            <Row ss:StyleID="s69">
                <Cell>
                    <Data ss:Type="String">ID</Data>
                </Cell>
                <Cell>
                    <Data ss:Type="String">Product</Data>
                </Cell>
                <Cell ss:StyleID="s70">
                    <Data ss:Type="String">Price</Data>
                </Cell>
            </Row>
            <Row>
                <Cell>
                    <Data ss:Type="Number">1</Data>
                </Cell>
                <Cell>
                    <Data ss:Type="String">Apple</Data>
                </Cell>
                <Cell>
                    <Data ss:Type="Number">0.79</Data>
                </Cell>
            </Row>
            <Row>
                <Cell>
                    <Data ss:Type="Number">2</Data>
                </Cell>
                <Cell>
                    <Data ss:Type="String">Banana</Data>
                </Cell>
                <Cell>
                    <Data ss:Type="Number">0.99</Data>
                </Cell>
            </Row>
        </Table>
        <WorksheetOptions xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel">
            <PageSetup>
                <Header x:Margin="0.3"/>
                <Footer x:Margin="0.3"/>
                <PageMargins x:Bottom="0.75" x:Left="0.7" x:Right="0.7" x:Top="0.75"/>
            </PageSetup>
            <Print>
                <ValidPrinterInfo/>
                <HorizontalResolution>600</HorizontalResolution>
                <VerticalResolution>0</VerticalResolution>
            </Print>
            <Selected/>
            <ProtectObjects>False</ProtectObjects>
            <ProtectScenarios>False</ProtectScenarios>
        </WorksheetOptions>
    </Worksheet>
    <Worksheet ss:Name="Sheet2">
        <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="1" ss:ExpandedRowCount="1" x:FullColumns="1"
         x:FullRows="1" ss:DefaultRowHeight="15">
        </Table>
        <WorksheetOptions xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel">
            <PageSetup>
                <Header x:Margin="0.3"/>
                <Footer x:Margin="0.3"/>
                <PageMargins x:Bottom="0.75" x:Left="0.7" x:Right="0.7" x:Top="0.75"/>
            </PageSetup>
            <ProtectObjects>False</ProtectObjects>
            <ProtectScenarios>False</ProtectScenarios>
        </WorksheetOptions>
    </Worksheet>
    <Worksheet ss:Name="Sheet3">
        <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="1" ss:ExpandedRowCount="1" x:FullColumns="1"
         x:FullRows="1" ss:DefaultRowHeight="15">
        </Table>
        <WorksheetOptions xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel">
            <PageSetup>
                <Header x:Margin="0.3"/>
                <Footer x:Margin="0.3"/>
                <PageMargins x:Bottom="0.75" x:Left="0.7" x:Right="0.7" x:Top="0.75"/>
            </PageSetup>
            <ProtectObjects>False</ProtectObjects>
            <ProtectScenarios>False</ProtectScenarios>
        </WorksheetOptions>
    </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

Copy this XML and go into your ASP.NET application. For my application, I created an HttpHandler to generate my output. Note that you must use a class file (or code-behind) as the XML will not work within an .aspx page. We'll create a few variables to populate our XML spreadseet. I created a new variable called OutputSpreadsheet and set the value of this variable to the entire XML document just copied from Notepad.

Next, copy the namespace declarations (with the exception of the HTML reference) and add these namespaces as imports to the top of the class. This allows the special Excel row and column attributes to be valid.

Above the OutputSpreadsheet variable, create a new variable called SpreadsheetData. Scroll down to find the Worksheet named Sheet1 in the XML. Cut the second row section and past it into Spreadsheet Data.

We can then populate the XML by using a LINQ query with embedded expressions.

Now that the query can populate the rows, we must modify the XML in the OutputSpreadsheet variable to handle the rows. Be sure that in the row elements, that only the header row element remains. If other row elements exist, delete them. Add the expression

<%= SpreadsheetData %>

right below the header row element. This will add the populated rows to the spreadsheet. We must also tell Excel how many rows to expect. To do this, we need to modify the XML attribute ss:ExpandedRowCount on the Table element and add in <%= SpreadsheetData.Count + 1 %>. We are adding 1 to accommodate our header row.

Finally, we can output our response to the browser.

As you can see, it's pretty easy to generate the Excel XML output. Thanks for all your help Beth!

"OLE received a packet with an invalid extension." in Microsoft Word

Jason N. Gaylord — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:11:42 GMT

We still have Small Business Accounting 2006 implemented for some companies. When we use a custom invoice to print using the MS Word Smart Document set, we receive the error "OLE received a packet with an invalid extension." This error occurs since the document was created before .NET 2.0 (or 3.0) was installed and before the Smart Document set was installed. To work around this issue, perform the following:

Add .old as a suffix to the document name (rename)
Open the .old custom invoice
You'll receive an error in MS Word saying the the XML Extension pack or Smart Document set is not installed properly or is corrupt. OK out of that message.
Save the document without the .old suffix.

It should work fine next time you print using that document in SBA.

Using LINQ to SQL and ConnectionStrings in a Class Library

Jason N. Gaylord — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:22:49 GMT

I was looking to separate my LINQ to SQL data layer from the rest of my application. So, I decided to move the files to a class library. This way, when my application builds, all of my LINQ files are found in MyApp.DL or something similar. However, I wanted the class library to use the SQL connection that I have set in my web.config. Because the class library does not have a reference to System.Configuration, I had to add that first. I then created a partial class for my Context object. Inside, I created a new constructor with a boolean parameter called UseWebConfigConnectionString. My web.config would contain a generic connection string name called LinqSqlConnectionString.This allows me to make changes to the LINQ files, save them, and not affect this method. So, here's what I ended up with:

web.config

<connectionStrings>
    <clear/>
    <add name="LinqSqlConnectionString" connectionString="{insert settings here};" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
</connectionStrings>

MyApp.DL.ExtendedLinqObjects.vb

Imports System.Configuration

Partial Public Class MyDataContext
    Public Sub New(ByVal UseWebConfigConnectionString As Boolean)
        MyBase.New(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("LinqSqlConnectionString").ConnectionString, mappingSource)
        OnCreated()
    End Sub
End Class

sample.aspx.vb

Dim db As New MyDataContext(True)

This seemed to be the easiest way to pull from my connection strings setting. Although, I'd highly recommend encrypting your connection string before deploying to production.

Obtain the Identity of a New Row Using LINQ

Jason N. Gaylord — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:05:31 GMT

It's actually pretty easy and user friendly to obtain the value of the identity column using LINQ. After you create your object and insert it on submit, you can call the identity column's property on your object. For instance:

Dim db As New BlogDataContext()
db.BlogPosts.InsertOnSubmit(MyPost)
db.SubmitChanges()
Dim IdentityValue As Integer = MyPost.PostID

In this example, the IdentityValue variable would be assigned to the PostID of the post that was just submitted.