Extreme Engineering

Finally completed my Masters

2008-01-08T18:12:00.000-08:00

Hey there !!! I am writing again after a very long gap.....surely you must be wondering where in the world I had disappeared ...well I was all busy with my Masters degree in Comp Science and finally I have achieved this milestone.

Sharepoint Portal Object Model --Tips and Tricks

2006-01-12T22:50:00.000-08:00

Catching Access Denied Exception

Anytime you find yourself working with the sharepoint object ,you might jump into a requirement ,where you need to catch the Access Denied Exception and perform your own structured exception handling rather than resorting to the one provided by Sharepoint.
Consider this piece of code

try
{
//Impersonate the administrator;
SPSite site=new SPSite(“http://portal-name”);

//******************************/
site.CatchAccessDeniedException=true;
//******************************/

SPWeb web=site.OpenWeb(“/sites/AdminSite”);
//revert back to the current user (in this case reader);

//this line of code throws the access denied exception
web.Permissions.DoesUserHavePermission(SPRights.ViewWeb);
}
catch(AccessDeniedException exp)
{
//Do you own handling
}

In case you don’t set the AccessDenied flag,SPS will abort the current and redirect the user to the “Unauthorized Page”.

Going out for a walk with AIBO

2005-08-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

AIBO or the Aritificially Intelligent roBOt

AIBO’s personality develops by interactingwith people and each AIBO grows in a different way, based on its individualexperiences. AIBO becomes customizedbased on feedback and the software being used.With supplied AIBO MIND autonomous software, you can immediately interact with a mature ERS-7 or you can also reset it to its puppy stage.
AIBO’s mood changes with its environment, and its mood affects its behavior. AIBO also has instincts to move around, to look for its toys, to satisfy its curiosity, to play and communicate with its owner, to recharge when its battery is low, and to wake up when its done sleeping.
AIBO is capable of six feelings - happiness, sadness, fear, dislike, surprise, and anger. Its unique personality is developed with a combination of theseunique instincts and feelings.

The more you interact with ERS-7, the more it learns.

AIBO’s skill level can improve through encouragement from its owner. By praising AIBO for kicking the ball well, it will continue to play with the ball. Repeated practice with the ball will improve its skill level and it will learn new tricks. If you scold AIBO for playing with its ball, it will stop showing as much interest in it. With AIBO's back sensors, it is possible to adjust AIBO's schedule to coincide with your daily routine. You can schedule your usual bed time and AIBO will go to sleep on its charging station until it's time to get up. AIBO can also use its alarm to wake you up in the morning.

The more you interact with ERS-7, the more it learns. AIBO uses "short and long range distance sensor" in its nose and chest to detect the edges and the wall.

Pack your bags...we're heading to Australia

2005-07-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Last night i was researching on Australian Immigration.There is so much information that at times you might get lost.Just to help those folks who are looking forward to apply for Australian Permanent Residence after completing their studies in Australia,the following sections includes the policies and procedures.

The Australian policy for Permanent Residence is based on a points system.To be eligible for PR you must have a minimum of 120 points (im assuming that your a international student in Australia).Here is how the points are calculated.

You are granted points on the basis of your

1) AGE
2) English Language Abilities
3) Your Occupation (Your Occupation must be on the skills assessment lis)
4) Australian Qualifications
5) The place in Australia where you lived and studied(Only Regional and Suburban get points)
6) Is your Occupation in demand in Australia

If your interested check http://www.immi.gov.au

My First MCP Kill

2005-07-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's been five months working on Asp.net . My first job in fact was developing web controls and server side components in Asp.Net.Since then it's been one of my darlings i cant live without.Lately I started working towards my MCP certification (70-315 ) Developing and Implmenting Web Applications using Visual C#.Net (C# being my primary development language) . It took almost 2 weeks to prepare for the exam . I had studied 8 hours daily putting in everything i got. Here is a list of books i recommend to prepare .

1.Essential Asp.Net with Examples in C# by Fritz Orion
2.Asp.Net Unleashed
3.Ado.Net Step by Step Microsoft Press
4.Professional Asp.Net Security Wrox Publishers
5.MSCD/MCAD by Amit Kalani ( A very comprehensive book ) Highly recommended
6.Developing Asp.Net Server Side Components Microsoft Press

Last but not the least your faithful MSDN Library

And guess what , the hard work paid off . I struck 1000 ,what more can a MCP ask for :)

Porting ASP.NET to Perl

2005-05-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a week . After a week , getting my hands dirty with Perl ,skimming through the well known Perl Bible i get my first task,build a framework.
Coming from the .NET background and bit of evangelizing on my part i convince my manager to build a framework that would make CGI Webdevelopers lives easier.Come up with something that's as snappy as ASP.Net ,as powerful and easily customizable as what the Redmond guys came up with .
After giving a shot at some of the applications that we would be building in the future ,i am completely convinced that this framework is a must .It would be a nightmare jumbling presentation with code ,spaghetti code what they call ,even though Html Templates do work in the direction of separating code and presentation but then again the Template itself can be cluttered with all the TMPL_vars ,TMPL_LOop constructs. We need to keep the Template as clean as possible. No Code.The only code goes behind in a kind of a code behind file. After all it's about time that i use my knowledge of ASp.NEt in Perl :)

Voila within two hours my desk is piled up with papers , each reflecting the activity i've been through in the last two hours,designing the framework. The most interesting part of the framework is the Page Parser thats going to parse my Template and build the control tree.

(to be continued) in the next episode we'll look at some of the swashbuckling work

Get Ready for Script CallBacks in ASP.NET 2.0

2005-03-29T01:07:00.000-08:00

How many times have you thought of communicating with your server without posting or refreshing your page.You might have accomplished the same using java applets, where you opened a separate communication channel to talk to your server.Lets take an example .Let's say you are developing a charting application that shows your stock holding in the form of a chart.You want your chart to be updated at regular intervals to reflect your latest status.You can easily achieve this by a writing a charting applet.Are there any other ways to achieve the same thing.Definitely!!!!

ASP.NEt 2.0 introduces the notion of Script Call Backs that perform the same purpose i.e talking to your server independently and asynchronously without refreshing the current page.Well how does this magic work.It's simple and Micrsoft had introduced the same concept earlier in the form of "Remote Scripting" ,but now the Script Call Back Mechanism is much tightly intergrated into the ASP.NET 2.0 framework.So here is whats happening under the hood. The Script Call Back is binded to a trigger .When the trigger is instantiated it uses a COM object to issue an HTTP POST or GET command to the specified target URL. The COM object used here is an old acquaintance of many developers:
var xmlRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

Once the request is made to the server,the server calls the appropriate method,sends the result and the browser can change the UI of the current page using DHTML to reflect the results/changes.
Check it out at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/08/CuttingEdge/

A First Look at the CMS Designer

2005-03-28T23:44:00.002-08:00

After three weeks of hectic work the CMS Designer has finally entered the testing stage of the third iteration.By now we have numerous features in place.Just to introduce ,the CMS Desginer is basically the core of the NGCMS Next Generation Content Management System , im currently working on.We know content management systems in the past were simply more of the document management systems,and the only customization they provided was in the form of raw html that the user would end up manipulating . Even though some of the big companies have been quite innovative our basic aim was to give the user a much better experience by allowing him to design his custom web forms in a much more easier and intutive way.It's necessary to bring to your notice that the CMS Designer is completey web based and developed in ASP.NET Just as an example lets say my user wants to publish a page that will allow him to capture information from internet surfers .For this he'll need to setup a form . Using our designer he can quickly drag and drop elements ,set their properties ,select a datasource and/or a data destination and publish it as an ASPX page and he's done. The desginer will automaticall generate code behind for the ASPX page generated . This does not end here he has the capability to define complex custom validation . Let's he wants a validation that if some one selected having a heart disease history he cannot select to take part in a sprinting event.So iit's pretty Cool. One of the best features of the designer is to create your forms as USerControls so a user who created a userControl lets a form containing the address and name fields can later reuse it sometime later ,yet in another form.
So to recapitulate we're currently providng the following features.

1. Drag and Drop elements on the canvas
2. Easy specification of properties of elements
3. Generation of ASPX and userControls
4.Defining custom rules,validations ,specifying the datasoure and the data destination

2005-03-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

HOLDING THE TROPHY

2005-03-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

Presenting the paper

2005-03-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

with DEAN ECE

2005-03-05T12:11:00.000-08:00

With the Trophy

2005-03-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

THe GOLD Medalists

2005-03-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

me and faisal

2005-03-05T12:04:00.000-08:00

2005-03-05T12:01:00.000-08:00

After the presentation

2005-03-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

Buddies

2005-03-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

Me and Faisal

2005-03-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

IEEEP Photos

IEEEP ,Student Symposium

2005-02-22T09:14:00.000-08:00

I believe our final year project is a sign of a good omen for us. Our Technical paper which revolves around our project got approved for presentation and we were bestowed with the opportunity to show the spark at the IEEEP symposium . Here is the rest of the story................

As i uncover my watch , it shows 9:55 am. Almost all the presenters have showed up in the auditorium arena. Some complaining for their papers not being approved,some asking directions to the washroom,some lost in a deep thought. Atlast the comperes show up ; make their way to the stage announcing to the audience to take their seats.
The chief guest opens the event ,followed by a key note by the Dean of CiviL Dept.

-----------------We get a 15 min Tea break to refresh ourselves-----------------------------

Now comes the moment we've been awaiting for . The first five presenters are called on the stage including me.Lights are dimmed , the projector splashes it's image on the screen. We're good to go............................

It's been 30 mins since the presentation started.I look at my watch.Can hardly see my wrist in the dark. I'll be the next one to take on the audience . At last the presenter concludes . I head off towards the podium in a blaze of applause. Heh wont comment on how my presentation went .I'll leave this to the attendees to criticize. I remember this guy wearing a blue shirt , who actually browsed through my presentation reacting promptly to my actions.I call him Mr Steward . The presentation goes well , i make my final point and conclude the presentation.Mr Steward waves a thumbs up :) . The hall is filled with claps as i move towards the desk...........

And here i am blogging away . Did I Rock ? Hmm that still remains unanswered.

The Big DAY -Final Year Project Presentation

2005-01-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

NED Campus ---1100Hrs
We arrive at our campus fully equipped with all our gadget ,speakers and our desktop system.The previous night was quite exhausting, we had gone through an extensive check list to ascertain that every thing worked smoothly.

NED Campus ---1130 hrs
We stroll to the Computational Lab where the final show down is due to take place. We start unpackaging all our goodies and arrange them on the table. We get our hands on the new HP On Screen Projector . This guy is known for it's crisp projection capabilites.

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1200 hrs
After completing all the connections between the projector, desktop and our LOMOS Gadget we turn on the PC. The Majestic screen of Windows Server 2003 pops up . We run our LOMOS Client which is the remote interface to monitor the LOMOS system (Any way for all those non
techies out there ,LOMOS which stands for LOOM Monitoring System is a gadget we developed as our final year project.This dude will be installed on a loom machine to monitor it's RPM,Production and Efficiency and relay all this information to a remotely located Lomos Client).

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1215 hrs

The Lomos Clients shows it's Splash Screen . With a slick interface designed using Photoshop this guy is a real treat to watch. Oh by the way we've also added Speech Recognition capability to it ,in a way to make it extremely easy for a client to operate it using speech commands.
We first test the speech recog capability.Cool!!! it works perfectly .Next we test the other Features. The LOMOS Client is spread in four modules
1. Main Control Center
2.VisualAnalysis Center
3.Data Capture Center
4.Data Reporting Center

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1330 hrs

Phew!!! That was quite intensive . It's almost lunch time and we have'nt had our breakfast . But still we survive on a glass of PEPSI. We take a short break.

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1400 hrs

We quickly reherse our presentation to sync what each one will be doing.

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1500 hrs

It's almost time to start our presentation .We're waiting for our external to arrive.

NED Campus --Auditorium Entrance -1515 hrs

We get a call that our external has arrived and go to fetch him from the auditorium entrance.

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1530 hrs

We're good to go . Ok so here is how's it's going to go.First of all me and Faisal will be delivering the main content of the presentation .Next it will be followed by a brief demonstration of our project , followed by a key note on future enhancements and note of thanks.

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1535 hrs

I find my self standing in the arena with the projector splashing every photon on the projector screen.Faisal introduces the group members and i start explaining the baseline architecture and the solution architecture followed by an indepth insight on the implementation by Faisal.
It's quite entertaining to manipulate the mind of the audience and take them on a thrilling journey.

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1600 hrs

After our sprint presentation we're in for the demonstration . We fire up the LOMOS Client .First we go through the Data Acquisition Capabilites and how the data is captured and reported .Next we perform all these steps through voice commands. This is the most interesting part as every faculty member takes her/his turn to command LOMOS . The Lomos Client is quite agile as it's responds rapidly to commands and works perfectly. All in all the the show enthralls the audience and we receive an applause .

NED Campus --Computational Lab -1630 hrs

Ok the shows over but our appetite has infact reached it's climax. We're in for a treat. We gather our faculty and we're off to enjoy a hot crispy broast from a nearby eatery

2005-01-21T23:16:00.000-08:00

The Big Day .The LOMOS guys and our Teachers

2005-01-21T09:37:00.000-08:00

The Guys behind LOMOS .Starting from left Mr Saad Ahmed Siddiqi, Myself( Mr Salman Mehmood), Mr Khizer Saeed and Mr Faisal Abdel Kader

ICMP packets blocked by local ISPs so is my project

2004-07-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

.... ,I've been working on my communications network project for hours.The project is to implement the route tracing functionality and to display the route on a map.Guess what when the time comes to test it ,my ISP seems to have blocked all ICMP packets ,since Pakis are considered to be more malevolent and love launching DOS attacks, .

At last the lights show up!!

2004-06-23T04:42:00.000-07:00

Ah ,had a terrific day today .After a week's of debugging and hectic work our project started working :). The Rpm , efficiency and production functions ran smoothly . I've completed my design of the machine stop circuit ,just need to bolt it with our system.I hope no debugging this time. Soon we'll embark on the next module which is the most interesting , the parallel to serial conversion and serial interfacing. Trying our best to complete it soon!!

C# compiler for PDA!!.Now you'r talking ;)

2004-06-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Think about compiling your apps on your PDA ,rather than compiling them on yur PC.That's a reality i came across today.

PDC -DAY ONE

2004-06-18T22:36:00.000-07:00

Just as i get off my car ,Whoa!!! what i see is long queue of geeks,nerds pacing slowly into the entrance.Thanks to a terrorist attack a week earlier ,security's beefed up,multple security check points, body scanners.I managed to grab a seat in ballroom B in the last rows.Atleast they've put up those screens for the back seaters.
It all started with the keynote session,not to mention the CM's speech was most entertaining.Rafal Lucka...(whatever) ,that's hard to pronounce, the most impressive speaker , fascinated the audience by his absorbing presentations and rhetoric. He spoke on breakthroughs that would revolutionize computing .One of his best illustrations of breakthroughs was about RF-IDs and wireless electricity. Quoting him "Say you go to some grocery shop to buy cold drinks.You grab a coca cola and put in the shopping basket.Now you grab another one this time a pepsi and place the bottle besides the coca cola bottle.The coca cola bottle senses the presence of the pepsi bottle and it's(coca cola) label changes to please keep the pepsi bottle and i'll get you a 50% discount"....COOL aint it.
After the formal inauguration the sessions initiate.The first one i took was LONGHORN ,Microsofts new OS planned to be shipped by 2006.The speakers spoke on various enhancements and features that would make LONGHORN stand out of the crowd.Thanks to multi billion funding ,guess what the amount being funded on this new OS is more than the US government spent to put a man on the moon.All it's new features Avalon,Indigo and WinFs were demonstrated.The next session was PKI(public key infrastructure) by Rafal ,discussing all different methodologies of implementing the digital certs,identity authentication and stuff.The other sessions i attended were "Web application secuirty and INDIGO.

Pakistan Developer Conference Inauguration

2004-06-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

PDC was inaugurated today in Karachi the Beach City .The conference is being attended by more than 1400 developers from across the country.The conference will focus on latest Microsoft technologies and platforms specially Longhorn,Whidbley,Yukon. Speakers include IT industry specialists and Regional Directors from Turkey,Uk and the US,North-Africa

Cryptology Workshop

2004-05-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

An hour workshop on cryptology was held at our department .The speaker was Mr Athar Mahboob , a renowned and eminent researcher, currently pursuing research on Efficient Hardware Implementations of Elliptic Curve Cryptography.The workshop covered the basics of cryptography and crypt analysis.In spite shortage of time the speaker effectively conveyed his ideas on the need of cryptology and the different mechanism adopted to achieve security in the computing world.

The speaker can be reached at www.atharmahboob.com