Getting Mimetype .NET

Private Function MimeType(Filename As String) As String
 Dim mime As String = "application/octetstream"
 Dim ext As String = System.IO.Path.GetExtension(Filename).ToLower()
 Dim rk As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(ext)
 If rk IsNot Nothing AndAlso rk.GetValue("Content Type") IsNot Nothing Then
  mime = rk.GetValue("Content Type").ToString()
 End If
 Return mime
End Function

In short - you just feed it with path top a file - and get back the mime type. Ex MimeType("f:\\theimage.jpg") --->>> "image/jpeg"

The Life and Times of Windows XP

Check out this article on the lifetime of windows XP...

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/10/ten-years-of-windows-xp-how-longevity-became-a-curse.ars

Check For 64bit Operating System VB.NET 2.0

    Public Function Is64BitOperatingSystem() As Boolean?
        Dim amount As Integer
        Try
            amount = Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf(IntPtr.Zero)
            If amount = 8 Then : Return True
            Else : Return False
            End If
        Catch ex As Exception
            Return Nothing
        End Try
    End Function 'End Method Is64BitOperatingSystem

Count Lines in File

The fastest solution + holds only 1 line at a time in the memory (best solution)

Private Function TotalLines(filePath As String) As Integer
 Using r As New StreamReader(filePath)
  Dim i As Integer = 0
  While r.ReadLine() IsNot Nothing
   i += 1
  End While
  Return i
 End Using
End Function

Retrieve Environment Variables

   1: ''' <summary>

   2: ''' Class to retrieve environment variables and custom declared variables with following format %VARIABLE%

   3: ''' </summary>

   4: ''' <remarks>A class used to read a string and transform all known variables with format %VARIABLE%,returning the converted string</remarks>

   5: Public Class VariableRetriever

   6:  

   7:     #Region "Methods"

   8:  

   9:     ''' <summary>

  10:     ''' Converts all known variables with format %VARIBALE% in the provided string

  11:     ''' </summary>

  12:     ''' <param name="str">Provide a string to transform</param>

  13:     ''' <returns>Returns the converted string</returns>

  14:     ''' <remarks>If an error occurs an empty string will be returned</remarks>

  15:     Protected Friend Shared Function GetAllVarFromString(ByVal str As String) As String

  16:         'try to get all the special %xxx% from the string

  17:         'replace and rebuild string

  18:         Try

  19:         

  20:             Dim split() As String = Nothing

  21:             Dim i As Integer = 0

  22:             Dim var As String = Nothing

  23:             Dim firstindex As Integer = Nothing

  24:             Dim secondindex As Integer = Nothing

  25:             If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(str) Then

  26:                 If str.Contains("%") Then

  27:                     Do Until str.Contains("%") = False

  28:                         firstindex = Nothing

  29:                         secondindex = Nothing

  30:                         var = Nothing

  31:  

  32:                         firstindex = str.IndexOf("%")

  33:                         If Not firstindex = -1 Then

  34:                             secondindex = str.IndexOf("%", firstindex + 1)

  35:                             If Not secondindex = -1 Then

  36:                                 var = str.Substring(firstindex + 1, secondindex - firstindex - 1)

  37:                                 ReDim Preserve split(i)

  38:                                 split(i) = str.Substring(0, firstindex)

  39:                                 i = i + 1

  40:                                 ReDim Preserve split(i)

  41:                                 split(i) = GetVar(var)

  42:                                 str = str.Remove(0, secondindex + 1)

  43:                                 i = i + 1

  44:                             End If

  45:                         End If

  46:                     Loop

  47:                     ReDim Preserve split(i)

  48:                     split(i) = str

  49:                     If Not split.Length > 0 Then

  50:                         Return str

  51:                     Else

  52:                         Return Join(split, "")

  53:                     End If

  54:                 Else

  55:                     Return str

  56:                 End If

  57:             Else

  58:                 Return str

  59:             End If

  60:         Catch ex as Exception

  61:             Return ""

  62:         End Try

  63:     End Function 'End Method GetAllVarFromString

  64:  

  65:     ''' <summary>

  66:     ''' Converts a %VARIABLE% to it's value

  67:     ''' </summary>

  68:     ''' <param name="variable">Provide a variable %VARIABLE% as string</param>

  69:     ''' <returns>Returns converted string</returns>

  70:     ''' <remarks></remarks>

  71:     Protected Friend Shared Function GetVar(ByVal variable As String) As String

  72:         Try

  73:             If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(variable) Then

  74:                 variable = RemoveProcents(variable)

  75:                 'Here you can add some variables

  76:                 'A few examples %APPPATH% will return the application startup path

  77:                 '%APPNAME% just gets the filename without extension

  78:                 Select Case UCase(variable)

  79:                     Case "APPPATH"

  80:                         Return Application.StartupPath

  81:                     Case "APPNAME"

  82:                         Return IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(Application.ExecutablePath)

  83:                     Case Else

  84:                         Return Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(RemoveProcents(variable))

  85:                 End Select

  86:             Else : Return variable

  87:             End If

  88:  

  89:         Catch ex As Exception

  90:             Return ""

  91:         End Try

  92:     End Function 'End Method GetVar

  93:     

  94:     ''' <summary>

  95:     ''' Removes all % characters in a string

  96:     ''' </summary>

  97:     ''' <param name="str">Provide a string</param>

  98:     ''' <returns>Returns a string with % characters stripped</returns>

  99:     ''' <remarks></remarks>

 100:     Private Shared Function RemoveProcents(ByVal str As String) As String

 101:         If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(str) Then

 102:             str = Replace(str, "%", "")

 103:         End If

 104:         Return str

 105:     End Function 'End Method RemoveProcents

 106:  

 107: #End Region 'Methods

 108:  

 109: End Class 'End Type VariableRetriever

 110:  

Disclaimer

 

   1: #Region "Header"

   2: 'Copyright (c) 2011 <a href="http://kaoticreality.blogspot.com">Kraeven</a>

   3: '

   4: 'Knowledge needs to shared to enlighten the world ~ Kraeven ®

   5: '

   6: 'Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy

   7: 'of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal

   8: 'in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights

   9: 'to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell

  10: 'copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is

  11: 'furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

  12: '

  13: 'The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in

  14: 'all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

  15: '

  16: 'THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR

  17: 'IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,

  18: 'FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

  19: 'AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER

  20: 'LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,

  21: 'OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN

  22: 'THE SOFTWARE.

  23:  

  24: #End Region 'Header

What happens when you navigate to a URL?

Browse the net I found a really interesting article about what actually happens when you type in a URL in your browser.

How does the content of website makes its way to your browser for display?

Full Article : http://igoro.com/archive/what-really-happens-when-you-navigate-to-a-url/

In an nutshell:

1. You enter a URL into the browser

2. The browser looks up the IP address for the domain name

The first step in the navigation is to figure out the IP address for the visited domain.

3. The browser sends a HTTP request to the web server

4. The Facebook server responds with a permanent redirect

 

5. The browser follows the redirect

The browser now knows that “http://www.facebook.com/” is the correct URL to go to, and so it sends out another GET request

6. The server ‘handles’ the request

The server will receive the GET request, process it, and send back a response.

7. The server sends back a HTML response

8. The browser begins rendering the HTML

Even before the browser has received the entire HTML document, it begins rendering the website:

9. The browser sends requests for objects embedded in HTML

10. The browser sends further asynchronous (AJAX) requests

Upgrade Internet Explorer 1.0 to 9.0

http://www.winrumors.com/man-upgrades-internet-explorer-1-0-to-9-0-video/

Credits go to Andrew Tait

From the same person who made the video about upgrading from windows 1.0 to 7
another nostalgic video taking us way back into Internet Explorers past.

The video shows the install processes and UI for each version of Internet Explorer.

Andrew also tested the various versions at the Acid test pages.

Enable Compiler Extensions in .NET 2.0

If you get an error like shown below; this is probably due to the downgrade of a project from .NET 3.5 or higher to .NET 2.0

Cannot define a new extension method because the compiler required type 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ExtensionAttribute' cannot be found. Are you missing a reference to System.Core.dll?

Extension methods are a new feature in .NET 3.5 (C#3/VB9) that let you appear to "spot weld" new methods on to existing classes.
If you think that the "string" object needs a new method, you can just add it and call it on instance variables.

But how do we accomplish this in .NET 2.0?

VB.NET

' you need this once (only), and it must be in this namespace

Namespace System.Runtime.CompilerServices

    <AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly Or AttributeTargets.[Class] Or AttributeTargets.Method)> _

    Public NotInheritable Class ExtensionAttribute

        Inherits Attribute

    End Class

End Namespace

' you can have as many of these as you like, in any namespaces

Public NotInheritable Class MyExtensionMethods

    Private Sub New()

    End Sub

    <System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _

    Public Shared Function MeasureDisplayStringWidth(graphics As Graphics, text As String) As Integer

        ' ... 

    End Function

End Class

C#

// you need this once (only), and it must be in this namespace

namespace System.Runtime.CompilerServices

{

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly | AttributeTargets.Class

         | AttributeTargets.Method)]

    public sealed class ExtensionAttribute : Attribute {}

}

// you can have as many of these as you like, in any namespaces

public static class MyExtensionMethods {

    public static int MeasureDisplayStringWidth (

            this Graphics graphics, string text )

    {

           /* ... */

    }

}