.NET Evangelist - Abi Bellamkonda: July 2005

Stranger's Email of Today

Arief ZJ wrote: Dear Mr. Abishek Bellamkonda, I read your blog saying that u got an offer from EDS for .NET related job long time ago. May I know how well software development in this company. Bcos normally, most big company that I knew just bought a ready-made software and just use it instead of developing new one. Reason why I'm asking this is bcos... I am a .NET developer as well and I'm thinking of applying a position in EDS in my country... but I'm worry if there's no development activities in the company. If there aren't, there will be no 'exercise' for my .NET development :( Looking forward for your reply. Thanx ajak937

Hi, EDS does development, i would say it is purely based on development. It is a consulting house, like IBM. In australia it is a competitor to IBM, fujitsu and so on. Yes they are BIG. They do purchase software, but they also develop for clients. EDS is american company. As all bigger companies will be both good and bad things about it. Just apply it mate, then think of joining or not when you finally get it. People are reading my Blog.

Today's Mr. Stranger Email

I received an email straight into my yahoo email today. This happens once a forthnight. I usually answer people and forget about it, i think i will blog the emails, as it might help others. "i like dotnet technology very much" while studying .net i am very much intrested in evey dot net topic now after completing the course i forgot every thing now even i am unable to recollect all the info regarding the past topics now what i want to do to recollect all the lost info.or i want to study for one more time why this happen i dont know exactly . i am afraid to tell all this info to you! give ur sugg. how to learn .net to master in that what are the steps to become the master in .net This person is a newbie to .NET world and he has learn't it, but lost touch with it. I think development is like Mathematics, if you don't practice it regularly, you will loose it. How do you keep in touch with it? I once gave a suggestion regarding this on server side .net, click here to see it. I think there are few methods to learn technical stuff...

Subscribe to news letters. For .NET the below are usually good...
- http://www.TheServerSide.net
- http://www.codeproject.net
- http://www.asp.net
- http://www.builderau.com.au
- http://www.zdnet.com.au
- http://www.123aspx.com
- http://www.dotnetjunkies.com
- http://www.slashdot.com
- http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/aspplus/ is a nice .NET tutorial to start with
Reading questions and answers in Forums will help lot. Go to sites like http://www.asp.net, http://www.theserverside.net, http://www.dotnetjunkies.com and http://www.dotnetspider.com
Blog It !If you learn anything new on a day just write it down in your blog (create a blog in sites like http://www.blogger.com). Read popular peoples blog. Once you get your blog, it is like a big repository of source code for you. Whenever you want a code, you will just go to your blog and retrieve it. Say for example I got to http://www.abibaby.blogspot.com to get the code I want as I created it before. If i encounter a weird problem with my team, i will write the solution in the blog. If someone has the same problem, i can just send him the link and ask him to use it as a fix.

Visual Studio .NET "Code Complete" Macro FREE

Ok i think the version 1.0 of the Macro i was thinking my my mind is ready for using/modifcation/stealing/sharing now. What new features does it include? It will replace a shortcut(say 'fi') with code block (a for i loop). User can configure his own list of code blocks and shortcuts assigning them with file types. Code blocks may contain multiple variables with default values, in such cases a window will pop up asking the user for value to be replaced in case of variables. Macro will take that user entered value and replace variable with text in the code block. This will be written into the files. Copyright? Ok this is it, anyone can use, share, copy, modify, steal and whatever you call it ! Cost?? Ok give $100 to charity, if you can, otherwise give $0 for charity. Yes, its absolutely FREE for all. I am not responsible for any miss use or failures. The below is the code...

CodeCompletion.vb


Imports EnvDTE
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports System.Xml
'Imports System.Drawing
'Imports System.Drawing.Design
Imports System.Data
Imports Microsoft.Win32 'Used to read registry
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Collections
Imports System.ComponentModel

Public Module CodeCompletion

#Region "Config Settings"
'If you don't want caching, set it to false
Private Const CacheXmlInMemory As Boolean = False
Private Const CursorText As String = "~~"
#End Region

'''Completes the code by replacing your shortcut with the code block available in your configuration
Public Sub Complete()
'DTE.Events.MiscFilesEvents()
Dim selection As TextSelection = DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection
Dim startPt As EditPoint = selection.TopPoint.CreateEditPoint()
Dim endPt As TextPoint = selection.BottomPoint
'selection.MoveToDisplayColumn(endPt.Line, endPt.DisplayColumn - 2)
Dim endCol As Integer = endPt.DisplayColumn
'MessageBox.Show(selection.Text.Length)
If selection.Text.Length = 0 Then selection.WordLeft(True, 1)

'Replacement will occur here
ApplyTemplate(selection)
'startPt.MoveToAbsoluteOffset(-1) 'selection.Text.IndexOf("~~"))
End Sub

Private configForm As CodeCompletionConfig
'''Confiures your Code snippets
Public Sub Configure()
If Not configForm Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
configForm = New CodeCompletionConfig
configForm.CodeTemplateFileName = CodeTemplateFileName
configForm.LoadDataSet()
Application.Run(configForm)
configForm = Nothing
End Sub

#Region "Helper functions"
'Get Xml document from Cache
Private CodeTemplateXmlDocument As XmlDocument = Nothing

#Region "Get Code Template Xml Document"

#Region "Template File Name"
Private _codeTemplateFileName As String = ""
Private ReadOnly Property CodeTemplateFileName() As String
Get
If _codeTemplateFileName = String.Empty Then
Dim pRegKey As RegistryKey = Registry.LocalMachine
pRegKey = pRegKey.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\7.1")
Dim folder As Object = pRegKey.GetValue("InstallDir")
CodeTemplateXmlDocument = New XmlDocument
_codeTemplateFileName = folder & "CodeTemplates.xml"
End If
Return _codeTemplateFileName
End Get
End Property
#End Region

Private Sub GetXmlDocument()
If Not CodeTemplateXmlDocument Is Nothing Then If Not CodeTemplateXmlDocument.InnerXml = "" Then Exit Sub

CodeTemplateXmlDocument = New XmlDocument
CodeTemplateXmlDocument.Load(CodeTemplateFileName)
'I dont know why this does not load 1st time
If CodeTemplateXmlDocument.InnerXml = "" Then CodeTemplateXmlDocument.Load(CodeTemplateFileName)
End Sub
#End Region

Private Sub ApplyTemplate(ByVal selection As TextSelection)
'Get Xml Document
GetXmlDocument()

'If template is NOT available then exit
Dim codeTemplateNode As XmlNode = GetCodeTemplateNode(selection)
If codeTemplateNode Is Nothing Then Exit Sub

'If template is available then replace
Dim completeReplacementText As String = codeTemplateNode.SelectSingleNode("Code").InnerText()

Dim variableNodes As XmlNodeList = codeTemplateNode.SelectNodes("Variable")
If variableNodes.Count > 0 Then
IsAborted = True
completeReplacementText = GetReplacementText(completeReplacementText, variableNodes)
If IsAborted Then
Exit Sub
End If
End If
Dim replacementText As String = completeReplacementText.Replace(CursorText, "")
selection.Text = replacementText
If Not CacheXmlInMemory Then CodeTemplateXmlDocument = Nothing

Dim startPt As EditPoint = selection.TopPoint.CreateEditPoint()
selection.MoveToDisplayColumn(startPt.Line, startPt.DisplayColumn - (replacementText.Length - completeReplacementText.IndexOf(CursorText)))
End Sub

Private Function GetCodeTemplateNode(ByVal selection As TextSelection) As XmlNode
'Get File Extension
Dim fileName As String = DTE.ActiveDocument.Name
Dim extension As String = fileName.Substring(fileName.LastIndexOf(".") + 1)

'Prepare xPath
Dim xPath As String = String.Format("/CodeTemplates/CodeTemplateSet[FileType[@Extension='{0}']]/CodeTemplate[@ShortCut='{1}']", extension, selection.Text.Trim())
Return CodeTemplateXmlDocument.SelectSingleNode(xPath)
End Function

Private variableEntryForm As CodeCompletionVariableEntry
Private IsAborted As Boolean = True
Private Function GetReplacementText(ByVal replacementText As String, ByVal variableNodes As XmlNodeList) As String
'If Not variableEntryForm Is Nothing Then Return replacementText
variableEntryForm = New CodeCompletionVariableEntry
variableEntryForm.CodeTemplateVariablesNodes = variableNodes
variableEntryForm.ReplacementText = replacementText
variableEntryForm.AddVariableControls()
Application.Run(variableEntryForm)
replacementText = variableEntryForm.ReplacementText
If variableEntryForm.DialogResult = DialogResult.OK Then
IsAborted = False
End If
'Kill The form
variableEntryForm = Nothing
Return replacementText
End Function
#End Region

End Module

CodeCompletionConfig.vb


Imports System.Data
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Xml

Public Class CodeCompletionConfig
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

#Region "Windows Form Designer generated code"

Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()

'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
InitializeComponent()

'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
End Sub

'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
If disposing Then
If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
components.Dispose()
End If
End If
MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
End Sub

'Required by the Windows Form Designer
Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer

'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer
'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer.
'Do not modify it using the code editor.
Friend WithEvents LoadBtn As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Friend WithEvents SaveBtn As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Friend WithEvents CancelBtn As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Friend WithEvents ExitBtn As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Friend WithEvents Grid As System.Windows.Forms.DataGrid
Friend ds As DataSet
Private Sub InitializeComponent()
Me.ds = New System.Data.DataSet
Me.Grid = New System.Windows.Forms.DataGrid
Me.LoadBtn = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Me.SaveBtn = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Me.CancelBtn = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Me.ExitBtn = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
CType(Me.ds, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize).BeginInit()
CType(Me.Grid, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize).BeginInit()
Me.SuspendLayout()
'
'ds
'
Me.ds.DataSetName = "NewDataSet"
Me.ds.Locale = New System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-AU")
'
'Grid
'
Me.Grid.DataMember = ""
Me.Grid.DataSource = Me.ds
Me.Grid.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Bottom
Me.Grid.HeaderForeColor = System.Drawing.SystemColors.ControlText
Me.Grid.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(0, 46)
Me.Grid.Name = "Grid"
Me.Grid.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(736, 392)
Me.Grid.TabIndex = 0
'
'LoadBtn
'
Me.LoadBtn.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 9.75!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))
Me.LoadBtn.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(8, 8)
Me.LoadBtn.Name = "LoadBtn"
Me.LoadBtn.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(144, 32)
Me.LoadBtn.TabIndex = 1
Me.LoadBtn.Text = "&Load"
'
'SaveBtn
'
Me.SaveBtn.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 9.75!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))
Me.SaveBtn.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(200, 8)
Me.SaveBtn.Name = "SaveBtn"
Me.SaveBtn.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(144, 32)
Me.SaveBtn.TabIndex = 2
Me.SaveBtn.Text = "&Save"
'
'CancelBtn
'
Me.CancelBtn.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 9.75!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))
Me.CancelBtn.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(392, 8)
Me.CancelBtn.Name = "CancelBtn"
Me.CancelBtn.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(144, 32)
Me.CancelBtn.TabIndex = 3
Me.CancelBtn.Text = "&Cancel"
'
'ExitBtn
'
Me.ExitBtn.DialogResult = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Cancel
Me.ExitBtn.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 9.75!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))
Me.ExitBtn.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(584, 8)
Me.ExitBtn.Name = "ExitBtn"
Me.ExitBtn.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(144, 32)
Me.ExitBtn.TabIndex = 4
Me.ExitBtn.Text = "E&xit"
'
'ConfigForm
'
Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(7, 19)
Me.CancelButton = Me.ExitBtn
Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(736, 438)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.ExitBtn)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.CancelBtn)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.SaveBtn)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.LoadBtn)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.Grid)
Me.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Comic Sans MS", 10.0!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))
Me.Name = "ConfigForm"
Me.Text = "Configuration"
CType(Me.ds, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize).EndInit()
CType(Me.Grid, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize).EndInit()
Me.ResumeLayout(False)

End Sub

#End Region

#Region "Events"
Public CodeTemplateFileName As String '= "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\IDE\CodeTemplates.xml"

Private Sub ExitBtn_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ExitBtn.Click
Close()
End Sub

Private Sub LoadBtn_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles LoadBtn.Click
LoadDataSet()
End Sub

Public Sub LoadDataSet()
ds = New DataSet
ds.ReadXml(CodeTemplateFileName)
Grid.DataSource = ds
If ds.Tables.Count > 0 Then Grid.DataMember = ds.Tables(0).TableName
End Sub

Private Sub SaveBtn_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles SaveBtn.Click
ds.WriteXml(CodeTemplateFileName, XmlWriteMode.WriteSchema)
End Sub

Private Sub CancelBtn_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CancelBtn.Click
ds.RejectChanges()
LoadDataSet()
End Sub
#End Region

End Class

CodeCompletionVariableEntry.vb


Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class CodeCompletionVariableEntry
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

#Region "Add variable Controls"
Public CodeTemplateVariablesNodes As XmlNodeList
Public ReplacementText As String = "for(int ~0~ = 0; ~0~ < ; ~0~++){ }" Public Sub AddVariableControls() Dim i As Integer Dim OffSet As Integer VariablesGroupBox.Controls.Clear() For i = 0 To CodeTemplateVariablesNodes.Count - 1 OffSet = i * 24 'Variable Label Dim variableLabel As New Label variableLabel.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(8, 16 + OffSet) variableLabel.Name = "VariableLabel" + i.ToString() variableLabel.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(128, 23) variableLabel.TabIndex = i + 3 variableLabel.Text = CodeTemplateVariablesNodes(i).Attributes("Name").Value 'Variable Value Dim variableValue As New TextBox variableValue.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(152, 16 + OffSet) variableValue.Name = "VariableValue" + i.ToString() variableValue.TabIndex = i + 2 variableValue.Text = CodeTemplateVariablesNodes(i).Attributes("Value").Value VariablesGroupBox.Controls.Add(variableLabel) VariablesGroupBox.Controls.Add(variableValue) Next If CodeTemplateVariablesNodes.Count > 0 Then Me.ActiveControl = VariablesGroupBox.Controls(1)
End Sub
#End Region

#Region "Windows Form Designer generated code"

Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()

'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
InitializeComponent()

'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
End Sub

'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
If disposing Then
If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
components.Dispose()
End If
End If
MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
End Sub

'Required by the Windows Form Designer
Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer

'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer
'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer.
'Do not modify it using the code editor.
Friend WithEvents OkBtn As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Friend WithEvents CancelBtn As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Friend WithEvents VariablesGroupBox As System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox
Private Sub InitializeComponent()
Me.OkBtn = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Me.CancelBtn = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Me.VariablesGroupBox = New System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox
Me.SuspendLayout()
'
'OkBtn
'
Me.OkBtn.DialogResult = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK
Me.OkBtn.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 9.75!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold)
Me.OkBtn.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(16, 8)
Me.OkBtn.Name = "OkBtn"
Me.OkBtn.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(128, 23)
Me.OkBtn.TabIndex = 0
Me.OkBtn.Text = "&Ok"
'
'CancelBtn
'
Me.CancelBtn.DialogResult = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Cancel
Me.CancelBtn.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 9.75!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold)
Me.CancelBtn.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(160, 8)
Me.CancelBtn.Name = "CancelBtn"
Me.CancelBtn.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(112, 23)
Me.CancelBtn.TabIndex = 1
Me.CancelBtn.Text = "&Cancel"
'
'VariablesGroupBox
'
Me.VariablesGroupBox.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 9.75!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold)
Me.VariablesGroupBox.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(16, 40)
Me.VariablesGroupBox.Name = "VariablesGroupBox"
Me.VariablesGroupBox.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(264, 216)
Me.VariablesGroupBox.TabIndex = 2
Me.VariablesGroupBox.TabStop = False
Me.VariablesGroupBox.Text = "Variables"
'
'CodeCompletionVariableEntry
'
Me.AcceptButton = Me.OkBtn
Me.AccessibleDescription = ""
Me.AccessibleName = ""
Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
Me.CancelButton = Me.CancelBtn
Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 266)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.VariablesGroupBox)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.CancelBtn)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.OkBtn)
Me.Name = "CodeCompletionVariableEntry"
Me.Text = "Variables Entry"
Me.ResumeLayout(False)

End Sub

#End Region

#Region "Event Handlers"
Private Sub Cancel(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CancelBtn.Click
Me.Close()
End Sub

Private Sub SetReplacementText(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles OkBtn.Click
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To CodeTemplateVariablesNodes.Count - 1
ReplacementText = ReplacementText.Replace(String.Format("~{0}~", i), VariablesGroupBox.Controls(i * 2 + 1).Text)
Next
'MessageBox.Show(ReplacementText)
Me.Close()
End Sub
#End Region

End Class

CodeTemplates.xml


I will post soon, XML doesn't seem to be displayed properly here.

.NET Evangelist - Abi Bellamkonda

Friday, July 22, 2005

Stranger's Email of Today

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Today's Mr. Stranger Email

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Visual Studio .NET "Code Complete" Macro FREE

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