Sanjay's Coding Tips

Firefox Tip: Paste multiple lines to input boxes

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 19:14:05 GMT

Firefox Tip: Paste multiple lines to input boxes.

I've had this exact problem for years and it always annoyed me.. who knew there was a simple Firefox config fix for it?

If you've ever tried copying and pasting a multi-line address into Google Maps just to realize that an input box will only take one line at a time "meaning that you have to copy and paste each line individually", there's a simple Firefox tweak that will solve this problem:

Type "about:config" in the location bar. In the "Filter" field type "singleline." You can set the value to 2 for editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines, which will allow pasting of multiple lines to input boxes.

via Lifehacker

SqlDMO.Net -- .Net wrapper library of SQL-DMO for managing MS-SQL databases

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:47:38 GMT

SQLDMO.NET is a very handy little (free, open-source) wrapper library that I ran across recently that makes it much simpler to interop with the SQL-DMO COM object. DMO (or Database Management Object) is a very handy object which lets you directly manage a Microsoft SQL server (7.0 or 2000) to do actions like what are listed below.

I use it primarily for database versioning my .NET program. When the program starts up, it queries the database to check the version and based on that, it will create or adjust all the various tables and columns that may have changed between the program's db version and the current version. This makes it very easy to rollout updates without having to worry about the database not being in sync with the program. Also, you have to use DMO to effectively backup and restore a database from within a program.

SQLDMO.NET is a light weight .NET wrapper of the (COM) SQLDMO object and allows .NET developers the ability to manage SQL Server 7.0/2000 databases. This library provides an alternative to using the full strength of SQL SMO (e.g. to avoid installing SQL SMO and/or its prerequisites such as SP2 on Windows XP), or dealing with SQLDMO directly via interop. SQLDMO.NET is characterized by a limited set of extremely practical services, such as:

Finding all SQL Servers on a local network node

Enumerating registered SQL Server groups and servers

Creating a database via a SQL script

Generating a SQL script of DDL for an existing database

Creating a new user login

Rebuilding a database with a modified SQL script

Windows Desktop Search 3.0 & Network Drives

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:31:11 GMT

I've been using WDS 2.6 & MSN searchbar for several months now. It was working fairly well and indexed all my outlook files, local files, and network files very well. I saw on Mike Gunderloy's weblog that Microsoft had released a new version of WDS 3.0 and went out to install it. After I got it all installed, I realized that the features to enable network searching had disappeared. Looking in the WDS help, it said mapped network drives should be accessible but there's no place that I could see in the settings to start searching them again.

Looking around on the Net, I didn't really see this issue addressed anywhere. I was about to give up and go back to the old MSN search when I stumbled across Dan Appleman's new Google search engine for Microsoft stuff: SearchDotNet.com. I tried looking for WDS info on this new filtered search engine and that led me to the MSDN forum for WDS. The forum has an old post discussing an addin that you can install that gives you back the UNC searching feature (this was when WDS was still in beta stage...).

I think it was silly for Microsoft to release the final version of WDS without integrating this in to start with but for anyone else who gets stuck in this same situation (WDS 3.0 without network file searches), hopefully, this post will show them how to make WDS 3.0 work like the prior one. Just install the Windows Desktop Search: Add-in for UNC/FAT and reboot... you should see a new tab in the Advanced Options to add a UNC path to your search locations list.

Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of the annoying "magnifying glass" icon from the search deskbar... I prefer the clean look of just the textbox. (Update: I figured this out too.. set the registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows Desktop\Search\DB\EnableGoButton = 0).

Update: Here's a list of other useful WDS related links.

VistaDB :- Handy Embedded SQL Database for .NET

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 21:35:40 GMT

VistaDB is offering a free copy of their VistaDB 2.1 edition to any .NET blogger that posts a bit about their product on their blog .. A free trial is also available for download. One of the best features is that the database is XCopy-deployable and that it scales easily to massive sizes.

VistaDB is a small-footprint, embedded SQL database alternative to Jet/Access, MSDE and SQL Server Express 2005 that enables developers to build .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0 applications. Features SQL-92 support, small 500KB embedded footprint, free 2-User VistaDB Server for remote TCP/IP data access, royalty free distribution for both embedded and server, Copy 'n Go! deployment, managed ADO.NET Provider, data management and data migration tools.

(via Cory's AddressOf.com)

Fix for 'hibernation kills my USB' issue....

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 03:33:09 GMT

Here's a problem that I've been seeing on my laptop for the past few months ... USB devices would never reconnect after I came out of hibernation. I tried everything that I could think of to fix it (reinstall drivers, install all XP patches, search web forums, with no success) .. until I just ran across the following little nugget on Steve Bass' PCWorld column:Smart, Free Fixes for Your USB Hassles column.

Hibernation Blues

The Hassle: When my system comes back from hibernation or standby mode, some of my USB devices just keep on dozing.

The Fix: That happens because Windows XP wants to conserve power, so it turns off the USB root hubs. You can change the default setting: Open Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance (if in Category view), System, Hardware, Device Manager, and click Universal Serial Bus controllers. Double-click USB Root Hub, choose the Power Management tab, and then uncheck 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'. Repeat this procedure with each occurrence of a USB root hub.

Note: On a notebook, this trick will cost you some battery life.

Microsoft Developer Toolbar for IE announced at PDC

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 02:54:54 GMT

Microsoft has created its own HTML Developer Toolbar (similar to Fiddler and other similar toolbars on Firefox): Developer Toolbar for IE and released it during the recent PDC.

With the IE Dev Toolbar, you have several features at your fingertips to go deep into existing pages or pages that you are currently creating. You will be able to explore the DOM tree and find elements on the page, disable IE settings, view information, outline elements, control images, resize pages to common screen resolutions and have a powerful ruler that lets you measure pixel perfect content on your page. It also will help you to validate against existing standards and provides pointers to W3C specs.

via Microsoft's IEBlog

Patriotism is not the same as Piety

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 19:01:43 GMT

19 Variations on Pledge of Allegiance :: WashingtonPost.com

I love our imperfect country, and I love it partly for the ideal of respect for differences, the dignity of the unique individual. No communal incantation can embody that ideal. I don't believe that I got much from chanting sentences of allegiance in school each morning. Patriotism is not the same as piety. My classmates and I would have been better off, and it would be more in the best American spirit, if the teacher had read a different passage from "Leaves of Grass" each morning.

- Robert Pinsky, former poet laureate

Internet Explorer Fitted-Width Printing

Sun, 12 Jun 2005 06:45:01 GMT

Internet Explorer Fitted-Width Printing (@ VisionTech)

Have you ever printed a web page only to find that the right-hand edge is missing? This is for you. First, this download page will install the control. After installation, close the browser window and reopen a new one. You should have a new printer icon with a small 'W' next to it on the toolbar. Press this to bring up a print dialog which will then print the page fitted to the width of your paper. Alternatively, hold down the Control key while pressing the button and you will get a print preview instead.

AutoStitch -- Free program to create a panorama from multiple images

Sun, 01 May 2005 21:25:06 GMT

AutoStitch is a free program which will take a multiple digital photos of an area and blend them together smoothly to create a panoramic photo automatically.

AutoStich is the world's first fully automatic 2D image stitcher. Capable of stitching full view panoramas without any user input whatsoever, AutoStitch is a breakthrough technology for panoramic photography, VR and visualisation applications.

from Lifehacker

PDFCreator -- freeware replacement for Adobe Acrobat?

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:05:38 GMT

PDFCreator is a freeware tool that can replace Adobe Acrobat in many cases...

PDFCreator is a free tool to create PDFs easily from nearly any application. With the PDFCreator Printer driver you turn any program into a PDF-machine.

PDFCreator is released under the term of th GPL (GNU General Public License).

(via Mallim and Erik's Linkblog)