My article is about a prototype POS system for grocery stores or 24 hours mini marts using Transparency graphical user interface.

Transparency in MS Visual C# works similar to chroma keys in Adobe After Effects or Premiere. All you have to do is set a color key to make it transparent.

1. As you create a form as Form1, go to Form1 properties and set TransparencyKey to Black.
2. Then set your Backcolor of your form to Black.
3. In Photoshop or any image editing tools, create an GUI or layout design then save as PNG format.
4. In Form1 properties, set BackgroundImage and select the PNG image you created from Photoshop or other image editing tools.
5. Set also the FormBorderStyle to None and Opacity to 95%.
6. Then run your project. You’ll see the transparency works well.

See my sample source code.

Screenshot

It seems a lot of people are searching about solving conflict schedule. So I decided to create a sample. Below is the core code of checking conflict schedule…

// sample conflict detection (defined) [start]
DateTime d = new DateTime(2010, 1, 13);
richTextBox1.Text = DateTime.Now.ToLongDateString() + ” = ” + d.ToLongDateString() + “\n”;
if (DateTime.Now.CompareTo(d) > 0)
{
richTextBox1.Text += “true\n” + DateTime.Now.CompareTo(d).ToString();
}
else
{
richTextBox1.Text += “false\n” + DateTime.Now.CompareTo(d).ToString();
}
richTextBox1.Text += “\n\n”;
DateTime dx = DateTime.Now;
//MessageBox.Show(dx.Hour.ToString());
DateTime[] dt = new DateTime[4];
// enrolled schedule
dt[0] = new DateTime(int.Parse(dx.Year.ToString()), int.Parse(dx.Month.ToString()), int.Parse(dx.Day.ToString()), 8, 0, 0);
dt[1] = new DateTime(int.Parse(dx.Year.ToString()), int.Parse(dx.Month.ToString()), int.Parse(dx.Day.ToString()), 9, 0, 0);
// adding new schedule
dt[2] = new DateTime(int.Parse(dx.Year.ToString()), int.Parse(dx.Month.ToString()), int.Parse(dx.Day.ToString()), 9, 0, 0);
dt[3] = new DateTime(int.Parse(dx.Year.ToString()), int.Parse(dx.Month.ToString()), int.Parse(dx.Day.ToString()), 10, 0, 0);
// checking schedule conflict
if (((dt[0].CompareTo(dt[2]) < 0) && (dt[1].CompareTo(dt[2]) > 0)) || (dt[0].ToShortTimeString() == dt[2].ToShortTimeString()))
{
richTextBox1.Text += dt[0].ToShortTimeString() + ” – ” + dt[1].ToShortTimeString() + ” against ” + dt[2].ToShortTimeString() + ” – ” + dt[3].ToShortTimeString() + “\nResult: CONFLICT”;
}
else
{
richTextBox1.Text += dt[0].ToShortTimeString() + ” – ” + dt[1].ToShortTimeString() + ” against ” + dt[2].ToShortTimeString() + ” – ” + dt[3].ToShortTimeString() + “\nResult: NO CONFLICT”;
}
// sample conflict detection (defined) [end]

If you want to download the whole code, link below and enjoy… Do not practice the copy and paste!

Download: Detect Conflict Schedule (14)

You may download my works, link provided below…

• idsystem_database.sql.zip – the dump file of MySQL database; import this SQL file before running the project
• the rest of the files are the project sample files

-> retrieveImg_public.zip (39) or http://camilord.kagayan.com/my.files/retrieveImg_public.zip

For the credits, Thanks to Markusek Peter…

MySqlConnection myConnection = new MySqlConnection(myConnString);

string testQuery = “SELECT sp.studePhoto, s.firstName, s.lastName

FROM students AS s, student_photos AS sp WHERE s.id = sp.studentID”;
MySqlCommand myCommand = new MySqlCommand(testQuery, myConnection);

myConnection.Open();
MySqlDataReader myReader = myCommand.ExecuteReader();

FileStream fs; // Writes the BLOB to a file (*.jpg).

BinaryWriter bw; // Streams the BLOB to the FileStream object.

int bufferSize = 100; // Size of the BLOB buffer.

// The BLOB byte[] buffer to be filled by GetBytes.

byte[] outbyte = new byte[bufferSize];
long retval; // The bytes returned from GetBytes.
long startIndex = 0; // The starting position in the BLOB output.

while (myReader.Read())
{
DateTime tmp = new DateTime();
tmp = DateTime.Now;
// Create a file to hold the output.
string filename = camilordMD5(tmp.ToLongDateString().ToString() + tmp.ToLongTimeString().ToString()) + “.jpg”;

string dest = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + “/” + filename;
fs = new FileStream(dest, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write);
bw = new BinaryWriter(fs);

// Reset the starting byte for the new BLOB.
startIndex = 0;
// Read the bytes into outbyte[] and retain the number of bytes returned.

//myReader.GetBytes(0, startIndex, outbyte, 0, bufferSize);
retval =(long) myReader.GetBytes(0, startIndex, outbyte, 0, bufferSize);
lblName.Text = myReader.GetString(1) + ” ” + myReader.GetString(2);

// Continue reading and writing while there are bytes beyond the size of the buffer.
while (retval == bufferSize)
{
bw.Write(outbyte);
bw.Flush();

// Reposition the start index to the end of the last buffer and fill thebuffer.
startIndex += bufferSize;
retval = myReader.GetBytes(0, startIndex, outbyte, 0, bufferSize);

}

pictureBox1.ImageLocation = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + “/test.jpg”;
//pictureBox1.Image = retval;

// Write the remaining buffer.

bw.Write(outbyte, 0, (int)retval – 1);
bw.Flush();

// Close the output file.
bw.Close();
fs.Close();
}

Disabling the X button

private const int CP_NOCLOSE_BUTTON = 0x200;

protected override CreateParams CreateParams
{
     get
     {
        CreateParams myCp = base.CreateParams;
        myCp.ClassStyle = myCp.ClassStyle | CP_NOCLOSE_BUTTON;
        return myCp;
     }
}

Add confirmation if window closing or closed…

Insert this code to Main form or the Form1.cs…

private void Form1_Closing(object sender,
                   System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
     if (MessageBox.Show("Are you sure you want to exit?", "Confirm exit",
         MessageBoxButtons.YesNo, MessageBoxIcon.Question) == DialogResult.No)
     {
        e.Cancel = true;
     }
}

Insert this to Form1.Designer.cs…

this.Closing += new System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler(
                             this.frmCCS_Closing);

Test Project Requirements:

• VMware Workstation 5.5
• CentOS 4.4
• Visual C# Express Edition
• MySQL Data Connector .Net v1.0.7

Scenario:

The client’s OS is MS Windows XP and the server is CentOS Linux. The client will connect to the Linux server to query and process some transaction. But in the sample code, it demonstrate only how to connect remotely in the server. My server’s IP address is 192.168.10.117 and a MySQL port of 3306 (default port).

Screenshots:

Step 1:

Setup the Linux server, be sure you already installed MySQL server. In our case, we use VMware and a CentOS 4.4 is installed. For installation help, google it! The first thing to do is configure your IP tables by using iptables command. see illustration below;

If your configuration does not allow foreign connection to your MySQL, then change that and allow it. In real scenario if your server is public, I recommend that you must have a new server which can only be access through local network. Or if cannot afford, just setup well the IP tables that only local connections are allowed. Anyway, here’s my new IP tables setup in my server;

In MySQL CLI, create a user that can access everywhere. To do this, see sample below;

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* to ‘beasaw’@'%’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘qwerty’;

Explained: the command shown above is to allow user, beasaw, to access anywhere using a password qwerty.

That’s it… server setup completed.

Step 2:

Before you create a new project in VCS, test first the connection using the command;

C:\> mysql\bin\mysql --host=192.168.10.117 --port=3306 --user=beasaw --password=qwerty

See image below;

Step 3:

1. Open your Visual C# and create a new project, name it to remoteMySQL.
2. In Form1.cs, layout just like the screenshot above.
3. Add a reference, MySql.Data.dll (assumed that you already installed the MySQL data connector .Net v1.0.7)
4. Add mysql to the project: using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;
5. Begin your codes, see sample code (download link below)…

That’s it… You can create as many applications you want with this method. Like Ticketing System, connecting 10 terminals to the servers simultaneously and etc. And of course, connection varies also to your MySQL server setup.

Download:

» VCS Remote Connect to MySQL Server (91)

Download Nokia PC Connectivity API 3.2 (117)

What’s in the Nokia PC Connectivity API tool package?

The Nokia PC Connectivity API tool package contains the PC Connectivity API headers, API documentation, and sample applications. The latest version of the tool includes updates to the Device Management, File System, and Content Access APIs, as well as support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

For more information, visit the Nokia PC Connectivity API features page »

All I can say about this new area since I’m a web developer, its like HELL! hahahahaa…

[[Show as slideshow]]

By the way, Nokia Connectivity API documentation is limited and no enough sample resources. There are very few samples or let me say no enough sample in the internet so far. That’s why its like hell.