Logaan’s Site

As an idea that compliments the previous validator I built, this msbuild task will search for all the projects in a given path and check that they are all building to the correct path.

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To use just define two properties: SearchPath, which is the parent folder to start looking in. It will search all subfolders as well by default. And BuildFolder, which is the desired target for building to.

All it does is very simple substring matching to check that it is valid.

For example, if I build a project to ..\bin\Debug and ..\bin\Release and the specify my build folder is ..\bin then both paths are valid. But if one of the build targets was set to something like ..\foo then it would be invalid

Again, this validator could be extended to check other parts of the project files.

Due to a really subtle problem with our build scripts and project settings at work, we were releasing a debug assembly.

So I built this MSBuild task to validate the assemblies after they have been built.

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It is very simple to use.

Create a property called ExpectedConfiguration that has the configuration.

Create inclusion and exclusion item groups called AssemblyInclusions and AssemblyExceptions.

Then use the ValidateAssemblies target.

It will then look for all assemblies and validate each ones configuration attribute.

This could be extended to validate assemblies much more extensively, like checking publisher and copyrigth details etc

I always felt that I wanted to use the WeakReference class a lot like the Nullable<T> class.

internal class WrappedWeakReference<T> : WeakReference
 {
 public WrappedWeakReference(T target)
 : base(target)
 {
 }

 public new T Target
 {
 get { return (T) base.Target; }
 set { base.Target = value; }
 }

 public static implicit operator WrappedWeakReference<T>(T item)
 {
 return new WrappedWeakReference<T>(item);
 }
 }

This allows you to write things like:

 private WrappedWeakReference<MyObject> weakMyObject;

 public void Foo()
 {
 weakMyObject = new MyObject();
 }

 public void Bar()
 {
 weakMyObject.Target.SomeProperty....etc
 }
}

I think its nice idea.

However never did actually use this, I implemented the solution in a different manner where I did not need a weakreference, so this never got tested. I am not sure if it would work.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CodeSnippets  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
	<CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
		<Header>
			<Title>Empty pattern snippet</Title>
			<Shortcut>empty</Shortcut>
			<Description>Creates an empty static property and nested null object </Description>
			<Author>Alex Boyne-Aitken</Author>
			<SnippetTypes>
				<SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
			</SnippetTypes>
		</Header>
		<Snippet>
			<Declarations>
				<Literal>
					<ID>type</ID>
					<ToolTip>Class type</ToolTip>
					<Default>Class</Default>
				</Literal>
			</Declarations>
			<Code Language="csharp"><![CDATA[
			private static readonly $type$ empty = new NullObject();
public static $type$ Empty { get { return empty; } }

private class NullObject : $type$
{
}
			$end$]]>
			</Code>
		</Snippet>
	</CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CodeSnippets  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
	<CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
		<Header>
			<Title>ViewModel pattern snippet</Title>
			<Shortcut>viewmodel</Shortcut>
			<Description>Creates a view and viewmodel interface and a concreate view model </Description>
			<Author>Alex Boyne-Aitken</Author>
			<SnippetTypes>
				<SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
			</SnippetTypes>
		</Header>
		<Snippet>
			<Declarations>
				<Literal>
					<ID>name</ID>
					<ToolTip>Base name</ToolTip>
					<Default>Class</Default>
				</Literal>
			</Declarations>
			<Code Language="csharp"><![CDATA[
    public interface I$name$View
    {
        I$name$ViewModel Model { get; set; }
    }

    public interface I$name$ViewModel
    {
        I$name$View View { get; }
    }

    class $name$ViewModel : I$name$ViewModel
    {
        private readonly I$name$View view;

        public $name$ViewModel(I$name$View view)
        {
            this.view = view;
            view.Model = this;
        }

        public I$name$View View
        {
            get { return view; }
        }
    }
			$end$]]>
			</Code>
		</Snippet>
	</CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

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UPDATE: I have recently overhauled this and created a simpler script in this post: Simpler Version of the 7-zip backup

First, a little history:

Since the days when I started using XP I had gotten used to the control that NT Backup provided to allow me to backup my files.

About a year ago I moved to Vista and was unhappy with the “All or nothing” approach that the bundled backup software provided. I was also using OneCare at the time and it followed a similar policy.

Since moving to BitDefender I was much happier with the backup software it provided yet the fact that I was not using a well known backup format rubbed me.

So, using this article: http://www.wilshireone.com/article/115/easy-backups-with-7-zip as a guide, I engineered my own backup mechnism using 7-zip.

Now heres the fun. My backup schedule consists of a weekly incremental backup and one monthly full backup. My files are not so important that I need frequent backups, this schedule suits me down to the ground.

My solution consists of 7 parts:

• Backup.cmd, this is the main script that executes the command
• Backupset.txt, a list of files and folders that I wish to backup
• CurrentSet.txt, a path to the current backup file. Used by incremental backups to update
• FullBackup.cmd, the script to run a full backup
• FullBackupSettings.ini, the settings used by a full backup
• IncrementalBackup.cmd, the script to run an incremental backup
• IncrementalBackupSettings.ini, the settings used by the incremental backup

Now you could remove the separate scripts for the full and incremental backup, the reason I created separate scripts was that I don’t have to change the arguments in the task scheduler. Instead it is all controlled through those scripts.

Backup.cmd

@echo off

echo TRACE: Start

IF EXIST %1 GOTO Begin

echo Settings file does not exist
GOTO End

:Begin

echo TRACE: Read settings
for /f "eol=# tokens=1,2 delims==" %%i in (%1) do SET %%i=%%j

IF "%varBackupType%"=="full" GOTO CreateNewSet

echo TRACE: Load existing set
for /F %%i in (CurrentSet.txt) do set varTargetBackupSet=%%i

IF EXIST "%varTargetBackupSet%" GOTO Execute

echo Backup set does not exist!
GOTO End

:CreateNewSet
echo TRACE: Create new set

set varTargetBackupSet=%varBackupLocation%\%DATE:~-4%-%DATE:~3,2%-%DATE:~0,2%-%TIME:~0,2%-%TIME:~3,2%-backup.%varFormat%
echo %varTargetBackupSet% > CurrentSet.txt

:Execute
echo TRACE: Execute backup
"%var7zipPath%\7z" %varMode% -t%varFormat% "%varTargetBackupSet%" @"%varFileList%"

:End
echo TRACE: Finished
pause

The backup script loads the settings passed as argument 1, does some checking, then calls 7-zip to begin backing up. The settings files define how the files are added and where to etc.

BackupSet.txt

D:\Guild Wars\Screens
D:\Logaan\Documents
D:\Logaan\Favorites
C:\Users\Logaan\Desktop
D:\Logaan\Saved Games
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Local\2DBoy
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Local\Ascaron Entertainment
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Local\id Software
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Local\Rockstar Games
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Roaming\EditPlus 3
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Roaming\FileZilla
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Roaming\Free Download Manager
C:\Users\Logaan\AppData\Roaming\Xfire

This is the list file passed to 7-zip. The only downside is that you cannot list the same folder or file name twice in this file. The work around would be to invoke multiple backup scripts and then add the duplicate folders and nested zips.

CurrentSet.txt

D:\2009-04-05-17-16-backup.zip

This contains the backup file created in the last full backup. Incremental backups then read it in and use it to update files.

FullBackup.cmd

@echo off
Backup D:\Logaan\Documents\Tools\7ZipBackup\FullBackupSettings.ini

Simples, it just calls the main backup script with the correct settings.

FullBackupSettings.ini

# File path to the 7-zip executables
var7zipPath=C:\Program Files\7-Zip

# Backup format
varFormat=zip

# Target location for the backup
varBackupLocation=D:

# List file
varFileList=D:\Logaan\Documents\Tools\7ZipBackup\BackupSet.txt

# Mode
varMode=a

# Type
varBackupType=full

The settings file is read in and used in the main backup script. Note the mode and backup type, this is what separates the two types of backup.

IncrementalBackup.cmd

@echo off
Backup D:\Logaan\Documents\Tools\7ZipBackup\IncrementalBackupSettings.ini

Similar to the full version, except its providing the increment backup settings

IncrementalBackupSettings.ini

# File path to the 7-zip executables
var7zipPath=C:\Program Files\7-Zip

# Backup format
varFormat=zip

# Target location for the backup
varBackupLocation=D:

# List file
varFileList=D:\Logaan\Documents\Tools\7ZipBackup\BackupSet.txt

# Mode
varMode=u

# Type
varBackupType=incremental

Similar to the full settings, but with the zip mode set to update and its backup type defined as incremental.

Once that has all been put in place, all I do is create two tasks in the windows task scheduler.

You could go one step further and have the script copy the backups to another disk, I just do this myself when I feel like.

Update

After a little testing I found a flaw in the technique that I was using. Essentially what is happening is that new files are being added to the old archive and any deleted files were being left. I want to keep any files that I deleted but I do not want them muddying up the actual latest image.

Instead, what I did was use the -u switch to stop updates to the base archive being made and adding new files to a new archive, which makes it incremental in its true sense.

Backup.cmd

@echo off

echo TRACE: Start

IF EXIST %1 GOTO Begin

echo Settings file does not exist
GOTO End

:Begin

echo TRACE: Read settings
for /f "eol=# tokens=1,2 delims==" %%i in (%1) do SET %%i=%%j

set varNewBackupSet=%varBackupLocation%\%DATE:~-4%-%DATE:~3,2%-%DATE:~0,2%-%TIME:~0,2%-%TIME:~3,2%-backup.%varFormat%

IF "%varBackupType%"=="full" GOTO CreateNewSet

echo TRACE: Load existing set
for /F %%i in (CurrentSet.txt) do set varOldBackupSet=%%i

IF EXIST "%varOldBackupSet%" GOTO ExecuteIncremental

echo Backup set does not exist!
GOTO End

:CreateNewSet
echo TRACE: Create new set
echo %varNewBackupSet% > CurrentSet.txt

:ExecuteFull
echo TRACE: Execute Full backup
"%var7zipPath%\7z" a -t%varFormat% "%varNewBackupSet%" @"%varFileList%"
GOTO End

:ExecuteIncremental
echo TRACE: Execute Incremental backup
"%var7zipPath%\7z" u -u- -u!"%varNewBackupSet%" -t%varFormat% "%varOldBackupSet%" @"%varFileList%"

:End
echo TRACE: Finished
pause

In fact, I have gone one step further and I have built a command line tool that wraps 7-zip and provides a nicer mechanism for configuring the backups. It then executes 7-zip. Once I have tested it a little I will post the source code.

This technique allows you to define all of your parameters in a single file and not have to pass them all in on the command line.

This command reads in all of the tokens from the settings file and sets a series of environment variables

for /f "eol=# tokens=1,2 delims==" %%i in (settings.ini) do SET %%i=%%j

The settings file looks like this

# Comment
FirstVariableName=A value

# Comment
AnotherVariableName=A value

Just repeat those blocks. You can then do some validation on the enviroment variables if needs be.

I learnt this technique a little while ago, but I cannot remember where, so I cannot give credit where it is due.