Getting Page Size information from PDF’s 0 comments

prompt$ pdfinfo -f 1 -l 10 -box "_____.pdf"

Creator:        JasperReports (InvoiceReport)
Producer:       DynamicPDF for Java v4.0.3
CreationDate:   10/08/11 20:22:59
ModDate:        10/08/11 20:22:59
Tagged:         no
Form:           none
Pages:          25
Encrypted:      no
Page    1 size: 595 x 842 pts (A4)
Page    2 size: 612 x 1008 pts
Page    3 size: 612 x 792 pts (letter)
Page    1 MediaBox:     0.00     0.00   595.00   842.00
Page    1 CropBox:      0.00     0.00   595.00   842.00
Page    1 BleedBox:     0.00     0.00   595.00   842.00
Page    1 TrimBox:      0.00     0.00   595.00   842.00
Page    1 ArtBox:       0.00     0.00   595.00   842.00
Page    2 MediaBox:     0.00     0.00   612.00  1008.00
Page    2 CropBox:      0.00     0.00   612.00  1008.00
Page    2 BleedBox:     0.00     0.00   612.00  1008.00
Page    2 TrimBox:      0.00     0.00   612.00  1008.00
Page    2 ArtBox:       0.00     0.00   612.00  1008.00
Page    3 MediaBox:     0.00     0.00   612.00   792.00
Page    3 CropBox:      0.00     0.00   612.00   792.00
Page    3 BleedBox:     0.00     0.00   612.00   792.00
Page    3 TrimBox:      0.00     0.00   612.00   792.00
Page    3 ArtBox:       0.00     0.00   612.00   792.00
File size:      2785550 bytes
Optimized:      no
PDF version:    1.4

_Source

.NET Design Patterns in C# and VB.NET - Gang of Four (GOF) - DoFactory 0 comments

.NET Design Patterns in C# and VB.NET - Gang of Four (GOF) - DoFactory

Programming addicted: overlapped IO threadpool .NET 0 comments

Programming addicted: overlapped IO threadpool .NET

Keep your .config clean with external config files 0 comments

Keep your .config clean with external config files

Google Search for PDF’s 0 comments

http://lifehacker.com/5829557/find-pdf-manuals-for-electronics-using-google-and-amazon

PRODUCT filetype:pdf site:ssl-images-amazon.com OR site:images-amazon.com

Articles 0 comments

CodeProject

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/database/DatabaseSchemaComparison.aspx?msg=3919566#xx3919566xx

 

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/library/BFsharp.aspx

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WCF/WCF_SOA.aspx

 

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/TinyExe.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/TinyPG.aspx

 

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/datetime/TimePeriod.aspx

 

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/library/DotNetMQ.aspx

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/TPL1.aspx

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/MethodCaching.aspx

Web

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WCF/EasyWCF.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WCF/Custom_Authorization_WCF.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/webservices/FluidServiceExperiment.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/ajax/jQueryWCFRest.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/6StepsWCFSSL.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WCF/Stateful_WCF.aspx

Web API Verification

 

http://www.nikhilk.net/ScriptSharp-Upcoming-Release-May-2010.aspx

 

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/aspnet_mvc_restapi.aspx?msg=3977750#xx3977750xx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/scripting/ConstructorDemo.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/templating.aspx

Html5

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/233896/ASP-NET-MVC-Add-HTML5-Microdata-to-your-applicatio
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/233554/HTML5-Web-Notifications
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/webforms/Html5MVCWebControls.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/HTML/Web-Socket-in-Essence.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/HTML/QueryWall.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WCF/Authentication_HTML5_WCF.aspx

iPhone

http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-native-iphone-ipad-apps-in-javascript/
http://www.phonegap.com/blog
http://www.jqtouch.com/
http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/
http://xuijs.com/documentation
http://www.winktoolkit.org/tutorials/32/
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/215390/available-iphone-web-application-javascript-ui-library-frameworks
http://css-tricks.com/the-iphone-springboard-in-xhtml-css-and-jquery/
http://www.thecssninja.com/javascript/how-to-create-offline-webapps-on-the-iphone

 

?

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/243914/Entity-Framework-context-per-request

 

Other

http://dbsourcetools.codeplex.com/
http://bfsharp.com/

 

http://lifehacker.com/5518518/how-to-back-up-and-play-your-wii-games-from-an-external-hard-drive

 

ATOM

Cool Free Tools 0 comments

Development

Virtualization

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 is good for most situations, but I have had some problems with performance using a laptop.  In this situation Sun’s VirtualBox will work just fine.

Files

WinMerge is my favorite diff/comparison tool.  Pretty and simple.

If TFS is not an option, definately use Tortoise SVN.  You can install a Subversion server to speed access for multiple users (Book).  Also use TracAdmin to manage your project’s issues, milestones, and documentation.   Continuous build is pretty easy with CruiseControl .Net.

Javascript

Developing and managing Javascript code is simplified with ScriptSharp.  This has a small learning curve associated with it, but it is worth it.    These javascript libraries are a must: jquery, prototype, and extjs.

The C# 2008 Poster is a nice wall paper (the real kind).

Internet

Firefox is my choice for best browser.  (Need to add plugin list).

Dump Adobe Reader for FoxIt Reader.

Utilities

Files

7-Zip handles all of my compression needs. 

Notepad++ is a handy notepad replacement.  To bad it doesn’t do hex.  Use HxD for hex.

Use Truecrypt for financial data.

Use Defraggler to defragment large files.  CCleaner really cleans your system. Recuva undeletes files.

Duplicate File Finder or Duplicate File Cleaner to clean duplicate files.

Space Sniffer finds where the space on your hard drive went to.

SyncToy 2.1 allows you to setup directories to be synchronized.  Useful to use a USB Drive as a briefcase or for simple backups.  Or go the other way with Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager (Standard) to backup your USB Drive.

Copy Path

Drop It Organize files.

System

ScreenHunter is a simple yet effective replacement for print-screen.

Use this Background Switcher if you don’t have Ultramon.

Driver Backup backs up your drivers before you reinstall.

Stalled Printer Repair fixes troubled printers.

Partition Wizard The free version works well for desktop OS’s.  Or PartedMagic

CD/DVD’s

ImgBurn is an excellent Nero replacement.  Use with WinCDemu Mounter or Pismo File Mounter as well. System Rescue CD is a handy tool to keep around as well for partitioning and system repair.

Handbrake

Dvd Shrink

Dvd Flick Author Dvd’s.

Productivity

PDFTools joins, splits, encrypts, decrypts PDF’s.

JPG2PDF Converter also converts and merges TIF files.  Handy for scanning documents.

PDF->Word extracts a PDF’s content to word.

Image Editing

Videography

LightWorks to edit movies.

Photography

InfranView is a great program for batch conversions.

SmillaEnlarger is an excellent way to increase photo’s without very much distortion.

Paint.Net is a good alternative to Photoshop. (Need to add plugin list).

PTGui & PanoTools with Hugin stitches images together.  Consider also PanoCube and AutoStitch.

RAW Codecs – installs the camera specific interpreters for the RAW image format.

Use Picasa to organize your JPG photos.

Gimp

http://www.rawtherapee.com/

Ico FX is an Icon Editor.  Convert PNG to ICO with ToYcon (change ftp to http when downloading or click here)

Wii

Store & Load Wii Games off USB HD

Video & Music

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.php?cat=video

Cool Free Tools 0 comments

Development

Virtualization

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 is good for most situations, but I have had some problems with performance using a laptop.  In this situation Sun’s VirtualBox will work just fine.

Files

WinMerge is my favorite diff/comparison tool.  Pretty and simple.

If TFS is not an option, definately use Tortoise SVN.  You can install a Subversion server to speed access for multiple users (Book).  Also use TracAdmin to manage your project’s issues, milestones, and documentation.   Continuous build is pretty easy with CruiseControl .Net.

Javascript

Developing and managing Javascript code is simplified with ScriptSharp.  This has a small learning curve associated with it, but it is worth it.    These javascript libraries are a must: jquery, prototype, and extjs.

The C# 2008 Poster is a nice wall paper (the real kind).

Internet

Firefox is my choice for best browser.  (Need to add plugin list).

Dump Adobe Reader for FoxIt Reader.

Utilities

Files

7-Zip handles all of my compression needs. 

Notepad++ is a handy notepad replacement.  To bad it doesn’t do hex.  Use HxD for hex.

Use Truecrypt for financial data.

Use Defraggler to defragment large files.  CCleaner really cleans your system. Recuva undeletes files.

Duplicate File Finder or Duplicate File Cleaner to clean duplicate files.

Space Sniffer finds where the space on your hard drive went to.

SyncToy 2.1 allows you to setup directories to be synchronized.  Useful to use a USB Drive as a briefcase or for simple backups.  Or go the other way with Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager (Standard) to backup your USB Drive.

Copy Path

System

ScreenHunter is a simple yet effective replacement for print-screen.

Use this Background Switcher if you don’t have Ultramon.

Driver Backup backs up your drivers before you reinstall.

CD/DVD’s

ImgBurn is an excellent Nero replacement.  Use with WinCDemu Mounter or Pismo File Mounter as well. System Rescue CD is a handy tool to keep around as well for partitioning and system repair.

Handbrake

Dvd Shrink

Productivity

PDFTools joins, splits, encrypts, decrypts PDF’s.

JPG2PDF Converter also converts and merges TIF files.  Handy for scanning documents.

PDF->Word extracts a PDF’s content to word.

Image Editing

Photography

InfranView is a great program for batch conversions.

SmillaEnlarger is an excellent way to increase photo’s without very much distortion.

Paint.Net is a good alternative to Photoshop. (Need to add plugin list).

PTGui & PanoTools with Hugin stitches images together.  Consider using

RAW Codecs – installs the camera specific interpreters for the RAW image format.

Use Picasa to organize your photos.

Ico FX is an Icon Editor.  Convert PNG to ICO with ToYcon (change ftp to http when downloading or click here)

 

Video & Music

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.php?cat=video

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/media-player-features.html

http://www.winamp.com/

 

http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/

Xp 2 Win7

Graphics / Design 0 comments

Read Camera's Histogram for Perfectly Balanced Images

Quickly Brightening Up a Photo in Photoshop

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/turn-ho-hum-color-into-wow-with-photoshop

Create a 3D Effect With Image Editing Software

Pano’s'

Optimising Fisheyes

http://www.instructables.com/id/Create-Quicktime-VR-Panoramas/?ALLSTEPS

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/lightbox/1595423/#53a7510

http://diyphotography.net/

Camera’s

http://shop.photorentalsource.com/Canon_c3.htm

http://super.nova.org/DPR/Canon/TTL/

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/T1I/T1IMODES.HTM

http://lifehacker.com//5729101/transform-your-dslr-into-a-supercharged-professional-video-camera

http://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/12/setting-up-your-dslr
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/740160-REG/Digital_Concepts_918AF_CAN_DSLR_Bounce_Zoom_Swivel.html

Scheduled Jobs 0 comments

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/867466

This issue occurs if all the following conditions are true:

• You run the batch job on a Windows Server 2003-based member server.
• The batch job runs as a non-interactive process.
• The batch job is configured to run under the context of an account that is not a member of the Administrators group.

In Windows Server 2003, the Users group does not have Read and Execute permissions to the command processor (Cmd.exe). By default, the Cmd.exe program has the following permissions settings:

• The Interactive implicit group and the Service implicit group have Read and Execute permissions.
  Note On a member server, the TelnetClients group also has Read and Execute permissions. On a domain controller, the Batch implicit group also has Read and Execute permissions.
• The Administrators group and the System implicit group have Full Control permissions.

Method 1

Grant the Cmd.exe program Read and Execute permissions for the user account that the batch job runs under. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Windows Explorer.
2. Locate and then right-click the Cmd.exe file. The Cmd.exe file is located in the %windir%\System32 folder.
3. Click Properties.
4. Click the Security tab.
5. Click Add.
6. In the Enter the object names to select box, type the user name that the batch job runs under, and then click OK two times.
   Note When you add the user, the user is automatically granted Read and Execute permissions.
7. Click Yes when you are prompted to continue.

Back to the top

Method 2

Grant Read and Execute permissions for the Cmd.exe file to the Batch group. This permits all batch processes to run the command processor. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Windows Explorer.
2. Locate and then right-click the Cmd.exe file. The Cmd.exe file is located in the %windir%\System32 folder.
3. Click Properties.
4. Click the Security tab.
5. Click Add.
6. In the Enter the object names to select box, type Batch, and then click OK two times.
7. Click Yes when you are prompted to continue.

How To - Backup IIS Metabase 0 comments

iisback /backup /e nosec /b autoback /overwrite

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302573

How To – Search All Files 0 comments

Method 1:

Create a registry entry for the file extension: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zzz\PersistentHandler\(Default) = {5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}

Method 2:

Index all files:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex\FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions = 1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309173

Version Control and Continuous Integration 0 comments

Introduction

Software Configuration Management (SCM) is a concept most developers have not had to deal with working individually or within smaller development groups. SCM is a pretty nebulous concept that is often defined in multiple ways, and distributed across various groups and processes differently; however each distinct aspect of SCM is related to other aspects of SCM. SCM typically tries to manage the following aspects:

• Requirement/Defect/Feature Identification, Tracking and Reporting
• Architecture, Design, Construction, and Debugging Components
• Unit, Integration, System, Regression, User Acceptance, White Box and Black Box Testing
• Packaging Components
• Deploying Packages

These aspects are typically managed within the following processes:

• Issue Management
• Process Management
• Release Management
• Build Management
• Quality Assurance
• Configuration Management
• Change Management

Within smaller groups, changes to dependant applications are often communicated verbally and dealt with as the changes come, however, with larger development groups, these changes can be harder to communicate to everyone affected. Therefore, a good understanding of Version Control and adherence to proper setup to enable continuous integration is a basic foundation to enabling multiple projects to succeed.

Scope

The scope of this document is to walk through project setup and referencing to help alleviate hurdles with source control management or change management as it relates to .NET applications.

Assumptions

It is assumed:

1. A live TFS 2008 server and Build server is setup is available.
2. Working knowledge of checking in and checking out from TFS.
3. Working knowledge of branching and merging in TFS.
4. Basic knowledge of C#

Next >>

The Projects 0 comments

For this walkthrough, we will setup two solutions. One is a shared library to simulate common code that is used by multiple projects. The other is an application that will utilize the shared library.

We will also setup branching and merging to control which applications use the shared library. Often, people will just make a reference to the shared library. Visual Studio will copy the output to the build folder and it will work. The problem arises when you have to update that shared library with 5, 10, or more applications, but you are not sure what code base is used by which version of the DLL.

One of the deficiencies of Visual Studio, is that it does not automatically update the version in the Assembly before the build.

<Intro> / << Prev / Next >>

The Projects - Shared Library 0 comments

1. Create a new class library project called Library1 within a solution called LabelLibrary. Be sure to create a directory for the solution.
   

2. Add a second class library called Library2 to the solution.

3. Add an additional class to Library1 called Class2. The class design for these examples does not matter, but add some code to compile.
   

4. Build the release and debug configurations of the solution.

<Intro> / << Prev / Next >>

The Projects – Main Application 0 comments

1. Create a new console application project called App1 within a solution called App1. Be sure to create a directory for the solution.
   
   
2. Add references to the debug versions of the DLLs from Library1 and Library2 of LabelLibrary.
   
3. Add some code to reference the classes created in the Libraries.
   
4. Build and Check in.
   

<Intro> / << Prev / Next >>

Build Server 0 comments

1. Create a Build Definition for each solution.
   
2. Try to name it the same as the solution file.
   
3. Select the source control folder of the solution.
   
   Sometimes the Build server complains that the mapping is already used. You need to log in to the build server as the build server username and password and reset the mappings in the Source Control Workspace.
   
4. Be sure to set the retention policy to something reasonable.
   
5. Setup a share for the successful builds to be copied to. This is where testing will get the files to do quality assurance
6. Set build to build for each check in. This may or may not result in more builds.
   

<Intro> / << Prev / Next >>

Simple Change Management 0 comments

1. Show all files in the library projects and select Include in Project from the context menu for the Release folders under bin.
2. Check in changes. Your source control explorer may look like the following:
   
3. Create a folder under the application folder of App1 called Dependencies.
4. Right click on each of the Release folders checked in and Branch.
   
5. Select Label from the Branch from version drop down, and select the last build label.
   
6. Browse for the Dependencies folder created earlier and type in the name of the original project. Ex: Library2
   
7. Repeat for the other library project.
8. Check in the branch operation.
   
9. Open the application project, remove the references to the DLLs from the project folder of the libraries.
   
10. Re-add the references to the DLLs in the Dependencies folder.
    
11. Check in the project. The Build server should kick off and build the application successfully.
    

<Intro> / << Prev / Next >>

Simulate Projects Working Independently 0 comments

1. Open the LabelLibrary solution and rename a class name. This is a sure fire way of making dependent applications break
2. Don’t forget to check out the Release folder since it was checked in last.
   
3. Rebuild both Release and Debug and Check in.
   
4. The Build server will automatically rebuild the application on the server and label your build of the shared library.
   The build server is only verifying the code compiles, tests (not shown) are run and the result is copied to the folder specified in the build definition. Remember that the dependent projects are branched from your build in the project, not the build server’s build.
5. Queue a build for the App1 solution to see if it still works. The build server didn’t rebuild this one since we didn’t check it out.
   
6. It still works!
   

Let’s update the App1 project with the new version of the shared library.

1. Select each folder that was branched earlier and select merge from the context menu.
   
2. Notice that the target branch is already populated with the path for the earlier branch!
3. Click Next and select Label.
   
4. Click the elipses to find the last build of the shared library.
   
5. Click close and finish.
   
6. Check in the changes.
   
7. The build server will automatically detect the changes and build the application.
   
8. Obviously it failed because we renamed the class!
   

Lets’ Fix It

1. Open the App1 solution and fix the references to the new class name.
   
2. Check in! We should build it locally to verify that our changes work.
   
3. The build server automatically notices changes and attempts rebuilding it.
   
4. Success!!
   
   Now we can improve, enhance, refactor, and eliminate shared libraries independently of other dependent applications/

<Intro> / << Prev / Next >>

Reliable Version Control 0 comments

Now, every time we release an application, our debug version of our library is referenced in our released application!! If we use the release version, we can’t debug it easily. How can we setup our projects so it knows what to use?

<Intro> / << Prev / Next >>