IT Interview Materials

WCF related Interview Questions

2009-05-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

WCF provides a runtime environment for services, enabling you to expose CLR types as services, and to consume other services as CLR types. WCF is part of .NET 3.0 and requires .NET 2.0, so it can only run on systems that support it.

Go here for more WCF related questions.

1.) What is Proxy and how to generate proxy for WCF Services?

The proxy is a CLR class that exposes a single CLR interface representing the service contract. The proxy provides the same operations as service's contract, but also has additional methods for managing the proxy life cycle and the connection to the service. The proxy completely encapsulates every aspect of the service: its location, its implementation technology and runtime platform, and the communication transport.

The proxy can be generated using Visual Studio by right clicking Reference and clicking on Add Service Reference. This brings up the Add Service Reference dialog box, where you need to supply the base address of the service (or a base address and a MEX URI) and the namespace to contain the proxy.

Proxy can also be generated by using SvcUtil.exe command-line utility. We need to provide SvcUtil with the HTTP-GET address or the metadata exchange endpoint address and, optionally, with a proxy filename. The default proxy filename is output.cs but you can also use the /out switch to indicate a different name.

SvcUtil http://localhost/MyService/MyService.svc /out:Proxy.cs

When we are hosting in IIS and selecting a port other than port 80 (such as port 88), we must provide that port number as part of the base address:

SvcUtil http://localhost:88/MyService/MyService.svc /out:Proxy.cs

2.) What attachments protocol will be used in Windows Communication Foundation?

SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM) will be the attachment technology supported in Windows Communication Foundation.

3.) Does Windows Communication Foundation support both synchronous and asynchronous messaging?

Yes. Windows Communication Foundation supports multiple message patterns, including one-way, request/response, two-way (duplex), and queued.

4.) What specifications will Windows Communication Foundation support?

Windows Communication Foundation will support a broad range of Web services standards, including basic standards (XML, XSD, XPath, SOAP, WSDL) and advanced standards and specifications that comprise the WS-* architecture. These include WS-Addressing, WS-Policy, WS-Security, WS-Trust, WS-SecureConversation, WS-ReliableMessaging, WS-AtomicTransaction, WS-Coordination, WS-Policy, and MTOM.

5.) How are Windows Communication Foundation services hosted?

A class implementing a Windows Communication Foundation service is typically compiled into a library. By definition, all libraries need a host application domain and Windows process to run in. Windows Communication Foundation provides two options for hosting libraries that implement services. One is to use a host application domain and process provided by the Windows Activation Service (WAS), while the other allows a service to be hosted in any application domain running in an arbitrary process (such as a Windows Forms application, a console application, an NT Service, etc).

Silverlight Interview Materials

2009-05-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.

Go here for more Silverlight related interview questions

1.) What features are missing from Silverlight presentation markup that will be supported in WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)?

Some high-end Windows specific features of WPF, such as real 3D, hardware-based video acceleration, and full document support, will not be supported in Silverlight. This is by design in order to serve Silverlight’s cross-browser, cross-platform reach scenario that demands a light weight plug-in. That being said, Silverlight will offer a uniform runtime that can render identical experiences across browsers on both Mac OS and Windows.

2.) Will Silverlight-based applications and content run on any Web Server? What are the benefits to running it on servers running Windows?

Silverlight works with any web server just like HTML. Video and audio content can also be progressively downloaded and played back from any Web server platform. Benefits of Windows server-based distribution of Silverlight applications include Windows Media Services with Fast Stream (instant playback) and Fast reconnect technologies, lower distribution costs (streaming users only download what they watch), and tap into the full Windows server ecosystem of platform components and partner solutions. Those benefits will be enhanced in the future version of Windows Server (code name “Longhorn”) and with Internet Information Server 7 (IIS).

3.) Is Silverlight supported on various locales?

Silverlight installs on localized versions of Macintosh computers and Windows. At this time, the installation is available in an international English format. Final releases will render international text (using double-byte characters) and support the full 64K Unicode character set. Silverlight uses simple input mechanism that treats all the languages in the same way.

4.) What are the different ways to display text with Silverlight?

Silverlight supports displaying static preformatted text that is comprised out of glyph elements and also dynamic text that uses TextBlock. With glyphs, one needs to position the characters individually while TextBlock supports simple layout.

5.) What kinds of fonts are supported with Silverlight?

Beyond standard and western fonts, Silverlight also supports East Asian characters, double-byte characters, and can work with any East Asian font or Middle Eastern font by using the glyphs element and a supporting TrueType font file that supports the requested glyph.

6.) What is Microsoft® Silverlight^TM Streaming by Windows Live^TM?

Microsoft® Silverlight^TM Streaming by Windows Live^TM offers a free cloud-based hosting and streaming solution for quickly delivering high-quality, high-scale, cross-platform, cross-browser, media-enabled RIAs.

7.) How much does Silverlight^TM Streaming cost?

While the product is in Beta, hosting is free of charge. Up to 4 GB of data and streaming is free of charge up to 700 kilobit/s. At the conclusion of the Beta program, the developer can chose to enable Microsoft-sponsored advertising in the application for continued free use of the service to or subscribe to a pay-for-use service that is free of advertisements.

8.) What video encoding formats are supported?

The designer or developer is free to use any encoding format for their video supported by the Windows Media Video codec. This includes Variable Bit Rate (VBR) encoding for DVD-quality video and the use of the VC-1 codec for high-definition content. However, for HD content, be aware that the maximum output rate from the service is 700 kilobit/s, which means the client will not receive real-time delivery of HD video.

9.) Do you support digital rights management to protect my videos?

In the future, Silverlight^TM Streaming will provide support for DRM-encoded video as an optional paid turnkey offering.

10.) What applications will Microsoft provide to make hosting easy?

Microsoft is building a simple uploading tool and working to add publishing support directly to Silverlight^TM Streaming via Expression^TM Media Encoder, a feature of Expression^TM Media. In addition, third-party companies are adding support to their own applications for Silverlight^TM Streaming.

11.) How is my content secured from unauthorized access?

You will have to be signed into the Silverlight^TM Streaming service to manage your account and your Silverlight applications. Your Silverlight^TM Streaming ID and secret key, associated to your Windows Live ID, will authenticate you as the unique and legitimate owner of the applications and content you upload to the service. You will also need this information to manage your Silverlight applications using the API. The Silverlight^TM Streaming ID is public. However, the secret key should be kept confidential.

12.)How do I get started?

To sign up for your free account, visit streaming.live.com. Anyone with a Windows Live ID can participate.

Silverlight Interview Materials

2009-05-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.

Go here for more Silverlight related interview materials.

1.) Is Silverlight the official name for "WPF/E"?

Yes. Silverlight was formerly code-named "WPF/E."

2.) Does silverlight web application work with all browsers ?

Yes, A web application developed by silverlight technology can work with any browser

3.)What are the main features and benefits of Silverlight?

-Compelling cross-platform user experiences.

-Flexible Programming Model with Collaboration Tools.

-High-quality media, low-cost delivery

-Connected to data, servers, and services

4.) How can I build experiences and applications with Silverlight?

Silverlight development tools include role-specific productivity tools for both designers and developers:

Expression Studio empowers designers to create interactive UI and media-rich experiences, prepare media for encoding and distribution, and create W3C standards-compliant sites using modern XHTML, XML, XSLT, CSS, and ASP.NET. Expression Design includes support for exporting XAML for Silverlight. At MIX 07, Microsoft released Expression Blend 2 May Preview and Expression Media Encoder Preview to enable designers to build media experiences and RIAs.
Visual Studio empowers developers to develop client and server code using full IntelliSense, powerful debugging, rich language support, and more.

By using Expression Studio and Visual Studio, designers and developers can collaborate more effectively using the skills they have today. Additionally, Silverlight supports a consistent subset of XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language) for declarative programming, the same format found in .NET 3.0. Because XAML is toolable, there is always the potential for third-parties to provide additional XAML-based Silverlight tools in the future.

5.) How does Silverlight make the Microsoft development system better?

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web. Examples include:

For ASP.NET-based Web applications, Silverlight provides a rich UI front-end that, with a consistent programming model, adds support for richer interactivity, media, and audio.
For Microsoft SharePoint–based content, Silverlight offers the ability to create rich Web parts.
For Windows Live services, Silverlight offers the ability to consume services and APIs more effectively.

6.) What audio or video formats are supported in Silverlight?

Silverlight supports Windows Media Audio and Video (WMA, WMV7–9) and VC-1, as well as MP3 audio. Additional formats may be available by the final release based on customer feedback.

7.) Will Silverlight support all the codecs Windows Media Player supports?

Since Silverlight is a lightweight cross-platform technology, it only carries the most common codecs that are needed for Web playback. However, we are gathering information from customers about the needed codecs and can update Silverlight when necessary.

8.) Will Silverlight support digital rights management?

For content providers, Silverlight will support digital rights management (DRM) built on the recently announced Microsoft PlayReady content access technology on Windows-based computers and Macintosh computers.

Silverlight Developement Tools

2009-05-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 Software Development Kit (SDK):

The Microsoft® Silverlight™ 1.0 SDK contains documentation, quick starts, tools, online samples and other resources for developing Silverlight 1.0 applications. Usage of the SDK is subject to the SDK License (included in the package).

Microsoft Silverlight 2 Software Development Kit (SDK) Beta 1:

Download this SDK to create Silverlight Web experiences that target Silverlight 1.1 Alpha. The SDK contains documentation and samples.

Windows Movie Maker:

Windows Movie Maker is a feature of Windows Vista that enables you to

create home movies and slide shows on your computer, complete with professional-looking titles, transitions, effects, music, and even narration. And when you’re ready, you can use Windows Movie Maker to publish your movie and share it with your friends and family.Windows Movie Maker is also available for Microsoft Windows XP.

WCF related Interview Questions

2009-04-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

WCF is a programming framework used to build applicaions that inter-communicate. It is the part of the .NET Framework dedicated to communications.

Go here for more about WCF.

1.) How does Windows Communication Foundation address Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)?

WCF is the first programming model built from the ground up to provide implicit service-oriented application development, enabling developers to work autonomously and build applications that are more version independent, thereby increasing application resilience to change.

2.) How to deal with operation overloading while exposing the WCF services?

By default overload operations are not supported in WSDL based

operation. However by using Name property of OperationContract attribute, we can deal with operation overloading scenario.

[ServiceContract]

interface Isum

{

[OperationContract(Name = "MultiplyInt")]

int Multiply(int arg1,int arg2);

[OperationContract(Name = "MultiplyDouble")]

double Multiply(double arg1,double arg2);

}

Notice that both method name in the above interface is same (Add), however the Name property of the OperationContract is different. In this case client proxy will have two methods with different name MultiplyInt and MultiplyDouble.

3.) Is Windows Communication Foundation going to interoperate with my existing applications?

The current plan is for Windows Communication Foundation to provide wire-level interoperability with WSE3, System.Messaging, .NET Enterprise Services, and ASMX applications. With minimal or no changes to code, applications built with these technologies will be able to call Windows Communication Foundation services and be callable by Windows Communication Foundation services.

4.) How to configure Reliability while communicating with WCF Services?

Reliability can be configured in the client config file by adding reliableSession under binding tag.

Reliability is supported by following bindings only:
NetTcpBinding
WSHttpBindingWSFederationHttpBinding
WSDualHttpBinding

5.) Will Windows Communication Foundation applications interoperate with Web services built with other technologi

es?

Yes. By default,services built with WCF will communicate with other services based on the interoperable Web services specifications. This means that WCF services will communicate with any application built on an infrastructure that also conforms to these standards. Microsoft is deeply committed to p

latform interoperability and is an active member of key standards organizations defining the latest Web services standards.

6.) How to set the timeout property for the WCF Service client call?

The timeout property can be set for the WCF Service client call using binding tag. If no timeout has been specified, the default is considered as 1 minute.

7.) What are the core components of an Windows Communication Foundation service?

A host environment—an application domain and process—in which the service runs;

A service class, implemented in C# or VB.NET or another CLR-based language that implements one or more methods;

One or more endpoints that allow clients to access the service.

8.) What are different elements of WCF Srevices Client configuration file?

WCF Services client configuration file contains endpoint, address, binding and contract.

Silverlight Interview Materials

2009-03-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. By using Silverlight's support for .NET, High Definition video, cost-effective advanced streaming, unparalleled high-resolution interactivity with Deep Zoom technology, and controls, businesses can reach out to new markets across the Web, desktop, and devices(Fig. source : MS Site).
Silverlight provides a retained mode graphics system similar to WPF and integrates multimedia, graphics, animations and interactivity into a single runtime environment. In Silverlight applications, user interfaces are declared in XAML and programmed using a subset of the .Net framework. XAML can be used for making up the vector graphics and animations.

1.) Is Silverlight free?
Yes, Microsoft has made the Silverlight browser plug-in freely available for all supported platforms and browsers.

2.)What is the long-term goal or vision for Silverlight?
Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, IronPython, and IronRuby, and integrates with existing Web applications. By using Expression Studio and Visual Studio, designers and developers can collaborate more effectively using the skills they have today to light up the Web of tomorrow. By leveraging Silverlight's support for .NET, High Definition video, cost-effective advanced streaming, unparalleled high-resolution interactivity with Deep Zoom technology, and controls, businesses can reach out to new markets across the Web, desktop, and devices.

3.) When would a customer use Silverlight instead of ASP.NET AJAX?
Silverlight integrates with existing Web applications, including ASP.NET AJAX applications. Consequently, ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight are designed to be complementary technologies. In the broader sense, Silverlight can talk to any AJAX application, both client-side and server-side. ASP.NET AJAX can additionally be used to control Silverlight-based visualization of data or delivery of rich experiences. Examples might include mapping applications or video playback with rich presentation.

4.) Will Silverlight support live streaming events as well as downloading media?
Yes. Silverlight together with Windows Media Services enable live streaming experiences.

5.) When would a customer use Silverlight versus Windows Presentation Foundation? Is Silverlight for a certain type of application?
For ASP.NET-based Web applications, Silverlight provides a rich UI front-end that, with a consistent programming model, adds support for richer interactivity, media, and audio.
For Microsoft SharePoint–based content, Silverlight offers the ability to create rich Web parts. For Windows Live services, Silverlight offers the ability to consume services and APIs more effectively.

6.) Will Silverlight work with my new or existing Windows Media services platform for streaming?
Silverlight takes advantage of Windows Server features for streaming.

7.) What features are missing from Silverlight presentation markup that will be supported in the Windows Presentation Foundation?
Microsoft recommends the Windows Presentation Foundation for building rich immersive applications and experiences that can take full advantage of the Windows platform, including UI, Media, offline communication, OS integration, Office integration, peripheral access, Document support and more. Silverlight will be used for broad reach interactive media content and browser-based rich interactive and high-performance applications and experiences.

8.) Is Silverlight a new media player?
No. Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering media experiences and RIAs. It is not a desktop application or stand-alone media player.
(I had attended Silverlight session on MIX09 conference in Las Vegas on 3/17/09)

ASP.NET Master Pages

2009-02-15T19:40:00.000-08:00

A master page can be created to hold those page elements that represent the common look and feel of a website. Once the common content is placed in the master page, the content pages (child pages) can inherit content from the master pages.
When a new content page is created, the developer simply needs to link it to an existing master page. When that content page is rendered, the content page and its associated master page will be "merged" at runtime. The resulting markup will contain all of the elements from the master page as well as those elements defined in the content page.The master page contains the form tags and content pages derived from that master page does not have form tag.

1.)What is Master Page in ASP.NET?
A Master page offers a template for one or more web forms. It defines placeholders for the content, which can be overridden by the content pages. The content pages contains only content. When users request the content page, ASP.NET merges the layout of the master page with the content of the content page and produce output.

2.) Define Multiple Master Page.

In ASP.NET, you can have multiple master pages each for a different purpose. You can provide users several layout options using Multiple Master Page. You can define Master Page at multiple places in the web application.

You can specify page-level using the @Page dierective.
You can specify using the Web.config.

3.) Advantages of using Master Page in ASP.NET

Master pages enables consistent and standardized layout to the website.
You can make layout changes of the site in the master page instead of making change in the pages.
It is very easy to implement. It also reduces the Work.

4.) How is a Master Page different from an ASP.NET page?

The MasterPage has a @Master top directive and contains ContentPlaceHolder server controls. It is quiet similar to an ASP.NET page.

5.) How do you attach an exisiting page to a Master page?

By using the MasterPageFile attribute in the @Page directive and removing some markup.

6.) How do you set the title of an ASP.NET page that is attached to a Master Page?

By using the Title property of the @Page directive in the content page. Eg:

<@Page MasterPageFile="Sample.master" Title="I hold content" %>

7.) What is a nested master page? How do you create them?

A Nested master page is a master page associated with another master page. To create a nested master page, set the MasterPageFile attribute of the @Master directive to the name of the .master file of the base master page.

WCF Interview Questions/Answers:

2009-01-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is an SDK for developing and deploying services on Windows. WCF provides a runtime environment for services, enabling you to expose CLR types as services, and to consume other services as CLR types. WCF is part of .NET 3.0 and requires .NET 2.0, so it can only run on systems that support it. (Fig source: Wikipedia)

1.) What is endpoint in WCF ?

Every service must have Address that defines where the service resides, Contract that defines what the service does and a Binding that defines how to communicate with the service. In WCF the relationship between Address, Contract and Binding is called Endpoint.

The Endpoint is the fusion of Address, Contract and Binding.

2.) What is binding and how many types of bindings are there in WCF?

A binding defines how an endpoint communicates to the world. A binding defines the transport (such as HTTP or TCP) and the encoding being used (such as text or binary). A binding can contain binding elements that specify details like the security mechanisms used to secure messages, or the message pattern used by an endpoint. WCF supports nine types of bindings.

Basic binding:

It Offered by the BasicHttpBinding class, this is designed to expose a WCF service as a legacy ASMX web service, so that old clients can work with new services. When used by the client, this binding enables new WCF clients to work with old ASMX services.

TCP binding :

It Offered by the NetTcpBinding class, this uses TCP for cross-machine communication on the intranet. It supports a variety of features, including reliability, transactions, and security, and is optimized for WCF-to-WCF communication. As a result, it requires both the client and the service to use WCF.

Peer network binding:

It Offered by the NetPeerTcpBinding class, this uses peer networking as a transport. The peer network-enabled client and services all subscribe to the same grid and broadcast messages to it.

IPC binding:

It Offered by the NetNamedPipeBinding class, this uses named pipes as a transport for same-machine communication. It is the most secure binding since it cannot accept calls from outside the machine and it supports a variety of features similar to the TCP binding.

Web Service (WS) binding:

It Offered by the WSHttpBinding class, this uses HTTP or HTTPS for transport, and is designed to offer a variety of features such as reliability, transactions, and security over the Internet.

Federated WS binding:

It Offered by the WSFederationHttpBinding class, this is a specialization of the WS binding, offering support for federated security.

Duplex WS binding:

It Offered by the WSDualHttpBinding class, this is similar to the WS binding except it also supports bidirectional communication from the service to the client.

MSMQ binding:

It Offered by the NetMsmqBinding class, this uses MSMQ for transport and is designed to offer support for disconnected queued calls.

MSMQ integration binding:

It Offered by the MsmqIntegrationBinding class, this converts WCF messages to and from MSMQ messages, and is designed to interoperate with legacy MSMQ clients.

3.)How to define a service as REST based service in WCF?

WCF 3.5 provides explicit support for RESTful communication using a new binding named WebHttpBinding. The below code shows how to expose a RESTful service [ServiceContract]
interface IStock
{
[OperationContract]
[WebGet]
int GetStock(string StockId);
}

By adding the WebGetAttribute, we can define a service as REST based service that can be accessible using HTTP GET operation.

4.) Where we can host WCF services?

Every WCF services must be hosted somewhere. There are three ways of hosting WCF services.

They are

1. IIS

2. Self Hosting

3. WAS (Windows Activation Service)

5.) What is contracts in WCF?

In WCF, all services expose contracts. The contract is a platform-neutral and standard way of describing what the service does.

WCF defines four types of contracts.

Service contracts:

Describe which operations the client can perform on the service.

Data contracts:

Define which data types are passed to and from the service. WCF defines implicit contracts for built-in types such as int and string, but we can easily define explicit opt-in data contracts for custom types.

Fault contracts:

Define which errors are raised by the service, and how the service handles and propagates errors to its clients.

Message contracts:

Allow the service to interact directly with messages.

Message contracts can be typed or untyped, and are useful in interoperability cases and when there is an existing message format we have to comply with.

6.) What is address in WCF and how many types of transport schemas are there in WCF?

Address is a way of letting client know that where a service is located. In WCF, every service is associated with a unique address. This contains the location of the service and transport schemas.

WCF supports following transport schemas HTTP TCP Peer network IPC (Inter-Process Communication over named pipes) .

7.) What is service and client in perspective of data communication?

A service is a unit of functionality exposed to the world. The client of a service is merely the party consuming the service. Reference:dotNetFunda

Sharepoint Portal Interview Questions

2008-12-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas,Happy Holidays & Happy New Year '09

what is SharePoint?
Portal Collaboration Software.

what is the difference between SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services?
SharePoint Portal Server is the global portal offering features like global navigation and searching. Windows SharePoint Services is more content management based with document libraries and lists. You apply information to certain areas within your portal from Windows SharePoint Services or directly to portal areas.

what is a document library?
A document library is where you upload your core documents. They consist of a row and column view with links to the documents. When the document is updated so is the link on your site. You can also track metadata on your documents. Metadata would consist of document properties.

what is a meeting workspace?
A meeting workspace is a place to store information, attendees, and tasks related to a specific meeting.

what is a document workspace?
Document workspaces consist of information surrounding a single or multiple documents.

what is a web part?
Web parts consist of xml queries to full SharePoint lists or document libraries. You can also develop your own web parts and web part pages.

what is the difference between a document library and a form library?
Document libraries consist of your core documents. An example would be a word document, excel, powerpoint, visio, pdf, etc… Form libraries consist of XML forms.

what is a web part zone?
Web part zones are what your web parts reside in and help categorize your web parts when designing a page.

how is security managed in SharePoint?
Security can be handled at the machine, domain, or sharepoint level.

how are web parts developed?
Web parts are developed in Visual Studio .Net. VS.Net offers many web part and page templates and can also be downloaded from the Microsoft site.

what is a site definition?
It’s a methods for providing prepackaged site and list content.

what is a template?
A template is a pre-defined set of functions or settings that can be used over time. There are many templates within SharePoint, Site Templates, Document Templates, Document Library and List Templates.

how do you install web parts?
Web Parts should be distributed as a .CAB (cabinet) file using the MSI Installer.

what is CAML?
CAML stands for Collaborative Application Markup Language and is an XML-based language that is used in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services to define sites and lists, including, for example, fields, views, or forms, but CAML is also used to define tables in the Windows SharePoint Services database during site provisioning.

what is a DWP?
The file extension of a web part.

what is the GAC?
Global Assembly Cache folder on the server hosting SharePoint. You place your assemblies there for web parts and services.

what are the differences between web part page gallery, site gallery, virtual server gallery and online gallery?
Web Part Page Gallery is the default gallery that comes installed with SharePoint. Site Gallery is specific to one site. Virtual Server gallery is specific to that virtual server and online gallery are downloadable web parts from Microsoft.

what is the difference between a site and a web?
The pages in a Web site generally cover one or more topics and are interconnected through hyperlinks. Most Web sites have a home page as their starting point. While a Web is simply a blank site with SharePoint functionality built in; meaning you have to create the site from the ground up.

What is Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services? How is it related to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Windows SharePoint Services is the solution that enables you to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration. Windows SharePoint Services — a key piece of the information worker infrastructure delivered in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 — provides additional functionality to the Microsoft Office system and other desktop applications, and it serves as a platform for application development.
Office SharePoint Server 2007 builds on top of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to provide additional capabilities including collaboration, portal, search, enterprise content management, business process and forms, and business intelligence.

What is Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?
SharePoint Portal Server is a portal server that connects people, teams, and knowledge across business processes. SharePoint Portal Server integrates information from various systems into one secure solution through single sign-on and enterprise application integration capabilities. It provides flexible deployment and management tools, and facilitates end-to-end collaboration through data aggregation, organization, and searching. SharePoint Portal Server also enables users to quickly find relevant information through customization and personalization of portal content and layout as well as through audience targeting.

What is Microsoft Windows Services?
Microsoft Windows Services is the engine that allows administrators to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration. Windows SharePoint Services provides additional functionality to the Microsoft Office System and other desktop applications, as well as serving as a plat form for application development. SharePoint sites provide communities for team collaboration, enabling users to work together on documents, tasks, and projects. The environment for easy and flexible deployment, administration, and application development.

What is the relationship between Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server and Microsoft Windows Services?
Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies (including SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services) deliver highly scalable collaboration solutions with flexible deployment and management tools. Windows SharePoint Services provides sites for team collaboration, while Share Point Portal Server connects these sites, people, and business processes—facilitating knowledge sharing and smart organizations. SharePoint Portal Server also extends the capabilities of Windows SharePoint Services by providing organizational and management tools for SharePoint sites, and by enabling teams to publish information to the entire organization.

Who is Office SharePoint Server 2007 designed for?
Office SharePoint Server 2007 can be used by information workers, IT administrators, and application developers.

What are the main benefits of Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides a single integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet, and Internet applications across the enterprise.
* Business users gain greater control over the storage, security, distribution, and management of their electronic content, with tools that are easy to use and tightly integrated into familiar, everyday applications.
* Organizations can accelerate shared business processes with customers and partners across organizational boundaries using InfoPath Forms Services–driven solutions.
* Information workers can find information and people efficiently and easily through the facilitated information-sharing functionality and simplified content publishing. In addition, access to back-end data is achieved easily through a browser, and views into this data can be personalized.
* Administrators have powerful tools at their fingertips that ease deployment, management, and system administration, so they can spend more time on strategic tasks.
* Developers have a rich platform to build a new class of applications, called Office Business Applications, that combine powerful developer functionality with the flexibility and ease of deployment of Office SharePoint Server 2007. Through the use of out-of-the-box application services, developers can build richer applications with less code.

What is the difference between Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 have identical feature functionality. While the feature functionality is similar, the usage rights are different.
If you are creating an Internet, or Extranet, facing website, it is recommended that you use Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites which does not require the purchase client access licenses. Websites hosted using an “Internet sites” edition can only be used for Internet facing websites and all content, information, and applications must be accessible to non-employees. Websites hosted using an “Internet sites” edition cannot be accessed by employees creating, sharing, or collaborating on content which is solely for internal use only, such as an Intranet Portal scenario. See the previous section on licensing for more information on the usage scenarios.

What suites of the 2007 Microsoft Office system work with Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Office Outlook 2007 provides bidirectional offline synchronization with SharePoint document libraries, discussion groups, contacts, calendars, and tasks.
Microsoft Office Groove 2007, included as part of Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, will enable bidirectional offline synchronization with SharePoint document libraries.
Features such as the document panel and the ability to publish to Excel Services will only be enabled when using Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007or Office Enterprise 2007.
Excel Services will only work with documents saved in the new Office Excel 2007 file format (XLSX).

How do I invite users to join a Windows SharePoint Services Site? Is the site secure?
SharePoint-based Web sites can be password-protected to restrict access to registered users, who are invited to join via e-mail. In addition, the site administrator can restrict certain members' roles by assigning different permission levels to view post and edit.

Can I post any kind of document?
You can post documents in many formats, including .pdf, .htm and .doc. In addition, if you are using Microsoft Office XP, you can save documents directly to your Windows SharePoint Services site.

Can I download information directly from a SharePoint site to a personal digital assistant (PDA)?
No you cannot. However, you can exchange contact information lists with Microsoft Outlook.

How long does it take to set up the initial team Web site?
It only takes a few minutes to create a complete Web site. Preformatted forms let you and your team members contribute to the site by filling out lists. Standard forms include announcements, events, contacts, tasks, surveys, discussions and links.

Can I create custom templates?
Yes you can. You can have templates for business plans, doctor's office, lawyer's office etc.

How can I make my site public?
By default, all sites are created private.If you want your site to be a public Web site, enable anonymous access for the entire site. Then you can give out your URL to anybody in your business card, e-mail or any other marketing material. The URL for your Web site will be:
http:// yoursitename.wss.bcentral.com
Hence, please take special care to name your site.
These Web sites are ideal for information and knowledge intensive sites and/or sites where you need to have shared Web workspace.
Remember: Under each parent Web site, you can create up to 10 sub-sites each with unique permissions, settings and security rights.

How do the sub sites work?
You can create a sub site for various categories. For example:
* Departments - finance, marketing, IT
* Products - electrical, mechanical, hydraulics
* Projects - Trey Research, Department of Transportation, FDA
* Team - Retention team, BPR team
* Clients - new clients, old clients
* Suppliers - Supplier 1, Supplier 2, Supplier 3
* Customers - Customer A, Customer B, Customer C
* Real estate - property A, property B
The URLs for each will be, for example:
* http://yoursitename.wss.bcentral.com/finance
* http://yoursitename.wss.bcentral.com/marketing
You can keep track of permissions for each team separately so that access is restricted while
maintaining global access to the parent site.

How do I make my site non-restricted?
If you want your site to have anonymous access enabled (i.e., you want to treat it like any site on the Internet that does not ask you to provide a user name and password to see the content of the site), follow these simple steps:
# Login as an administrator
# Click on site settings
# Click on Go to Site Administration
# Click on Manage anonymous access
# Choose one of the three conditions on what Anonymous users can access:
** Entire Web site
** Lists and libraries
** Nothing
Default condition is nothing; your site has restricted access. The default conditions allow you to create a secure site for your Web site.

Can I get domain name for my Web site?
Unfortunately, no. At this point, we don't offer domain names for SharePoint sites. But very soon we will be making this available for all our SharePoint site customers. Please keep checking this page for further update on this. Meanwhile, we suggest you go ahead and set up your site and create content for it.

What are picture libraries?
Picture libraries allow you to access a photo album and view it as a slide show or thumbnails or a film strip. You can have separate folder for each event, category, etc
What are the advantages of a hosted SharePoint vs. one that is on an in-house server?
* No hardware investment, i.e. lower costs
* No software to download - ready to start from the word go
* No IT resources - Anyone who has used a Web program like Hotmail can use it
* Faster deployment.

Can I ask users outside of my organization to participate in my Windows SharePoint Services site?
Yes. You can manage this process using the Administration Site Settings. Simply add users via their e-mail alias and assign permissions such as Reader or Contributor.

Are there any restrictions or requirements for accessing the Windows SharePoint Services?
No. There are no system or bandwidth limitations for international trial users. Additionally language packs have been installed which allow users to set up sub-webs in languages other than English. These include: Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish and Swedish.

Are there any browser recommendations?
Yes. Microsoft recommends using the following browsers for viewing and editing Windows SharePoint Services sites: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 with Service Pack 2, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 with Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer 6, Netscape Navigator 6.2 or later.

What security levels are assigned to users?
Security levels are assigned by the administrator who is adding the user. There are four levels by default and additional levels can be composed as necessary.
* Reader - Has read-only access to the Web site.
* Contributor - Can add content to existing document libraries and lists.
* Web Designer - Can create lists and document libraries and customize pages in the Web site.
* Administrator - Has full control of the Web site.

How secure are Windows SharePoint Services sites hosted by Microsoft?
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Technical security measures provide firewall protection, intrusion detection, and web-publishing rules. The Microsoft operation center team tests and deploys software updates in order to maintain the highest level of security and software reliability. Software hot-fixes and service packs are tested and deployed based on their priority and level of risk. Security related hot-fixes are rapidly deployed into the environment to address current threats. A comprehensive software validation activity ensures software stability through regression testing prior to deployment.

What is the difference between an Internet and an intranet site?
An internet site is a normal site that anyone on the internet can access (e.g., www.msn.com, www.microsoft.com, etc.). You can set up a site for your company that can be accessed by anyone without any user name and password.
An intranet (or internal network), though hosted on the Web, can only be accessed by people who are members of the network. They need to have a login and password that was assigned to them when they were added to the site by the site administrator.

What is a workspace?
A site or workspace is when you want a new place for collaborating on Web pages, lists and document libraries. For example, you might create a site to manage a new team or project, collaborate on a document or prepare for a meeting.

What are the various kinds of roles the users can have?
A user can be assigned one of the following roles
* Reader - Has read-only access to the Web site.
* Contributor - Can add content to existing document libraries and lists.
* Web Designer - Can create lists and document libraries and customize pages in the Web site.
* Administrator - Has full control of the Web site.

Can more than one person use the same login?
If the users sharing that login will have the same permissions and there is no fear of them sharing a password, then yes. Otherwise, this is discouraged.

How customizable is the user-to-user access?
User permissions apply to an entire Web, not to documents themselves. However, you can have additional sub webs that can optionally have their own permissions. Each user can be given any of four default roles. Additional roles can be defined by the administrator.

Can each user have access to their own calendar?
Yes there are two ways to do this,
* by creating a calendar for each user, or
* by creating a calendar with a view for each user.

How many files can I upload?
There is no restriction in place except that any storage consumed beyond that provided by the base offering may have an additional monthly charge associated with them.

What types of files can I upload / post to the site?
The only files restricted are those ending with the following extensions: .asa, .asp, .ida, .idc, .idq. Microsoft reserves the right to add additional file types to this listing at any time. Also, no content that violates the terms of service may be uploaded or posted to the site.

Can SharePoint be linked to an external data source?
SharePoint data can be opened with Access and Excel as an external data source. Thus, SharePoint can be referenced as an external data source. SharePoint itself cannot reference an external data source.

Can SharePoint be linked to a SQL database?
This is possible via a custom application, but it not natively supported by SharePoint or SQL Server.

Can I customize my Windows SharePoint Services site?
YES! Windows SharePoint Services makes updating sites and their content from the browser easier then ever.
SharePoint includes tools that let you create custom lists, calendars, page views, etc. You can apply a theme; add List, Survey and Document Library Web Parts to a page; create personal views; change logos; connect Web Parts and more.
To fully customize your site, you can use Microsoft FrontPage 2003. Specifically, you can use FrontPage themes and shared borders, and also use FrontPage to create photo galleries and top ten lists, utilize standard usage reports, and integrate automatic Web content.

Will Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 run on a 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows?
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office Forms Server 2007, and Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search will support 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003.

How Office SharePoint Server 2007 can help you?
Office SharePoint Server 2007 can help us:
Manage content and streamline processes. Comprehensively manage and control unstructured content like Microsoft Office documents, Web pages, Portable Document Format file (PDF) files, and e-mail messages. Streamline business processes that are a drain on organizational productivity.
Improve business insight. Monitor your business, enable better-informed decisions, and respond proactively to business events.
Find and share information more simply. Find information and expertise wherever they are located. Share knowledge and simplify working with others within and across organizational boundaries.
Empower IT to make a strategic impact. Increase responsiveness of IT to business needs and reduce the number of platforms that have to be maintained by supporting all the intranet, extranet, and Web applications across the enterprise with one integrated platform.
Office SharePoint Server 2007 capabilities can help improve organizational effectiveness by connecting people, processes, and information.
Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides these capabilities in an integrated server offering, so your organization doesn't have to integrate fragmented technology solutions itself.

What are the features that the portal components of Office SharePoint Server 2007 include?
The portal components of Office SharePoint Server 2007 include features that are especially useful for designing, deploying, and managing enterprise intranet portals, corporate Internet Web sites, and divisional portal sites. The portal components make it easier to connect to people within the organization who have the right skills, knowledge, and project experience.

What are the advanced features of MOSS 2007?
* User Interface (UI) and navigation enhancements
* Document management enhancements
* The new Workflow engine
* Office 2007 Integration
* New Web Parts
* New Site-type templates
* Enhancements to List technology
* Web Content Management
* Business Data Catalog
* Search enhancements
* Report Center
* Records Management
* Business Intelligence and Excel Server
* Forms Server and InfoPath
* The “Features” feature
* Alternate authentication providers and Forms-based authentication.

What are the features of the new Content management in Office SharePoint 2007?
The new and enhanced content management features in Office SharePoint Server 2007 fall within three areas:
* Document management
* Records management
* Web content management
Office SharePoint Server 2007 builds on the core document management functionality provided by Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, including check in and check out, versioning, metadata, and role-based granular access controls. Organizations can use this functionality to deliver enhanced authoring, business document processing, Web content management and publishing, records management, policy management, and support for multilingual publishing.

Does a SharePoint Web site include search functionality?
Yes. SharePoint Team Services provides a powerful text-based search feature that helps you find documents and information fast.

Write the features of the search component of Office SharePoint Server 2007?
The search component of Office SharePoint Server 2007 has been significantly enhanced by this release of SharePoint Products and Technologies. New features provide:
* A consistent and familiar search experience.
* Increased relevance of search results.
* New functions to search for people and expertise.
* Ability to index and search data in line-of-business applications and
* Improved manageability and extensibility.

What are the benefits of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?
* Provide a simple, familiar, and consistent user experience.
* Boost employee productivity by simplifying everyday business activities.
* Help meet regulatory requirements through comprehensive control over content.
* Effectively manage and repurpose content to gain increased business value.
* Simplify organization-wide access to both structured and unstructured information across disparate systems.
* Connect people with information and expertise.
* Accelerate shared business processes across organizational boundaries.
* Share business data without divulging sensitive information.
* Enable people to make better-informed decisions by presenting business-critical information in one central location.
* Provide a single, integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet, and Internet applications across the enterprise.

Will SharePoint Portal Server and Team Services ever merge?
The products will come together because they are both developed by the Office team.

What does partial trust mean the Web Part developer?
If an assembly is installed into the BIN directory, the code must be ensured that provides error handling in the event that required permissions are not available. Otherwise, unhandled security exceptions may cause the Web Part to fail and may affect page rendering on the page where the Web Part appears.

How can I raise the trust level for assemblies installed in the BIN directory?
Windows SharePoint Services can use any of the following three options from ASP.NET and the CLR to provide assemblies installed in the BIN directory with sufficient permissions. The following table outlines the implications and requirements for each option.
Option Pros Cons Increase the trust level for the entire virtual server. For more information, see "Setting the trust level for a virtual server" Easy to implement. In a development environment, increasing the trust level allows you to test an assembly with increased permissions while allowing you to recompile assemblies directly into the BIN directory without resetting IIS. This option is least secure. This option affects all assemblies used by the virtual server.
There is no guarantee the destination server has the required trust level. Therefore, Web Parts may not work once installed on the destination server.
Create a custom policy file for your assemblies. For more information, see "How do I create a custom policy file?" Recommended approach.
This option is most secure.
An assembly can operate with a unique policy that meets the minimum permission requirements for the assembly.
By creating a custom security policy, you can ensure the destination server can run your Web Parts.
Requires the most configuration of all three options.
Install your assemblies in the GAC
Easy to implement.
This grants Full trust to your assembly without affecting the trust level of assemblies installed in the BIN directory.
This option is less secure.
Assemblies installed in the GAC are available to all virtual servers and applications on a server running Windows SharePoint Services. This could represent a potential security risk as it potentially grants a higher level of permission to your assembly across a larger scope than necessary
In a development environment, you must reset IIS every time you recompile assemblies.
Licensing issues may arise due to the global availability of your assembly.

Does SharePoint work with NFS?
Yes and no. It can crawl documents on an NFS volume, but the sharepoint database or logs cannot be stored there.

How is SharePoint Portal Server different from the Site Server?
Site Server has search capabilities but these are more advanced using SharePoint. SPS uses digital dashboard technology which provides a nice interface for creating web parts and showing them on dashboards (pages). SS doesn't have anything as advanced as that. The biggest difference would be SPS document management features which also integrate with web folders and MS Office.

What would you like to see in the next version of SharePoint?
A few suggestions:
# SPS and STS on same machine
# Tree view of Categories and Folders
# General Discussion Web Part
# Personalization of Dashboards
# Role Customization
# Email to say WHY a document has been rejected for Approval
# More ways to customize the interface
# Backup and restore an individual Workspaces
# Filter for Visio
# Better way to track activity on SPS.

Why Sharepoint is not a viable solution for enterprise wide deployments?
Document management does not scale beyond a single server, but scales great within a single server. For example, a quad Xeon machine with 4GB of RAM works great for a document management server that has about 900,000 - 1,000,000 document, but if you need to store 50,000,000 document and want to have them all in one single workspace then it does not scale at all. If you need a scenario like this, you need to plan your deployment right and it should scale for you, it just does not right out of the box.
If you are using your server as a portal and search server most for the most part it scales great. You can have many different servers crawl content sources and have separate servers searching and serving the content.
If you have <>

What are the actual advantages of SharePoint Portal Services (SPS) over SharePoint Team Services (STS)?
SharePoint Portal Services (SPS) has MUCH better document management. It has check-in, check-out, versioning, approval, publishing, subscriptions, categories, etc. STS does not have these features, or they are very scaled back. SharePoint team Services (SPS) has a better search engine, and can crawl multiple content sources. STS cannot. STS is easier to manage and much better for a team environment where there is not much Document Management going on. SPS is better for an organization, or where Document Management is crucial.

How Does SharePoint work?
The browser sends a DAV packet to IIS asking to perform a document check in. PKMDASL.DLL, an ISAPI DLL, parses the packet and sees that it has the proprietary INVOKE command. Because of the existence of this command, the packet is passed off to msdmserv.exe, who in turn processes the packet and uses EXOLEDB to access the WSS, perform the operation and send the results back to the user in the form of XML.

ASP Interview Materials:

2008-11-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

The Control class belongs to which namespace?
1. System.Web.UI
2. System.Web.UI.WebControls
3. System.Web
4. System
Correct Answer: -> 1
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The Control class is the base class for all the server controls that are used for building the user interface. It resides in the System.Web.UI namespace, which contains the base classes used to build the user interface of an ASP.NET page.

Which of the following state management options can be used to automatically save the value of each control before rendering the page?
1. The ViewState property
2. Hidden fields
3. Cookies
4. Query strings
Your Answer: -> 1
Feedback: -> That’s correct. Each Web Form page and the controls on the page have the ViewState property that is inherited from the base Control class. The ASP.NET framework uses the ViewState property to automatically save control-specific and page-specific values.

Which class supports page-level tracing in an ASP.NET application?
1. TraceContext
2. Trace
3. HttpHandlerConfigHandler
4. HttpModulesConfigHandler
Your Answer: -> 1
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The TraceContext class supports the trace functionality for ASP.NET pages.

Which attribute of the forms element is used in the Web.Config file to specify the page to which a user request is to be redirected for logon?
1. name
2. loginUrl
3. protection
4. timeout
Correct Answer: -> 2
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The loginUrl attribute of the forms element is used to specify the page to which the user request is to be redirected for logon when no valid authentication cookie is found.

Which of the following objects is used to store and retrieve information that can be shared among all the users of an application?
1. Request
2.. Application
3. Response
4. Server
Correct Answer: -> 2
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The Application object is used to store and retrieve the information that can be shared among all the users of an application. For example, you can use an Application object to create a chat page.

Which of the following attributes of the trace element is used to specify whether or not trace information will be displayed for each Web Form?
1. enabled
2. requestLimit
3. pageOutput
4. traceMode
Correct Answer: -> 3
Feedback: -> That’s incorrect. The enabled attribute is used to enable the trace feature for an ASP.NET application.

Which of the following is the correct definition of impersonation?
1. Impersonation refers to the process of verifying whether a user has permissions to access an application.
2. Impersonation refers to the process of restricting the access of an authenticated user to parts of the application or Web site for which a user is already authenticated.
3. Impersonation refers to an ASP.NET application using the identity of a client.
4. Impersonation refers to the practice of providing content and other facilities, such as the background color of the Web Form, to users based on their preferences.
Correct Answer: -> 3
Feedback: -> That’s incorrect. Authentication refers to the process of verifying whether a user has permissions to access an application.

Which of the following templates refers to the collection of elements and controls that are rendered once for each row in a data source?
1. SelectedItemTemplate
2. ItemTemplate
3. EditItemTemplate
4. AlternatingItemTemplate
Correct Answer: -> 2
Feedback: -> That’s incorrect. SelectedItemTemplate refers to the collection of elements and controls that are rendered when an item is selected in the server control.

Which of the following elements in the Web.Config file allows you to specify the custom settings for a Web application?
1. configSections
2. appSettings
3. customErrors
4. trace
Correct Answer: -> 2
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The appSettings element of the Web.config file is used to define the custom settings for a Web application. For example, you can use the appSettings element to store the connection string in the database that you need to access in the various Web Forms of a Web application.

Which of the following statements about a cookie is true?
1. A cookie is a server-side state management option.
2. A cookie is stored on a Web server.
3. A cookie can be either temporary or persistent.
4. A cookie contains application-specific information.
Correct Answer: -> 3
Feedback: -> That’s correct. A cookie can be either temporary or persistent. A temporary cookie, also known as a session cookie, exists in the memory space of a browser. When the browser is closed, all the session cookies added to the browser are lost. A persistent cookie is saved as a text file in the file system of the client computer.

Which of the following types of deployment projects will you use to deploy an ASP.NET application?
1. A setup project
2. A Web setup project
3. A merge module project.
4. A cab project
Correct Answer: -> 2
Feedback: -> That’s correct. A Web setup project is used to package a Web-based application and create a Windows Installer (.msi) file.

The armed forces of a small nation want to develop an Intranet site to manage the stock of arsenal in their stores as well as at forward positions. The armed forces are concerned about espionage and sabotage. Therefore, security is a very important aspect of the application. In the given scenario, which authentication scheme will be the most appropriate?
1. Basic authentication
2. Integrated Windows authentication
3. Anonymous authentication
4. Passport authentication
Correct Answer: -> 2
Feedback: -> That’s incorrect. As per the scenario, the armed forces are concerned about espionage and sabotage. However, in basic authentication, the password of a user is transmitted over a network in an unencrypted form. This makes the password vulnerable to security breaches. Therefore, basic authentication cannot be used in the given scenario.

How can you bind the value entered in the TextBox control txtCity to the Label control Label1? 1. By setting the DataSource property of the Label1 control to txtCity
2. By setting the DataMember property of the Label1 control to txtCity
3. By setting the Text property of the Label1 control to txtCity.Text
4. By using the DataBindings property of the Label1 control and setting the custom binding _expression to txtCity.Text
Correct Answer: -> 4
Feedback: -> That’s correct. To specify the data binding _expression for the Label1 control, you need to click the DataBindings property to open the Label1 DataBindings dialog box. Then, you need to click the Custom binding _expression radio button and specify the data binding _expression in the text box.

You have created a DataList control and added a Button control to it. You have not set the CommandName property of the Button control. Which of the following events will be generated when a user clicks the Button control?
1. EditCommand
2. UpdateCommand
3. ItemCommand
4. CancelCommand
Correct Answer: -> 3
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The ItemCommand event is generated when you click a Button control with no predefined CommandName.

Which file contains the scripts that define the start and end events of an ASP.NET application and its sessions?
1. AssemblyInfo.cs
2. Global.asax
3. Web.Config
4. WebApplication.vsdisco
Correct Answer: -> 2
Feedback: -> That’s incorrect. The Web.Config file is an XML file that contains configuration data on each unique URL resource used in an ASP.NET Web project.

You have created the errors.html file to display error messages for your ASP.NET application. You want to redirect a client browser to the errors.html file whenever an error occurs in the ASP.NET application. How can this be achieved?
1. By setting the defaultRedirect attribute of the customErrors element to “errors.html”
2. By setting the mode attribute of the customErrors element to “errors.html”
3. By setting the defaultRedirect attribute of the appSettings element to “errors.html”
4. By setting the redirect attribute of the customErrors element to “errors.html”
Correct Answer: -> 1
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The defaultRedirect attribute of the customErrors element is used to specify the URL to which the client browser should be redirected when an error occurs.

Which of the following statements will you use in the Web.Config file to specify that an ASP.NET application should use one of the IIS authentication schemes?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Correct Answer: -> 1
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The Windows authentication mode allows you to specify that ASP.NET application should use one of the IIS authentication schemes.

Which of the following statements about the ViewState property is true?
1. The ViewState property is a server-side state management option.
2. By default, the ViewState property of both Web pages and the controls on the Web pages is disabled.
3. Each Web Form page and the controls on the page have the ViewState property that is inherited from the base Control class.
4. The ViewState property should be enabled when you have a large volume of information to maintain.
Correct Answer: -> 3
Feedback: -> That’s incorrect. The ViewState property is a client-side state management option.

Which control allows you to display banner advertisements on an ASP.NET Web Form?
1. A DataGrid control
2. A Repeater control
3. An XML Web server control
4. An AdRotator control
Correct Answer: -> 4
Feedback: -> That’s correct. An AdRotator control allows you to display banner advertisements on an ASP.NET Web Form.

Which of the following classes provides forward-only access to a stream of XML data and checks whether or not an XML document is well-formed?
1. XmlDocument
2. XmlTextReader
3. XmlTextWriter
4. XPathDocument
Correct Answer: -> 2
Feedback: -> That’s correct. The XmlTextReader class provides forward-only access to a stream of XML data and checks whether or not an XML document is well-formed.

The XML Web server control belongs to which namespace?
1. System.Xml
2. System.Xml.Xsl
3. System.Web.UI.WebControls
4. System.Web.UI
Correct Answer: -> 3
Feedback: -> That’s incorrect. The System.Xml namespace provides a rich set of classes for processing XML data.

Which event is generated when a control triggers the reloading of an ASP.NET Web page?
1. Init
2. Load
3. Control
4. Unload
Correct Answer: -> 3
Feedback: -> That’s incorrect. The Load event is generated when an ASP.NET Web page is loaded into memory.

Which of the following state management options can be used to submit information to another page by using a URL?
1. The Viewstate property
2. Hidden fields
3. Cookies
4. Query strings
Correct Answer: -> 4
Feedback: -> That’s correct. Query strings are used if you need to submit information another page by using a URL.

SQL Server Interview Materials:

2008-10-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

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.

How do you implement one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships while designing tables?
One-to-One relationship can be implemented as a single table and rarely as two tables with primary and foreign key relationships. One-to-Many relationships are implemented by splitting the data into two tables with primary key and foreign key relationships. Many-to-Many relationships are implemented using a junction table with the keys from both the tables forming the composite primary key of the junction table.

What's the difference between a primary key and a unique key?
Both primary key and unique 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.

What are user defined datatypes and when you should go for them?
User defined datatypes let you extend the base SQL Server datatypes by providing a descriptive name, and format to the database. Take for example, in your database, there is a column called Flight_Num which appears in many tables. In all these tables it should be varchar(8).
In this case you could create a user defined datatype called Flight_num_type of varchar(8) and use it across all your tables.

What is bit datatype and what's the information that can be stored inside a bit column?
Bit datatype is used to store boolean information like 1 or 0 (true or false). Untill SQL Server 6.5 bit datatype could hold either a 1 or 0 and there was no support for NULL. But from SQL Server 7.0 onwards, bit datatype can represent a third state, which is NULL.

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.

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. See CREATE DEFUALT in books online.

What is a transaction and what are ACID properties?
A transaction is a logical unit of work in which, all the steps must be performed or none. ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability. These are the properties of a transaction. For more information and explanation of these properties, see SQL Server books online or any RDBMS fundamentals text book.

Explain different isolation levels
An isolation level determines the degree of isolation of data between concurrent transactions. The default SQL Server isolation level is Read Committed. Here are the other isolation levels (in the ascending order of isolation): Read Uncommitted, Read Committed, Repeatable Read, Serializable. See SQL Server books online for an explanation of the isolation levels. Be sure to read about SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL, which lets you customize the isolation level at the connection level.

CREATE INDEX myIndex ON myTable(myColumn).

What type of Index will get created after executing the above statement?
Non-clustered index. Important thing to note: By default a clustered index gets created on the primary key, unless specified otherwise.

What's the maximum size of a row?
8060 bytes. Don't be surprised with questions like 'what is the maximum number of columns per table'.

Explain Active/Active and Active/Passive cluster configurations
Hopefully you have experience setting up cluster servers. But if you don't, at least be familiar with the way clustering works and the two clusterning configurations Active/Active and Active/Passive.

What is lock escalation?
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.

What's the difference between DELETE TABLE and TRUNCATE TABLE commands?
DELETE TABLE is a logged operation, so the deletion of each row gets logged in the transaction log, which makes it slow. TRUNCATE TABLE also deletes all the rows in a table, but it won't log the deletion of each row, instead it logs the deallocation of the data pages of the table, which makes it faster. Of course, TRUNCATE TABLE can be rolled back.

What are constraints? Explain different types of constraints.
Constraints enable the RDBMS enforce the integrity of the database automatically, without needing you to create triggers, rule or defaults.

Types of constraints: NOT NULL, CHECK, UNIQUE, PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY

What is an index? What are the types of indexes? How many clustered indexes can be created on a table? I create a separate index on each column of a table. what are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
Indexes in SQL Server are similar to the indexes in books. They help SQL Server retrieve the data quicker.

Indexes are of two types. Clustered indexes and non-clustered indexes. When you craete a clustered index on a table, all the rows in the table are stored in the order of the clustered index key. So, there can be only one clustered index per table. Non-clustered indexes have their own storage separate from the table data storage. Non-clustered indexes are stored as B-tree structures (so do clustered indexes), with the leaf level nodes having the index key and it's row locater. The row located could be the RID or the Clustered index key, depending up on the absence or presence of clustered index on the table.

If you create an index on each column of a table, it improves the query performance, as the query optimizer can choose from all the existing indexes to come up with an efficient execution plan. At the same time, data modification operations (such as INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) will become slow, as every time data changes in the table, all the indexes need to be updated. Another disadvantage is that, indexes need disk space, the more indexes you have, more disk space is used.

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. MSDN has some information about RAID levels and for detailed information, check out the RAID advisory board's homepage

What are the steps you will take to improve performance of a poor performing query?
This is a very open ended question and there could be a lot of reasons behind the poor performance of a query. But some general issues that you could talk about would be: No indexes, table scans, missing or out of date statistics, blocking, excess recompilations of stored procedures, procedures and triggers without SET NOCOUNT ON, poorly written query with unnecessarily complicated joins, too much normalization, excess usage of cursors and temporary tables.

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.

What are the steps you will take, if you are tasked with securing an SQL Server?
Again this is another open ended question. Here are some things you could talk about: Preferring NT authentication, using server, databse and application roles to control access to the data, securing the physical database files using NTFS permissions, using an unguessable SA password, restricting physical access to the SQL Server, renaming the Administrator account on the SQL Server computer, disabling the Guest account, enabling auditing, using multiprotocol encryption, setting up SSL, setting up firewalls, isolating SQL Server from the web server etc.

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.

What is blocking and how would you troubleshoot it?
Blocking happens when one connection from an application holds a lock and a second connection requires a conflicting lock type. This forces the second connection to wait, blocked on the first.

Explain CREATE DATABASE syntax
Many of us are used to craeting databases from the Enterprise Manager or by just issuing the command: CREATE DATABAE MyDB. But what if you have to create a database with two filegroups, one on drive C and the
other on drive D with log on drive E with an initial size of 600 MB and with a growth factor of 15%? That's why being a DBA you should be familiar with the CREATE DATABASE syntax. Check out SQL Server books online for more information.

How to restart SQL Server in single user mode? How to start SQL Server in minimal configuration mode?
SQL Server can be started from command line, using the SQLSERVR.EXE. This EXE has some very important parameters with which a DBA should be familiar with. -m is used for starting SQL Server in single user mode
and -f is used to start the SQL Server in minimal confuguration mode.

As a part of your job, what are the DBCC commands that you commonly use for database maintenance?
DBCC CHECKDB, DBCC CHECKTABLE, DBCC CHECKCATALOG, DBCC CHECKALLOC, DBCC SHOWCONTIG, DBCC SHRINKDATABASE, DBCC SHRINKFILE etc. But there are a whole load of DBCC commands which are very useful for DBAs.

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

Look up SQL Server books online for the following commands: UPDATE STATISTICS, STATS_DATE, DBCC SHOW_STATISTICS, CREATE STATISTICS, DROP STATISTICS, sp_autostats, sp_createstats, sp_updatestats

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, dettaching and attaching databases, replication, DTS, BCP, logshipping, INSERT...SELECT, SELECT...INTO, creating INSERT scripts to generate data.

Explian different types of BACKUPs avaialabe in SQL Server? Given a particular scenario, how would you go about choosing a backup plan?
Types of backups you can create in SQL Sever 7.0+ are Full database backup, differential database backup, transaction log backup, filegroup backup.

What is database replication? What are the different types of replication you can set up in SQL Server?
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:

* Snapshot replication
* Transactional replication (with immediate updating subscribers, with queued updating subscribers)
* Merge replication

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. To know more about this process visit SQL Server service packs and
versions.

What are cursors? Explain different types of cursors. What are the disadvantages of cursors? How can you avoid cursors?
Cursors allow row-by-row prcessing of the resultsets.

Types of cursors: Static, Dynamic, Forward-only, Keyset-driven. See books online for more information.

Disadvantages of cursors: Each time you fetch a row from the cursor, it results in a network roundtrip, where as a normal SELECT query makes only one rowundtrip, however large the resultset is. Cursors are also costly because they require more resources and temporary storage (results in more IO operations). Furthere, there are restrictions on the SELECT statements that can be used with some types of cursors.

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

Another situation in which developers tend to use cursors: 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.

Write down the general syntax for a SELECT statements covering all the options.

Here's the basic syntax:

SELECT select_list
[INTO new_table_]
FROM table_source
[WHERE search_condition]
[GROUP BY group_by__expression]
[HAVING search_condition]
[ORDER BY order__expression [ASC DESC] ]

What is a join and explain different types of joins.
Joins are used in queries to explain how different tables are related. Joins also let you select data from a table depending upon data from another table.

Types of joins: INNER JOINs, OUTER JOINs, CROSS JOINs. OUTER JOINs are further classified as LEFT OUTER JOINS, RIGHT OUTER JOINS and FULL OUTER JOINS.

Can you have a nested transaction?
Yes, very much. Check out BEGIN TRAN, COMMIT, ROLLBACK, SAVE TRAN and @@TRANCOUNT

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. See books online to learn how to create extended stored procedures and how to add them to SQL Server.

Yes, you can instantiate a COM (written in languages like VB, VC++) object from T-SQL by using sp_OACreate stored procedure. Also see books online for sp_OAMethod, sp_OAGetProperty, sp_OASetProperty, sp_OADestroy. For an example of creating a COM object in VB and calling it from T-SQL, see 'My code library' section of this site.

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().

What are triggers? How many triggers you can have on a table? How to invoke a trigger on demand?
Triggers are special kind of stored procedures that get executed automatically when an INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE operation takes place on a table.

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

Triggers can't be invoked on demand. They get triggered only when an Associated action (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) happens on the table on which they are defined.

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.

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. Search SQL Server 2000 books online for INSTEAD OF triggers.

There is a trigger defined for INSERT operations on a table, in an OLTP system. The trigger is written to instantiate a COM object and pass the newly insterted rows to it for some custom processing. What do you think of this implementation? Can this be implemented better?

Instantiating COM objects is a time consuming process and since you are doing it from within a trigger, it slows down the data insertion process. Same is the case with sending emails from triggers. This scenario can be better implemented by logging all the necessary data into a separate table, and have a job which periodically checks this table and does the needful.

What is a self join? Explain it with an example.

Self join is just like any other join, except that two instances of the same table will be joined in the query. Here is an example:
Employees table which contains rows for normal employees as well as managers. So, to find out the managers of all the employees, you need a self join.

CREATE TABLE emp
(
empid int,
mgrid int,
empname char(10)
)

INSERT emp SELECT 1,2,'Vyas'
INSERT emp SELECT 2,3,'Mohan'
INSERT emp SELECT 3,NULL,'Shobha'
INSERT emp SELECT 4,2,'Shridhar'
INSERT emp SELECT 5,2,'Sourabh'

SELECT t1.empname [Employee], t2.empname [Manager]
FROM emp t1, emp t2
WHERE t1.mgrid = t2.empid

Here's an advanced query using a LEFT OUTER JOIN that even returns the employees without managers (super bosses)

SELECT t1.empname [Employee], COALESCE(t2.empname, 'No manager') [Manager]
FROM emp t1
LEFT OUTER JOIN
emp t2
ON
t1.mgrid = t2.empid

ASP.NET 2.0 Interview Materials:

2008-09-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

1.) What is the name of the property of ASP.NET page that you can query to determine that a ASP.NET page is being requested not data being submitted to web server?
A. FirstGet
B. Initialized
C. IncludesData
D. IsPostBack IsPostBack

2.) While creating a Web site with the help of Visual Studio 2005 on a remote computer that does not have Front Page Server Extensions installed, which Web site type will you create in Visual Studio 2005?
A. Remote HTTP
B. File
C. FTP
D. Local HTTPHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

3.) If you want to create a new Web site with the help of Visual Studio 2005 on a Web server that is hosted by your ISP (Internet Services provider) and the Web server has Front Page Server Extensions installed, what type of Web site type would you create in Visual Studio 2005?
A. Local HTTP
B. File
C. FTP
D. Remote HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

4.) For separating server-side code from client-side code on a ASP.NET page, what programming model should you use?
A. Separation model
B. Code-Behind model
C. In-Line model
D. ClientServer model

5.) Asha created a new Web site using Visual Studio 2005 in programming language C#. Later, Asha received an existing Web page from his boss, which consisted of the Contact.aspx file with the Contact.aspx.vb code-behind page. What must Asha do to use these files?
A. Asha can simply add the files Contact.aspx, Contact.aspx.vb into the existing Web site, because ASP.NET 2.0 supports Web sites that have Web pages that were programmed with different languages.
B. The Contact.aspx file will work, but Asha must rewrite the code-behind page using C#.
C. Both files Contact.aspx and Contact.aspx.vb must be rewritten in C#.
D. Asha must create a new Web site that contains these files Contact.aspx and Contact.aspx.vb. Set a Web reference to the new site.

6.) If you want to make a configuration setting change in your server that will affect to all Web and Windows applications on the current machine. Where you will make the changes?
A. Global.asax
B. Web.config
C. Machine.config
D. Global.asax

7.) If you want to make a configuration setting change that will affect only the current Web application. Which file will you change?
A. Web.config that is in the same folder as the Machine.config file
B. Web.config in the root of the Web application
C. Machine.config
D. Global.asax

8.) For making a configuration setting change that will affect only the current Web application. Is there any tool that has a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI)?
A. The Microsoft Management Utility
B. Microsoft Word
C. Visual Studio, using the Tools > Options path
D. Web Site Administration Tool.

9.) How will you identify which event in the ASP.NET Web page life cycle takes the longest time to execute?
A. Turn on ASP.NET trace and run the Web application.
B. Add a few code to each of the page life-cycle events that will print the current time.
C. In the Web.config file, add the monitorTimings attribute and set it to True.
D. In the Web site properties, turn on the performance monitor and run the Web application. After that, open performance monitor to see the timings.

10.) You are interested in examining the data that is posted to the Web server. What trace result section can you use to see this information?
A. Control Tree
B. Headers Collection
C. Form Collection
D. Server Variables

11.) While creating web site you need to add an HTML Web server control to the Web page, you need to drag an HTML element from the ToolBox of Visual Studio 2005 to the Web page and then which of the following tasks you will perform?
A. Right-click the HTML element and click Run=Server.
B. Double-click the HTML element to convert it to an HTML server control.
C. Right-click the HTML element and click Run As Server Control.
D. Click the HTML element and set ServerControl to true in the Properties window.

12.) While testing your ASP.NET web application you noticed that while clicking on CheckBox of one of the web page it does not cause a PostBack; you required that the CheckBox should make PostBack so Web page can be update on the server-side code. How can you make the CheckBox to cause a PostBack?
A. Set the AutoPostBack property to true.
B. Add JavaScript code to call the ForcePostBack method.
C. Set the PostBackAll property of the Web page to true.
D. Add server-side code to listen for the click event from the client.

13.) While writing code in Visual Studio 2005 you creates a new instance of a ASP.NET TextBox server control, what do you need to do to get the TextBox to display on the Web page?
A. Call the ShowControl method on the TextBox.
B. Set the VisibleControl to true on the TextBox.
C. Add the TextBox instance to the form1.Controls collection.
D. Execute the AddControl method on the Web page.

14.) While creating your ASP.NET web based application you want to create multiple RadioButton server controls which should be mutually exclusive, what property of RadioButton server controls you must set?
A. Exclusive
B. MutuallyExclusive
C. Grouped
D. GroupName

15.) While creating an ASP.NET web application with the help of Visual Studio 2005 you are creates a Web page that has several related buttons, such as fast-forward, reverse, play, stop, and pause. There should be one event handler that handles the processes of PostBack from these Button server controls. Other than the normal Submit button, what type of button can you create?
A. OneToMany
B. Command
C. Reset
D. ManyToOne

16.) In the Design view in Visual Studio 2005 of an ASP.NET web page, what is the easiest way to create an event handler for the default event of a ASP.NET server control?
A. Open the code-behind page and write the code.
B. Right-click the control and select Create Handler.
C. Drag an event handler from the ToolBox to the desired control.
D. Double-click the control.

17.) Which of the following represents the best use of the Table, TableRow, and Table-Cell controls?
A. To create and populate a Table in Design view
B. To create a customized control that needs to display data in a tabular fashion
C. To create and populate a Table with images
D. To display a tabular result set

18.) For your ASP.NET web application your graphics designer created elaborate images that show the product lines of your company. Some of graphics of the product line are rectangular, circular, and others are having complex shapes. You need to use these images as a menu on your Web site. What is the best way of incorporating these images into your Web site?
A. Use ImageButton and use the x- and y-coordinates that are returned when the user clicks to figure out what product line the user clicked.
B. Use the Table, TableRow, and TableCell controls, break the image into pieces that are displayed in the cells, and use the TableCell control’s Click event to identify the product line that was clicked.
C. Use the MultiView control and break up the image into pieces that can be displayed in each View control for each product line. Use the Click event of the View to identify the product line that was clicked.
D. Use an ImageMap control and define hot spot areas for each of the product lines. Use the PostBackValue to identify the product line that was clicked.

19.) You are writing ASP.NET 2.0 Web site that collects lots of data from users, and the data collection forms spreads over multiple ASP.NET Web pages. When the user reaches the last page, you need to gather all of data, validate the data, and save the data to the SQL Server database. You have noticed that it can be rather difficult to gather the data that is spread over multiple pages and you want to simplify this application. What is the easiest control to implement that can be used to collect the data on a single Web page?
A. The View control
B. The TextBox control
C. The Wizard control
D. The DataCollection control

20.) In your ASP.NET 2.0 web application you want to display an image that is selected from a collection of images. What approach will you use to implementing this?
A. Use the ImageMap control and randomly select a HotSpot to show or hide.
B. Use the Image control to hold the image and a Calendar control to randomly select a date for each image to be displayed.
C. Use the AdServer control and create an XML file with configuration of the control.
D. Use an ImageButton control to predict randomness of the image to be loaded based on the clicks of the control.

21.) In your ASP.NET web application you want to display a list of clients on a Web page. The client list displays 10 clients at a time, and you require the ability to edit the clients. Which Web control is the best choice for this scenario?
A. The DetailsView control
B. The Table control
C. The GridView control
D. The FormView control

22.) While developing ASP.NET 2.0 web application you want to display a list of parts in a master/detail scenario where the user can select a part number using a list that takes a minimum amount of space on the Web page. When the part is selected, a DetailsView control displays all the information about the part and allows the user to edit the part. Which Web control is the best choice to display the part number list for this scenario?
A. The DropDownList control
B. The RadioButtonList control
C. The FormView control
D. The TextBox control .

23.) While developing ASP.NET 2.0 web application you have a DataSet containing a Customer DataTable and an Order DataTable. You want to easily navigate from an Order DataRow to the Customer who placed the order. What object will allow you to easily navigate from the Order to the Customer?
A. The DataColumn object
B. The DataTable object
C. The DataRow object
D. The DataRelation object.

24.) Which of the following is a requirement when merging modified data into a DataSet?
A. A primary key must be defined on the DataTable objects.
B. The DataSet schemas must match in order to merge.
C. The destination DataSet must be empty prior to merging.
D. A DataSet must be merged into the same DataSet that created it.

25.) You are working with a DataSet and want to be able to display data, sorted different ways. How do you do so?
A. Use the Sort method on the DataTable object.
B. Use the DataSet object’s Sort method.
C. Use a DataView object for each sort.
D. Create a DataTable for each sort, using the DataTable object’s Copy method, and then Sort the result.

26.) Which of the following ways can you proactively clean up a database connection’s resources?
A. Execute the DbConnection object’s Cleanup method.
B. Execute the DbConnection object’s Close method.
C. Assign Nothing (C# null) to the variable that references the DbConnection object. D. Create a using block for the DbConnection object.

27.) What event can you subscribe to if you want to display information from SQL Print statements?
A. InfoMessage
B. MessageReceived
C. PostedMessage
D. NewInfo

28.) To perform asynchronous data access, what must be added to the connection string?
A. BeginExecute=true
B. MultiThreaded=true
C. MultipleActiveResultSets=true
D. Asynchronous=true

29.) Which class can be used to create an XML document from scratch?
A. XmlConvert
B. XmlDocument
C. XmlNew
D. XmlSettings

30.) Which class can be used to perform data type conversion between .NET data types and XML types?
A. XmlType
B. XmlCast
C. XmlConvert
D. XmlSettings

ASP.NET 2.0 Interview Questions & Answers:

2008-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

1. What are the new Data Controls in Asp.net 2.0?
Data access in ASP.NET 2.0 can be accomplished completely declaratively (no code) using the new data-bound and data source controls. There are new data source controls to represent different data backends such as SQL database, business objects, and XML, and there are new data-bound controls for rendering common UI for data, such as gridview, detailsview, and formview.

2. What are the new Navigation Controls in Asp.net 2.0?
The navigation controls provide common UI for navigating between pages in your site, such as treeview, menu, and sitemappath. These controls use the site navigation service in ASP.NET 2.0 to retrieve the custom structure you have defined for your site.

3. What are the new Login Controlsin Asp.net 2.0?
The new login controls provide the building blocks to add authentication and authorization-based UI to your site, such as login forms, create user forms, password retrieval, and custom UI for logged in users or roles. These controls use the built-in membership and role services in ASP.NET 2.0 to interact with the user and role information defined for your site.

4. What are the new Web Part Controls in Asp.net 2.0 ?
Web parts are an exciting new family of controls that enable you to add rich, personalized content and layout to your site, as well as the ability to edit that content and layout directly from your application pages. These controls rely on the personalization services in ASP.NET 2.0 to provide a unique experience for each user in your application.

5. What are Master Pages?
This feature provides the ability to define common structure and interface elements for your site, such as a page header, footer, or navigation bar, in a common location called a "master page", to be shared by many pages in your site. In one simple place you can control the look, feel, and much of functionality for an entire Web site. This improves the maintainability of your site and avoids unnecessary duplication of code for shared site structure or behavior.

6. What are Themes and Skins in 2.0, explain usgae scenario?
The themes and skins features in ASP.NET 2.0 allow for easy customization of your site's look-and-feel. You can define style information in a common location called a "theme", and apply that style information globally to pages or controls in your site. Like Master Pages, this improves the maintainability of your site and avoid unnecessary duplication of code for shared styles.

7. What is a profile object, why is it used?
Using the new personalization services in ASP.NET 2.0 you can easily create customized experiences within Web applications. The Profile object enables developers to easily build strongly-typed, sticky data stores for user accounts and build highly customized, relationship based experiences. At the same time, a developer can leverage Web Parts and the personalization service to enable Web site visitors to completely control the layout and behavior of the site, with the knowledge that the site is completely customized for them. Personalizaton scenarios are now easier to build than ever before and require significantly less code and effort to implement.

8. What is Configuration API?
ASP.NET 2.0 contains new configuration management APIs, enabling users to programmatically build programs or scripts that create, read, and update Web.config and machine.config configuration files.

9. What is MMC Admin Tool?
ASP.NET 2.0 provides a new comprehensive admin tool that plugs into the existing IIS Administration MMC, enabling an administrator to graphically read or change common settings within our XML configuration files.

10. Explain the use of Pre-compilation Tool?
ASP.NET 2.0 delivers a new application deployment utility that enables both developers and administrators to precompile a dynamic ASP.NET application prior to deployment. This precompilation automatically identifies any compilation issues anywhere within the site, as well as enables ASP.NET applications to be deployed without any source being stored on the server (one can optionally remove the content of .aspx files as part of the compile phase), further protecting your intellectual property.

11. How is application management and maintenance improved in Asp.net 2.0?
ASP.NET 2.0 also provides new health-monitoring support to enable administrators to be automatically notified when an application on a server starts to experience problems. New tracing features will enable administrators to capture run-time and request data from a production server to better diagnose issues. ASP.NET 2.0 is delivering features that will enable developers and administrators to simplify the day-to-day management and maintenance of their Web applications.

12. What are Provider-driven Application Services? explain in detail?
ASP.NET 2.0 now includes built-in support for membership (user name/password credential storage) and role management services out of the box. The new personalization service enables quick storage/retrieval of user settings and preferences, facilitating rich customization with minimal code. The new site navigation system enables developers to quickly build link structures consistently across a site. As all of these services are provider-driven, they can be easily swapped out and replaced with your own custom implementation. With this extensibility option, you have complete control over the data store and schema that drives these rich application services.

13. Explain Server Control Extensibility with reference to Asp.net 2.0 ?
ASP.NET 2.0 includes improved support for control extensibility, such as more base classes that encapsulate common behaviors, improved designer support, more APIs for interacting with client-side script, metadata-driven support for new features like themes and accessibility verification, better state management, and more.

14. What are the Data Source Controls?
Data access in ASP.NET 2.0 is now performed declaratively using data source controls on a page. In this model, support for new data backend storage providers can be easily added by implementing custom data source controls. Additionally, the SqlDataSource control that ships in the box has built-in support for any ADO.NET managed provider that implements the new provider factory model in ADO.NET.

15. What are Compilation Build Providers?
Dynamic compilation in ASP.NET 2.0 is now handled by extensible compilation build providers, which associate a particular file extension with a handler that knows how to compile that extension dynamically at runtime. For example, .resx files can be dynamically compiled to resources, .wsdl files to web service proxies, and .xsd files to typed DataSet objects. In addition to the built-in support, it is easy to add support for additional extensions by implementing a custom build provider and registering it in Web.config.

16. What is Expression Builders, why would you use it?
ASP.NET 2.0 introduces a declarative new syntax for referencing code to substitute values into the page, called Expression Builders. ASP.NET 2.0 includes expression builders for referencing string resources for localization, connection strings, application settings, and profile values. You can also write your own expression builders to create your own custom syntax to substitute values in a page rendering.

17. Is ASP.NET 64-Bit enabled? how?
ASP.NET 2.0 is now 64-bit enabled, meaning it can take advantage of the full memory address space of new 64-bit processors and servers. Developers can simply copy existing 32-bit ASP.NET applications onto a 64-bit ASP.NET 2.0 server and have them automatically be JIT compiled and executed as native 64-bit applications (no source code changes or manual re-compile are required).

18. Explain how Caching in Asp.net 2.0 is different from Caching in Asp.net 1.1?
ASP.NET 2.0 also now includes automatic database server cache invalidation. This powerful and easy-to-use feature allows developers to aggressively output cache database-driven page and partial page content within a site and have ASP.NET automatically invalidate these cache entries and refresh the content whenever the back-end database changes. Developers can now safely cache time-critical content for long periods without worrying about serving visitors stale data.

.Net Remoting

2008-06-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

OverView:

Distributed application is a set of components distributed across network and work as if all the components are there on the same computer. These components based technologies can be developed using DCOM, CORBA, RMI etc. These technologies are good for intranet environment. Microsoft has provided suitable framework for developing distributed application through .Net Remoting and Web Services. Remoting.net allows components to interact across application domains, processes, and machine boundaries. It enables your applications to take advantage of remote resources in a networked environment. Web Services are best suited when clients outside the firewall calling components on the server over the Internet.Remoting.Net is the best solution when clients and components are inside the firewall. It requires the client to be built using .NET which means it can’t work in heterogeneous environments. .Net Remoting uses channels (HTTP and TCP channels) to transport messages to and from remotable objects. The HTTP channel uses the SOAP protocol to transport messages which means all messages are serialized to XML. The TCP channel uses a binary stream to transport the messages. .Net Remoting supports two activation modes: Singleton and SingleCall. Singleton mode allows only one instance of an object at any time which means all requests are serviced by the single instance. You can maintain state across each request using this mode. SingleCall Mode creates a new instance of the object for each client request and are stateless. .NET Remoting when hosted with IIS, can use all the security features of ASP.NET. But you need to implement your own security features for the application if channel is hosted in the process other than aspnet_wp.exe.

When to use .Net Remoting over Web services.

Net Remoting provides distributed solution for a corporate use. So, if you need distributed environment to be implemented for internal use, .Net remoting is the best choice. If you require a faster distributed solution, .Net Remoting with TCP protocal using binary format is faster than Web services. .Net Remoting is better solution when large transfer of data is required.

What is .Net Remoting?
.Net Remoting enables communication between applications across separate domains or networks. .Net objects are exposed to remote processes to have interprocess communication. With remoting, we can use TCP or HTTP communications protocols on any port. We can use text or binary formatting. .Net Remoting supports server activated (single call and singleton) as well as client activated objects.

Describe the .Net Remoting Architecture.
.Net Remoing allows communication between server and client objects. To facilitate this, when new instance of remote object is created in the client application, the client receives reference (called proxy) to the server object. This proxy object contains references to all the methods and properties of the server object. When the client object calls any method (the call actually on proxy object), which resolves the references and invokes server object, receives the result and pass on to the client application.

What are the remotable and non-remotable objects in .Net Remoting.
The remotable objects are the objects which can be distributed accross domains, can be used with domain. The non-remotable objects are the objects which can't be distributed accross domains. In distributed system, if an object is very big, we can make it non-remotable object.
Describe the type of remotable objects in .Net Remoting.
Marshal-by-value-objects - When client calls a method on marshal-by-value-object, the remoting system creates a copy of this object and passes the copy to the client application domain. The copy hence received can handle any method call in client domain. Using Marshal-by-value-object reduces resource consuming trip across network. Marshal-by-reference-object - When client calls a method on Marshal by reference object, the remoting system create proxy object in the caller application that contains the reference of all method and properties of the object.

What are the types of activation modes in .Net remoting?
Server Activation Mode: In this mode, objects are created on the server when we call a method in the server class and not when we create instance using new. In this type of scenario, the client is always connected with server but the services are activated only when we call the method of the server class. We can create server activated object as a Singleton or SingleCall object. If we create server object as singleton, a single instance will manage all the clients. If we create server object as singlecall, the remoting system creates object each time a client method invokes a remote object.
Client Activation Mode: This object gets created when we create instance using new keyword. In this mode, client application domain defines the lifetimes of client activated objects. The client domain defines the lifetimes of client-activated objects. They use lifetime leases to determine the duration of their existence and after the lifetime expires, the object is marked for GC.

Describe the term Channel in .Net Remoting.
In .Net Remoting, an application use Channel to send message to another application which is runing in different domain or process. Before sending message, Channel converts message into appropriate format like XML or binary format. The channel that carries message(Mashalled parameter) can use protocal like TCP and HTTP. Channel can be HTTPChannel and TCPChannel. The HTTPChannel use soapFormatter to serialize messages into the XML format using SOAP protocal. Using SOAP method allows the client to call method on the remote object that might not be using .Net framework. The TCPChannel use binaryFormatter to serialize message into binary stream.

How does .Net Remoting works?
Remoting.Net allows components to interact across application domains, processes, and machine boundaries, thus allows applications to access remote resources in a networked environment. The interaction of components is made possible through proxy in remoting architecture. When a client calls the remote method, it’s the proxy that receives the call. The proxy then encodes the message using formatter. The messages are then sent over the channel to the server process where listening channel receives the call and passes it to the remoting system. The requested method is then invoked and results are returned back to the client.
.Net Remoting provides an infrastructure where objects of different AppDomains can interact. A client interacts with server object using .Net Remoting architecture. An object interacts with other objects outside AppDomains using proxy since the objects can't access directly anything outside AppDomain.
Point to be noted.A remote object is implemented by inheriting MarshalByRefObject class.A client has to obtain proxy activating a remote object by calling CreateInstance, GetObject, or new.Local objects can be passed as parameters when making remote calls. Local objects are passed by value in a remote call.The object passed as parameter in a remote call must be serialized.
Activation ModelYou need to activate remote object before use. There are two activation modes in .Net RemotingServer Activation In this mode, objects are created automatically when a client attempts to access the object. The object doesn't get created when you use new keyword to create instance of the server class. Client ActivationIn this mode, objects are created when you use new keyword to create instance of the server class.
A server object is created and deployed on the network that serves client requests. The server objects have to be registered with the CLR before it can be accessed by client. The details that have to be provided to the CLR are
Name of the assembly that should be loaded to activate the objectThe namespace and type name of the objectThe name of the endpoint where the object can be accessed The channels to be used by client to communicate have to be registered.The registered channels then start listening for clients to connect.
Once a remote object has been deployed, clients can connect and invoke methods on the server object.
In order to access remote object, the client first activates the object by calling new, GetObject, or CreateInstance. On activation request, a proxy is created to represent the remote object. The client message in the serialized form is transported to the server. The type of serialization depends on the channel. For example, when the HTTP channel is used, all messages are serialized to XML and transported over SOAP. On the other hand, TCP uses binary serialization.
On the server side, the requested method is then invoked and results are packaged in a message and returned back by to the client. If the target object is of type SingleCall, it will automatically be garbage collected after the call completes.

Approaches to access server objects in Remoting.Net
First one to have copy of server object on the client machine and accessing local copy of object to call method. This method is good suited when the object is not very big not having too many methods. Copying big object is wastage of client resources which includes network resources and processing time. The second approach is to create a proxy object that returns reference of all the methods and properties of server object in the client domain. The proxy acts as local object, fake server object on the client machine. Any method call from the client will be served by proxy which in turn access server domain to get response from server object. This approach is good when the object is big with many methods.

.Net Remoting Interview

2008-06-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

DCOM vs .Net Remoting
.Net Remoting is the successor of Distributed component object Model(DCOM). Both these technology are introduced by Microsoft that enable inter-process communication across application domains. DCOM was very successful technology. But it is never treated as best technology for inter-process communication because of lack of its support for interoperability across platform.
.Net Remoting is a new technology that ship with .Net Framework. It has all those features which are missing in DCOM. There are other pain involve with DCOM such as difficult to control format or channels, message trace is painful, change in configuration setting such as channels or port is not easy. DCOM is hard to learn and complicated to deploy and to maintain.

Differences between these two technologies are as follows.
DCOM technology is based on the COM architecture whereas .NET Remoting is primarily based on .NET Frameworks.DCOM is based on proprietary binary protocol which is not supported by all object model, thus has big drawbacks in the internet world.
DCOM is based on RPC protocol whereas .Net Remoting can use TCP or HTTP protocol which is stardard protocal in the market.
DCOM is not firewall friendly, can't choose port. .Net Remoting, on the other hand, works easily across firewalls.
.Net Remoting supports cross platform communication which is not possible with DCOM (only for windows platform).
Components created DCOM involves complex deployment in windows registries whereas .Net Remoting involves easy deployment using either xml based configuration file or programmatically in the code.
DCOM uses windows security features whereas .Net Remoting can use security features of IIS if hosted with ASP.NET. .Net Remoting, if hosted other than ASP worker process, allows to create own security mechanism for the application.
In DCOM, server is started by Service Control Manager (SCM) upon receiving the activation request from the client whereas in .Net Remoting, IIS is responsible to start server service. If not hosted with IIS then client request will fail if the Remoting server is not already started.
DCOM manages remote object lifetime by frequent pinging of clients whereas .Net Remoting has more efficient leasing mechanisms to maintain object lifetime.

Define windows process:
A process is an instance of a running application.Each process is allocated its own block of available RAM space.No process can access another process code or data. If the process crashes, it dies alone without taking the entire OS or a bunch of other applications down.

Define channels in .NET Remoting
Channels represent the objects that transfer the other serialized objects from one application domain to another and from one computer to another, as well as one process to another on the same box. A channel must exist before an object can be transferred.

What security means available for .NET Remoting in System.Runtime.Remoting?
None. Security should be taken care of at the application level. Cryptography and other security techniques can be applied at application or server level.

What is a formatter in .Net Remoting?
A formatter is an object that is responsible for encoding and serializing data into messages on one end, and deserializing and decoding messages into data on the other end.

.NET Remoting and Web services.
Use remoting for more efficient exchange of information when you control both ends of the application. Use Web services for open-protocol-based information exchange when you are just a client or a server with the other end belonging to someone else.

Name the distributed systems available apart from .Net Remoting.
Distributed Computing Environment/Remote Procedure Calls (DEC/RPC),Microsoft Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), and Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

How do you implement distributed applications in .NET?
.NET Remoting and ASP.NET Web Services.Classes for the same are in System.Runtime.Remoting and System.Web.Services.

Define proxy in .NET Remoting.
Its a fake copy of the server object that resides on the client side and behaves as if it was the server. It handles the communication between real server object and the client object. This process is also known as marshaling.

Define remotable objects in .NET Remoting.

Remotable objects are the objects that can be marshaled across the application domains.You can marshal by value, where a copy of the object is created and then passed to the receiver. You can also marshal by reference, where just a reference to an existing object is passed.

Define SingleCall activation mode in .Net Remoting.
If the server object is instantiated for responding to just one single request, the request should be made in SingleCall mode.

Define Singleton activation mode in .Net Remoting.
A single object is instantiated regardless of the number of clients accessing it. Lifetime of this object is determined by lifetime lease.

Define the lease of the object.
By implementing ILease interface when writing the class code.

.NET Remoting versus Distributed COM
.NET Remoting is the successor of DCOM. Microsoft DCOM is a solution for distributed object and very good in terms of performance when components are in the same network. But its drawbacks in the internet connected world are visible. It uses proprietary binary protocol which is not supported by other object models, thus can't support interoperability across platform. .NET Remoting uses TCP or HTTP protocol that is supported by most of the object models. This allows .NET Remoting to be adaptable to the network environment in which it is being used.

Advantage of Remoting over Web Services
.NET Remoting allows objects to interact that can be hosted in different application domain within the same process or different process. The objects can also interact over intranet or internet. It supports many different protocols unlike Web Services that works over SOAP/HTTP protocol. .Net Remoting can work on TCP protocol that provides speed benefit from its counterpart. Being tied up with IIS, .Net Web service can only work with producer /consumer model whereas .Net Remoting can share objects from any type of application. .Net Remoting being part of .Net Framework support full .Net type system and can expose any object to the client. .Net Web Service supports on those types that can be expressed with XSD.

When should we choose .Net Remoting over .Net Web Services?
.Net Remoting provides distributed solution for a corporate use. So, if you need distributed environment to be implemented for internal use, .Net remoting is the best choice.
If you require a faster distributed solution, .Net Remoting with TCP protocal using binary format is faster than Web services. .Net Remoting is better solution when large transfer of data is required. Web Services provide an open-protocol-based exchange of information. Web Services are best when you need to communicate with an external organization or non .NET technology.

What are the ways to configure Remoting objects before client can use them?
There are two ways that the remoting objects can be configured. They can be configured by calling configuration methods inside the application. .Net Framework allows configuring objects also by adding configuration section in the application configuration file or machine.config file. Application-level XML settings take precedence over machine.config. When you apply any change in the configuration section, you don’t need to recompile the code. On the other hand, any change in the setting applied programmatically would require recompiling the code.

Define Delegates.
A delegate acts like a strongly type function pointer. Delegates can invoke the methods that they reference without making explicit calls to those methods. It is type safe since it holds reference of only those methods that match its signature. Unlike other classes, the delegate class has a signature. Delegates are used to implement event programming model in .NET application. Delegates enable the methods that listen for an event, to be abstract.

Define Events.
Events are one of the members of the class. When any noteworthy activity occurs in the application, an event is raised which sends out the message to the other part of the application which handles the event. The event can carry arguments that contain information about the event. The method which handles the event must have the same signature as the event itself. Events are commonly used in the applications with graphical user interface elements such as buttons, textbox etc. An event is triggered when any action such as mouse click occurred in the interface element. The event-based programming model can be used in the non-GUI applications such as .NET Remoting application. An event in remoting.net occurs when the state of the application changes.

What is asynchronous programming?
.Net Remoting supports asynchronous programming. In this model, a call is made to a class method while the calling program continues to execute. This increase application speed as the application continues to execute without waiting for the called methods to finish execution.

When do we use delegates in your remoting applications?
You use delegates to implement callback functions, event programming, and asynchronous programming in your remoting applications. Events use delegates to enable callback functions to the client in remoting applications.

What are the ways to renew lifetime leases of objects?
A client can renew the lifetime lease of an object by calling the ILease.Renew method.

What are the types of remotable objects?
The two types of remotable objects are
Marshal-by-value objects - These objects are copied and passed by value out of the application domain. When client calls a method on marshal-by-value-object, the remoting system creates a copy of this object and passes the copy to the client application domain. The copy hence received can handle any method call in client domain. Using Marshal-by-value-object reduces resource consuming trip across network.
Marshal-by-reference objects - The clients that use these objects need a proxy to access the object remotely. When client calls a method on Marshal by reference object, the remoting system create proxy object in the caller application that contains the reference of all method and properties of the object.

What are the Security features in .Net Remoting.
.Net Remoting is integral part of .Net Framework, so it has access to all security features of Framework. If remoting objects are hosted using IIS, it leverages the entire authentication and authorization features that are available to Web based protocols. If hosted other than HTTP protocols over IIS, then you have the opportunity to create your own security infrastructure.

What are the information required to configure remote objects?
Following information to be provide to configure remote object.
Activation type for the remote object Channels URL of the remote object Type metadata of the remote object .

Explain Serialization Formatters in .NET Remoting.
In .Net Remoting, the objects are shared over distributed network. The objects are transmitted in serialized form. The objects are first serialized into message data before it is sent with the wire. On the other end of the wire, this serialized data is read and desterilized back to the actual object. This process of converting objects into message data is done by serialization formatters. .Net Remoting supports two formatters. SOAP FormatterBinary FormatterSOAP Formatter converts objects into XML string whereas Binary Formatter converts an object's state into a binary stream. The binary serialization formatter is slightly faster.

What are the requirements to enable remote components to interact each other?
To enable communication between objects across remoting boundaries, you need to have A server object to expose service A client that calls server object to consume service A message transmission protocol

Steps to publish an object outside the service domain.
To publish a service outside the service domain, you need to:
Identify the application domain that will host the service. Identify the activation model: server activation or client activation. Identify and create a channel and a port. Identify how the client application obtains the metadata information about the service.

Define Client Activated Objects (CAO).
Client-activated objects are objects whose lifetimes are controlled by the client, i.e. calling application domain. This mode works in similar fashion to the model where object is local to the client and referenced object's lifetime is controlled by the calling object. When instance of server object is created, object reference is obtained in the form of proxy.
In COM model, clients hold an object in memory by holding a reference to it. The object is released from the memory when the entire client releases the reference. But in .Net Remoting, client-activated objects use lifetime leases to determine how long they should continue to exist. When a client creates a remote object, it can specify a default length of time that the object should exist. If the remote object reaches its default lifetime limit, it contacts the client to ask whether it should continue to exist, and if so, for how much longer. If the client is not currently available, a default time is also specified for how long the server object should wait while trying to contact the client before marking itself for garbage collection. The client might even request an indefinite default lifetime. Client-activated instances serve only the client and the reference that was responsible for their creation.
To create an instance of a client-activated type, clients either configure their application programmatically or using a configuration file and call new, or they pass the remote object's configuration in a call to Activator.CreateInstance.

Explain Marshalling and its types in .Net Remoting.
Objects can't be transmitted as such over communication channel. The objects are packed into message buffer before transmitted. This process is called marshalling. There are two different ways to Marshal objects:
Marshal by Value: Server creates copy of the remoting object's state and passes it to the client. You need to implement your classes to have marshal by value features either by implementing ISerializable interface or using attribute. Here you need to copy whole object to the client which means with large size object, the communication overhead is significant.
Marshal by Reference: In this type proxy is created by the reference of the server objects. Class must extend the System.MarshalByRefObject to implement marshal by reference. Here, client keeps server object reference which means round trip to server with each method call.

Summary of .Net Remoting
.Net enables interaction between applications over distributed network.
To develop a Remoting application, you need to create client and server objects. You need to activate the objects and use reference of the server objects in client to communicate.
Channels allow application to send and receive messages using protocal like TCP or HTTP.
You can use delegates in Remoting application to implement event based programming and asynchronous programming.
Asynchronous programming in Remoting application helps to calls remote methods while client continues to execute other local method.
To host remote object, server needs some information about the objects.
The information can be provided programmatically in the code or can be loaded from configuration section of application configuration file or machine.config file.
Being part of .Net Framework, .Net Remoting can implement role based security. Moreover, it can leverage all security features of ASP.NET, if it hosted in ASP.NET.

XML Interview

2008-05-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

Difference between XML and HTML:
HTML is Presentation Language, it is not case sensitive, every tag need not have an ending tag, we cannot write our own Tags.In XML, Every tag must have an ending tag, We can write our own tags, It is case sensitive.

XML and Binary Serialization:
XMLSerialization is called Shallow Serialization because it can serialize only public fieldsSoap Serialization and Binary Serialization techniques are called Deep Serialization because it serialize the object containing reference.

How would you build a search engine for large volumes of XML data?
The way candidates answer this question may provide insight into their view of XML data. For those who view XML primarily as a way to denote structure for text files, a common answer is to build a full-text search and handle the data similarly to the way Internet portals handle HTML pages. Others consider XML as a standard way of transferring structured data between disparate systems. These candidates often describe some scheme of importing XML into a relational or object database and relying on the database's engine for searching. Lastly, candidates that have worked with vendors specializing in this area often say that the best way the handle this situation is to use a third party software package optimized for XML data.
Obviously, some important areas of XML technologies were not included in this list -- namespaces, XPointer, XLink, and so on -- and should be added to the interviewer's set of questions if applicable to the particular position that the candidate is applying for. However, these questions in conjunction with others to assess soft skills (communication skills, ability to work on teams, leadership ability, etc.) will help determine how well candidates understand the fundamental principles of XML.

What is XQuery?
Xquery is a query language that is used to retrieve data from XML documents.
XQuery is a way to query the XML data, It is built on XPath expressions and is supported by quite a few database engines.
It can find and extract elements and attributes from XML documents.
XQuery is written in FLWOR fashion which stands for: For, Let, Where, Order by, Return
An example of XQuery is:for $x in doc("abc.xml")/abc_namewhere $x/a>30order by $x/breturn $x/c.

What is XPATH?
XPath is a language that describes how to locate specific elements (and attributes, processing instructions, etc.) in a document.
An XSL sublanguage designed to uniquely identify or address parts of a source XML document, for use with XSLT.
It is based on a tree representation of XML document. It provides the ability to navigate around the tree and to select the nodes by a variety of criteria.
The simplest XPath is /A/B/C where C is the child of B, B child of A.

What is a CDATA section in XML?
CDATA - (Unparsed) Character DataThe term CDATA is used when you dont want some text data to be parsed by the XML parser.
A CDATA section starts with "":

What is XSL?
XSL is a language for expressing style sheets. An XSL style sheet is a file that describes the way to display an XML document.
Using XSL stylesheets, we can separate the XML document content and its styling.
An XSL style sheet begins with the XML declaration: defines that the document is an XSLT style sheet document.The element defines a template.

Define CSS and XSL.
XSL is a language for expressing style sheets. An XSL style sheet is a file that describes the way to display an XML document.
Cascading Style Sheets is an answer to the limitations of HTML, where the structure of documents was defined and not the display. CSS formats documents for display in browsers that support it.

How do you display XML with XSLT?
First you need to declare the XSL style sheet:

Then,you create an XSL Style Sheet with a transformation template.Add the XSL style sheet reference to your XML document to link them.

What is XMLA ?
XML for Analysis, It is a Microsoft specified XML-messaging-based protocol for exchanging analytical data between client applications and servers using HTTP and SOAP as a service on the Web.

What is XML Namespace?
An XSL sheet or a document may have duplicate elements and attributes. Therefore, the XML namespaces define a way to distinguish between duplicate element types and attribute names.An XML namespace is a collection of element type and attribute names. It is a URI due to which any element type or attribute name in an XML namespace can be uniquely identified. It consists of two parts : the name of the XML namespace and the local name.
e.g.: xmlns: h=”http://www.abc.com”After this, you can write……..to associate the table with the declared namespace.

What is XML data binding?
XML data binding refers to the process of representing the information in an XML document as an object in computer memory.
The limitations of data binding include round tripping of elements and attributes. XML data binding product generates documents that are invalid because of sibling order. They do not preserve physical constructs. They do not preserve comments and processing instructions.

What is XML Serialization and Binary Serialization?
XML Serialization makes it possible to convert any common language runtime objects into XML documents or streams and vise versa.
The XML Serialization enables it to convert XML documents into such a meaningful format that the programming languages can process the converted documents with ease.
Binary serialization converts the files to a binay format. In this case all the data get converted into a binary format which is not a human readable format. In binary serialization entire object state is saved, instance identity is preserved and it graphs with multiple references can be handled in this.
XML serialization doesnt allow these things.

What are XML indexes and secondary XML indexes?
The primary XML index is a B+tree and is useful because the optimizer creates a plan for the entire query.
It is always better to split the entire XML columns into relational rows and columns.
The primary XML index contains one row for each node in the XML instance.
The secondary XML indexes can be created to enhance the performance.There are the types of secondary indexes:
PATH secondary XML indexIf the use of path expressions on XML columns is prominant, the PATH secondary XML index can speed up the task.
VALUE secondary XML indexThe VALUE index can be used if your task involves quering unknown attribute names.
PROPERTY secondary XML indexClustering paths within each XML instance in the PROPERTY index can be beneficial when multiple values are retrieved from individual XML instances.

List the rules to be followed by an XML document.
Following rules need to be followed by an XML document:
They must have a root tag, the document should be well formed : the tags should be properly closed, since XML is case sensitive, one should take care that the documents are written with proper care and the attribute values should be inside “”
Explain about XML Canonicalization.
AnswerCanonicalization refers to finding the simplified form of an XML document.
XML files may not contain the same sequence of characters (bytes or octets) even if they are logically equivalent. This is where we need to canonicalize them and check their canonical forms.
Steps to canonicalize an XML document
Encoding schemes should represent characters by octets.XML documents should be encoded in UTF-8 encoding.
The canonical form needs all line breaks to be #xA.
All attributes need to be normalized in canonical form.

What is the XMLHttpRequest Object?
The XMLHttpRequest object is used to connect to the server through http. Scripts use it to do so programmatically.
The EventTarget interface needs to be implemented if an object implements the XMLHttpRequest interface. Also, an XMLHttpRequest() constructor needs to be provided by objects that implement the Window interface.

Explain common XMLHttpRequest Object Properties. i.e. onreadystatechange, readyState, responseText, responseXML, status, statusText.
The ‘onreadystatechange’ property fires at every state change event.
The ‘readyState’ property is an object status integer. It uses the integers 0 to 4 for uninitialized, loading, loaded, interactive and complete states.
The ‘responseText’ property is a string version of data returned from server process.
The ‘responseXML’ property is DOM-compatible document object of data returned from server process.
The ‘status’ property is for returning numeric codes from the server like error codes, etc.
The ‘statusText’ property is used for string messages that accompany the status code.

Explain common XMLHttpRequest Object Methods.
The abort() is used to stop the current request.
The getAllResponseHeaders() method is used to return the full set of headers as a string.
The getResponseHeader("headerLabel") method is used to return the string value of a single header label.
The open("method", "URL"[, asyncFlag[, "userName"[, "password"]]]) is used to assign the destination URL, method, and other optional attributes of a request.
The send(content) method transmits the request, optionally with postable string or the data of DOM object.
The setRequestHeader("label", "value") method is used to assign a label/value pair to the header to be sent with a request.

Why the need for XHTML?
If a script in an HTML document is not well formed, small devices like mobile phones fail to display the content properly. Also, upgrading all the browsers to support XML is a timely affair. An intermediate solution is XHTML that is a combination of HTML and XML. In XTML the content has to be well formed so that there is no bad HTML.

XHTML vs HTML
XHTMLElements must be properly nestedElements must be closedElements must be in lowercaseDocuments must have one root element
HTMLElements need not be properly nestedElements need not be always closedElements need not be in lowercaseDocuments need not have one root element.

Explain the XHTML syntax rules.
Some Syntax rules that need to be followed with XHTML are:
That Attribute names must be in lower case, their values must be in quotes and their minimization is done away from usage.
Also the ‘name’ attribute has been replaced by the ‘id’ attribute. The XHTML DTD defines mandatory elements.

Explain XML Attributes with an example.
The attributes in XML provide additional information about elements. Take a look at the following example:

XML Elements vs. Attributes.
XML elements as well as attributes can be used to provide the same information about an entity in an XML database. The only difference lies in the way they are written. For example:
..... is an example of using attributes. The same information can be provided in the element form as follows:Da Vinci Code.

What are the problems with using XML attributes?
It is preferred storing the data using the XML elemental form as it becomes very convenient to access and modify the data. Also the use of attributes is limited as they cannot contain multiple values, cannot contain tree structures nor are expandable.

What is the DOM?
DOM is a platform independent, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard form of representation of structured documents as an object-oriented model. It is an application programming interface so as to access HTML and XML documents.

What is the HTML DOM?
The HTML DOM API specializes and adds the functionality to relate to HTML documents and elements. It addresses the issues of backwards compatibility with the Level 0 of DOM and provides mechanisms for common and frequent operations on HTML documents.

What is the XML DOM?
Microsoft’s MSXML DOM provides an API for working with XML data. It also provides a programmatic representation of XML documents, fragments, nodes, or node-sets. It is a W3C standard form of XML representation. XML DOM objects can be used in XML applications written in C/C++, VB, VBScript and JScript.

What is an XML encoding error?
XML documents can contain non ASCII characters, like Norwegian æ ø å , or French ê è é which introduce errors.
The 2 types are:An invalid character was found in text content.Switch from current encoding to specified encoding not supported.
You can avoid these errors by specifying the XML encoding Unicode.

Ajax Interview Materials

2008-05-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

What is AJAX and what problem does it solve?
Ajax is a set of client side technologies that allows asynchronous communication between client and web server. In synchronous communication, complete round trip happens with each request/response action event when small data of the page to be refreshed. Ajax has solved this problem of posting entire information every time through asynchronous communication.
XmlHttpRequest is the basic fundamental behind Ajax. This allows browser to communicate with server without making post backs.

What is AJAX and what problem does it solve?
Ajax is a set of client side technologies that allows asynchronous communication between client and web server. In synchronous communication, complete round trip happens with each request/response action event when small data of the page to be refreshed. Ajax has solved this problem of posting entire information every time through asynchronous communication.
XmlHttpRequest is the basic fundamental behind Ajax. This allows browser to communicate with server without making post backs.

What is AJAX and what problem does it solve?
Ajax is a set of client side technologies that allows asynchronous communication between client and web server. In synchronous communication, complete round trip happens with each request/response action event when small data of the page to be refreshed. Ajax has solved this problem of posting entire information every time through asynchronous communication.
XmlHttpRequest is the basic fundamental behind Ajax. This allows browser to communicate with server without making post backs.

What is AJAX and what problem does it solve?
Ajax is a set of client side technologies that allows asynchronous communication between client and web server. In synchronous communication, complete round trip happens with each request/response action event when small data of the page to be refreshed. Ajax has solved this problem of posting entire information every time through asynchronous communication.
XmlHttpRequest is the basic fundamental behind Ajax. This allows browser to communicate with server without making post backs.

What is the role of Script Manager in Ajax?
Script Manager, as the name suggests is used to manage the client side script of Ajax. Since Ajax uses Java Script, there needs to be a mediator to manage this script and restrict a particular version to a browser. A Script manager is present on every page where Ajax is used to enable the Ajax Libraries. These Libraries in turn helps to implement the core Functionality of Ajax: Partial rendering.

List out differences between AJAX and JavaScript.
Ajax is Asynchronous Java Script and XML. Here on sending request to the server, one needn’t wait for the response. Other operations on the page can be carried out. Hence, Asynchronous. On the other hand, Java script sends an HTTPRequest to the server and waits for the XML response.
E.g. populating State field. Using JavaScript we need to use the “Onchnage” event where as using ajax, the request is just sent to populate the state list. Other operations can be carried out on the page.
Ajax is a part of Java Script programming. Java Script is used to manage and control a web page once downloaded. Ajax does not need to wait for the whole page to download.
Use of Ajax can reduce connections to the server since the script has to be requested once.

Describe how to create AJAX objects.
Ajax Objects can be created by the following syntax:
Var ajax= New ajaxObject(‘page path’). Here page path is the URL you want the Object to call. The URL must be of the same domain as the webpage.

What is XMLHttpRequest object ?
XMLHttpRequest object is used to transfer data between a client and a server. Here the client can be a web browser. Here, the client can send and receive data without reloading the page.
It can be created as follow
Var request = new XMLHttpRequest ()

Describe the formats and protocols used by AJAX.
Ajax uses HTTP’s GET or POST. AJAX also uses XMLHttpRequest protocol for requesting to the web server.
AJAX uses JSON format to communicate between client and server. UED or URL encoded data formats can also be used.

What are the security issues with AJAX?
AJAX function calls are sent in plain text to server. These calls may easily reveal database details, variable names etc
User’s browsing session can be monitored my maliciously inserting scripts
Ajax may encourage developers to use multiple server side pages thereby introducing multiple entry points for attackers.

Describe how to handle concurrent AJAX requests.
JavaScipt closures can be used for handling concurrent requests. A function can be written to handle such requests. Once processing of code is over, URL and the call back function to call can be passed as parameters. These parameters are passed to the AJAXInteraction(url, callback) object. Closures insure that the proper callback function associated with a specific AJAX interaction is called.

How do you know that an AJAX request has completed?
By determining the readyState property value of XMLHttpReqyest, One can know if the request is completed. If the readyState value = 4, the request has been completed and the data is available.

Explain about the Response time when we are using this language?
Response time is also known as latency which can be described as the time taken or interval between the time taken to process the request generated from the client on the server. Proper handling of the XMLHttprequestobject might be the cause for some delays between the client and server request.

Explain about the onreadystatechange property?
Onreadystatechange property is very useful in Ajax. It stores information received from the client. It stores the function which can process the request generated from the client side in the server thereby reducing the time lag and increasing the efficiency of the process.

Explain about the readystate property?
Readystate property holds the response of the server to the query generated from the client side. Each time the readystate property changes onreadystatechange function will be executed. Some of the values for the readystate property are as follows if the status is zero the request is not initialized, 1 the request has been set up, 2 the request has been sent, 3 the request is in process, 4 the request is complete.

Explain about sending a request to the server?
To send a request to the server we should use the open () and send () method. Open() method has three arguments of which the first one defines which method to use which would help in sending the request. The second argument explains about the URL of the server side script. The third argument or request determines how the request should be handled whether asynchronously or not. Send () method is useful to send a request to the server to determine functionality.

If there is an input in the text field what are all the functions which get executed?
The following functions are executed when there is an input in the text field.
1) Defines the url which we should be sent to the server.
2) A parameter is added to the content of the input field.
3) A parameter is added to prevent the server from the cache.
4) When a change is triggered statechange is executed.
5) An XMLHTTP object with a given URL gets executed.
6) A request to the server is sent through HTTP.

Explain how friendly Ajax is with SEO ?
Ajax is a combination of many languages and it is not so friendly with search engine indexing because it uses Javascript for much part of its code. This problem occurs with websites which have dynamic data present in it. Search engines generally do not index Javascript present in web pages. Careful indexing should be done where there is dynamic data and presence of javascript.

Explain about the multimedia functions of ajax?
Ajax lacks built in multimedia functions. It is not so supportive of inbuilt applications but uses other browser functionalities and plugin`s such as SVG, Quicktime and flash pugin. General multimedia for ajax is achieved through mashup and hack. These multimedia functions can be obtained from outside which helps in building excellent applications.

Explain about direct ajax frameworks?
Direct ajax frameworks require CSS, HTML and ajax expertise. Authoring should be done in HTML and framework directly deals with HTML elements. Many of the frameworks and API`s are provided are many purposes such as commonly including functions (COM), event handling, DOM, and altering graphic rich elements. These frameworks are used for shopping frameworks but not for web based applications.

What does an ajax component frameworks provides?
The following features are provided for ajax component frameworks. They areCusomization Applications, skinning facilities, extensibility and programmatic control.These functions are very rich in application but they are a bit slower in execution with less control.

Explain the disadvantage of ajax related to browser integration?
Dynamically created pages created by ajax does not support back button which takes the user to the previous pages. There are various solutions to this problem out of which one solution is to use iframes. Also users can bookmark a certain application in its state. User can maintain the applications as the state of the application changes.

State the difference between GET and POST?
You would use GET when the request is idempotent, meaning that multiple requests generate the same result. In general use GET to retrieve data from the server, in other words try to change the state on the server with a GET call. Use POST methods anytime you are changing the state on the server with a GET call. In POST you are required to set the content-Type header on the XMLHttpRequest.

Explain about security of the Ajax based web applications?
The XMLHttpRequest object is subjected to the browsers security sandbox. Any resources requested by the XMLHttpRequest object must reside within the same domain from which the calling script originated from which the calling script requested. XMLHttpRequest cannot request services due to security restriction, outside the domain from which the script was originally served.

Explain about clearPreviousResults?
The clearPreviousResults function performs two tasks removing the results header task that appears at the top and clearing any rows from the results table. The nest task is to clearPreviousResults is to delete any rows that may already be in the table displaying the search results. Any results rows are child nodes of the tbody node.

Explain about the getElementsByTagName and parseResults function?
You use the tag method to retrieve all the property elements in the XML document as an array and assign the array to the local variable properties. Once you have the array of property elements you can iterate over each element in the array and retrieve the data. With parseResultsfunction you can get the next element in the array and assign it to the local property.

XML Interview Materials

2008-04-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

What is DOM and how does it relate to XML?
The Document Object Model (DOM) is an interface specification maintained by the W3C DOM Workgroup that defines an application independent mechanism to access, parse, or update XML data. In simple terms it is a hierarchical model that allows developers to manipulate XML documents easily. Any developer that has worked extensively with XML should be able to discuss the concept and use of DOM objects freely. Additionally, it is not unreasonable to expect advanced candidates to thoroughly understand its internal workings and be able to explain how DOM differs from an event-based interface like SAX.

What is SOAP and how does it relate to XML?
The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) uses XML to define a protocol for the exchange of information in distributed computing environments. SOAP consists of three components: an envelope, a set of encoding rules, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls. Unless experience with SOAP is a direct requirement for the open position, knowing the specifics of the protocol, or how it can be used in conjunction with HTTP, is not as important as identifying it as a natural application of XML.

Why is XML such an important development?
It removes two constraints which were holding back Web developments:
1. § dependence on a single, inflexible document type (HTML) which was being much abused for tasks it was never designed for;
2. the complexity of full SGML, whose syntax allows many powerful but hard-to-program options.
§ XML allows the flexible development of user-defined document types. It provides a robust, non-proprietary, persistent, and verifiable file format for the storage and transmission of text and data both on and off the Web; and it removes the more complex options of SGML, making it easier to program for.

Give a few examples of types of applications that can benefit from using XML.
There are literally thousands of applications that can benefit from XML technologies. The point of this question is not to have the candidate rattle off a laundry list of projects that they have worked on, but, rather, to allow the candidate to explain the rationale for choosing XML by citing a few real world examples. For instance, one appropriate answer is that XML allows content management systems to store documents independently of their format, which thereby reduces data redundancy. Another answer relates to B2B exchanges or supply chain management systems. In these instances, XML provides a mechanism for multiple companies to exchange data according to an agreed upon set of rules. A third common response involves wireless applications that require WML to render data on hand held devices.
Can you walk me through the steps necessary to parse XML documents?
Superficially, this is a fairly basic question. However, the point is not to determine whether candidates understand the concept of a parser but rather have them walk through the process of parsing XML documents step-by-step. Determining whether a non-validating or validating parser is needed, choosing the appropriate parser, and handling errors are all important aspects to this process that should be included in the candidate's response.
DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
factory.setValidating(true);
DocumentBuilder domBuilder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();
Document doc = domBuilder.parse(XMLFile);

Give some examples of XML DTDs or schemas that you have worked with.
Although XML does not require data to be validated against a DTD, many of the benefits of using the technology are derived from being able to validate XML documents against business or technical architecture rules. Polling for the list of DTDs that developers have worked with provides insight to their general exposure to the technology. The ideal candidate will have knowledge of several of the commonly used DTDs such as FpML, DocBook, HRML, and RDF, as well as experience designing a custom DTD for a particular project where no standard existed.

Is it possible to write the contents of org.w3c.dom.Document object into an .xml file?
Yes its possible. One to achieve this is by using Xerces. Xerces is an XML parser. You would use the following code
org.apache.xml.serialize.OutputFormat format = new org.apache.xml.serialize.OutputFormat(myDocument);
org.apache.xml.serialize.XMLSerializer output = new org.apache.xml.serialize.XMLSerializer(new FileOutputStream(new File("test.xml")), format);
output.serialize(myDocument);

What is the difference between DOM and SAX? What would you use if an option is given?
DOM parses an XML document and returns an instance of org.w3c.dom.Document. This document object's tree must then
be "walked" in order to process the different elements. DOM parses the ENTIRE Document into memory, and then makes it
available to you. The size of the Document you can parse is limited to the memory available.

SAX uses an event callback mechanism requiring you to code methods to handle events thrown by the parser as it
encounters different entities within the XML document. SAX throws events as the Document is being parsed. Only the
current element is actually in memory, so there is no limit to the size of a Document when using SAX.

The specific parser technology that will be used will be determined by the requirements of your application. If you need the
entire document represented, you will most likely use DOM builder implementation. If you only care about parts of the
XML document and/or you only need to parse the document once, you might be better served using SAX implementation.

What is SOAP?
The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) uses XML to define a protocol for the exchange of information in distributed computing environments. SOAP
consists of three components: an envelope, a set of encoding rules, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls.

What is DOM?
The Document Object Model (DOM) is an interface specification maintained by the W3C DOM Workgroup that defines an application independent mechanism
to access, parse, or update XML data. In simple terms it is a hierarchical model that allows developers to manipulate XML documents easily.

Is it necessary to validate XML file against a DTD?
Although XML does not require data to be validated against a DTD, many of the benefits of using the technology are derived from being able to
validate XML documents against business or technical architecture rules.

What is XPath?
XPath stands for XML Path Language
XPath is a syntax for defining parts of an XML document
XPath is used to navigate through elements and attributes in an XML document
XPath contains a library of standard functions
XPath is a major element in XSLT
XPath is designed to be used by both XSLT and XPointer
XPath is a W3C Standard

What is XSL?
XSLT - a language for transforming XML documents
XSLT is used to transform an XML document into another XML document, or another type of document that is recognized by a browser, like HTML and XHTML.
Normally XSLT does this by transforming each XML element into an (X)HTML element.

What is a DTD and a Schema?
The XML Document Type Declaration contains or points to markup declarations that provide a grammar for a class of documents. This grammar is known as a
document type definition or DTD.

The DTD can point to an external subset containing markup declarations, or can contain the markup declarations directly in an internal subset, or can
even do both.
A Schema is:
XML Schemas express shared vocabularies and allow machines to carry out rules made by people. They provide a means for defining the structure, content
and semantics of XML documents.
Schemas are a richer and more powerful of describing information than what is possible with DTDs.

ASP.NET 2.0

2008-04-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

What are Master Pages?
Master pages is a template that is used to create web pages with a consistent layout throughout your application. Master Pages contains content placeholders to hold page specific content. When a page is requested, the contents of a Master page are merged with the content page, thereby giving a consistent layout.

How is a Master Page different from an ASP.NET page?
The MasterPage has a @Master top directive and contains ContentPlaceHolder server controls. It is quiet similar to an ASP.NET page.

How do you attach an exisiting page to a Master page?
By using the MasterPageFile attribute in the @Page directive and removing some markup.

How do you set the title of an ASP.NET page that is attached to a Master Page?
By using the Title property of the @Page directive in the content page. Eg:
<@Page MasterPageFile="Sample.master" Title="I hold content" %>

What is a nested master page? How do you create them?
A Nested master page is a master page associated with another master page. To create a nested master page, set the MasterPageFile attribute of the @Master directive to the name of the .master file of the base master page.

Where do you store your connection string information?
The connection string can be stored in configuration files (web.config).

What is the difference between ‘Web.config’ and ‘Machine.config’?
Web.config files are used to apply configuration settings to a particular web application whereas machine.config file is used to apply configuration settings for all the websites on a web server.Web.config files are located in the application's root directory or inside a folder situated in a lower hierarchy. The machine.config is located in the Windows directory Microsoft.Net\Framework\Version\CONFIG.There can be multiple web.config files in an application nested at different hierarchies. However there can be only one machine.config file on a web server.

What are Themes?
Themes are a collection of CSS files, .skin files, and images. They are text based style definitions and are very similar to CSS, in that they provide a common look and feel throughout the website.

What are skins?
A theme contains one or more skin files. A skin is simply a text file with a .skin extension and contains definition of styles applied to server controls in an ASP.NET page. For eg: Defines a skin that will be applied to all buttons throughout to give it a consistent look and feel.

What is the difference between Skins and Css files?
Css is applied to HTML controls whereas skins are applied to server controls.

What is a User Control?
User controls are reusable controls, similar to web pages. They cannot be accessed directly.

Explain briefly the steps in creating a user control?
· Create a file with .ascx extension and place the @Control directive at top of the page.
· Included the user control in a Web Forms page using a @Register directive .

What is a Custom Control?
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.

What are the differences between user and custom controls?
User controls are easier to create in comparison to custom controls, however user controls can be less convenient to use in advanced scenarios.
User controls have limited support for consumers who use a visual design tool whereas custom controls have full visual design tool support for consumers.
A separate copy of the user control is required in each application that uses it whereas only a single copy of the custom control is required, in the global assembly cache, which makes maintenance easier.
A user control cannot be added to the Toolbox in Visual Studio whereas custom controls can be added to the Toolbox in Visual Studio.
User controls are good for static layout whereas custom controls are good for dynamic layout.

What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect?
Response.Redirect involves a roundtrip to the server whereas Server.Transfer conserves server resources by avoiding the roundtrip. It just changes the focus of the webserver to a different page and transfers the page processing to a different page.
Response.Redirect can be used for both .aspx and html pages whereas Server.Transfer can be used only for .aspx pages.
Response.Redirect can be used to redirect a user to an external websites. Server.Transfer can be used only on sites running on the same server. You cannot use Server.Transfer to redirect the user to a page running on a different server.
Response.Redirect changes the url in the browser. So they can be bookmarked. Whereas Server.Transfer retains the original url in the browser. It just replaces the contents of the previous page with the new one.

What method do you use to explicitly kill a users session?
Session.Abandon().

What is a webservice?
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.

Explain the Event Life cycle of ASP.NET 2.0?
The events occur in the following sequence. Its best to turn on tracing(<% @Page Trace=”true”%>) and track the flow of events :
PreInit – This event represents the entry point of the page life cycle. If you need to change the Master page or theme programmatically, then this would be the event to do so. Dynamic controls are created in this event.
Init – Each control in the control collection is initialized.
Init Complete* - Page is initialized and the process is completed.
PreLoad* - This event is called before the loading of the page is completed.
Load – This event is raised for the Page and then all child controls. The controls properties and view state can be accessed at this stage. This event indicates that the controls have been fully loaded.
LoadComplete* - This event signals indicates that the page has been loaded in the memory. It also marks the beginning of the rendering stage.
PreRender – If you need to make any final updates to the contents of the controls or the page, then use this event. It first fires for the page and then for all the controls.
PreRenderComplete* - Is called to explicitly state that the PreRender phase is completed.
SaveStateComplete* - In this event, the current state of the control is completely saved to the ViewState.
Unload – This event is typically used for closing files and database connections. At times, it is also used for logging some wrap-up tasks.
The events marked with * have been introduced in ASP.NET 2.0.
You have created an ASP.NET Application. How will you run it?
With ASP.NET 2.0, Visual Studio comes with an inbuilt ASP.NET Development Server to test your pages. It functions as a local Web server. The only limitation is that remote machines cannot access pages running on this local server. The second option is to deploy a Web application to a computer running IIS version 5 or 6 or 7.

Explain the AutoPostBack feature in ASP.NET?
AutoPostBack allows a control to automatically postback when an event is fired. For eg: If we have a Button control and want the event to be posted to the server for processing, we can set AutoPostBack = True on the button.
How do you disable AutoPostBack?
Hence the AutoPostBack can be disabled on an ASP.NET page by disabling AutoPostBack on all the controls of a page. AutoPostBack is caused by a control on the page.

What are the different code models available in ASP.NET 2.0?
There are 2 code models available in ASP.NET 2.0. One is the single-file page and the other one is the code behind page.

Which base class does the web form inherit from?
Page class in the System.Web.UI namespace.

Which are the new special folders that are introduced in ASP.NET 2.0?
There are seven new folders introduced in ASP.NET 2.0 :
\App_Browsers folder – Holds browser definitions(.brower) files which identify the browser and their capabilities.
\App_Code folder – Contains source code (.cs, .vb) files which are automatically compiled when placed in this folder. Additionally placing web service files generates a proxy class(out of .wsdl) and a typed dataset (out of .xsd).
\App_Data folder – Contains data store files like .mdf (Sql Express files), .mdb, XML files etc. This folder also stores the local db to maintain membership and role information.
\App_GlobalResources folder – Contains assembly resource files (.resx) which when placed in this folder are compiled automatically. In earlier versions, we were required to manually use the resgen.exe tool to compile resource files. These files can be accessed globally in the application.
\App_LocalResources folder – Contains assembly resource files (.resx) which can be used by a specific page or control.
\App_Themes folder – This folder contains .css and .skin files that define the appearance of web pages and controls.
\App_WebReferences folder – Replaces the previously used Web References folder. This folder contains the .disco, .wsdl, .xsd files that get generated when accessing remote web services.

Explain the ViewState in ASP.NET?
Http is a stateless protocol. Hence the state of controls is not saved between postbacks. Viewstate is the means of storing the state of server side controls between postbacks. The information is stored in HTML hidden fields. In other words, it is a snapshot of the contents of a page.
You can disable viewstate by a control by setting the EnableViewState property to false.

What does the EnableViewState property signify?
EnableViewState saves the state of an object in a page between postbacks. Objects are saved in a Base64 encoded string. If you do not need to store the page, turn it off as it adds to the page size.

Explain the ASP.NET Page Directives?
Page directives configure the runtime environment that will execute the page. The complete list of directives is as follows:
@ Assembly - Links an assembly to the current page or user control declaratively.
@ Control - Defines control-specific attributes used by the ASP.NET page parser and compiler and can be included only in .ascx files (user controls).
@ Implements - Indicates that a page or user control implements a specified .NET Framework interface declaratively.
@ Import - Imports a namespace into a page or user control explicitly.
@ Master - Identifies a page as a master page and defines attributes used by the ASP.NET page parser and compiler and can be included only in .master files.
@ MasterType - Defines the class or virtual path used to type the Master property of a page.
@ OutputCache - Controls the output caching policies of a page or user control declaratively.
@ Page - Defines page-specific attributes used by the ASP.NET page parser and compiler and can be included only in .aspx files.
@ PreviousPageType - Creates a strongly typed reference to the source page from the target of a cross-page posting.
@ Reference - Links a page, user control, or COM control to the current page or user control declaratively.
@ Register - Associates aliases with namespaces and classes, which allow user controls and custom server controls to be rendered when included in a requested page or user control.

How do you indentify that the page is post back?

By checking the IsPostBack property. If IsPostBack is True, the page has been posted back.

Explain the Validation Controls used in ASP.NET 2.0?
Validation controls allows you to validate a control against a set of rules. There are 6 different validation controls used in ASP.NET 2.0.
RequiredFieldValidator – Checks if the control is not empty when the form is submitted.
CompareValidator – Compares the value of one control to another using a comparison operator (equal, less than, greater than etc).
RangeValidator – Checks whether a value falls within a given range of number, date or string.
RegularExpressionValidator – Confirms that the value of a control matches a pattern defined by a regular expression. Eg: Email validation.
CustomValidator – Calls your own custom validation logic to perform validations that cannot be handled by the built in validators.
ValidationSummary – Show a summary of errors raised by each control on the page on a specific spot or in a message box.

ASP.NET

2008-04-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hi there ! Happy April Fool....

Explain Namespace.

Namespaces are logical groupings of names used within a program. There may be multiple namespaces in a single application code, grouped based on the identifiers’ use. The name of any given identifier must appear only once in its namespace.

List the types of Authentication supported by ASP.NET.

Windows (default)

Forms

Passport

None (Security disabled)

What is CLR?

Common Language Runtime (CLR) is a run-time environment that manages the execution of .NET code and provides services like memory management, debugging, security, etc. The CLR is also known as Virtual Execution System (VES).

What is CLI?

The CLI is a set of specifications for a runtime environment, including a common type system, base class library, and a machine-independent intermediate code known as the Common Intermediate Language (CIL). (Source: Wikipedia.)

List the various stages of Page-Load lifecycle.

Init()

Load()

PreRender()

Unload()

Explain Assembly and Manifest.

An assembly is a collection of one or more files and one of them (DLL or EXE) contains a special metadata called Assembly Manifest. The manifest is stored as binary data and contains details like versioning requirements for the assembly, the author, security permissions, and list of files forming the assembly. An assembly is created whenever a DLL is built. The manifest can be viewed programmatically by making use of classes from the System.Reflection namespace. The tool Intermediate Language Disassembler (ILDASM) can be used for this purpose. It can be launched from the command prompt or via Start> Run.

What is Shadow Copy?

In order to replace a COM component on a live web server, it was necessary to stop the entire website, copy the new files and then restart the website. This is not feasible for the web servers that need to be always running. .NET components are different. They can be overwritten at any time using a mechanism called Shadow Copy. It prevents the Portable Executable (PE) files like DLLs and EXEs from being locked. Whenever new versions of the PEs are released, they are automatically detected by the CLR and the changed components will be automatically loaded. They will be used to process all new requests not currently executing, while the older version still runs the currently executing requests. By bleeding out the older version, the update is completed.

What is DLL Hell?

DLL hell is the problem that occurs when an installation of a newer application might break or hinder other applications as newer DLLs are copied into the system and the older applications do not support or are not compatible with them. .NET overcomes this problem by supporting multiple versions of an assembly at any given time. This is also called side-by-side component versioning.

Explain Web Services.

Web services are programmable business logic components that provide access to functionality through the Internet. Standard protocols like HTTP can be used to access them. Web services are based on the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), which is an application of XML. Web services are given the .asmx extension.

Explain Windows Forms.

Windows Forms is employed for developing Windows GUI applications. It is a class library that gives developers access to Windows Common Controls with rich functionality. It is a common GUI library for all the languages supported by the .NET Framework.

What is Postback?

When an action occurs (like button click), the page containing all the controls within the tag performs an HTTP POST, while having itself as the target URL. This is called Postback.

Explain the differences between server-side and client-side code?

Server side scripting means that all the script will be executed by the server and interpreted as needed. Client side scripting means that the script will be executed immediately in the browser such as form field validation, clock, email validation, etc. Client side scripting is usually done in VBScript or JavaScript. Since the code is included in the HTML page, anyone can see the code by viewing the page source. It also poses as a possible security hazard for the client computer.

Enumerate the types of Directives.

@ Page directive

@ Import directive

@ Implements directive

@ Register directive

@ Assembly directive

@ OutputCache directive

@ Reference directive

What is Code-Behind?

Code-Behind is a concept where the contents of a page are in one file and the server-side code is in another. This allows different people to work on the same page at the same time and also allows either part of the page to be easily redesigned, with no changes required in the other. An Inherits attribute is added to the @ Page directive to specify the location of the Code-Behind file to the ASP.NET page.

Describe the difference between inline and code behind.

Inline code is written along side the HTML in a page. There is no separate distinction between design code and logic code. Code-behind is code written in a separate file and referenced by the .aspx page.

List the ASP.NET validation controls?

RequiredFieldValidator

RangeValidator

CompareValidator

RegularExpressionValidator

CustomValidator

ValidationSummary

What is Data Binding?

Data binding is a way used to connect values from a collection of data (e.g. DataSet) to the controls on a web form. The values from the dataset are automatically displayed in the controls without having to write separate code to display them.

Describe Paging in ASP.NET.

The DataGrid control in ASP.NET enables easy paging of the data. The AllowPaging property of the DataGrid can be set to True to perform paging. ASP.NET automatically performs paging and provides the hyperlinks to the other pages in different styles, based on the property that has been set for PagerStyle.Mode.

Should user input data validation occur server-side or client-side? Why?

All user input data validation should occur on the server and minimally on the client-side, though it is a good way to reduce server load and network traffic because we can ensure that only data of the appropriate type is submitted from the form. It is totally insecure. The user can view the code used for validation and create a workaround for it. Secondly, the URL of the page that handles the data is freely visible in the original form page. This will allow unscrupulous users to send data from their own forms to your application. Client-side validation can sometimes be performed where deemed appropriate and feasible to provide a richer, more responsive experience for the user.

What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect?

Response.Redirect: This tells the browser that the requested page can be found at a new location. The browser then initiates another request to the new page loading its contents in the browser. This results in two requests by the browser.

Server.Transfer: It transfers execution from the first page to the second page on the server. As far as the browser client is concerned, it made one request and the initial page is the one responding with content. The benefit of this approach is one less round trip to the server from the client browser. Also, any posted form variables and query string parameters are available to the second page as well.

What is an interface and what is an abstract class?

In an interface, all methods must be abstract (must not be defined). In an abstract class, some methods can be defined. In an interface, no accessibility modifiers are allowed, whereas it is allowed in abstract classes.

Session state vs. View state:

In some cases, using view state is not feasible. The alternative for view state is session state. Session state is employed under the following situations:

Large amounts of data - View state tends to increase the size of both the HTML page sent to the browser and the size of form posted back. Hence session state is used.

Secure data - Though the view state data is encoded and may be encrypted, it is better and secure if no sensitive data is sent to the client. Thus, session state is a more secure option.

Problems in serializing of objects into view state - View state is efficient for a small set of data. Other types like DataSet are slower and can generate a very large view state.

Can two different programming languages be mixed in a single ASPX file?

ASP.NET’s built-in parsers are used to remove code from ASPX files and create temporary files. Each parser understands only one language. Therefore mixing of languages in a single ASPX file is not possible.

Is it possible to see the code that ASP.NET generates from an ASPX file?

By enabling debugging using a <%@ Page Debug="true" %>directive in the ASPX file or a statement in Web.config, the generated code can be viewed. The code is stored in a CS or VB file (usually in the \%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.nnnn\Temporary ASP.NET Files).

Can a custom .NET data type be used in a Web form?

This can be achieved by placing the DLL containing the custom data type in the application root's bin directory and ASP.NET will automatically load the DLL when the type is referenced.

List the event handlers that can be included in Global.asax?

Application start and end event handlers

Session start and end event handlers

Per-request event handlers

Non-deterministic event handlers

Can the view state be protected from tampering?

This can be achieved by including an @ Page directive with an EnableViewStateMac="true" attribute in each ASPX file that has to be protected. Another way is to include the statement in the Web.config file.

Can the view state be encrypted?

The view state can be encrypted by setting EnableViewStateMac to true and either modifying the element in Machine.config to or by adding the above statement to Web.config.

When during the page processing cycle is ViewState available?

The view state is available after the Init() and before the Render() methods are called during Page load.

Do Web controls support Cascading Style Sheets?

All Web controls inherit a property named CssClass from the base class System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebControl which can be used to control the properties of the web control.

What namespaces are imported by default in ASPX files?

The following namespaces are imported by default. Other namespaces must be imported manually using @ Import directives.

System

System.Collections

System.Collections.Specialized

System.Configuration

System.Text

System.Text.RegularExpressions

System.Web

System.Web.Caching

System.Web.Security

System.Web.SessionState

System.Web.UI

System.Web.UI.HtmlControls

System.Web.UI.WebControls

What classes are needed to send e-mail from an ASP.NET application?

The classes MailMessage and SmtpMail have to be used to send email from an ASP.NET application. MailMessage and SmtpMail are classes defined in the .NET Framework Class Library's System.Web.Mail namespace.

Why do some web service classes derive from System.Web.WebServices while others do not?

Those Web Service classes which employ objects like Application, Session, Context, Server, and User have to derive from System.Web.WebServices. If it does not use these objects, it is not necessary to be derived from it.

What are VSDISCO files?

VSDISCO files are DISCO files that enable dynamic discovery of Web Services. ASP.NET links the VSDISCO to a HTTP handler that scans the host directory and subdirectories for ASMX and DISCO files and returns a dynamically generated DISCO document. A client who requests a VSDISCO file gets back what appears to be a static DISCO document.

How can files be uploaded to Web pages in ASP.NET?

This can be done by using the HtmlInputFile class to declare an instance of an tag. Then, a byte[] can be declared to read in the data from the input file. This can then be sent to the server.

How do I create an ASPX page that periodically refreshes itself?

The following META tag can be used as a trigger to automatically refresh the page every n seconds:

How do I initialize a TextBox whose TextMode is "password", with a password?

The TextBox’s Text property cannot be used to assign a value to a password field. Instead, its Value field can be used for that purpose.

                      ID="Password" RunAt="server" />

Why does the control's PostedFile property always show null when using HtmlInputFile control to upload files to a Web server?

This occurs when an enctype="multipart/form-data" attribute is missing in the

tag.

How can the focus be set to a specific control when a Web form loads?

This can be achieved by using client-side script:

document.forms[0].TextBox1.focus ()

The above code will set the focus to a TextBox named TextBox1 when the page loads.

How does System.Web.UI.Page's IsPostBack property work?

IsPostBack checks to see whether the HTTP request is accompanied by postback data containing a __VIEWSTATE or __EVENTTARGET parameter. If there are none, then it is not a postback.

What is WSDL?

WSDL is an XML format for describing network services as a set of endpoints operating on messages containing either document-oriented or procedure-oriented information. The operations and messages are described abstractly, and then bound to a concrete network protocol and message format to define an endpoint. Related concrete endpoints are combined into abstract endpoints (services). (Source: http://www.w3.org/)

What is UDDI?

UDDI stands for Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration. It is like an "Yellow Pages" for Web Services. It is maintained by Microsoft, IBM, and Ariba, and is designed to provide detailed information regarding registered Web Services for all vendors. The UDDI can be queried for specific Web Services.

Is it possible to generate the source code for an ASP.NET Web service from a WSDL?

The Wsdl.exe tool (.NET Framework SDK) can be used to generate source code for an ASP.NET web service with its WSDL link.

Example: wsdl /server http://api.google.com/GoogleSearch.wsdl.

Why do uploads fail while using an ASP.NET file upload control to upload large files?

ASP.NET limits the size of file uploads for security purposes. The default size is 4 MB. This can be changed by modifying the maxRequestLength attribute of Machine.config's element.

Describe the difference between inline and code behind.

Inline code is written along side the HTML in a page. Code-behind is code written in a separate file and referenced by the .aspx page.

Describe the role of inetinfo.exe, aspnet_isapi.dll andaspnet_wp.exe in the page loading process.

inetinfo.exe is theMicrosoft 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 tothe actual worker process aspnet_wp.exe.

Can you explain the difference between an ADO.NET Dataset and an ADO Recordset?

Valid answers are:

A DataSet can represent an entire relational database in memory, complete with tables, relations, and views.

A DataSet is designed to work without any continuing connection to the original data source.

Data in a DataSet is bulk-loaded, rather than being loaded on demand.

There's no concept of cursor types in a DataSet.

DataSets have no current record pointer You can use For Each loops to move through the data.

You can store many edits in a DataSet, and write them to the original data source in a single operation.

Though the DataSet is universal, other objects in ADO.NET come in different versions for different data sources.

What’s a bubbled event?

When you have a complex control, like DataGrid, writing an event processing routine for each object (cell, button, row, etc.) is quite tedious. The controls can bubble up their eventhandlers, allowing the main DataGrid event handler to take care of its constituents.

What data types do the RangeValidator control support?

Integer, String, and Date.

Explain what a diffgram is, and a good use for one?

The DiffGram is one of the two XML formats that you can use to render DataSet object contents to XML. A good use is reading database data to an XML file to be sent to a Web Service.

What is the transport protocol you use to call a Web service?

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is the preferred protocol.

What is ViewState?

ViewState allows the state of objects (serializable) to be stored in a hidden field on the page. ViewState is transported to the client and back to the server, and is not stored on the server or any other external source. ViewState is used the retain the state of server-side objects between postabacks.

What does the "EnableViewState" property do? Why would I want it on or off?

It allows the page to save the users input on a form across postbacks. It saves the server-side values for a given control into ViewState, which is stored as a hidden value on the page before sending the page to the clients browser. When the page is posted back to the server the server control is recreated with the state stored in viewstate.

What are the different types of Session state management options available with ASP.NET?

ASP.NET provides In-Process and Out-of-Process state management. In-Process stores the session in memory on the web server. This requires the a "sticky-server" (or no load-balancing) so that the user is always reconnected to the same web server. Out-of-Process Session state management stores data in an external data source. The external data source may be either a SQL Server or a State Server service. Out-of-Process state management requires that all objects stored in session are serializable.

Differences Between XML and HTML?

Anyone with a fundamental grasp of XML should be able describe some of the main differences outlined in the table below

XML	HTML
User definable tags	Defined set of tags designed for web display
Content driven	Format driven
End tags required for well formed documents	End tags not required
Quotes required around attributes values	Quotes not required
Slash required in empty tags	Slash not required

Give a few examples of types of applications that can benefit from using XML.

There are literally thousands of applications that can benefit from XML technologies. The point of this question is not to have the candidate rattle off a laundry list of projects that they have worked on, but, rather, to allow the candidate to explain the rationale for choosing XML by citing a few real world examples. For instance, one appropriate answer is that XML allows content management systems to store documents independently of their format, which thereby reduces data redundancy. Another answer relates to B2B exchanges or supply chain management systems. In these instances, XML provides a mechanism for multiple companies to exchange data according to an agreed upon set of rules. A third common response involves wireless applications that require WML to render data on hand held devices.

What is DOM and how does it relate to XML?

The Document Object Model (DOM) is an interface specification maintained by the W3C DOM Workgroup that defines an application independent mechanism to access, parse, or update XML data. In simple terms it is a hierarchical model that allows developers to manipulate XML documents easily Any developer that has worked extensively with XML should be able to discuss the concept and use of DOM objects freely. Additionally, it is not unreasonable to expect advanced candidates to thoroughly understand its internal workings and be able to explain how DOM differs from an event-based interface like SAX.

What is SOAP and how does it relate to XML?

The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) uses XML to define a protocol for the exchange of information in distributed computing environments. SOAP consists of three components: an envelope, a set of encoding rules, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls. Unless experience with SOAP is a direct requirement for the open position, knowing the specifics of the protocol, or how it can be used in conjunction with HTTP, is not as important as identifying it as a natural application of XML.

Can you walk us through the steps necessary to parse XML documents?

Superficially, this is a fairly basic question. However, the point is not to determine whether candidates understand the concept of a parser but rather have them walk through the process of parsing XML documents step-by-step. Determining whether a non-validating or validating parser is needed, choosing the appropriate parser, and handling errors are all important aspects to this process that should be included in the candidate's response.

What are possible implementations of distributed applications in .NET?

.NET Remoting and ASP.NET Web Services. If we talk about the Framework Class Library, noteworthy classes are in System.Runtime.Remoting and System.Web.Services.

What are the consideration in deciding to use .NET Remoting or ASP.NET Web Services?

Remoting is a more efficient communication exchange when you can control both ends of the application involved in the communication process. Web Services provide an open-protocol-based exchange of informaion. Web Services are best when you need to communicate with an external organization or another (non-.NET) technology.

What’s a proxy of the server object in .NET Remoting?

It’s a fake copy of the server object that resides on the client side and behaves as if it was the server. It handles the communication between real server object and the client object. This process is also known as marshaling.

What are remotable objects in .NET Remoting?

Remotable objects are the objects that can be marshaled across the application domains. You can marshal by value, where a deep copy of the object is created and then passed to the receiver. You can also marshal by reference, where just a reference to an existing object is passed.

What are channels in .NET Remoting?

Channels represent the objects that transfer the other serialized objects from one application domain to another and from one computer to another, as well as one process to another on the same box. A channel must exist before an object can be transferred.

What security measures exist for .NET Remoting in System.Runtime.Remoting?

None. Security should be taken care of at the application level. Cryptography and other security techniques can be applied at application or server level.

What is a formatter?

A formatter is an object that is responsible for encoding and serializing data into messages on one end, and deserializing and decoding messages into data on the other end.

Choosing between HTTP and TCP for protocols and Binary and SOAP for formatters, what are the trade-offs?

Binary over TCP is the most effiecient, SOAP over HTTP is the most interoperable.

What’s SingleCall activation mode used for?

If the server object is instantiated for responding to just one single request, the request should be made in SingleCall mode.

What’s Singleton activation mode?

A single object is instantiated regardless of the number of clients accessing it. Lifetime of this object is determined by lifetime lease.

How do you define the lease of the object?

By implementing ILease interface when writing the class code.

Can you configure a .NET Remoting object via XML file?

Yes, via machine.config and application level .config file (or web.config in ASP.NET). Application-level XML settings take precedence over machine.config.

How can you automatically generate interface for the remotable object in .NET with Microsoft tools?

Use the Soapsuds tool.

Technical SQL Questions:

2008-03-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

What are the three different types of replication and how does replication work?
What is the purpose of log shipping and how does it work?
What is the difference between a clustered and a non clustered index?
What is a derived table and when would you use one?
What is a VIEW? How to get script for a view?
View is virtual table based on record set of select statement. View cantain the field from on one or more than one table's fields. The using view we can use JOIN and where statement and IT' s looks like single table .
Ex:- Create View view_name AS SELECT Column(s) from TABLEname where Condition
If we have several tables in a db and we want to view only specific columns from specific tables we can go for views. It would also suffice the needs of security some times allowing specfic users to see only specific columns based on the permission that we can configure on the view. Views also reduce the effort that is required for writing queries to access specific columns every time.
What is a "trigger"?

Triggers are stored procedures that database should take action when relevant event occur
In other word we can say trigger are stored procedure that fire when a relevant event occurs such as insertion , deletion, update
What is a "transaction"? Why are they necessary?

Transactions are an atomic piece of instructions in SQL which have to be executed all or none.The word atomic signifies the all or none character of a transaction.
How to remove duplicate records from a table?

delete from emp where en not in (select min(en) from emp order by columnname)
How will you copy the structure of a table without copying the data?

select * Into NEWTABLE from OLDTABLE where 1=2
What is a Stored Procedure? - Its nothing but a set of T-SQL statements combined to perform a single task of several tasks. Its basically like a Macro so when you invoke the Stored procedure, you actually run a set of statements.
Can you give an example of Stored Procedure? - sp_helpdb , sp_who2, sp_renamedb are a set of system defined stored procedures. We can also have user defined stored procedures which can be called in similar way.
What is an Index? - When queries are run against a db, an index on that db basically helps in the way the data is sorted to process the query for faster and data retrievals are much faster when we have an index.
What are the types of indexes available with SQL Server? - There are basically two types of indexes that we use with the SQL Server. Clustered and the Non-Clustered.

What are the basic difference between clustered and a non-clustered index? - The difference is that, Clustered index is unique for any given table and we can have only one clustered index on a table. The leaf level of a clustered index is the actual data and the data is resorted in case of clustered index. Whereas in case of non-clustered index the leaf level is actually a pointer to the data in rows so we can have as many non-clustered indexes as we can on the db.
When do we use the UPDATE_STATISTICS command? - This command is basically used when we do a large processing of data. If we do a large amount of deletions any modification or Bulk Copy into the tables, we need to basically update the indexes to take these changes into account. UPDATE_STATISTICS updates the indexes on these tables accordingly
Can you tell me the difference between DELETE & TRUNCATE commands? - Delete command removes the rows from a table based on the condition that we provide with a WHERE clause. Truncate will actually remove all the rows from a table and there will be no data in the table after we run the truncate command.
Can we use Truncate command on a table which is referenced by FOREIGN KEY? - No. We cannot use Truncate command on a table with Foreign Key because of referential integrity.
What is the use of DBCC commands? - DBCC stands for database consistency checker. We use these commands to check the consistency of the databases, i.e., maintenance, validation task and status checks.
Can you give me some DBCC command options?(Database consistency check) - DBCC CHECKDB - Ensures that tables in the db and the indexes are correctly linked.and DBCC CHECKALLOC - To check that all pages in a db are correctly allocated. DBCC SQLPERF - It gives report on current usage of transaction log in percentage. DBCC CHECKFILEGROUP - Checks all tables file group for any damage.
What command do we use to rename a db? - sp_renamedb ‘oldname’ , ‘newname’
What is a Join in SQL Server? - Join actually puts data from two or more tables into a single result set.
Can you explain the types of Joins that we can have with Sql Server? - There are three types of joins: Inner Join, Outer Join, Cross Join
What is a Linked Server? - Linked Servers is a concept in SQL Server by which we can add other SQL Server to a Group and query both the SQL Server dbs using T-SQL Statements.
What are the OS services that the SQL Server installation adds? - MS SQL SERVER SERVICE, SQL AGENT SERVICE, DTC (Distribution transac co-ordinator).

Testing Scenarios

2008-02-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

Test a Vending machine?
· I’ll try to test it with different coins of the same currency and I’ll see if it gives change back.
· I’ll try to test with different currencies.
· I’ll try to put a fake input coin and see how it reacts to it
· I’ll try to press the menu button before inserting coins.
· I’ll try to press two menu buttons simultaneously.
· I’ll try to press and hold the menu button after I put a coin
· I’ll try to open the door
· I’ll put two coins one after the other before pressing any button and I’ll try to get two items. I’ll try to test if it can manage tasks and etc.
· I’ll test it by putting coins and pressing item button at the same time and I’ll see how it reacts
· I’ll put an item which has a size greater than the hole size of the vending machine and I’ll try to buy that product and If it doesn’t work I’ll try to buy another product, here I’ll try to see if the bigger one blocked the way.
· I’ll flip it up side down and see if it can give me certain item.
· I’ll disconnect the power cord after I put coins and connect it again and press the button and see if it can handle the request which was in the process before the power failure.
· I’ll try to test it if it can operate with different power supplies like main supply and generator etc.
· I’ll try to test its compatibility with the environment.

How would you design the lights at a traffic intersection?

See how creative they are. In particular, synchronizing with lights at other intersections, how they provide smooth flow of traffic (turns etc). Do they consider traffic patterns (rush hour/ special event/ emergency vehicles)?
Solution

There are so many processes to consider these are as follows
· Serving traffic moving straight from east to west
· Serving traffic coming from east and turning to the right at the intersection
· Serving traffic coming from east and turning to the left at the intersection
· Serving traffic moving straight from west to east
· Serving traffic moving from west and turning to the right at the intersection
· Serving traffic coming from west and turning to the left at the intersection
· Serving traffic moving straight from north to south
· Serving traffic coming from north and turning to the right at the intersection
· Serving traffic coming from north and turning to the left at the intersection
· Serving traffic moving straight from south to north
· Serving traffic coming from south and turning to the right at the intersection
· Serving traffic coming from south and turning to the left at the intersection

TEST CASES FOR TESTING A TOSTER?
Does it handle all common types of breads.
Does it perform toasting well.
I’ll try to examine the performance by repeatedly using a tester and I’ll try to see if the performance degrades through repeated use.
I’ll try to test it with different kinds of bread, pizza slice, cracker type bread, flat bread, bread with high sugar content, very thin,medium,and thick
I’ll turn the taster on for a long time without putting any bread in it and see what happened. Here I’ll try to check if it has a certain controlling mechanism if the temperature is above a certain limit.
I’ll test it with for chemical reaction when it is in contact with a certain chemical.
I’ll test it with different power supplies.
I’ll test its reaction with the environment(like does it generate a certain gas which is harmful to the environment)
I’ll try to adjusting all the controls while operating and see every control produces the required result.
I’ll try to see if there is an electric shock when we touch the body of the toaster.
I’ll put more bread than it can accommodate and I’ll see what happens
I’ll try to flip it on side position and see whether it works well or not.
I’ll put a Frosted bread and see what is going to happen.
I’ll turn the toaster on until it gets very hot and then turn it off and put some bread to toast and see how it handles it.
I’ll try to discover which parts of the toaster to touch when in operation.
Should work with diffent voltage ranges(considering internationalization)

Given a screen with customer name, address, phone number, date of birth, SSN, and functions like ADD, DELETE, UPDATE, what types of tests would you execute (backend and GUI)?

GUI Testing:
· I’ll insert a proper data on each field and press add button.
· I’ll select a certain record and delete it.
· I’ll select a certain record and edit some fields with valid data and press update button.
· I’ll press the add button with out entering data in all fields.
· I’ll press the delete button with out selecting a particular record and see what happened.
· I’ll press the try to update without selecting a particular field.
· I’ll try to add an already existing record and see what happened.
· I’ll try to add a certain data in which certain fields are left.
· I’ll try to add data with long strings for each field.
· I’ll try to add data which is in different language and see what happened.
· I’ll try to add data which has a space or some special characters.
· I’ll try to add data which is inconsistent like negative ssn,birth date which is in the feauture, phone and address which is not valid,
· I’ll try to delete a certain record which doesn’t exist.
· I’ll try to update with out changing any value.
· I’ll try to update a record which doesn’t exist
· I’ll try to update a certain record with empty fields all.

DATABASE TESTING:
· I’ll check to see if a certain record has added to the database after I pressed add button.
· Check to see the performance by adding a record repeatedly in a fast manner.
· I’ll try to add so many records and I’ll see if disk space is a constraint
· I’ll try to delete a record which doesn’t exist and see how the Database reacts to this
· I’ll try to update a certain record with out making any changes.
· I’ll try to update a certain record with an invalid data.
· I’ll try to delete a record from an empty table int that particular database.
· I’ll try to see network failure while performing database operations.
· I’ll try to check how the database handles when I try to put duplicate records.
· I’ll try to execute the above GUI from so many client locations and see if there is a possibility of memory leakage.
Testing Enter File Name Text box of a dialog box
· I’ll try to save the specified file with out specifying a name
· I will try to put a certain specific length character and save it using a save button
· I’ll try to enter a file name consists of only numbers.
· I’ll try to enter a file name which will start with dot.
· I’ll try to enter a file name which is already existed.
· I’ll try to insert different combination of special characters and try to save it.
· I’ll try to enter a very long character equal to the maximum number of the characters that the text box accommodate and try to test it.
· I’ll enter a certain file name and click a cancel button.
· I’ll enter a file name which has a space in between words
· I’ll enter a file name which has only spaces.
· I’ll enter a directory name and try to save it and see what happened.
· I’ll enter a file name which exists but holds a different data format.

Test a clutch pencil
· I’ll try to sharpen a regular pencil
· I’ll try to sharpen diffent pencil which are made up of different materials for example hard, soft wood…etc
· I will try to put a pencil inside a hole with out pressing the clutch
· I will try to sharpen another material which has the same shape as a regular pencil
· I will try to sharpen a pencil by rotating the arm in opposite direction than the usual
· I’ll try to see the material composition is it hazardous if it is put in some chemical, is it going to burn.
· I’ll try to see the strength of the material by placing a high load.
· Does it need some safety precaution for children to use it.
· Is it continue to work if one of its components is failed like the arm,clutch or blade…etc
· Does the blade and other metal parts rest if it is stored in a frosted environment.

Test An Elivator?
· I’ll try to load an elevator with some rated load specified by the manufacturers
· I’ll try to load it with a heavy load which is much much greater than the rated load.
· I’l l see how it reacts when it’s not loaded.
· I’ll try to disconnect the main power supply while the elevator is working with a certain load and see what happened.
· I’ll try to call the elevator from a certain floor and by pressing both up and down arrow.
· I’ll try to open the door of the elevator manually and see what happened.
· I’ll try to disconnect the elevator and it’s controlling part and see what happened.
· From the inside of the elevator I’ll try to press a floor number button which is the same as where the elevator is
· From inside I will press and hold the open door button and see what happened.
· I’ll try to open the door manually from inside and see what happened.
· I’ll see when the final destination of the elevator is if it’s not called or loaded.

Behavioral Questions

2008-01-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

Provided By: Barun Poudel.

Some important points which can make an interview successful:

Sleep – A good previous night’s sleep makes you feel fresh and it is reflected in your eyes. This is required because the client doesn’t want to deal with dull face.

Confidence – Confidence is automatically reflected in your looks, body language, and the way you walk, sit and talk. If you are confident you look confident, you walk confidently, you sit confidently and talk confidently. So be confident. One tip is, don’t feel too nervous about the last chapter you did not get to study for the interview.

Eating – Before going to the interview have a nice, good, stomach-full meal, because you may not know how much time you need to wait before the interview or how long it would take for the interview. If you are starving, you cannot answer well in the interview. So eat well, even if you are on a diet on the day of the interview.

What to wear for the interview – At the first look, what you are is what you wear. So wear a nice dress (type of formal dress – Black single breasted suit with buttoned down white cotton shirt, red tie, black shoes, black socks and black leather belt) and give that extra look for the interviewer. If you interview is in the evening and you need to drive in the morning, wear a different shirt while driving, and change to the well-ironed shirt before the interview (where do you change? – in the car or in the rest room)

What to carry for the interview –
In a neat folder put the following:
1) 3 copies of your resume – crisp, unfolded, unscrambled, un-scribbled.
2) A spiral notebook to take notes.
3) A pen
4) Photo-ID, preferably the driver license or State-ID
5) Mouth freshener
6) Directions for address
7) Address of the interview site
8) Name and phone number of the contact person

Busy Waiting – Wait in the lobby for the interview. Don’t be nervous be calm and cool. It is not uncommon that interview schedules are not met. There will be in ardent delays. Bear with them and wait (Busily!!!). Don’t worry. You will be escorted to the interview chamber, as soon as they are ready to see you.

Entering (the 3e Chamber of Shoaling) – Don’t worry. Interview chamber is not going to decide your future. It only sees, whether you have the technical and physiological qualities to deliver their job. That’s all! Therefore enter the chamber by gently pushing the door (if you are not escorted and you were asked to enter). Wish everybody a good day.

Shaking hands – If you are escorted, escorting person will tell you his name while shaking hand, and then you should say, “ How are you John?”
If you are entering the chamber by yourself say Good morning/afternoon to everybody and introduce yourself to him or her. “ I am Rajendra Sedhain”(your name)
Always your handshake should be warm, firm and friendly. A loose handshake indicates that you are not interested.

Wishing – Shake hands with all of the interviewers and try to remember their names and gently be seated.

Sitting – You can sit in a comfortable position, (but not with your legs crossed and/ or body leaning backward, which shows arrogance). Look forward, be enthusiastic, and bend forward, showing that you are interested in the interview.

Taking Notes – After the warming up and sitting, seek the interviewer’s permission to take down notes. Almost all the interviewers agree and let you. Then Open a clean page in your notebook, write down the date, heading (a typical heading would be interview with IBM at NYC) and the names of the interviewers.

If there is more than one interviewer, write their names in the order in which they have sat opposite to you. The first name you have written down in your notes shall correspond to the left most person sitting opposite to you and so on. You can use this information during interview to recollect their names. If the third person asked a question, look at the third name and start answering him using his first name (Example. John).

1) How are you?
Ans: I am Excellent. (Never use I am not too bad, I am all right, I am fine or I am good).

2) How did you arrive here?
Ans: I cam e by Train and bus or I came by Train and Taxi or I drove down.

3) Do you drive? Do you have a driver’s license?
Ans: Yes, John I drive and I have a IOWA state driver’s license (Never say I don’t drive or I don’t have a DL)

4) Your last project was in Nepal? What are you doing in IOWA(any other)?
I came to IOWA, USA for my master’s degree in Computer science and completed my on-campus study. Currently in CPT under F-1 status so looking for a full-time or contract job in .NET technology and attending interviews.

5) Tell me about yourself?
Ans: John, I have BS in computer science. I have 3 years of web development experience.
I have 2 years experience as .NET developer.
I am an expert in .NET, SQL server, XML, HTML, JavaScript, CSS.

6) Tell me something about your current project?
---------------------------------------------------------

7) What was your role in this project?
Ans: Enumerate the responsibilities from the resume

8) There are two managers, who want their tasks done in the next 6 hours. Each manager’s task takes 6 hours even if you are a superman. How will you handle this situation?
Ans: John, First I shall try and meet their demands as far as possible. Then talk to them and find out how 1 could meet their expectations. Ask for suggestions/advice.

9) Would you be willing to work extended hours as needed in order to complete the tasks?
Ans: Yes John, I am open to working extended hours. In fact, in my previous projects, I carried a mobile and a pager and was available 24/7.

10) What are your technical strengths?
Ans: John, I am a .NET developer. In my previous work places I always got commending letters and awards.

11) Are you open to new environments?
Ans: Yes John, I am open to work in new environments. I am eager to work in multiple environments. I always enjoy learning new technologies, and offer my best effort to complete the tasks given to me. In my last project I was a .NET developer, when I was required to work in the PHP I took this opportunity, I learnt quickly and did PHP developer job.

12) Would you like to work in a team or individually?
Ans: John, I am comfortable to work both as an individual and a team member. I have prior experience working both in a team as well as an individual. In IBM I worked as an individual (as a Java developer) and in AT&T I worked in a team, I excelled in both environments.

13) What is your status?
Ans: I am legally authorized to work in the USA. I am in CPT.

14) Quality Vs. Time; what is more important to you?
Ans: Both quality and time are equally important to me John. In all my previous projects, my target has always been delivering quality work in the given time.

15) Where do you see yourself in 5 years down the line?
Ans: 5 years down the line, I am looking forward to becoming a Project Manager John.

16) How soon can you join?
Ans: Immediately John (Within a week – couple of days for relocation).

17) Can you give some references?
Ans: Yes John, I have excellent references. I would love to give them to you but I need to inform my references each time I use their names because they asked me to do so. I shall get back to you in 24 hours.

18) If you were not able to complete a task within a deadline, how would you deal with the situation?
Ans: John, I would update my project manager immediately and explain the situation. I would work extra-time in the evenings and on weekends and complete the task up to my managers’ satisfaction.

19) What are you looking here?
Ans: I am a solution provider (developer). I am looking for challenging work environment.

20) Have you ever handled multiple jobs simultaneously?
Ans: Yes John, I was a developer as well as Analyst. John! In fact in my previous project I had to redesign the code at the same gather new requirements from the users.

21) Tell me about your greatest success professionally?
John, I was a entry level developer to start with and I became a mid level developer in 2 years. I was given the responsibility of .NET developer because of my commitment and integrity. I was chosen from among 5 people.

22) What are you best at?
Ans: I am best at adapting to new technologies very fast. In my previous project, they purchased a new TOOL and I was asked to work using that tool without training. I learned it in my spare time and came to normal speed within 1 or 2 weeks.

23) What is the most difficult situation you have faced while on any of your projects and how did you resolve it?
Ans: John, Just before releasing into production, we had discovered that there were duplicate keys. I wrote utility to scan and delete duplicate keys. This utility is still being used at IBM.

24) Is there any project which you liked the least?
Ans: I liked all my previous projects John. I really enjoyed working on each of them.

25) How do you handle conflicts?
Ans: I solve conflicts by keeping communication open.

26) What is your approach towards work?
Ans: I divide the work in sub tasks and keep monitoring the sub-tasks against their dead lines. In case of any sub task crossing the deadline, I reschedule the tasks, so the final task can be completed in time. In case of red flag, I inform to my manager well in advance.

27) Tell me about a project in which you were disappointed with your personal performance.
Ans: When I was with XYZ Company John, I initially designed .NET but they asked us to do the same thing using share point. Naturally I was not happy with the security issues.

28) Give an example of how you handle rejections.
Ans: John, I always take them in the right stride. I will take them as an opportunity to improve myself. Also I will make sure that I will not repeat the mistakes again.

29) What kind of skills and knowledge do you hope to acquire if you join us?
Ans: Well John, I possess all the required skills to perform the tasks assigned to me, yet I would like to learn rich values and working culture of your company.

30) Tell me something about your boss?
Ans: He was an honorable gentleman and I had a very cordial relationship with him.

31) What are your personal strengths?
Ans: I am always on time, I am a positive thinker and very enthusiastic. Every morning I get up early and plan my schedules and e-mails.

32) What are your personal weaknesses?
Ans: I am workaholic and I am a perfectionist.

33) Did you have a culture shock when you first came to the U.S?
Ans: No John, I am used to working in global companies even in my country, Nepal where I used to interact with people from various cultures. Education and working environments in my country are similar to that of UK and US.

34) What are your hobbies/free-time activities?
Ans: Reading books John. I play pool, I like going for long walks, swimming, and watching movies. I watch basketball, baseball and play golf sometimes. I love going out with friends and simply having fun. I go to nearby beaches and I enjoy fishing, and of course trekking.

35) Why are you leaving your current project?
Ans: I have successfully completed my last project John.

36) How good are your writing skills?
Ans: Very good, John, My project manager always used to ask me to write documents and in fact John! He provided me extra hours on weekends.

37) How do you motivate people?
Ans: By giving sincere appreciation John, by listening to them and also by rewarding them for their good work.

38) Tell me of an instance where your employer wasn’t happy with your performance?
Ans: John, all of my previous employers was satisfied with my performance on all my projects.

39) How do you resolve conflicts?
Ans: John, when I know I have a problem I will conduct a meeting and discuss the issues. By keeping communications open within the team, I try to evaluate the situation personally and in a group. I try to highlight our reasons and prioritize our tasks. In spite of all efforts if the conflict is not resolved, usually we arrange for a meeting with supervisor. And his/her decision is final.

40) Tell me if and how you think you can make a difference if you are hired?
Ans: I possess the functional background along with the desired skill sets John. So I can, understand the system along with the application in a better manner.

Questions to be asked to the interviewer after the interview:

1) Can you please tell me at what stage is the project in?
2) What is the environment in which the project is being developed?
3) What is the version of the Tool?
4) Do I need to travel?
5) When can I Join?
6) Would I be working with a team or individually?
7) What are the databases being used?

SQL questions:

2007-12-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

1. What is normalization? Explain normalization types.
o Normalization is the process of organizing data in a database. This includes creating tables and establishing relationships between those tables according to rules designed both to protect the data and to make the database more flexible by eliminating two factors: redundancy and inconsistent dependency.
First Normal Form
• 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.
Second Normal Form
• Create separate tables for sets of values that apply to multiple records.
• Relate these tables with a foreign key.
Third Normal Form
• Eliminate fields that do not depend on the key.

2. What is demoralization and when would you go for it?
o Demoralization is the reverse process of normalization. It is the controlled introduction of redundancy into the database design. It helps to improve the query performance as the number of joins could be reduced.

3. What is a database index? What is the difference between a clustered and non-clustered index.
o Indexes in SQL Server are similar to the indexes in books. They help SQL Server to retrieve the data quicker. Indexes are of two types. Clustered indexes and non-clustered indexes. When you create a clustered index on a table, all the rows in the table are stored in the order of the clustered index key. So, there can be only one clustered index per table. Non-clustered indexes have their own storage separate from the table data storage.

4. What is the disadvantage of creating an index in every column of a database table?
o If we create an index on each column of a table, it improves the query performance, as the query optimizer can choose from all the existing indexes to come up with an efficient execution plan. At the same time, data modification operations (such as INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) will become slow, as every time data changes in the table, all the indexes need to be updated. Another disadvantage is that, indexes need disk space, the more indexes you have, more disk space is used.

5. How do you implement one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships while designing tables?
o One-to-One relationship can be implemented as a single table and rarely as two tables with primary and foreign key relationships.
One-to-Many relationships are implemented by splitting the data into two tables with primary key and foreign key relationships.
Many-to-Many relationships are implemented using a junction table with the keys from both the tables forming the composite primary key of the junction table.(It requires at least three table.The third table serves to join two tables).

6. What's the difference between a primary key and a unique key?
o Both primary key and unique 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.

7. What is bit datatype and what's the information that can be stored inside a bit column?
o Bit datatype is used to store Boolean information like 1 or 0 (true or false). Until SQL Server 6.5 bit datatype could hold either a 1 or 0 and there was no support for NULL. But from SQL Server 7.0 onwards, bit datatype can represent a third state, which is NULL.

8. Define candidate key, alternate key, and composite key.
o 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.

9. What are defaults? Is there a column to which a default can't be bound?
o 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.

10. Explain different isolation levels
o An isolation level determines the degree of isolation of data between concurrent transactions. The default SQL Server isolation level is Read Committed. Here are the other isolation levels (in the ascending order of isolation): Read Uncommitted, Read Committed, Repeatable Read, and Serializable.

11. What's the difference between DELETE TABLE and TRUNCATE TABLE commands?
o DELETE TABLE is a logged operation, so the deletion of each row gets logged in the transaction log, which makes it slow. TRUNCATE TABLE also deletes all the rows in a table, but it won't log the deletion of each row, instead it logs the deallocation of the data pages of the table, which makes it faster.

12. What are constraints? Explain different types of constraints.
o Constraints enable the RDBMS enforce the integrity of the database automatically, without needing you to create triggers, rule or defaults.
Types of constraints: NOT NULL, CHECK, UNIQUE, PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY

13. What are cursors? Explain different types of cursors. What are the disadvantages of cursors? How can you avoid cursors?
o Cursors allow row-by-row processing of the result sets.
Types of cursors: Static, Dynamic, Forward-only, Keyset-driven.
o Disadvantages of cursors: Each time you fetch a row from the cursor, it results in a network roundtrip; where as a normal SELECT query makes only one roundtrip, however large the result set is. 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.

14. What is a join and explain different types of joins.
o Joins are used in queries to explain how different tables are related. Joins also let you select data from a table depending upon data from another table.
Types of joins: INNER JOINs, OUTER JOINs, CROSS JOINs. OUTER JOINs are further classified as LEFT OUTER JOINS, RIGHT OUTER JOINS and FULL OUTER JOINS.

15. What are triggers? How many triggers you can have on a table? How to invoke a trigger on demand?
o Triggers are special kind of stored procedures that get executed automatically when an INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE operation takes place on a table. From SQL Server 7.0 onwards, 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. Triggers can't be invoked on demand. They get triggered only when an associated action (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) happens on the table on which they are defined.

16. If two tables have a many-many relationship how will you resolve it.
o Many-to-Many relationships are implemented using a junction table with the keys from both the tables forming the composite primary key of the junction table.

17. What is an advantage to using a stored procedure as opposed to passing an SQL query from an application?
o A stored procedure is pre-loaded in memory for faster execution. It allows the DBMS control of permissions for security purposes. It also eliminates the need to recompile components when minor changes occur to the database.

18. What language is used by a relational model to describe the structure of a database?
o DDL,VDL,SDL

General OOp

2007-11-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

1. Differentiate between Overriding and Overloading

o overloaded methods can have the same name but must have different parameter lists

o parameter lists are considered different if the order of the arguments are different

o a subclass method can overload a super class method

o a subclass can override methods in it's super class and change it's implementation

o it must have the same return type, name, and parameter list and can only throw exceptions of the same class/subclass as those declared in the original method

2. Can you have an overloaded function that is different only in its return value

I.e. all parameters are the same but the return value is different (look for answer in the above question)

3. How do you call a method on the parent class from the inherited class (C#, Java)

Public override void DrawWindow ( )

{

base.DrawWindow ( ); // invoke the base method

Console.WriteLine (“Writing string to the listbox: {0}",

ListBoxContents);

}

4. Can you explain Polymorphism

Polymorphism: is a feature of OOP that at run time depending upon the type of object the appropriate method is called. Method overloading is the primary way polymorphism is implemented.

5. Can you explain what inheritance is and an example of when you might use it?

Is a feature of OOP that represents the "is a" relationship between different objects (classes). Say in real life a manager is an employee. So in OOPL manger class is inherited from the employee class.

6. What is an Interface? What are the difference between an Interface and an abstract class?

An Abstract class declaration has at least one instance method that is declared abstract which will be implemented by the subclasses. An abstract class can have instance methods that implement a default behavior. An Interface can only declare constants and instance methods, but cannot implement default behavior.

7. What is a virtual method?

When an instance method declaration includes a virtual modifier, that method is said to be a virtual method. In a virtual method invocation, the run-time type of the instance for which that invocation takes place determines the actual method implementation to invoke.

What do you mean by static methods:

By using the static method there is no need creating an object of that class to use that method. We can directly call that method on that class. For example, say class A has static function f (), then we can call f () function as A.f (). There is no need of creating an object of class A.

9. What are design patterns? In what ways do designs patterns help build better software?

o Design patterns help software developers to reuse successful designs and architectures. It helps them to choose design alternatives that make a system reusable and avoid alternatives that compromise reusability through proven techniques as design patterns.

10. What is Encapsulation?

-Hiding data within the class and making it available only through the methods. This technique is used to protect your class against accidental changes to fields, which might leave the class in an inconsistent state.

- a tightly encapsulated object hides all it's variables and provides public accessor methods ie the only way you can use the object is by invoking it's public methods

What are the most common techniques for reusing functionality in object-oriented systems?

o -The two most common techniques for reusing functionality in object-oriented systems are class inheritance and object composition.

-Class inheritance lets you define the implementation of one class in terms of another's. Reuse by sub classing is often referred to as white-box reuse.
Object composition is an alternative to class inheritance. Here, new functionality is obtained by assembling or composing objects to get more complex functionality. This is known as black-box reuse.