Bronco Solutions

This is my first test post from windows live writer... pretty simple thus far.

 This is a blurry picture...

Call it stubbornness or simply curiousity... I was just not happy with a system io approach of loading a treeview with the folders in a specified directory with a file listing on the right.  Even with a load on demand approach where you click a node and it then loads its folders and files seemed fairly slow to me.

I through a component together that builds a folder object with all folders and files... and can be serialized/deserialized to/from xml.

Now for the tests:

I decided to appease myself and see which was really faster...

System.IO or Serialization

1) First I timed the component alone to see how long it would take to load the object using system.io

Results:

- 8 Folders 25 Files loaded in an average of 546,903 Ticks (100 nanosecond intervals)

2) Second I timed the component to see how long it would take to load the same object by deserializing the xml file into the object

Results:

- 8 Folders 25 Files loaded in an average of 4,531,482 Ticks (100 nanosecond intervals)

I was quite surprised that the system.io was marginally faster then the deserialization.  I decided to up the ante to a larger folder...

1) System.IO

Results:

- 1320 Folders 8318 Files loaded in an average of 39,064,500 Ticks (100 nanosecond intervals)

- Converted to seconds (3.90645 seconds)

2) Deserialization

Results:

- 1320 Folders 8318 Files loaded in an average of 6,198,234 Ticks (100 nanosecond intervals)

- Converted to seconds (0.6198234 seconds)

CONCLUSION:

The thing to notice here is the marginal increase in time to load the object when deserializing.  The increase was equivalent to 0.15 seconds... while System.IO was very fast for small folders when the numbers increased the time required to load the object also did exponentially.

UniqueIdentifier parameters by default are coded like this

<asp:Parameter Name="Original_EventID" Type="Object" />

The problem is that this cause the following error:

Implicit conversion from data type sql_variant to uniqueidentifier is not allowed. Use the CONVERT function to run this query.

To correct this simply remove the Type so it looks like this:

Complete guide can be found here:

http://www.globalscape.com/support/evalguide_srv2.asp

Download the snippet at the end of this post.

To Install Snippet:

• Click tools
• Code Snippet Manager (If you cannot see this on the tools menu http://broncosolutions.ca/COMMUNITY/blogs/andrew_renner/archive/2006/03/29/64.aspx)
• Click the folder you want to import the snippet to
• Click Import Button
• Click the file you downloaded from the bottom of this page
• Click Open
• Click OK

To use the snippet:

• Either right click and click Insert Snippet
• OR type BSBindingView<tab>
  • Replace the class name with your class name i.e. Employees
  • Replace the object name with your object name i.e. Employee

Additional Requirements:

• You will need my BroncoSolutions.Components.dll to use the snippet as is

Download the snippet at the end of this post.

To Install Snippet:

• Click tools
• Code Snippet Manager (If you cannot see this on the tools menu http://broncosolutions.ca/COMMUNITY/blogs/andrew_renner/archive/2006/03/29/64.aspx)
• Click the folder you want to import the snippet to
• Click Import Button
• Click the file you downloaded from the bottom of this page
• Click Open
• Click OK

To use the snippet:

• Either right click and click Insert Snippet
• OR type BSBinding<tab>
• Replace the class name with your class name i.e. Employees
• Replace the object name with your object name i.e. Employee

Additional Requirements:

• You will need my BroncoSolutions.Components.dll to use the snippet as is

The result is the following:

[code language="VB.NET"]

Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Reflection
Imports BroncoSolutions.Components.Windows.Collections
#Region " Classname "
Public Class Classname
   Inherits System.ComponentModel.BindingList(Of ObjectName)

   Private _Sorted As Boolean = False
   Private _SortDirection As ListSortDirection
   Private _SortProperty As PropertyDescriptor

   Protected Overrides Function AddNewCore() As Object
      Dim e As New ObjectName()
      Add(e)
      Return e
   End Function

#Region "Sorting Support"
   Protected Overrides Sub ApplySortCore(ByVal prop As System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptor, _
     ByVal direction As System.ComponentModel.ListSortDirection)

      ' Get list to sort
      Dim items As List(Of ObjectName) = TryCast(Me.Items, List(Of ObjectName))

      ' Apply and set the sort, if items to sort
      If items IsNot Nothing Then

         _SortDirection = direction
         _SortProperty = prop

         Dim pc As PropertyComparer(Of ObjectName) = _
           New PropertyComparer(Of ObjectName)(prop, direction)

         items.Sort(pc)

         _Sorted = True

      Else
         _Sorted = False

      End If

      Me.OnListChanged(New ListChangedEventArgs(ListChangedType.Reset, -1))
   End Sub

   Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property SupportsSortingCore() As Boolean
      Get
         Return True
      End Get
   End Property

   Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property IsSortedCore() As Boolean
      Get
         Return _Sorted
      End Get
   End Property

   Protected Overrides Sub RemoveSortCore()
      _Sorted = False
   End Sub

   Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property SortDirectionCore() As System.ComponentModel.ListSortDirection
      Get
         Return _SortDirection
      End Get
   End Property

   Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property SortPropertyCore() As System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptor
      Get
         Return _SortProperty
      End Get
   End Property

   Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property SupportsSearchingCore() As Boolean
      Get
         Return True
      End Get
   End Property

   Protected Overrides Function FindCore(ByVal prop As System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptor, ByVal key As Object) As Integer
      Dim items As List(Of ObjectName) = Me.Items

      For Each item As ObjectName In items
         If key = prop.GetValue(item) Then
            Return IndexOf(item)
         End If
      Next

      Return -1
   End Function
#End Region
End Class
#End Region

[/code]

This is very handy for forwarding to blackberry or other email addresses.

1. Active Directory User & Computers
1. Create one mail enabled Contact for each external address
1. Specify the external SMTP address for each
2. Create a mail enabled group (Global Distribution)
1. Specify the email address for the group (everyone@domain.com)
2. Add each mail enabled contact to the list
3. Double click the user you wish to setup the forwarder for
1. Exchange General Tab
1. Delivery Options
1. Forward To
1. Choose the group you just created

Note: You can hide the contact from the GAL (Global Address List)

•    Exchange Advanced Tab
• Hide From Exchange Address Lists

Note 2: You can make your distribution groups accessible to everybody(internal/external) or to internal users or specific internal users

• Exchange General
• Message Restrictions
• From Authenticated Users or
• Everyone
• Only From/Except From

I had a case today where my solution configurations drop down box in the toolbar disappeared so I could only switch from debug/release in the config menu which is like a 3 step process to get to.

Here is how to get it back:

1. Go to menu Tools - Customize… (or right-click on any toolbar and Customize…)
2. Switch to Commands tab.
3. Click Rearrange Commands.
4. Choose toolbar - Standard.
5. Click Add.
6. Select Build under Categories.
7. Select Solution Configurations under Commands.
8. Click Ok.
9. Use the Move Up or Move Down buttons to get it where you want it to appear.