C#, .

NET, XML, IIS - Interview Questions

• Framework
• OOPS
• C# Language features
• Access specifiers
• Constructor
• ADO.NET
• Asp.Net
• WebService & Remoting
• COM
• XML
• IIS
• Controls
• Programming

(Framework)

1. What is .NET Framework?

The .NET Framework has two main components: the common language runtime and the
.NET Framework class library.
You can think of the runtime as an agent that manages code at execution time, providing
core services such as memory management, thread management, and remoting, while
also enforcing strict type safety and other forms of code accuracy that ensure security
and robustness.
The class library, is a comprehensive, object-oriented collection of reusable types that
you can use to develop applications ranging from traditional command-line or graphical
user interface (GUI) applications to applications based on the latest innovations provided
by ASP.NET, such as Web Forms and XML Web services.
2. What is CLR, CTS, CLS?
The .NET Framework provides a runtime environment called the Common Language
Runtime or CLR (similar to the Java Virtual Machine or JVM in Java), which handles the
execution of code and provides useful services for the implementation of the program.
CLR takes care of code management at program execution and provides various
beneficial services such as memory management, thread management, security
management, code verification, compilation, and other system services. The managed
code that targets CLR benefits from useful features such as cross-language integration,
cross-language exception handling, versioning, enhanced security, deployment support,
and debugging.
Common Type System (CTS) describes how types are declared, used and managed in
the runtime and facilitates cross-language integration, type safety, and high performance
code execution.
The CLS is simply a specification that defines the rules to support language integration in
such a way that programs written in any language, yet can interoperate with one another,
taking full advantage of inheritance, polymorphism, exceptions, and other features. These
rules and the specification are documented in the ECMA proposed standard document,
"Partition I Architecture", http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/ecma/
3. What are the new features of Framework 1.1 ?
1. Native Support for Developing Mobile Web Applications
2. Enable Execution of Windows Forms Assemblies Originating from the Internet
Assemblies originating from the Internet zone—for example, Microsoft Windows®
Forms controls embedded in an Internet-based Web page or Windows Forms
 assemblies hosted on an Internet Web server and loaded either through the Web
browser or programmatically using the
System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFrom() method—now receive
sufficient permission to execute in a semi-trusted manner. Default security policy
has been changed so that assemblies assigned by the common language
runtime (CLR) to the Internet zone code group now receive the constrained
permissions associated with the Internet permission set. In the .NET Framework
1.0 Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2, such applications received the
permissions associated with the Nothing permission set and could not execute.
3. Enable Code Access Security for ASP.NET Applications
Systems administrators can now use code access security to further lock down
the permissions granted to ASP.NET Web applications and Web services.
Although the operating system account under which an application runs imposes
security restrictions on the application, the code access security system of the
CLR can enforce additional restrictions on selected application resources based
on policies specified by systems administrators. You can use this feature in a
shared server environment (such as an Internet service provider (ISP) hosting
multiple Web applications on one server) to isolate separate applications from
one another, as well as with stand-alone servers where you want applications to
run with the minimum necessary privileges.
4. Native Support for Communicating with ODBC and Oracle Databases
5. Unified Programming Model for Smart Client Application Development
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework brings the CLR, Windows Forms
controls, and other .NET Framework features to small devices. The .NET
Compact Framework supports a large subset of the .NET Framework class
library optimized for small devices.
6. Support for IPv6
The .NET Framework 1.1 supports the emerging update to the Internet Protocol,
commonly referred to as IP version 6, or simply IPv6. This protocol is designed to
significantly increase the address space used to identify communication
endpoints in the Internet to accommodate its ongoing growth.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/technologyinfo/Overview/whatsnew.aspx

4. Is .NET a runtime service or a development platform?

Ans: It's both and actually a lot more. Microsoft .NET includes a new way of delivering
software and services to businesses and consumers. A part of Microsoft.NET is the .NET
Frameworks. The .NET frameworks SDK consists of two parts: the .NET common
language runtime and the .NET class library. In addition, the SDK also includes
command-line compilers for C#, C++, JScript, and VB. You use these compilers to build
applications and components. These components require the runtime to execute so this
is a development platform.
5. What is MSIL, IL?
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. Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) is 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.
6. Can I write IL programs directly?
Yes. Peter Drayton posted this simple example to the DOTNET mailing list:
.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.
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.
7. What is JIT (just in time)? how it works?
Before Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) can be executed, it must be converted by
a .NET Framework just-in-time (JIT) compiler to native code, which is CPU-specific code
that runs on the same computer architecture as the JIT compiler.
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 it is needed during execution and stores the
resulting native code so that it is accessible for subsequent calls.
The runtime supplies another mode of compilation called install-time code generation.
The install-time code generation mode converts MSIL to native code just as the regular
JIT compiler does, but it converts larger units of code at a time, storing the resulting
native code for use when the assembly is subsequently loaded and executed.
As part of compiling MSIL to native code, code must pass a verification process unless
an administrator has established a security policy that allows code to bypass verification.
Verification examines MSIL and metadata to find out whether the code can be determined
to be type safe, which means that it is known to access only the memory locations it is
authorized to access.
8. 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.
9. What is portable executable (PE)?
The file format defining the structure that all executable files (EXE) and Dynamic Link
Libraries (DLL) must use to allow them to be loaded and executed by Windows. PE is
derived from the Microsoft Common Object File Format (COFF). The EXE and DLL files
created using the .NET Framework obey the PE/COFF formats and also add additional
header and data sections to the files that are only used by the CLR. The specification for
the PE/COFF file formats is available at
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/hardware/pecoffdown.mspx
10. What is Event - Delegate? clear syntax for writing a event delegate
The event keyword lets you specify a delegate that will be called upon the occurrence of
some "event" in your code. The delegate can have one or more associated methods that
will be called when your code indicates that the event has occurred. An event in one
program can be made available to other programs that target the .NET Framework
Common Language Runtime.
// keyword_delegate.cs
// delegate declaration
delegate void MyDelegate(int i);
11.class Program
12.{
13. public static void Main()
14. {
15. TakesADelegate(new MyDelegate(DelegateFunction));
16. }
17. public static void TakesADelegate(MyDelegate SomeFunction)
18. {
19. SomeFunction(21);
20. }
21. public static void DelegateFunction(int i)
22. {
23. System.Console.WriteLine("Called by delegate with number:
{0}.", i);
24. }
}

25. 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.
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 syystem it looks like this:
26.Level = Machine
27.Code Groups:
28.
29.1. All code: Nothing
30. 1.1. Zone - MyComputer: FullTrust
31. 1.1.1. Honor SkipVerification requests: SkipVerification
32. 1.2. Zone - Intranet: LocalIntranet
33. 1.3. Zone - Internet: Internet
34. 1.4. Zone - Untrusted: Nothing
35. 1.5. Zone - Trusted: Internet
36. 1.6. StrongName -
0024000004800000940000000602000000240000525341310004000003
37.000000CFCB3291AA715FE99D40D49040336F9056D7886FED46775BC7BB5430BA4
444FEF8348EBD06
38.F962F39776AE4DC3B7B04A7FE6F49F25F740423EBF2C0B89698D8D08AC48D69CE
D0FC8F83B465E08
39.07AC11EC1DCC7D054E807A43336DDE408A5393A48556123272CEEEE72F1660B71
927D38561AABF5C
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.
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.
Can I create my own permission set?
Yes. Use caspol -ap, specifying an XML file containing the permissions in the permission
set. To save you some time, here is a sample file corresponding to the 'Everything'
permission set - just edit to suit your needs. When you have edited 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)
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.

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
http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/UB_CAS_NET.asp

40. Which namespace is the base class for .net Class library?
Ans: system.object
41. What are object pooling and connection pooling and difference? Where do we set
the Min and Max Pool size for connection pooling?
Object pooling is a COM+ service that enables you to reduce the overhead of creating
each object from scratch. When an object is activated, it is pulled from the pool. When
the object is deactivated, it is placed back into the pool to await the next request. You can
configure object pooling by applying the ObjectPoolingAttribute attribute to a class
that derives from the System.EnterpriseServices.ServicedComponent class.
Object pooling lets you control the number of connections you use, as opposed to
connection pooling, where you control the maximum number reached.
Following are important differences between object pooling and connection pooling:

Creation. When using connection pooling, creation is on the same thread, so if

there is nothing in the pool, a connection is created on your behalf. With object
pooling, the pool might decide to create a new object. However, if you have
already reached your maximum, it instead gives you the next available object.
 This is crucial behavior when it takes a long time to create an object, but you do
not use it for very long.
Enforcement of minimums and maximums. This is not done in connection
pooling. The maximum value in object pooling is very important when trying to
scale your application. You might need to multiplex thousands of requests to just
a few objects. (TPC/C benchmarks rely on this.)

COM+ object pooling is identical to what is used in .NET Framework managed SQL
Client connection pooling. For example, creation is on a different thread and minimums
and maximums are enforced.

2. What is Application Domain?

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.
Objects in different application domains communicate either by transporting
copies of objects across application domain boundaries, or by using a proxy to
exchange messages.
MarshalByRefObject is the base class for objects that communicate across
application domain boundaries by exchanging messages using a proxy. Objects
that do not inherit from MarshalByRefObject are implicitly marshal by value.
When a remote application references a marshal by value object, a copy of the
object is passed across application domain boundaries.
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.
3. using System;
4. using System.Runtime.Remoting;
5.
6. public class CAppDomainInfo : MarshalByRefObject
7. {
8. public string GetAppDomainInfo()
9. {
10. return "AppDomain = " +
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName;
11. }
12. }
13. public class App
14. {
15. public static int Main()
16. {
17. AppDomain ad = AppDomain.CreateDomain( "Andy's
new domain", null, null );
 18. ObjectHandle oh = ad.CreateInstance(
"appdomaintest", "CAppDomainInfo" );
19. CAppDomainInfo adInfo =
(CAppDomainInfo)(oh.Unwrap());
20. string info = adInfo.GetAppDomainInfo();
21. Console.WriteLine( "AppDomain info: " + info );
22. return 0;
23. }
}

24. What is serialization in .NET? What are the ways to control 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).Serialization can be
defined as the process of storing the state of an object to a storage medium.
During this process, the public and private fields of the object and the name of
the class, including the assembly containing the class, are converted to a stream
of bytes, which is then written to a data stream. When the object is subsequently
deserialized, an exact clone of the original object is created.
Binary serialization preserves type fidelity, which is useful for preserving the state
of an object between different invocations of an application. For example, you
can share an object between different applications by serializing it to the
clipboard. You can serialize an object to a stream, disk, memory, over the
network, and so forth. Remoting uses serialization to pass objects "by value"
from one computer or application domain to another.
XML serialization serializes only public properties and fields and does not
preserve type fidelity. This is useful when you want to provide or consume data
without restricting the application that uses the data. Because XML is an open
standard, it is an attractive choice for sharing data across the Web. SOAP is an
open standard, which makes it an attractive choice.

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.
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.

25. What is exception handling?

When an exception occurs, the system searches for the nearest catch clause
that can handle the exception, as determined by the run-time type of the
exception. First, the current method is searched for a lexically enclosing try
statement, and the associated catch clauses of the try statement are considered
in order. If that fails, the method that called the current method is searched for a
lexically enclosing try statement that encloses the point of the call to the current
method. This search continues until a catch clause is found that can handle the
current exception, by naming an exception class that is of the same class, or a
base class, of the run-time type of the exception being thrown. A catch clause
that doesn't name an exception class can handle any exception.
Once a matching catch clause is found, the system prepares to transfer control to
 the first statement of the catch clause. Before execution of the catch clause
begins, the system first executes, in order, any finally clauses that were
associated with try statements more nested that than the one that caught the
exception.
Exceptions that occur during destructor execution are worth special mention. If
an exception occurs during destructor execution, and that exception is not
caught, then the execution of that destructor is terminated and the destructor of
the base class (if any) is called. If there is no base class (as in the case of the
object type) or if there is no base class destructor, then the exception is
discarded.
26. What is 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.
Assemblies are a fundamental part of programming with the .NET Framework. An
assembly performs the following functions:
It contains code that the common language runtime executes. Microsoft
intermediate language (MSIL) code in a portable executable (PE) file will not be
executed if it does not have an associated assembly manifest. Note that each
assembly can have only one entry point (that is, DllMain, WinMain, or Main).
It forms a security boundary. An assembly is the unit at which permissions are
requested and granted.
It forms a type boundary. Every type's identity includes the name of the assembly
in which it resides. A type called MyType loaded in the scope of one assembly is
not the same as a type called MyType loaded in the scope of another assembly.
It forms a reference scope boundary. The assembly's manifest contains
assembly metadata that is used for resolving types and satisfying resource
requests. It specifies the types and resources that are exposed outside the
assembly. The manifest also enumerates other assemblies on which it depends.
It forms a version boundary. The assembly is the smallest versionable unit in the
common language runtime; all types and resources in the same assembly are
versioned as a unit. The assembly's manifest describes the version
dependencies you specify for any dependent assemblies.
It forms a deployment unit. When an application starts, only the assemblies that
the application initially calls must be present. Other assemblies, such as
localization resources or assemblies containing utility classes, can be retrieved
on demand. This allows applications to be kept simple and thin when first
downloaded.
It is the unit at which side-by-side execution is supported.

Assemblies can be static or dynamic. Static assemblies can include .NET Framework
types (interfaces and classes), as well as resources for the assembly (bitmaps, JPEG
files, resource files, and so on). Static assemblies are stored on disk in PE files. You can
also use the .NET Framework to create dynamic assemblies, which are run directly from
memory and are not saved to disk before execution. You can save dynamic assemblies
to disk after they have executed.
There are several ways to create assemblies. You can use development tools, such as
Visual Studio .NET, that you have used in the past to create .dll or .exe files. You can use
tools provided in the .NET Framework SDK to create assemblies with modules created in
other development environments. You can also use common language runtime APIs,
such as Reflection.Emit, to create dynamic assemblies.

27. 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.
28. What are the different types of assemblies?
Private, Public/Shared, Satellite
29. What is the difference between a private assembly and a shared assembly?

1. 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.
2. Versioning: The runtime enforces versioning constraints only on shared
assemblies, not on private assemblies.

42. What are Satellite Assemblies? How you will create this? How will you get
the different language strings?
Satellite assemblies are often used to deploy language-specific resources for an
application. These language-specific assemblies work in side-by-side execution
because the application has a separate product ID for each language and installs
satellite assemblies in a language-specific subdirectory for each language. When
uninstalling, the application removes only the satellite assemblies associated with
a given language and .NET Framework version. No core .NET Framework files
are removed unless the last language for that .NET Framework version is being
removed.
(For example, English and Japanese editions of the .NET Framework version 1.1
share the same core files. The Japanese .NET Framework version 1.1 adds
satellite assemblies with localized resources in a \ja subdirectory. An application
that supports the .NET Framework version 1.1, regardless of its language,
always uses the same core runtime files.)
http://www.ondotnet.com/lpt/a/2637
**
43. How will u load dynamic assembly? How will create assemblies at run
time?
**
44. What is Assembly manifest? what all details the assembly manifest will
contain?
Every assembly, whether static or dynamic, contains a collection of data that
describes how the elements in the assembly relate to each other. The assembly
manifest contains this assembly metadata. An assembly manifest contains all the
metadata needed to specify the assembly's version requirements and security
identity, and all metadata needed to define the scope of the assembly and
resolve references to resources and classes. The assembly manifest can be
stored in either a PE file (an .exe or .dll) with Microsoft intermediate language
(MSIL) code or in a standalone PE file that contains only assembly manifest
information.
 It contains Assembly name, Version number, Culture, Strong name information,
List of all files in the assembly, Type reference information, Information on
referenced assemblies.
45. Difference between assembly manifest & metadata?
assembly manifest - An integral part of every assembly that renders the
assembly self-describing. The assembly manifest contains the assembly's
metadata. The manifest establishes the assembly identity, specifies the files that
make up the assembly implementation, specifies the types and resources that
make up the assembly, itemizes the compile-time dependencies on other
assemblies, and specifies the set of permissions required for the assembly to run
properly. This information is used at run time to resolve references, enforce
version binding policy, and validate the integrity of loaded assemblies. The self-
describing nature of assemblies also helps makes zero-impact install and
XCOPY deployment feasible.
metadata - Information that describes every element managed by the common
language runtime: an assembly, loadable file, type, method, and so on. This can
include information required for debugging and garbage collection, as well as
security attributes, marshaling data, extended class and member definitions,
version binding, and other information required by the runtime.
46. What is Global Assembly Cache (GAC) and what is the purpose of it? (How
to make an assembly to public? Steps) How more than one version of an
assembly can keep in same place?
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. You should share assemblies by installing them into the global
assembly cache only when you need to.
Steps
- Create a strong name using sn.exe tool
eg: sn -k keyPair.snk
- with in AssemblyInfo.cs add the generated file name
eg: [assembly: AssemblyKeyFile("abc.snk")]
- recompile project, then install it to GAC by either
drag & drop it to assembly folder (C:\WINDOWS\assembly OR
C:\WINNT\assembly) (shfusion.dll tool)
or
gacutil -i abc.dll
47. If I have more than one version of one assemblies, then how'll I use old
version (how/where to specify version number?)in my application?
**
48. How to find methods of a assembly file (not using ILDASM)
Reflection
49. What is Garbage Collection in .Net? Garbage collection process?
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.
50. What is Reflection in .NET? Namespace? How will you load an assembly
which is not referenced by current assembly?
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).
51. What is Custom attribute? How to create? If I'm having custom attribute in
an assembly, how to say that name in the code?
A: The primary steps to properly design custom attribute classes are as follows:

a. Applying the AttributeUsageAttribute

([AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.All, Inherited = false,
AllowMultiple = true)])
b. Declaring the attribute. (class public class MyAttribute :
System.Attribute { // . . . })
c. Declaring constructors (public MyAttribute(bool myvalue)
{ this.myvalue = myvalue; })
d. Declaring properties
public bool MyProperty
{
get {return this.myvalue;}
set {this.myvalue = value;}
}

The following example demonstrates the basic way of using reflection to get access to
custom attributes.
class MainClass
{
public static void Main()
{
System.Reflection.MemberInfo info = typeof(MyClass);
object[] attributes = info.GetCustomAttributes();
for (int i = 0; i < attributes.Length; i ++)
{
System.Console.WriteLine(attributes[i]);
}
}
}

2. What is the managed and unmanaged code in .net?

The .NET Framework provides a run­time environment called the Common 
Language Runtime, which manages the execution of code and provides services 
that make the development process easier. Compilers and tools expose the 
runtime's functionality and enable you to write code that benefits from this 
managed execution environment. Code that you develop with a language 
compiler that targets the runtime is called managed code; it benefits from 
features such as cross­language integration, cross­language exception handling, 
enhanced security, versioning and deployment support, a simplified model for 
component interaction, and debugging and profiling services.
3. How do you create threading in .NET? What is the namespace for that?
**
System.Threading.Thread
4. Serialize and MarshalByRef?
5. using directive vs using statement
You create an instance in a using statement to ensure that Dispose is called on
the object when the using statement is exited. A using statement can be exited
either when the end of the using statement is reached or if, for example, an
exception is thrown and control leaves the statement block before the end of the
statement.
The using directive has two uses:

Create an alias for a namespace (a using alias).

Permit the use of types in a namespace, such that, you do not have to qualify the
use of a type in that namespace (a using directive).
2. Describe the Managed Execution Process?
The managed execution process includes the following steps:

1. Choosing a compiler.
To obtain the benefits provided by the common language runtime, you must use
one or more language compilers that target the runtime.
2. Compiling your code to Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL).
Compiling translates your source code into MSIL and generates the required
metadata.
3. Compiling MSIL to native code.
At execution time, a just-in-time (JIT) compiler translates the MSIL into native
code. During this compilation, code must pass a verification process that
examines the MSIL and metadata to find out whether the code can be
determined to be type safe.
4. Executing your code.
The common language runtime provides the infrastructure that enables execution
to take place as well as a variety of services that can be used during execution.

52. What is Active Directory? What is the namespace used to access the
Microsoft Active Directories? What are ADSI Directories?
Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) is a programmatic interface for
Microsoft Windows Active Directory. It enables your applications to interact with
diverse directories on a network, using a single interface. Visual Studio .NET and
the .NET Framework make it easy to add ADSI functionality with the
DirectoryEntry and DirectorySearcher components.
Using ADSI, you can create applications that perform common administrative
tasks, such as backing up databases, accessing printers, and administering user
accounts. ADSI makes it possible for you to:

Log on once to work with diverse directories. The DirectoryEntry component

class provides username and password properties that can be entered at runtime
and communicated to the Active Directory object you are binding to.
Use a single application programming interface (API) to perform tasks on multiple
directory systems by offering the user a variety of protocols to use. The
DirectoryServices namespace provides the classes to perform most
administrative functions.
Perform "rich querying" on directory systems. ADSI technology allows for
searching for an object by specifying two query dialects: SQL and LDAP.
 Access and use a single, hierarchical structure for administering and maintaining
diverse and complicated network configurations by accessing an Active Directory
tree.
Integrate directory information with databases such as SQL Server. The
DirectoryEntry path may be used as an ADO.NET connection string provided
that it is using the LDAP provider.

using System.DirectoryServices;

2. How Garbage Collector (GC) Works?

The methods in this class influence when an object is garbage collected and
when resources allocated by an object are released. Properties in this class
provide information about the total amount of memory available in the system
and the age category, or generation, of memory allocated to an object.
Periodically, the garbage collector performs garbage collection to reclaim
memory allocated to objects for which there are no valid references. Garbage
collection happens automatically when a request for memory cannot be satisfied
using available free memory. Alternatively, an application can force garbage
collection using the Collect method.
Garbage collection consists of the following steps:

1. The garbage collector searches for managed objects that are referenced in
managed code.
2. The garbage collector attempts to finalize objects that are not referenced.
3. The garbage collector frees objects that are not referenced and reclaims their
memory.

53. Why do we need to call CG.SupressFinalize?

Requests that the system not call the finalizer method for the specified object.
public static void SuppressFinalize(
object obj
); The method removes obj from the set of objects that require finalization. The
obj parameter is required to be the caller of this method.
Objects that implement the IDisposable interface can call this method from the
IDisposable.Dispose method to prevent the garbage collector from calling
Object.Finalize on an object that does not require it.
54. What is nmake tool?
The Nmake tool (Nmake.exe) is a 32-bit tool that you use to build projects based
on commands contained in a .mak file.
usage : nmake -a all
55. What are Namespaces?
The namespace keyword is used to declare a scope. This namespace scope lets
you organize code and gives you a way to create globally-unique types. Even if
you do not explicitly declare one, a default namespace is created. This unnamed
namespace, sometimes called the global namespace, is present in every file. Any
identifier in the global namespace is available for use in a named namespace.
Namespaces implicitly have public access and this is not modifiable.
56. What is the difference between CONST and READONLY?
Both are meant for constant values. 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.
readonly int b;
public X()
 {
b=1;
}
public X(string s)
{
b=5;
}
public X(string s, int i)
{
b=i;
}
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;
(this can't be possible with const)
57. What is the difference between ref & out parameters?
An argument passed to a ref parameter must first be initialized. Compare this to
an out parameter, whose argument does not have to be explicitly initialized
before being passed to an out parameter.
58. What is the difference between Array and Arraylist?
As elements are added to an ArrayList, the capacity is automatically increased as
required through reallocation. The capacity can be decreased by calling
TrimToSize or by setting the Capacity property explicitly.
59. What is Jagged Arrays?
A jagged array is an array whose elements are arrays. The elements of a jagged
array can be of different dimensions and sizes. A jagged array is sometimes
called an "array-of-arrays."
60. What are indexers?
Indexers are similar to properties, except that the get and set accessors of
indexers take parameters, while property accessors do not.
61. What is Asynchronous call and how it can be implemented using
delegates?
62. How to create events for a control? What is custom events? How to create
it?
63. If you want to write your own dot net language, what steps you will u take
care?
64. Describe the difference between inline and code behind - which is best in a
loosely coupled solution?
65. how dot net compiled code will become platform independent?
66. without modifying source code if we compile again, will it be generated
MSIL again?
67. C++ & C# differences
**

(COM)
68. Interop Services?
The common language runtime provides two mechanisms for interoperating with
unmanaged code:

Platform invoke, which enables managed code to call functions exported from an
unmanaged library.
COM interop, which enables managed code to interact with COM objects through
interfaces.
Both platform invoke and COM interop use interop marshaling to accurately move
method arguments between caller and callee and back, if required.

2. How does u handle this COM components developed in other programming

languages in .NET?
3. What is RCW (Runtime Callable Wrappers)?
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.
4. What is CCW (COM Callable Wrapper)

A proxy object generated by the common language runtime so that existing COM
applications can use managed classes, including .NET Framework classes, transparently.

5. How CCW and RCW is working?

**
6. How will you register com+ services?
The .NET Framework SDK provides the .NET Framework Services Installation
Tool (Regsvcs.exe - a command-line tool) to manually register an assembly
containing serviced components. You can also access these registration features
programmatically with the
System.EnterpriseServicesRegistrationHelper class by creating an
instance of class RegistrationHelper and using the method
InstallAssembly
7. What is use of ContextUtil class?
ContextUtil is the preferred class to use for obtaining COM+ context information.
8. What is the new three features of COM+ services, which are not there in
COM (MTS)?
**
9. Is the COM architecture same as .Net architecture? What is the difference
between them?
**
10. Can we copy a COM dll to GAC folder?
**
11. What is Pinvoke?
Platform invoke is a service that enables managed code to call unmanaged
functions implemented in dynamic-link libraries (DLLs), such as those in the
Win32 API. It locates and invokes an exported function and marshals its
arguments (integers, strings, arrays, structures, and so on) across the
interoperation boundary as needed.
12. Is it true that COM objects no longer need to be registered on the server?
Answer: Yes and No. Legacy COM objects still need to be registered on
the server before they can be used. COM developed using the new
.NET Framework will not need to be registered. Developers will be able
to auto-register these objects just by placing them in the 'bin' folder of
the application.
13. Can .NET Framework components use the features of Component
Services?
Answer: Yes, you can use the features and functions of Component Services
from a .NET Framework component.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/techart/Pahlcompserv.htm
 (OOPS)
14. What are the OOPS concepts?
1) Encapsulation: It is the mechanism that binds together code and data in
manipulates, and keeps both safe from outside interference and misuse. In short
it isolates a particular code and data from all other codes and data. A well-defined
interface controls the access to that particular code and data.
2) Inheritance: It is the process by which one object acquires the properties of
another object. This supports the hierarchical classification. Without the use of
hierarchies, each object would need to define all its characteristics explicitly.
However, by use of inheritance, an object need only define those qualities that
make it unique within its class. It can inherit its general attributes from its parent.
A new sub-class inherits all of the attributes of all of its ancestors.
3) Polymorphism: It is a feature that allows one interface to be used for general
class of actions. The specific action is determined by the exact nature of the
situation. In general polymorphism means "one interface, multiple methods", This
means that it is possible to design a generic interface to a group of related
activities. This helps reduce complexity by allowing the same interface to be used
to specify a general class of action. It is the compiler's job to select the specific
action (that is, method) as it applies to each situation.
15. 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.
16. Value type & reference types difference? Example from .NET. Integer &
struct are value types or reference types in .NET?
Most programming languages provide built-in data types, such as integers and
floating-point numbers, that are copied when they are passed as arguments (that
is, they are passed by value). In the .NET Framework, these are called value
types. The runtime supports two kinds of value types:
Built-in value types
The .NET Framework defines built-in value types, such as System.Int32 and
System.Boolean, which correspond and are identical to primitive data types used
by programming languages.
User-defined value types
Your language will provide ways to define your own value types, which derive
from System.ValueType. If you want to define a type representing a value that is
small, such as a complex number (using two floating-point numbers), you might
choose to define it as a value type because you can pass the value type
 efficiently by value. If the type you are defining would be more efficiently passed
by reference, you should define it as a class instead.

Variables of reference types, referred to as objects, store references to the actual data.
This following are the reference types:

class
interface
delegate

This following are the built-in reference types:

object
string
17. What is Inheritance, Multiple Inheritance, Shared and Repeatable
Inheritance?
**
18. What is Method overloading?
Method overloading occurs when a class contains two methods with the same
name, but different signatures.
19. What is Method Overriding? How to override a function in C#?
Use the override modifier to modify a method, a property, an indexer, or an event.
An override method provides a new implementation of a member inherited from a
base class. The method overridden by an override declaration is known as the
overridden base method. The overridden base method must have the same
signature as the override method.
You cannot override a non-virtual or static method. The overridden base method
must be virtual, abstract, or override.
20. Can we call a base class method without creating instance?
Its possible If its a static method.
Its possible by inheriting from that class also.
Its possible from derived classes using base keyword.
21. You have one base class virtual function how will call that function from
derived class?
Ans:
22. class a
23. {
24. public virtual int m()
25. {
26. return 1;
27. }
28. }
29. class b:a
30. {
31. public int j()
32. {
33. return m();
34. }
}

35. In which cases you use override and new base?

Use the new modifier to explicitly hide a member inherited from a base class. To
 hide an inherited member, declare it in the derived class using the same name,
and modify it with the new modifier.

C# Language features

36. What are Sealed Classes in C#?

The sealed modifier is used to prevent derivation from a class. A compile-time
error occurs if a sealed class is specified as the base class of another class. (A
sealed class cannot also be an abstract class)
37. What is Polymorphism? How does VB.NET/C# achieve polymorphism?
**
38. class Token
39. {
40. public string Display()
41. {
42. //Implementation goes here
43. return "base";
44. }
45. }
46. class IdentifierToken:Token
47. {
48. public new string Display() //What is the
use of new keyword
49. {
50. //Implementation goes here
51. return "derive";
52. }
53. }
54. static void Method(Token t)
55. {
56. Console.Write(t.Display());
57. }
58. public static void Main()
59. {
60. IdentifierToken Variable=new
IdentifierToken();
61. Method(Variable); //Which Class Method is
called here
62. Console.ReadLine();
63. }
64. For the above code What is the "new" keyword
and Which Class Method is
65. called here

A: it will call base class Display method

66. class Token

67. {
68. public virtual string Display()
69. {
 70. //Implementation goes here
71. return "base";
72. }
73. }
74. class IdentifierToken:Token
75. {
76. public override string Display() //What
is the use of new keyword
77. {
78. //Implementation goes here
79. return "derive";
80. }
81. }
82. static void Method(Token t)
83. {
84. Console.Write(t.Display());
85. }
86. public static void Main()
87. {
88. IdentifierToken Variable=new
IdentifierToken();
89. Method(Variable); //Which Class Method is
called here
90. Console.ReadLine();
91. }
92. A: Derive
93. In which Scenario you will go for Interface or Abstract Class?
Interfaces, like classes, define a set of properties, methods, and events. But
unlike classes, interfaces do not provide implementation. They are implemented
by classes, and defined as separate entities from classes. Even though class
inheritance allows your classes to inherit implementation from a base class, it
also forces you to make most of your design decisions when the class is first
published.
Abstract classes are useful when creating components because they allow you
specify an invariant level of functionality in some methods, but leave the
implementation of other methods until a specific implementation of that class is
needed. They also version well, because if additional functionality is needed in
derived classes, it can be added to the base class without breaking code.
Interfaces vs. Abstract Classes
Feature Interface Abstract class
Multiple A class may implement several A class may extend only one abstract
inheritance interfaces. class.
An interface cannot provide An abstract class can provide
Default
any code at all, much less complete code, default code, and/or
implementation
default code. just stubs that have to be overridden.
Constants Static final constants only, can Both instance and static constants are
use them without qualification possible. Both static and instance
in classes that implement the intialiser code are also possible to
interface. On the other paw, compute the constants.
these unqualified names
pollute the namespace. You can
 use them and it is not obvious
where they are coming from
since the qualification is
optional.
An interface implementation
Third party A third party class must be rewritten
may be added to any existing
convenience to extend only from the abstract class.
third party class.
Interfaces are often used to An abstract class defines the core
describe the peripheral abilities identity of its descendants. If you
of a class, not its central defined a Dog abstract class then
is-a vs -able or identity, e.g. an Automobile Damamation descendants are Dogs,
can-do class might implement the they are not merely dogable.
Recyclable interface, which Implemented interfaces enumerate the
could apply to many otherwise general things a class can do, not the
totally unrelated objects. things a class is.
You must use the abstract class as-is
for the code base, with all its
attendant baggage, good or bad. The
abstract class author has imposed
You can write a new
structure on you. Depending on the
replacement module for an
cleverness of the author of the
interface that contains not one
abstract class, this may be good or
stick of code in common with
bad. Another issue that's important is
the existing implementations.
what I call "heterogeneous vs.
When you implement the
homogeneous." If
interface, you start from
implementors/subclasses are
scratch without any default
Plug-in homogeneous, tend towards an
implementation. You have to
abstract base class. If they are
obtain your tools from other
heterogeneous, use an interface.
classes; nothing comes with
(Now all I have to do is come up with
the interface other than a few
a good definition of
constants. This gives you
hetero/homogeneous in this context.)
freedom to implement a
If the various objects are all of-a-
radically different internal
kind, and share a common state and
design.
behavior, then tend towards a
common base class. If all they share
is a set of method signatures, then
tend towards an interface.
If all the various If the various implementations are all
implementations share is the of a kind and share a common status
Homogeneity
method signatures, then an and behavior, usually an abstract class
interface works best. works best.
If your client code talks only in Just like an interface, if your client
terms of an interface, you can code talks only in terms of an abstract
Maintenance easily change the concrete class, you can easily change the
implementation behind it, concrete implementation behind it,
using a factory method. using a factory method.
Slow, requires extra indirection
to find the corresponding
method in the actual class.
Speed Fast
Modern JVMs are discovering
ways to reduce this speed
penalty.
 The constant declarations in an You can put shared code into an
interface are all presumed abstract class, where you cannot into
public static final, so you may an interface. If interfaces want to
leave that part out. You can't share code, you will have to write
call any methods to compute other bubblegum to arrange that. You
Terseness
the initial values of your may use methods to compute the
constants. You need not declareinitial values of your constants and
individual methods of an variables, both instance and static.
interface abstract. They are all You must declare all the individual
presumed so. methods of an abstract class abstract.
If you add a new method to an
If you add a new method to an
interface, you must track down
abstract class, you have the option of
Adding all implementations of that
providing a default implementation of
functionality interface in the universe and
it. Then all existing code will
provide them with a concrete
continue to work without change.
implementation of that method.
94. see the code
95. interface ICommon
96. {
97. int getCommon();
98. }
99. interface ICommonImplements1:ICommon
100. {
101. }
102. interface ICommonImplements2:ICommon
103. {
104. }
105. public class
a:ICommonImplements1,ICommonImplements2
106. {
}

How to implement getCommon method in class a? Are you seeing any problem in the
implementation?
Ans:

public class a:ICommonImplements1,ICommonImplements2

{
public int getCommon()
{
return 1;
}
}
107.interface IWeather
108. {
109. void display();
110. }
111. public class A:IWeather
112. {
113. public void display()
114. {
 115. MessageBox.Show("A");
116. }
117. }
118. public class B:A
119. {
120. }
121. public class C:B,IWeather
122. {
123. public void display()
124. {
125. MessageBox.Show("C");
126. }
127. }
128.When I instantiate C.display(), will it work?
129.interface IPrint
130. {
131. string Display();
132. }
133. interface IWrite
134. {
135. string Display();
136. }
137. class PrintDoc:IPrint,IWrite
138. {
139. //Here is implementation
140. }

how to implement the Display in the class printDoc (How to resolve the naming Conflict)
A: no naming conflicts

class PrintDoc:IPrint,IWrite
{
public string Display()
{
return "s";
}
}
141.interface IList
142. {
143. int Count { get; set; }
144. }
145. interface ICounter
146. {
147. void Count(int i);
148. }
149. interface IListCounter: IList, ICounter {}
150. class C
151. {
152. void Test(IListCounter x)
153. {
 154. x.Count(1); // Error
155. x.Count = 1; // Error
156. ((IList)x).Count = 1; // Ok,
invokes IList.Count.set
157. ((ICounter)x).Count(1); // Ok,
invokes ICounter.Count
158. }
159. }
160.Write one code example for compile time binding and one for run time
binding? What is early/late binding?
An object is early bound when it is assigned to a variable declared to be of a
specific object type. Early bound objects allow the compiler to allocate memory
and perform other optimizations before an application executes.
' Create a variable to hold a new object.
Dim FS As FileStream
' Assign a new object to the variable.
FS = New FileStream("C:\tmp.txt", FileMode.Open)
By contrast, an object is late bound when it is assigned to a variable declared to
be of type Object. Objects of this type can hold references to any object, but lack
many of the advantages of early-bound objects.
Dim xlApp As Object
xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
161.Can you explain what inheritance is and an example of when you might
use it?
162.How can you write a class to restrict that only one object of this class can
be created (Singleton class)?

(Access specifiers)

163.What are the access-specifiers available in c#?

Private, Protected, Public, Internal, Protected Internal.
164.Explain about Protected and protected internal, “internal” access-
specifier?
protected - Access is limited to the containing class or types derived from the
containing class.
internal - Access is limited to the current assembly.
protected internal - Access is limited to the current assembly or types derived
from the containing class.

(Constructor / Destructor)
165.Difference between type constructor and instance constructor? What is
static constructor, when it will be fired? And what is its use?
(Class constructor method is also known as type constructor or type initializer)
Instance constructor is executed when a new instance of type is created and the
class constructor is executed after the type is loaded and before any one of the
type members is accessed. (It will get executed only 1st time, when we call any
static methods/fields in the same class.) Class constructors are used for static
field initialization. Only one class constructor per type is permitted, and it cannot
use the vararg (variable argument) calling convention.
A static constructor is used to initialize a class. It is called automatically to
initialize the class before the first instance is created or any static members are
referenced.
166.What is Private Constructor? and it’s use? Can you create instance of a
class which has Private Constructor?
 A: When a class declares only private instance constructors, it is not possible for
classes outside the program to derive from the class or to directly create
instances of it. (Except Nested classes)
Make a constructor private if:
- You want it to be available only to the class itself. For example, you might have
a special constructor used only in the implementation of your class' Clone
method.
- You do not want instances of your component to be created. For example, you
may have a class containing nothing but Shared utility functions, and no instance
data. Creating instances of the class would waste memory.
167.I have 3 overloaded constructors in my class. In order to avoid making
instance of the class do I need to make all constructors to private?
(yes)
168.Overloaded constructor will call default constructor internally?
(no)
169.What are virtual destructors?
170.Destructor and finalize
Generally in C++ the destructor is called when objects gets destroyed. And one
can explicitly call the destructors in C++. And also the objects are destroyed in
reverse order that they are created in. So in C++ you have control over the
destructors.
In C# you can never call them, the reason is one cannot destroy an object. So
who has the control over the destructor (in C#)? it's the .Net frameworks Garbage
Collector (GC). GC destroys the objects only when necessary. Some situations of
necessity are memory is exhausted or user explicitly calls System.GC.Collect()
method.
Points to remember:
1. Destructors are invoked automatically, and cannot be invoked explicitly.
2. Destructors cannot be overloaded. Thus, a class can have, at most, one
destructor.
3. Destructors are not inherited. Thus, a class has no destructors other than the
one, which may be declared in it.
4. Destructors cannot be used with structs. They are only used with classes.
5. An instance becomes eligible for destruction when it is no longer possible for
any code to use the instance.
6. Execution of the destructor for the instance may occur at any time after the
instance becomes eligible for destruction.
7. When an instance is destructed, the destructors in its inheritance chain are
called, in order, from most derived to least derived.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-
us/cpguide/html/cpconfinalizemethodscdestructors.asp
171.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.
172.What is close method? How its different from Finalize & Dispose?
**
173.What is boxing & unboxing?
174.What is check/uncheck?
175.What is the use of base keyword? Tell me a practical example for base
keyword’s usage?
176.What are the different .net tools which u used in projects?
177.try
{
...
}
catch
{
...//exception occurred here. What'll happen?
}
finally
{
..
}
Ans : It will throw exception.
178.What will do to avoid prior case?
Ans:
179.try
180.{
181.try
182.{
183....
184.}
185.catch
186.{
187....
188.//exception occurred here.
189.}
190.finally
191.{
192....
193.}
194.}
195.catch
196.{
197....
198.}
199.finally
200.{
201....
}
202.try
203.{
204....
205.}
206.catch
207.{
208....
209.}
210.finally
211.{
212...
213.}
214.Will it go to finally block if there is no exception happened?
Ans: Yes. The finally block is useful for cleaning up any resources allocated in
the try block. Control is always passed to the finally block regardless of how the
try block exits.
215.Is goto statement supported in C#? How about Java?
Gotos are supported in C#to the fullest. In Java goto is a reserved keyword that
provides absolutely no functionality.
216.What’s different about switch statements in C#?
No fall-throughs allowed. Unlike the C++ switch statement, C# does not support
an explicit fall through from one case label to another. If you want, you can use
goto a switch-case, or goto default.
case 1:
cost += 25;
break;
case 2:
cost += 25;
goto case 1;

(ADO.NET)
217.Advantage of ADO.Net?
ADO.NET Does Not Depend On Continuously Live Connections
Database Interactions Are Performed Using Data Commands
Data Can Be Cached in Datasets
Datasets Are Independent of Data Sources
Data Is Persisted as XML
Schemas Define Data Structures
218.How would u connect to database using .NET?
SqlConnection nwindConn = new SqlConnection("Data
Source=localhost; Integrated Security=SSPI;" +
"Initial
Catalog=northwind");
nwindConn.Open();
219.What are relation objects in dataset and how & where to use them?
In a DataSet that contains multiple DataTable objects, you can use
DataRelation objects to relate one table to another, to navigate through the
tables, and to return child or parent rows from a related table. Adding a
DataRelation to a DataSet adds, by default, a UniqueConstraint to the parent
table and a ForeignKeyConstraint to the child table.
The following code example creates a DataRelation using two DataTable
objects in a DataSet. Each DataTable contains a column named CustID, which
serves as a link between the two DataTable objects. The example adds a single
DataRelation to the Relations collection of the DataSet. The first argument in
 the example specifies the name of the DataRelation being created. The second
argument sets the parent DataColumn and the third argument sets the child
DataColumn.
custDS.Relations.Add("CustOrders",
custDS.Tables["Customers"].Columns["CustID"],
custDS.Tables["Orders"].Columns["CustID"]);

OR

private void CreateRelation()

{
// Get the DataColumn objects from two DataTable objects in
a DataSet.
DataColumn parentCol;
DataColumn childCol;
// Code to get the DataSet not shown here.
parentCol = DataSet1.Tables["Customers"].Columns["CustID"];
childCol = DataSet1.Tables["Orders"].Columns["CustID"];
// Create DataRelation.
DataRelation relCustOrder;
relCustOrder = new DataRelation("CustomersOrders",
parentCol, childCol);
// Add the relation to the DataSet.
DataSet1.Relations.Add(relCustOrder);
}
220.Difference between OLEDB Provider and SqlClient ?
Ans: SQLClient .NET classes are highly optimized for the .net / sqlserver
combination and achieve optimal results. The SqlClient data provider is fast. It's
faster than the Oracle provider, and faster than accessing database via the
OleDb layer. It's faster because it accesses the native library (which automatically
gives you better performance), and it was written with lots of help from the SQL
Server team.
221.What are the different namespaces used in the project to connect the
database? What data providers available in .net to connect to database?
System.Data.OleDb – classes that make up the .NET Framework Data Provider
for OLE DB-compatible data sources. These classes allow you to connect to an
OLE DB data source, execute commands against the source, and read the
results.
System.Data.SqlClient – classes that make up the .NET Framework Data
Provider for SQL Server, which allows you to connect to SQL Server 7.0, execute
commands, and read results. The System.Data.SqlClient namespace is similar
to the System.Data.OleDb namespace, but is optimized for access to SQL
Server 7.0 and later.
System.Data.Odbc - classes that make up the .NET Framework Data Provider for
ODBC. These classes allow you to access ODBC data source in the managed
space.
System.Data.OracleClient - classes that make up the .NET Framework Data
Provider for Oracle. These classes allow you to access an Oracle data source in
the managed space.
222.Difference between DataReader and DataAdapter / DataSet and
DataAdapter?
You can use the ADO.NET DataReader to retrieve a read-only, forward-only
stream of data from a database. Using the DataReader can increase application
performance and reduce system overhead because only one row at a time is
ever in memory.
After creating an instance of the Command object, you create a DataReader by
 calling Command.ExecuteReader to retrieve rows from a data source, as
shown in the following example.
SqlDataReader myReader = myCommand.ExecuteReader();
You use the Read method of the DataReader object to obtain a row from the
results of the query.
while (myReader.Read())
Console.WriteLine("\t{0}\t{1}", myReader.GetInt32(0),
myReader.GetString(1));
myReader.Close();
The DataSet is a memory-resident representation of data that provides a
consistent relational programming model regardless of the data source. It can be
used with multiple and differing data sources, used with XML data, or used to
manage data local to the application. The DataSet represents a complete set of
data including related tables, constraints, and relationships among the tables.
The methods and objects in a DataSet are consistent with those in the relational
database model. The DataSet can also persist and reload its contents as XML
and its schema as XML Schema definition language (XSD) schema.
The DataAdapter serves as a bridge between a DataSet and a data source for
retrieving and saving data. The DataAdapter provides this bridge by mapping Fill,
which changes the data in the DataSet to match the data in the data source, and
Update, which changes the data in the data source to match the data in the
DataSet. If you are connecting to a Microsoft SQL Server database, you can
increase overall performance by using the SqlDataAdapter along with its
associated SqlCommand and SqlConnection. For other OLE DB-supported
databases, use the DataAdapter with its associated OleDbCommand and
OleDbConnection objects.
223.Which method do you invoke on the DataAdapter control to load your
generated dataset with data?
Fill()
224.Explain different methods and Properties of DataReader which you have
used in your project?
Read
GetString
GetInt32
while (myReader.Read())
Console.WriteLine("\t{0}\t{1}", myReader.GetInt32(0),
myReader.GetString(1));
myReader.Close();
225.What happens when we issue Dataset.ReadXml command?
Reads XML schema and data into the DataSet.
226.In how many ways we can retrieve table records count? How to find the
count of records in a dataset?
foreach(DataTable thisTable in myDataSet.Tables){
// For each row, print the values of each column.
foreach(DataRow myRow in thisTable.Rows){
227.How to check if a datareader is closed or opened?
IsClosed()
228.What happens when u try to update data in a dataset in .NET while the
record is already deleted in SQL SERVER as backend?
OR What is concurrency? How will you avoid concurrency when dealing
with dataset? (One user deleted one row after that another user through his
dataset was trying to update same row. What will happen? How will you
avoid the problem?)
**
 229.How do you merge 2 datasets into the third dataset in a simple manner? OR
If you are executing these statements in commandObject. "Select * from
Table1;Select * from Table2” how you will deal result set?
**
230.How do you sort a dataset?
**
231.If a dataset contains 100 rows, how to fetch rows between 5 and 15 only?
**
232.Differences between dataset.clone and dataset.copy?
Clone - Copies the structure of the DataSet, including all DataTable schemas,
relations, and constraints. Does not copy any data.
Copy - Copies both the structure and data for this DataSet.
233.What is the use of parameter object?
**
234.How to generate XML from a dataset and vice versa?
**
235.What is method to get XML and schema from Dataset?
ans: getXML () and get Schema ()
236.How do u implement locking concept for dataset?
**

(ASP.NET)
237.Asp.net and asp – differences?
Code Render Block Code Declaration Block
Compiled
Request/Response Event Driven
Object Oriented - Constructors/Destructors,
Inheritance, overloading..
Exception Handling - Try, Catch, Finally
Down-level Support
Cultures
User Controls
In-built client side validation
It can span across servers, It can survive
Session - weren't transferable across
server crashes, can work with browsers that
servers
don't support cookies
its an integral part of OS under the .net
built on top of the window & IIS, it was framework. It shares many of the same
always a separate entity & its functionality objects that traditional applications would
was limited. use, and all .net objects are available for
asp.net's consumption.
Garbage Collection
Declare variable with datatype
In built graphics support
Cultures

238.How ASP and ASP.NET page works? Explain about asp.net page life cycle?
**
239.Order of events in an asp.net page? Control Execution Lifecycle?
 Phase What a control needs to do Method or event to override
Initialize Initialize settings needed during the Init event (OnInit method)
lifetime of the incoming Web request.
Load view state At the end of this phase, the ViewState LoadViewState method
property of a control is automatically
populated as described in Maintaining
State in a Control. A control can override
the default implementation of the
LoadViewState method to customize
state restoration.
Process Process incoming form data and update LoadPostData method (if
postback data properties accordingly. IPostBackDataHandler is
implemented)
Load Perform actions common to all requests, Load event
such as setting up a database query. At
this point, server controls in the tree are (OnLoad method)
created and initialized, the state is
restored, and form controls reflect client-
side data.
Send postback Raise change events in response to state RaisePostDataChangedEvent
change changes between the current and previous method (if IPostBackDataHandler
notifications postbacks. is implemented)
Handle postback Handle the client-side event that caused RaisePostBackEvent method(if
events the postback and raise appropriate events IPostBackEventHandler is
on the server. implemented)
Prerender Perform any updates before the output is PreRender event
rendered. Any changes made to the state (OnPreRender method)
of the control in the prerender phase can
be saved, while changes made in the
rendering phase are lost.
Save state The ViewState property of a control is SaveViewState method
automatically persisted to a string object
after this stage. This string object is sent
to the client and back as a hidden
variable. For improving efficiency, a
control can override the SaveViewState
method to modify the ViewState
property.
Render Generate output to be rendered to the Render method
client.
Dispose Perform any final cleanup before the Dispose method
control is torn down. References to
expensive resources such as database
connections must be released in this
phase.
Unload Perform any final cleanup before the UnLoad event (On UnLoad
control is torn down. Control authors method)
generally perform cleanup in Dispose and
do not handle this event.
 240.Note To override an EventName event, override the OnEventName method
(and call base. OnEventName).

241.What are server controls?

ASP.NET server controls are components that run on the server and encapsulate
user-interface and other related functionality. They are used in ASP.NET pages
and in ASP.NET code-behind classes.
242.What is the difference between Web User Control and Web Custom
Control?
Custom Controls
Web custom controls are compiled components that run on the server and that
encapsulate user-interface and other related functionality into reusable
packages. They can include all the design-time features of standard ASP.NET
server controls, including full support for Visual Studio design features such as
the Properties window, the visual designer, and the Toolbox.
There are several ways that you can create Web custom controls:
You can compile a control that combines the functionality of two or more existing
controls. For example, if you need a control that encapsulates a button and a text
box, you can create it by compiling the existing controls together.
If an existing server control almost meets your requirements but lacks some
required features, you can customize the control by deriving from it and
overriding its properties, methods, and events.
If none of the existing Web server controls (or their combinations) meet your
requirements, you can create a custom control by deriving from one of the base
control classes. These classes provide all the basic functionality of Web server
controls, so you can focus on programming the features you need.

If none of the existing ASP.NET server controls meet the specific requirements of your
applications, you can create either a Web user control or a Web custom control that
encapsulates the functionality you need. The main difference between the two controls
lies in ease of creation vs. ease of use at design time.
Web user controls are easy to make, but they can be less convenient to use in advanced
scenarios. You develop Web user controls almost exactly the same way that you develop
Web Forms pages. Like Web Forms, user controls can be created in the visual designer,
they can be written with code separated from the HTML, and they can handle execution
events. However, because Web user controls are compiled dynamically at run time they
cannot be added to the Toolbox, and they are represented by a simple placeholder glyph
when added to a page. This makes Web user controls harder to use if you are
accustomed to full Visual Studio .NET design-time support, including the Properties
window and Design view previews. Also, the only way to share the user control between
applications is to put a separate copy in each application, which takes more maintenance
if you make changes to the control.
Web custom controls are compiled code, which makes them easier to use but more
difficult to create; Web custom controls must be authored in code. Once you have created
the control, however, you can add it to the Toolbox and display it in a visual designer with
full Properties window support and all the other design-time features of ASP.NET server
controls. In addition, you can install a single copy of the Web custom control in the global
assembly cache and share it between applications, which makes maintenance easier.

Web user controls Web custom controls

Easier to create Harder to create
Limited support for consumers who use a Full visual design tool support for consumers
visual design tool
A separate copy of the control is required in Only a single copy of the control is required, in the
each application global assembly cache
Cannot be added to the Toolbox in Visual Can be added to the Toolbox in Visual Studio
Studio
Good for static layout Good for dynamic layout

(Session/State)

243.Application and Session Events

The ASP.NET page framework provides ways for you to work with events that
can be raised when your application starts or stops or when an individual user's
session starts or stops:
Application events are raised for all requests to an application. For example,
Application_BeginRequest is raised when any Web Forms page or XML Web
service in your application is requested. This event allows you to initialize
resources that will be used for each request to the application. A corresponding
event, Application_EndRequest, provides you with an opportunity to close or
otherwise dispose of resources used for the request.
Session events are similar to application events (there is a Session_OnStart
and a Session_OnEnd event), but are raised with each unique session within
the application. A session begins when a user requests a page for the first time
from your application and ends either when your application explicitly closes the
session or when the session times out.

You can create handlers for these types of events in the Global.asax file.

244.Difference between ASP Session and ASP.NET Session?

asp.net session supports cookie less session & it can span across multiple
servers.
245.What is cookie less session? How it works?
By default, ASP.NET will store the session state in the same process that
processes the request, just as ASP does. If cookies are not available, a session
can be tracked by adding a session identifier to the URL. This can be enabled by
setting the following:
<sessionState cookieless="true" />
http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/aspplus/doc/stateov
erview.aspx
246.How you will handle session when deploying application in more than a
server? Describe session handling in a webfarm, how does it work and
what are the limits?
By default, ASP.NET will store the session state in the same process that
processes the request, just as ASP does. Additionally, ASP.NET can store
session data in an external process, which can even reside on another machine.
To enable this feature:
Start the ASP.NET state service, either using the Services snap-in or by
executing "net start aspnet_state" on the command line. The state service will by
default listen on port 42424. To change the port, modify the registry key for the
service:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\aspnet_state\P
arameters\Port
Set the mode attribute of the <sessionState> section to "StateServer".
Configure the stateConnectionString attribute with the values of the machine
on which you started aspnet_state.
The following sample assumes that the state service is running on the same machine as
the Web server ("localhost") and uses the default port (42424):
<sessionState mode="StateServer"
stateConnectionString="tcpip=localhost:42424" />

Note that if you try the sample above with this setting, you can reset the Web server
(enter iisreset on the command line) and the session state value will persist.
**

247.What method do you use to explicitly kill a users session?

Abandon()
248.What are the different ways you would consider sending data across pages
in ASP (i.e between 1.asp to 2.asp)?
Session
public properties
249.What is State Management in .Net and how many ways are there to
maintain a state in .Net? What is view state?
Web pages are recreated each time the page is posted to the server. In
traditional Web programming, this would ordinarily mean that all information
associated with the page and the controls on the page would be lost with each
round trip.
To overcome this inherent limitation of traditional Web programming, the
ASP.NET page framework includes various options to help you preserve changes
— that is, for managing state. The page framework includes a facility called view
state that automatically preserves property values of the page and all the controls
on it between round trips.
However, you will probably also have application-specific values that you want to
preserve. To do so, you can use one of the state management options.
Client-Based State Management Options:
View State
Hidden Form Fields
Cookies
Query Strings
Server-Based State Management Options
Application State
Session State
Database Support
250.What are the disadvantages of view state / what are the benefits?
Automatic view-state management is a feature of server controls that enables
them to repopulate their property values on a round trip (without you having to
write any code). This feature does impact performance, however, since a server
control's view state is passed to and from the server in a hidden form field. You
should be aware of when view state helps you and when it hinders your page's
performance.
251.When maintaining session through Sql server, what is the impact of Read
and Write operation on Session objects? will performance degrade?
Maintaining state using database technology is a common practice when storing
user-specific information where the information store is large. Database storage
is particularly useful for maintaining long-term state or state that must be
preserved even if the server must be restarted.
**
252.What are the contents of cookie?
**
253.How do you create a permanent cookie?
**
254.What is ViewState? What does the "EnableViewState" property do? Why
would I want it on or off?
**
255.Explain the differences between Server-side and Client-side code?
Server side code will process at server side & it will send the result to client.
Client side code (javascript) will execute only at client side.
256.Can you give an example of what might be best suited to place in the
Application_Start and Session_Start subroutines?
**
257. Which ASP.NET configuration options are supported
in the ASP.NET implementation on the shared web
hosting platform?
A: Many of the ASP.NET configuration options are not
configurable at the site, application or subdirectory level on
the shared hosting platform. Certain options can affect the
security, performance and stability of the server and,
therefore cannot be changed. The following settings are
the only ones that can be changed in your site’s web.config
file (s):
browserCaps
clientTarget
pages
customErrors
globalization
authorization
authentication
webControls
webServices
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/e
n-us/cpguide/html/cpconaspnetconfiguration.asp
258.Briefly describe the role of global.asax?
259.How can u debug your .net application?
260.How do u deploy your asp.net application?
261.Where do we store our connection string in asp.net application?
262.Various steps taken to optimize a web based application (caching, stored
procedure etc.)
263.How does ASP.NET framework maps client side events to Server side
events.

(Security)
264.Security types in ASP/ASP.NET? Different Authentication modes?
265.How .Net has implemented security for web applications?
266.How to do Forms authentication in asp.net?
267.Explain authentication levels in .net ?
268.Explain autherization levels in .net ?
269.What is Role-Based security?
A role is a named set of principals that have the same privileges with respect to
 security (such as a teller or a manager). A principal can be a member of one or
more roles. Therefore, applications can use role membership to determine
whether a principal is authorized to perform a requested action.
**
270.How will you do windows authentication and what is the namespace? If a
user is logged under integrated windows authentication mode, but he is
still not able to logon, what might be the possible cause for this? In
ASP.Net application how do you find the name of the logged in person
under windows authentication?
271.What are the different authentication modes in the .NET environment?
272.<authentication mode="Windows|Forms|Passport|None">
273. <forms name="name"
274. loginUrl="url"
275. protection="All|None|Encryption|
Validation"
276. timeout="30" path="/" >
277. requireSSL="true|false"
278. slidingExpiration="true|false">
279. <credentials passwordFormat="Clear|SHA1|MD5">
280. <user name="username" password="password"/>
281. </credentials>
282. </forms>
283. <passport redirectUrl="internal"/>
</authentication>
Attribut Option Description
e
mode Controls the default authentication mode for an application.
Windows Specifies Windows authentication as the default authentication mode. Use
this mode when using any form of Microsoft Internet Information Services
(IIS) authentication: Basic, Digest, Integrated Windows authentication
(NTLM/Kerberos), or certificates.
Forms Specifies ASP.NET forms-based authentication as the default authentication
mode.
Passport Specifies Microsoft Passport authentication as the default authentication
mode.
None Specifies no authentication. Only anonymous users are expected or
applications can handle events to provide their own authentication.

284.How do you specify whether your data should be passed as Query string
and Forms (Mainly about POST and GET)
Through attribute tag of form tag.
285.What is the other method, other than GET and POST, in ASP.NET?
286.What are validator? Name the Validation controls in asp.net? How do u
disable them? Will the asp.net validators run in server side or client side?
How do you do Client-side validation in .Net? How to disable validator
control by client side JavaScript?
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
 ("EnableClientScript" property set to true/false) using client script.
The following validation controls are available in asp.net:
RequiredFieldValidator Control, CompareValidator Control, RangeValidator
Control, RegularExpressionValidator Control, CustomValidator Control,
ValidationSummary Control.
287.Which two properties are there on every validation control?
ControlToValidate, ErrorMessage
288.How do you use css in asp.net?
Within the <HEAD> section of an HTML document that will use these styles, add
a link to this external CSS style sheet that
follows this form:
<LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="MyStyles.css">
MyStyles.css is the name of your external CSS style sheet.
289.How do you implement postback with a text box? What is postback and
usestate?
Make AutoPostBack property to true
290.How can you debug an ASP page, without touching the code?
291.What is SQL injection?
An SQL injection attack "injects" or manipulates SQL code by adding unexpected
SQL to a query.
Many web pages take parameters from web user, and make SQL query to the
database. Take for instance when a user login, web page that user name and
password and make SQL query to the database to check if a user has valid name
and password.
Username: ' or 1=1 ---
Password: [Empty]
This would execute the following query against the users table:
select count(*) from users where userName='' or 1=1 --' and
userPass=''
292.How can u handle Exceptions in Asp.Net?
293.How can u handle Un Managed Code Exceptions in ASP.Net?
294.Asp.net - How to find last error which occurred?
A: Server.GetLastError();
[C#]
Exception LastError;
String ErrMessage;
LastError = Server.GetLastError();
if (LastError != null)
ErrMessage = LastError.Message;
else
ErrMessage = "No Errors";
Response.Write("Last Error = " + ErrMessage);
295.How to do Caching in ASP?
A: <%@ OutputCache Duration="60" VaryByParam="None" %>
VaryByParam
Description
value
none One version of page cached (only raw GET)
n versions of page cached based on query string and/or
*
POST body
n versions of page cached based on value of v1 variable in
v1
query string or POST body
n versions of page cached based on value of v1 and v2
v1;v2
variables in query string or POST body
296.<%@ OutputCache Duration="60" VaryByParam="none" %>
<%@ OutputCache Duration="60" VaryByParam="*" %>
<%@ OutputCache Duration="60" VaryByParam="name;age" %>
The OutputCache directive supports several other cache varying options
VaryByHeader - maintain separate cache entry for header string changes
(UserAgent, UserLanguage, etc.)
VaryByControl - for user controls, maintain separate cache entry for properties
of a user control
VaryByCustom - can specify separate cache entries for browser types and
version or provide a custom GetVaryByCustomString method in
HttpApplicationderived class
297.What is the Global ASA(X) File?
298.Any alternative to avoid name collisions other then Namespaces.
A scenario that two namespaces named N1 and N2 are there both having the
same class say A. now in another class i ve written
using N1;using N2;
and i am instantiating class A in this class. Then how will u avoid name
collisions?
Ans: using alias
Eg: using MyAlias = MyCompany.Proj.Nested;
299.Which is the namespace used to write error message in event Log File?
300.What are the page level transaction and class level transaction?
301.What are different transaction options?
302.What is the namespace for encryption?
303.What is the difference between application and cache variables?
304.What is the difference between control and component?
305.You ve defined one page_load event in aspx page and same page_load
event in code behind how will prog run?
306.Where would you use an IHttpModule, and what are the limitations of any
approach you might take in implementing one?
307.Can you edit data in the Repeater control? Which template must you provide, in
order to display data in a Repeater control? How can you provide an alternating
color scheme in a Repeater control? 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?
308.What is the use of web.config? Difference between machine.config and
Web.config?
ASP.NET configuration files are XML-based text files--each named web.config--
that can appear in any directory on an ASP.NET
Web application server. Each web.config file applies configuration settings to the
directory it is located in and to all
virtual child directories beneath it. Settings in child directories can optionally
override or modify settings specified in
parent directories. The root configuration file--
WinNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\<version>\config\machine.config--provides
default configuration settings for the entire machine. ASP.NET configures IIS to
prevent direct browser access to web.config
files to ensure that their values cannot become public (attempts to access them
will cause ASP.NET to return 403: Access
Forbidden).
At run time ASP.NET uses these web.config configuration files to hierarchically
compute a unique collection of settings for
each incoming URL target request (these settings are calculated only once and
 then cached across subsequent requests; ASP.NET
automatically watches for file changes and will invalidate the cache if any of the
configuration files change).
http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/aspplus/doc/configformat.aspx
309.What is the use of sessionstate tag in the web.config file?
Configuring session state: Session state features can be configured via the
<sessionState> section in a web.config file. To double the default timeout of 20
minutes, you can add the following to the web.config file of an application:
<sessionState
timeout="40"
/>
310.What are the different modes for the sessionstates in the web.config file?
Off Indicates that session state is not enabled.
Inproc Indicates that session state is stored locally.
StateServer Indicates that session state is stored on a remote server.
SQLServer Indicates that session state is stored on the SQL Server.
311.What is smart navigation?
When a page is requested by an Internet Explorer 5 browser, or later, smart
navigation enhances the user's experience of the page by performing the
following:
eliminating the flash caused by navigation.
persisting the scroll position when moving from page to page.
persisting element focus between navigations.
retaining only the last page state in the browser's history.

Smart navigation is best used with ASP.NET pages that require frequent postbacks but
with visual content that does not change dramatically on return. Consider this carefully
when deciding whether to set this property to true.
Set the SmartNavigation attribute to true in the @ Page directive in the .aspx file. When
the page is requested, the dynamically generated class sets this property.

312.In what order do the events of an ASPX page execute. As a developer is it

important to undertsand these events?
313.How would you get ASP.NET running in Apache web servers - why would
you even do this?
314.What tags do you need to add within the asp:datagrid tags to bind columns
manually
315.What base class do all Web Forms inherit from?
System.Web.UI.Page
316.How can we create pie chart in asp.net?
317.Is it possible for me to change my aspx file extension to some other name?
Yes.
Open IIS->Default Website -> Properties
Select HomeDirectory tab
Click on configuration button
Click on add. Enter aspnet_isapi details
(C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\aspnet_isapi.dll |
GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG)

Open
machine.config(C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\CONFIG) &
add new extension under <httpHandlers> tag
<add verb="*" path="*.santhosh" type="System.Web.UI.PageHandlerFactory"/>
318.What is AutoEventWireup attribute for ?

(WEBSERVICE & REMOTING)

319.What is a WebService and what is the underlying protocol used in it?Why
Web Services?
Web Services are applications delivered as a service on the Web. Web services
allow for programmatic access of business logic over the Web. Web services
typically rely on XML-based protocols, messages, and interface descriptions for
communication and access. Web services are designed to be used by other
programs or applications rather than directly by end user. Programs invoking a
Web service are called clients. SOAP over HTTP is the most commonly used
protocol for invoking Web services.
There are three main uses of Web services.

1. Application integration Web services within an intranet are commonly used to

integrate business applications running on disparate platforms. For example, a
.NET client running on Windows 2000 can easily invoke a Java Web service
running on a mainframe or Unix machine to retrieve data from a legacy
application.
2. Business integration Web services allow trading partners to engage in e-business
leveraging the existing Internet infrastructure. Organizations can send electronic
purchase orders to suppliers and receive electronic invoices. Doing e-business
with Web services means a low barrier to entry because Web services can be
added to existing applications running on any platform without changing legacy
code.
3. Commercial Web services focus on selling content and business services to
clients over the Internet similar to familiar Web pages. Unlike Web pages,
commercial Web services target applications not humans as their direct users.
Continental Airlines exposes flight schedules and status Web services for travel
Web sites and agencies to use in their applications. Like Web pages, commercial
Web services are valuable only if they expose a valuable service or content. It
would be very difficult to get customers to pay you for using a Web service that
creates business charts with the customers? data. Customers would rather buy a
charting component (e.g. COM or .NET component) and install it on the same
machine as their application. On the other hand, it makes sense to sell real-time
weather information or stock quotes as a Web service. Technology can help you
add value to your services and explore new markets, but ultimately customers
pay for contents and/or business services, not for technology

69. Are Web Services a replacement for other distributed computing

platforms?
No. Web Services is just a new way of looking at existing implementation
platforms.
70. In a Webservice, need to display 10 rows from a table. So DataReader or
DataSet is best choice?
A: WebService will support only DataSet.
71. How to generate WebService proxy? What is SOAP, WSDL, UDDI and the
concept behind Web Services? What are various components of WSDL?
What is the use of WSDL.exe utility?
SOAP is an XML-based messaging framework specifically designed for
exchanging formatted data across the Internet, for example using request and
reply messages or sending entire documents. SOAP is simple, easy to use, and
completely neutral with respect to operating system, programming language, or
distributed computing platform.
 After SOAP became available as a mechanism for exchanging XML messages
among enterprises (or among disparate applications within the same enterprise),
a better way was needed to describe the messages and how they are
exchanged. The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is a particular form
of an XML Schema, developed by Microsoft and IBM for the purpose of defining
the XML message, operation, and protocol mapping of a web service accessed
using SOAP or other XML protocol. WSDL defines web services in terms of
"endpoints" that operate on XML messages. The WSDL syntax allows both the
messages and the operations on the messages to be defined abstractly, so they
can be mapped to multiple physical implementations. The current WSDL spec
describes how to map messages and operations to SOAP 1.1, HTTP GET/POST,
and MIME. WSDL creates web service definitions by mapping a group of
endpoints into a logical sequence of operations on XML messages. The same
XML message can be mapped to multiple operations (or services) and bound to
one or more communications protocols (using "ports").
The Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) framework defines
a data model (in XML) and SOAP APIs for registration and searches on business
information, including the web services a business exposes to the Internet. UDDI
is an independent consortium of vendors, founded by Microsoft, IBM, and Ariba,
for the purpose of developing an Internet standard for web service description
registration and discovery. Microsoft, IBM, and Ariba also are hosting the initial
deployment of a UDDI service, which is conceptually patterned after DNS (the
Internet service that translates URLs into TCP addresses). UDDI uses a private
agreement profile of SOAP (i.e. UDDI doesn't use the SOAP serialization format
because it's not well suited to passing complete XML documents (it's aimed at
RPC style interactions). The main idea is that businesses use the SOAP APIs to
register themselves with UDDI, and other businesses search UDDI when they
want to discover a trading partner, for example someone from whom they wish to
procure sheet metal, bolts, or transistors. The information in UDDI is categorized
according to industry type and geographical location, allowing UDDI consumers
to search through lists of potentially matching businesses to find the specific one
they want to contact. Once a specific business is chosen, another call to UDDI is
made to obtain the specific contact information for that business. The contact
information includes a pointer to the target business's WSDL or other XML
schema file describing the web service that the target business publishes.
72. How to generate proxy class other than .net app and wsdl tool?
To access an XML Web service from a client application, you first add a Web
reference, which is a reference to an XML Web service. When you create a Web
reference, Visual Studio creates an XML Web service proxy class automatically
and adds it to your project. This proxy class exposes the methods of the XML
Web service and handles the marshalling of appropriate arguments back and
forth between the XML Web service and your application. Visual Studio uses the
Web Services Description Language (WSDL) to create the proxy.
To generate an XML Web service proxy class:

From a command prompt, use Wsdl.exe to create a proxy class, specifying (at a
minimum) the URL to an XML Web service or a service description, or the path to
a saved service description.
Wsdl /language:language /protocol:protocol
/namespace:myNameSpace /out:filename
/username:username /password:password /domain:domain <url
or path>
2. What is a proxy in web service? How do I use a proxy server when invoking
a Web service?
 3. asynchronous web service means?
4. What are the events fired when web service called?
5. How will do transaction in Web Services?
6. How does SOAP transport happen and what is the role of HTTP in it? How
you can access a webservice using soap?
7. What are the different formatters can be used in both? Why?.. binary/soap
8. How you will protect / secure a web service?
For the most part, things that you do to secure a Web site can be used to secure
a Web Service. If you need to encrypt the data exchange, you use Secure
Sockets Layer (SSL) or a Virtual Private Network to keep the bits secure. For
authentication, use HTTP Basic or Digest authentication with Microsoft®
Windows® integration to figure out who the caller is.
these items cannot:
Parse a SOAP request for valid values
Authenticate access at the Web Method level (they can authenticate at the Web
Service level)
Stop reading a request as soon as it is recognized as invalid

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-
us/cpguide/html/cpcontransactionsupportinaspnetwebservices.asp

9. How will you expose/publish a webservice?

10. What is disco file?
11. What’s the attribute for webservice method? What is the namespace for
creating webservice?
[WebMethod]

using System.Web;
using System.Web.Services;
12. What is Remoting?
The process of communication between different operating system processes,
regardless of whether they are on the same computer. The .NET remoting
system is an architecture designed to simplify communication between objects
living in different application domains, whether on the same computer or not, and
between different contexts, whether in the same application domain or not.
13. Difference between web services & remoting?
ASP.NET Web Services .NET Remoting
Can be accessed over any protocol
Protocol Can be accessed only over HTTP
(including TCP, HTTP, SMTP and so on)
Provide support for both stateful and
State Web services work in a stateless
stateless environments through Singleton
Management environment
and SingleCall objects
Web services support only the
Using binary communication, .NET
datatypes defined in the XSD type
Type System Remoting can provide support for rich type
system, limiting the number of
system
objects that can be serialized.
Web services support interoperability .NET remoting requires the client be built
Interoperability across platforms, and are ideal for using .NET, enforcing homogenous
heterogeneous environments. environment.
Reliability Highly reliable due to the fact that Can also take advantage of IIS for fault
Web services are always hosted in isolation. If IIS is not used, application
 needs to provide plumbing for ensuring the
IIS
reliability of the application.
Provides extensibility by allowing us
Very extensible by allowing us to
to intercept the SOAP messages
Extensibility customize the different components of the
during the serialization and
.NET remoting framework.
deserialization stages.
Ease-of-
Easy-to-create and deploy. Complex to program.
Programming
14. Though both the .NET Remoting infrastructure and ASP.NET Web services can
enable cross-process communication, each is designed to benefit a different
target audience. ASP.NET Web services provide a simple programming model
and a wide reach. .NET Remoting provides a more complex programming model
and has a much narrower reach.
As explained before, the clear performance advantage provided by TCPChannel-
remoting should make you think about using this channel whenever you can
afford to do so. If you can create direct TCP connections from your clients to your
server and if you need to support only the .NET platform, you should go for this
channel. If you are going to go cross-platform or you have the requirement of
supporting SOAP via HTTP, you should definitely go for ASP.NET Web services.
Both the .NET remoting and ASP.NET Web services are powerful technologies
that provide a suitable framework for developing distributed applications. It is
important to understand how both technologies work and then choose the one
that is right for your application. For applications that require interoperability and
must function over public networks, Web services are probably the best bet. For
those that require communications with other .NET components and where
performance is a key priority, .NET Remoting is the best choice. In short, use
Web services when you need to send and receive data from different computing
platforms, use .NET Remoting when sending and receiving data between .NET
applications. In some architectural scenarios, you might also be able to use.NET
Remoting in conjunction with ASP.NET Web services and take advantage of the
best of both worlds.
The Key difference between ASP.NET webservices and .NET Remoting is how
they serialize data into messages and the format they choose for metadata.
ASP.NET uses XML serializer for serializing or Marshalling. And XSD is used for
Metadata. .NET Remoting relies on
System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatter.Binary and
System.Runtime.Serialization.SOAPFormatter and relies on .NET
CLR Runtime assemblies for metadata.
15. Can you pass SOAP messages through remoting?
16. CAO and SAO.
Client Activated objects are those remote objects whose Lifetime is directly
Controlled by the client. This is in direct contrast to SAO. Where the server, not
the client has complete control over the lifetime of the objects.
Client activated objects are instantiated on the server as soon as the client
request the object to be created. Unlike as SAO a CAO doesn’t delay the object
creation until the first method is called on the object. (In SAO the object is
instantiated when the client calls the method on the object)
17. singleton and singlecall.
Singleton types never have more than one instance at any one time. If an
instance exists, all client requests are serviced by that instance.
Single Call types always have one instance per client request. The next method
invocation will be serviced by a different server instance, even if the previous
instance has not yet been recycled by the system.
 18. What is Asynchronous Web Services?
19. Web Client class and its methods?
20. Flow of remoting?
21. What is the use of trace utility?
Using the SOAP Trace Utility
The Microsoft® Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) Toolkit 2.0 includes a
TCP/IP trace utility, MSSOAPT.EXE. You use this trace utility to view the SOAP
messages sent by HTTP between a SOAP client and a service on the server.

Using the Trace Utility on the Server

To see all of a service's messages received from and sent to all clients, perform the
following steps on the server.

1. On the server, open the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file.
2. In the WSDL file, locate the <soap:address> element that corresponds to the
service and change the location attribute for this element to port 8080. For
example, if the location attribute specifies <http://MyServer/VDir/Service.wsdl>
change this attribute to <http://MyServer:8080/VDir/Service.wsdl>.
3. Run MSSOAPT.exe.
4. On the File menu, point to New, and either click Formatted Trace (if you don't
want to see HTTP headers) or click Unformatted Trace (if you do want to see
HTTP headers).
5. In the Trace Setup dialog box, click OK to accept the default values.

Using the Trace Utility on the Client

To see all messages sent to and received from a service, do the following steps on the
client.

6. Copy the WSDL file from the server to the client.

7. Modify location attribute of the <soap:address> element in the local copy of the
WSDL document to direct the client to localhost:8080 and make a note of the
current host and port. For example, if the WSDL contains
<http://MyServer/VDir/Service.wsdl>, change it to
<http://localhost:8080/VDir/Service.wsdl> and make note of "MyServer".
8. On the client, run MSSOPT.exe.
9. On the File menu, point to New, and either click Formatted Trace (if you don't
want to see HTTP headers) or click Unformatted Trace (if you do want to see
HTTP headers).
10. In the Destination host box, enter the host specified in Step 2.
11. In the Destination port box, enter the port specified in Step 2.
12. Click OK.

(XML)

73. Explain the concept of data island?

74. How to use XML DOM model on client side using JavaScript.
75. What are the ways to create a tree view control using XML, XSL &
JavaScript?
76. Questions on XPathNavigator, and the other classes in System.XML
Namespace?
 77. What is Use of Template in XSL?
78. What is “Well Formed XML” and “Valid XML”
79. How you will do SubString in XSL
80. Can we do sorting in XSL ? how do you deal sorting columns dynamically
in XML.
81. What is “Async” property of XML Means ?
82. What is XPath Query ?
83. Difference Between Element and Node.
84. What is CDATA Section.
85. DOM & SAX parsers explanation and difference
86. What is GetElementbyname method will do?
87. What is selectnode method will give?
88. What is valid xml document? What a well formed xml document?
89. What is the Difference between XmlDocument and XmlDataDocument?
90. Explain what a DiffGram is, and a good use for one?
A DiffGram is an XML format that is used to identify current and original versions
of data elements. When sending and retrieving a DataSet from an XML Web
service, the DiffGram format is implicitly used.
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.
DiffGram Format
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.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<diffgr:diffgram
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">

<DataInstance>
</DataInstance>

<diffgr:before>
</diffgr:before>

<diffgr:errors>
</diffgr:errors>
</diffgr:diffgram>

The DiffGram format consists of the following blocks of data:

<DataInstance>
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.
<diffgr:before>
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.
<diffgr:errors>
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.

91. If I replace my Sqlserver with XML files and how about handling the same?
92. Write syntax to serialize class using XML Serializer?
(IIS)
93. In which process does IIS runs (was asking about the EXE file)
inetinfo.exe is the Microsoft IIS server running, handling ASP.NET requests
among other things. When an ASP.NET request is received (usually a file with
.aspx extension), the ISAPI filter aspnet_isapi.dll takes care of it by passing the
request to the actual worker process aspnet_wp.exe.
94. Where are the IIS log files stored?
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Logfiles\W3SVC1
OR
c:\winnt\system32\LogFiles\W3SVC1
95. What are the different IIS authentication modes in IIS 5.0 and Explain?
Difference between basic and digest authentication modes?
IIS provides a variety of authentication schemes:

Anonymous (enabled by default)

Basic
Digest
Integrated Windows authentication (enabled by default)
Client Certificate Mapping

Anonymous
Anonymous authentication gives users access to the public areas of your Web site
without prompting them for a user name or password. Although listed as an
authentication scheme, it is not technically performing any client authentication because
the client is not required to supply any credentials. Instead, IIS provides stored
credentials to Windows using a special user account, IUSR_machinename. By default,
IIS controls the password for this account. Whether or not IIS controls the password
affects the permissions the anonymous user has. When IIS controls the password, a sub
authentication DLL (iissuba.dll) authenticates the user using a network logon. The
function of this DLL is to validate the password supplied by IIS and to inform Windows
that the password is valid, thereby authenticating the client. However, it does not actually
provide a password to Windows. When IIS does not control the password, IIS calls the
LogonUser() API in Windows and provides the account name, password and domain
name to log on the user using a local logon. After the logon, IIS caches the security token
and impersonates the account. A local logon makes it possible for the anonymous user to
access network resources, whereas a network logon does not.
Basic Authentication
IIS Basic authentication as an implementation of the basic authentication scheme found
in section 11 of the HTTP 1.0 specification.
As the specification makes clear, this method is, in and of itself, non-secure. The reason
is that Basic authentication assumes a trusted connection between client and server.
Thus, the username and password are transmitted in clear text. More specifically, they
are transmitted using Base64 encoding, which is trivially easy to decode. This makes
Basic authentication the wrong choice to use over a public network on its own.
Basic Authentication is a long-standing standard supported by nearly all browsers. It also
imposes no special requirements on the server side -- users can authenticate against any
NT domain, or even against accounts on the local machine. With SSL to shelter the
security credentials while they are in transmission, you have an authentication solution
that is both highly secure and quite flexible.
Digest Authentication
The Digest authentication option was added in Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0. Like Basic
authentication, this is an implementation of a technique suggested by Web standards,
namely RFC 2069 (superceded by RFC 2617).
Digest authentication also uses a challenge/response model, but it is much more secure
than Basic authentication (when used without SSL). It achieves this greater security not
by encrypting the secret (the password) before sending it, but rather by following a
different design pattern -- one that does not require the client to transmit the password
over the wire at all.
Instead of sending the password itself, the client transmits a one-way message digest (a
checksum) of the user's password, using (by default) the MD5 algorithm. The server then
fetches the password for that user from a Windows 2000 Domain Controller, reruns the
checksum algorithm on it, and compares the two digests. If they match, the server knows
that the client knows the correct password, even though the password itself was never
sent. (If you have ever wondered what the default ISAPI filter "md5filt" that is installed
with IIS 5.0 is used for, now you know.
Integrated Windows Authentication
Integrated Windows authentication (formerly known as NTLM authentication and
Windows NT Challenge/Response authentication) can use either NTLM or Kerberos V5
authentication and only works with Internet Explorer 2.0 and later.
When Internet Explorer attempts to access a protected resource, IIS sends two WWW-
Authenticate headers, Negotiate and NTLM.

If Internet Explorer recognizes the Negotiate header, it will choose it because it is

listed first. When using Negotiate, the browser will return information for both
NTLM and Kerberos. At the server, IIS will use Kerberos if both the client
(Internet Explorer 5.0 and later) and server (IIS 5.0 and later) are running
Windows 2000 and later, and both are members of the same domain or trusted
domains. Otherwise, the server will default to using NTLM.
If Internet Explorer does not understand Negotiate, it will use NTLM.

So, which mechanism is used depends upon a negotiation between Internet Explorer and
IIS.
When used in conjunction with Kerberos v5 authentication, IIS can delegate security
credentials among computers running Windows 2000 and later that are trusted and
configured for delegation. Delegation enables remote access of resources on behalf of
the delegated user.
Integrated Windows authentication is the best authentication scheme in an intranet
environment where users have Windows domain accounts, especially when using
Kerberos. Integrated Windows authentication, like digest authentication, does not pass
the user's password across the network. Instead, a hashed value is exchanged.
Client Certificate Mapping
A certificate is a digitally signed statement that contains information about an entity and
the entity's public key, thus binding these two pieces of information together. A trusted
organization (or entity) called a Certification Authority (CA) issues a certificate after the
CA verifies that the entity is who it says it is. Certificates can contain different types of
data. For example, an X.509 certificate includes the format of the certificate, the serial
number of the certificate, the algorithm used to sign the certificate, the name of the CA
that issued the certificate, the name and public key of the entity requesting the certificate,
and the CA's signature. X.509 client certificates simplify authentication for larger user
bases because they do not rely on a centralized account database. You can verify a
certificate simply by examining the certificate.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-
us/vsent7/html/vxconIISAuthentication.asp

2. How to configure the sites in Web server (IIS)?

3. Advantages in IIS 6.0?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/iis/evaluation/features/default.msp
x
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/
windowsserver2003/proddocs/datacenter/gs_whatschanged.asp
4. IIS Isolation Levels?
Internet Information Server introduced the notion "Isolation Level", which is also
present in IIS4 under a different name. IIS5 supports three isolation levels, that
you can set from the Home Directory tab of the site's Properties dialog:
Low (IIS Process): ASP pages run in INetInfo.Exe, the main IIS process,
therefore they are executed in-process. This is the fastest setting, and is the
default under IIS4. The problem is that if ASP crashes, IIS crashes as well and
must be restarted (IIS5 has a reliable restart feature that automatically restarts a
server when a fatal error occurs).
Medium (Pooled): In this case ASP runs in a different process, which makes this
setting more reliable: if ASP crashes IIS won't. All the ASP applications at the
Medium isolation level share the same process, so you can have a web site
running with just two processes (IIS and ASP process). IIS5 is the first Internet
Information Server version that supports this setting, which is also the default
setting when you create an IIS5 application. Note that an ASP application that
runs at this level is run under COM+, so it's hosted in DLLHOST.EXE (and you
can see this executable in the Task Manager).
High (Isolated): Each ASP application runs out-process in its own process
space, therefore if an ASP application crashes, neither IIS nor any other ASP
application will be affected. The downside is that you consume more memory and
resources if the server hosts many ASP applications. Both IIS4 and IIS5 supports
this setting: under IIS4 this process runs inside MTS.EXE, while under IIS5 it
runs inside DLLHOST.EXE.

When selecting an isolation level for your ASP application, keep in mind that out-process
settings - that is, Medium and High - are less efficient than in-process (Low). However,
out-process communication has been vastly improved under IIS5, and in fact IIS5's
Medium isolation level often deliver better results than IIS4's Low isolation. In practice,
you shouldn't set the Low isolation level for an IIS5 application unless you really need to
serve hundreds pages per second.

Controls

5. How will you do Redo and Undo in a TextControl?

6. How to implement DataGrid in .NET? How would u make a combo-box
appear in one column of a DataGrid? What are the ways to show data grid
inside a data grid for a master details type of tables? If we write any code
for DataGrid methods, what is the access specifier used for that methods in
the code behind file and why?
7. How can we create Tree control in asp.net?

Programming
8. Write a program in C# for checking a given number is PRIME or not.
9. Write a program to find the angle between the hours and minutes in a clock
10. Write a C# program to find the Factorial of n
11. How do I upload a file from my ASP.NET page?
A: In order to perform file upload in your ASP.NET page, you will need to use two
classes: the System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlInputFile class and the
System.Web.HttpPostedFile class. The HtmlInputFile class represents and HTML
input control that the user will use on the client side to select a file to upload. The
HttpPostedFile class represents the uploaded file and is obtained from the
PostedFile property of the HtmlInputFile class. In order to use the HtmlInputFile
control, you need to add the enctype attribute to your form tag as follows:
<form id="upload" method="post" runat="server" enctype="multipart/form-data">
Also, remember that the /data directory is the only directory with Write
permissions enabled for the anonymous user. Therefore, you will need to make
sure that the your code uploads the file to the /data directory or one of its
subdirectories.
Below is a simple example of how to upload a file via an ASP.NET page in C#
and VB.NET.
C#
<%@ Import Namespace="System" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.UI.HtmlControls" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.IO" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Drawing" %>
<html>
<head>
<title>upload_cs</title>
</head>
<script language="C#" runat="server">
public void UploadFile(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (loFile.PostedFile != null)
{
try
{
string strFileName, strFileNamePath, strFileFolder;
strFileFolder = Context.Server.MapPath(@"data\");
strFileName = loFile.PostedFile.FileName;
strFileName = Path.GetFileName(strFileName);
strFileNamePath = strFileFolder + strFileName;
loFile.PostedFile.SaveAs(strFileNamePath);
lblFileName.Text = strFileName;
lblFileLength.Text =
loFile.PostedFile.ContentLength.ToString();
lblFileType.Text = loFile.PostedFile.ContentType;
pnStatus.Visible = true;
}
catch (Exception x)
{
Label lblError = new Label();
lblError.ForeColor = Color.Red;
lblError.Text = "Exception occurred: " + x.Message;
lblError.Visible = true;
this.Controls.Add(lblError);
}
}
 }
</script>
<body>
<form id="upload_cs" method="post" runat="server"
enctype="multipart/form-data">
<P>
<INPUT type="file" id="loFile" runat="server">
</P>
<P>
<asp:Button id="btnUpload" runat="server" Text=" Upload "
OnClick="UploadFile"></asp:Button></P>
<P>
<asp:Panel id="pnStatus" runat="server" Visible="False">
<asp:Label id="lblFileName" Font-Bold="True"
Runat="server"></asp:Label> uploaded<BR>
<asp:Label id="lblFileLength" Runat="server"></asp:Label>
bytes<BR>
<asp:Label id="lblFileType" Runat="server"></asp:Label>
</asp:Panel></P>
</form>
</body>
</html>
12. How do I send an email message from my ASP.NET page?
A: You can use the System.Web.Mail.MailMessage and the
System.Web.Mail.SmtpMail class to send email in your ASPX pages. Below is a
simple example of using this class to send mail in C# and VB.NET. In order to
send mail through our mail server, you would want to make sure to set the static
SmtpServer property of the SmtpMail class to mail-fwd.
C#
<%@ Import Namespace="System" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.Mail" %>
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<title>Mail Test</title>
</HEAD>
<script language="C#" runat="server">
private void Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
MailMessage mailObj = new MailMessage();
mailObj.From = "sales@joeswidgets.com";
mailObj.To = "ringleader@forexample-domain.com";
mailObj.Subject = "Your Widget Order";
mailObj.Body = "Your order was processed.";
mailObj.BodyFormat = MailFormat.Text;
SmtpMail.SmtpServer = "mail-fwd";
SmtpMail.Send(mailObj);
Response.Write("Mail sent successfully");
}
catch (Exception x)
{
Response.Write("Your message was not sent: " + x.Message);
}
}
 </script>
<body>
<form id="mail_test" method="post" runat="server">
</form>
</body>
</HTML>
13. Write a program to create a user control with name and surname as data
members and login as method and also the code to call it. (Hint use event
delegates) Practical Example of Passing an Events to delegates
14. How can you read 3rd line from a text file?

Areas for study

Assemblies, GAC (how to post private assembly to gac)
.net architecture, MSIL, CTS, CLR
Events, delegates (this is the basics of .net. u have to understand it very well)
asp.net, webform, server controls, user controls
ado.net, dataset, datareader, dataadapter
remoting, webservice
desktop application - datagrid.
Threading

Keywords Compared in Different Languages

This topic lists common programming tasks that can be summarized with a language
keyword.

Purpose Visual Basic Java Keyword C++ Keyword

Keyword
Declare a variable Private, Public, public, private, protected (if a member variable) declarators (concept,
Friend, not keyword)
Protected, const, volatile (Note: these are not required for a
Static1, Shared, declaration.)
Dim
Declare a named Const final (Applied to a field declaration) const
constant
Create a new object New New new
CreateObject() n/a CoCreateInstance()

Assign an object to = = =
an object variable
Function/method Sub2 void void
does not return a
value
Overload a function Overloads NEW (No language keyword required for this purpose) (No language
or method (Visual keyword required for
Basic: overload a this purpose)
procedure or
method)
Refer to the current Me3 this this
object

Make a nonvirtual MyClass n/a MyClass:Func1(),

call to a virtual where MyClass is a
method of the C+ class with a
current object member function
Func1.
Retrieve character GetChar getChar *(p + 10) or p[10]
from a string Function NEW where p is a char*

Declare a compoundStructure n/a class, struct, union

data type (Visual <members> End
Basic: Structure) Structure __interface
Initialize an object Sub New()5 Constructors (concept, not keyword) constructors (concept
(constructors) not keyword)

Terminate an object n/a n/a ~ClassName

directly
Method called by Finalize NEW (In finalize destructor
the system just Visual Basic
before garbage 6.0,
collection reclaims Class_Terminate
an object7 )
Initialize a variable Dim x As Long int x = 5; int x=5;
where it is declared =5
//or initialized by constructor
Dim c As New
Car(FuelTypeEn C c(10);
 um.Gas)

Take the address of AddressOf (For n/a __delegate

a function class members,
this operator
returns a
reference to a
function in the
form of a
delegate
instance)
Callback n/a Pass the address of one function to another that CALLBACK (a
calls the invoker back. For an example, see Using standard type);
Callback Functions. callback (IDL
attribute)
Declare that an n/a volatile volatile
object can be
modified
asynchronously
Force explicit Option Explicit n/a. All variables must be declared prior to use. n/a. All variables
declaration of must be declared
variables prior to use.
Test for an object obj = Nothing pObj == 0 pobj == NULL
variable that does
not refer to an
object
Value of an object Nothing null n/a
variable that does
not refer to an
object
Test for a database IsDbNull Supported by various data types in the n/a
null expression System.Data.SqlTypes namespace
Test whether a n/a n/a n/a
Variant variable has
been initialized
Define a default Default NEW [System::Reflection::DefaultMember("Name")] n/a
property

Object-Oriented Programming

Purpose Visual Java C++ C# NEW Ke JScript Visual FoxPro

 Basic Keywor Keyword yword Keyword Keyword
Keyword d
Refer to a base MyBase NE super __super base super NEW BaseClass
W
class property;
ParentClass
property;
DODEFAULT(
)
NE NE
Declare an Interface interfac __interfac interface interface DEFINE
W W
interface e e CLASS
Specify an Implements implem (Just class C1 : implements IMPLEMENT
NEW
interface to be (statement) ents derive I1 S NEW
implemented (clause from the
on class interface)
declarati
on) class C1 :
public I1
NEW
Declare a class Class < class class class class NEW DEFINE
implementa CLASS
tion> MyClass AS
<BaseClass>
NEW
Specify that a MustInherit abstract __abstract abstract abstract n/a
class can only be NEW 8
(Only in
inherited. An Managed
instance of the Extension
class cannot be s for C++)
created.
Specify that a NotInherita final __sealed sealed final NEW n/a
NEW
class cannot be ble (Only in
inherited Managed
Extension
s for C++)
Declare an Enum n/a enum enum enum NEW n/a
enumerated type <members>
End Enum
Declare a class Const static const const const NEW #DEFINE
constant final (Applied
(Applied to a field
to a field declaratio
declarati n)
on)
Derive a class Inherits class C1 Class C1 : class C1 : class c1 DEFINE
NEW
from a base class C2 extends public C2 extends CLASS
C2 Base (No c2 NEW MyClass AS
 language ParentClass
keyword
needed for
this
purpose)
Override a methodOverrides N (No
EW
language
keyword
requir

Favorites Home Page email : santhosh0123@yahoo.com Vie

Microsoft SQL Server # Interview Questions - (last updated on )

• Transact-SQL Optimization Tips

• Index Optimization tips
• T-SQL Queries
• Data Types
• Index
• Joins
• Lock
 • Stored Procedure
• Trigger
• View
• Transaction
• Other
• XML
• Tools
• Permission
• Administration

Transact-SQL Optimization Tips

• Use views and stored procedures instead of heavy-duty queries.

This can reduce network traffic, because your client will send to server only stored
procedure or view name (perhaps with some parameters) instead of large heavy-duty
queries text. This can be used to facilitate permission management also, because you
can restrict user access to table columns they should not see.
• Try to use constraints instead of triggers, whenever possible.
Constraints are much more efficient than triggers and can boost performance. So, you
should use constraints instead of triggers, whenever possible.
• Use table variables instead of temporary tables.
Table variables require less locking and logging resources than temporary tables, so
table variables should be used whenever possible. The table variables are available in
SQL Server 2000 only.
• Try to use UNION ALL statement instead of UNION, whenever possible.
The UNION ALL statement is much faster than UNION, because UNION ALL statement
does not look for duplicate rows, and UNION statement does look for duplicate rows,
whether or not they exist.
• Try to avoid using the DISTINCT clause, whenever possible.
Because using the DISTINCT clause will result in some performance degradation, you
should use this clause only when it is necessary.
• Try to avoid using SQL Server cursors, whenever possible.
SQL Server cursors can result in some performance degradation in comparison with
select statements. Try to use correlated sub-query or derived tables, if you need to
perform row-by-row operations.
• Try to avoid the HAVING clause, whenever possible.
The HAVING clause is used to restrict the result set returned by the GROUP BY clause.
When you use GROUP BY with the HAVING clause, the GROUP BY clause divides the
rows into sets of grouped rows and aggregates their values, and then the HAVING clause
eliminates undesired aggregated groups. In many cases, you can write your select
statement so, that it will contain only WHERE and GROUP BY clauses without HAVING
clause. This can improve the performance of your query.
• If you need to return the total table's row count, you can use alternative way
instead of SELECT COUNT(*) statement.
Because SELECT COUNT(*) statement make a full table scan to return the total table's
row count, it can take very many time for the large table. There is another way to
determine the total row count in a table. You can use sysindexes system table, in this
case. There is ROWS column in the sysindexes table. This column contains the total row
count for each table in your database. So, you can use the following select statement
instead of SELECT COUNT(*): SELECT rows FROM sysindexes WHERE id =
OBJECT_ID('table_name') AND indid < 2 So, you can improve the speed of
such queries in several times.
 • Include SET NOCOUNT ON statement into your stored procedures to stop the
message indicating the number of rows affected by a T-SQL statement.
This can reduce network traffic, because your client will not receive the message
indicating the number of rows affected by a T-SQL statement.
• Try to restrict the queries result set by using the WHERE clause.
This can results in good performance benefits, because SQL Server will return to client
only particular rows, not all rows from the table(s). This can reduce network traffic and
boost the overall performance of the query.
• Use the select statements with TOP keyword or the SET ROWCOUNT statement, if
you need to return only the first n rows.
This can improve performance of your queries, because the smaller result set will be
returned. This can also reduce the traffic between the server and the clients.
• Try to restrict the queries result set by returning only the particular columns from
the table, not all table's columns.
This can results in good performance benefits, because SQL Server will return to client
only particular columns, not all table's columns. This can reduce network traffic and boost
the overall performance of the query.

1.Indexes
2.avoid more number of triggers on the table
3.unnecessary complicated joins
4.correct use of Group by clause with the select list
5.in worst cases Denormalization

Index Optimization tips

• Every index increases the time in takes to perform INSERTS, UPDATES and DELETES,
so the number of indexes should not be very much. Try to use maximum 4-5 indexes on
one table, not more. If you have read-only table, then the number of indexes may be
increased.
• Keep your indexes as narrow as possible. This reduces the size of the index and reduces
the number of reads required to read the index.
• Try to create indexes on columns that have integer values rather than character values.
• If you create a composite (multi-column) index, the order of the columns in the key are
very important. Try to order the columns in the key as to enhance selectivity, with the
most selective columns to the leftmost of the key.
• If you want to join several tables, try to create surrogate integer keys for this purpose and
create indexes on their columns.
• Create surrogate integer primary key (identity for example) if your table will not have
many insert operations.
• Clustered indexes are more preferable than nonclustered, if you need to select by a
range of values or you need to sort results set with GROUP BY or ORDER BY.
• If your application will be performing the same query over and over on the same table,
consider creating a covering index on the table.
• You can use the SQL Server Profiler Create Trace Wizard with "Identify Scans of Large
Tables" trace to determine which tables in your database may need indexes. This trace
will show which tables are being scanned by queries instead of using an index.
• You can use sp_MSforeachtable undocumented stored procedure to rebuild all
indexes in your database. Try to schedule it to execute during CPU idle time and slow
production periods.
sp_MSforeachtable @command1="print '?' DBCC DBREINDEX ('?')"

T-SQL Queries
1. 2 tables
Employee Phone
empid
empname empid
salary phnumber
mgrid
2. Select all employees who doesn't have phone?
SELECT empname
FROM Employee
WHERE (empid NOT IN
(SELECT DISTINCT empid
FROM phone))
3. Select the employee names who is having more than one phone
numbers.
SELECT empname
FROM employee
WHERE (empid IN
(SELECT empid
FROM phone
GROUP BY empid
HAVING COUNT(empid) > 1))
4. Select the details of 3 max salaried employees from employee
table.
SELECT TOP 3 empid, salary
FROM employee
ORDER BY salary DESC
5. Display all managers from the table. (manager id is same as emp
id)
SELECT empname
FROM employee
WHERE (empid IN
(SELECT DISTINCT mgrid
FROM employee))
6. Write a Select statement to list the Employee Name, Manager Name under a particular
manager?
SELECT e1.empname AS EmpName, e2.empname AS ManagerName
FROM Employee e1 INNER JOIN
Employee e2 ON e1.mgrid = e2.empid
ORDER BY e2.mgrid
7. 2 tables emp and phone.
emp fields are - empid, name
Ph fields are - empid, ph (office, mobile, home). Select all employees who doesn't have
any ph nos.
SELECT *
FROM employee LEFT OUTER JOIN
phone ON employee.empid = phone.empid
WHERE (phone.office IS NULL OR phone.office = ' ')
AND (phone.mobile IS NULL OR phone.mobile = ' ')
AND (phone.home IS NULL OR phone.home = ' ')
8. Find employee who is living in more than one city.
Two Tables:
Emp City
Empid Empid
empName City
 Salary
9. SELECT empname, fname, lname
FROM employee
WHERE (empid IN
(SELECT empid
FROM city
GROUP BY empid
HAVING COUNT(empid) > 1))
10. Find all employees who is living in the same city. (table is same as above)
SELECT fname
FROM employee
WHERE (empid IN
(SELECT empid
FROM city a
WHERE city IN
(SELECT city
FROM city b
GROUP BY city
HAVING COUNT(city) > 1)))
11. There is a table named MovieTable with three columns - moviename, person and role.
Write a query which gets the movie details where Mr. Amitabh and Mr. Vinod acted and
their role is actor.
SELECT DISTINCT m1.moviename
FROM MovieTable m1 INNER JOIN
MovieTable m2 ON m1.moviename = m2.moviename
WHERE (m1.person = 'amitabh' AND m2.person = 'vinod' OR
m2.person = 'amitabh' AND m1.person = 'vinod') AND (m1.role =
'actor') AND (m2.role = 'actor')
ORDER BY m1.moviename
12. There are two employee tables named emp1 and emp2. Both contains same structure
(salary details). But Emp2 salary details are incorrect and emp1 salary details are correct.
So, write a query which corrects salary details of the table emp2
update a set a.sal=b.sal from emp1 a, emp2 b where a.empid=b.empid
13. Given a Table named “Students” which contains studentid, subjectid and marks. Where
there are 10 subjects and 50 students. Write a Query to find out the Maximum marks
obtained in each subject.
14. In this same tables now write a SQL Query to get the studentid also to combine with
previous results.
15. Three tables – student , course, marks – how do go at finding name of the students who
got max marks in the diff courses.
SELECT student.name, course.name AS coursename, marks.sid,
marks.mark
FROM marks INNER JOIN
student ON marks.sid = student.sid INNER JOIN
course ON marks.cid = course.cid
WHERE (marks.mark =
(SELECT MAX(Mark)
FROM Marks MaxMark
WHERE MaxMark.cID = Marks.cID))
16. There is a table day_temp which has three columns dayid, day and temperature. How do
I write a query to get the difference of temperature among each other for seven days of a
week?
SELECT a.dayid, a.dday, a.tempe, a.tempe - b.tempe AS Difference
FROM day_temp a INNER JOIN
day_temp b ON a.dayid = b.dayid + 1
 OR
Select a.day, a.degree-b.degree from temperature a, temperature b
where a.id=b.id+1
17. There is a table which contains the names like this. a1, a2, a3, a3, a4, a1, a1, a2 and
their salaries. Write a query to get grand total salary, and total salaries of individual
employees in one query.
SELECT empid, SUM(salary) AS salary
FROM employee
GROUP BY empid WITH ROLLUP
ORDER BY empid
18. How to know how many tables contains empno as a column in a database?
SELECT COUNT(*) AS Counter
FROM syscolumns
WHERE (name = 'empno')
19. Find duplicate rows in a table? OR I have a table with one column which has many
records which are not distinct. I need to find the distinct values from that column
and number of times it’s repeated.
SELECT sid, mark, COUNT(*) AS Counter
FROM marks
GROUP BY sid, mark
HAVING (COUNT(*) > 1)
20. How to delete the rows which are duplicate (don’t delete both duplicate records).
SET ROWCOUNT 1
DELETE yourtable
FROM yourtable a
WHERE (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM yourtable b WHERE b.name1 = a.name1
AND b.age1 = a.age1) > 1
WHILE @@rowcount > 0
DELETE yourtable
FROM yourtable a
WHERE (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM yourtable b WHERE b.name1 = a.name1
AND b.age1 = a.age1) > 1
SET ROWCOUNT 0
21. How to find 6th highest salary
SELECT TOP 1 salary
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT TOP 6 salary
FROM employee
ORDER BY salary DESC) a
ORDER BY salary
22. Find top salary among two tables
SELECT TOP 1 sal
FROM (SELECT MAX(sal) AS sal
FROM sal1
UNION
SELECT MAX(sal) AS sal
FROM sal2) a
ORDER BY sal DESC
23. Write a query to convert all the letters in a word to upper case
SELECT UPPER('test')
24. Write a query to round up the values of a number. For example even if the user
enters 7.1 it should be rounded up to 8.
SELECT CEILING (7.1)
25. Write a SQL Query to find first day of month?
SELECT DATENAME(dw, DATEADD(dd, - DATEPART(dd, GETDATE()) + 1,
GETDATE())) AS FirstDay
 Datepart Abbreviations
year yy, yyyy
quarter qq, q
month mm, m
dayofyear dy, y
day dd, d
week wk, ww
weekday dw
hour hh
minute mi, n
second ss, s
millisecond ms
26. Table A contains column1 which is primary key and has 2 values (1, 2) and Table B
contains column1 which is primary key and has 2 values (2, 3). Write a query which
returns the values that are not common for the tables and the query should return one
column with 2 records.
SELECT tbla.a
FROM tbla, tblb
WHERE tbla.a <>
(SELECT tblb.a
FROM tbla, tblb
WHERE tbla.a = tblb.a)
UNION
SELECT tblb.a
FROM tbla, tblb
WHERE tblb.a <>
(SELECT tbla.a
FROM tbla, tblb
WHERE tbla.a = tblb.a)

OR (better approach)

SELECT a
FROM tbla
WHERE a NOT IN
(SELECT a
FROM tblb)
UNION ALL
SELECT a
FROM tblb
WHERE a NOT IN
(SELECT a
FROM tbla)
27. There are 3 tables Titles, Authors and Title-Authors (check PUBS db). Write the query to
get the author name and the number of books written by that author, the result should
start from the author who has written the maximum number of books and end with the
author who has written the minimum number of books.
SELECT authors.au_lname, COUNT(*) AS BooksCount
FROM authors INNER JOIN
titleauthor ON authors.au_id = titleauthor.au_id INNER JOIN
 titles ON titles.title_id = titleauthor.title_id
GROUP BY authors.au_lname
ORDER BY BooksCount DESC
28.
UPDATE emp_master
SET emp_sal =
CASE
WHEN emp_sal > 0 AND emp_sal <= 20000 THEN (emp_sal * 1.01)
WHEN emp_sal > 20000 THEN (emp_sal * 1.02)
END
29. List all products with total quantity ordered, if quantity ordered is null show it as 0.
SELECT name, CASE WHEN SUM(qty) IS NULL THEN 0 WHEN SUM(qty) > 0
THEN SUM(qty) END AS tot
FROM [order] RIGHT OUTER JOIN
product ON [order].prodid = product.prodid
GROUP BY name
Result:
coke 60
mirinda 0
pepsi 10
30. ANY, SOME, or ALL?
ALL means greater than every value--in other words, greater than the maximum value.
For example, >ALL (1, 2, 3) means greater than 3.
ANY means greater than at least one value, that is, greater than the minimum. So >ANY
(1, 2, 3) means greater than 1. SOME is an SQL-92 standard equivalent for ANY.
31. IN & = (difference in correlated sub query)
INDEX
32. What is Index? It’s purpose?
Indexes in databases are similar to indexes in books. In a database, an index allows the
database program to find data in a table without scanning the entire table. An index in a
database is a list of values in a table with the storage locations of rows in the table that
contain each value. Indexes can be created on either a single column or a combination of
columns in a table and are implemented in the form of B-trees. An index contains an
entry with one or more columns (the search key) from each row in a table. A B-tree is
sorted on the search key, and can be searched efficiently on any leading subset of the
search key. For example, an index on columns A, B, C can be searched efficiently on A,
on A, B, and A, B, C.
33. Explain about Clustered and non clustered index? How to choose between a
Clustered Index and a Non-Clustered Index?
There are clustered and nonclustered indexes. A clustered index is a special type of
index that reorders the way records in the table are physically stored. Therefore table can
have only one clustered index. The leaf nodes of a clustered index contain the data
pages.
A nonclustered index is a special type of index in which the logical order of the index
does not match the physical stored order of the rows on disk. The leaf nodes of a
nonclustered index does not consist of the data pages. Instead, the leaf nodes contain
index rows.
Consider using a clustered index for:
o Columns that contain a large number of distinct values.
o Queries that return a range of values using operators such as BETWEEN, >, >=,
<, and <=.
o Columns that are accessed sequentially.
 o Queries that return large result sets.
Non-clustered indexes have the same B-tree structure as clustered indexes, with
two significant differences:
o The data rows are not sorted and stored in order based on their non-clustered
keys.
o The leaf layer of a non-clustered index does not consist of the data pages.
Instead, the leaf nodes contain index rows. Each index row contains the non-
clustered key value and one or more row locators that point to the data row (or
rows if the index is not unique) having the key value.
o Per table only 249 non clustered indexes.
34. Disadvantage of index?
Every index increases the time in takes to perform INSERTS, UPDATES and DELETES,
so the number of indexes should not be very much.
35. Given a scenario that I have a 10 Clustered Index in a Table to all their 10 Columns.
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
A: Only 1 clustered index is possible.
36. How can I enforce to use particular index?
You can use index hint (index=<index_name>) after the table name.
SELECT au_lname FROM authors (index=aunmind)
37. What is Index Tuning?
One of the hardest tasks facing database administrators is the selection of appropriate
columns for non-clustered indexes. You should consider creating non-clustered indexes
on any columns that are frequently referenced in the WHERE clauses of SQL statements.
Other good candidates are columns referenced by JOIN and GROUP BY operations.
You may wish to also consider creating non-clustered indexes that cover all of the
columns used by certain frequently issued queries. These queries are referred to as
“covered queries” and experience excellent performance gains.
Index Tuning is the process of finding appropriate column for non-clustered indexes.
SQL Server provides a wonderful facility known as the Index Tuning Wizard which greatly
enhances the index selection process.
38. Difference between Index defrag and Index rebuild?
When you create an index in the database, the index information used by queries is
stored in index pages. The sequential index pages are chained together by pointers from
one page to the next. When changes are made to the data that affect the index, the
information in the index can become scattered in the database. Rebuilding an index
reorganizes the storage of the index data (and table data in the case of a clustered index)
to remove fragmentation. This can improve disk performance by reducing the number of
page reads required to obtain the requested data
DBCC INDEXDEFRAG - Defragments clustered and secondary indexes of the specified
table or view.
**
39. What is sorting and what is the difference between sorting & clustered indexes?
The ORDER BY clause sorts query results by one or more columns up to 8,060 bytes.
This will happen by the time when we retrieve data from database. Clustered indexes
physically sorting data, while inserting/updating the table.
40. What are statistics, under what circumstances they go out of date, how do you
update them?
Statistics determine the selectivity of the indexes. If an indexed column has unique
values then the selectivity of that index is more, as opposed to an index with non-unique
values. Query optimizer uses these indexes in determining whether to choose an index or
not while executing a query.
Some situations under which you should update statistics:
1) If there is significant change in the key values in the index
2) If a large amount of data in an indexed column has been added, changed, or removed
 (that is, if the distribution of key values has changed), or the table has been truncated
using the TRUNCATE TABLE statement and then repopulated
3) Database is upgraded from a previous version
41. What is fillfactor? What is the use of it ? What happens when we ignore it? When
you should use low fill factor?
When you create a clustered index, the data in the table is stored in the data pages of the
database according to the order of the values in the indexed columns. When new rows of
data are inserted into the table or the values in the indexed columns are changed,
Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 may have to reorganize the storage of the data in the
table to make room for the new row and maintain the ordered storage of the data. This
also applies to nonclustered indexes. When data is added or changed, SQL Server may
have to reorganize the storage of the data in the nonclustered index pages. When a new
row is added to a full index page, SQL Server moves approximately half the rows to a
new page to make room for the new row. This reorganization is known as a page split.
Page splitting can impair performance and fragment the storage of the data in a table.
When creating an index, you can specify a fill factor to leave extra gaps and reserve a
percentage of free space on each leaf level page of the index to accommodate future
expansion in the storage of the table's data and reduce the potential for page splits. The
fill factor value is a percentage from 0 to 100 that specifies how much to fill the data
pages after the index is created. A value of 100 means the pages will be full and will take
the least amount of storage space. This setting should be used only when there will be no
changes to the data, for example, on a read-only table. A lower value leaves more empty
space on the data pages, which reduces the need to split data pages as indexes grow
but requires more storage space. This setting is more appropriate when there will be
changes to the data in the table.

DATA TYPES
42. What are the data types in SQL
bigint Binary bit char cursor
datetime Decimal float image int
money Nchar ntext nvarchar real
smalldatetime Smallint smallmoney text timestamp
tinyint Varbinary Varchar uniqueidentifier
43. Difference between char and nvarchar / char and varchar data-type?
char[(n)] - Fixed-length non-Unicode character data with length of n bytes. n must be a
value from 1 through 8,000. Storage size is n bytes. The SQL-92 synonym for char is
character.
nvarchar(n) - Variable-length Unicode character data of n characters. n must be a value
from 1 through 4,000. Storage size, in bytes, is two times the number of characters
entered. The data entered can be 0 characters in length. The SQL-92 synonyms for
nvarchar are national char varying and national character varying.
varchar[(n)] - Variable-length non-Unicode character data with length of n bytes. n must
be a value from 1 through 8,000. Storage size is the actual length in bytes of the data
entered, not n bytes. The data entered can be 0 characters in length. The SQL-92
synonyms for varchar are char varying or character varying.
44. GUID datasize?
128bit
45. How GUID becoming unique across machines?
To ensure uniqueness across machines, the ID of the network card is used (among
others) to compute the number.
46. What is the difference between text and image data type?
Text and image. Use text for character data if you need to store more than 255 characters
 in SQL Server 6.5, or more than 8000 in SQL Server 7.0. Use image for binary large
objects (BLOBs) such as digital images. With text and image data types, the data is not
stored in the row, so the limit of the page size does not apply.All that is stored in the row
is a pointer to the database pages that contain the data.Individual text, ntext, and image
values can be a maximum of 2-GB, which is too long to store in a single data row.

JOINS
47. What are joins?
Sometimes we have to select data from two or more tables to make our result complete.
We have to perform a join.
48. How many types of Joins?
Joins can be categorized as:

Inner joins (the typical join operation, which uses some comparison operator like
= or <>). These include equi-joins and natural joins.
Inner joins use a comparison operator to match rows from two tables based on
the values in common columns from each table. For example, retrieving all rows
where the student identification number is the same in both the students and
courses tables.
Outer joins. Outer joins can be a left, a right, or full outer join.
Outer joins are specified with one of the following sets of keywords when they are
specified in the FROM clause:
• LEFT JOIN or LEFT OUTER JOIN -The result set of a left outer join
includes all the rows from the left table specified in the LEFT OUTER
clause, not just the ones in which the joined columns match. When a row
in the left table has no matching rows in the right table, the associated
result set row contains null values for all select list columns coming from
the right table.
• RIGHT JOIN or RIGHT OUTER JOIN - A right outer join is the reverse of
a left outer join. All rows from the right table are returned. Null values are
returned for the left table any time a right table row has no matching row
in the left table.
• FULL JOIN or FULL OUTER JOIN - A full outer join returns all rows in
both the left and right tables. Any time a row has no match in the other
table, the select list columns from the other table contain null values.
When there is a match between the tables, the entire result set row
contains data values from the base tables.
Cross joins - Cross joins return all rows from the left table, each row from the left
table is combined with all rows from the right table. Cross joins are also called
Cartesian products. (A Cartesian join will get you a Cartesian product. A
Cartesian join is when you join every row of one table to every row of another
table. You can also get one by joining every row of a table to every row of itself.)
2. What is self join?
A table can be joined to itself in a self-join.
3. What are the differences between UNION and JOINS?
A join selects columns from 2 or more tables. A union selects rows.
4. Can I improve performance by using the ANSI-style joins instead of the old-
style joins?
Code Example 1:
select o.name, i.name
from sysobjects o, sysindexes i
where o.id = i.id
Code Example 2:
select o.name, i.name
 from sysobjects o inner join sysindexes i
on o.id = i.id
You will not get any performance gain by switching to the ANSI-style JOIN
syntax.
Using the ANSI-JOIN syntax gives you an important advantage: Because the join
logic is cleanly separated from the filtering criteria, you can understand the query
logic more quickly.
The SQL Server old-style JOIN executes the filtering conditions before executing
the joins, whereas the ANSI-style JOIN reverses this procedure (join logic
precedes filtering).
Perhaps the most compelling argument for switching to the ANSI-style JOIN is
that Microsoft has explicitly stated that SQL Server will not support the old-style
OUTER JOIN syntax indefinitely. Another important consideration is that the
ANSI-style JOIN supports query constructions that the old-style JOIN syntax
does not support.
5. What is derived table?
Derived tables are SELECT statements in the FROM clause referred to by an
alias or a user-specified name. The result set of the SELECT in the FROM clause
forms a table used by the outer SELECT statement. For example, this SELECT
uses a derived table to find if any store carries all book titles in the pubs
database:
SELECT ST.stor_id, ST.stor_name
FROM stores AS ST,
(SELECT stor_id, COUNT(DISTINCT title_id) AS
title_count
FROM sales
GROUP BY stor_id
) AS SA
WHERE ST.stor_id = SA.stor_id
AND SA.title_count = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM titles)

STORED PROCEDURE
6. What is Stored procedure?
A stored procedure is a set of Structured Query Language (SQL) statements that
you assign a name to and store in a database in compiled form so that you can
share it between a number of programs.
They allow modular programming.
They allow faster execution.
They can reduce network traffic.
They can be used as a security mechanism.
7. What are the different types of Storage Procedure?

a. Temporary Stored Procedures - SQL Server supports two types of temporary

procedures: local and global. A local temporary procedure is visible only to the
connection that created it. A global temporary procedure is available to all
connections. Local temporary procedures are automatically dropped at the end of
the current session. Global temporary procedures are dropped at the end of the
last session using the procedure. Usually, this is when the session that created
the procedure ends. Temporary procedures named with # and ## can be created
by any user.
b. System stored procedures are created and stored in the master database and
have the sp_ prefix.(or xp_) System stored procedures can be executed from
any database without having to qualify the stored procedure name fully using the
database name master. (If any user-created stored procedure has the same
 name as a system stored procedure, the user-created stored procedure will
never be executed.)
c. Automatically Executing Stored Procedures - One or more stored procedures can
execute automatically when SQL Server starts. The stored procedures must be
created by the system administrator and executed under the sysadmin fixed
server role as a background process. The procedure(s) cannot have any input
parameters.
d. User stored procedure
2. How do I mark the stored procedure to automatic execution?
You can use the sp_procoption system stored procedure to mark the stored
procedure to automatic execution when the SQL Server will start. Only objects in
the master database owned by dbo can have the startup setting changed and
this option is restricted to objects that have no parameters.
USE master
EXEC sp_procoption 'indRebuild', 'startup', 'true')
3. How can you optimize a stored procedure?
4. How will know whether the SQL statements are executed?
When used in a stored procedure, the RETURN statement can specify an integer
value to return to the calling application, batch, or procedure. If no value is
specified on RETURN, a stored procedure returns the value 0. The stored
procedures return a value of 0 when no errors were encountered. Any nonzero
value indicates an error occurred.
5. Why one should not prefix user stored procedures with sp_?
It is strongly recommended that you do not create any stored procedures using
sp_ as a prefix. SQL Server always looks for a stored procedure beginning with
sp_ in this order:

1. The stored procedure in the master database.

2. The stored procedure based on any qualifiers provided (database name or
owner).
3. The stored procedure using dbo as the owner, if one is not specified.

Therefore, although the user-created stored procedure prefixed with sp_ may exist in the
current database, the master database is always checked first, even if the stored
procedure is qualified with the database name.

2. What can cause a Stored procedure execution plan to become invalidated

and/or fall out of cache?
1. Server restart
2. Plan is aged out due to low use
3. DBCC FREEPROCCACHE (sometime desired to force it)
3. When do one need to recompile stored procedure?
if a new index is added from which the stored procedure might benefit,
optimization does not automatically happen (until the next time the stored
procedure is run after SQL Server is restarted).
4. SQL Server provides three ways to recompile a stored procedure:

The sp_recompile system stored procedure forces a recompile of a stored

procedure the next time it is run.
Creating a stored procedure that specifies the WITH RECOMPILE option in its
definition indicates that SQL Server does not cache a plan for this stored
procedure; the stored procedure is recompiled each time it is executed. Use the
WITH RECOMPILE option when stored procedures take parameters whose
 values differ widely between executions of the stored procedure, resulting in
different execution plans to be created each time. Use of this option is
uncommon, and causes the stored procedure to execute more slowly because
the stored procedure must be recompiled each time it is executed.
You can force the stored procedure to be recompiled by specifying the WITH
RECOMPILE option when you execute the stored procedure. Use this option
only if the parameter you are supplying is atypical or if the data has significantly
changed since the stored procedure was created.
2. How to find out which stored procedure is recompiling? How to stop stored
procedures from recompiling?
3. I have Two Stored Procedures SP1 and SP2 as given below. How the
Transaction works, whether SP2 Transaction succeeds or fails?
CREATE PROCEDURE SP1 AS
BEGIN TRAN
INSERT INTO MARKS (SID,MARK,CID) VALUES (5,6,3)
EXEC SP2
ROLLBACK
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE SP2 AS

BEGIN TRAN
INSERT INTO MARKS (SID,MARK,CID) VALUES (100,100,103)
commit tran
GO
Both will get roll backed.
4. CREATE PROCEDURE SP1 AS
BEGIN TRAN
INSERT INTO MARKS (SID,MARK,CID) VALUES (5,6,3)
BEGIN TRAN
INSERT INTO STUDENT (SID,NAME1) VALUES (1,'SA')
commit tran
ROLLBACK TRAN
GO
Both will get roll backed.
5. How will you handle Errors in Sql Stored Procedure?
INSERT NonFatal VALUES (@Column2)
IF @@ERROR <>0
BEGIN
PRINT 'Error Occured'
END
http://www.sqlteam.com/item.asp?ItemID=2463
6. How will you raise an error in sql?
RAISERROR - Returns a user-defined error message and sets a system flag to
record that an error has occurred. Using RAISERROR, the client can either
retrieve an entry from the sysmessages table or build a message dynamically
with user-specified severity and state information. After the message is defined it
is sent back to the client as a server error message.
7. I have a stored procedure like
commit tran
create table a()
insert into table b
--
--
rollback tran
what will be the result? Is table created? data will be inserted in table b?
8. What do you do when one procedure is blocking the other?
**
9. How you will return XML from Stored Procedure?
You use the FOR XML clause of the SELECT statement, and within the FOR
XML clause you specify an XML mode: RAW, AUTO, or EXPLICIT.
10. What are the differences between RAW, AUTO and Explicit modes in
retrieving data from SQL Server in XML format?
**
11. Can a Stored Procedure call itself (recursive). If so then up to what level
and can it be control?
Stored procedures are nested when one stored procedure calls another. You can
nest stored procedures up to 32 levels. The nesting level increases by one when
the called stored procedure begins execution and decreases by one when the
called stored procedure completes execution. Attempting to exceed the
maximum of 32 levels of nesting causes the whole calling stored procedure chain
to fail. The current nesting level for the stored procedures in execution is stored
in the @@NESTLEVEL function.
eg:
SET NOCOUNT ON
USE master
IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.sp_calcfactorial') IS NOT NULL
DROP PROC dbo.sp_calcfactorial
GO
CREATE PROC dbo.sp_calcfactorial
@base_number int, @factorial int OUT
AS
DECLARE @previous_number int
IF (@base_number<2) SET @factorial=1 -- Factorial of 0 or
1=1
ELSE BEGIN
SET @previous_number=@base_number-1
EXEC dbo.sp_calcfactorial @previous_number, @factorial OUT
-- Recursive call
IF (@factorial=-1) RETURN(-1) -- Got an error, return
SET @factorial=@factorial*@base_number
END
RETURN(0)
GO

calling proc.
DECLARE @factorial int
EXEC dbo.sp_calcfactorial 4, @factorial OUT
SELECT @factorial
12. Nested Triggers
Triggers are nested when a trigger performs an action that initiates another
trigger, which can initiate another trigger, and so on. Triggers can be nested up to
32 levels, and you can control whether triggers can be nested through the nested
triggers server configuration option.
13. What is an extended stored procedure? Can you instantiate a COM object
by using T-SQL?
An extended stored procedure is a function within a DLL (written in a
programming language like C, C++ using Open Data Services (ODS) API) that
can be called from T-SQL, just the way we call normal stored procedures using
the EXEC statement.
14. Difference between view and stored procedure?
Views can have only select statements (create, update, truncate, delete
statements are not allowed) Views cannot have “select into”, “Group by”
“Having”, ”Order by”
15. What is a Function & what are the different user defined functions?
Function is a saved Transact-SQL routine that returns a value. User-defined
functions cannot be used to perform a set of actions that modify the global
database state. User-defined functions, like system functions, can be invoked
from a query. They also can be executed through an EXECUTE statement like
stored procedures.

1. Scalar Functions
Functions are scalar-valued if the RETURNS clause specified one of the scalar
data types
2. Inline Table-valued Functions
If the RETURNS clause specifies TABLE with no accompanying column list, the
function is an inline function.
3. Multi-statement Table-valued Functions
If the RETURNS clause specifies a TABLE type with columns and their data
types, the function is a multi-statement table-valued function.
2. What are the difference between a function and a stored procedure?
1. Functions can be used in a select statement where as procedures cannot
2. Procedure takes both input and output parameters but Functions takes only input
parameters
3. Functions cannot return values of type text, ntext, image & timestamps where as
procedures can
4. Functions can be used as user defined datatypes in create table but procedures
cannot
***Eg:-create table <tablename>(name varchar(10),salary getsal(name))
Here getsal is a user defined function which returns a salary type, when table is
created no storage is allotted for salary type, and getsal function is also not
executed, But when we are fetching some values from this table, getsal function
get’s executed and the return
Type is returned as the result set.
3. How to debug a stored procedure?
TRIGGER
4. What is Trigger? What is its use? What are the types of Triggers? What are
the new kinds of triggers in sql 2000?
Triggers are a special class of stored procedure defined to execute automatically
when an UPDATE, INSERT, or DELETE statement is issued against a table or
view. Triggers are powerful tools that sites can use to enforce their business
rules automatically when data is modified.
The CREATE TRIGGER statement can be defined with the FOR UPDATE, FOR
INSERT, or FOR DELETE clauses to target a trigger to a specific class of data
modification actions. When FOR UPDATE is specified, the IF UPDATE
(column_name) clause can be used to target a trigger to updates affecting a
particular column.
You can use the FOR clause to specify when a trigger is executed:

AFTER (default) - The trigger executes after the statement that triggered it
completes. If the statement fails with an error, such as a constraint violation or
syntax error, the trigger is not executed. AFTER triggers cannot be specified for
views.
 INSTEAD OF -The trigger executes in place of the triggering action. INSTEAD
OF triggers can be specified on both tables and views. You can define only one
INSTEAD OF trigger for each triggering action (INSERT, UPDATE, and
DELETE). INSTEAD OF triggers can be used to perform enhance integrity
checks on the data values supplied in INSERT and UPDATE statements.
INSTEAD OF triggers also let you specify actions that allow views, which would
normally not support updates, to be updatable.
An INSTEAD OF trigger can take actions such as:
• Ignoring parts of a batch.
• Not processing a part of a batch and logging the problem rows.
• Taking an alternative action if an error condition is encountered.

In SQL Server 6.5 you could define only 3 triggers per table, one for INSERT, one for
UPDATE and one for DELETE. From SQL Server 7.0 onwards, this restriction is gone,
and you could create multiple triggers per each action. But in 7.0 there's no way to control
the order in which the triggers fire. In SQL Server 2000 you could specify which trigger
fires first or fires last using sp_settriggerorder.
Till SQL Server 7.0, triggers fire only after the data modification operation happens. So in
a way, they are called post triggers. But in SQL Server 2000 you could create pre triggers
also.

2. When should one use "instead of Trigger"? Example

CREATE TABLE BaseTable
(
PrimaryKey int IDENTITY(1,1),
Color nvarchar(10) NOT NULL,
Material nvarchar(10) NOT NULL,
ComputedCol AS (Color + Material)
)
GO

--Create a view that contains all columns from the base

table.
CREATE VIEW InsteadView
AS SELECT PrimaryKey, Color, Material, ComputedCol
FROM BaseTable
GO

--Create an INSTEAD OF INSERT trigger on tthe view.

CREATE TRIGGER InsteadTrigger on InsteadView
INSTEAD OF INSERT
AS
BEGIN
--Build an INSERT statement ignoring inserrted.PrimaryKey
and
--inserted.ComputedCol.
INSERT INTO BaseTable
SELECT Color, Material
FROM inserted
END
GO

-- can insert value to basetable by this insert into

basetable(color,material) values ('red','abc')
 -- insert into InsteadView(color,material)) values
('red','abc') can't do this.
-- It will give error "'PrimaryKey' iin table 'InsteadView'
cannot be null."

-- can insert value through table by this<

insert into InsteadView values (1,'red','abc',1) --
PrimaryKey, ComputedCol wont take values from here
3. Difference between trigger and stored procedure?
Trigger will get execute automatically when an UPDATE, INSERT, or DELETE
statement is issued against a table or view.
We have to call stored procedure manually, or it can execute automatic when the
SQL Server starts (You can use the sp_procoption system stored procedure
to mark the stored procedure to automatic execution when the SQL Server will
start.
4. The following trigger generates an e-mail whenever a new title is added.
CREATE TRIGGER reminder
ON titles
FOR INSERT
AS
EXEC master..xp_sendmail 'MaryM', 'New title, mention in
the next report to distributors.'
5. Drawback of trigger? Its alternative solution?
Triggers are generally used to implement business rules, auditing. Triggers can
also be used to extend the referential integrity checks, but wherever possible,
use constraints for this purpose, instead of triggers, as constraints are much
faster.

LOCK
6. What are locks?
Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 uses locking to ensure transactional integrity and
database consistency. Locking prevents users from reading data being changed
by other users, and prevents multiple users from changing the same data at the
same time. If locking is not used, data within the database may become logically
incorrect, and queries executed against that data may produce unexpected
results.
7. What are the different types of locks?
SQL Server uses these resource lock modes.
Lock mode Description
Used for operations that do not change or update data (read-only operations), such as
Shared (S)
a SELECT statement.
Used on resources that can be updated. Prevents a common form of deadlock that
Update (U) occurs when multiple sessions are reading, locking, and potentially updating
resources later.
Exclusive Used for data-modification operations, such as INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE.
(X) Ensures that multiple updates cannot be made to the same resource at the same time.
Used to establish a lock hierarchy. The types of intent locks are: intent shared (IS),
Intent
intent exclusive (IX), and shared with intent exclusive (SIX).
Used when an operation dependent on the schema of a table is executing. The types
Schema
of schema locks are: schema modification (Sch-M) and schema stability (Sch-S).
Bulk Update
Used when bulk-copying data into a table and the TABLOCK hint is specified.
(BU)
 8. What is a dead lock? Give a practical sample? How you can minimize the
deadlock situation? What is a deadlock and what is a live lock? How will
you go about resolving deadlocks?
Deadlock is a situation when two processes, each having a lock on one piece of
data, attempt to acquire a lock on the other's piece. Each process would wait
indefinitely for the other to release the lock, unless one of the user processes is
terminated. SQL Server detects deadlocks and terminates one user's process.
A livelock is one, where a request for an exclusive lock is repeatedly denied
because a series of overlapping shared locks keeps interfering. SQL Server
detects the situation after four denials and refuses further shared locks. (A
livelock also occurs when read transactions monopolize a table or page, forcing a
write transaction to wait indefinitely.)
9. What is isolation level?
An isolation level determines the degree of isolation of data between concurrent
transactions. The default SQL Server isolation level is Read Committed. A lower
isolation level increases concurrency, but at the expense of data correctness.
Conversely, a higher isolation level ensures that data is correct, but can affect
concurrency negatively. The isolation level required by an application determines
the locking behavior SQL Server uses.
SQL-92 defines the following isolation levels, all of which are supported by SQL
Server:
Read uncommitted (the lowest level where transactions are isolated only enough
to ensure that physically corrupt data is not read).
Read committed (SQL Server default level).
Repeatable read.
Serializable (the highest level, where transactions are completely isolated from
one another).
Isolation level Dirty read Nonrepeatable read Phantom
Read uncommitted Yes Yes Yes
Read committed No Yes Yes
Repeatable read No No Yes
Serializable No No No
10. Uncommitted Dependency (Dirty Read) - Uncommitted dependency occurs when
a second transaction selects a row that is being updated by another transaction.
The second transaction is reading data that has not been committed yet and may
be changed by the transaction updating the row. For example, an editor is
making changes to an electronic document. During the changes, a second editor
takes a copy of the document that includes all the changes made so far, and
distributes the document to the intended audience.
Inconsistent Analysis (Nonrepeatable Read) Inconsistent analysis occurs when a
second transaction accesses the same row several times and reads different
data each time. Inconsistent analysis is similar to uncommitted dependency in
that another transaction is changing the data that a second transaction is
reading. However, in inconsistent analysis, the data read by the second
transaction was committed by the transaction that made the change. Also,
inconsistent analysis involves multiple reads (two or more) of the same row and
each time the information is changed by another transaction; thus, the term
nonrepeatable read. For example, an editor reads the same document twice, but
between each reading, the writer rewrites the document. When the editor reads
the document for the second time, it has changed.
Phantom Reads Phantom reads occur when an insert or delete action is
performed against a row that belongs to a range of rows being read by a
transaction. The transaction's first read of the range of rows shows a row that no
longer exists in the second or succeeding read, as a result of a deletion by a
 different transaction. Similarly, as the result of an insert by a different transaction,
the transaction's second or succeeding read shows a row that did not exist in the
original read. For example, an editor makes changes to a document submitted by
a writer, but when the changes are incorporated into the master copy of the
document by the production department, they find that new unedited material has
been added to the document by the author. This problem could be avoided if no
one could add new material to the document until the editor and production
department finish working with the original document.
11. nolock? What is the difference between the REPEATABLE READ and
SERIALIZE isolation levels?
Locking Hints - A range of table-level locking hints can be specified using the
SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements to direct Microsoft® SQL
Server 2000 to the type of locks to be used. Table-level locking hints can be used
when a finer control of the types of locks acquired on an object is required. These
locking hints override the current transaction isolation level for the session.
Locking hint Description
HOLDLOCK Hold a shared lock until completion of the transaction
instead of releasing the lock as soon as the required table,
row, or data page is no longer required. HOLDLOCK is
equivalent to SERIALIZABLE.
NOLOCK Do not issue shared locks and do not honor exclusive locks.
When this option is in effect, it is possible to read an
uncommitted transaction or a set of pages that are rolled
back in the middle of a read. Dirty reads are possible. Only
applies to the SELECT statement.
PAGLOCK Use page locks where a single table lock would usually be
taken.
READCOMMITTED Perform a scan with the same locking semantics as a
transaction running at the READ COMMITTED isolation
level. By default, SQL Server 2000 operates at this isolation
level.
READPAST Skip locked rows. This option causes a transaction to skip
rows locked by other transactions that would ordinarily
appear in the result set, rather than block the transaction
waiting for the other transactions to release their locks on
these rows. The READPAST lock hint applies only to
transactions operating at READ COMMITTED isolation
and will read only past row-level locks. Applies only to the
SELECT statement.
READUNCOMMITTED Equivalent to NOLOCK.
REPEATABLEREAD Perform a scan with the same locking semantics as a
transaction running at the REPEATABLE READ isolation
level.
ROWLOCK Use row-level locks instead of the coarser-grained page- and
table-level locks.
SERIALIZABLE Perform a scan with the same locking semantics as a
transaction running at the SERIALIZABLE isolation level.
Equivalent to HOLDLOCK.
TABLOCK Use a table lock instead of the finer-grained row- or page-
level locks. SQL Server holds this lock until the end of the
 statement. However, if you also specify HOLDLOCK, the
lock is held until the end of the transaction.
TABLOCKX Use an exclusive lock on a table. This lock prevents others
from reading or updating the table and is held until the end
of the statement or transaction.
UPDLOCK Use update locks instead of shared locks while reading a
table, and hold locks until the end of the statement or
transaction. UPDLOCK has the advantage of allowing you
to read data (without blocking other readers) and update it
later with the assurance that the data has not changed since
you last read it.
XLOCK Use an exclusive lock that will be held until the end of the
transaction on all data processed by the statement. This lock
can be specified with either PAGLOCK or TABLOCK, in
which case the exclusive lock applies to the appropriate
level of granularity.
12. For example, if the transaction isolation level is set to SERIALIZABLE, and the
table-level locking hint NOLOCK is used with the SELECT statement, key-range
locks typically used to maintain serializable transactions are not taken.
USE pubs
GO
SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE
GO
BEGIN TRANSACTION
SELECT au_lname FROM authors WITH (NOLOCK)
GO
13. What is escalation of locks?
Lock escalation is the process of converting a lot of low level locks (like row
locks, page locks) into higher level locks (like table locks). Every lock is a
memory structure too many locks would mean, more memory being occupied by
locks. To prevent this from happening, SQL Server escalates the many fine-grain
locks to fewer coarse-grain locks. Lock escalation threshold was definable in
SQL Server 6.5, but from SQL Server 7.0 onwards it's dynamically managed by
SQL Server.

VIEW
14. What is View? Use? Syntax of View?
A view is a virtual table made up of data from base tables and other views, but
not stored separately.
Views simplify users perception of the database (can be used to present only the
necessary information while hiding details in underlying relations)
Views improve data security preventing undesired accesses
Views facilite the provision of additional data independence
15. Does the View occupy memory space?
No
16. Can u drop a table if it has a view?
Views or tables participating in a view created with the SCHEMABINDING clause
cannot be dropped. If the view is not created using SCHEMABINDING, then we
can drop the table.
17. Why doesn't SQL Server permit an ORDER BY clause in the definition of a
view?
SQL Server excludes an ORDER BY clause from a view to comply with the ANSI
SQL-92 standard. Because analyzing the rationale for this standard requires a
 discussion of the underlying structure of the structured query language (SQL)
and the mathematics upon which it is based, we can't fully explain the restriction
here. However, if you need to be able to specify an ORDER BY clause in a view,
consider using the following workaround:
USE pubs
GO
CREATE VIEW AuthorsByName
AS
SELECT TOP 100 PERCENT *
FROM authors
ORDER BY au_lname, au_fname
GO
The TOP construct, which Microsoft introduced in SQL Server 7.0, is most useful
when you combine it with the ORDER BY clause. The only time that SQL Server
supports an ORDER BY clause in a view is when it is used in conjunction with
the TOP keyword. (Note that the TOP keyword is a SQL Server extension to the
ANSI SQL-92 standard.)

TRANSACTION
18. What is Transaction?
A transaction is a sequence of operations performed as a single logical unit of
work. A logical unit of work must exhibit four properties, called the ACID
(Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability) properties, to qualify as a
transaction:
Atomicity - A transaction must be an atomic unit of work; either all of its data
modifications are performed or none of them is performed.
Consistency - When completed, a transaction must leave all data in a consistent
state. In a relational database, all rules must be applied to the transaction's
modifications to maintain all data integrity. All internal data structures, such as B-
tree indexes or doubly-linked lists, must be correct at the end of the transaction.
Isolation - Modifications made by concurrent transactions must be isolated from
the modifications made by any other concurrent transactions. A transaction either
sees data in the state it was in before another concurrent transaction modified it,
or it sees the data after the second transaction has completed, but it does not
see an intermediate state. This is referred to as serializability because it results in
the ability to reload the starting data and replay a series of transactions to end up
with the data in the same state it was in after the original transactions were
performed.
Durability - After a transaction has completed, its effects are permanently in
place in the system. The modifications persist even in the event of a system
failure.
19. After one Begin Transaction a truncate statement and a RollBack
statements are there. Will it be rollbacked? Since the truncate statement
does not perform logged operation how does it RollBack?
It will rollback.
**
20. Given a SQL like
Begin Tran
Select @@Rowcount
Begin Tran
Select @@Rowcount
Begin Tran
Select @@Rowcount
Commit Tran
Select @@Rowcount
 RollBack
Select @@Rowcount
RollBack
Select @@Rowcount
What is the value of @@Rowcount at each stmt levels?
Ans : 0 – zero.
@@ROWCOUNT - Returns the number of rows affected by the last statement.
@@TRANCOUNT - Returns the number of active transactions for the current
connection.
Each Begin Tran will add count, each commit will reduce count and ONE rollback
will make it 0.

OTHER
21. What are the constraints for Table Constraints define rules regarding the
values allowed in columns and are the standard mechanism for enforcing
integrity. SQL Server 2000 supports five classes of constraints.
NOT NULL
CHECK
UNIQUE
PRIMARY KEY
FOREIGN KEY
22. There are 50 columns in a table. Write a query to get first 25 columns
Ans: Need to mention each column names.
23. How to list all the tables in a particular database?
USE pubs
GO
sp_help
24. What are cursors? Explain different types of cursors. What are the
disadvantages of cursors? How can you avoid cursors?
Cursors allow row-by-row processing of the result sets.
Types of cursors: Static, Dynamic, Forward-only, Keyset-driven.
Disadvantages of cursors: Each time you fetch a row from the cursor, it results in
a network roundtrip. Cursors are also costly because they require more
resources and temporary storage (results in more IO operations). Further, there
are restrictions on the SELECT statements that can be used with some types of
cursors.
How to avoid cursor:

1. Most of the times, set based operations can be used instead of cursors. Here is
an example: If you have to give a flat hike to your employees using the following
criteria:
Salary between 30000 and 40000 -- 5000 hike
Salary between 40000 and 55000 -- 7000 hike
Salary between 55000 and 65000 -- 9000 hike
In this situation many developers tend to use a cursor, determine each
employee's salary and update his salary according to the above formula. But the
same can be achieved by multiple update statements or can be combined in a
single UPDATE statement as shown below:
UPDATE tbl_emp SET salary =
CASE WHEN salary BETWEEN 30000 AND 40000 THEN salary + 5000
WHEN salary BETWEEN 40000 AND 55000 THEN salary + 7000
WHEN salary BETWEEN 55000 AND 65000 THEN salary + 10000
END
2. You need to call a stored procedure when a column in a particular row meets
certain condition. You don't have to use cursors for this. This can be achieved
 using WHILE loop, as long as there is a unique key to identify each row. For
examples of using WHILE loop for row by row processing, check out the 'My
code library' section of my site or search for WHILE.
2. What is Dynamic Cursor? Suppose, I have a dynamic cursor attached to
table in a database. I have another means by which I will modify the table.
What do you think will the values in the cursor be?
Dynamic cursors reflect all changes made to the rows in their result set when
scrolling through the cursor. The data values, order, and membership of the rows
in the result set can change on each fetch. All UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE
statements made by all users are visible through the cursor. Updates are visible
immediately if they are made through the cursor using either an API function
such as SQLSetPos or the Transact-SQL WHERE CURRENT OF clause.
Updates made outside the cursor are not visible until they are committed, unless
the cursor transaction isolation level is set to read uncommitted.
3. What is DATEPART?
Returns an integer representing the specified datepart of the specified date.
4. Difference between Delete and Truncate?
TRUNCATE TABLE is functionally identical to DELETE statement with no
WHERE clause: both remove all rows in the table.
(1) But TRUNCATE TABLE is faster and uses fewer system and transaction log
resources than DELETE. The DELETE statement removes rows one at a time
and records an entry in the transaction log for each deleted row. TRUNCATE
TABLE removes the data by deallocating the data pages used to store the table's
data, and only the page deallocations are recorded in the transaction log.
(2) Because TRUNCATE TABLE is not logged, it cannot activate a trigger.
(3) The counter used by an identity for new rows is reset to the seed for the
column. If you want to retain the identity counter, use DELETE instead.
Of course, TRUNCATE TABLE can be rolled back.
5. Given a scenario where two operations, Delete Stmt and Truncate Stmt,
where the Delete Statement was successful and the truncate stmt was
failed. – Can u judge why?
**
6. What are global variables? Tell me some of them?
Transact-SQL global variables are a form of function and are now referred to as
functions.
ABS - Returns the absolute, positive value of the given numeric expression.
SUM
AVG
AND
7. What is DDL?
Data definition language (DDL) statements are SQL statements that support the
definition or declaration of database objects (for example, CREATE TABLE,
DROP TABLE, and ALTER TABLE).
You can use the ADO Command object to issue DDL statements. To differentiate
DDL statements from a table or stored procedure name, set the CommandType
property of the Command object to adCmdText. Because executing DDL queries
with this method does not generate any recordsets, there is no need for a
Recordset object.
8. What is DML?
Data Manipulation Language (DML), which is used to select, insert, update, and
delete data in the objects defined using DDL
9. What are keys in RDBMS? What is a primary key/ foreign key?
There are two kinds of keys.
A primary key is a set of columns from a table that are guaranteed to have
 unique values for each row of that table.
Foreign keys are attributes of one table that have matching values in a primary
key in another table, allowing for relationships between tables.
10. What is the difference between Primary Key and Unique Key?
Both primary key and unique key enforce uniqueness of the column on which
they are defined. But by default primary key creates a clustered index on the
column, where are unique creates a nonclustered index by default. Another major
difference is that, primary key doesn't allow NULLs, but unique key allows one
NULL only.
11. Define candidate key, alternate key, composite key?
A candidate key is one that can identify each row of a table uniquely. Generally a
candidate key becomes the primary key of the table. If the table has more than
one candidate key, one of them will become the primary key, and the rest are
called alternate keys.
A key formed by combining at least two or more columns is called composite key.
12. What is the Referential Integrity?
Referential integrity refers to the consistency that must be maintained between
primary and foreign keys, i.e. every foreign key value must have a corresponding
primary key value.
13. What are defaults? Is there a column to which a default can't be bound?
A default is a value that will be used by a column, if no value is supplied to that
column while inserting data. IDENTITY columns and timestamp columns can't
have defaults bound to them.
14. What is Query optimization? How is tuning a performance of query done?
15. What is the use of trace utility?
**
16. What is the use of shell commands? xp_cmdshell
Executes a given command string as an operating-system command shell and
returns any output as rows of text. Grants nonadministrative users permissions to
execute xp_cmdshell.
17. What is use of shrink database?
Microsoft® SQL Server 2000 allows each file within a database to be shrunk to
remove unused pages. Both data and transaction log files can be shrunk.
18. If the performance of the query suddenly decreased where you will check?
19. What is a pass-through query?
Microsoft® SQL Server 2000 sends pass-through queries as un-interpreted query
strings to an OLE DB data source. The query must be in a syntax the OLE DB
data source will accept. A Transact-SQL statement uses the results from a pass-
through query as though it is a regular table reference.
This example uses a pass-through query to retrieve a result set from a Microsoft
Access version of the Northwind sample database.
SELECT *
FROM OpenRowset('Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'c:\northwind.mdb';'admin'; '',
'SELECT CustomerID, CompanyName
FROM Customers
WHERE Region = ''WA'' ')
20. How do you differentiate Local and Global Temporary table?
You can create local and global temporary tables. Local temporary tables are
visible only in the current session; global temporary tables are visible to all
sessions. Prefix local temporary table names with single number sign
(#table_name), and prefix global temporary table names with a double number
sign (##table_name). SQL statements reference the temporary table using the
value specified for table_name in the CREATE TABLE statement:
 CREATE TABLE #MyTempTable (cola INT PRIMARY KEY)
INSERT INTO #MyTempTable VALUES (1)
21. How the Exists keyword works in SQL Server?
USE pubs
SELECT au_lname, au_fname
FROM authors
WHERE exists
(SELECT *
FROM publishers
WHERE authors.city = publishers.city)
When a subquery is introduced with the keyword EXISTS, it functions as an
existence test. The WHERE clause of the outer query tests for the existence of
rows returned by the subquery. The subquery does not actually produce any
data; it returns a value of TRUE or FALSE.
22. ANY?
USE pubs
SELECT au_lname, au_fname
FROM authors
WHERE city = ANY
(SELECT city
FROM publishers)
23. to select date part only
SELECT CONVERT(char(10),GetDate(),101)
--to select time part only
SELECT right(GetDate(),7)
24. How can I send a message to user from the SQL Server?
You can use the xp_cmdshell extended stored procedure to run net send
command. This is the example to send the 'Hello' message to JOHN:
EXEC master..xp_cmdshell "net send JOHN 'Hello'"
To get net send message on the Windows 9x machines, you should run the
WinPopup utility. You can place WinPopup in the Startup group under Program
Files.
25. What is normalization? Explain different levels of normalization? Explain
Third normalization form with an example?
The process of refining tables, keys, columns, and relationships to create an
efficient database is called normalization. This should eliminates unnecessary
duplication and provides a rapid search path to all necessary information.
Some of the benefits of normalization are:

Data integrity (because there is no redundant, neglected data)

Optimized queries (because normalized tables produce rapid, efficient joins)
Faster index creation and sorting (because the tables have fewer columns)
Faster UPDATE performance (because there are fewer indexes per table)
Improved concurrency resolution (because table locks will affect less data)
Eliminate redundancy

There are a few rules for database normalization. Each rule is called a "normal form." If
the first rule is observed, the database is said to be in "first normal form." If the first three
rules are observed, the database is considered to be in "third normal form." Although
other levels of normalization are possible, third normal form is considered the highest
level necessary for most applications.

1. First Normal Form (1NF)

• Eliminate repeating groups in individual tables
 • Create a separate table for each set of related data.
• Identify each set of related data with a primary key.

Do not use multiple fields in a single table to store similar data.

Example

Subordinate1 Subordinate2 Subordinate3 Subordinate4

Bob Jim Mary Beth
Mary Mike Jason Carol Mark
Jim Alan

Eliminate duplicative columns from the same table. Clearly, the Subordinate1-
Subordinate4 columns are duplicative. What happens when we need to add or
remove a subordinate?

Subordinates
Bob Jim, Mary, Beth
Mary Mike, Jason, Carol, Mark
Jim Alan

This solution is closer, but it also falls short of the mark. The subordinates column
is still duplicative and non-atomic. What happens when we need to add or
remove a subordinate? We need to read and write the entire contents of the
table. That’s not a big deal in this situation, but what if one manager had one
hundred employees? Also, it complicates the process of selecting data from the
database in future queries.
Solution:

Subordinate
Bob Jim
Bob Mary
Bob Beth
Mary Mike
Mary Jason
Mary Carol
Mary Mark
Jim Alan

2. Second Normal Form (2NF)

• Create separate tables for sets of values that apply to multiple records.
• Relate these tables with a foreign key.

Records should not depend on anything other than a table's primary key (a
compound key, if necessary).
For example, consider a customer's address in an accounting system. The
address is needed by the Customers table, but also by the Orders, Shipping,
Invoices, Accounts Receivable, and Collections tables. Instead of storing the
customer's address as a separate entry in each of these tables, store it in one
place, either in the Customers table or in a separate Addresses table.

3. Third Normal Form (3NF)

• Eliminate fields that do not depend on the key.
 Values in a record that are not part of that record's key do not belong in the table.
In general, any time the contents of a group of fields may apply to more than a
single record in the table, consider placing those fields in a separate table.
For example, in an Employee Recruitment table, a candidate's university name
and address may be included. But you need a complete list of universities for
group mailings. If university information is stored in the Candidates table, there is
no way to list universities with no current candidates. Create a separate
Universities table and link it to the Candidates table with a university code key.
Another Example :

MemberId Name Company CompanyLoc

1 John Smith ABC Alabama
2 Dave Jones MCI Florida

The Member table satisfies first normal form - it contains no repeating groups. It
satisfies second normal form - since it doesn't have a multivalued key. But the
key is MemberID, and the company name and location describe only a company,
not a member. To achieve third normal form, they must be moved into a separate
table. Since they describe a company, CompanyCode becomes the key of the
new "Company" table.

The motivation for this is the same for second normal form: we want to avoid
update and delete anomalies. For example, suppose no members from the IBM
were currently stored in the database. With the previous design, there would be
no record of its existence, even though 20 past members were from IBM!
Member Table

MemberId Name CID

1 John Smith 1
2 Dave Jones 2

Company Table

CId Name Location

1 ABC Alabama
2 MCI Florida

4. Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF)

A relation is in Boyce/Codd normal form if and only if the only determinants are
candidate key. Its a different version of 3NF, indeed, was meant to replace it. [A
determinant is any attribute on which some other attribute is (fully) functionally
dependent.]
5. 4th Normal Form (4NF)
A table is in 4NF if it is in BCNF and if it has no multi-valued dependencies. This
applies primarily to key-only associative tables, and appears as a ternary
relationship, but has incorrectly merged 2 distinct, independent relationships.
Eg: This could be any 2 M:M relationships from a single entity. For instance, a
member could know many software tools, and a software tool may be used by
many members. Also, a member could have recommended many books, and a
book could be recommended by many members.
 Software member Book

6. The correct solution, to cause the model to be in 4th normal form, is to ensure
that all M:M relationships are resolved independently if they are indeed
independent.

Software membersoftware member memberBook book

7. 5th Normal Form (5NF)(PJNF)

A table is in 5NF, also called "Projection-Join Normal Form", if it is in 4NF and if
every join dependency in the table is a consequence of the candidate keys of the
table.
8. Domain/key normal form (DKNF). A key uniquely identifies each row in a table.
A domain is the set of permissible values for an attribute. By enforcing key and
domain restrictions, the database is assured of being freed from modification
anomalies. DKNF is the normalization level that most designers aim to achieve.

**
Remember, these normalization guidelines are cumulative. For a database to be in 2NF,
it must first fulfill all the criteria of a 1NF database.

2. If a database is normalized by 3 NF then how many number of tables it

should contain in minimum? How many minimum if 2NF and 1 NF?
3. What is denormalization and when would you go for it?
As the name indicates, denormalization is the reverse process of normalization.
It's the controlled introduction of redundancy in to the database design. It helps
improve the query performance as the number of joins could be reduced.
4. How can I randomly sort query results?
To randomly order rows, or to return x number of randomly chosen rows, you can
use the RAND function inside the SELECT statement. But the RAND function is
resolved only once for the entire query, so every row will get same value. You can
use an ORDER BY clause to sort the rows by the result from the NEWID
function, as the following code shows:
SELECT *
FROM Northwind..Orders
ORDER BY NEWID()
5. sp_who
Provides information about current Microsoft® SQL Server™ users and
processes. The information returned can be filtered to return only those
processes that are not idle.
6. Have you worked on Dynamic SQL? How will You handled “ (Double
Quotes) in Dynamic SQL?
7. How to find dependents of a table?
Verify dependencies with sp_depends before dropping an object
8. What is the difference between a CONSTRAINT AND RULE?
Rules are a backward-compatibility feature that perform some of the same
functions as CHECK constraints. CHECK constraints are the preferred, standard
way to restrict the values in a column. CHECK constraints are also more concise
than rules; there can only be one rule applied to a column, but multiple CHECK
constraints can be applied. CHECK constraints are specified as part of the
CREATE TABLE statement, while rules are created as separate objects and then
bound to the column.
 9. How to call a COM dll from SQL Server 2000?
sp_OACreate - Creates an instance of the OLE object on an instance of
Microsoft® SQL Server
Syntax
sp_OACreate progid, | clsid,
objecttoken OUTPUT
[ , context ]

context - Specifies the execution context in which the newly created OLE object runs. If
specified, this value must be one of the following:
1 = In-process (.dll) OLE server only
4 = Local (.exe) OLE server only
5 = Both in-process and local OLE server allowed

Examples

A. Use Prog ID - This example creates a SQL-DMO SQLServer object by using its ProgID.

DECLARE @object int

DECLARE @hr int
DECLARE @src varchar(255), @desc varchar(255)
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'SQLDMO.SQLServer', @object OUT
IF @hr <> 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAGetErrorInfo @object, @src OUT, @desc OUT
SELECT hr=convert(varbinary(4),@hr), Source=@src,
Description=@desc
RETURN
END

B. Use CLSID - This example creates a SQL-DMO SQLServer object by using its CLSID.

DECLARE @object int

DECLARE @hr int
DECLARE @src varchar(255), @desc varchar(255)
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate '{00026BA1-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}',
@object OUT
IF @hr <> 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAGetErrorInfo @object, @src OUT, @desc OUT
SELECT hr=convert(varbinary(4),@hr), Source=@src,
Description=@desc
RETURN
END

10. Difference between sysusers and syslogins?

sysusers - Contains one row for each Microsoft® Windows user, Windows group,
Microsoft SQL Server™ user, or SQL Server role in the database.
syslogins - Contains one row for each login account.
11. What is the row size in SQL Server 2000?
8060 bytes.
12. How will you find structure of table, all tables/views in one db, all dbs?
//structure of table
sp_helpdb tbl_emp
 //list of all databases
sp_helpdb
OR
SELECT * FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases

//details about database pubs. .mdf, .ldf file locations, size of database
sp_helpdb pubs

//lists all tables under current database

sp_tables
OR
SELECT * FROM information_schema.tables WHERE (table_type =
'base table')
OR
SELECT * FROM sysobjects WHERE type = 'U' //faster
13. B-tree indexes or doubly-linked lists?
14. What is the system function to get the current user's user id?
USER_ID(). Also check out other system functions like USER_NAME(),
SYSTEM_USER, SESSION_USER, CURRENT_USER, USER, SUSER_SID(),
HOST_NAME().
15. What are the series of steps that happen on execution of a query in a Query
Analyzer?
1) Syntax checking 2) Parsing 3) Execution plan
16. Which event (Check constraints, Foreign Key, Rule, trigger, Primary key
check) will be performed last for integrity check?
Identity Insert Check
Nullability constraint
Data type check
Instead of trigger
Primary key
Check constraint
Foreign key
DML Execution (update statements)
After Trigger
**
17. How will you show many to many relation in sql?
Create 3rd table with 2 columns which having one to many relation to these
tables.
18. When a query is sent to the database and an index is not being used, what
type of execution is taking place?
A table scan.
19. What is #, ##, @, @@ means?
@@ - System variables
@ - user defined variables
20. What is the difference between a Local temporary table and a Global
temporary table? How is each one denoted?
Local temporary table will be accessible to only current user session, its name
will be preceded with a single hash (#mytable)
Global temporary table will be accessible to all users, & it will be dropped only
after ending of all active connections, its name will be preceded with double hash
(##mytable)
21. What is covered queries in SQL Server?
 22. What is HASH JOIN, MERGE JOIN?
TOOLS
23. Have you ever used DBCC command? Give an example for it.
The Transact-SQL programming language provides DBCC statements that act as
Database Console Commands for Microsoft® SQL Serve 2000. These
statements check the physical and logical consistency of a database. Many
DBCC statements can fix detected problems. Database Console Command
statements are grouped into these categories.
Statement category Perform
Maintenance statements Maintenance tasks on a database, index, or filegroup.
Miscellaneous statements Miscellaneous tasks such as enabling row-level locking or removing a dynamic-link library (
Status statements Status checks.
Validation statements Validation operations on a database, table, index, catalog, filegroup, system tables, or allocati
DBCC CHECKDB, DBCC CHECKTABLE, DBCC CHECKCATALOG, DBCC CHECKALLOC, DBCC SHOWCONTI
SHRINKDATABASE, DBCC SHRINKFILE etc.
24. How do you use DBCC statements to monitor various aspects of a SQL
server installation?
**
25. What is the output of DBCC Showcontig statement?
Displays fragmentation information for the data and indexes of the specified
table.
26. How do I reset the identity column?
You can use the DBCC CHECKIDENT statement, if you want to reset or reseed
the identity column. For example, if you need to force the current identity value in
the jobs table to a value of 100, you can use the following:
USE pubs
GO
DBCC CHECKIDENT (jobs, RESEED, 100)
GO
27. About SQL Command line executables
Utilities
bcp
console
isql
sqlagent
sqldiag
sqlmaint
sqlservr
vswitch
dtsrun
dtswiz
isqlw
itwiz
odbccmpt
osql
rebuildm
sqlftwiz
distrib
logread
replmerg
snapshot
scm
regxmlss
28. What is DTC?
The Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) is a transaction
manager that allows client applications to include several different sources of
data in one transaction. MS DTC coordinates committing the distributed
transaction across all the servers enlisted in the transaction.
29. What is DTS? Any drawbacks in using DTS?
Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Data Transformation Services (DTS) is a set of
graphical tools and programmable objects that lets you extract, transform, and
consolidate data from disparate sources into single or multiple destinations.
30. What is BCP?
The bcp utility copies data between an instance of Microsoft® SQL Server™
2000 and a data file in a user-specified format.
C:\Documents and Settings\sthomas>bcp
usage: bcp {dbtable | query} {in | out | queryout | format}
datafile
[-m maxerrors] [-f formatfile] [-e errfile]
[-F firstrow] [-L lastrow] [-b batchsize]
[-n native type] [-c character type] [-w wide character
type]
[-N keep non-text native] [-V file format version] [-q
quoted identifier]
[-C code page specifier] [-t field terminator] [-r row
terminator]
[-i inputfile] [-o outfile] [-a packetsize]
[-S server name] [-U username] [-P password]
[-T trusted connection] [-v version] [-R regional enable]
[-k keep null values] [-E keep identity values]
[-h "load hints"]
31. How can I create a plain-text flat file from SQL Server as input to another
application?
One of the purposes of Extensible Markup Language (XML) is to solve
challenges like this, but until all applications become XML-enabled, consider
using our faithful standby, the bulk copy program (bcp) utility. This utility can do
more than just dump a table; bcp also can take its input from a view instead of
from a table. After you specify a view as the input source, you can limit the output
to a subset of columns or to a subset of rows by selecting appropriate filtering
(WHERE and HAVING) clauses.
More important, by using a view, you can export data from multiple joined tables.
The only thing you cannot do is specify the sequence in which the rows are
written to the flat file, because a view does not let you include an ORDER BY
clause in it unless you also use the TOP keyword.
If you want to generate the data in a particular sequence or if you cannot predict
the content of the data you want to export, be aware that in addition to a view,
bcp also supports using an actual query. The only "gotcha" about using a query
instead of a table or view is that you must specify queryout in place of out in the
bcp command line.
For example, you can use bcp to generate from the pubs database a list of
authors who reside in California by writing the following code:
 bcp "SELECT * FROM pubs..authors WHERE state = 'CA'"
queryout c:\CAauthors.txt -c -T -S
32. What are the different ways of moving data/databases between servers and
databases in SQL Server?
There are lots of options available, you have to choose your option depending
upon your requirements. Some of the options you have are:
BACKUP/RESTORE, detaching and attaching databases, replication, DTS, BCP,
logshipping, INSERT...SELECT, SELECT...INTO, creating INSERT scripts to
generate data.
33. How will I export database?
Through DTS - Import/Export wizard
Backup - through Complete/Differential/Transaction Log
34. How to export database at a particular time, every week?
Backup - Schedule
DTS - Schedule
Jobs - create a new job
35. How do you load large data to the SQL server database?
bcp
36. How do you transfer data from text file to database (other than DTS)?
bcp
37. What is OSQL and ISQL utility?
The osql utility allows you to enter Transact-SQL statements, system
procedures, and script files. This utility uses ODBC to communicate with the
server.
The isql utility allows you to enter Transact-SQL statements, system procedures,
and script files; and uses DB-Library to communicate with Microsoft® SQL
Server™ 2000.
All DB-Library applications, such as isql, work as SQL Server 6.5–level clients
when connected to SQL Server 2000. They do not support some SQL Server
2000 features.
The osql utility is based on ODBC and does support all SQL Server 2000
features. Use osql to run scripts that isql cannot run.
38. What Tool you have used for checking Query Optimization? What is the use
of profiler in sql server? What is the first thing u look at in a SQL Profiler?
SQL Profiler is a graphical tool that allows system administrators to monitor
events in an instance of Microsoft® SQL Server™. You can capture and save
data about each event to a file or SQL Server table to analyze later. For example,
you can monitor a production environment to see which stored procedures is
hampering performance by executing too slowly.
Use SQL Profiler to:

Monitor the performance of an instance of SQL Server.

Debug Transact-SQL statements and stored procedures.
Identify slow-executing queries.
Test SQL statements and stored procedures in the development phase of a
project by single-stepping through statements to confirm that the code works as
expected.
Troubleshoot problems in SQL Server by capturing events on a production
system and replaying them on a test system. This is useful for testing or
debugging purposes and allows users to continue using the production system
without interference.

Audit and review activity that occurred on an instance of SQL Server. This allows a
security administrator to review any of the auditing events, including the success and
failure of a login attempt and the success and failure of permissions in accessing
statements and objects.

Permissions

2. A user is a member of Public role and Sales role. Public role has the
permission to select on all the table, and Sales role, which doesn’t have a
select permission on some of the tables. Will that user be able to select
from all tables?
**
3. If a user does not have permission on a table, but he has permission to a
view created on it, will he be able to view the data in table?
Yes.
4. Describe Application Role and explain a scenario when you will use it?
**
5. After removing a table from database, what other related objects have to be
dropped explicitly?
(view, SP)
6. You have a SP names YourSP and have the a Select Stmt inside the SP. You
also have a user named YourUser. What permissions you will give him for
accessing the SP.
**
7. Different Authentication modes in Sql server? If a user is logged under
windows authentication mode, how to find his userid?
There are Three Different authentication modes in sqlserver.

1. Windows Authentication Mode

2. SqlServer Authentication Mode
3. Mixed Authentication Mode

“system_user” system function in sqlserver to fetch the logged on user name.

2. Give the connection strings from front-end for both type

logins(windows,sqlserver)?
This are specifically for sqlserver not for any other RDBMS
Data Source=MySQLServer;Initial
Catalog=NORTHWIND;Integrated Security=SSPI (windows)
Data Source=MySQLServer;Initial Catalog=NORTHWIND;Uid=”
”;Pwd=” ”(sqlserver)
3. What are three SQL keywords used to change or set someone’s
permissions?
Grant, Deny and Revoke

Administration
4. Explain the architecture of SQL Server?
**
5. Different types of Backups?

o A full database backup is a full copy of the database.

o A transaction log backup copies only the transaction log.
o A differential backup copies only the database pages modified after the last full
database backup.
 o A file or filegroup restore allows the recovery of just the portion of a database that
was on the failed disk.

49. What are ‘jobs’ in SQL Server? How do we create one? What is tasks?
Using SQL Server Agent jobs, you can automate administrative tasks and run
them on a recurring basis.
**
50. What is database replication? What are the different types of replication
you can set up in SQL Server? How are they used? What is snapshot
replication how is it different from Transactional replication?
Replication is the process of copying/moving data between databases on the
same or different servers. SQL Server supports the following types of replication
scenarios:

1. Snapshot replication - It distributes data exactly as it appears at a specific

moment in time and doesn’t monitor for updates. It can be used when data
changes are infrequent. It is often used for browsing data such as price lists,
online catalog, or data for decision support where the current data is not required
and data is used as read only.
2. Transactional replication (with immediate updating subscribers, with queued
updating subscribers) - With this an initial snapshot of data is applied, and
whenever data modifications are made at the publisher, the individual
transactions are captured and propagated to the subscribers.
3. Merge replication - It is the process of distributing the data between publisher
and subscriber, it allows the publisher and subscriber to update the data while
connected or disconnected, and then merging the updates between the sites
when they are connected.
2. How can u look at what are the process running on SQL server? How can
you kill a process in SQL server?

o Expand a server group, and then expand a server.

o Expand Management, and then expand Current Activity.
o Click Process Info. The current server activity is displayed in the details pane.

In the details pane, right-click a Process ID, and then click Kill Process.

51. What is RAID and what are different types of RAID configurations?
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, used to provide fault
tolerance to database servers. There are six RAID levels 0 through 5 offering
different levels of performance, fault tolerance.
52.
Some of the tools/ways that help you troubleshooting performance problems are:
SET SHOWPLAN_ALL ON, SET SHOWPLAN_TEXT ON, SET STATISTICS IO
ON, SQL Server Profiler, Windows NT /2000 Performance monitor, Graphical
execution plan in Query Analyzer.
53. How to determine the service pack currently installed on SQL Server?
The global variable @@Version stores the build number of the sqlservr.exe,
which is used to determine the service pack installed.
eg: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 - 8.00.760 (Intel X86) Dec 17 2002 14:22:05
Copyright (c) 1988-2003 Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Edition on Windows
NT 5.0 (Build 2195: Service Pack 3)
54. What is the purpose of using COLLATE in a query?
The term, collation, refers to a set of rules that determine how data is sorted and
 compared. In Microsoft® SQL Server 2000, it is not required to separately specify
code page and sort order for character data, and the collation used for Unicode
data. Instead, specify the collation name and sorting rules to use. Character data
is sorted using rules that define the correct character sequence, with options for
specifying case-sensitivity, accent marks, kana character types, and character
width. Microsoft SQL Server 2000 collations include these groupings:

Windows collations - Windows collations define rules for storing character data
based on the rules defined for an associated Windows locale. The base Windows
collation rules specify which alphabet or language is used when dictionary sorting
is applied, as well as the code page used to store non-Unicode character data.
For Windows collations, the nchar, nvarchar, and ntext data types have the
same sorting behavior as char, varchar, and text data types
SQL collations - SQL collations are provided for compatibility with sort orders in
earlier versions of Microsoft SQL Server.

Sort Order
Binary is the fastest sorting order, and is case-sensitive. If Binary is selected, the Case-
sensitive, Accent-sensitive, Kana-sensitive, and Width-sensitive options are not
available.

Sort order Description

Binary Sorts and compares data in Microsoft® SQL Server™ tables based on the bit
patterns defined for each character. Binary sort order is case-sensitive, that is
lowercase precedes uppercase, and accent-sensitive. This is the fastest sorting
order.
If this option is not selected, SQL Server follows sorting and comparison rules as
defined in dictionaries for the associated language or alphabet.
Case- Specifies that SQL Server distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters.
sensitive If not selected, SQL Server considers the uppercase and lowercase versions of
letters to be equal. SQL Server does not define whether lowercase letters sort lower
or higher in relation to uppercase letters when Case-sensitive is not selected.
Accent- Specifies that SQL Server distinguish between accented and unaccented characters.
sensitive For example, 'a' is not equal to 'á'.
If not selected, SQL Server considers the accented and unaccented versions of
letters to be equal.
Kana- Specifies that SQL Server distinguish between the two types of Japanese kana
sensitive characters: Hiragana and Katakana.
If not selected, SQL Server considers Hiragana and Katakana characters to be
equal.
Width- Specifies that SQL Server distinguish between a single-byte character (half-width)
sensitive and the same character when represented as a double-byte character (full-width).
If not selected, SQL Server considers the single-byte and double-byte
representation of the same character to be equal.

Windows collation options:

Use Latin1_General for the U.S. English character set (code page 1252).
Use Modern_Spanish for all variations of Spanish, which also use the same
character set as U.S. English (code page 1252).
Use Arabic for all variations of Arabic, which use the Arabic character set (code
page 1256).
 Use Japanese_Unicode for the Unicode version of Japanese (code page 932),
which has a different sort order from Japanese, but the same code page (932).
2. What is the STUFF Function and how does it differ from the REPLACE
function?
STUFF - Deletes a specified length of characters and inserts another set of
characters at a specified starting point.
SELECT STUFF('abcdef', 2, 3, 'ijklmn')
GO
Here is the result set:
---------
aijklmnef

REPLACE - Replaces all occurrences of the second given string expression in the first
string expression with a third expression.
SELECT REPLACE('abcdefghicde','cde','xxx')
GO
Here is the result set:
------------
abxxxfghixxx

3. What does it mean to have quoted_identifier on? What are the implications
of having it off?
When SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is OFF (default), literal strings in expressions
can be delimited by single or double quotation marks.
When SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is ON, all strings delimited by double
quotation marks are interpreted as object identifiers. Therefore, quoted identifiers
do not have to follow the Transact-SQL rules for identifiers.
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER must be ON when creating or manipulating indexes
on computed columns or indexed views. If SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is OFF,
CREATE, UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements on tables with indexes on
computed columns or indexed views will fail.
The SQL Server ODBC driver and Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server
automatically set QUOTED_IDENTIFIER to ON when connecting.
When a stored procedure is created, the SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER and SET
ANSI_NULLS settings are captured and used for subsequent invocations of that
stored procedure. When executed inside a stored procedure, the setting of SET
QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is not changed.
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO
-- Attempt to create a table with a reserved keyword as a
name
-- should fail.
CREATE TABLE "select" ("identity" int IDENTITY, "order" int)
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
-- Will succeed.
CREATE TABLE "select" ("identity" int IDENTITY, "order" int)
GO
4. What is the purpose of UPDATE STATISTICS?
Updates information about the distribution of key values for one or more statistics
groups (collections) in the specified table or indexed view.
5. Fundamentals of Data warehousing & olap?
6. What do u mean by OLAP server? What is the difference between OLAP
and OLTP?
7. What is a tuple?
A tuple is an instance of data within a relational database.
8. Services and user Accounts maintenance
9. sp_configure commands?
Displays or changes global configuration settings for the current server.
10. What is the basic functions for master, msdb, tempdb databases?
Microsoft® SQL Server 2000 systems have four system databases:
master - The master database records all of the system level information for a
SQL Server system. It records all login accounts and all system configuration
settings. master is the database that records the existence of all other
databases, including the location of the database files.
tempdb - tempdb holds all temporary tables and temporary stored procedures. It
also fills any other temporary storage needs such as work tables generated by
SQL Server. tempdb is re-created every time SQL Server is started so the
system starts with a clean copy of the database.
By default, tempdb autogrows as needed while SQL Server is running. If the size
defined for tempdb is small, part of your system processing load may be taken
up with autogrowing tempdb to the size needed to support your workload each
time to restart SQL Server. You can avoid this overhead by using ALTER
DATABASE to increase the size of tempdb.
model - The model database is used as the template for all databases created
on a system. When a CREATE DATABASE statement is issued, the first part of
the database is created by copying in the contents of the model database, then
the remainder of the new database is filled with empty pages. Because tempdb
is created every time SQL Server is started, the model database must always
exist on a SQL Server system.
msdb - The msdb database is used by SQL Server Agent for scheduling alerts
and jobs, and recording operators.
11. What are sequence diagrams? What you will get out of this sequence
diagrams?
Sequence diagrams document the interactions between classes to achieve a
result, such as a use case. Because UML is designed for object-oriented
programming, these communications between classes are known as messages.
The sequence diagram lists objects horizontally, and time vertically, and models
these messages over time.
12. What are the new features of SQL 2000 than SQL 7? What are the new
datatypes in sql?
XML Support - The relational database engine can return data as Extensible
Markup Language (XML) documents. Additionally, XML can also be used to
insert, update, and delete values in the database. (for xml raw - to retrieve output
as xml type)
User-Defined Functions - The programmability of Transact-SQL can be extended
by creating your own Transact-SQL functions. A user-defined function can return
either a scalar value or a table.
Indexed Views - Indexed views can significantly improve the performance of an
application where queries frequently perform certain joins or aggregations. An
indexed view allows indexes to be created on views, where the result set of the
view is stored and indexed in the database.
New Data Types - SQL Server 2000 introduces three new data types. bigint is an
8-byte integer type. sql_variant is a type that allows the storage of data values
of different data types. table is a type that allows applications to store results
 temporarily for later use. It is supported for variables, and as the return type for
user-defined functions.
INSTEAD OF and AFTER Triggers - INSTEAD OF triggers are executed instead
of the triggering action (for example, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE). They can also
be defined on views, in which case they greatly extend the types of updates a
view can support. AFTER triggers fire after the triggering action. SQL Server
2000 introduces the ability to specify which AFTER triggers fire first and last.
Multiple Instances of SQL Server - SQL Server 2000 supports running multiple
instances of the relational database engine on the same computer. Each
computer can run one instance of the relational database engine from SQL
Server version 6.5 or 7.0, along with one or more instances of the database
engine from SQL Server 2000. Each instance has its own set of system and user
databases.
Index Enhancements - You can now create indexes on computed columns. You
can specify whether indexes are built in ascending or descending order, and if
the database engine should use parallel scanning and sorting during index
creation.
13. How do we open SQL Server in single user mode?
We can accomplish this in any of the three ways given below :-

a. From Command Prompt :-

sqlservr -m
b. From Startup Options :-
Go to SQL Server Properties by right-clicking on the Server name in the
Enterprise manager.
Under the 'General' tab, click on 'Startup Parameters'.
Enter a value of -m in the Parameter.
c. From Registry :-
Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\MSSQLServer\Par
ameters.
Add new string value.
Specify the 'Name' as SQLArg(n) & 'Data' as -m.
Where n is the argument number in the list of arguments.
2. Difference between clustering and NLB (Network Load Balancing)?
**
3. Explain Active/Active and Active/Passive cluster configurations?
**
4. What is Log Shipping?
In Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Enterprise Edition, you can use log shipping to
feed transaction logs from one database to another on a constant basis.
Continually backing up the transaction logs from a source database and then
copying and restoring the logs to a destination database keeps the destination
database synchronized with the source database. This allows you to have a
backup server and also provides a way to offload query processing from the main
computer (the source server) to read-only destination servers.
5. What are the main steps you take care for enhancing SQL Server
performance?
**
6. You have to check whether any users are connected to sql server database
and if any user is connected to database, you have to disconnect the
user(s) and run a process in a job. How do you do the above in a job?
**
 XML
7. How can I convert data in a Microsoft Access table into XML format?
The following applications can help you convert Access data into XML format:
Access 2002, ADO 2.5, and SQLXML. Access 2002 (part of Microsoft Office XP)
enables you to query or save a table in XML format. You might be able to
automate this process. ADO 2.5 and later enables you to open the data into a
recordset, then persist the recordset in XML format, as the following code shows:
rs.Save "c:\rs.xml", adPersistXML
You can use linked servers to add the Access database to your SQL Server 2000
database so you can run queries from within SQL Server to retrieve data. Then,
through HTTP, you can use the SQLXML technology to extract the Access data in
the XML format you want.

NEW
8. @@IDENTITY ?
Ans: Returns the last-inserted identity value.
9. If a job is fail in sql server, how do find what went wrong?
10. Have you used Error handling in DTS?

http://www.smartdraw.com/resources/centers/software/erd.htm ER Diagram

Smart answers to the 18 toughest interview questions.

 Performing on the job is not the issue you know you can do that. The big obstacle is
getting past the interview. Follow our advice, and it will be a breeze!

1. How would you describe your personality? "I'm pretty even-tempered. I enjoy being
part of a team and feel comfortable both making decisions and following directions."
2. Tell me about yourself and your past experience? "I have been working in Information
Technology industry for last 4-5 years. I had an opportunity to work in teams and
independently. I am very comfortable in both the environments. I have developed
Client/Server and Intranet applications, involving full life cycle, which includes
Requirement Phase, Analysis/Design, Development, Unit Testing, Integrating Testing,
Customer/User Testing, and Rollout/Implementation. I have worked on various tools in
my career, which includes MS Access, MS SQL Server, SQL, VBA, JavaScript, VB
Script, COM/DCOM, ADO, Active X, ASP, HTML, DHTML, XML, XSL, CSS, Visual
InterDev, Visual Basic, FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Flash, Visual Source Safe and
Adobe PhotoShop. I have always met the project deadlines, for which I had to work
late hours and weekends. For the past two years, I have been working as a Web
Developer. Where I have involved in the beginning of the project itself, i.e.,
Requirement gathering phase. Online Job Search is a successful multi-tier web-based
application, which uses MS SQL Server 7.0 as backend data store and Visual Basic
6.0 and ASP as front-end. It provides a user-friendly platform for Job Seekers as well
as Job Submitters, from across the globe to register, search and submit Vacancies in
their local areas. We had meetings with the Customers/Users to get all the required
information. This application gives various functionalities (forgotten password, Mailing
list and etc) and different security levels to the Users and Administrators. My strengths
are my client-relationship management skills, and my leadership ability."
3. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Pick a weakness that could also be
consider a strength. "Sometimes I'm overly concerned with doing a good job and my
boss tells me I drive myself too hard." Then mention your strengths: your ability to get
the job done efficiently and on time; your pride in your work. Or also you can tell, My
strength is my flexibility. As director of operations at a startup company, I've had to
deal with and handle changes and new policies constantly. As far as weaknesses, I
really enjoy my work, and sometimes I put in too much time on some projects. But by
being aware of my tendency, I have learned to work smarter.
4. Why are you leaving your current job? Forget about the fact that you hate your boss
and your co-workers drive you crazy. Instead, say, "I'm ready to take on more
responsibilities and learn more, but the opportunities at my current job are limited. Or
I've set some goals for myself and my career, and unfortunately I'm at a standstill in
my current situation. I have begun to explore options available before I spend too
much time in a job where I can't advance. My goal is to continue to take on new
responsibilities and be a key contributor to the success of an online venture."
5. Why do you change jobs so often? "Mainly to learn and advance. I understand there's
a lot of room for growth here, and I hope to stay a long time if I'm offered the job."
6. Did you get along with your previous boss? If you didn't, and know you can't use her
as a reference, be candid but not bitter or complaining. "She's very professional and
taught me a lot, and I'm grateful for that. But I would have liked more responsibilities
than I was offered."
7. How would your boss describe you and your work style? "First, she'd say I have a lot
of initiative - I see a big picture and do what has to be done to achieve results.
Secondly, that I have business savvy - I know the business side as well as the
technical side. And thirdly, I have a high work ethic - if I say I'm going to do something,
I do it."
8. Why didn't you go further in school? "At the time, earning a living was more important.
But I'm thinking of furthering my education now."
9. What do you do in your spare time? Say you keep up with current events and have
been reading a best-selling business book (do it). Talk about any community activities
you're involved in, but stress that those commitments won't interfere with work.
http://www.ezsoftech.com/interviewtips3.html

180 action verbs and phrases that may be useful when writing a resume
Accomplished Achieved Acted Adapted Addressed
Administered Advanced Advised Allocated Analyzed
Appraised Approved Arranged Assembled Assigned
Assisted Attained Audited Authored Automated
Balanced Budgeted Built Calculated Catalogued
Chaired Clarified Classified Coached Collected
Compiled Completed Composed Computed Conceptualized
Conducted Consolidated Contained Contracted Contributed
Controlled Coordinated Corresponded Counseled Created
Critiqued Cut Decreased Delegated Demonstrated
Designed Directed Developed Devised Diagnosed
Directed Dispatched Distinguished Diversified Drafted
Edited Educated Eliminated Enabled Encouraged
Engineered Enlisted Established Evaluated Examined
Executed Expanded Expedited Explained Extracted
Fabricated Facilitated Familiarized Fashioned Focused
Forecast Formulated Founded Generated Guided
Headed up Identified Illustrated Implemented Improved
Increased Indoctrinated Influenced Informed Initiated
Innovated Inspected Instituted Instructed Integrated
Interpreted Interviewed Introduced Invented Investigated
Launched Lectured Led Maintained Managed
Marketed Mediated Moderated Monitored Motivated
Negotiated Operated Organized Originated Overhauled
Oversaw Performed Persuaded Planned Prepared
Presented Prioritized Processed Produced Programmed
Projected Promoted Provided Publicized Published
Purchased Recommended Reconciled Recorded Recruited
Reduced Referred Regulated Rehabilitated Remodeled
Repaired Represented Researched Restored Restructured
Retrieved Reversed Reviewed Revitalized Saved
Scheduled Schooled Screened Set Shaped
Skilled Solidified Solved Specified Stimulated
Streamlined Strengthened Summarized Supervised Surveyed
Systemized Tabulated Taught Trained Translated
Traveled Trimmed Upgraded Validated Worked
50 Self-Descriptive Words: Provided by Raza Abbas
Active adaptable aggressive alert ambitious
Analytical attentive broad-minded conscientious consistent
constructive creative dependable determined diplomatic
Disciplined discrete economical efficient energetic
enterprising enthusiastic extroverted fair forceful
imaginative independent logical loyal mature
methodical objective optimistic perceptive personable
Pleasant positive practical productive realistic
Reliable resourceful respective self-reliant sense of humor
Sincere sophisticated systematic tactful talented

1. What is a Test plan

A Test Plan is a detailed plan for testing, covering the scope of testing, the methodology
to be used, the tasks to be performed, resources, schedules, risks, and dependencies. A
Test Plan is developed prior to the implementation of a project to provide a well defined
and understood project roadmap.

A Test Specification defines exactly what tests will be performed and what their scope
and objectives will be. A Test Specification is produced as the first step in implementing a
Test Plan, prior to the onset of manual testing and/or automated test suite development. It
provides a repeatable, comprehensive definition of a testing campaign

2. What is a Test Case

A test case is a document that describes input, action, or event and an expected
response, to determine if a feature of an application is working correctly. The process of
developing test cases can help find problems in the requirements or design of an
application, since it requires completely thinking through the operation of the application.

3. Qualities of a good tester

A good test engineer has a 'test to break' attitude, an ability to take the point of view of
the customer, a strong desire for quality, and an attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy
are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers and an ability to
communicate with both technical (developers) and non-technical (customers,
management) people are useful. Previous software development experience can be
helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process, gives
the tester an appreciation for the developers' point of view, and reduce the learning curve
in automated test tool programming. Judgement skills are needed to assess high-risk
areas of an application on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.

4. Possible Test plans/ Test cases for Yahoo Messenger

Convincing a developer about a bug
5. Have u written any test scripts in WinRunner.
6. How many types of recording modes in winrunner and what are they

1.Context Sesnitive:
Records your Operations in terms of GUI Object in your application. WinRunner
identifes each object you click (window, menu, list or button), and the type of operation
you perform (press, enable, move or select).

2. Analog:
WinRunner records the exact co-ordinates travelled by the mouse, as well as
mouse clicks and keyboard inputs.

Choose Context Sensitive mode if:

a. The Application contains GUI objects.

 b. Exact mouse movements are not required.
c. Plan to reuse the test in different versions of the application.

Choose Analog mode if:

a. The Appliction contains bitmap areas.

b. Exact mouse movements are required.

7. What are the check points in winrunner and Types of check points
Checkpoints allow you to compare the current behavior of the application being tested to
its behavior in an earlier version.
GUI Checkpoints verify information about GUI obects.
Bitmap Checkpoints take a "snapshot" of a window or area of application and compare
this to an image captured in an earlier version.
Text Checkpoints read text in GUI objects and in bitmaps and enable you to verify their
contents.
Database Checkpoints check the contents and number of rows and columns of a result
set, which is based on a query you create on your database.

8. What is TSL
When you record a test, a test script is generated in Mecury Interactive's Test
Script Language. Each TSL statement in the test script represents keboard and/or mouse
input to the application being tested.
TSL is a C-like programming language designed for creating test scripts. It
combines functions developed specifically for testing with general purpose programming
language features such as variables, control-flow statements, arrays and user defined
functions. You can enhance a recorded test script simply by typing programming
elements into the test window.

9. What is System testing and integration testing

System testing - black box type testing that is based on overall requirement
specifications; covers all combined parts of a system.

Integration testing - An integration test verifies that all the parts of an application
"Integrate" together or work as expected together. This is important because after all the units are
tested individually we need to ensure that they are tested progressively.

10. Have u done Integration testing.

11. Who will do integration testing, is it tester or developer
12. What is the BVA
13. What is the Equivalence testing
14. Have u done components testing if yes how is the process
15. What is regression testing
Regression testing is re-testing after fixes or modifications of the software or its
environment.
The selective retesting of a software system that has been modified, to ensure that any bugs
have been fixed and that no other previously working functions have failed as a result of the
modification and that newly added features have not created problems with previous versions of
the software.
 16. What is .Net frame work all about
its a framework with some standards. So that all applications which written with .net can
run virtually any machine / os/ hardware which supports .net framework. its o/s indepenedent/
language independent/ vendor independent. A dll we wrote in C# can be accessible with VB.NET

17. How do u write test cases

18. What are the testing techniques used for writing the test cases.
19. Have u done any programming.
20. If their r four modules A, B, C, D, development of each module takes 1 month time then
how do u plan integration testing.
21. Tell some 5 function names in Winrunner
Funtion Categories - Analog functions, Context-sensitive functions, customization
function and Standard Functions.

Analog functions - check_window (compares bitmap of an AUT window to an expected bitmap)

click, click_on_text, dbl_click, get_x, get_y, wait_window

Context Sensitive - obj_check_bitmap, win_check_bitmap, button_press, button_set,

button_check_info, button_check_state, db_check, db_connect, db_disconnect,
db_execute_query, db_get_field_value

22. As u said that u r leading a team of 2 members how will u motivate the team
point out their plus points, even if they fail to commit activities. Tell them how to meet
commitments in future. keep monitor them, analyse, give feedback.

23. If u need to do regression testing for n number of times, do u think doing the same work
is a boring.

24. What is difference between user requirements and functional specification

The Functional Specification is created after the Software Requirements Document. It
provides more detail on selected items originally described in the Software Requirements
Document. The Functional Specification describes the features of the software product.

25. Tell about Testing methodologies and their entry and exit criteria
26. How will you test a telephone set
27. How do you plan testing for a .Net project?
28. How did u manage testing in previous applications?
29. What is test estimation?
30. What are the possible criteria's for testing an Indian ATM machine?
31. How do you test an Remote control How long would you take to test it
32. What is Business requirement and How is different from functional specification
33. How do you do estimates for a test plan?
34. How do you prepare an effort plan
35. What is software validation matrix
36. What is traceability matrix
37. What is negative testing and what is a boundary testing?
38. What is com and how is it different from business logic?
39. What’s cyclomatic matrix?
40. what’s cmm / why (Accenture become cmm level 5 by dec 25) - what's kpa, level
41. What’s v- model?
42. inner join, outerj join, self join
43. How'll u test a coffee machine??

44. How can it be known when to stop testing?

Common factors in deciding when to stop testing are:
•Deadlines (release deadlines, testing deadlines, etc.)
•Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
•Coverage of code/functionality/requirements reaches a specified point
•Bug rate falls below a certain level.
45. What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing? (If there is only week of testing
time is given for testing team how will u come up with task of completing complete
testing.)
Considerations can include:
•Which functionality is most important to the project's intended purpose?
•Which functionality is most visible to the user?
•Which functionality has the largest safety impact?
•Which parts of the code are most complex, and thus most subject to errors?
•What do the developers think are the highest-risk aspects of the application?
46. What is parameterization in load testing?
47. What is the content of a BRS?
48. Who will prepare Design specs and functional specs?
49. When we r integrating two modules what testing we will do retesting or regression??
50. Write some test cases for integration testing.
51. Consider a page contains 10 links at the recording time and in the execution time there
are 20 links. (Take the example of a Search page) How will u handle the situation in WR?
52. If only one module is available and the second module is not ready then how will u do
functional testing of the first module?
53. There is a text box and a submit button. If you enter "sp_who" in the text box and press
enter what happens?? If an error occurs why it will occur and what makes it to go wrong.
And what type of testing u calls it as??
54. What is harness testing?
55. What is V model and explain various stages
56. Bug life cycle?
57. Explain about your recent project?
58. How do u do database check point in WR?
59. Ever written any code in WR or recorded it?
60. Explain Data driven Test. Explain the code in it.
61. The project needs Visual Tester, but u doesn't know it. Can u manage it?
62. If I give you an option of selecting Front end and Back end testing which one you will take
and why?
63. What is primary key? And what r the differences between primary and unique key?
64. What are indexes? And how many types of indexes are there?
65. There is a table with 10 columns and I want to put 10 clustered indexes on it. Is it
possible?
66. Same Question as above but with one clustered and 9 non clustered indexes. Is it
possible?
67. There are 50 columns in a table. Write a query to get first 25 columns
68. What is the difference between QA & QC
69. Discussion on BVA and other techniques
 70. Methodologies adopted for writing test cases
71. How do we test a calculator and an ATM system
72. What is a good bug?
73. Who is a good tester?
74. what is the best bug that u found out
75. Given a web application. What are the various testing scenarios and difference with client
server application? What will u test for in these scenarios?
76. What is your achievement in testing?
77. What are the different tests in system test?
78. What is load and stress testing?
79. What is ad hoc testing?
80. What is monkey testing, exploratory testing, unit testing, smoke testing?
81. What is severity and priority and how would u classify severity in bugs.
82. Discussion on BVA and equivalence partitioning

Software Testing Dictionary

The following definitions are taken from accepted and identified sources.

Acceptance Test Formal tests (often performed by a customer) to determine whether or

not a system has satisfied predetermined acceptance criteria. These tests are often used to
enable the customer (either internal or external) to determine whether or not to accept a
system.

Ad Hoc TestingTesting carried out using no recognised test case design technique. [BCS]

Alpha Testing Testing of a software product or system conducted at the developer's site
by the customer.

Assertion Testing. (NBS) A dynamic analysis technique which inserts assertions about
the relationship between program variables into the program code. The truth of the
assertions is determined as the program executes.

Automated Testing Software testing which is assisted with software technology that
does not require operator (tester) input, analysis, or evaluation.

Background testing. is the execution of normal functional testing while the SUT is
exercised by a realistic work load. This work load is being processed "in the background"
as far as the functional testing is concerned. [ Load Testing Terminology by Scott
Stirling ]
Bug: glitch, error, goof, slip, fault, blunder, boner, howler, oversight, botch, delusion,
elision. [B. Beizer, 1990], defect, issue, problem

Beta Testing. Testing conducted at one or more customer sites by the end-user of a
delivered software product or system.

Benchmarks Programs that provide performance comparison for software, hardware,

and systems.

Benchmarking is specific type of performance test with the purpose of determining

performance baselines for comparison. [Load Testing Terminology by Scott Stirling ]

Big-bang testing Integration testing where no incremental testing takes place prior to all
the system's components being combined to form the system.[BCS]

Black box testing. A testing method where the application under test is viewed as a black
box and the internal behavior of the program is completely ignored. Testing occurs based
upon the external specifications. Also known as behavioral testing, since only the external
behaviors of the program are evaluated and analyzed.

Boundary Value Analysis (BVA). BVA is different from equivalence partitioning in that
it focuses on "corner cases" or values that are usually out of range as defined by the
specification. This means that if function expects all values in range of negative 100 to
positive 1000, test inputs would include negative 101 and positive 1001. BVA attempts to
derive the value often used as a technique for stress, load or volume testing. This type of
validation is usually performed after positive functional validation has completed
(successfully) using requirements specifications and user documentation.

Breadth test. - A test suite that exercises the full scope of a system from a top-down
perspective, but does not test any aspect in detail [Dorothy Graham, 1999]

Cause Effect Graphing. (1) [NBS] Test data selection technique. The input and output
domains are partitioned into classes and analysis is performed to determine which input
classes cause which effect. A minimal set of inputs is chosen which will cover the entire
effect set. (2)A systematic method of generating test cases representing combinations of
conditions. See: testing, functional.[G. Myers]

Clean test. A test whose primary purpose is validation; that is, tests designed to
demonstrate the software`s correct working.(syn. positive test)[B. Beizer 1995]

Code Inspection. A manual [formal] testing [error detection] technique where the
programmer reads source code, statement by statement, to a group who ask questions
analyzing the program logic, analyzing the code with respect to a checklist of historically
common programming errors, and analyzing its compliance with coding standards.
Contrast with code audit, code review, code walkthrough. This technique can also be
applied to other software and configuration items. [G.Myers/NBS] Syn: Fagan Inspection

Code Walkthrough. A manual testing [error detection] technique where program [source
code] logic [structure] is traced manually [mentally] by a group with a small set of test
cases, while the state of program variables is manually monitored, to analyze the
programmer's logic and assumptions.[G.Myers/NBS] Contrast with code audit, code
inspection, code review.

Coexistence Testing.Coexistence isn’t enough. It also depends on load order, how virtual
space is mapped at the moment, hardware and software configurations, and the history of
what took place hours or days before. It’s probably an exponentially hard problem rather
than a square-law problem. [from Quality Is Not The Goal. By Boris Beizer, Ph. D.]

Compatibility bug A revision to the framework breaks a previously working feature: a

new feature is inconsistent with an old feature, or a new feature breaks an unchanged
application rebuilt with the new framework code. [R. V. Binder, 1999]

Compatibility Testing. The process of determining the ability of two or more systems to
exchange information. In a situation where the developed software replaces an already
working program, an investigation should be conducted to assess possible comparability
problems between the new software and other programs or systems.

Composability testing –testing the ability of the interface to let users do more complex
tasks by combining different sequences of simpler, easy-to-learn tasks. [Timothy Dyck,
‘Easy’ and other lies, eWEEK April 28, 2003]

Condition Coverage. A test coverage criteria requiring enough test cases such that each
condition in a decision takes on all possible outcomes at least once, and each point of
entry to a program or subroutine is invoked at least once. Contrast with branch coverage,
decision coverage, multiple condition coverage, path coverage, statement
coverage.[G.Myers]

Conformance directed testing. Testing that seeks to establish conformance to

requirements or specification. [R. V. Binder, 1999]

CRUD Testing. Build CRUD matrix and test all object creation, reads, updates, and
deletion. [William E. Lewis, 2000]

Data-Driven testing An automation approach in which the navigation and functionality

of the test script is directed through external data; this approach separates test and control
data from the test script. [Daniel J. Mosley, 2002]

Data flow testing Testing in which test cases are designed based on variable usage within
the code.[BCS]
Database testing. Check the integrity of database field values. [William E. Lewis, 2000]

Defect The difference between the functional specification (including user

documentation) and actual program text (source code and data). Often reported as
problem and stored in defect-tracking and problem-management system

Defect Also called a fault or a bug, a defect is an incorrect part of code that is caused by
an error. An error of commission causes a defect of wrong or extra code. An error of
omission results in a defect of missing code. A defect may cause one or more
failures.[Robert M. Poston, 1996.]

Depth test. A test case, that exercises some part of a system to a significant level of
detail. [Dorothy Graham, 1999]

Decision Coverage. A test coverage criteria requiring enough test cases such that each
decision has a true and false result at least once, and that each statement is executed at
least once. Syn: branch coverage. Contrast with condition coverage, multiple condition
coverage, path coverage, statement coverage.[G.Myers]

Dirty testing Negative testing. [Beizer]

Dynamic testing. Testing, based on specific test cases, by execution of the test object or
running programs [Tim Koomen, 1999]

End-to-End testing. Similar to system testing; the 'macro' end of the test scale; involves
testing of a complete application environment in a situation that mimics real-world use,
such as interacting with a database, using network communications, or interacting with
other hardware, applications, or systems if appropriate.

Equivalence Partitioning: An approach where classes of inputs are categorized for

product or function validation. This usually does not include combinations of input, but
rather a single state value based by class. For example, with a given function there may
be several classes of input that may be used for positive testing. If function expects an
integer and receives an integer as input, this would be considered as positive test
assertion. On the other hand, if a character or any other input class other than integer is
provided, this would be considered a negative test assertion or condition.

Error: An error is a mistake of commission or omission that a person makes. An error

causes a defect. In software development one error may cause one or more defects in
requirements, designs, programs, or tests.[Robert M. Poston, 1996.]

Errors: The amount by which a result is incorrect. Mistakes are usually a result of a
human action. Human mistakes (errors) often result in faults contained in the source
code, specification, documentation, or other product deliverable. Once a fault is
encountered, the end result will be a program failure. The failure usually has some
margin of error, either high, medium, or low.

Error Guessing: Another common approach to black-box validation. Black-box testing

is when everything else other than the source code may be used for testing. This is the
most common approach to testing. Error guessing is when random inputs or conditions
are used for testing. Random in this case includes a value either produced by a
computerized random number generator, or an ad hoc value or test conditions provided
by engineer.

Error guessing. A test case design technique where the experience of the tester is used to
postulate what faults exist, and to design tests specially to expose them [from BS7925-1]

Error seeding. The purposeful introduction of faults into a program to test effectiveness
of a test suite or other quality assurance program. [R. V. Binder, 1999]

Exception Testing. Identify error messages and exception handling processes an

conditions that trigger them. [William E. Lewis, 2000]

Exhaustive Testing.(NBS) Executing the program with all possible combinations of

values for program variables. Feasible only for small, simple programs.

Exploratory Testing: An interactive process of concurrent product exploration, test

design, and test execution. The heart of exploratory testing can be stated simply: The
outcome of this test influences the design of the next test. [James Bach]

Failure: A failure is a deviation from expectations exhibited by software and observed as

a set of symptoms by a tester or user. A failure is caused by one or more defects. The
Causal Trail. A person makes an error that causes a defect that causes a failure.[Robert M.
Poston, 1996]

Follow-up testing, we vary a test that yielded a less-thanspectacular failure. We vary the
operation, data, or environment, asking whether the underlying fault in the code can yield
a more serious failure or a failure under a broader range of circumstances.[Measuring the
Effectiveness of Software Testers,Cem Kaner, STAR East 2003]

Formal Testing. (IEEE) Testing conducted in accordance with test plans and procedures
that have been reviewed and approved by a customer, user, or designated level of
management. Antonym: informal testing.

Free Form Testing. Ad hoc or brainstorming using intuition to define test cases.
[William E. Lewis, 2000]
Functional Decomposition Approach. An automation method in which the test cases are
reduced to fundamental tasks, navigation, functional tests, data verification, and return
navigation; also known as Framework Driven Approach. [Daniel J. Mosley, 2002]

Functional testing Application of test data derived from the specified functional
requirements without regard to the final program structure. Also known as black-box
testing.

Gray box testing Tests involving inputs and outputs, but test design is educated by
information about the code or the program operation of a kind that would normally be out
of scope of view of the tester.[Cem Kaner]

Gray box testing Test designed based on the knowledge of algorithm, internal states,
architectures, or other high -level descriptions of the program behavior. [Doug Hoffman]

Gray box testing Examines the activity of back-end components during test case
execution. Two types of problems that can be encountered during gray-box testing are:
§Ò¨i A component encounters a failure of some kind, causing the operation to be aborted.
The user interface will typically indicate that an error has occurred.
§Ò¨i The test executes in full, but the content of the results is incorrect. Somewhere in the
system, a component processed data incorrectly, causing the error in the results.
[Elfriede Dustin. "Quality Web Systems: Performance, Security & Usability."]

High-level tests. These tests involve testing whole, complete products [Kit, 1995]

Inspection A formal evaluation technique in which software requirements, design, or

code are examined in detail by person or group other than the author to detect faults,
violations of development standards, and other problems [IEEE94]. A quality
improvement process for written material that consists of two dominant components:
product (document) improvement and process improvement (document production and
inspection).

Integration The process of combining software components or hardware components or

both into overall system.

Integration testing - testing of combined parts of an application to determine if they

function together correctly. The 'parts' can be code modules, individual applications,
client and server applications on a network, etc. This type of testing is especially relevant
to client/server and distributed systems.

Integration Testing. Testing conducted after unit and feature testing. The intent is to
expose faults in the interactions between software modules and functions. Either top-
down or bottom-up approaches can be used. A bottom-up method is preferred, since it
leads to earlier unit testing (step-level integration) This method is contrary to the big-
band approach where all source modules are combined and tested in one step. The big-
band approach to integration should be discouraged.

Interface Tests Programs that probide test facilities for external interfaces and function
calls. Simulation is often used to test external interfaces that currently may not be
available for testing or are difficult to control. For example, hardware resources such as
hard disks and memory may be difficult to control. Therefore, simulation can provide the
characteristics or behaviors for specific function.

Internationalization testing (I18N) - testing related to handling foreign text and data
within the program. This would include sorting, importing and exporting test and data,
correct handling of currency and date and time formats, string parsing, upper and lower
case handling and so forth. [Clinton De Young, 2003].

Interoperability Testing which measures the ability of your software to communicate

across the network on multiple machines from multiple vendors each of whom may have
interpreted a design specification critical to your success differently.

Inter-operability Testing. True inter-operability testing concerns testing for unforeseen

interactions with other packages with which your software has no direct connection. In
some quarters, inter-operability testing labor equals all other testing combined. This is the
kind of testing that I say shouldn’t be done because it can’t be done.[from Quality Is Not
The Goal. By Boris Beizer, Ph. D.]

Latent bug A bug that has been dormant (unobserved) in two or more releases. [R. V.
Binder, 1999]

Lateral testing. A test design technique based on lateral thinking principals, to identify
faults. [Dorothy Graham, 1999]

Load testing Testing an application under heavy loads, such as testing of a web site
under a range of loads to determine at what point the system's response time degrades or
fails.

Load §Ò¡Ìstress test. A test is design to determine how heavy a load the application can
handle.

Load-stability test. Test design to determine whether a Web application will remain
serviceable over extended time span.

Load §Ò¡Ìisolation test. The workload for this type of test is designed to contain only
the subset of test cases that caused the problem in previous testing.
Monkey Testing.(smart monkey testing) Input are generated from probability
distributions that reflect actual expected usage statistics -- e.g., from user profiles. There
are different levels of IQ in smart monkey testing. In the simplest, each input is
considered independent of the other inputs. That is, a given test requires an input vector
with five components. In low IQ testing, these would be generated independently. In high
IQ monkey testing, the correlation (e.g., the covariance) between these input distribution
is taken into account. In all branches of smart monkey testing, the input is considered as a
single event.

Maximum Simultaneous Connection testing. This is a test performed to determine the

number of connections which the firewall or Web server is capable of handling.

Mutation testing. A testing strategy where small variations to a program are inserted (a
mutant), followed by execution of an existing test suite. If the test suite detects the
mutant, the mutant is §Ò⌠ retired.§Ò¡ö If undetected, the test suite must be revised. [R.
V. Binder, 1999]

Multiple Condition Coverage. A test coverage criteria which requires enough test cases
such that all possible combinations of condition outcomes in each decision, and all points
of entry, are invoked at least once.[G.Myers] Contrast with branch coverage, condition
coverage, decision coverage, path coverage, statement coverage.

Negative test. A test whose primary purpose is falsification; that is tests designed to
break the software[B.Beizer1995]

Orthogonal array testing: Technique can be used to reduce the number of combination
and provide maximum coverage with a minimum number of TC.Pay attention to the fact
that it is an old and proven technique. The OAT was introduced for the first time by
Plackett and Burman in 1946 and was implemented by G. Taguchi, 1987

Orthogonal array testing: Mathematical technique to determine which variations of

parameters need to be tested. [William E. Lewis, 2000]

Oracle. Test Oracle: a mechanism to produce the predicted outcomes to compare with the
actual outcomes of the software under test [fromBS7925-1]

Parallel Testing Testing a new or an alternate data processing system with the same
source data that is used in another system. The other system is considered as the standard
of comparison. Syn: parallel run.[ISO]

Penetration testing The process of attacking a host from outside to ascertain remote
security vulnerabilities.
Performance Testing. Testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or
component with specific performance requirements [BS7925-1]

Performance testing can be undertaken to: 1) show that the system meets specified
performance objectives, 2) tune the system, 3) determine the factors in hardware or
software that limit the system's performance, and 4) project the system's future load-
handling capacity in order to schedule its replacements" [Software System Testing and
Quality Assurance. Beizer, 1984, p. 256]

Prior Defect History Testing. Test cases are created or rerun for every defect found in
prior tests of the system. [William E. Lewis, 2000]

Qualification Testing. (IEEE) Formal testing, usually conducted by the developer for
the consumer, to demonstrate that the software meets its specified requirements. See:
acceptance testing.

Quality. The degree to which a program possesses a desired combination of attributes

that enable it to perform its specified end use.

Quality Assurance (QA) Consists of planning, coordinating and other strategic activities
associated with measuring product quality against external requirements and
specifications (process-related activities).

Quality Control (QC) Consists of monitoring, controlling and other tactical activities
associated with the measurement of product quality goals.

Our definition of Quality: Achieving the target (not conformance to requirements as

used by many authors) & minimizing the variability of the system under test

Race condition defect. Many concurrent defects result from data-race conditions. A data-
race condition may be defined as two accesses to a shared variable, at least one of which
is a write, with no mechanism used by either to prevent simultaneous access. However,
not all race conditions are defects.

Recovery testingTesting how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or
other catastrophic problems.

Regression Testing. Testing conducted for the purpose of evaluating whether or not a
change to the system (all CM items) has introduced a new failure. Regression testing is
often accomplished through the construction, execution and analysis of product and
system tests.
Regression Testing. - testing that is performed after making a functional improvement or
repair to the program. Its purpose is to determine if the change has regressed other
aspects of the program [Glenford J.Myers, 1979]

Reengineering.The process of examining and altering an existing system to reconstitute

it in a new form. May include reverse engineering (analyzing a system and producing a
representation at a higher level of abstraction, such as design from code), restructuring
(transforming a system from one representation to another at the same level of
abstraction), recommendation (analyzing a system and producing user and support
documentation), forward engineering (using software products derived from an existing
system, together with new requirements, to produce a new system), and translation
(transforming source code from one language to another or from one version of a
language to another).

Reference testing. A way of deriving expected outcomes by manually validating a set of

actual outcomes. A less rigorous alternative to predicting expected outcomes in advance
of test execution. [Dorothy Graham, 1999]

Reliability testing. Verify the probability of failure free operation of a computer program
in a specified environment for a specified time.

Reliability of an object is defined as the probability that it will not fail under specified
conditions, over a period of time. The specified conditions are usually taken to be fixed,
while the time is taken as an independent variable. Thus reliability is often written R(t) as
a function of time t, the probability that the object will not fail within time t.

Any computer user would probably agree that most software is flawed, and the evidence
for this is that it does fail. All software flaws are designed in -- the software does not
break, rather it was always broken. But unless conditions are right to excite the flaw, it
will go unnoticed -- the software will appear to work properly. [Professor Dick Hamlet.
Ph.D.]

Range Testing. For each input identifies the range over which the system behavior
should be the same. [William E. Lewis, 2000]

Risk management.An organized process to identify what can go wrong, to quantify and
access associated risks, and to implement/control the appropriate approach for preventing
or handling each risk identified.

Robust test. A test, that compares a small amount of information, so that unexpected side
effects are less likely to affect whether the test passed or fails. [Dorothy Graham, 1999]

Sanity Testing - typically an initial testing effort to determine if a new software version
is performing well enough to accept it for a major testing effort. For example, if the new
software is often crashing systems, bogging down systems to a crawl, or destroying
databases, the software may not be in a 'sane' enough condition to warrant further testing
in its current state.

Scalability testing is a subtype of performance test where performance requirements for

response time, throughput, and/or utilization are tested as load on the SUT is increased
over time. [Load Testing Terminology by Scott Stirling ]

Sensitive test. A test, that compares a large amount of information, so that it is more
likely to defect unexpected differences between the actual and expected outcomes of the
test. [Dorothy Graham, 1999]

Smoke test describes an initial set of tests that determine if a new version of application
performs well enough for further testing.[Louise Tamres, 2002]

Specification-based test. A test, whose inputs are derived from a specification.

Spike testing. to test performance or recovery behavior when the system under test
(SUT) is stressed with a sudden and sharp increase in load should be considered a type of
load test.[ Load Testing Terminology by Scott Stirling ]

State-based testing Testing with test cases developed by modeling the system under test
as a state machine [R. V. Binder, 1999]

State Transition Testing. Technique in which the states of a system are fist identified
and then test cases are written to test the triggers to cause a transition from one condition
to another state. [William E. Lewis, 2000]

Static testing. Source code analysis. Analysis of source code to expose potential defects.

Statistical testing. A test case design technique in which a model is used of the statistical
distribution of the input to construct representative test cases. [BCS]

Stealth bug. A bug that removes information useful for its diagnosis and correction. [R.
V. Binder, 1999]

Storage test. Study how memory and space is used by the program, either in resident
memory or on disk. If there are limits of these amounts, storage tests attempt to prove that
the program will exceed them. [Cem Kaner, 1999, p55]

Stress / Load / Volume test. Tests that provide a high degree of activity, either using
boundary conditions as inputs or multiple copies of a program executing in parallel as
examples.

Structural Testing. (1)(IEEE) Testing that takes into account the internal mechanism
[structure] of a system or component. Types include branch testing, path testing,
statement testing. (2) Testing to insure each program statement is made to execute during
testing and that each program statement performs its intended function. Contrast with
functional testing. Syn: white-box testing, glass-box testing, logic driven testing.

System testing Black-box type testing that is based on overall requirements

specifications; covers all combined parts of a system.

Table testing. Test access, security, and data integrity of table entries. [William E. Lewis,
2000]

Test Bed. An environment containing the hardware, instrumentation, simulators, software

tools, and other support elements needed to conduct a test [IEEE 610].

Test Case. A set of test inputs, executions, and expected results developed for a particular
objective.

Test conditions. The set of circumstances that a test invokes. [Daniel J. Mosley, 2002]

Test Coverage The degree to which a given test or set of tests addresses all specified test
cases for a given system or component.

Test Criteria. Decision rules used to determine whether software item or software
feature passes or fails a test.

Test data. The actual (set of) values used in the test or that are necessary to execute the
test. [Daniel J. Mosley, 2002]

Test Documentation. (IEEE) Documentation describing plans for, or results of, the
testing of a system or component, Types include test case specification, test incident
report, test log, test plan, test procedure, test report.

Test Driver A software module or application used to invoke a test item and, often,
provide test inputs (data), control and monitor execution. A test driver automates the
execution of test procedures.

Test Harness A system of test drivers and other tools to support test execution (e.g.,
stubs, executable test cases, and test drivers). See: test driver.

Test Item. A software item which is the object of testing.[IEEE]

Test Log A chronological record of all relevant details about the execution of a
test.[IEEE]

Test Plan.A high-level document that defines a testing project so that it can be properly
measured and controlled. It defines the test strategy and organized elements of the test
life cycle, including resource requirements, project schedule, and test requirements
Test Procedure. A document, providing detailed instructions for the [manual] execution
of one or more test cases. [BS7925-1] Often called - a manual test script.

Test strategy. Describes the general approach and objectives of the test activities. [Daniel
J. Mosley, 2002]

Test Status. The assessment of the result of running tests on software.

Test Stub A dummy software component or object used (during development and
testing) to simulate the behaviour of a real component. The stub typically provides test
output.

Test Suites A test suite consists of multiple test cases (procedures and data) that are
combined and often managed by a test harness.

Test Tree. A physical implementation of Test Suite. [Dorothy Graham, 1999]

Testability. Attributes of software that bear on the effort needed for validating the
modified software [ISO 8402]

Testing. The execution of tests with the intent of providing that the system and
application under test does or does not perform according to the requirements
specification.

Unit Testing. Testing performed to isolate and expose faults and failures as soon as the
source code is available, regardless of the external interfaces that may be required.
Oftentimes, the detailed design and requirements documents are used as a basis to
compare how and what the unit is able to perform. White and black-box testing methods
are combined during unit testing.

Usability testing. Testing for 'user-friendliness'. Clearly this is subjective, and will
depend on the targeted end-user or customer.

Validation. The comparison between the actual characteristics of something (e.g. a

product of a software project and the expected characteristics).Validation is checking that
you have built the right system.

Verification The comparison between the actual characteristics of something (e.g. a

product of a software project) and the specified characteristics.Verification is checking
that we have built the system right.

Volume testing. Testing where the system is subjected to large volumes of data.[BS7925-
1]
Walkthrough In the most usual form of term, a walkthrough is step by step simulation of
the execution of a procedure, as when walking through code line by line, with an
imagined set of inputs. The term has been extended to the review of material that is not
procedural, such as data descriptions, reference manuals, specifications, etc.

White Box Testing (glass-box). Testing is done under a structural testing strategy and
require complete access to the object's structure¡that is, the source code.[B. Beizer, 1995
p8],

10 Unbreakable Rules for Project Success

Mark Lilly & Tim Rahschulte

Why do so few projects succeed? Despite the decades of increasingly complex attempts to
manage projects, far too many managers overlook the 10 Unbreakable Rules for Project
Success. As outlined below, these common sense guidelines hold the key to increasing your
success rate and delivering greater consistency across your project's lifecycle.

Rule No. 1: Know what you are doing.

Take a deep breath and a half step back. See where it is you wish to go and know what it is you
are trying to accomplish. See how it may be coordinated or in conflict with other project efforts
across the organization. Focus to the point you can be deliberate.

Rule No. 2: Know why you are doing it.

Just as it is important to understand what you are doing, it is equally important to understand why
you are doing it. This adds perspective and dimension that the project exists for reasons beyond
itself. Research has shown that when a project results in deliverables that are designed to meet a
thoroughly documented need, then there is a greater likelihood of project success. So managers
should insist that there is a documented business need and justification for the project before they
agree to consume organizational resources in completing it.

Typically, projects are born from one of two notions: (1) there is an external force such as a
market demand or opportunity, or (2) there is an internal force such as operational inefficiencies
or manufacturing throughput problems. Either reason requires a project focused work effort. But
from a project perspective you need to know why you are doing what you are doing. This has
impact on creating metrics, identifying stakeholders and (possibly most important) creating a
comprehensive plan for execution. Is the project necessary? Does it align with the organization's
purpose and achieve major goals and objectives for the firm? Can you see the positive change it
has on the organization and its customers? If yes, proceed.

Rule No. 3: Be prudent, honest and prepared

No organization has unlimited time and funds, so be prudent and deliberate with each project task
and action. Do not waste people's time, for it is precious and expensive and as such should be
spent on positive and productive endeavors.

There has not been a single project that has succeeded under the guidance of the dishonest and
yours will not be the first. Trust in your team. Be proactively upfront and honest.

Remember Louis Pasteur: "Chance favours only the prepared mind," so forever be prepared.
Projects are too dynamic to depend on luck and chance to guide your way. Prepare to fail.
Prepare to be surprised. Prepare for the "what-ifs" you are sure to face throughout the lifecycle of
your project. And, prepare to succeed.

Rule No. 4: Play to your strengths

This rule takes on many themes. But in short, know what you know. This is true when looking at
the organizational level and the project level work. How well do you remember your economics
from college? In 1776, Adam Smith argued that trade is a zero sum game in his great work, An
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations. Attacking mercantilist assumptions,
Smith explained differences in countries based on their abilities to efficiently produce goods,
making way for the idea of absolute advantage. This advantage is apparent when a producer of a
good is more efficient than any other, thus gaining a superior edge over competitors.

This theory still holds true today and is applicable not only from country to country as Smith
argued, but also from organization to organization. The point is, focus on your core competencies
and outsource or partner as much as possible with experts who posses a superior advantage.

Rule No. 5: Know how to navigate

You need a plan and need time to plan. You must be able to envision the final result of the
successful project, break that result down into manageable milestones or phases of work and
define the critical path to each milestone. This means breaking down the vision of the project into
understandable pieces for everyone on the team.

Some enterprises follow a predetermined methodology for all projects. Many enterprises do not. If
you do not have a project methodology, know there is no easier way to fail than by just winging it.
The next easiest way to fail is to manage every project in a different way. With this approach, you
are sure to achieve lackluster performance and retain zero project-based knowledge. Find or
create a methodology that works for your organization's business and within your culture, then
manage and refine it as you grow.

Your plan needs to break down each work effort, allocate appropriate time for full completion of
each task and assign an owner responsible for successfully accomplishing the task. Please note:
You, as a project manager, need to understand that individuals responsible for task completion
must have the knowledge, skill and tools to achieve their tasks.

Knowing the who, what and when is not confined to only the project team. What about the
stakeholders? They have roles and responsibilities too, and therefore need coordinating. Whether
they are acknowledgers, advisers, critiquers or vetoers/approvers, you have to coordinate their
efforts and make sure they understand what they need to do, why and when.

Projects are fluid, dynamic, real. Hence, unexpected events are sure to arise and deviate the
team from its original plan. These occurrences do not mean the project outcomes are destined to
be lived out only in the theories of blue skies. Rather, they are mere occurrences that must be
addressed by intelligent people who can navigate precisely through problems and issues.

Rule No. 6: Know how to communicate.

It is imperative to know how to communicate effectively, whether it is written, verbal,
visual, body language or the like. It may be better to know that assumptions run wild on
project teams, and assumptions foster perceptions, and perceptions create an errant
reality. This is what will challenge your communication skills. Since teams are comprised
of individuals--all with unique thinking capacities--you must be able to communicate to a
diverse group of folks with differing perceptions, beliefs and cares. To best communicate,
do so in detail and be colorful. That is, quantify your statements and use examples and
stories when possible. And make sure your statements are based in fact.

To keep the team informed of project work underway and forthcoming events, sponsor
regular project meetings and share regular project status reports and/or scorecards.
Remember, projects do not always remain on course. To that end, not all communication
is favorable. If bad things happen, communicate the bad and reinforce the risk/issue
mitigation plan that is in place. Do not shy away from any needed communication, but
know when to stop talking and get back to acting upon the information just shared.

Rule No. 7: Know how to succeed.

Projects are meant to succeed. They are meant to make organizations better and
customers more satisfied. The first step to satisfying all project stakeholders is to believe
you will succeed with the project, and instill that mindset into your team members.

All projects ride on three pillars of strength: people, resources and knowledge. When you
have professional personnel, enough time and money, and the right information, quality
results ensue from each project engaged. However, if you have too few or too many of
these, you will struggle (or worse).

Further, projects tied to a key organizational goals or major objective seem to have a
greater chance of success. If your project is not tied to an organizational goal, refer
to Rule No. 2 and make sure you understand why you are involved with the project.

A positive attitude is a must. Project leaders and team members must believe a project
can succeed or it never will. As well, the organization must be set up to succeed, with
every project underway addressing the goals of the firm. As each project succeeds it
reinforces the organization's goals and strengthens its chances for success.

Rule No. 8: Know how to fail.

If you want to fail, compromise one of the three pillars described in Rule No. 7. Trust me,
compromising any one of the three will do just fine.

This rule is not meant to be a way out of difficult projects. Again, projects are supposed
to succeed. But this rule is here to get you to know what to look for in a failing project
and be able to respond quickly with the mitigation plan. Projects fail for many reasons:
lack of commitment from senior management, no clear vision, deliverables are not
defined, no plan for success let alone quantified risk mitigation, decisions are made based
widely on assumptions rather than business data and fact, stakeholders are passively
involved, no understanding of a work breakdown structure and poor communication.

If your project seems to be slipping away, review this list and enact change. Get back on
course. Deploy a sense of urgency and strive to succeed! If, despite your valiant efforts,
the project is beyond repair, learn from it. Glean the invaluable knowledge of failure and
next time you can avoid these missteps on your way to success.
Rule No. 9: Know when the project is over.
At the end of each phase and at key milestones throughout the project's lifecycle, the
project is atop a fulcrum and is poised to continue or not. It is at each of these major
points that the project manager and other sponsors need to pay close attention to the
metrics and dynamics of the project. Are the goals being met? Has the environment or
reasons for the project changed? Can we still succeed? It is at these points these questions
must be answered. If all is well, the project goes on. If there are concerns, the project may
be better off coming to a brisk halt.

Do not be afraid to stop a project if the reasoning for continuing is no longer sound. It is
far better to terminate a project early than to push through to the end with a product or
output that satisfies no one and has cost the organization dearly. And, this says nothing
about what it does to the project teams' psyche. If it is not going to work, kill it. Your time
and money are better spent on some greater cause.

Rule No. 10: Know how to learn.

Your project is not a success unless you can learn and share your knowledge with others
for the organization at large to grow. Learning is constant. It is an asset to be leveraged
and a sustainable differentiator for the modern day organization. It is undoubtedly true:
Knowledge is power. The only means in which knowledge is derived is through the
process of learning. Learn to create knowledge. Leverage knowledge into power.

The success achieved from project management is more than simply enacting a
methodology standard or carrying out a set of template-driven exercises. Success, rather,
is achieved through the intelligent application of sound principles guided by experienced
project professionals. If this sounds like common business sense, it is. As measured, all
successful projects have similar attributes for us all to learn from.

These are the unbreakable rules of project management.

Home .NET FAQ C# FAQ Stuff andy@andymcm.com

.NET Framework FAQ

Andy McMullan

The .NET Framework FAQ was first posted in July 2000, and is regularly updated. It covers the
fundamentals of the .NET Framework including assemblies, garbage collection, security, interop with
COM and remoting. Newcomers to the .NET framework may wish to read the FAQ from top to bottom
as a tutorial. More experienced practitioners may prefer to consult the contents list for topics of
particular interest.
This FAQ was inspired by discussions on the DOTNET mailing list. The list has now been split into
several DOTNET-X lists - for details see http://discuss.develop.com/.

Christophe Lauer has translated the FAQ into French. Royal has translated the FAQ into Chinese.

If you like this FAQ, you might be interested in my C# FAQ for C++ Programmers.

Latest updates:
27-Jan-2005: Rewritten Should I implement Finalize on my class? Should I implement IDisposable?
25-Jan-2005: What's new in the .NET 2.0 class library?
21-Jan-2005: What size is a .NET object?
18-Jan-2005: When do I need to call GC.KeepAlive?
13-Jan-2005: What is the lapsed listener problem?
08-Jan-2005: What is the difference between an event and a delegate?
06-Jan-2005: New section on .NET 2.0

Contents

• 1. Introduction
o 1.1 What is .NET?

o 1.2 When was .NET announced?

o 1.3 What versions of .NET are there?

o 1.4 What operating systems does the .NET Framework run on?

o 1.5 What tools can I use to develop .NET applications?

o 1.6 Why did they call it .NET?

• 2. Terminology
o 2.1 What is the CLI? Is it the same as the CLR?

o 2.2 What is the CTS, and how does it relate to the CLS?

o 2.3 What is IL?

o 2.4 What is C#?

o 2.5 What does 'managed' mean in the .NET context?

o 2.6 What is reflection?

• 3. Assemblies
o 3.1 What is an assembly?

o 3.2 How can I produce an assembly?

o 3.3 What is the difference between a private assembly and a shared assembly?

o 3.4 How do assemblies find each other?

o 3.5 How does assembly versioning work?

 o 3.6 How can I develop an application that automatically updates itself from the web?

• 4. Application Domains
o 4.1 What is an application domain?

o 4.2 How does an AppDomain get created?

o 4.3 Can I write my own .NET host?

• 5. Garbage Collection
o 5.1 What is garbage collection?

o 5.2 Is it true that objects don't always get destroyed immediately when the last
reference goes away?
o 5.3 Why doesn't the .NET runtime offer deterministic destruction?

o 5.4 Is the lack of deterministic destruction in .NET a problem?

o 5.5 Should I implement Finalize on my class? Should I implement IDisposable?

o 5.6 Do I have any control over the garbage collection algorithm?

o 5.7 How can I find out what the garbage collector is doing?

o 5.8 What is the lapsed listener problem?

o 5.9 When do I need to use GC.KeepAlive?

• 6. Serialization
o 6.1 What is serialization?

o 6.2 Does the .NET Framework have in-built support for serialization?

o 6.3 I want to serialize instances of my class. Should I use XmlSerializer,

SoapFormatter or BinaryFormatter?
o 6.4 Can I customise the serialization process?

o 6.5 Why is XmlSerializer so slow?

o 6.6 Why do I get errors when I try to serialize a Hashtable?

o 6.7 XmlSerializer is throwing a generic "There was an error reflecting MyClass" error.
How do I find out what the problem is?
o 6.8 Why am I getting an InvalidOperationException when I serialize an ArrayList?

• 7. Attributes
o 7.1 What are attributes?

o 7.2 Can I create my own metadata attributes?

o 7.3 Can I create my own context attibutes?

• 8. Code Access Security

o 8.1 What is Code Access Security (CAS)?

o 8.2 How does CAS work?

 o 8.3 Who defines the CAS code groups?

o 8.4 How do I define my own code group?

o 8.5 How do I change the permission set for a code group?

o 8.6 Can I create my own permission set?

o 8.7 I'm having some trouble with CAS. How can I troubleshoot the problem?

o 8.8 I can't be bothered with CAS. Can I turn it off?

• 9. Intermediate Language (IL)

o 9.1 Can I look at the IL for an assembly?

o 9.2 Can source code be reverse-engineered from IL?

o 9.3 How can I stop my code being reverse-engineered from IL?

o 9.4 Can I write IL programs directly?

o 9.5 Can I do things in IL that I can't do in C#?

• 10. Implications for COM

o 10.1 Does .NET replace COM?

o 10.2 Is DCOM dead?

o 10.3 Is COM+ dead?

o 10.4 Can I use COM components from .NET programs?

o 10.5 Can I use .NET components from COM programs?

o 10.6 Is ATL redundant in the .NET world?

• 11. Miscellaneous
o 11.1 How does .NET remoting work?

o 11.2 How can I get at the Win32 API from a .NET program?

o 11.3 How do I write to the application configuration file at runtime?

o 11.4 What is the difference between an event and a delegate?

o 11.5 What size is a .NET object?

• 12. .NET 2.0

o 12.1 What are the new features of .NET 2.0?

o 12.2 What are the new 2.0 features useful for?

o 12.3 What's the problem with .NET generics?

o 12.4 What's new in the .NET 2.0 class library?

• 13. Class Library

o 13.1 Threads

 13.1.1 How do I spawn a thread?

 13.1.2 How do I stop a thread?

  13.1.3 How do I use the thread pool?

 13.1.4 How do I know when my thread pool work item has completed?

 13.1.5 How do I prevent concurrent access to my data?

o 13.2 Tracing

 13.2.1 Is there built-in support for tracing/logging?

 13.2.2 Can I redirect tracing to a file?

 13.2.3 Can I customise the trace output?

 13.2.4 Are there any third party logging components available?

• 14. Resources
o 14.1 Recommended books

o 14.2 Web sites

o 14.3 Blogs

1. Introduction

1.1 What is .NET?

.NET is a general-purpose software development platform, similar to Java. At its core is a virtual
machine that turns intermediate language (IL) into machine code. High-level language compilers for
C#, VB.NET and C++ are provided to turn source code into IL. C# is a new programming language,
very similar to Java. An extensive class library is included, featuring all the functionality one might
expect from a contempory development platform - windows GUI development (Windows Forms),
database access (ADO.NET), web development (ASP.NET), web services, XML etc.

See also Microsoft's definition.

1.2 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.

1.3 What versions of .NET are there?

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.

.NET 1.1 was released in April 2003 - it's mostly bug fixes for 1.0.

.NET 2.0 is expected in 2005.

1.4 What operating systems does the .NET Framework run on?

The runtime supports Windows Server 2003, 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 XP and Windows 2000/2003. 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 .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework for mobile devices, running
Windows CE or Windows Mobile.

The Mono project has a version of the .NET Framework that runs on Linux.

1.5 What tools can I use to develop .NET applications?

There are a number of tools, described here in ascending order of cost:

• The .NET Framework SDK is free and includes command-line compilers for C++, C#, and
VB.NET and various other utilities to aid development.
• ASP.NET Web Matrix is a free ASP.NET development environment from Microsoft. As well as
a GUI development environment, the download includes a simple web server that can be
used instead of IIS to host ASP.NET apps. This opens up ASP.NET development to users of
Windows XP Home Edition, which cannot run IIS.
• Microsoft Visual C# .NET Standard 2003 is a cheap (around $100) version of Visual Studio
limited to one language and also with limited wizard support. For example, there's no wizard
support for class libraries or custom UI controls. Useful for beginners to learn with, or for
savvy developers who can work around the deficiencies in the supplied wizards. As well as
C#, there are VB.NET and C++ versions.
• Microsoft Visual Studio.NET Professional 2003. If you have a license for Visual Studio 6.0,
you can get the upgrade. You can also upgrade from VS.NET 2002 for a token $30. Visual
Studio.NET includes support for all the MS languages (C#, C++, VB.NET) and has extensive
wizard support.

At the top end of the price spectrum are the Visual Studio.NET 2003 Enterprise and Enterprise
Architect editions. These offer extra features such as Visual Sourcesafe (version control), and
performance and analysis tools. Check out the Visual Studio.NET Feature Comparison at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/howtobuy/choosing.asp

1.6 Why did they call it .NET?

I don't know what they were thinking. They certainly weren't thinking of people using search tools. It's
meaningless marketing nonsense - best not to think about it.

2. Terminology

2.1 What is the CLI? Is it the same as the CLR?

The CLI (Common Language Infrastructure) is the definiton of the fundamentals of the .NET
framework - the Common Type System (CTS), metadata, the Virtual Execution Environment (VES)
and its use of intermediate language (IL), and the support of multiple programming languages via the
Common Language Specification (CLS). The CLI is documented through ECMA - see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/ecma/ for more details.

The CLR (Common Language Runtime) is Microsoft's primary implementation of the CLI. Microsoft
also have a shared source implementation known as ROTOR, for educational purposes, as well as the
.NET Compact Framework for mobile devices. Non-Microsoft CLI implementations include Mono and
DotGNU Portable.NET.

2.2 What is the CTS, and how does it relate to the CLS?

CTS = Common Type System. This is the full range of types that the .NET runtime understands. Not all
.NET languages support all the types in the CTS.

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. This interop is very fine-grained - for example a
VB.NET class can inherit from a C# class.

2.3 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 during development.
The IL is then converted to machine code at the point where the software is installed, or (more
commonly) at run-time by a Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler.

2.4 What is C#?

C# is a new language designed by Microsoft to work with the .NET framework. In their "Introduction to
C#" whitepaper, Microsoft 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++."

Substitute 'Java' for 'C#' in the quote above, and you'll see that the statement still works pretty well :-).

If you are a C++ programmer, you might like to check out my C# FAQ.

2.5 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.

Managed data: This is data that is allocated and freed by the .NET runtime's garbage collector.

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.
2.6 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 typename (regardless of whether the type name belongs to a namespace) that uniquely
indentifies 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 - more on this below.

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.

3.6 How can I develop an application that automatically updates itself from the web?

For .NET 1.x, use the Updater Application Block. For .NET 2.x, use ClickOnce.

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 applications from each other, and
so it is particularly useful in hosting scenarios such as ASP.NET. An AppDomain can be destroyed by
the host without affecting other AppDomains in the process.

Win32 processes provide isolation by having distinct memory address spaces. This is effective, but
expensive. 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.
One non-obvious use of AppDomains is for unloading types. Currently the only way to unload a .NET
type is to destroy the AppDomain it is loaded into. This is particularly useful if you create and destroy
types on-the-fly via reflection.

Microsoft have an AppDomain FAQ.

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:

using System;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;
using System.Reflection;

public class CAppDomainInfo : MarshalByRefObject

{
public string GetName() { return AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName; }
}

public class App

{
public static int Main()
{
AppDomain ad = AppDomain.CreateDomain( "Andy's new domain" );
CAppDomainInfo adInfo = (CAppDomainInfo)ad.CreateInstanceAndUnwrap(
Assembly.GetCallingAssembly().GetName().Name,
"CAppDomainInfo" );
Console.WriteLine( "Created AppDomain name = " + adInfo.GetName() );
return 0;
}
}

4.3 Can I write my own .NET host?

Yes. For an example of how to do this, take a look at the source for the dm.net moniker developed by
Jason Whittington and Don Box. There is also a code sample in the .NET SDK called CorHost.

5. Garbage Collection

5.1 What is garbage collection?

Garbage collection is a heap-management strategy where a run-time component takes responsibility

for managing the lifetime of the memory used by objects. 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.
There was an interesting thread on the DOTNET list, started by Chris Sells, about the implications of
non-deterministic destruction of objects in C#. In October 2000, Microsoft's Brian Harry posted a
lengthy analysis of the problem. Chris Sells' response to Brian's posting is here.

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 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 Should I implement Finalize on my class? Should I implement IDisposable?

This issue is a little more complex than it first appears. There are really two categories of class that
require deterministic destruction - the first category manipulate unmanaged types directly (generally
via an IntPtr representing an OS handle), whereas the second category manipulate managed types
that require deterministic destruction. An example of the first category is a class with an IntPtr member
representing an OS file handle. An example of the second category is a class with a
System.IO.FileStream member.

For the first category, it makes sense to implement IDisposable and override Finalize. This allows the
object user to 'do the right thing' by calling Dispose, but also provides a fallback of freeing the
unmanaged resource in the Finalizer, should the calling code fail in its duty. However this logic does
not apply to the second category of class, with only managed resources. In this case implementing
Finalize is pointless, as managed member objects cannot be accessed in the Finalizer. This is
because there is no guarantee about the ordering of Finalizer execution. So only the Dispose method
should be implemented. (If you think about it, it doesn't really make sense to call Dispose on member
objects from a Finalizer anyway, as the member object's Finalizer will do the required cleanup
anyway.)

For classes that need to implement IDisposable and override Finalize, see Microsoft's documented
pattern.

Note that some developers argue that implementing a Finalizer is always a bad idea, as it hides a bug
in your code (i.e. the lack of a Dispose call). A less radical approach is to implement Finalize but
include a Debug.Assert at the start, thus signalling the problem in developer builds but allowing the
cleanup to occur in release builds.

5.6 Do I have any control over the garbage collection algorithm?

A little. For example the System.GC class exposes a Collect method, which forces the garbage
collector to collect all unreferenced objects immediately.
Also there is a gcConcurrent setting that can be specified via the application configuration file. This
specifies whether or not the garbage collector performs some of its collection activities on a separate
thread. The setting only applies on multi-processor machines, and defaults to true.

5.7 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.

5.8 What is the lapsed listener problem?

The lapsed listener problem is one of the primary causes of leaks in .NET applications. It occurs when
a subscriber (or 'listener') signs up for a publisher's event, but fails to unsubscribe. The failure to
unsubscribe means that the publisher maintains a reference to the subscriber as long as the publisher
is alive. For some publishers, this may be the duration of the application.

This situation causes two problems. The obvious problem is the leakage of the subscriber object. The
other problem is the performance degredation due to the publisher sending redundant notifications to
'zombie' subscribers.

There are at least a couple of solutions to the problem. The simplest is to make sure the subscriber is
unsubscribed from the publisher, typically by adding an Unsubscribe() method to the subscriber.
Another solution, documented here by Shawn Van Ness, is to change the publisher to use weak
references in its subscriber list.

5.9 When do I need to use GC.KeepAlive?

It's very unintuitive, but the runtime can decide that an object is garbage much sooner than you expect.
More specifically, an object can become garbage while a method is executing on the object, which is
contrary to most developers' expectations. Chris Brumme explains the issue on his blog. I've taken
Chris's code and expanded it into a full app that you can play with if you want to prove to yourself that
this is a real problem:

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class Win32
{
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr CreateEvent( IntPtr lpEventAttributes,
bool bManualReset,bool bInitialState, string lpName);

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError=true)]
public static extern bool CloseHandle(IntPtr hObject);

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern bool SetEvent(IntPtr hEvent);
}

class EventUser
{
public EventUser()
{
hEvent = Win32.CreateEvent( IntPtr.Zero, false, false, null );
}

~EventUser()
{
 Win32.CloseHandle( hEvent );
Console.WriteLine("EventUser finalized");
}

public void UseEvent()

{
UseEventInStatic( this.hEvent );
}

static void UseEventInStatic( IntPtr hEvent )

{
//GC.Collect();
bool bSuccess = Win32.SetEvent( hEvent );
Console.WriteLine( "SetEvent " + (bSuccess ? "succeeded" :
"FAILED!") );
}

IntPtr hEvent;
}

class App
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
EventUser eventUser = new EventUser();
eventUser.UseEvent();
}
}

If you run this code, it'll probably work fine, and you'll get the following output:

SetEvent succeeded
EventDemo finalized

However, if you uncomment the GC.Collect() call in the UseEventInStatic() method, you'll get this
output:

EventDemo finalized
SetEvent FAILED!

(Note that you need to use a release build to reproduce this problem.)

So what's happening here? Well, at the point where UseEvent() calls UseEventInStatic(), a copy is
taken of the hEvent field, and there are no further references to the EventUser object anywhere in the
code. So as far as the runtime is concerned, the EventUser object is garbage and can be collected.
Normally of course the collection won't happen immediately, so you'll get away with it, but sooner or
later a collection will occur at the wrong time, and your app will fail.

A solution to this problem is to add a call to GC.KeepAlive(this) to the end of the UseEvent method, as
Chris explains.

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, i.e. 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
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.

6.8 Why am I getting an InvalidOperationException when I serialize an ArrayList?

XmlSerializer needs to know in advance what type of objects it will find in an ArrayList. To specify the
type, use the XmlArrayItem attibute like this:

public class Person

{
public string Name;
public int Age;
}

public class Population

{
[XmlArrayItem(typeof(Person))] public ArrayList People;
}

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. If you have
encountered Keith Brown's universal delegator you'll be familiar with this idea.

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 );
}
}

7.3 Can I create my own context attibutes?

Yes. Take a look at Peter Drayton's Tracehook.NET.

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 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
000000CFCB3291AA715FE99D40D49040336F9056D7886FED46775BC7BB5430BA4444FEF8348EBD
06
F962F39776AE4DC3B7B04A7FE6F49F25F740423EBF2C0B89698D8D08AC48D69CED0FC8F83B465E
08
07AC11EC1DCC7D054E807A43336DDE408A5393A48556123272CEEEE72F1660B71927D38561AABF
5C
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. To save
you some time, here is a sample file corresponding to the 'Everything' permission set - just edit to suit
your needs. When you have edited 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 troubleshoot the 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 CAS. 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 that 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 from IL. Lutz Roeder's
Reflector does a very good job of turning IL into C# or VB.NET.

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

You can buy an IL obfuscation tool. 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. Peter Drayton posted this simple example to the DOTNET mailing list:

.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 Does .NET replace COM?

This subject causes a lot of controversy, as you'll see if you read the mailing list archives. Take a look
at the following two threads:

http://discuss.develop.com/archives/wa.exe?A2=ind0007&L=DOTNET&D=0&P=68241
http://discuss.develop.com/archives/wa.exe?A2=ind0007&L=DOTNET&P=R60761

The bottom line is that .NET has its own mechanisms for type interaction, and they don't use COM. No
IUnknown, no IDL, no typelibs, no registry-based activation. This is mostly good, as a lot of COM was
ugly. Generally speaking, .NET allows you to package and use components in a similar way to COM,
but makes the whole thing a bit easier.

10.2 Is DCOM dead?

Pretty much, for .NET developers. The .NET Framework has a new remoting model which is not based
on DCOM. DCOM was pretty much dead anyway, once firewalls became widespread and Microsoft
got SOAP fever. Of course DCOM will still be used in interop scenarios.

10.3 Is COM+ dead?

Not immediately. The approach for .NET 1.0 was 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 were provided to make this as painless as possible. 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.

For more on this topic, search for postings by Joe Long in the archives - Joe is the MS group manager
for COM+. Start with this message:

http://discuss.develop.com/archives/wa.exe?A2=ind0007&L=DOTNET&P=R68370

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.

Here's a simple example for those familiar with ATL. First, create an ATL component which implements
the following IDL:

import "oaidl.idl";
import "ocidl.idl";

[
 object,
uuid(EA013F93-487A-4403-86EC-FD9FEE5E6206),
helpstring("ICppName Interface"),
pointer_default(unique),
oleautomation
]

interface ICppName : IUnknown

{
[helpstring("method SetName")] HRESULT SetName([in] BSTR name);
[helpstring("method GetName")] HRESULT GetName([out,retval] BSTR *pName
);
};

[
uuid(F5E4C61D-D93A-4295-A4B4-2453D4A4484D),
version(1.0),
helpstring("cppcomserver 1.0 Type Library")
]
library CPPCOMSERVERLib
{
importlib("stdole32.tlb");
importlib("stdole2.tlb");
[
uuid(600CE6D9-5ED7-4B4D-BB49-E8D5D5096F70),
helpstring("CppName Class")
]
coclass CppName
{
[default] interface ICppName;
};
};

When you've built the 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() );
}
}

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;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace AndyMc
{
[ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.AutoDual)]
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".

An alternative to the approach above it to use the dm.net moniker developed by Jason Whittington and
Don Box.
10.6 Is ATL redundant in the .NET world?

Yes. ATL will continue to be valuable for writing COM components for some time, but it has no place in
the .NET world.

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.
• 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.

If you're interested in using XML-RPC as an alternative to SOAP, take a look at Charles Cook's XML-
RPC.Net.

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 );
}
}
Pinvoke.net is a great resource for off-the-shelf P/Invoke signatures.

11.3 How do I write to the application configuration file at runtime?

You don't. See http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/2004/11/25/savingconfig.

11.4 What is the difference between an event and a delegate?

An event is just a wrapper for a multicast delegate. Adding a public event to a class is almost the same
as adding a public multicast delegate field. In both cases, subscriber objects can register for
notifications, and in both cases the publisher object can send notifications to the subscribers. However,
a public multicast delegate has the undesirable property that external objects can invoke the delegate,
something we'd normally want to restrict to the publisher. Hence events - an event adds public
methods to the containing class to add and remove receivers, but does not make the invocation
mechanism public.

See this post by Julien Couvreur for more discussion.

11.5 What size is a .NET object?

Each instance of a reference type has two fields maintained by the runtime - a method table pointer
and a sync block. These are 4 bytes each on a 32-bit system, making a total of 8 bytes per object
overhead. Obviously the instance data for the type must be added to this to get the overall size of the
object. So, for example, instances of the following class are 12 bytes each:

class MyInt
{
...
private int x;
}

Values types have no equivalent overhead.

12. .NET 2.0

12.1 What are the new features of .NET 2.0?

Generics, anonymous methods, partial classes, iterators, property visibility (separate visibility for get
and set) and static classes. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/05/C20/default.aspx
for more information about these features.

12.2 What are the new 2.0 features useful for?

Generics are useful for writing efficient type-independent code, particularly where the types might
include value types. The obvious application is container classes, and the .NET 2.0 class library
includes a suite of generic container classes in the System.Collections.Generic namespace. Here's a
simple example of a generic container class being used:

List<int> myList = new List<int>();

myList.Add( 10 );

Anonymous methods reduce the amount of code you have to write when using delegates, and are
therefore especially useful for GUI programming. Here's an example
 AppDomain.CurrentDomain.ProcessExit += delegate
{ Console.WriteLine("Process ending ..."); };

Partial classes is a useful feature for separating machine-generated code from hand-written code in
the same class, and will therefore be heavily used by development tools such as Visual Studio.

Iterators reduce the amount of code you need to write to implement IEnumerable/IEnumerator. Here's
some sample code:

static void Main()

{
RandomEnumerator re = new RandomEnumerator( 5 );
foreach( double r in re )
Console.WriteLine( r );
Console.Read();
}

class RandomEnumerator : IEnumerable<double>

{
public RandomEnumerator(int size) { m_size = size; }

public IEnumerator<double> GetEnumerator()

{
Random rand = new Random();
for( int i=0; i < m_size; i++ )
yield return rand.NextDouble();
}

int m_size = 0;
}

The use of 'yield return' is rather strange at first sight. It effectively synthethises an implementation of
IEnumerator, something we had to do manually in .NET 1.x.

12.3 What's the problem with .NET generics?

.NET generics work great for container classes. But what about other uses? Well, it turns out that .NET
generics have a major limitation - they require the type parameter to be constrained. For example, you
cannot do this:

static class Disposer<T>

{
public static void Dispose(T obj) { obj.Dispose(); }
}

The C# compiler will refuse to compile this code, as the type T has not been constrained, and
therefore only supports the methods of System.Object. Dispose is not a method on System.Object, so
the compilation fails. To fix this code, we need to add a where clause, to reassure the compiler that our
type T does indeed have a Dispose method

static class Disposer<T> where T : IDisposable

{
public static void Dispose(T obj) { obj.Dispose(); }
}

The problem is that the requirement for explicit contraints is very limiting. We can use constraints to
say that T implements a particular interface, but we can't dilute that to simply say that T implements a
particular method. Contrast this with C++ templates (for example), where no constraint at all is
required - it is assumed (and verified at compile time) that if the code invokes the Dispose() method on
a type, then the type will support the method.

In fact, after writing generic code with interface constraints, we quickly see that we haven't gained
much over non-generic interface-based programming. For example, we can easily rewrite the Disposer
class without generics:

static class Disposer

{
public static void Dispose( IDisposable obj ) { obj.Dispose(); }
}

For more on this topic, start by reading the following articles:

Bruce Eckel: http://www.mindview.net/WebLog/log-0050

Ian Griffiths: http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/2004/03/14/generics
Charles Cook: http://www.cookcomputing.com/blog/archives/000425.html
Brad Wilson: http://dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com/archives/004273.shtml

12.4 What's new in the .NET 2.0 class library?

Here is a selection of new features in the .NET 2.0 class library (beta 1):

• Generic collections in the System.Collections.Generic namespace.

• The System.Nullable<T> type. (Note that C# has special syntax for this type, e.g. int? is
equivalent to Nullable<int>)
• The GZipStream and DeflateStream classes in the System.IO.Compression namespace.
• The Semaphore class in the System.Threading namespace.
• Wrappers for DPAPI in the form of the ProtectedData and ProtectedMemory classes in the
System.Security.Cryptography namespace.
• The IPC remoting channel in the System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Ipc namespace, for
optimised intra-machine communication.

13. Class Library

13.1 Threads

13.1.1 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();

13.1.2 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.

13.1.3 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 );
}
}

13.1.4 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.

13.1.5 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();

}

Actually, it could be argued that this version of the code is superior, as the lock is totally encapsulated
within the class, and not accessible to the user of the object.

13.2 Tracing

13.2.1 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.

13.2.2 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.

13.2.3 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.

13.2.4 Are there any third party logging components available?

Log4net is a port of the established log4j Java logging component.

14. Resources

14.1 Recommended books

I recommend the following books, either because I personally like them, or because I think they are
well regarded by other .NET developers. (Note that I get a commission from Amazon if you buy a book
after following one of these links.)

• Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming - Jeffrey Richter

Much anticipated, mainly due to Richter's superb Win32 books, and most people think it
delivers. The 'applied' is a little misleading - this book is mostly about how the .NET
Framework works 'under the hood'. Examples are in C#, but there is also a separate VB
edition of the book.
• Essential .NET Volume 1, The Common Language Runtime - Don Box
A superb book, which I recommend to anyone who already has some .NET development
experience, and wants to get a deeper understanding of CLR fundamentals. It's clear that Box
has deeply researched the topics and then carefully constructed a coherent story around his
findings. It's rare to find such craft in a.NET text.
• C# and the .NET Platform, 2nd Edition - Andrew Troelsen
Regarded by many as the best all round C#/.NET book. Wide coverage including Windows
Forms, COM interop, ADO.NET, ASP.NET etc. Troelsen also has a respected VB.NET book
called Visual Basic .NET and the .NET Platform: An Advanced Guide.
• Programming Windows with C# - Charles Petzold
Another slightly misleading title - this book is solely about GUI programming - Windows Forms
and GDI+. Well written, with comprehensive coverage. My only (minor) criticism is that the
book sticks closely to the facts, without offering a great deal in the way of 'tips and tricks' for
real-world apps.
• Windows Forms Programming in C# - Chris Sells
I haven't read this myself yet, but anything Sells writes is usually worth reading.
• Developing Applications with Visual Studio.NET - Richard Grimes
Covers lots of interesting topics that other books don't, including ATL7, Managed C++,
internationalization, remoting, as well as the more run-of-the-mill CLR and C# stuff. Also a lot
of info on the Visual Studio IDE. This book is most suitable for reasonably experienced C++
programmers.
• Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET - Francesco Balena
Balena is a reknowned VB-er, and the reviews of his VB.NET book are glowing.
• .NET and COM - The Complete Interoperability Guide - Adam Nathan
Don't be put off by the size - this book is very easy to digest thanks to the superb writing style.
The bible of .NET/COM interop.
• Advanced .NET Remoting - Ingo Rammer
Widely recommended.
14.2 Web sites
• The Microsoft .NET homepage is at http://www.microsoft.com/net/. Microsoft also host
GOTDOTNET.
• Chris Sells has a great set of .NET links.
• microsoft.public.dotnet.* newsgroups
• Syncfusion Winforms FAQ.
• Ingo Rammer's .NET Remoting FAQ.
• DevX host the .NET Zone.
• http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_dotnet.html is a superb set of links to .NET resources.
• My C# FAQ for C++ Programmers.
• http://www.wintellect.com/resources/faqs/default.aspx

14.3 Blogs

The following Weblogs ('blogs') have regular .NET content:

• The .NET Guy (Brad Wilson)

• Chris Sells
• Charles Cook: Developer of XML-RPC.NET.
• Gwyn Cole: Co-author of Developing WMI solutions.
• Ian Griffiths
• Chris Brumme
• Brad Abrams
• Don Box
• John Lam
• Ingo Rammer: Author of Advanced .NET remoting.
• Drew Marsh
• Simon Fell: Developer of PocketSOAP.

This site is hosted by WebHost4Life

A

Acceleration Server 2000—See Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000.

Access modifiers—Language keywords used to specify the visibility of the methods

and member variables declared within a class. The five access modifiers in the C#
language are public, private, protected, internal, and protected internal.

Active Server Pages (ASP)—A Microsoft technology for creating server-side, Web-
based application services. ASP applications are typically written using a scripting
language, such as JScipt, VBScript, or PerlScript. ASP first appeared as part of
Internet Information Server 2.0 and was code-named Denali.

ADO (ActiveX Data Objects)—A set of COM components used to access data objects
through an OLEDB provider. ADO is commonly used to manipulate data in databases,
such as Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Oracle, and Microsoft Access.

ADO.NET (ActiveX Data Objects for .NET)—The set of .NET classes and data
providers used to manipulate databases, such as Microsoft SQL Server
2000. ADO.NET was formerly known as ADO+. ADO.NET can be used by any .NET
language.

Aero—The code name for the user experience provided by Microsoft's Longhorn
Operating System.

API (Application Program Interface)—A set of programs, code libraries, or interfaces

used by developers to interact with a hardware device, network, operating system,
software library, or application. Calls to the methods of an API are typically
synchronous, but may also be asynchronous through the use of callback methods.

Application assembly cache—See Local assembly cache.

Application base—The directory where a .NET application's assembly files are

stored. Also called the application folder or application directory.

Application Center 2000—A deployment and management package for Web sites,
Web services, and COM components. Application Center is a key B2B and B2C
component of the .NET Enterprise Server product family.

Application domain—The logical and physical boundary created around every .NET
application by the CLR. The CLR can allow multiple .NET applications to be run in a
single process by loading them into separate application domains. The CLR isolates
each application domain from all other application domains and prevents the
configuration, security, or stability of a running .NET applications from affecting other
applications. Objects can only be moved between application domains by the use of
remoting.
Application Manifest—The part of an application that provides information to
describe the components that the application uses.

Array—A collection of objects of the same type, all of which are referenced by a
single identifier and an indexer. In the .NET Framework, all arrays inherits from the
Array class that is located in the System namespace.

ASP.NET (Active Server Pages for .NET)—A set of .NET classes used to create Web-
based, client-side (Web Form) and server-side (Web Service) applications. ASP.NET
was derived from the Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) Web technology and
adapted for use in the .NET Framework. Also called managed ASP and formerly
known as ASP+.

Assembly—All of the files that comprise a .NET application, including the resource,
security management, versioning, sharing, deployment information, and the actual
MSIL code executed by the CLR. An assembly may appear as a single DLL or EXE file,
or as multiple files, and is roughly the equivalent of a COM module. See assembly
manifest, private assembly, shared assembly.

Assembly Binding Log Viewer—A .NET programming tool (Fuslogvw.exe) used to

view and manipulate the log of binding information that is updated at run-time when
an assembly is loaded by the CLR. This log viewer is primarily used to discover why
an assembly (or satellite assembly) can't be located at runtime, and to verify that
the correct assemblies are being loaded by a .NET application.

Assembly cache—A reserved area of memory used to store the assemblies of a

.NET applications running on a specific machine. See Global Assembly Cache, Local
assembly cache, Download Cache.

Assembly Cache Viewer—A .NET programming tool (Shfusion.dll) used to view,

add, remove and configure information in the Global Assembly Cache using Windows
Explorer. This viewer is used by clicking on the %WINDIR\Assembly folder in
Windows Explorer. See Global Assembly Cache Utility.

Assembly Dependency List—A .NET programming tool (ADepends.exe) used to

display all of the assemblies that a specific assembly is dependent upon.

Assembly informational version—A custom attribute that attaches version

information to an assembly in addition to the assembly's version number. The
informational version is a string that typically contains marketing information, such
as the product's name and release number (e.g., "Windows 2000 Server" or
"FantastiWidget 3.0").

Assembly Linking Utility—A .NET programming tool (al.exe) used to create an

assembly manifest from the specified MSIL modules or resource files. Also call the
Assembly Linker and Assembly Generation Utility.

Assembly manifest—A detailed description of the contents of an assembly. A

manifest contains metadata describing the name, version, types, and resources in
the assembly, and the dependencies upon other assemblies. The manifest allows an
assembly to be self-describing, easily deployed, and not bound to a particular system
by storing information in the Windows registry.

Assembly metadata—The metadata stored in assembly files.

Assembly Registration Tool—A .NET programming tool (RegAsm.exe) used to

register an assembly in the Windows registry. Registration is required if COM clients
need to call managed methods residing in a .NET assembly. This tool can also be
used to generate a registry (.reg) file containing the necessary registration
information. Registration typically only occurs once when the assembly is installed.

Assembly version number—Part of an assembly's identity, and used to indicate the

version, revision, and build of an assembly. The version is expressed in dot notation
using four, 32-bit integers in the format "<major version>.<minor version>.<build
number>.<revision>". The version number is stored in the assembly manifest and
only refers to the contents of a single assembly Two assemblies that have version
numbers which differ in any way are considered by the CLR to be completely
different assemblies. See Assembly informational version.

Attribute-based programming—A programming model that allows flexibility in the

behavior of a program not possible in traditional API call-based programming.
Custom attributes add metadata to give classes extra information that extend the
definition a types' behavior. The attribute's values are determined by programmers at
design time, and can be reconfigured at runtime by users and other programs
without the need for code changes or recompilation. See Reflection.

Attributes—Language constructs that are used by programmers to add additional

information (i.e., metadata) to code elements (e.g., assemblies, modules, members,
types, return values, and parameters) to extend their functionality. See Custom
Attributes.

Avalon—The code name for for the graphical subsystem (User Interface framework)
of Longhorn. It is worth noting that this will be a vector-based system.

B2B—Business-to-Business. The exchange of information between business entities.

B2C—Business-to-Consumer. The exchange of information between business and

consumer (i.e., customer) entities.

BackOffice Server 2000—A suite of Microsoft servers applications used for B2B and
B2C services. Included in this suite are Windows 2000 Server, Exchange Server
2000, SQL Server 2000, Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000, Host
Integration Server 2000, and Systems Management Server 2.0. These server
applications are now referred to as the .NET Enterprise Server product family.

Base class—The parent class of a derived class. Classes may be used to create
other classes. A class that is used to create (or derive) another class is called the
base class or super class. See Derived Class, Inheritance.
BizTalk Server 2000—A set of Microsoft Server applications that allow the
integration, automation, and management of different applications and data within
and between business organizations. BizTalk Server is a key B2B component of the
.NET Enterprise Server product family.

Boxing—Conversion of a value type to a reference type object (i.e. System.Object).

Value types are stored in stack memory and must be converted (i.e., boxed) to a
new object in heap memory before they can be manipulated as objects. The
methods, functions, and events of the new object are invoked to perform operations
on the value (e.g., converting an integer to a string). Boxing is implicitly performed
by the CLR at runtime. See Unboxing.

Built-in Types—See Pre-defined types.

Burton—The codename for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System.

C# (C-Sharp)—An object-oriented and type-safe programming language supported

by Microsoft for use with the .NET Framework. C# (pronounced "see-sharp") was
created specifically for building enterprise-scale applications using the .NET
Framework. It is similar in syntax to both C++ and Java and is considered by
Microsoft as the natural evolution of the C and C++ languages. C# was created by
Anders Hejlsberg (author of Turbo Pascal and architect of Delphi), Scot Wiltamuth,
and Peter Golde. C# is defined by the standard ECMA-334.

Callback Method—A method used to return the results of an asynchronous

processing call. Typically, methods are called in a synchronous fashion, where the call
does not return until the results (i.e., the output or return value) of the call are
available. An asynchronous method call returns prior to the results, and then
sometime later a callback method is called to return the actual results. The callback
method itself contains program statements that are executed in response to the
reception of the results. Also referred to as a callback function under the Win32 API.
See Event.

Casting—Conversion of a value from one type to another. Implicit casting is

performed silently by the compiler when the casting would not cause any information
to be lost (e.g., converting a 16-bit integer to a 32-bit integer value). Explicit casting
is coded by the programmer using the particular language's cast operator. This is
necessary when the use of a value would cause a possible loss of data (e.g.,
converting a 32-bit integer to a 16-bit integer value).

Catching—To trap a program exception. See try/catch block.

Class—In .NET languages, classes are templates used for defining new types.
Classes describe both the properties and behaviors of objects. Properties contain the
data that are exposed by the class. Behaviors are the functionality of the object, and
are defined by the public methods (also called member functions) and events of the
class. Collectively, the public properties and methods of a class are known as the
object interface. Classes themselves are not objects, but instead they are used to
instantiate (i.e., create) objects in memory. See structure.

Class members—The elements of a class which define it behaviors and properties.

Class members include events, member variables, methods, constructors, and
properties. Also called type members.

ClickOnce—A deployment technology introduced with the release of Whidbey that

allows client program to be used and installed as seamless as Web applications. This
includes the ability to download files to be installed, versioning, side-by-side
installation, and more.

Client—Any application that requests information or services from a server. See

Client/Server architecture.

Client-side—An operation or event that occurs on a client system. Examples include

client-side scripting, client-side validation, and client-side events. See Server-side.

Client/Server architecture—An application architecture in which the server

dispenses (or serves) information that is requested by one or more client
applications. In the 2-tier client/server model, the client contain the user interface
and business logic, and the server contains the database engine and information
storage. In the 3-tier model, the business logic is located on a middle-tier server to
reduce the processing load on the database server and to make system maintenance
easier. The number of users that can be supported by a client/server system is based
on the bandwidth and load of the network and processing power of the server. See
Distributed architecture.

CLR Debugger—A .NET programming tool (DbgClr.exe) used as a Windows-based,

source-level debugging utility for MSIL applications. See Runtime Debugger.

CLR Minidump Tool—A .NET programming tool (Mscordmp.exe) used to produce a

mini-dump image file (i.e., a core dump) of the CLR at runtime. This tool is used to
examine runtime problems by taking a snapshot of the CLR as the problems occurs.
Windows automatically invokes the CLR Minidump Tool prior to running the Dr.
Watson utility (Drwatson.exe).

Code Access Security (CAS)—The common language runtime's security model for
applications. This is the core security model for new features of the Longhorn
Operating System.

Collection—A class used to logically organize a group of identical types using a

single identifier. Examples of collection types in the .NET Framework include array,
arraylist, queue, and stack.

COM (Component Object Model)—A software architecture developed by Microsoft to

build component-based applications. COM objects are discrete components, each
with a unique identity, which expose interfaces that allow applications and other
components to access their features. COM objects are more versatile that Win32
DLLs because they are completely language independent, have built-in interprocess
communications capability, and easily fit into an Object-Oriented program design.
COM was first released in 1993 with OLE2, largely to replace the interprocess
communication mechanism Dynamic Data Exchanged (DDE) used by the initial
release of OLE. See COM+.

COM+—The "next generation" of the COM and DCOM software architectures. COM+
(pronounced "COM plus") makes it easier to design and construct distributed,
transactional, and component-based applications using a multi-tiered architecture.
COM+ also supports the use of many new services, such as Just-in-Time Activation,
object pooling, and Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) 2.0. The use of COM, DCOM,
and COM+ in application design will eventually be entirely replaced by the Microsoft
.NET Framework.

COM+ 2.0—This was one of the pre-release names for the original Microsoft .NET
Framework. See also Web Services Platform.

COM Callable Wrapper (CCW)—A metadata wrapper that allows COM components
to access managed .NET objects. The CCW is generated at runtime when a COM
client loads a .NET object. The .NET assembly must first be registered using the
Assembly Registration Tool. See Runtime Callable Wrapper (RCW).

Commerce Server 2000—Microsoft's e-commerce server application package for

developing and maintaining business Web sites. Commerce Server is a key
component to creating B2C solutions using the .NET Enterprise Server product
family.

Common Intermediate Language (CIL)—The system-independent code generated

by a .NET language compiler. CIL defines a file format for storing managed code as
both program instructions and metadata in a single file. Either the ILASM assembler
or JIT compiler is then used to convert CIL to native machine code. CIL is also
referred to as Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL).

Common Language Infrastructure (CLI)—The .NET infrastructure that allows

applications written in multiple programming languages to operate many different
environments without the need to modify the program code. The CLI consists of a file
format (PE), a common type system (CTS), an extensible metadata system, an
intermediate language (CIL), a factored base class library (FCL), and access to the
underlying operating system (Win32). The CLI is defined by the standard ECMA-335.

Common Language Runtime (CLR)—A runtime environment that manages the

execution of .NET program code, and provides services such as memory and
exception management, debugging and profiling, and security. The CLR is a major
component of the .NET Framework, and provides much of its functionality by
following the rules defined in the Common Type System. Also known as the Virtual
Execution System (VES).

Common Language Specification (CLS)—A set of common conventions used to

promote interoperability between programming languages and the .NET Framework.
The CLS specifies a subset of the Common Type System and set of conventions that
are adhered to by both programming language designers and framework class library
authors.
Common Object File Format (COFF)—See Portable Executable file.

Common Type System (CTS)—The .NET Framework specification which defines the
rules of how the Common Language Runtime defines, declares, and manages types,
regardless of the programming language. All .NET components must comply to the
CTS specification.

Content Management Server 2001—Microsoft's server package for building,

deploying, and maintaining dynamic content for both private or commercial Web
sites.

Constructor—A method that is automatically called when an object is created. The

constructor is used to initialize the object and place it in a valid state (e.g., setting
the values of member variables). The constructor method always has the same
identifier as the class in which it is defined. See Destructor.

Cool—The pre-release code name used for C#.

CSC—The .NET C# command line compiler (csc.exe).

Custom Attributes—Attributes defined by a programmer to store the instance of

any type in metadata. See Attribute-based programming, Reflection.

Data provider—A set of classes in the .NET Framework that allow access to the
information a data source. The data may be located in a file, in the Windows registry,
or any any type of database server or network resource. A .NET data provider also
allows information in a data source to be accessed as an ADO.NET DataSet.
Programmers may also author their own data providers for use with the .NET
Framework. See Managed providers.

DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model)—An extension of the Microsoft

Component Object Model (COM) that allows COM components to communicate across
network boundaries. Traditional COM components can only perform interprocess
communication across process boundaries on the same machine. DCOM uses the
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism to transparently send and receive
information between COM components (i.e., clients and servers) on the same
network. DCOM was first made available in 1995 with the initial release of Windows
NT 4.

Delegate—A mechanism used to implement event handling in .NET Framework

code. A class that needs to raise events must define one delegate per event. Types
that use the class must implement one event handler method per event that must be
processed. Delegates are often described as a managed version of a C++ function
pointer. However, delegates can reference both instance and static (also called
shared) methods, while function pointers can only reference static methods.

Deployment—The process of installing an application, service, or content on to one

or more computer systems. In .NET, deployment is performed using XCOPY or the
Windows Installer. More complex deployment applications, such as System
Management Server, can also be used. See Installer Tool.

Deployment Manifest—The part of an application that tells the system how to

install and maintain an application.

Derived class—A class that was created based on a previously existing class (i.e.,
base class). A derived class inherits all of the member variables and methods of the
base class it is derived from. Also called a derived type.

Destructor—In traditional Object Oriented Programming, a destructor is a class

method that is called when an object goes out of scope. In .NET languages, the
destructor method is instead called when the object is garbage collected by the CLR
—which happens at some indeterminate time after an object goes out of scope. In
C#, the destructor is actually a syntactic mapping to a Finalize method. See
Constructor, Dispose.

DOM (Document Object Model)—A programming interface that allows HTML pages
and XML documents to be created and modified as if they were program objects.
DOM makes the elements of these documents available to a program as data
structures, and supplies methods that may be invoked to perform common
operations upon the document's structure and data. DOM is both platform- and
language-neutral and is a standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

DISCO—An Microsoft-created XML protocol used for discovering Web Services. Much
of DISCO is now a subset in the newer, more universal protocol UDDI. It is expected
that DISCO will become obsolete in favor of UDDI.

Dispose—A class-only method used to implement an explicit way to release the

resources allocated by an object. The dispose method is actually in implementation
of the IDisposable interface, and is typically called by the destructor or Finialize
method of a class.

Distributed architecture—An application architecture in which the components of

an application may be distributed across many computers. Although the client/server
architecture is fundamentally distributed in its design, the distributed model is not
limited to only two or three tiers in its design. A distributed, n-tier architecture may
use many components running on dozens, hundreds or thousands of computers on a
network to service a single application. This concept is reflected in Sun Microsystems'
visionary phrase, "The network is the computerTM."

Download Cache—Part of the assembly cache used to store information

downloaded from a private network or the public Internet. Objects in the download
cache are effectively isolated from all other assemblies loaded into other assembly
caches. See Assembly Cache.

DSI—Microsoft's Distributed System Initiative.

DTD (Document Type Definition)—A document defining the format of the contents
present between the tags in an HTML, XML, or SGML document, and how the content
should be interpreted by the application reading the document. Applications will use
a document's DTD to properly read and display a document's contents. Changes in
the format of the document can be easily made by modifying the DTD.

ECMA (European Computer Manufactures Association)—The ECMA (known since

1994 as ECMA International) is an industry association founded in 1961 and
dedicated to the standardization of information and communication systems. The C#
and CLI specification were ratified by the ECMA on December 31, 2001 as
international standards, and assigned to them the ECMA standards designations of
ECMA-334 (C#) and ECMA-335 (CLI), and Technical Report TR-84. These standards
are available at www.ecma.ch.

Enterprise Instrumentation Framework (EIF)—A feature that expands the

program execution tracing capabilities found in the initial release of the .NET
Framework. EIF allows the use of configurable event filtering and tracing by
integrating .NET applications with the event log and tracing services built into the
Windows operating system. Warnings, errors, business events, and diagnostic
information can be monitored and reported for immediate, runtime analysis by
developers, or collected and stored for later use by technical support personnel.
Support for EIF will be included in the next release of Visual Studio.NET.

Event—A notification by a program or operating system that "something has

happened." An event may be fired (or raised) in response to the occurrence of a pre-
defined action (e.g., a window getting focus, a user clicking a button, a timer
indicating a specific interval of time has passed, or a program starting up or shutting
down). In response to an event, an event handler is called.

Event Handler—A function or method containing program statements that are

executed in response to an event. See Callback method.

Everett—The pre-release code name of Visual Studio .NET 2003. Everett offers
increased performance over Visual Studio .NET 1.0, integration with Windows Server
2003 and SQL Server 2003 (Yukon), extended support for XML Web services, MS
Office programmability (the Visual Studio Tools for Office Development), improved
migration tools for VB6 code, new managed data providers for Oracle and ODBC, and
the addition of the Enterprise Instrumentation Framework (EIF) and mobile device
support in the form of the .NET Compact Framework.

Exception—A signal that is generated when an unplanned or unexpected event

occurs. Exceptions are typically caught by an exception handler and dealt with in an
appropriate way. A fatal exception (also called a critical or catastrophic error) is an
event that cannot be properly handled to allow the application—or the operating
system—to continue running.

Exception Handling—The process of trapping an exception and performing some

sort of corrective procedure in response. See try/catch block.

Exchange Server 2000—A set of Microsoft server applications use to ingrate

messaging and data storage technologies. Exchange Server's features include instant
messaging, email, calendaring, real-time conferencing, and contact management.
Exchange Server can also store documents, Web content, and applications that are
accessible via Internet protocols, such as NNTP and HTTP.

Executable file—A file containing program instructions that are executed by an

operating system or runtime environment. See Portable Executable file.

Extensible Markup Language (XML)—See XML.

Fields—Same as member variables.

Finalize—A class-only method that is automatically called when an object is

destroyed by the garbage collector. The Finalize method is primarily used to free
up unmanaged resources allocated by the object before the object itself is removed
from memory. A Finalize method is not needed when only managed resources are
used by the object, which are automatically freed by the garbage collector. In C#,
when a destructor is defined in a class it is mapped to a Finalize method. Also
called a finalizer. See Dispose.

Finally block—A block of program statements that will be executed regardless if an

exception is thrown or not. A finally block is typically associated with a try/catch
block (although a catch block need not be present to use a finally block). This is
useful for operations that must be performed regardless if an exception was thrown
or not (e.g., closing a file, writing to a database, deallocating unmanaged memory,
etc).

Framework Class Library (FCL)—The collective name for the thousands of classes
that compose the .NET Framework. The services provided by the FCL include runtime
core functionality (basic types and collections, file and network I/O, accessing system
services, etc.), interaction with databases, consuming and producing XML, and
support for building Web-based (Web Form) and desktop-based (Windows Form)
client applications, and SOAP-based XML Web services.

Garbage Collection (GC)—The process of implicitly reclaiming unused memory by

the CLR. Stack values are collected when the stack frame they are declared within
ends (e.g., when a method returns). Heap objects are collected sometime after the
final reference to them is destroyed.

GDI (Graphics Device Interface)—A Win32 API that provides Windows applications
the ability to access graphical device drivers for displaying 2D graphics and formatted
text on both the video and printer output devices. GDI (pronounced "gee dee eye") is
found on all version of Windows. See GDI+.
GDI+ (Graphics Device Interface Plus)—The next generation graphics subsystem for
Windows. GDI+ (pronounced "gee dee eye plus") provides a set of APIs for rendering
2D graphics, images, and text, and adds new features and an improved
programming model not found in its predecessor GDI. GDI+ is found natively in
Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003 family, and as a separate installation for
Windows 2000, NT, 98, and ME. GDI+ is the currently the only drawing API used by
the .NET Framework.

Global Assembly Cache (GAC)—A reserved area of memory used to store the
assemblies of all of the .NET applications running on a specific machine. The GAC is
necessary for side-by-side execution and for the sharing of assemblies among
multiple applications. To reside in the GAC, an assembly must be public (i.e., a
shared assembly) and have a strong name. Assemblies are added and removed from
the GAC using the Global Assembly Cache Tool.

Global Assembly Cache Tool—A .NET programming tool (GACUtil.exe) used to

install, uninstall, and list the contents of the Global Assembly Cache. This tool is
similar in function to the Assembly Cache Viewer that run on Windows Explorer, but
as a separate program it can be called from batch files, makefiles, and scripts.

Globalization—The practice of designing and developing software that can be

adapted to run in multiple locales. Globalized software does not make assumptions
about human language, country, regional, or cultural information based on a single
locale. Instead, the software is written to change the locale-specific information it
uses to process data and display information to the user based on the configured
locale of the operating system, or the personal preference of the user. Also called
internationalization. See localization, satellite assembly.

Hash Code—A unique number generated to identify each module in an assembly.

The hash is used to insure that only the proper version of a module is loaded at
runtime. The hash number is based on the actual code in the module itself.

Heap—An area of memory reserved for use by the CLR for a running programming.
In .NET languages, reference types are allocated on the heap. See Stack.

Host Integration Server 2000—A set of Microsoft server applications use to

ingrate the .NET platform and applications with non-Microsoft operating systems and
hardware (e.g., Unix and AS/400), security systems (e.g., ACF/2 and RACF), data
stores (e.g., DB2), and transaction environments (e.g., CICS and IMS).

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)—A document-layout and hyperlink-

specification language. HTML is used to describe how the contents of a document
(e.g., text, images, and graphics) should be displayed on a video monitor or a
printed page. HTML also enables a document to become interactive with other
documents and resources by using hypertext links embedded into its content. HTML
is the standard content display language of the World Wide Web (WWW), and is
typically conveyed between network hosts using the HTTP protocol. See XHTML.
HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)—An Internet protocol used to transport
content and control information across the World Wide Web (WWW). Web content
typically originates from Web servers (also called HTTP servers) that run services
which support the HTTP protocol. Web clients (i.e., Web browsers) access the content
on the server using the rules of the HTTP protocol. The actual Web content is
encoded using the HTML or XHTML languages.

Identifiers—The names that programmers choose for namespaces, types, type

members, and variables. In C# and VB.NET, identifiers must begin with a letter or
underscore and cannot be the same name as a reserved keyword. Microsoft no
longer recommends the use of Hungarian Notation (e.g., strMyString, nMyInteger) or
delimiting underscores (e.g., Temp_Count) when naming identifiers. See Qualified
identifiers.

ILASM—See MSIL Assembler.

ILDASM—See MSIL Disassembler.

Indigo —The code name for the communications portion of Longhorn that is built
around Web services. This communications technology focuses on providing spanning
transports, security, messaging patterns, encoding, networking and hosting, and
more.

Interface Definition Language (IDL)—A language used to describe object

interfaces by their names, methods, parameters, events, and return types. A
compiler uses the IDL information to generate code to pass data between machines.
Microsoft's IDL, called COM IDL, is compiled using the Microsoft IDL compiler (MIDL).
MIDL generates both type libraries and proxy and stub code for marshaling
parameters between COM interfaces.

Indexer—A CLR language feature that allows array-like access to the properties of
an object using getter and setter methods and an index value. This construct is
identical to operator[] in C++. See Property.

Installer Tool—A .NET programming tool (InstallUtil.exe) used to install or uninstall

one or more assemblies by executing the installer components contained within an
assembly. During installation, all necessary files are saved to the application base
folder and the required resources are created, including the uninstallation
information.

Interface—The set of properties, methods, indexers, and events exposed by an

object that allow other objects to access its data and functionality. An object
guarantees that it will support all of the elements of its interface by way of an
interface contract.

Interface contract—The guarantee by an object that it will support all of the

elements of its interface. In C#, this contract is created by the use of the Interface
keyword, which declares a reference type that encapsulates the contract.
Intermediate Language (IL)—See MSIL.

Inheritance—The ability of a class to be created from another class. The new class,
called a derived class or subclass, is an exact copy of the base class or superclass
and may extend the functionality of the base class by both adding additional types
and methods and overriding existing ones.

Instant fields—The member variables in an object instance.

Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000—A set of applications used to

provide firewall security and Web caching services to a single Web site or to an
enterprise-scale Web farm.

Intrinsic Types—See Built-in Types.

Isolated storage—A data storage mechanism used by the CLR to insure isolation
and type safety by defining standardized ways of associating code with saved data.
Data contained in isolated storage is always identified by user and by assembly,
rather than by an address in memory, or the name and path of a file on disk. Other
forms of security credentials, such as the application domain, can also be used to
identify the isolated data.

Isolated storage tool—A .NET programming tool (Storeadm.exe) used to list and
remove all existing stores for the current user. See Isolated storage.

J# (J-Sharp). A Microsoft-supported language for .NET. J# (pronounced "jay sharp")

is Microsoft's implementation of the Java programming language. It specifically
designed to allow Java-language developers to easily transition to the .NET
Framework and to create .NET applications. Tools are also available that allow
existing Java and Microsoft J++ code to be migrated to J#. Because J# compiles to
MSIL and not Java bytecodes, J# applications are not compatible with the Java
Virtual Machine (JVM) or the Java 2 platform. However, J# applications can be
written using Visual Studio .NET and then compiled using third-party Java tools. See
Java Language Conversion Assistant.

J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition)—A Java-based, runtime platform created by Sun

Microsystems used for developing, deploying, and managing multi-tier server-centric
applications on an enterprise-wide scale. J2EE builds on the features of J2SE and
adds distributed communication, threading control, scalable architecture, and
transaction management. J2EE is a competitor to the Microsoft .NET Framework.

J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition)—A Java-based, runtime platform created by Sun

Microsystems that allows Java applications to run on embedded devices, such as
cellular telephones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). J2ME is a competitor to the
Microsoft .NET Compact Framework.

J2SE (Java 2 Standard Edition)—A Java-based, runtime platform that provides many
features for developing Web-based Java applications, including database access
(JDBC API), CORBA interface technology, and security for both local network and
Internet use. J2SE is the core Java technology platform and is a competitor to the
Microsoft .NET Framework.

Java—A computing platform and programming language released by Sun

Microsystems in 1995. A Java application has the ability to run on many different
types of computers, devices, operating systems (e.g., Windows, Macintosh, Linux
and UNIX), and application environments (e.g., Web browsers) without requiring any
changes to its code (this technology is referred to by Sun as "Write Once, Run
AnywhereTM" portability). The Java 2 platform and language is a competitor to the
Microsoft .NET Framework and the J# language. See the java.sun.comWebsite.

Java Language Conversion Assistant (JLCA)—A tool used to convert Java-

language source code into C# or J# code. JLCA aides in the migration of Java 2
applications to the Microsoft .NET Framework, and is one of the .NET Framework
Migration Tools created by ArtinSoft for Microsoft.

Java Virtual Machine (JVM)—A component of the Java runtime environment that
JIT—compiles Java bytecodes, manages memory, schedules threads, and interacts
with the host operating environment (e.g., a Web browser running the Java
program). The JVM is the Java equivalent of the .NET Framework's CLR.

JScript .NET—A Microsoft-supported language for .NET. JScript .NET (pronounced

"jay script dot net") is Microsoft's "next generation" implementation of the JavaScript
programming language. JScript .NET includes all of the features found in the JScript
language, but also provides support for true object-oriented scripting using classes
and types, and adds features, such as true compiled code, packages, cross-language
support, and access to the .NET Framework.

Just In Time (JIT)—The concept of only compiling units of code just as they are
needed at runtime. The JIT compiler in the CLR compiles MSIL instructions to native
machine code as a .NET application is executed. The compilation occurs as each
method is called; the JIT-compiled code is cached in memory and is never
recompiled more than once during the program's execution.

Keywords—Names that have been reserved for special use in a programming

language. The C# language defines about 80 keywords, such as bool, namespace,
class, static, and while. The 160 or so keywords reserved in VB.NET include
Boolean, Event, Function, Public, and WithEvents. Keywords may not be used as
identifiers in program code.

License Compiler—A .NET programming tool (lc.exe) used to produce .licenses

files that can be embedded in a CLR executable.
Lifetime—The duration from an objects existence. From the time an object is
instantiated to the time it is destroyed by the garbage collector.

Local assembly cache—The assembly cache that stores the compiled classes and
methods specific to an application. Each application directory contains a \bin
subdirectory which stores the files of the local assembly cache. Also call the
application assembly cache. See Global Assembly Cache.

Local Variable—Same as a member variable.

Locale—A collection of rules and data specific to a spoken and/or written language
and/or a geographic area. Locale information includes human languages, date and
time formats, numeric and monetary conventions, sorting rules, cultural and regional
contexts (semantics), and character classification. See Localization.

Localization—The practice of designing and developing software that will properly

used all of the conventions defined for a specific locale. See Globalization.

Lonestar—The codename for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.

Longhorn—The "next generation" release of Windows Server after Windows Server

2003.

Longhorn API—The application programming interface for the Longhorn operating

system.

Make Utility—A .NET programming tool (nmake.exe) used to interpret script files
(i.e., makefiles) that contain instructions that detail how to build applications, resolve
file dependency information, and access a source code control system. Microsoft's
nmake program has no relation to the nmake program originally created by AT&T
Bell Labs and now maintained by Lucent. Although identical in name and purpose
these two tools are not compatible. See Lucent nmake Web site.

Managed ASP—Same as ASP.NET.

Managed C++—Same as Visual C++ .NET.

Managed code—Code that is executed by the CLR. Managed code provides

information (i.e., metadata) to allow the CLR to locate methods encoded in assembly
modules, store and retrieve security information, handle exceptions, and walk the
program stack. Managed code can access both managed data and unmanaged data.

Managed data—Memory that is allocated and released by the CLR using Garbage
Collection. Managed data can only be accessed by managed code.

Managed execution—The process used by the CLR to execute managed code. Each
time a method in an object is called for the first time, its MSIL-encoded instructions
are JIT-compiled to the native code of the processor. Each subsequent time the same
method is called, the previous JIT-compiled code is executed. Compiling and
execution continued until the program terminates.

Managed Extensions for C++—Language extensions added to the C++ language

that enable developers to write code that makes use of the .NET Framework's CLR.
See as Visual C++ .NET.

Managed pointer types—An object reference that is managed by the CLR. Used to
point to unmanaged data, such as COM objects and some parameters of Win32 API
functions.

Managed pointers—A pointer that directly references the memory of a managed

object. Managed pointers may point to the field of an object or value type, an
element of an array, or the address where the next element just past the end of an
array would be stored.

Managed providers—.NET objects that provide managed access to services using a

simplified data access architecture. The functionality of a provider is accessed via one
or more object interfaces. The most common examples of managed providers are the
data providers, such as SQL Server Managed Provider (System.Data.SqlClient),
OLE DB .NET Data Provider (System.Data.Odbc), and ADO Managed
(System.Data.ADO). .NET managed providers operate completely within the bounds
of the CLR and require no interaction with COM interfaces, the Win32 API, or other
unmanaged code.

Managed resources—A resource that is part of an assembly.

Manifest—See Assembly manifest.

Marshaling—The process of preparing an object to be moved across a context,

process, or application domain boundary. See Remoting.

Members—See Class members.

Member variables—Typed memory locations used to store values. Also called fields.

Metadata—All information used by the CLR to describe and reference types and
assemblies. Metadata is independent of any programming language, and is an
interchange medium for program information between tools (e.g., compilers and
debuggers) and execution environments. See MSIL.

Method—A function defined within a class. Methods (along with events) defined the
behavior of an object.

MIDL (Microsoft Interface Definition Language) Compiler—The program used to

compile Interface Definition Language (IDL) files into type libraries.

Mobile Information Server 2002—A set of applications used for extending

Microsoft .NET applications, enterprise data, and intranet content to mobile client
devices such as cell phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). Features include
network gateway, notification routing, security (SSL, IPSec, VPN), mobile device
support (WAP, SMS) and integration with Windows 2000.

Module—A subunit of an assembly. Assemblies contain one or more modules, which

are DLLs that must be combined into assemblies to be used. The assembly manifest
(sometimes called a module manifest) describes all of the modules associated with
an assembly.

MSDE 2000 (Microsoft Data Engine)—A light weight release of the SQL Server 7.0
data engine. The MSDE is used as a relational data store on many Microsoft
products, including BizTalk Server 2000, Host Integration Server 2000, SQL Server
2000, Visual Studio.NET, and the .NET Framework. The MSDE a modern replacement
for the older Microsoft Jet database technology.

MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language)—The machine-independent language into

which .NET applications are compiled using a high-level .NET language compiler
(e.g., C# and VB.NET). The MSIL output is then used as the input of the Just-In-Time
(JIT) compiler, which compiles the MSIL instructions to machine language just prior
to its execution. MSIL can also be converted to native machine object code using the
Native Image Generator utility.

MSBuild—The build tool (MSBuild.exe) for Longhorn applications.

MSIL Assembler—A .NET programming tool (ILAsm.exe) used to create MSIL

portable executable (PE) files directly from MSIL code.

MSIL Disassembler—A .NET programming tool (ILDAsm.exe) used to translate a

portable executable (PE) file containing MSIL code to an an MSIL file that can be
used as input to MSIL Assembler.

Multi-module Assembly—A .NET program which is contained in many modules and

resource files. The use of an assembly manifest to identify all of the files in a multi-
module assembly is required.

Namespace—A logical grouping of the names (i.e., identifiers) used within a

program. A programmer defines multiple namespaces as a way to logically group
identifiers based on their use. For example, System.Drawing and System.Windows
are two namespaces containing each containing types used for for different
purposes. The name used for any identifier may only appear once in any namespace.
A namespace only contains the name of a type and not the type itself. Also called
name scope.

Native code—Machine-readable instructions that are created for a specific CPU

architecture. Native code for a specific family of CPUs is not usable by a computer
using different CPU architectures (c.f., Intel x86 and Sun UltraSPARC). Also called
object code and machine code.
Native Image Generator—A .NET programming tool (Ngen.exe) used to compile a
managed assembly to native machine code and install it in the local assembly cache.
During execution the native image will be used each time the assembly is accessed
rather than the MSIL assembly itself. If the native image is removed, the CLR reverts
to using the original MSIL assembly by default. Native images are faster to load and
execute than MSIL assemblies, which must be Just-In-Time (JIT) compiled by the
CLR. Using Ngen to create a native image file is often referred to as pre-JITting,
because it makes JIT-compiling the assembly unnecessary.

.NET Compact Framework—A port of the .NET Framework to Windows CE, allowing
embedded and mobile devices to run .NET applications. See Smart Device
Extensions.

.NET Data Provider—See Data provider.

.NET Enterprise Server product family—These products include Application

Center, BizTalk Server, Commerce Server, Content Management Server, Exchange
Server, Host Integration Server, Internet Security and Acceleration Server, SQL
Server 2000 , and Windows 2000 Server. Formerly known as BackOffice Server
2000.

.NET Framework—A programming infrastructure created by Microsoft for building,

deploying, and running applications and services that use .NET technologies, such as
desktop applications and Web services. The .NET Framework contains three major
parts: the Common Language Runtime (CLR), the Framework Class Library, and
ASP.NET. See .NET Compact Framework.

.NET Framework Class Library (FCL)—The foundation of classes, interfaces, value

types, services and providers that are used to construct .NET Framework desktop
and Web-based (i.e., ASP.NET) applications. The fundamental elements of the FCL
are defined as classes located in the System namespace. All of the most primitive
aspects of .NET are stored in System, including built-in value types, the Object type,
and support for exception handling and garbage collection. Thousands of more
classes are located in second- and third-level namespaces that include support for
network and file I/O, graphics, security, configuration management, and Web
services. All CLS-compliant compilers can use the FCL.

.NET Framework Configuration Tool—A .NET programming tool (Mscorcfg.msc)

used to adjust code access security policy at the machine, user, and enterprise
security policy levels. This tool can also be used to configure remoting services, and
add, configure, and delete assemblies in the Global Assembly Cache. See Global
Assembly Cache Utility.

.NET Services Installation Tool—A .NET programming tool (Regsvcs.exe) used to

add managed classes to Windows 2000 Component Services. This tool loads and
registers an assembly, generates, registers, and installs a type library into a specified
COM+ 1.0 application.

NGSCB—Next-Generation Secure Computing Base—A virtual vault residing within

each computer that lets users store encrypted information and only authorize certain
entities to see it. It also provides protection for critical data against virus attacks,
Trojan horses and spyware and could double as a Digital Rights Management tool to
authenticate who is allowed to see a file or use a program.

NGWS—Next Generation Web Service—This was one of the pre-release names for
.NET before its release.

Object—The instance of a class that is unique and self-describing. A class defines an

object, and an object is the functional, realization of the class. Analogously, if a class
is a cookie cutter then the cookies are the objects the cutter was used to create.

Object type—The most fundamental base type (System.Object) that all other .NET
Framework types are derived from.

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding)—A Microsoft technology that allows an

application to link or embed into itself documents created by another type of
application. Common examples include using Microsoft Word to embed an Excel
spreadsheet file into a Word document file, or emailing a Microsoft Power Point file as
an attachment (link) in Microsoft Outlook. OLE is often confused with the Component
Object Model (COM), because COM was released as part of OLE2. However, COM and
OLE are two separate technologies.

Orcas—The code name for the version of Visual Studio .NET to be released near the
time Microsoft Longhorn is released. This follows the release of Visual Studio .NET
Whidbey.

Overloading—Using a single identifier to refer to multiple methods that differ by

their parameters and/or return type.

Overriding—To supercede an instance field or virtual method in a base class with a

new definition of that field or method in the derived class.

Palladium—Former code name for Microsoft's Next-Generation Secure Computing

Base (NGSCB) project.

Pinned—A block of memory that is marked as unmovable. Blocks of memory are

normally moved at the discretion of the CLR, typically at the time of garbage
collection. Pinning is necessary for managed pointer types that will be used to work
with unmanaged code and expect the data to always reside at the same location in
memory. A common example is when a pointer is used to pass a reference to a
buffer to a Win32 API function. If the buffer were to be moved in memory, the
pointer reference would become invalid, so it must be pinned to its initial location.

Pre-JIT compiler—Another name for the Native Image Generator tool used to
convert MSIL and metadata assemblies to native machine code executables.
Private assembly—An assembly that is used only by a single application. A private
assembly will run only with the application with which it was built and deployed.
References to the private assembly will only be resolved locally to the application
directory it is installed in. See Shared assembly.

Pointer—A variable that contains the address of a location in memory. The location
is the starting point of an allocated object, such as an object or value type, or the
element of an array.

Pointer types—See Managed pointer types, Unmanaged pointer types.

Portable Executable (PE) file—The file format defining the structure that all
executable files (EXE) and Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL) must use to allow them to be
loaded and executed by Windows. PE is derived from the Microsoft Common Object
File Format (COFF). The EXE and DLL files created using the .NET Framework obey
the PE/COFF formats and also add additional header and data sections to the files
that are only used by the CLR. The specification for the PE/COFF file formats is
available at www.microsoft.com/hwdev/hardware/PECOFF.asp.

Portable Executable Verifier—A .NET programming tool (PEVerify.exe) used

to verify that a .NET compiler has created type-safe metadata and MSIL code.
Because Microsoft .NET compilers always generate type-safe code, this tool is used
primarily with third-party ILASM-based compilers to debug possible code generation
problems.

Pre-defined types—Types defined by the CLR in the System namespace. The pre-
defined values types are integer, floating point, decimal, character, and boolean
values. Pre-defined reference types are object and string references. See User-
defined types.

Primary Interop Assemblies (PIAs)—Assemblies that come with Microsoft Office

2003 that allow managed code (VB .NET, C#, etc.) to call Office code.

Property—A CLR language feature that allows the value of a single member variable
to be modified using getter and setter methods defined in a class or structure. See
Indexer.

Qualified identifiers—Two or more identifiers that are connected by a dot character

(.). Only namespace declarations use qualified identifiers (e.g.,
System.Windows.Forms).

R2—The codename for the Windows Server 2003 Update due in 2005.

Register Assembly Tool—Same as Assembly Registration Tool.

Register Services Utility—Same as .NET Services Installation Tool.

Reference types—A variable that stores a reference to data located elsewhere in
memory rather than to the actual data itself. Reference types include array, class,
delegate, and interface. See Value types, Pointer types.

Reflection—A feature that allows an application to query its own metadata.

Reflection (System.Reflection) allows an application to discover information about
itself so that it may display this information to the user, modify its own behavior by
using late-binding and dynamic invocation (i.e., binding to and calling methods at
runtime), or create new types at runtime (Reflection Emit). See Attribute-based
programming.

Remoting—A .NET technology that allows objects residing in different application

domains to communicate. Objects in different application domains are said to be
separated by a remoting boundary. Objects using remoting may be on the same
computer, or on different computers connected by a network. Remoting is the .NET
replacement for Distributed COM (DCOM). See Marshaling.

Resource—An addressable unit of data that is available for use by an application.

Resources include text strings, files, documents, vector drawings, bitmapped images,
binary data, data streams, message queues, and query result sets. In some
contexts, application services themselves, such as Web services, are referred to as
resources.

Resource File Generator Tool—A .NET programming tool (Resgen.exe) used to

convert the resource information stored in text files or XML .resx files to .resource
files that can be embedded in a runtime, binary executable, or compiled into satellite
assemblies using the Assembly Linking Utility.

Runtime Callable Wrapper (RCW)—A metadata wrapper that allows COM

components to be called from .NET applications. For OLE automation interfaces, an
RCW is a managed .NET assembly that is generated from the COM component's type
library using the Type Library Importer tool. For non-OLE automation interfaces, a
custom RCW must be written that manually maps the types exposed by the COM
interface to .NET Framework-compatible types. See COM Callable Wrapper (CCW).

Runtime Debugger—A .NET programming tool (CorDbg.exe) used as a command-

line, source-level debugging utility for MSIL programs. See CLR Debugger.

Runtime host—A runtime environment used to manage the execution of program

code. Examples include the .NET Common Language Runtime and the Java Virtual
Machine (JVM).

Satellite assembly—An assembly that contains only resources and no executable

code. Satellite assemblies are typically used by .NET application to store localized
data. Satellite assembles can be added, modified, and loaded into a .NET application
at runtime without the need to recompile the code. Satellite assemblies are created
by compiling .resource files using the Assembly Linking Utility.
Saturn—the code name for the original ASP.NET Web Matrix product.

Seamless Computing—A term indicating that a user should be able to find and use
information effortlessly. The hardware and software within a system should work in
an intuitive manner to make it seamless for the user. Seamless computing is being
realized with the improvements in hardware (voice, ink, multimedia) and software.

Secure Execution Environment (SEE)—A secure, managed-code, runtime

environment within the Microsoft Longhorn Operating System that helps to protected
against deviant applications. This is a part of Microsoft's "Trustworthy Computing"
initiative.

Serialization—The conversion of an object instance to a data stream of byte values.

Serialization is performed by the CLR and occurs when an object must be converted
to a persistent form to be stored in an information retrieval system (e.g., a
database), on media (e.g., a file on a disk), or when marshaled across a context,
application domain, process, or machine boundary.

Server—A computer program or system that provides information or services

requested by a client. See Client/Server architecture.

Server-side—An operation or event that occurs on a server system. Examples

include server-side scripting, server-side objects, and server-side processing. See
Client-side.

Service—An application that provides information and/or functionality to other

applications. Services are typically non-human-interactive applications that run on
servers and interact with applications via an interface. A service may expose a
synchronous, programmatic interface (i.e., an API), allowing it to be tightly-coupled
with a consumer, or use asynchronous, message-based communications (e.g., HTTP,
XML, and SOAP) to remain very loosely-coupled with consumers. Services are an
essential part of distributed architecture program design.

SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language)—The standard markup language

used by the publishing industry to specify the format and layout of both paper and
electronic documents. SGML is very flexible and feature-rich, and it is very difficult to
write a full-featured SGML parser. As a result, newer markup languages requiring
fewer features (e.g., HTML and XML) are subsets of SGML. SGML is defined by the
international standard ISO 8879.

Shared assembly—An assembly that can be referenced by more than one

application. Shared assemblies must be built with a strong name and are loaded into
the Global Assembly Cache. See Private assembly.

Shared name—Same as a strong name. Also called published name.

Shared name utility—A .NET programming tool (Sn.exe) used to verify assemblies
and their key information and to generate key files. This utility is also used to create
strong names for assemblies.
Side-by-Side Execution—Running multiple versions of the same assembly
simultaneously on the same computer, or even in the same process. Assemblies
must be specifically (and carefully) coded to make use of side-by-side execution.

Single-module assembly—A .NET program in which all components are combined

into a single DLL or EXE file. Such an assembly does not require an assembly
manifest.

Smart Device Extensions (SDE)—An installable SDK that allows Visual Studio .NET
1.0 to be used for developing .NET application for the Pocket PC and other handheld
devices that support the Microsoft Windows CE .NET operating system and the
Microsoft .NET Compact Framework. SDE will be fully integrated into Visual Studio
.NET 2003.

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)—A lightweight, XML-based messaging

protocol used to encode the information in Web service request and response
messages before sending them over a network. SOAP messages are independent of
any operating system or protocol, and may be transported using a variety of Internet
protocols, including SMTP, MIME, and HTTP.

SoapSuds Tool—A .NET programming tool (SoapSuds.exe) used to create XML

schemas for services in a .NET assembly, and to create an assembly from an XML
schema. This tool is used primarily to compile client applications that communicate
with XML Web services using remoting.

SQL Server 2000—Microsoft's enterprise-scale relational database and member of

the .NET Enterprise Server product family.

Stack—An area of program memory used to store local program variables, method
parameters, and return values. In .NET languages, value types are allocated on the
stack. See Heap.

Static fields—Types that declare member variables which are associated with a type
rather than an instance of the type. Static fields may be access without first
instantiating their associated type.

Starlite—A code name for the original Microsoft .NET Compact Framework

Static methods—Types that declare methods which are associated with a type
rather than an instance of the type. Static methods may be called without first
instantiating their associated type.

Strong name—An assembly name that is globally unique among all .NET
assemblies. A public key encryption scheme is used to create a digital signature to
insure that the strong name is truly different than all other names created at anytime
and anywhere in the known universe. The digital signature also makes it easy to
encrypt the assembly, authenticate who created the assembly, and to validate that
the assembly hasn't been corrupted or tampered with. Strong names are created
using the Shared name utility.
Strongly-typed—A programming language is said to be strongly-typed when it pre-
defines specific primitive data types, requires that all constants and variables be
declared of a specific type, and enforces their proper use by imposing rigorous rules
upon the programmer for the sake of creating robust code that is consistent in its
execution.

Structure—In .NET languages, structures are light-weight classes that are simpler,
have less overhead, and are less demanding on the CLR. Structures are typically
used for creating user-defined types that contain only public fields and no properties
(identical to structures in the C language). But .NET structures, like classes, also
support properties, access modifiers, constructors, methods, operators, nested
types, and indexers. Unlike classes, however, structures do not support inheritance,
custom constructors, a destructor (or Finalize) method, and no compile-time
initialization of instance fields. It is important to note that a structure is a value type,
while classes are a reference type. Performance will suffer when using structures in a
situation where references are expected (e.g., in collections) and the structure must
be boxed and unboxed for it to be used.

Stylesheets—Data files used to express how the structured content of a document

should be presented on a particular physical medium (e.g., printed pages, Web
browser, hand-held device, etc.). Details of the presentation include font style, lay
out, and pagination. Also called templates.

System Definition Model (SDM)—An XML document that follows a system

throughout its life and is kept updated as a system moves from the initial design and
development stages through its lifecycle and into maintenance. The SDM defines a
system, which includes hardware and software resources. It includes a means for the
system to compose other systems and subsystems, expose its endpoints for
communication purposes, and document its configuration requirements. When
initially created, an SDM document can be a simple, skeletal view of a system.
Additional information can be added to flesh out semantics, such as server
configuration information, security and connection policies, service level agreements,
health models, and other information. (From An Overview of Microsoft's Whitehorse.)

Talisker—The pre-release code name for Windows CE .NET (a.k.a., Windows CE

4.x).

Throwing—When an abnormal or unexpected condition occurs in a running

application, the CLR generates an exception as an alert that the condition occurred.
The exception is said to be thrown. Programmers can also programmatically force an
exception to be thrown by the use of the throw statement. See Exception Handling.

Trustbridge—A directory-enabled middleware that supports the federating of

identities across corporate boundaries.

Try/Catch block—An exception handling mechanism in program code. A try block

contains a set of program statements that may possibly throw an exception when
executed. The associated catch block contains program statements that handle any
exception that is thrown in the try block. Multiple catch blocks may be defined to
catch specific exceptions (e.g., divide by zero, overflow, etc.). See Finally block.

Type-safe—Code that accesses only the memory locations it is authorized to access,

and only in well-defined, allowable ways. Type-safe code cannot perform an
operation on an object that is invalid for that object. The C# and VB.NET language
compilers always produce type-safe code, which is verified to be type-safe during
JIT-compilation. The PEVerify tool can also be used to verify if code is type-safe.

Types—A set of data and function members that are combined to form the modular
units used to build a .NET applications. Pre-defined types exist within the CLR and
user-defined types are created by programmers. Types include enumerations,
structures, classes, standard modules, interfaces, and delegates. See Type
members.

Type library—A compiled file (.tlb) containing metadata that describes interfaces
and data types. Type libraries can be used to describe vtable interfaces, regular
functions, COM components, and DLL modules. Type libraries are compiled from
Interface Definition Language (IDL) files using the MIDL compiler.

Type Library Exporter—A .NET programming tool (TlbExp.exe) used to create a

COM type library file based on the public types defined within a specified .NET
assembly.

Type Library Importer—A .NET programming tool (TlbImp.exe) used to create a

managed .NET assembly from a COM type library by mapping the metadata-
encoded definitions to the appropriate .NET types.

Type members—Same as class members.

Typelib—A type library.

UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration)—An XML- and SOAP-based

lookup service for Web service consumers to locate Web Services and programmable
resources available on a network. Also used by Web service providers to advertise
the existence of their Web services to consumers.

Unboxing—Conversion of a reference type object (i.e. System.Object) to its value

type instance. Unboxing must be explicitly performed in code, usually in the form of
a cast operation. See Boxing.

Unmanaged—An adjective generally applied to any code or data that is outside of

the control of a runtime host environment. In .NET, any objects or resources not
allocated and controlled by the CLR are considered unmanaged (e.g., Windows
handles and calls to the Win32 API).
Unmanaged code—Any code that executes outside of the control of the .NET
Common Language Runtime. Unmanaged code may perform unsafe operations, such
as declare and operate on pointers, take the address of a variable, and perform
conversions between pointers and integral types. Uses of unmanaged code include
calling operating system APIs, interfacing to COM components, accessing unmanaged
areas of memory, and writing performance-critical routines that are not encumbered
by the overhead of the CLR. Also called unsafe code.

Unmanaged data—Data (i.e. memory) that is allocated outside of the control of the
CLR. Unmanaged data can be access by both managed and unmanaged code.

Unmanaged pointer types—Any pointer type that is not managed by the CLR. That
is, a pointer that store a reference to an unmanaged object or area of memory.

Unmanaged resources—Objects created and manipulated outside of the control of

the CLR. Examples includes file handles opened using the Win32 API, and database
connections obtained using ODBC.

Unsafe—Same as unmanaged.

User-defined types—Reference (object) types defined in code by a programmer.

See Pre-defined types.

Value types—A variable that stores actual data rather than a reference to data,
which is stored elsewhere in memory. Simple value types include the integer, floating
point number, decimal, character, and boolean types. Value types have the minimal
memory overhead and are the fastest to access. See Reference types, Pointer types.

Variable—A typed storage location in memory. The type of the variable determines
what kind of data it can store. Examples of variables include local variables,
parameters, array elements, static fields and instance fields. See Types.

Version number—See Assembly version number.

Vienna—Code name for the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 (LCS
2005) beta.

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET)—A Microsoft-supported language for the .NET

Framework. VB.NET is the "next generation" release of the very popular Visual Basic
programming language (a.k.a., VB7).

Visual C++ .NET—A Microsoft-supported language for .NET Framework. Visual C++
.NET allows developers to use the C++ language to write managed applications, and
to easily migrate legacy C++ code to the .NET Framework. Code written in Visual
C++ .NET is also referred to as managed C++; code written in the legacy Visual
C++ language is sometimes referred to as unmanaged C++.
Visual Studio .NET (VS .NET)—A full-featured, Interactive Development
Environment (IDE) created by Microsoft for the development of .NET applications. VS
.NET makes a better alternative to Visual Notepad for creating .NET applications.
Officially called Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002.

Visual Studio .NET 2003 (VS .NET)—The second version of Visual Studio .NET that
was also known by the code name Everett.

Visual Studio 2005(VS .NET)—The third version of Visual Studio .NET that was also
known by the code name Whidbey. This version is due to release in 2005.

Visual Studio Team System 2005 (VS .NET)—A high-end skew for Visual Studio
2005. This version includes enterprise-level tools and more. Codename for this
product was known as "Burton".

Web Form—A .NET Framework object that allows development of Web-based

applications and Web sites. See Windows form.

The Web Matrix Project—A free WSIWIG development product (IDE)for doing
ASP.NET development that was released as a community project. The most recent
version—The Web Matrix Project (Revisited)—can be found here.

Web service—An application hosted on a Web server that provides information and
services to other network applications using the HTTP and XML protocols. A Web
service is conceptually an URL-addressable library of functionality that is completely
independent of the consumer and stateless in its operation.

Web service consumer—An application that uses Internet protocols to access the
information and functionality made available by a Web service provider. See Web
service.

Web Service Protocols—Open communication standards that are key technologies

in the .NET Web Services architecture. These protocols include WSDL, HTTP, XML,
SOAP, and UDDI.

Web Service Platform—This was one of the pre-release names for the original
Microsoft .NET Framework. See also COM+ 2.0.

Web service provider—A network application that uses Internet protocols to

advertise and provide services to Web service consumers. See Web service.

Web Services Description Language (WSDL)—An XML-based contract language

for describing the network services offered by a Web service provider via UDDI.
WSDL describes a Web service to Web service consumers by its public methods, data
types of all parameters, return value, and bindings. WSDL will eventually replace
Microsoft's earlier Web Services discovery protocol, DISCO. See the document Web
Services Description Language (WSDL) 1.1.
Web Services Description Language Tool—A .NET programming tool (Wsdl.exe)
used to create service descriptions and generate proxies for ASP.NET Web service
methods.

Web Services Discovery Tool—A .NET programming tool (Disco.exe) used to

locate the URLs of XML Web services located on a Web server, and save the
information related to the resources of each XML Web service to a set of files. These
files can be used as input to the Web Services Description Language Tool to create
XML Web service clients. See DISCO.

Whidbey—The pre-release code name for the "next generation" release of Visual
Studio after Everett and prior to Longhorn.

Whistler—The pre-release code name used for Windows XP.

Whitehorse—The code name for the set of modeling tools included in Micrsoft Visual
Studio 2005 ("Whidbey"). See An Overview of Microsoft's Whitehorse.

Windows 2000 Server—The central server operating system of the Microsoft

BackOffice Server 2000 product family. Windows 2000 Sever (also known as
Windows NT 5) is the successor of Windows NT Server 4.0 and will be replaced by
Windows Server 2003.

Windows Forms Class Viewer—A .NET programming tool (WinCV.exe) used to

search for and display the namespace and class information within an assembly.

Windows Forms Resource Editor—A .NET programming tool (Winres.exe) used to

help a programmer modify localization information in a Windows Form.

Windows Form—A .NET Framework object that allows the development of

"traditional" Windows desktop applications. Also called WinForms. See Web Form.

Windows Installer—The software installation and configuration service for Windows

2000 and Windows XP. Most .NET applications can be successfully deployed using
XCOPY. However, if a deployment requires complex tasks, such as changes in system
configuration, creation of user, groups, or folders, etc., Windows Installer must be
used. Windows Installer 2.0 is required for use by the .NET Framework; it is also
available for Windows 9x and Windows NT.

Windows .NET Server 2003—The original name of Windows Server 2003. The
".NET" was dropped as part of an attempt to remarket the concept of .NET not as a
product, but instead as a business strategy.

Windows Server 2003—The next generation of Windows 2000 Server that offers
tighter integration with the .NET Framework, and greater support for Web services
using Internet Information Server 6.0 and XML and UDDI services. This product was
formerly known as Windows .NET Server 2003.

WinFS—("Windows Future System") The code name for the new type-aware,
transactional, unified file system and programming model that will be a key part of
Longhorn. WinFS allows various kinds of data and information stored on your
machine to be associated and categorized. You can associate relationships between
information and these associations can be used to access what is stored on your
machine.

WinFX—The new Windows API that will be released with the Microsoft Longhorn
Operating System. This will include features for Avalon, Indigo, and WinFS as well as
a number of fundamental routines.

WPO—Whole Program Optimization—This is an optimization that can be done by the

C++ compiler. All object modules are viewed at once before generating code, which
allows for additional optimizations to be performed.

XAML—(Extensible Application Markup Language) The declarative markup language

for Longhorn that allows an interface to be defined. Longhorn applications can be
created by using XAML for the interface definition and managed procedure code for
other logic.

XCOPY—An MS-DOS file copy program used to deploy .NET applications. Because
.NET assemblies are self-describing and not bound to the Windows registry as COM-
based application are, most .NET applications can be installed by simply being copied
from one location (e.g., directory, machine, CD-ROM, etc.) to another. Applications
requiring more complex tasks to be performed during installation require the use of
the Microsoft Windows Installer.

XDR (XML Data-Reduced)—A reduced version of XML Schema used prior to the
release of XML Schema 1.0.

XDA—A consolidated development environment that allows programs to be created

for Windows, XBoxes, and more.

XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language)—The next generation of HTML.

HTML was originally designed to display data; XML was specifically designed to
describe data. XHTML is a combination of all the elements in HTML 4.01 with the the
syntax of XML. Although nearly identical to HTML, XHTML has much stricter rules and
is cleaner in its syntax, thus resulting in well-formed Web pages that are more
portable across a wide range of Web browsers.

Xlink (XML Linking Language)—A language that allows links to other resources to
be embedded in XML documents, similar to the hyperlinks found in HTML Web
pages. See the document XML Linking Language (XLink) Version 1.0.

XML (eXtensible Markup Language)—A meta-markup language that provides a

format for describing almost any type of structured data. XML is a subset of SGML
and has become the standard language for storing, viewing, and manipulation Web-
based data. XML allows the creation of custom tags to describe both proprietary data
and business logic. See the document Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0
(Second Edition).
XML Schema—A description of the structure of an XML document. Schemas are
written in XSD and support namespaces and data types.

XML Schema Definition Tool— A .NET programming tool (Xsd.exe) used to

generate XML schemas (XSD files) from XDR and XML files, or from class information
in an assembly. This tool can also generate runtime classes, or DataSet classes, from
an XSD schema file.

XML Web services—Web-based .NET applications that provide services (i.e., data
and functionality) to other Web-based applications (i.e. Web service consumers).
XML Web services are accessed via standard Web protocols and data formats such as
HTTP, XML, and SOAP.

XPath (XML Path Language)—A language that uses path expressions to specify the
locations of structures and data within an XML document. XPath information is
processed using XSLT or XPointer. See the document XML Path Language (XPath)
Version 1.0.

XPointer (XML Pointer Language)—A language that supports addressing into the
internal structures of XML documents. XPointer allows the traversals of an XML
document tree and selection of its internal parts based on element types, attribute
values, character content, and relative position. XPointer is based on the XML Path
Language (XPath). See the document XML Pointer Language (XPointer).

XSD (XML Schema Definition)—A language used to describe the structure of an XML
document. XSD is used to defined classes that are in turn used to create instances of
XML documents which conform to the schema. See the document XML Schema Part
0: Primer.

XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language)—A language used for creating stylesheets for
XML documents. XSL consists of languages for transforming XML documents (XPath
and XSLT) and an XML vocabulary for specifying formatting semantics. See the
document Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) Version 1.0.

XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation)—A language for

transforming XML documents into other XML documents based of a set of well-
defined rules. XSLT is designed for use as part of XSL. See the document XSL
Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0.

XQL (XML Query Language)—A query language used to extract data from XML
documents. XQL uses XML as a data model and is very similar to the pattern
matching semantics of XSL. See the document XML Query Language (XQL).

Yukon—The code name for the release of Microsoft SQL Server 2003 (a.k.a., SQL Server 9).
Yukon offers a tighter integration with both the .NET Framework and the Visual Studio .NET IDE.
Yukon will include full support for ADO.NET and the CLR, allowing .NET languages to
be used for writing stored procedures.
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