For once, apple fanboys just shut up.

I am tired of reading so many articles around the web saying how android is "not truly an open source", "carriers have more freedom" blah blah., I am posting this article as an answer to all of you stupid apple fanboys. I call my self an Andriod fanboy, but I don't hate Apple (or any company for that matter). I know that you own a  iSomething device, so you think you are on above the entire world. Time for reality check : Just because you own a stupid phone / pod / computer, you are not superior and just because I own a open device, that doesn't make me superior either.

Open Source :

First let me tell you one thing. I like apple products, they are truly innovative and I do like some of the features of  iOS. Having said that, let us send you apple fanboys back to school to teach the true meaning of "Open source". Visit the official open source  foundation's link :  

http://opensource.org/docs/osd.

And, once you had read and understood the meaning as I had mentioned in the above paragraph, then below commands will make sense to you guys :

$ mkdir android_src
$ cd android_src
$ repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git
$ repo sync

Don't get me started about how Google hasn't released the source code for honeycomb yet (as of May -5, 2011), there are no honeycomb based phones yet in the market. They had promised to release it soon. My best guess would be, the source code has references to Google music, and they might not be ready to expose it yet. (Again as of 05/05/2011). 

Let us come to the carrier's restrictions : AT&T , T-Mobile , Sprint, Samsung, HTC have their own flavors of custom ROM's for their devices, so I hear from Fanboys that (in idiotic accent) "we told you so man.." , (in college dumb accent)  : "I told you that Apple is the best, man", etc., Well let me ask you this: Say you want to do a small project for your school, let me make that simple, you want to control some light switches in your school with your cell phone. Let us say that you don't have any iOS devices or Andriod devices, but you want to build something. Option A) You can select iOS if you meet the following criteria: You have an intel based Mac & willing to fork out some money ($99/yr as of 5/5/11) for joining the developer program [I think apple does have some student discount or free for students, but since I am long out of college, I couldn't use the student option :( ] Submit it to app store, wait for the gods at apple to approve your app, God forbid, if you had used an API which is flagged, they WILL reject your app [I think apple allows testing the app on upto 200 devices till the app is published].

B) You can develop an Andriod based app, deploy it to the market for no cost, and you can download it in to any number of devices, for Free!!! And most importantly, it doesn't matter which OS I use, I could have a Mac OS/ Windows/ Linux, it doesn't matter, I can develop Andriod Apps no matter what platform I am in.

Freedom vs Blackbox :

Each platform has its own merits and demerits. Me, I like freedom. If it hasn't been for freedom, we would be still have monarchy, ruled by kings or worse dictators. I don't want some corporate company decide what's best for me. Today they might misguide you with some statistics like: "we approve 97% of all apps", etc., Let me tell you something, if you let corporate board to make choices for you, you will end up paying pretty nasty price later, without even realizing it. For example, today H264 is mostly accepted standard, but lot of companies are already using WebM because of it's free, open source nature. Tomorrow Apple might decide not to support WebM, and might block all apps which uses WebM, so that you would be forced to use the royalty plagued codec which Apple supports. If you ask me, I would like to make my own choices. Until recently Apple didn't even provide explanation for rejection of the apps. Today everybody is talking about video/voice chat, tomorrow Apple might decide: "ok, i am going to ban all the Apps which use 3G or Edge for voice / Video chat", (They won't, at least I think they wouldn't) but legally, you can't do anything other than complaining in a discussion forum. Don't start about how google banned some apps from marketplace. Even if google has banned something, it doesn't mean that you cannot install that app in Android. You can install whatever you want in all devices (Except AT&T of course. They are the one's who always abuse the opensource software)

Platform Security:

You can argue that because the i <....> platform is closed, it is more secure. Let me do a reality check for you: It was never secure, and it will never be secure, and no platform is secure for that matter. Then I hear some fanboys mumble about how easily you can post viruses or some stupid stuff on market because it's open blah blah... You know, even iOS has that issue. There were instances, where a legit paid apps were ripped off by pirates, uploaded with their own custom code back to Appstore. But no one is talking out, fearing backlash from Apple (Don't anger Demi-God's at Apple, if you earn their wrath, you will disappear from face of the earth). So, just because you don't know, it doesn't mean that it is not there. When I install an app from market, it tells me exactly what this app does. For example, If I install a snake game, it would never need to read my contacts or to send SMS. But when you trust your Apple Demi-God's, there could be apps that could secretly send out your entire contact list to a third party. Worst, if a third party developer finds that a bug, like the tracking database, which is accessible by all apps, he can even remotely initiate a transfer by sending some commands.  So, considering all the above scenarios, no platform is entirely secure. When you consider Andriod, I could install an app without verifying the permissions by mistake, same thing, an Apple approver could approve something thinking it's innocent, but actually it could be malicious.

U.S Army is already building it's own flavour of Andriod, so, Think about this : Why would Army be intrested in a platform, if they didn't think it was secure ? So, stop wussing about security (or lack of thereof).


No. of Apps / Games:


Well, only thing I think advantageous about Apple iOS platform is single hardware (it could be double edged sword, but we will discuss that in a later post). Because Apple App store Dev's have to just test their apps/games against a very few hardwares (2 or 3 max), it is very easy for small companies to Test/Release iOS apps. The biggest advantage of Andriod is the biggest disadvantage too when you view it in Developer's point of view. But when you do follow Google's guidelines, your App is guaranteed to work in 99.8 % of andriod devices out there, (Even the one's without "by Google" logo!!!). I am not a hardcore developer, (heck, I haven't even published anything to market, since I didn't think my "hobby" projects are not worth going in to Andriod market) so if you think I have missed a point, please let me know in the comments! 

Tablet world:

Tablet is the only place where Apple has the real advantage. They released the SDK way ahead of time, and brought the developers on board before they released the hardware to the market. While there are good Andriod tablets, when it comes to tablets, iPad is the best as of now (Sigh.. There I said it..). Most of the apps in Andriod market are not customized for tablets. For example, the simple weather channel's app, doesn't work properly for some reason. But still, iPad is too expensive for me to afford for now. May be one day (sigh..) I will buy a tablet, but not right now. I don't have a need for it, and I am not planning to use it anytime soon.

My advise to Apple & Andriod fanboys

Get some other hobby other than smartohone and tablets. For crying out loud, it's a device. You don't have to defend or deface any platform. Go to the library, or get a Girl / Boy friend, instead of fighting over in a discussion forum or through comments whenever a new article about Apple / Andriod surfaces in a news site.

PS: Sorry if I have offended anyone. (Except fanboys, because you deserve it). I have just scribbled my thoughts here, If I am wrong in any of the aspect, feel free to leave it in the comments.

Dynamically re-order the columns in SQL Server reporting services

Hi All,

After posting last post I realized that I can re-use the code they have created to dynamically re-order the columns in the table. I played around a little bit and here is what I came up with.

Just name the tablix's header cells as h{Name} and the detail cells as d{Name} and pass the columns as comma separated in the string variable. This method will remove the unwanted columns and will get you the RDL file in a byte array, you can deploy this using SSRS web service end point and then render it.This will dynamically reorder the columns for you.

{Note: In my case I had to do this for the first tablix used in the report, You can tweak this to go to any of the tablix as per your requirement }

Code : 

Private Function ModifyReportDefinition(ByVal pbytReportDefinition As Byte(), ByVal pstrRequiredColumn As String) As Byte()

        Dim objMemorystream As New MemoryStream(pbytReportDefinition)

        Dim xmlReportDoc As New XmlDocument

        Dim xmlNode As xmlNode

        Dim xmlTableHeaderCells As xmlNode

        Dim xmlTableDetailCells As xmlNode

        Dim xmlTableColumns As xmlNode

        Dim xmlTableHeaderCellsNew As xmlNode

        Dim xmlTableDetailCellsNew As xmlNode

        Dim xmlTableColumnsNew As XmlNode

        Dim xmlTablixColumnHierarchy As XmlNode

        Dim xmlTablixColumnHierarchyNew As XmlNode

        Dim xmlParentNode As xmlNode

        Dim xmlCellNode As xmlNode

        Dim xmlDocNode As xmlNode

        Dim arlRequiredColumns As New ArrayList

        Dim encoding As New ASCIIEncoding

        Dim dblPageWidth As Double

        Dim dblPageHeight As Double

        Dim dblTotalWidth As Double = 0.0

        Dim intCounter As Integer = 0

        'Create an XmlNamespaceManager for resolving namespaces.

        Dim nsmgr As XmlNamespaceManager = New XmlNamespaceManager(xmlReportDoc.NameTable)

        Try

            arlRequiredColumns.AddRange(pstrRequiredColumn.Split(","))

            xmlReportDoc.Load(objMemorystream)

            'Add the namespace for Report definition

            nsmgr.AddNamespace("de", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2008/01/reportdefinition")

            xmlDocNode = xmlReportDoc.DocumentElement

            xmlTableHeaderCells = xmlDocNode.SelectSingleNode("//de:Body/de:ReportItems/de:Tablix/de:TablixBody/de:TablixRows/de:TablixRow/de:TablixCells", nsmgr)

            xmlTableDetailCells = xmlDocNode.SelectSingleNode("//de:Body/de:ReportItems/de:Tablix/de:TablixBody/de:TablixRows/de:TablixRow", nsmgr)

            xmlTableColumns = xmlDocNode.SelectSingleNode("//de:Body/de:ReportItems/de:Tablix/de:TablixBody/de:TablixColumns", nsmgr)

            xmlTablixColumnHierarchy = xmlDocNode.SelectSingleNode("//de:Body/de:ReportItems/de:Tablix/de:TablixColumnHierarchy/de:TablixMembers", nsmgr)

            xmlTableDetailCells = xmlTableDetailCells.NextSibling

            xmlTableDetailCells = xmlTableDetailCells.SelectSingleNode("./de:TablixCells", nsmgr)

            xmlTableHeaderCellsNew = xmlTableHeaderCells.Clone

            xmlTableHeaderCellsNew.RemoveAll()

            xmlTableDetailCellsNew = xmlTableDetailCells.Clone

            xmlTableDetailCellsNew.RemoveAll()

            xmlTableColumnsNew = xmlTableColumns.Clone

            xmlTableColumnsNew.RemoveAll()

            xmlTablixColumnHierarchyNew = xmlTablixColumnHierarchy.Clone

            xmlTablixColumnHierarchyNew.RemoveAll()

            'Loop through and identify the required columns

            For Each pstrRequiredColumn In arlRequiredColumns

                intCounter = 0

                For Each xmlCellNode In xmlTableHeaderCells.ChildNodes

                    xmlNode = xmlCellNode.SelectSingleNode("./de:CellContents/de:Textbox", nsmgr)

                    'If the column is in the list, then add to the report.

                    If pstrRequiredColumn = xmlNode.Attributes("Name").Value.Substring(1) Then

                        xmlNode = xmlTableHeaderCells.ChildNodes.Item(0)

                        xmlTableHeaderCellsNew.AppendChild(xmlCellNode.Clone)

                        xmlNode = Nothing

                        xmlNode = xmlTablixColumnHierarchy.ChildNodes.Item(0)

                        xmlTablixColumnHierarchyNew.AppendChild(xmlNode.Clone())

                        xmlNode = Nothing

                        xmlNode = xmlTableDetailCells.ChildNodes.Item(intCounter)

                        If Not (xmlNode Is Nothing) Then

                            xmlTableDetailCellsNew.AppendChild(xmlNode.Clone)

                            xmlNode = Nothing

                            xmlNode = xmlTableColumns.ChildNodes(intCounter)

                            If Not (xmlNode Is Nothing) Then

                                dblTotalWidth = dblTotalWidth + CDec(xmlNode.SelectSingleNode("./de:Width", nsmgr).InnerText().Replace("in", ""))

                                xmlTableColumnsNew.AppendChild(xmlNode.Clone)

                            End If

                            xmlNode = Nothing

                        End If

                        Exit For

                    End If

                    intCounter = intCounter + 1

                Next xmlCellNode

            Next pstrRequiredColumn

            'Take out the existing Header node and add New and re-ordered Header node

            xmlParentNode = xmlTableHeaderCells.ParentNode

            xmlParentNode.RemoveChild(xmlTableHeaderCells)

            xmlParentNode.AppendChild(xmlTableHeaderCellsNew)

            'Take out the existing Details node and add New Details node

            xmlParentNode = xmlTableDetailCells.ParentNode

            xmlParentNode.RemoveChild(xmlTableDetailCells)

            xmlParentNode.AppendChild(xmlTableDetailCellsNew)

            xmlParentNode = xmlTableColumns.ParentNode

            'Take out the existing Table columns node and add New Table columns node

            xmlParentNode.RemoveChild(xmlTableColumns)

            xmlParentNode.AppendChild(xmlTableColumnsNew)

            xmlParentNode = xmlTablixColumnHierarchy.ParentNode

            xmlParentNode.RemoveChild(xmlTablixColumnHierarchy)

            xmlParentNode.AppendChild(xmlTablixColumnHierarchyNew)

            'Now, since we may have removed some columns, we will have to set the new width to the report

            xmlDocNode.SelectSingleNode("./de:Width", nsmgr).InnerText = dblTotalWidth & "in"

            dblPageWidth = 8.5

            dblPageHeight = 11

            'Determine if we have to use "Letter" or "Legal" sized paper.

            If dblTotalWidth > 9 Then

                dblPageWidth = 14

                dblPageHeight = 8.5

            ElseIf dblTotalWidth > 6.5 Then

                dblPageWidth = 11

                dblPageHeight = 8.5

            End If

            xmlDocNode.SelectSingleNode("./de:Page/de:PageWidth", nsmgr).InnerText = dblPageWidth & "in"

            xmlDocNode.SelectSingleNode("./de:Page/de:PageHeight", nsmgr).InnerText = dblPageHeight & "in"

            ''set width to Report Header

            xmlDocNode.SelectSingleNode("./de:Page/de:PageHeader/de:ReportItems/de:Textbox[@Name='ReportTitle']/de:Width", nsmgr).InnerText = (dblPageWidth - 2) & "in"

           

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

  'Get modified xml definition

        Return encoding.GetBytes(xmlReportDoc.InnerXml)

    End Function

Dynamically Hide columns in SQL server reporting services 2008 (SSRS)

Hey All,

I just discovered one hilarious thing in a pre-existing code written by someone some years ago.. OK, first the question : How to dynamically hide/show a coulumn in a Tablix in SQL server reporting services 2005/8 ?

Ok, I will give you a clue:

Option 1: Right click on the column, Select column properties, then choose column visibility, and select "Use expression", and then give the criteria to make it visible.

Option 2: Using .NET code, read the report's RDL XML, remove the column from the Tablix, make sure that the resultant XML is as per the RDL schema standards, and re-deploy the report in to SQL server, run the report, delete the report.

If you had chosen Option 1, then you know what I am talking about.. ha ha ha..

For those who had selected Option 2, sorry, no luck today :) Do a bit of research and you will understand why I am laughing [Can't control my laughter ... ha ha ha. again...]

3DES Encryptor sample in VB.NET

Hi All,


Welcome to my blog again. I had a requirement in my project to encrypt some settings using a simple encryption. But I couldn't find a ready made solution, and from my college days, I always liked 3DES encryption. So, here is a "ready made" solution :

{Note: Of course, you'll have to change the IV (initialization vector) and the Key in the variable strCrypt }

Imports System.Security.Cryptography

Imports System.IO

Public Class clsDCrypto

    Private m_bKey(), m_bIV() As Byte

    Public Sub New()

        Dim strCrypt, strIV As String

        strCrypt = "q5AsCA64SeY+SpoJ24ERrg=="

        strIV = "VaOHJOI2J/c="

        m_bKey = Convert.FromBase64String(strCrypt)

        m_bIV = Convert.FromBase64String(strIV)

    End Sub

    Public Function DecryptString(ByVal strCipherText As String) As String

        Dim strTempDecrypt As String

        Dim memstream2 As New MemoryStream

        Dim iCryptoDecryptor As ICryptoTransform

        Dim tDESProviderd As New TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider

        Dim cryptdStream As CryptoStream

        Dim bCipher As Byte()

        bCipher = Convert.FromBase64String(strCipherText)

        tDESProviderd.KeySize = 128

        iCryptoDecryptor = tDESProviderd.CreateDecryptor(m_bKey, m_bIV)

        cryptdStream = New CryptoStream(memstream2, iCryptoDecryptor, CryptoStreamMode.Write)

        cryptdStream.Write(bCipher, 0, bCipher.Length)

        cryptdStream.FlushFinalBlock()

        memstream2.Position = 0

        Dim temp2(CType(memstream2.Length - 1, System.Int32)) As Byte

        memstream2.Read(temp2, 0, CType(temp2.Length, System.Int32))

        memstream2.Close()

        cryptdStream.Close()

        strTempDecrypt = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(temp2)

        Return strTempDecrypt

    End Function

    Public Function EncryptString(ByVal strPlainText As String) As String

        Dim tDESProvider As New TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider

        'Dim tDes2 As New TripleDES

        Dim cryptStream As CryptoStream

        Dim iCryptoEncryptor As ICryptoTransform

        Dim memStream As New MemoryStream()

        Dim bPlainText As Byte()

        Dim strTempEncrypt As String

        tDESProvider.KeySize = 128

        iCryptoEncryptor = tDESProvider.CreateEncryptor(m_bKey, m_bIV)

        cryptStream = New CryptoStream(memStream, iCryptoEncryptor, CryptoStreamMode.Write)

        bPlainText = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(strPlainText)

        cryptStream.Write(bPlainText, 0, bPlainText.Length)

        cryptStream.FlushFinalBlock()

        Dim tmp(CType(memStream.Length - 1, System.Int32)) As Byte

        memStream.Position = 0

        memStream.Read(tmp, 0, CType(memStream.Length, System.Int32))

        memStream.Close()

        cryptStream.Close()

        strTempEncrypt = Convert.ToBase64String(tmp)

        Return strTempEncrypt

    End Function

End Class

Simple XML Encoder.

Hi All,

I had frequently convert some XML / HTML text in to an encoded text [eg: If you have to post it in a blog], so I came up with this simple [very simple :)] .NET XML encoder. Enjoy!!

[Please let me know what you think in the comments section]

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub txtPlainText_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtPlainText.TextChanged

        Dim strPlainText, strXMLencoded As String

        strPlainText = txtPlainText.Text

        strXMLencoded = System.Web.HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(strPlainText)

        txtDestination.Text = strXMLencoded

    End Sub

    Private Sub cmdCopy_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cmdCopy.Click

        Clipboard.SetText(txtDestination.Text.Trim())

    End Sub

    Private Sub btnConvert_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnConvert.Click

        Dim strPlainText, strXMLencoded As String

        strPlainText = txtPlainText.Text

        strXMLencoded = System.Web.HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(strPlainText)

        txtDestination.Text = strXMLencoded

    End Sub

End Class