Gaurav Sharma a.k.a ~bLaCkHaWk~

LINQ to SQL – Generic Insert

2010-08-17T23:21:00.002+05:30

Currently I’m working on a project’s data layer code. I’ve chosen LINQ to SQL for this purpose and created a helper library to perform CRUD operations in an easy and generic way. Following is the code which insert any database object using LINQ: 1: public static void Insert(T entityData) where T : class 2: { 3: using (TransactionScope trans = new

SQL Server - NULL

2010-08-11T08:34:00.001+05:30

There is a bit of inconsistency in the way SQL Server treats (read it as implements) NULLs. Following are some noteworthy points related to implementation and usage of NULL values in SQL Server: 3 possible values of logical expression TRUE FALSE UNKNOWN UNKNOWN occurs when a logical expression involves NULL NULL > 2 is UNKNOWN NULL = NULL is UNKNOWN X + NULL is UNKNOWN (NOT (UNKNOWN))

Windows Azure – Custom configuration settings

2010-06-24T17:10:00.001+05:30

Few days back, I received a question on our internal Azure discussion DL regarding, how we can have settings defined in a web configuration file implemented in a web role. In simple terms, how we can have configuration file in a Windows Azure application. This is how we can do this; During development ServiceDefinition.csdef – Add name of your custom configuration

Post Back from AJAX Update Panel

2010-05-01T11:47:00.001+05:30

Recently, while working on a dev assignment I needed to make a complete post back (with page refresh) from a button control placed inside AJAX Update Panel. Exact problem was like this. There is a webpage on which I require AJAX functionality. Also, there is one button on whose click I want to make a post back. That button is also placed inside AJAX update panel and anything placed inside update

WCF – Exception Handling in Asynchronous Operations

2010-03-12T02:37:00.001+05:30

Yesterday, I got a query regarding how to handle exceptions in case of asynchronous web service operations. Precise question was, I am calling a WCF service using Asynchronous way, the service may execute for some time, meanwhile if any exception occurred in the service side how can I come to know what happened in the service side? I am not able to get the status in the Async Method.

GO – SQL Server

2010-03-03T20:51:00.001+05:30

While working on SQL Server we all encounter GO statement quite often. Till today GO statement for me was just an indication sent out to SQL Server utilities about end of a batch of Transact - SQL. Today while going through MSDN I found a new (surprising) thing about GO. Go can actually take an integer argument. Yes! it is true. Go takes an optional integer argument. Something like this, GO [

Back from Redmond

2010-02-19T08:28:00.001+05:30

Few weeks back I visited Microsoft office in Redmond, WA. That trip turned out to be a super roller coaster ride. Day I landed in our office some unexpected very high priority work came up and we started work on it without wasting any time. I got to work with some top technical and management guys. During my work I interacted with various Microsoft GM’s and members of top leadership team. I

IIS 7.0 – Site Vs. Application Vs. Virtual Directory

2010-01-08T08:51:00.001+05:30

Another thing with IIS 7.0 which always bothers me is exact difference between web site , application and virtual directory. There is lot of verbose information present online related to this topic. After going through few good web links I managed to prepare a summary of the differences, that is easy to understand and remember. [ Note: It is highly possible that you might get this information

IIS 7.0 – Classic and Integrated pipeline

2010-01-07T07:59:00.001+05:30

While creating a new app pool, users are required to choose framework version and pipeline type. I was not sure about the difference between available pipeline types. I spent some time on this topic and reading MSDN articles. this is what I understood: Classic Pipe Line in IIS 7.0 Works just like IIS 6.0 All requests pass through the IIS pipeline first, and then if the file extension is

Windows Live Writer

2009-12-19T20:20:00.001+05:30

This is my first post on blog spot using windows live write. There is no special content in this post. I wanted to check if all plug-ins will work as they are supposed to work. Image One Two Three Four Map Code using System;internal class MySampleClass{ void MySampleClass() { //

Linked In - Sophisticated version of Monster job

2009-12-18T20:42:00.001+05:30

I’m using linked-in from past one year now and initially I felt it is a nice networking tool for people looking to connect with people with similar appetite towards technology. Suppose, if I’m looking out for a mentor, it is actually tough to achieve this using linked in. What best you can do is this, message your friends and ask them if they know anybody who can mentor you and keep doing this

SQL Server - Size of Index Table for Each Index

2009-12-06T20:43:00.003+05:30

I'm a regular reader of Pinal's SQL Authority blog. Few days back, he posted a puzzle to find index size of each index on table. I was able to solve the puzzle and my solution was one of the two solutions selected by Pinal. Check it out from here//Cheers!//Currently listening to - Thirteen by Danzing

System.Transaction.IsolationLevel

2009-12-06T20:25:00.004+05:30

A little amusing observation,IsolationLevel enumeration defined in the System.Transactions namespace looks something like this:public enum IsolationLevel{ Unspecified, ReadUncommitted, RepeatableRead, ReadCommitted, Serializable, Chaos, Snapshot} By definition, chaos means -"a state of extreme confusion and disporder. " Initially I was not able to understand what is the whole

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2

2009-11-01T23:08:00.006+05:30

From last few weeks I'm using VS 2010 for my daily coding work. Apart from lot of feature add-ons, this time VS got a new look. Check out these captures;Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 - Splash ScreenNew Startup ScreenVS 2010 Rocks!!!Scott Gu is running a series on VS 2010 and .Net 4.0 new features. Do check them out at his blogCheers!

Simplest way to prevent Phishing Attack on IE 8

2009-10-07T19:46:00.006+05:30

Phishing attacks are becoming common these days. Recently there was a massive phishing attack reported on Hotmail. There are few easy ways by which we can prevent phishing attacks.I use IE 8 as my default browser and it provides a nice feature known as Smart Screen Filter which helps us in identifying phishing attacks. There is also a online publication provided by Microsoft that helps in

Library Design - Documenting Exceptions

2009-09-26T19:58:00.007+05:30

I’m sure most of you might already know but I thought of sharing this. If we are coding for a class library then we should always try to explicitly provide exception type that our code (method) will throw. If we provide exception values in XML Comments then those exceptions will appear in intellisense while we are using that library method. This will be handy for developers using our library. I

Functional Programming

2009-06-08T23:04:00.002+05:30

Few days back while reading about F# I got hold of a nice old article on Functional Programming. Check it out hereI'm on my F# journey from past few weeks. Let us see how far this goes.

SQL Server 2008 - Policy Based Management

2009-05-20T20:43:00.003+05:30

Few days back I posted an article on MSDN related to SQL Server 2008 Policy Based Management. Check it our if you are interested in Server 2008 new features.

New definition to C#

2009-04-26T10:59:00.005+05:30

If anyone asksus , what is C#, what will be our answer? All of us will say, C# is an Object Oriented Language targeting .NET run time. Today this definition of C# is only 10% correct or you can say 10% complete. Surprised! read ahead.Few days back, I was listening to Anders Hejlsberg's PDC 2008 presentation on C# 4.0. There he formulated a new definition for C#.C# is a multi-paradigm language

Places where I'm blogging

2009-04-18T23:38:00.004+05:30

Connected Information Security Group blog. This is now closed as our team name is changed.http//blogs.msdn.com/cisg/Our team got a new name, Information Security Tools, hence a new blog site,http://blogs.msdn.com/securitytools/My good old blogspot account where I started blogging few years back.http://fun-with-blackhawk.blogspot.com/ I'll use security tools blog for topics related to my work and

Safer Source Control Settings in Visual Studio 2008

2009-04-18T22:51:00.007+05:30

There is a section for Source Control settings under Visual Studio IDE options where we can set check in and checkout behavior. Two important settings are:* Save: Check out automatically (default)* Editing: Check out automatically (default)As per my experience these defaults are not good/ safe. These settings could result in: * Checking out files without knowledge, as even a single click or key

Where is Gaurav?

2009-04-06T20:19:00.003+05:30