PROGRESS BAR IMPLEMENTATION USING "AJAX" IN AN ASP.NET APPLICATION

Hey All , Ever noticed a PROGRESS BAR getting displayed while you are browsing through an application on the internet ?? You must have noticed that at many places when ever you click on a control that brings up the data from the Server side it displays a Progress Icon which informs the user that the fetch/update action is taking place and the application is running so that the user doesn't feels that the application has got hanged up on the user's click on the web control.

So, ASP.NET users , here's all you need to know to implement this functionality in your ASP.NET application. The entire code is given below. Just include this and you'll be good to go.

Finally to start off the implementation, there is an AJAX ASP.NET Control that provides status information about partial-page updates called UpdateProgress. It's very useful to "control" the user patience but permits that the user continue interacting with other controls in the application, and rare behaviors can result if the user clicks other button or does other Postback action.

// UpdateProgress Implementation Example
<asp:UpdateProgress ID="UpdateProg1" DisplayAfter="0" runat="server">
  <ProgressTemplate>
    <div style="position: relative; top: 30%; text-align: center;">
     <img src="loading.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" alt="Processing"/>
      Processing ...
    </div>
  </ProgressTemplate>
</asp:UpdateProgress>

Unfortunately there doesn't exists an ASP.NET AJAX control that "blocks" the application while a Postback request is made to the server, but fortunately we can make a powerful combination using this control in conjunction with an AJAX Control Toolkit's called ModalPopup Extender, that allows a page to display content to the user in a "modal" manner which prevents the user from interacting with the rest of the page.

//Modal Popup Extender Implementation Example
<ajaxToolkit:ModalPopupExtender ID="ModalProgress"
runat="server" TargetControlID="panelUpdateProgress"
BackgroundCssClass="modalBackground" PopupControlID="panelUpdateProgress" />

Now, this is the interesting part, take the power of each one of this controls to create a composite functionality that shows a progress indicator to the user in a modal window way, blocking the user interaction with the application while it's processing a previous Postback request. The next code example shows how to do this:

// Include this page directives to reference ASP.net AJAX controls
// from AJAX and the Toolkit
<%@ Register Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" Namespace="System.Web.UI"
TagPrefix="asp" %>
<%@ Register Assembly="AjaxControlToolkit" Namespace="AjaxControlToolkit"
TagPrefix="ajaxToolkit" %>

// Include ScriptManager tag manages client script for Microsoft
// ASP.NET AJAX pages
<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" />

// Include UpdateProgress Control inside a Panel Control
// and then the ModalPopupExtender Control
<asp:Panel ID="panelUpdateProgress" runat="server"
CssClass="updateProgress">
    <asp:UpdateProgress ID="UpdateProg1" DisplayAfter="0" runat="server">
      <ProgressTemplate>
        <div style="position: relative; top: 30%; text-align: center;">
          <img src="loading.gif" style="vertical-align: middle"
          alt="Processing" />
          Processing ...
        </div>
      </ProgressTemplate>
    </asp:UpdateProgress>
  </asp:Panel>
<ajaxToolkit:ModalPopupExtender ID="ModalProgress" runat="server"
TargetControlID="panelUpdateProgress" BackgroundCssClass="modalBackground"
PopupControlID="panelUpdateProgress" />

It's necessary to add a pair of javasctript functions that are executed at the initial and final AJAX requests.

//JavaScript code included at jsUpdateProgress.js file
Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance().add_beginRequest(beginReq);
Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance().add_endRequest(endReq);  
function beginReq(sender, args){
    // shows the Popup
    $find(ModalProgress).show();      
}

function endReq(sender, args) {
    //  shows the Popup
    $find(ModalProgress).hide();
}

You can view that the javascript functions references a variable called ModalProgress, this variable must be created in the ASP.net page's code. The next code shows how to do it:

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
      var ModalProgress ='<%= ModalProgress.ClientID %>';      
</script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="jsUpdateProgress.js"></script>

Finally we add a little CSS code to show a gray contour in the modal window, and a cute format to the image and text.

.modalBackground
{
    background-color: Gray;
    filter: alpha(opacity=50);
    opacity: 0.50;
}

.updateProgress
{
    border-width: 1px;
    border-style: solid;
    background-color: #FFFFFF;
    position: absolute;
    width: 180px;
    height: 65px;
}

THIS IS IT. GO ON CODERS...IMPLEMENT IT !!!

Java Code Snippet Output

Here's the Solution to the snippet :

       *
     ***
   *****
 *******

Viewing Hidden/Small FB Profile Pics Clearly

Ever stuck up in a situation where you were visiting Someone's profile and were not able to open up his/her ( MOSTLY 'HER' WOULD BE THE CASE :P) Display Picture just because the concerned person is either not your friend so you are not allowed to open up the picture OR the person has deleted the photo from inside the album to prevent people from opening and downloading it....

If you nodded to the above question and you want to have a look at the SO VERY EASY SOLUTION to the issue just follow the following steps :


STEPS :

1. Open the facebook profile of person whose profile picture is locked or is set to private.

2. Right click on the profile picture and click on Copy Image Url as shown in image below.

3. Open that image in new tab by right clicking and selecting Paste (CTRL + V)

4. Now change the value of image size highlighted below which might be s160x160

to s720x720 (If its not clear try (s320x320)

5. The image will be enlarged in size.

HIDING FILES TRICK 2 - LEARN TO HIDE FILES BEHIND IMAGES

How To Hide File Behind Image ?

1. Select an image to be used for hiding file behind the image.
2. Now select a file to hide behind the image and make it in .RAR format. With the help of the WinRAR.
3. And most important is that paste both the files on desktop. You may do this anywhere instead of desktop if you have some basic understanding of command line.
4. Now open cmd by going to Start > Accessories > Command Prompt and type following commands in it.

          cd desktop

 5. CD stands for change directory by typing above command you change your directory to desktop. After that type command given below. 

Copy /b imagename.jpg + filename.rar finalimage.jpg

Replace imagename.jpg with the name of image you want your file to be hidden behind. Don't forget to add image format (Eg: .jpg,.png,.gif)
Replace filename with name of your file you want to hide. It must be in .rar format.
Finally Replace finalimage.jpg with whatever name you want your final image with hidden files should be. 

This is the image where your file will be hidden.

6. Now when you will try to open this newly created image it will open as normal image, but to open you hidden file you need follow steps given below.

How To Access Hidden File ?

To access your hidden file you need to open the newly created image in winrar. Just follow simple steps given below to do that.

    1. Open winrar
    2. Now locate your image and open it or simply drag your image in winrar.
    3. Extract the file and done.

    4. Your hidden files would be right there in front of you. !!!