I got email today asking me how to get the device ID from a pocket pc with vb

Imports System.Text

Public Class Form1

    <System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("coredll.dll")> _
Private Shared Function GetDeviceUniqueID(ByVal appdata As Byte(), ByVal cbApplictionData As Integer, ByVal dwDeviceIDVersion As Integer, ByVal deviceIDOuput As Byte(), ByRef pcbDeviceIDOutput As Integer) As Integer
    End Function

    Private Function GetDeviceId(ByVal appData As String) As Byte()

        Dim appDataBytes As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(appData)
        Dim outputSize As Integer = 20
        Dim output(19) As Byte

        Dim result As Integer = GetDeviceUniqueID(appDataBytes, appDataBytes.Length, 1, output, outputSize)

        Return output

    End Function

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim sbId As New StringBuilder

        Dim bID() As Byte = GetDeviceId("MyAppName")

        For Each b In bID
            sbId.Append(String.Format("{0:x2}", b))
        Next

        Debug.WriteLine(sbId.ToString)
    End Sub
End Class

References

http://www.peterfoot.net/GetDeviceUniqueIDForVB.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms893522.aspx

I got email today asking me how to get the device ID from a pocket pc with vb

Imports System.Text

Public Class Form1

    <System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("coredll.dll")> _
Private Shared Function GetDeviceUniqueID(ByVal appdata As Byte(), ByVal cbApplictionData As Integer, ByVal dwDeviceIDVersion As Integer, ByVal deviceIDOuput As Byte(), ByRef pcbDeviceIDOutput As Integer) As Integer
    End Function

    Private Function GetDeviceId(ByVal appData As String) As Byte()

        Dim appDataBytes As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(appData)
        Dim outputSize As Integer = 20
        Dim output(19) As Byte

        Dim result As Integer = GetDeviceUniqueID(appDataBytes, appDataBytes.Length, 1, output, outputSize)

        Return output

    End Function

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim sbId As New StringBuilder

        Dim bID() As Byte = GetDeviceId("MyAppName")

        For Each b In bID
            sbId.Append(String.Format("{0:x2}", b))
        Next

        Debug.WriteLine(sbId.ToString)
    End Sub
End Class

References

http://www.peterfoot.net/GetDeviceUniqueIDForVB.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms893522.aspx

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REST which stands for Representational State Transfer is a way of sending data over the Internet without an additional message layer.  Standard web services use soap for there message header.  In this example we will create a service that uses the northwind database to send a  list of the products for a category.

Lets start by create a new VB web application. In that web application add a Ado.Net Entities data model.  In that class add the northwind database's product class.

Now add a service named Service1 to the web application.  Lets start by modify the web.config for the service to support rest.  First remove the ServiceBehavior section and add a endpointBehaviors section for webHttp.  In the endpoint we have to change the binding to webHttpBinding and the behaviorConfiguration to the webBehavior we created.

    <system.serviceModel>
        <behaviors>
      <endpointBehaviors>
        <behavior name="webBehavior">
          <webHttp/>
        </behavior>
      </endpointBehaviors>
        </behaviors>
        <serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="True"></serviceHostingEnvironment>
        <services>
            <service name="RestTest.Service1">
                <endpoint address="" behaviorConfiguration="webBehavior" binding="webHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="" contract="RestTest.IService1">
                </endpoint>
            </service>
        </services>
    </system.serviceModel>

When we added the service we got 2 items the wcf service and an interface for the service.  Before we go any further we need to add a reference to system.servicebehavior.web  

In the Interface we need to define the how the categoryId is passed to the service.  In this example it expects product/categoryID in the url for the service

Imports System.ServiceModel
Imports System.ServiceModel.Web 

<ServiceContract()> _
Public Interface IService1 

    <OperationContract()> _
    <WebGet(UriTemplate:="Product/{categoryID}", ResponseFormat:=WebMessageFormat.Xml, BodyStyle:=WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare)> _
    Function GetProducts(ByVal categoryId As String) As List(Of Products) 

End Interface 

In the service we need to set the AspNetCompatibilityMode and write some code to return the products

Imports System.ServiceModel.Activation 

<AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode:=AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Allowed)> _
Public Class Service1
    Implements IService1 

    Public Function GetProducts(ByVal categoryId As String) As System.Collections.Generic.List(Of Products) Implements IService1.GetProducts
        Dim dc As New NorthwindEntities
        Dim q = From p In dc.Products Select p Where p.CategoryID = CInt(categoryId)
        Return q.ToList
    End Function
End Class 

To call the service you would use a url like http://localhost:2050/Service1.svc/Product/7

you will get an xml file like this returned

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Note this works with the released version of Silverlight 2

I created a Silverlight 2 beta 2 app which uses a WCF Silverlight service which worked fine localy but did call the service when I published it to my web host.  After playing around with the different settings I finally came across an entry in the Silverlight Forums by sladapter with a solution. 

http://silverlight.net/forums/t/19021.aspx 

So lets create a simple Silverlight 2 App to demo how to do this.  I created a silverlight app with a web application project.   I prefer web applications to web sites but a web site will work the same.  

Add a WCF Silverlight- enabled service named  service1 to the web application. 

This is the code I am using for the service

Imports System.ServiceModel
Imports System.ServiceModel.Activation

<ServiceContract(Namespace:="")> _
<AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode:=AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Allowed)> _
Public Class Service1

    <OperationContract()> _
    Public Function SayHello() As String
        ' Add your operation implementation here
        Return "Hello World"
    End Function
End Class

Lets add a TextBlock to the Page.xaml to display our message.

<UserControl x:Class="SilverlightApplication2.Page"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Width="400" Height="300">
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
            <TextBlock x:Name="txt">Loading..</TextBlock>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

Now run the app.  Once that is done we can add a service reference to our silverlight app.  Press the arrow on the Discover button and select services in the solution.  You should windup with something like this.

In the silverlight app open up the file ServiceReferences.ClientConfig

<configuration>
    <system.serviceModel>
        <bindings>
            <basicHttpBinding>
                <binding name="BasicHttpBinding_Service1" maxBufferSize="65536"
                    maxReceivedMessageSize="65536">
                    <security mode="None" />
                </binding>
            </basicHttpBinding>
        </bindings>
        <client>
            <endpoint address="http://localhost:1205/Service1.svc" binding="basicHttpBinding"
                bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_Service1" contract="ServiceReference1.Service1"
                name="BasicHttpBinding_Service1" />
        </client>
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

In the endpoint address change the contract to include the project name.

<configuration>
    <system.serviceModel>
        <bindings>
            <basicHttpBinding>
                <binding name="BasicHttpBinding_Service1" maxBufferSize="65536"
                    maxReceivedMessageSize="65536">
                    <security mode="None" />
                </binding>
            </basicHttpBinding>
        </bindings>
        <client>
            <endpoint address="http://localhost:1205/Service1.svc" binding="basicHttpBinding"
                bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_Service1" contract="SilverlightApplication2.ServiceReference1.Service1"
                name="BasicHttpBinding_Service1" />
        </client>
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

Now lets add some code to call the service. Page.Xaml.VB

Partial Public Class Page
    Inherits UserControl
    Dim current As String

    Public Sub New()
        InitializeComponent()
    End Sub

    Private Sub Page_Loaded(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles Me.Loaded
        Dim ws As New ServiceReference1.Service1Client
        AddHandler ws.SayHelloCompleted, AddressOf HelloComplete
        ws.SayHelloAsync()
    End Sub

    Private Sub HelloComplete(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ServiceReference1.SayHelloCompletedEventArgs)
        txt.Text = e.Result
    End Sub

End Class

Now if we run the app you should see Hello World but when published you will only see loading.   So lets change how we create the service so that this will work once deployed.  Basically we tell the service to use the current web address.

Private Sub Page_Loaded(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles Me.Loaded
    Dim address = New Uri(Application.Current.Host.Source, "../Service1.svc")

    Dim ws As New ServiceReference1.Service1Client("BasicHttpBinding_Service1", address.AbsoluteUri)
    AddHandler ws.SayHelloCompleted, AddressOf HelloComplete
    ws.SayHelloAsync()
End Sub

Hope this helps

In this example I will show how to validate the data entered into a datarepeater control. For this example I am added the northwind SQL compact edition database to the project and created a typed dataset for the products table.  So from the toolbox drop a datarepeater on the form.  Inside the datarepeater drag the ProductName, UnitPrice, and Units in stock fields. Your form should look something like

Now in the drawitem event for the datarepeater we can add a handler to validating event.

Private Sub DataRepeater1_DrawItem(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As Microsoft.VisualBasic.PowerPacks.DataRepeaterItemEventArgs) Handles DataRepeater1.DrawItem
    Dim currItem As DataRowView = DirectCast(ProductsBindingSource.Item(e.DataRepeaterItem.ItemIndex), DataRowView)
    Dim txt As TextBox = DirectCast(e.DataRepeaterItem.Controls("Unit_PriceTextBox"), TextBox)
    AddHandler txt.Validating, AddressOf TextBox_Validating
End Sub

Private Sub TextBox_Validating(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs)
    Dim dec As Decimal
    If Not Decimal.TryParse(DirectCast(sender, TextBox).Text, dec) Then
        MessageBox.Show("Please enter a valid number")
        e.Cancel = True
    End If
End Sub

The complete code

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub ProductsBindingNavigatorSaveItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ProductsBindingNavigatorSaveItem.Click
        Me.Validate()
        Me.ProductsBindingSource.EndEdit()
        Me.TableAdapterManager.UpdateAll(Me.NorthwindDataSet)

    End Sub

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        'TODO: This line of code loads data into the 'NorthwindDataSet.Products' table. You can move, or remove it, as needed.
        Me.ProductsTableAdapter.Fill(Me.NorthwindDataSet.Products)

    End Sub

    Private Sub DataRepeater1_DrawItem(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As Microsoft.VisualBasic.PowerPacks.DataRepeaterItemEventArgs) Handles DataRepeater1.DrawItem
        Dim currItem As DataRowView = DirectCast(ProductsBindingSource.Item(e.DataRepeaterItem.ItemIndex), DataRowView)
        Dim txt As TextBox = DirectCast(e.DataRepeaterItem.Controls("Unit_PriceTextBox"), TextBox)
        AddHandler txt.Validating, AddressOf TextBox_Validating
    End Sub

    Private Sub TextBox_Validating(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs)
        Dim dec As Decimal
        If Not Decimal.TryParse(DirectCast(sender, TextBox).Text, dec) Then
            MessageBox.Show("Please enter a valid number")
            e.Cancel = True
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

I got an regualr expression question today from one of my friends.  Basically she was using a regular expression  to validate a number was 4 or 6 digits long but the expression she was using ^\d{4,6}$ would validate numbers 5 digits long.  Lets look at this regular expression ^ means starts with. The \d means number and the {4,6} means 4 to 6 digits long.  The $ means ends with. The answer is to use a regular express with an or (the | means or)