Keith Rull

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .NET 3.5 SP1 out now!!!

Wooohooo!! Get 'em here!

Combined Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1

The update for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 in a single install.

.NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1

The update for just the .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1, it does not include updates for Visual Studio 2008.

.NET | Tech News and Issues

Monday, August 11, 2008 6:37:23 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0] |

How To: Create dynamic input rows in a GridView with ASP.NET

Sorry for not being able to post anything interesting the past few months. Anyway, I saw this old thread at DevPinoy.org the other day and I realized that nobody has posted a complete sample solution that would solve and show how to accomplish dynamic input rows in a GridView. I was thinking of replying to it a few months back but i guess work caught up at me and I wasn't able to do so. I found some free time last week and decided to build an app to demonstrate how to solve this question.

Ok, lets start by analyzing the question:

Hi guys,

I have a problem here. How can i create a dynamic row in gridview the row will defend from the user input. For example the user enter a 4 then the gridview will generate 4 rows. Please site me an example.

Thanks,
D_Conqueror

From what I understood the user wants to be able to create dynamically rows of data in the GridView depending on the number he enters on a Textbox. We can accomplish this by creating a datasource with the same number of rows as the user specified and binding it to our GridView.

To demonstrate how to solve this problem i decided to create this sample.

To start off with our tiny project we need to create a page that would ask the user for the number of rows he wan'ts to display on the GridView. The page will contain a TextBox for input and a LinkButton that we will use for submitting the value to a seperate page. Below is the HTML code for our first page (Default.aspx):

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title>Dynamic GridView Input Rows</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div style="width:330px;">
        Number of rows to create:&nbsp; 
        <asp:TextBox ID="numberOfRowsTextBox" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
        <div style="text-align:right;">
            <asp:LinkButton ID="submitLinkButton" runat="server" 
                onclick="submitLinkButton_Click">Submit</asp:LinkButton>
        </div>
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

and below is the code listing for Default.aspx

using System;

public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page 
{
    protected void submitLinkButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        Response.Redirect(String.Format(
                            "DynamicGridViewPage.aspx?rows={0}"
                            , numberOfRowsTextBox.Text));
    }
}

As you can see, all we are doing is passing the value of our TextBox as a query string parameter to our second page. The true juice of our solution is on the next page. But before we go into detail to that we need to setup first what type of values needs to be shown on the page. For this example i've decided to display a simple Person class that has for fields. An ID, a Firstname, a Lastname, and a boolean field called IsChristian. Below is the code for our Person class:

using System;

/// <summary>
/// Summary description for Person
/// </summary>
public class Person : IPerson
{
    private int _ID;
    private string _firstname;
    private string _lastname;
    private bool _isChristian;

    public int ID
    {
        get { return _ID; }
        set { _ID = value; }
    }

    public string Firstname 
    {
        get { return _firstname; }
        set { _firstname = value; }
    }

    public string Lastname
    {
        get { return _lastname; }
        set { _lastname = value; }
    }

    public bool IsChristian
    {
        get { return _isChristian; }
        set { _isChristian = value; }
    }

    public Person()    {}

    public override string ToString()
    {
        string returnValue = @"ID: " + this.ID.ToString() + "<br />"
                            + "Firstname: " + this.Firstname + "<br />"
                            + "Lastname: " + this.Lastname + "<br />"
                            + "Is Christian: " + this.IsChristian.ToString();
        
        return returnValue;
    }
}

I also created a class Persons that is a generic list of type Person. In that class I created a contructor that accepts a integer value that we will use to create the dummy list of person. The code for our Persons class is listed below:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

/// <summary>
/// Summary description for Persons
/// </summary>
public class Persons: List<Person>
{
    public Persons() {}

    public Persons(int rowCount) {
        this.Clear();
        for (int i = 1; i <= rowCount; i++)
        {
            Person p = new Person();
            p.ID = i;
            this.Add(p);
        }
    }
}

Now on our second page, DynamicGridViewPage.aspx, I decided to place 4 controls. A GridView that would contain our input boxes, a label to display messages, a button to submit the fields and another GridView to show the submit values. I've added these few quirks on the page to demonstrate how you can retrieve entered values in a GridView. Below is the HTML listing for the DynamicGridViewPage.aspx.

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title>Untitled Page</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
        <asp:GridView ID="dynamicGridView" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" 
            DataKeyNames="ID">
            <Columns>
                <asp:TemplateField>
                    <ItemTemplate>
                        <asp:Label ID="idLabel" 
                            runat="server" 
                            Text='<%# Bind("ID") %>'>
                        </asp:Label>
                    </ItemTemplate>
                </asp:TemplateField>
                <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Firstname">
                    <ItemTemplate>
                        <asp:TextBox ID="firstnameTextBox" 
                            runat="server">
                        </asp:TextBox>
                    </ItemTemplate>
                </asp:TemplateField>
                <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Lastname">
                    <ItemTemplate>
                        <asp:TextBox ID="lastnameTextBox" 
                            runat="server">
                        </asp:TextBox>
                    </ItemTemplate>
                </asp:TemplateField>
                <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Christian">
                    <ItemTemplate>
                        <asp:CheckBox ID="isChristianCheckBox" 
                            runat="server" 
                            Enabled="true" />
                    </ItemTemplate>
                </asp:TemplateField>
            </Columns>
        </asp:GridView>
        <asp:LinkButton ID="submitLinkButton" runat="server" 
            onclick="submitLinkButton_Click">Submit</asp:LinkButton>
        <br />
        <br />
        <asp:Label ID="messageLabel" runat="server"></asp:Label>
        <asp:GridView ID="submitedRecordsGridView"
            runat="server">
            <EmptyDataTemplate>
                <b>No record submitted!</b>
            </EmptyDataTemplate>
        </asp:GridView>
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

One of the things that you would quickly realize on our page is that the only thing I'm binding to our GridView is the ID property. The reason is because we don't really need to bind all the fields to our GridView because we are just creating rows. Next, lets look at the code behind for our page.

using System;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Text;

public partial class DynamicGridViewPage : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    public int RowCount
    {
        get
        {
            int returnValue = 0;

            if (Request.QueryString["rows"] != null)
            {
                try
                {
                    int.TryParse(Request.QueryString["rows"].ToString()
                                , out returnValue);
                }
                catch{
                    messageLabel.Text = @"Invalid row count! 
                                        Go back to the <a href=""Default.aspx"">home page</a> 
                                        to enter a value!";
                }
            }

            return returnValue;
        }
    }
    
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (!IsPostBack)
        {
            Persons listOfPersons = new Persons(RowCount);

            dynamicGridView.DataSource = listOfPersons;
            dynamicGridView.DataBind();
        }
    }
    protected void submitLinkButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        Persons listOfPerson = new Persons();
        StringBuilder messageBuilder = new StringBuilder();

        foreach (GridViewRow gr in dynamicGridView.Rows)
        {
            if (gr.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
            {
                Person p = new Person();

                if (gr.FindControl("idLabel") != null)
                {
                    p.ID = int.Parse((gr.FindControl("idLabel") as Label).Text);
                }

                if (gr.FindControl("firstnameTextBox") != null)
                {
                    p.Firstname = (gr.FindControl("firstnameTextBox") as TextBox).Text;
                }

                if (gr.FindControl("lastnameTextBox") != null)
                {
                    p.Lastname = (gr.FindControl("lastnameTextBox") as TextBox).Text;
                }

                if (gr.FindControl("isChristianCheckBox") != null)
                {
                    p.IsChristian = (gr.FindControl("isChristianCheckBox") as CheckBox).Checked;
                }

                if (!p.Firstname.Equals(String.Empty) 
                    && !p.Lastname.Equals(String.Empty))
                {
                    listOfPerson.Add(p);
                }
                else
                {
                    messageBuilder.Append(String.Format(
                                            @"Record on line number {0} 
                                              was not submitted because 
                                              it doesn''t have a 
                                              Firstname or Lastname!<br />"
                                            , p.ID));
                }
            }
        }

        if (messageBuilder.Length > 0)
        {
            messageLabel.Text = messageBuilder.ToString();
        }
        else
        {
            messageLabel.Text = String.Empty;
        }

        submitedRecordsGridView.DataSource = listOfPerson;
        submitedRecordsGridView.DataBind();
    }
}

What happens on the code-behind is pretty simple. When the page loads it checks to see if it is not a PostBack, if it's not then it tries to retrieve the rows to create using the RowCount property. Once retrieved, that value is then passed to the contructor of the Persons class to create a dummy list of items that would then be assigned to the DataSource property of our GridView.

I've added code to the submit button to simulate submissions to show how you can retrieve the values entered on our GridView.

And that's it. Thats how you create a dynamic rows in a GridView and access the values. I hope i was to shed light on this issue. Thanks!

Want the source code? Download it here: KeithRull.DynamicGridViewRows.v2.zip (6.37 KB)

.NET | ASP.NET

Saturday, July 26, 2008 10:21:24 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0] |

Some useful date processing SQL Snippets

Here's an update to my blog entry 3 years ago regarding the same topic:

---Calculates the first day of the previous month
SELECT DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()) - 1, 0) 
AS [First day of the previous month]

---Calculates the first day of current month
SELECT DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()), 0) 
AS [First day of the current month]

---Calculates the first day of next month
SELECT DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()) + 1, 0) 
AS [First day of the next month]

---Calculates the last day of the previous month
SELECT DATEADD(d, -1, DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()), 0)) 
AS [Last day of the previous month]

---Calculates the last day of the current month
SELECT DATEADD(d, -1, DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()) + 1, 0)) 
AS [Last day of the current month]

--Calculates the last day of the next month
SELECT DATEADD(d, -1, DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()) + 2, 0)) 
AS [Last day of the next month]

--Calculates the first day of the year
SELECT DATEADD(yy, DATEDIFF(yy,0,GetDate()), 0) 
AS [First day of the year]

--Calculates the first day of the quater
SELECT DATEADD(qq, DATEDIFF(qq,0,GetDate()), 0) 
AS [First day of the quarter]

--Calculates the first monday of the month
SELECT DATEADD(wk, DATEDIFF(wk,0,dateadd(dd, 6 - DATEPART(Day,GetDate()),GetDate())), 0) 
AS [First monday of the month]

--Calculates the last day of the prior month
SELECT DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(mm,0,GetDate()), 0) 
AS [Last day of the previous month]

--Calculates the last day of the prior year
SELECT DATEADD(yy, DATEDIFF(yy,0,GetDate()), 0)
AS [Last day of the previous year]

--Calculates the last day of the current year
SELECT DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m,0,GetDate() ) + 1, 0)
AS [Last day of the current year]

--Calculates the monday of the current week
SELECT DATEADD(wk, DATEDIFF(wk,0,GetDate()), 0)
AS [Monday of the current week]

--Calculates the yesterdays date
SELECT DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd,0,getdate()), -1)
AS [Yesterdays date]

--Calculates the todays date
SELECT GetDate()
AS [Todays date]

--Calculates the tommorows date
SELECT DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd,0,getdate()), 1)
AS [Tommorows date]

---Calculates the 15th day of previous month
SELECT DATEADD(d, 14, DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()) - 1 , 0))
AS [15th day of previous month]

---Calculates the 15th day of current month
SELECT DATEADD(d, 14, DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()), 0))
AS [15th day of current month]

---Calculates the 15th day of next month
SELECT DATEADD(d, 14, DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m, 0, GETDATE()) + 1, 0))
AS [15th day of next month]

--Gets the name of the current month
SELECT DATENAME(month, GetDate())
AS [Name of the current month]

--Gets the weekday name of the current date
SELECT DATENAME(dw, GetDate())
AS [Weekday name of the current date]

--Gets the weekday name of the current date next year
SELECT DATENAME(dw, DATEADD(yy, 1, GetDate()))
AS [Weekday name of the current date next year]

--Gets the weekday name of the current date last year
SELECT DATENAME(dw, DATEADD(yy, -1, GetDate()))
AS [Weekday name of the current date last year]

And here's the result for the query above

First day of the previous month
-------------------------------
2008-06-01 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

First day of the current month
------------------------------
2008-07-01 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

First day of the next month
---------------------------
2008-08-01 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Last day of the previous month
------------------------------
2008-06-30 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Last day of the current month
-----------------------------
2008-07-31 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Last day of the next month
--------------------------
2008-08-31 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

First day of the year
-----------------------
2008-01-01 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

First day of the quarter
------------------------
2008-07-01 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

First monday of the month
-------------------------
2008-07-07 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Last day of the previous month
------------------------------
2008-07-01 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Last day of the previous year
-----------------------------
2008-01-01 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Last day of the current year
----------------------------
2008-08-01 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Monday of the current week
--------------------------
2008-07-21 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Yesterdays date
-----------------------
2008-07-23 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Todays date
-----------------------
2008-07-24 11:40:57.557

(1 row(s) affected)

Tommorows date
-----------------------
2008-07-25 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

15th day of previous month
--------------------------
2008-06-15 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

15th day of current month
-------------------------
2008-07-15 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

15th day of next month
-----------------------
2008-08-15 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Name of the current month
------------------------------
July

(1 row(s) affected)

Weekday name of the current date
--------------------------------
Thursday

(1 row(s) affected)

Weekday name of the current date next year
------------------------------------------
Friday

(1 row(s) affected)

Weekday name of the current date last year
------------------------------------------
Tuesday

(1 row(s) affected)

I'm hoping that I could update this regularly. Did I miss anything? Post it on the comments and lets start an archive of useful sql date scripts.

SQL

Thursday, July 24, 2008 7:13:42 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1] |

Ten Questions with Melvin Dave Vivas

In part 3 of our series "Ten Questions - Filipino Developer Edition", I was able to talk to Melvin Dave Vivas, founder of PinoyJUG, developer, technopreneur and part-time fashion photojounalist(Heheh! I bet he wants me to include this on his intro :P).

Read more about this interview here.

Fun Stuff | Interviews

Thursday, June 26, 2008 7:02:41 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0] |

A friend of mine needs your help..

My friend Marlon Ribunal who is a developer and an avid SQL Server blogger needs your help... Her mother who is in the Philippines got diagnose with Leukemia yesterday and he needs financial help to get her mother decent medical treatment. Below is his message posted on his blog:

God Bless You!

I am in need of financial help for my mother who has been diagnosed with Leukemia. She is in the Philippines right now. She is only 55 years old.

I am sending this email to people who, in one way or another, might be willing to help. Our primary need is Financial, but a sincere Prayer for the recovery of my mother is likewise important.

If you know groups of people or organizations who are doing Charitable works toward families in need of financial help, please send me information on how to contact them.

Few years ago (2002), I came here in America through my wife's petition. But all through out these years we've been struggling financially. My wife got laid off from her work because their company can no longer support their business and decided to close down. Our family's financial resources are not enough to put our mother under decent medication.

If you know anyone who can help us financially, please contact me immediately. My information is below.

Sincerely,
Marlon Ribunal

US Info:

Marlon Ribunal
(562) 989-5406 [ Home ]
(562) 786-2889 [Celphone ]

mribunal @ verizon.net

Philippines Info:

Mario Ribunal, Jr.

09215102848

Please help Marlon. Thanks and God Bless!

Life | My Faith

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 12:24:19 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2] |

Ubuntu is not a Game ;)

A friend of mine sent this link to me today and it made me really laugh really hard... Man, talk about someone posting a review on something that they don't really understand.

Actual review link can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000PSWZSC/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_2?%5Fencoding=UTF8&pageNumber=2&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Comments about his post can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1PPJ35WY17216/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000PSWZSC&nodeID=#wasThisHelpful

Hehehe!

Fun Stuff | Weird Wide Web

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 10:50:44 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2] |

Ten Questions with Jojo Paderes

This week we continue our quest to get to know well-known Filipino developers and this time I was able to catch Jojo Paderes, one of the founding board members of PinoyJUG, coder-extraordinaire at Viewlocity and father to two lovely twins.

.NET | Fun Stuff | Interviews

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 7:32:21 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0] |

Ten Questions with Migz Paraz

Because of the inspiration from what Chris Williams started I have decided to start Ten Questions - Filipino Developers Edition. Basically, the idea is to interview well-known Filipino developers and ask them 10 questions that would shed light on their persona and their geekiness!

On this first go around we interview Migz Paraz, a fixture in the Philippine IT industry since the 90s. He is well-known for his involvement with the Filipino Java community and for his thoughts posted on his blog at paraz.com among others.

Blog of a Filipino Developer about C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, Java, PHP, SQL Server, MySql and Oracle