Charting Your Life

Today I discovered Uladoo (pronounced yoo-LAH-doo). This is a nice charting utility which gathers data from twetter. Uladoo converts data from then creates chart and displays in the form of am image. You can use Uladoo to keep track of you coffee consumption or calories taken or weight loss program etc. You need to send a tweet (as many as you like) to @Uladoo and it updates the chart. You can browse the chart going to the Uladoo.com. It generates a URL for your chart which you can share with your friends and family members. You can even share this chart with your doctor.

How Uladoo Works:

You need to tweet Uladoo and it automatically updates the chart, if it exists. If the chart  does not exist, Uladoo creates on. For example, I send following tweet to create my coffee consumption chart

@uladoo coffee consumed 3

Then number 3 tells that I have consumed three cups of coffee from morning. Next time, when I will have another cup of coffee, I will tweet

@uladoo coffee consumed 1

and my chart will be updated. I can see this chart here.

How can you make Uladoo work for you:

You can make Uladoo work for you. First decide what you want to chart. It may be your cigarette consumption, number of calls you made to your girl friend/boss/client, lunch expenses, number of calories you take, your wife’s daily expenses etc. Some people track their daily exercise, pull-ups and push-ups.

 

Happy charting…

Configuring Live Writer for weblogs.asp.net

This is the step by step guide to configure your Live Writer to use with your blog account at weblogs.asp.net.

Step 1: On the menu bar, select Weblog -> Add weblog account. This will display Add Weblog Account dialog shown below.Choose ‘Another Weblog Service’ and click on next.

Step 2: The next screen allows you to configure writer to work with your weblog. Enter the URL of your blog in the ‘Weblog Homepage URL’ text box. (For example, my URL is ‘http://weblogs.asp.net/yaneshtyagi’. Enter your username and password in the respective text boxes. Make sure that ‘Save my password’ checkbox is checked. (You can later change this setting using the ‘Edit Weblog Setting’ from the Weblog menu option). Click Next.

Step 3: If you have provided correct credentials, following screen will be displayed. This screen may take some time depending on the speed of your internet connection. Your Live Writer is now trying to connect to your weblog account and then it will detect the settings.

Step 4: The next screen will allow you to select weblog provider.  Select ‘Community Server’ from the list of providers. Enter the following address in the ‘Remote posting URL’ text box and then press Next.

http://weblogs.asp.net/metablog.ashx

Step 5: The next screen will ask you if you want your Live Writer to detect the style of your weblog. To do so, Live Writer sends a temporary post and then deletes this post. You can safely choose this option as this temporary post will never be published or visible to the readers of your weblog.

If you choose to allow Live Writer to detect your weblog’s style, it will format your post in the style you have chosen in you weblog, as you type in the Live Writer. This is useful because you can see the look and feel of your post without publishing it.

You may also opt not to allow Live Writer to send temporary post. In this case, it will not detect the style. This will have non effect on your post once you have posted (published) it.

Note: You can configure Live Writer to use many weblogs such as blogger, wordpress or msn spaces at the same time. You can then choose the weblog, on which you want to post, at the time of publishing the post.

Dynamically applying CSS based on browser’s resolution

Sometimes we need to change the layout of the page based on the resolution of the client machine or browser. For example, in one web site, I was required to change the position of the navigation bar. If the page is displayed in 800×600 mode, navigation bar has to be displayed on the right hand side. In case of 1024×768 resolution, it has to be on the left hand side. Even the appearance, font and background color, has to be changed for each position. So I did this using the JavaScript and CSS.

This post describes how to change the CSS based on the resolution of the browser. This is a step by step walk through.

Step 1 – Create CSS for 800×600 resolution

Create a new CSS file and name it 800.css. This CSS file will have styles for the 800×600 resolution. For this example I have chosen the background color as green and position of navigation bar on right hand side. Copy and paste (or type) the following code into this file and save this.

body{ background: #FF9999;}

.navbar{ float:right;}

Step – 2 Create CSS for 1027×768 resolution

Create another CSS file for the 1024x768 resolution and name it as 1024.css. 

I have chosen the background color to be red and position of the navigation bar on the left hand side.

The code for this file is as below:

body{     background: #99FF99; }

.navbar{     float:left; }

 

Step – 3 Create HTML File

Create a HTML file. This HTML file will import both the style sheets i.e 800 and 1024.

The code for this file is given below.

<HTML>

<HEAD>

    <TITLE>Dynamic Layout</TITLE>

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="800.css" id="800">

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="1024.css" id="1024">

</HEAD>

<BODY>

    This is the test for dynamic layout.

    <div class="navbar">

        <a href="#"> Navbar Link 1</a><br />

        <a href="#"> Navbar Link 2</a><br />

        <a href="#"> Navbar Link 3</a><br />

        <a href="#"> Navbar Link 4</a><br />

    <div>

</BODY>

</HTML>

 

Don’t forget to provide the Ids in the link tag. These Ids will be used in JavaScript to apply particular CSS. In the Body there is a div which displays the navigation bar. Class ‘navbar’ is applied on this div.

 

Step – 4 Insert JavaScript to handle resolution

The trick to change the CSS at client side is implemented through the JavaScript. Insert the below code into the ‘head’ section of HTML file created in the step 3.

<script type="text/javascript">

    if (window.innerWidth <= 800){

        document.getElementById("1024").disabled=true;

        document.getElementById("800").disabled=false;

    }

    else{

        document.getElementById("800").disabled=true;

        document.getElementById("1024").disabled=false;

    }

</script>

Window.innerWidth is JavaScript that provides the width of the browser window that is available to the HTML page. Based on the value of innerWidth property, I have enabled the desired CSS file and disabled the other.

 

The complete file should look like:

<HTML>

<HEAD>

    <TITLE>Dynamic Layout</TITLE>

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="800.css" id="800">

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="1024.css" id="1024">

    <script type="text/javascript">

        if (window.innerWidth <= 800){

            document.getElementById("1024").disabled=true;

            document.getElementById("800").disabled=false;

        }

        else{

            document.getElementById("800").disabled=true;

            document.getElementById("1024").disabled=false;

        }

    </script>

</HEAD>

<BODY>

    This is the test for dynamic layout.

    <div class="navbar">

        <a href="#"> Navbar Link 1</a><br />

        <a href="#"> Navbar Link 2</a><br />

        <a href="#"> Navbar Link 3</a><br />

        <a href="#"> Navbar Link 4</a><br />

    <div>

</BODY>

</HTML>

 

Save all the files and run the HTML File. Now change the resolution and run the file again.

Technorati Tags: HTML,JavaScript,CSS,Web Development

Getting Browser Information and Capabilities in ASP.Net

While developing a web site or web application, one need to keep in mind the features supported by different browsers. This is very unfortunate that there is no industry standard in the browser market. Fortunately ASP.net provides HttpBroserCapability class to determine the browser type and features supported by the browser.

The browser property of request object returns the object of HttpBrowserCapability object. This object has several properties which provide the information about the browser type, version and features supported by this.

Following C# code explains how you can use HttpBrowserCapability class to fetch browser information.

private void btnBrowserInfo_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
System.Web.HttpBrowserCapabilities browser = Request.Browser;
string s = “Browser Capabilities\n”
+ “Type = “                    + browser.Type + “\n”
+ “Name = “                    + browser.Browser + “\n”
+ “Version = “                 + browser.Version + “\n”
+ “Major Version = “           + browser.MajorVersion + “\n”
+ “Minor Version = “           + browser.MinorVersion + “\n”
+ “Platform = “                + browser.Platform + “\n”
+ “Is Beta = “                 + browser.Beta + “\n”
+ “Is Crawler = “              + browser.Crawler + “\n”
+ “Is AOL = “                  + browser.AOL + “\n”
+ “Is Win16 = “                + browser.Win16 + “\n”
+ “Is Win32 = “                + browser.Win32 + “\n”
+ “Supports Frames = “         + browser.Frames + “\n”
+ “Supports Tables = “         + browser.Tables + “\n”
+ “Supports Cookies = “        + browser.Cookies + “\n”
+ “Supports VBScript = “       + browser.VBScript + “\n”
+ “Supports JavaScript = “     +
browser.EcmaScriptVersion.ToString() + “\n”
+ “Supports Java Applets = “   + browser.JavaApplets + “\n”
+ “Supports ActiveX Controls = ” + browser.ActiveXControls
+ “\n”;
txtBrowserInfo.Text = s;
}

I have placed one button on the aspx page and named it as Browser Information. The id of the button is btnBrowserInfo. On the click event of the button, I wrote the above code.

I also placed a TextBox on the page and named it as txtBrowserInfo.

First I initialized an HttpBrowserCapability object named browser with the Request object’s browser property. I fetched the different property of browser and concatenate these into a string variable. Finally I displayed the concatenated string into the text box.

Impact Of Economic Slowdown On Existing IT Projects

In my last post I discussed the impact of US economical crises on Indian IT firms. In this post, I will discuss the impact of slowdown on the existing projects. Existing projects that are going on since long time or that has been awarded but not started will also have negative impacts of the US slowdown. And not only US slowdown, the world wide economic crises will result in the financial cut down and increased number of firings.

To summarize my thoughts on current developments, I should say that:

1. Fresh negotiations on the payout will take place on downward side. In the view of financial crises, companies will start fresh negotiations on the payout and expenses of existing projects.

2. Kick off dates for the new projects will be delayed.

3. Contracts may takes more time to be awarded as companies will wait for the market to be stable.

4. Start dates will get deferred. Those projects, whose contracts has already been finalized, will face delay in the starting date. These will go on hold as the priorities of the companies has got changed now.

5. Consolidations and mergers of banks like the Bank of America’s buyout of Merill Lynch would lead to the reduced budget for IT spending. Merger will result in the duplication of outsourced deals to domestic IT firms, and consequently truncation of some deals, which will result in loss of revenue.

6. Reduction in on site jobs. Since calling people on site from India costs more to companies, these will prefer to get their work done from offshore.

Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, yesterday said that India will not remain un-touched with the world wide economic crises. According to him, Indian economy will be badly affected in the long run.

Related Link:

• Indian IT Companies and US Crises – Will They Survive?
• Predicting Market Direction Using Put Call Ratio (PCR)
• Financial Calculators
• Rule of 72
• Money Manager EX – The Personal Money Manager

Indian IT Companies and US Crises – Will They Survive?

Everyone has one question in mind – what is the impact of US economical crises on Indian IT companies and Jobs. Though there will be reduction in the jobs and people may get fired, companies will be able to cop the problem and get strengthened over the time.

Most Indian IT companies gets a major portion of their revenue from US market. The BFSI (Banking, Finance, Service and Investment) sector is the major source of revenue for these IT companies like Infosys, Satyam, Wipro and TCS.

The sinking US economy will definitely have adverse effect on these companies. But this effect will take around one month to come into effect. Presently, companies have orders in hand and they are executing projects. But after one month, when payments will be due and there will be delay in payments, Indian IT cos. will come into crises.

US BFSI cos. which are not in a position to make payments for IT department, will start reducing the manpower from their projects. In this situation, Indian cos. will have burns on both sides. They will suffer shortage of funds and there were non-billable people sitting on the bench.

This will be an unhealthy situation. Companies will start firing people as they have to survive. There will be jobless people everywhere. I can see that the situation will be very much the same as that was in 2001-02.

But this will be a second lesson to Indian companies. In the last set-back most companies diversified their clients to Europe and Asia. This time these companies will find new markets. In the long run, this will reduce dependency on one geographical market making the companies more stable and recession-proof.

Related Link:

• Impact Of Economic Slowdown On Existing IT Projects
  
• Predicting Market Direction Using Put Call Ratio (PCR)
• Financial Calculators
• Rule of 72
• Money Manager EX – The Personal Money Manager

My First ASP.Net MVC Appliacation

I was thinking about MVC since I read first post on ScottGu’s blog. Yesterday, on Friday night, I decided to create my first MVC applications. I downloaded Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition 2008 last night. That 128 MB download took quite a long time to download. Then I downloaded MVC preview 5. After successful installation of MVC, I was ready to fly…

Finding a suitable example on the web:
Before starting develop a new MVC project,  I needed a good example. After searching the web for a while, I found two links that seems to be useful.

First was a 4 part tutorial written by ScottGu. I was a detailed introduction to MVC framework and how it works. I was like a step by step DIY guide. Scott demonstrated how to create a complete e-commerce site using MVC framework.

The second choice was a simple To Do List application. This application allowed one to enter a list of tasks, save these into database and mark them complete. Both applications used LINQ to SQL for accessing database.

I decided to go with the Task List application as this was simple and small application. This app is like the typical Hello World example with database support. I took only one hour to complete this app and run it properly.

Starting the new project
I opened VWD (Visual Web Developer0 and choose to create new project. MVC applications are developed as web applications. They are different from web sites. In the New Project dialog, I chose ASP.NET MVC Web Application. This automatically created a sample application in the solution explorer with three special meaning folders – Controller, Model and View. I deleted the classes and pages auto-generated by the WVD. The I proceed step by step as instructed in the example application.

Step By Step Progress Through Solving Issues:
Once I completed typing (yes, I preferred to type instead of copy-pasting it) the code and creating all the classes and pages, I was time to see the code in action. But as you know, no code runs for the very first time. Although VWD (and VS as well) minimizes the  chances of syntax errors to zero, many other types of error always occurs in the code. I face following problems for which I again need to do some Googling.

The ViewData Problem:

“The name ‘ViewData’ does not exist in the current context”

Even before compiling the code, my Index.aspx view warned me that ViewData is undefined by placing a red line below this. After some unsuccessful silly adjustment to the code, I go for Googling. I found a post in ASP.net forums asking for the same question. ScottGu answered the post by saying – “Have you tried compiling the project?  It could be that you haven’t done a compile since you added the page, and so intellisense with C# hasn’t picked up that you are deriving from a base-class yet”. This was very strange for me but I decided to go with Scott and compiled the code successfully. But when I run the code, the same problem reappeared.

After 20 minutes of unsuccessful Googling, I decided to use trial-and-error method. And finally I got the solution.

Solution:
The root cause of the problem was that I added a Web Form in my Views folder instead of MVC View Content Page. The normal web form is inherited from System.Web.UI.Page class  while an MVC View Content Page is inherited from System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage class. I change the parent class to ViewPage and it worked fine.

Primary key error in inserting the record:
Now I rum my application without any error. The Index page that displays a list of all tasks appears on the browser. I opened create page to add a new task. On pressing submit button, it gave primary key related error. The error was cause by the InserOnSubmit method of the LINQ generated class. The error was quite obvious that I forgot to define primary key on the table. I had an Id column with its Identity attribute set to on. So, ideally any insert statement should not have issue with the primary key. But to fix the error, I modified the table structure and declare Id column as primary key. But the problem still persisted. Like the above issue, Googling was unsuccessful in this case as well and I had to go for trial-and-error method.

Solution:
The solution was quite simple. I had to open the dbml file which is used for LINQ-to-SQL. I deleted the table from this file and again dragged that table into dbml designer from Server Explorer. Pressed F5 and the page was opened successfully in the browser. Opened the create page, added a task and pressed submit button. No error…
I checked into database table and the record was successfully inserted.

So this was the experience of developing first MVC application. The overall experience was good and exciting. I liked the simple and easy-to-read URLs that were displayed in the browser’s address bar.

Keep watching for more in ASP.Net MVC

Technorati Tags: ASP.net,MVC

Scott Guthrie’s ASP.net MVC Tutorial Links

ASP.NET MVC Framework
One of the things that many people have asked for over the years with ASP.NET is built-in support for developing web applications using a model-view-controller (MVC) based architecture. Last weekend at the Alt.NET conference in Austin I gave the first…

ASP.NET MVC Framework (Part 1)
Two weeks ago I blogged about a new MVC (Model View Controller) framework for ASP.NET that we are going to be supporting as an optional feature soon. It provides a structured model that enforces a clear separation of concerns within applications, and…

ASP.NET MVC Framework (Part 2): URL Routing
Last month I blogged the first in a series of posts I’m going to write that cover the new ASP.NET MVC Framework we are working on.  The first post in this series built a simple e-commerce product listing/browsing scenario.  It covered the high…

ASP.NET MVC Framework (Part 3): Passing ViewData from Controllers to Views
The last few weeks I have been working on a series of blog posts that cover the new ASP.NET MVC Framework we are working on.  The ASP.NET MVC Framework is an optional approach you can use to structure your ASP.NET web applications to have a clear…

ASP.NET MVC Framework (Part 4): Handling Form Edit and Post Scenarios
The last few weeks I have been working on a series of blog posts that cover the new ASP.NET MVC Framework we are working on.  The ASP.NET MVC Framework is an optional approach you can use to structure your ASP.NET web applications to have a clear…

ASP.NET MVC Preview 5 and Form Posting Scenarios
This past Thursday the ASP.NET MVC feature team published a new “Preview 5″ release of the ASP.NET MVC framework.  You can download the new release here .  This “Preview 5″ release works with both .NET 3.5 and the recently…

Technorati Tags: MVC,ASP.net

My Rajasthan Visit

In last winter I visited Rajasthan with my family. It was a unofficial official vacation tour. I planned the trip with my team mates and their family. It was a five day trip in desert. We rented an luxury Tempo Traveler which had a bed at the back side.

Tour Mates

• Anil with his wife and son
• Nitin with his wife
• Vinit with his wife and son
• Devinder (he was the only single)
• I with my wife and little daughter

Places Visited

We started from Delhi on 24th  December 2007 at 10 PM. After a long overnight journey, we reached Bikaner in the morning. Stayed there at hotel Sagar. Next day we headed towards Jaisalmer, the golden city. Stayed two nights at Jaisalmer, enjoyed camel safari in desert and boating in the lake. Then we traveled to Jodhpur, the blue city. Jodhpur is a famous place for shopping. After enjoying one night at Jodhpur, we traveled back to Delhi.

Bikaner

Lalgarh Palace, Bikaner

The architectural masterpiece in red sandstone, the palace was built by Maharaja Ganga Singh (1881-1942 A.D.) in the memory of his father Maharaja Lal Singhji in 1902 AD. The palace has beautiful latticework and filigree work. Sprawling lawns with blooming bougainvillea and dancing peacocks make it to be a not -to-be missed visual treat.

Bikaner royal family still lives in part of the palace. part of the palace has been converted into a luxury hotel and a museum known as Shri Sadul museum which was donated by late his highness Maharaja Dr. Karni Singhji of Bikaner to Maharaja Shri Ganga singhji Trust Bikaner in the year 1972 . Princess Rajyashree Kumari of Bikaner, Chairperson of Trust played a very important role in the establishment of this museum.

Junagarh Palace, Bikaner

Built in 1593 A.D. by Raja Rai Singh, a general in the army of emperor Akbar, the fort is a formidable structure encircled by a moat and has some beautiful places within.

These places, made in red sandstone and marble, make a picturesque ensemble of country yards, balconies, kiosks and windows dotted all over the structure.

The imposing fort has 986 long wall with 37 bastions and two entrances. It is approached through the Karan Poal which is the main entrance. Among the places of interest are  Anop mahal, Ganga niwas and Rang mahal or palace of pleasure. The Anoop Mahal is famous for it’s gold leaf painting. Har Mandir- a majestic chapel where the royal family worshiped there Gods and Goddesses. Chandra Mahal or moon palace has exquisite paintings on the lime plaster walls and Phool Mahal or the Flower palace is decorated with inset mirror work. The gigantic columns , arches and graceful screen grace the palaces. Karan Mahal  was built to commemorate a notable victory over the Mughal Aurangzeb.The other important important parts are Durbar Hall, Gaj mandir, Sheesh Mahal or mirror chamber etc.

Jaisalmer

District JAISALMER is located within a rectangle lying between 26°.4’ –28°.23′ North parallel and 69°.20′-72°.42′ east meridians. It is the largest district of Rajasthan and one of the largest in the country. The breath (East-West) of the district is 270 Kms and the length (North-South) is 186 Kms. On the present map, district Jaisalmer is bounded on the north by Bikaner, on the west & south-west by Indian boarder, on the south by Barmer and Jodhpur, and on the east by Jodhpur and Bikaner Districts. The length of international boarder attached to District JAISALMER is 471 Kms.

Jaisalmer Fort

Located in the desert of the Thar (meaning adobe of the dead), it is the second oldest Fort of Rajasthan. Built by the Rajput ruler Jaisala, it was the main focus of a number of battles between the Bhattis, the Mughals of Delhi and the Rathores of Jodhpur. Constructed by Raja Jaisal, who was searching for a new capital as the earlier one Lodurva was too vulnerable to invasions, he built the fort and the city surrounding it, thus fulfilling Lord Krishna’s prophecy in the Mahabharata The uniqueness of the fort lies in the fact that the craftsmen used were mainly Muslims to craft the SONAR QUILA – Rising from the sand!

Folk Dance

We stayed in the Cottage of Tane Singh. His wife was a Finland national. In the night, we had a camp fire. Tane Singh had called a group of folk dancers. There were playing their strange traditional music instruments. The folk dance presented by two young girls was very impressive. This was the unforgettable event of my life.  My wife had great time talking to a chinease girl, Yuan and an Aussi girl, Tina.

Camel Safari

The highlight of our whole trip was the Camel safari. We were staying in a cottage. From there we started to the Safari at 6:00 AM. There were five camels for five family. I consider Devinder as a family of single. The camels were fun to ride. After travelling around one hour in desert, we finally reached at the top of a sand mountain. We had a one and half hour break there. The sun was rising. Those masters of those camels had carried our breakfast with them. We enjoyed tea made up of camel milk and buscuits along with Rajasthani namkeen. There was sand all around. Then we drove our camels back to cottage.

Boating in Gadsisar Lake

Gadsisar is a scenic rainwater lake of Jaisalmer It was built in 1156.  A beautiful arched gateway decorates the lake. It is surrounded by ghats, temples, cenotaphs and gardens. Gadsisar Lake is an ideal picnic spot and is famous for boating. It is also home to a numerous species of birds.

We rented three paddeled boats as Nitin and his wife denied boating for some traditional issues and Devinder shared the boat with my family. We were racing in the Lake and kids were enjoying.

Jodhpur

Jodhpur “The Sun City” was founded by Rao Jodha, a chief of the Rathore clan, in 1459. It is named after him only. It was previously known as Marwar. Jodhpur is the second largest city in Rajasthan. It is divided into two parts – the old city and the new city. The old city is separated by a 10 km long wall surrounding it. Also it has eight Gates leading out of it. The new city is outside the walled city.

Jodhpur is a very popular tourist destination. The landscape is scenic and mesmerizing. Jodhpur city has many beautiful palaces and forts such as Mehrangarh Fort, Jaswant Thada, Umaid Bhavan Palace and Rai ka Bag Palace.

Mehrangarh Fort
Situated on a steep hill, Mehrangarh fort is one of the largest forts in India. The beauty and the grandeur of numerous palaces in the fort narrates a saga of hard sandstones yielding to the chisels of skilled Jodhpuri sculptures. Mehrangarh Fort, spreading over 5 km on a perpendicular hill and looking down 125 meters, presents a majestic view on city horizon.

Shopping at National Handloom Mall

We spent around two hours shopping in the largest mall of Jodhput – The National Handloom Mall. This mall is famous for Rajasthan handloom items. It had everything from Rajasthani music CDs to books to fine arts to leather work.

Umaid Bhawan Palace
The romantic looking Umaid Bhawan Palace was actually built with the purpose of giving employment to the people of Jodhpur during a long drawn famine. The royal family of Jodhpur still lives in a part of the palace.Another part of the palace houses a well-maintained museum, displaying an amazing array of items belonging to the Maharaja and the royal family – weapons, antiques & fascinating clocks, crockery and trophies

From Jodhpur we drived back to Delhi.

Chrome Vs. Firefox

SunSpider, a benchmark test  used by Mozilla,  shows that the forthcoming Firefox 3.1, which uses a JavaScript acceleration technology called TraceMonkey, is faster than Chrome for JavaScript programs. It was 28% faster than Chrome on Windows XP and 16% faster on Vista.

Read More