Customized animating listbox WPF

Hi All,
I had seen some of the 3rd party controls and was wondering what these people do in attaining good graphics in those controls. After carefully studying i got some tricks from which you can acheive the same styles.

Just have a look at this one, by just modifying some property i make the listbox to display items like a rack of books in a shelf .

And when you hover the mouse over it, the book will open and show you the details. Isnt it great

Download source code – 210 Kb

Steps taken to acheive the above effects,

• Databind a listbox using the xml file given in the project
• Right click on the listbox and navigate to Edit other template -> Edit layout of items -> Edit a copy -> Enter any name you want to define -> click ok
• In object and timeline in interaction window ( if not found click window menu -> interaction) click virtualizationStackPanel -> In properties( if not found click window menu -> properties) make orientation to horizontal from vertical
• Click the return button in objects and timeline to return to the main page.
• Select the listBox right click it and navigate to Edit Other Templates -> Edit generatated items -> Edit a copy
• In the opened screen go to objects and timeline window (interaction window)
• Select the stack panel and go to its properties, change the background that you want to apply to each item in the list box
• Go to Transform group in properties and in RenderTransform
• Select the rotate tab. Give an angle of -50
• Select the skew tab and enter X value as -50, you will see the transform in each listbox item
• Now just we need to remove the space between the items and its pretty much easier just give ve value in right margin. Eg: Give -30 in the right margin. This will bring all the items closer.

Now only we have to implement is Animation.First we shall create a story board

• Click + on in the object and timeline to create a new story board, enter OnMouseIn and click ok
• Select the stack panel
• In timeline set the current time to 0.5 sec and Record a keyframe to indicate the initial state of our item.
• Next we will tell the timeline what should happen after 0.5 sec. Move the timeline pointer to 1 Sec
• And open the properties of stack panel and set the following values, -10 to right margin, 0 to angle and 0 to x in skew.
• Run the timeline and see what happens and do any modification if it can enhance the animation.
• Stop the timeline recording.

Next we need to define another storyboard that will move the list item back to the original position

• So click Add new story board, Give it a name OnMouseOut and click ok
• Take the current timeline to 1sec and insert a keyframe to indicate the final position of our animation.
• Move the current pointer to 0.5 sec and set the properties, -30 as right margin, -50 as angle and -50 as x in skew.
• Now since our animation is ready we just need to bind an event to invoke the story board, for that follow the setps.
• In triggers click the +Event and select the target element Ismouseover event and set the value true.
• In actions when activating select OnMouseIn begin
• In actions when deactivating select on MouseOut begin
• Run the application

Happy Learning
Naveen Prabhu

 

Hosting WCF and ASP.NET application under same virtual directory in IIS

Hi,

I had created a WCF service and an ASP.NET application which would consume the service, I hosted both in separate virtual directories and it was working very fine. After some days and lots of changes I noticed that the dlls and other common files used in both WCF and ASP.net application, had to be replaced in both the virtual directories to synchronize them.

So I planned to see if it’s possible to host both the application under same virtual directory and got a solution of merging the web.Config files of both the application. Now I have to replace the necessary assemblies or files in only one virtual directory and it has made my job lot easier.

Following are the steps that were followed.
Note: At the end I removed the WCF virtual directory and made my ASP.Net virtual directory to host both the application.

• Copy the required files (Except Config file) from WCF virtual directory and place them appropriately in the structure in ASP.net virtual directory. (Eg: .svc file in the main folder and other required dlls into the bin folder)
• Now we have all files in appropriate locations, just we need to do is to merge the web.config files to contain both Service as well as client configuration.
• Open the web.Config file that was in WCF virtual directory and copy the <services> tag and <behaviour> tag with all its contents.



• Open the web.Config file of ASP.net application and paste the copied contents in the <system.serviceModel> tag.
• Copy the new path of the service by brosing the .svc file from IIS manager (inetmgr.exe) Note: If it wont run successfully check for required setting for the service in web.Config.
• In the web.Config in the ASP.net virtual directory and change the address of all the endpoints to point to the new location of service.
• Run the main application.

After following the above procedure I successfully hosted both applications under same virtual directory.

If you have any problem while following the steps or any other problem related to WCF or IIS you can please share it with me.

Happy Learning
Naveen Prabhu

N-Tier basic 3D WPF Application

Hi All,

WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) has given us a hand to move in 3D world. Great graphics and GUI can be attained using WPF. I have worked on several graphical projects in WPF, but was wondering whether the performance and ease will remain the same when building a big application, so was working on the same and until now i have found it very easy in deploying any kind of application. So i planned to expose my application to all of you so that you can use it any way, here is the project. This is just a basic sample and I am sure you will find more ways after exploring this application.

Contact Management

Version : 1.0.0.0
Date : 20/Oct/2009

Download Source Code and database – 344 Kb
Download Application and database – 341 Kb

Prerequisites:

• .Net Framework 3 or above.
• SQL server 2005 or above
• better the system configuration better the graphics
• To view source files you will need VS 2008 SP1 and for better understanding design, 3D and animations you will need Expression blend 2 or higher

In the Contact Management i have tried to explore many concepts in which we can acheive good graphical interfaces and flexible data binding.

Let me show you some of the snapshots of the application.

Login Screen

Login Screen with Pattern using Drawing brushes

Main screen

Customized listbox to show data in horizontal view with good looking mouse hover to move scroll bar and 3D rotation.

Add New contact

Add new contact to your list

Transparent About Screen with animating text

Transparent about screen with animating text

Here are some of the key features explored. In coming posts we will explore each one of the features and do’s and dont’s of them.

1. Customizing a control
2. Data binding from various datasources
3. Animating a control with Event Trigger and Propery Trigger
4. Creating 3D graphichs and brief on Viewport 3D
5. Creating resources and using them in whole application
6. Creating Themes or Skins and change whole interface depending on the selection
7. IValueConverter – bringing data from many child table depending on the parent data selection.
8. Path – change shapes of any control or window
9. Transoform propery

If you find any of the above topics very interesting or want to know about it, then please post a comment with specific topic name. I will make sure you get it.

I have also plans to take this project further.You can expect the future versions of Contact Management to have the following

1. Email a friend
2. Capture image of a friend and display it in very unique way
3. Exploring on customizing a control and much better 3D ways to display it
4. Creating, Changing and moving 3D objects in runtime

If you are finding any other problem in WPF or in Expression Blend or even if you find anything needs to improve in the application then you can always feel free to post a comment.

Happy Learning
Naveen Prabhu

An attempt to attach an auto-named database for file xxxx.mdf failed. A database with the same name exists, or specified file cannot be opened, or it is located on UNC share.

I got this error while opening a connection. So i googled for the solution and found that some changes are to be done in config file. But nothing happened after changing it as mentioned.

Then i noticed the error correctly and it was pointing correct MDF file but the path was wrong. Eventhough it was correctly mentioned in Config file.

Solution :
So i went to Properties folder -> Settings.Settings and saw that the connection string was not refreshed in it. Then i manually changed it to point to proper location of MDF file and all went right.

Thanks
Naveen Prabhu

Performance difference between For and Parallel.For

Hi,
I was really happy when i heard of the concept of Parallel.For that is introduced in new version of .Net. I tried it in framework 4.0 in visual studio 2010.
Here is the sample that i ran to see how the performance will vary on my system ( Core 2 duo).

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            long[] a = new long[1000000];

            System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch watch = new System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch();
            watch.Start();
            Parallel.For(0, 1000000, delegate(long i)
            {
                a[i] = i * i;
            });

            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine(watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

            watch.Start();

            for (long I = 0; I < 1000000; I++)
            {
                a[I] = I * I;
            }

            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine(watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            Console.Read();
        }
    }

What i saw is always there is a differnce in value depending on the work load on each core. But to my surprise i found that in all the 10-15 cases that i ran, for loop took less time to execute than Parallel.For.
I think there might be some other things that needs to be done to make use of Parallel.For to make it more efficient than For or there might be some specific tasks where Parallel.For should be used.
Will try to find it out and get back to you soon.

Naveen Prabhu

IIS 6.0 proper Installation and hosting ASP.NET(2.0/3.0/3.5) projects

For successful hosting of ASP.Net projects in IIS 6.0 we need to install required components and configure IIS properly. The following sections give the steps that need to be followed while Installation and hosting.

There are 3 steps that should be followed they are,

1. Installation of IIS on Windows server 2003
2. Registering Asp.net 2.0
3. Hosting Asp.Net projects
3.1 Create virtual Directory
3.2 Creating our own Application Pool
3.3 Change Setting of Virtual Directory
3.4 Set ASP.Net version for the project

1) Installation of IIS on Windows server 2003

Open add remove programs from control panel
Click Add/Remove windows component on the left bar
When all the components are listed double click on Application Server
Select Application Server Console, ASP.NET and Message Queuing
Double click on Internet Information Services (IIS)
Select All the check Boxes and click OK
Click Ok -> Next -> Starts installing the selected components -> Click Finish

2) Registering Asp.net 2.0

Open command Prompt (Click start menu -> Run -> enter cmd -> Press enter)
Navigate to folder C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
Enter aspnet_regiis -i
Press enter

3) Hosting Asp.Net projects
Open IIS Manger (Click start menu -> run -> inetmgr -> Press enter).

3.1) Create virtual Directory
Expand Local computer -> Web Sites
Right click on Default web site -> New -> virtual Directory
Give the name of the virtual directory that you need to create
Click Next
Select the folder where you have published ASP.NET project
Click Next
Select Read and Read Scripts (Such as ASP)
Click Finish

3.2) Creating our own Application Pool
This will be used if you have hosted projects that are built with framework of different versions
Right click on Application Pools -> New
Enter a name for your Application Pool
If you are running many framework of differn then for each one framework you have to create different Application pool

3.3) Change Setting of Virtual Directory
Right click on created Virtual directory -> Properties
Select Virtual Directory Tab
Check Directory browsing if you need to enable browsing your directory
In Application Settings group -> Click Create
Select Execute permissions -> Script Only
Select Application Pool -> Select the created Application Pool Select depending on your framework version

3.4) Set ASP.Net version
Click ASP.NET tab
In ASP.NET version select 2.0.50727

Note: You need to set ASP.NET version as 2.0.50727 for all the projects built in framework versions 2/3.0/3.5.

This will install all the components and setting that are required to run ASP.NET 2/3/3.5 projects on IIS 6.0.

If any other issues feel free to post a comment.

Happy Learning
Naveen Prabhu

Sending Email through Gmail using VB 6.0

Hi,

Here is a sample code that is used to send emails from any SMPT server using CDO in Visual Basic 6.0.
Here first i have added a reference to the project by navigating to Project -> references and adding Microsoft CDO for windows 2000 Library.

Sub SendEmail()

Set iMsg = CreateObject("CDO.Message")
Set iConf = CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")
Set Flds = iConf.Fields

' send one copy with Google SMTP server (with autentication)
schema = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/"
Flds.Item(schema & "sendusing") = 2
Flds.Item(schema & "smtpserver") = "smtp.gmail.com"
Flds.Item(schema & "smtpserverport") = 465
Flds.Item(schema & "smtpauthenticate") = 1
Flds.Item(schema & "sendusername") =  Username@gmail.com
Flds.Item(schema & "sendpassword") = password
Flds.Item(schema & "smtpusessl") = 1
Flds.Update

With iMsg
.To = To
.From = username@gmail.com
.Subject = "Mail from gmail"
.HTMLBody = "Test message using CDO in vb6 from Gmail smtp"
Set .Configuration = iConf
.Send
End With

Set iMsg = Nothing
Set iConf = Nothing
Set Flds = Nothing

End Sub

If you need to send mail from .Net here is the procedure.

Thanks,
Naveen Prabhu

Multiple-step OLE DB operation generated errors. Check each OLE DB status value, if available. No work was done.

Problem :
When we open any dot net exe we can find this error.

Solutions :

There are many possible solutions for the same error arising from different conditions. My problem was solved with the first solution, if still your problem exist check other possible conditions too.

• Right click the shortcut icon of the exe -> properties -> compatibility tab
  In compatibility mode , if the check box is on and the mode is set to any specific OS , uncheck the checkbox and click Ok
  Now check the program.

• http://www.adopenstatic.com/faq/80040e21.asp
• http://databases.aspfaq.com/database/what-is-this-multiple-step-ole-db-error.html

Thanks,
Naveen Prabhu

Multiple List Left Join in LINQ

We had seen in earlier posts how to left join and right join 2 lists using LINQ. But what about multiple list joining is it in the same way or are there any challanges in the implementation.

Today we shall see how we can use left join on multiple list in a single query.

We will take a case of 3 classes Branch ( ID, Name) , Department(ID , Name, BranchID) and employees(ID,Name,DeptID)

Download Project – 2.9 Kb

If we would join the 3 similar tables in MSSQL then it would appear as

Select Emp.Name, Dept.Name, branch.Name from ((Employees as Emp left join 
Departments as Dept on Dept.ID = Emp.DeptID)left join 
Branches as branch on Dept.BranchID = branch.ID)

In the above query we can see that first we join Employees and department on Department ID and the output of that join is joined with branch on brachid. By following the same flow we can derive the same result using LINQ. The equivalent implementation in LINQ follows

var MultipleListJoin = from empdept in
                                   (from emp in ListOfEmployees
join dept in ListOfDepartment
on emp.DeptID equals dept.ID into JoinedEmpDept
from dept in JoinedEmpDept.DefaultIfEmpty()
select new                                    
{
EmployeeName = emp.Name,
BranchID = dept != null ? dept.BranchID : 0,
DepartmentName = dept != null ? dept.Name : null                                    
})
join branch in ListOfBranch on
                               empdept.BranchID equals branch.ID into JoinedwithBranch
from branch in JoinedwithBranch.DefaultIfEmpty()
select new                               
{
EmpName = empdept.EmployeeName,
DeptName = empdept.DepartmentName,
BranchName = branch != null ? branch.Name : string.Empty
};

In the above first we derive the intermediate ouput by joining Employee and Department

from emp in ListOfEmployees
join dept in ListOfDepartment
on emp.DeptID equals dept.ID into JoinedEmpDept
from dept in JoinedEmpDept.DefaultIfEmpty()
select new                                    
{
EmployeeName = emp.Name,
BranchID = dept != null ? dept.BranchID : 0,
DepartmentName = dept != null ? dept.Name : null}

and then use the intemediate output and join it with Branches to get the final result.

Hope you have got how to join multiple lists, for Right join follow the above implementataion in the reverse way.

Happy Learning

Basics of Reflection in WPF

Reflection in WPF is a good feature to create better visual effects.

Create Visual Brush:
To create a basic reflection in Expression Blend we have to create a Visual Brush, to create one follow the steps.

1. Open Expression blend
2. Drop a image in the window
3. Select the image and Select Tools-> Make Brush Resouce -> Make VisualBrush Resouce -> Click Ok

As you do this a Visual brush of your image will be created that you can apply for any objects.

Lets test it.
Now add a rectangle, Select it and go to properties window, in Burshes Select Fill -> Brush Resouce
You will find the visual brush that is created Select it, the rectangle will fill with the image.
Once we know the steps to create a visual brush we can proceed with the reflection

Reflection:
Once we have the rectangle filled with the visual brush resouce, we get a lot of options how to reflect the image.

I will show you one example to start with

Select the Rectangle
Select Properties -> Transform -> Scale
Set X as -1

You will see a reflected image horizontally, the same reflection you can attain by giving -1 in Y.

Try all the options in Transform Tab and you will come to know about a lot of techniques.

Here for first Image i have made half of the Rectangle Transparent, by modifying a bit in Brushes -> Opacity mask.
For the second I have added 3 rectangles which are reflecting in different angles by modifying scale in Transform Tab, and then making the image 3d and rotating it.

Download Project : 2 Mb

Happy Learning