http://shounakspandit.blogspot.com/2014/08/pmp-study-plans-lesson-learnt.html
I always welcome trick and tips from others, not that I follow all of them but listening to tips never hurts. Hence have created a post with some Tips and tricks for the PMP certification exam day.
Have a look 🙂
http://shounakspandit.blogspot.com/2014/08/pmp-certification-exam-tips-for-exam-day.html
Zombies & PMP !!! What is the correlation one may think
Well after watching Zombie movies, I always wondered what would go on in a Zombie’s mind if they were real. I mean all they did was run after a single goal by letting go of everything else around them.The goal being killing the living for food [?]
Well , I kind of found out…
http://shounakspandit.blogspot.com/2014/08/zombies-and-pmp-certification.html
*** Update: Guys, before posting a question, please go through the post & comments already present in this post. I am getting a lot of questions which have clear answers in the posts or have been answered in the comments sections. In case you post a question here and I have just approved but not replied then please understand that the answer is present in post / comments or am posting for someone else to reply as I might have no idea about it.
This way I can get time to attempt to answer the questions which are not covered in either the post or comments and not repeating the same info again.
*** IMP Update: Cox and Kings would be the knew service provider to Indian consulate after May 20th. If you can, wait for them to take over than submitting your application to BLS.
*** Update: 06/04 As per comments from many others it seems like BLS is still handling passport services so ignore the comment above
** Check the end of the post for issues related to BLS & USPS express packages
** Check comments for FAQ
Have woken from my long siesta to share some info on the process of getting an Indian passport renewed while staying in USA.
Thought of writing this post to help others like me, who may want to get their Indian passports renewed while staying in USA and are faced with little or minimal how to on the Indian consulate site.
***As of May 2013 The Consulate General of India outsourced the handling of Passport and related applications to M/s. BLS International Services Ltd [Earlier it was with Travisa]
Step 1: – Visit the Indian consulate site at http://www.indianconsulate.com/ [Check if another agency change has occured if not then the below is still valid info]
Step 2:- Visit the BLS International site at http://www.blsindia-usa.com/
Step 3:- Click on the Passport link / image.
Step 4:– Click on the Passport menu ->> Reissue of passport after 10 years
You will be re-directed to a page which has a lot of data about the process – general information, application centers, documents required etc etc.
Step 5:-Read through this page for an overview of the process then go to the Indian Passport application center section.
Indian consulate has divided various states into regions and they have 1 office catering to multiple states, please make sure you understand which application center you need to apply to as per the state / region you live in. For me it was Chicago being in Indiana, click on the various application center’s to understand which center you fall in.
Step 6:- Go through the entire page to make sure you understand the process and the documentations required. The details on this page are pretty straight forward and shouldn’t be that hard to follow. I just had to get the passport reissued after 10 years hence my documentation requirement was pretty straight forward. Please check the page in detail as per your requirement.
Step 7: BLS needs you to fill an application form which can be found here http://blsindianvisa.com/orderform/passport.php
In this form most of the fields are pretty self explanatory , will mention a few just for clarity
a) Location – This needs to be the passport application center and not the region you are located in.
b) Airway bill no : Provide the tracking number of your shipment, this is further used to track the package delivery on BLS website. This is provided in the receipt / slip that you will have from your shipping. Yeah its kind of confusing for some but basically we need to go and get the envelops from postal services [USPS / UPS / Fedex] prior to filling the forms.
Shipping – Airway bill number
[Please read the section below on how to send the documents to BLS.]
c) Airway bill no [return envelope airway bill no] It is always a good idea to send BLS a self addressed return envelope. This provides 2 way tracking of the application. If your postal tracking shows dispatched that means BLS has processed your passport and its on the way. It sure helps to have a backup tracking mechanism.
d) Address to be printed on passport:- This should be the US address as you are living in US, some people have reported even if they entered their Indian address it went through on the passport. I had called BLS center to check on this , as per them it should be US address only, but many of my friends have also got their Indian addresses printed without providing any address proof.
e) Payment details:- Here we have to mention if its a demand draft / money order / cashiers check and the check number associated with it. Please note cashiers check is not same as the normal check we receive on opening the bank account
Once you save this form , you will get an email on the email address which was provided by you , that email contains 2 documents
1) BLS Form :- Take a print out of this form , it needs to be submitted along with your documents in the application envelope.
2) BLS shipping label:- This contains the mailing address for BLS and your application / case number – Make sure that you paste this label along with your shipping label on the form. This has a barcode which gets scanned on receipt at the BLS office and it updates the tracker.
Step 8:- Once you are done with the BLS Passport form, its time to fill another form 🙂 The govt of India NRI passport application form located at https://passport.gov.in/nri/
Before you start filling this form please note the following –
Select the appropriate Indian mission ie the application center and the type of service ie reissue of passport.
The only thing confusing in this form is “File number” required in the passport section. This information is available on the last page of your passport as shown in the image below.
Once done filling the rest of the information, click save and then print the form. In case you do not print the form, you can always go back and print the form with the web file number. Once you print the form, you will get a 3 page document which contains some of the fields pre- populated based on the info you just filled and some fields which you need to fill in now to complete the form.
Will mention some of the fields here for clarity.
Step 9:-Nationality verification form – Can be downloaded from http://www.passport.blsindia-usa.com/forms/NationalityVerificationForm.doc
**Tip: – We can either print this form and then write on it or we can type in the document and take a printout directly. I did the later, saved me time.
Step 10:- Documents required – what goes in the package
**** Tip: We can get the documents notarized at various locations in the city – banks, post office , mostly companies have a notary on their payroll too. Else the ones outside charge something around $7-$9 per document going up to a upper bar on the amount something like $20 irrespective of how many you notarize. If you have a bank account visit their branch they will do it for free.
Update 01/27: It seems Bank of America has stopped notarizing documents, PNC bank still continues to do so. Also read my comment below which has a link to diff places we can get notarization done.
BLS drops the packages in the drop box in their building. Unlike Fedex & UPS , USPS express packages need to be hand delivered in the post office to be considered as express mails [in spite of express mail packaging]. The express packages received via drop box get treated as normal mail and are processed as per the standard mail duration. I went through the same scenario during my application resulting in me running around USPS office and BLS/ consulate to track my missing passport.[BLS site claimed it was dispatched while USPS had no acknowledgement of receiving the parcel]
This was confirmed to me by USPS office / USPS pickup guy and they also told me they have repeatedly asked BLS not to drop express packages in drop box yet they do the same to save a few efforts [USPS office is 2 blocks away from BLS office]
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to track on USPS tracking site till it reaches a distribution center near your city. It took 3 days from Chicago to Columbus, IN. USPS showed no record of receipt of my passport till it reached Indy the reason being it gets acknowledged only at the distribution center, in my case Indy.BLS had dropped it on Monday and I collected it from Columbus USPS on Wednesday morning. Till Tuesday 8:00 PM USPS site showed no record of receiving the package.
Let me know if I missed adding any important info , would be happy to add more to this post.
Let me know your feedback on what is missing, what should be added etc
P.S: I had applied in the month of Oct 2013
I remember when i had first worked on MOSS in 2003 (I think!!) There was absolutely negligible help on MOSS.. Again am working on MOSS for a POC 🙂 and as I see there is some help available online but to a certain extent its redundant and not in user friendly language hence the new category <MOSS> in the blog.I’ll be sharing a lot of code, Howtos etc here soon…
Just a bit caught up in the POC deliverable as the deadline is middle of Jan (using the Sharepoint Designer), after a quick break will start posting on MOSS!!!
Got a forward from a friend the subject stated “Recipe for Succes” the contents were even more thought provoking than the subject.
Pasting it here for benefit of others….
Setting Goals
but NOT in concreteStaying Focused
but turning aside to Help someoneFollowing Plan
but remaining FlexibleMoving ahead
but not too fast to miss the smell of flowersClimbing the Ladder
but not stepping on ToesFighting to Finish
but choosing your battlesTaking a Bow
but applauding those who had a part in your success
Was just thinking of trying something short and sweet and thought of trying out a snippet for extracting code from the entered url.
Following is the code have not declared the namespaces on top but used them directly in the code to bring more clarity on which namespace the object comes from.
The code is self explanatory so wont add any explanations over here..
</// <summary>
/// Extracts the source from the url entered.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="url">url to fetch the source from.</param>
/// <returns>string: source for the url entered.</returns>
public static string GetHtmlPageSource(string url)
{
System.IO.Stream st = null;
System.IO.StreamReader sr = null;
try
{
// make a Web request
System.Net.WebRequest req = System.Net.WebRequest.Create(url);
// get the response and read from the result stream
System.Net.WebResponse resp = req.GetResponse();
st = resp.GetResponseStream();
sr = new System.IO.StreamReader(st);
// read all the text in it
return sr.ReadToEnd();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return string.Empty;
}
finally
{
// close the stream & reader objects.
sr.Close();
st.Close();
}
}
UPDATE:
If you need to authenticate the request use the following just before you make the request to read the source
// authenticate using the credentials passed for getting access to the page.
if (username != null && password != null)
req.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(username, password);
// get the response and read from the result stream
.
.
.
The vanila try- catch statement:
try
{// Execute the code for SQL
}Catch(Exception Ex)
{// Handle the exception.
}
In the above example the try catch encapsulates a piece of code executing some DB operations.
In case there is an exception thrown in the try block code the exception will be smartly catched in the catch block and can be processed and handled.
A Catch block is used as a catcher of exceptions. i.e A catch block will catch the exception or any child exceptions that are derived from the class.
try{
// Execute the code
}Catch(ArgumentException Ex)
{// Handle the exception.
}
In the above case any exceptions from the ArgumentException class will be caught in the catch block this will also include any child exceptions of the ArgumentException such as ArgumentOutOfRangeException, ArgumentNullException etc. As these exception classes are derived from the parent class ArgumentException (Remember .NET classes have loads of base classes 🙂 )
Now that its caught what to do?
A Million dollar question!!! In code reviews have seen developers writing a try catch block and catching the exceptions and doing nothing with it. Wake up!!!!!! guys an exception is a exceptional flow of the code.. ie the moment it comes in the exception block it means this wasn’t the expected flow so obviously we cant let it go silently unnoticed.
Of course we don’t navigate it back to the user , but we do need to log it, process it, pass it back to the calling method with more info etc so that the developer is aware of the exceptions that occurred.
When i say Pass it back to the calling method a qts arises in our mind.. if we have to pass it to the calling function why in the name of God do we need to catch it as if we dont catch it it will automatically get thrown back to the calling method!!!!!!.
Thats true completely true, but as a developer we need to understand the exact location of error, maybe we want to add more custom information to the exception and then pass it back to the calling method.
Lets take an example of a utility class you have written for processing some data, now since this is a class which will be providing service to the classes calling on it.It will have to give out details of the exception if any that it will face in the operations..
try{
// Open file
// Process data
// Send confirmation mail}Catch(Exception Ex)
{Logger.WriteLog(“Exception: Method: ProcessData: Parameters: A = 4, b= “ABC”);
Throw new Exception(“Error occured in processing data MethodXYZ with parameters a = 4, b =”ABC”, ex);
}
The above try catch block will not only handle the exception thrown but also log it into the custom logger and then send a customized exception with the details as well as the stack trace for the exception.
Such detailed exception/debuggin output will not only help the developer pinpoint the exception source but also provide him the details of the object when the exception occured.
P.S Its not a good idea to create new exception class objects and send the existing exception through it as it has some performance issues so choose carefully.
In the above scenario it would have been better to even drill down to the exact exception type as we have 3 different piece of code
1) File operation
2) Data Processing
3) Email functionality
* Ideally all these 3 functionality should be in their separate methods for maintainability but for the purpose of this example had to club them together in 1 method.
try{
// Open file
// Process data
// Send confirmation mail}
Catch(IOExecption Ex)
{
// Perform catch handling for File input /output exceptions
}
Catch(SQLException Ex)
{
// Perform catch handling for DB exceptions
}
Catch(Exception Ex)
{
// Perform catch handling for general exceptions
}
Order of catch blocks and the importance behind it.
We can very well have multiple catch blocks to handle specific exceptions and process them in specific ways, but in such a case such as the above the order of catch blocks holds lot of importance in the way the catch blocks will be functioning.
Care needs to be taken to see that the most specific catch blocks should be on top of the generic exception catch blocks. inshort the derived exception class catch should be on top of the parent exception class.
Please Note: Exception is the parent of all the other exception classes, hence the catch block for exception should be the last
Before we move on to the last part of exception handling need to mention the last catch block which will take care of any exception
try
{
// code
}
Catch
{
}
Why did .NET give this class? when we already have Exception which is the parent class for all exceptions?? Well the answer is simple Exception class is the parent class for all the exceptions that are thrown through managed code or rather .NET code. what about the code which might throw exception ie not written in .NET maybe a COM component, C++, code ? In such a case we can use the above catch block.This block however due to lack of the exception class/object will not provide us with any information on the exception.Its only useful for making sure no exceptions get through.
The last part of try catch is the finally. It should be like a inseparable trio try-catch-finally block.
As we have seen till now incase there is any error the code execution halts at the error code statement and the execution gets thrown into the catch block.
Now incase we had opened a Database connection / File / etc and inbetween the processing of the connection the exception occurs the execution will be thrown to the exception block and in turn the code for closing of the statements wont be executed and the connections will remain open.
To take care of such situations we have a Finally block and as the name suggets this block is executed finally ie after all the above code in try or catch block gets executed.
The finally block is executed:
try{
1) Open Database Connection
2) Retrieve Records
3) Process data <<—— Exception gets thrown at this point.
4) Update records back to DataBase
5) Close Database Connection}
Catch(SQLException Ex)
{Logger.WriteLog(“Exception: Method: ProcessData: Parameters: A = 4, b= “ABC”);
Throw new Exception(“Error occured in processing data MethodXYZ with parameters a = 4, b =”ABC”, ex);
}
Finally
{
If (Connection is Open)
{
Close Connection
}
}
In the above scenario we have opened a connection in Point # 1 and while processing data i.e Point # 3 the exception gets thrown.In such a case the other statement below ie Point # 4 & #5 will never get executed as the control will be thrown to the catch block and then out of the method. This will lead to open connection.To take care of such situations instead of writing the close connection code in the Try block we should write the same in the Finally block as this block will get executed irrespective of whther there is an exception or not.
UPDATE: plz check this post related to exception being raised due to using Response.Redirect
in a try catch block
Copyright © Shounak Pandit
A good resource to programming outlook 2003 using c# or using the Primary interop assemblies for Microsoft outlook 2003 in C#
please note its better to use the primary interop asemblies than directly referencing the COM outlook library
Got lucky to try my hand at Continous integration once again.. I remember it has been like more than 5 years now that i had used Nant and CCnet for Continous Integration.
It was fun and challenging to use with the then rustic error messages thrown by both.also configuring the same was also a big pain..
Had asked a developer to get it setup for one of the teams projects as i was aware of the advantages of continous integration. but the developer wasn’t able to get it up and running so finally had to get my hands dirty in CI.
Was surprised to see that even now almost after 4-5 years there is no guide/how to on setting it up and using it completely. even now ppl have to go through the site and exmaples which arent in reality what we look for..
Anyways enuf of cribbing …. ill put up a howto/guide on setting it up soon ,it wont be very soon as am quite tied up with different project releases and process implementation stuff.. but hopefully it should be out by mid Oct !!
Copyright © Shounak Pandit
In the Line of Fire....Ramblings of the Incoherent mind 