.NET From India

Enhanced Data Generator – Bank Routing Number Generator

I have updated the custom Data Generator component I wrote sometime back. I have added a new generator to generate US Bank Routing Number aka ABA numbers.

This component can generate both the MICR format and the Fraction formats of the number. If you don’t know the difference then you can use the default which is the MICR format.

This can also generate the checksum digit correctly (so your checksum validation code can be tested) if required based on the GenerateChecksum property.

Note: Since the Fraction format does not support Checksum, it is automatically set to false when you change formats. But the IDE does not seem to correctly update this, so you may need to change the Checksum property twice after changing to the MICR format.

Just replace the DLL and related files with the new set of files and that is it. I have not built the setup kit this time.

Download DataGenerator v1.1.zip (1000.3K)

Note: Works with VS 2008 SP1 and Data Edition GDR R2

Technorati Tags: Visual Studio Data Edition,Custom Data Generators

Win 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

I have always been interested in keyboard shortcuts in apps I use often as these can help you use the software more easily and a lot faster.

I found this list of Win 7 Keyboard shortcuts that is very exhaustive and very useful for most users…

Media Sharing and PS3

I have always had a number of computers at home, but till recently all media(videos/music) etc was always centralized on my main desktop. Then around six months ago, I upgraded an old disposed computer and installed Windows Home Server (currently running Power Pack 3) on it. I love the automatic backup and centralization that Home Server provides and slowly started moving some of my media over to the home server. Everything was fine as the main desktop was still the place where I watch the media from and I just integrated the home server path into my Windows 7 Videos library and everything was fine.

Then I got a PS3 (mostly for the BR functionality) as a part of a bundled offer and there I had a media extender connected to my TV. So obviously I wanted to now watch my videos on my TV rather than my monitor (which was smaller).

It was a no brainer with the Win 7 desktop. You turn on Media Sharing and then if required you can select which devices to allow etc. I just set it to allow all devices on my home network and everything was fine. My PS3 was able to find all the videos in my Library (This is a really cool feature of Windows 7. So all my different folders of Videos are now available in a single place and easy to find). No problems there. (From what I read online, looks like it was a little more complicated with Vista and Windows 7 and the latest firmware upgrade of PS3 actually make this integration easy).

PS3 was also able to find my Home Server easily as a media source, but was not able to load all the videos from my videos share. I was able to find only a couple of folders (actually only 2 from around 7 folders in my video share got listed). I searched online, did all kinds of setting changes, but even after 2-3 weeks I was unable to get my all home server videos streaming to the PS3.

So in the end I gave up trying to get the home server to stream the videos and decided to install a new media server software on my home server to do it right. I ended choosing PS3 Media Server, just because of the name.. This is a open source DNLA compliant UPnP server, targeted to work for PS3. One of the main features of this media server is that it would actually transcode videos that are in a format that cannot be handled by the PS3. Obviously if you need to transcode videos, then you better have the CPU power to do that. My home server built from a old PC, cannot actually support this, but almost all of my videos are in PS3 compliant format (esp since PS3 now supports DivX). Another cool feature of PS3 Media Server is that it has an option to run it as a service. This is the option I use as it is not always that I am logged into my home server.

 

With this setup, I am now able to stream all of my videos out of my home server into my TV via the PS3…

Technorati Tags: PS3,Windows Home Server,Media Sharing

Creating a Wireless Access Point on the Fly

Most WiFi networks are setup with WPA or related security and you are able to connect to it from most devices. But connections in places like airports have special login pages which prevent some devices from being used. Also sometimes, you have a wired connection, but your other devices (phone etc) do not have a way to connect.

This is where the new tool called Connectify helps. Connectify creates a virtual wireless connection based on the network connection you have on your laptop/desktop. It just uses your existing Wireless Card and does not need any other hardware. The only caveat is that it will run only on Windows 7, as it uses technologies that are part of the Windows 7 stack.

So once you are connected to a network on your computer, you run the tool and you can then setup the properties of your WiFi connection, including the type of security setting you want, WPA2 or WEP, and the connection name.

 

Start your hotspot and there you have a new WiFi hotspot. Connectify is still in beta and the initial versions had a number of problems that would not allow me to even start the hotspot due to some IP problems with my router. But the current version seems to have solved most of these problems.

 

There are still a number of small problems and mostly it will tell you reset your wireless connection and restart, but this is still a cool tool and really useful in a number of scenarios.

Under the scenes this use the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) built into Windows 7 to  enable you to share the internet connection.

Once you connect to the access point, you are on the network, your laptop/desktop is on. The desktop app also shows the clients connected to this hotspot, so you can monitor to make sure there are no hop-ons.