Develop Reference

How do I find the data type of an AD attribute not having a value

I am struggling to find the data type of AD attributes that are not having a value already.
Thus far a resulting DirecoryEntry only contains a property for attributes that already have a value. I can't find a method to obtain information about all other attributes.
Adding a value to the 'PropertiesToLoad' doesn't seem to do anything. The returned DirectoryEntry object contains all attributes (with values) regardless of what is added here.
Code used:
public void Test(string ldapPath)
{
Type orgType;
try
{
using (DirectoryEntry searchRoot = GetSearchRoot(ldapPath))
{
using (DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(searchRoot))
{
search.Filter = "(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName=coen))";
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("msExchHomeServerName");
SearchResult searchResult = search.FindOne();
{
using (DirectoryEntry entry = searchResult.GetDirectoryEntry())
{
if (entry != null)
{
if (entry.Properties.Contains("msExchHomeServerName"))
{
orgType = entry.Properties["msExchHomeServerName"].GetType();
}
else // The value is empty and NOT present in the current 'entry.Properties' object.
{
throw new Exception("Unknown type");
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
<handle exception>
}
}
Is there a way to find the data type of the 'msExchHomeServerName' (or any of the 'empty' attributes) attribute?
Any help would be highly appreciated!
Coen

Active Directory has a schema. Obvious to say, not obvious to think about since, by default, you cannot explore it.
However, you can Register the Active Directory Schema MMC Snap-In1 and then, in a fresh instance of MMC, add that Snap-In.
This then allows you to explore the Classes and Attributes that make up your current AD schema (and add new classes/attributes if you know what you're doing and choose to do so).
msExchHomeServerName can then be discovered to be a "Unicode String", which means a plain string from C# should be acceptable. Note also that some types (particularly numeric ones) may also specify Minimums and Maximums which should be observed.
You can also explore the schema programatically via the ActiveDirectorySchema class, by e.g. calling ActiveDirectorySchema.GetCurrentSchema(); and then explore from there.
1I cannot remember if you need to have installed the general Domain Admin tools (such as Users and Computers) in order for that DLL to exist on your system.

Thanks to Damien_The_Unbeliever who pointed me in the right direction, I managed to create the following method:
public Dictionary<string, ActiveDirectorySyntax> GetAttributeSyntaxes(List<string> lstAttributeNames)
{
Dictionary<string, ActiveDirectorySyntax> dictRes = new Dictionary<string, ActiveDirectorySyntax>();
if (lstAttributeNames.Count > 0)
{
DirectoryContext directoryContext = new DirectoryContext(DirectoryContextType.DirectoryServer,
m_Server, m_UserName, m_Password);
using (ActiveDirectorySchema currentSchema = ActiveDirectorySchema.GetSchema(directoryContext))
{
using (ActiveDirectorySchemaClass objClass = currentSchema.FindClass("user"))
{
if (objClass != null)
{
ReadOnlyActiveDirectorySchemaPropertyCollection propcol = objClass.GetAllProperties();
foreach (ActiveDirectorySchemaProperty schemaProperty in propcol)
{
foreach (string attrName in lstAttributeNames)
{
if (schemaProperty.Name.Equals(attrName))
{
dictRes.Add(attrName, schemaProperty.Syntax);
break;
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
return dictRes;
}
The returned 'schemaProperty.Syntax' contains sufficient information to determine the actual data type.
Thanks Damien!

Filter out or overload method

I have a dilemma that I need help with. The method TAXCheckControlNumberForAccuracy goes into the database and does a Select * statement using the passed in variables.
However, each time the program runs any one of these variables could be null. All could be null. None could be null. (i'm using OCR to get the variables..so it is not always accurate)
Can someone give me some insight on the best way to solve this problem.
if ((City != null) && (Zip != null) && (State != null) && (Owner != null))
{
if (City.Length > 4)
{
ControlNumberMatch = TAXCheckControlNumberForAccuracy(Owner, Zip, State, City);
}
}

you can use a method with optional parameters. Like
public void TAXCheckControlNumberForAccuracy(string Owner = "default",
string Zip = "default",string State = "default",string City = "default");

Regardless of what you do, you still need to check each parameter individually. Create a method that does such.
void string CorrectParam(string param)
{
if (param == null)
return "default";
return param;
}
void TAXCheckControlNumberForAccuracy(string City, string Zip, string State, string Owner)
{
}
//call using this
TAXCheckControlNumberForAccuracy(CorrectParam(City), CorrectParam(Zip), CorrectParam(State), CorrectParam(Owner));

Does asp.net MVC have Application variables?

I am busy converting a web application to MVC and have some information saved to Application variables used across multiple tenants/accounts to make things a bit more efficient.
I realise the point of MVC is to keep things as stateless as possible, Sesion State obviously makes sense to have and exists in MVC but we dont want to just convert Application to Session variables as we would rather have something more global and more secure. Do MVC applications have Application Variables? I have seen some examples where caching is used? Is this now standard and How robust/secure is this compared to Application/Session State?

Yes, you can access Application variables from .NET MVC. Here's how:
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Application.Lock();
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Application["Name"] = "Value";
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Application.UnLock();

Session state or the Cache are better choices. They are mockable in MVC and are designed to store session and application-scoped data.
Static classes seems like a popular choice here. However static classes create dependencies between your types and make versioning/testing harder. Its also a bit of an odd pattern to use in a framework that is designed to break apart these kinds of dependencies. For instance, the standard ASP.NET framework is riddled with statics and sealed types. These are all replaced with mock-able instances.
"Secure" is a bit unclear in this context. Exactly what do you mean by "secure?"

I implemented something like below as an Extension for Global state variable. I put things like Site title,Service Endpoints, authorized roles
public static class ApplicationStateExtension
{
public static T GetSetApplicationState<T>(this HttpApplicationState appState, string objectName, object objectValue = null, int syncCheckMinutes = 0)
{
T retVal = default(T);
appState.Lock();
if (appState[objectName + "LastSync"] == null || DateTime.Now.Subtract(((DateTime)appState[objectName + "LastSync"])).TotalMinutes >= syncCheckMinutes)
{
appState[objectName + "LastSync"] = DateTime.Now;
if (objectValue != null)
appState[objectName] = objectValue;
}
if (appState[objectName] != null)
retVal = (T)appState[objectName];
appState.UnLock();
return retVal;
}
public static object GetSetApplicationState(this HttpApplicationState appState, string objectName, object objectValue = null, int syncCheckMinutes = 0)
{
object retVal = null;
appState.Lock();
if (appState[objectName + "LastSync"] == null || DateTime.Now.Subtract(((DateTime)appState[objectName + "LastSync"])).TotalMinutes >= syncCheckMinutes)
{
appState[objectName + "LastSync"] = DateTime.Now;
if (objectValue != null)
appState[objectName] = objectValue;
}
if (appState[objectName] != null)
retVal = appState[objectName];
appState.UnLock();
return retVal;
}
public static void SetApplicationState(this HttpApplicationState appState, string objectName, object objectValue, int syncCheckMinutes = 0)
{
appState.Lock();
if (appState[objectName + "LastSync"] == null || DateTime.Now.Subtract(((DateTime)appState[objectName + "LastSync"])).TotalMinutes >= syncCheckMinutes)
{
appState[objectName + "LastSync"] = DateTime.Now;
appState[objectName] = objectValue;
}
appState.UnLock();
}
public static object GetApplicationState(this HttpApplicationState appState, string objectName)
{
object retVal = null;
appState.Lock();
if (appState[objectName] != null)
retVal = appState[objectName];
appState.UnLock();
return retVal;
}
public static T GetApplicationState<T>(this HttpApplicationState appState, string objectName)
{
T retVal = default(T);
appState.Lock();
if (appState[objectName] != null)
retVal = (T)appState[objectName];
appState.UnLock();
return retVal;
}
}
So I can set them from Global.asax.cs something like this
Application.SetApplicationState("UISiteTitle",paramHelper.GetUIConfigXML<XMLParams.UISiteOptions>("UISiteOptions")
.SiteOptionCollection.Where(v => v.name.Equals("title", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)).FirstOrDefault().value););
or
var uiPermissions = Application.GetSetApplicationState<XMLParams.UIPermissions>("UIPermissions", paramHelper.GetUIConfigXML<XMLParams.UIPermissions>("UIPermissions"), 30);

You can declare Application variables in Application_Start like this:
protected void Application_Start()
{
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
var e = "Hello";
Application["value"] = e;
}
To access this on controller write:
string appVar = HttpContext.Application["value"] as string;

Make a static class?

Do they have Application Variables? Yes, MVC is a framework that sits on top of the normal asp.net framework.
I would however create a static class that uses a cache store as it's backing.

What is the replacement of Controller.ReadFromRequest in ASP.NET MVC?

I am attempting to update a project from ASP.NET MVC Preview 3 to Preview 5 and it seems that Controller.ReadFromRequest(string key) has been removed from the Controller class. Does anyone know of any alternatives to retrieving information based on an identifier from a form?

Looks like they've added controller.UpdateModel to address this issue, signature is:
UpdateModel(object model, string[] keys)
I haven't upgraded my app personally, so I'm not sure of the actual usage. I'll be interested to find out about this myself, as I'm using controller.ReadFromRequest as well.

Not sure where it went. You could roll your own extension though:
public static class MyBindingExtensions
{
public static T ReadFromRequest < T > (this Controller controller, string key)
{
// Setup
HttpContextBase context = controller.ControllerContext.HttpContext;
object val = null;
T result = default(T);
// Gaurd
if (context == null)
return result; // no point checking request
// Bind value (check form then query string)
if (context.Request.Form[key] != null)
val = context.Request.Form[key];
if (val == null)
{
if (context.Request.QueryString[key] != null)
val = context.Request.QueryString[key];
}
// Cast value
if (val != null)
result = (t)val;
return result;
}
}

could you redo that link in something like tinyurl.com?
I need this info too but can get that mega-link to work.

Import CSV file to strongly typed data structure in .Net [closed]

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Closed 10 years ago.
What's the best way to import a CSV file into a strongly-typed data structure?

Microsoft's TextFieldParser is stable and follows RFC 4180 for CSV files. Don't be put off by the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace; it's a standard component in the .NET Framework, just add a reference to the global Microsoft.VisualBasic assembly.
If you're compiling for Windows (as opposed to Mono) and don't anticipate having to parse "broken" (non-RFC-compliant) CSV files, then this would be the obvious choice, as it's free, unrestricted, stable, and actively supported, most of which cannot be said for FileHelpers.
See also: How to: Read From Comma-Delimited Text Files in Visual Basic for a VB code example.

Use an OleDB connection.
String sConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\\InputDirectory\\;Extended Properties='text;HDR=Yes;FMT=Delimited'";
OleDbConnection objConn = new OleDbConnection(sConnectionString);
objConn.Open();
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
OleDbCommand objCmdSelect = new OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM file.csv", objConn);
OleDbDataAdapter objAdapter1 = new OleDbDataAdapter();
objAdapter1.SelectCommand = objCmdSelect;
objAdapter1.Fill(dt);
objConn.Close();

If you're expecting fairly complex scenarios for CSV parsing, don't even think up of rolling our own parser. There are a lot of excellent tools out there, like FileHelpers, or even ones from CodeProject.
The point is this is a fairly common problem and you could bet that a lot of software developers have already thought about and solved this problem.

I agree with #NotMyself. FileHelpers is well tested and handles all kinds of edge cases that you'll eventually have to deal with if you do it yourself. Take a look at what FileHelpers does and only write your own if you're absolutely sure that either (1) you will never need to handle the edge cases FileHelpers does, or (2) you love writing this kind of stuff and are going to be overjoyed when you have to parse stuff like this:
1,"Bill","Smith","Supervisor", "No Comment"
2 , 'Drake,' , 'O'Malley',"Janitor,
Oops, I'm not quoted and I'm on a new line!

Brian gives a nice solution for converting it to a strongly typed collection.
Most of the CSV parsing methods given don't take into account escaping fields or some of the other subtleties of CSV files (like trimming fields). Here is the code I personally use. It's a bit rough around the edges and has pretty much no error reporting.
public static IList<IList<string>> Parse(string content)
{
IList<IList<string>> records = new List<IList<string>>();
StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(content);
bool inQoutedString = false;
IList<string> record = new List<string>();
StringBuilder fieldBuilder = new StringBuilder();
while (stringReader.Peek() != -1)
{
char readChar = (char)stringReader.Read();
if (readChar == '\n' || (readChar == '\r' && stringReader.Peek() == '\n'))
{
// If it's a \r\n combo consume the \n part and throw it away.
if (readChar == '\r')
{
stringReader.Read();
}
if (inQoutedString)
{
if (readChar == '\r')
{
fieldBuilder.Append('\r');
}
fieldBuilder.Append('\n');
}
else
{
record.Add(fieldBuilder.ToString().TrimEnd());
fieldBuilder = new StringBuilder();
records.Add(record);
record = new List<string>();
inQoutedString = false;
}
}
else if (fieldBuilder.Length == 0 && !inQoutedString)
{
if (char.IsWhiteSpace(readChar))
{
// Ignore leading whitespace
}
else if (readChar == '"')
{
inQoutedString = true;
}
else if (readChar == ',')
{
record.Add(fieldBuilder.ToString().TrimEnd());
fieldBuilder = new StringBuilder();
}
else
{
fieldBuilder.Append(readChar);
}
}
else if (readChar == ',')
{
if (inQoutedString)
{
fieldBuilder.Append(',');
}
else
{
record.Add(fieldBuilder.ToString().TrimEnd());
fieldBuilder = new StringBuilder();
}
}
else if (readChar == '"')
{
if (inQoutedString)
{
if (stringReader.Peek() == '"')
{
stringReader.Read();
fieldBuilder.Append('"');
}
else
{
inQoutedString = false;
}
}
else
{
fieldBuilder.Append(readChar);
}
}
else
{
fieldBuilder.Append(readChar);
}
}
record.Add(fieldBuilder.ToString().TrimEnd());
records.Add(record);
return records;
}
Note that this doesn't handle the edge case of fields not being deliminated by double quotes, but meerley having a quoted string inside of it. See this post for a bit of a better expanation as well as some links to some proper libraries.

I was bored so i modified some stuff i wrote. It try's to encapsulate the parsing in an OO manner whle cutting down on the amount of iterations through the file, it only iterates once at the top foreach.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// usage:
// note this wont run as getting streams is not Implemented
// but will get you started
CSVFileParser fileParser = new CSVFileParser();
// TO Do: configure fileparser
PersonParser personParser = new PersonParser(fileParser);
List<Person> persons = new List<Person>();
// if the file is large and there is a good way to limit
// without having to reparse the whole file you can use a
// linq query if you desire
foreach (Person person in personParser.GetPersons())
{
persons.Add(person);
}
// now we have a list of Person objects
}
}
public abstract class CSVParser
{
protected String[] deliniators = { "," };
protected internal IEnumerable<String[]> GetRecords()
{
Stream stream = GetStream();
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream);
String[] aRecord;
while (!reader.EndOfStream)
{
aRecord = reader.ReadLine().Split(deliniators,
StringSplitOptions.None);
yield return aRecord;
}
}
protected abstract Stream GetStream();
}
public class CSVFileParser : CSVParser
{
// to do: add logic to get a stream from a file
protected override Stream GetStream()
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
public class CSVWebParser : CSVParser
{
// to do: add logic to get a stream from a web request
protected override Stream GetStream()
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
public class Person
{
public String Name { get; set; }
public String Address { get; set; }
public DateTime DOB { get; set; }
}
public class PersonParser
{
public PersonParser(CSVParser parser)
{
this.Parser = parser;
}
public CSVParser Parser { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<Person> GetPersons()
{
foreach (String[] record in this.Parser.GetRecords())
{
yield return new Person()
{
Name = record[0],
Address = record[1],
DOB = DateTime.Parse(record[2]),
};
}
}
}
}

There are two articles on CodeProject that provide code for a solution, one that uses StreamReader and one that imports CSV data using the Microsoft Text Driver.

A good simple way to do it is to open the file, and read each line into an array, linked list, data-structure-of-your-choice. Be careful about handling the first line though.
This may be over your head, but there seems to be a direct way to access them as well using a connection string.
Why not try using Python instead of C# or VB? It has a nice CSV module to import that does all the heavy lifting for you.

I had to use a CSV parser in .NET for a project this summer and settled on the Microsoft Jet Text Driver. You specify a folder using a connection string, then query a file using a SQL Select statement. You can specify strong types using a schema.ini file. I didn't do this at first, but then I was getting bad results where the type of the data wasn't immediately apparent, such as IP numbers or an entry like "XYQ 3.9 SP1".
One limitation I ran into is that it cannot handle column names above 64 characters; it truncates. This shouldn't be a problem, except I was dealing with very poorly designed input data. It returns an ADO.NET DataSet.
This was the best solution I found. I would be wary of rolling my own CSV parser, since I would probably miss some of the end cases, and I didn't find any other free CSV parsing packages for .NET out there.
EDIT: Also, there can only be one schema.ini file per directory, so I dynamically appended to it to strongly type the needed columns. It will only strongly-type the columns specified, and infer for any unspecified field. I really appreciated this, as I was dealing with importing a fluid 70+ column CSV and didn't want to specify each column, only the misbehaving ones.

I typed in some code. The result in the datagridviewer looked good. It parses a single line of text to an arraylist of objects.
enum quotestatus
{
none,
firstquote,
secondquote
}
public static System.Collections.ArrayList Parse(string line,string delimiter)
{
System.Collections.ArrayList ar = new System.Collections.ArrayList();
StringBuilder field = new StringBuilder();
quotestatus status = quotestatus.none;
foreach (char ch in line.ToCharArray())
{
string chOmsch = "char";
if (ch == Convert.ToChar(delimiter))
{
if (status== quotestatus.firstquote)
{
chOmsch = "char";
}
else
{
chOmsch = "delimiter";
}
}
if (ch == Convert.ToChar(34))
{
chOmsch = "quotes";
if (status == quotestatus.firstquote)
{
status = quotestatus.secondquote;
}
if (status == quotestatus.none )
{
status = quotestatus.firstquote;
}
}
switch (chOmsch)
{
case "char":
field.Append(ch);
break;
case "delimiter":
ar.Add(field.ToString());
field.Clear();
break;
case "quotes":
if (status==quotestatus.firstquote)
{
field.Clear();
}
if (status== quotestatus.secondquote)
{
status =quotestatus.none;
}
break;
}
}
if (field.Length != 0)
{
ar.Add(field.ToString());
}
return ar;
}

If you can guarantee that there are no commas in the data, then the simplest way would probably be to use String.split.
For example:
String[] values = myString.Split(',');
myObject.StringField = values[0];
myObject.IntField = Int32.Parse(values[1]);
There may be libraries you could use to help, but that's probably as simple as you can get. Just make sure you can't have commas in the data, otherwise you will need to parse it better.