Kerala - ParshiniKadav Temple

Anu came to Kerela for some project work and it was close to Radhi's place, so we decided that on her last day of stay(Sunday) we will show here some places around Kannur and Thalaserry.

We started our day by going to PashiniKadav(hope I spelled it right) temple, it's quite far from Thalaserry, about 1.5 hours drive. The temple is beautiful with back waters. It is quite different from most of temples in Kerela where guys have to remove shirts before entering the temple.

After finishing our prayers, we took a boat around the temple in the back water, was fun.

Then we came back and on our way went to a "DRIVE IN" beach here in Thalaserry.

Diwali @ Bangalore

I have been away from blogs for a long time, posting the article late. We celebrated our first diwali away from home, in Bangalore. My sister ANU came from Hyderabad to celebrate it with us. When I came to Bangalore 3 years back, eveyone told me that there are no Diwali celebrations here in Bangalore, but the enviroment was quite different, may be things have changed fast in 3 years !!!!

Anu and Radhi started with creating a rangoli and as we prepared for prayers, it was quite amazing that I coudn't get crackers in market. My firends told me that you can get them at MADIWALA, I went there, but coudn't find anything.

We did our prayers and excanged sweets with our appartment owner. All people in my street were brusting crackers, there was LOT of sound. I was amazed to see that !!!!!.

Radhi and Anu made some tasty food and we all had dinner. It's quite nice to see that people in Bangalore also have started celebrating north indian festivals, although it was more of firing crackers, then of lakshmi pooja and exchanging sweets.

Elegant Universe

After a long long time, I am reading a book on physics, "The Elegant universe", by Brian Greene. It's quite interesting to know the conflicts in Newton's theory and how the proposed "STRING THEORY" tries to resolve them. Okay, so now what are the conflicts

1. According to Newton's laws of motion, if you run fast enough you can catch up with a departing beam of light. Interesting, what newton thought that what would happen if you catch a beam of light with speed of light. The conflict occurred as according to James Clerk Maxwell's laws of electromagenetism light always travels with speed of light, it never slows down or tire down.

2. To resolve conflict 1, Einstein came with "Special Theory of Relativity" (time dilation and Lorentz contraction"), which says that space and time state depends on one's state of motion. Einstein established that no influence or disturbance of any sort can travel faster than the speed of light. This conflicts with universal theory of gravitation, it has been shown influences that are transmitted over vast distances of space instantaneously.

3. Einstein came up with "General Theory of Relativity", which says that not only time and space are influenced with one's state of motion, but they can wrap and curve in response to the presence of matter and energy. Now this led to conflict between quantum mechanics and general relativity.

Proposed STRING theory is quite interesting, what it says is that matter is composed of atoms, which in turn are made of quaks and electrons, all such particles are actually tiny loops of vibrating string.

More as I read ...........

Country Vacations India

Me and Radhi got a call from Country Vacations India http://www.countryvacationsindia.com/, and they told us as usual we have to come to their SHIVAJINAGAR office and attend a one hour presentation. After attending the presentation we can collect 3 free gifts 1) A week holiday for two people 2) One day free at their Sarjapur CLUB and 3) A set of six bowls.
We went to their office and attended their presentation for about two plus hours and they told us about their memberships. They have 2 memberships, one 30 years of holidays with them plus 30 years of RCI membership and 2 plots in their latest land development near to Devenhalli Airpot, sounds interesting and the cost of that is 2.4 LACKS, with this they also give club membership for all their clubs for Three Generations !!!. Second membership was for 5 years of holidays, 1 plot and club membership for three generations, price 1.4 Lacks.

We decided that we will visit their properties and then decide on whether to take their membership or not, and we told them the same. They came back with the offer that you can pay 35K and then upgrade your membership. You will get all the benefits, as that in 1.4 lacks membership, except for the plot. We thought that we can give it a shot and came back home with the 35K membership.

When we came back we were shocked to see what all is there in the membership, they had promised us 1 week of holidays, but this membership only had 2 Nights of vacations !!!!!. After this and next 4 days was a head ache for me as I wanted to cancel the membership and they were not ready to do so. I even called their MANAGER, he was also no good.

Then after a BIG fight with them and visiting their place some 4 times, they gave me 4 holiday vouchers, a 2 nights free vacation and some extra coupons for their SARJAPUR club.

We have not visited their properties yet, but what all has happened so far, it has not really been a pleasant experience and their customer service is not good at all. At this point we would say to AVOID country vacations !!!!!!!!!!

ONAM - 2007

Celebrated my second Onam on 28th of August 2007. It was fun travelling to Kerela, we went through a different way, through BANDIPUR reserved forest area, then through Vainad Tea Estate. On the way there were lots of Sunflower, Marigold fields, which were just beautiful.

Jazz also enjoyed a lot while travelling. We took some pictures and the field farmers were worried that we are stealing flowers from their field !!!!!

Onam is all about decorating house with flowers and we also did it. Had a beautiful rangoli in front of the house.

Some more picks below that we took on our way back.

Royal Resorts India

Yesterday got a call from Royal Resorts to join their membership. I have heard about their Resorts in GOA and that they are really good, they told me on phone to come to their presentation and get 3 days stay coupon free in their resort, so we(me and Radhi) thought to give it a try. Their office is at Cunningham Road, opposite to SIGMA mall, I was surprised to see that their office was really shabby, and they told me about presentation, they didn't have any Laptop etc for presentation.

They have 4 Resorts and all are in GOA and they also have one from SUN VILLAGE, again in GOA. Then they have 2 resorts in Thailand and 2 in Indonesia. The surprising part was that their membership for 24 years, 7 days holidays a year is 1 lack 30 thousand, couldn’t really believe it, plus they have a maintenance charge of 8500 rupees per year. What they were trying to sell was RCI membership and make it look like you can holiday through RCI anywhere in the world.

Radhi also felt the same way, she was also surprise, and then she told me just to collect the free stay coupon and move out, which we did :-).

Now their free coupon is also not free, you have to pay 475 rupees per day for staying there, and you can't go in peak seasons. I and Radhi didn't like it at all, Club Mahinra is much better and they have lot may resorts and also keep adding new ones.

Searching on Google, Really Cool stuff !!!!!

Searching on Google for MUSIC directories, PDF files and Books, really cool video.

Jazz, Two Months Old !!!!!!

JAZZ turned tow months old today!! He is growing really fast and I can't believe that he was so small when I got him 2 months back. He Eats EVERYTHING, from vegetables to chips, chocolates and ice cream are his FAV.

FRIENDS All Seasons Download Links !!!!!!!!

Friends ALL season DOWNLOAD [Rapidshare Links]

http://rapidsharefilms.com/t.v-series/comedy/rapidshare-friends-seasons-1-10-complete-set-hd-quality.html

Output Query To CSV file using Coldfusion MX and JAVA String Buffer

Using Java String buffer instead of CFFILE to convert a query to CSV file for output is much faster. Below is the code that is required, change the fileds and table name according to your dataabse.

<!--- Writing query to a CSV file using JAVA STRING BUFFER --->

<!--- get the details in a query, always use JOINS if you have more than one table --->
<cfquery name="get_records" datasource="xxxx">
select field1, field2, field3 from Table
</cfquery>

<!--- Give the location of your file where you will be writing the data --->
<cfset TempFile = (ExpandPath("dir") & ".csv") >
<!--- Create a STRING BUFFER to hold the output --->
<cfset QueryOutput = CreateObject("java","java.lang.StringBuffer").Init() >
<!--- append the column headers to string buffer, you also need to add a link break --->
<cfset QueryOutput.Append("field1, field2, field3" & chr(13) & chr(10))>
<!--- get an intial ID, so that we know when to append --->
<cfset Queryid = -1 >
<!--- loop through the query, and append the records to the buffer --->
<cfloop query="get_records">

<cfif (get_records.field1 NEQ Queryid)>

<cfset Queryid = get_records.field1 >

<cfset QueryOutput.Append("#get_records.field1#, #get_records.field2#, #get_records.field3#" & chr(13) & chr(10))>

</cfif>

<cfset QueryOutput.Append("#get_records.fields1#, #get_records.field2#, #get_records.field3#" & chr(13) & chr(10))>

</cfloop>

<!--- Write the string buffer to the file, suing ToString ---->

<cffile action="write" file="#TempFile#" output="#QueryOutput.ToString()">

<!--- End of writing query to a CSV file --->

How to Parse XML using Coldfusion MX

XML is most widly used format to transfer data over internet. Below is the code in coldfusion which will parse a coldfusion response. I am assuming that you have stored the coldfusion response in a variable "resp"

<!--- Parse the response using XML Parse --->

<cfset xmlresp=" XMLParse(resp)">

<!--- Set the Root Element --->

<cfset rootresp=" XMLResp.XMLRoot">

<!--- Loop through the XMRoot and displaty the elements using XMLtext --->

<cfloop index="i" to="#ArrayLen(RootResp)#" from="1">

<cfset element1=" RootResp.ElementName1.XMLText">
<cfset element2=" RootResp.ElementName2.XMLText">

<!--- similary you can a access all the elements --->

</cfloop>

<!--- end of Parsing --->

That's ALL you need to do

How to Output Query In Excel Format Using Coldfusion MX

Couple of Projects that I am working on required to download the data from database in Excel fromat, so that the client can download it on his local system.
One of the efficient way I have found is using Query2Excel Tag which is available FREE on internet. You can download if from www.cflib.org
Below code is just how to call that function, for excel download.

<!--- Query to get information from database --->

<cfquery name="get_info" datasource="#whatever#">

select name1, name2, name3 from yourdatabase

</cfquery>

<!--- give the column names and headers for Excel file --->

<cfscript>

cols = "name1, name2, name3";

heads = "Name1, Name2, Name3"

</cfscript>

<!--- use CFHEADER tag --->

<cfheader name="Content-Disposition" value="inline; filename=data.xls">

<cfcontent type="application/msexcel">

<!--- output the results using the query2excel function --->

<cfoutput> #Query2Excel(get_info, heads, cols)# </cfoutput>

<!--- End of code --->

That's all you need :-)

SQL Server Interview Questions

SQL server interview questions

Q1. What is the difference between a primary and unique key?
Ans1. Both primary key and unique enforce uniqueness of the column on whichthey are defined. But by default primary key creates a clustered indexon the column, where are unique creates a nonclustered index bydefault. Another major difference is that, primary key doesn't allowNULLs, but unique key allows one NULL only.

Q2. What is bit datatype and what information is stored in a bit column?
Ans2. Information stored 0, 1, Null

Q3. What is the difference between delete table and truncate table?
Ans3. DELETE TABLE is a logged operation, so the deletion of each row getslogged in the transaction log, which makes it slow. TRUNCATE TABLE also deletes all the rows in a table, but it won't log the deletion of each row, instead it logs the deallocation of the data pages of thetable, which makes it faster. TRUNCATE TABLE can be rolledback.

Q4. How to find the 6th highest salary from EMPLOYEES table?
Ans4. Select TOP 1 salary from (Select DISTINCT TOP 6 salary from EMPLOYEES order by salary desc) Order by salary.

Q5. What is a Deadlock?
Ans5. Deadlock is a situation when two processes, each having a lock on one piece of Data, attempting to acquire lock on other's piece.

Q6. What is the difference between UNION and JOINS?
Ans6. A join selects COLUMNS from 2 or more tables, while UNION selects ROWS.

ASP.Net Interview Questions

Below are some of the questions that I asked a candidate who came for interview for a ASP.Net Developer.

Q1. What is an Interface and What is an Abstract Class?
Ans1. In an Interface all methods must be Abstract, In Abstract class some methods can be defined.

Q2. Can Two different Programming Languages be mixed in a single ASPX file?
Ans2. ASP.Net's built in parsers are used to remove code from ASPX file and create language files. Each Parser understands only one language, therefore mixing of languages in a single ASPX file is not possible.

Q3. Is it possible to see the code that ASP.Net generates from ASPX files.?
Ans3. Yes, By enabling debugging using <%@ Page Debug = "true"> in ASPX file or <compilation debug = "true"> in web.config file.

Q4. How do I create an ASPX page that periodically refreshes itself in n seconds?
Ans4. <meta http-enquiv="Refresh" Content="nn">

Q5. Explain Webservices
Ans5. WebServices are programmable business logic components that provide access to informaiton functionality through Internet. Standard Protocols like HTTP can be used to access them. WebServices are based on SOAP which is an application of XML.

Q6. Explain Namespaces
Ans6. Namespaces are logical groupings of names used within a program.

Q7. Can A custom .NET data type be used in a web form?
Ans7. Yes, by placing the DLL containing the data type in application root bin directory and ASP.net will automatically load the DLL.

Radhi's Birthday Pics

Posting this Blog Late, uploading some pics of Jaanu's Birthday. Called couple of friends and coworkers to home for LUNCH, and then next day, me radhi and radhi's mom had food at Copper Chimney, which is a resturant on the top floor of Bangalore Central.

Food a Copper Chimney is not so great, but theri BAR is really good, you get the best cocktails there :-)

Me and Radhi at Copper Chimney !!!!!

Jazz - My First dog pet(Labrador)

My First pet dog, and we have named it JAZZ. We got it when he was 13 days old. The very first day he didn't do anything, just drank milk with Cerelac and slept.

Just after 2 days, he started playing and now he has become really naughty.

Jazz One month Old.... !!!!!!!! Growing Really FAST ... .......

KodaiKanal April 2007

Recently visited KodaiKanal which is also know as the Princess of Hill Stations in South India. Strangely there are not enough travels going to KodaiKanal. We stayed in Hotel Kodai International which is some 2 kms from KodaiKanal. The Place where we stayed had hotels everywhere and there was no nature to see. We called the travel desk and booked a tour for places in KodaiKanal.

We were happy to see forests and some nature, but the place was overcrowded and inspite of all it being one way traffic we were stuck in traffic jam for more than 30 mins. I personally did not like the place as it has been exploited to it's maximum. In our tour we had 2 waterfalls to visit, but we were told that there is no water in them, so they won't be covered!!!!!!!!

Then next day we thought of going for trecking in forest, but we coudn't as forest department did not give the permission for it.

Then we went to a park (Bryant Park), they were charging 500 rupees for a video cam !!!!! The park was not that good.

Club Mahindra Goa Visit

My first visit to GOA. I and Radhika went to Club Mahindra Varca beach GOA from 2nd Feb 2007 to 6th Feb 2007. We reached GOA at 4:50 pm. Goa was hot, 32 degrees during days.

I and Radhika both were very hungry and tired, we looked at places in the resorts, and found a restaurant that is opens from 9 am to 9 pm. We both had juice and some snacks.

We were so tired after that we went to sleep early, there were some programs going on, but we did not attend any.
The next day after having break fast, we went to the grocery shop to get swimming costumes and from there straight went to swimming pool. That was some experience, I was swimming after a long time and really enjoyed it.

Whole day we were so lazy that we just went in pool came out and sat in sun. Then that day in evening we went to the beach.

Traveling in GOA was expensive; a taxi for tour of South Goa was for 1700 INR for 6 hours maximum. It was hot so we decided to stay in the resort.

I and Radhi were not happy with the hospitality of Club Mahindra; we stayed there for 4 days and didn't have any interaction with anyone else there in the resort. Had the same Breakfast every day(Aloo Poori and Eggs)





Altogether it was a memorable experience and would really like to visit more places in GOA. One of the best places which I have visited so far.