We guys Blog, and now Google tells us to go beyond it. In words of Google, a knol is an authoritative article about a specific topic.

In first look, it seems like a combination of Blogs and Wikipedia. Here you create articles as you do in Blogs, but they are consolidated as in Wiki. There can be contributors, communities and collaborations. Moreover, you can have revisions. You can review Knols, post comments and reply to comments. So this makes it more like forums.

I found some really nice topics in there like Blood Transfusion, Muscle Cramps and the best part is, that these topics are by authentic people from respective fields. Google verifies experts so their content is genuine.

So go on....

Add your piece of knowledge to KNOL

http://knol.google.com/k/knol#

Oh by the way, I loved the way it uses AJAX. Really SUPERFAST

Hi friends,

Here I present an updated way of using AJAX. In my previous post, I explained the use of AJAX through 3 functions. First one will create object, second will send request, and third will receive the response.

Now I have combined these three functions to one. Here it is...

function getPage(CallPage, DivToPopulate)
{
// Declare Object
var httpObject=false;
if(window.XMLHttpRequest) {
// Opera 8.0+, Firefox, Safari
httpObject=new XMLHttpRequest();
}
else if(window.ActiveXObject) {
//Internet Explorer
httpObject=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
if(!httpObject){
httpObject=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
}
}
else{
alert("Your Browser is not compatible to use this application");
}
// Show some default message in the Div, that will contain the Content
document.getElementById(DivToPopulate).innerHTML = 'Loding Content...';

//Cache work around
var datevar = new Date();
var timevar = datevar.getTime();
var timestamp= 'TEMP=' + timevar + Math.random();
if (CallPage.indexOf("?") > 0)
{
CallPage = CallPage + '&' + timestamp;
}
else
{
CallPage = CallPage + '?' + timestamp;
}

httpObject.open("GET", CallPage, true);
httpObject.onreadystatechange = function(){
if (httpObject.readyState == 4) {
var txt = httpObject.responseText;
// Show content
document.getElementById(DivToPopulate).innerHTML = txt;
}
};
httpObject.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
httpObject.send(null);
// Function by Vikramjit R.Rai http://www.vikramjits.com
// For any help, feel free to contact vikramjit.rooprai@gmail.com
}

USAGE:

Simply call the getPage function with two arguments. First is the page to be called and second is the DIV to be populated with the contents of the Page called.

that's it...

Happy Coding :)

Finally I found a solution to a major problem that almost every developer face at least once in his programming career. This problem is of remote deployment, where you have to send data through a script. It is a real headache to write hundreds of insert queries. Well, the life saver is here...

The solution is "DATABASE PUBLISHING WIZARD"

You can download it from http://www.codeplex.com/sqlhost/Wiki/View.aspx?title=Database%20Publishing%20Wizard

Simply install this file and it will appear in your start menu. Click it, run the GUI wizard, and follow the steps.

If you want to do this by command line, or want to know more about this tool, its readme file can help. I am pasting it here for your reference.

----

README FILE OF DATABASE PUBLISHING WIZARD

SQL Server Database Publishing Wizard
(c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 2006. All rights reserved.
Website: http://www.codeplex.com/sqlhost

=======================================
What is the Database Publishing Wizard?
=======================================

The Database Publishing Wizard enables the deployment of SQL Server databases
(both schema and data) into a shared hosting environment.  The tool supports
both SQL Server 2005 and 2000 and does not require that source and target
servers are the same version.

The tool provides two modes of deployment:

  1) It generates a single SQL script file which can be used to recreate
  a database when the only connectivity to a server is through a
  web-based control panel with a script execution window.

  2) It connects to a web service provided by your hoster and directly
  creates objects on a specified hosted database

The tool may also be used by hosters to script out databases for backup or
transfer purposes.

=====
Usage
=====

The Database Publishing Wizard provide both a graphical and a command-line
interface.  To use the graphical interface, simply execute "sqlpubwiz.exe"
without any arguments.

To retrieve details on the arguments supported by the command-line
interface, execute the following command:

  sqlpubwiz help

The tool also integrates directly into Visual Web Developer 2005 Express
Edition and all non-Express SKUs of Visual Studio.  Right click on any
SQL Server database connecton and select "Publish to provider..." to launch
the wizard.

For further details on usage please see:

http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=sqlhost&title=Database%20Publishing%20Wizard

======================================
Simple Command Line Scripting Examples
======================================

The following command will script the FooDB database existing on the local
machine and default instance using the Windows credentials of the executing
user to C:\FooDB.sql:

  sqlpubwiz script -d FooDB C:\FooDB.sql

The following command will script the FooDB database from the default
instance on a machine named MYSERVER using SQL Server authentication with
the username "Alice" and the password "7h92-v6k3" to the file C:\FooDB.sql:

  sqlpubwiz script -d FooDB -S MYSERVER -U Alice -P 7h92-v6k3 C:\FooDB.sql

============
Known Issues
============

For a list of known issues, please see:
http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=sqlhost&title=DPW%20Known%20Issues

================================================
Support, Feedback, Bug Reports, Feature Requests
================================================

For support and any feedback on the tool, please use the following forum:
  http://www.codeplex.com/Project/ListThreads.aspx?ProjectName=sqlhost&ForumId=1807

----

If you want to detect all accessible instances of SQL Server, simply create a .NET project and add a COM reference to Microsoft SQLDMO

Now Open your code file and paste this code in a function...

Dim sqlServers As SQLDMO.NameList

Dim sqlServer As String

' Get a list of servers

sqlServers = New SQLDMO.Application().ListAvailableSQLServers

For Each sqlServer In sqlServers

Response.Write(sqlServer,"<br>")

Next

When you will call this function, list of all accessible SQL Server instances will be printed on screen.

:)

Wanna have fun with Binary and ASCII stuff...

open command prompt. Press ALT key and while key is kept pressed, type the Binary code for 'A', which is 1000001. Now, when you will release the ALT key, you will get 'A' printed on prompt. But if you try typing Binary of 'B' (1000010), you will get 'J'.

WHY???

The answer is simple...

Console does not understand Binaries. Instead, it works with ASCII codes. If you press ALT key and type some ASCII code, it will print the character equivalent of that ASCII. In case the number is larger than 256, it will be divided by 256 and remainder will be treated as the new number to be evaluated. As a matter of fact, when we mod binary code or 'A', we get ASCII code for 'A' itself. But in binaries of 'A' and 'B', there is a difference of 10 decimal numbers. So J is printed.

So, just hv fun with other binary stuff.     

Hi guys,

I am back with a new trick. This time we will obfuscate URL and IP Address. But before that, a warning...

This hack will not work on browsers behind Proxy/Firewall. Also, only IP Addresses can be obfuscated by this technique. So any complete URL, rendering to an IP Address can be used. No Sub-domains

So Here we go.

This technique will convert URL looking like http://www.google.com to something like http://0xD1559968

How to do...

Step 1: Get IP Address for URL you want to obfuscate. Easiest way to do so is go to command shell by typing "cmd" at run (Win Key + R)

Step 2: Now perform calculation on this IP Address using the following example...

firstoctet * 256 + secondoctet = * 256 + thirdoctet = * 256 + fourthoctet = your new address!

Let's do this with an example...

URL: http://www.google.com

IP Address: 209.85.153.104

Calculation:

     209 * 256 + 85 = 53589

     53589 * 256 + 153 = 13718937

     13718937 * 256 + 104 = 3512047976

Now you can check site http://3512047976

To make things even smarter, convert this number to HEX. You can use the normal calculator (Start » All Programs » Accessories » Calculator) for this. It has a scientific mode in which it will convert any number from DEC to HEX. From there you will get http://0xD1559968

So here you go....

Obfuscate IPs and URLs, and have fun.

Just remember to get away from any PROXY or Firewall.

And no sub-domains.

Lot of people complain that they have tough time with the Refresh Key of browser when using (JavaScript) AJAX. Well, there is a very easy workaround to get rid of same.

This is a two step process...

Let's take a scenario where you have a page (say default.html) and you call the AJAX function (say getPage()) to load the first default page into container. Now in first step, you need to modify your default call to getPage() from default.html...

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

var Crawl = window.location.hash;

if (Crawl.length > 1)
{
    Crawl = Crawl.replace('#','');
    Crawl = Crawl + window.location.search;       
     getPage(Crawl);
}
else
{
    getPage(default.asp');
}

</script>

But this is only one part. Another important part in inside the getPage() function.

When you call getPage() function, simply set a global variable (say Hash) to the page being called.

i.e. if you the function prototype is function getPage(PageName) {}, write command...

function getPage(CallPage) {

     Hash = CallPage;

}

Now within this function, you must be calling another function (say handleHttpResponse) on onreadystatechange event. Inside this function, set the HASH value of page by writing command...

window.location.hash = Hash;

And bingo!!!! You are done. Now your F5/Refresh problem is solved. If you need any more details on this, feel free to contact me at vikramjit.rooprai@gmail.com

Are you looking forward to encrypt URL through JavaScript and retrieve it. Well this is particularly helpful for people using AJAX's Refresh functionality as I mentioned in my post at  http://vikramjits.blogspot.com/2008/05/ajax-refresh-problem.html

All you have to do is download this JavaScript file and call function encrypt/decrypt when calling a page.

e.g.

Step 1 (as mentioned in other Post) will now become...

var Crawl = window.location.hash;
    if (Crawl.length > 1)
     {
        Crawl = unescape(Crawl.replace('#',''));
        Crawl = 'AjaxPages/' + decrypt(Crawl) // + window.location.search;       
         getPage(Crawl);
     }
    else
     {
        getPage('AjaxPages/default.asp');
     }

Similarly, when adding to has, write

window.location.hash = escape(encrypt(Hash));

Download JavaScript File

Recently I was facing this problem. I used AJAX in .NET and posting was very smooth without any flicker. But the page transitions were painful. So I found this small piece of code over net.

This is two line implementation that will reduce page flicker during transition to minimum possible time. The only flicker that will remain intact will be if you are using heavy images on page. For textual stuff, you can never judge the difference.

Put following lines in the <HEAD> element of HTML page.

<meta http-equiv="Page-Enter" content="blendTrans(Duration=0)">
<meta http-equiv="Page-Exit" content="blendTrans(Duration=0)">

Now I am trying to display a loader during page load. I know that this is very easy as we are just calling a javascript function during Page-Enter and Page-Exit. I can call my own javascript function during these events who will start loader and then call blendTrans function.

I'll do it soon and will post that code over this blog as well.

By the way, this technique is called:

FAJAX

or

Fake-Ajax

Happy Coding