And you, what do you think about Unity ?

Note : I am also currently learning PRISM V.2, that’s a very interesting topic. PRISM uses Unity and it is why it’s important to understand how it works.

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Anyway, I am jobless, but I am back. I am studying to pass my certification, so, as usual if I find something interesting to share with you, I will post it here. As you have seen or not, I created a french web site. Yeah, I know, it is still empty. This french website will contain information about general development and architecture. In fact, I think they are not enough good docs in french talking about TDD, DDD, and stuffs like that.

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Here is the concept : We’ve buried $10,000 somewhere on the internet and the first one to find it, gets to keep it. But you’ll never find it using that browser. (So get rid of it, or get lost.) If you want a serious shot at the ten grand, upgrade your browser to Windows Internet Explorer 8 now. Then follow …

So I changed my useragent on firefox with the add-on User Agent Switcher

And here is the result :

I am not a big fan of that kind of marketing. Moreover, if you do that, please Microsoft, do it better…

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I am back with a little code I wrote today for my business. I had to create a little phone book.

The db I had to query was pretty complicated and I did not want to create all the stuff you need for an effective Linq ot Sql classes. Therefore, I decided to use a stored procedure who retrieve all the users (about 5000) with all the information I need. This application will be a one-shot application and  his time life will be about 1 or 2 years. Also, the release date is very tight.

Step 1 : Create the stored procedure :

I am not going to teach you how to create one. All you need to know is the result of the query. My stored prod will return a row with the Email column, the city, the office address,…

Here, an example of a stored prod you might deal with :

SELECT uEmail, Offices.ofPostalCode , uTelExtension, uMobilePhone, uDefaultLang,
Offices.ofTelephone, ofFax, rsName.value, rsCity.value as 'City', rsAdd.value as 'Address', rsAddSuite.value as 'Suite',
(Select Resources.value
FROM States
join Resources ON Resources.rsID = States.rsStName AND Resources.loID = Users.uDefaultLang
WHERE States.stID = Offices.stID) as 'State/Province',
(Select Resources.value
FROM Countries
join Resources ON Resources.rsID = Countries.rsCnName AND Resources.loID = Users.uDefaultLang
WHERE Countries.cnID = Offices.cnID) as 'Country'
FROM Users
join Offices ON Users.ofID = Offices.ofID
join Resources AS rsName ON rsName.rsID = Offices.rsOfName AND rsName.loID = Users.uDefaultLang
join Resources AS rsCity ON rsCity.rsID = Offices.rsOfCity AND rsCity.loID = Users.uDefaultLang
join Resources AS rsAdd ON rsAdd.rsID = Offices.rsOfAddress AND rsAdd.loID = Users.uDefaultLang
join Resources AS rsAddSuite ON rsAddSuite.rsID = Offices.rsOfAddressSuite AND rsAddSuite.loID = Users.uDefaultLang
join States ON States.stID = Offices.stID
join Countries ON Countries.cnID = Offices.cnID
WHERE uTelExtension != ''

I know, there is no parameter in the stored prod but we could add some later (the language for example).

Step 2 : Add the Stored Procedure in a Sql to Linq Class :

Create an Linq to Sql class to you solution or use one you already have. Open you Server Explorer, add a connection to the db you want simply drag and drop the stored procedure in the dbml.

Step 3 : Create your pseudo Factory :

So I added this in a SqlUserRepository class which I will use in my controller to retrieve data and filter it.

public IEnumerable<UserDB> getUserFromDb()

{

LinqToUsersDataContext db = new LinqToUsersDataContext();

var res = from Users in db.spUserGetUserDB()

select new UserDB()

{

Email = Users.uEmail,

Address = Users.Address,

City = Users.City,

Country = Users.Country,

StateProvince = Users.State_Province,

MobilePhone = Users.uMobilePhone,

ofTelephone = Users.ofTelephone,

Suite = Users.Suite,

TexExtension = Users.uTelExtension

};
return res.AsEnumerable();
}

Step 4 : Create Filter :

For this example, I will create two filters, one which will filter by Email and the other which will filter by City Name. Note that we do not speak here about best design and performance. We want something quickly. I guess when you read the stored prod, you said “Oh what for a crap”, yes I know but it was an old db with bad design and I must deal with…

Back to our Filters, the magic word here is “this”. You create a static class with an Ubiquitous Language (DDD style, traduction explicit name) and you create some static methods. In this example, it is “this IQueryable<UserDB>” and if you play with an object of that type, the intellisense will detect automatically and will show it to you (Like we saw in a previous post, here).

public static class UserDBFilter
{
public static IQueryable<UserDB> LikeEmail(this IQueryable<UserDB> qry, string Email )
{
return from user in qry where user.Email.Contains(Email) select user;

}

public static IQueryable<UserDB> WithCity(this IQueryable<UserDB> qry, string City)
{
return from user in qry where user.City == City select user;

}
}

Step 5 : Create the dynamic query :

To test if everything works fine, I created a little integration test.

[TestMethod]
public void GetRetrieveUserFromDbwithparam()
{
string email;
string city;

email = "pierre@dervalp.com";
city = "Tokyo";
var res = _service.getUserFromDb().AsQueryable();

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(email))
res = res.LikeEmail(email);

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(city))
res = res.WithCity(city);

Assert.IsNull(res);

}

It tried to put the string email to null, after the sting city to null, after both. In every case I receive what I wanted to have.

Step 6 : Create the controller and the view:

We create a basic controller and add a function ListUsers(). Per default, we render all the users (for example).

private readonly SqlRepositoryService _dbService;
//CTOR (instantiate the service you need)
public MergeController()
{
_dbService = new SqlRepositoryService();
}

[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Get)]
public ActionResult ListUsers()
{
// PagedList<UserDB> userlist = new PagedList<UserDB>(_dbService.getUserFromDb().ToList(),0, 5);

IList<UserDB> userlist = new List<UserDB>(_dbService.getUserFromDb());
return View(userlist);
}

Right-click on ListUsers() and create a strong typely-type view List. If you run the application, you will receive all the user in a List.

I cannot show you the result (private information inside).

Step 7 : Add the search form in you view:

I add my little form on the view :

<% using (Html.BeginForm("List","Merge"))
{%>

<label for="Email">Email:</label>
<%=Html.TextBox("Email")%>

<label for="City">City:</label>
<%=Html.TextBox("City")%>

<input id="searchform"  type="submit" value="Search" />
<%}%>

We add a method for the post :

[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
public ActionResult List(FormCollection forms)
{

string Email = Request.Form["Email"];
string City = Request.Form["City"];

var res = _dbService.getUserFromDb().AsQueryable();

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Email))
res = res.LikeEmail(Email);

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(City))
res = res.WithCity(City);

return View(res);
}

Run the application and make a search with  an email and it works !

Step 8 : Conclusion and improvements :

Of course, the design of this little application could be discussed but I make a phone book in 10 minutes and I am sure that after one day of refactoring, I could put this application in a production status (Add pagination, add improvemnts for query, some javascript,…).

So, I am waiting for your feedback…

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You create a static class, StringExtensions for example, you put it public static and you add a method who take a string and verify if it is a mail or not.

Like this :

</pre>
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static bool IsNotEmail (this string email)
{
var reg = new Regex(@"^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+"

+ @"(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+)*)|(\"".+\""))@"

+ @"((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}"

+ @"\.[0-9]{1,3}\])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+"

+ @"[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$");
if(reg.IsMatch(email))
{
return true;
}

return false;

}

}
<pre>

Now back to the class where you want to use this extension.

After a dot on a string variable, you will see it in the intellisense:

string email = "tralala@something.com";

if (email.IsEmail())

{
//do something

}

That’s awesome, is that not ?

Indeed, when you put the magic word “this” in a static method insided a static class, VS will browse all the methods who take a string object in argument and will add it to intellisense.

How do I use it ?

As soon as I see that I will need a simple method for a particular type very often, I extend this type and add it to a homemade library( which contains all the extension methods I create). Of course put in your library only the standard object of the .NET framework otherwise you will get some compilation errors.

You are now able to use all the power provided by the intellisense.

For example, you have a new developer in your team. He does not need to search in the project where the functions are. He simply put a dot after his variable and he will see what is available. Moreover, if he is new with the .NET Framework, he will believe that it is included by default .

related link : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb383977.aspx

I expect my introduction to extension methods was clear, if not, do not hesitate to leave a comment…

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So, in place to express my little knowledge in a language who is not mine, I prefer to use my native language and improve the quality of my post.

Anyway, I will keep this blog for the technical parts (C#, ASP.NET,..).

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In the future, I will use my CMS to update the content but as I do not have a server able to host a .NET website, I will certainly use wordpress in a first time…

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Today, I was walking on the street of Montreal and thinking about why we do not have that kind of community  in Belgium.  A lot of people are motivated and always want to learn new stuff, so why do not we have that ? I mean, it is a good thing to exchange experiences and errors.

When I came back home, I went to a domain registrer and I saw that the domain dotnetbrussels.com was always free. The capital of europe does not have a dotnet community ? It seems not. After some searchs on google (bing is not yet available ), nothing. So I ordered the domain and I will put myself on work for this project.

If you are intersted to help me creating this community in Brussels, you are welcome ! I will keep you uptodate about this…

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public static class UrlHelperExtension
{
public static string Image(this UrlHelper helper, string fileName)
{
return helper.Content(string.Format("~/Content/Images/{0}",fileName));
}

public static string Stylesheet(this UrlHelper helper, string fileName)
{
return helper.Content(string.Format("~/Content/Css/{0}.css",fileName));
}

public static string Javascript(this UrlHelper helper, string fileName)
{
return helper.Content(string.Format("~/Content/Scripts/{0}.js", fileName));
}
}

And here is how I use it :

For CSS :

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="<%= Url.Stylesheet("reset") %>" media="all" />

For javascript

<script src="<%= Url.Javascript("jquery-1.3.2.min") %>" type="text/javascript" language="javascript"></script>

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