SSRS: Setting a value dynamically for an unknown count of distinct values -- AND -- having a legend outside of a chart

One of the tricks that I do, is removing the legend out of charts into a table. To do this, I need to explicitly set the colors and/or markers for each category. In this example, to do this dynamically, I use this basic statement with a list of colors -- where the number of possible results back maybe be up to 4 distinct values.

=Choose(RunningValue(Fields!Unknown.Value,CountDistinct,Nothing),
"#0000e7",
"#626297",
"CornflowerBlue",
"#2f52a6")

So, in this example I put a sparkline in the table with no category or series group -- forcing it to only display one color marker. The logic that I used in the chart's marker and fill color are then also used in the sparkline, giving a legend outside of the chart. 



If need be, you can just create a chart with the name and color/marker sparkline and move your legend anywhere you want.

Change Username for ClaimsIdentity in C#

I needed a way to change the authentication's username in a website. This basically applies the change, and then signs the user out, change session info and cookie info, and then back in  -- so that username change is displayed right away.

[HttpPost]
        [ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
        public async Task<ActionResult> ChangeUserName(ManageUsernameViewModel model)
        {
            bool hasPassword = HasPassword();

            if (hasPassword)
            {
                if (ModelState.IsValid)
                {

                    //Get UserID
                    var userID = User.Identity.GetUserId();
                    var currentUserName = User.Identity.GetUserName();
                    var newUserName = model.NewUserName;

                    //Check if new username already exisits
                    if (UserManager.FindByName(model.NewUserName) != null)
                    {
                        ModelState.AddModelError(string.Empty, "That username already exist.");
                        return RedirectToAction("Manage", new { Message = ManageMessageId.DuplicateUserName });
                    }

                    var user = UserManager.Find(model.OldUserName, model.Password);
                    if (user != null)
                    {
                        //Change username
                        if (DataAccess.userDataAccess.updateUserName(model.NewUserName, userID))
                        {

                            AuthenticationManager.SignOut();
                            await SignInAsync(user, false);

                            var identity = new ClaimsIdentity(User.Identity);
                            identity.RemoveClaim(identity.FindFirst(identity.NameClaimType));
                            identity.AddClaim(new Claim(identity.NameClaimType, model.NewUserName));
                            AuthenticationManager.AuthenticationResponseGrant = new AuthenticationResponseGrant(new ClaimsPrincipal(identity), new AuthenticationProperties { IsPersistent = false });                            

                            return RedirectToAction("Manage", new { message = ManageMessageId.ChangeUserNameSuccess });
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            AddErrors(new IdentityResult("Failed updating your username."));
                        }
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        ModelState.AddModelError("", "Invalid username and password.");
                    }
                }
            }

            // If we got this far, something failed, redisplay form
            return View();
        }

Optimizing SSRS Rendering and Performance

I often run into the situation of SSRS taking too long to render or a long delay before processing starts. Here are 3 links provided by Microsoft that might help in solving those inefficiencies.

Troubleshooting Reports: Report Performance

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522806.aspx  

Exporting Reports

 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms157153.aspx

 

Understanding Rendering Behaviors

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb677573.aspx

 

 

 

Somewhat Dynamic Pivot in C#

I started working on a dynamic pivot to be used in Kendo UI, where the user could select the datapoints to be shown in the graph. Didn't quite finish, but here is some of the code, didn't want to waste/lose it; since, the concept was interesting.

Code:

public class StageDataPoints
    {
        public List<StageDataPoint> dataSeries { get; set; }

        public List<ExpandoObject> pivot()
        {
            var datapoints = dataSeries.Select(n => n.DataPoint).Distinct().ToList();

            var sdpGroup = from d in dataSeries
                           group d by new { d.DateTimeGrainValue, d.Stage, d.SubStage }
                               into grp
                               select new
                               {
                                   Key = grp.Key,
                                   Dict = grp.ToDictionary(n => n.DataPoint, n => n.DecimalValueAvg)
                               };

            List<ExpandoObject> defactoObjs = new List<ExpandoObject>();

            foreach (var row in sdpGroup)
            {
                dynamic r = new ExpandoObject();
                r.DateTime = row.Key.DateTimeGrainValue.ToString("M/d/yy h:mm");
                r.Stage = row.Key.Stage;
                r.SubStage = row.Key.SubStage;

                double value = double.NaN;
                string tempDP = "";

                foreach (var dp in datapoints)
                {
                    tempDP = dp;

                    foreach (var idp in row.Dict)
                    {
                        if (idp.Key == dp)
                        {
                            value = idp.Value;
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                    //Console.Write(dp + " " + value.ToString());
                    ((IDictionary<string, object>)r).Add(dp, value);
                }
                defactoObjs.Add(r);
            }
            return defactoObjs;
        }

        public List<StageDataPointMinify> rpt()
        {
            List<StageDataPointMinify> ret = new List<StageDataPointMinify>();
            foreach (var x in dataSeries)
            {
                ret.Add(new StageDataPointMinify()
                {
                    //Convert datetime to javascript verion
                    DateTimeGrainValueStr = x.DateTimeGrainValue.ToString("M/d/yy H:mm"),
                    DateTimeGrainValue = x.DateTimeGrainValue,
                    DataPoint = x.DataPoint,
                    DecimalValueAvg = x.DecimalValueAvg
                });
            }
            return ret;
        }
    }

    public class StageDataPoint
    {
        //public DateTime CalendarGrainValue { get; set; }
        //public string ClockGrainValue { get; set; }
        public DateTime DateTimeGrainValue { get; set; }
        public string Stage { get; set; }
        public string SubStage { get; set; }
        public string DataPoint { get; set; }
        //public Guid CJobGuid { get; set; }
        public string JobName { get; set; }
        public double DecimalValueAvg { get; set; }
        //public double DecimalValueMin { get; set; }
        //public double DecimalValueMax { get; set; }
    }