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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

What is JSON?

JSON stands for Javascript Object Notation. It is a special object notational construct and is a subset of JavaScript. It can be used wherever JavaScript can be used and you do not need to download anything. There is no need to worry about the version of JavaScript, It works with all JavaScript versions.

RFC 4627 describes all aspects of JSON. JSON was designed to be brief (small), textual, and portable. The MIME Media Type is now registered as application/json. JSON can handle exchanging data in applications written in different programming languages such as C, C#, ColdFusion, Perl, Python, Ruby, and so forth.

On getting JSON data from SQL Server read this interesting artilce by William Brewer.

How do I display the currency rates of four countries on my site?

First of all you need to get hold of a web service that provides this information daily.

Then you need to write a client application to access the service.
You can do write the client application in Java, .NET, VB etc.

Monday, February 9, 2009

How can I turn folder pictures into a slide show?

I have many folders with pictures and only in some of them I can show pictures in a slide show( in Windows XP), how can I turn folder pictures into a slide show?

There is a default behavior that you can turn on for all folders. However for a single folder, the best way is to access the folder properties by right clicking the folder.
This opens the Properties window as shown. In here the folder name is SQLDeveloper. Presently I cannot bring up the slide show.

Click on the Customize tab of this window. Then click on the drop-down handle as shown and choose Picture Album.

Now when you open the folder you have Picture Tasks navigation on the left where you find the "View as a slide show".

Now you are ready to show off.

Monday, January 19, 2009

How do I copy the text from a DOS screen?

You need to highlight the text in DOS screen, copy the text and paste it
into Notepad or Word.
Let us say you want to copy the text on this screen.

Step 1: Highlight the text as follows:
Right click anywhere on the title (blue strip at the top) and from the drop-down
menu choose Edit | Mark.

Step 2: Highlight the text now.
Mark the text by sweeping your mouse (held down) over the text you want to
mark as shown.

Step3: Go back to the title, right click and choose Edit| Copy. This copies the text
and now open Notepad from Start | Accessories |Notepad. With the Notepad open click on
Edit | Paste. The copied text is now pasted to the open Notepad as shown.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

What are Smart Tasks?

This is yet another design aid from Microsfot to make life easier for the
developer and to increase his/her productivity. There are property windows and Property pages for customizing the controls at design time. Smart Tasks makes it even easier by listing the tasks a designer has to configure for a given control on a web page or a windows form.

Here is an example. This is a SQLDataSource control on a web page.

To see what tasks need to be completed for this control, click on the right pointing arrow. This changes the control as shown in this figure. There is just one task- Configure Data Source...

When you click on Configure Data Source link the wizard wakes up and will take you through the process of the configuration.

How do I find the version of SQL Server I have?

Open SQL Server Management Studio and run the query shown.

The figure shows the query and query result for the SQL Server 2008
on my computer.

Monday, January 12, 2009

What is Dvorak style keyboard?

The ASDFGH or QWERTY board is the standard key board from the days of typewriters to this day. You are supposed to type with both hands to type fast. However the DVORAK style keyboard can be used for typing with one hand, either left or right or both. It is supposed to be faster than the QWERTY.

This is one of the accessibility options in Windows XP which you can access from
Control Panel | Regional Languages (window) | Languages to open