UK Developer

Visual Studio Class Library - Not Compiling Imported CS Files

2011-02-10T13:40:00.001Z

I recently upgraded a web site project into a web application project and split the business logic into a new class library. The classes already existed within the web project so I copied the files over to the new library. When I built the application Visual Studio said it built successfully however when inspecting the library I couldn't see any of the imported classes, only newly create ones.

The fix to get the classes included (compiled) in the new class library was to select the ".cs" file and in the Visual Studio Properties pane, make sure the "Build Action" property is set to "Compile". Hopefully this will save someone some time.

Some Application Icons for Web Development

2010-04-16T11:14:00.001+01:00

Not everyone who develops for the web has great design and UI skills so it's sometimes tricky to make an application look good and have that polished layer that finishes application development. If you aren't great in Photoshop or Fireworks then don't be afraid to turn to the web for resources to spice up your application.

A great example of a site that can offer a great number of icons for use (and are free) is Famfamfam.com, which has a couple of brilliant application icons that I've seen used in many different web-apps and really add a great deal to the UI layer of things.

Fam Fam Fam icon sets!

Also, if you don't mind paying a little bit and want some larger images or icons then iStock is a must know site which is where you can purchase images by credits that you purchase via the site and different quality/sizes cost more or less credits depending on your needs. A lot of web designers use the site and have a huge library of images to use.

iStock - Purchased Images

If you're creating an AJAX driven website then you may be in the need for some AJAX loading icons, there's a free on-line generator which is top quality and it allows various configurable parameters to get you the correct icon.

Check out ajaxload.info for further details.

SQL Query - Optional "where" parametres

2010-03-21T22:26:00.003Z

There is a really simple way you can add optional parameters to a SQL select statement without having to convert the query into TSQL or any other dynamic way to create the query. The query uses the "CASE" clause to perform the required task. Here's how:

--Normal Select Query (It has a @Customer param)
Select
C.CustomerID,
C.CustomerName,
C.Addr1,
C.Addr2,
C.Addr3,
C.Postcode
From Customer C
--Lets use a Case statement to see if the @Customer parameter in the Query has something in it
where
C.Customer =
Case
--If @Customer's length is greater than 0 then filter
When Len(@Customer) > 0 then @Customer
--Dont use the filter
Else C.Customer
End
--Return to standard SQL call
Order by C.Customer asc

You can do this more than once. It's also really helpful when adding this as a stored proceedure into Visual Studio for LINQ queries as some TSQL doesn't get read properly.

Missing Visual Studio 2008 Templates?

2010-03-21T22:25:00.006Z

Just had a bit of an issue using Visual Studio 2008 on Vista 64bit where no options appeared in the "New Projects" box that appears when you create a new project.
If you have the same issue then try the following:
1. Remove items from the following:

Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplatesCache

Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplatesCache
(Program Files (x86) on Vista)

2. Reinstall the templates by doing the following:

devenv.exe /installvstemplates

(found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE)

Hope this helps.

C# Thumbnail Generator

2010-03-21T22:25:00.005Z

Earlier in this blog I posted a VB thumbnail generator. The following is the same function but converted to c#. It converts an image on the file system to a thumbnail using the X, Y values sent to the function along with its save path.

public static void GenerateThumbnail(string sImagePath, string sSavePath, string sSaveName, int iX, int iY)
        {
            using (System.Drawing.Image imgFull = System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(sImagePath))
            {
                System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat ifFormat = imgFull.RawFormat;

                decimal dOrigWidth = imgFull.Width;
                decimal dOrigHeight = imgFull.Height;

                int iNewX;
                int iNewY;
                decimal dRatio;

                dRatio = iX / dOrigWidth;
                iNewX = Convert.ToInt32(dOrigWidth * dRatio);
                iNewY = Convert.ToInt32(dOrigHeight * dRatio);

                using (System.Drawing.Bitmap imgOutput = new System.Drawing.Bitmap(imgFull, iNewX, iNewY))
                {
                    using (System.Drawing.Graphics gfxResizer = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(imgOutput))
                    {
                        gfxResizer.InterpolationMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic;
                        gfxResizer.DrawImage(imgFull, 0, 0, iNewX, iNewY);
                        imgOutput.Save(sSavePath + "/" + sSaveName, ifFormat);
                    }
                }
            }
        }

I hope this is helpful, if you need the VB.Net conversion then check out the original post here.

C# Select Case = Switch

2010-03-21T22:24:00.003Z

If like me you have converted from VB.Net to C# then this is a handy bit of code:

VB Version:
Dim iSwitch as Integer = 1
Dim iOut as Integer
Select Case iSwitch
Case 1
         iOut = 1
Case 2
         iOut = 2
Case Else
         iOut = 3
End Select

''iOut = 1

C# Conversion
int iSwitch = 1;
int iOut = 0;
switch (iSwitch )
{
       case 1:
                 iOut = 1;
         break;
       case 2:
                 iOut = 2;
                 break;
       default:
                 iOut = 3;
                 break;
}
//iOut is = 1;

Thanks, Adrian

Search DB for column names

2010-03-21T22:23:00.002Z

Here is a handy bit of SQL used to search a database for tables that contain a specific column name:

Select
 name 
 from sysobjects 
 where id in (select id from syscolumns 
 where name like '%ColumnName%')

Pretty handy if you have a database with a lot of tables in and you need to find the correct tables etc.

Generate Thumbnail - VB.Net

2010-03-21T22:12:00.001Z

The following function allows the automatic creation of a thumbnail from an uploaded image. It is assumed that thumbnail is required (a check before the function is called).

Public Function GenerateThumbnail(ByVal sFullImagePath As String, ByVal sImageSavePath As String, ByVal sSaveName As String, ByVal iX As Integer, ByVal iY As Integer) As String
        'Create a new image object
        Dim imgFull As System.Drawing.Image
        'Fill the imgFull object with uploaded image by it's file URL
        imgFull = System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(sFullImagePath)
        'Get the format of the uploaded image
        Dim imgFormat = imgFull.RawFormat

        'Store the original image sizes for use later
        Dim iOrigWidth = imgFull.Width
        Dim iOrigHeight = imgFull.Height

        Dim iNewX As Integer
        Dim iNewY As Integer
        Dim iRatio As Decimal

        'The radio is the required X value divided by the current X value
        iRatio = iX / iOrigWidth
        'Set the new values using the radio
        iNewX = iOrigWidth * iRatio
        iNewY = iOrigHeight * iRatio

        'Create a new Bitmap object from the image and the sizes
        Dim imgOutput As New Bitmap(imgFull, iNewX, iNewY)

        'Create a Graphics object
        Dim gfxResizer As Graphics
        'Populate the object from the BMP
        gfxResizer = Graphics.FromImage(imgOutput)
        'Set the image to high quality so we dont loose anything when converted
      gfxResizer.InterpolationMode = Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic
        gfxResizer.DrawImage(imgFull, 0, 0, iNewX, iNewY)

        'Save the image to the filesystem
        imgOutput.Save(sImageSavePath & "/" & sSaveName, imgFormat)
        sSaveName = sSaveName

        'Dispose of the created objects
        gfxResizer.Dispose()
        imgOutput.Dispose()
        imgFull.Dispose()

        'Return the filename
        Return sSaveName

    End Function