TechInterviews

Bank of technical inteview questions of software companies in India.

• Mahesu .K

1.1 What is .NET?

.NET is a "revolutionary new platform, built on open Internet protocols and standards,
with tools and services that meld computing and communications in new ways".
A more practical definition would be that .NET is a new environment for developing and
running software applications, featuring ease of development of web-based services, rich
standard run-time services available to components written in a variety of programming
languages, and inter-language and inter-machine interoperability.
1.2 Does .NET only apply to people building web-sites?
No. If you write any Windows software (using ATL/COM, MFC, VB, or even raw
Win32), .NET may offer a viable alternative (or addition) to the way you do things
currently. Of course, if you do develop web sites, then .NET has lots to interest you - not
least ASP.NET.
1.6 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.
1.7 What languages does the .NET Framework support?
MS provides compilers for C#, C++, VB and JScript. Other vendors have announced that
they intend to develop .NET compilers for languages such as COBOL, Eiffel, Perl,
Smalltalk and Python.
1.8 Will the .NET Framework go through a standardisation process?
From http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/ecma/: "On December 13, 2001, the ECMA General
Assembly ratified the C# and common language infrastructure (CLI) specifications into
international standards. The ECMA standards will be known as ECMA-334 (C#) and
ECMA-335 (the CLI)."
2. Basic terminology
2.1 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.
· 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.
2.2 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.
2.3 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.
2.4 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.
2.5 What is C#?
C# is a new language designed by Microsoft to work with the .NET framework. "C# is a
simple, modern, object oriented, and type-safe programming language derived from C
and C++. C# (pronounced “C sharp”) is firmly planted in the C and C++ family tree of
languages, and will immediately be familiar to C and C++ programmers. C# aims to
combine the high productivity of Visual Basic and the raw power of C++."
Substitute 'Java' for 'C#' in the quote above, and you'll see that the statement still works
pretty well :-).
2.6 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.
2.7 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).
3. Assemblies
3.1 What is an assembly?
An assembly is sometimes described as a logical .EXE or .DLL, and can be an
application (with a main entry point) or a library. An assembly consists of one or more
files (dlls, exes, html files etc), and represents a group of resources, type definitions, and
implementations of those types. An assembly may also contain references to other
assemblies. These resources, types and references are described in a block of data called a
manifest. The manifest is part of the assembly, thus making the assembly self-describing.
An important aspect of assemblies is that they are part of the identity of a type. The
identity of a type is the assembly that houses it combined with the type name. This
means, for example, that if assembly A exports a type called T, and assembly B exports a
type called T, the .NET runtime sees these as two completely different types.
Furthermore, don't get confused between assemblies and namespaces - namespaces are
merely a hierarchical way of organising type names. To the runtime, type names are type
names, regardless of whether namespaces are used to organise the names. It's the
assembly plus the type name (regardless of whether the type name belongs to a
namespace) that uniquely identifies a type to the runtime.
Assemblies are also important in .NET with respect to security - many of the security
restrictions are enforced at the assembly boundary.
Finally, assemblies are the unit of versioning in .NET.
3.2 How can I produce an assembly?
The simplest way to produce an assembly is directly from a .NET compiler. For example,
the following C# program:
Public class CTest
{
Public CTest ()
{
System.Console.WriteLine ("Hello from CTest");
}
}
Can be compiled into a library assembly (dll) like this:
csc /t:library ctest.cs
You can then view the contents of the assembly by running the "IL Disassembler" tool
that comes with the .NET SDK.
Alternatively you can compile your source into modules, and then combine the modules
into an assembly using the assembly linker (al.exe). For the C# compiler, the
/target:module switch is used to generate a module instead of an assembly.
3.3 What is the difference between a private assembly and a shared assembly?
· Location and visibility: A private assembly is normally used by a single application, and
is stored in the application's directory, or a sub-directory beneath. A shared assembly is
normally stored in the global assembly cache, which is a repository of assemblies
maintained by the .NET runtime. Shared assemblies are usually libraries of code which
many applications will find useful, e.g. the .NET framework classes.

· Versioning: The runtime enforces versioning constraints only on shared assemblies, not
on private assemblies.
3.4 How do assemblies find each other?
By searching directory paths. There are several factors, which can affect the path (such as
the AppDomain host, and application configuration files), but for private assemblies the
search path is normally the application's directory and its sub-directories. For shared
assemblies, the search path is normally same as the private assembly path plus the shared
assembly cache.
3.5 How does assembly versioning work?
Each assembly has a version number called the compatibility version. Also each
reference to an assembly (from another assembly) includes both the name and version of
the referenced assembly.
The version number has four numeric parts (e.g. 5.5.2.33). Assemblies with either of the
first two parts different are normally viewed as incompatible. If the first two parts are the
same, but the third is different, the assemblies are deemed as 'maybe compatible'. If only
the fourth part is different, the assemblies are deemed compatible. However, this is just
the default guideline - it is the version policy that decides to what extent these rules are
enforced. The version policy can be specified via the application configuration file.
Remember: versioning is only applied to shared assemblies, not private assemblies.
4. Application Domains
4.1 What is an Application Domain?
An AppDomain can be thought of as a lightweight process. Multiple AppDomains can
exist inside a Win32 process. The primary purpose of the AppDomain is to isolate an
application from other applications.
Win32 processes provide isolation by having distinct memory address spaces. This is
effective, but it is expensive and doesn't scale well. The .NET runtime enforces
AppDomain isolation by keeping control over the use of memory - all memory in the
AppDomain is managed by the .NET runtime, so the runtime can ensure that
AppDomains do not access each other's memory.
4.2 How does an AppDomain get created?
AppDomains are usually created by hosts. Examples of hosts are the Windows Shell,
ASP.NET and IE. When you run a .NET application from the command-line, the host is
the Shell. The Shell creates a new AppDomain for every application.
AppDomains can also be explicitly created by .NET applications. Here is a C# sample
which creates an AppDomain, creates an instance of an object inside it, and then executes
one of the object's methods. Note that you must name the executable 'appdomaintest.exe'
for this code to work as-is.
using System;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;

public class CAppDomainInfo : MarshalByRefObject

{
public string GetAppDomainInfo()
{
return "AppDomain = " + AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName;
}

public class App

{
public static int Main()
{
AppDomain ad = AppDomain.CreateDomain( "Andy's new domain", null, null );
ObjectHandle oh = ad.CreateInstance( "appdomaintest", "CAppDomainInfo" );
CAppDomainInfo adInfo = (CAppDomainInfo)(oh.Unwrap());
string info = adInfo.GetAppDomainInfo();

Console.WriteLine( "AppDomain info: " + info );

return 0;
}
}
5. Garbage Collection
5.1 What is garbage collection?
Garbage collection is a system whereby a run-time component takes responsibility for
managing the lifetime of objects and the heap memory that they occupy. This concept is
not new to .NET - Java and many other languages/runtimes have used garbage collection
for some time.
5.2 Is it true that objects don't always get destroyed immediately when the last reference
goes away?
Yes. The garbage collector offers no guarantees about the time when an object will be
destroyed and its memory reclaimed.
5.3 Why doesn't the .NET runtime offer deterministic destruction?
Because of the garbage collection algorithm. The .NET garbage collector works by
periodically running through a list of all the objects that are currently being referenced by
an application. All the objects that it doesn't find during this search are ready to be
destroyed and the memory reclaimed. The implication of this algorithm is that the
runtime doesn't get notified immediately when the final reference on an object goes away
- it only finds out during the next sweep of the heap.
Futhermore, this type of algorithm works best by performing the garbage collection
sweep as rarely as possible. Normally heap exhaustion is the trigger for a collection
sweep.
5.4 Is the lack of deterministic destruction in .NET a problem?
It's certainly an issue that affects component design. If you have objects that maintain
expensive or scarce resources (e.g. database locks), you need to provide some way for the
client to tell the object to release the resource when it is done. Microsoft recommend that
you provide a method called Dispose() for this purpose. However, this causes problems
for distributed objects - in a distributed system who calls the Dispose() method? Some
form of reference-counting or ownership-management mechanism is needed to handle
distributed objects - unfortunately the runtime offers no help with this.
5.5 Does non-deterministic destruction affect the usage of COM objects from managed
code?
Yes. When using a COM object from managed code, you are effectively relying on the
garbage collector to call the final release on your object. If your COM object holds onto
an expensive resource which is only cleaned-up after the final release, you may need to
provide a new interface on your object which supports an explicit Dispose() method.
5.6 I've heard that Finalize methods should be avoided. Should I implement Finalize on
my class?
An object with a Finalize method is more work for the garbage collector than an object
without one. Also there are no guarantees about the order in which objects are Finalized,
so there are issues surrounding access to other objects from the Finalize method. Finally,
there is no guarantee that a Finalize method will get called on an object, so it should
never be relied upon to do clean-up of an object's resources.
Microsoft recommend the following pattern:
public class CTest : IDisposable
{
public void Dispose()
{
... // Cleanup activities
GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
}

~CTest() // C# syntax hiding the Finalize() method

{
Dispose();
}
}
In the normal case the client calls Dispose(), the object's resources are freed, and the
garbage collector is relieved of its Finalizing duties by the call to SuppressFinalize(). In
the worst case, i.e. the client forgets to call Dispose(), there is a reasonable chance that
the object's resources will eventually get freed by the garbage collector calling Finalize().
Given the limitations of the garbage collection algorithm this seems like a pretty
reasonable approach.
5.7 Do I have any control over the garbage collection algorithm?
A little. For example, the System.GC class exposes a Collect method - this forces the
garbage collector to collect all unreferenced objects immediately.
5.8 How can I find out what the garbage collector is doing?
Lots of interesting statistics are exported from the .NET runtime via the '.NET CLR xxx'
performance counters. Use Performance Monitor to view them.
6. Serialization
6.1 What is serialization?
Serialization is the process of converting an object into a stream of bytes. Deserialization
is the opposite process of creating an object from a stream of bytes.
Serialization/Deserialization is mostly used to transport objects (e.g. during remoting), or
to persist objects (e.g. to a file or database).
6.2 Does the .NET Framework have in-built support for serialization?
There are two separate mechanisms provided by the .NET class library - XmlSerializer
and SoapFormatter/BinaryFormatter. Microsoft uses XmlSerializer for Web Services, and
uses SoapFormatter/BinaryFormatter for remoting. Both are available for use in your own
code.
6.3 I want to serialize instances of my class. Should I use XmlSerializer, SoapFormatter
or BinaryFormatter?
It depends. XmlSerializer has severe limitations such as the requirement that the target
class has a parameterless constructor, and only public read/write properties and fields can
be serialized. However, on the plus side, XmlSerializer has good support for customising
the XML document that is produced or consumed. XmlSerializer's features mean that it is
most suitable for cross-platform work, or for constructing objects from existing XML
documents.
SoapFormatter and BinaryFormatter have fewer limitations than XmlSerializer. They can
serialize private fields, for example. However they both require that the target class be
marked with the [Serializable] attribute, so like XmlSerializer the class needs to be
written with serialization in mind. Also there are some quirks to watch out for - for
example on deserialization the constructor of the new object is not invoked.
The choice between SoapFormatter and BinaryFormatter depends on the application.
BinaryFormatter makes sense where both serialization and deserialization will be
performed on the .NET platform and where performance is important. SoapFormatter
generally makes more sense in all other cases, for ease of debugging if nothing else.
6.4 Can I customise the serialization process?
Yes. XmlSerializer supports a range of attributes that can be used to configure
serialization for a particular class. For example, a field or property can be marked with
the [XmlIgnore] attribute to exclude it from serialization. Another example is the
[XmlElement] attribute, which can be used to specify the XML element name to be used
for a particular property or field.
Serialization via SoapFormatter/BinaryFormatter can also be controlled to some extent by
attributes. For example, the [NonSerialized] attribute is the equivalent of XmlSerializer's
[XmlIgnore] attribute. Ultimate control of the serialization process can be acheived by
implementing the the ISerializable interface on the class whose instances are to be
serialized.
6.5 Why is XmlSerializer so slow?
There is a once-per-process-per-type overhead with XmlSerializer. So the first time you
serialize or deserialize an object of a given type in an application, there is a significant
delay. This normally doesn't matter, but it may mean, for example, that XmlSerializer is a
poor choice for loading configuration settings during startup of a GUI application.
6.6 Why do I get errors when I try to serialize a Hashtable?
XmlSerializer will refuse to serialize instances of any class that implements IDictionary,
e.g. Hashtable. SoapFormatter and BinaryFormatter do not have this restriction.
6.7 XmlSerializer is throwing a generic "There was an error reflecting MyClass" error.
How do I find out what the problem is?
Look at the InnerException property of the exception that is thrown to get a more specific
error message.
7. Attributes
7.1 What are attributes?
There are at least two types of .NET attribute. The first type I will refer to as a metadata
attribute - it allows some data to be attached to a class or method. This data becomes part
of the metadata for the class, and (like other class metadata) can be accessed via
reflection. An example of a metadata attribute is [serializable], which can be attached to a
class and means that instances of the class can be serialized.
[serializable] public class CTest {}
The other type of attribute is a context attribute. Context attributes use a similar syntax to
metadata attributes but they are fundamentally different. Context attributes provide an
interception mechanism whereby instance activation and method calls can be pre- and/or
post-processed.
7.2 Can I create my own metadata attributes?
Yes. Simply derive a class from System.Attribute and mark it with the AttributeUsage
attribute. For example:
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class)]
public class InspiredByAttribute : System.Attribute
{
public string InspiredBy;

public InspiredByAttribute( string inspiredBy )

{
InspiredBy = inspiredBy;
}
}

[InspiredBy("Andy Mc's brilliant .NET FAQ")]

class CTest
{
}
class CApp
{
public static void Main()
{
object[] atts = typeof(CTest).GetCustomAttributes(true);

foreach( object att in atts )

if( att is InspiredByAttribute )
Console.WriteLine( "Class CTest was inspired by {0}",
((InspiredByAttribute)att).InspiredBy );
}
}
8. Code Access Security
8.1 What is Code Access Security (CAS)?
CAS is the part of the .NET security model that determines whether or not a piece of
code is allowed to run, and what resources it can use when it is running. For example, it
is CAS that will prevent a .NET web applet from formatting your hard disk.
8.2 How does CAS work?
The CAS security policy revolves around two key concepts - code groups and
permissions. Each .NET assembly is a member of a particular code group, and each code
group is granted the permissions specified in a named permission set.
For example, using the default security policy, a control downloaded from a web site
belongs to the 'Zone - Internet' code group, which adheres to the permissions defined by
the 'Internet' named permission set. (Naturally the 'Internet' named permission set
represents a very restrictive range of permissions.)
8.3 Who defines the CAS code groups?
Microsoft defines some default ones, but you can modify these and even create your own.
To see the code groups defined on your system, run 'caspol -lg' from the command-line.
On my system it looks like this:
Level = Machine

Code Groups:

1. All code: Nothing

1.1. Zone - MyComputer: FullTrust
1.1.1. Honor SkipVerification requests: SkipVerification
1.2. Zone - Intranet: LocalIntranet
1.3. Zone - Internet: Internet
1.4. Zone - Untrusted: Nothing
1.5. Zone - Trusted: Internet
1.6. StrongName -
0024000004800000940000000602000000240000525341310004000003
000000CFCB3291AA715FE99D40D49040336F9056D7886FED46775BC7BB5430BA4
444FEF8348EBD06
F962F39776AE4DC3B7B04A7FE6F49F25F740423EBF2C0B89698D8D08AC48D69C
ED0FC8F83B465E08
07AC11EC1DCC7D054E807A43336DDE408A5393A48556123272CEEEE72F1660B7
1927D38561AABF5C
AC1DF1734633C602F8F2D5: Everything
Note the hierarchy of code groups - the top of the hierarchy is the most general ('All
code'), which is then sub-divided into several groups, each of which in turn can be sub-
divided. Also note that (somewhat counter-intuitively) a sub-group can be associated with
a more permissive permission set than its parent.
8.4 How do I define my own code group?
Use caspol. For example, suppose you trust code from www.mydomain.com and you
want it have full access to your system, but you want to keep the default restrictions for
all other internet sites. To achieve this, you would add a new code group as a sub-group
of the 'Zone - Internet' group, like this:
caspol -ag 1.3 -site www.mydomain.com FullTrust
Now if you run caspol -lg you will see that the new group has been added as group 1.3.1:
...
1.3. Zone - Internet: Internet
1.3.1. Site - www.mydomain.com: FullTrust
...
Note that the numeric label (1.3.1) is just a caspol invention to make the code groups easy
to manipulate from the command-line. The underlying runtime never sees it.
8.5 How do I change the permission set for a code group?
Use caspol. If you are the machine administrator, you can operate at the 'machine' level -
which means not only that the changes you make become the default for the machine, but
also that users cannot change the permissions to be more permissive. If you are a normal
(non-admin) user you can still modify the permissions, but only to make them more
restrictive. For example, to allow intranet code to do what it likes you might do this:
caspol -cg 1.2 FullTrust
Note that because this is more permissive than the default policy (on a standard system),
you should only do this at the machine level - doing it at the user level will have no
effect.
8.6 Can I create my own permission set?
Yes. Use caspol -ap, specifying an XML file containing the permissions in the permission
set. When you have created the sample, add it to the range of available permission sets
like this:
caspol -ap samplepermset.xml
Then, to apply the permission set to a code group, do something like this:
caspol -cg 1.3 SamplePermSet
(By default, 1.3 is the 'Internet' code group)
8.7 I'm having some trouble with CAS. How can I diagnose my problem?
Caspol has a couple of options that might help. First, you can ask caspol to tell you what
code group an assembly belongs to, using caspol -rsg. Similarly, you can ask what
permissions are being applied to a particular assembly using caspol -rsp.
8.8 I can't be bothered with all this CAS stuff. Can I turn it off?
Yes, as long as you are an administrator. Just run:
caspol -s off
9. Intermediate Language (IL)
9.1 Can I look at the IL for an assembly?
Yes. MS supply a tool called Ildasm which can be used to view the metadata and IL for
an assembly.
9.2 Can source code be reverse-engineered from IL?
Yes, it is often relatively straightforward to regenerate high-level source (e.g. C#) from
IL.
9.3 How can I stop my code being reverse-engineered from IL?
There is currently no simple way to stop code being reverse-engineered from IL. In future
it is likely that IL obfuscation tools will become available, either from MS or from third
parties. These tools work by 'optimising' the IL in such a way that reverse-engineering
becomes much more difficult.
Of course if you are writing web services then reverse-engineering is not a problem as
clients do not have access to your IL.
9.4 Can I write IL programs directly?
Yes. simple example
.assembly MyAssembly {}
.class MyApp {
.method static void Main() {
.entrypoint
ldstr "Hello, IL!"
call void System.Console::WriteLine(class System.Object)
ret
}
}
Just put this into a file called hello.il, and then run ilasm hello.il. An exe assembly will be
generated.
9.5 Can I do things in IL that I can't do in C#?
Yes. A couple of simple examples are that you can throw exceptions that are not derived
from System.Exception, and you can have non-zero-based arrays.
10. Implications for COM
10.1 Is COM dead?
This subject causes a lot of controversy.
COM is many things, and it's different things to different people. But to me, COM is
fundamentally about how little blobs of code find other little blobs of code, and how they
communicate with each other when they find each other. COM specifies precisely how
this location and communication takes place. In a 'pure' .NET world, consisting entirely
of .NET objects, little blobs of code still find each other and talk to each other, but they
don't use COM to do so. They use a model which is similar to COM in some ways - for
example, type information is stored in a tabular form packaged with the component,
which is quite similar to packaging a type library with a COM component. But it's not
COM.
So, does this matter? Well, I don't really care about most of the COM stuff going away - I
don't care that finding components doesn't involve a trip to the registry, or that I don't use
IDL to define my interfaces. But there is one thing that I wouldn't like to go away - I
wouldn't like to lose the idea of interface-based development. COM's greatest strength, in
my opinion, is its insistence on a cast-iron separation between interface and
implementation. Unfortunately, the .NET framework seems to make no such insistence -
it lets you do interface-based development, but it doesn't insist. Some people would argue
that having a choice can never be a bad thing, and maybe they're right, but I can't help
feeling that maybe it's a backward step.
10.2 Is DCOM dead?
Pretty much, for .NET developers. The .NET Framework has a new remoting model
which is not based on DCOM. Of course DCOM will still be used in interop scenarios.
10.3 Is MTS/COM+ dead?
No. The approach for the first .NET release is to provide access to the existing COM+
services (through an interop layer) rather than replace the services with native .NET ones.
Various tools and attributes are provided to try to make this as painless as possible. The
PDC release of the .NET SDK includes interop support for core services (JIT activation,
transactions) but not some of the higher level services (e.g. COM+ Events, Queued
components).
Over time it is expected that interop will become more seamless - this may mean that
some services become a core part of the CLR, and/or it may mean that some services will
be rewritten as managed code which runs on top of the CLR.
10.4 Can I use COM components from .NET programs?
Yes. COM components are accessed from the .NET runtime via a Runtime Callable
Wrapper (RCW). This wrapper turns the COM interfaces exposed by the COM
component into .NET-compatible interfaces. For oleautomation 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.
When you've built the COM component, you should get a typelibrary. Run the TLBIMP
utility on the typelibary, like this:
tlbimp cppcomserver.tlb
If successful, you will get a message like this:
Typelib imported successfully to CPPCOMSERVERLib.dll
You now need a .NET client - let's use C#. Create a .cs file containing the following code:
using System;
using CPPCOMSERVERLib;

public class MainApp

{
static public void Main()
{
CppName cppname = new CppName();
cppname.SetName( "bob" );
Console.WriteLine( "Name is " + cppname.GetName() );
}
}
Note that we are using the type library name as a namespace, and the COM class name as
the class. Alternatively we could have used CPPCOMSERVERLib.CppName for the
class name and gone without the using CPPCOMSERVERLib statement.
Compile the C# code like this:
csc /r:cppcomserverlib.dll csharpcomclient.cs
Note that the compiler is being told to reference the DLL we previously generated from
the typelibrary using TLBIMP.
You should now be able to run csharpcomclient.exe, and get the following output on the
console:
Name is bob
10.5 Can I use .NET components from COM programs?
Yes. .NET components are accessed from COM via a COM Callable Wrapper (CCW).
This is similar to a RCW (see previous question), 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.
Here's a simple example. Create a C# file called testcomserver.cs and put the following in
it:

using System;

namespace AndyMc
{
public class CSharpCOMServer
{
public CSharpCOMServer() {}
public void SetName( string name ) { m_name = name; }
public string GetName() { return m_name; }
private string m_name;
}
}
Then compile the .cs file as follows:
csc /target:library testcomserver.cs
You should get a dll, which you register like this:
regasm testcomserver.dll /tlb:testcomserver.tlb /codebase
Now you need to create a client to test your .NET COM component. VBScript will do -
put the following in a file called comclient.vbs:
Dim dotNetObj
Set dotNetObj = CreateObject("AndyMc.CSharpCOMServer")
dotNetObj.SetName ("bob")
MsgBox "Name is "& dotNetObj.GetName()
and run the script like this:
wscript comclient.vbs
And hey presto you should get a message box displayed with the text "Name is bob".
10.6 Is ATL redundant in the .NET world?
Yes, if you are writing applications that live inside the .NET framework. Of course many
developers may wish to continue using ATL to write C++ COM components that live
outside the framework, but if you are inside you will almost certainly want to use C#.
Raw C++ (and therefore ATL which is based on it) doesn't have much of a place in the
.NET world - it's just too near the metal and provides too much flexibility for the runtime
to be able to manage it.
11. Miscellaneous
11.1 How does .NET remoting work?
.NET remoting involves sending messages along channels. Two of the standard channels
are HTTP and TCP. TCP is intended for LANs only - HTTP can be used for LANs or
WANs (internet).
Support is provided for multiple message serializarion formats. Examples are SOAP
(XML-based) and binary. By default, the HTTP channel uses SOAP (via the .NET
runtime Serialization SOAP Formatter), and the TCP channel uses binary (via the .NET
runtime Serialization Binary Formatter). But either channel can use either serialization
format.
There are a number of styles of remote access:
· SingleCall. Each incoming request from a client is serviced by a new object. The object
is thrown away when the request has finished. This (essentially stateless) model can be
made stateful in the ASP.NET environment by using the ASP.NET state service to store
application or session state.

· Singleton. All incoming requests from clients are processed by a single server object.

· Client-activated object. This is the old stateful (D)COM model whereby the client
receives a reference to the remote object and holds that reference (thus keeping the
remote object alive) until it is finished with it.
Distributed garbage collection of objects is managed by a system called 'leased based
lifetime'. Each object has a lease time, and when that time expires the object is
disconnected from the .NET runtime remoting infrastructure. Objects have a default
renew time - the lease is renewed when a successful call is made from the client to the
object. The client can also explicitly renew the lease.
11.2 How can I get at the Win32 API from a .NET program?
Use P/Invoke. This uses similar technology to COM Interop, but is used to access static
DLL entry points instead of COM objects. Here is an example of C# calling the Win32
MessageBox function:
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class MainApp
{
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint="MessageBox", SetLastError=true,
CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
public static extern int MessageBox(int hWnd, String strMessage, String strCaption, uint
uiType);
public static void Main()
{
MessageBox( 0, "Hello, this is PInvoke in operation!", ".NET", 0 );
}
}
12. Class Library
12.1 File I/O
12.1.1 How do I read from a text file?
First, use a System.IO.FileStream object to open the file:
FileStream fs = new FileStream( @"c:\test.txt", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read );
FileStream inherits from Stream, so you can wrap the FileStream object with a
StreamReader object. This provides a nice interface for processing the stream line by
line:
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader( fs );
string curLine;
while( (curLine = sr.ReadLine()) != null )
Console.WriteLine( curLine );
Finally close the StreamReader object:
sr.Close();
Note that this will automatically call Close() on the underlying Stream object, so an
explicit fs.Close() is not required.
12.1.2 How do I write to a text file?
Similar to the read example, except use StreamWriter instead of StreamReader.
12.1.3 How do I read/write binary files?
Similar to text files, except wrap the FileStream object with a BinaryReader/Writer object
instead of a StreamReader/Writer object.
12.1.4 How do I delete a file?
Use the static Delete() method on the System.IO.File object:
File.Delete( @"c:\test.txt" );
12.2 Text Processing
12.2.1 Are regular expressions supported?
Yes. Use the System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex class. For example, the following
code updates the title in an HTML file:
FileStream fs = new FileStream( "test.htm", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read );
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader( fs );

Regex r = new Regex( "" );

string s;
while( (s = sr.ReadLine()) != null )
{
if( r.IsMatch( s ) )
s = r.Replace( s, "" );
Console.WriteLine( s );
}
12.3 Internet
12.3.1 How do I download a web page?
First use the System.Net.WebRequestFactory class to acquire a WebRequest object:
WebRequest request = WebRequest.Create( "http://localhost" );
Then ask for the response from the request:
WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
The GetResponse method blocks until the download is complete. Then you can access the
response stream like this:
Stream s = response.GetResponseStream();

// Output the downloaded stream to the console

StreamReader sr = new StreamReader( s );
string line;
while( (line = sr.ReadLine()) != null )
Console.WriteLine( line );
Note that WebRequest and WebReponse objects can be downcast to HttpWebRequest and
HttpWebReponse objects respectively, to access http-specific functionality.
12.3.2 How do I use a proxy?
Two approaches - to affect all web requests do this:
System.Net.GlobalProxySelection.Select = new WebProxy( "proxyname", 80 );
Alternatively, to set the proxy for a specific web request, do this:
HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create( "http://localhost" );
request.Proxy = new WebProxy( "proxyname", 80 );
12.4 XML
12.4.1 Is DOM supported?
Yes. Take this example XML document:

Fred
Bill

This document can be parsed as follows:

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load( "test.xml" );

XmlNode root = doc.DocumentElement;

foreach( XmlNode personElement in root.ChildNodes )

Console.WriteLine( personElement.FirstChild.Value.ToString() );
The output is:
Fred
Bill
12.4.2 Is SAX supported?
No. Instead, a new XmlReader/XmlWriter API is offered. Like SAX it is stream-based
but it uses a 'pull' model rather than SAX's 'push' model. Here's an example:
XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader( "test.xml" );

while( reader.Read() )
{
if( reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element && reader.Name == "PERSON" )
{
reader.Read(); // Skip to the child text
Console.WriteLine( reader.Value );
}
}
12.4.3 Is XPath supported?
Yes, via the XPathXXX classes:
XPathDocument xpdoc = new XPathDocument("test.xml");
XPathNavigator nav = xpdoc.CreateNavigator();
XPathExpression expr = nav.Compile("descendant::PEOPLE/PERSON");

XPathNodeIterator iterator = nav.Select(expr);

while (iterator.MoveNext())
Console.WriteLine(iterator.Current);
12.5 Threading
12.5.1 Is multi-threading supported?
Yes, there is extensive support for multi-threading. New threads can be spawned, and
there is a system-provided threadpool which applications can use.
12.5.2 How do I spawn a thread?
Create an instance of a System.Threading.Thread object, passing it an instance of a
ThreadStart delegate that will be executed on the new thread. For example:
class MyThread
{
public MyThread( string initData )
{
m_data = initData;
m_thread = new Thread( new ThreadStart(ThreadMain) );
m_thread.Start();
}

// ThreadMain() is executed on the new thread.

private void ThreadMain()
{
Console.WriteLine( m_data );
}

public void WaitUntilFinished()

{
m_thread.Join();
}

private Thread m_thread;

private string m_data;
}
In this case creating an instance of the MyThread class is sufficient to spawn the thread
and execute the MyThread.ThreadMain() method:
MyThread t = new MyThread( "Hello, world." );
t.WaitUntilFinished();
12.5.3 How do I stop a thread?
There are several options. First, you can use your own communication mechanism to tell
the ThreadStart method to finish. Alternatively the Thread class has in-built support for
instructing the thread to stop. The two principle methods are Thread.Interrupt() and
Thread.Abort(). The former will cause a ThreadInterruptedException to be thrown on the
thread when it next goes into a WaitJoinSleep state. In other words, Thread.Interrupt is a
polite way of asking the thread to stop when it is no longer doing any useful work. In
contrast, Thread.Abort() throws a ThreadAbortException regardless of what the thread is
doing. Furthermore, the ThreadAbortException cannot normally be caught (though the
ThreadStart's finally method will be executed). Thread.Abort() is a heavy-handed
mechanism which should not normally be required.
12.5.4 How do I use the thread pool?
By passing an instance of a WaitCallback delegate to the
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem() method:
class CApp
{
static void Main()
{
string s = "Hello, World";
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem( new WaitCallback( DoWork ), s );

Thread.Sleep( 1000 ); // Give time for work item to be executed

}

// DoWork is executed on a thread from the thread pool.

static void DoWork( object state )
{
Console.WriteLine( state );
}
}
12.5.5 How do I know when my thread pool work item has completed?
There is no way to query the thread pool for this information. You must put code into the
WaitCallback method to signal that it has completed. Events are useful for this.
12.5.6 How do I prevent concurrent access to my data?
Each object has a concurrency lock (critical section) associated with it. The
System.Threading.Monitor.Enter/Exit methods are used to acquire and release this lock.
For example, instances of the following class only allow one thread at a time to enter
method f():
class C
{
public void f()
{
try
{
Monitor.Enter(this);
...
}
finally
{
Monitor.Exit(this);
}
}
}
C# has a 'lock' keyword which provides a convenient shorthand for the code above:
class C
{
public void f()
{
lock(this)
{
...
}
}
}
Note that calling Monitor.Enter(myObject) does NOT mean that all access to myObject is
serialized. It means that the synchronisation lock associated with myObject has been
acquired, and no other thread can acquire that lock until Monitor.Exit(o) is called. In
other words, this class is functionally equivalent to the classes above:
class C
{
public void f()
{
lock( m_object )
{
...
}
}

private m_object = new object();

}
12.6 Tracing
12.6.1 Is there built-in support for tracing/logging?
Yes, in the System.Diagnostics namespace. There are two main classes that deal with
tracing - Debug and Trace. They both work in a similar way - the difference is that
tracing from the Debug class only works in builds that have the DEBUG symbol defined,
whereas tracing from the Trace class only works in builds that have the TRACE symbol
defined. Typically this means that you should use System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine
for tracing that you want to work in debug and release builds, and
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine for tracing that you want to work only in debug
builds.
12.6.2 Can I redirect tracing to a file?
Yes. The Debug and Trace classes both have a Listeners property, which is a collection of
sinks that receive the tracing that you send via Debug.WriteLine and Trace.WriteLine
respectively. By default the Listeners collection contains a single sink, which is an
instance of the DefaultTraceListener class. This sends output to the Win32
OutputDebugString() function and also the System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Log() method.
This is useful when debugging, but if you're trying to trace a problem at a customer site,
redirecting the output to a file is more appropriate. Fortunately, the
TextWriterTraceListener class is provided for this purpose.
Here's how to use the TextWriterTraceListener class to redirect Trace output to a file:
Trace.Listeners.Clear();
FileStream fs = new FileStream( @"c:\log.txt", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write );
Trace.Listeners.Add( new TextWriterTraceListener( fs ) );

Trace.WriteLine( @"This will be writen to c:\log.txt!" );

Trace.Flush();
Note the use of Trace.Listeners.Clear() to remove the default listener. If you don't do this,
the output will go to the file and OutputDebugString(). Typically this is not what you
want, because OutputDebugString() imposes a big performance hit.
12.6.3 Can I customise the trace output?
Yes. You can write your own TraceListener-derived class, and direct all output through it.
Here's a simple example, which derives from TextWriterTraceListener (and therefore has
in-built support for writing to files, as shown above) and adds timing information and the
thread ID for each trace line:
class MyListener : TextWriterTraceListener
{
public MyListener( Stream s ) : base(s)
{
}

public override void WriteLine( string s )

{
Writer.WriteLine( "{0:D8} [{1:D4}] {2}",
Environment.TickCount - m_startTickCount,
AppDomain.GetCurrentThreadId(),
s );
}

protected int m_startTickCount = Environment.TickCount;

}
(Note that this implementation is not complete - the TraceListener.Write method is not
overridden for example.)
The beauty of this approach is that when an instance of MyListener is added to the
Trace.Listeners collection, all calls to Trace.WriteLine() go through MyListener,
including calls made by referenced assemblies that know nothing about the MyListener
class.

What platforms support .NET?

Right now the only operating system with a full implementation of .NET (that I know
about, anyway) is Microsoft Windows. The .NET Framework redistributable is available
for Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. The .NET Framework
SDK is available for Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
The Mono Project is an ongoing open-source implementation of .NET for Linux and
Windows that is currently still in development. The dotGNU project is another open-
source .NET implementation. The Rotor project is a Microsoft shared source CLI
implementation targeting Windows and FreeBSD.

C SHARP FAQ’S
1. Introduction
1.1 What is C#?
C# is a programming language designed by Microsoft. It is loosely based on C/C++, and
bears a striking similarity to Java in many ways. Describe C# as follows:
"C# is a simple, modern, object oriented, and type-safe programming language derived
from C and C++. C# (pronounced 'C sharp') is firmly planted in the C and C++ family
tree of languages, and will immediately be familiar to C and C++ programmers. C# aims
to combine the high productivity of Visual Basic and the raw power of C++."
2. Basic types
2.1 What standard types does C# supply?
C# supports a very similar range of basic types to C++, including int, long, float, double,
char, string, arrays, structs and classes. However, don't assume too much. The names may
be familiar, but some of the details are different. For example, a long is 64 bits in C#,
whereas in C++ the size of a long depends on the platform (typically 32 bits on a 32-bit
platform, 64 bits on a 64-bit platform). Also classes and structs are almost the same in
C++ - this is not true for C#.
2.2 Is it true that all C# types derive from a common base class?
Yes and no. All types can be treated as if they derive from object (System.Object), but in
order to treat an instance of a value type (e.g. int, float) as object-derived, the instance
must be converted to a reference type using a process called 'boxing'. In theory a
developer can forget about this and let the run-time worry about when the conversion is
necessary, but in reality this implicit conversion can have side-effects that may trip up the
unwary.
2.3 So this means I can pass an instance of a value type to a method that takes an object
as a parameter?
Yes. For example:
class CApplication
{
public static void Main()
{
int x = 25;
string s = "fred";
DisplayMe( x );
DisplayMe( s );
}

static void DisplayMe( object o )

{
System.Console.WriteLine( "You are {0}", o );
}
}
This would display:
You are 25
You are fred

2.4 What are the fundamental differences between value types and reference types?
C# divides types into two categories - value types and reference types. Most of the basic
intrinsic types (e.g. int, char) are value types. Structs are also value types. Reference
types include classes, interfaces, arrays and strings. The basic idea is straightforward - an
instance of a value type represents the actual data (stored on the stack), whereas an
instance of a reference type represents a pointer or reference to the data (stored on the
heap).
int x1 = 3; // x1 is a value on the stack
int x2 = new int();
x2 = 3; // x2 is also a value on the stack!
2.5 Okay, so an int is a value type, and a class is a reference type. How can int be derived
from object?
It isn't, really. When an int is being used as an int, it is a value (on the stack). However,
when it is being used as an object, it is a reference to an integer value on the heap. In
other words, when you treat an int as an object, the runtime automatically converts the int
value to an object reference. This process is called boxing. The conversion involves
copying the contents of the int from the stack to the heap, and creating an object instance
which refers to it. Unboxing is the reverse process - the object is converted back to a
stack-based value.
int x = 3; // new int value 3 on the stack
object objx = x; // new int on heap, set to value 3 - still have x=3 on stack
int y = (int)objx; // new value 3 on stack, still got x=3 on stack and objx=3 on heap
3. Classes and structs
3.1 Structs are largely redundant in C++. Why does C# have them?
In C++, a struct and a class are pretty much the same thing. The only difference is the
default visibility level (public for structs, private for classes). However, In C# structs and
classes are very different. In C#, structs are value types (stored on the stack), whereas
classes are reference types (stored on the heap). Also structs cannot inherit from structs or
classes, though they can implement interfaces. Structs cannot have destructors.
3.2 Does C# support multiple inheritance (MI)?
C# supports multiple inheritance of interfaces, but not of classes.
3.7 What is a static constructor?
A constructor for a class, rather than instances of a class. The static constructor is called
when the class is loaded.
3.8 Are all methods virtual in C#?
No. Methods are non-virtual by default, but can be marked as virtual.
3.9 How do I declare a pure virtual function in C#?
Use the abstract modifier on the method. The class must also be marked as abstract
(naturally). Note that abstract methods cannot have an implementation.
4. Exceptions
4.1 Can I use exceptions in C#?
Yes, in fact exceptions are the recommended error-handling mechanism in C# (and in
.NET in general). Most of the .NET framework classes use exceptions to signal errors.
4.2 What types of object can I throw as exceptions?
Only instances of the System.Exception classes, or classes derived from
System.Exception.
4.3 Can I define my own exceptions?
Yes, as long as you follow the rule that exceptions derive from System.Exception. More
specifically, recommend that user-defined exceptions inherit from
System.ApplicationException (which is derived from System.Exception).
4.5 Does the System.Exception class have any cool features?
Yes - the feature which stands out is the StackTrace property. This provides a call stack
which records where the exception was thrown from. For example, the following code:
using System;

class CApp
{
public static void Main()
{
try
{
f();
}
catch( Exception e )
{
Console.WriteLine( "System.Exception stack trace = \n{0}", e.StackTrace );
}
}

static void f()

{
throw new Exception( "f went pear-shaped" );
}
}
produces this output:
System.Exception stack trace =
at CApp.f()
at CApp.Main()
Note, however, that this stack trace was produced from a debug build. A release build
may optimise away some of the method calls which could mean that the call stack isn't
quite what you expect.
4.6 When should I throw an exception?
Exceptions should be thrown only when an 'unexpected' error occurs. How do you decide
if an error is expected or unexpected? This is a judgement call, but a straightforward
example of an expected error is failing to read from a file because the seek pointer is at
the end of the file, whereas an example of an unexpected error is failing to allocate
memory from the heap.
4.7 Does C# have a 'throws' clause?
C# does not require (or even allow) the developer to specify the exceptions that a method
can throw.
5. Run-time type information
5.1 How can I check the type of an object at runtime?
You can use the is keyword. For example:
using System;

class CApp
{
public static void Main()
{
string s = "fred";
long i = 10;

Console.WriteLine( "{0} is {1}an integer", s, (IsInteger(s) ? "" : "not ") );

Console.WriteLine( "{0} is {1}an integer", i, (IsInteger(i) ? "" : "not ") );
}

static bool IsInteger( object obj )

{
if( obj is int || obj is long )
return true;
else
return false;
}
}
produces the output:
fred is not an integer
10 is an integer
5.2 Can I get the name of a type at runtime?
Yes, use the GetType method of the object class (which all types inherit from). For
example:
using System;

class CTest
{
class CApp
{
public static void Main()
{
long i = 10;
CTest ctest = new CTest();

DisplayTypeInfo( ctest );
DisplayTypeInfo( i );
}

static void DisplayTypeInfo( object obj )

{
Console.WriteLine( "Type name = {0}, full type name = {1}", obj.GetType(),
obj.GetType().FullName );
}
}
}
produces the following output:
Type name = CTest, full type name = CTest
Type name = Int64, full type name = System.Int64
6. Advanced language features
6.1 What are delegates?
A delegate is a class derived from System.Delegate. However the language has a special
syntax for declaring delegates which means that they don't look like classes. A delegate
represents a method with a particular signature. An instance of a delegate represents a
method with a particular signature on a particular object (or class in the case of a static
method). For example:
using System;
delegate void Stereotype();

class CAmerican
{
public void BePatriotic()
{
Console.WriteLine( "... ... God bless America.");
}
}

class CBrit
{
public void BeXenophobic()
{
Console.WriteLine( "Bloody foreigners ... " );
}
}

class CApplication
{
public static void RevealYourStereotype( Stereotype[] stereotypes )
{
foreach( Stereotype s in stereotypes )
s();
}

public static void Main()

{
CAmerican chuck = new CAmerican();
CBrit edward = new CBrit();

// Create our list of sterotypes.

Stereotype[] stereotypes = new Stereotype[2];
stereotypes[0] = new Stereotype( chuck.BePatriotic );
stereotypes[1] = new Stereotype( edward.BeXenophobic );

// Reveal yourselves!
RevealYourStereotype(stereotypes );
}
}
This produces the following result:
... ... God bless America.
Bloody foreigners ...
6.2 Are delegates just like interfaces with a single method?
Conceptually delegates can be used in a similar way to an interface with a single method.
The main practical difference is that with an interface the method name is fixed, whereas
with a delegate only the signature is fixed - the method name can be different, as shown
in the example above.
8. Miscellaneous
8.1 String comparisons using == seem to be case-sensitive? How do I do a case-
insensitive string comparison?
Use the String.Compare function. Its third parameter is a boolean which specifies
whether case should be ignored or not.
"fred" == "Fred" // false
System.String.Compare( "fred", "Fred", true ) // true
8.2 I've seen some string literals which use the @ symbol, and some which don't. What's
that all about?
The @ symbol before a string literal means that escape sequences are ignored. This is
particularly useful for file names, e.g.
string fileName = "c:\\temp\\test.txt"
versus:
string fileName = @"c:\temp\test.txt"
8.3 Does C# support a variable number of arguments?
Yes, using the params keyword. The arguments are specified as a list of arguments of a
specific type, e.g. int. For ultimate flexibility, the type can be object. The standard
example of a method which uses this approach is System.Console.WriteLine().
8.4 How can I process command-line arguments?
Like this:
using System;

class CApp
{
public static void Main( string[] args )
{
Console.WriteLine( "You passed the following arguments:" );
foreach( string arg in args )
Console.WriteLine( arg );
}
}
8.5 Does C# do array bounds checking?
Yes. An IndexOutOfRange exception is used to signal an error.
8.6 How can I make sure my C# classes will interoperate with other .NET languages?
Make sure your C# code conforms to the Common Language Subset (CLS). To help with
this, add the [assembly:CLSCompliant(true)] global attribute to your C# source files. The
compiler will emit an error if you use a C# feature which is not CLS-compliant.

Posted by Nisha Nitin on 11:24 PM 0 Comments

ASP.NET, C#, VB.NET

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, like DataGrid, 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.
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
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
@Control:Defines control-specific attributes used by the ASP.NET page parser and
compiler. Can be included only in .ascx files.
@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.
@Implements: Indicates that the current page or user control implements the specified
.NET framework interface.
@Register: Associates aliases with namespaces and class names for concise notation in
custom server control syntax.
@Assembly: Links an assembly to the current page during compilation, making all the
assembly's classes and interfaces available for use on the page.
@OutputCache: Declaratively controls the output caching policies of an ASP.NET page
or a user control contained in a page
@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
statement at the top of an ASPX file or a statement in a Web.config file.
Can a user browsing my Web site read my Web.config or Global.asax files?
No. The 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 a 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.
Is it necessary to lock application state before accessing it?
Only if you're performing a multistep update and want the update to be treated as an
atomic operation. Here's an example:
Application.Lock ();
Application["ItemsSold"] = (int) Application["ItemsSold"] + 1;
Application["ItemsLeft"] = (int) Application["ItemsLeft"] - 1;
Application.UnLock ();
By locking application state before updating it and unlocking it afterwards, you ensure
that another request being processed on another thread doesn't read application state at
exactly the wrong time and see an inconsistent view of it. If I update session state, should
I lock it, too? Are concurrent accesses by multiple requests executing on multiple threads
a concern with session state?
Concurrent accesses aren't an issue with session state, for two reasons. One, it's unlikely
that two requests from the same user will overlap. Two, if they do overlap, ASP.NET
locks down session state during request processing so that two threads can't touch it at
once. Session state is locked down when the HttpApplication instance that's processing
the request fires an AcquireRequestState event and unlocked when it fires a
ReleaseRequestState event.
Do ASP.NET forms authentication cookies provide any protection against replay attacks?
Do they, for example, include the client's IP address or anything else that would
distinguish the real client from an attacker?
No. If an authentication cookie is stolen, it can be used by an attacker. It's up to you to
prevent this from happening by using an encrypted communications channel (HTTPS).
Authentication cookies issued as session cookies, do, however,include a time-out valid
that limits their lifetime. So a stolen session cookie can only be used in replay attacks as
long as the ticket inside the cookie is valid. The default time-out interval is 30
minutes.You can change that by modifying the timeout attribute accompanying the
element in Machine.config or a local Web.config file. Persistent authentication cookies do
not time-out and therefore are a more serious security threat if stolen.
How do I send e-mail from an ASP.NET application?
MailMessage message = new MailMessage ();
message.From = ;
message.To = ;
message.Subject = "Scheduled Power Outage";
message.Body = "Our servers will be down tonight.";
SmtpMail.SmtpServer = "localhost";
SmtpMail.Send (message);
MailMessage and SmtpMail are classes defined in the .NET Framework Class Library's
System.Web.Mail namespace. Due to a security change made to ASP.NET just before it
shipped, you need to set SmtpMail's SmtpServer property to "localhost" even though
"localhost" is the default. In addition, you must use the IIS configuration applet to enable
localhost (127.0.0.1) to relay messages through the local SMTP service.
What are VSDISCO files?
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 elements:

xmlns="urn:schemas-dynamicdiscovery:disco.2000-03-17">

How does dynamic discovery work?

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 re
enable them by uncomment the line in the 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.

Is it possible to prevent a browser from caching an ASPX page?

Just call SetNoStore on the HttpCachePolicy object exposed through the Response
object's Cache property, as demonstrated here:
SetNoStore works by returning a Cache-Control: private, no-store header in the HTTP
response. In this example, it prevents caching of a Web page that shows the current time.
What does AspCompat="true" mean and when should I use it?
AspCompat is an aid in migrating ASP pages to ASPX pages. It defaults to false but
should be set to true in any ASPX file that creates apartment-threaded COM objects--that
is, COM objects registered ThreadingModel=Apartment. That includes all COM objects
written with Visual Basic 6.0. AspCompat should also be set to true (regardless of
threading model) if the page creates COM objects that access intrinsic ASP objects such
as Request and Response. The following directive sets AspCompat to true: Setting
AspCompat to true does two things. First, it makes intrinsic ASP objects available to the
COM components by placing unmanaged wrappers around the equivalent ASP.NET
objects. Second, it improves the performance of calls that the page places to apartment-
threaded COM objects by ensuring that the page (actually, the thread that processes the
request for the page) and the COM objects it creates share an apartment.
AspCompat="true" forces ASP.NET request threads into single-threaded apartments
(STAs). If those threads create COM objects marked ThreadingModel=Apartment, then
the objects are created in the same STAs as the threads that created them. Without
AspCompat="true," request threads run in a multithreaded apartment (MTA) and each
call to an STA-based COM object incurs a performance hit when it's marshaled across
apartment boundaries.Do not set AspCompat to true if your page uses no COM objects or
if it uses COM objects that don't access ASP intrinsic objects and that are registered
ThreadingModel=Free or ThreadingModel=Both.
Explain the differences between Server-side and Client-side code?
Server side scripting means that all the script will be executed by the server and
interpreted as needed. ASP doesn't have some of the functionality like sockets, uploading,
etc. For these you have to make a custom components usually in VB or VC++. Client
side scripting means that the script will be executed immediately in the browser such as
form field validation, clock, email validation, etc. Client side scripting is usually done in
VBScript or JavaScript. Download time, browser compatibility, and visible code - since
JavaScript and VBScript code is included in the HTML page, then anyone can see the
code by viewing the page source. Also a possible security hazards for the client computer.
What type of code (server or client) is found in a Code-Behind class?
C#
Should validation (did the user enter a real date) occur server-side or client-side? Why?
Client-side validation because there is no need to request a server side date when you
could obtain a date from the client machine.
What are ASP.NET Web Forms? How is this technology different than what is available
though ASP?
Web Forms are the heart and soul of ASP.NET. Web Forms are the User Interface (UI)
elements that give your Web applications their look and feel. Web Forms are similar to
Windows Forms in that they provide properties, methods, and events for the controls that
are placed onto them. However, these UI elements render themselves in the appropriate
markup language required by the request, e.g. HTML. If you use Microsoft Visual Studio
.NET, you will also get the familiar drag-and-drop interface used to create your UI for
your Web application.
What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect? Why would I
choose one over the other?
In earlier versions of IIS, if we wanted to send a user to a new Web page, the only option
we had was Response.Redirect. While this method does accomplish our goal, it has
several important drawbacks. The biggest problem is that this method causes each page to
be treated as a separate transaction. Besides making it difficult to maintain your
transactional integrity, Response.Redirect introduces some additional headaches. First, it
prevents good encapsulation of code. Second, you lose access to all of the properties in
the Request object. Sure, there are workarounds, but they're difficult. Finally,
Response.Redirect necessitates a round trip to the client, which, on high-volume sites,
causes scalability problems.
As you might suspect, Server.Transfer fixes all of these problems. It does this by
performing the transfer on the server without requiring a roundtrip to the client.

How can you provide an alternating color scheme in a Repeater control?

AlternatingItemTemplate Like the ItemTemplate element, but rendered for every other
row (alternating items) in the Repeater control. You can specify a different appearance for
the AlternatingItemTemplate element by setting its style properties.
Which template must you provide, in order to display data in a Repeater control?
ItemTemplate
What event handlers can I include in Global.asax?
Application_Start,Application_End, Application_AcquireRequestState,
Application_AuthenticateRequest, Application_AuthorizeRequest,
Application_BeginRequest, Application_Disposed, Application_EndRequest,
Application_Error, Application_PostRequestHandlerExecute,
Application_PreRequestHandlerExecute,
Application_PreSendRequestContent, Application_PreSendRequestHeaders,
Application_ReleaseRequestState, Application_ResolveRequestCache,
Application_UpdateRequestCache, Session_Start,Session_End
You can optionally include "On" in any of method names. For example, you can name a
BeginRequest event handler.Application_BeginRequest or
Application_OnBeginRequest.You can also include event handlers in Global.asax for
events fired by custom HTTP modules.Note that not all of the event handlers make sense
for Web Services (they're designed for ASP.NET applications in general, whereas .NET
XML Web Services are specialized instances of an ASP.NET app). For example, the
Application_AuthenticateRequest and Application_AuthorizeRequest events are designed
to be used with ASP.NET Forms authentication.
What is different b/w webconfig.xml & Machineconfig.xml
Web.config & machine.config both are configuration files.Web.config contains settings
specific to an application where as machine.config contains settings to a computer. The
Configuration system first searches settings in machine.config file & then looks in
application configuration files.Web.config, can appear in multiple directories on an
ASP.NET Web application server. Each Web.config file applies configuration settings to
its own directory and all child directories below it. There is only Machine.config file on a
web server.
If I'm developing an application that must accomodate multiple security levels though
secure login and my ASP.NET web appplication is spanned across three web-servers
(using round-robbin load balancing) what would be the best approach to maintain login-
in state for the users?
Use the state server or store the state in the database. This can be easily done through
simple setting change in the web.config.
StateConnectionString="tcpip=127.0.0.1:42424"
sqlConnectionString="data source=127.0.0.1; user id=sa; password="
cookieless="false"
timeout="30"
/>
You can specify mode as “stateserver” or “sqlserver”.
Where would you use an iHTTPModule, and what are the limitations of any approach
you might take in implementing one
"One of ASP.NET's most useful features is the extensibility of the HTTP pipeline, the
path that data takes between client and server. You can use them to extend your ASP.NET
applications by adding pre- and post-processing to each HTTP request coming into your
application. For example, if you wanted custom authentication facilities for your
application, the best technique would be to intercept the request when it comes in and
process the request in a custom HTTP module.
How do you turn off cookies for one page in your site?
Since no Page Level directive is present, I am afraid that cant be done.
How do you create a permanent cookie?
Permanent cookies are available until a specified expiration date, and are stored on the
hard disk.So Set the 'Expires' property any value greater than DataTime.MinValue with
respect to the current datetime. If u want the cookie which never expires set its Expires
property equal to DateTime.maxValue.
Which method do you use to redirect the user to another page without performing a round
trip to the client?
Server.Transfer and Server.Execute
What property do you have to set to tell the grid which page to go to when using the
Pager object?
CurrentPageIndex
Should validation (did the user enter a real date) occur server-side or client-side? Why?
It should occur both at client-side and Server side.By using expression validator control
with the specified expression ie.. the regular expression provides the facility of only
validatating the date specified is in the correct format or not. But for checking the date
where it is the real data or not should be done at the server side, by getting the system
date ranges and checking the date whether it is in between that range or not.
What does the "EnableViewState" property do? Why would I want it on or off?
Enable ViewState turns on the automatic state management feature that enables server
controls to re-populate their values on a round trip without requiring you to write any
code. This feature is not free however, since the state of a control is passed to and from
the server in a hidden form field. You should be aware of when ViewState is helping you
and when it is not. For example, if you are binding a control to data on every round trip,
then you do not need the control to maintain it's view state, since you will wipe out any
re-populated data in any case. ViewState is enabled for all server controls by default. To
disable it, set the EnableViewState property of the control to false.
What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect? Why would I
choose one over the other?
Server.Transfer() : client is shown as it is on the requesting page only, but the all the
content is of the requested page. Data can be persist accros the pages using Context.Item
collection, which is one of the best way to transfer data from one page to another keeping
the page state alive.
Response.Dedirect() :client know the physical location (page name and query string as
well). Context.Items loses the persisitance when nevigate to destination page. In earlier
versions of IIS, if we wanted to send a user to a new Web page, the only option we had
was Response.Redirect. While this method does accomplish our goal, it has several
important drawbacks. The biggest problem is that this method causes each page to be
treated as a separate transaction. Besides making it difficult to maintain your transactional
integrity, Response.Redirect introduces some additional headaches. First, it prevents good
encapsulation of code. Second, you lose access to all of the properties in the Request
object. Sure, there are workarounds, but they're difficult. Finally, Response.Redirect
necessitates a round trip to the client, which, on high-volume sites, causes scalability
problems. As you might suspect, Server.Transfer fixes all of these problems. It does this
by performing the transfer on the server without requiring a roundtrip to the client.

Can you give an example of when it would be appropriate to use a web service as
opposed to a non-serviced .NET component?
· Communicating through a Firewall When building a distributed application with
100s/1000s of users spread over multiple locations, there is always the problem of
communicating between client and server because of firewalls and proxy servers.
Exposing your middle tier components as Web Services and invoking the directly from a
Windows UI is a very valid option.
· Application Integration When integrating applications written in various languages and
running on disparate systems. Or even applications running on the same platform that
have been written by separate vendors.
· Business-to-Business Integration This is an enabler for B2B intergtation which allows
one to expose vital business processes to authorized supplier and customers. An example
would be exposing electronic ordering and invoicing, allowing customers to send you
purchase orders and suppliers to send you invoices electronically.
· Software Reuse This takes place at multiple levels. Code Reuse at the Source code level
or binary componet-based resuse. The limiting factor here is that you can reuse the code
but not the data behind it. Webservice overcome this limitation. A scenario could be when
you are building an app that aggregates the functionality of serveral other Applicatons.
Each of these functions could be performed by individual apps, but there is value in
perhaps combining the the multiple apps to present a unifiend view in a Portal or Intranet.
· When not to use Web Services: Single machine Applicatons When the apps are running
on the same machine and need to communicate with each other use a native API. You
also have the options of using component technologies such as COM or .NET Componets
as there is very little overhead.
· Homogeneous Applications on a LAN If you have Win32 or Winforms apps that want to
communicate to their server counterpart. It is much more efficient to use DCOM in the
case of Win32 apps and .NET Remoting in the case of .NET Apps
Can you give an example of what might be best suited to place in the Application_Start
and Session_Start subroutines?
The Application_Start event is guaranteed to occur only once throughout the lifetime of
the application. It's a good place to initialize global variables. For example, you might
want to retrieve a list of products from a database table and place the list in application
state or the Cache object. SessionStateModule exposes both Session_Start and
Session_End events.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of viewstate?
The primary advantages of the ViewState feature in ASP.NET are:
1. Simplicity. There is no need to write possibly complex code to store form data between
page submissions.
2. Flexibility. It is possible to enable, configure, and disable ViewState on a control-by-
control basis, choosing to persist the values of some fields but not others.
There are, however a few disadvantages that are worth pointing out:
1. Does not track across pages. ViewState information does not automatically transfer
from page to page. With the session
approach, values can be stored in the session and accessed from other pages. This is not
possible with ViewState, so storing
data into the session must be done explicitly.
2. ViewState is not suitable for transferring data for back-end systems. That is, data still
has to be transferred to the back
end using some form of data object.
Describe session handling in a webfarm, how does it work and what are the limits?
ASP.NET Session supports storing of session data in 3 ways, i] in In-Process ( in the
same memory that ASP.NET uses) , ii] out-of-process using Windows NT Service )in
separate memory from ASP.NET ) or iii] in SQL Server (persistent storage). Both the
Windows Service and SQL Server solution support a webfarm scenario where all the
web-servers can be configured to share common session state store.

1. Windows Service :
We can start this service by Start | Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services | . In
that we service names ASP.NET State Service. We can start or stop service by manually
or configure to start automatically. Then we have to configure our web.config file

mode = “StateServer”
stateConnectionString = “tcpip=127.0.0.1:42424”
stateNetworkTimeout = “10”
sqlConnectionString=”data source = 127.0.0.1; uid=sa;pwd=”
cookieless =”Flase”
timeout= “20” />

Here ASP.Net Session is directed to use Windows Service for state management on local
server (address : 127.0.0.1 is TCP/IP loop-back address). The default port is 42424. we
can configure to any port but for that we have to manually edit the registry.
Follow these simple steps
- In a webfarm make sure you have the same config file in all your web servers.
- Also make sure your objects are serializable.
- For session state to be maintained across different web servers in the webfarm, the
application path of the web-site in the IIS Metabase should be identical in all the web-
servers in the webfarm.
Which template must you provide, in order to display data in a Repeater control?
You have to use the ItemTemplate to Display data. Syntax is as follows,
< ItemTemplate >
< div class =”rItem” >
< img src=”images/” hspace=”10” />
<b>
< /div >
< ItemTemplate >
How can you provide an alternating color scheme in a Repeater control?
Using the AlternatintItemTemplate
What property must you set, and what method must you call in your code, in order to
bind the data from some data source to the Repeater control?
Set the DataMember property to the name of the table to bind to. (If this property is not
set, by default the first table in the dataset is used.)
DataBind method, use this method to bind data from a source to a server control. This
method is commonly used after retrieving a data set through a database query.
What method do you use to explicitly kill a user s session?
You can dump (Kill) the session yourself by calling the method Session.Abandon.
ASP.NET automatically deletes a user's Session object, dumping its contents, after it has
been idle for a configurable timeout interval. This interval, in minutes, is set in the
section of the web.config file. The default is 20 minutes.
How do you turn off cookies for one page in your site?
Use Cookie.Discard property, Gets or sets the discard flag set by the server. When true,
this property instructs the client application not to save the Cookie on the user's hard disk
when a session ends.
Which two properties are on every validation control?
We have two common properties for every validation controls
1. Control to Validate,
2. Error Message.
What tags do you need to add within the asp:datagrid tags to bind columns manually?
< asp:DataGrid id="dgCart" AutoGenerateColumns="False" CellPadding="4"
Width="448px" runat="server">
< Columns >
< asp:ButtonColumn HeaderText="SELECT" Text="SELECT"
CommandName="select">< /asp:ButtonColumn >
< asp:BoundColumn DataField="ProductId" HeaderText="Product ID"><
/asp:BoundColumn >
< asp:BoundColumn DataField="ProductName" HeaderText="Product Name"><
/asp:BoundColumn >
< asp:BoundColumn DataField="UnitPrice" HeaderText="UnitPrice"><
/asp:BoundColumn >
< /Columns >
< /asp:DataGrid >
How do you create a permanent cookie?
Permanent cookies are the ones that are most useful. Permanent cookies are available
until a specified expiration date, and are stored on the hard disk. The location of cookies
differs with each browser, but this doesn’t matter, as this is all handled by your browser
and the server. If you want to create a permanent cookie called Name with a value of
Nigel, which expires in one month, you’d use the following code
Response.Cookies ("Name") = "Nigel"
Response.Cookies ("Name"). Expires = DateAdd ("m", 1, Now ())
What tag do you use to add a hyperlink column to the DataGrid?
< asp:HyperLinkColumn >
Which method do you use to redirect the user to another page without performing a round
trip to the client?
Server.transfer
What is the transport protocol you use to call a Web service SOAP ?
HTTP Protocol
Explain role based security ?
Role Based Security lets you identify groups of users to allow or deny based on their role
in the organization.In Windows NT and Windows XP, roles map to names used to
identify user groups. Windows defines several built-in groups, including Administrators,
Users, and Guests.To allow or deny access to certain groups of users, add the element to
the authorization list in your Web application's Web.config file.e.g.
< authorization >
< allow roles="Domain NameAdministrators" / >< !-- Allow Administrators in domain. --
>
< deny users="*" / >< !-- Deny anyone else. -- >
< /authorization >
How do you register JavaScript for webcontrols ?
You can register javascript for controls using Attribtues.Add(scriptname,scripttext)
method.
When do you set "" ?
Identity is a webconfig declaration under System.web, which helps to control the
application Identity of the web applicaton. Which can be at any
level(Machine,Site,application,subdirectory,or page), attribute impersonate with "true" as
value specifies that client impersonation is used.
What are different templates available in Repeater,DataList and Datagrid ?
Templates enable one to apply complicated formatting to each of the items displayed by a
control.Repeater control supports five types of templates.HeaderTemplate controls how
the header of the repeater control is formatted.ItemTemplate controls the formatting of
each item displayed.AlternatingItemTemplate controls how alternate items are formatted
and the SeparatorTemplate displays a separator between each item
displyed.FooterTemplate is used for controlling how the footer of the repeater control is
formatted.The DataList and Datagrid supports two templates in addition to the above
five.SelectedItem Template controls how a selected item is formatted and
EditItemTemplate controls how an item selected for editing is formatted.
What is ViewState ? and how it is managed ?
ASP.NET ViewState is a new kind of state service that developers can use to track UI
state on a per-user basis. Internally it uses an an old Web programming trick-
roundtripping state in a hidden form field and bakes it right into the page-processing
framework.It needs less code to write and maintain state in your Web-based forms.
What is web.config file ?
Web.config file is the configuration file for the Asp.net web application. There is one
web.config file for one asp.net application which configures
the particular application. Web.config file is written in XML with specific tags having
specific meanings.It includes databa which includes
connections,Session States,Error Handling,Security etc.
For example :
< configuration >
< appSettings >
< add key="ConnectionString"
value="server=localhost;uid=sa;pwd=;database=MyDB" / >
< /appSettings >
< /configuration >

What is advantage of viewstate and what are benefits?

When a form is submitted in classic ASP, all form values are cleared. Suppose you have
submitted a form with a lot of information and the server comes back with an error. You
will have to go back to the form and correct the information. You click the back button,
and what happens.......ALL form values are CLEARED, and you will have to start all
over again! The site did not maintain your ViewState.With ASP .NET, the form reappears
in the browser window together with all form values.This is because ASP .NET maintains
your ViewState. The ViewState indicates the status of the page when submitted to the
server.
What tags do you need to add within the asp:datagrid tags to bind columns manually?
Set AutoGenerateColumns Property to false on the datagrid tag and then use Column tag
and an ASP:databound tag
< asp:DataGrid runat="server" id="ManualColumnBinding"
AutoGenerateColumns="False">
< Columns >
< asp:BoundColumn HeaderText="Column1" DataField="Column1"/ >
< asp:BoundColumn HeaderText="Column2" DataField="Column2"/ >
< /Columns >
< /asp:DataGrid >

Which property on a Combo Box do you set with a column name, prior to setting the
DataSource, to display data in the combo box?
DataTextField and DataValueField
Which control would you use if you needed to make sure the values in two different
controls matched?
CompareValidator is used to ensure that two fields are identical.
What is validationsummary server control?where it is used?.
The ValidationSummary control allows you to summarize the error messages from all
validation controls on a Web page in a single location. The summary can be displayed as
a list, a bulleted list, or a single paragraph, based on the value of the DisplayMode
property. The error message displayed in the ValidationSummary control for each
validation control on the page is specified by the ErrorMessage property of each
validation control. If the ErrorMessage property of the validation control is not set, no
error message is displayed in the ValidationSummary control for that validation control.
You can also specify a custom title in the heading section of the ValidationSummary
control by setting the HeaderText property.
You can control whether the ValidationSummary control is displayed or hidden by setting
the ShowSummary property. The summary can also be displayed in a message box by
setting the ShowMessageBox property to true.
What is the sequence of operation takes place when a page is loaded?
BeginTranaction - only if the request is transacted
Init - every time a page is processed
LoadViewState - Only on postback
ProcessPostData1 - Only on postback
Load - every time
ProcessData2 - Only on Postback
RaiseChangedEvent - Only on Postback
RaisePostBackEvent - Only on Postback
PreRender - everytime
BuildTraceTree - only if tracing is enabled
SaveViewState - every time
Render - Everytime
End Transaction - only if the request is transacted
Trace.EndRequest - only when tracing is enabled
UnloadRecursive - Every request
Difference between asp and asp.net?.
"ASP (Active Server Pages) and ASP.NET are both server side technologies for building
web sites and web applications, ASP.NET is Managed compiled code - asp is interpreted.
and ASP.net is fully Object oriented. ASP.NET has been entirely re-architected to provide
a highly productive programming experience based on the .NET Framework, and a robust
infrastructure for building reliable and scalable web
applications."
Name the validation control available in asp.net?.
RequiredField, RangeValidator,RegularExpression,Custom validator,compare Validator
What are the various ways of securing a web site that could prevent from hacking etc .. ?
1) Authentication/Authorization
2) Encryption/Decryption
3) Maintaining web servers outside the corporate firewall. etc.,
What is the difference between in-proc and out-of-proc?
An inproc is one which runs in the same process area as that of the client giving tha
advantage of speed but the disadvantage of stability becoz if it crashes it takes the client
application also with it.Outproc is one which works outside the clients memory thus
giving stability to the client, but we have to compromise a bit on speed.
When you’re running a component within ASP.NET, what process is it running within on
Windows XP? Windows 2000? Windows 2003?
On Windows 2003 (IIS 6.0) running in native mode, the component is running within the
w3wp.exe process associated with the application pool which has been configured for the
web application containing the component.
On Windows 2003 in IIS 5.0 emulation mode, 2000, or XP, it's running within the IIS
helper process whose name I do not remember, it being quite a while since I last used IIS
5.0.
What does aspnet_regiis -i do ?
Aspnet_regiis.exe is The ASP.NET IIS Registration tool allows an administrator or
installation program to easily update the script maps for an ASP.NET application to point
to the ASP.NET ISAPI version associated with the tool. The tool can also be used to
display the status of all installed versions of ASP. NET, register the ASP.NET version
coupled with the tool, create client-script directories, and perform other configuration
operations.

When multiple versions of the .NET Framework are executing side-by-side on a single
computer, the ASP.NET ISAPI version mapped to an ASP.NET application determines
which version of the common language runtime is used for the application.

The tool can be launched with a set of optional parameters. Option "i" Installs the version
of ASP.NET associated with Aspnet_regiis.exe and updates the script maps at the IIS
metabase root and below. Note that only applications that are currently mapped to an
earlier version of ASP.NET are affected
What is a PostBack?
The process in which a Web page sends data back to the same page on the server.
What is ViewState? How is it encoded? Is it encrypted? Who uses ViewState?
ViewState is the mechanism ASP.NET uses to keep track of server control state values
that don't otherwise post back as part of the HTTP form. ViewState Maintains the UI
State of a Page
ViewState is base64-encoded.
It is not encrypted but it can be encrypted by setting EnableViewStatMAC="true"&
setting the machineKey validation type to 3DES. If you want to NOT maintain the
ViewState, include the directive < %@ Page EnableViewState="false" % > at the top of
an .aspx page or add the attribute EnableViewState="false" to any control.
What is the < machinekey > element and what two ASP.NET technologies is it used for?
Configures keys to use for encryption and decryption of forms authentication cookie data
and view state data, and for verification of out-of-process session state
identification.There fore 2 ASP.Net technique in which it is used are
Encryption/Decryption & Verification
What three Session State providers are available in ASP.NET 1.1? What are the pros and
cons of each?
ASP.NET provides three distinct ways to store session data for your application: in-
process session state, out-of-process session state as a Windows service, and out-of-
process session state in a SQL Server database. Each has it advantages.
1.In-process session-state mode
Limitations:
* When using the in-process session-state mode, session-state data is lost if
aspnet_wp.exe or the application domain restarts.
* If you enable Web garden mode in the < processModel > element of the application's
Web.config file, do not use in-process session-state mode. Otherwise, random data loss
can occur.
Advantage:
* in-process session state is by far the fastest solution. If you are storing only small
amounts of volatile data in session state, it is recommended that you use the in-process
provider.
2. The State Server simply stores session state in memory when in out-of-proc mode. In
this mode the worker process talks directly to the State Server
3. SQL mode, session states are stored in a SQL Server database and the worker process
talks directly to SQL. The ASP.NET worker processes are then able to take advantage of
this simple storage service by serializing and saving (using .NET serialization services)
all objects within a client's Session collection at the end of each Web request
Both these out-of-process solutions are useful primarily if you scale your application
across multiple processors or multiple computers, or where data cannot be lost if a server
or process is restarted.
What is the difference between HTTP-Post and HTTP-Get?
As their names imply, both HTTP GET and HTTP POST use HTTP as their underlying
protocol. Both of these methods encode request parameters as name/value pairs in the
HTTP request.
The GET method creates a query string and appends it to the script's URL on the server
that handles the request.
The POST method creates a name/value pairs that are passed in the body of the HTTP
request message.
Name and describe some HTTP Status Codes and what they express to the requesting
client.
When users try to access content on a server that is running Internet Information Services
(IIS) through HTTP or File Transfer Protocol (FTP), IIS returns a numeric code that
indicates the status of the request. This status code is recorded in the IIS log, and it may
also be displayed in the Web browser or FTP client. The status code can indicate whether
a particular request is successful or unsuccessful and can also reveal the exact reason why
a request is unsuccessful. There are 5 groups ranging from 1xx - 5xx of http status codes
exists.
101 - Switching protocols.
200 - OK. The client request has succeeded
302 - Object moved.
400 - Bad request.
500.13 - Web server is too busy.
Explain < @OutputCache% > and the usage of VaryByParam, VaryByHeader.
OutputCache is used to control the caching policies of an ASP.NET page or user control.
To cache a page @OutputCache directive should be defined as follows < %@
OutputCache Duration="100" VaryByParam="none" % >
VaryByParam: A semicolon-separated list of strings used to vary the output cache. By
default, these strings correspond to a query string value sent with GET method attributes,
or a parameter sent using the POST method. When this attribute is set to multiple
parameters, the output cache contains a different version of the requested document for
each specified parameter. Possible values include none, *, and any valid query string or
POST parameter name.
VaryByHeader: A semicolon-separated list of HTTP headers used to vary the output
cache. When this attribute is set to multiple headers, the output cache contains a different
version of the requested document for each specified header.
What is the difference between repeater over datalist and datagrid?
The Repeater class is not derived from the WebControl class, like the DataGrid and
DataList. Therefore, the Repeater lacks the stylistic properties common to both the
DataGrid and DataList. What this boils down to is that if you want to format the data
displayed in the Repeater, you must do so in the HTML markup.
The Repeater control provides the maximum amount of flexibility over the HTML
produced. Whereas the DataGrid wraps the DataSource contents in an HTML < table >,
and the DataList wraps the contents in either an HTML < table > or < span > tags
(depending on the DataList's RepeatLayout property), the Repeater adds absolutely no
HTML content other than what you explicitly specify in the templates.
While using Repeater control, If we wanted to display the employee names in a bold font
we'd have to alter the "ItemTemplate" to include an HTML bold tag, Whereas with the
DataGrid or DataList, we could have made the text appear in a bold font by setting the
control's ItemStyle-Font-Bold property to True.
The Repeater's lack of stylistic properties can drastically add to the development time
metric. For example, imagine that you decide to use the Repeater to display data that
needs to be bold, centered, and displayed in a particular font-face with a particular
background color. While all this can be specified using a few HTML tags, these tags will
quickly clutter the Repeater's templates. Such clutter makes it much harder to change the
look at a later date. Along with its increased development time, the Repeater also lacks
any built-in functionality to assist in supporting paging, editing, or editing of data. Due to
this lack of feature-support, the Repeater scores poorly on the usability scale.
However, The Repeater's performance is slightly better than that of the DataList's, and is
more noticeably better than that of the DataGrid's. Following figure shows the number of
requests per second the Repeater could handle versus the DataGrid and DataList
Can we handle the error and redirect to some pages using web.config?
Yes, we can do this, but to handle errors, we must know the error codes; only then we can
take the user to a proper error message page, else it may confuse the user.
CustomErrors Configuration section in web.config file:
The default configuration is:
< customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="Customerror.aspx">
< error statusCode="404" redirect="Notfound.aspx" / >
< /customErrors >
If mode is set to Off, custom error messages will be disabled. Users will receive detailed
exception error messages.
If mode is set to On, custom error messages will be enabled.
If mode is set to RemoteOnly, then users will receive custom errors, but users accessing
the site locally will receive detailed error messages.
Add an < error > tag for each error you want to handle. The error tag will redirect the user
to the Notfound.aspx page when the site returns the 404 (Page not found) error.

[Example]
There is a page MainForm.aspx
Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
Handles MyBase.Load
'Put user code to initialize the page here
Dim str As System.Text.StringBuilder
str.Append("hi") ' Error Line as str is not instantiated
Response.Write(str.ToString)
End Sub
[Web.Config]
< customErrors mode="On" defaultRedirect="Error.aspx"/ >
' a simple redirect will take the user to Error.aspx [user defined] error file.
< customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="Customerror.aspx">
< error statusCode="404" redirect="Notfound.aspx" / >
< /customErrors >
'This will take the user to NotFound.aspx defined in IIS.
How do you implement Paging in .Net?
The DataGrid provides the means to display a group of records from the data source (for
example, the first 10), and then navigate to the "page" containing the next 10 records, and
so on through the data.
Using Ado.Net we can explicit control over the number of records returned from the data
source, as well as how much data is to be cached locally in the DataSet.
1.Using DataAdapter.fill method give the value of 'Maxrecords' parameter
(Note: - Don't use it because query will return all records but fill the dataset based on
value of 'maxrecords' parameter).
2.For SQL server database, combines a WHERE clause and a ORDER BY clause with
TOP predicate.
3.If Data does not change often just cache records locally in DataSet and just take some
records from the DataSet to display.
What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect?
Server.Transfer() : client is shown as it is on the requesting page only, but the all the
content is of the requested page. Data can be persist across the pages using Context.Item
collection, which is one of the best way to transfer data from one page to another keeping
the page state alive.
Response.Dedirect() :client knows the physical location (page name and query string as
well). Context.Items loses the persistence when navigate to destination page. In earlier
versions of IIS, if we wanted to send a user to a new Web page, the only option we had
was Response.Redirect. While this method does accomplish our goal, it has several
important drawbacks. The biggest problem is that this method causes each page to be
treated as a separate transaction. Besides making it difficult to maintain your transactional
integrity, Response.Redirect introduces some additional headaches. First, it prevents good
encapsulation of code. Second, you lose access to all of the properties in the Request
object. Sure, there are workarounds, but they're difficult. Finally, Response.Redirect
necessitates a round trip to the client, which, on high-volume sites, causes scalability
problems. As you might suspect, Server.Transfer fixes all of these problems. It does this
by performing the transfer on the server without requiring a roundtrip to the client.
Response.Redirect sends a response to the client browser instructing it to request the
second page. This requires a round-trip to the client, and the client initiates the Request
for the second page. Server.Transfer transfers the process to the second page without
making a round-trip to the client. It also transfers the HttpContext to the second page,
enabling the second page access to all the values in the HttpContext of the first page.
Can you create an app domain?
Yes, We can create user app domain by calling on of the following overload static
methods of the System.AppDomain class
1. Public static AppDomain CreateDomain(String friendlyName)
2. Public static AppDomain CreateDomain(String friendlyName, Evidence securityInfo)
3. Public static AppDomain CreateDomain(String friendlyName, Evidence securityInfo,
AppDomainSetup info)
4. Public static AppDomain CreateDomain(String friendlyName, Evidence securityInfo,
String appBasePath, String appRelativeSearchPath, bool shadowCopyFiles)

What are the various security methods which IIS Provides apart from .NET ?
The various security methods which IIS provides are
a) Authentication Modes
b) IP Address and Domain Name Restriction
c) DNS Lookups DNS Lookups
d) The Network ID and Subnet Mask
e) SSL

What is Web Gardening? How would using it affect a design?

The Web Garden Model
The Web garden model is configurable through the section of the machine.config file.
Notice that the section is the only configuration section that cannot be placed in an
application-specific web.config file. This means that the Web garden mode applies to all
applications running on the machine. However, by using the node in the machine.config
source, you can adapt machine-wide settings on a per-application basis.
Two attributes in the section affect the Web garden model. They are webGarden and
cpuMask. The webGarden attribute takes a Boolean value that indicates whether or not
multiple worker processes (one per each affinitized CPU) have to be used. The attribute is
set to false by default. The cpuMask attribute stores a DWORD value whose binary
representation provides a bit mask for the CPUs that are eligible to run the ASP.NET
worker process. The default value is -1 (0xFFFFFF), which means that all available
CPUs can be used. The contents of the cpuMask attribute is ignored when the webGarden
attribute is false. The cpuMask attribute also sets an upper bound to the number of copies
of aspnet_wp.exe that are running.
Web gardening enables multiple worker processes to run at the same time. However, you
should note that all processes will have their own copy of application state, in-process
session state, ASP.NET cache, static data, and all that is needed to run applications. When
the Web garden mode is enabled, the ASP.NET ISAPI launches as many worker
processes as there are CPUs, each a full clone of the next (and each affinitized with the
corresponding CPU). To balance the workload, incoming requests are partitioned among
running processes in a round-robin manner. Worker processes get recycled as in the
single processor case. Note that ASP.NET inherits any CPU usage restriction from the
operating system and doesn't include any custom semantics for doing this.
All in all, the Web garden model is not necessarily a big win for all applications. The
more stateful applications are, the more they risk to pay in terms of real performance.
Working data is stored in blocks of shared memory so that any changes entered by a
process are immediately visible to others. However, for the time it takes to service a
request, working data is copied in the context of the process. Each worker process,
therefore, will handle its own copy of working data, and the more stateful the application,
the higher the cost in performance. In this context, careful and savvy application
benchmarking is an absolute must.
Changes made to the section of the configuration file are effective only after IIS is
restarted. In IIS 6, Web gardening parameters are stored in the IIS metabase; the
webGarden and cpuMask attributes are ignored.
What is view state?.where it stored?.can we disable it?
The web is state-less protocol, so the page gets instantiated, executed, rendered and then
disposed on every round trip to the server. The developers code to add "statefulness" to
the page by using Server-side storage for the state or posting the page to itself. When
require to persist and read the data in control on webform, developer had to read the
values and store them in hidden variable (in the form), which were then used to restore
the values. With advent of .NET framework, ASP.NET came up with ViewState
mechanism, which tracks the data values of server controls on ASP.NET webform. In
effect,ViewState can be viewed as "hidden variable managed by ASP.NET framework!".
When ASP.NET page is executed, data values from all server controls on page are
collected and encoded as single string, which then assigned to page's hidden atrribute "<
input type=hidden >", that is part of page sent to the client.
ViewState value is temporarily saved in the client's browser.ViewState can be disabled
for a single control, for an entire page orfor an entire web application. The syntax is:
Disable ViewState for control (Datagrid in this example)
< asp:datagrid EnableViewState="false" ... / >
Disable ViewState for a page, using Page directive
< %@ Page EnableViewState="False" ... % >
Disable ViewState for application through entry in web.config
< Pages EnableViewState="false" ... / >
NET FrameWork FAQ's

Next >>
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.

What is side-by-side execution? Can two application one using private assembly and
other using Shared assembly be stated as a side-by-side executables?
Side-by-side execution is the ability to run multiple versions of an application or
component on the same computer. You can have multiple versions of the common
language runtime, and multiple versions of applications and components that use a
version of the runtime, on the same computer at the same time. Since versioning is only
applied to shared assemblies, and not to private assemblies, two application one using
private assembly and one using shared assembly cannot be stated as side-by-side
executables.

Why string are called Immutable data Type ?

The memory representation of string is an Array of Characters, So on re-assigning the
new array of Char is formed & the start address is changed . Thus keeping the Old string
in Memory for Garbage Collector to be disposed.

What does assert() method do?

In debug compilation, assert takes in a Boolean condition as a parameter, and shows the
error dialog if the condition is false. The program proceeds without any interruption if the
condition is true.

What's the difference between the Debug class and Trace class?
Documentation looks the same. Use Debug class for debug builds, use Trace class for
both debug and release builds.

Why are there five tracing levels in System.Diagnostics.TraceSwitcher?

The tracing dumps can be quite verbose. For applications that are constantly running you
run the risk of overloading the machine and the hard drive. Five levels range from None
to Verbose, allowing you to fine-tune the tracing activities.

Where is the output of TextWriterTraceListener redirected?

To the Console or a text file depending on the parameter passed to the constructor.

How do assemblies find each other?

By searching directory paths. There are several factors which can affect the path (such as
the AppDomain host, and application configuration files), but for private assemblies the
search path is normally the application's directory and its sub-directories. For shared
assemblies, the search path is normally same as the private assembly path plus the shared
assembly cache.

How does assembly versioning work?

Each assembly has a version number called the compatibility version. Also each
reference to an assembly (from another assembly) includes both the name and version of
the referenced assembly.The version number has four numeric parts (e.g. 5.5.2.33).
Assemblies with either of the first two parts different are normally viewed as
incompatible. If the first two parts are the same, but the third is different, the assemblies
are deemed as 'maybe compatible'. If only the fourth part is different, the assemblies are
deemed compatible. However, this is just the default guideline - it is the version policy
that decides to what extent these rules are enforced. The version policy can be specified
via the application configuration file.

What is garbage collection?

Garbage collection is a system whereby a run-time component takes responsibility for
managing the lifetime of objects and the heap memory that they occupy. This concept is
not new to .NET - Java and many other languages/runtimes have used garbage collection
for some time.

Why doesn't the .NET runtime offer deterministic destruction?

Because of the garbage collection algorithm. The .NET garbage collector works by
periodically running through a list of all the objects that are currently being referenced by
an application. All the objects that it doesn't find during this search are ready to be
destroyed and the memory reclaimed. The implication of this algorithm is that the
runtime doesn't get notified immediately when the final reference on an object goes away
- it only finds out during the next sweep of the heap.
Futhermore, this type of algorithm works best by performing the garbage collection
sweep as rarely as possible. Normally heap exhaustion is the trigger for a collection
sweep.

Is the lack of deterministic destruction in .NET a problem?

It's certainly an issue that affects component design. If you have objects that maintain
expensive or scarce resources (e.g. database locks), you need to provide some way for the
client to tell the object to release the resource when it is done. Microsoft recommend that
you provide a method called Dispose() for this purpose. However, this causes problems
for distributed objects - in a distributed system who calls the Dispose() method? Some
form of reference-counting or ownership-management mechanism is needed to handle
distributed objects - unfortunately the runtime offers no help with this.

What is serialization?
Serialization is the process of converting an object into a stream of bytes. Deserialization
is the opposite process of creating an object from a stream of bytes. Serialization /
Deserialization is mostly used to transport objects (e.g. during remoting), or to persist
objects (e.g. to a file or database).

Does the .NET Framework have in-built support for serialization?

There are two separate mechanisms provided by the .NET class library - XmlSerializer
and SoapFormatter/BinaryFormatter. Microsoft uses XmlSerializer for Web Services, and
uses SoapFormatter/BinaryFormatter for remoting. Both are available for use in your own
code.

Can I customise the serialization process?

Yes. XmlSerializer supports a range of attributes that can be used to configure
serialization for a particular class. For example, a field or property can be marked with
the [XmlIgnore] attribute to exclude it from serialization. Another example is the
[XmlElement]
attribute, which can be used to specify the XML element name to be used for a particular
property or field.
Serialization via SoapFormatter/BinaryFormatter can also be controlled to some extent by
attributes. For example, the [NonSerialized] attribute is the equivalent of XmlSerializer's
[XmlIgnore] attribute. Ultimate control of the serialization process can be acheived by
implementing the the ISerializable interface on the class whose instances are to be
serialized.

Why is XmlSerializer so slow?

There is a once-per-process-per-type overhead with XmlSerializer. So the first time you
serialize or deserialize an object of a given type in an application, there is a significant
delay. This normally doesn't matter, but it may mean, for example, that XmlSerializer is a
poor choice for loading configuration settings during startup of a GUI application.

Why do I get errors when I try to serialize a Hashtable?

XmlSerializer will refuse to serialize instances of any class that implements IDictionary,
e.g. Hashtable. SoapFormatter and BinaryFormatter do not have this restriction.

What are attributes?

There are at least two types of .NET attribute. The first type I will refer to as a metadata
attribute - it allows some data to be attached to a class or method. This data becomes part
of the metadata for the class, and (like other class metadata) can be accessed via
reflection.
The other type of attribute is a context attribute. Context attributes use a similar syntax to
metadata attributes but they are fundamentally different. Context attributes provide an
interception mechanism whereby instance activation and method calls can be
pre- and/or post-processed.

How does CAS work?

The CAS security policy revolves around two key concepts - code groups and
permissions. Each .NET assembly is a member of a particular code group, and each code
group is granted the permissions specified in a named permission set.
For example, using the default security policy, a control downloaded from a web site
belongs to the 'Zone - Internet' code group, which adheres to the permissions defined by
the 'Internet' named permission set. (Naturally the 'Internet' named permission set
represents a very restrictive range of permissions.)

Who defines the CAS code groups?

Microsoft defines some default ones, but you can modify these and even create your own.
To see the code groups defined on your system, run 'caspol -lg' from the command-line.
On my system it looks like this:
Level = Machine
Code Groups:
1. All code: Nothing
1.1. Zone - MyComputer: FullTrust
1.1.1. Honor SkipVerification requests: SkipVerification
1.2. Zone - Intranet: LocalIntranet
1.3. Zone - Internet: Internet
1.4. Zone - Untrusted: Nothing
1.5. Zone - Trusted: Internet
1.6. StrongName -
0024000004800000940000000602000000240000525341310004000003
000000CFCB3291AA715FE99D40D49040336F9056D7886FED46775BC7BB5430BA4
444FEF8348EBD06
F962F39776AE4DC3B7B04A7FE6F49F25F740423EBF2C0B89698D8D08AC48D69C
ED0FC8F83B465E08
07AC11EC1DCC7D054E807A43336DDE408A5393A48556123272CEEEE72F1660B7
1927D38561AABF5C
AC1DF1734633C602F8F2D5:
Note the hierarchy of code groups - the top of the hierarchy is the most general ('All
code'), which is then sub-divided into several
groups, each of which in turn can be sub-divided. Also note that (somewhat counter-
intuitively) a sub-group can be associated with a more permissive permission set than its
parent.

How do I define my own code group?

Use caspol. For example, suppose you trust code from www.mydomain.com and you
want it have full access to your system, but you want to keep the default restrictions for
all other internet sites. To achieve this, you would add a new code group as a sub-group
of the
'Zone - Internet' group, like this:
caspol -ag 1.3 -site www.mydomain.com FullTrust
Now if you run caspol -lg you will see that the new group has been added as group 1.3.1:

1.3. Zone - Internet: Internet

1.3.1. Site - www.mydomain.com: FullTrust

Note that the numeric label (1.3.1) is just a caspol invention to make the code groups easy
to manipulate from the command-line. The underlying runtime never sees it.

How do I change the permission set for a code group?

Use caspol. If you are the machine administrator, you can operate at the 'machine' level -
which means not only that the changes you make become the default for the machine, but
also that users cannot change the permissions to be more permissive. If you are a normal
(non-admin) user you can still modify the permissions, but only to make them more
restrictive. For example, to allow intranet code to do what it likes you might do this:
caspol -cg 1.2 FullTrust
Note that because this is more permissive than the default policy (on a standard system),
you should only do this at the machine level - doing it at the user level will have no
effect.

I can't be bothered with all this CAS stuff. Can I turn it off?
Yes, as long as you are an administrator. Just run: caspol -s off

Can I look at the IL for an assembly?

Yes. MS supply a tool called Ildasm which can be used to view the metadata and IL for
an assembly.

Can source code be reverse-engineered from IL?

Yes, it is often relatively straightforward to regenerate high-level source (e.g. C#) from
IL.

How can I stop my code being reverse-engineered from IL?

There is currently no simple way to stop code being reverse-engineered from IL. In future
it is likely that IL obfuscation tools will become available, either from MS or from third
parties. These tools work by 'optimising' the IL in such a way that reverse-engineering
becomes much more difficult.
Of course if you are writing web services then reverse-engineering is not a problem as
clients do not have access to your IL.

Is there built-in support for tracing/logging?

Yes, in the System.Diagnostics namespace. There are two main classes that deal with
tracing - Debug and Trace. They both work in a similar way - the difference is that
tracing from the Debug class only works in builds that have the DEBUG symbol defined,
whereas tracing from the Trace class only works in builds that have the TRACE symbol
defined. Typically this means that you should use System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine
for tracing that you want to work in debug and release builds, and
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine for tracing that you want to work only in debug
builds.

Can I redirect tracing to a file?

Yes. The Debug and Trace classes both have a Listeners property, which is a collection of
sinks that receive the tracing that you send via Debug.WriteLine and Trace.WriteLine
respectively. By default the Listeners collection contains a single sink, which is an
instance of the DefaultTraceListener class. This sends output to the Win32
OutputDebugString() function and also the System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Log() method.
This is useful when debugging, but if you're trying to trace a problem at a customer site,
redirecting the output to a file is more appropriate. Fortunately, the
TextWriterTraceListener class is provided for this purpose.

What are the contents of assembly?

In general, a static assembly can consist of four elements:
The assembly manifest, which contains assembly metadata.
Type metadata.
Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) code that implements the types.
A set of resources.

What is GC (Garbage Collection) and how it works

One of the good features of the CLR is Garbage Collection, which runs in the background
collecting unused object references, freeing us from having to ensure we always destroy
them. In reality the time difference between you releasing the object instance and it being
garbage collected is likely to be very small, since the GC is always running.
[The process of transitively tracing through all pointers to actively used objects in order
to locate all objects that can be referenced, and then arranging to reuse any heap memory
that was not found during this trace. The common language runtime garbage collector
also compacts the memory that is in use to reduce the working space needed for the
heap.]

Heap:
A portion of memory reserved for a program to use for the temporary storage of data
structures whose existence or size cannot be determined until the program is running.

Differnce between Managed code and unmanaged code ?

Managed Code:
Code that runs under a "contract of cooperation" with the common language runtime.
Managed code must supply the metadata necessary for the runtime to provide services
such as memory management, cross-language integration, code access security, and
automatic lifetime control of objects. All code based on Microsoft intermediate language
(MSIL) executes as managed code.

Un-Managed Code:
Code that is created without regard for the conventions and requirements of the common
language runtime. Unmanaged code executes in the common language runtime
environment with minimal services (for example, no garbage collection, limited
debugging, and so on).

What is MSIL, IL, CTS and, CLR ?

MSIL: (Microsoft intermediate language)

When compiling to managed code, the compiler translates your source code into
Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL), which is a CPU-independent set of instructions
that can be efficiently converted to native code. MSIL includes instructions for loading,
storing, initializing, and calling methods on objects, as well as instructions for arithmetic
and logical operations, control flow, direct memory access, exception handling, and other
operations. Before code can be executed, MSIL must be converted to CPU-specific code,
usually by a just-in-time (JIT) compiler. Because the common language runtime supplies
one or more JIT compilers for each computer architecture it supports, the same set of
MSIL can be JIT-compiled and executed on any supported architecture.
When a compiler produces MSIL, it also produces metadata. Metadata describes the
types in your code, including the definition of
each type, the signatures of each type's members, the members that your code references,
and other data that the runtime uses at
execution time. The MSIL and metadata are contained in a portable executable (PE) file
that is based on and extends the published
Microsoft PE and Common Object File Format (COFF) used historically for executable
content. This file format, which accommodates
MSIL or native code as well as metadata, enables the operating system to recognize
common language runtime images. The
presence of metadata in the file along with the MSIL enables your code to describe itself,
which means that there is no need for type libraries or Interface Definition Language
(IDL). The runtime locates and extracts the metadata from the file as needed during
execution.

IL: (Intermediate Language)

A language used as the output of a number of compilers and as the input to a just-in-time
(JIT) compiler. The common language
runtime includes a JIT compiler for converting MSIL to native code.

CTS: (Common Type System)

The specification that determines how the common language runtime defines, uses, and
manages types

CLR: (Common Language Runtime)

The engine at the core of managed code execution. The runtime supplies managed code
with services such as cross-language
integration, code access security, object lifetime management, and debugging and
profiling support.

What is Reference type and value type ?

Reference Type:
Reference types are allocated on the managed CLR heap, just like object types.
A data type that is stored as a reference to the value's location. The value of a reference
type is the location of the sequence of bits
that represent the type's data. Reference types can be self-describing types, pointer types,
or interface types

Value Type:
Value types are allocated on the stack just like primitive types in VBScript, VB6 and
C/C++. Value types are not instantiated using new go out of scope when the function they
are defined within returns.
Value types in the CLR are defined as types that derive from system.valueType.

A data type that fully describes a value by specifying the sequence of bits that constitutes
the value's representation. Type information for a value type instance is not stored with
the instance at run time, but it is available in metadata. Value type instances can be
treated as objects using boxing.

What is Boxing and unboxing ?

Boxing:
The conversion of a value type instance to an object, which implies that the instance will
carry full type information at run time and will be allocated in the heap. The Microsoft
intermediate language (MSIL) instruction set's box instruction converts a value type to an
object by making a copy of the value type and embedding it in a newly allocated object.

Un-Boxing:
The conversion of an object instance to a value type.
What is JIT and how is works ?
An acronym for "just-in-time," a phrase that describes an action that is taken only when it
becomes necessary, such as just-in-time compilation or just-in-time object activation

What is portable executable (PE) ?

The file format used for executable programs and for files to be linked together to form
executable programs

What is strong name?

A name that consists of an assembly's identity—its simple text name, version number,
and culture information (if provided)—strengthened by a public key and a digital
signature generated over the assembly. Because the assembly manifest
contains file hashes for all the files that constitute the assembly implementation, it is
sufficient to generate the digital signature over just the one file in the assembly that
contains the assembly manifest. Assemblies with the same strong name are expected to be
identical

What is global assembly cache?

A machine-wide code cache that stores assemblies specifically installed to be shared by
many applications on the computer. Applications deployed in the global assembly cache
must have a strong name.

What is difference between constants, readonly and, static ?

Constants: The value can’t be changed
Read-only: The value will be initialized only once from the constructor of the class.
Static: Value can be initialized once.

What is difference between shared and public?

An assembly that can be referenced by more than one application. An assembly must be
explicitly built to be shared by giving it a cryptographically strong name.

What is namespace used for loading assemblies at run time and name the methods?
System.Reflection

What are the types of authentication in .net?

We have three types of authentication:
1. Form authentication
2. Windows authentication
3. Passport
This has to be declared in web.config file.
What is the difference between a Struct and a Class ?
The struct type is suitable for representing lightweight objects such as Point, Rectangle,
and Color. Although it is possible to represent a point as a class, a struct is more efficient
in some scenarios. For example, if you declare an array of 1000 Point objects,
you will allocate additional memory for referencing each object. In this case, the struct is
less expensive.
When you create a struct object using the new operator, it gets created and the appropriate
constructor is called. Unlike classes, structs can be instantiated without using the new
operator. If you do not use new, the fields will remain unassigned and the object cannot
be used until all of the fields are initialized. It is an error to declare a default
(parameterless) constructor for a struct. A default constructor is always provided to
initialize the struct members to their default values.
It is an error to initialize an instance field in a struct.
There is no inheritance for structs as there is for classes. A struct cannot inherit from
another struct or class, and it cannot be the base of a class. Structs, however, inherit from
the base class Object. A struct can implement interfaces, and it does that exactly as
classes do.
A struct is a value type, while a class is a reference type.
How big is the datatype int in .NET?
32 bits.

How big is the char?

16 bits (Unicode).

How do you initiate a string without escaping each backslash?

Put an @ sign in front of the double-quoted string.

What's the access level of the visibility type internal?

Current application.

Explain encapsulation ?
The implementation is hidden, the interface is exposed.

What data type should you use if you want an 8-bit value that's signed?
sbyte.

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++.

Where are the value-type variables allocated in the computer RAM?

Stack.

Where do the reference-type variables go in the RAM?

The references go on the stack, while the objects themselves go on the heap.
What is the difference between the value-type variables and reference-type variables in
terms of garbage collection?
The value-type variables are not garbage-collected, they just fall off the stack when they
fall out of scope, the reference-type objects
are picked up by GC when their references go null.

How do you convert a string into an integer in .NET?

Int32.Parse(string)

How do you box a primitive data type variable?

Assign it to the object, pass an object.

Why do you need to box a primitive variable?

To pass it by reference.

What's the difference between Java and .NET garbage collectors?

Sun left the implementation of a specific garbage collector up to the JRE developer, so
their performance varies widely, depending on whose JRE you're using. Microsoft
standardized on their garbage collection.

How do you enforce garbage collection in .NET?

System.GC.Collect();

What's different about namespace declaration when comparing that to package

declaration in Java?
No semicolon.

What's the difference between const and readonly?

You can initialize readonly variables to some runtime values. Let's say your program uses
current date and time as one of the values that won't change. This way you declare public
readonly string DateT = new DateTime().ToString().

What happens when you encounter a continue statement inside the for loop?
The code for the rest of the loop is ignored, the control is transferred back to the
beginning of the loop.

What's the advantage of using System.Text.StringBuilder over System.String?

StringBuilder is more efficient in the cases, where a lot of manipulation is done to the
text. Strings are immutable, so each time it's being operated on, a new instance is created.

Can you store multiple data types in System.Array?

No.

What's the difference between the System.Array.CopyTo() and System.Array.Clone()?

The first one performs a deep copy of the array, the second one is shallow.
How can you sort the elements of the array in descending order?
By calling Sort() and then Reverse() methods.

What's the .NET datatype that allows the retrieval of data by a unique key?
HashTable.

What's class SortedList underneath?

A sorted HashTable.

Will finally block get executed if the exception had not occurred?
Yes.

Can multiple catch blocks be executed?

No, once the proper catch code fires off, the control is transferred to the finally block (if
there are any), and then whatever follows the finally block.

Why is it a bad idea to throw your own exceptions?

Well, if at that point you know that an error has occurred, then why not write the proper
code to handle that error instead of passing a new Exception object to the catch block?
Throwing your own exceptions signifies some design flaws in the project.

What's a delegate?
A delegate object encapsulates a reference to a method. In C++ they were referred to as
function pointers.

What's a multicast delegate?

It's a delegate that points to and eventually fires off several methods.

How's the DLL Hell problem solved in .NET?

Assembly versioning allows the application to specify not only the library it needs to run
(which was available under Win32), but also the version of the assembly.

What are the ways to deploy an assembly?

An MSI installer, a CAB archive, and XCOPY command.

What's a satellite assembly?

When you write a multilingual or multi-cultural application in .NET, and want to
distribute the core application separately from the localized modules, the localized
assemblies that modify the core application are called satellite assemblies.

What namespaces are necessary to create a localized application?

System.Globalization, System.Resources.

What does assert() do?

In debug compilation, assert takes in a Boolean condition as a parameter, and shows the
error dialog if the condition is false. The program proceeds without any interruption if the
condition is true.

What's the difference between the Debug class and Trace class?
Documentation looks the same. Use Debug class for debug builds, use Trace class for
both debug and release builds.

Why are there five tracing levels in System.Diagnostics.TraceSwitcher?

The tracing dumps can be quite verbose and for some applications that are constantly
running you run the risk of overloading the machine and the hard drive there. Five levels
range from None to Verbose, allowing to fine-tune the tracing activities.

Where is the output of TextWriterTraceListener redirected?

To the Console or a text file depending on the parameter passed to the constructor.

What namespaces are necessary to create a localized application?

System.Globalization, System.Resources.

What are three test cases you should go through in unit testing?
Positive test cases (correct data, correct output), negative test cases (broken or missing
data, proper handling), exception test
cases (exceptions are thrown and caught properly).

Can you change the value of a variable while debugging a C# application?

Yes, if you are debugging via Visual Studio.NET, just go to Immediate window.

What's the implicit name of the parameter that gets passed into the class' set method?
Value, and it's datatype depends on whatever variable we're changing.

How do you inherit from a class in C#?

Place a colon and then the name of the base class. Notice that it's double colon in C++.

Does C# support multiple inheritance?

No, use interfaces instead.

When you inherit a protected class-level variable, who is it available to?

Derived Classes.

What's the top .NET class that everything is derived from?

System.Object.

How's method overriding different from overloading?

When overriding, you change the method behavior for a derived class. Overloading
simply involves having a method with the same name within the class.
What does the keyword virtual mean in the method definition?
The method can be over-ridden.

Can you declare the override method static while the original method is non-static?
No, you can't, the signature of the virtual method must remain the same, only the
keyword virtual is changed to keyword override.

Can you override private virtual methods?

No, moreover, you cannot access private methods in inherited classes, have to be
protected in the base class to allow any sort of access.

Can you prevent your class from being inherited and becoming a base class for some
other classes?
Yes, that's what keyword sealed in the class definition is for. The developer trying to
derive from your class will get a message: cannot inherit from Sealed class
WhateverBaseClassName. It's the same concept as final class in Java.

Can you allow class to be inherited, but prevent the method from being over-ridden?
Yes, just leave the class public and make the method sealed.

Why can't you specify the accessibility modifier for methods inside the interface?
They all must be public. Therefore, to prevent you from getting the false impression that
you have any freedom of choice, you are not allowed to specify any accessibility, it's
public by default.

Can you inherit multiple interfaces?

Yes, why not.

And if they have conflicting method names?

It's up to you to implement the method inside your own class, so implementation is left
entirely up to you. This might cause a problem on a higher-level scale if similarly named
methods from different interfaces expect different data, but as far as compiler cares you're
okay.

What's the difference between an interface and abstract class?

In the interface all methods must be abstract, in the abstract class some methods can be
concrete. In the interface no accessibility modifiers are allowed, which is ok in abstract
classes.

How can you overload a method?

Different parameter data types, different number of parameters, different order of
parameters.

If a base class has a bunch of overloaded constructors, and an inherited class has another
bunch of overloaded constructors, can you enforce a call from an inherited constructor to
an arbitrary base constructor?
Yes, just place a colon, and then keyword base (parameter list to invoke the appropriate
constructor) in the overloaded constructor definition inside the inherited class.

What's the difference between System.String and System.StringBuilder classes?

System.String is immutable, System.StringBuilder was designed with the purpose of
having a mutable string where a variety of operations can be performed.

Does C# support multiple-inheritance?

No, use interfaces instead.

When you inherit a protected class-level variable, who is it available to?

The derived class.

Are private class-level variables inherited?

Yes, but they are not accessible. Although they are not visible or accessible via the class
interface, they are inherited.

Describe the accessibility modifier "protected internal".

It is available to derived classes and classes within the same Assembly (and naturally
from the base class it's declared in).

What's the top .NET class that everything is derived from?

System.Object.

What's the advantage of using System.Text.StringBuilder over System.String?

StringBuilder is more efficient in cases where there is a large amount of string
manipulation. Strings are immutable, so each time it's being operated on, a new instance
is created.

Can you store multiple data types in System.Array?

No.

What's the .NET class that allows the retrieval of a data element using a unique key?
HashTable.

Will the finally block get executed if an exception has not occurred?
Yes.

What's an abstract class?

A class that cannot be instantiated. An abstract class is a class that must be inherited and
have the methods overridden. An abstract class is essentially a blueprint for a class
without any implementation.

When do you absolutely have to declare a class as abstract?

1. When at least one of the methods in the class is abstract.
2. When the class itself is inherited from an abstract class, but not all base abstract
methods have been overridden.

What's an interface?
It's an abstract class with public abstract methods all of which must be implemented in
the inherited classes.

Why can't you specify the accessibility modifier for methods inside the interface?
They all must be public. Therefore, to prevent you from getting the false impression that
you have any freedom of choice,
you are not allowed to specify any accessibility, it's public by default.

What's the difference between an interface and abstract class?

In an interface class, all methods must be abstract. In an abstract class some methods can
be concrete. In an interface class, no accessibility modifiers are allowed, which is ok in
an abstract class.

How is method overriding different from method overloading?

When overriding a method, you change the behavior of the method for the derived class.
Overloading a method simply involves
having another method with the same name within the class.

Can you declare an override method to be static if the original method is non-static?
No. The signature of the virtual method must remain the same, only the keyword virtual
is changed to keyword override.

Can you override private virtual methods?

No. Private methods are not accessible outside the class.

Can you write a class without specifying namespace? Which namespace does it belong to
by default?
Yes, you can, then the class belongs to global namespace which has no name. For
commercial products, naturally, you wouldn't want global namespace.
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.
Different b/w .NET & J2EE ?
Differences between J2EE and the .NET Platform
Vendor Neutrality
The .NET platform is not vendor neutral, it is tied to the Microsoft operating systems. But
neither are any of the J2EE implementations
Many companies buy into J2EE believing that it will give them vendor neutrality. And, in
fact, this is a stated goal of Sun's vision:
A wide variety of J2EE product configurations and implementations, all of which meet
the requirements of this specification, are possible. A portable J2EE application will
function correctly when successfully deployed in any of these products. (ref : Java 2
Platform Enterprise Edition Specification, v1.3, page 2-7 available at
http://java.sun.com/j2ee/)
Overall Maturity
Given that the .NET platform has a three year lead over J2EE, it should be no surprise to
learn that the .NET platform is far more mature than the J2EE platform. Whereas we have
high volume highly reliable web sites using .NET technologies (NASDAQ and Dell
being among many examples)
Interoperability and Web Services
The .NET platform eCollaboration model is, as I have discussed at length, based on the
UDDI and SOAP standards. These standards are widely supported by more than 100
companies. Microsoft, along with IBM and Ariba, are the leaders in this area. Sun is a
member of the UDDI consortium and recognizes the importance of the UDDI standards.
In a recent press release, Sun's George Paolini, Vice President for the Java Community
Development, says:
"Sun has always worked to help establish and support open, standards-based technologies
that facilitate the growth of network-based applications, and we see UDDI as an
important project to establish a registry framework for business-to-business e-commerce

But while Sun publicly says it believes in the UDDI standards, in reality, Sun has done
nothing whatsoever to incorporate any of the UDDI standards into J2EE.
Scalability
Typical Comparision w.r.t Systems and their costs
J2EE
Company System Total Sys. Cost
Bull Escala T610 c/s 16,785 $1,980,179
IBM RS/6000 Enterprise Server F80 16,785 $2,026,681
Bull Escala EPC810 c/s 33,375 $3,037,499
IBM RS/6000 Enterprise Server M80 33,375 $3,097,055
Bull Escala EPC2450 110,403 $9,563,263
IBM IBM eServer pSeries 680 Model 7017-S85 110,403 $9,560,594

.NET platform systems

Company System Total Sys. Cost
Dell PowerEdge 4400 16,263 $273,487
Compaq ProLiant ML-570-6/700-3P 20,207 $201,717
Dell PowerEdge 6400 30,231 $334,626
IBM Netfinity 7600 c/s 32,377 $443,463
Compaq ProLiant 8500-X550-64P 161,720 $3,534,272
Compaq ProLiant 8500-X700-64P 179,658 $3,546,582
Compaq ProLiant 8500-X550-96P 229,914 $5,305,571
Compaq ProLiant 8500-X700-96P 262,244 $5,305,571
Compaq ProLiant 8500-700-192P 505,303 $10,003,826

Framework Support
The .NET platform includes such an eCommerce framework called Commerce Server. At
this point, there is no equivalent vendor-neutral framework in the J2EE space. With J2EE,
you should assume that you will be building your new eCommerce solution from scratch
Moreover, no matter what [J2EE] vendor you choose, if you expect a component
framework that will allow you to quickly field complete e-business applications, you are
in for a frustrating experience
Language
In the language arena, the choice is about as simple as it gets. J2EE supports Java, and
only Java. It will not support any other language in the foreseeable future. The .NET
platform supports every language except Java (although it does support a language that is
syntactically and functionally equivalent to Java, C#). In fact, given the importance of the
.NET platform as a language independent vehicle, it is likely that any language that
comes out in the near future will include support for the .NET platform.
Some companies are under the impression that J2EE supports other languages. Although
both IBM's WebSphere and BEA's WebLogic support other languages, neither does it
through their J2EE technology. There are only two official ways in the J2EE platform to
access other languages, one through the Java Native Interface and the other through
CORBA interoperability. Sun recommends the later approach. As Sun's Distinguished
Scientist and Java Architect Rick Cattell said in a recent interview.
Portability
The reason that operating system portability is a possibility with J2EE is not so much
because of any inherent portability of J2EE, as it is that most of the J2EE vendors support
multiple operating systems. Therefore as long as one sticks with a given J2EE vendor and
a given database vendor, moving from one operating system to another should be
possible. This is probably the single most important benefit in favor of J2EE over the
.NET platform, which is limited to the Windows operating system. It is worth noting,
however, that Microsoft has submitted the specifications for C# and a subset of the .NET
Framework (called the common language infrastructure) to ECMA, the group that
standardizes JavaScript.
J2EE offers an acceptable solution to ISVs when the product must be marketed to non-
Windows customers, particularly when the J2EE platform itself can be bundled with the
ISV's product as an integrated offering.
If the primary customer base for the ISV is Windows customers, then the .NET platform
should be chosen. It will provide much better performance at a much lower cost.

Client device independence

The major difference being that with Java, it is the presentation tier programmer that
determines the ultimate HTML that will be delivered to the client, and with .NET, it is a
Visual Studio.NET control.
This Java approach has three problems. First, it requires a lot of code on the presentation
tier, since every possible thin client system requires a different code path. Second, it is
very difficult to test the code with every possible thin client system. Third, it is very
difficult to add new thin clients to an existing application, since to do so involves
searching through, and modifying a tremendous amount of presentation tier logic.
The .NET Framework approach is to write device independent code that interacts with
visual controls. It is the control, not the programmer, that is responsible for determining
what HTML to deliver, based on the capabilities of the client device.. In the .NET
Framework model, one can forget that such a thing as HTML even exists! Contd ....

Conclusion
Sun's J2EE vision is based on a family of specifications that can be implemented by
many vendors. It is open in the sense that any company can license and implement the
technology, but closed in the sense that it is controlled by a single vendor, and a self
contained architectural island with very limited ability to interact outside of itself. One of
J2EE's major disadvantages is that the choice of the platform dictates the use of a single
programming language, and a programming language that is not well suited for most
businesses. One of J2EE's major advantages is that most of the J2EE vendors do offer
operating system portability.
Microsoft's .NET platform vision is a family of products rather than specifications, with
specifications used primarily to define points of interoperability. The major disadvantage
of this approach is that if is limited to the Windows platform, so applications written for
the .NET platform can only be run on .NET platforms. Their are several important
advantages to the .NET platform:
* The cost of developing applications is much lower, since standard business languages
can be used and device independent presentation tier logic can be written.
* The cost of running applications is much lower, since commodity hardware platforms
(at 1/5 the cost of their Unix counterparts) can be used.
* The ability to scale up is much greater, with the proved ability to support at least ten
times the number of clients any J2EE platform has shown itself able to support.
* Interoperability is much stronger, with industry standard eCollaboration built into the
platform.
What are the Main Features of .NET platform?
Features of .NET Platform are :-
Common Language Runtime
Explains the features and benefits of the common language runtime, a run-time
environment that manages the execution of code and provides services that simplify the
development process.
Assemblies
Defines the concept of assemblies, which are collections of types and resources that form
logical units of functionality. Assemblies are the fundamental units of deployment,
version control, reuse, activation scoping, and security permissions.
Application Domains
Explains how to use application domains to provide isolation between applications.
Runtime Hosts
Describes the runtime hosts supported by the .NET Framework, including ASP.NET,
Internet Explorer, and shell executables.
Common Type System
Identifies the types supported by the common language runtime.
Metadata and Self-Describing Components
Explains how the .NET Framework simplifies component interoperation by allowing
compilers to emit additional declarative information, or metadata, into all modules and
assemblies.
Cross-Language Interoperability
Explains how managed objects created in different programming languages can interact
with one another.
.NET Framework Security
Describes mechanisms for protecting resources and code from unauthorized code and
unauthorized users.
.NET Framework Class Library
Introduces the library of types provided by the .NET Framework, which expedites and
optimizes the development process and gives you access to system functionality.
What is the use of JIT ?
JIT (Just - In - Time) is a compiler which converts MSIL code to Native Code (ie.. CPU-
specific code that runs on the same computer architecture).
Because the common language runtime supplies a JIT compiler for each supported CPU
architecture, developers can write a set of MSIL that can be JIT-compiled and run on
computers with different architectures. However, your managed code will run only on a
specific operating system if it calls platform-specific native APIs, or a platform-specific
class library.
JIT compilation takes into account the fact that some code might never get called during
execution. Rather than using time and memory to convert all the MSIL in a portable
executable (PE) file to native code, it converts the MSIL as needed during execution and
stores the resulting native code so that it is accessible for subsequent calls. The loader
creates and attaches a stub to each of a type's methods when the type is loaded. On the
initial call to the method, the stub passes control to the JIT compiler, which converts the
MSIL for that method into native code and modifies the stub to direct execution to the
location of the native code. Subsequent calls of the JIT-compiled method proceed directly
to the native code that was previously generated, reducing the time it takes to JIT-compile
and run the code.
What meant of assembly & global assembly cache (gac) & Meta data.
Assembly :-- An assembly is the primary building block of a .NET based application. It is
a collection of functionality that is built, versioned, and deployed as a single
implementation unit (as one or more files). All managed types and resources are marked
either as accessible only within their implementation unit, or as accessible by code
outside that unit. It overcomes the problem of 'dll Hell'.The .NET Framework uses
assemblies as the fundamental unit for several purposes:
· Security
· Type Identity
· Reference Scope
· Versioning
· Deployment
Global Assembly Cache :-- Assemblies can be shared among multiple applications on the
machine by registering them in global Assembly cache(GAC). GAC is a machine wide a
local cache of assemblies maintained by the .NET Framework. We can register the
assembly to global assembly cache by using gacutil command.
We can Navigate to the GAC directory, C:winntAssembly in explore. In the tools menu
select the cache properties; in the windows displayed you can set the memory limit in
MB used by the GAC
MetaData :--Assemblies have Manifests. This Manifest contains Metadata information of
the Module/Assembly as well as it contains detailed Metadata of other
assemblies/modules references (exported). It's the Assembly Manifest which
differentiates between an Assembly and a Module.
What are the mobile devices supported by .net platform
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is designed to run on mobile devices such as
mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and embedded devices. The easiest
way to develop and test a Smart Device Application is to use an emulator.
These devices are divided into two main divisions:
1) Those that are directly supported by .NET (Pocket PCs, i-Mode phones, and WAP
devices)
2) Those that are not (Palm OS and J2ME-powered devices).
What is GUID , why we use it and where?
GUID :-- GUID is Short form of Globally Unique Identifier, a unique 128-bit number
that is produced by the Windows OS or by some Windows applications to identify a
particular component, application, file, database entry, and/or user. For instance, a Web
site may generate a GUID and assign it to a user's browser to record and track the
session. A GUID is also used in a Windows registry to identify COM DLLs. Knowing
where to look in the registry and having the correct GUID yields a lot information about a
COM object (i.e., information in the type library, its physical location, etc.). Windows
also identifies user accounts by a username (computer/domain and username) and assigns
it a GUID. Some database administrators even will use GUIDs as primary key values in
databases.
GUIDs can be created in a number of ways, but usually they are a combination of a few
unique settings based on specific point in time (e.g., an IP address, network MAC
address, clock date/time, etc.).
Describe the difference between inline and code behind - which is best in a loosely
coupled solution
ASP.NET supports two modes of page development: Page logic code that is written
inside runat="server"> blocks within an .aspx file and dynamically compiled the first
time the page is requested on the server. Page logic code that is written within an external
class that is compiled prior to deployment on a server and linked ""behind"" the .aspx file
at run time.
Whats MSIL, and why should my developers need an appreciation of it if at all?
When compiling the source code to managed code, the compiler translates the source into
Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL). This is a CPU-independent set of instructions
that can efficiently be converted to native code. Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL)
is a translation used as the output of a number of compilers. It is the input to a just-in-
time (JIT) compiler. The Common Language Runtime includes a JIT compiler for the
conversion of MSIL to native code.
Before Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) can be executed it, must be converted
by the .NET Framework just-in-time (JIT) compiler to native code. This is CPU-specific
code that runs on the same computer architecture as the JIT compiler. Rather than using
time and memory to convert all of the MSIL in a portable executable (PE) file to native
code. It converts the MSIL as needed whilst executing, then caches the resulting native
code so its accessible for any subsequent calls.
How many .NET languages can a single .NET DLL contain?
One
What type of code (server or client) is found in a Code-Behind class?
Server
Whats an assembly?
Assemblies are the building blocks of .NET Framework applications; they form the
fundamental unit of deployment, version control, reuse, activation scoping, and security
permissions. An assembly is a collection of types and resources that are built to work
together and form a logical unit of functionality. An assembly provides the common
language runtime with the information it needs to be aware of type implementations. To
the runtime, a type does not exist outside the context of an assembly.
How many classes can a single .NET DLL contain?
Unlimited.
What is the difference between string and String ?
No difference
What is manifest?
It is the metadata that describes the assemblies.
What is metadata?
Metadata is machine-readable information about a resource, or ""data about data."" Such
information might include details on content, format, size, or other characteristics of a
data
source. In .NET, metadata includes type definitions, version information, external
assembly references, and other standardized information.
What are the types of assemblies?
There are four types of assemblies in .NET:
Static assemblies
These are the .NET PE files that you create at compile time.
Dynamic assemblies
These are PE-formatted, in-memory assemblies that you dynamically create at runtime
using the classes in the System.Reflection.Emit namespace.
Private assemblies
These are static assemblies used by a specific application.
Public or shared assemblies
These are static assemblies that must have a unique shared name and can be used by any
application.
An application uses a private assembly by referring to the assembly using a static path or
through an XML-based application configuration file. While the CLR doesn't enforce
versioning policies-checking whether the correct version is used-for private assemblies, it
ensures that an
application uses the correct shared assemblies with which the application was built. Thus,
an application uses a specific shared assembly by referring to the specific shared
assembly, and the CLR ensures that the correct version is loaded at runtime.
In .NET, an assembly is the smallest unit to which you can associate a version number;
What are delegates?where are they used ?
A delegate defines a reference type that can be used to encapsulate a method with a
specific signature. A delegate instance encapsulates a static or an instance method.
Delegates are roughly similar to function pointers in C++; however, delegates are type-
safe and secure.
When do you use virutal keyword?.
When we need to override a method of the base class in the sub class, then we give the
virtual keyword in the base class method. This makes the method in the base class to be
overridable. Methods, properties, and indexers can be virtual, which means that their
implementation can be overridden in derived classes.
What are class access modifiers ?
Access modifiers are keywords used to specify the declared accessibility of a member or
a type. This section introduces the four access modifiers:
· Public - Access is not restricted.
· Protected - Access is limited to the containing class or types derived from the containing
class.
· Internal - Access is limited to the current assembly.
· Protected inertnal - Access is limited to the current assembly or types derived · from the
containing class.
· Private - Access is limited to the containing type.
What Is Boxing And Unboxing?
Boxing :- Boxing is an implicit conversion of a value type to the type object type
Eg:-
Consider the following declaration of a value-type variable:
int i = 123;
object o = (object) i;
Boxing Conversion
UnBoxing :- Unboxing is an explicit conversion from the type object to a value type
Eg:
int i = 123; // A value type
object box = i; // Boxing
int j = (int)box; // Unboxing
What is Value type and refernce type in .Net?.
Value Type : A variable of a value type always contains a value of that type. The
assignment to a variable of a value type creates a copy of the assigned value, while the
assignment to a variable of a reference type creates a copy of the reference but not of the
referenced object.
The value types consist of two main categories:
* Stuct Type
* Enumeration Type
Reference Type :Variables of reference types, referred to as objects, store references to
the actual data. This section introduces the following keywords used to declare reference
types:
* Class
* Interface
* Delegate
This section also introduces the following built-in reference types:
* object
* string
What is the difference between structures and enumeration?.
Unlike classes, structs are value types and do not require heap allocation. A variable of a
struct type directly contains the data of the struct, whereas a variable of a class type
contains a reference to the data. They are derived from System.ValueType class.
Enum->An enum type is a distinct type that declares a set of named constants.They are
strongly typed constants. They are unique types that allow to declare symbolic names to
integral values. Enums are value types, which means they contain their own value, can't
inherit or be inherited from and assignment copies the value of one enum to another.
public enum Grade
{
A,
B,
C
}

What is namespaces?.
Namespace is a logical naming scheme for group related types.Some class types that
logically belong together they can be put into a common namespace. They prevent
namespace collisions and they provide scoping. They are imported as "using" in C# or
"Imports" in Visual Basic. It seems as if these directives specify a particular assembly, but
they don't. A namespace can span multiple assemblies, and an assembly can define
multiple namespaces. When the compiler needs the definition for a class type, it tracks
through each of the different imported namespaces to the type name and searches each
referenced assembly until it is found.
Namespaces can be nested. This is very similar to packages in Java as far as scoping is
concerned.

How do you create shared assemblies?.

Just look through the definition of Assemblies..
* An Assembly is a logical unit of code
* Assembly physically exist as DLLs or EXEs
* One assembly can contain one or more files
* The constituent files can include any file types like image files, text files etc. along with
DLLs or EXEs
* When you compile your source code by default the exe/dll generated is actually an
assembly
* Unless your code is bundled as assembly it can not be used in any other application
* When you talk about version of a component you are actually talking about version of
the assembly to which the component belongs.
* Every assembly file contains information about itself. This information is called as
Assembly Manifest.
Following steps are involved in creating shared assemblies :
* Create your DLL/EXE source code
* Generate unique assembly name using SN utility
* Sign your DLL/EXE with the private key by modifying AssemblyInfo file
* Compile your DLL/EXE
* Place the resultant DLL/EXE in global assembly cache using AL utility

What is global assembly cache?

Each computer where the common language runtime is installed has a machine-wide
code cache called the global assembly cache. The global assembly cache stores
assemblies specifically designated to be shared by several applications on the computer.
There are several ways to deploy an assembly into the global assembly cache:
· Use an installer designed to work with the global assembly cache. This is the preferred
option for installing assemblies into the global assembly cache.
· Use a developer tool called the Global Assembly Cache tool (Gacutil.exe), provided by
the .NET Framework SDK.
· Use Windows Explorer to drag assemblies into the cache.
What is MSIL?.
When compiling to managed code, the compiler translates your source code into
Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL), which is a CPU-independent set of instructions
that can be efficiently converted to native code. MSIL includes instructions for loading,
storing, initializing, and calling methods on objects, as well as instructions for arithmetic
and logical operations, control flow, direct memory access, exception handling, and other
operations. Before code can be run, MSIL must be converted to CPU-specific code,
usually by a just-in-time (JIT) compiler. Because the common language runtime supplies
one or more JIT compilers for each computer architecture it supports, the same set of
MSIL can be JIT-compiled and run on any supported architecture.
When a compiler produces MSIL, it also produces metadata. Metadata describes the
types in your code, including the definition of each type, the signatures of each type's
members, the members that your code references, and other data that the runtime uses at
execution time. The MSIL and metadata are contained in a portable executable (PE) file
that is based on and extends the published Microsoft PE and common object file format
(COFF) used historically for executable content. This file format, which accommodates
MSIL or native code as well as metadata, enables the operating system to recognize
common language runtime images. The presence of metadata in the file along with the
MSIL enables your code to describe itself, which means that there is no need for type
libraries or Interface Definition Language (IDL). The runtime locates and extracts the
metadata from the file as needed during execution.
What is Jit compilers?.how many are available in clr?
Just-In-Time compiler- it converts the language that you write in .Net into machine
language that a computer can understand. there are tqo types of JITs one is memory
optimized & other is performace optimized.
What is tracing?Where it used.Explain few methods available
Tracing refers to collecting information about the application while it is running. You use
tracing information to troubleshoot an application.
Tracing allows us to observe and correct programming errors. Tracing enables you to
record information in various log files about the errors that might occur at run time. You
can analyze these log files to find the cause of the errors.
In .NET we have objects called Trace Listeners. A listener is an object that receives the
trace output and outputs it somewhere; that somewhere could be a window in your
development environment, a file on your hard drive, a Windows Event log, a SQL Server
or Oracle database, or any other customized data store.
The System.Diagnostics namespace provides the interfaces, classes, enumerations and
structures that are used for tracing The System.Diagnostics namespace provides two
classes named Trace and Debug that are used for writing errors and application execution
information in logs.
All Trace Listeners have the following functions. Functionality of these functions is same
except that the target media for the tracing output is determined by the Trace Listener.
Method Name
Result Fail Outputs the specified text with the Call Stack.
Write Outputs the specified text.
WriteLine Outputs the specified text and a carriage return.
Flush Flushes the output buffer to the target media.
Close Closes the output stream in order to not receive the tracing/debugging output.
How to set the debug mode?
Debug Mode for ASP.NET applications - To set ASP.NET appplication in debugging
mode, edit the application's web.config and assign the "debug" attribute in < compilation
> section to "true" as show below:
< configuration >
< system.web >
< compilation defaultLanguage="vb" debug="true" / >
....
...
..
< / configuration >
This case-sensitive attribute 'debug tells ASP.NET to generate symbols for dynamically
generated files and enables the
debugger to attach to the ASP.NET application. ASP.NET will detect this change
automatically, without the need to restart the server. Debug Mode for ASP.NET
Webservices - Debugging an XML Web service created with ASP.NET is similar to the
debugging an ASP.NET Web application.
What is the property available to check if the page posted or not?
The Page_Load event handler in the page checks for IsPostBack property value, to
ascertain whether the page is posted. The Page.IsPostBack gets a value indicating
whether the page is being loaded in response to the client postback, or it is for the first
time. The value of Page.IsPostBack is True, if the page is being loaded in response to the
client postback; while its value is False, when the page is loaded for the first time. The
Page.IsPostBack property facilitates execution of certain routine in Page_Load, only once
(for e.g. in Page load, we need to set default value in controls, when page is loaded for
the first time. On post back, we check for true value for IsPostback value and then invoke
server-side code to
update data).
Which are the abstract classes available under system.xml namespace?
The System.XML namespace provides XML related processing ability in .NET
framework. XmlReader and XMLWriter are the two abstract classes at the core of .NET
Framework XML classes:
1. XmlReader provides a fast, forward-only, read-only cursor for processing an XML
document stream.
2. XmlWriter provides an interface for producing XML document streams that conform
to the W3C's XML standards.
Both XmlReader and XmlWriter are abstract base classes, which define the functionality
that all derived classes must support.
Is it possible to use multipe inheritance in .net?
Multiple Inheritance is an ability to inherit from more than one base class i.e. ability of a
class to have more than one superclass, by inheriting from different sources and thus
combine separately-defined behaviors in a single class. There are two types of multiple
inheritance: multiple type/interface inheritance and multiple implementation inheritance.
C# & VB.NET supports only multiple type/interface inheritance, i.e.
you can derive an class/interface from multiple interfaces. There is no support for
multiple implementation inheritance in .NET. That means a class can only derived from
one class.
What are the derived classes from xmlReader and xmlWriter?
Both XmlReader and XmlWriter are abstract base classes, which define the functionality
that all derived classes must support.
There are three concrete implementations of XmlReader:
1.XmlTextReader
2.XmlNodeReader
3.XmlValidatingReader
There are two concrete implementations of XmlWriter:
1.XmlTextWriter
2.XmlNodeWriter
XmlTextReader and XmlTextWriter support reading data to/from text-based stream,
while XmlNodeReader and XmlNodeWriter are designed for working with in-memory
DOM tree structure. The custom readers and writers can also be developed to extend the
built-in functionality of XmlReader and XmlWriter.
What is managed and unmanaged 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. i.e., code executing
under the control of the CLR is called managed code. For example, any code written in
C# or Visual Basic .NET is managed code.
Code that runs outside the CLR is referred to as "unmanaged code." COM components,
ActiveX components, and Win32 API functions are examples of unmanaged code.
How you deploy .NET assemblies?
One way is simply use xcopy. others are use and the setup projects in .net. and one more
way is use of nontuch deployment.
What is Globalizationa and Localization ?
Globalization is the process of creating an application that meets the needs of users from
multiple cultures. It includes using the correct
currency, date and time format, calendar, writing direction, sorting rules, and other issues.
Accommodating these cultural differences in an application is called localization.Using
classes of System.Globalization namespace, you can set application's current culture.
This can be achieved by using any of the following 3 approaches.
1. Detect and redirect
2. Run-time adjustment
3. Using Satellite assemblies.

Whate are Resource Files ? How are they used in .NET?

Resource files are the files containing data that is logically deployed with an
application.These files can contain data in a number of formats including strings, images
and persisted objects. It has the main advantage of If we store data in these files then we
don't need to compile these if the data get changed. In .NET we basically require them
storing culture specific informations by localizing application's resources. You can deploy
your resources using satellite assemblies.
Difference between Dispose and Finallize method?
Finalize method is used to free the memory used by some unmanaged resources like
window handles (HWND). It's similar to the destructor syntax in C#. The GC calls this
method when it founds no more references to the object. But, In some cases we may need
release the memory used by the resources explicitely.To release the memory explicitly we
need to implement the Dispose method of IDisposable interface.
What is encapsulation ?
Encapsulation is the ability to hide the internal workings of an object's behavior and its
data. For instance, let's say you have a object named Bike and this object has a method
named start(). When you create an instance of a Bike object and call its start() method
you are not worried about what happens to accomplish this, you just want to make sure
the state of the bike is changed to 'running' afterwards. This kind of behavior hiding is
encapsulation and it makes programming much easier.
How can you prevent your class to be inherated further?
By setting Sealed - Key word
public sealed class Planet
{
//code goes here
}
class Moon:Planet
{
//Not allowed as base class is sealed
}

What is GUID and why we need to use it and in what condition? How this is created.
A GUID is a 128-bit integer (16 bytes) that can be used across all computers and
networks wherever a unique identifier is required. Such an identifier has a very low
probability of being duplicated. Visual Studio .NET IDE has a utility under the tools
menu to generate GUIDs.
Why do you need to serialize.?
We need to serialize the object,if you want to pass object from one computer/application
domain to another.Process of converting complex objects into stream of bytes that can be
persisted or transported.Namespace for serialization is System.Runtime.Serialization.The
ISerializable interface allows you to make any class Serializable..NET framework
features 2 serializing method.
1.Binary Serialization 2.XML Serialization
What is inline schema, how does it works?
Schemas can be included inside of XML file is called Inline Schemas.This is useful when
it is inconvenient to physically seprate the schema and the XML document.A schema is
an XML document that defines the structure, constraints, data types, and relationships of
the elements that constitute the data contained inside the XML document or in another
XML document.Schema can be an external file which uses the XSD or XDR extension
called external schema. Inline schema can take place even when validation is turned off.
Describe the advantages of writing a managed code application instead of unmanaged
one. What's involved in certain piece of code being managed?
"Advantage includes automatic garbage collection,memory management,security,type
checking,versioning
Managed code is compiled for the .NET run-time environment. It runs in the Common
Language Runtime (CLR), which is the heart of the .NET Framework. The CLR provides
services such as security,
memory management, and cross-language integration. Managed applications written to
take advantage of the features of the CLR perform more efficiently and safely, and take
better advantage of developers existing expertise in languages that support the .NET
Framework.
Unmanaged code includes all code written before the .NET Framework was introduced—
this includes code written to use COM, native Win32, and Visual Basic 6. Because it does
not run inside the .NET environment, unmanaged code cannot make use of any .NET
managed facilities."
What are multicast delegates ? give me an example ?
Delegate that can have more than one element in its invocation List.
using System;
namespace SampleMultiCastDelegate
{
class MultiCast
{
public delegate string strMultiCast(string s);
}
}

MainClass defines the static methods having same signature as delegate.

using System;
namespace SampleMultiCastDelegate
{

public class MainClass

{
public MainClass()
{
}
public static string Jump(string s)
{
Console.WriteLine("Jump");
return String.Empty;
}
public static string Run(string s)
{
Console.WriteLine("Run");
return String.Empty;
}
public static string Walk(string s)
{
Console.WriteLine("Walk");
return String.Empty;
}
}
}

The Main class:

using System;
using System.Threading;
namespace SampleMultiCastDelegate
{

public class MainMultiCastDelegate

{
public static void Main()
{
MultiCast.strMultiCast Run,Walk,Jump;
MultiCast.strMultiCast myDelegate;
///here mydelegate used the Combine method of System.MulticastDelegate
///and the delegates combine
myDelegate=(MultiCast.strMultiCast)System.Delegate.Combine(Run,Walk);

}
}
}
Can a nested object be used in Serialization ?
Yes. If a class that is to be serialized contains references to objects of other classes, and if
those classes have been marked as serializable, then their objects are serialized too.
Difference between int and int32 ?
Both are same. System.Int32 is a .NET class. Int is an alias name for System.Int32.
Describe the difference between a Thread and a Process?
A Process is an instance of an running application. And a thread is the Execution stream
of the Process. A process can have multiple Thread.
When a process starts a specific memory area is allocated to it. When there is multiple
thread in a process, each thread gets a memory for storing the variables in it and plus they
can access to the global variables which is common for all the thread. Eg.A Microsoft
Word is a Application. When you open a word file,an instance of the Word starts and a
process is allocated to this instance which has one thread.
What is the difference between an EXE and a DLL?
You can create an objects of Dll but not of the EXE.
Dll is an In-Process Component whereas EXE is an OUt-Process Component.
Exe is for single use whereas you can use Dll for multiple use.
Exe can be started as standalone where dll cannot be.
What is strong-typing versus weak-typing? Which is preferred? Why?
Strong typing implies that the types of variables involved in operations are associated to
the variable, checked at compile-time, and require explicit conversion; weak typing
implies that they are associated to the value, checked at run-time, and are implicitly
converted as required. (Which is preferred is a disputable point, but I personally prefer
strong typing because I like my errors to be found as soon as possible.)
What is a PID? How is it useful when troubleshooting a system?
PID is the process Id of the application in Windows. Whenever a process starts running in
the Windows environment, it is associated with an individual process Id or PID.
The PID (Process ID) a unique number for each item on the Process Tab, Image Name
list. How do you get the PID to appear? In Task Manger, select the View menu, then
select columns and check PID (Process Identifier).
In Linux, PID is used to debug a process explicitly. However we cannot do this in a
windows environment.
Microsoft has launched a SDK called as Microsoft Operations Management (MOM).
This uses the PID to find out which dll’s have been loaded by a process in the memory.
This is essentially helpful in situations where the Process which has a memory leak is to
be traced to a erring dll. Personally I have never used a PID, our Windows debugger does
the things required to find out.
NET FrameWork

<<>>
What is the GAC? What problem does it solve?
Each computer where the common language runtime is installed has a machine-wide
code cache called the global assembly cache. The global assembly cache stores
assemblies that are to be shared by several applications on the computer. This area is
typically the folder under windows or winnt in the machine.
All the assemblies that need to be shared across applications need to be done through the
Global assembly Cache only. However it is not necessary to install assemblies into the
global assembly cache to make them accessible to COM interop or unmanaged code.
There are several ways to deploy an assembly into the global assembly cache:
· Use an installer designed to work with the global assembly cache. This is the preferred
option for installing assemblies into the global assembly cache.
· Use a developer tool called the Global Assembly Cache tool (Gacutil.exe), provided by
the .NET Framework SDK.
· Use Windows Explorer to drag assemblies into the cache.
GAC solves the problem of DLL Hell and DLL versioning. Unlike earlier situations,
GAC can hold two assemblies of the same name but different version. This ensures that
the applications which access a particular assembly continue to access the same assembly
even if another version of that assembly is installed on that machine.
Describe what an Interface is and how it’s different from a Class.
An interface is a structure of code which is similar to a class. An interface is a prototype
for a class and is useful from a logical design perspective. Interfaces provide a means to
define the protocols for a class without worrying about the implementation details. The
syntax for creating interfaces follows:
interface Identifier {
InterfaceBody
}
Identifier is the name of the interface and InterfaceBody refers to the abstract methods
and static final variables that make up the interface. Because it is assumed that all the
methods in an interface are abstract, it isn't necessary to use the abstract keyword
An interface is a description of some of the members available from a class. In practice,
the syntax typically looks similar to a class definition, except that there's no code defined
for the methods — just their name, the arguments passed and the type of the value
returned.
So what good is it? None by itself. But you create an interface so that classes will
implement it.
But what does it mean to implement an interface. The interface acts as a contract or
promise. If a class implements an interface, then it must have the properties and methods
of the interface defined in the class. This is enforced by the compiler.
Broadly the differentiators between classes and interfaces is as follows
• Interface should not have any implementation.
• Interface can not create any instance.
• Interface should provide high level abstraction from the implementation.
• Interface can have multiple inheritances.
• Default access level of the interface is public.
What is the difference between XML Web Services using ASMX and .NET Remoting
using SOAP?
ASP.NET Web services and .NET Remoting provide a full suite of design options for
cross-process and cross-plaform communication in distributed applications. In general,
ASP.NET Web services provide the highest levels of interoperability with full support for
WSDL and SOAP over HTTP, while .NET Remoting is designed for common language
runtime type-system fidelity and supports additional data format and communication
channels. Hence if we looking cross-platform communication than web services is the
choice coz for .NET remoting .Net framework is requried which may or may not present
for the other platform.
Serialization and Metadata
ASP.NET Web services rely on the System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer class to
marshal data to and from SOAP messages at runtime. For metadata, they generate WSDL
and XSD definitions that describe what their messages contain. The reliance on pure
WSDL and XSD makes ASP.NET Web services metadata portable; it expresses data
structures in a way that other Web service toolkits on different platforms and with
different programming models can understand. In some cases, this imposes constraints on
the types you can expose from a Web service—XmlSerializer will only marshal things
that can be expressed in XSD. Specifically, XmlSerializer will not marshal object graphs
and it has limited support for container types.
.NET Remoting relies on the pluggable implementations of the IFormatter interface used
by the System.Runtime.Serialization engine to marshal data to and from messages. There
are two standard formatters,
System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter and
System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.SoapFormatter. The BinaryFormatter and
SoapFormatter, as the names suggest, marshal types in binary and SOAP format
respectively. For metadata, .NET Remoting relies on the common language runtime
assemblies, which contain all the relevant information about the data types they
implement, and expose it via reflection. The reliance on the assemblies for metadata
makes it easy to preserve the full runtime type-system fidelity. As a result, when the .NET
Remoting plumbing marshals data, it includes all of a class's public and private members;
handles object graphs correctly; and supports all container types (e.g.,
System.Collections.Hashtable). However, the reliance on runtime metadata also limits the
reach of a .NET Remoting system—a client has to understand .NET constructs in order to
communicate with a .NET Remoting endpoint. In addition to pluggable formatters, the
.NET Remoting layer supports pluggable channels, which abstract away the details of
how messages are sent. There are two standard channels, one for raw TCP and one for
HTTP. Messages can be sent over either channel independent of format.
Distributed Application Design: ASP.NET Web Services vs. .NET Remoting
ASP.NET Web services favor the XML Schema type system, and provide a simple
programming model with broad cross-platform reach. .NET Remoting favors the runtime
type system, and provides a more complex programming model with much more limited
reach. This essential difference is the primary factor in determining which technology to
use. However, there are a wide range of other design factors, including transport
protocols, host processes, security, performance, state management, and support for
transactions to consider as well.
Security
Since ASP.NET Web services rely on HTTP, they integrate with the standard Internet
security infrastructure. ASP.NET leverages the security features available with IIS to
provide strong support for standard HTTP authentication schemes including Basic,
Digest, digital certificates, and even Microsoft® .NET Passport. (You can also use
Windows Integrated authentication, but only for clients in a trusted domain.) One
advantage of using the available HTTP authentication schemes is that no code change is
required in a Web service; IIS performs authentication before the ASP.NET Web services
are called. ASP.NET also provides support for .NET Passport-based authentication and
other custom authentication schemes. ASP.NET supports access control based on target
URLs, and by integrating with the .NET code access security (CAS) infrastructure. SSL
can be used to ensure private communication over the wire.
Although these standard transport-level techniques to secure Web services are quite
effective, they only go so far. In complex scenarios involving multiple Web services in
different trust domains, you have to build custom ad hoc solutions. Microsoft and others
are working on a set of security specifications that build on the extensibility of SOAP
messages to offer message-level security capabilities. One of these is the XML Web
Services Security Language (WS-Security), which defines a framework for message-level
credential transfer, message integrity, and message confidentiality.
As noted in the previous section, the .NET Remoting plumbing does not secure cross-
process invocations in the general case. A .NET Remoting endpoint hosted in IIS with
ASP.NET can leverage all the same security features available to ASP.NET Web services,
including support for secure communication over the wire using SSL. If you are using the
TCP channel or the HTTP channel hosted in processes other than aspnet_wp.exe, you
have to implement authentication, authorization and privacy mechanisms yourself.
One additional security concern is the ability to execute code from a semi-trusted
environment without having to change the default security policy. ASP.NET Web
Services client proxies work in these environments, but .NET Remoting proxies do not.
In order to use a .NET Remoting proxy from a semi-trusted environment, you need a
special serialization permission that is not given to code loaded from your intranet or the
Internet by default. If you want to use a .NET Remoting client from within a semi-trusted
environment, you have to alter the default security policy for code loaded from those
zones. In situations where you are connecting to systems from clients running in a
sandbox—like a downloaded Windows Forms application, for instance—ASP.NET Web
Services are a simpler choice because security policy changes are not required.
Conceptually, what is the difference between early-binding and late-binding?
Early binding – Binding at Compile Time
Late Binding – Binding at Run Time
Early binding implies that the class of the called object is known at compile-time; late-
binding implies that the class is not known until run-time, such as a call through an
interface or via Reflection.
Early binding is the preferred method. It is the best performer because your application
binds directly to the address of the function being called and there is no extra overhead in
doing a run-time lookup. In terms of overall execution speed, it is at least twice as fast as
late binding.
Early binding also provides type safety. When you have a reference set to the
component's type library, Visual Basic provides IntelliSense support to help you code
each function correctly. Visual Basic also warns you if the data type of a parameter or
return value is incorrect, saving a lot of time when writing and debugging code.
Late binding is still useful in situations where the exact interface of an object is not
known at design-time. If your application seeks to talk with multiple unknown servers or
needs to invoke functions by name (using the Visual Basic 6.0 CallByName function for
example) then you need to use late binding. Late binding is also useful to work around
compatibility problems between multiple versions of a component that has improperly
modified or adapted its interface between versions.
What is an Asssembly Qualified Name? Is it a filename? How is it different?
An assembly qualified name isn't the filename of the assembly; it's the internal name of
the assembly combined with the assembly version, culture, and public key, thus making it
unique.
e.g. (""System.Xml.XmlDocument, System.Xml, Version=1.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"")
How is a strongly-named assembly different from one that isn’t strongly-named?
Strong names are used to enable the stricter naming requirements associated with shared
assemblies. These strong names are created by a .NET utility – sn.exe
Strong names have three goals:
· Name uniqueness. Shared assemblies must have names that are globally unique.
· Prevent name spoofing. Developers don't want someone else releasing a subsequent
version of one of your assemblies and falsely claim it came from you, either by accident
or intentionally.
· Provide identity on reference. When resolving a reference to an assembly, strong names
are used to guarantee the assembly that is loaded came from the expected publisher.
Strong names are implemented using standard public key cryptography. In general, the
process works as follows: The author of an assembly generates a key pair (or uses an
existing one), signs the file containing the manifest with the private key, and makes the
public key available to callers. When references are made to the assembly, the caller
records the public key corresponding to the private key used to generate the strong name.
Weak named assemblies are not suitable to be added in GAC and shared. It is essential
for an assembly to be strong named.
Strong naming prevents tampering and enables assemblies to be placed in the GAC
alongside other assemblies of the same name.
How does the generational garbage collector in the .NET CLR manage object lifetime?
What is non-deterministic finalization?
The hugely simplistic version is that every time it garbage-collects, it starts by assuming
everything to be garbage, then goes through and builds a list of everything reachable.
Those become not-garbage, everything else doesn't, and gets thrown away. What makes it
generational is that every time an object goes through this process and survives, it is
noted as being a member of an older generation (up to 2, right now). When the garbage-
collector is trying to free memory, it starts with the lowest generation (0) and only works
up to higher ones if it can't free up enough space, on the grounds that shorter-lived
objects are more likely to have been freed than longer-lived ones.
Non-deterministic finalization implies that the destructor (if any) of an object will not
necessarily be run (nor its memory cleaned up, but that's a relatively minor issue)
immediately upon its going out of scope. Instead, it will wait until first the garbage
collector gets around to finding it, and then the finalisation queue empties down to it; and
if the process ends before this happens, it may not be finalised at all. (Although the
operating system will usually clean up any process-external resources left open - note the
usually there, especially as the exceptions tend to hurt a lot.)
What is the difference between Finalize() and Dispose()?
Dispose() is called by the user of an object to indicate that he is finished with it, enabling
that object to release any unmanaged resources it holds. Finalize() is called by the run-
time to allow an object which has not had Dispose() called on it to do the same. However,
Dispose() operates determinalistically, whereas there is no guarantee that Finalize() will
be called immediately when an object goes out of scope - or indeed at all, if the program
ends before that object is GCed - and as such Dispose() is generally preferred.
How is the using() pattern useful? What is IDisposable? How does it support
deterministic finalization?
The using() pattern is useful because it ensures that Dispose() will always be called when
a disposable object (defined as one that implements IDisposable, and thus the Dispose()
method) goes out of scope, even if it does so by an exception being thrown, and thus that
resources are always released.
What does this useful command line do? tasklist /m "mscor*"
Lists all the applications and associated tasks/process currently running on the system
with a module whose name begins "mscor" loaded into them; which in nearly all cases
means "all the .NET processes".
What’s wrong with a line like this? DateTime.Parse(myString);
Therez nothing wrong with this declaration.Converts the specified string representation
of a date and time to its DateTime equivalent.But If the string is not a valid DateTime,It
throws an exception.
What are PDBs? Where must they be located for debugging to work?
A program database (PDB) files holds debugging and project state information that
allows incremental linking of debug configuration of your program.There are several
different types of symbolic debugging information. The default type for Microsoft
compiler is the so-called PDB file. The compiler setting for creating this file is /Zi, or /ZI
for C/C++(which creates a PDB file with additional information that enables a feature
called ""Edit and Continue"") or a Visual Basic/C#/JScript .NET program with /debug.
A PDB file is a separate file, placed by default in the Debug project subdirectory, that has
the same name as the executable file with the extension .pdb. Note that the Visual C++
compiler by default creates an additional PDB file called VC60.pdb for VisulaC++6.0
and VC70.PDB file for VisulaC++7.0. The compiler creates this file during compilation
of the source code, when the compiler isn't aware of the final name of the executable. The
linker can merge this temporary PDB file into the main one if you tell it to, but it won't do
it by default. The PDB file can be useful to display the detailed stack trace with source
files and line numbers.
What is FullTrust? Do GAC’ed assemblies have FullTrust?
Before the .NET Framework existed, Windows had two levels of trust for downloaded
code. This old model was a binary trust model. You only had two choices: Full Trust, and
No Trust. The code could either do anything you could do, or it wouldn't run at all.

The permission sets in .NET include FullTrust, SkipVerification, Execution, Nothing,

LocalIntranet, Internet and Everything. Full Trust Grants unrestricted permissions to
system resources. Fully trusted code run by a normal, nonprivileged user cannot do
administrative tasks, but can access any resources the user can access, and do anything
the user can do. From a security standpoint, you can think of fully trusted code as being
similar to native, unmanaged code, like a traditional ActiveX control.
GAC assemblies are granted FullTrust. In v1.0 and 1.1, the fact that assemblies in the
GAC seem to always get a FullTrust grant is actually a side effect of the fact that the
GAC lives on the local machine. If anyone were to lock down the security policy by
changing the grant set of the local machine to something less than FullTrust, and if your
assembly did not get extra permission from some other code group, it would no longer
have FullTrust even though it lives in the GAC.
What does this do? gacutil /l | find /i "Corillian"
The Global Assembly Cache tool allows you to view and manipulate the contents of the
global assembly cache and download cache.The tool comes with various optional params
to do that.
""/l"" option Lists the contents of the global assembly cache. If you specify the
assemblyName parameter(/l [assemblyName]), the tool lists only the assemblies
matching that name.
What does this do .. sn -t foo.dll ?
Sn -t option displays the token for the public key stored in infile. The contents of infile
must be previously generated using -p.
Sn.exe computes the token using a hash function from the public key. To save space, the
common language runtime stores public key tokens in the manifest as part of a reference
to another assembly when it records a dependency to an assembly that has a strong name.
The -tp option displays the public key in addition to the token.
How do you generate a strong name?
.NET provides an utility called strong name tool. You can run this toolfrom the VS.NET
command prompt to generate a strong name with an option "-k" and providing the strong
key file name. i.e. sn- -k < file-name >
What is the difference between a Debug and Release build? Is there a significant speed
difference? Why or why not?
The Debug build is the program compiled with full symbolic debug information and no
optimization. The Release build is the program compiled employing optimization and
contains no symbolic debug information. These settings can be changed as per need from
Project Configuration properties. The release runs faster since it does not have any debug
symbols and is optimized.
Explain the use of virtual, sealed, override, and abstract.
Abstract: The keyword can be applied for a class or method.
1. Class: If we use abstract keyword for a class it makes the
class an abstract class, which means it cant be instantiated. Though
it is not nessacary to make all the method within the abstract class to be virtual. ie,
Abstract class can have concrete methods
2. Method: If we make a method as abstract, we dont need to provide implementation
of the method in the class but the derived class need to implement/override this method.

Sealed: It can be applied on a class and methods. It stops the type from further derivation
i.e no one can derive class
from a sealed class,ie A sealed class cannot be inherited.A sealed class cannot be a
abstract class.A compile time error is thrown if you try to specify sealed class as a base
class.
When an instance method declaration includes a sealed modifier, that method is said to be
a sealed method. If an instance method declaration includes the sealed modifier, it must
also include the override modifier. Use of the sealed modifier prevents a derived class
from further overriding the method For Egs: sealed override public void Sample()
{ Console.WriteLine("Sealed Method"); }

Virtual & Override: Virtual & Override keywords provides runtime polymorphism. A
base class can make some of its methods
as virtual which allows the derived class a chance to override the base class
implementation by using override keyword.

For e.g. class Shape

{
int a
public virtual void Display()
{
Console.WriteLine("Shape");
}
}

class Rectangle:Shape
{
public override void Display()
{
Console.WriteLine("Derived");
}
}

Explain the importance and use of each, Version, Culture and PublicKeyToken for an
assembly.
This three alongwith name of the assembly provide a strong name or fully qualified name
to the assembly. When a assebly is referenced with all three.
PublicKeyToken: Each assembly can have a public key embedded in its manifest that
identifies the developer. This ensures that once the assembly ships, no one can modify the
code or other resources contained in the assembly.

Culture: Specifies which culture the assembly supports

Version: The version number of the assembly.It is of the following form

major.minor.build.revision.
Explain the differences between public, protected, private and internal.
These all are access modifier and they governs the access level. They can be applied to
class, methods, fields.

Public: Allows class, methods, fields to be accessible from anywhere i.e. within and
outside an assembly.
Private: When applied to field and method allows to be accessible within a class.
Protected: Similar to private but can be accessed by members of derived class also.
Internal: They are public within the assembly i.e. they can be accessed by anyone within
an assembly but outside assembly they are not visible.
What is the difference between typeof(foo) and myFoo.GetType()?
Typeof is operator which applied to a object returns System.Type object. Typeof cannot
be overloaded white GetType has lot of overloads.GetType is a method which also
returns System.Type of an object. GetType is used to get the runtime type of the object.

Example from MSDN showing Gettype used to retrive type at untime:-

public class MyBaseClass: Object {
}
public class MyDerivedClass: MyBaseClass {
}
public class Test {
public static void Main() {
MyBaseClass myBase = new MyBaseClass();
MyDerivedClass myDerived = new MyDerivedClass();
object o = myDerived;
MyBaseClass b = myDerived;
Console.WriteLine("mybase: Type is {0}", myBase.GetType());
Console.WriteLine("myDerived: Type is {0}", myDerived.GetType());
Console.WriteLine("object o = myDerived: Type is {0}", o.GetType());
Console.WriteLine("MyBaseClass b = myDerived: Type is {0}", b.GetType());
}
}

/*
This code produces the following output.
mybase: Type is MyBaseClass
myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass
object o = myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass
MyBaseClass b = myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass
*/
Can "this" be used within a static method?
No 'This' cannot be used in a static method. As only static variables/methods can be used
in a static method.

What is the purpose of XML Namespaces?

An XML Namespace is a collection of element types and attribute names. It consists of 2
parts
1) The first part is the URI used to identify the namespace
2) The second part is the element type or attribute name itself.
Together they form a unique name. The various purpose of XML Namespace are
1. Combine fragments from different documents without any naming conflicts. (See
example below.)
2. Write reusable code modules that can be invoked for specific elements and attributes.
Universally unique names guarantee that
such modules are invoked only for the correct elements and attributes.
3. Define elements and attributes that can be reused in other schemas or instance
documents without fear of name collisions. For
example, you might use XHTML elements in a parts catalog to provide part descriptions.
Or you might use the nil attribute
defined in XML Schemas to indicate a missing value.
< Department >
< Name >DVS1< /Name >
< addr:Address xmlns:addr="http://www.tu-darmstadt.de/ito/addresses">
< addr:Street >Wilhelminenstr. 7< /addr:Street >
< addr:City >Darmstadt< /addr:City >
< addr:State >Hessen< /addr:State >
< addr:Country >Germany< /addr:Country >
< addr:PostalCode >D-64285< /addr:PostalCode >
< /addr:Address >
< serv:Server xmlns:serv="http://www.tu-darmstadt.de/ito/servers">
< serv:Name >OurWebServer< /serv:Name >
< serv:Address >123.45.67.8< /serv:Address >
< /serv:Server >
< /Department >
What is difference between MetaData and Manifest ?
Metadata and Manifest forms an integral part of an assembly( dll / exe ) in .net
framework .
Out of which Metadata is a mandatory component , which as the name suggests gives the
details about various components of IL code viz : Methods , properties , fields , class etc.
Essentially Metadata maintains details in form of tables like Methods Metadata tables ,
Properties Metadata tables , which maintains the list of given type and other details like
access specifier , return type etc.
Now Manifest is a part of metadata only , fully called as “manifest metadata tables” , it
contains the details of the references needed by the assembly of any other external
assembly / type , it could be a custom assembly or standard System namespace .
Now for an assembly that can independently exists and used in the .Net world both the
things ( Metadata with Manifest ) are mandatory , so that it can be fully described
assembly and can be ported anywhere without any system dependency . Essentially .Net
framework can read all assembly related information from assembly itself at runtime .
But for .Net modules , that can’t be used independently , until they are being packaged as
a part of an assembly , they don’t contain Manifest but their complete structure is defined
by their respective metadata .
Ultimately . .Net modules use Manifest Metadata tables of parent assembly which contain
them .

What is the use of Internal keyword?

Internal keyword is one of the access specifier available in .Net framework , that makes a
type visible in a given assembly , for e.g : a single dll can contain multiple modules ,
essentially a multi file assembly , but it forms a single binary component , so any type
with internal keyword will be visible throughout the assembly and can be used in any of
the modules .

What actually happes when you add a something to arraylistcollection ?

Following things will happen :
Arraylist is a dynamic array class in c# in System.Collections namespace derived from
interfaces – ICollection , IList , ICloneable , IConvertible . It terms of in memory
structure following is the implementation .
a. Check up the total space if there’s any free space on the declared list .
b. If yes add the new item and increase count by 1 .
c. If No Copy the whole thing to a temporary Array of Last Max. Size .
d. Create new Array with size ( Last Array Size + Increase Value )
e. Copy back values from temp and reference this new array as original array .
f. Must doing Method updates too , need to check it up .
What is Boxing and unboxing? Does it occure automaatically or u need to write code to
box and unbox?
Boxing – Process of converting a System.ValueType to Reference Type , Mostly base
class System.Object type and allocating it memory on Heap .Reverse is unboxing , but
can only be done with prior boxed variables.
Boxing is always implicit but Unboxing needs to be explicitly done via casting , thus
ensuring the value type contained inside .
How Boxing and unboxing occures in memory?
Boxing converts value type to reference type , thus allocating memory on Heap .
Unboxing converts already boxed reference types to value types through explicit casting ,
thus allocating memory on stack .

Why only boxed types can be unboxed?

Unboxing is the process of converting a Reference type variable to Value type and thus
allocating memory on the stack . It happens only to those Reference type variables that
have been earlier created by Boxing of a Value Type , therefore internally they contain a
value type , which can be obtained through explicit casting . For any other Reference type
, they don’t internally contain a Value type to Unboxed via explicit casting . This is why
only boxed types can be unboxed .
ADO.NET

Next>>
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.

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">

The DiffGram format consists of the following blocks of data:

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.

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.

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 ADO . Net Architecture ( .Net Data Provider)
ADO.Net is the data access model for .Net –based applications. It can be used to access
relational database systems such as SQL SERVER 2000, Oracle, and many other data
sources for which there is an OLD DB or ODBC provider. To a certain extent, ADO.NET
represents the latest evolution of ADO technology. However, ADO.NET introduces some
major changes and innovations that are aimed at the loosely coupled and inherently
disconnected – nature of web applications.
A .Net Framework data provider is used to connecting to a database, executing
commands, and retrieving results. Those results are either processed directly, or placed in
an ADO.NET DataSet in order to be exposed to the user in an ad-hoc manner, combined
with data from multiple sources, or remoted between tiers. The .NET Framework data
provider is designed to be lightweight, creating a minimal layer between the data source
and your code, increasing performance without sacrificing functionality.
Following are the 4 core objects of .Net Framework Data provider:
· Connection: Establishes a connection to a specific data source
· Command: Executes a command against a data source. Exposes Parameters and can
execute within the scope of a Transaction from a Connection.
· DataReader: Reads a forward-only, read-only stream of data from a data source.
· DataAdapter: Populates a DataSet and resolves updates with the data source.
The .NET Framework includes the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server (for
Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0 or later), the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE
DB, and the .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC.
The .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server: The .NET Framework Data
Provider for SQL Server uses its own protocol to communicate with SQL Server. It is
lightweight and performs well because it is optimized to access a SQL Server directly
without adding an OLE DB or Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) layer. The following
illustration contrasts the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server with the .NET
Framework Data Provider for OLE DB. The .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE
DB communicates to an OLE DB data source through both the OLE DB Service
component, which provides connection pooling and transaction services, and the OLE
DB Provider for the data source
The .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB: The .NET Framework Data Provider
for OLE DB uses native OLE DB through COM interoperability to enable data access.
The .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB supports both local and distributed
transactions. For distributed transactions, the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE
DB, by default, automatically enlists in a transaction and obtains transaction details from
Windows 2000 Component Services.
The .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC: The .NET Framework Data Provider for
ODBC uses native ODBC Driver Manager (DM) through COM interoperability to enable
data access. The ODBC data provider supports both local and distributed transactions.
For distributed transactions, the ODBC data provider, by default, automatically enlists in
a transaction and obtains transaction details from Windows 2000 Component Services.
The .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle: The .NET Framework Data Provider for
Oracle enables data access to Oracle data sources through Oracle client connectivity
software. The data provider supports Oracle client software version 8.1.7 and later. The
data provider supports both local and distributed transactions (the data provider
automatically enlists in existing distributed transactions, but does not currently support
the EnlistDistributedTransaction method).
The .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle requires that Oracle client software
(version 8.1.7 or later) be installed on the system before you can use it to connect to an
Oracle data source.
.NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle classes are located in the
System.Data.OracleClient namespace and are contained in the
System.Data.OracleClient.dll assembly. You will need to reference both the
System.Data.dll and the System.Data.OracleClient.dll when compiling an application that
uses the data provider.
Choosing a .NET Framework Data Provider
.NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server: Recommended for middle-tier
applications using Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later. Recommended for single-tier
applications using Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) or Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later.
Recommended over use of the OLE DB Provider for SQL Server (SQLOLEDB) with the
.NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB. For Microsoft SQL Server version 6.5 and
earlier, you must use the OLE DB Provider for SQL Server with the .NET Framework
Data Provider for OLE DB.
.NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB: Recommended for middle-tier applications
using Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 or earlier, or any OLE DB provider. For Microsoft SQL
Server 7.0 or later, the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server is recommended.
Recommended for single-tier applications using Microsoft Access databases. Use of a
Microsoft Access database for a middle-tier application is not recommended.
.NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC: Recommended for middle-tier applications
using ODBC data sources. Recommended for single-tier applications using ODBC data
sources.
.NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle: Recommended for middle-tier applications
using Oracle data sources. Recommended for single-tier applications using Oracle data
sources. Supports Oracle client software version 8.1.7 and later. The .NET Framework
Data Provider for Oracle classes are located in the System.Data.OracleClient namespace
and are contained in the System.Data.OracleClient.dll assembly. You need to reference
both the System.Data.dll and the System.Data.OracleClient.dll when compiling an
application that uses the data provider.
Can you explain the difference between an ADO.NET Dataset and an ADO Recordset?
Let’s take a look at the differences between ADO Recordset and ADO.Net DataSet:
1. Table Collection: ADO Recordset provides the ability to navigate through a single
table of information. That table would have been formed with a join of multiple tables
and returning columns from multiple tables. ADO.NET DataSet is capable of holding
instances of multiple tables. It has got a Table Collection, which holds multiple tables in
it. If the tables are having a relation, then it can be manipulated on a Parent-Child
relationship. It has the ability to support multiple tables with keys, constraints and
interconnected relationships. With this ability the DataSet can be considered as a small,
in-memory relational database cache.
2. Navigation: Navigation in ADO Recordset is based on the cursor mode. Even though it
is specified to be a client-side Recordset, still the navigation pointer will move from one
location to another on cursor model only. ADO.NET DataSet is an entirely offline, in-
memory, and cache of data. All of its data is available all the time. At any time, we can
retrieve any row or column, constraints or relation simply by accessing it either ordinarily
or by retrieving it from a name-based collection.
3. Connectivity Model: The ADO Recordset was originally designed without the ability
to operate in a disconnected environment. ADO.NET DataSet is specifically designed to
be a disconnected in-memory database. ADO.NET DataSet follows a pure disconnected
connectivity model and this gives it much more scalability and versatility in the amount
of things it can do and how easily it can do that.
4. Marshalling and Serialization: In COM, through Marshalling, we can pass data from 1
COM component to another component at any time. Marshalling involves copying and
processing data so that a complex type can appear to the receiving component the same
as it appeared to the sending component. Marshalling is an expensive operation.
ADO.NET Dataset and DataTable components support Remoting in the form of XML
serialization. Rather than doing expensive Marshalling, it uses XML and sent data across
boundaries.

5. Firewalls and DCOM and Remoting: Those who have worked with DCOM know that
how difficult it is to marshal a DCOM component across a router. People generally came
up with workarounds to solve this issue. ADO.NET DataSet uses Remoting, through
which a DataSet / DataTable component can be serialized into XML, sent across the wire
to a new AppDomain, and then Desterilized back to a fully functional DataSet. As the
DataSet is completely disconnected, and it has no dependency, we lose absolutely nothing
by serializing and transferring it through Remoting.

How do you handle data concurrency in .NET ?

One of the key features of the ADO.NET DataSet is that it can be a self-contained and
disconnected data store. It can contain the schema and data from several rowsets in
DataTable objects as well as information about how to relate the DataTable objects-all in
memory. The DataSet neither knows nor cares where the data came from, nor does it need
a link to an underlying data source. Because it is data source agnostic you can pass the
DataSet around networks or even serialize it to XML and pass it across the Internet
without losing any of its features. However, in a disconnected model, concurrency
obviously becomes a much bigger problem than it is in a connected model.
In this column, I'll explore how ADO.NET is equipped to detect and handle concurrency
violations. I'll begin by discussing scenarios in which concurrency violations can occur
using the ADO.NET disconnected model. Then I will walk through an ASP.NET
application that handles concurrency violations by giving the user the choice to overwrite
the changes or to refresh the out-of-sync data and begin editing again. Because part of
managing an optimistic concurrency model can involve keeping a timestamp
(rowversion) or another type of flag that indicates when a row was last updated, I will
show how to implement this type of flag and how to maintain its value after each
database update.

Is Your Glass Half Full?

There are three common techniques for managing what happens when users try to modify
the same data at the same time: pessimistic, optimistic, and last-in wins. They each
handle concurrency issues differently.
The pessimistic approach says: "Nobody can cause a concurrency violation with my data
if I do not let them get at the data while I have it." This tactic prevents concurrency in the
first place but it limits scalability because it prevents all concurrent access. Pessimistic
concurrency generally locks a row from the time it is retrieved until the time updates are
flushed to the database. Since this requires a connection to remain open during the entire
process, pessimistic concurrency cannot successfully be implemented in a disconnected
model like the ADO.NET DataSet, which opens a connection only long enough to
populate the DataSet then releases and closes, so a database lock cannot be held.
Another technique for dealing with concurrency is the last-in wins approach. This model
is pretty straightforward and easy to implement-whatever data modification was made
last is what gets written to the database. To implement this technique you only need to put
the primary key fields of the row in the UPDATE statement's WHERE clause. No matter
what is changed, the UPDATE statement will overwrite the changes with its own changes
since all it is looking for is the row that matches the primary key values. Unlike the
pessimistic model, the last-in wins approach allows users to read the data while it is being
edited on screen. However, problems can occur when users try to modify the same data at
the same time because users can overwrite each other's changes without being notified of
the collision. The last-in wins approach does not detect or notify the user of violations
because it does not care. However the optimistic technique does detect violations.
Contd....
In optimistic concurrency models, a row is only locked during the update to the database.
Therefore the data can be retrieved and updated by other users at any time other than
during the actual row update operation. Optimistic concurrency allows the data to be read
simultaneously by multiple users and blocks other users less often than its pessimistic
counterpart, making it a good choice for ADO.NET. In optimistic models, it is important
to implement some type of concurrency violation detection that will catch any additional
attempt to modify records that have already been modified but not committed. You can
write your code to handle the violation by always rejecting and canceling the change
request or by overwriting the request based on some business rules. Another way to
handle the concurrency violation is to let the user decide what to do. The sample
application that is shown in Figure 1 illustrates some of the options that can be presented
to the user in the event of a concurrency violation.
Where Did My Changes Go?
When users are likely to overwrite each other's changes, control mechanisms should be
put in place. Otherwise, changes could be lost. If the technique you're using is the last-in
wins approach, then these types of overwrites are entirely possible.For example, imagine
Julie wants to edit an employee's last name to correct the spelling. She navigates to a
screen which loads the employee's information into a DataSet and has it presented to her
in a Web page. Meanwhile, Scott is notified that the same employee's phone extension
has changed. While Julie is correcting the employee's last name, Scott begins to correct
his extension. Julie saves her changes first and then Scott saves his.Assuming that the
application uses the last-in wins approach and updates the row using a SQL WHERE
clause containing only the primary key's value, and assuming a change to one column
requires the entire row to be updated, neither Julie nor Scott may immediatelyrealize the
concurrency issue that just occurred. In this particular situation, Julie's changes were
overwritten by Scott's changes because he saved last, and the last name reverted to the
misspelled version.
So as you can see, even though the users changed different fields, their changes collided
and caused Julie's changes to be lost. Without some sort of concurrency detection and
handling, these types of overwrites can occur and even go unnoticed.When you run the
sample application included in this column's download, you should open two separate
instances of Microsoft® Internet Explorer. When I generated the conflict, I opened two
instances to simulate two users with two separate sessions so that a concurrency violation
would occur in the sample application. When you do this, be careful not to use Ctrl+N
because if you open one instance and then use the Ctrl+N technique to open another
instance, both windows will share the same session.
Detecting Violations
The concurrency violation reported to the user in Figure 1 demonstrates what can happen
when multiple users edit the same data at the same time. In Figure 1, the user attempted
to modify the first name to "Joe" but since someone else had already modified the last
name to "Fuller III," a concurrency violation was detected and reported. ADO.NET
detects a concurrency violation when a DataSet containing changed values is passed to a
SqlDataAdapter's Update method and no rows are actually modified. Simply using the
primary key (in this case the EmployeeID) in the UPDATE statement's WHERE clause
will not cause a violation to be detected because it still updates the row (in fact, this
technique has the same outcome as the last-in wins technique). Instead, more conditions
must be specified in the WHERE clause in order for ADO.NET to detect the violation.
The key here is to make the WHERE clause explicit enough so that it not only checks the
primary key but that it also checks for another appropriate condition. One way to
accomplish this is to pass in all modifiable fields to the WHERE clause in addition to the
primary key. For example, the application shown in Figure 1 could have its UPDATE
statement look like the stored procedure that's shown in Figure 2.
Notice that in the code in Figure 2 nullable columns are also checked to see if the value
passed in is NULL. This technique is not only messy but it can be difficult to maintain by
hand and it requires you to test for a significant number of WHERE conditions just to
update a row. This yields the desired result of only updating rows where none of the
values have changed since the last time the user got the data, but there are other
techniques that do not require such a huge WHERE clause.
Another way to make sure that the row is only updated if it has not been modified by
another user since you got the data is to add a timestamp column to the table. The SQL
Server(tm) TIMESTAMP datatype automatically updates itself with a new value every
time a value in its row is modified. This makes it a very simple and convenient tool to
help detect concurrency violations.
A third technique is to use a DATETIME column in which to track changes to its row. In
my sample application I added a column called LastUpdateDateTime to the Employees
table.
ALTER TABLE Employees ADD LastUpdateDateTime DATETIME
There I update the value of the LastUpdateDateTime field automatically in the UPDATE
stored procedure using the built-in SQL Server GETDATE function.
The binary TIMESTAMP column is simple to create and use since it automatically
regenerates its value each time its row is modified, but since the DATETIME column
technique is easier to display on screen and demonstrate when the change was made, I
chose it for my sample application. Both of these are solid choices, but I prefer the
TIMESTAMP technique since it does not involve any additional code to update its value.
Retrieving Row Flags
One of the keys to implementing concurrency controls is to update the timestamp or
datetime field's value back into the DataSet. If the same user wants to make more
modifications, this updated value is reflected in the DataSet so it can be used again. There
are a few different ways to do this. The fastest is using output parameters within the
stored procedure. (This should only return if @@ROWCOUNT equals 1.) The next
fastest involves selecting the row again after the UPDATE within the stored procedure.
The slowest involves selecting the row from another SQL statement or stored procedure
from the SqlDataAdapter's RowUpdated event.
I prefer to use the output parameter technique since it is the fastest and incurs the least
overhead. Using the RowUpdated event works well, but it requires me to make a second
call from the application to the database. The following code snippet adds an output
parameter to the SqlCommand object that is used to update the Employee information:
oUpdCmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@NewLastUpdateDateTime",
SqlDbType.DateTime, 8, ParameterDirection.Output,
false, 0, 0, "LastUpdateDateTime", DataRowVersion.Current, null));
oUpdCmd.UpdatedRowSource = UpdateRowSource.OutputParameters;
The output parameter has its sourcecolumn and sourceversion arguments set to point the
output parameter's return value back to the current value of the LastUpdateDateTime
column of the DataSet. This way the updated DATETIME value is retrieved and can be
returned to the user's .aspx page. Contd....
Saving Changes
Now that the Employees table has the tracking field (LastUpdateDateTime) and the
stored procedure has been created to use both the primary key and the tracking field in
the WHERE clause of the UPDATE statement, let's take a look at the role of ADO.NET.
In order to trap the event when the user changes the values in the textboxes, I created an
event handler for the TextChanged event for each TextBox control:
private void txtLastName_TextChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
// Get the employee DataRow (there is only 1 row, otherwise I could
// do a Find)
dsEmployee.EmployeeRow oEmpRow =
(dsEmployee.EmployeeRow)oDsEmployee.Employee.Rows[0];
oEmpRow.LastName = txtLastName.Text;
// Save changes back to Session
Session["oDsEmployee"] = oDsEmployee;
}
This event retrieves the row and sets the appropriate field's value from the TextBox.
(Another way of getting the changed values is to grab them when the user clicks the Save
button.) Each TextChanged event executes after the Page_Load event fires on a postback,
so assuming the user changed the first and last names, when the user clicks the Save
button, the events could fire in this order: Page_Load, txtFirstName_TextChanged,
txtLastName_TextChanged, and btnSave_Click.
The Page_Load event grabs the row from the DataSet in the Session object; the
TextChanged events update the DataRow with the new values; and the btnSave_Click
event attempts to save the record to the database. The btnSave_Click event calls the
SaveEmployee method (shown in Figure 3) and passes it a bLastInWins value of false
since we want to attempt a standard save first. If the SaveEmployee method detects that
changes were made to the row (using the HasChanges method on the DataSet, or
alternatively using the RowState property on the row), it creates an instance of the
Employee class and passes the DataSet to its SaveEmployee method. The Employee class
could live in a logical or physical middle tier. (I wanted to make this a separate class so it
would be easy to pull the code out and separate it from the presentation logic.)
Notice that I did not use the GetChanges method to pull out only the modified rows and
pass them to the Employee object's Save method. I skipped this step here since there is
only one row. However, if there were multiple rows in the DataSet's DataTable, it would
be better to use the GetChanges method to create a DataSet that contains only the
modified rows.
If the save succeeds, the Employee.SaveEmployee method returns a DataSet containing
the modified row and its newly updated row version flag (in this case, the
LastUpdateDateTime field's value). This DataSet is then merged into the original DataSet
so that the LastUpdateDateTime field's value can be updated in the original DataSet. This
must be done because if the user wants to make more changes she will need the current
values from the database merged back into the local DataSet and shown on screen. This
includes the LastUpdateDateTime value which is used in the WHERE clause. Without
this field's current value, a false concurrency violation would occur.
Reporting Violations
If a concurrency violation occurs, it will bubble up and be caught by the exception
handler shown in Figure 3 in the catch block for DBConcurrencyException. This block
calls the FillConcurrencyValues method, which displays both the original values in the
DataSet that were attempted to be saved to the database and the values currently in the
database. This method is used merely to show the user why the violation occurred. Notice
that the exDBC variable is passed to the FillConcurrencyValues method. This instance of
the special database concurrency exception class (DBConcurrencyException) contains
the row where the violation occurred. When a concurrency violation occurs, the screen is
updated to look like Figure 1.
The DataSet not only stores the schema and the current data, it also tracks changes that
have been made to its data. It knows which rows and columns have been modified and it
keeps track of the before and after versions of these values. When accessing a column's
value via the DataRow's indexer, in addition to the column index you can also specify a
value using the DataRowVersion enumerator. For example, after a user changes the value
of the last name of an employee, the following lines of C# code will retrieve the original
and current values stored in the LastName column:
string sLastName_Before = oEmpRow["LastName", DataRowVersion.Original];
string sLastName_After = oEmpRow["LastName", DataRowVersion.Current];
The FillConcurrencyValues method uses the row from the DBConcurrencyException and
gets a fresh copy of the same row from the database. It then displays the values using the
DataRowVersion enumerators to show the original value of the row before the update and
the value in the database alongside the current values in the textboxes.
User's Choice
Once the user has been notified of the concurrency issue, you could leave it up to her to
decide how to handle it. Another alternative is to code a specific way to deal with
concurrency, such as always handling the exception to let the user know (but refreshing
the data from the database). In this sample application I let the user decide what to do
next. She can either cancel changes, cancel and reload from the database, save changes,
or save anyway.
The option to cancel changes simply calls the RejectChanges method of the DataSet and
rebinds the DataSet to the controls in the ASP.NET page. The RejectChanges method
reverts the changes that the user made back to its original state by setting all of the
current field values to the original field values. The option to cancel changes and reload
the data from the database also rejects the changes but additionally goes back to the
database via the Employee class in order to get a fresh copy of the data before rebinding
to the control on the ASP.NET page.
The option to save changes attempts to save the changes but will fail if a concurrency
violation is encountered. Finally, I included a "save anyway" option. This option takes the
values the user attempted to save and uses the last-in wins technique, overwriting
whatever is in the database. It does this by calling a different command object associated
with a stored procedure that only uses the primary key field (EmployeeID) in the
WHERE clause of the UPDATE statement. This technique should be used with caution as
it will overwrite the record.
If you want a more automatic way of dealing with the changes, you could get a fresh
copy from the database. Then overwrite just the fields that the current user modified, such
as the Extension field. That way, in the example I used the proper LastName would not
be overwritten. Use this with caution as well, however, because if the same field was
modified by both users, you may want to just back out or ask the user what to do next.
What is obvious here is that there are several ways to deal with concurrency violations,
each of which must be carefully weighed before you decide on the one you will use in
your application.
Wrapping It Up
Setting the SqlDataAdapter's ContinueUpdateOnError property tells the SqlDataAdapter
to either throw an exception when a concurrency violation occurs or to skip the row that
caused the violation and to continue with the remaining updates. By setting this property
to false (its default value), it will throw an exception when it encounters a concurrency
violation. This technique is ideal when only saving a single row or when you are
attempting to save multiple rows and want them all to commit or all to fail.

I have split the topic of concurrency violation management into two parts. Next time I
will focus on what to do when multiple rows could cause concurrency violations. I will
also discuss how the DataViewRowState enumerators can be used to show what changes
have been made to a DataSet.
How you will set the datarelation between two columns?
ADO.NET provides DataRelation object to set relation between two columns.It helps to
enforce the following constraints,a unique constraint, which guarantees that a column in
the table contains no duplicates and a foreign-key constraint,which can be used to
maintain referential integrity.A unique constraint is implemented either by simply setting
the Unique property of a data column to true, or by adding an instance of the
UniqueConstraint class to the DataRelation object's ParentKeyConstraint. As part of the
foreign-key constraint, you can specify referential integrity rules that are applied at three
points,when a parent record is updated,when a parent record is deleted and when a
change is accepted or rejected.
C# and VB.NET

Next>>
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;

What does a character do?

On most systems, produces a rather annoying beep.
Can you create enumerated data types in C#?
Yes.
What's different about switch statements in C#?
No fall-throughs allowed.
What happens when you encounter a continue statement inside the for loop?
The code for the rest of the loop is ignored, the control is transferred back to the
beginning of the loop.
How can you sort the elements of the array in descending order?
By calling Sort() and then Reverse() methods.
Will finally block get executed if the exception had not occurred?
Yes.
What's the C# equivalent of C++ catch (…), which was a catch-all statement for any
possible exception?
A catch block that catches the exception of type System.Exception. You can also omit the
parameter data type in this case and just write catch {}.
Can multiple catch blocks be executed?
No, once the proper catch code fires off, the control is transferred to the finally block (if
there are any), and then whatever follows the finally block.
Why is it a bad idea to throw your own exceptions?
Well, if at that point you know that an error has occurred, then why not write the proper
code to handle that error instead of passing a new Exception object to the catch block?
Throwing your own exceptions signifies some design flaws in the project.
What's the difference between // comments, /* */ comments and /// comments?
Single-line, multi-line and XML documentation comments.
How do you generate documentation from the C# file commented properly with a
command-line compiler?
Compile it with a /doc switch.
Can you change the value of a variable while debugging a C# application?
Yes, if you are debugging via Visual Studio.NET, just go to Immediate window.
What's the implicit name of the parameter that gets passed into the class' set method?
Value, and it's datatype depends on whatever variable we're changing.
How do you inherit from a class in C#?
Place a colon and then the name of the base class. Notice that it's double colon in C++.
Does C# support multiple inheritance?
No, use interfaces instead.
So how do you retrieve the customized properties of a .NET application from XML
.config file? Can you automate this process?
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.
Why is it not a good idea to insert code into InitializeComponent method when working
with Visual Studio?
The designer will likely through it away, most of the code inside InitializeComponent is
auto-generated.
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 are jagged array?
First lets us answer the question that what an array is?
The dictionary meaning of array is an orderly arrangement or sequential arrangement of
elements.
In computer science term:
An array is a data structure that contains a number of variables, which are accessed
through computed indices. The variables contained in an array, also called the elements of
the array, are all of the same type, and this type is called the element type of the array.
An array has a rank that determines the number of indices associated with each array
element. The rank of an array is also referred to as the dimensions of the array. An array
with a rank of one is called a single-dimensional array. An array with a rank greater than
one is called a multi-dimensional array. Specific sized multidimensional arrays are often
referred to as two-dimensional arrays, three-dimensional arrays, and so on.
Now let us answer What are jagged arrays?
A jagged array is an array whose elements are arrays. The elements of jagged array can
be of different dimensions and sizes. A jagged array is sometimes called as “array-of-
arrays”. It is called jagged because each of its rows is of different size so the final or
graphical representation is not a square.
When you create a jagged array you declare the number of rows in your array. Each row
will hold an array that will be on any length. Before filling the values in the inner arrays
you must declare them.
Jagged array declaration in C#:
For e.g. : int [] [] myJaggedArray = new int [3][];
Declaration of inner arrays:

myJaggedArray[0] = new int[5] ; // First inner array will be of length 5.

myJaggedArray[1] = new int[4] ; // Second inner array will be of length 4.
myJaggedArray[2] = new int[3] ; // Third inner array will be of length 3.
Now to access third element of second row we write:
int value = myJaggedArray[1][2];
Note that while declaring the array the second dimension is not supplied because this you
will declare later on in the code.
Jagged array are created out of single dimensional arrays so be careful while using them.
Don’t confuse it with multi-dimensional arrays because unlike them jagged arrays are not
rectangular arrays.
For more information on arrays:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-
us/csref/html/vclrfarrayspg.asp
What is a delegate, why should you use it and how do you call it ?
A delegate is a reference type that refers to a Shared method of a type or to an instance
method of an object. Delegate is like a function pointer in C and C++. Pointers are used
to store the address of a thing. Delegate lets some other code call your function without
needing to know where your function is actually located. All events in .NET actually use
delegates in the background to wire up events. Events are really just a modified form of a
delegate.
It should give you an idea of some different areas in which delegates may be appropriate:
· They enable callback functionality in multi-tier applications as demonstrated in the
examples above.
· The CacheItemRemoveCallback delegate can be used in ASP.NET to keep cached
information up to date. When the cached information is removed for any reason, the
associated callback is exercised and could contain a reload of the cached information.
· Use delegates to facilitate asynchronous processing for methods that do not offer
asynchronous behavior.
· Events use delegates so clients can give the application events to call when the event is
fired. Exposing custom events within your applications requires the use of delegates.
How does the XmlSerializer work?
XmlSerializer in the .NET Framework is a great tool to convert Xml into runtime objects
and vice versa
If you define integer variable and a object variable and a structure then how those will be
plotted in memory.
Integer , structure – System.ValueType -- Allocated memory on stack , infact integer is
primitive type recognized and allocated memory by compiler itself .
Infact , System.Int32 definition is as follows :
[C#]
[Serializable]
public struct Int32 : IComparable, IFormattable, IConvertible
So , it’s a struct by definition , which is the same case with various other value types .
Object – Base class , that is by default reference type , so at runtime JIT compiler
allocates memory on the “Heap” Data structure .
Reference types are defined as class , derived directly or indirectly by
System.ReferenceType
WebServices And Windows Services

Next>>
Can you give an example of when it would be appropriate to use a web service as
opposed to non-serviced .NET component
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.
What is the standard you use to wrap up a call to a Web service
"SOAP.
"
What is the transport protocol you use to call a Web service SOAP
HTTP with SOAP

What does WSDL stand for?

"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"

Where on the Internet would you look for Web Services?

www.uddi.org

What does WSDL stand for?

Web Services Description Language

True or False: To test a Web service you must create a windows application or Web
application to consume this service?
False.

What are the various ways of accessing a web service ?

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.
The WaitHandle class share resources between several objects. It provides several
methods which will wait for the resources to become available
The easiest and most powerful way to to implement an asynchronous call is using a
delegate object. A delegate object wraps up a callback function. The idea is to pass a
method in the invocation of the web method. When the webmethod has finished it will
call this callback function to process the result

2.Synchronous Call
Application has to wait until execution has completed.

What are VSDISCO files?

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 elements:

xmlns="urn:schemas-dynamicdiscovery:disco.2000-03-17">
How does dynamic discovery work?
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 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.

Is it possible to prevent a browser from caching an ASPX page?

Just call SetNoStore on the HttpCachePolicy object exposed through the Response
object's Cache property, as demonstrated here:

SetNoStore works by returning a Cache-Control: private, no-store header in the HTTP

response. In this example, it prevents caching of a Web page that shows the current time.

What does AspCompat="true" mean and when should I use it?

AspCompat is an aid in migrating ASP pages to ASPX pages. It defaults to false but
should be set to true in any ASPX file that creates apartment-threaded COM objects--that
is, COM objects registered ThreadingModel=Apartment. That includes all COM objects
written with Visual Basic 6.0. AspCompat should also be set to true (regardless of
threading model) if the page creates COM objects that access intrinsic ASP objects such
as Request and Response. The following directive sets AspCompat to true:

Setting AspCompat to true does two things. First, it makes intrinsic ASP objects available
to the COM components by placing unmanaged wrappers around the equivalent
ASP.NET objects. Second, it improves the performance of calls that the page places to
apartment- threaded COM objects by ensuring that the page (actually, the thread that
processes the request for the page) and the COM objects it creates share an apartment.
AspCompat="true" forces ASP.NET request threads into single-threaded apartments
(STAs). If those threads create COM objects marked ThreadingModel=Apartment, then
the objects are created in the same STAs as the threads that created them. Without
AspCompat="true," request threads run in a multithreaded apartment (MTA) and each
call to an STA-based COM object incurs a performance hit when it's marshaled across
apartment boundaries.
Do not set AspCompat to true if your page uses no COM objects or if it uses COM
objects that don't access ASP intrinsic objects and that are registered
ThreadingModel=Free or ThreadingModel=Both.

Can two different programming languages be mixed in a single ASMX file?

No.

What namespaces are imported by default in ASMX files?

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
How do I provide information to the Web Service when the information is required as a
SOAP Header?
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 = ;
Web Servicestring strResult = objSvc.MyBillableWebMethod();

What is WSDL?
WSDL is the Web Service Description Language, and it is implemented as a specific
XML vocabulary. While it's very much more complex than what can be described here,
there are two important aspects to WSDL with which you should be aware. First, WSDL
provides instructions to consumers of Web Services to describe the layout and contents of
the SOAP packets the Web Service intends to issue. It's an interface description
document, of sorts. And second, it isn't intended that you read and interpret the WSDL.
Rather, WSDL should be processed by machine, typically to generate proxy source code
(.NET) or create dynamic proxies on the fly (the SOAP Toolkit or Web Service
Behavior).

What is a Windows Service and how does its lifecycle differ from a "standard" EXE?
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

How can a win service developed in .NET be installed or used in Win98?

Windows service cannot be installed on Win9x machines even though the .NET
framework runs on machine.
Can you debug a Windows Service? How ?
Yes we can debug a Windows Service.
Attach the WinDbg debugger to a service after the service starts
This method is similar to the method that you can use to attach a debugger to a process
and then debug a process.
Use the process ID of the process that hosts the service that you want to debug
1 To determine the process ID (PID) of the process that hosts the service that you want to
debug, use one of the following methods.
• Method 1: Use the Task Manager
a. Right-click the taskbar, and then click Task Manager. The Windows Task Manager
dialog box appears.
b. Click the Processes tab of the Windows Task Manager dialog box.
c. Under Image Name, click the image name of the process that hosts the service that you
want to debug. Note the process ID of this process as specified by the value of the
corresponding PID field.
• Method 2: Use the Task List Utility (tlist.exe)
a. Click Start, and then click Run. The Run dialog box appears.
b. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
c. At the command prompt, change the directory path to reflect the location of the
tlist.exe file on your computer.

Note The tlist.exe file is typically located in the following directory: C:Program
FilesDebugging Tools for Windows
d. At the command prompt, type tlist to list the image names and the process IDs of all
processes that are currently running on your computer.

Note Make a note of the process ID of the process that hosts the service that you want to
debug.
2 At a command prompt, change the directory path to reflect the location of the
windbg.exe file on your computer.

Note If a command prompt is not open, follow steps a and b of Method 1. The
windbg.exe file is typically located in the following directory: C:Program
FilesDebugging Tools for Windows.
3 At the command prompt, type windbg –p ProcessID to attach the WinDbg debugger to
the process that hosts the service that you want to debug.
Note ProcessID is a placeholder for the process ID of the process that hosts the service
that you want to debug.

Use the image name of the process that hosts the service that you want to debug

You can use this method only if there is exactly one running instance of the process that
hosts the service that you want to run. To do this, follow these steps:
1 Click Start, and then click Run. The Run dialog box appears.
2 In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK to open a command prompt.
3 At the command prompt, change the directory path to reflect the location of the
windbg.exe file on your computer.

Note The windbg.exe file is typically located in the following directory: C:Program
FilesDebugging Tools for Windows.
4 At the command prompt, type windbg –pn ImageName to attach the WinDbg debugger
to the process that hosts the service that you want to debug.

NoteImageName is a placeholder for the image name of the process that hosts the service
that you want to debug. The "-pn" command-line option specifies that the ImageName
command-line argument is the image name of a process.
back to the top
Start the WinDbg debugger and attach to the process that hosts the service that you want
to debug

1 Start Windows Explorer.

2 Locate the windbg.exe file on your computer.

Note The windbg.exe file is typically located in the following directory: C:Program
FilesDebugging Tools for Windows
3 Run the windbg.exe file to start the WinDbg debugger.
4 On the File menu, click Attach to a Process to display the Attach to Process dialog box.
5 Click to select the node that corresponds to the process that hosts the service that you
want to debug, and then click OK.
6 In the dialog box that appears, click Yes to save base workspace information. Notice
that you can now debug the disassembled code of your service.
Configure a service to start with the WinDbg debugger attached
You can use this method to debug services if you want to troubleshoot service-startup-
related problems.
1 Configure the "Image File Execution" options. To do this, use one of the following
methods:
• Method 1: Use the Global Flags Editor (gflags.exe)
a. Start Windows Explorer.
b. Locate the gflags.exe file on your computer.
Note The gflags.exe file is typically located in the following directory: C:Program
FilesDebugging Tools for Windows.
c. Run the gflags.exe file to start the Global Flags Editor.
d. In the Image File Name text box, type the image name of the process that hosts the
service that you want to debug. For example, if you want to debug a service that is hosted
by a process that has MyService.exe as the image name, type MyService.exe.
e. Under Destination, click to select the Image File Options option.
f. Under Image Debugger Options, click to select the Debugger check box.
g. In the Debugger text box, type the full path of the debugger that you want to use. For
example, if you want to use the WinDbg debugger to debug a service, you can type a full
path that is similar to the following: C:Program FilesDebugging Tools for
Windowswindbg.exe
h. Click Apply, and then click OK to quit the Global Flags Editor.
• Method 2: Use Registry Editor
a. Click Start, and then click Run. The Run dialog box appears.
b. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK to start Registry Editor.
c. Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that
may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you
can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor
at your own risk.

In Registry Editor, locate, and then right-click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionImage
File Execution Options
d. Point to New, and then click Key. In the left pane of Registry Editor, notice that New
Key #1 (the name of a new registry subkey) is selected for editing.
e. Type ImageName to replace New Key #1, and then press ENTER.

Note ImageName is a placeholder for the image name of the process that hosts the
service that you want to debug. For example, if you want to debug a service that is hosted
by a process that has MyService.exe as the image name, type MyService.exe.
f. Right-click the registry subkey that you created in step e.
g. Point to New, and then click String Value. In the right pane of Registry Editor, notice
that New Value #1, the name of a new registry entry, is selected for editing.
h. Replace New Value #1 with Debugger, and then press ENTER.
i. Right-click the Debugger registry entry that you created in step h, and then click
Modify. The Edit String dialog box appears.
j. In the Value data text box, type DebuggerPath, and then click OK.

Note DebuggerPath is a placeholder for the full path of the debugger that you want to
use. For example, if you want to use the WinDbg debugger to debug a service, you can
type a full path that is similar to the following: C:Program FilesDebugging Tools for
Windowswindbg.exe
2 For the debugger window to appear on your desktop, and to interact with the debugger,
make your service interactive. If you do not make your service interactive, the debugger
will start but you cannot see it and you cannot issue commands. To make your service
interactive, use one of the following methods:
• Method 1: Use the Services console
a. Click Start, and then point to Programs.
b. On the Programs menu, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services. The
Services console appears.
c. In the right pane of the Services console, right-click ServiceName, and then click
Properties.

Note ServiceName is a placeholder for the name of the service that you want to debug.
d. On the Log On tab, click to select the Allow service to interact with desktop check box
under Local System account, and then click OK.
• Method 2: Use Registry Editor
a. In Registry Editor, locate, and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesServiceName
Note Replace ServiceName with the name of the service that you want to debug. For
example, if you want to debug a service named MyService, locate and then click the
following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesMyService
b. Under the Name field in the right pane of Registry Editor, right-click Type, and then
click Modify. The Edit DWORD Value dialog box appears.
c. Change the text in the Value data text box to the result of the binary OR operation with
the binary value of the current text and the binary value, 0x00000100, as the two
operands. The binary value, 0x00000100, corresponds to the
SERVICE_INTERACTIVE_PROCESS constant that is defined in the WinNT.h header
file on your computer. This constant specifies that a service is interactive in nature.
3 When a service starts, the service communicates to the Service Control Manager how
long the service must have to start (the time-out period for the service). If the Service
Control Manager does not receive a "service started" notice from the service within this
time-out period, the Service Control Manager terminates the process that hosts the
service. This time-out period is typically less than 30 seconds. If you do not adjust this
time-out period, the Service Control Manager ends the process and the attached debugger
while you are trying to debug. To adjust this time-out period, follow these steps:
a. In Registry Editor, locate, and then right-click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl
b. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value. In the right pane of Registry Editor,
notice that New Value #1 (the name of a new registry entry) is selected for editing.
c. Type ServicesPipeTimeout to replace New Value #1, and then press ENTER.
d. Right-click the ServicesPipeTimeout registry entry that you created in step c, and then
click Modify. The Edit DWORD Value dialog box appears.
e. In the Value data text box, type TimeoutPeriod, and then click OK

Note TimeoutPeriod is a placeholder for the value of the time-out period (in milliseconds)
that you want to set for the service. For example, if you want to set the time-out period to
24 hours (86400000 milliseconds), type 86400000.
f. Restart the computer. You must restart the computer for Service Control Manager to
apply this change.
4 Start your Windows service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, and then point to Programs.
b. On the Programs menu, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services. The
Services console appears.
c. In the right pane of the Services console, right-click ServiceName, and then click Start.

Note ServiceName is a placeholder for the name of the service that you want to debug.

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.
Remoting FAQ's

What distributed process frameworks outside .NET do you know?

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.

What are CAO's i.e. Client Activated Objects ?

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.
In COM, clients hold an object in memory by holding a reference to it. When the last
client releases its last reference, the object can delete itself. Client activation provides the
same client control over the server object's lifetime, but without the complexity of
maintaining references or the constant pinging to confirm the continued existence of the
server or client. Instead, client-activated objects use lifetime leases to determine how long
they should continue to exist. When a client creates a remote object, it can specify a
default length of time that the object should exist. If the remote object reaches its default
lifetime limit, it contacts the client to ask whether it should continue to exist, and if so,
for how much longer. If the client is not currently available, a default time is also
specified for how long the server object should wait while trying to contact the client
before marking itself for garbage collection. The client might even request an indefinite
default lifetime, effectively preventing the remote object from ever being recycled until
the server application domain is torn down. The difference between this and a server-
activated indefinite lifetime is that an indefinite server-activated object will serve all
client requests for that type, whereas the client-activated instances serve only the client
and the reference that was responsible for their creation. For more information, see
Lifetime Leases.
To create an instance of a client-activated type, clients either configure their application
programmatically (or using a configuration file) and call new (New in Visual Basic), or
they pass the remote object's configuration in a call to Activator.CreateInstance. The
following code example shows such a call, assuming a TcpChannel has been registered to
listen on port 8080.

How many processes can listen on a single TCP/IP port?

One.

What technology enables out-of-proc communication in .NET?

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.

How can objects in two diff. App Doimains communicate with each other?
.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
What is the difference between .Net Remoting and Web Services?
Although we can develop an application using both technologies, each of them has its
distinct advantages. Yes you can look at them in terms of performance but you need to
consider your need first. There are many other factors such authentications, authorizing in
process that need to be considered.
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.
WinForms FAQ :

What base class do all Web Forms inherit from?

System.Windows.Forms.Form

What is the difference between Debug.Write and Trace.Write? When should each be
used?
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.

Difference between Anchor and Dock Properties?

Dock Property->Gets or sets which edge of the parent container a control is docked to. A
control can be docked to one edge of its parent container or can be docked to all edges
and fill the parent container. For example, if you set this property to DockStyle.Left, the
left edge of the
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.

When would you use ErrorProvider control?

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();
}
private bool ValidateName()
{
bool bStatus = true;
if (textBox1.Text == "")
{
errorProvider1.SetError (textBox1,"Please enter your Name");
bStatus = false;
}
else
errorProvider1.SetError (textBox1,"");
return bStatus;
}
it check the textBox1 is empty . If it is empty, then a message Please enter your name is
displayed.

Can you write a class without specifying namespace? Which namespace does it belong to
by default??
Yes, you can, then the class belongs to global namespace which has no name. For
commercial products, naturally, you wouldn't want global namespace.

You are designing a GUI application with a windows and several widgets on it. The user
then resizes the app window and sees a lot of grey space, while the widgets stay in place.
What's the problem?
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.

How can you save the desired properties of Windows Forms application?
.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.

So how do you retrieve the customized properties of a .NET application from XML
.config file?
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.

Can you automate this process?

In Visual Studio yes, use Dynamic Properties for automatic .config creation, storage and
retrieval.
My progress bar freezes up and dialog window shows blank, when an intensive
background process takes over.
Yes, you should've multi-threaded your GUI, with taskbar and main form being one
thread, and the background process being the other.

What's the safest way to deploy a Windows Forms app?

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.

Why is it not a good idea to insert code into InitializeComponent method when working
with Visual Studio?
The designer will likely through it away, most of the code inside InitializeComponent is
auto-generated.

What's the difference between WindowsDefaultLocation and WindowsDefaultBounds?

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.

What's the difference between Move and LocationChanged? Resize and SizeChanged?
Both methods do the same, Move and Resize are the names adopted from VB to ease
migration to C#.

How would you create a non-rectangular window, let's say an ellipse?

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.

How do you create a separator in the Menu Designer?

A hyphen '-' would do it. Also, an ampersand '&' would underline the next letter.

How's anchoring different from docking?

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.

How do you trigger the Paint event in System.Drawing?

Invalidate the current form, the OS will take care of repainting. The Update method
forces the repaint.

With these events, why wouldn't Microsoft combine Invalidate and Paint, so that you
wouldn't have to tell it to repaint, and then to force it to 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.

How can you assign an RGB color to a System.Drawing.Color object?

Call the static method FromArgb of this class and pass it the RGB values.

What class does Icon derive from?

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.

Before in my VB app I would just load the icons from DLL. How can I load the icons
provided by .NET dynamically?
By using System.Drawing.SystemIcons class, for example
System.Drawing.SystemIcons.Warning produces an Icon with a warning sign in it.

When displaying fonts, what's the difference between pixels, points and ems?
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.

BEWARE THE QUIRKS OF THE INTERVIEWER

INTERVIEWS that are intended to focus on candidate’s competence are almost always
about personality, too.
There are countless books on interviewing professionals what traits to look for, what
questions to ask and how to interpret the answers. But the role of the interviewer is rarely
taken into account. Do interviewers of different personality types make different
decisions on the same people, given the same criteria?
A candidate may tick all the boxes as regards ability, attitude, experience, personality and
values. So why will one interviewer think he or she is perfect for the post when an other
does not? It may be that the personality of the interviewer has to be included in the
equation.

Extroverts usually enjoy interviewing. They are “People’s people”: sociable, eager to be
amused and entertained and often entertaining themselves. They probably talk too much
and listen too little. They may not do their preparation as thoroughly as they should. They
may be impatient and inattentive in along interviews. And, of course, they are attracted to
vivacious (if vacuous) candidates.
Introverts make very different, and often diffident, interviewers. They pause more,
seeming hesitant when they are processing information. They can find the whole process
tiring and intimidating and feel more for those candidates who are similar to themselves.
They usually take the data gathering seriously and see the whole process as a semi-
scientific exercise. In the same way as their extroverted colleagues, though, they probably
tend to favour people of a similar disposition. The trouble is that introverts rarely
volunteer for interviewing assignments.

And what of the “sensitive” (neurotic) interviewers? They are the fragile flowers of the
world. They are prone to stress and generally don’t like people whom they see as
threatening. They can be bitchy and critical, wary and judgmental.

Neurotic interviewers can easily feel threatened by a “mover and shaker”. They worry
about things: the present, the future, their reputation, their security, their ability and so on.
They listen carefully to the candidates answer to questions about work life balance,
diversity, counselling and other issues. If they don’t like what they hear, in response to
salient as well as less relevant questions, their instinct is to push the reject button.

Stable interviewers, like stable employees, are better news. They are less irritable and
moody and better able to weigh the information. They worry less about what might go
wrong and cope well with all the little dramas at interviews. They tend to be calm,
focused and rational.

Agreeable interviewers are warm, trusting and empathise with the candidate. They
understand that interviews can be stressful. They are concerned about making the
interviewee comfortable and relaxed and believe that they get the best out of others by
giving them a chance.

Less agreeable and likable types believe that you understand people by “putting them on
the spot”. They treat the interviews as a Paxman style grilling. They cross-examine –
often pushing candidates to give details of failures that don’t appear on the CV. They are
hard to please, cynical, tough, and world-weary and care little for the interviewee’s
comfort.

The ambition and achievement needs of interviewers are also relevant. Paradoxically,
interviewers with small or grand ambitions may both be intimidated by the obviously
ambitious candidate.Those with low aspirations can feel intimidated by thrusting MBAs
who want to be on the board at 30 and retired at 40 .
The highly ambitious interviewer sees candidates like these as a threat.

What of the interviewers own abilities? How are bright, educated interviewers different
from the less talented? Here’s another paradox: the clever prefer discriminating questions,
the dim prefer “clever” questions. Brighter people tend to have a bigger vocabulary and
think fast. They ask good questions.

The interview is a social process. It can be a sophisticated, intellectual, theatrical show: a

hall of mirrors, a game of bluff and counterbluff. And there is no doubt that “gut feeling”
plays a big part on both sides.
So what’s the moral for employers? First, acknowledge that the interviewer’s make up
(ability and personality) inevitably plays a part.
Second, try to work out how specific interviewers react to particular candidates. Third,
use multiple interviewers but particularly those with the ability and personality profiles
found among those actually applying for the job in question.

Fourth, where possible, try to encourage greater insights in your interviewers. Fifth,
choose-or train-interviewers who are bright, stable and scientious.

Salary Negotiation Basics

Many people see negotiation as a process of each party trying to get the most for what
they have to give. And that's a reasonable way to look at it when you're buying or selling
a car, a computer, or a carpet. It's tempting to look at job negotiations in the same way—
but not advisable.

Shoot for Fair

When you're negotiating an employment contract, you're negotiating the basis for a
relationship, and you want to live happily together. This doesn't mean that you have to
arrive at a compromise, but that you should come to an agreement that both parties feel is
fair.

There are at least four factors that can increase your perceived worth. All of them fit into
the context of networking and interviewing, and all of them can be turned to your
advantage without alienating potential employers.

1. How You See and Present Yourself

Are you confident?
Do you speak convincingly about your accomplishments?
Do you have a clear and credible objective?
Do you understand and seem to fit in with the company's culture?
You will generate more buyer enthusiasm if the company sees you as a long-term asset
than if it sees you only as right for this particular job.

2. How the Company Sees the Value of the Work to Be Done

This is your opportunity to put the work in a broader context than the company may see.
Instead of talking about providing good customer service, for example, you might discuss
retaining valued customers and increasing business activity. If you present some
convincing illustrations, the job might seem worthy of a higher valuation—including,
perhaps, a bonus for achieving objectives that you help define.

3. How the Company Perceives Your Appropriateness for the Job

You want to demonstrate that what you've learned and achieved in the past, along with
your understanding of the company's needs, makes you more qualified than other
candidates.
4. How Your Discussion of Compensation and Benefits Plays Out

Your attention to the first three factors should already have raised the company's
estimation of your value. The direct discussion—often thought of as the whole of
negotiation—is where you apply your skills at recapitulation, listening, and politely
asserting the value you have established.

Posted by Nisha Nitin on 11:19 PM 0 Comments

Counter Offers: Do They Merit Consideration?

by David Richter

You are one of the fortunate few who have not been downsized. However, your current
job isn’t exactly fulfilling. Perhaps it isn’t what you enjoy doing. Maybe the hours are too
long. Perhaps you are having some conflicts with your supervisor. Your salary may not be
on par with average job salaries for the same type and level of position, or not come close
to what you feel you are worth. Whatever the reason(s), you have decided to enter into a
job search.

So you begin your search. You work hard and spend quite a bit of time searching for your
new job. Your efforts are finally rewarded; you have received an offer. Congratulations!
Now comes the hard part. Wait a minute! Did I just say “now comes the hard part”? What
am I talking about? The hard part is finding your new job, isn’t it?

If you are employed while searching for a job, you must inform your present employer
that you have received an offer of employment elsewhere. When you give notice, two
things can happen. Either your present employer will accept, with regret, your decision,
or they will do whatever they can to persuade you to stay.

Your present employer probably spent a lot of time and money hiring and then training
you. They are accustomed to your work habits and abilities, and know you work in
harmony with your peers. You have achieved a number of accomplishments during your
tenure there. To find your replacement at this juncture would be costly.

Your company will most likely attempt to retain you with a counter-offer.

A counter-offer represents the company’s monetary sense of what it’s going to take to
retain you as an employee. It will be fashioned as an offer difficult to refuse, and include
a substantial increase in your compensation along with whatever other perks are deemed
necessary to win you back. What should you do?
The answer can be found in the reason you went looking elsewhere in the first place. If
you accept the counter-offer, you will make more money, but in every other respect, your
situation will remain the same. You need to ask yourself if the added income and perks
will let you overcome whatever it was that caused your lack of fulfillment. Temporarily,
you may be satiated, but you will most likely reach a point where you eventually seek a
new position.

While it may be difficult to turn down a counter-offer, it may be your best option. The
sooner you find yourself in a more fulfilling position, the more creative and happier you
will be.

Copyright © 2005 TopDog Group All rights reserved.

About the Author

David Richter is a recognized authority in career coaching. His extensive knowledge and
experience gained from many years in recruitment, outplacement and career management
has allowed David to formulate powerful strategies anyone can use to secure interviews
and receive offers. David holds Masters in both Engineering and Counseling Psychology.
David's website is: http://www.procareercoach.com

Posted by Nisha Nitin on 11:17 PM 0 Comments

Counter Offers: Do They Merit Consideration?

by David Richter

You are one of the fortunate few who have not been downsized. However, your current
job isn’t exactly fulfilling. Perhaps it isn’t what you enjoy doing. Maybe the hours are too
long. Perhaps you are having some conflicts with your supervisor. Your salary may not be
on par with average job salaries for the same type and level of position, or not come close
to what you feel you are worth. Whatever the reason(s), you have decided to enter into a
job search.

So you begin your search. You work hard and spend quite a bit of time searching for your
new job. Your efforts are finally rewarded; you have received an offer. Congratulations!
Now comes the hard part. Wait a minute! Did I just say “now comes the hard part”? What
am I talking about? The hard part is finding your new job, isn’t it?

If you are employed while searching for a job, you must inform your present employer
that you have received an offer of employment elsewhere. When you give notice, two
things can happen. Either your present employer will accept, with regret, your decision,
or they will do whatever they can to persuade you to stay.

Your present employer probably spent a lot of time and money hiring and then training
you. They are accustomed to your work habits and abilities, and know you work in
harmony with your peers. You have achieved a number of accomplishments during your
tenure there. To find your replacement at this juncture would be costly.

Your company will most likely attempt to retain you with a counter-offer.

A counter-offer represents the company’s monetary sense of what it’s going to take to
retain you as an employee. It will be fashioned as an offer difficult to refuse, and include
a substantial increase in your compensation along with whatever other perks are deemed
necessary to win you back. What should you do?

The answer can be found in the reason you went looking elsewhere in the first place. If
you accept the counter-offer, you will make more money, but in every other respect, your
situation will remain the same. You need to ask yourself if the added income and perks
will let you overcome whatever it was that caused your lack of fulfillment. Temporarily,
you may be satiated, but you will most likely reach a point where you eventually seek a
new position.

While it may be difficult to turn down a counter-offer, it may be your best option. The
sooner you find yourself in a more fulfilling position, the more creative and happier you
will be.

Copyright © 2005 TopDog Group All rights reserved.

About the Author

David Richter is a recognized authority in career coaching. His extensive knowledge and
experience gained from many years in recruitment, outplacement and career management
has allowed David to formulate powerful strategies anyone can use to secure interviews
and receive offers. David holds Masters in both Engineering and Counseling Psychology.
David's website is: http://www.procareercoach.com

Posted by Nisha Nitin on 11:17 PM 0 Comments

The Telephone Interview

In this electronic age, interviewers use the telephone to weed out applicants. Your goal is
a face-to-face meeting, so use these methods to achieve it.
You must be prepared to handle the questioning and use every means at your disposal to
win the real thing you want – the face-to-face meeting.
The most obvious (and often most neglected) point to remember this: during the
interview, the person from the company has only ears with which to judge you and that is
something you must overcome.
Here are the some tips:
v Take a surprise call in your stride – if you receive a call as a result of a CV you sent or a
telephone massage you left and you are unprepared, be calm. Sound positive, friendly.
v Beware of over familiarity – You should alway! s refer to the interviewer by his or her
surname until invited to do o therwise.
v Allow the person on the phone to do most of the talking – To ask most (but not all) of
the questions. Keep up your end of the conversation – this is, after all, a sales
presentation, so be sure to ask a few questions of your own that will reveal you as an
intelligent person and provide you with the opportunity to promote your candidacy. For
example, ask what immediate projects the interviewers department is involved in or the
biggest challenges that are being tackled.
v Everyone wants to employ a problem solver – find the problem and you are already
halfway towards the offer.
v Beware of giving yes/no answers – They give no real information about your abilities.
v Be factual in your answers –You should be brief yet thorough.
v Take notes – They will be invaluable to you in preparing for the face-to-face meeting. If
for any reason, the person you are speaking is interrupted, jot down the topic under
discussion. When he or she gets back on the line, you can helpfully recap.
v The person from the company may! talk about the business and, from the dossier in
front of you; you will also know facts about the outfit. A little flattery goes a long way –
admire the company achievements and you are, in fact, admiring the interviewer.
Likewise, if any areas of common interest arise, comment on them and agree with the
interviewer when possible – people take on people like themselves.
v If the interviewer does not give the openings you need to sell yourself, be ready to
salvage the situation and turn into your advantage. Have a few work-related questions
prepared.
v Remember that your single objective at this point is to sell yourself and your skills.
v The telephone interview has come to an end when you are asked if you have any
questions. Ask any more questions that will improve your understanding of the job
requirements.
v No matter how many questions you get answered in the initial conversion, there will
always be something you forgot. This allows you to call again to satisfy any curiosity,
which will also enable you to increase rapport. Don’t take too much advantage of it,
though: one well-placed phone call that contains two or three considered questions will
be appreciated; four or five phone calls will not.
v ! ; Taking care to ascertain the correct spelling and pronunciation of the interviewers
name shows your concern for the small but important things in life – it will be noticed.
v&nb sp; Follow with a casual enquiry as to what direction the meeting will take.
&! nbsp;
v The knowledge gained will help you to package and present yourself and allow you
time, to bone up on any weak or rusty areas.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why have you changed so frequently?" - How do you answer this question if asked in
the interview? Want to know few smart answers? wait for my next two messages?

Why have you changed so frequently?

If you have jumped around, blame it on youth (even the interviewer was young once).
Now you realize what a mistake your job-hopping was and, with your added domestic
responsibilities, you’re now much more settled. Alternatively, you may wish to impress
on the interviewer that your job-hopping was never as a result of each job change.
You could reply, ‘My first job involved a long journey to and from work. It was hard, but
I knew it would give me good experience in a very competitive field. Subsequently, I
found a job much closer to home where commuting was only half an hour each way. I
was very happy at my second job. However, I got an opportunity to really broaden my
experience base with a new company that was just starting up.

With the wisdom of hindsight, I realize that move was a mistake – it took me just six
months to see that I couldn’t make a contribution there. I have been with my current
company a reasonable length of time. So I have broad experience in different
environments. I didn’t just job-hope, I have been following a path to gain this broad
experience. So you see I have more experience than the average person of my years and a
desire to settle down and make it pay off for me and my employer.’

Alternatively, you can say, ‘Now I want to settle down and make my diverse background
pay off in my contributions to my new employer. I have a strong desire to contribute and
am looking for an employer that will keep me challenged. I think this might be the
company to do that – am I right?
Three essential tips to getting through your tech interview and getting the job.
You might think technical-job interviews are no different from interviews for non-tech
jobs, but in fact, they’re special situations with unique potential pitfalls. The three tips
that follow will help you better prepare for them.
1. Be prepared to prove yourself
Your resume will be examined from top to bottom, taken apart and put back together.
Make sure you know what’s on it, and make sure you’re telling the truth. Edith, a
business analyst at a technology-consulting firm, says “It may be tempting to load up
your resume with experience you wish you had, but as soon as the interviewer asks you
for more information, you’ve blown it.”
David, a systems administrator, is adamant that the biggest mistake you can make in a
technical interview is to try to fake your way through it. “If you don’t know something,
don’t talk about it.” And Johanna, a recruiter, warns that interviewers may even ask you
questions that are impossible to answer, just to see if you’ll admit what you don’t know.

The best way to prepare is to review your resume and practice expounding on each and
every part of it. If you say you know Java, can you prove it? If you say you have network
administration experience, can you talk an interviewer through the process of setting up a
mailbox and giving multiple users access to it? Be prepared to answer questions about
how to build a particular application or tackle a specific problem.
The questions themselves, of course, depend on the specific position. But you can be sure
that your interviewer won’t just take your resume at face value.
2. Watch your attitude

Perhaps the worst mistake you can make in a tech interview (besides lying or trying to
convince an interviewer that you know more than you really do) is to be arrogant. Techies
often get a bad rap for lacking social skills, particularly when they’re dealing with non-
techies. Be confident, yes, but don’t try to talk over your interviewer’s head and don’t be
condescending. “You should come across as knowledgeable, relaxed, and sure of yourself
—never arrogant,” says David, the systems administrator.
Don’t be careless in your dress, either. The rule of thumb for dressing for any interview—
wear a conservative version of what you’d wear for the job one level above the one
you’re seeking—applies to tech jobs, too. Sure, you might wear sweatpants and pocket T-
shirts once you’ve got the job, but the interview is not the time to be casual. Emy, a dot
com recruiter, says “It’s not necessary for a man to wear a tie or for a woman to wear a
suit, but it sure does impress me.”
3. Ask well-informed questions.

At the end of each interview, when the interviewer says, “Well, that’s about it. Do you
have any questions?” don’t say no. (That’s a good rule of thumb for any interview, not
just for tech jobs.) But make sure that you ask questions that show you understand the
business, not just the technology.
Johanna, the recruiter, says “Show you’re not only interested in money, but in what the
position has to offer. Ask questions such as ‘what new markets does this company intend
to go after, now that you’ve conquered this market? Looking to the future, how do you
see me fitting into the company?’ Make a big deal out of the big picture. Don’t be too
narrowly focused.”
It’s also a good idea to ask to meet people in other departments. Talk to members of the
company’s marketing or business-development teams to find out how they represent the
company to potential clients. You’ll show that you’re interested in learning how the entire
company functions and that you’re not planning to hole yourself up in the server room all
day.