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How to Save a PDF File to a SQL Server 2005 Database and then view it using VB.Net

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:42:00 GMT

Well after much searching and trial and error and pouring through knowledgebases I have found a method for successfully saving a PDF File to a SQL Server 2005 Database and then viewing it using VB.Net. I thought I would post it for all those other poor lost souls out there who need the help I needed.

The code uses a form where a user can select a pdf file using OpenFileDialog. The form saves the filepath to a textbox named txtFileName. The database table contains three fields as follows

FileName - varchar(50)
Extension - varchar(5)
Content - varbinary(max)

Here is the code

Private Sub SavePDFtoDB()
  Dim fInfo As New FileInfo(Me.txtFileName.Text)
  Dim numBytes As Long = fInfo.Length
  Dim fStream As New FileStream(Me.txtFileName.Text, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
  Dim br As New BinaryReader(fStream)
  Dim data As Byte() = br.ReadBytes(CInt(numBytes))
  br.Close()
  fStream.Close()

  'Insert the details into the database
  Dim strSQL As String = "UPDATE tblMyTable SET Filename = @Filename ,Extension = @Extension ,Content = @Content WHERE MyID = 9"
  Dim myTransaction As System.Data.SqlClient.SqlTransaction
  Dim cmd As New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand
  With cmd
    .Connection = basProcedureManager.GetConnection
    .CommandType = CommandType.Text
    .CommandText = strSQL
    .Parameters.Add(New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlParameter("@FileName", Me.txtFileName.Text))
     .Parameters.Add(New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlParameter("@Extension", ".pdf"))
    .Parameters.Add(New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlParameter("@Content", data))
    myTransaction = .Connection.BeginTransaction
    cmd.Transaction = myTransaction
    Try
      .ExecuteNonQuery()
       myTransaction.Commit()
    Catch objdb As System.Data.OleDb.OleDbException
      myTransaction.Rollback()
    Finally
      myTransaction = Nothing
    End Try
  End With
End Sub

Private Sub ViewPDF()
  Try
    Dim objVersion As New Landscape.ProcedureManager.BL.SystemVersion
    Dim ds As System.Data.DataSet
    With objVersion
      .Connection = basProcedureManager.GetConnection
      ds = .GetFullDetails(Me.VersionID)
     End With

     Dim strExtenstion As String = ".pdf"
    Dim bytFile As Byte() = CType(ds.Tables(0).Rows(0).Item("Content"), Byte())
    Dim sFilePath As String
    sFilePath = System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName()
    System.IO.File.Move(sFilePath, System.IO.Path.ChangeExtension(sFilePath, ".pdf"))
    sFilePath = System.IO.Path.ChangeExtension(sFilePath, ".pdf")
    System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(sFilePath, bytFile)
    Using p As New System.Diagnostics.Process
      p.StartInfo = New System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(sFilePath)
      p.Start()
      p.WaitForExit()
      Try
         System.IO.File.Delete(sFilePath)
      Catch
      End Try
    End Using
  Catch ex As Exception
    MsgBox("Unable to Show Report - " & ex.Message)
  End Try
End Sub

2011 Website Design Trends

Wed, 11 May 2011 04:12:00 GMT

As we proceed into 2011 a great many website design elements that were more talk than walk last year are being adopted by designers and enjoyed by website users in greater and greater numbers. Here are some of the major design protocols that will have your website looking fresh and audience savvy:

1. Changing tools of interaction
Everybody is talking mobiles in 2011. Users are quickly adopting more versatile technologies including Smartphones, iPads, netbooks and a variety of others, all designed to allow users to utilise the internet on the go. It is essential then to design sites to allow the greatest flexibility in web browsing experience for users, utilising technologies that can best present your brand on a variety of screens.

2. CSS3 & HTML 5
Designers have over relied on Macromedia Flash as an ‘entire site’ design tool and while it can look great it was often a user loser with high load times and poor index visibility (Not to mention that it is completely unsupported by the iPhone). CSS 3 & HTML 5 allow designers to utilise animations and visual dimensions natively within the website code itself producing faster, cleaner yet still dynamic visual effects for their audience.

3. A More Subtle Flash
Carrying on from point #2 above, however, is the acknowledgement that there is room still for CSS3, HTML5 and Flash! Flash has always been and may remain for sometime the king of animations. Flash is still immensely useful for explanatory graphics, animated graphics and infographics.

4. Video Embedding
Youtube now handles over 50% of all traffic searches. Online video has become so comprehensively adopted by the web using community that expectations have followed that sites will embrace not only interactivity but informativity and will contain video in some form to explain/introduce/showcase products, brands and assets in a user centred way. It is also an important SEO tool for visibility on search indexes.

5. Simpler Colour Palettes
Simplicity. Limited colour palettes (even to just two or three colours) can have remarkably favourable results for the delivery of your online message and presence. Quiet, safe, reasonable and inviting can still be matched with big, bold and basic.

6. More than just Verdana
The web is currently experiencing nothing short of a typographic explosion. The days of being restricted to Tahoma, Arial & Verdana are disappearing rapidly as underlying web technology now promises ‘fonts as services’ where 3rd party licensed fonts can be utilised within your website without the danger of the user’s browsers not properly rendering it at the other end.

7. Each Page Must Stand Alone
When SEO first became popular as everyone sought those silver bullet secrets to dominating Page #1 of Google, the concept of landing pages became an industry buzzword. Specific pages that were designed to catch, keep and persuade any landing users instantaneously (or at least within 30s). There were certain key elements that made a landing page a landing page. It has been recognised now that all pages on a website should however cover all the landing page elements otherwise... why are they on your website?

8. Massive Images
No we aren’t talking file sizes here (though with faster internet connections and smarter loading techniques file sizes are not such a big hurdle anymore)but large photographic backgrounds. High resolution, entire site covering, backdrops are an instant way to grab your audience. Appropriate background photos that work with your content rather than against it will engage your viewers on a deeper level than ever before.

9. Hidden Scripts that can Wow your users
There are a multitude of plugins (and plugins based on foundation plugins) available today that can turn a fairly dry website experience into a radically interactive and eye pleasing communication. Graphics sliders, dynamic menus, database connectors and a variety of other widgets can not only add spice to your website they can become the central base that all other elements are built around.

10. Life Streaming
Websites as living, breathing, organic entities is here as people ‘plug in’ and share themselves 24/7 with their online audience and customers. The world now shares their lives online and increased intimacy and decreased corporate veil are enlivening cyberspace as companies embrace their audience wanting to know about them, their staff and their commercial activities.

11. Custom Illustrations and Icons
There is a fast move away from generic looking icons and navigation tools on websites to the creation of brand specific iconatry. When visitors arrive you want to invite them into your world, to see the world through your eyes for the time they are there. Letting them know that you care enough about their experience to not simply emulate everyone else goes a long way to building online trust.

12. Social Media
Further from Item 11 above is the need to ‘share’ experiences that has seen the explosion in social media usage across the globe. The web is no longer limited to ‘What do I think?” but “What does everyone else think?”. Having your website accepted by ‘communities’ of users rather than individuals is the key to success. Companies without Facebook pages and Twitter accounts will simply fall behind.

13. 30 second Attention Spans
Keeping things moving and interesting without overstimulating your visitors is a key concept in modern design. Short videos, light-boxes, interactive image galleries and a variety of other techniques makes sure that your visitors are kept interested and welcome.

Search Engine Marketing in 2011 - Did Google just change the game?

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 06:52:00 GMT

Well unless you were asleep over the last month you will be aware that Google has updated its algorithm for determining positioning of websites in its search engine. With Google still dominating the search engine market (they handle over 65% of all searches) this change is of great importance to all webmasters.

Their stated intention with the change of algorithm is to combat what are termed “content farms”. Content Farms are massive content sites that employ hundreds of freelance writers to churn out copious amounts of content purely to capture traffic and sell advertising. This is offensive to Google’s stated mission to provide the highest quality, most relevant results for people’s searches. The content farms offend this as their content is generally poor quality and often does not provide the information being sought or represented in the page titles and stated content.

But what does this mean to your average business website owner or webmaster endeavouring to market their site to the search engines? To be honest , not a lot! It has always been our advice to our clients to produce high quality, dynamic content in order to gain the best position possible within the search engines. This differs from just merely spewing content out on your website. The content must be original and must be ‘of use’ to the end reader. The reason why Google has so highly prized blog sites is because this is generally what is produced. Individuals or teams who are experts in their areas write and discuss a variety of industry topics which forms a valuable source of information and advice for searching web surfers.

“Is that all I need to do?” I hear you ask. No. The second important aspect of search engine marketing in 2011 is the creation of backlinks. Again, trying to arbitrarily and artificially create backlinks has been the undoing of many an impatient web owner. Google is alert and on top of ‘black hat’ backlinking activities and you will do more harm than good outsourcing to companies offering 5,000 backlinks for $500 in 5 days. The only safe and natural (which is what Google is looking for) way to generate backlinks is to:

approach websites in the same area to discuss crosslinking opportunities;
write and publish articles on the many article syndication websites available;
be interesting in your content! That’s right! If you have good quality content people will find you and link to you without any further effort;
visit and take part in related forums. Don’t Spam however!

We will touch on each of these items in future posts but this is good information to get you started on putting together your 2011 Search Engine Marketing plan.

What To Expect When Setting Up Digital TV On Your PC

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:36:00 GMT

Next to all of the possibilities of free streaming services, paid streaming services and programs to watch TV on your PC, the next obvious step is to watch digital TV on your PC. Even though it is available, it still is in baby shoes and needs to be researched before making any decisions, otherwise you might end up being disappointed because the service doesn’t provide within your expectations.

Digital TV for your computer is available online and can be purchased for the amount of approximately $40. When you decide to make the purchase and download it, you have to make sure that the site is to be trusted or you may end up contaminating your computer with all sorts of spyware. Once you have found a trusted site and have downloaded the software, follow the instructions and reboot your computer. When your computer is running again, you have to open the digital TV for PC interface. Once that is open you can make your choices and watch whatever you want. Since digital TV for PC contains over 5000 TV channels to watch and over 2000 radio channels to listen to, you don’t have to be bored any time soon. Sounds too good to be true? Well, maybe it is or maybe it isn’t, depends on what you are expecting. Keep on reading and make your own decision.

Back in the day, everybody had an antenna and was able to receive all free channels to watch. Then along came the cable companies. Suddenly we could experience drastically improved quality of audio, video and of course content, as they provided access to a much wider range of channels. In order to make such improvements, these companies have to charge for their services. Seems fair?

Going back to digital TV on your PC, this is a service which provides you the possibility to watch heaps of channels, as mentioned above. A lot of channels to choose from, the only thing is, these are the free channels. If you are under the impression that you will be able to watch big time channels like MTV digital on your computer, then you are going to be disappointed, because that’s not the case.

“Too good to be true or not” all depends on what your expectations are when going in. If you expect to watch high profile channels then it is too good to be true. If however you expect to watch older programs and a lot of news channels, then you will be happy because your expectations are being met. Since all these types of services keep developing and evolving, there may come a time where it is possible to watch all the new and hot TV shows digitally on your computer, but just not yet.

Why Joost Is a Great Choice for Free TV on your PC

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:35:00 GMT

For all the people out there who are looking for a way to watch TV on your PC for free, there is a very good way to do just that. There are a lot of free services where you can watch TV through your computer, but a lot of the time, their servers get overloaded because there are so many of you trying to relax by watching your favorite show. Because the services are free, they don’t carry enough power to provide for all of the members at once. Joost is not one of them.

Joost is a streaming video site where it is possible to watch TV on your computer for free without having technical difficulties with speed. They have a database which contains over 15,000 shows and more and more shows are added on a daily basis. The shows in their database are the top shows like David Letterman, Hogan Knows Best, Larry King Live etc. You are able to make your choice from over 250 different channels which include the very popular channels of Comedy Central, Paramount Pictures, National Geographic and so on.

So what does Joost have that other streaming sites do not? First of all, there is the huge amount of programs and channels from which you can make your choice and also it is nice to have one central streaming site where you have all your programs together and you don’t have to switch sites every time you want to watch a different channel. The quality of the videos is close to excellent and the amount of time it takes to load a video is very fast. There will be no freezing or slowing down while you are watching. All you have to do to get started is to download the Joost media player which works on Windows as well as on Mac.

Other advantages of Joost are that you are able to skip parts in the show you are watching without delaying the connection or you can skip from one show to another very quickly and very easy. There also is the possibility of playing it in full screen or having it run in windows mode while taking care of some other tasks on your computer and still the connection stays stable. Navigating is very easy because there are different options. You can search by genre or just perform a search on keywords.

The movies you will be able to find on Joost are not the most recent releases. However, they have a database of movies that will bring back a lot of memories. And be honest, taking a trip down memory lane when you watch an old classic movie can be very enlightening.

Technology Review: Google Wave

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 02:55:00 GMT

Google's latest offering promises "a personal communication and collaboration tool" and was announced by them at the Google I/O conference on May 27, 2009. Being a Google tool it is a fully web-based computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking. It is designed as a collaborative, real time interactive tool that not only allows conversations but full document collaboration.

We are currently testing the product but all initial impressions are positive!

The "wave" component is a new term for what Google calls "equal parts conversation and document". Conversation are stored as threads in a forum style layout but display real time updates and conversations in a fully searchable format. If you imagine all the verbal conversations you have had in the past they all (to a lesser or greater extent) entailed the conversation itself, things that were referred to (external resources), documents discussed (text, maps, images etc), people discussed who may also have joined and left the conversation as it occurred, decisions made and action steps agreed upon. In Google Wave all of these assets (for want of a better word) are collated under a titled "Wave". Some of these assets would also have been utilized or referred to in other conversations and Google Wave lets you cross correlate those items as well.

Google Wave is written in Java and utilises OpenJDK. Its web interface uses the Google Web Toolkit. Google intends to release the source code as a public open source resource allowing other developers to create their own Wave services as well. There are also Third Parties working on commercial plugins as well.

Technology Review: Windows 7

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 02:59:00 GMT

WINDOWS 7 - A Triumph!!

After labouring (and I do mean labouring) under Windows Vista on my main development PC for over three months I couldn't take it anymore. It was either take a punt with Windows 7 or blow the damn thing away and rebuild with XP. I bit the bullet and lept into 7. Wow! All the good things of Vista are there and none of the bad memory choking, blood pressure raising, keyboard slamming, cuss causing frustrations. It flies. It is smooth. It is highly customisable and I don't know how I survived previously without the pinnable taskbar.

If you are in any doubt on Windows 7 - I say take the plunge. You won't be dissappointed on this one! I'm still going to send Bill Gates a bill though for the time I wasted grappling with Vista. I think I lost 10mins from every hour of productivity waiting for things to load, think, render, crash, report, confirm etc etc. But I forgive as I think Windows 7 is altogether a great product. Google has it's work cut out for it if it thinks Vista left the might MS vulnerable in the OS market!

How does DirecTV work?

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:34:00 GMT

DirecTV is a satellite company which provides services for satellite television as well as very high speed satellite internet. They cater for the many people living in very rural or remote places, in the mountains or near the woods; basically away from civilization! There can be a problem when these people want to receive TV as there are hardly any cable services available in these areas, so therefore a satellite service can be a boon.

However, as well as people living in excluded areas, there are also a lot of city based people who make great use of these services. The services of DirecTV have partnerships going on with internet providers who are well-known and you can make your own choice in internet service.

As mentioned above, the service can be accessed from any location and because the system connects directly to the signals from the satellite, the service is not depending on cables to maintain the connection. Next to a solution for people in remote locations, this service is also a solution for people who travel a lot. With this service a basic local telephone line is not necessary.

The speed of DirecTV is variable. When you decide to take a subscription to the services you have different options regarding the speed of the internet connection. It can be within the range from slow to very high speed. Even if you choose the slow internet connection you will find that this connection is somewhat faster than regular dial-up internet connections. The speed of the connection is best to be compared with cable, but still it depends on the option you have chosen.

The connectivity of DirecTV is outstanding. Satellite service is always available anytime anywhere. The experience of having no connection will be reduced to next to never. There is no physical network to cause any troubles but the connection is sensitive to weather related problems. You do have to clean up your dish on a regular basis and icing can cause some light problems.

The advantage of portability has been very lucrative for DirecTV Internet. You can take the dish and modem anywhere you want and still have a great connection. You don’t have to depend on wi-fi services or check the availability of mobile internet connection points.

The customer service which is provided by DirecTV has a good reputation. In general, the users of the service have good experiences when dealing with customer service. As opposed to the customer services of the general of cable companies, this can be very enlightening.

The downside of the services provided by DirecTV are the costs. When you weigh the service against the price it is worth every cent, but if you compare the prices to the cable companies it is rather expensive. That is a decision which requires knowledge of what is important to you. Is it ok for you to have no connection every now and then or is it important for you to have around the clock access. Get your priorities in order and you will know which decision to make.