MVC - Unable to Attach DB

If you are working in Visual Studio, sometimes you want to try and start again with the database. Often this is when you make drastic model changes. I have on a number of occasions have deleted the .mdf file in the App_Data folder.

This is not a recommended approach, since it will cause inconsistencies with the connected database. To resolve this, open up the Package Manager Console and type in the following commands:

sqllocaldb.exe stop v11.0
sqllocaldb.exe delete v11.0
Add-Migration MyMigration
Update-Database


When you do Update-Database, you may need to create a migration using Add-Migration <name>.

I've updated it to include this with the migration, please note that MyMigration can be anything that you want to call it.

Hope this helps.

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Lost Bitcoins

In the world of Crytocurrency Bitcoins is considered the Gold standard. One of the features that make Bitcoins and Cryptocurrency in general ahead of the normal Fiat currency is the fact that you transact anonymously around the world. This means that who ever owns the wallet is unknown,  which is why it was being used at underground sites such as SilkRoad.

There's a total limit of the number of Bitcoins that will ever be available, once this is completely mined and available to the public there is nothing further Bitcoins. The total number of Bitcoins is 21 Million. However, at the time of when the last Bitcoin is produced the total number in actual circulation will be far less than the 21 Million.

Why?

When Bitcoins were first introduced it was far less than a Niche product. It was being mined by people who were interested in it. It probably didn't have a lot of value at that time, and over the years some of the early Bitcoins that have been mined are now probably lost. For example, I mined Bitcoins in the early years, it had no value, I grew up changed computers and didn't think of backing anything up. I can't even recall how many I had - but I did have a handful. I'm sure I'm not the only that did this, so this leaves a hole in the total number of Bitcoins.

So what happens to them? 

 This also happens to cash, you leave it in your pocket, you drop it in a river, or you simply misplace it - or it is sitting under your couch. However, with normal currency additional currency is printed and produced - this is not the case with Bitcoins. It needs to be reclaimed from the original wallet - if the person that had the wallet no longer remembers their password, then the only option is to hack the wallet, if you can successfully crack the wallets then the whole Bitcoin security will come crumbling down.

The reality is Bitcoin has a lot of appeal on how currency can be digitised, however, it is going up against financial institutions and governments who have a lot of vested interest in their ecosystems. For the time being the total price of Bitcoin is purely speculations, it may one day be worth $100,000 or it may just fall off the cliff.

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Surface Pro 3 - Fantastic

I think the last time I posted something about the Microsoft Surface it was a couple of years ago. Although Surface Pro 3 didn't deliver everything I wanted, I bit the bullet and bought one any way. That was over 6 months ago.

There are a number of reviews out there about Surface Pro 3, so I didn't want to something about the surface that has already been covered. 

After using the Surface Pro 3 this is how I feel about it : 

• The product itself and overall is pretty impressive, I worried about performance etc... but I haven't had any problems to date. I did have a problem one night when it became really hot - I mean really hot. The temerature control came on and shut the system down - the fans could be heard fired up and whirring away. 
• The Type Cover is fantastic, and it is almost as pleasurable to type on the Type cover as the macbook pro keyboard. The trackpad is a bit of a dud, I feel like I was spoilt with the trackpad of the macs - which is probably the best trackpad by a mile. There's been times when I'm scrolling a webpage and it just doesn't scroll and I had to use the touch screen. I also have issues with the left click, it feels that it is getting stuck and the tactile feedback is just not there sometimes (I have to bend the cover slightly to try and pop it up).
• The screen is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.
• The Pen placement is still a problem. It is probably better the previous surface pro magnetic attachment but when you try and place it in a bag it sometimes gets caught - its just an annoyance. 
• Pen implementation with one note is FANTASTIC I'm someone that writes, and draws pictures alot when I speak to people. I tend to use the back of what ever is around. With one note + surface + surface pen, I no longer need to do that I just use One Note. 
• I haven't found any issues with windows 8,  I have to confess I do like the start screen in windows 8 compared to the previous versions. But I am in the desktop  mode quite alot. I also like the idea of being able to tap the Windows key and typing the name of the application and Enter (Perfect).
• I like the swiping from the left to rotate the application, but I haven't had the need to put them side-by-side since I'm in the normal applications (not metro). 
• I haven't had the need to use the camera at all yet. 
• Sound is great for me - obviously this isn't something that provides the best quality sound possible through those tiny speakers. 
• One major problem that I'm facing is the wireless - I have intermitent problems with the wireless. This ranges from poor performance, to dropped connections, to being unable find and/or connect to my home network. 
• I am still disappointed that I don't wireless ac and mobile broadband. I'm waiting for the new Wireless AC routers before moving to Wireless Ac. 

I would consider getting the next version if it had mobile broadband wireless ac. 

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Working with the Paypal Classic API Samples

When I started the the Classic API Samples I had to do the following operations for Visual Studio 2013:

1. Open the solution by double clicking on the .sln file via Exporer (or open it directly from Visual Studio)
2. Visual Studio will prompt you about one way migration, accept it and continue
3. Set the .NET Framework to 4.5.2 as it suggests

When you run the application it will work to a point - I noticed that the order that the main() executes the calls is not in the right order. Also, I noticed that there was a number of items that was hardcoded.

For example, the SetExpressCheckoutSamplewas further down, and CreateRecurringPaymentsProfileSample and DoCaptureSample were ahead of it. In terms of the order of operations this doesn't really make any sense since the Customer has not authorised anything they would have clicked submit on your page. 

The tokens that are used were also hardcoded, this is ok for the initial test - but Paypal really should have paid more attention to this. Since this will get Newbie (such as myself unstuck). 

To resolve this, I had to store the token once SetExpressCheckoutSample.SetExpressCheckoutAPIOperation() is executed. I then had to pass the token into where ever the token was being referred to. 

For example, in GetExpressCheckoutDetailsSample I overloaded the constructor to take in a string:

public string tk {get; set;}

public GetExpressCheckoutDetailsSample(string tk)

    {

        this.token = tk;

    }

Please note that this is to try and get the samples to actually work only. 

Then, I replaced GetExpressCheckoutDetailsRequestType getExpressCheckoutDetailsRequest = new GetExpressCheckoutDetailsRequestType("EC-11U13522TP7143059"); with 

GetExpressCheckoutDetailsRequestType getExpressCheckoutDetailsRequest = new GetExpressCheckoutDetailsRequestType(this.token);

As you can see above the Token was hardcoded, by passing the this.token instead of the hardcoded value I could use what I had set previously in SetExpressCheckoutSample.

Unfortunately the Classic API sample is a console application, after making these changes I was expecting the PayerID to be printed. When I found that this didn't actually print out anything and debugging and checking google. I noticed that there was a comment above the Console.WriteLn stating:

"

// Unique PayPal Customer Account identification number. This

                    // value will be null unless you authorize the payment by

                    // redirecting to PayPal after `SetExpressCheckout` call.

"

Good work Paypal, why would you provide a sample without actually providing a working sample? This sample should have been a asp.net sample, with the appropriate redirection routine. 

I'm positing this as I progress - however, I may need to alter posts as I learn more.

Thanks

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The Joys of Paypal Integeration and Financials Transactions

If you are like me, you live in a country that you could say is technologically challenged. I face this problem on daily, weekly, monthly basis whenever I want to try something that is out there, only to find out that it is restricted to USA.

In the global age of the internet I find it Ridikulouse that these types of restrictions apply. I know that in financial situations you have to be careful, and there are a number of regulations that bind us in the way we do things. And I received a harsh cup of reality and  realised this when I started to look at integrating payments processing for project that I'm working on.

I initially wanted to roll my own, and since I'm in the development phase and the interest of the project comes and goes - I have very little money to spend. I cannot spend on subscriptions and jump through hoops one month and loose all interest (change priorities the next month), and then back on the bandwagon the following month.

In this instance I was still in the very much interested phase, so I looked around on how I can roll my own. I soon realised that rolling your own meant that you need Internet Merchant Account - for which you need file applications to a Financial Institutions, who wants to understand your business in detail and requests for a Business Plan etc... All this just to develop. Then it was the payment processors, most want you to sign up straight away and let them know which plan you want to go on to. But I'm still developing my idea.

I then thought of Paypal, I was almost about to go onto Crytocurrency payments which felt a whole lot easier than the getting an Internet Merchant Account. I digress, back to Paypal. I thought of Paypal as a mechanism of accepting and processing the payment - sounded like a brilliant idea. I read article after article on how developer centric they were, and its free to set up a test account. So I did, I created a test account on their sandbox system - everything was falling into place. The next hurdle was the type of product and features that I wanted, this is probably where everything started to fall over.

Its been about two weeks now of researching Paypal alone - the developer centricity that I thought of wasn't actually there. Paypal, from what I can see has spread themselves out way too thin. They have

1. Information on their site that is out of date
2. Information that is missing (i.e demo video gives a 404)
3. Product Names that are confusing (Website Payment Pro, which should not be confused with Payment Pro or Payflow Pro ) - to be fair they do clearly state to customers not be confused with these names.
4. Git Repos that are out of date
5. Confusing messaging (Paypal states that they will continue to support the development of the Classic API and when you goto the GIT Repo of their SDK it states that this is now defunct and for everyone to use REST API - REST API is limited and available in USA, CANADA and the United Kingdom).
6. They also have source code that was not complete (see statement  paymentItem.ItemCategory = (ItemCategoryType)EnumUtils.GetValue(, typeof(ItemCategoryType)); )
7. They don't really support Asp.net MVC... 

To make matters worse i went to Stackoverflow to get assistance, and it doesn't look like that Paypal area gets any love. My question there is still unanswered. Paypal integration is a real struggle, payment processing in general is a struggle. I'll write more as I know more (see the paypal label on the side of this post to see all the other posts about paypal). At this stage I'm still clueless. 

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