Monday, 22 July 2019

HttpInterceptor to cache clientside in Angular 8

I have been working with a sample project of HttpInterceptor to cache data clientside in Angular 8 hosted on Github. The repository is here: https://github.com/toreaurstadboss/AngularHttpInterceptorSample First off, the data is delivered by a small backend using Express.Js.The server.js file looks like this:
const express = require('express');
const path = require('path');
const fs = require('fs');
var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
var logger = require('morgan');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

var towns = require('./server/routes/towns');

var app = express();

// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, '/server/views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');

app.use(favicon(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/favicon.ico')));
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist')));

app.use(function (req, res, next) {
    if (!req.url.startsWith('/api')){
      req.url = '/api' + req.url;
    }
    console.log('got requst url: ' + req.url);
    console.log('Server handling request at Time:', new Date())
    next()
  })

// app.use('/', routes);
app.get('/api/towns', function(req, res) {
    let townsFileContents = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, 'server/data/townsandcities.json'), 'utf-8');
    let townsFound = JSON.parse(townsFileContents);
    console.log(townsFileContents);
    res.json(townsFound);
});

// app.get('*', function(req, res) {
//   res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/index.html'));
// });

// catch 404 and forward to error handler
// app.use(function(req, res, next) {
//     var err = new Error('Not Found');
//     err.status = 404;
//     next(err);
// });

// error handlers

// development error handler
// will print stacktrace
if (app.get('env') === 'development') {
    app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
        res.status(err.status || 500);
        res.render('error', {
            message: err.message,
            error: err
        });
    });
}

// production error handler
// no stacktraces leaked to user
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
    res.status(err.status || 500);
    res.render('error', {
        message: err.message,
        error: {}
    });
});

var debug = require('debug')('server');

app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);

app.listen(app.get('port'));

console.log('Listening on port: ' + app.get('port'));

module.exports = app;

Angular bits is written in Typescript instead of just Js. The Http Interceptor itself is a ES 6 class which is exported and caches http responses according to route urls.
import { HttpInterceptor, HttpRequest, HttpHandler, HttpEvent, HttpResponse } from '@angular/common/http';
import { Observable, of } from 'rxjs';
import { tap } from 'rxjs/operators';
import { CacheService } from './cache.service';


export class CacheInterceptor implements HttpInterceptor {

    constructor(private cacheService: CacheService) {
    }

    intercept(req: HttpRequest<any>, next: HttpHandler): Observable<HttpEvent<any>> {


        if (req.method !== 'GET') {
            this.cacheService.invalidateCache();
        }
        const cachedResponse: HttpResponse<any> = this.cacheService.get(req.url);
        if (cachedResponse !== undefined) {
         return of(cachedResponse);
        }

        return next.handle(req).pipe(
            tap(event => {
                if (event instanceof HttpResponse) {
                    this.cacheService.put(req.url, event);
                    let reponse: HttpResponse<any>;
                    reponse  = event;

                }
                return of(event);
            })
        );
    }

}

The CacheService caches responses to the client by route url as mentioned. It looks like this:
import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { ICacheservice } from './icacheservice';
import { HttpResponse } from '@angular/common/http';

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class CacheService implements ICacheservice {
  private requests = { };
  put(url: string, response: HttpResponse): void {
    this.requests[url] = response;
  }
  get(url: string): HttpResponse | undefined {
    return this.requests[url] ? this.requests[url] : undefined;
  }
  invalidateCache(): void {
    this.requests = {};
  }
  expireItem(url: string, timeoutInMilliseconds: number) {
    const itemFound = this.get(url);
    if (itemFound !== undefined) {
      setTimeout(() => {
        this.requests[url] = undefined;
      }, timeoutInMilliseconds);
    }

  }

  constructor() { }

}

We inject the HttpInterceptor to the app module like this:
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { CacheInterceptor } from './core/cache.interceptor';
import { HTTP_INTERCEPTORS, HttpClientModule } from '@angular/common/http';
import { BrowserAnimationsModule } from '@angular/platform-browser/animations';
import { MatTableModule } from  '@angular/material';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    HttpClientModule,
    MatTableModule,
    BrowserAnimationsModule
  ],
  providers: [
    { provide: HTTP_INTERCEPTORS, useClass: CacheInterceptor, multi: true }
  ],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

The index page then contains some markup including a Material Table using Google's Material UI. The app.component.ts handles the client side call back that triggers the retrieval and clearing of the data. If you click the load link, the data is retrieved and cached. If you open up Developer tools with F12, you will spot that the data is cached if you hit load many times. If you hit clear link, the data is cleared from cache and next click on load will fetch data again and inject into the cache. This sample shows how you can create a cache side feature of Angular 8 and support an HTTP interceptor. To check it out yourself run: git clone https://github.com/toreaurstadboss/AngularHttpInterceptorSample.git Afterwards, run: npm run start This will start both the Angular website on port 4200 and the Node.js Express.js backend on port 3000. The package.json script for npm run start looks like this: "start": "concurrently --kill-others \"ng build --watch --no-delete-output-path\" \"nodemon server.js\" \"ng serve --proxy-config proxy.conf.json \"", You can also just enter: npm start

Monday, 15 July 2019

Http echo service written in Node.js

I have added a small repo on Github that shows how to create a simple HTTP echo service. https://github.com/toreaurstadboss/NodeJsHttpEchoServer The server.js is script is this:
let http = require('http');

console.log('Attempting to start the Node.js echos server on port 8081..')
http.createServer().on('request', function(request, response){
 request.pipe(response);
}).on('close', function(){
    console.log('The Node.js echo server has been closed.')
})
.listen(8081);

console.log('Node.js echo server started on port 8081.')

This will pipe out the requesting data to the response. Test it out with this command for example in a command window: curl -d "Hello dog" http://localhost:8081 Note - use not Powershell for this command as Powershell has aliased curl command for Invoke-WebRequest. Rather install curl with Chocolatey for example, choco install curl

Using Ndepend to investigate method cycles

Ndepend is a very powerful Code analysis platform for DotNet and I have created a method cycle detection rule. The method cycle detection also supports property setters and getters. A cycle in a property or method will often cause problems, such as stack overflow exceptions due to too many recursive calls. Spotting such cycles can often be hard in real-world scenarios. A classic error is to actually do a cycle through a property getter, by just calling the getter once more or a property setter for that instance. The following C# attribute invokes a Rules extracted from Source code from Ndepend.

using System;
using NDepend.Attributes;

namespace Hemit.OpPlan.Client.Infrastructure.Aspects
{
    /// Ndepend attribute to enable cyclic loops in methods in the source code 
    [CodeRule(@"// <Name>Avoid methods of a type to be in cycles. Detect also recursive property setter calls</Name>
warnif count > 0

from t in Application.Types
                 .Where(t => t.ContainsMethodDependencyCycle != null && 
                             t.ContainsMethodDependencyCycle.Value)

// Optimization: restreint methods set
// A method involved in a cycle necessarily have a null Level.
let methodsSuspect = t.Methods.Where(m => m.Level == null)

// hashset is used to avoid iterating again on methods already caught in a cycle.
let hashset = new HashSet<IMethod>()


from suspect in methodsSuspect
   // By commenting this line, the query matches all methods involved in a cycle.
   where !hashset.Contains(suspect)

   // Define 2 code metrics
   // - Methods depth of is using indirectly the suspect method.
   // - Methods depth of is used by the suspect method indirectly.
   // Note: for direct usage the depth is equal to 1.
   let methodsUserDepth = methodsSuspect.DepthOfIsUsing(suspect)
   let methodsUsedDepth = methodsSuspect.DepthOfIsUsedBy(suspect)

   // Select methods that are both using and used by methodSuspect
   let usersAndUsed = from n in methodsSuspect where 
                         methodsUserDepth[n] > 0 && 
                         methodsUsedDepth[n] > 0 
                      select n

   where usersAndUsed.Count() > 0

   // Here we've found method(s) both using and used by the suspect method.
   // A cycle involving the suspect method is found!
   let cycle = System.Linq.Enumerable.Append(usersAndUsed,suspect)


   // Fill hashset with methods in the cycle.
   // .ToArray() is needed to force the iterating process.
   let unused1 = (from n in cycle let unused2 = hashset.Add(n) select n).ToArray()

let cycleContainsSetter = (from n1 in cycle where n1.IsPropertySetter select n1).Count()

  
select new { suspect, cycle, cycleContainsSetter }",
        Active = true,
        DisplayStatInReport = true,
        DisplayListInReport = true,
        DisplaySelectionViewInReport = true,
        IsCriticalRule = false)]
    public class MethodCycleDetectionAttribute : Attribute
    {
    }
}


Note that this Ndepend Code rule uses the CQLinq syntax placed into a C# attribute class that inherits from Attribute and itself is attributed with a Ndepend.Attributes.CodeRuleAttribute. I had to adjust the attribute a little bit using the ExtensionMethodsEnumerable fix for .Net 4.6.2 mentioned on Ndepend blog post here: https://blog.ndepend.com/problem-extension-methods/ The following screen shot shows Visual Studio 2019 with Ndepend version 2019.2.5 installed. It shows the method cycle detection code rule I created showing up as a code rule through source code. Selecting that code rule in the menu Ndepend => Rules Explorer that selects Queries and Rules Explorer allows to not only view the code rule but quickly see the code analysis results.
One method cycle I have is shown in the following image, the method ProcessPasRequest of my system. This case shows how advanced Ndepend really is in code analysis. It can detect transitive cycles with multiple function calls. The following two screen shots shows the cycle in question. In this case, it was not a bug, since the cycle will only happend a finite amount of times for a given set of patients, but it still can go into an infinite loop if the external system is not working correct. However in this case, if that external system is not working, the system I have been working with also faults as it relies on that external system. With Ndepend I could spot method cycles with transitive cycles with a breeze! I can also spot property getter and setter cycles, as property getters and setters in C# are methods anyways (compiler generated). I managed to get Ndepend back to the main menu in Visual Studio 2019 using this extension.
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Evgeny.RestoreExtensions

Sunday, 14 July 2019

Loading tweets from Twitter with Node.Js and Express.Js

This article will present a Git repository I created that can fetch tweets from Twitter using Twitter Api v1.1 and Node and Express. Or also known as Node.js and Express.Js. First off, Twitter now enforces all API calls to be authenticated. To be able to call the Twitter API, there are four values you must retrieve for the App you have created at https://developer.twitter.com/en/apps. These are:
  • Consumer API
  • Consumer API secret
  • Access token
  • Access token secret
The Git repo I created is available here: https://github.com/toreaurstadboss/SimpleTwitterFeedExpressJs The solution is started using: npm run start But for working with the solution, use nodemon command. The server.js is the primary part. Here we create the Express.Js server object for Node which will host our web service calls for the Tweets. We use the following Npm libraries:
  • express (web server)
  • fs (FileStream for Node
  • https (for secured communication
  • Twitter (for Twitter API v1.1 communication
The following Js script is the server.js file:
var express = require("express");
var request = require("request");
let config = require("./config");
const https = require("https");
const fs = require("fs");
var url = require("url");
var Twitter = require("twitter");

var key = fs.readFileSync(__dirname + "/certs/selfsigned.key");
var cert = fs.readFileSync(__dirname + "/certs/selfsigned.crt");
const port = 3000;
var options = {
  key: key,
  cert: cert
};

var app = express();

var client = new Twitter(config);

app.get("/", function(req, res) {
  res.sendFile(__dirname + "/index.html");
});

function getTweets(userName, tweetCount, res) {
  var params = {
    q: userName,
    count: tweetCount
  };

  var responseFromTwitter = {};

  let tweetSearched = false;

  // Initiate your search using the above paramaters
  client.get("search/tweets", params, function(err, data, response) {
    console.log("Found # Tweets: " + data.statuses.length);
    res.charset = "utf-8";
    res.append("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf-8");

    // If there is no error, proceed
    if (!err) {
      res.end(JSON.stringify(data.statuses));
    }
  });
}

app.get("/tweets/:username", function(req, res) {
  let tweetsFound = getTweets(req.params.username, 10, res);
  console.log(tweetsFound);
});

app.use("/css", express.static(__dirname + "/node_modules/bootstrap/dist/css"));

var server = https.createServer(options, app);
server.listen(port, () => {
  console.log("server starting on port: " + port);
});
Make note that this sample uses HTTPS communication. It is using self signed certificates. I created these using this command inside Windows Subsystem for Linux: sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout ./selfsigned.key -out selfsigned.crt This created the key pair of the selfsigned key and the certificate. The HTTPS server is created using this:
var server = https.createServer(options, app);
server.listen(port, () => {
  console.log("server starting on port: " + port);
});
The bulk of the code retrieving the Tweets is the method getTweets. We pass on the response object and use the end method of Express to stringify the JSON data we found. I have not done much error handling here. We return data as Json if we found some Tweets for given username. There is one route defined in Express here: app.get("/tweets/:username", function(req, res) { let tweetsFound = getTweets(req.params.username, 10, res); console.log(tweetsFound); }); The method getTweets will then retrieve data from Twitter using a HTTPS call to
function getTweets(userName, tweetCount, res) {
  var params = {
    q: userName,
    count: tweetCount
  };

  var responseFromTwitter = {};

  let tweetSearched = false;

  // Initiate your search using the above paramaters
  client.get("search/tweets", params, function(err, data, response) {
    console.log("Found # Tweets: " + data.statuses.length);
    res.charset = "utf-8";
    res.append("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf-8");

    // If there is no error, proceed
    if (!err) {
      res.end(JSON.stringify(data.statuses));
    }
  });
}

To test out this code, you can enter the following command to clone the repository.
git clone https://github.com/toreaurstadboss/SimpleTwitterFeedExpressJs.git

Tuesday, 11 June 2019

Deselecting all options in HTML SELECT using Jquery plugin

I created my first jQuery plugin today. This plugin will deselect all select option elements after a given timeout when checking an associated checkbox which will in our plugin represent the $(this) object. It can be utilized when you use the data-target attribute. The data-target attribute will automatically select the first option when the checkbox is unchecked. This plugin, however - deselects all options after a given timeout of milliseconds using the setTimeout function. It will keep a pointer to the select object by applying the $() function on a passed in DOM element identifier. Example usage:
     <script type="text/javascript">
                $(function() {
                    $("[name=@SearchParametersDataContract.SomeDOMElementCheckbox]").deselectAfterSelectCheckbox("#@SomeDOMElementSelect",100);
                });
            </script>
The jQuery plugin looks like this:

        <script type="text/javascript">
            $.fn.deselectAllAfterUnselectCheckbox= function(targetSelect, timeout) {
                $(this).on("click",
                    function() {
                        if (timeout === null || timeout == undefined)
                            timeout = 50;
                        $targetSelect = $(targetSelect);
                        if (this.checked === false) {
                            setTimeout(function() {
                                 $targetSelect.children("option").attr("selected", false);
                            }, timeout)
                        };
                    });
            }
        </script>

Wednesday, 5 June 2019

Random selection of a HTML SELECT element

Just made a JsFiddle of a random selection control for HTML SELECT tag. The JsFiddle is available here: Random selecting combobox (JsFiddle)
  • The control should use Bootstrap to function properly. It needs jQuery library for Javascript bit.
  • To turn on hiding the selected option, set the data-hide-selectedoption HTML 5 data attribute to "true".

Random selecting HTML SELECT control


<!-- 
  Bootstrap docs: https://getbootstrap.com/docs
-->

<div class="container">

  <div class="input-group mb-3">
    <div class="input-group-prepend">
      <span class="input-group-text" id="basic-addon1"><img style="cursor:pointer" title="Choose random value" alt="Choose random value" width="24" height="24" src="https://cdn4.iconfinder.com/data/icons/ionicons/512/icon-shuffle-512.png" /></span>
    </div>
    <select data-hide-selectedoption="true" disabled id="ComboBoxIceCreamBar" class="form-control" placeholder="Username" aria-label="Username" aria-describedby="basic-addon1">
 <option selected hidden>Choose icecream</option>
 <option value="Vanilla">Vanilla</option>
 <option value="Strawberry">Strawberry</option>
 <option value="Pineapple">Pineapple</option>
 <option value="Mint chocolate">Mint chocolate</option>
 <option value="Mango ice cream">Mango ice cream</option>
 <option value="Rasperry Ripple">Raspberry Ripple</option>
 <option value="Pistachio">Pistachio</option>
 <option value="Cookie dough">Cookie dough</option>
 <option value="Lemon">Lemon</option>
 <option value="Mango">Mango</option>
 </select>
    <!-- <input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Username" aria-label="Username" aria-describedby="basic-addon1"> -->
  </div>

</div>

<script type="text/javascript">
  $("#basic-addon1").on("click", function() {
    var selectcontrol = $(this).parent().siblings('select:first');
    var optionslength = selectcontrol.children('option').length;
    var randomIndex = Math.max(1, parseInt(Math.random() * optionslength));
  var optionElementToSelect = selectcontrol.children('option')[randomIndex];
    optionElementToSelect.selected = true;
  //debugger
  if (selectcontrol.data('hide-selectedoption')){
       optionElementToSelect.innerText = 'Selected value hidden.';   
  } 
  console.log("Selected ice cream: " + selectcontrol.val());
  });

</script>

Friday, 10 May 2019

Adding only untracked files in Git repo using Powershell

Are you a .NET developer mainly still use Windows OS and use Powershell and not Git bash for example ? The following procedure can be followed to create an aliased function for adding untracked files in a Git repository. Inside your $profile file of Powershell (in case it is missing - you can run: New-Item $Profile) notepad $Profile Now add this Powershell method:
function AddUntracked-Git() {
 &git ls-files -o --exclude-standard | select | foreach { git add $_ }
}
Save the $profile file and reload it into Powershell. Then reload your $profile file with: . $profile This is similar to the source command in *nix environments IMHO. So next time you, if you are developer using Powershell in Windows against Git repo and want to just include untracked files you can run: AddUntracked-Git This follows the Powershell convention where you have verb-nouns.

Friday, 3 May 2019

Powershell - Appending folder to path

The following Powershell function can be used to append a folder to the path for a user at the command line.

function AppendPath($filePath) {
 $path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path")
 $path += ";" + $filePath
 [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $path)
 Write-Host $path 
}

To call this function, just run the Powershell command:
AppendPath "c:\temp"
You can add this file into your $profile file as a function for easy availability. Run . $profile to reload your $profile file. This will append the folder "c:\temp" to your environment variable PATH. To view your environment variable PATH just enter:
echo $env:path
It is not required, but you can also use Chocolatey's refreshenv script to force update the environment variable if it is still not updating.

Thursday, 2 May 2019

Regenerating precompiled views in Entity Framework

This article will present a solution to regenerate precompiled views in Entity Framework. Precompiled views can have a dramatic effect on the startup time of your DbContext / ObjectContext, especially the time to execute the first query against the database. First off, the following class can generate these precompiled views:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data.Entity.Core.Mapping;
using System.Data.Entity.Core.Metadata.Edm;
using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;

namespace PrecompiledViewGenerator
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Capable of generating pre compiled views that EF can use for quicker startup time when application domains starts.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="TDbContext"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="dbContext"></param>
    /// <remarks>See https://github.com/ErikEJ/EntityFramework6PowerTools/tree/community/src/PowerTools Github page for the source code of EF Power tools.</remarks>
    /// <returns>A string containing the precompiled views that can be written to file or database for later use to gain optimized startup speeds of EF in application domains.</returns>
    public class EntityFrameworkPrecompiledViewGenerator
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Generates pre compiled views from a db context. Uses EF Powertools runtime T4 template (.tt file) for precompiled view generation of views for EF 6 ObjectContext for C#.
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="TDbContext"></typeparam>
        /// <param name="dbContext"></param>
        /// <param name="viewContainerSuffix">The suffix to apply in the generated file containing the precompiled views</param>
        /// <remarks>See https://github.com/ErikEJ/EntityFramework6PowerTools/tree/community/src/PowerTools Github page for the source code of EF Power tools.</remarks>
        /// <returns>A string containing the precompiled views that can be written to file or database for later use to gain optimized startup speeds of EF in application domains.</returns>
        public string GeneratePrecompiledViews<TDbContext>(TDbContext dbContext, string viewContainerSuffix) where TDbContext : IObjectContextAdapter
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(viewContainerSuffix))
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(viewContainerSuffix));
            var objectContext = (dbContext as IObjectContextAdapter)?.ObjectContext; 
            if (objectContext == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(dbContext));
            var viewGenerator = new CSharpViewGenerator();
            var mappingCollection = (StorageMappingItemCollection) objectContext.MetadataWorkspace.GetItemCollection(DataSpace.CSSpace);
            if (mappingCollection == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(dbContext));
            var listOfEdmSchemaErrors = new List<EdmSchemaError>();
            var views = mappingCollection.GenerateViews(listOfEdmSchemaErrors);
            listOfEdmSchemaErrors.ForEach(error =>
            {
                if (error.Severity == EdmSchemaErrorSeverity.Error)
                    throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException($"An error occurred while trying to generate views for {dbContext.GetType().Name}. The error was: {error.ToString()}");
            });
            viewGenerator.ContextTypeName = dbContext.GetType().FullName;
            viewGenerator.MappingHashValue = mappingCollection.ComputeMappingHashValue();
            viewGenerator.ViewContainerSuffix = viewContainerSuffix;
            viewGenerator.Views = views;
            string precompiledViews = viewGenerator.TransformText();
            return precompiledViews;
        }
    }
}



The following runtime text template (.T4) is used to generate the precompiled views:

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// <auto-generated>
//     This code was generated by a tool.
//
//     Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if
//     the code is regenerated.
// </auto-generated>
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.MappingViews;

[assembly: DbMappingViewCacheTypeAttribute(
    typeof(<#= ContextTypeName #>),
    typeof(Edm_EntityMappingGeneratedViews.ViewsForBaseEntitySets<#= ContextTypeName #>))]

namespace Edm_EntityMappingGeneratedViews
{
    using System;
    using System.CodeDom.Compiler;
    using System.Data.Entity.Core.Metadata.Edm;

    /// <summary>
    /// Implements a mapping view cache.
    /// </summary>
    [GeneratedCode("Entity Framework 6 Power Tools", "0.9.2.0")]
    internal sealed class ViewsForBaseEntitySets<#= ViewContainerSuffix #> : DbMappingViewCache
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Gets a hash value computed over the mapping closure.
        /// </summary>
        public override string MappingHashValue
        {
            get { return "<#= MappingHashValue #>"; }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets a view corresponding to the specified extent.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="extent">The extent.</param>
        /// <returns>The mapping view, or null if the extent is not associated with a mapping view.</returns>
        public override DbMappingView GetView(EntitySetBase extent)
        {
            if (extent == null)
            {
                throw new ArgumentNullException("extent");
            }

            var extentName = extent.EntityContainer.Name + "." + extent.Name;
<#
    var index = 0;
    foreach (var view in Views)
    {
#>

            if (extentName == "<#= view.Key.EntityContainer.Name + "." + view.Key.Name #>")
            {
                return GetView<#= index #>();
            }
<#
        index++;
    }
#>

            return null;
        }
<#
    index = 0;
    foreach (var view in Views)
    {
#>

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the view for <#= view.Key.EntityContainer.Name + "." + view.Key.Name #>.
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns>The mapping view.</returns>
        private static DbMappingView GetView<#= index #>()
        {
            return new DbMappingView(@"<#= view.Value.EntitySql #>");
        }
<#
        index++;
    }
#>
    }
}
<#+
    public string ContextTypeName { get; set; }
 public string ViewContainerSuffix { get; set; }
    public string MappingHashValue { get; set; }
    public dynamic Views { get; set; }
#>

This T4 file is compiled into the class CSharpViewGenerator. Our DbContext can now check the mapping hash value of the loaded precompiled views file in your assembly and compute in again to quickly assert if the database is in sync with the precompiled views. The following code can establish both a check that the precompiled views are in sync and run code that will regenerate the precompiled views file of which the developer can then copy from Notepad and into the precompiled view file again. Not perhaps an elegant solution, but it lets the developer easily check and keep the precompiled views file updated and in sync. And you do not need to install the EF Powertools extension either, as I use the .tt file and much of the source code from there which is part of the "Generate views" command anywyays! Sample DbContext is then:
using System;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.Core;
using System.Data.Entity.Core.Mapping;
using System.Data.Entity.Core.Metadata.Edm;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using Edm_EntityMappingGeneratedViews;

using PrecompiledViewGenerator;

namespace SomeAcme.SomeRegistry.Data
{
    public class SomeDatabaseMigrationsFactory : DatabaseMigrationsFactory<SomeDatabase>
    {
    }

    public class SomeDatabase : SomeDatabaseBaseClass
    {
        public DbSet<SomeEntity> SomeEntity { get; set; }

        public SomeDatabase(ISomeDependency dep)
            : base(dep)
        {
            var someEntityPrecompiledViewsMapping = new ViewsForBaseEntitySetsSomeEntityDatabase();
            var mappingCollection = (StorageMappingItemCollection)ObjectContext.MetadataWorkspace.GetItemCollection(DataSpace.CSSpace);
            string mappingHashValue =  mappingCollection.ComputeMappingHashValue();
            if (SomeEntityPrecompiledViewsMapping.MappingHashValue != mappingHashValue)
            {
                var precompiledViewGenerator = new EntityFrameworkPrecompiledViewGenerator();
                string precompiledViewsContents = precompiledViewGenerator.GeneratePrecompiledViews(this, this.GetType().Name);
                string viewFileForMainDb = "SomeEntityDatabase.Views.cs";
                string temporaryPrecompiledViewFile = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), viewFileForMainDb);
                try
                {
                    File.WriteAllText(temporaryPrecompiledViewFile, precompiledViewsContents);
                    Process.Start("c:\\windows\\notepad.exe", temporaryPrecompiledViewFile);
                }
                catch (Exception err)
                {
                    throw new Exception("An error occured while trying to regenerate precompiled views for EF since the database changed. Error is: " + err);
                }
                throw new EntityCommandCompilationException($"The precompiled views file is not in sync with the database any longer. Replace the file {viewFileForMainDb} with the generated new contents!");
            }
        }
    }
}

The overall execution of code is the following:
  • In the DbContext constructor - check that the computed mapping hash value matches to that of the of the CSSpace storagemapping collection that your precompiled views file contains (MappingHashValue)
  • If the hash values do not agree, it is necessary to regenerate the pre compiled views file again. The contents are generated and written to a temporary file.
  • Notepad or similar is launched telling the developer to replace the pre compiled views file contents with this new contents.
  • An EntityCommandCompilationException is thrown as this is the same type of exception that is thrown if the precompiled views file does not agree
  • Developer replaces the contents and rebuilds the solution
  • The next time the startup time of EF should be reduced significantly again and work, since our DbContext and precomplied views are in sync again
Below is a sample of an exception thrown when my DbContext was not in sync with the precompiled views file:


System.Data.Entity.Core.EntityCommandCompilationException

System.Data.Entity.Core.EntityCommandCompilationException
  HResult=0x8013193B
  Message=An error occurred while preparing the command definition. See the inner exception for details.
  Source=EntityFramework
  StackTrace:
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.EntityClient.Internal.EntityCommandDefinition..ctor(DbProviderFactory storeProviderFactory, DbCommandTree commandTree, DbInterceptionContext interceptionContext, IDbDependencyResolver resolver, BridgeDataReaderFactory bridgeDataReaderFactory, ColumnMapFactory columnMapFactory)
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.EntityClient.Internal.EntityProviderServices.CreateDbCommandDefinition(DbProviderManifest providerManifest, DbCommandTree commandTree, DbInterceptionContext interceptionContext)
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.Internal.ObjectQueryExecutionPlanFactory.CreateCommandDefinition(ObjectContext context, DbQueryCommandTree tree)
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.Internal.ObjectQueryExecutionPlanFactory.Prepare(ObjectContext context, DbQueryCommandTree tree, Type elementType, MergeOption mergeOption, Boolean streaming, Span span, IEnumerable`1 compiledQueryParameters, AliasGenerator aliasGenerator)
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ELinq.ELinqQueryState.GetExecutionPlan(Nullable`1 forMergeOption)
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ObjectQuery`1.<>c__DisplayClass7.<GetResults>b__6()
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ObjectContext.ExecuteInTransaction[T](Func`1 func, IDbExecutionStrategy executionStrategy, Boolean startLocalTransaction, Boolean releaseConnectionOnSuccess)
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ObjectQuery`1.<>c__DisplayClass7.<GetResults>b__5()
   at System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.DefaultSqlExecutionStrategy.Execute[TResult](Func`1 operation)
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ObjectQuery`1.GetResults(Nullable`1 forMergeOption)
   at System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ObjectQuery`1.<System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T>.GetEnumerator>b__0()
   at System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyEnumerator`1.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.Single[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   atProgram.cs:line 164

Inner Exception 1:
MappingException: The current model no longer matches the model used to pre-generate the mapping views, as indicated by the ViewsForBaseEntitySetsabf8c33ac61e42fc601fe7446b41eaf48c7577efe6d6e17ccccc2b434793c28e.MappingHashValue property. Pre-generated mapping views must be either regenerated using the current model or removed if mapping views generated at runtime should be used instead. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=318050 for more information on Entity Framework mapping views.

 

Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Finding databases with biggest tables in SQL Server

I created a T-SQL script today for use with SQL Server that will list the tables that have most rows for SQL Server, able to loop through all databases.

DECLARE @currentDB AS VARCHAR(100)
DECLARE @mrsdb_sqlscript AS NVARCHAR(500)
DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR FOR 
SELECT name from sys.databases where state_desc <> 'offline' and name not in ('master', 'tempdb', 'model', 'msdb') order by name 
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #largestTables 
CREATE TABLE #largestTables (
 DatabaseName VARCHAR(100),
 SchemaName VARCHAR(200), 
 TableName VARCHAR(200), 
 TotalRowCount INT 
)

OPEN db_cursor 
FETCH NEXT from db_cursor into @currentDB 

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0 
BEGIN
 SET @mrsdb_sqlscript = N'INSERT INTO #largestTables 
  SELECT ''' + @currentDB + ''' , SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) AS [SchemaName],
 [Tables].name AS [TableName],
 SUM([Partitions].[rows]) AS [TotalRowCount]
 FROM ' + @currentDB + '.sys.tables AS [Tables]
 JOIN ' + @currentDB + '.sys.partitions AS [Partitions]
 ON [Tables].[object_id] = [Partitions].[object_id]
 AND [Partitions].index_id IN ( 0, 1 )
 GROUP BY SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id), [Tables].name';

 PRINT 'Looking for largest table in the following DB: ' + @currentDB 
 exec sp_executesql @mrsdb_sqlscript 

 FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor into @currentDB
END

CLOSE db_cursor 
DEALLOCATE db_cursor 

SELECT TOP 100 * FROM #largestTables 
ORDER BY TotalRowCount DESC, Schemaname ASC


The SQL script above will use a temporary table variable and database cursor and loop through all databases, executing a SQL script that will insert data into a temporary table variable and after the cursor has looped through its dataset, the result in the temporary table variable is presented to the DBA monitoring. Use it to spot where you have much data in your databases of the data base server you are working with!

Friday, 29 March 2019

Quickly search your Git log using wildcards and shell function

Imagine you got a Git repository with a long history - equivalent to log - and you want find a changeset with a comment containing a word or some words and you want to get the commit SHA to quickly cherry pick that commit to your target branch. This is easier using Azure Devops or some tool, but how to quickly search the log. First we define a search log shell function inside our git config file .gitconfig :

searchlog = "!f() { git --no-pager log --color-words --all --decorate --graph -i --grep \"$1\";  }; f"

Now we can search the log quickly using a wildcard:
git searchlog "visning.*av.*nåtidslinje.*"
We separate our search words with the .* regex syntax and we can search our git log for multiple keywords quickly and get a nice presentation of commits with commit messages matching our log. And now we have a quick way to find our Git commits through the log and the command line to overcome our needly in the haystack scenario.

Monday, 25 March 2019

Importing datetime columns from Excel into SPSS

I have been working with SPSS and Excel import the latest days. The following Python script written in SPSS will import your Excel datetime columns properly.

* Encoding: UTF-8.
begin program.
import spss
print "Variable count: " + str(spss.GetVariableCount())
previousVar=""
for ind in range(spss.GetVariableCount()): #Loop through variable indices
    if (ind < 0): 
     previousVar = spss.GetVariableName(ind-1) #get variable name of previous column
    varNam = spss.GetVariableName(ind) #Look up each variable name
    
    recognizedDateColumns = ('date', 'lastupdate')
    if any(s in varNam.lower() for s in recognizedDateColumns): 
     print "Variable contains Dato: " + varNam
     adjustedVariable = varNam + "_Justert"
     spss.Submit("COMPUTE " + adjustedVariable + " = DATE.MDY(1,1,1900) +( (" + varNam  + " - 2) * 24 * 60 * 60).")
     spss.Submit("FORMATS " + adjustedVariable + "(DATETIME22).")
     spss.Submit("RENAME VARIABLES (" + varNam + "=" + adjustedVariable + ") (" + adjustedVariable + "= " + varNam + ").")
     spss.Submit("ADD FILES FILE = * /KEEP=PasientGUID to " + previousVar + " " + varNam + " ALL.")
     spss.Submit("EXECUTE.")
     spss.Submit("DELETE VARIABLES " + adjustedVariable + ".")
     spss.Submit("EXECUTE.")   
end program.






Note that in my example I use the convention that a date column in my dataset contains 'date' or 'lastupdate'.

Tuesday, 26 February 2019

Powershell - starting and stopping multiple app pools

The following powershell script defines some functions in Powershell that can start up or stop all iis app pools on a server. It can be handy when you want to test out concurrency issues and switch off all IIS app pools and start up again.

Function fnStartApplicationPool([string]$appPoolName){
Import-Module WebAdministration 
 if ((Get-WebAppPoolState $appPoolName).Value -ne 'Started') {
  Write-Host 'IIS app pool ' $appPoolName ' is not started. Starting.' 
  Start-WebAppPool -Name $appPoolName 
  Write-Host 'IIS app pool ' $appPoolName 'started' 
 }
}

Function fnStartAllApplicationPools() {
Import-Module WebAdministration  
 Write-Host "Starting all app pools" 
 $appPools = (Get-ChildItem IIS:\AppPools)

foreach ($appPool in $appPools) { 
  & fnStartApplicationPool -appPoolName $appPool.Name
}
}

#fnStartAllApplicationPools #start all applications pools


Function fnStopApplicationPool([string]$poolname) {
Import-Module WebAdministration 
 if ((Get-WebAppPoolState $appPoolName).Value -ne 'Stopped') {
  Stop-WebAppPool -Name $appPoolName 
 }
}

Function fnStopAllApplicationPools(){
Import-Module WebAdministration  
 Write-Host "Starting all app pools" 
 $appPools = (Get-ChildItem IIS:\AppPools)

foreach ($appPool in $appPools) { 
  & fnStopApplicationPool-appPoolName $appPool.Name
}  

}

#fnStopAllApplicationPools #start all applications pools