Reading and decoding RDS (Radio Data System) in C#

RDS or Radio Data System is very common in US and many European countries. It is communication protocol used to send small amount of digital information using regular FM radio broadcast. This protocol is used to "tell" your receiver about alternative frequencies, time, program notifications, program types, traffic information and regular text (such as singer name or genre). Unfortunately in Israel RDS is not very common and there is very limited number of radio stations broadcasts RDS information.

How RDS works?

As mentioned earlier, it uses FM subcarrier to broadcast digital information. It was designed to support 10 and 18 characters numeric and 80 characters alphanumeric displays. RDS operates at 1187.5 bps and based on 26-bit word consisting of 16 data and 10 error detection bits. Due to the fact, that FM carrier is not very reliable, error code allows correct information to be received even if an error of 3-5 bits exists within 26 bit block. Each four data blocks interpreted as 104-bit signal and named "group". Depending of the type of information, contained within the group, as different group type code is defined and transmitted within the group as upper five bits code. Even if more, then 104 bits required to completely send the information, there is no requirement that the next segment of the transmission be sent in the next group. There are 32 known groups types, defined by RFC:

private enum groupType : byte {
   RDS_TYPE_0A = (0 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_0B = (0 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_1A = (1 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_1B = (1 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_2A = (2 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_2B = (2 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_3A = (3 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_3B = (3 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_4A = (4 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_4B = (4 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_5A = (5 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_5B = (5 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_6A = (6 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_6B = (6 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_7A = (7 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_7B = (7 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_8A = (8 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_8B = (8 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_9A = (9 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_9B = (9 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_10A = (10 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_10B = (10 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_11A = (11 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_11B = (11 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_12A = (12 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_12B = (12 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_13A = (13 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_13B = (13 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_14A = (14 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_14B = (14 * 2 + 1),
   RDS_TYPE_15A = (15 * 2 + 0),
   RDS_TYPE_15B = (15 * 2 + 1)
}

Not all groups are in use all the time. However, there are some commitments, defined by the protocol. For example, 1A have to be transmitted at least once a second. This group contains special information, required for receivers to be synchronized and locked into the transmitting channel.

Within the error correction information we also receive the direction to treat them.

private enum correctedType : byte {
   NONE = 0,
   ONE_TO_TWO = 1,
   THREE_TO_FIVE = 2,
   UNCORRECTABLE = 3
}

Also, each message type has it own limits. For example RT (Radio Text - 64 character text to display on your receiver) and PS (Programme Service - eight character station identification) message are limited to 2 groups, when PI (Programme Identification - unique code of the station) and PTY (Programme Type - one of 31 predefined program types - e.g. News, Drama, Music) are limited to 4.

In addition to those constraints, block types are also different. But in this case, there are only 4 kinds

private enum blockType : byte {
   A = 6,
   B = 4,
   C = 2,
   D = 0
}

So, what we're waiting for? Let's start working.

Handling errors

First of all we should take care on errors and fix them if possible. For this purpose, we should first count them and detect the way of fixing

var errorCount = (byte)((registers[0xa] & 0x0E00) >> 9);
var errorFlags = (byte)(registers[0x6] & 0xFF);
if (errorCount < 4) {
   _blocksValid += (byte)(4 - errorCount);
} else { /*drop data on more errors*/ return; }

Once it done, we can try to fix them

//Also drop the data if more than two errors were corrected
if (_getErrorsCorrected(errorFlags, blockType.B) > correctedType.ONE_TO_TWO) return;

private correctedType _getErrorsCorrected(byte data, blockType block) { return (correctedType)((data >> (byte)block) & 0x30); }

Now, our registers should be fine and we can start the detection of group type

Group Type Detection

This is very simple task, all we have to do is to get five upper bites to get a type and version.

var group_type = (groupType)(registers[0xD] >> 11);

Then we can handle PI and PTY, which we always have in RDS.

PI and PTY treatment

Now, let's update pi code, due to the fact, that B format always have PI in words A and C

_updatePI(registers[0xC]);

if (((byte)group_type & 0x01) != 0) {
_updatePI(registers[0xE]);
}

To update PI, we should check whether the new value is different from the previous and update it only in case it changed.

private void _updatePI(byte pi) {
   uint rds_pi_validate_count = 0;
   uint rds_pi_nonvalidated = 0;

   // if the pi value is the same for a certain number of times, update a validated pi variable
   if (rds_pi_nonvalidated != pi) {
      rds_pi_nonvalidated = pi;
      rds_pi_validate_count = 1;
   } else {
      rds_pi_validate_count++;
   }

   if (rds_pi_validate_count > PI_VALIDATE_LIMIT) {
      _piDisplay = rds_pi_nonvalidated;
   }
}

Then we will update PTY

_updatePTY((byte)((registers[0xd] >> 5) & 0x1f));

PTY treatment is very similar to PI, however it can be multiplied.

private void _updatePTY(byte pty) {
   uint rds_pty_validate_count = 0;
   uint rds_pty_nonvalidated = 0;

   // if the pty value is the same for a certain number of times, update a validated pty variable
   if (rds_pty_nonvalidated != pty) {
      rds_pty_nonvalidated = pty;
      rds_pty_validate_count = 1;
   } else {
      rds_pty_validate_count++;
   }

   if (rds_pty_validate_count > PTY_VALIDATE_LIMIT) {
      _ptyDisplay = rds_pty_nonvalidated;
   }
}

When we done with those two groups, we can start handling another. Today, we'll handle only 0B, 2A and 2B types (I have a good reason for it, due to the fact, that only those are supported in Israel by now :) ) So,

Handling PS and different RTs

Simple switch on those groups

switch (group_type) {
   case groupType.RDS_TYPE_0B:
      addr = (byte)((registers[0xd] & 0x3) * 2);
      _updatePS((byte)(addr + 0), (byte)(registers[0xf] >> 8));
      _updatePS((byte)(addr + 1), (byte)(registers[0xf] & 0xff));
      break;
   case groupType.RDS_TYPE_2A:
      addr = (byte)((registers[0xd] & 0xf) * 4);
      abflag = (byte)((registers[0xb] & 0x0010) >> 4);
      _updateRT(abflag, 4, addr, (byte[])registers.Skip(0xe), errorFlags);
      break;
   case groupType.RDS_TYPE_2B:
      addr = (byte)((registers[0xd] & 0xf) * 2);
      abflag = (byte)((registers[0xb] & 0x0010) >> 4);
      // The last 32 bytes are unused in this format
      _rtTmp0[32] = 0x0d;
      _rtTmp1[32] = 0x0d;
      _rtCnt[32] = RT_VALIDATE_LIMIT;
      _updateRT(abflag, 2, addr, (byte[])registers.Skip(0xe), errorFlags);
      break;
}

and let's dig into PS.

In PS, we have high and low probability bits. So, if new bit in sequence matches the high probability bite and we have recieved enough bytes to max out the counter, we'll push it into the low probability array.

if (_psTmp0[idx] == default(byte)) {
           if (_psCnt[idx] < PS_VALIDATE_LIMIT) {
               _psCnt[idx]++;
            } else {
               _psCnt[idx] = PS_VALIDATE_LIMIT;
               _psTmp1[idx] = default(byte);
            }
         }

Else, if new byte matches with the low probability byte, we should swap them and then reset the counter, by flagging the text as in transition.

else if (_psTmp1[idx] == default(byte)) {
            if (_psCnt[idx] >= PS_VALIDATE_LIMIT) {
               isTextChange = true;
            }
            _psCnt[idx] = PS_VALIDATE_LIMIT + 1;
            _psTmp1[idx] = _psTmp0[idx];
            _psTmp0[idx] = default(byte);
         }

When we have an empty byte in high probability array or new bytes does not match anything we know, we should put it into low probability array.

else if (_psCnt[idx] == null) {
            _psTmp0[idx] = default(byte);
            _psCnt[idx] = 1;
         } else {
            _psTmp1[idx] = default(byte);
         }

Now, if we marked our text as changed, we should decrement the count for all characters to prevent displaying of partical message, which in still in transition.

         if (isTextChange) {
            for (byte i = 0; i < _psCnt.Length; i++) {
               if (_psCnt[i] > 1) {
                  _psCnt[i]--;
               }
            }
         }

Then by checking PS text for incompetence, when there are characters in high probability array has been seen fewer times, that was limited by validation.

         for (byte i = 0; i < _psCnt.Length; i++) {
            if (_psCnt[i] < PS_VALIDATE_LIMIT) {
               isComplete = false;
               break;
            }
         }

Only if PS text in the high probability array is complete, we'll copy it into display.

         if (isComplete) {
            for (byte i = 0; i < _psDisplay.Length; i++) {
               _psDisplay[i] = _psTmp0[i];
            }
         }

It is not very hard to treat PS. Isn't it? Let's see what's going on with RT.

If A and B message flag changes, we'll try to force a display by increasing the validation count for each byte. Then, we'll wipe any cached text.

   if (abFlag != _rtFlag && _rtFlagValid) {
      // If the A/B message flag changes, try to force a display
      // by increasing the validation count of each byte
      for (i = 0; i < _rtCnt.Length; i++) _rtCnt[addr + i]++;
      _updateRTValue();

      // Wipe out the cached text
      for (i = 0; i < _rtCnt.Length; i++) {
         _rtCnt[i] = 0;
         _rtTmp0[i] = 0;
         _rtTmp1[i] = 0;
      }
   }

Now A and B flags are safe, sp we can start with message processing. First of all, NULL in RDS means space :)

   _rtFlag = abFlag;    
   _rtFlagValid = true;   

   for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {
      if (p[i] == null) p[i] = (byte)' ';

The new byte matches the high probability byte also in this case. We habe to recieve this bite enough to max out counters. Then we can push it into the low probability as well.

      if (_rtTmp0[addr + i] == p[i]) {
         if (_rtCnt[addr + i] < RT_VALIDATE_LIMIT) _rtCnt[addr + i]++;
         else {
            _rtCnt[addr + i] = RT_VALIDATE_LIMIT;
            _rtTmp1[addr + i] = p[i];
         }
      }

When the new byte matches with low probability byte, we'll swap them as well and reset counters to update text in transition flag. However in this case, our counter will go higher, then the validation limit. So we'll have to remove it down later.

else if (_rtTmp1[addr + i] == p[i]) {

         if (_rtCnt[addr + i] >= PS_VALIDATE_LIMIT) isChange = true;

         _rtCnt[addr + i] = RT_VALIDATE_LIMIT + 1;
         _rtTmp1[addr + i] = _rtTmp0[addr + i];
         _rtTmp0[addr + i] = p[i];
      }

Now, the new byte is replaced an empty byte in the high probability array. Also, if this byte does not match anything, we should move it into low probability.

else if (_rtCnt[addr + i] == null) { 
         _rtTmp0[addr + i] = p[i];
         _rtCnt[addr + i] = 1;
      } else _rtTmp1[addr + i] = p[i];

   }

Now when the text is changing, we'll decrement the counter for all characters exactly as we did for PS.

      for (i = 0; i < _rtCnt.Length; i++) {
         if (_rtCnt[i] > 1) _rtCnt[i]--;
      }
   }

However, right after, we'll update display. 

   _updateRTValue();
}

Displaying RT

But how to convert all those byte arrays into readable message? Simple :)

First of all if text is incomplete, we should keep loading it. Also it makes sense to check whether the target array is shorter then maximum allowed to prevent junk from being displayed.

for (i = 0; i < _rtTmp0.Length; i++) {
   if (_rtCnt[i] < RT_VALIDATE_LIMIT) {
      isComplete = false;
      break;
   }
   if (_rtTmp0[i] == 0x0d) {
      break;
   }
}

Now, when our Radio Text is in the high probability and it complete, we should copy buffers.

if (isComplete) {
   _Text = string.Empty;

   for (i = 0; i < _rtDisplay.Length; i += 2) {
      if ((_rtDisplay[i] != 0x0d) && (_rtDisplay[i + 1] != 0x0d)) {
         _rtDisplay[i] = _rtTmp0[i + 1];
         _rtDisplay[i + 1] = _rtTmp0[i];
      } else {
         _rtDisplay[i] = _rtTmp0[i];
         _rtDisplay[i + 1] = _rtTmp0[i + 1];
      }

      if (_rtDisplay[i] != 0x0d)
         _Text += _rtDisplay[i];

      if (_rtDisplay[i + 1] != 0x0d)
         _Text += _rtDisplay[i + 1];

      if ((_rtDisplay[i] == 0x0d) || (_rtDisplay[i + 1] == 0x0d))
         i = (byte)_rtDisplay.Length;
   }

And not forget to wipe out everything after the end of the message :)

   for (i++; i < _rtDisplay.Length; i++) {
      _rtDisplay[i] = 0;
      _rtCnt[i] = 0;
      _rtTmp0[i] = 0;
      _rtTmp1[i] = 0;
   }
}

And finally update the text

Text = _Text;

We done. Now we can handle RDS digital messages, but what to do with analog data we get? Don't you already know? I blogged about it here.

Have a nice day and be good people, because you know how to write client, knows to get and parse radio data in managed code.

Creating transparent buttons, panels and other control with Compact Framework and putting one into other

In WPF/Silverlight world it's very simple to make transparent controls and put anything inside anything. However, that's not the situation in WinForms, and even worth in the world of compact devices with CF. Within this worlds, there is only one way to make controls transparent - to use color masks. Today, we'll create transparent controls with Compact Framework and put it into panel, which has image background.

So let's start. First of all, we need create our own control. For this purpose, we have to inherit from Control and override couple of things. More precise: OnPaint and OnPaintBackground. We do not want to paint background for transparent control, so let's prevent it.

public class TransparentImageButton : Control

protected override void OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e) {
           //prevent
       }

       protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e) {

Next, we have to get graphics, delivered by OnPain event argument and draw our image over it. However, BitBlt (which is used by core graphics system) is not very fast method, so it's better for us to draw everything first and then copy final image to the device.

Graphics gxOff;
Rectangle imgRect;
var image = (_isPressed && PressedImage != null) ? PressedImage : Image;

if (_imgOffscreen == null) {
_imgOffscreen = new Bitmap(ClientSize.Width, ClientSize.Height);
}

gxOff = Graphics.FromImage(_imgOffscreen);
gxOff.Clear(this.BackColor);  
...
         

if (image != null) {
var imageLeft = (this.Width - image.Width) / 2;
var imageTop = (this.Height - image.Height) / 2;

if (!_isPressed) imgRect = new Rectangle(imageLeft, imageTop, image.Width, image.Height);
else imgRect = new Rectangle(imageLeft + 1, imageTop + 1, image.Width, image.Height);
var imageAttr = new ImageAttributes();

To make images transparent, we have to use (as mentioned earlier) transparency color key (to tell windows what color it should not draw. We can code or provide this value to detect it by hitting any pixel on the image. Just like this:

public static Color BackgroundImageColor(this Bitmap bmp) {
           return bmp.GetPixel(0, 0);
       }

Now we can keep working.

imageAttr.SetColorKey(image.BackgroundImageColor(), image.BackgroundImageColor());
gxOff.DrawImage(image, imgRect, 0, 0, image.Width, image.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel, imageAttr);
} if (_isPressed) {
var rc = this.ClientRectangle;
  rc.Width--;
  rc.Height--;
  gxOff.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Black), rc);
}
e.Graphics.DrawImage(_imgOffscreen, 0, 0);

Also, we have to provide others with possibility to handle this even too, thus we will not forget to add base.OnPaint(e); at  the end.

Next step is to detect whether our button is clicked or not. We'll override keyboard and mouse events to detect this.

protected override void OnKeyDown(KeyEventArgs e) {
            _isPressed = this.Focused; this.Invalidate();
            base.OnKeyDown(e);
        }

        protected override void OnKeyUp(KeyEventArgs e) {
            _isPressed = false; this.Invalidate();
            base.OnKeyUp(e);
        }

        protected override void OnMouseDown(MouseEventArgs e) {
            _isPressed = this.Focused; this.Invalidate();
            base.OnMouseDown(e);
        }

        protected override void OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e) {
            _isPressed = false; this.Invalidate();
            base.OnMouseUp(e);
        }

Compile and run to see no problem, when our transparent button lies on solid color control, however, we want to put it into panel with background - just like this one. In this case, you can use real transparent PNG and GIF images, also you can replace transparent color with well known Magenta (or any other color).

public class ImagePanel : Panel {

        public Bitmap Image { get; set; }

        protected override void OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e) {
            e.Graphics.DrawImage(Image, 0, 0);
        }
    }

When we'll put it onto anything, that has no background color, we'll see that our "fake transparency" disappears. Why this happen? To provide transparency Windows uses color masks, also while confederating facts, clipping algorithm within GDI is not very trustful, thus the only thing can be taken into account is color. But what to do if we have an image? We should clip it manually. We cannot just get the handle to parent device surface (see above about trustful GDI), so the only way to do it is by providing something, that we know for sure. For example interface, telling us, that parent has image, which drawn on the screen.

internal interface IHaveImage {
        Bitmap Image { get; set; }
    }

When we know it, all we have to do is to clip the region of this image (not device context) and draw it as part of our really transparent control.

if (this.Parent is IHaveImage) {
                var par = this.Parent as IHaveImage;
                gxOff.DrawImage(par.Image.Clip(this.Bounds), 0, 0);
            }

The implementation of Image.Clip is very straight forward.

public static Bitmap GetSS(this Graphics grx, Rectangle bounds) {
    var res = new Bitmap(bounds.Width, bounds.Height);
    var gxc = Graphics.FromImage(res);
    IntPtr hdc = grx.GetHdc();
    PlatformAPI.BitBlt(gxc.GetHdc(), 0, 0, bounds.Width, bounds.Height, hdc, bounds.Left, bounds.Top, PlatformAPI.SRCCOPY);
    grx.ReleaseHdc(hdc);
    return res;
}

public static Bitmap Clip(this Bitmap source, Rectangle bounds) {
    var grx = Graphics.FromImage(source);
    return grx.GetSS(bounds);
}

We done. Compiling all together will fake transparency for controls, even when it's parents background is not pained with  solid color brush.

Source code for this article

P.S. Do not even try to inherit your custom Button control from framework Button class, dev team "forgot" to expose it's event for override. So, OnPaint, OnPaintBackground, OnKeyUp, OnKeydown, OnMouseUp and OnMouseDown aside with most of other base events will not work for you, also BaseButton class has no default constructor, so the only class you can inherit from is Control.

Have a nice day and be good people.

How to P/Invoke VarArgs (variable arguments) in C#? ... or hidden junk in CLR

Recently I wrote a cheat sheet for pinvoking in .NET. Shortly after I got a question in comments about how to deal with variable arguments, when it's more, then one parameter. Also what to do if those arguments are heterogeneous?

Let's say, that we have following method in C:

int VarSum(int nargs, ...){
    va_list argp;
    va_start( argp, nargs );
    int sum = 0;
    for( int i = 0 ; i < nargs; i++ ) {
        int arg = va_arg( argp, int );
        sum += arg;
    }
    va_end( argp );

    return sum;
}

We can expose this method to C# as following:

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute("unmanaged.dll", EntryPoint = "VarSum")]
        public static extern int VarSum(int nargs,int arg1);

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute("unmanaged.dll", EntryPoint = "VarSum")]
        public static extern int VarSum(int nargs,int arg1,int arg2);

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute("unmanaged.dll", EntryPoint = "VarSum")]
        public static extern int VarSum(int nargs,int arg1,int arg2,int arg3);

etc...

And it will work. However, if you'll try to expose it as int array, marshaller will fail to understand how to align things

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute("unmanaged.dll", EntryPoint = "VarSum")]
        public static extern int VarSum(int nargs,int[] arg);

This in spite of the fact, that this method will work properly with another signature

int ArrSum(int* nargs) {
    int sum = 0;
    for( int i = 0 ; i < 2; i++ ) {
        sum += nargs[i];
    }
    return sum;
}

So what to do? The official answer is - you have nothing to do, rather then override all possibilities. This is very bad and absolutely not flexible. So, there is small class in C#, named ArgIterator. This one is similar to params object[], but knows to marshal into varargs. The problem is, that you have no way to add things inside. It's "kind-of-read-only".

Let's look into reflected version of ArgIterator. We'll see there something, named __arglist and __refvalue. OMG, isn't it good old stuff similar to "__declspec(dllexport) int _stdcall" etc.? It is! But can we use it in C#? We can! Just sign your method as Cdecl and you have working signature for "..."

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute("unmanaged.dll", EntryPoint = "VarSum",
            CallingConvention=System.Runtime.InteropServices.CallingConvention.Cdecl)]
        public static extern int VarSum(int nargs, __arglist);

Yes, looks strange, and absolutely not CLR compliant. However, this is the only way to expose varargs to CLR via P/Invoke. How to use it? Simple:

c = VarSum(2, __arglist(5, 10));

Have a nice day and be good people. Also, my question to Microsoft is why this stuff is not in MSDN and we, as developers, have no way to get rid of it.

Is not it very good practices to use non-compliant methods? Give us another way to do it!
Is not it very good practices to use variable arguments in unmanaged method signatures? So why you want dynamic types in C# 4?

Source code for this article

Auto scroll ListBox in WPF

In WinForms era it was very simple to autoscroll listbox content in order to select last or newly added item. It become a bit complicated in WPF. However, complicated does not mean impossible.

As for me, Microsoft should add this feature to base ListBox implementation as another attempt to be attractive environment for LOB application. See, for example this thread from MSDN forums. I'm really understand this guy. He do not want to implement it with a lot of code, he just want it to be included in core WPF control (but he should mark answers)

Generally, the simplest way to it is by using attached properties. So, your code will look like this

<ListBox Height="200" l:SelectorExtenders.IsAutoscroll="true" IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True" Name="list"/>

But what's going on under the hoods? There it bit complicated :) First of all, we should create attached property, named IsAutoscroll

public class SelectorExtenders : DependencyObject {

        public static bool GetIsAutoscroll(DependencyObject obj) {
            return (bool)obj.GetValue(IsAutoscrollProperty);
        }

        public static void SetIsAutoscroll(DependencyObject obj, bool value) {
            obj.SetValue(IsAutoscrollProperty, value);
        }

        public static readonly DependencyProperty IsAutoscrollProperty =
            DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("IsAutoscroll", typeof(bool), typeof(SelectorExtenders), new UIPropertyMetadata(default(bool),OnIsAutoscrollChanged));

now handle it when you set it's value by handling new items arrivals, set current and then scroll into it

public static void OnIsAutoscrollChanged(DependencyObject s, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e) {
            var val = (bool)e.NewValue;
            var lb = s as ListBox;
            var ic = lb.Items;
            var data = ic.SourceCollection as INotifyCollectionChanged;

            var autoscroller = new System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler(
                (s1, e1) => {
                    object selectedItem = default(object);
                    switch (e1.Action) {
                        case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add:
                        case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Move: selectedItem = e1.NewItems[e1.NewItems.Count - 1]; break;
                        case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Remove: if (ic.Count < e1.OldStartingIndex) { selectedItem = ic[e1.OldStartingIndex - 1]; } else if (ic.Count > 0) selectedItem = ic[0]; break;
                        case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Reset: if (ic.Count > 0) selectedItem = ic[0]; break;
                    }

                    if (selectedItem != default(object)) {
                        ic.MoveCurrentTo(selectedItem);
                        lb.ScrollIntoView(selectedItem);
                    }
                });

            if (val) data.CollectionChanged += autoscroller; 
            else  data.CollectionChanged -= autoscroller;

        }

That's all. Also it can be done by visual tree querying (as thread started proposed). Find scrollviewer inside the ListBox visual tree and then invoke "ScrollToEnd" method of it.

Have a nice day and be good people. And, yes, WPF development team should consider this feature implemented internally for any Selector and ScrollViewer control

Source code for this article

P/Invoke cheat sheet

I’m working a lot with p/invoke, and know how it’s hard to produce correct signature for unmanaged method. So, today I decided to publish basic cheat sheet for methods, parameters and attributes you should use in order to invoke unmanaged methods from managed code without a lot of problems. We start with data type translations. Here the table to understand it.

Data type from unmanaged signature	Data type in managed signature
int	int the same with all other simple types such as double, uint, etc or private objects
void*	IntPtr
int*	ref int the same with all other simple types such as double, uint, etc or private objects
char**	ref IntPtr later, you should get ascii string by using System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.PtrToStringAnsi() method
wcar_t**	ref IntPtr later, you should get ascii string by using System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.PtrToStringUni() method
const int*	ref int
const char*	[System.Runtime.InteropServices.In()] [System.Runtime.InteropServices.MarshalAs(System.Runtime.InteropServices.UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string
… (variable argument)	[System.Runtime.InteropServices.In()] [System.Runtime.InteropServices.MarshalAs(System.Runtime.InteropServices.UnmanagedType.AsAny)] object

You can use either System.Runtime.InteropServices.In or System.Runtime.InteropServices.Out attribute to specify how arguments should be used.

Now we done with simple arguments, let’s see what can be done when argument is actually callback or delegate?

Unmanaged definition

Managed definition

typedef void (*MyCallback)(int Arg)

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.UnmanagedFunctionPointer(System.Runtime.InteropServices.CallingConvention.Cdecl)]delegate void MyCallback(int Arg) Caller cleans stack argument is used to assure, that we can call varargs type function, usually used by API provider. It is very similar to C# overrides for methods. Also you can use StdCall (this is default), ThisCall – stores this first and pushes other parameters on the stack, FastCall – not very supported :(

 

To call all those methods, we should know managed equivalents of unmanaged types. Here the table. The rule is simple – know how many bytes unmanaged type has and find managed type with the same number of bytes. Other words, you can marshal int into IntPtr too…

Unmanaged type	Managed equivalent
bool	bool
char	sbyte (signed), byte (unsigned)
wchar_t	char
double	double
float	single
int, long (signed)	Int32
int, long (unsigned)	UInt32
__int64 (signed)	Int64
__int64	UInt64
short (signed)	Int16
short (unsigned)	UInt16
void	void

But not only types are problem in managed/unmanaged transitions. Also structures are aligned differently. For this purpose we can use StructLayout attribute. Even if unmanaged classes are sequential and you used correct managed data types, you can find you with problems in Pack. What “pack” is? Pack is actually slot size in bytes for members of your structure. It can be 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 and depends on the platform and application setting.

Now you can see, that it is not very complicated to create managed signatures when you have header of unmanaged assemblies. So go ahead and ask, if I missed something.

That’s all by now. Have a nice day and be good people.

The new version of WPF Performance Profiling Tool is available for download

Finally, after a long time of silence, the new version of WPF Performance Profiling Tool is available for download for x32 and x64 OSs.  So, what’s new there?

Ton of UI improvements for Visual Profiler

New search function to quick find elements in visual tree

Hot path (critical path) of CPU usage aside with CPU usage for single element

Configuration of tint for overlay windows

Live preview, ability to split columns, slider of graph duration, expanders to have cleaner screen and much much more

Perforator also got new UI and has history now.

There is new tool, named String allocation profiler

This tool is very useful for viewing and managing strings inside your application (another step toward normal localization support for WPF? Probably)

There are also some improvements in Event tracing tool. Select process for example :)

And much much more. Great thank to Josef and his team for this great work

Download the new version of WPF Performance Profiling Tool >>

Visual Studio snippet designer

Chicks love CodePlex as well as Microsoft loves it too and today they release extremely useful tool, that was internal for more, then three years. It named: “Visual Studio Snippet Designer”.

As you can, probably, understand. This tools is used to create and manage VS time savers - snippet files (introduced in VS2005)

This is great tool, that will help you a lot to save your time during regular everyday development. Any other word is unnecessary. Download, install and use it!

WGS to UTM, UTM to WGS conversions, geo distance, azimuth and other geographical calculations in C#

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated"

Since my post about leaving consulting field, I got huge amount of email with questions about all community projects, I'm leading, blogging in general and specific to the future of this blog.

To make things clear, I leaved consulting, and now, I have less time and reasons to blog, however, I'm keep blogging and maintaining almost all of my community projects (see the left side of the main page to list of most of those projects). Also, I try to answer all questions, I got via emails, however it's too much to handle, thus be prepared for delays.

To be sure, I'm alive, you can follow me at twitter (it demands less time to write) :) Anyway, that you for reading my blog and supporting me. 

Now it's good time to write something useful for you :)

If you ever wrote GIS programs, you, probably, know, that every time we forget how to convert latlon (Latitude-Longitude or, simpler World Geographical System) coordinates into Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates and vise verse, how to calculate geographical distance from point to point, line or segment to point and line to line, how to calculate azimuth between two geo points, or how to calculate destination point, based on start coordinate, distance and bearing.

In order to make our life easier, I decided to post number of methods in C#, I always use to perform such GIS calculations. I believe, that those classes will help you to perform your own geographical calculations. Also, do not forget two handy functions to convert degrees to radians and vv

public static double DegToRad(double deg) { return (deg / 180.0 * Math.PI); }
public static double RadToDeg(double rad) { return (rad / Math.PI * 180.0); }

Also, there are some constants should be used, if you're calculating geo information in the Earth

const double sm_a = 6378137.0;
const double sm_b = 6356752.314;
const double sm_EccSquared = 6.69437999013e-03;
const double UTMScaleFactor = 0.9996;

Conversion WGS2UTM (LatLon2UTM)

Fist of all, we should calculate UTM zone. This one is simple

int zone = (int)(Math.Floor((latlon.Longitude + 180.0) / 6) + 1);

Now, when we have zone, we should calculate UTM central meridian, footprint of latitude and arc length of the meridian

public static double UTMCentralMeridian(int zone) { return DegToRad(-183.0 + (zone * 6.0)); }

public static double FootpointLatitude(double y) {
         /* Precalculate n (Eq. 10.18) */
         var n = (sm_a - sm_b) / (sm_a + sm_b);

         /* Precalculate alpha_ (Eq. 10.22) */
         /* (Same as alpha in Eq. 10.17) */
         var alpha_ = ((sm_a + sm_b) / 2.0) * (1 + (Math.Pow(n, 2.0) / 4) + (Math.Pow(n, 4.0) / 64));

         /* Precalculate y_ (Eq. 10.23) */
         var y_ = y / alpha_;

         /* Precalculate beta_ (Eq. 10.22) */
         var beta_ = (3.0 * n / 2.0) + (-27.0 * Math.Pow(n, 3.0) / 32.0) + (269.0 * Math.Pow(n, 5.0) / 512.0);

         /* Precalculate gamma_ (Eq. 10.22) */
         var gamma_ = (21.0 * Math.Pow(n, 2.0) / 16.0) + (-55.0 * Math.Pow(n, 4.0) / 32.0);

         /* Precalculate delta_ (Eq. 10.22) */
         var delta_ = (151.0 * Math.Pow(n, 3.0) / 96.0) + (-417.0 * Math.Pow(n, 5.0) / 128.0);

         /* Precalculate epsilon_ (Eq. 10.22) */
         var epsilon_ = (1097.0 * Math.Pow(n, 4.0) / 512.0);

         /* Now calculate the sum of the series (Eq. 10.21) */
         return y_ + (beta_ * Math.Sin(2.0 * y_)) + (gamma_ * Math.Sin(4.0 * y_)) + (delta_ * Math.Sin(6.0 * y_)) + (epsilon_ * Math.Sin(8.0 * y_));
      }

public static double ArcLengthOfMeridian(double phi) {
         /* Precalculate n */
         var n = (sm_a - sm_b) / (sm_a + sm_b);

         /* Precalculate alpha */
         var alpha = ((sm_a + sm_b) / 2.0) * (1.0 + (Math.Pow(n, 2.0) / 4.0) + (Math.Pow(n, 4.0) / 64.0));

         /* Precalculate beta */
         var beta = (-3.0 * n / 2.0) + (9.0 * Math.Pow(n, 3.0) / 16.0) + (-3.0 * Math.Pow(n, 5.0) / 32.0);

         /* Precalculate gamma */
         var gamma = (15.0 * Math.Pow(n, 2.0) / 16.0) + (-15.0 * Math.Pow(n, 4.0) / 32.0);

         /* Precalculate delta */
         var delta = (-35.0 * Math.Pow(n, 3.0) / 48.0) + (105.0 * Math.Pow(n, 5.0) / 256.0);

         /* Precalculate epsilon */
         var epsilon = (315.0 * Math.Pow(n, 4.0) / 512.0);

         /* Now calculate the sum of the series and return */
         return alpha * (phi + (beta * Math.Sin(2.0 * phi)) + (gamma * Math.Sin(4.0 * phi)) + (delta * Math.Sin(6.0 * phi)) + (epsilon * Math.Sin(8.0 * phi)));
      }

Now, we have everything to calculate UTM

public static GeoPoint MapLatLonToXY(double phi, double lambda, double lambda0) {
         /* Precalculate ep2 */
         var ep2 = (Math.Pow(sm_a, 2.0) - Math.Pow(sm_b, 2.0)) / Math.Pow(sm_b, 2.0);

         /* Precalculate nu2 */
         var nu2 = ep2 * Math.Pow(Math.Cos(phi), 2.0);

         /* Precalculate N */
         var N = Math.Pow(sm_a, 2.0) / (sm_b * Math.Sqrt(1 + nu2));

         /* Precalculate t */
         var t = Math.Tan(phi);
         var t2 = t * t;
         var tmp = (t2 * t2 * t2) - Math.Pow(t, 6.0);

         /* Precalculate l */
         var l = lambda - lambda0;

         /* Precalculate coefficients for l**n in the equations below
            so a normal human being can read the expressions for easting
            and northing
            -- l**1 and l**2 have coefficients of 1.0 */
         var l3coef = 1.0 - t2 + nu2;

         var l4coef = 5.0 - t2 + 9 * nu2 + 4.0 * (nu2 * nu2);

         var l5coef = 5.0 - 18.0 * t2 + (t2 * t2) + 14.0 * nu2 - 58.0 * t2 * nu2;

         var l6coef = 61.0 - 58.0 * t2 + (t2 * t2) + 270.0 * nu2 - 330.0 * t2 * nu2;

         var l7coef = 61.0 - 479.0 * t2 + 179.0 * (t2 * t2) - (t2 * t2 * t2);

         var l8coef = 1385.0 - 3111.0 * t2 + 543.0 * (t2 * t2) - (t2 * t2 * t2);

         var xy = new GeoPoint();
         /* Calculate easting (x) */
         xy.X = N * Math.Cos(phi) * l + (N / 6.0 * Math.Pow(Math.Cos(phi), 3.0) * l3coef * Math.Pow(l, 3.0)) + (N / 120.0 * Math.Pow(Math.Cos(phi), 5.0) * l5coef * Math.Pow(l, 5.0)) + (N / 5040.0 * Math.Pow(Math.Cos(phi), 7.0) * l7coef * Math.Pow(l, 7.0));

         /* Calculate northing (y) */
         xy.Y = ArcLengthOfMeridian(phi) + (t / 2.0 * N * Math.Pow(Math.Cos(phi), 2.0) * Math.Pow(l, 2.0)) + (t / 24.0 * N * Math.Pow(Math.Cos(phi), 4.0) * l4coef * Math.Pow(l, 4.0)) + (t / 720.0 * N * Math.Pow(Math.Cos(phi), 6.0) * l6coef * Math.Pow(l, 6.0)) + (t / 40320.0 * N * Math.Pow(Math.Cos(phi), 8.0) * l8coef * Math.Pow(l, 8.0));

         return xy;
      }

public static GeoCoord MapXYToLatLon(double x, double y, double lambda0) {
   /* Get the value of phif, the footpoint latitude. */
   double phif = FootpointLatitude(y);

   /* Precalculate ep2 */
   double ep2 = (Math.Pow(sm_a, 2.0) - Math.Pow(sm_b, 2.0)) / Math.Pow(sm_b, 2.0);

   /* Precalculate cos (phif) */
   var cf = Math.Cos(phif);

   /* Precalculate nuf2 */
   var nuf2 = ep2 * Math.Pow(cf, 2.0);

   /* Precalculate Nf and initialize Nfpow */
   var Nf = Math.Pow(sm_a, 2.0) / (sm_b * Math.Sqrt(1 + nuf2));
   var Nfpow = Nf;

   /* Precalculate tf */
   var tf = Math.Tan(phif);
   var tf2 = tf * tf;
   var tf4 = tf2 * tf2;

   /* Precalculate fractional coefficients for x**n in the equations
      below to simplify the expressions for latitude and longitude. */
   var x1frac = 1.0 / (Nfpow * cf);

   Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**2) */
   var x2frac = tf / (2.0 * Nfpow);

   Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**3) */
   var x3frac = 1.0 / (6.0 * Nfpow * cf);

   Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**4) */
   var x4frac = tf / (24.0 * Nfpow);

   Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**5) */
   var x5frac = 1.0 / (120.0 * Nfpow * cf);

   Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**6) */
   var x6frac = tf / (720.0 * Nfpow);

   Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**7) */
   var x7frac = 1.0 / (5040.0 * Nfpow * cf);

   Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**8) */
   var x8frac = tf / (40320.0 * Nfpow);

   /* Precalculate polynomial coefficients for x**n.
      -- x**1 does not have a polynomial coefficient. */
   var x2poly = -1.0 - nuf2;

   var x3poly = -1.0 - 2 * tf2 - nuf2;

   var x4poly = 5.0 + 3.0 * tf2 + 6.0 * nuf2 - 6.0 * tf2 * nuf2 - 3.0 * (nuf2 * nuf2) - 9.0 * tf2 * (nuf2 * nuf2);

   var x5poly = 5.0 + 28.0 * tf2 + 24.0 * tf4 + 6.0 * nuf2 + 8.0 * tf2 * nuf2;

   var x6poly = -61.0 - 90.0 * tf2 - 45.0 * tf4 - 107.0 * nuf2 + 162.0 * tf2 * nuf2;

   var x7poly = -61.0 - 662.0 * tf2 - 1320.0 * tf4 - 720.0 * (tf4 * tf2);

   var x8poly = 1385.0 + 3633.0 * tf2 + 4095.0 * tf4 + 1575 * (tf4 * tf2);

   var philambda = new GeoCoord();
   /* Calculate latitude */
   philambda.Latitude = phif + x2frac * x2poly * (x * x) + x4frac * x4poly * Math.Pow(x, 4.0) + x6frac * x6poly * Math.Pow(x, 6.0) + x8frac * x8poly * Math.Pow(x, 8.0);

   /* Calculate longitude */
   philambda.Longitude = lambda0 + x1frac * x + x3frac * x3poly * Math.Pow(x, 3.0) + x5frac * x5poly * Math.Pow(x, 5.0) + x7frac * x7poly * Math.Pow(x, 7.0);

   return philambda;
}

We done, the only thing, should be adjusted is easting and northing for UTM system

xy.X = xy.X * UTMScaleFactor + 500000.0;
xy.Y = xy.Y * UTMScaleFactor;
if (xy.Y < 0.0) xy.Y += 10000000.0;

Conversion UTM2WGS (UTM2LatLon)

After al had all thin math in previous chapter, now we should calculate opposite conversion

First adjust

x -= 500000.0;
x /= UTMScaleFactor;

/* If in southern hemisphere, adjust y accordingly. */
if (southhemi) y -= 10000000.0;

y /= UTMScaleFactor;

var cmeridian = UTMCentralMeridian(zone);

Now calculate

public static GeoCoord MapXYToLatLon(double x, double y, double lambda0) {
         /* Get the value of phif, the footpoint latitude. */
         double phif = FootpointLatitude(y);

         /* Precalculate ep2 */
         double ep2 = (Math.Pow(sm_a, 2.0) - Math.Pow(sm_b, 2.0)) / Math.Pow(sm_b, 2.0);

         /* Precalculate cos (phif) */
         var cf = Math.Cos(phif);

         /* Precalculate nuf2 */
         var nuf2 = ep2 * Math.Pow(cf, 2.0);

         /* Precalculate Nf and initialize Nfpow */
         var Nf = Math.Pow(sm_a, 2.0) / (sm_b * Math.Sqrt(1 + nuf2));
         var Nfpow = Nf;

         /* Precalculate tf */
         var tf = Math.Tan(phif);
         var tf2 = tf * tf;
         var tf4 = tf2 * tf2;

         /* Precalculate fractional coefficients for x**n in the equations
            below to simplify the expressions for latitude and longitude. */
         var x1frac = 1.0 / (Nfpow * cf);

         Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**2) */
         var x2frac = tf / (2.0 * Nfpow);

         Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**3) */
         var x3frac = 1.0 / (6.0 * Nfpow * cf);

         Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**4) */
         var x4frac = tf / (24.0 * Nfpow);

         Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**5) */
         var x5frac = 1.0 / (120.0 * Nfpow * cf);

         Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**6) */
         var x6frac = tf / (720.0 * Nfpow);

         Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**7) */
         var x7frac = 1.0 / (5040.0 * Nfpow * cf);

         Nfpow *= Nf;   /* now equals Nf**8) */
         var x8frac = tf / (40320.0 * Nfpow);

         /* Precalculate polynomial coefficients for x**n.
            -- x**1 does not have a polynomial coefficient. */
         var x2poly = -1.0 - nuf2;

         var x3poly = -1.0 - 2 * tf2 - nuf2;

         var x4poly = 5.0 + 3.0 * tf2 + 6.0 * nuf2 - 6.0 * tf2 * nuf2 - 3.0 * (nuf2 * nuf2) - 9.0 * tf2 * (nuf2 * nuf2);

         var x5poly = 5.0 + 28.0 * tf2 + 24.0 * tf4 + 6.0 * nuf2 + 8.0 * tf2 * nuf2;

         var x6poly = -61.0 - 90.0 * tf2 - 45.0 * tf4 - 107.0 * nuf2 + 162.0 * tf2 * nuf2;

         var x7poly = -61.0 - 662.0 * tf2 - 1320.0 * tf4 - 720.0 * (tf4 * tf2);

         var x8poly = 1385.0 + 3633.0 * tf2 + 4095.0 * tf4 + 1575 * (tf4 * tf2);

         var philambda = new GeoCoord();
         /* Calculate latitude */
         philambda.Latitude = phif + x2frac * x2poly * (x * x) + x4frac * x4poly * Math.Pow(x, 4.0) + x6frac * x6poly * Math.Pow(x, 6.0) + x8frac * x8poly * Math.Pow(x, 8.0);

         /* Calculate longitude */
         philambda.Longitude = lambda0 + x1frac * x + x3frac * x3poly * Math.Pow(x, 3.0) + x5frac * x5poly * Math.Pow(x, 5.0) + x7frac * x7poly * Math.Pow(x, 7.0);

         return philambda;
      }

At the end do not forget to return Latitude and Longitude in degrees, rather, then in radians

Azimuth calculation

We done with coordinates, now azimuth

public static double GetAzimuth(WGSCoord c1, WGSCoord c2) {
         var lat1 = DegToRad(c1.Latitude);
         var lon1 = DegToRad(c1.Longitude);
         var lat2 = DegToRad(c2.Latitude);
         var lon2 = DegToRad(c2.Longitude);

         return RadToDeg(Math.Asin(Math.Sin(lon1 - lon2) * Math.Cos(lat2) / Math.Sin(Math.Acos(Math.Sin(lat2) * Math.Sin(lat1) + Math.Cos(lat1) * Math.Cos(lat2) * Math.Cos(lon2 - lon1)))));
      }

Distance calculations

public static double GetDistance(WGSCoord c1, WGSCoord c2) {
         var dLat = DegToRad(c2.Latitude - c1.Latitude);
         var dLon = DegToRad(c2.Longitude - c2.Longitude);
         var a = Math.Sin(dLat / 2) * Math.Sin(dLat / 2) + Math.Cos(DegToRad(c1.Latitude)) * Math.Cos(DegToRad(c2.Latitude)) * Math.Sin(dLon / 2) * Math.Sin(dLon / 2);
         var c = 2 * Math.Atan2(Math.Sqrt(a), Math.Sqrt(1 - a));
         return sm_a * c;
      }

Final destination coordinates, based on start coordinate, bearing and distance

public static WGSCoord GetDestination(WGSCoord start, double distance, double azimuth) {
         var lat = RadToDeg(Math.Asin(Math.Sin(DegToRad(start.Latitude)) * Math.Cos(DegToRad(distance / sm_a)) + Math.Cos(DegToRad(start.Latitude)) * Math.Sin(DegToRad(distance / sm_a)) * Math.Cos(DegToRad(azimuth))));
         var lon = start.Longitude + DegToRad(Math.Atan2(Math.Sin(DegToRad(azimuth)) * Math.Sin(DegToRad(distance / sm_a)) * Math.Cos(DegToRad(start.Latitude)), Math.Cos(DegToRad(distance / sm_a)) - Math.Sin(DegToRad(start.Latitude)) * Math.Sin(DegToRad(lat))));
         return new WGSCoord(lon,lat);

      }

Midpoint calculation

public static WGSCoord GetMidpoint(WGSCoord start, WGSCoord end) {
         var dLat = DegToRad(end.Latitude - start.Latitude);
         var dLon = DegToRad(end.Longitude - start.Longitude);
         var lat2 = DegToRad(end.Latitude);
         var lat1 = DegToRad(start.Latitude);
         var lon1 = DegToRad(start.Longitude);

         var Bx = Math.Cos(lat2) * Math.Cos(dLon);
         var By = Math.Cos(lat2) * Math.Sin(dLon);
         var lat3 = Math.Atan2(Math.Sin(lat1) + Math.Sin(lat2), Math.Sqrt((Math.Cos(lat1) + Bx) * (Math.Cos(lat1) + Bx) + By * By));
         var lon3 = lon1 + Math.Atan2(By, Math.Cos(lat1) + Bx);
         return new WGSCoord(RadToDeg(lon3), RadToDeg(lat3));
      }

Rhumb lines calculation

First of all, what is rhumb lines? Rhumb lines or loxodrome is a path of constant bearing, which crosses all meridians at the same angle. This calculation is very useful, if you want to follow constant compass bearing, instead of continually adjustment of it.

public static double GetRhumbDistance(WGSCoord start, WGSCoord end) {
   var dLat = DegToRad(end.Latitude - start.Latitude);
   var dLon = DegToRad(end.Longitude - start.Longitude);
   var lat1 = DegToRad(start.Latitude);
   var lon1 = DegToRad(start.Longitude);
   var lat2 = DegToRad(end.Latitude);
   var lon2 = DegToRad(end.Longitude);

   var dPhi = Math.Log(Math.Tan(lat2 / 2 + Math.PI / 4) / Math.Tan(lat1 / 2 + Math.PI / 4));
   var q = (Math.Abs(dLat) > 1e-10) ? dLat / dPhi : Math.Cos(lat1);
   if (Math.Abs(dLon) > Math.PI) {
      dLon = dLon > 0 ? -(2 * Math.PI - dLon) : (2 * Math.PI + dLon);
   }
   return Math.Sqrt(dLat * dLat + q * q * dLon * dLon) * sm_a;
}

public static double GetRhumbBearing(WGSCoord start, WGSCoord end) {
   var dLat = DegToRad(end.Latitude - start.Latitude);
   var dLon = DegToRad(end.Longitude - start.Longitude);

   var lat1 = DegToRad(start.Latitude);
   var lon1 = DegToRad(start.Longitude);
   var lat2 = DegToRad(end.Latitude);
   var lon2 = DegToRad(end.Longitude);

   var dPhi = Math.Log(Math.Tan(lat2 / 2 + Math.PI / 4) / Math.Tan(lat1 / 2 + Math.PI / 4));
   if (Math.Abs(dLon) > Math.PI) {
      dLon = dLon > 0 ? -(2 * Math.PI - dLon) : (2 * Math.PI + dLon);
   }
   return Math.Atan2(dLon, dPhi);
}

public static WGSCoord GetRhumbDestination(WGSCoord start, WGSCoord end) {
         var lat1 = DegToRad(start.Latitude);
         var lon1 = DegToRad(start.Longitude);
         var lat2 = DegToRad(end.Latitude);
         var lon2 = DegToRad(end.Longitude);

         var d = GetRhumbDistance(start, end);
         var b = GetRhumbBearing(start, end);
         lat2 = lat1 +  d * Math.Cos(b);
         var dPhi = Math.Log(Math.Tan(lat2 / 2 + Math.PI / 4) / Math.Tan(lat1 / 2 + Math.PI / 4));
         var q = (Math.Abs(lat2 - lat1) > 1e-10) ? (lat2 - lat1) / dPhi : Math.Cos(lat1);
         var dLon = d * Math.Sin(b) / q;
         if (Math.Abs(lat2) > Math.PI / 2) lat2 = lat2 > 0 ? Math.PI - lat2 : -Math.PI - lat2;
         lon2 = (lon1 + dLon + Math.PI) % (2 * Math.PI) - Math.PI;

         return new WGSCoord(RadToDeg(lon2), RadToDeg(lat2));
      }

Conversion between decimal degrees to degrees-minutes-seconds

public static Pair<double,double> ToD_Mm(this double decCoord) {
         var degSeg = (int)decCoord;
         return new Pair<double, double>(degSeg, decCoord % degSeg * 60);
      }

Now it's good time for small math (if there were not enough until now) :) All following methods are not geo spatial oriented. All those are only geometry. The only helper method, you need here is Dot vector operation

private static double dot(Vector v1, Vector v2) { return (v1.X * v2.X + v1.Y * v2.Y); }

Get the distance between two points

private static double distance(Point p1, Point p2) {
         var a = Math.Pow(p1.X, 2) - Math.Pow(p2.X, 2);
         var b = Math.Pow(p1.Y, 2) - Math.Pow(p2.Y, 2);
         return Math.Sqrt(Math.Abs(a + b));
      }

Get the shortest distance between point and line segment

private static double distance(Point p1, Point p2, Point p) {
         var v = p1 - p2;
         var w = p - p2;

         var c1 = dot(w, v);
         if (c1 <= 0) return distance(p, p1);

         var c2 = dot(v, v);
         if (c2 <= c1) return distance(p, p2);

         var b = c1 / c2;
         Point Pb = p1 + b * v;
         return distance(p, Pb);
      }

Isn't it enough math for now? It is. Have a nice day and be good people. Next time, we'll speak about different path finding algorithms, edges, nodes and other fun math optimizations.

WPF DataGrid CTP is here. It’s also open source!

Huge amount of people asked me about DataGrid control in WPF. There are some 3rd parties providing this control for free and not, However, I always adviced them to wait until Microsoft will release it with (or after) Arrowhead. So here comes the King. Some boys and girls from MS WPF dev team have OS initiative and released WPF toolkit. It’s absolutely free and includes all sources. Also it renewed with WPF DataGrid CTP and other tasty Futures inside with full source aside.

Microsoft goes open source? It does!

Download latest WPF toolkit >>

Configuring and running Mono ASP.NET 3.5 (AJAX.NET) on Linux computers

Before we will start, we should install Linux. To do this, you can download any of LiveCDs with live installation. Officially, Mono supported only on one free Linux - openSuse. However, you can make it work on any RedHat (and its alternatives), OpenSolaris. It works, but unsupported on Debians, Ubuntu and Maemo. We’ll stick to openSuse by now.

Let’s install it - OS

I’m assuming, that you’re installing Linux as the only OS on the machine, so insert liveCD (it can be either Gnome or KDE) and wait for Linux to run. It will run live image directly on your machine without installation.

When it’ll up, you’ll see liveInstall icon in your desktop. Click it and skip first two screens (it is only language and local settings). Next screen (disk partitions) is necessary for us.

On this screen, first delete all automatic partitions. The only one main partition will remain (/DEV/SDA or /DEV/HDA). Next you should choose non-LVM option and then start creating partitions.

Create first partition with mount point /boot and size of 100Mb. File system for this partition should be ext3.

Create second partition with file system SWAP (you will not have mount point) and set the size twice bigger, then RAM amount.

Create last partition with mount point / and all remaining size on disk.

All other steps are optional, you can just click Next button.

After about 10 minutes you’ll have up and running openSuse system. (If you forgot to remove CD, choose HardDisk as boot option)

Web Server installation

Now we have to install web server. You can choose either Apache, FastCGI  or use build-in server within Mono – XSP. We’ll choose Apache

Goto “Computer” it’s in the same place as Start button :) and choose YaST. You’ll be asked for admin password, you entered while installing the system.

Now in the Filter field, type “Install”. Choose “Software Management” from the available programs at right. Now, when Package Selection dialog opens, type “apache”, you’ll find apache2. Select it and click Install. Apache will move to the right column. Optionally, you can install also prefork and utils packages.

Now hit “Apply” to install it. Within two minutes, you’ll be asked to log off and log on. Do it.

By now apache is not running, you should run it and set it starts automatically. To do this, enter terminal window (you can either do it from “Computer” menu or right clicking desktop).

You need elevation to administrate startup programs. So type: “su –“ and enter your password. Terminal color turns red. Type “chkconfig apache2 on”. Now you should check whether it done, so type: “chkconfig apache2 –list”. You should see “On” near number 3 and 5.

To run apache manually, just type “/etc/init.d/apache2 start” to stop “/etc/init.d/apache2 stop”, to restart “/etc/init.d/apache2 restart” and to check the status “/etc/init.d/apache2 status”

We done, apache is up and running. Now we should install mono

Mono installation

Start with the same YaST but this time, type “mono” – you’'ll get a lot of programs. To simplified installation, choose (or type) mono-complete. This will all available Mono modules.

After Mono will be installed, you should install also apache2-mod_mono to make possible running ASP.NET mono pages in Apache. do this.

Log off – log on and move to configuration

Mono configuration

Now it’s time to configure what ASP.NET pages you want to run. We want ASP.NET 2.0, so we should run mono apache mode for this version. To do this, go to the terminal, elevate yourself (su –) and type following: “vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf” This will open VI editor with apache configuration file in it.

Now it’s time to learn VI a little. To start editing, you should type “A” – it will write “INSERT” in the lower left corner. To return to the command mode, hit escape key. To save (from command mode) “:w” to exit and save “:wq” to exit without save “:q!”. To find “/” and string the pattern you are looking for.

Now go the the very end of the file  and write under Include “/etc/apache2/vhosts.d/*.conf” following:
(to short string “[D]” is your virtual directory (slash blank is root), “[P]” is physical path to your site without trailing slash)

MonoServerPath default /usr/bin/mod-mono_server2
Alias [D] “[P]”
AddMonoApplications default “[D]:[P]”
<Location [D]>
SetHandler mono
</Location>

So, if your site is MySite and it is in /srv/www/htdocs/MySite, this section will looks as following:

MonoServerPath default /usr/bin/mod-mono_server2
Alias /MySite “/srv/www/htdocs/MySite”
AddMonoApplications default “/MySite:/srv/www/htdocs/MySite”
<Location /MySite>
SetHandler mono
</Location>

If you want to turn it to the root site, this will looks following:

MonoServerPath default /usr/bin/mod-mono_server2
AddMonoApplications default “/:/srv/www/htdocs/MySite”
<Location />
SetHandler mono
</Location>

Now, we’ll add mono administrative site to be able to restart mono only without touching apache itself. To do this, after last </Location> you should add following:

<Location /mono>
SetHandler mono-ctrl
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.1
</Location>

I think it’s very clear what it did :)

If you have more, then one site and want to configure mono differently for each one of those, you should add VirtualHost section. To do this, include your configuration in to

<VirtualHost [IP and port you want, for example 1.1.1.1:80 or *:80 for all IPs on port 80]>
ServerName [Name you want]
…
</VirtualHost>

We done. Restart apache and enter the url you set (for example http://localhost/MySite/)

Working? Good. You finished.

Not working (familiar yellow error 500 screen)? Keep reading…

Debugging Mono website

Do you remember, that you have no development environment in this machine? You can install it, or download Mono liveCD with openSuse. But before doing it, please note, that GTK# (it’s devenv) is not very user friendly. It even worse, then Eclipse. So let’s try to understand first whether we can fix small compatibility problems without entering code.

The most convenient method to debug web site on Mono is by using XSP and XSP2 mini web servers. Just enter the directory of the site and run it. By default you’ll be able to access the site by using “http://localhost:8080” (it also be written for you). Enter and notice whether you have any errors in console. No? Keep doing

The most common problem is “error 500” with nonsense stack. If it contains ScriptManager error Type not found, the problem is in Web.config file. Try to regenerate it to be compatible to Mono (for example, Mono has different version of System.Web.Extensions assembly. In ASP.NET 3.5 it has version 3.5, Mono has only 1.0.61025.0 (the old AJAX.NET). To recreate your web.config all you have to do is to execute “mconfig af AJAX Web.config” It will create default web.config file, supports System.Web.Extensions (AJAX features).

Not helped? Keep doing. Let’s look another time into the stack – if it contains errors in “EnablePageMethods” or “ShouldGenerateScript” or “EncryptString” – the problem is serialization. Mono has very limited support for JSON, XML and SOAP serialization. Try to look into your code and notice if you have classes, marked with [Serializable] or you are transferring your own classes by using PageMethods. If so, replace it with regular strings (my grandma serialization).

Person p = new Person();
string sstr = string.Format(“{0}|{1}|{2}|{3}”, p.FirstName, p.LastName, p.Age, p.Wage);
return sstr;
…
var sstr = persons[i].split("|");
var p.FirstName =  sstr[0];
var p.LastName =  sstr[1];
var p.Age =  sstr[2];
var p.Wage =  sstr[3];

Not helped? Try to rename “Bin” directory into “bin” “mv Bin bin –r”. Actually this was fixed in latest versions of Mono, but who knows?…

No? Check whether you have partial classes, which is not supported by Mono. If so, recompile it like this

mcs /t:library /out:bin/test.dll –r:System.Web –r:System.Data –r:System.Web.Services –r:System.Web.UI.Controls test.aspx.cs

If you have Generics in your code, you should use gmcs, rather then mcs.

Not helped? It looks, that you have to either install Mono on your Windows machine and debug your code with it. Or, alternatively install GTK# and do in on Linux.

But wait, before doing such big step, install and check the binary compatibility of your code. To do this, you need “Moma” – a simple tool, that tell you if everything is ok for Mono in your assemblies.

Good luck and see you in my forthcoming TechEd session, where I’m presenting openSuse, running UDP multicast server with ASP.NET 3.5 extended methods (It uses recompiled ISAPI filters for apache, rather then regular limited AJAX support in Mono)

Have a nice day and be good people.

Arabic and Hebrew languages bidirectional support for Silverlight 2.0 beta 2

Those days, I’m, together with guys from Microsoft Egypt and Santeon, finishing development of bidirectional input and output support for Silverlight. I want you to take part in alpha testing of this solution. Please see the test form here and try it.

Also, you can download latest development build and try it yourself. Please, if you’re in any issue, report it, by using issue tracker in CodePlex.

In order to use it, all you have to do is to use custom namespace within your project and then, you’ll be able to get almost all controls, you know, but with Arabic and Hebrew RTL and LTR support. You have to set one property: FlowDirection to change the rendering method (exactly as in WPF). Here an example of usage.

<UserControl x:Class="BidiTest2.Page"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:l="clr-namespace:System.Windows.BidiControls;assembly=BidiControls">
…
<l:TextBlock FlowDirection="LeftToRight" Text="שלום עולם"/>

<l:TextBox FlowDirection="RightToLeft" Text="{Binding Text, Mode=TwoWay}"/>

That’s all. Thank you for your cooperation.