{ Duane.Wingett }

Mixed Scope Properties in .Net

2010-09-02T19:06:44.647+01:00

Mixed Scope Properties in .Net

There may be a time when you want to have mixed scope for your "Getters" and "Setters" in a property. For those of you who are not familiar with the syntax here it is

VB:

          
            Public
            Property MyProperty asStringGetReturn _myField EndGetPrivateSet _myField = Value EndSetEndProperty

This example allows a public "Getter" and a private "Setter".

The same can be done in C#:

          
            public
            string MyProperty
{ get { return _myField;
} privateset {
_myField = value;
} }

Hope you find that useful.

Regards,

Dib.

VB.Net Single Instance application on Terminal Server

2010-07-30T08:21:34.274+01:00

VB.Net Single Instance application on Terminal Server

Yesterday at work I spent nearly the whole day bashing my head against a wall trying to replicate functionality that our original VB6 application had into the new .Net conversion. The orginal VB6 application used "App.PrevInstance" to determine if another instance was running or not. This appeared to work for multiple users on Terminal Servers, so each user could run an instance of the app, but it would warn if they tried to open another.

VB.Net does not appear to have such direct functionality. Looking on the web provided various 'solutions' to the problem. However each one seemed to have an 'issue' with our scenario. By the afternoon I was looking at the Mutex objects which a lot of people seemed to find worked for them. However for me I was getting an "Object synchronization method was called from an unsynchronized block of code" error when closing the second instance onwards.

Looking into the Mutex object in a bit more depth it seemed that maybe it was not the right object for our purpose but maybe the Semaphore object would be better.

In the end the solution I used was to use a named Semaphore. When the application first instance runs it would attempt to open the named Semaphore and if it did not exist, assume it was the first instance and create one. The second instance when run would again look for and open the named Semaphore and if it exists and it manages to open it then it would assmue it is a second instance of the application.

By prefixing the Semaphorename with "Local\" it will allow each Terminal Server session to have it's own Semaphore so each remote user would not affected by another.

The elements of the code I used are below.

Imports:

          
            Imports System.Threading

Declarations:

          
            Private SingleInstanceSemaphore As Semaphore =Nothing'
This needs to live for the life of the applicationPrivateConst MAX_SESSION_INSTANCES AsInteger= 1 PrivateConst SEMAPHORE_NAME AsString="{9A49BB2C-45D2-4bb9-B38E-74F9DB612B96}"'
Unique for each application

Main Method:

          
            '''

            '''
This is the main application entrance point.
            '''

            Public
            Sub Main() '
We need a name for the semaphore that is specific to to the Application / User combination'
We prefix the semaphoreName with "Local\" to allow this to run under terminal services. '
The "Local\" prefix forces this into local user space. '
If we want to forbid this in TS, use the "Global\" prefix.Dim semaphorePrefix AsString="Local"'
Or "Global" if requiredDim semaphoreName AsString=String.Format("{0}\{1}{2}",
semaphorePrefix, SEMAPHORE_NAME, Environment.UserName) Dim anotherInstanceRunningForUser AsBoolean=TrueDim runAnotherDialogResult As DialogResult = DialogResult.No Dim mainForm As Form1 =NothingTryTry SingleInstanceSemaphore = Semaphore.OpenExisting(semaphoreName) Catch ex As Exception
anotherInstanceRunningForUser =FalseEndTryIf (anotherInstanceRunningForUser =False) Then SingleInstanceSemaphore =New Semaphore(0,
MAX_SESSION_INSTANCES, semaphoreName) EndIfIf (anotherInstanceRunningForUser) Then runAnotherDialogResult = MessageBox.Show("Another
instance is already running. Do you want to run another?", _
"Already
Running...", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo, MessageBoxIcon.Question) EndIf'
If this is the first instance of the application, or a further instance but the user
wants more than one...If (anotherInstanceRunningForUser =False) Or _
((anotherInstanceRunningForUser =True) And (runAnotherDialogResult = DialogResult.Yes)) Then'
Run the application mainForm =New Form1(mutexName)
Application.Run(mainForm) EndIfCatch ex As Exception MsgBox(ex.Message) EndTry

I hope that mayhelp someone in the future and save them a day trawling through the web sticking examples of code together and getting failed results like I did.

Regards,
Dib.

Failed to enable constraints. One or more rows contain values violating non-null, unique, or foreign-key constraints.

2010-06-08T19:35:03.273375+01:00

Today I hit hit this error message while filling a typed DataSet Datatable. The odd thing was I could preview the data in the DataSet designer and the data looked fine.

I had to resort to Google and that returned this page, which if you hit this error, I would definately recommend. Look specifically for Sanjeys post about six posts down.

Roy Osherove's Blog - Dataset Hell

Glass Effect Text without images (HTML and CSS only)

2010-05-27T13:17:21.773+01:00

Glass Effect Text without images (HTML and CSS only)

As part of the development for a new web site I am working on I ideally need the site header text to be a glass effect laid over the glass effect headr image. I also want the header text to be able to be 'read' by search engines.

Although many search engines can read the 'alt' text of an image I belive I am right in saying the major search engines put more emphasis or weight on plain text. Especially text in header tags H!, H2 etc.

With this in mind I wanted to create a text only header that also has a glass effect.

One option was to create a text header and then over lay half of the text with a semi trans parent PNG. This will work visually but will not allow the text to be selected properly.

So to allow the text to be selected I decided I needed to place one layer of text on top of another and then cut off the bottom of the top layer of text.

Below is the code I used.

          
<htmlxmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
title>
<styletype="text/css">

div.Glass

{

background-color:#FFF;

background-image:url(http://michaelsync.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/silverlight-glass-button.jpg);

background-position:-22px -10px;

background-repeat:no-repeat;

border:solid 1px #FFF;

height:80px;

position:relative;

}

div.Text

{

color:#66F; 


height:80px;

}

div.Shine

{

color:#99F;

height:39px;

overflow:hidden;

margin-top:-97px;

}

h1

{

margin-top:17px;

}


/* IE7 Specific CSS hack */

* + html div.Shine

{

margin-top:-80px;

} 

style>
head>
<body>
<formid="form1">
<divclass="Glass">
<divclass="Text">
          
          Welcome
div>
<divclass="Shine">
          
          
            
            Welcome
          

          
            
            div
            >
            
            div
            >
            
            form
            >
            
            body
            >
            
            html
            >

Coconut If Incontinence website Launched

2010-04-06T13:36:23.6595+01:00

Since Christmas I have been filling some fo my spare time working on a website for a game for family and friends that my girlfriend's family play. This has now been released and can be seen. here:

The Coconut Of Incontinence

The site is written in Asp.Net 2.0

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 vs Battlefield Bad Company 2

2010-03-25T13:29:21.881+00:00

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 vs Battlefield Bad Company 2

I have recently purchased both games and will use this space to write a little review of how I feel they stack up against each other.

Single Player Capaign Mode

MW2

Good
- A good plot which keeps you interested

Bad
- The capaign game was over far too soon. It could have done with a bit longer. I expect hardcore out of work players or children in holidays would complete on the day of purchase.

BC2

Good
- almost fully destructable landscape. Alot of buldings can be destroyed, however not all.
Bad
- Plot seems weak so far as I haven't completed it yet
- Far too many cut scenes. sometimes you have only just run a hundred yards and oops, here we go.. another cut scene. It breaks up the gaming flow far too much.

Multiplayer Online

MW2

- Selectable perks allow you to tweak the "skills" of your soldier to suit your needs.

BC2

Good - i'm loving the Recon class's calling in of mortars. very useful tool. Bad - I found the basic guns difficult to get on with. - Medics can't Heal or revive until they learned their skills!

General

MW2

BC2

Good
- Landscapes are wide and open
- Bullets drop over distance

Bad
- Too much swearing. There is a lot of pointless swearing in the whole game, multiplayer and single player. This is not by other players but by the Non Player Characters. I wouldn't want any of my children under 13 playing the game.
-PC version crashes quite a lot.

To be continued... I will add more as I go along.

Please feel free to comment!

UK Car Scrappage Scheme

2009-05-01T06:43:58.516875+01:00

In the Budget on April 22^nd the Government announced plans to introduce a Car Scrappage scheme in the UK, starting from
May 18^th 2009.

Under the terms of the Scrappage scheme, the Government fund a discount of £2,000 off the purchase price of a new car or van for customers who trade in cars that they have owned for at least twelve months and are at least 10 years old.

Do the rich politicians actually know why people like myself own and drive around in 10 year old plus bangers bought for about £500? Not because we prefer driving one to a nice shiney new car, but because we can't afford to go and buy a new car. I'm sure many who drive round in old bangers like me, can't even afford to buy a car of £2000, let alone buy one for £10K with £2K knocked off if they have it scrapped at the same time. Does the government live in a dream world? Do these rich fat cats realise how much disposable income most of us DO NOT actually have? Clearly not.

What is more, in these days of recycling and the urge not to be wasteful of resources, surely it is better to try and keep using an object, that cost thousands of pounds to produce and countless irrreplacable resources to produce, for as long as possible. Not replace it with a brand new object that cost even more thousands and more of the planet's resources?

Am I right, or have I missed the point completely?

Guess RB1 Road Bike

2009-04-22T07:38:54.117+01:00

Guess RB1

When I came to research the Guess RB1 before purchasing it, I could find very little information about it on the web. Therefore I thought I would collate everything I know or can find in one place, so if anyone else wants to know about these wonderful little bikes they can hopefully find most of it here.

Background

Guess is SuperCycles of Nottingham’s own brand of bike. Up until December 2002 it was only available as a frame, however after that SuperCycles started to release it as a complete bike.

Awards

Cycling Plus gave it “Best-Of-Test” in a review.
The British Bicycle Awards gave it “Best Value Road Bike”

Frame

The Guess RB1 frame is constructed from 6061 Aluminium. The top tube, down tube and seat tube are wing-shaped for aerodynamics. The seat and chain stays are ovaloid, with the chain stays having dog legs for crank clearance. All of the tubes are fused together with big chunky welds, similar to my mountain bike. The frame has solid rear drop outs

The seat tube features quite a large cut out for the rear wheel, however, the tyre barely comes close the the tube. I don't understand why such a large cut out has been designed into the frame. Maybe it is to reduce drag of air over the rear wheel. Can anyone shed some light on this?

The head tube suitable for is 1 1/8" diameter steerer forks.

The frame comes in the following sizes: 25, 54, 56, 58 cm. Mine is the 58 cm Model. I’m 5’10 and it is comfortable to ride, but I think if I was to buy from new I’d choose a 56 or 54cm frame and have a longer seat post and a more aero dynamic position.

Forks

The forks are constructed of carbon with an aluminium alloy steerer tube. They are of a blade design for aero dynamics and feature a 5cm rake. The steerer tube is 1 1/8" with Ahead fitting. According to SuperCycles website these forks have received the Cycling Plus Gold Award for being truely aerodynamic.

Wheels

The wheels on my bike are not what originally came with the bike, these would have been Guess hubs tied to American Classic rims. According to the shop owner the original owner had upgraded from the original wheels to the Capagnolo Scirocco G3 wheels.

According to roadcyclinguk.com - The Scirocco G3 wheels were made to be exceptional value for money but provide top end technical features. 30mm black-satin rims. Oversized hubs and G3 spoking front and rear. Weight 790g front, 1040g rear (Or 770g front, and 955g rear on the Capagnolo website) They retail at around £220.

Tyres

I'm not sure what tyre come on this bike from new, but the previous woner has equiped the bike with... tbc

Brakes

The brake Calipers are made by Guess, and look like a cross between Tektro and Shimano. If any one has any more information on the calipers, please provide. I am unsure what the brake blocks are, or who they are nade from. I haven't had to emergncy brake yet, or brake on a sustained down hill, so I cannot comment on their performance.

Brake Levers and Shifters

The eight speed shifters and brake levers are Shimano Sora.

Handles Bars

The handle bars are Guess's own aluminium creation. I currently have Outland aluminium clip-on Tri Bars fitted to them

Stem

The stem is Guess's own, made from an aluminium alloy.

Seat Post

The seat post is made of Aluminium Alloy by Guess.

Seat

The seat is Guess's own. It has hollow Chrome-Moly rails.

The Ride

I may not be the best person to review how the bike is to ride as for the last twenty years or so I have been riding mountain bikes only. To me the bike feels extremely light and responsive. Due to the weight, excelleration is a doddle, and I'm sure a fitter person than I would find it a pleasure to climb with. I haven't cornered hard with it yet, as I need to learn to trust the tyres, but the bike feels nimble and seems to return to an upright position easily.

Comments

Please feel free to comment. If you have any further information that you can add about this brilliant budget bike, please do. I would love to hear from fellow RB1 (Or RB2) owners, and hear of their experiences, good or bad.

Links

Full bike reviews
http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/forum/forummessages/mps/utn/106070/v/1/cp/1/
http://www.bikemagic.com/forum/forummessages/mps/dt/4/UTN/46381/srchdte/0/last/1/V/6/SP/328890336794364665472
http://forum.220magazine.com/tm.asp?m=29192
http://www.bikemagic.com/forum/forummessages/mps/dt/4/UTN/50389/

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/gear/gear.asp?pid=311

Capagnolo Scirocco G3 Wheel Review:
http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/review/reviewProduct/mps/rpn/15470/prod/Campagnolo-Scirocco-/rcn/140/rgn/11/sp//v/1

Supplier of new RB1s:
SuperCycles - http://www.supercycles.co.uk/

Burned Off By A Flaty!

2009-04-21T19:21:39.492+01:00

Hill Work

As I didn't get a chance to get out on the Guess RB1 for my normal 8 mile ride before work this morning, I thought I ought to get out on it for a quick ride tonight. My 8 mile morning ride is pretty flat, so I thought I'd incorporate Lanehouse hill and New Road on Portland for a bit of hill work. Lanehouse wasn't too bad, I think I didn't go lower than second but New Road is always a bit of a killer, and wasn't looking forward to that.

The Flat Bar Bike Bloke

On my way accross the beach road as I passed the location of the old oil tanks I passed a chap on a flat bar bike. I didn't rally think much of it, as he seemed to be cruising. I carried on my way round Vicky Square and up the zig zag into Fortunes Well. As I reached the shops I could hear the sound of a deraileur change behind me. I could hear the cyclist behind was keeping right up behind me, so I kept my pace slight as high as I thought I could maintain.

Burned Off

Sadly it appeared it was too hight at first as I virtually died at the ninety right at the bottom of New Road, and had to rrsort to first and second. At this point the flat bar bike bloke stood up on the pedals and rode round me, pumping all the way up the hill, dropping me like I was stood still. What is more he was half way down the sprocket to boot! I didn't even attempt to keep up, my legs were shot. When I rounded the hairpin he was no where to be seen, neither was he when I reached the roundabout at Dowsett's old garage. one thing for sure his legs were a lot bigger than mine, but not suprising if he climbs like that every day!

Back on the road...

2009-04-20T18:38:12.008+01:00

Back on the road...

Although I haven’t been without a bike of some time since about the age of five, I haven’t had a road bike for well over 15 years. Although I currently have a full suspension XC mountain bike, I have been mulling over getting a road bike for a couple of years. Recently I made the decision to get one.

I started researching what sort of machine I could get second hand off eBay, and started watching bikes listed locally, or with a postage option. I could see that for anything from £200-£300, my budget, I could get an aluminium frame maybe with carbon forks and some other carbon components.

I missed out on a few machines going on eBay for various reasons, but while I was bidding on one, I thought I ought to pick the brains of the local bike shop proprietors, and see if they ever get trade-ins. The chap at one of the local shops (Westham cycles) was very informative, but did recommend to leave second hand bikes alone as they have a huge waiting list for second hand road bikes. He suggested that I save up for the new 2009 GT GTR series 4 that would be due in at the start of May. Save up? I wanted one there and then, he-he!

I went to the next shop, Cycle Life, expecting to hear pretty much the same thing about second hand bikes, but he suggested I take a look at a matte black beast of a bike in the front of the shop. I’d never heard of the make “Guess” before. I wondered if it stood for “Guess who really makes it?” This is something I have yet to find! He advised me that he was selling it for a friend who wanted £450 for it, this was quite a bit over my budget.

As I tried it for size, he told me a fair bit about it, including that it had up-rated Campagnolo Scirocco wheels. I have since found them listed new for about £250; half the price the bike would be if new. I asked if it would be a good base to start from, if I wanted to upgrade to better components later on. He suggested it would be, as it was a good frame and forks setup.

I went home to mull it over and discuss it with my girlfriend. I would have to put it on the credit card, but I had done a little website work, so was due some money in my account soon. She said do a bit of research first, but if after that I still want it, why not get it. After all, life is too short. I couldn’t find much about it on the web. Only that SuperCycles seem to be the only place that stocks it. I had read a couple of accounts from people who owned one, and all but one was positive. The negative one only complained about the standard wheels, and as this one had up-rated Campagnolos wheels already on it, I didn't need to worry about that.

I decided to go back to the shop and make an offer. The first was rejected but we came to agreement on the second offer. After the bike was given a good once over by the shop owner, I was now once more the owner of a road bike!

I'll detail and review the bike in a seperate article coming soon.

Cycle Shops

Cycle Life

28 Abbotsbury Rd ,

Weymouth ,

DT4 0AE

01305 781831

[Link to follow]

Westham Cycles

128 Abbotsbury Rd,
Weymouth ,
DT4 0JS
01305 776977
http://www.westhamcycles.com/

> >>

Super Cycles

http://www.supercycles.co.uk/