Asp .net job interview question

Write a custom function in c-sharp. The custom function parameters should be an instance of a dropdownlist, an xml file and a string.
1. The function should be capabale of populating the passed in dropdownlist.
2. The first item in the dropdownlist should be the passed in string parameter.
3. The data for the dropdownlist comes from the passed in XML file.

The idea is to create a custom function which can be reused through out the project for populating any dropdownlist on any web page. You have 20 minutes to code, test and demonstrate.

The sample code for custom function is shown below. For this example to work drop the XML file in the root folder of the web application.

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
PopulateDropdownlist(DropDownList1, "DropDownListSource.xml", "Select State");
}

public void PopulateDropdownlist(System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList DropDownListObjectToBePopulated,string XMLFilePath, string InitialString)
{
try
{
DataSet DS = new DataSet();
DS.ReadXml(Server.MapPath(XMLFilePath));
if (InitialString != string.Empty)
{
ListItem LI = new ListItem(InitialString, "-1");
DropDownListObjectToBePopulated.Items.Add(LI);
}
foreach (DataRow DR in DS.Tables["State"].Rows)
{
ListItem LI = new ListItem();
LI.Text = DR["StateName"].ToString();
LI.Value = DR["StateCode"].ToString();
DropDownListObjectToBePopulated.Items.Add(LI);
}
}
catch(Exception Ex)
{
}
}

The XML file that has the data for the dropdownlist is as shown below.




Virginia
VA


Iowa
IA


North Carolina
NC


Pennsylvania
PA


Texas
TX



Explanation of the code:
1. PopulateDropdownlist function has 3 parameters. DropDownList to be populated, the path of the XML file which has the data for the dropdownlist and the initial string.

2. Create an instance of DataSet. In our example the instance is DS.
DataSet DS = new DataSet();

3. Read the XML data into the dataset instance using ReadXml() method. Pass the path of the XML file to ReadXml() method. We used Server.MapPath() method to return the physical file path that corresponds to the specified virtual path on the web server.
DS.ReadXml(Server.MapPath(XMLFilePath));

4. We now have the data from the XML file in the dataset as a DataTable.

5. Check if the InitialString is empty. If not empty create a new ListItem object and populate the Text and Value properties. Then add the listitem object to the dropdownlist.
if (InitialString != string.Empty)
{
ListItem LI = new ListItem(InitialString, "-1");
DropDownListObjectToBePopulated.Items.Add(LI);
}

6. Finally loop thru the rows in the DataTable and create an instance of ListItem class. Populate the Text and Value properties to StateName and StateCode respectively. Finally add the ListItem object to the dropdownlist.
foreach (DataRow DR in DS.Tables["State"].Rows)
{
ListItem LI = new ListItem();
LI.Text = DR["StateName"].ToString();
LI.Value = DR["StateCode"].ToString();
DropDownListObjectToBePopulated.Items.Add(LI);
}

7. Drag and drop the dropdownlist on a webform. Call the PopulateDropdownlist() custom function in the Page_Load event handler. When you call the custom function pass the dropdownlist to be populated, XML file path and the initial string.
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
PopulateDropdownlist(DropDownList1, "DropDownListSource.xml", "Select State");
}

ASP .net interview question

Questions:
Please write a sample program that parses the string into a series of substrings where the delimiter between the substrings is "^*!%~" and then reassembles the strings and delimiters into a single new string where each of the substrings is in the reverse order from the original string. The method must return the final string.

Original String:
Token A^*!%~Token B^*!%~Token C^*!%~Token D^*!%~Token E

Output String:
Token E^*!%~Token D^*!%~Token C^*!%~Token B^*!%~Token A

The code sample below shows how to solve the above question:
using System;
using System.Text;
namespace GenericsSample
{
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
string strOriginalString = "Token A^*!%~Token B^*!%~Token C^*!%~Token D^*!%~Token E";
string[] strSeperator = new string[1];
strSeperator[0] = "^*!%~";

string[] strArrayIndividualStrings = strOriginalString.Split(strSeperator, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

int intLengthOfStringArray = strArrayIndividualStrings.Length;

StringBuilder sbOutputString = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = (intLengthOfStringArray - 1); i >= 0; i--)
{
sbOutputString.Append(strArrayIndividualStrings[i] + strSeperator[0]);
}
Console.WriteLine("Original String : " + strOriginalString);
Console.WriteLine("Output String : " + sbOutputString.ToString());
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}

Explanation of the above sample program:
1. We take the original string into a string variable strOriginalString. I named this variable as strOriginalString. str indicates that the variable is of string datatype. This will give a good impression to the person who reviews your code bcos you are following the coding standards.

2. I then store the string delimiter "^*!%~" in strSeperator variable. strSeperator is of string array data type. This is bcos the split function expects string array or character array as seprator.

3. I then split the strOriginalString into a string array using the split function.

4. I created a variable sbOutputString to store the Output string. sbOutputString data type is StringBuilder.

5. I then loop thru the array from the highest index to 0 and retrieve the individual strings and append to the sbOutputString. As the output string is changing as we loop thru the array it is good to use StringBuilder rather than System.String. Strings of type System.Text.StringBuilder are mutable where as strings of type System.String are immutable. If a string is manipulated many times always use StringBuilder over System.String.

6. Two good things to remember from this example are, follow the coding standards in naming the variables and always use StringBuilder class over Strings where we manipulate a particular string many times.

Question 2:
The XML file below has a list of employees. Your job is to bind the employee IDs and Names to a dropdownlist. ID must be dropdownlist value field and name must be the dropdownlist Text field. Also, only the active employees must be binded to the dropdownlist and the names should be in the ascending order. When I select a name from the dropdownlist, the name and ID of the selected employee must be printed on the webform.

Employees.xml


David
101
true


Tom
102
true


Rick
103
false


Mark
104
true



Code sample:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!IsPostBack)
{
DataSet DS = new DataSet();
DS.ReadXml(Server.MapPath("Employees.xml"));

DataView DV = DS.Tables["Employee"].DefaultView;
DV.RowFilter = "IsActive='true'";
DV.Sort = "Name asc";

DropDownList1.DataSource = DV;
DropDownList1.DataValueField = "ID";
DropDownList1.DataTextField = "Name";
DropDownList1.DataBind();
}
}
protected void DropDownList1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Response.Write("Name Is : " + DropDownList1.SelectedItem.Text + " and ID is " + DropDownList1.SelectedItem.Value);
}

Code Explanation:
1. Read the XML data from Employees.xml file into a DataSet. We make use of the ReadXml() method. ReadXml method loads the XML data into the dataset DS. DS.ReadXml(Server.MapPath("Employees.xml"));

2. Now you have the Data in a relational format in the dataset. Create a DataView on the employees table in the DataSet. The DefaultView property of DataTable returns the DataView.
DataView DV = DS.Tables["Employee"].DefaultView;

3. After you have created the DataView, apply the RowFilter, to select only the active employees. You apply the RowFilter as shown below.
DV.RowFilter = "IsActive='true'";

4. Now sort the data in the DataView in ascending order. We sort the data on the Name column. You can apply the sort expression on a dataview as shown below.
DV.Sort = "Name asc";

5. Finally set the DataSource, DataValueField and DataTextField properties of the dropdownlist and call the DataBind() method as shown in the below code.
DropDownList1.DataSource = DV;
DropDownList1.DataValueField = "ID";
DropDownList1.DataTextField = "Name";
DropDownList1.DataBind();

Untill now we have seen how to bind an XML file to dropdownlist. We have also seen how to create a DataView on DataTable. DataView is used for sorting and filtering the data. Now we have to get the SelecteValue and SelectedItem Text of a dropdownlist. To achieve this, follow the below steps.

1. Set the autopostback property of the dropdownlist to true. So, when ever a selection in the dropdownlist changes, the webform is posted back to the server automatically.

2. In the DropDownList1_SelectedIndexChanged event handler we can capture the employee name and id using the DropDownList1.SelectedItem.Text and DropDownList1.SelectedItem.Value properties as shown below.

protected void DropDownList1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Response.Write("Name Is : " + DropDownList1.SelectedItem.Text + " and ID is " + DropDownList1.SelectedItem.Value);
}

Note: If you have noticed, we binded the XML file to the dropdownlist only during the initial page load and not during every post back. We do this check by using if(!IsPostBack) property of the page.

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