FLA file (.fla)

The source file for any project and created in the Flash authoring tool. This type of file can only be opened in Flash (not in Dreamweaver or in browsers). You can open the FLA file in Flash, then publish it as a SWF or SWT file to use in browsers.

SWF file (.swf)

A compiled version of the FLA (.fla) file, optimized for viewing on the web. This file can be played back in browsers and previewed in Dreamweaver, but cannot be edited in Flash.

FLV file (.flv)

A video file that contains encoded audio and video data for delivery through Flash® Player. For example, if you had a QuickTime or Windows Media video file, you would use an encoder (such as Flash® CS4 Video Encoder, or Sorensen Squeeze) to convert the video file to an FLV file.

SWT files are template versions of the standard .SWF file format.

The difference between a streaming media and progressive download is the server software and corresponding network protocol used to transmit the media file. For organizations utilizing only a web server, distributing a media file using progressive download can often be the simpler option because it utilizes existing infrastructure.

Progressive download can be achieved using a regular web (http) server. The client handles the buffering and playing during the download process. If the playback rate exceeds the download rate, playback is delayed until more data is downloaded.

A streaming server works with the client to send audio and/or video over the Internet or Intranet and play it almost immediately. They allow real-time ‘broadcasting’ of live events, and the ability to control the play-back of on-demand content. Playback begins as soon as sufficient data has downloaded. The viewer can skip to a point part way through a clip without needing to download the beginning. If the data can not be downloaded fast enough, a streamed web cast sacrifices quality in order for the viewing to remain synchronized with the original timing of the content.

“Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that <machineKey> configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster”

I saw a lot of solutions online, but what worked for me is to have my own statically generated Machine Key on Web.Config file.

Go to http://www.aspnetresources.com/tools/keycreator.aspx (or you can write your own code to do this – try this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313091/EN-US/)

Then add the following within System.Web, using the keys returned

<machineKey validationKey=”xsajsjsnajsnajsnasnasnajsajn”
decryptionKey=”sajsnajsnajsnajsnaj” validation=”SHA1″ />

The problem:
I had some DVDs that had minor reading errors.  DVDs are generally fine, except that some scenes won’t play, causing the DVD player to get stuck or show fuzzy images. original edited video files or DVD project are not available. However, raw videos are available

The fix:

Replace the damaged parts in the DVD, rather than burning the entire DVD again

How:

1: Copy the contents of the DVD using windows (I used windows vista) in a folder. The folder will contain VEDIO_TS folder. the VEDIO_TS folder will contain *.IFO, *.BUP and *.VOB files. Skip any file that cannot be copied due to problems with DVD (Say Directory name is – DIR_1)

2: Identify the VOB file, which contains the bad scene. Usually, it is the missing *_1.vob file, which could not be copied in STEP 1. From the video menu, you should be able to get an idea of what would be (or should be) in the file

3:  Create movie file containing only the content of the missing VOB file from original media (tape etc). Then burn this into an ISO image (or a new DVD, if your burner does not have that feature).

4: From the new  DVD image (or the new DVD), copy the new VOB file to a temporary directory. Rename this VOB file, to the missing VOB file name. Copy this file, into the original folder (DIR_1 created in Step 1)

5: Now we need to use a freeware tool FixVTS (Download it). Run FixVTS against DIR_5. Clean the DIR_5 using this tool.

6: Move the backup directory created by FixVTS to a location outside DIR_5, so that DIR_5 will contain only VIDEO_TS directory.

7: Now we need to run another tool – VobBlanker. (Download it). Run VOBBlanker against this directory and recreate the VOB, BUP and IFO files into a new directory. (Say DIR_7) – Remember, VobBlanker is a freeware and may not have the bells and whistles of a professionally written product. Also, if you do not like the audio alerts (they are really annoying to me), just delete the two .wav files.

8: At this point, you need to run FixVTS again. This time, there is no need to keep a backup, so you may check the “in place” check box.

9: Under DIR_7, create VIDEO_TS directory and move all files into that directory.

10: Before burning, make sure that the content fits in to the DVD. If the size is more than that can fit in the DVD, you will need to compress the dvd before burning. (Many burners support that. I use U-Lead movie factory, which has that feature)

11: If your DVDBurner supports creating ISO image from VIDEO_TS files, use that to create an ISO image of DIR_7. Otherwise, use open source tool InfraRecorder (download it). Alternatively, you may directly burn this into a DVD. I prefer to test an image first, before burning it.

12: Test the ISO file (or DVD in step 9). If test works, burn the ISO file.

Caution: make sure that there are no errors or warnings (high lighted in RED/ORANGE) during VOBBlanker process. If a VOB file is modified (like VOBBlanker blanks out some cells), copy the VOB back again, run the FixVTS and then run VOBBlanker again. Usually, by this step, errors will go away….

Compact Framework does not support LINQ yet. It seems, there is no straight forward way to join two DataTables, other than using DataRelations to establish parent-child relationship between DataTables and getting the ChildRows for each parent row.

My specific scenario contained a master and a child table linked by an ID field, which is unique. So, a left join on the ID would not yield multiple data.

I explored using the DataColumn.Expression property (thanks to http://habibcs.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!57A2E0A241105427!183.entry). After creating the DataTables and the DataRelation between the tables, within the same DataSet, I added an additional column, with the Expression property set to refer the child. With a dataview created using the resulting table, I was able to populate a DataGrid successfully  for Windows Mobile 5.0.

DataColumn.Expression only supports aggregates, but I wanted the actual column value, which is a string. I tried with expression “min(Child(data_relationname).child_col_name”. It worked… min is redundant here, but it is needed to pass the syntax check on the expression. Max also should work. If the type is integer, you may use sum or avg etc. It should work fine, as long as the child table does not have multiple entries against the id used in the relation.

I recently experienced a problem when deleting records from SqlSercerCE in PocketPC. “GoogleResearch”, gave inconclusive answers, which did not help. After some debugging, I could figure out the issue, which is worth noting.

To delete the DataRows in the DataTable (from the DataSet of the SqlCeDataAdapter) I was using the Method DataTable.Rows.RemoveAt(index) . When I changed that to use  DataTable.Rows[index].Delete(), the deletion were applied correctly in the database after calling SqlCeDataAdapter.Update(DataTable).

This seems to be a common question in various forums

There is a clear distinction between accessing data in TemplateField and a BoundField

For BoundFields, it is straight forward:

string s = dgMyItems.SelectedRow.Cells[1].Text; // to access the second column of the selected row

For TemplateFields, use the following

string s = ((System.Web.UI.WebControls.Label)dgMyItems.SelectedRow.Cells[2].FindControl(“lblName”)).Text;

Assuming that you defined a label in the templatefield definition for the datagrid, with id =  lblName

for example,

<ItemTemplate>
  <asp:Label ID=”lblName” runat=”server” Text=’<%# Bind(“MyItemName”) %>’></asp:Label>
</ItemTemplate>

I am really impressed by the SPAM Control filters offered by WordPress blog comments and also Hotmail emails. Very effective. There is some potential for loosing some good comments/emails, but the benefit far outweighs.

Microsoft Live Writer, is one of the best things Microsoft has done for bloggers. It is free and works with pretty much all blogs. I like their multiple accounts feature and also the automatic image ftp features.

One thing I like to see is “automatic signature” for each blog account that will be padded to each blog entry.

I am using Visual Studio 2008 Trial version with Windows Vista Ultimate. In the document windows, the moment I roll the wheel of my wheel mouse, studio crashes. I changed the mouse but same problem occurred. It is very annoying. It seems like this is a problem that had been already reported.

The workaround is the following:

1. Go to Windows Vista Control Panel

2. Click Mouse

3. Go to Wheel tab

4: If Vertical Scrolling Selection is “One scroll at a time”, change the selection to

“The following number of lines at a time. “. Select the number to 1 (or more as you please)

5: Click OK

This seems to have fixed the problem for me.

If Vertical Scrolling Selection is NOT “One scroll at a time”, then you need to report the bug to Microsoft.

Microsoft needs to fix this issue. Hope it will be included in the release version.

If you are wondering what happened to the command line executable that can start the Built in Web Server, it is very much there. But, it is no longer at the .Net Framework \WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\WebDev.WebServer.EXE as the case with Visual Studio 2005.

It is now available at

C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\DevServer\9.0\WebDev.WebServer.EXE

You may use the following in a batch file:

START /D “C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\DevServer\9.0\” /B WebDev.WebServer.EXE /port:80 /path:”D:\MyWeb”

Change the port number and web path as required.