Adding Items to the Cache, Retrieving the Items, and Clearing the Cache

When working with a web application that contains data items that do not change too often, it improves the performance of the application to store data items in the server cache and retrieve those items from the cache instead of making an extra trip to the database. Also clearing the cache when a item does change is important for your application.

Getting a List of SQL Database Tables with One Statement

There are a number of really good content management systems available today from Dot Net Nuke to Joomla to Wordpress and creating web sites with them is fast and somewhat easy allowing you to focus more on design and content. But when you need to dig into the database to remove old ads or quickly delete spam comments, knowing the tables available with a single SQL statement is very helpful. I came across a great SQL statement that shows not only the tables but record counts within those tables. And after finding the table containing the information to be changed, getting a list of the Top 10 records with all the columns available makes creating the needed delete or update statement a snap.

Binding a DataSet to a DataGrid in ASP.Net

I am in the process of enhancing the functionality of an ASP.Net application that I inherited and today I needed to display a grid of related data below an entry form on a page. Some of the functionality was present on a different page following the style the original programmer implemented. A database function to return a Datasource did not exist within the data class so that was my first step. I found this great code below showing the basic syntax of binding a dataset to a datagrid in ASP.Net which was helpful.

SQL Server Grep Function for Keyword Code Searching

Back in the days when I was working with Sybase there was a function I found and used often to search for keywords in database code areas called sp_grep. You could pass a keyword to the stored procedure and it would return all objects that contained code with the keyword present.

This week I had the need to run Grep on a SQL Server database that we have taken over the maintenance of. I found this very useful stored procedure called sp_search_code by Narayana Vyas Kondreddi that performed the needed search.

Turning On/Off APS.Net Client Side Validation

Javascript has a built in function, ValidatorEnable, to turn on or turn off client validation so you can validate certain controls under only certain conditions. The code attached shows how to limit the validation on a textbox depending on value of a dropdown list. The code also only displays the textbox when the same condition is true.

Add Hyperlinks to an ASP.Net BulletList

I had the need to add hyperlinks to an asp.net server bulletlist today and found some very good examples online including the following example. This example defines a datasetdatasource as an xml file and them loads the values of the xml file into the bulletlist with hyperlinks included. Easy implementation and clear separation of the control and the data to be displayed by the control.

BizSpark from Microsoft

If you are starting an online software development company or considering starting one, Microsoft has developed a program that will allow your small company to use their exceptional tools and grow quicker than otherwise possible. Through the companies Startup Zone at www.microsoftstartupzone.com, you can participate in their BizSpark program for up to three years annually renewed.

Overwriting the NoFollow Tag with DoFollow

DotNetNuke is the platform that 6 blogs are developed with that I am the administrator for. But the more I use Wordpress, the more I think I should convert them because of the great SEO and free plugin availability. With Wordpress there's a simple plugin that will change the default NoFollow rel tag on comments to DoFollow. This provides your readers the ability to gain links with Google and other search engines when they comment.

I had the need to reindex all the tables in a SQL Server 2005 database this week and found some very good scripts that loop through the list of user tables using a cursor and reindex each table to improve performance and reduce the size of the data file. In addition I used the dbcc command to shrink the database after the reindexing had completed. Below is the code used.

Darksma Trojan and Other Bugs

I recently found the Darksma Trojan and other similar viruses on one of my home computers and spent a number of weeks cleaning the system. I found three tools to be very helpful in removing these difficult to delete bugs; CA Yahoo! Anti-Spy, Malwarebytes, and ComboFix.