Get / Show Entity Framework (EF) Generated SQL

Before I forget AGAIN , when you have some linq from EF and you want to see the generated SQL, cast it to ObjectQuery and call ToTraceString().

Using iTextSharp to print Avery Labels PDF with ASP.NET MVC and C#

Tasked with printing labels nicely on Avery L7992 label sheets (or any other type of labels really) from a web application, I did the usual messing around with HTML + CSS in different browsers before deciding to start again and try using PDF generation as a means of getting more control. After a few hours, a bunch of googling, finding tips here and there, I got it to work.

To produce a PDF file, your best bet is to use an existing library. iTextSharp is a powerful PDF generation library for .NET (it's a port of the Java iText library). One downfall is a paucity of good free documentation (although Mike was very helpful: http://www.mikesdotnetting.com).

So, with a reference to itextsharp.dll and a couple of usings in the code (iTextSharp.text and  iTextSharp.text.pdf), this is basically all you need to generate PDF label sheets from your MVC Controller:

        public ActionResult LabelsPdf()
        {
            // Open a new PDF document

            const int pageMargin = 5;
            const int pageRows = 5;
            const int pageCols = 2;
            
            var doc = new Document();
            doc.SetMargins(pageMargin, pageMargin, pageMargin, pageMargin);
            var memoryStream = new MemoryStream();

            var pdfWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, memoryStream);
            doc.Open();

            // Create the Label table

            PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(pageCols);
            table.WidthPercentage = 100f;
            table.DefaultCell.Border = 0;

            var baseFont = BaseFont.CreateFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA, BaseFont.CP1252, false);

            foreach (var Thing in YourCollectionOfThings)
            {
                #region Label Construction

                PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
                cell.Border = 0;
                cell.FixedHeight = (doc.PageSize.Height - (pageMargin * 2)) / pageRows;
                cell.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;

                var contents = new Paragraph();
                contents.Alignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;

                contents.Add(new Chunk(string.Format("Thing #{0}\n", Thing.ThingId), new Font(baseFont, 11f, Font.BOLD)));
                contents.Add(new Chunk(string.Format("Thing Name: {0}\n", Thing.Name), new Font(baseFont, 8f)));

                cell.AddElement(contents);
                table.AddCell(cell);

                #endregion
            }

            table.CompleteRow();
            doc.Add(table);

            // Close PDF document and send

            pdfWriter.CloseStream = false;
            doc.Close();
            memoryStream.Position = 0;
            
            return File(memoryStream, "application/pdf");
        }

Windows Server 2008 - MVC 3 - getting 404 errors from IIS 7

Well this one got us stumped for a long time this afternoon, and not even the mighty StackOverflow could help us!

We have an MVC 3 site that was running happily in dev, but when the client asked us to install it on their server (Windows 2008 SP2 (NOT R2), IIS 7.0), it wouldn't work; every View returned a 404.

We had just installed MVC 3 and ASP.NET 4, so we went though all the usual suspects:

• Integrated pipeline
• Permissions
• runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests in system.webserver

No dice.

Eventually a random comment on some forum led us to the KB980368 Hotfix. That solved the problem!

VAG-COM / VCDS in Yorkshire for Audi A4 B7 Cabriolet

I wanted to change some settings on my A4 Cabriolet. The settings were:

• Turn off selective locking 
• Turn off speed locking 
• Turn off seatbelt warning (module 17 penultimate code flip digit to 0) 
• Enable telephone voice control (module 77 penultimate code flip digit from 0->2)  

To do this you need special software and a cable to the diagnostic port. The official VAS kit is crazy expensive, but the Ross-Tech VAG-COM/VCDS kit is £250. Still too much for me. I knew *what* to do from my research on the Audi forums, but I didn't have the kit.

So after an hour of waiting at Harrogate Audi in their swanky coffee area, they finally told me their monkeys mechanics had been unable to make the changes, and couldn't spare any more time looking at it. They also said not to believe everything you read on the Internet.

BAD HARROGATE AUDI, NO BISCUIT.

Well, just wanted to say that a good chap called Chris Dodgson from Auto Diagnostic Services drove his van round to my office today, plugged in his VCDS laptop and sorted all the changes in about 10 minutes.

It goes to show that Harrogate Audi is just a showroom, and the so-called Audi specialists who work in their service department don't know how to do simple electronic changes on Audis. What a ridiculous situation.

ValueInjecter - matching nullable to non-nullable values

Here's a little ValueInjecter plugin I wrote to handle ValueInjecter matching for properties where the name matches but one is nullable and the other is not.

        
        public class NullableInjection : ConventionInjection
        {
            protected override bool Match(ConventionInfo c)
            {
                return c.SourceProp.Name == c.TargetProp.Name &&
                       (c.SourceProp.Type == c.TargetProp.Type 
                        || c.SourceProp.Type == Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(c.TargetProp.Type)
                        || (Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(c.SourceProp.Type) == c.TargetProp.Type 
                                && c.SourceProp.Value != null )
                        );
            }

            protected override object SetValue(ConventionInfo c)
            {
                return c.SourceProp.Value;
            }
        }

So I just use it like so:

   existingCompetitor.InjectFrom<nullableinjection>(importedCompetitor);

Visual Studio Javascript Function Folding - Code Region Outlining

I thought to myself, as I swam through an ASP.NET Razor View crammed with Javascript functions, 'SURELY someone has made a VS plugin that does function code folding?'.

Yup, Microsoft has. http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/872d27ee-38c7-4a97-98dc-0d8a431cc2ed

Visual Studio RegEx Regular Expression Cheat Sheet

Why MS decided to use a non-standard RegEx parser for Visual Studio's Find/Replace controls, I don't know. All I do know is that I forget the syntax EVERY FRIGGING TIME in the heat of battle. So, here's the skinny:

Match group definition using CURLY BRACE.
Match group replacement using BACKSLASH.

So to turn <bob> to *bob* use:

\<{.@}\>

and replace with

*{\1}*

NOTE the .@ is the VS 'non-greedy' match pattern

IE8 window.location HTTP_REFERER

Stupid HTTP variable, HTTP_REFERER. It's spelt wrong for a start.

Anyway, to cut a long, stupid story short, an HTTP call invoked from a javascript window.location change will usually set the HTTP_REFERER variable on IIS because the browser sends a Referer header.

I say 'usually' because it DOESN'T FRIGGING WORK in IE8. IE9, FF, Chrome, fine. IE8, nope.

Sigh.

Rockalldll.dll missing / not found error - Rockall Heap Manager on Windows 7

This week's mystery was a recurring error message in Windows 7 about a missing DLL - RockallDll.dll.

It sounded dodgy, and a quick google returned about a million nasty DLL sites purporting to offer a nice shiny replacement DLL, no doubt festooned with viruses and trojans.

So I didn't do that. I had to do some pretty deep searching to find out that this DLL was originally installed as part of Hermann Schinagl's Link Shell Extension that I installed ages ago. For some reason I had installed it on my E drive. Well, I don't know why it had stopped working, but I uninstalled it, downloaded the latest version and installed it on C drive instead.

Problem solved, woohoo. And I do recommend LSE as a quick way of creating symbolic links in Windows.

IntelliType Pro 8, Media Keys and iTunes 10.5

I just got me a new MS Sidewinder X4 keyboard, and very swanky it is too. However, it requires Microsoft IntelliType Pro to work, and after installing that, I was annoyed to find that the Media Keys (Play, Pause, Prev Track, Next Track) didn't work with iTunes.

Here's what I found out.

• iTunes control worked fine if I uninstalled IntelliType Pro, but this was no good because then I lost the use of the keyboard's Macro keys.
• By doing the trick of launching iTunes as administrator (right click on the iTunes icon - choose "Run as administrator") , iTunes can be controlled from the Media keys - But ONLY when iTunes is in Window Focus. 
• Launching the IntelliType process (itype.exe) as administrator makes no difference.

However I have found a Heath Robinson / Rube Goldberg stylee solution! 

HKTunes Portable is free software that launches iTunes for you and attaches custom key handlers to the Play/Pause, Next/Previous controls. So I configured that to use some wild, unlikely key combos, and then I set up those same key combos as Macros for the Media Keys in IntelliType Pro (Start > Microsoft Keyboard > Key Settings).

The only drawback is that you have to remember to launch HKTunes rather than iTunes, but I just replaced the pinned launcher in my task bar so it's not a problem. Wish Microsoft would sort out the underlying prob though!

UPDATE


I found a better solution! Check this guy's EXCELLENT MediaKeys app!