Net use: How can I connect to a network share? - vb.net

(using vb.net)
How can I connect to a network share without using System.Diagnostics.Process.Start?
I need to connect to a network share and get feedback if it already exists.
Can I use some kind of API?

Use a native call to mpr.dll to add a connection
http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/mpr/WNetAddConnection2.html
You provide the function with the localname (aka diskletter) and remotename (the \server\sharename) in the NETRESOURCE class
A return value of 0 means success, a value of (among many others)
const int ERROR_ALREADY_ASSIGNED = 85,
(see http://msdn.microsoft.com/nl-be/library/aa385413(v=VS.85).aspx)
means the localname is already in use. If you want to find out if the remotename is already assigned you have to enumerate over the current mappings with the WNetEnumResource
http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/mpr.WNetEnumResource

Related

Domino Mailbox tool hung with NAMELookup2

We have developed the tools to read the emails from the Domino mailboxes and write those into the separate file in local disk(Its look like a backup). Recently we have created a new domino 9 test environment with our lab. But, our tools not working properly with our new domino work environment. To identify the problem about this issue, I have added some debug logs and it seems to look like the control hanged with the function "NAMELookup2". Here, I have added the code snippet,
DHANDLE hLookup;
char *pLookup;
if (NAMELookup2("Local", 0, 1, "$users", 1, dominoUser, 2, "FullName", &hLookup) == NOERROR) // hunged with this line
{
pLookup = (char *) OSLockObject(hLookup);
}
The same tool working fine with our other test environment. So, I think there is no problem with the code. I suspect that maybe the problem with our new work environment setup creation, or maybe missed to provide some kind permission to the users, or maybe I missed to add the mailboxes somewhere, etc.
Note:
I have run the tool with admin privilege user.
It would be great if anyone gives some direction on this.
Thanks,
See this NAMELookup2 page for reference. The function is declared as:
STATUS LNPUBLIC NAMELookup2(const char far *ServerName, DWORD Flags,
WORD NumNameSpaces, const char far *NameSpaces,
WORD NumNames, const char far *Names,
WORD NumItems, const char far *Items,
DHANDLE far *rethBuffer);
where NumItems is the number of null-terminated item names starting at the Items address. The code snippet in your question is passing a single item name ("FullName"), but is setting NumItems to 2. That is clearly wrong and could explain the hang. NumItems should be 1.
I am also suspicious of the ServerName argument. The documentation recommends passing NULL when you want to do a local lookup. Passing "Local" may be another way to accomplish the same, but you need to change your code in any case. I recommend changing the first argument to NULL.

Determine Documentum host name when using Documentum.Interop.DFC C# assembly

I'm working on some rather old C# code that uses Documentum DFC (Documentum.Interop.DFC.dll 6.5.0.18). The Documentum server settings are stored within the dfc.properties file stored on my local machine, for example:
dfc.docbroker.host[0]=xyzserver.xyzdomain.net
dfc.docbroker.port[0]=5432
I would like to be able to determine, and write to a log file, the Documentum "docbroker" host and port number whenever the Documentum COM objects are instantiated. Here's what I have so far:
DfClientX xClient = new DfClientXClass(); // <=== This xClient should have the host in there somewhere... right?
IDfLoginInfo login = xClient.getLoginInfo();
login.setUser( localUserName );
login.setPassword( localUserPassword );
xClient is an interface of type DfClientX, it is instantiated as a COM object.
Looping through all of the properties of the object suggested by this post looks promising.
I've searched on the Documentum boards with no luck so far. I realize this question will be difficult to answer without having access to the Documentum software, but it seems like it should be a rather simple task... perhaps someone with more general COM knowledge can help out?
Thanks in advance!
So after checking out the object in the Visual Studio watch window (not within the "tooltip" watch), I was able to use Intellisense to examine the properties available to the COM object and its properties. Here is how I am now able to determine the host name:
DfClientX xClient = new DfClientXClass();
IDfClient client = xClient.getLocalClient();
const string HOST_ATTRIBUTE = "dfc.docbroker.host";
var hostSetting = xClient.getLocalClient().getClientConfig().getString( HOST_ATTRIBUTE );
Logging.WriteLog( TraceEventType.Verbose, "*** {0} = {1}", HOST_ATTRIBUTE, hostSetting.ToString() );
Maybe this will help somebody else in the future.

Get USB disk drive letter by device path or handle

My goal is to write a c-dll (compiled with MinGW) that is able to search for certain models of USB sticks connected to the computer and deliver the serial number, the vendor ID, the product ID and the drive letter.
I have searched on the internet for several hours know but could not find an approach that works for me.
I am using the Setup Api to get a list of all connected USB devices. For each USB device I get a path that looks like this:
\?\usb#vid_048d&pid_1172#00000020370220#{a5dcbf10-6530-11d2-901f-00c04fb951ed}
From that string I can get the vendor ID, product ID and the serial number I am looking for.
My problem is now to determine the drive letter of the USB drive that is related to this device path.
During my internet research I found the following approach multiple times (for example here http://oroboro.com/usb-serial-number/):
Once the device path is found, the USB drive must be opened by CreateFile. The handle returned by that function can be used to get the device number by function DeviceIOControl with IOCTL_STORAGE_GET_DEVICE_NUMBER.
After that, the CreateFile function could be used to open each drive letter (starting from a:) and try to get the device number the same way like described above. Once the same device number is found again, the relation between device path and drive letter is made.
My Problem is that the IOCTL_STORAGE_GET_DEVICE_NUMBER call is not working. The DeviceIOControl function returns error code 50 which means "The request is not supported".
I am not able to create a link between the device path of a USB stick and the drive letter. I have tried several IOCTL_STORAGE and IOCTL_VOLUME calls but none worked for the USB sticks I tried.
I also read in another Forum that people had problems with the results of the DeviceIOControl function. It was returning the desired result on some PCs while it was making trouble on others.
Is there another way of achieving my goal?
I already had a look into the registry where I can also find the desired data. But again I had the problem to create the connection between device path and drive letter.
I would not like to use the WMI. I have read that it is still not really supported by MinGW.
I have a implementaion for all this with C# where it is really easy to get the desired information, but now I also need one that is created with unmanaged code and can be used to replace a c-dll also included in Delphi projects.
I would appreciate any suggestions for a solution to my problem.
Best regards,
Florian
And here the code if someone is interested. The position with this comment "//HERE IS WHERE I WOULD LIKE TO GET THE DEVICE NUMBER!!!" is where the request of the device number would be used if it would work.
typedef struct ty_TUSB_Device
{
PSP_DEVICE_INTERFACE_DETAIL_DATA deviceDetailData;
char devicePath[300];
}TUSB_Device;
int
GetUSBDevices (TUSB_Device *devList[], int size)
{
HANDLE hHCDev;
HDEVINFO deviceInfo;
SP_DEVICE_INTERFACE_DATA deviceInfoData;
ULONG index;
ULONG requiredLength;
int devCount = 0;
//SP_DEVINFO_DATA DevInfoData;
// Now iterate over host controllers using the new GUID based interface
//
deviceInfo = SetupDiGetClassDevs((LPGUID)&GUID_DEVINTERFACE_USB_DEVICE,
NULL,
NULL,
(DIGCF_PRESENT | DIGCF_DEVICEINTERFACE));
if (deviceInfo != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
{
deviceInfoData.cbSize = sizeof(SP_DEVICE_INTERFACE_DATA);
for (index=0;
SetupDiEnumDeviceInterfaces(deviceInfo,
0,
(LPGUID)&GUID_DEVINTERFACE_USB_DEVICE,
index,
&deviceInfoData);
index++)
{
SetupDiGetDeviceInterfaceDetail(deviceInfo,
&deviceInfoData,
NULL,
0,
&requiredLength,
NULL);
//allocate memory for pointer to TUSB_Device structure
devList[devCount] = malloc(sizeof(TUSB_Device));
devList[devCount]->deviceDetailData = GlobalAlloc(GPTR, requiredLength);
devList[devCount]->deviceDetailData->cbSize = sizeof(SP_DEVICE_INTERFACE_DETAIL_DATA);
SetupDiGetDeviceInterfaceDetail(deviceInfo,
&deviceInfoData,
devList[devCount]->deviceDetailData,
requiredLength,
&requiredLength,
NULL);
//open the usb device
hHCDev = CreateFile(devList[devCount]->deviceDetailData->DevicePath,
GENERIC_WRITE,
FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING,
0,
NULL);
// If the handle is valid, then we've successfully found a usb device
//
if (hHCDev != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
{
strncpy(devList[devCount]->devicePath, devList[devCount]->deviceDetailData->DevicePath, sizeof(devList[devCount]->devicePath));
//HERE IS WHERE I WOULD LIKE TO GET THE DEVICE NUMBER!!!
CloseHandle(hHCDev);
devCount++;
}
//GlobalFree(devList[devCount]->deviceDetailData);
}
SetupDiDestroyDeviceInfoList(deviceInfo);
}
return devCount;
}
I found out what my problem was. From what I read on the internet it seems there where other people having the same problems like me, so I will post my solution.
The whole point is that there are obviously different path values one can obtain for a USB device using the SetupApi. All path values can be used to get a handle to that device, but there are obviously differences about what can be done with the handle.
My failure was to use GUID_DEVINTERFACE_USB_DEVICE to list the devices. I found out that when I use GUID_DEVINTERFACE_DISK, I get a different path value that lets me request the device number. That way I am able to get the link to the drive letter.
That path value obtained with GUID_DEVINTERFACE_DISK also contains the serial number but not the vendor and product IDs. But since both path values do contain the serial, it is no problem to get them both and build the relation.
I tested the code with Windows XP, 7 and 8 and it works fine. Only the FileCreate code of the code sample above must be adjusted (replace GENERIC_WRITE by 0). Otherwise Administrator rights or compatibility mode are required.
I did not try to find out what these different GUID values really stand for. Someone with a deeper knowledge in this area could probably provide a better explanation.
Best regards,
Florian

Is it necessary that Data Source of connection string must match the system name

This is my first post to this precious website. I am a new learner of vb.net. I am working on a simple purchase project, where i got some errors. But the first thing is which baffled me is:
This is my connection string at module level, on the developed machine.
Public strCn As String = "Data Source = (local); Initial Catalog = PSys; Integrated Security = false; User ID = sa; Password = 123;"
Is it mandatory that Data Source must be the original name of the System Name. I mean If i use (local) or using ( . ), so will it work or not? Because when i copy my project to any other system for further development so every time i need to change the Data source, otherwise i get the error that: "Network-related or instance-specific error occurred......."
Kindly guide me that what i need to do.
When you are developing an application which uses a database server such as MsSQL it is not wise to install the server along with your application in every pc which is installed to. For example what are you going to do if a customer has a local network with 10 computers? Are you going to install SQL server in all 10 of them? And if so what if they need to share data?
So your best approach (based on common practice by other applications) will be to allow the user to install the SQL server where he wants and let him configure your application and point it to the server's location. If you follow that path then the configuration of your application can be in the setup application or in the application itself.
Now about the development phase, I had a similar situation in which I needed to develop the same application in two different computers. What I did was to install the SQL server in both of them with a named instance "sqlexpress" then in the application I used the
Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionStringBuilder
class to build the connection string. I did something like this:
Public Function getDevConnectionString() As String
Dim csb As New Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionStringBuilder(My.Settings.dbConnectionString) '<-My original cs in app settings
csb.DataSource = My.Computer.Name & "\sqlexpress"
Return csb.ConnectionString
End Function
Whenever I need a connection string I simply call getDevConnectionString() which returns the connection string based on the computer name plus the sql server instance name. For example:
Dim cs As String
#If DEBUG Then
cs = getDevConnectionString()
#Else
cs = getReleaseConnectionString()
#End If
where getReleaseConnectionString() is the function that returns your connection string configured by the customer.
Hope this point you the right direction...

Applying SSIS Package Configuration to multiple packages

I have about 85 SSIS packages that are using the same connection manager.
I understand that each package has its own connection manager.
I am trying to decide what would be the best configurations approach to simply set the connectionstring of the connection manager based on the server the packages are residing on.
I have visited all kinds of suggestions online, but cannot find anywhere the practice where I can simply copy the configuration from one package to the rest of the packages.
There are obviously many approaches such as XML file, SQL Server, Environment Variable, etc.
All the articles out there are pointing to use an Indirect method by using XML or SQL approach. Why would using an environment variable for just holding a connection string is such a bad approach?
Any suggestions are highly appreciated.
Thanks!
Why would using an environment variable for just holding a connection string is such a bad approach?
I find the environment variable or registry key configuration approach to be severely limited by the fact that it can only configure one item at a time. For a connection string, you'd need to define an environment variable for each catalog on a given server. Maybe it's only 2 or 3 and that's manageable. We had a good 30+ per database instance and we had multi-instanced machines so you can see how quickly this problem explodes into a maintenance nightmare. Contrast that with a table or xml based approach which can hold multiple configuration items for a given configuration key.
...best configurations approach to simply set the connectionstring of the connection manager based on the server the packages are residing on.
If you go this route, I'd propose creating a variable, ConnectionString and using it to configure the property. It's an extra step but again I find it's easier to debug a complex expression on a variable versus a complex expression on a property. With a variable, you can always pop a breakpoint on the package and look at the locals window to see the current value.
After creating a variable named ConnectionString, I right click on it, select Properties and set EvaluateAsExpression equal to True and the Expression property to something like "Data Source="+ #[System::MachineName] +"\\DEV2012;Initial Catalog=FOO;Provider=SQLNCLI11.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;"
When that is evaluated, it'd fill in the current machine's name (DEVSQLA) and I'd have a valid OLE DB connection string that connects to a named instance DEV2012.
Data Source=DEVSQLA\DEV2012;Initial Catalog=FOO;Provider=SQLNCLI11.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;
If you have more complex configuration needs than just the one variable, then I could see you using this to configure a connection manager to a sql table that holds the full repository of all the configuration keys and values.
...cannot find anywhere the practice where I can simply copy the configuration from one package to the rest of the packages
I'd go about modifying all 80something packages through a programmatic route. We received a passel of packages from a third party and they had not followed our procedures for configuration and logging. The code wasn't terribly hard and if you describe exactly the types of changes you'd make to solve your need, I'd be happy to toss some code onto this answer. It could be as simple as the following. After calling the function, it will modify a package by adding a sql server configuration on the SSISDB ole connection manager to a table called dbo.sysdtsconfig for a filter named Default.2008.Sales.
string currentPackage = #"C:\Src\Package1.dtsx"
public static void CleanUpPackages(string currentPackage)
{
p = new Package();
p.app.LoadPackage(currentPackage, null);
Configuration c = null;
// Apply configuration Default.2008.Sales
// ConfigurationString => "SSISDB";"[dbo].[sysdtsconfig]";"Default.2008.Sales"
// Name => MyConfiguration
c = p.Configurations.Add();
c.Name = "SalesConfiguration";
c.ConfigurationType = DTSConfigurationType.SqlServer;
c.ConfigurationString = #"""SSISDB"";""[dbo].[sysdtsconfig]"";""Default.2008.Sales""";
app.SaveToXml(sourcePackage, p, null);
}
Adding a variable in to the packages would not take much more code. Inside the cleanup proc, add code like this to add a new variable into your package that has an expression like the above.
string variableName = string.Empty;
bool readOnly = false;
string nameSpace = "User";
string variableValue = string.Empty;
string literalExpression = string.Empty;
variableName = "ConnectionString";
literalExpression = #"""Data Source=""+ #[System::MachineName] +""\\DEV2012;Initial Catalog=FOO;Provider=SQLNCLI11.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;""";
p.Variables.Add(variableName, readOnly, nameSpace, variableValue);
p.Variables[variableName].EvaluateAsExpression = true;
p.Variables[variableName].Expression = literalExpression;
Let me know if I missed anything or you'd like clarification on any points.