Category: How To | Page 24

How to Setup SQL Express LocalDB in ASP.NET

Microsoft SQL Server Express LocalDB should be used in place of the SQL Server Express user instance feature which is deprecated. It is more suitable for developers as it runs on-demand (instead as a service) with your Windows credential and without the need the need of complex configurations.

In Visual Studio 2013, if you want to have it setup a default database using a SQL Server LocalDb in your Web.Config, make sure you choose Individual User Account as your authentication mode.

Then you can modify the parameters and commit Update-Database later.

<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <!-- For more information on Entity Framework configuration, 
         visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=237468 -->
    <section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
  </configSections>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="DefaultConnection" 
         connectionString="Data Source=(LocalDb)v11.0;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|aspnet-WebApplication1-20131218041336.mdf;Initial Catalog=aspnet-WebApplication1-20131218041336;Integrated Security=True"
      providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  </connectionStrings>
  <appSettings>
    ...

How to Use a Custom Email Address in Gmail

If you want to use Gmail with custom domain to send out email (i.e., [email protected]), here are the steps you can follow to set it up.

This Google custom email tutorial will demonstrate the use of popular webhosting companies such as SiteGround and Hostgator, but it applies to any other webhosts services that provide SMTP services.

Assuming an email account is already setup, if your webhosting company uses cPanel, you can find the instructions by clicking on the drop-down and select Configure Email Client.
As a new page opens up, scroll to the bottom and look for Manual Settings. Copy the Mail Server Username and Outgoing Mail Server (SSL) information. For the Outgoing Mail Server, typically if you use SiteGround, the server would look like secure####.sgcpanel.com. Or Hostgator, gator###.hostgator.com. Bluehost would look something like box###.bluehost.com.
Now login to your Gmail account and go to Settings on the top-right corner.
Select Accounts, then click on a link Add another email address you own.
On the next dialog box, type in the name you want to be displayed every time an email sent out from that address, and the email address you created earlier.
While we highly recommend SiteGround for your webhosting due to its reliability and speed, this step was already illustrated using Hostgator. But whether you use SiteGround, Hostgator or Bluehost*, the step is exactly the same. Make sure you paste the information copied from Step 2 for the SMTP Server and Username. Click Add Account>> after you’re done.
Google will send a verification code to your new email address, which you need to enter on the verification window. Once you click Verify, your new email address is ready to use.

Now, whenever you compose a new email, you have the options to use either your original gmail domain name or the new email address with your custom domain.

You can repeat the steps above to add more than one custom email address.

Spending the extra effort to setup domain email with Gmail can make your email look more professional for your business. Hope it helps.

* Due to performance issue we have experienced with Bluehost, we can no longer recommend it as a webhost. Instead, we highly recommend SiteGround as a webhost. We’re very impressed by its performance and reliability that we added SiteGround as our affiliate.

Upgrading SQL Express to Other Edition

In SQL Server 2012, upgrading edition is actually easier than ever since the data is stored under the same directory.

Backup your data data. For default installation, the data can be found in the following directory:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server
Have a local copy of SQL 2012 setup files as it will make the installation process much faster.
Run setup.exe
When SQL Server Installation Center launches, click on Maintenance on the left pane and select Edition Upgrade on the right.
Make sure after the Setup Support Rules shows nothing failed.
Click OK. It will run again one more time to make sure that the computer is not a domain controller. Click Next when done. You need to do this a couple times until you see the screen where you need to enter the product key.
Enter the product key, and click Next.
Pick the SQL Server instance you want to upgrade.
Click Next > until you reach the Ready to upgrade edition.
Check the summary on the Ready to upgrade edition.
If everything looks correct, click on the Upgrade button.
Once done, you should see all statuses as Succeeded in the Complete screen. Click Close.

If you want to double check, connect to the database open a New Query window and run this SQL statement:

SELECT @@VERSION

It should display result similar to this:

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 - 11.0.2100.60 (X64)
Feb 10 2012 19:39:15
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.0 <X64> ...

SQL Server Edition Query

You might also want to remove the SQL Server 2012 setup files from the local hard drive.

How to Delete Chat History on LINE

Naver LINE messaging is one of the most popular app in Asia that is fun to use and useful because it’s available in multiple platforms.

One thing that can be tricky and confuses many people though is how to delete its chat history.

If you’re using an iOS version of LINE, you can delete your chat history by doing the following steps:

Launch LINE
Tap on …More
Tap Settings
Select Privacy
Tap on Clear Chat History

Note: Make sure this is really what you want to do as the whole chat history for all your contacts will be deleted and there’s no way to restore it.

How to Customize Master Page in SharePoint

Go to Site Action and select Edit in SharePoint Designer.

Edit in SharePoint Designer Menu

In the Master Pages Gallery, you will find three files:

v4.master
minimal.master
default.master

Don’t let the name default fool you, the one that is used for page layout in SharePoint 2010 is actually v4.master NOT default.master. So we want to copy v4.master before we make our customization and modify the copy instead (v4_custom.master).

Once done, just set it as a default page as indicated by the screenshot below (just do one or the other, not both).

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