Peder Borg Borup

Lately I’ve been struggling to find a built-in function in vb.net that, in a console application, would return a specific command line argument. However – I did’nt find it.

Instead, I wrote this piece of code to do the function, that can be used when calling the .exe like this: "c:\programname.exe /file:c:\folder\filename.txt"

”’ <summary>
”’ A function that returns a specific Command Line Argument from format c:\commandname.exe /arg:value
”’ </summary>
”’ <param name="arg">The name of the argument to return</param>
”’ <param name="oArgs">An arraylist of arguments</param>
”’ <returns>String</returns>
”’ <remarks></remarks>
Private Function ReturnSpecificCommandLineArg(ByVal arg As String, ByVal oArgs As ArrayList) As String

Dim _ReturnString As String = String.Empty

Try
With oArgs

‘We don’t really need to sort – but hey!
.Sort()

‘Looping throug the array to find the arguments
For i As Integer = 0 To .Count – 1

If InStr(.Item(i).ToString, arg) > 0 Then

‘Getting the specific value
_ReturnString = .Item(i).ToString.Substring(InStr(.Item(i).ToString, ":"))

‘We’ve found the value – so we need to exit our for-loop
Exit For

Else
‘Returning an empty string if we did’nt find what we were looking for
_ReturnString = String.Empty
End If

Next
End With

Return _ReturnString

Catch ex As Exception
‘Handling errors
Throw New Exception(ex.Message, ex.InnerException)

End Try
End Function

Small function to delete a user from Active Directory.

”’ <summary>
”’ A function that deletes a user from Active Directory
”’ </summary>
”’ <param name=”DirEntry”>The Directory Entry that specifies the OU that holds the user</param>
”’ <param name=”sCommonName”>The Common Name (CN) of the user to delete</param>
”’ <returns>true/false</returns>
”’ <remarks></remarks>
Private Function AdUserDelete(ByVal DirEntry As DirectoryEntry, ByVal sCommonName As String) As Boolean

    ‘Returning false if something goes wrong
    AdUserDelete = False

    Try

        ‘Finding the user
        Dim _User As DirectoryEntry = DirEntry.Children.Find(“CN=” & sCommonName, “User”)

        ‘Removing the user
        DirEntry.Children.Remove(_User)

        ‘Committing the changes
        DirEntry.CommitChanges()

        ‘Closing
        DirEntry.Close()

        ‘Went well – returning true
        AdUserDelete = True

    Catch ex As Exception
        ‘Throwing an error
        Throw New Exception(ex.Message, ex.InnerException)
    End Try
End Function

This small function can be used to set the password for a specific user in the AD.

”’ <summary>
”’ Function that sets the password for a specific user
”’ </summary>
”’ <param name=”DirEntry”>The DirectoryEntry to use eq the user</param>
”’ <param name=”sPassword”>The password</param>
”’ <returns>true/false</returns>
”’ <remarks></remarks>
Private Function AdUserSetPassword(ByVal DirEntry As DirectoryEntry, ByVal sPassword As String) As Boolean

    ‘Return false if something goes wrong
    AdUserSetPassword = False

    Try

        ‘Creating an object-”array” to store the password
        Dim _Password As Object() = New Object() {sPassword}

        ‘Calling a method
        DirEntry.Invoke(“SetPassword”, _Password)

        ‘Returning true
        AdUserSetPassword = True

    Catch ex As Exception
        ‘Throwing exception
        Throw New Exception(ex.Message, ex.InnerException)
    End Try
End Function

To update a user property in your Active Directory (e.g. telephone, common name, description), you can use this function. The DirectoryEntry should point to the specific user that you wish to update.

”’ <summary>
”’ A function that set the property of an object in Active Directory
”’ </summary>
”’ <param name=”DirEntry”>The DirectoryEntry to use eq the user</param>
”’ <param name=”PropertyName”>The property to set</param>
”’ <param name=”PropertyValue”>The value to set to the property</param>
”’ <returns>true/false</returns>
”’ <remarks></remarks>
Private Function AdUserSetProperty(ByVal DirEntry As DirectoryEntry, ByVal PropertyName As String, ByVal PropertyValue As String) As Boolean

    AdUserSetProperty = False

    ‘Specifying Administrator Account
    DirEntry.Username = My.Settings.AdAdminUserName
    DirEntry.Password = My.Settings.AdAdminPassword

    Try
        ‘If the property has a value
        If Not PropertyValue Is Nothing Then

            ‘Does the property exist
            If DirEntry.Properties.Contains(PropertyName) Then

                ‘Setting the new value
                DirEntry.Properties(PropertyName)(0) = PropertyValue

            Else

                ‘Creating the property if it does not exist
                DirEntry.Properties(PropertyName).Add(PropertyValue)

            End If

            ‘Applying the changes
            DirEntry.CommitChanges()
            ‘Closing
            DirEntry.Close()

        End If

        ‘Returning
        AdUserSetProperty = True

    Catch ex As Exception
        ‘Returning
        AdUserSetProperty = False
        ‘Throwing an error
        Throw New Exception(ex.Message, ex.InnerException)
    End Try

End Function

I’m always struggling to finding built-in functions in vb.net, that does these small things: roudning up, subtracting dates, formatting dates, math-functions etc. But, now I’ve found this great website:

http://msconline.maconstate.edu/tutorials/VBNET/

It might not have all the functions – but it has the ones I need the most. Anyone has other good links?

I have done it before – and I did again today… Used about an hour trying to figure out, why a service for Windows that I created using Visual Studio 2005 did’nt work at all. It started great, restartet – all was perfect – but it did’nt tick.

Until I finally found out the hard way, that you have to add a System.Timers.Timer timer instead of the Windows.Forms.Timer. I actually followed a guide somewhere on the Internet saying that I could just drag-n-drop the Timer from Components in the Service Project. But, it did’nt really help.

But what did help was adding this as the first line in the class:

Friend WithEvents tmrCheckShows As New System.Timers.Timer

And now the service is ticking – or elapsing.

In this short guide, I’ll show how to use a dedicated SQL Server for the Membership and Roles part of ASP.NET. Normally the membership and roles uses the local SQL Express Server and a aspnetdb in the local app_data directory of the webserver. But for many reasons (one of them central backup) I have always wanted to be able to use my existing SQL Server (in my case SQL Server 2005).

1) Create a new database on your SQL Server to hold the membership and roles.

2) In my case I’ll create a new ASP.NET website to use for this demo. The website will be called "demo_membership".

3) Populate the database you created with the membership tables. For this, you’ll use the program aspnet_regsql located in: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 – doubleclick to launch.

If you expand the database – you should see the membership/roles tables:

The database is now reade for use.

Read the rest of this entry »

And, if you wan’t to change the text of a cell – then you’re able to use:

Protected Sub GridView1_RowDataBound(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridViewRowEventArgs) Handles GridView1.RowDataBound
If e.Row.RowType = DataControlRowType.DataRow Then
e.Row.Cells(2).Text = “This is my text”
End If
End Sub

Hm… Actually took me some time to figure out how to change the headertext at runtime for a column in a gridview.

But after som searching I found:

Protected Sub GridView1_RowCreated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridViewRowEventArgs) Handles GridView1.RowCreated
If e.Row.RowType = DataControlRowType.Header Then
e.Row.Cells(1).Text = “Show me the money”
End If
End Sub

But, why can’t I just, when binding the gridview use: GridView1.Columns(1).HeaderText = “Show me the money”

Although I know, that the majority of people use C# for creating plugins to Windows Live Writer – I’d still like to make a small guide into the basic concept of creating a plugin using VB.NET.

1) Create a new project in Visual Studio .NET
  
Select the template "Class Library" and type the name of your project in the Name field.

2) Delete the default class created.

3) Add a new class to your project.

4) Add a reference to the Windows Live Writer API.

- and a reference to System.Windows.Forms

5) Import the namespaces

Imports WindowsLive.Writer.Api


Imports System.Windows.Forms

7) Create a Folder in your project and name it Images:

Create a new PNG-image at the size of 20 by 18 pixels and save it in your "Images"-folder.

Add the file as a ressource

1. Double-click "My Project"
2. Click "Resources"
3. Click "Add Resource" – and make sure you click "Add Existing File", and select the image saved in your Images-folder
4. If you find that type system.drawing.bitmap is not defined – try adding and removing a form.

10) Click your image in the Images-folder and under Build Action select "Embedded Resource".

9) Add some code (Please note, that the GUID should be unique for your plugin – if you need a guid – then go to http://www.replymedia.net/guid):

Imports WindowsLive.Writer.Api


Imports System.Windows.Forms





<WriterPluginAttribute("05D06AD8-694D-458B-9631-F8F19F88A9BA", _


"Insert current date and time", _


Description:="Inserts current date and time", _


ImagePath:="DemoPlugin.png", _


HasEditableOptions:=False, _


PublisherUrl:="http://tech.pederborgpoulsen.dk"), _


InsertableContentSourceAttribute("Current Date and Time")> _


Public Class Plugin


    Inherits ContentSource





    'Overrides the function CreateContent


    Public Overrides Function CreateContent(ByVal dialogOwner As System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, ByRef newContent As String) As System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult





        Try


            'Adding content to newContent - newContent is returned to Windows Live Writer


            newContent = FormatDateTime(Now(), DateFormat.GeneralDate).ToString





            'Returns to caller


            Return DialogResult.OK





        Catch ex As Exception





            'Do some error-handling





        End Try





    End Function





End Class

10) Build the project and copy the DLL-file to your Windows Live Write Plugin-directory.

11) Start or Restart Windows Live Writer – and notice that your plugin appears in the Insert-list:

12) And that clicking on it inserts the current date and time: 05-09-2006 21:32:33

… Happy Coding …