How to set up and use remote debugging in Visual Studio .NET?

The Remote Debugging Monitor (Msvsmon.exe) is a small application that Visual Studio 2005 connects to for remote debugging. During remote debugging, Visual Studio 2005 runs on one computer (the debugger host) and the Remote Debugging Monitor runs on the remote computer along with the application you are debugging.

The Remote Debugging Monitor runs as a Microsoft Windows application. The user interface shows that the Remote Debugging Monitor is running and makes remote debugging easy to set up.

Let's consider an example to understand this situation clearly. Molly Clark and Adam Barr are both employees at Adventure Works. Adventure Works has a Microsoft Windows NT domain named adventure-works.com. Adam is having trouble with some software that Molly wrote. Molly would like to debug this software on Adam's computer. Molly and Adam follow these steps:

1. Adam doesn't have the remote debugger on his computer. To set up the remote debugger, Molly decides to share out the Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger directory on her computer. She creates a file share called Remote.
2. Adam runs \\MollyComputerName\Remote\x86\Msvsmon.exe.
3. After the remote debugger starts, Adam clicks Permissions on the Tools menu to configure the remote debugger by using the Permissions dialog box. He gives Molly permission to debug.
4. Note: Adam could also configure the remote debugger by passing the /allow option when the remote debugger starts.
5. Molly starts Visual Studio 2005.
6. To open the Attach to Process dialog box, Molly clicks Attach to Process on the Tools menu.
7. Molly connects to Adam's computer by entering adventure-works.com\Adam@AdamComputerName in the Qualifier box.
8. Under Available Processes, Molly selects the worker process that her application is using and then clicks Attach.
9. Molly opens a browser and provides the URL to the remote application. The execution stops where the breakpoint is placed in the application.

Citation:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910448
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318041

log4net - Quick Reference

log4net is a tool to help the programmer output log statements to a variety of output targets. In case of problems with an application, it is helpful to enable logging so that the problem can be located. With log4net it is possible to enable logging at runtime without modifying the application binary. The log4net package is designed so that log statements can remain in shipped code without incurring a high performance cost. It follows that the speed of logging (or rather not logging) is crucial.

At the same time, log output can be so voluminous that it quickly becomes overwhelming. One of the distinctive features of log4net is the notion of hierarchical loggers. Using these loggers it is possible to selectively control which log statements are output at arbitrary granularity. log4net is designed with two distinct goals in mind: speed and flexibility.

For more technical details and details, visit

http://logging.apache.org/log4net/release/features.html

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/trace/log4net_intro.aspx

Google Account Hijacked???

I just got a message in Facebook from a friend whose Google Account was hijacked and the password was changed by the hacker. That person is now looking for some kind of a Google helpline to help him revive the account.

It can be a nightmare if someone else takes control of your Google Account because all your Google services like Gmail, Orkut, Google Calendar, Blogger, AdSense, Google Docs and even Google Checkout are tied to the same account.

Here are some options suggested by Google Support when your forget the Gmail password or if someone else takes ownership of your Google Account and changes the password:

1. Reset Your Google Account Password:

Type the email address associated with your Google Account or Gmail user name at google.com/accounts/ForgotPasswd - you will receive an email at your secondary email address with a link to reset your Google Account Password.

This will not work if the other person has changed your secondary email address or if you no longer have access to that address.

2. For Google Accounts Associated with Gmail

If you have problems while logging into your Gmail account, you can consider contacting Google by filling this form. It however requires you to remember the exact date when you created that Gmail account.

3. For Hijacked Google Accounts Not Linked to Gmail

If your Google Account doesn’t use a Gmail address, contact Google by filling this form. This approach may help bring back your Google Account if you religiously preserve all your old emails. You will be required to know the exact creation date of your Google Account plus a copy of that original “Google Email Verification” message.

It may be slightly tough to get your Google Account back but definitely not impossible if you have the relevant information in your secondary email mailbox.

Gmail has limits!

Gmail imposes a limit on the attachment size (20 MB) and the overall storage space (6 GB and growing) but there’s also a daily quote on sending email. Break the rules and Google will disable you Gmail account temporarily without any warnings.

So while sending an email message to a large group of friends using Gmail, read the following rules to avoid temporary shut-down of Gmail:

Rule 1. If you access Gmail via POP or IMAP clients (like Microsoft Outlook), you can send an email message to a maximum of 100 people at a time. Cross the limit and your account will be disabled for a day with the error "550 5.4.5 Daily sending quota exceeded."

Rule 2. If you access Gmail from the browser, you may not address an email message to more than 500 people at a time. Try adding any more recipients in the To, CC or BCC field and your Gmail account will get probably disabled for 24-72 hours. Error: "Gmail Lockdown in Secton 4"

Rule 3. Always double check email addresses of recipients before hitting the Send button in Gmail. That’s because your account will get disabled if the email message contains a large number of non-existent or broken addresses (<25>

Rule 4. This is slightly unrelated but still important - Google will disable your Gmail account permanently if you don’t check your Gmail email for a period of nine months. All the stored messages will be deleted and you Gmail address (user name) may be released for others to grab it.

Sources: Beth Kanter, Gmail Policies, Sending Limits

How to load an application and run from memory using C#?

This shows how to load an application and run from memory system. After the application load, you can use it without the source EXE file (usually blocked from the system) Useful when you don't have to have the source EXE file on HDD (E.g. on a USB key)

First Step

Load the exe file in one stream and read it as an array of bytes:

// read the bytes from the application exe file
FileStream fs = new FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Open);
BinaryReader br = new BinaryReader(fs);
byte[] bin = br.ReadBytes(Convert.ToInt32(fs.Length));
fs.Close();
br.Close();

Using the FileStream class is possible to open the exe file (location indicated in the filePath variable), read and close it to release resources.

Second Step

Use the Assembly.Load method to load the exe file (as array of bytes) into the Assembly cache:

// load the bytes into Assembly
Assembly a = Assembly.Load(bin);

Now we can try to find the Entry Point of the application:

// search for the Entry Point
MethodInfo method = a.EntryPoint;
if (method != null) { ... }

If an Entry Point is found, is possible to create an Istance of the Application Main method and invoke it from our application launcher:

// create an istance of the Startup form Main method
object o = a.CreateInstance(method.Name);

// invoke the application starting point
method.Invoke(o, null);

If all will be ok, the called application will start without using the source EXE file (try to move it to check).

NOTE: Pay attention to the Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault method of the called application. Visual Studio 2005 applies this line in the Main method (located inside the Program.cs file) to use the new GDI+ library in our applications, but it will throw an exception because it must be called before the first IWin32Window object is created.

How do you convert a String into an Enum in C#?

I've come across the situation on a number of occasions when coding where I've wanted to convert from a string to an Enum. In the Media Catalog sample, I resorted to one giant switch statement that has a case block for each string that returns an enum from it.

One of my colleagues came up with the answer yesterday; it's one of those methods that you can never find when you're looking for it, but once discovered it seems blindingly obvious:

   object Enum.Parse(System.Type enumType, string value, bool ignoreCase);

So you can write the following kind of code:

   enum Colour
{
   Red,
   Green,
   Blue
}

Colour c = (Colour) Enum.Parse(typeof(Colour), "Red", true);
Console.WriteLine("Colour Value: {0}", c.ToString());

// Picking an invalid colour throws an ArgumentException. To
// avoid this, call Enum.IsDefined() first, as follows:
string nonColour = "Polkadot";

if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(Colour), nonColour))
   c = (Colour) Enum.Parse(typeof(Colour), nonColour, true);
else
   MessageBox.Show("Uh oh!");

What a time saver - Thanks, Simon!

Footnote: interestingly, whilst writing this up I noticed that Enum.IsDefined() doesn’t offer the ignoreCase parameter. If you don’t know whether the casing is right, it seems the only way to do the conversion is using the Parse method and catching the ArgumentException. That's not ideal, since it runs a lot slower. I wonder if this is a loophole in the design; no doubt someone like Brad could cast light on it...