Archives
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Exporting normalized relational data from database to flat file format
Sometimes you need to export relational normalized data into flat files where a single row comes from various tables. For example, say you want to export all customer records along with their work and home address, and primary phone number in a single row. But the address and contact information are coming from different tables and there can be multiple rows in those table for a single customer. Sometimes there can be no row available in address/phone table for a customer. In such a case, neither INNER JOIN, nor LEFT JOIN/OUTER JOIN will work. How do you do it?
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Website diagnostics page to diagnose your ASP.NET website
Whenever you change web.config file or deploy your website on a new environment, you have to try out many relevant features to confirm if the configuration changes or the environment is correct. Sometimes you have to run a smoke test on the website to confirm if the site is running fine. Moreover, if some external database, webservice or network connectivity is down, it takes time to nail down exactly where the problem is. Having a self-diagnostics page on your website like the one you see on your printer can help identify exactly where’s the problem. Here’s a way how you can quickly create a simple self-diagnostics page in a single page without spending too much effort. This diagnostics page tests for common configuration settings like connection string, ASP.NET Membership configurations, SMTP settings, <appSettings> file paths and URLs items and some application specific settings to confirm if the changes are all correct.
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WatinN to automate browser and test sophisticated ASP.NET AJAX sites
WatiN is a great .NET library for writing automated browser based tests that uses real browser to go to websites, perform actions and check for browser output. Combined with a unit test library like xUnit, you can use WatiN to perform automated regression tests on your websites and save many hours of manual testing every release. Moreover, WatiN can be used to stress test Javascripts on the page as it can push the browser to perform operations repeatedly and measure how long it takes for Javascripts to run. Thus you can test your Javascripts for performance, rendering speed of your website and ensure the overall presentation is fast and smooth for users.