The Family Dog

How to Spam Effectively

Here are some techniques on how to spam effectively.

• Introduce yourself like you know the recipient personally. You might have some tender words in your subject line ("dearest", "beloved", "darling", "monkey love") which will immediately appeal to the reader and encourage them to check the message.

• Pretend you're with a government agency or corporation. Believe me, when someone sees a message incoming from the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, Bank of America, Hormel, Adam & Eve, or even The White House, it is a real attention getter!

• Only use a first name in the "from" field of your messages. I have friends named Claire, Jane, Lexus, Chiquita, all of whom happen to be females with smokin' hot bodies. Of course I will not hesitate to open emails from these lovelies!

• Use a free email provider like Yahoo to send out your messages. Using official addresses is so formal! Use casual addresses instead (like vincentnobi1970@yahoo.com) and you will instantly appeal to the recipient's heart and wallet.

• Mention the name of a famous prescription drug, like Viagra. There is a flat 50% chance that the person reading your message has a penis. Use that opportunity to pimp the most effective erectile dysfunction drug in the world!

• Occasionally misspell words, especially when impersonating a bank. Email can be so boring, everyone has a spellchecker these days. Be different! Tell someone they're going to loose access to their account, or that extra feeds will be charged.

• Make sure your name appears followed by a bunch of abbreviations. I've always paid special attention to emails from my partner in Nigeria, Dr. Clement Okon, MD, PhD, DVM, MBA, ESQ, BS. Your customers will, too! 

That's it! I hope the techniques I've outlined above will help YOU become a more effective spammer.

Twilight - Breaking Wind

Gaia: Soccer Mom?!

Is mother Earth, a.k.a. Gaia, a soccer mom, taking her "children" to practice in a planet-sized SUV?? Original story here.

You and Your Dog

Cannot Modify the Needed File

Upon restarting Windows, my StumbleUpon toolbar in Firefox seemed no more.

I went to the StumbleUpon site and tried to reinstall the add-on, but got this error:

StumbleUpon could not be installed because Firefox cannot modify the needed file.

My setup is a bit unusual in that I have a QSoft RAMDisk drive set up on my 4 GB system to utilize the extra 768 MB or so of PAE memory, normally inaccessible to Windows 7. I configured my system to use a folder on this drive, R:, named TEMP as a scratch space, and set up Firefox to use R:\ for its cache.

I discovered, however, that I'd forgotten to create a little script or batch file to create this TEMP folder on the R: drive. This meant that for some programs that might use the system's default temp space, it might fail, the folder R:\TEMP being nonexistent.

To get around this I simply modified my environment variables for TEMP and TMP to reference the root of the RAM drive, R:\. Now the StumbleUpon toolbar add-on installs successfully.

In case you encounter this error, make sure that you have sufficient space available in whatever folder you tell Windows to use as scratch space, and of course that it exists in the first place and is accessible.

iPhones Don't Kill People...

Center Text AND Images Within ASP .NET

I recently integrated the handy AddThis sharing and analytics tool into an ASP .NET site I'm working on.

Whether due to peculiarities of the markup or browser idiosyncrasies, I couldn't get the widget consistently centered. The widget code lives in a div tag, and despite a popular few suggestions, I simply couldn't get things centered horizontally.

Centering text is no big deal; simply applying a CSS style usually does this well enough:


text-align: center;



Images, however, aren't accounted for by this markup. 

I ended up enclosing the widget in a Table control with the HorizontalAlign attribute specified to "Center", and this did the trick.

Centered!

Much easier to allow ASP .NET to handle the grunt work of emitting the necessary markup in this case than messing (directly) with styles.

Assembly must be Strong Signed in order to be marked as a Prerequisite

In the process of trying to update and rebuild a C# project utilizing Microsoft's Enterprise Library, I inexplicably got the error "Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.dll must be strong signed in order to be marked as a prerequisite." 

I hadn't touched this project in a while, in fact I may've last built it on a different PC, so I guess if I had strong signed the Enterprise Library dll, the new system had no idea. Also, I'd installed .NET 4 recently, so maybe this had something to do with this earlier version of the Enterprise LIbrary (my project implements 4.1 whereas the latest version is 5). I guess security in the .NET 3.5 framework isn't up to snuff as far as .NET 4 is concerned.

Anyway, it appeared I had no choice but to use the sn.exe utility and create a key pair and do all the stuff Microsoft suggests in their painfully tedious article on how to sign an assembly with a strong name. Luckily after some digging I found Signer, a command-line utility which simplifies the process of strongly signing one or more assemblies which VS 2008 may be complaining about.

I'm referencing this from the perspective of a Windows 7 64-bit system, so note that the following may vary if you're using 32-bit. 

In order to do it's thing, Signer requires access to some other command line utilities, most of which live in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bin\. A few, however, including ilasm.exe and fusion.dll, live elsewhere (in my case, these were hanging out in C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319).

I decided to copy Signer.EXE to the above SDK path, and copy the latest versions of the above files to that same path, so that when I execute Signer.EXE, it'll be able to easily find all the external EXE and DLL files in the same directory.

First of all, though, I needed to use MIcrosoft's sn utility to create an .snk key file in my SDK folder from a command prompt as follows:

sn.exe -k 1024 myProjectKeyName.snk

This instructs sn to produce a key file named myProjectKeyName.snk which I really don't care about for anything other than getting my project to build again. Thus, I chose an arbitrary key file name and value of 1024-bit key length.

I then executed Signer as follows in the same folder:

signer.exe -k myProjectKeyName.snk -outdir C:\myProject\myProjectLibrary -a C:\myProject\myProjectLibrary\*.dll

Here I'm instructing Signer to take the key I just created and strongly sign all .DLL files in my project's library folder. After this, I did a Clean Build on my project, then a Build, and thank goodness, the build completed successfully!
 

Even though Visual Studio 2008 can't build .NET 4 applications, I guess nevertheless since I have the .NET 4 framework installed, it's mandated that all assemblies shall be strong signed, or the project using them shall not build. Whatever, I'm just happy to have gotten past this issue.

Google-like Filtering with RadGrid and Separate Data Class

I needed to create a Google Suggest style search interface for an ASP.NET page.

Our site recently obtained licenses to the Telerik control suite, and the powerful RadGrid control looked like it was just what I needed. I found this example on the Telerik site.

Key to this setup is having a textbox for the user to input filter criteria, which is then from the user's perspective transformed into a RadComboBox object to house matching results; then once the user selects an item from the dropdown, the RadGrid is bound and displays any matching results.

I encountered a problem because our site uses a centralized class library for CRUD outside of this particular page’s code class, meaning I could not access my application’s data context from within the GridBoundColumn class definition. The Telerik example (specifically in the MyCustomFilteringColumnCS.cs file) performs its own queries as needed using a SqlDataAdapter with a ConnectionString obtained from the application configuration. A simple SELECT statement is executed which returns matching results.

When I tried to reference my centralized data class from within the GridBoundColumn class definition, I got the following error:

Cannot access non-static property … in static context.

Below is the problem code, revealing that the property CurrentUser is inaccessible to the class.

       protected void list_ItemsRequested(object o, RadComboBoxItemsRequestedEventArgs e)
     {
        // Cannot access non-static property 'CurrentUser' in static context.

        using (MyCRUD mc = new MyCRUD(CurrentUser) )
        {

              ((RadComboBox)o).DataTextField = DataField;

              ((RadComboBox)o).DataValueField = DataField;

              ((RadComboBox)o).DataSource = mc.GetMatchingAddresses(e.Text);

              ((RadComboBox)o).DataBind();

        }

     }

My GridBoundColumn class does not exist until my application instantiates it with its parent RadGrid object, so I cannot directly assign a property to it. However, I stumbled upon this post which made me realize I could, in the GridBoundColumn class definition, make several changes.

1. Define a constructor for the class which takes an existing instance of the MyCRUD class as input.

2. Create a public property in the class definition which can be assigned the MyCRUD object.

3. Create a private field in the class definition to contain the instance of the MyCRUD object to be utilized by the GridBoundColumn class.

 

Below is the modified class, with additions (*) indicated below.

       public class rgcFilterColumn : GridBoundColumn

      {   

            // * I added a constructor with an input parameter of the type 

            // * corresponding to my app’s CRUD object.       

            public rgcFilterColumn(MyCRUD mycrud)

            {

                TheDataContext = mycrud;

            }

            // * This field provides an instance of the rgcFilterColumn class 

            // * with the corresponding value set for the data context object.

            private readonly MyCRUD TheDataContext;

            // * This property enables the process which instantiates this 

            // * class to assign the MyCRUD object to TheDataContext.

            public MyCRUD thedatacontext

            {

                get { return TheDataContext; }

            }

     // RadGrid will call this method when it initializes
     // the controls inside the filtering item cells

            protected override void SetupFilterControls(TableCell cell)

            {

                base.SetupFilterControls(cell);

                cell.Controls.RemoveAt(0);

                RadComboBox combo = new RadComboBox

                {

                    ID = ("RadComboBox1" + UniqueName),

                    ShowToggleImage = false,

                    Skin = "Office2007",

                    EnableLoadOnDemand = true,

                    AutoPostBack = true,

                    MarkFirstMatch = true,

                    Height = Unit.Pixel(100)

                };

                combo.ItemsRequested += list_ItemsRequested;

                combo.SelectedIndexChanged += list_SelectedIndexChanged;

                cell.Controls.AddAt(0, combo);

                cell.Controls.RemoveAt(1);

            }

   // RadGrid will call this method when the value should
   // be set to the filtering input control(s)

           protected override void SetCurrentFilterValueToControl(TableCell cell)

           {

                base.SetCurrentFilterValueToControl(cell);

                RadComboBox combo = (RadComboBox)cell.Controls[0];

                if ((CurrentFilterValue != string.Empty))

                {

      combo.Text = CurrentFilterValue;
        }
     }

   // RadGrid will call this method when the filtering value
   // should be extracted from the filtering input control(s)

           protected override string GetCurrentFilterValueFromControl(TableCell cell)

           {

                RadComboBox combo = (RadComboBox)cell.Controls[0];

                return combo.Text;

           }

           protected void list_ItemsRequested(object o, RadComboBoxItemsRequestedEventArgs e)

           {

                // * Below we use the value of field TheDataContext to execute 

                // * a method accesible via the MyCRUD data context for the application.

                using (MyCRUD mc = TheDataContext)         

                {

                     ((RadComboBox)o).DataTextField = DataField;

                     ((RadComboBox)o).DataValueField = DataField;

                     ((RadComboBox)o).DataSource = mc.GetMatchingAddresses(e.Text);

                     ((RadComboBox)o).DataBind();

                }

           }

           private void list_SelectedIndexChanged(object o, RadComboBoxSelectedIndexChangedEventArgs e)

           {

                GridFilteringItem filterItem = (GridFilteringItem)((RadComboBox)o).NamingContainer;

                if ((UniqueName == "Index"))

                {

                    // this is filtering for integer column type

                    filterItem.FireCommandEvent("Filter", new Pair("EqualTo", UniqueName));

                }

                // filtering for string column type

                filterItem.FireCommandEvent("Filter", new Pair("Contains", UniqueName));

           }

      }

Now an instance of the GridBoundColumn class can happily utilize my application's central CRUD class for all its data retrieval operations.

There, Their...

Google+: Why... So... Serious??

I just tried to use Google's +1 feature, but inexplicably saw red, an exclamation point icon appeared instead of the usual cheerful blue +1. Upon clicking this, I was greeted with the following:

Your profile is currently suspended

Until your profile is unsuspended, you will be unable to create +1's.

Wat??

Initially this smacked of the kind of shit I've experienced on Yahoo Answers, where a profile you might invest a lot of time and effort in gets suspended because you post a controversial answer that a bunch of people dislike and report to indulge their passive aggressive tendencies. A closer look at my profile revealed this additional clarification.

Your profile is suspended

After reviewing your profile, we determined that the name you provided violates our Community Standards.

If you believe that your profile has been suspended in error, please provide us with additional information via this form, and we will review your profile again.

Google's rules provided this additional tidbit:

Display Name
To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the name your friends, family, or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your full legal name is Charles Jones Jr. but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, either of these would be acceptable.

Google+ is still being tested so to me this is no biggie, but it is an annoyance. Some people might not want to use their real name, some might want to create a profile with a fake name for their cat, dog, business, narwhal, whatever.

They have provided the option to provide optional verification in the form of a photo ID...

Additional Verification Information (Optional Section)

Photo ID (Optional):

Attach a copy of your ID with your name and photo clearly visible. You can block out other personal information. Your ID will only be used to verify your name and will be deleted after review.

I chose not to pursue this option, since I know who I am and I feel Google needn't know more than whom I've presented through my online persona. Facebook, certainly, doesn't mind...

Hopefully Google will unclench their social networking buttcheeks and let people have some latitude in terms of naming their profiles.

Explorer.EXE Crashes and Restarts Constantly

After a reboot, Windows Explorer began to crash and restart constantly with an Event ID 1000 error. Windows Help was useless, so I opened Event Viewer and saw the following:

It's curious that a file which is part of the third-party Windows 7 Codec pack seems to be responsible:

Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Win7codecs\filters\DivXMFSource.DLL

Fortunately, I got around this issue by simply uninstalling the codec pack as described here, by executing the file Win7codecs.msi in a subfolder contained immediately under C:\ProgramData\Win7codecs\, and then choosing Remove (the only option available via Control Panel \ Programs \ Programs and Features is to perform a "Repair", which didn't help in my case).

Create Shortcut to Executable using C#

I needed a C# method to create a shortcut to an executable and place it on the user's desktop in Windows.

I found a method to actually create the shortcut which utilizes the Windows Scripting Host object model. Most examples I found used a separate icon file for the shortcut, whereas I wanted to have the shortcut icon by default be the same one used by the executable itself.

First you must create a reference in Visual Studio to the Windows Script Host Object Model COM object as shown here:

Below is the modified method, where sLinkPathName is the path to the executable.

using IWshRuntimeLibrary

...

private void appShortcutToDesktop(string sLinkPathName)
{
     try
     {
          WshShellClass wsh = new WshShellClass();
          IWshRuntimeLibrary.IWshShortcut scShortcut;

          // Choose the path for the shortcut
          scShortcut = wsh.CreateShortcut(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) + "\\shorcut.lnk") as IWshRuntimeLibrary.IWshShortcut;

          // Where the shortcut should point to
          scShortcut.TargetPath = txtFile.Text;

          // Description for the shortcut
          scShortcut.Description = "This is a shortcut.";

          // Location for the shortcut's icon
          scShortcut.IconLocation = sLinkPathName + ", 0";

          // Create the shortcut at the given path
          scShortcut.Save();
     }
     catch (Exception ex)
     {
          MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
     }
} 

Line 22 sets the shortcut's IconLocation property such that it grabs the default icon for the executable, the same one that you'd expect to see if you created the shortcut manually.

Google +1 Button: Instant SEO

Google's new +1 button is the information innovator's response to the fairly ubiquitous Facebook, StumbleUpon, and other icons that let you promote content you find useful. I noticed that Google incorporated this feature into my search results as well, so I decided to experiment.

A popular blog post of mine describing a DIY screen protector for the Viewsonic G Tablet appears at spot #9 among my Google search results as shown below:

Note the greyed out +1 button just to the right of the link title, which animates tantalizingly as you hover over the search result. I went ahead and clicked it, essentially voting my link up in the rankings. Here's the result:

From the #9 to the #5 spot with one click?? I'll take it! You also receive a notification just below and to the left indicating that you've +1'd a given link.

I don't know whether "+1'd" has as catchy a ring to it as "Liked", but if it brings more traffic to my site, then I'm all for it!