This would actually be an interesting universal error message for web sites and apps. It doesn’t help the developer narrow down the problem, but its straight to the point that a feature failed. Fortunately, no developer would use an error message like this since it makes our lives more difficult in identifying a problem and replicating it.

An important thing to keep in mind here is that when a user claims to get an error that’s impossible, we need to remain polite when speaking to them. Keep customers happy by solving their problems and don’t make them feel like fools when they make mistakes, don’t use features correctly, or find bugs. Our customers pay our bills, so be nice to them.


foreach ($list as $i => $values)
{
foreach ($values as $key => $value)
echo "$key => $value";

echo "
";
}


The following steps show you how to setup and install Joomla 2.5 with MSSQL.

Install the PHP Drivers for SQL Server

The Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server driver is needed to connect to SQL Server with PHP. These drivers also provide support for PDO. When you run the setup program, a good place to install the DLLs are in the ext folder in the PHP installation (i.e. C:\Program Files\PHP\ext).

Modify php.ini to Use MSSQL

The PHP configuration file needs to be modified to use the new MSSQL DLL. Add the following code at the end of the .ini file:

[PHP_MSSQL] extension=php_sqlsrv_53_ts_vc9.dll
extension=php_pdo_sqlsrv_53_ts_vc9.dll

The first line is all you need, unless you use PDO which the second line adds support for.

Install Joomla 2.5

Copy Joomla to a folder where you web site will host it and setup IIS to point to it. You still need to manually create a database with SQL Server Management Studio.

Once this is done, run the Joomla installation program. Follow the normal installation routine until you reach the Database Configuration page. When you select the Database Type, you will have the option of Sqlsrv for MSSQL on your server, or Sqlazure for SQL Azure for cloud-based Joomla (see image below).

After these are setup correctly, the rest of the Joomla installation proceeds normally.

Restoring the file association isn’t very difficult. One solution is to run assoc .scr=scrfile in the command shell. If this doesn’t work, open Windows Explorer and follow these steps:

1. Open the Tools menu and select Folder Options.
2. Select the File Types tab.
3. Press the New button.
4. Enter scr in the File Extension text box.
5. Press the Advanced button.
6. Select Screen Saver in the Associated File Type.
7. Press OK and allow the change to a new file type.

Now when you run an .scr file, it displays the screen saver.

There is just one button to press to stop all traffic to cross the road in any direction.

There are more plans for scramble intersections in B.C. They are definitely a great idea since it makes crossing roads considerably safer for pedestrians.

One of the best kept secrets is that Windows 7 comes with a free Window XP virtual machine. It’s not available on the installation DVD. You need to download three components from Microsoft to install it:

1. Windows XP Mode
2. Windows Virtual PC
3. Windows XP Mode Update

You can find these files on the Download Windows XP Mode page and the total download size for all of this is around 483 MB.

Once installed, you have a licensed version of Windows XP that can run all of your old applications. Keep in mind that you should also install a virus scanner (i.e. Microsoft Security Essentials) even if your Windows 7 system is already running one, but a firewall isn’t necessary if Windows 7 has one installed.

After installing XP mode, run Windows Update to install the latest patches for optimal security (this will take about 2-3 hours). Something to consider is backing up your virtual machine after you set it up. This is in case something goes wrong in the future with Windows XP and you have to reinstall it. If its backed up, you can just copy the VM files and your back to where you saved it.

Windows XP is, however, decreasing in usage. It had a 57.6% market share in January 2011. Users are gradually migrating to Windows 7 and eventually Windows 8 when it is released. Windows 8 will be the dominant OS in about 2 years.

label_Folder.Text = "Converting documents to PDF.";

If additional code follows the label_Folder statement, it may not update the Text property. You can force the property to update with the Refresh method:

label_Folder.Text = "Converting documents to PDF.";
label_Folder.Refresh ();

The label will then be updated with the new content. If your using a ToolStripStatusLabel, you don’t have the option of using Refresh this way, i.e.

toolStripStatusLabel_ProcessingStatus.Text = "Status: 12 of 19 documents processed.";
toolStripStatusLabel_ProcessingStatus.Refresh ();

Instead, use this.Refresh () to force an update:

toolStripStatusLabel_ProcessingStatus.Text = "Status: 12 of 19 documents processed.";
this.Refresh ();

The first thing that need to change is the library references. It uses a Java style code which may have been used in an older version of iText for .NET.

using com.lowagie.text;
using com.lowagie.text.pdf;

should be written as:

using iTextSharp.text;
using iTextSharp.text.pdf;

If you cut and paste the code from the examples to VS, you will see multiple errors. Change getInstance to GetInstance, open to Open, add to Add, close to Close. If your not sure about the function being used, delete it (include the period), type a period and the available functions will be listed.

The code will then compile correction in VS 2010. I recommend purchasing iText in Action because it will save you time in learning how to use iText. A knowledge of Java is beneficial, but not necessary to port the examples to .NET.

The following is a simple example of using iText with C#.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

using iTextSharp.text;
using iTextSharp.text.pdf;

namespace Chap0101
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main (string [] args)
    {
      Console.WriteLine ("Chapter 1 example 1: Hello World");

      // step 1: creation of a document-object
      Document document = new Document ();

      // step 2:
      // we create a writer that listens to the document
      // and directs a PDF-stream to a file 

      PdfWriter.GetInstance (document, new FileStream ("Chap0101.pdf", FileMode.Create));

      // step 3: we open the document
      document.Open ();

      // step 4: we add a paragraph to the document
      document.Add (new Paragraph ("Hello World"));

      // step 5: we close the document
      document.Close ();
    }
  }
}