.NET FrameWork FAQ's
When was .NET announced?
Bill Gates delivered a keynote at Forum 2000, held June 22, 2000, outlining the .NET 'vision'. The July 2000 PDC had a number of sessions on .NET technology, and delegates were given CDs containing a pre-release version of the .NET framework/SDK and Visual Studio.NET.
When was the first version of .NET released?
The final version of the 1.0 SDK and runtime was made publicly available around 6pm PST on 15-Jan-2002. At the same time, the final version of Visual Studio.NET was made available to MSDN subscribers.
What platforms does the .NET Framework run on?
The runtime supports Windows XP, Windows 2000, NT4 SP6a and Windows ME/98. Windows 95 is not supported. Some parts of the framework do not work on all platforms - for example, ASP.NET is only supported on Windows XP and Windows 2000. Windows 98/ME cannot be used for development.
IIS is not supported on Windows XP Home Edition, and so cannot be used to host ASP.NET. However, the ASP.NET Web Matrix
web server does run on XP Home.
The Mono project is attempting to implement the .NET framework on Linux.
What is the CLR?
CLR = Common Language Runtime. The CLR is a set of standard resources that (in theory) any .NET program can take advantage of, regardless of programming language. Robert Schmidt (Microsoft) lists the following CLR resources in his MSDN PDC# article:
Object-oriented programming model (inheritance, polymorphism, exception handling, garbage collection)
Security model
Type system
All .NET base classes
Many .NET framework classes
Development, debugging, and profiling tools
Execution and code management
IL-to-native translators and optimizers
What this means is that in the .NET world, different programming languages will be more equal in capability than they have ever been before, although clearly not all languages will support all CLR services.
What is the CTS?
CTS = Common Type System. This is the range of types that the .NET runtime understands, and therefore that .NET applications can use. However note that not all .NET languages will support all the types in the CTS. The CTS is a superset of the CLS.
What is the CLS?
CLS = Common Language Specification. This is a subset of the CTS which all .NET languages are expected to support. The idea is that any program which uses CLS-compliant types can interoperate with any .NET program written in any language.
In theory this allows very tight interop between different .NET languages - for example allowing a C# class to inherit from a VB class.
What is IL?
IL = Intermediate Language. Also known as MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) or CIL (Common Intermediate Language). All .NET source code (of any language) is compiled to IL. The IL is then converted to machine code at the point where the software is installed, or at run-time by a Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler.
What does 'managed' mean in the .NET context?
The term 'managed' is the cause of much confusion. It is used in various places within .NET, meaning slightly different things.Managed code: The .NET framework provides several core run-time services to the programs that run within it - for example
exception handling and security. For these services to work, the code must provide a minimum level of information to the runtime.
Such code is called managed code. All C# and Visual Basic.NET code is managed by default. VS7 C++ code is not managed by default, but the compiler can produce managed code by specifying a command-line switch (/com+).
Managed data: This is data that is allocated and de-allocated by the .NET runtime's garbage collector. C# and VB.NET data is always managed. VS7 C++ data is unmanaged by default, even when using the /com+ switch, but it can be marked as managed using the __gc keyword.Managed classes: This is usually referred to in the context of Managed Extensions (ME) for C++. When using ME C++, a class can be marked with the __gc keyword. As the name suggests, this means that the memory for instances of the class is managed by the garbage collector, but it also means more than that. The class becomes a fully paid-up member of the .NET community with the benefits and restrictions that brings. An example of a benefit is proper interop with classes written in other languages - for example, a managed C++ class can inherit from a VB class. An example of a restriction is that a managed class can only inherit from one base class.
What is reflection?
All .NET compilers produce metadata about the types defined in the modules they produce. This metadata is packaged along with the module (modules in turn are packaged together in assemblies), and can be accessed by a mechanism called reflection. The System.Reflection namespace contains classes that can be used to interrogate the types for a module/assembly.
Using reflection to access .NET metadata is very similar to using ITypeLib/ITypeInfo to access type library data in COM, and it is used for similar purposes - e.g. determining data type sizes for marshaling data across context/process/machine boundaries.
Reflection can also be used to dynamically invoke methods (see System.Type.InvokeMember ) , or even create types dynamically at run-time (see System.Reflection.Emit.TypeBuilder).
What is the difference between Finalize and Dispose (Garbage collection) ?
Class instances often encapsulate control over resources that are not managed by the runtime, such as window handles (HWND), database connections, and so on. Therefore, you should provide both an explicit and an implicit way to free those resources. Provide implicit control by implementing the protected Finalize Method on an object (destructor syntax in C# and the Managed Extensions for C++). The garbage collector calls this method at some point after there are no longer any valid references to the object. In some cases, you might want to provide programmers using an object with the ability to explicitly release these external resources before the garbage collector frees the object. If an external resource is scarce or expensive, better performance can be achieved if the programmer explicitly releases resources when they are no longer being used. To provide explicit control, implement the Dispose method provided by the IDisposable Interface. The consumer of the object should call this method when it is done using the object.
Dispose can be called even if other references to the object are alive. Note that even when you provide explicit control by way of Dispose, you should provide implicit cleanup using the Finalize method. Finalize provides a backup to prevent resources from
permanently leaking if the programmer fails to call Dispose.
What is Partial Assembly References?
Full Assembly reference: A full assembly reference includes the assembly's text name, version, culture, and public key token (if the assembly has a strong name). A full assembly reference is required if you reference any assembly that is part of the common
language runtime or any assembly located in the global assembly cache.
Partial Assembly reference: We can dynamically reference an assembly by providing only partial information, such as specifying only the assembly name. When you specify a partial assembly reference, the runtime looks for the assembly only in the application
directory.
We can make partial references to an assembly in your code one of the following ways:
-> Use a method such as System.Reflection.Assembly.Load and specify only a partial reference. The runtime checks for the assembly in the application directory.
-> Use the System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadWithPartialName method and specify only a partial reference. The runtime checks for the assembly in the application directory and in the global assembly cache
Changes to which portion of version number indicates an incompatible change?
Major or minor. Changes to the major or minor portion of the version number indicate an incompatible change. Under this convention then, version 2.0.0.0 would be considered incompatible with version 1.0.0.0. Examples of an incompatible change would be a change to the types of some method parameters or the removal of a type or method altogether. Build. The Build number is typically used to distinguish between daily builds or smaller compatible releases. Revision. Changes to the revision number are typically reserved for an incremental build needed to fix a particular bug. You'll sometimes hear this referred to as the "emergency bug fix" number in that the revision is what is often changed when a fix to a specific bug is shipped to a customer.
System.Windows.Forms.Form
The Debug.Write call won't be compiled when the DEBUGsymbol is not defined (when doing a release build). Trace.Write calls will be compiled. Debug.Write is for information you want only in debug builds, Trace.Write is for when you want it in release build as well.
control will be docked to the left edge of its parent control. Additionally, the docked edge of the control is resized to match that of its container
control.
Anchor Property->Gets or sets which edges of the control are anchored to the edges of its container. A control can be anchored to one or more edges of its parent container. Anchoring a control to its parent ensures that the anchored edges remain in the same position relative to the edges of the parent container when the parent container is resized.
ErrorProvider control is used in Windows Forms application. It is like Validation Control for ASP.NET pages. ErrorProvider control is used to provide validations in Windows forms and display user friendly messages to the user if the validation fails.
E.g
If we went to validate the textBox1 should be empty, then we can validate as below
1). You need to place the errorprovide control on the form
private void textBox1_Validating(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
ValidateName();
}
{
bool bStatus = true;
if (textBox1.Text == "")
{
errorProvider1.SetError (textBox1,"Please enter your Name");
bStatus = false;
}
else
errorProvider1.SetError (textBox1,"");
return bStatus;
}
Yes, you can, then the class belongs to global namespace which has no name. For commercial products, naturally, you wouldn't want global namespace.
One should use anchoring for correct resizing. Otherwise the default property of a widget on a form is top-left, so it stays at the same location when resized.
.config files in .NET are supported through the API to allow storing and retrieving information. They are nothing more than simple XML files, sort of like what .ini files were before for Win32 apps.
Initialize an instance of AppSettingsReader class. Call the GetValue method of AppSettingsReader class, passing in the name of the property and the type expected. Assign the result to the appropriate variable.
In Visual Studio yes, use Dynamic Properties for automatic .config creation, storage and retrieval.
Yes, you should've multi-threaded your GUI, with taskbar and main form being one thread, and the background process being the other.
Web deployment: the user always downloads the latest version of the code, the program runs within security sandbox, properly written app will not require additional security privileges.
The designer will likely through it away, most of the code inside InitializeComponent is auto-generated.
WindowsDefaultLocation tells the form to start up at a location selected by OS, but with internally specified size. WindowsDefaultBounds delegates both size and starting position choices to the OS.
Both methods do the same, Move and Resize are the names adopted from VB to ease migration to C#.
Create a rectangular form, set the TransparencyKey property to the same value as BackColor, which will effectively make the background of the form transparent. Then set the FormBorderStyle to FormBorderStyle.None, which will remove the contour and contents of the form.
A hyphen '-' would do it. Also, an ampersand '&\' would underline the next letter.
Anchoring treats the component as having the absolute size and adjusts its location relative to the parent form. Docking treats the component location as absolute and disregards the component size. So if a status bar must always be at the bottom no matter what, use docking. If a button should be on the top right, but change its position with the form being resized, use anchoring.
Invalidate the current form, the OS will take care of repainting. The Update method forces the repaint.
Painting is the slowest thing the OS does, so usually telling it to repaint, but not forcing it allows for the process to take place in the background.
Call the static method FromArgb of this class and pass it the RGB values.
Isn't it just a Bitmap with a wrapper name around it? No, Icon lives in System.Drawing namespace. It's not a Bitmap by default, and is treated separately by .NET. However, you can use ToBitmap method to get a valid Bitmap object from a valid Icon object.
By using System.Drawing.SystemIcons class, for example System.Drawing.SystemIcons.Warning produces an Icon with a warning sign in it.
A pixel is the lowest-resolution dot the computer monitor supports. Its size depends on user's settings and monitor size. A point is always 1/72 of an inch. An em is the number of pixels that it takes to display the letter M.
ASP.NET FAQ's
What is view state and use of it?
The current property settings of an ASP.NET page and those of any ASP.NET server controls contained within the page. ASP.NET can detect when a form is requested for the first time versus when the form is posted (sent to the server), which allows you to program accordingly.
What are user controls and custom controls?
Custom controls:
A control authored by a user or a third-party software vendor that does not belong to the .NET Framework class library. This is a generic term that includes user controls. A custom server control is used in Web Forms (ASP.NET pages). A custom client control is used in Windows Forms applications.
User Controls:
In ASP.NET: A user-authored server control that enables an ASP.NET page to be re-used as a server control. An ASP.NET user control is authored declaratively and persisted as a text file with an .ascx extension. The ASP.NET page framework compiles a user control on the fly to a class that derives from the System.Web.UI.UserControl class.
What are the validation controls?
A set of server controls included with ASP.NET that test user input in HTML and Web server controls for programmer-defined requirements. Validation controls perform input checking in server code. If the user is working with a browser that supports DHTML, the validation controls can also perform validation using client script.
What's the difference between Response.Write() andResponse.Output.Write()?
The latter one allows you to write formattedoutput.
What methods are fired during the page load? Init()
When the page is instantiated, Load() - when the page is loaded into server memory,PreRender () - the brief moment before the page is displayed to the user as HTML, Unload() - when page finishes loading.
Where does the Web page belong in the .NET Framework class hierarchy?
System.Web.UI.Page
Where do you store the information about the user's locale?
System.Web.UI.Page.Culture
What's the difference between Codebehind="MyCode.aspx.cs" and Src="MyCode.aspx.cs"?
CodeBehind is relevant to Visual Studio.NET only.
What's a bubbled event?
When you have a complex control, likeDataGrid, writing an event processing routine for each object (cell, button,row, etc.) is quite tedious. The controls can bubble up their eventhandlers, allowing the main DataGrid event handler to take care of its constituents.
Suppose you want a certain ASP.NET function executed on MouseOver over a certain button.
Where do you add an event handler?
It's the Attributesproperty, the Add function inside that property.
e.g. btnSubmit.Attributes.Add("onMouseOver","someClientCode();")
What data type does the RangeValidator control support?
Integer,String and Date.
What are the different types of caching?
Caching is a technique widely used in computing to increase performance by keeping frequently accessed or expensive data in memory. In context of web application, caching is used to retain the pages or data across HTTP requests and reuse them without the expense of recreating them.ASP.NET has 3 kinds of caching strategiesOutput CachingFragment CachingData
CachingOutput Caching: Caches the dynamic output generated by a request. Some times it is useful to cache the output of a website even for a minute, which will result in a better performance. For caching the whole page the page should have OutputCache directive.<%@ OutputCache Duration="60" VaryByParam="state" %>
Fragment Caching: Caches the portion of the page generated by the request. Some times it is not practical to cache the entire page, in such cases we can cache a portion of page<%@ OutputCache Duration="120" VaryByParam="CategoryID;SelectedID"%>
Data Caching: Caches the objects programmatically. For data caching asp.net provides a cache object for eg: cache["States"] = dsStates;
What do you mean by authentication and authorization?
Authentication is the process of validating a user on the credentials (username and password) and authorization performs after authentication. After Authentication a user will be verified for performing the various tasks, It access is limited it is known as authorization.
What are different types of directives in .NET?
@Page: Defines page-specific attributes used by the ASP.NET page parser and compiler. Can be included only in .aspx files <%@ Page AspCompat="TRUE" language="C#" %>
@Control:Defines control-specific attributes used by the ASP.NET page parser and compiler. Can be included only in .ascx files. <%@ Control Language="VB" EnableViewState="false" %>
@Import: Explicitly imports a namespace into a page or user control. The Import directive cannot have more than one namespace attribute. To import multiple namespaces, use multiple @Import directives. <% @ Import Namespace="System.web" %>
@Implements: Indicates that the current page or user control implements the specified .NET framework interface.<%@ Implements Interface="System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler" %>
@Register: Associates aliases with namespaces and class names for concise notation in custom server control syntax.<%@ Register Tagprefix="Acme" Tagname="AdRotator" Src="AdRotator.ascx" %>
@Assembly: Links an assembly to the current page during compilation, making all the assembly's classes and interfaces available for use on the page. <%@ Assembly Name="MyAssembly" %><%@ Assembly Src="MySource.vb" %>
@OutputCache: Declaratively controls the output caching policies of an ASP.NET page or a user control contained in a page<%@ OutputCache Duration="#ofseconds" Location="Any Client Downstream Server None" Shared="True False" VaryByControl="controlname" VaryByCustom="browser customstring" VaryByHeader="headers" VaryByParam="parametername" %>
@Reference: Declaratively indicates that another user control or page source file should be dynamically compiled and linked against the page in which this directive is declared.
How do I debug an ASP.NET application that wasn't written with Visual Studio.NET and that doesn't use code-behind?
Start the DbgClr debugger that comes with the .NET Framework SDK, open the file containing the code you want to debug, and set your breakpoints. Start the ASP.NET application. Go back to DbgClr, choose Debug Processes from the Tools menu, and select aspnet_wp.exe from the list of processes. (If aspnet_wp.exe doesn't appear in the list,check the "Show system processes" box.) Click the Attach button to attach to aspnet_wp.exe and begin debugging.
Be sure to enable debugging in the ASPX file before debugging it with DbgClr. You can enable tell ASP.NET to build debug executables by placing a
<%@ Page Debug="true" %> statement at the top of an ASPX file or a <COMPILATION debug="true" />statement in a Web.config file.
Can a user browsing my Web site read my Web.config or Global.asax files?
No. The <HTTPHANDLERS>section of Machine.config, which holds the master configuration settings for ASP.NET, contains entries that map ASAX files, CONFIG files, and selected other file types to an HTTP handler named HttpForbiddenHandler, which fails attempts to retrieve the associated file. You can modify it by editing Machine.config or including an section in a local Web.config file.
What's the difference between Page.RegisterClientScriptBlock and Page.RegisterStartupScript?
RegisterClientScriptBlock is for returning blocks of client-side script containing functions. RegisterStartupScript is for returning blocks of client-script not packaged in functions-in other words, code that's to execute when the page is loaded. The latter positions script blocks near the end of the document so elements on the page that the script interacts are loaded before the script runs.<%@ Reference Control="MyControl.ascx" %>
Web service is one of main component in Service Oriented Architecture. You could use web services when your clients and servers are running on different networks and also different platforms. This provides a loosely coupled system. And also if the client is behind the firewall it would be easy to use web service since it runs on port 80 (by default) instead of having some thing else in Service Oriented Architecture applications.
"SOAP.
"
HTTP with SOAP
"WSDL stands for Web Services Dsescription Langauge. There is WSDL.exe that creates a .wsdl Files which defines how an XML Web service behaves and instructs clients as to how to interact with the service.
eg: wsdl http://LocalHost/WebServiceName.asmx"
http://www.uddi.org/
Web Services Description Language
False.
1.Asynchronous Call
Application can make a call to the Webservice and then continue todo watever oit wants to do.When the service is ready it will notify the application.Application can use BEGIN and END method to make asynchronous call to the webmethod.We can use either a WaitHandle or a Delegate object when making asynchronous call.
Application has to wait until execution has completed.
VSDISCO files are DISCO files that support dynamic discovery of Web services. If you place the following VSDISCO file in a directory on your Web server, for example, it returns references to all ASMX and DISCO files in the host directory and any subdirectories not noted in <EXCLUDE>elements:
<DYNAMICDISCOVERY
xmlns="urn:schemas-dynamicdiscovery:disco.2000-03-17">
<EXCLUDE path="_vti_cnf" />
<EXCLUDE path="_vti_pvt" />
<EXCLUDE path="_vti_log" />
<EXCLUDE path="_vti_script" />
<EXCLUDE path="_vti_txt" />
</DYNAMICDISCOVERY>
ASP.NET maps the file name extension VSDISCO to an HTTP handler that scans the host directory and subdirectories for ASMX and DISCO files and returns a dynamically generated DISCO document. A client who requests a VSDISCO file gets back what appears to be a static DISCO document.
Note that VSDISCO files are disabled in the release version of ASP.NET. You can reenable them by uncommenting the line in the <HTTPHANDLERS>section of Machine.config that maps *.vsdisco to System.Web.Services.Discovery.DiscoveryRequestHandler and granting the ASPNET user account permission to read the IIS metabase. However, Microsoft is actively discouraging the use of VSDISCO files because they could represent a threat to Web server security.
<%@ Page Language="C#" %>
<%
Response.Cache.SetNoStore ();
Response.Write (DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString ());
%>
No.
The following namespaces are imported by default. Other namespaces must be imported manually.· System, System.Collections,System.ComponentModel,System.Data, System.Diagnostics,System.Web,System.Web.Services
The key here is the Web Service proxy you created using wsdl.exe or through Visual Studio .NET's Add Web Reference menu option. If you happen to download a WSDL file for a Web Service that requires a SOAP header, .NET will create a SoapHeader class in the proxy source file. Using the previous example:
public class Service1 : System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol
{
public AuthToken AuthTokenValue;
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute(Namespace="http://tempuri.org/", IsNullable=false)]
public class AuthToken : SoapHeader { public string Token; }}
In this case, when you create an instance of the proxy in your main application file, you'll also create an instance of the AuthToken class and assign the string:
Service1 objSvc = new Service1();
processingobjSvc.AuthTokenValue = new AuthToken();
objSvc.AuthTokenValue.Token = <ACTUAL token value>;
Web Servicestring strResult = objSvc.MyBillableWebMethod();
Windows service is a application that runs in the background. It is equivalent to a NT service.
The executable created is not a Windows application, and hence you can't just click and run it . it needs to be installed as a service, VB.Net has a facility where we can add an installer to our program and then use a utility to install the service. Where as this is not the case with standard exe
Windows service cannot be installed on Win9x machines even though the .NET framework runs on machine.
Distributed Computing Environment/Remote Procedure Calls (DEC/RPC), Microsoft Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), and Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI).
What are possible implementations of distributed applications in .NET?
.NET Remoting and ASP.NET Web Services. If we talk about the Framework Class Library, noteworthy classes are in System.Runtime.Remoting and System.Web.Services.
When would you use .NET Remoting and when Web services?
Use remoting for more efficient exchange of information when you control both ends of the application. Use Web services for open-protocol-based information exchange when you are just a client or a server with the other end belonging to someone else.
What's a proxy of the server object in .NET Remoting?
It's a fake copy of the server object that resides on the client side and behaves as if it was the server. It handles the communication between real server object and the client object. This process is also known as marshaling.
What are remotable objects in .NET Remoting?
Remotable objects are the objects that can be marshaled across the application domains. You can marshal by value, where a deep copy of the object is created and then passed to the receiver. You can also marshal by reference, where just a reference to an existing object is passed.
What are channels in .NET Remoting?
Channels represent the objects that transfer the other serialized objects from one application domain to another and from one computer to another, as well as one process to another on the same box. A channel must exist before an object can be transferred.
What security measures exist for .NET Remoting in System.Runtime.Remoting?
None. Security should be taken care of at the application level. Cryptography and other security techniques can be applied at application or server level.
What is a formatter?
A formatter is an object that is responsible for encoding and serializing data into messages on one end, and deserializing and decoding messages into data on the other end.
Choosing between HTTP and TCP for protocols and Binary and SOAP for formatters, what are the trade-offs?
Binary over TCP is the most effiecient, SOAP over HTTP is the most interoperable.
What's SingleCall activation mode used for?
If the server object is instantiated for responding to just one single request, the request should be made in SingleCall mode.
What's Singleton activation mode?
A single object is instantiated regardless of the number of clients accessing it. Lifetime of this object is determined by lifetime lease.
How do you define the lease of the object?
By implementing ILease interface when writing the class code.
Can you configure a .NET Remoting object via XML file?
Yes, via machine.config and application level .config file (or web.config in ASP.NET). Application-level XML settings take precedence over machine.config.
How can you automatically generate interface for the remotable object in .NET with Microsoft tools?
Use the Soapsuds tool.
Client-activated objects are objects whose lifetimes are controlled by the calling application domain, just as they would be if the object were local to the client. With client activation, a round trip to the server occurs when the client tries to create an instance of the server object, and the client proxy is created using an object reference (ObjRef) obtained on return from the creation of the remote object on the server. Each time a client creates an instance of a client-activated type, that instance will service only that particular reference in that particular client until its lease expires and its memory is recycled. If a calling application domain creates two new instances of the remote type, each of the client references will invoke only the particular instance in the server application domain from which the reference was returned.
One.
Most usually Remoting;.NET remoting enables client applications to use objects in other processes on the same computer or on any other computer available on its network.While you could implement an out-of-proc component in any number of other ways, someone using the term almost always means Remoting.
.Net framework provides various ways to communicate with objects in different app domains.
First is XML Web Service on internet, its good method because it is built using HTTP protocol and SOAP formatting.
If the performance is the main concern then go for second option which is .Net remoting because it gives you the option of using binary encoding and the default TcpChannel, which offers the best interprocess communication performance
| Point | Remoting | Webservices |
| If your application needs interoperability with other platforms or operating systems | No | Yes, Choose Web Services because it is more flexible in that they are support SOAP. |
| If performance is the main requirement with security | You should use the TCP channel and the binary formatter | No |
| Complex Programming | Yes | No |
| State Management | Supports a range of state management, depending on what object lifetime scheme you choose (single call or singleton call). | Its stateless service management (does not inherently correlate multiple calls from the same user) |
| Transport Protocol | It can access through TCP or HTTP channel. | It can be access only through HTTP channel. |
COM And COM+
What are different transaction options available for services components ?
There are 5 transactions types that can be used with COM+. Whenever an object is registered with COM+ it has to abide either to these 5 transaction types.
Disabled: - There is no transaction. COM+ does not provide transaction support for this component.
Not Supported: - Component does not support transactions. Hence even if the calling component in the hierarchy is transaction enabled this component will not participate in the transaction.
Supported: - Components with transaction type supported will be a part of the transaction if the calling component has an active transaction.
If the calling component is not transaction enabled this component will not start a new transaction.
Required: - Components with this attribute require a transaction i.e. either the calling should have a transaction in place else this component will start a new transaction.
Required New: - Components enabled with this transaction type always require a new transaction. Components with required new transaction type instantiate a new transaction for themselves every time.
Can we use com Components in .net?.How ?.can we use .net components in vb?.Explain how ?
COM components have different internal architecture from .NET components hence they are not innately compatible. However .NET framework supports invocation of unmanaged code from managed code (and vice-versa) through COM/.NET interoperability. .NET application communicates with a COM component through a managed wrapper of the component called Runtime Callable Wrapper (RCW); it acts as managed proxy to the unmanaged COM component. When a method call is made to COM object, it goes onto RCW and not the object itself. RCW manages the lifetime management of the COM component. Implementation Steps -
Create Runtime Callable Wrapper out of COM component. Reference the metadata assembly Dll in the project and use its methods & properties RCW can be created using Type Library Importer utility or through VS.NET. Using VS.NET, add reference through COM tab to select the desired DLL. VS.NET automatically generates metadata assembly putting the classes provided by that component into a namespace with the same name as COM dll (XYZRCW.dll)
.NET components can be invoked by unmanaged code through COM Callable Wrapper (CCW) in COM/.NET interop. The unmanaged code will talk to this proxy, which translates call to managed environment. We can use COM components in .NET through COM/.NET interoperability. When managed code calls an unmanaged component, behind the scene, .NET creates proxy called COM Callable wrapper (CCW), which accepts commands from a COM client, and forwards it to .NET component. There are two prerequisites to creating .NET component, to be used in unmanaged code:
1. .NET class should be implement its functionality through interface. First define interface in code, then have the class to imlpement it. This way, it prevents breaking of COM client, if/when .NET component changes.
2.Secondly, .NET class, which is to be visible to COM clients must be declared public. The tools that create the CCW only define types based
on public classes. The same rule applies to methods, properties, and events that will be used by COM clients.
Implementation Steps -
1. Generate type library of .NET component, using TLBExporter utility. A type library is the COM equivalent of the metadata contained within
a .NET assembly. Type libraries are generally contained in files with the extension .tlb. A type library contains the necessary information to allow a COM client to determine which classes are located in a particular server, as well as the methods, properties, and events supported by those classes.
2. Secondly, use Assembly Registration tool (regasm) to create the type library and register it.
3. Lastly install .NET assembly in GAC, so it is available as shared assembly.
What is Runtime Callable wrapper?.when it will created?.
The common language runtime exposes COM objects through a proxy called the runtime callable wrapper (RCW). Although the RCW appears to be an ordinary object to .NET clients, its primary function is to marshal calls between a .NET client and a COM object. This wrapper turns the COM interfaces exposed by the COM component into .NET-compatible interfaces. For oleautomation (attribute indicates that an interface is compatible with Automation) interfaces, the RCW can be generated automatically from a type library. For non-oleautomation interfaces, it may be necessary to develop a custom RCW which manually maps the types exposed by the COM interface to .NET-compatible types.
What is Com Callable wrapper?when it will created?
.NET components are accessed from COM via a COM Callable Wrapper (CCW). This is similar to a RCW, but works in the opposite direction. Again, if the wrapper cannot be automatically generated by the .NET development tools, or if the automatic behaviour is not desirable, a custom CCW can be developed. Also, for COM to 'see' the .NET component, the .NET component must be registered in the registry.CCWs also manage the object identity and object lifetime of the managed objects they wrap.
What is a primary interop ?
A primary interop assembly is a collection of types that are deployed, versioned, and configured as a single unit. However, unlike other managed assemblies, an interop assembly contains type definitions (not implementation) of types that have already been defined in COM. These type definitions allow managed applications to bind to the COM types at compile time and provide information to the common language runtime
about how the types should be marshaled at run time.
What are tlbimp and tlbexp tools used for ?
The Type Library Exporter generates a type library that describes the types defined in a common language runtime assembly.
The Type Library Importer converts the type definitions found within a COM type library into equivalent definitions in a common language runtime assembly. The output of Tlbimp.exe is a binary file (an assembly) that contains runtime metadata for the types defined within the original type library.
What benefit do you get from using a Primary Interop Assembly (PIA)?
PIAs are important because they provide unique type identity. The PIA distinguishes the official type definitions from counterfeit definitions provided by other interop assemblies. Having a single type identity ensures type compatibility between applications that share the types defined in the PIA. Because the PIA is signed by its publisher and labeled with the PrimaryInteropAssembly attribute, it can be differentiated from other interop assemblies that define the same types.
ADO.NET
Explain what a diffgram is and its usage ?
A DiffGram is an XML format that is used to identify current and original versions of data elements. The DataSet uses the DiffGram format to load and persist its contents, and to serialize its contents for transport across a network connection. When a DataSet is written as a DiffGram, it populates the DiffGram with all the necessary information to accurately recreate the contents, though not the schema, of the DataSet, including column values from both the Original and Current row versions, row error information, and row order.
When sending and retrieving a DataSet from an XML Web service, the DiffGram format is implicitly used. Additionally, when loading the contents of a DataSet from XML using the ReadXml method, or when writing the contents of a DataSet in XML using the WriteXml method, you can select that the contents be read or written as a DiffGram.
The DiffGram format is divided into three sections: the current data, the original (or "before") data, and an errors section, as shown in the following example.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<diffgr:diffgram
xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata"
xmlns:diffgr="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-diffgram-v1"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<DataInstance>
</DataInstance>
<diffgr:before>
</diffgr:before>
<diffgr:errors>
</diffgr:errors>
</diffgr:diffgram>
The DiffGram format consists of the following blocks of data:
<DataInstance>
The name of this element, DataInstance, is used for explanation purposes in this documentation. A DataInstance element represents a DataSet or a row of a DataTable. Instead of DataInstance, the element would contain the name of the DataSet or DataTable. This block of the DiffGram format contains the current data, whether it has been modified or not. An element, or row, that has been modified is identified with the diffgr:hasChanges annotation.
<diffgr:before>
This block of the DiffGram format contains the original version of a row. Elements in this block are matched to elements in the DataInstance block using the diffgr:id annotation.
<diffgr:errors>
This block of the DiffGram format contains error information for a particular row in the DataInstance block. Elements in this block are matched to elements in the DataInstance block using the diffgr:id annotation.
Which method do you invoke on the DataAdapter control to load your generated dataset with data?
You have to use the Fill method of the DataAdapter control and pass the dataset object as an argument to load the generated data.
Can you edit data in the Repeater control?
NO.
Which are the different IsolationLevels ?
Following are the various IsolationLevels:
- Serialized Data read by a current transaction cannot be changed by another transaction until the current transaction finishes. No new data can be inserted that would affect the current transaction. This is the safest isolation level and is the default.
- Repeatable Read Data read by a current transaction cannot be changed by another transaction until the current transaction finishes. Any type of new data can be inserted during a transaction.
- Read Committed A transaction cannot read data that is being modified by another transaction that has not committed. This is the default isolation level in Microsoft® SQL Server.
- Read Uncommitted A transaction can read any data, even if it is being modified by another transaction. This is the least safe isolation level but allows the highest concurrency.
- Any Any isolation level is supported. This setting is most commonly used by downstream components to avoid conflicts. This setting is useful because any downstream component must be configured with an isolation level that is equal to or less than the isolation level of its immediate upstream component. Therefore, a downstream component that has its isolation level configured as Any always uses the same isolation level that its immediate upstream component uses. If the root object in a transaction has its isolation level configured to Any, its isolation level becomes Serialized.
How xml files and be read and write using dataset?.
DataSet exposes method like ReadXml and WriteXml to read and write xml
What are the different rowversions available?
There are four types of Rowversions.
Current:
The current values for the row. This row version does not exist for rows with a RowState of Deleted.
Default :
The row the default version for the current DataRowState. For a DataRowState value of Added, Modified or Current, the default version is Current. For a DataRowState of Deleted, the version is Original. For a DataRowState value of Detached, the version is Proposed.
Original:
The row contains its original values.
Proposed:
The proposed values for the row. This row version exists during an edit operation on a row, or for a row that is not part of a DataRowCollection
Explain acid properties?.
The term ACID conveys the role transactions play in mission-critical applications. Coined by transaction processing pioneers, ACID stands for atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability.
These properties ensure predictable behavior, reinforcing the role of transactions as all-or-none propositions designed to reduce the management load when there are many variables.
Atomicity
A transaction is a unit of work in which a series of operations occur between the BEGIN TRANSACTION and END TRANSACTION statements of an application. A transaction executes exactly once and is atomic — all the work is done or none of it is.
Operations associated with a transaction usually share a common intent and are interdependent. By performing only a subset of these operations, the system could compromise the overall intent of the transaction. Atomicity eliminates the chance of processing a subset of operations.
Consistency
A transaction is a unit of integrity because it preserves the consistency of data, transforming one consistent state of data into another consistent state of data.
Consistency requires that data bound by a transaction be semantically preserved. Some of the responsibility for maintaining consistency falls to the application developer who must make sure that all known integrity constraints are enforced by the application. For example, in developing an application that transfers money, you should avoid arbitrarily moving decimal points during the transfer.
Isolation
A transaction is a unit of isolation — allowing concurrent transactions to behave as though each were the only transaction running in the system.
Isolation requires that each transaction appear to be the only transaction manipulating the data store, even though other transactions may be running at the same time. A transaction should never see the intermediate stages of another transaction.
Transactions attain the highest level of isolation when they are serializable. At this level, the results obtained from a set of concurrent transactions are identical to the results obtained by running each transaction serially. Because a high degree of isolation can limit the number of concurrent transactions, some applications reduce the isolation level in exchange for better throughput.
Durability
A transaction is also a unit of recovery. If a transaction succeeds, the system guarantees that its updates will persist, even if the computer crashes immediately after the commit. Specialized logging allows the system's restart procedure to complete unfinished operations, making the transaction durable.
Whate are different types of Commands available with DataAdapter ?
The SqlDataAdapter has SelectCommand, InsertCommand, DeleteCommand and UpdateCommand
What is a Dataset?
Datasets are the result of bringing together ADO and XML. A dataset contains one or more data of tabular XML, known as DataTables, these data can be treated separately, or can have relationships defined between them. Indeed these relationships give you ADO data SHAPING without needing to master the SHAPE language, which many people are not comfortable with.
The dataset is a disconnected in-memory cache database. The dataset object model looks like this:
Dataset
DataTableCollection
DataTable
DataView
DataRowCollection
DataRow
DataColumnCollection
DataColumn
ChildRelations
ParentRelations
Constraints
PrimaryKey
DataRelationCollection
Let’s take a look at each of these:
DataTableCollection: As we say that a DataSet is an in-memory database. So it has this collection, which holds data from multiple tables in a single DataSet object.
DataTable: In the DataTableCollection, we have DataTable objects, which represents the individual tables of the dataset.
DataView: The way we have views in database, same way we can have DataViews. We can use these DataViews to do Sort, filter data.
DataRowCollection: Similar to DataTableCollection, to represent each row in each Table we have DataRowCollection.
DataRow: To represent each and every row of the DataRowCollection, we have DataRows.
DataColumnCollection: Similar to DataTableCollection, to represent each column in each Table we have DataColumnCollection.
DataColumn: To represent each and every Column of the DataColumnCollection, we have DataColumn.
PrimaryKey: Dataset defines Primary key for the table and the primary key validation will take place without going to the database.
Constraints: We can define various constraints on the Tables, and can use Dataset.Tables(0).enforceConstraints. This will execute all the constraints, whenever we enter data in DataTable.
DataRelationCollection: as we know that we can have more than 1 table in the dataset, we can also define relationship between these tables using this collection and maintain a parent-child relationship.
Explain the differences between Server-side and Client-side code?
Server side code executes on the server.For this to occur page has to be submitted or posted back.Events fired by the controls are executed on the server.Client side code executes in the browser of the client without submitting the page.
e.g. In ASP.NET for webcontrols like asp:button the click event of the button is executed on the server hence the event handler for the same in a part of the code-behind (server-side code). Along the server-side code events one can also attach client side events which are executed in the clients browser i.e. javascript events.
How does VB.NET/C# achieve polymorphism?
Polymorphism is also achieved through interfaces. Like abstract classes, interfaces also describe the methods that a class needs to implement. The difference between abstract classes and interfaces is that abstract classes always act as a base class of the related classes in the class hierarchy. For example, consider a hierarchy-car and truck classes derived from four-wheeler class; the classes two-wheeler and four-wheeler derived from an abstract class vehicle. So, the class 'vehicle' is the base class in the class hierarchy. On the other hand dissimilar classes can implement one interface. For example, there is an interface that compares two objects. This interface can be implemented by the classes like box, person and string, which are unrelated to each other.
C# allows multiple interface inheritance. It means that a class can implement more than one interface. The methods declared in an interface are implicitly abstract. If a class implements an interface, it becomes mandatory for the class to override all the methods declared in the interface, otherwise the derived class would become abstract.
Can you explain what inheritance is and an example of when you might use it?
The savingaccount class has two data members-accno that stores account number, and trans that keeps track of the number of transactions. We can create an object of savingaccount class as shown below.
savingaccount s = new savingaccount ( "Amar", 5600.00f ) ;
From the constructor of savingaccount class we have called the two-argument constructor of the account class using the base keyword and passed the name and balance to this constructor using which the data member's name and balance are initialised.
We can write our own definition of a method that already exists in a base class. This is called method overriding. We have overridden the deposit( ) and withdraw( ) methods in the savingaccount class so that we can make sure that each account maintains a minimum balance of Rs. 500 and the total number of transactions do not exceed 10. From these methods we have called the base class's methods to update the balance using the base keyword. We have also overridden the display( ) method to display additional information, i.e. account number.
Working of currentaccount class is more or less similar to that of savingaccount class.
Using the derived class's object, if we call a method that is not overridden in the derived class, the base class method gets executed. Using derived class's object we can call base class's methods, but the reverse is not allowed.
Unlike C++, C# does not support multiple inheritance. So, in C# every class has exactly one base class.
Now, suppose we declare reference to the base class and store in it the address of instance of derived class as shown below.
account a1 = new savingaccount ( "Amar", 5600.00f ) ;
account a2 = new currentaccount ( "MyCompany Pvt. Ltd.", 126000.00f) ;
Such a situation arises when we have to decide at run-time a method of which class in a class hierarchy should get called. Using a1 and a2, suppose we call the method display( ), ideally the method of derived class should get called. But it is the method of base class that gets called. This is because the compiler considers the type of reference (account in this case) and resolves the method call. So, to call the proper method we must make a small change in our program. We must use the virtual keyword while defining the methods in base class as shown below.
public virtual void display( ) { }
We must declare the methods as virtual if they are going to be overridden in derived class. To override a virtual method in derived classes we must use the override keyword as given below.
public override void display( ) { }
Now it is ensured that when we call the methods using upcasted reference, it is the derived class's method that would get called. Actually, when we declare a virtual method, while calling it, the compiler considers the contents of the reference rather than its type.
If we don't want to override base class's virtual method, we can declare it with new modifier in derived class. The new modifier indicates that the method is new to this class and is not an override of a base class method.
How would you implement inheritance using VB.NET/C#?
When we set out to implement a class using inheritance, we must first start with an existing class from which we will derive our new subclass. This existing class, or base class, may be part of the .NET system class library framework, it may be part of some other application or .NET assembly, or we may create it as part of our existing application. Once we have a base class, we can then implement one or more subclasses based on that base class. Each of our subclasses will automatically have all of the methods, properties, and events of that base class ? including the implementation behind each method, property, and event. Our subclass can add new methods, properties, and events of its own - extending the original interface with new functionality. Additionally, a subclass can replace the methods and properties of the base class with its own new
implementation - effectively overriding the original behavior and replacing it with new behaviors. Essentially inheritance is a way of merging functionality from an existing class into our new subclass. Inheritance also defines rules for how these methods, properties, and events can be merged. In VB.NET we can use implements keyword for inheritance, while in C# we can use the sign ( :: ) between subclass and baseclass.
How is a property designated as read-only?
In VB.NET:
Private mPropertyName as DataType
Public ReadOnly Property PropertyName() As DataType
Get Return mPropertyName
End Get
End Property
In C#
Private DataType mPropertyName;
public returntype PropertyName
{
get{
//property implementation goes here
return mPropertyName;
}
// Do not write the set implementation
}
What is hiding in CSharp ?
Hiding is also called as Shadowing. This is the concept of Overriding the methods. It is a concept used in the Object Oriented Programming.
E.g.
public class ClassA {
public virtual void MethodA() {
Trace.WriteLine("ClassA Method");
}
}
public class ClassB : ClassA {
public new void MethodA() {
Trace.WriteLine("SubClass ClassB Method");
}
}
public class TopLevel {
static void Main(string[] args) {
TextWriter tw = Console.Out;
Trace.Listeners.Add(new TextWriterTraceListener(tw));
ClassA obj = new ClassB();
obj.MethodA(); // Outputs “Class A Method"
ClassB obj1 = new ClassB();
obj.MethodA(); // Outputs “SubClass ClassB Method”
}
}
What is the difference between an XML "Fragment" and an XML "Document."
An XML fragment is an XML document with no single top-level root element. To put it simple it is a part (fragment) of a well-formed xml document. (node) Where as a well-formed xml document must have only one root element.
What does it meant to say “the canonical” form of XML?
"The purpose of Canonical XML is to define a standard format for an XML document. Canonical XML is a very strict XML syntax, which lets documents in canonical XML be compared directly.
Using this strict syntax makes it easier to see whether two XML documents are the same. For example, a section of text in one document might read Black & White, whereas the same section of text might read Black & White in another document, and even in another. If you compare those three documents byte by byte, they'll be different. But if you write them all in canonical XML, which specifies every aspect of the syntax you can use, these three documents would all have the same version of this text (which would be Black & White) and could be compared without problem.
This Comparison is especially critical when xml documents are digitally signed. The digital signal may be interpreted in different way and the document may be rejected.
Why is the XML InfoSet specification different from the Xml DOM? What does the InfoSet attempt to solve?
"The XML Information Set (Infoset) defines a data model for XML. The Infoset describes the abstract representation of an XML Document. Infoset is the generalized representation of the XML Document, which is primarily meant to act as a set of definitions used by XML technologies to formally describe what parts of an XML document they operate upon.
The Document Object Model (DOM) is one technology for representing an XML Document in memory and to programmatically read, modify and manipulate a xml document.
Infoset helps defining generalized standards on how to use XML that is not dependent or tied to a particular XML specification or API. The Infoset tells us what part of XML Document should be considered as significant information.
Contrast DTDs versus XSDs. What are their similarities and differences? Which is preferred and why?
Document Type Definition (DTD) describes a model or set of rules for an XML document. XML Schema Definition (XSD) also describes the structure of an XML document but XSDs are much more powerful.
The disadvantage with the Document Type Definition is it doesn’t support data types beyond the basic 10 primitive types. It cannot properly define the type of data contained by the tag.
An Xml Schema provides an Object Oriented approach to defining the format of an xml document. The Xml schema support most basic programming types like integer, byte, string, float etc., We can also define complex types of our own which can be used to define a xml document.
Xml Schemas are always preferred over DTDs as a document can be more precisely defined using the XML Schemas because of its rich support for data representation.
Speaking of Boolean data types, what's different between C# and C/C++?
There's no conversion between 0 and false, as well as any other number and true, like in C/C++.
How do you convert a string into an integer in .NET?
Int32.Parse(string)
Can you declare a C++ type destructor in C# like ~MyClass()?
Yes, but what's the point, since it will call Finalize(), and Finalize() has no guarantees when the memory will be cleaned up, plus, it introduces additional load on the garbage collector.
What's different about namespace declaration when comparing that to package declaration in Java?
No semicolon.
What's the difference between const and readonly?
The readonly keyword is different from the const keyword. A const field can only be initialized at the declaration of the field. A readonly field can be initialized either at the declaration or in a constructor. Therefore, readonly fields can have different values depending on the constructor used. Also, while a const field is a compile-time constant, the readonly field can be used for runtime constants as in the following example:
public static readonly uint l1 = (uint) DateTime.Now.Ticks;
