IronSpeed

Iron Speed Designer builds database, forms, and reporting applications for .NET – without hand-coding. Quickly create visually stunning, feature-rich Web 2.0 applications that are easy-to-customize and ready-to-deploy. Iron Speed Designer accelerates development by eliminating routine infrastructure programming, freeing you to focus on our business logic.

Increasingly, developers, CTOs, IT business analysts are turning to a new, breakthrough approach for rapidly developing robust web applications: Application Generation.

Iron Speed Designer can be downloaded from http://www.ironspeed.com

Print a selected area in your website

<style type=”text/css” media=”print”>
.noprint {display:none;}
</style>

UFrame: goodness of UpdatePanel and IFRAME combined

UFrame combines the goodness of UpdatePanel and IFRAME in a cross browser and cross platform solution. It allows a DIV to behave like an IFRAME loading content from any page either static or dynamic. It can load pages having both inline and external Javascript and CSS, just like an IFRAME. But unlike IFRAME, it loads the content within the main document and you can put any number of UFrame on your page without slowing down the browser. It supports ASP.NET postback nicely and you can have DataGrid or any other complex ASP.NET control within a UFrame. UFrame works perfectly with ASP.NET MVC making it an replacement for UpdatePanel. Best of all, UFrame is implemented 100% in Javascript making it a cross platform solution. As a result, you can use UFrame on ASP.NET, PHP, JSP or any other platform.

<div class=”UFrame” id=”UFrame1″ src=”SomePage.aspx?ID=UFrame1″ >
<p>This should get replaced with content from Somepage.aspx</p>
</div>

Introduction to 3-Tier Architecture

Introduction

As a developer, the .NET framework and Visual Studio present many choices for choosing the right architecture, from placing the data access code directly in the UI through datasets and data source controls, to creating a data access layer that talks to the database, all the way to creating an n-tier architecture approach that consists of multiple layers, and use data-transfer objects to pass data back and forth.

If you’ve ever wondered why you should use layers and what the benefits are, this article is for you. This article delves into the use of layers and how they can benefit any application.

What is a Layer?

A layer is a reusable portion of code that performs a specific function. In the .NET environment, a layer is usually setup as a project that represents this specific function. This specific layer is in charge of working with other layers to perform some specific goal. In an application where the presentation layer needs to extract information from a backend database, the presentation would utilize a series of layers to retrieve the data, rather than having the database calls embedded directly within itself. Let’s briefly look at the latter situation first.

Two-Tier Architecture

When the .NET 2.0 framework became available to the world, there were some neat features that allowed the developer to connect the framework’s GUI controls directly to the database. This approach is very handy when rapidly developing applications. However, it’s not always favorable to embed all of the business logic and data access code directly in the web site, for several reasons:

• Putting all of the code in the web site (business logic and data access) can make the application harder to maintain and understand.
• Reusing database queries in the presentation layer often isn’t done, because of the typical data source control setup in the ASP.NET framework.
• Relying on the data source controls can make debugging more difficult, often due to vague error messages.

So in looking for an alternative, we can separate the data access code and business logic into separate “layers”, which we’ll discuss next.

The Data Layer

The key component to most applications is the data. The data has to be served to the presentation layer somehow. The data layer is a separate component (often setup as a separate single or group of projects in a .NET solution), whose sole purpose is to serve up the data from the database and return it to the caller. Through this approach, data can be logically reused, meaning that a portion of an application reusing the same query can make a call to one data layer method, instead of embedding the query multiple times. This is generally more maintainable.

But the question is how is the data returned? Multiple frameworks employ different techniques, and below is a summary:

• ADO.NET – Built into the .NET framework, ADO.NET contains a mechanism to query data out of the database and return it to the caller in a connected or disconnected fashion. This is the most common approach to working with data, because it’s already readily available. See more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADO.NET.
• Table Adapters/Strongly-Typed Datasets – Strongly-typed datasets and table adapters provide a similar means to querying the data through ADO.NET, but add strong-typing features, meaning custom objects are generated for you to work with. See more here.
• Enterprise Library – Enterprise library Data Access Application Block provides a flexible way to connect to databases of multiple types, without having to know anything about that database, through an abstract approach. See more at: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc188705.aspx (read part one first).
• LINQ-to-SQL – LINQ to SQL is an ORM tool that uses a DataContext object as the central point to query data from the database. See more here. (read parts one through eight first).
• Auto-Generated Code – Tools like CodeSmith Studio automatically generate the code for you based upon a database schema. Simply writing a script to output the code you want to use and the backend is generated in a short amount of time. See more at: http://community.codesmithtools.c om/blogs/tutorials/archive/2006/02/13/nettiers.aspx.

Most (if not all) options above take advantage of the CRUD (create, read, update, or delete) operations that databases support, so all of that is available as shown above. There are plenty of resources online to help you get started. To see an overview of some of the options, please read this.

Business Layer

Though a web site could talk to the data access layer directly, it usually goes through another layer called the business layer. The business layer is vital in that it validates the input conditions before calling a method from the data layer. This ensures the data input is correct before proceeding, and can often ensure that the outputs are correct as well. This validation of input is called business rules, meaning the rules that the business layer uses to make “judgments” about the data.

However, business rules don’t only apply to data validation; these rules apply to any calculations or any other action that takes place in the business layer. Normally, it’s best to put as much logic as possible in the business layer, which makes this logic reusable across applications.

One of the best reasons for reusing logic is that applications that start off small usually grow in functionality. For instance, a company begins to develop a web site, and as they realize their business needs, they later decide to add a smart client application and windows service to supplement the web site. The business layer helps move logic to a central layer for “maximum reusability.”

Presentation Layer

The ASP.NET web site or windows forms application (the UI for the project) is called the presentation layer. The presentation layer is the most important layer simply because it’s the one that everyone sees and uses. Even with a well structured business and data layer, if the presentation layer is designed poorly, this gives the users a poor view of the system.

It’s best to remove as much business logic out of the UI and into the business layer. This usually involves more code, but in my mind, the excess time (which ranges from minimal to moderate, depending on the size of the application) pays off in the end.

However, a well-architected system leaves another question: how do you display it in an ASP.NET or windows application? This can be more of a problem in ASP.NET, as the controls are more limited to the type of inputs they can receive. If you use certain architectures, like passing datasets from the data to the presentation layer, this isn’t as much of a challenge; however, the challenge can come with business objects that support drill-through business object references.

Why Separating Logic Is Useful

You may wonder why it is important to move as much logic outside the presentation layer and into the business layer. The biggest reason is reuse: logic placed in a business layer increases the reusability of an application. As applications grow, applications often grow into other realms. Applications may start out as a web application, but some of the functionality may later be moved to a smart client application. Portions of an application may be split between a web site and a web or windows service that runs on a server. In addition, keeping logic helps aid in developing a good design (sometimes code can get sloppier in the UI).

However, there are some caveats to this: it takes a little longer to develop applications when most of the logic resides in the business layer. The reason is this often involves creating several sets of objects (data layer and access code, plus business objects) rather than embedding it in the application. The extra time that it takes to do this can be a turnoff for some managers and project leads, especially because it often requires you to be knowledgeable about object-oriented programming, more than most people are comfortable with.

Although embedding code in the UI is easier, in most cases I don’t believe it’s the best approach. A layered approach is often a better approach because it pays dividends down the road. This is because as more and more code is developed, the following happens:

• Code is copied and pasted frequently, or code is reused in classes that could easily be moved to a business layer.
• Code that is very similar is often copied and pasted with slight modification, making duplication harder to track down.
• It’s harder to maintain; even though applications with business objects are larger applications, they usually are structured better.
• Code is harder to unit test, if unit testing is available at all. Web applications and windows forms projects are hard to use unit testing with.

A good architecture is often harder to implement, but is easier to maintain because it often reduces the volume of code. This means that hours spent supporting an application are reduced.

Distributed Applications

Using a separation of layers can aid in development of distributed applications. Because the code is broken up into layers, a layer that facilitates the use of remoting or web services can be added to the project, with a minimal amount of work.

Development Techniques

When developing a business object architecture, it’s good to know about the many design patterns that are out there. There are many websites, blogs, and books related to the subject of design patterns. One of the more well-known books on the subject is titled “Design Patterns,” whom the authors are often referred to as the Gang of Four.

Another useful development technique is called Refactoring, or improving the quality of your code by making small changes to the way it works. This involves moving code into a method, or moving a method from one object to another, in a systematic, logical way. Martin Fowler has written a great book on this subject, called “Refactoring, Improving the Design of Existing Code.” There are plenty of books on the subject; this one is the source that helped me to understand refactoring the most.

There are also tools on the market that can help you refactor in a faster way. One of those tools is Resharper by Jet Brains, which looks for a lot of code patterns and refactors them in a way that is useful. Some of the other refactoring tools that I heard about are Refactor Pro by DevExpress (free for VB.NET and ASP.NET), Visual Assist X by Whole Tomato Software, and Just Code by OmniCore.

Difference between ASP.NET Server Controls and HTML Server Controls

Advantages:

1. ASP .NET Server Controls can detect the target browser’s capabilities and render themselves accordingly. No issues for compatibility issues of Browsers i.e page that might be used by both HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0 browsers code is written in the Server Controls.

2. Newer set of controls that can be used in the same manner as any HTML control like Calender controls. Without any need of Activex Control without bringing up issues of Browser compatibility).

3. Processing would be done at the server side. In built functionality to check for few values(with Validation controls) so no need to choose between scripting language which would be incompatible with few browsers.

4. ASP .NET Server Controls have an object model different from the traditional HTML and even provide a set of properties and methods that can change the outlook and behavior of the controls.

5. ASP .NET Server Controls have higher level of abstraction. An output of an ASP .NET server control can be the result of many HTML tags that combine together to produce that control and its events. Example Gridview or Form control.

Disadvantages:

1. The control of the code is inbuilt with the web server controls so you have no much of direct control on these controls

HTML Server Controls

Advantages:

1. The HTML Server Controls follow the HTML-centric object model. Model similar to HTML

2. Here the controls can be made to interact with Client side scripting. Processing would be done at client as well as server depending on your code.

5. A HTML Server Control has similar abstraction with its corresponding HTML tag and offers no abstraction.

Disadvantages:

1. You would need to code for the browser compatibility.

2. The HTML Server Controls have no mechanism of identifying the capabilities of the client browser accessing the current page.

Ten things to do with IIS

Tip 10: Customize Your Error Pages
Although this is quite simple to do, few people seem to take advantage of it. Just select the “Custom Errors” tab in MMC and map each error, such as 404, to the appropriate HTML or ASP template. Full details can be found here. If you want an even easier solution – or if you want to let developers handle the mapping without giving them access to the MMC – use a product like CustomError.

Tip 9: Dive into the MetaBase
If you think Apache is powerful because it has a config file, then take a look at the MetaBase. You can do just about anything you want with IIS by editing the MetaBase. For example, you can create virtual directories and servers; stop, start and pause Web sites; and create, delete, enable and disable applications.

Microsoft provides a GUI utility called MetaEdit, somewhat similar to RegEdit, to help you read from and write to the MetaBase. Download the latest version here. But to really impress those UNIX admins – and to take full advantage of the MetaBase by learning how to manipulate it programmatically – you’ll want to try out the command-line interface, officially called the IIS Administration Script Utility. Its short name is adsutil.vbs and you’ll find it in C:\inetpub\adminscripts, or else in %SystemRoot%\system32\inetsrv\adminsamples, together with a host of other useful administrative scripts.

A word of caution though: Just like Apache conf files, the MetaBase is pretty crucial to the functioning of your Web server, so don’t ruin it. Back it up first.

Tip 8: Add spell checking to your URLs
Apache folks always brag about cool little tricks that Apache is capable of – especially because of the wealth of modules that can extend the server’s basic functionality. One of the coolest of these is the ability to fix URL typos using a module called mod_speling. Well, thanks to the folks at Port80 Software, it now appears that IIS admins can do this trick too, using an ISAPI filter called URLSpellCheck. You can check it out right on their site, by trying URLs like www.urlspellcheck.com/fak.htm, www.urlspellcheck.com/faq1.htm – or any other simple typo you care to make.

Tip 7: Rewrite your URLs
Cleaning your URLs has all sorts of benefits – it can improve the security of your site, ease migration woes, and provide an extra layer of abstraction to your Web applications. Moving from a ColdFusion to an ASP based site, for example, is no big deal if you can remap the URLs. Apache users have long bragged about the huge power of mod_rewrite – the standard Apache module for URL rewriting. Well, there are now literally a dozen versions of this type of product for IIS – many of them quite a bit easier to use than mod_rewrite, which tends to presume familiarity with regular _expression arcana. Check out, for example, IIS ReWrite or ISAPI ReWrite. So brag no more, Apache partisans.

Tip 6: Add browser detection
There are a lot of ways to build Web sites, but assuming everybody has a certain browser or screen size is just plain stupid. Simple _JavaScript sniff-scripts exist for client-side browser detection, but if you are an IIS user you can do better with a product called BrowserHawk from CyScape. The Apache world doesn’t really have something comparable to this popular, mature and well-supported product. Speaking of CyScape, they’ve recently added an interesting-looking related product called CountryHawk that helps with location detection, but so far I haven’t had the language- or location-sensitive content to warrant trying it out.

Tip 5: Gzip site content
Browsers can handle Gzipped and deflated content and decompress it on the fly. While IIS 5 had a gzip feature built-in, it is pretty much broken. Enter products like Pipeboost to give us better functionality – similar to what Apache users have enjoyed with mod_gzip. Don’t waste your bandwidth – even Google encodes its content, and their pages are tiny.

Tip 4: Cache your content
While I’m on the topic of improving performance, remember to make your site cache friendly. You can set expiration headers for different files or directories right from the MMC. Just right click on an item via the IIS MMC, flip to the “HTTP Headers” tab, and away you go. If you want to set cache control headers programmatically – or even better, let your site developers do it – use something like CacheRight. If you want to go further and add reverse proxy caching, particularly for generated content, use a product like XCache – which also throws in compression.

It might involve more time and expense to take full advantage of caching, but when you watch your logs shrink because they don’t contain tons of pointless 304 responses, and your bandwidth consumption drop like a stone, even while your total page views increase over the same period, you’ll start to understand why this particular tip was so important. Cache friendly sites are quite rare, but there is plenty of information available online about the enormous benefits to be had by doing it right: Check out Brian Davidson’s page, this nifty tutorial from Mark Nottingham, and what AOL has to say on the subject.

Tip 3: Tune your server
Tuning IIS is no small topic – whole books and courses are dedicated to it. But some good basic help is available online, such as this piece from IIS guru Brett Hill, or this Knowledge Base article from Microsoft itself. However, if you don’t feel like getting your hands dirty – or can’t afford the time and expense of turning yourself into an expert – take a look at XTune, from the makers of XCache. It’s performance tuning wizards step you through the process of tuning your IIS environment, making expert recommendations along the way..

Tip 2: Secure your server with simple fixes
Sure people are going to attack sites, but you don’t have to be a sitting duck if you’re willing to make even a small effort. First off, don’t advertise the fact that you are running IIS by showing your HTTP server header. Remove or replace it using something like ServerMask – probably the best twenty-five bucks you’ll ever spend. You can go farther than this by removing unnecessary file extensions to further camouflage your server environment, and scanning request URLs for signs of exploits. There are number of commercial products that do user input scanning, and Microsoft offers a free tool called URLScan which does the job. URLScan runs in conjunction with IISLockDown, a standard security package which should probably be installed on every IIS server on the planet. These are simple fixes that could pay off big, so do them now.

Tip 1: Patch, patch, patch!
Okay, we in the IIS world do have to patch our systems and make hotfixes. However, as a former Solaris admin I had to do the same thing there, so I am not sure why this is a big surprise. You really need to keep up with the patches, Microsoft is of course the definitive source, but if you can also use the highly-regarded www.cert.org. Simply search on “IIS”.

Conclusion
Well there you have it: 10 tips for IIS admins to improve their servers. Some of the tips might become obsolete once IIS 6 is gold, but, for now at least, W2K and NT IIS admins should apply a few of these today and sleep a little better at night.

The Fastest Way To Compare Two Strings Equality

We usually use “==” for string comparing operations. But What if the code will work 10 million times. You must use the best comparing way for minimum time consuming.

We often works with strings when writing codes. Sometimes the case requires to control if two strings are equal or not. And then we usually use the “==” operator to control equality.

If (s1 == s2)

But What if the code will work 10 million times. You must use the best comparing way for minimum time consuming. Run the code below and see which one the best.

The “==” operator is the slowest, and the “s1.Equals(s2)” is the fastest. 

Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
string s1 = “Some text for testing”;
string s2 = “Some text for testing.”;

sw.Start();
for (int i = 0; (i <= 10000000); i++) {
    if (s1 == s2) {
        //  Do something
    }
}
sw.Stop();
Console.WriteLine(“s1=s2 : ” + sw.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds.ToString());

sw.Reset();

sw.Start();
for (int i = 0; (i <= 10000000); i++) {
    if (String.Equals(s1, s2)) {
        //  Do something
    }
}
sw.Stop();
Console.WriteLine(“String.Equals(s1, s2) : ” + sw.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds.ToString());

sw.Reset();

sw.Start();
for (int i = 0; (i <= 10000000); i++) {
    if (s1.Equals(s2)){
        //  Do something
    }
}
sw.Stop();
Console.WriteLine(“s1.Equals(s2) : ” + sw.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds.ToString());

How to build a successful website

 If you are looking to build a successful website, here are three basic rules.

1. Fast Speed
2. Limited Contents
3. Easy Navigation

1. Fast Speed

First rule is, a website should load faster. When a user comes to your home page, there should be no wait. You can provide this by having only limited code and HTML on the home page.

There are several ways to make sure site load faster. For example, do not use too much graphics and flashy stuff. Use text, HTML controls instead of images.

Avoid default flash or other graphics items. If you can’t survive without flashy presentations, give user an option to load it once your home page is loaded by adding an extra link or something.

If your site is a database driven site, do not load too much data on page load. If it is necessary to load data from a database, try to save common data in application state so page load is faster.

2. Limited but Most Relevant Contents

Limited contents means if a user comes to your home page, site should provide only contents that you need to grasp the reader but not overload him. You do not want to confuse your reader.

Your home page should make sure that user is not confused about your site functionality and services. The message should be clear and consise. Make sure to put most relevant content on the most visible area.

3. Easy Navigation

You do not want user to click 4 times to go to the content what user is looking for. Try to keep it to 1 or 2 clicks only. At max, you can go to 3 clicks. After 3 clicks, user would most likely to leave your website.

FileUploadAJAX

FileUploadAJAX is an open source ASP.NET 2.0 custom control that is similar to the predefined FileUpload control but with a key difference: AJAX behavior

And what does this means? This means that with the FileUploadAJAX we can upload files in an asynchronous way and without reloading the page… that’s all!

Refer http://en.fileuploadajax.subgurim.net/