So I was browsing the FreeBSD Ftp yesterday and saw that FreeBSD 8.1-Release ISOs were available, and I almost jumped the gun and announced this yesterday.

http://www.freebsd.org/news/newsflash.html#event20100723:01

Yes, Duct Tape gets to add one more use to it already long bag of tricks.

Ok, this is seriously hilarious. Consumer Reports is very reputable. They don’t recommend the iPhone4 but recommend that if you have one, you fix it with Duct Tape.

Can there be anything funnier?

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/519336/Consumer-Reports-Findings-Conflict-With-Apples-Statement-On-iPhone-4

Question: How do you know all software programmers are crazy?

Answer: All their code has to be committed.

A Laffy Taffy style joke by Mark Minson

Hey all,

Here is a simple example of starting and stopping a service in C++. Just pass the service name as a parameter and the service will switch states. If stopped, it will start. If started, it will stop.

// StartStopService.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
//

#include “stdafx.h”
#include
#include

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
SC_HANDLE serviceDbHandle = OpenSCManager(NULL,NULL,SC_MANAGER_ALL_ACCESS);
SC_HANDLE serviceHandle = OpenService(serviceDbHandle, argv[1], SC_MANAGER_ALL_ACCESS);

SERVICE_STATUS_PROCESS status;
DWORD bytesNeeded;
QueryServiceStatusEx(serviceHandle, SC_STATUS_PROCESS_INFO,(LPBYTE) &status,sizeof(SERVICE_STATUS_PROCESS), &bytesNeeded);

if (status.dwCurrentState == SERVICE_RUNNING)
{// Stop it
BOOL b = ControlService(serviceHandle, SERVICE_CONTROL_STOP, (LPSERVICE_STATUS) &status);
if (b)
{
std::cout << "Service stopped." << std::endl; } else { std::cout << "Service failed to stop." << std::endl; } } else {// Start it BOOL b = StartService(serviceHandle, NULL, NULL); if (b) { std::cout << "Service started." << std::endl; } else { std::cout << "Service failed to start." << std::endl; } } CloseServiceHandle(serviceHandle); CloseServiceHandle(serviceDbHandle); return 0; } [/sourcecode]

Hey all,

Here is a simple example of creating or deleting a windows share in C++.

// CreateShare.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
//

#include “stdafx.h”
#include
#include
#include “lm.h”

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
// Create share
if (0 == _tcscmp(argv[1], _T(“create”)))
{
SHARE_INFO_2 si =
{
L”ShareName”,
STYPE_DISKTREE,
L”Any nice comment or remark”,
ACCESS_READ,
DWORD(-1),
0,
L”C:\\Users\\jbarneck\\Desktop\\Share”,
L””
};

DWORD parameterError = 0;
DWORD status = NetShareAdd(NULL, 2, (BYTE *) &si, &parameterError);
if (status != ERROR_SUCCESS)
{
std::cout << "Error: " << status << std::endl; if (status == ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED) // 5L in WinError.h { std::cout << "Access denied." << std::endl; } if (status == NERR_ServerNotStarted) // 2114 in LMErr.h { std::cout << "The Server service is stopped." << std::endl; } if (status == NERR_DuplicateShare) // 2118 in LMErr.h { std::cout << "The share already exists." << std::endl; } } // End program return 0; } // Delete share if (0 == _tcscmp(argv[1], _T("delete"))) { DWORD status = NetShareDel(NULL, L"ShareName", 0); if (status != ERROR_SUCCESS) { std::cout << "Could not delete share: " << status << std::endl; } // End program return 0; } } [/sourcecode] References: NetShareAdd - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb525384%28VS.85%29.aspx NetShareDel - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb525386%28v=VS.85%29.aspx

Ok, so I need to determine if a patch has been applied to an MSI. Lets start with Enumerating the installed products and enumerating all the patches applied for each installed product.

I guess the title should be “How to enumerate installed MSI products and their applied MSP patches.”

I have to do it in C++, which is a drag because it looked like three lines of code in C#, but hey, maybe it isn’t so hard with C++ using .NET as well.

I researched on MSDN, of course.  It looks like I need to use this function: MsiGetPatchInfoEx.  However, I need to know the MSI GUID in order to use that function, so I might as well learn to use the MsiEnumProducts, MsiGetProductInfo, MsiEnumPatches to match the Product to an MSI Guid and that to a patch.

Creating the Project

1. I created a new Project in Visual Studio to test this out. The project type I used was under C++ and is called Win32 Console application.
2. I didn’t make any changes to the default code provided: targetver.h, stafx.h, stafx.cpp.
3. Make sure you have the Platform SDK installed for the next step.
4. I went to the project properties and went to Linker | Inpuut and added to Additional Dependencies the following line:

   "$(WindowsSdkDir)Lib\msi.lib"
   

5. I wrote my code.

Learning the Code
So here is what the code I wrote in this little learning project will do:

1. Create a list or vector to store each MSIProduct.
2. Loop through each installed MSIs using the MsiEnumProducts function and for each installed MSI:
3. Get MSI information using MSIProductInfo.
4. Create an MSIProduct object using the information from MSIProductInfo and add the MSIProduct to the list or vector.
5. Write to standard output the MSI count (as Id), the MSI name, and the MSI Guid.
6. Create a list or vector to store each MSIPatch.
7. Check if any patches or MSPs are applied to the MSI and for each patch:
8. Get MSP information using MSIPatchInfoEx.
9. Create an MSIPatch object using the information from MSIPatchInfoEx and add the MSIPatch to this list or vector.
10. Write to standard output the MSP Guid.

Here is my code:

Run.cpp
This file does all the work and has the tmain function. It creates a list or vector of MSIProduct objects and then uses MsiEnumProducts and MsiGetProductInfo to create and add each MSIProduct to the vector.  It also loops through each of the MSIProduct‘s and find any installed patches.  It adds each patch found to the MSIProduct‘s _Patches vector.

// Run.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
//
#include "stdafx.h"
#include "windows.h"
#include "Msi.h"
#include "MSIProduct.h" // Includes MSIBase.h and MSIPatch.h as well
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

using namespace std;

#define MYSIZE 512

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
	// Step 1. Create a list or vector to store each MSIProduct.
	vector<MSIProduct> *products = new vector<MSIProduct>();

	// Step 2. Loop through each installed MSIs using the MsiEnumProducts
	//            function and for each installed MSI:
	int i = 0;
	bool foundMoreApps = true;
	while (foundMoreApps)
	{
		DWORD size = MYSIZE;
		LPTSTR tmpGuid = new TCHAR[MYSIZE];
		LPTSTR tmpName = new TCHAR[MYSIZE];

		UINT ret1 = MsiEnumProducts(i, tmpGuid);
		if (ret1 > 0)
		{
			foundMoreApps = false;
			continue;
		}

		// Step 3. Get MSI information using MSIProductInfo.
		UINT ret2 = MsiGetProductInfo(tmpGuid, INSTALLPROPERTY_PRODUCTNAME, tmpName, &size);
		if (ret2 > 0)
		{
			// Todo: Handle failure
		}

		// Step 4. Create an MSIProduct object using the information from MSIProductInfo
		//            and add the MSIProduct to the list or vector.
		products->push_back(MSIProduct());
		products->at(i).SetName(tmpName);
		products->at(i).SetGuid(tmpGuid);

		// Step 5. Write to standard output the MSI count (as Id), the MSI name, and the MSI Guid.
		cout << endl;
		cout << "Id: " << i << endl;
		wcout << "Product: " << tmpName << endl;
		wcout << "Guid: " << tmpGuid << endl;
		cout << "Patches: ";

		// Step 6. Create a list or vector to store each MSIPatch.
		vector<MSIPatch> *patches = new vector<MSIPatch>();
		products->at(i).SetPatches(patches);

		// Step 7. Check if any patches or MSPs are applied to the MSI and for each patch:
		int j = 0;
		bool foundMorePatches = true;
		while (foundMorePatches)
		{
			DWORD size = MYSIZE;
			LPTSTR tmpPatchGuid = new TCHAR[MYSIZE];
			LPTSTR tmpPatchState = new TCHAR[MYSIZE];
			LPTSTR tmpPatchTransforms = new TCHAR[MYSIZE];

			UINT retPatch1 = MsiEnumPatches(tmpGuid, j, tmpPatchGuid, tmpPatchTransforms, &size);
			if (retPatch1 > 0)
			{
				cout << "(" << retPatch1 << ") :" << endl;
				foundMorePatches = false;
				continue;
			}

			// These values correspond to the constants the dwFilter parameter
			// of MsiEnumPatchesEx uses.

			// Step 8. Get MSP information using MSIPatchInfoEx.
			UINT retPatch2 = MsiGetPatchInfoEx(tmpPatchGuid, tmpGuid, NULL, MSIINSTALLCONTEXT_MACHINE, INSTALLPROPERTY_PATCHSTATE, tmpPatchState, &size);
			// Returns "1" if this patch is currently applied to the product.
			// Returns "2" if this patch is superseded by another patch.
			// Returns "4" if this patch is obsolete.
			if (retPatch2 > 0)
			{
				// Todo: Handle failure
			}

			// Step 9. Create an MSIPatch object using the information from MSIPatchInfoEx
			//            and add the MSIPatch to this list or vector.
			patches->push_back(MSIPatch());
			patches->at(j).SetPatchState(tmpPatchState);
			patches->at(j).SetGuid(tmpPatchGuid);
			patches->at(j).SetTransforms(tmpPatchTransforms);

			// Step 9. Write to standard output the MSP Guid.
			wcout << "\t" << "Patch Guid: " << tmpPatchGuid << endl;

			j++;
		}

		i++;
	}
}
&#91;/sourcecode&#93;

I did create some simple supporting classes for this:

<strong>MSIBase.h</strong>

[sourcecode language="cpp"]
#pragma once
#include "windows.h"

class MSIBase
{
  public:

	// Constructor
	MSIBase(void);

	// Destructor
	virtual ~MSIBase(void);

	// Accessor functions
	LPTSTR GetName();
	void SetName(LPTSTR inName);

	LPTSTR GetGuid();
	void SetGuid(LPTSTR inGuid);

  protected:
	LPTSTR _Guid;
	LPTSTR _Name;
};

MSIBase.cpp

#include "StdAfx.h"
#include "MSIBase.h"

MSIBase::MSIBase(void)
{
}

MSIBase::~MSIBase(void)
{
}

// Accessor functions
LPTSTR  MSIBase::GetName()
{
	return _Name;
}

void MSIBase::SetName(LPTSTR inName)
{
	_Name = inName;
}

LPTSTR  MSIBase::GetGuid()
{
	return _Guid;
}

void MSIBase::SetGuid(LPTSTR inGuid)
{
	_Guid = inGuid;
}

MSIProduct.h

#include "MSIBase.h"
#include "MSIPatch.h"
#include <vector>

#pragma once
class MSIProduct : public MSIBase
{
public:
	MSIProduct(void);
	~MSIProduct(void);

	std::vector<MSIPatch> GetPatches();
	void SetPatches(std::vector<MSIPatch> * inPatches);
	void AddPatch(MSIPatch inPatch);

protected:
	std::vector<MSIPatch> * _Patches;
};

MSIProduct.cpp

#include "StdAfx.h"
#include "MSIProduct.h"

MSIProduct::MSIProduct(void)
{
}

MSIProduct::~MSIProduct(void)
{
	delete _Patches;
}

std::vector<MSIPatch> MSIProduct::GetPatches()
{
	return * _Patches;
}

void MSIProduct::SetPatches(std::vector<MSIPatch> * inPatches)
{
	_Patches = inPatches;
}

void MSIProduct::AddPatch(MSIPatch inPatch)
{
	_Patches->push_back(inPatch);
}

MSIPatch.h

#pragma once
#include "MSIBase.h"

class MSIPatch : public MSIBase
{
public:
	MSIPatch(void);
	~MSIPatch(void);

	LPTSTR GetTransforms();
	void SetTransforms(LPTSTR inTransforms);
	int GetPatchState();
	void SetPatchState(int inPatchState);
	void SetPatchState(LPTSTR inPatchState);

protected:
	LPTSTR _Transforms;
	int _PatchState;
};

MSIPatch.cpp

#include "StdAfx.h"
#include "MSIPatch.h"

MSIPatch::MSIPatch(void)
{
}

MSIPatch::~MSIPatch(void)
{
}

LPTSTR  MSIPatch::GetTransforms()
{
	return _Transforms;
}

void MSIPatch::SetTransforms(LPTSTR inTransforms)
{
	_Transforms = inTransforms;
}

int  MSIPatch::GetPatchState()
{
	return _PatchState;
}

void MSIPatch::SetPatchState(int inPatchState)
{
	_PatchState = inPatchState;

}

void MSIPatch::SetPatchState(LPTSTR inPatchState)
{
	_PatchState = _wtoi(inPatchState);
}

Sorry, I am not explaining in more detail, my time is limited.

Note: I found one problem where an application has a ™ in the name. (Skype™ 4.2) and the output doesn’t work well after that.

Copyright ® Rhyous.com – Linking to this article is allowed without permission and as many as ten lines of this article can be used along with this link. Any other use of this article is allowed only by permission of Rhyous.com.

Ok, so I have an existing C++ Visual Studio project (at my new position here as a Developer at LANDesk) and who knows who created it or when it was created.  Anyway, I wanted to start a new project and use the same project type.

So how do I find out the project type.

In Visual Studio, I opened the ProjectName.vcproj file and found this information near the top:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252"?>
<VisualStudioProject
	ProjectType="Visual C++"
	Version="9.00"
	Name="MSICheckForPatch"
	ProjectGUID="{0793FB88-8BED-4297-8615-9408EA2FBE74}"
	Keyword="AtlProj"
	TargetFrameworkVersion="196613"
	>
	<Platforms>
		<Platform
			Name="Win32"
		/>
	</Platforms>
	...

So I noticed the Keyword was AtlProj, so that clued me in.

Looks like it was as easy as opening a text file and looking.

If there is a better or easier way, please comment and let me know.

Ok, there are multiple options.

Here is the code, you choose the option you want.

It is best to use Option 1 or Option 2. Read this blog at MSDN for a better understanding:
Assembly.CodeBase vs. Assembly.Location

using System;

namespace GetCurrentProcessName
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // It is best to use Option 1 or Option 2.  Read this:
            // http://blogs.msdn.com/b/suzcook/archive/2003/06/26/assembly-codebase-vs-assembly-location.aspx

            // Option 1 - Using Location (Recommended)
            String fullExeNameAndPath = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
            String ExeName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(fullExeNameAndPath);

            // Option 2 - Using CodeBase instead of location
            String fullExeNameAndPathUrl = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase;
            String codeBase = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(fullExeNameAndPathUrl);

            // Option 3 - Usable but during debugging in Visual Studio it retuns ExeName.vhost.exe
            String fullVhostNameAndPath = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[0];
            String vhostName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(fullVhostNameAndPath);

            // Option 4 - Also usable but doesn't include the extension .exe and also returns ExeName.vhost
            // during debuggin in visual studio
            String prcessName = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName;
        }
    }
}

Copyright ® Rhyous.com – Linking to this page is allowed without permission and as many as ten lines of this page can be used along with this link. Any other use of this page is allowed only by permission of Rhyous.com.

Let say you want to have a TextBox in which you only want to allow integers (0-9) or maybe you only want to allow strings, A-Za-z.

Well, lets play around with this for a second and see what we can do.

To get started do this:

1. Create a new WPF Application project.
2. In the designer, add a TextBox from the Toolbox.
3. In the properties field for the TextBox click the icon that look like a lightening bolt to bring up events.
4. Find the KeyDown event and double-click on it.

Ok, so you should now have the following function:

        private void textBox1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
        }

The key that was pressed is accessible from the KeyEventArgs variable, e. Specifically e.Key.

Key just happens to be an enum, which means they can basically be treated as integers.

The key press can be ignored by telling setting e.Handled=true. This way it is already marked as handled and will not be added to the TextBox.

Allow only number keys 0-9 in a TextBox

Here is a simple function to allow only natural numbers or number keys 0-9 in a TextBox. Be aware that the keys may be different in other languages.

        private void textBox1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Key < Key.D0 || e.Key > Key.D9)
            {
                e.Handled = true;
            }
        }

Wow, that was pretty simple, right?  WRONG! It is not that easy.

You realize that there are two sets of numbers on a keyboard right? You have numbers in row above your QWERTY keys and you likely have a Number pad on the right of your keyboard as well.  That is not all either.

What else did we forget, you might ask?  Well, of the seven requirements we need to handle, we only handled one.  For an application to be considered release quality or enterprise ready or stable, all seven of these should be handled.

1. Numbers 1234567890 above QWERTY keys.
2. Numpad numbers.
3. You may want to allow pressing of the Delete, Backspace, and Tab keys.
4. What about pasting?
5. What about drag and drop?
6. What about someone else calling your code and changing the text?
7. Mnemonics should work.

Requirements

Here are the six requirements in clear statements.

1. Allow pressing Numbers 1234567890 above QWERTY keys.
2. Allow pressing Numpad numbers.
3. Allow pressing of the Delete, Backspace, and Tab keys.
4. Allow pasting so that only numbers in a string are added: A1B2C3 becomes 123.
5. Allow drag and drop so that only numbers in a string are added: A1B2C3 becomes 123.
6. Allow change in code at runtime so that only numbers in a string are added: A1B2C3 becomes 123.
7. When another control has a mnemonic, such as Alt + S, pressing Alt + S, should property change the focus and place the cursor in the Alt + S control.

Remembering lists like this is something that comes with experience.  If you thought of these on your own, good work.  If you didn’t think of them on your own, don’t worry, experience comes with time.

So lets enhance this to handle each of these.

Handling both Number keys and Numpad keys

        private void textBox1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
                e.Handled = !IsNumberKey(e.Key);
        }

        private bool IsNumberKey(Key inKey)
        {
            if (inKey < Key.D0 || inKey > Key.D9)
            {
                if (inKey < Key.NumPad0 || inKey > Key.NumPad9)
                {
                    return false;
                }
            }
            return true;
        }

All right, we now have two of the six requirements down.

Handling Delete, Backspace, and Tab, and Mnemonics

You can probably already guess how easy it will be to do something similar to handle these two keys.

        protected void OnKeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
            e.Handled = !IsNumberKey(e.Key) && !IsActionKey(e.Key);
        }

        private bool IsNumberKey(Key inKey)
        {
            if (inKey < Key.D0 || inKey > Key.D9)
            {
                if (inKey < Key.NumPad0 || inKey > Key.NumPad9)
                {
                    return false;
                }
            }
            return true;
        }

        private bool IsActionKey(Key inKey)
        {
            return inKey == Key.Delete || inKey == Key.Back || inKey == Key.Tab || inKey == Key.Return || Keyboard.Modifiers.HasFlag(ModifierKeys.Alt);
        }

Ok, now we have four of six requirements handled.

Handling Paste (Ctrl + V) and Drag and Drop

Yes, I can handle both at the same time with a new event TextChanged.

This is setup so that if someone pastes both letters and number, only the numbers are pasted: A1B2C3 becomes 123.

This event is not configured so we have to set it up.

1. In the designer, click the TextBox.
2. In the properties field for the TextBox click the icon that look like a lightening bolt to bring up events.
3. Find the TextChanged event and double-click on it.

You should now have this stub code for the event function.

        private void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, TextChangedEventArgs e)
        {
        }

Here is some easy code to make sure each character is actually a digit.

        protected void OnTextChanged(object sender, TextChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            base.Text = LeaveOnlyNumbers(Text);
        }

        private string LeaveOnlyNumbers(String inString)
        {
            String tmp = inString;
            foreach (char c in inString.ToCharArray())
            {
                if (!IsDigit(c))
                {
                    tmp = tmp.Replace(c.ToString(), "");
                }
            }
            return tmp;
        }

        public bool IsDigit(char c)
        {
            return (c >= '0' && c <= '9');
        }

Guess what else? This last function actual handles the first five requirements all by itself. But it is less efficient so we will leave the previous requirements as they are.

Handling Direct Code Change

Ok, so some somehow your TextBox is passed inside code during runtime a string that contains more than just numbers.  How are you going to handle it.

This is setup so that if someone pastes both letters and number, only the numbers are pasted: A1B2C3 becomes 123.  Well, we need to run the same function as for Drag and Drop, so to not duplicate code, it is time to create a class or object.

Creating a NumberTextBox object

Now we need to make our code reusable. Lets create a class called NumberTextBox and it can do everything automagically.

NumberTextBox

using System;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Input;

namespace System.Windows.Controls
{
    public class DigitBox : TextBox
    {
        #region Constructors
        /// <summary> 
        /// The default constructor
        /// </summary>
        public DigitBox()
        {
            TextChanged += new TextChangedEventHandler(OnTextChanged);
            KeyDown += new KeyEventHandler(OnKeyDown);
        }
        #endregion

        #region Properties
        new public String Text
        {
            get { return base.Text; }
            set
            {
                base.Text = LeaveOnlyNumbers(value);
            }
        }

        #endregion

        #region Functions
        private bool IsNumberKey(Key inKey)
        {
            if (inKey < Key.D0 || inKey > Key.D9)
            {
                if (inKey < Key.NumPad0 || inKey > Key.NumPad9)
                {
                    return false;
                }
            }
            return true;
        }

        private bool IsActionKey(Key inKey)
        {
            return inKey == Key.Delete || inKey == Key.Back || inKey == Key.Tab || inKey == Key.Return || Keyboard.Modifiers.HasFlag(ModifierKeys.Alt);
        }

        private string LeaveOnlyNumbers(String inString)
        {
            String tmp = inString;
            foreach (char c in inString.ToCharArray())
            {
                if (!IsDigit(c))
                {
                    tmp = tmp.Replace(c.ToString(), "");
                }
            }
            return tmp;
        }

        public bool IsDigit(char c)
        {
            return (c >= '0' && c <= '9');
        }
        #endregion

        #region Event Functions
        protected void OnKeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
            e.Handled = !IsNumberKey(e.Key) && !IsActionKey(e.Key);
        }

        protected void OnTextChanged(object sender, TextChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            base.Text = LeaveOnlyNumbers(Text);
        }
        #endregion
    }
}

Now I can delete the events and functions from the Window1.xaml.cs file. I don’t have to add any code to the Window1.xaml.cs. Instead I need to reference my local namespace in the Window1.xaml and then change the TextBox to a local:NumberTextBox. Here is the XAML.

<Window x:Class="TextBoxIntsOnly.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:local="clr-namespace:TextBoxIntsOnly"
    Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
    <Grid>
        <local:DigitBox Margin="87,27,71,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" x:Name="textBox1" />
        <Label Height="28" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="9,25,0,0" Name="label1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="72">Integers:</Label>
        <TextBox Height="23" Margin="87,56,71,0" Name="textBox2" VerticalAlignment="Top" />
        <Label Height="28" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="9,54,0,0" Name="label2" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="72">Alphabet:</Label>
    </Grid>
</Window>

And now all seven requirements are met.

7 Free, Open Source Tomes For Your Edification

Quote:

While the actual manuals and documentation you get with many open source applications and platforms can be underwhelming, the good news is that there are a lot of free, online books on open source topics available. We round these up on a regular basis here at OStatic, and in this post you’ll find seven online books that you can get comfortable with quickly. They introduce essential concepts for getting started with Linux, Firefox, Blender (3D graphics and animation), GIMP (graphics), the OpenOffice suite of productivity applications, and more.

EndQuote

The following are code snippets for common regular expressions in C#.

If you have a regular expression that you think is common or a correction/improvement to one of mine, please submit it.

IP address pattern or expression

The expression:

^[0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}$

In CSharp code:

String theIpAddressPattern = @"^[0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}$";

Domain name pattern or expression

The expression:

^[\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4}$

In CSharp code:

String theDoainNamePattern = @"^[\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4}$";

Email address pattern or expression

The expression:

^[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+(\.[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+)*@((([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4}$)|(([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}))

In CSharp code:

String theEmailPattern = @"^[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+(\.[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+)*"
                                   + "@"
                                   + @"((([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4})|(([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}))$";

a

The URL Pattern

The expression:

((^http(s)*://(([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4}.*)))$|(^ftp://([\w](:[\w]))*(([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4}[/\w]*))$

In CSharp code:

            String theURLPattern = @"((^http(s)*://(([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4}.*)))$"
                                 + @"|(^ftp://([\w](:[\w]))*(([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4}[/\w]*))$";

Of course C# supports regular expressions. I happen to have learned regular expressions in my dealings with FreeBSD, shell scripting, php, and other open source work. So naturally I would want to add this as a skill as I develop in C#.

What is a Regular Expression?

This is a method in code or script to describe the format or pattern of a string. For example, look at an email address:

someuser@somedomain.tld

It is important to understand that we are not trying to compare the email string against another string, we are trying to compare the string against a pattern.

To verify the email was in the correct format using String functions, it would take dozens of different functions running one after another.  However, with a regular expression, a proper email address can be verified in one single function.

So instead regular expression is a language, almost like a scripting language in itself, for defining character patterns.

Most characters represent themselves.  However, some characters don’t represent themselves without escaping them with a backslash because they represent something else.  Here is a table of those characters.

You should look up more regular expression rules. I don’t explain them all here. This is just to give you an idea.

Example 1 – Parameter=Value

Here is a quick example of a regular expression that matches String=String. At first you might think this is easy and you can use this expression:

.*=.*

While that might work, it is very open. And it allows for zero characters before and after the equals, which should not be allowed.

This next pattern is at least correct but still very open.

.+=.+

What if the first value is limited to only alphanumeric characters?

[a-zA-z0-9]=.+

What if the second value has to be a valid windows file path or URL? And we will make sure we cover start to finish as well.

^[0-9a-zA-Z]+=[^<>|?*\”]+$

See how the more restrictions you put in place, the more complex the expression gets?

Example 2 – The email address

The pattern of an email is as follows: (Reference: wikipedia)

See updates here: C# – Email Regular Expression

1. It will always have a single @ sign
2. 1 to 64 characters before the @ sign called the local-part. Can contain characters a–z, A–Z, 0-9, ! # $ % & ‘ * + – / = ? ^ _ ` { | } ~, and . if it is not at the first or end of the local-part.
3. Some characters after the @ sign that have a pattern as follows called the domain.
   1. It will always have a period “.”.
   2. One or more character before the period.
   3. Two to four characters after the period.

So a simple patterns of an email address should be something like these:

1. This one just makes sure there are characters before and after the @
   .+@.+
2. This one makes sure the are characters before and after the @ as well as a character before and after the . in the domain.
   .+@.*+\..+
3. This one makes sure that there is only one @ symbol.
   [^@]+@[^@]+\.

This are all quick an easy examples and will not work in every instance but are usually accurate enough for casual programs.

But a comprehensive example is much more complex.

1. I wrote one myself that is the shortest and gets the best results of any I have found:

   ^[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+(\.[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+)*@((([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4})|(([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}))$
   
   

2. Here is another complex one I found: [reference]

   ^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+)*)|(\"".+\""))@((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$
   

So let me explain the first one that I wrote as it passes my unit tests below:

Code for both examples

Here is code for both examples. My email regular expression is enabled and the one I found on line is commented out. To see how they work differently, just comment out mine, and uncomment the one I found online.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

namespace RegularExpressionsTest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Example 1 - Parameter=value
            // Match any character before and after the =
            // String thePattern = @"^.+=.+$";

            // Match only Upper and Lowercase letters and numbers before
            // the = as a parameter name and after the equal match the
            // any character that is allowed in a file's full path
            //
            // ^[0-9a-zA-Z]+    This is any number characters upper or lower
            //                  case or 0 thru 9 at the string's beginning.
            //
            // =                Matches the = character exactly
            //
            // [^<>|?*\"]+$     This is any character except < > | ? * "
            //                  as they are not valid in a file path or URL

            String theNameEqualsValue = @"abcd=http://";

            String theParameterEqualsValuePattern = "^[0-9a-zA-Z]+=[^<>|?*\"]+$";
            bool isParameterEqualsValueMatch = Regex.IsMatch(theNameEqualsValue, theParameterEqualsValuePattern);
            Log(isParameterEqualsValueMatch);

            // Example 2 - Email address formats

            String theEmailPattern = @"^[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+(\.[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+)*"
                                   + "@"
                                   + @"((([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4})|(([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}))$";

            // The string pattern from here doesn't not work in all instances.
            // http://www.cambiaresearch.com/c4/bf974b23-484b-41c3-b331-0bd8121d5177/Parsing-Email-Addresses-with-Regular-Expressions.aspx
            //String theEmailPattern = @"^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+)*)|(\"".+\""))"
            //                       + "@"
            //                       + @"((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\])"
            //                       + "|"
            //                       + @"(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$";

            Console.WriteLine("Bad emails");
            foreach (String email in GetBadEmails())
            {
                Log(Regex.IsMatch(email, theEmailPattern));
            }

            Console.WriteLine("Good emails");
            foreach (String email in GetGoodEmails())
            {
                Log(Regex.IsMatch(email, theEmailPattern));
            }
        }

        private static void Log(bool inValue)
        {
            if (inValue)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("It matches the pattern");
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("It doesn't match the pattern");
            }
        }

        private static List GetBadEmails()
        {
            List emails = new List();
            emails.Add("joe"); // should fail
            emails.Add("joe@home"); // should fail
            emails.Add("a@b.c"); // should fail because .c is only one character but must be 2-4 characters
            emails.Add("joe-bob[at]home.com"); // should fail because [at] is not valid
            emails.Add("joe@his.home.place"); // should fail because place is 5 characters but must be 2-4 characters
            emails.Add("joe.@bob.com"); // should fail because there is a dot at the end of the local-part
            emails.Add(".joe@bob.com"); // should fail because there is a dot at the beginning of the local-part
            emails.Add("john..doe@bob.com"); // should fail because there are two dots in the local-part
            emails.Add("john.doe@bob..com"); // should fail because there are two dots in the domain
            emails.Add("joe<>bob@bob.come"); // should fail because <> are not valid
            emails.Add("joe@his.home.com."); // should fail because it can't end with a period
            emails.Add("a@10.1.100.1a");  // Should fail because of the extra character
            return emails;
        }

        private static List GetGoodEmails()
        {
            List emails = new List();
            emails.Add("joe@home.org");
            emails.Add("joe@joebob.name");
            emails.Add("joe&bob@bob.com");
            emails.Add("~joe@bob.com");
            emails.Add("joe$@bob.com");
            emails.Add("joe+bob@bob.com");
            emails.Add("o'reilly@there.com");
            emails.Add("joe@home.com");
            emails.Add("joe.bob@home.com");
            emails.Add("joe@his.home.com");
            emails.Add("a@abc.org");
            emails.Add("a@192.168.0.1");
            emails.Add("a@10.1.100.1");
            return emails;
        }
    }
}

Hey all,

You have a TextBox and you want to detect when someone presses “Enter” and do something different than if they type text.

This one is simple, but you need to be careful when closing a window in multiple places.

The Event you want to use is KeyDown.

Imagine you have a TextBox called TextBoxCompanyName where you are asking the company name.  It is common to enter the name and press Enter and have “Enter” act just like the OK button.

You already have an OK button and it is setup to close the window or do other stuff first.

        private void ButtonOK_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            // May do other stuff.
            this.Close();
        }

        private void TextBoxCompanyName_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Key == Key.Enter)
            {
                ButtonOK_Click(this, new RoutedEventArgs());
            }
        }

Notice I don’t just call this.Close() again in the new TextBoxCompanyName_KeyDown event; but instead I call the ButtonOK_Click function to simulate the OK button being clicked. This way:

• I don’t have duplicate code
• I prevent a potential bug where if I had simply called this.Close() again, then someone in the future might add code to ButtonOK_Click and they might not know that TextBoxCompanyName_KeyDown will close the window a different way, leaving you in a weird state where the button does something that pressing “Enter” doesn’t do.

You now know how to do something different when you press “Enter”. I hope that was easy for you.

Copyright ® Rhyous.com – Linking to this page is allowed without permission and as many as ten lines of this page can be used along with this link. Any other use of this page is allowed only by permission of Rhyous.com.

I wrote a regex for email that is gets the best results of any I have found online. Along with getting better results, it is shorter too.

Download the C# project with unit tests here: EmailRegEx on GitHub
The pattern of an email is described as follows:

1. It will always have a single @ sign
2. 1 to 64 characters before the @ sign called the local-part. Can contain characters a–z, A–Z, 0-9, ! # $ % & ‘ * + – / = ? ^ _ ` { | } ~, and . if it is not at the first or end of the local-part.
3. Some characters after the @ sign that have a pattern as follows called the domain.
   1. It will always have a period “.”.
   2. One or more character before the period.
   3. Two to four characters after the period.

So a simple patterns of an email address should be something like these:

1. This one just makes sure there are characters before and after the @
   .+@.+
2. This one makes sure the are characters before and after the @ as well as a character before and after the . in the domain.
   .+@.*+\..+
3. This one makes sure that there is only one @ symbol.
   [^@]+@[^@]+\.

These are all quick an easy examples and will not work in every instance but are usually accurate enough for casual programs.

But a comprehensive example is much more complex.

1. I wrote one myself that is the shortest and gets the best results of any I have found:

   ^[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+(\.[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+)*@((([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4})|(([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}))\z
   

2. Here is another complex one I found: [reference]

   ^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+)*)|(\"".+\""))@((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$
   

So let me explain the first one that I wrote as it passes my unit tests below:

Code for the Email Regular Expression

Here is code for both examples. My email regular expression is enabled and the one I found on line is commented out. To see how they work differently, just comment out mine, and uncomment the one I found online.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

namespace RegularExpressionsTest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            String theEmailPattern = @"^[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+(\.[\w!#$%&'*+\-/=?\^_`{|}~]+)*"
                                   + "@"
                                   + @"((([\-\w]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,4})|(([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}))\z";

            // The string pattern from here doesn't not work in all instances.
            // http://www.cambiaresearch.com/c4/bf974b23-484b-41c3-b331-0bd8121d5177/Parsing-Email-Addresses-with-Regular-Expressions.aspx
            //String theEmailPattern = @"^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+)*)|(\"".+\""))"
            //                       + "@"
            //                       + @"((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\])"
            //                       + "|"
            //                       + @"(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$";

            Console.WriteLine("Bad emails");
            foreach (String email in GetBadEmails())
            {
                Log(Regex.IsMatch(email, theEmailPattern));
            }

            Console.WriteLine("Good emails");
            foreach (String email in GetGoodEmails())
            {
                Log(Regex.IsMatch(email, theEmailPattern));
            }
        }

        private static void Log(bool inValue)
        {
            if (inValue)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("It matches the pattern");
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("It doesn't match the pattern");
            }
        }

        private static List<String> GetBadEmails()
        {
            List<String> emails = new List<String>();
            emails.Add("joe"); // should fail
            emails.Add("joe@home"); // should fail
            emails.Add("a@b.c"); // should fail because .c is only one character but must be 2-4 characters
            emails.Add("joe-bob[at]home.com"); // should fail because [at] is not valid
            emails.Add("joe@his.home.place"); // should fail because place is 5 characters but must be 2-4 characters
            emails.Add("joe.@bob.com"); // should fail because there is a dot at the end of the local-part
            emails.Add(".joe@bob.com"); // should fail because there is a dot at the beginning of the local-part
            emails.Add("john..doe@bob.com"); // should fail because there are two dots in the local-part
            emails.Add("john.doe@bob..com"); // should fail because there are two dots in the domain
            emails.Add("joe<>bob@bob.com"); // should fail because <> are not valid
            emails.Add("joe@his.home.com."); // should fail because it can't end with a period
            emails.Add("john.doe@bob-.com"); // should fail because there is a dash at the start of a domain part
            emails.Add("john.doe@-bob.com"); // should fail because there is a dash at the end of a domain part
            emails.Add("a@10.1.100.1a");  // Should fail because of the extra character
            emails.Add("joe<>bob@bob.com\n"); // should fail because it end with \n
            emails.Add("joe<>bob@bob.com\r"); // should fail because it ends with \r
            return emails;
        }

        private static List<String> GetGoodEmails()
        {
            List<String> emails = new List<String>();
            emails.Add("joe@home.org");
            emails.Add("joe@joebob.name");
            emails.Add("joe&bob@bob.com");
            emails.Add("~joe@bob.com");
            emails.Add("joe$@bob.com");
            emails.Add("joe+bob@bob.com");
            emails.Add("o'reilly@there.com");
            emails.Add("joe@home.com");
            emails.Add("joe.bob@home.com");
            emails.Add("joe@his.home.com");
            emails.Add("a@abc.org");
            emails.Add("a@abc-xyz.org");
            emails.Add("a@192.168.0.1");
            emails.Add("a@10.1.100.1");
            return emails;
        }
    }
}

Well, now you have the best C# Email Regular Expression out there.

Update: My attached project has an even better and more accurate one now too.

(Reference: wikipedia)

Ok, so I already can upload a file to an FTP server: How to upload a file to an FTP server using C#?

However, now I need to create a directory first.

It follows some basic steps:

1. Open a request using the full destination ftp path: Ftp://Ftp.Server.tld/ or Ftp://Ftp.Server.tld/Some/Path
2. Configure the connection request
3. Call GetResponse() method to actually attempt to create the directory
4. Verify that it worked.

See the steps inside the source as comments:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;

namespace CreateDirectoryOnFtpServer
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            CreateDirectoryOnFTP("ftp://ftp.server.tld", /*user*/"User1", /*pw*/"Passwd!", "NewDirectory");

        }

        static void CreateDirectoryOnFTP(String inFTPServerAndPath, String inUsername, String inPassword, String inNewDirectory)
        {
            // Step 1 - Open a request using the full URI, ftp://ftp.server.tld/path/file.ext
            FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)FtpWebRequest.Create(inFTPServerAndPath + "/" + inNewDirectory);

            // Step 2 - Configure the connection request
            request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(inUsername, inPassword);
            request.UsePassive = true;
            request.UseBinary = true;
            request.KeepAlive = false;

            request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.MakeDirectory;

            // Step 3 - Call GetResponse() method to actually attempt to create the directory
            FtpWebResponse makeDirectoryResponse = (FtpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
        }
    }
}

All right, now you have created a directory on the FTP server.

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