Language Settings Issue

When you press shift key for a long time then the key press will be reflected in the output in a different language.

This language setting will be displayed in the bottom pane in the language bar.
EN : English
CH : Chinese
JP : Japan

To view the output in the expected language, click on the appropriate language. (EN for English).

WebService and XML parsing error

While consuming webservice, we need to be very cautious and ensure that the data what we pass is absolutely in the right format. i.e the webservice must be able to parse.
Say for example, you have some query and it returns perfect while testing in the backend. But when you consume the same data in the front end application through the webservice you will get a parse error something like this.

Error in XML Node(5,20)

The reason is either the object returned from Webservice is not serializable, or the data returned from the backend has values which couldn't be parsed by the webservice.
Eg: Consider connecting to DB2 for data. If the fields are not properly intialized at the backend, it will fill in the remaining space by low values which are not parsed by webservice and hence the error.So trace it at the backend before jump starting on debugging the front end application.

Almanac Formulae

Formulae for Almanac geeks
All the thidis are generally represented by Naazhigai

• 2.5 Naazhi --> 1 Hour
• 60 Vinadi --> 1 Naazhigai
• 2.5 Vinadi --> 1 minute

ADO.Net Facts

Came across a Microsoft Webcast and here is an interesting part on ADO.Net performance metrics :

• DataReader is 16% faster than the DataSet
• SqlDataReader is 115% faster than the OleDBDataReader
• Ordinal referencing of columns rather than by name is 11% faster Eg: dr[1] rather than dr["NAME"]
• Proper column casing increases the performance by 1% Eg:dr["NAME"] rather than dr["Name"] depending on the column name.
• Inline script is 233% faster than the DataGrid
• DataGrid with viewstate disabled is 66% faster than the DataGrid with Viewstate enabled.
• DataGrid without templates is 39% faster than the one with templates
• Explicit cast is 11% faster than the DataBind expression. Eg: ((DbDataRecord)Container.DataItem)["NAME"] is better than DataBinder.Eval
  (Container.DataItem, “NAME")
• Using DataCache is 637% faster than the standard DataGrid

Source : Microsoft Webcast

Access Gmail Offline

If you have been banking on Gmail for your communication needs, there have always been times when you have desperately wanted to access your account to dig out that important mail but have found yourself haggling with an unreliable or unavailable connection. Not any more. If the Google Gears version of Gmail rolls out smooth, you can open your web browser, go to the mailbox, and get to your mail even when you are offline. In a nutshell, your Gmail is going offline.

Here's how it works. Once the feature is turned on, Gmail uses Gears to download a local cache of your mail. As long as you're connected to the network, that cache is synchronized with Gmail's servers. When the connection is lost, Gmail automatically switches to offline mode, and uses the data stored on your computer's hard drive instead of the information sent across the network.According to web reports, Google is making offline Gmail available to everyone who uses Gmail in US or UK English over the next couple of days.

The only bad news is some features that require an Internet connection, such as spell check, won't work offline. And while you can open attachments, you won't be able to add attachments at launch. But Google promises to make them available soon!

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/4042169.cms