All Things .NET

Resharper Exceptoin when Debugging Unit Test

2011-03-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

Get an exception when debugging a VS unit test through the R# unit test window (debug selected tests).System.ArgumentException: The directory name C:\Program Files\JetBrains\ReSharper\v5.1\Bin\PrivateAssemblies\DataCollectors is invalid.Looks like the fix is to create a empty PrivateAssemblies and DataCollectors folders to make the directory structure above.Weird error when running unit tests :

Sync v. Mesh v. SkyDrive

2008-12-15T20:52:00.000-08:00

Ugh - Microsoft is making a mess out of all these terms and confusing us all along the way. Based on a little help from this post, here's the lineup:Live Sync (formerly FolderShare). sync folders amongst machines. Currently PC only I think (FolderShare used to have Mac support). Used internally by Mesh to do syncLive Mesh - part of the Azure Services Platform. Contains the "Live Desktop"

highlight.js

2008-10-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

Whenever I get around to posting code, this highlighting helper Javascript will come in handy.highlight.js

VS 2008 - XAML Intellisense Broken

2008-06-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

After another machine rebuild due to thinking that I had hosed up my VS install, I finally found this documented problem. I was missing two things in the VS 2008 XAML editor: (a) Intellisense, and (b) +/- collapsable regions automagically created for all XML nodes.Turns out they're both fixed by the same issue: Running Windows SDK 6.1 for .NET 3.5 AFTER VS 2008 breaks it.http://

Installing Win SDK after VS2008 breaks XAML Intellisense

2008-03-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

Just as it says, after installing the Windows SDK for .NET 3.5, intellisense in VS 2008 stops working. I followed the steps for the manual re-reg of TextMgrP.dll and things seem to work ok.Microsoft Windows SDK Blog : Workaround: Installing Win SDK after VS2008 breaks XAML Intellisense

MCTS exam for WPF

2008-03-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

There is some chatter these days about the WPF (and other .NET 3.5 techs) test for MCTS - I guess so far in beta. Here's the info on the WPF test.Preparation Guide for Exam 70-502: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Presentation Foundation

INotifyPropertyChanged in base class

2007-09-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Josh Smith for pointing out a couple of good thoughts on supporting INotifyPropertyChanged in a base class.Cache PropertyChangedEventArgs so there's only one per property nameVerify property name (in debug mode) since it's just a string - in case dev fat fingered the name (of course dev should be using code snippets to create the property, right?)Do some setter post processingA base

Debugging WPF Apps

2007-06-26T10:56:00.001-07:00

The thing I have the biggest trouble with in WPF is debugging - when it comes to Bindings, ControlTemplates, generic.xaml, etc. it's sometimes difficult to figure out what the underlying WPF engine is doing "for you".Below are some good tips. The overview:Look at InnerException (or set the debugger to break on all exceptions)Use the various TraceSources - I have the full config file in my local

WPF Custom Control - generic.xaml

2007-05-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

I was writing a custom control today - started by using the VS 2005 "Add New Item..." dialog. After providing the filename, it barfed with a message "Value does not fall within the expected range". Obviously the new item wizard doesn't like something about my project. It actually created the code-behind file successfully, but nothing else, so I was left to setup the themes\generic.xaml file

Merging Code

2007-05-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

Another from the "not necessarily related to .NET proper" category ...I'm doing quite a bit of manual merging of source code files lately, and am trying to come up with the best process and toolset to do so. In order of age, there's WinDiff (ancient Win32 days), then the SourceSafe diff tool, and TFS. There are a ton more, but those are what are in my current arsenal.I know that TFS is

Visual Studio Orcas

2007-05-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting with Visual Studio Orcas (beta 1) lately, to see if it's any better, particularly in 2 places where I'm having pain writing WPF apps in VS 2005:Showing XAML files in design view, if they contain UserControls, or represent a custom class that derives from a WPF control type.Describing the ACTUAL error when there's a problem loading a XAML file. (the dreaded "Cannot create

Top Rules for the Windows Vista User Experience

2007-05-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm in full swing WPF development, there's definitely a tendency by the customers to do whacky things in the UI.Here's a list of UI guidelines / rules to adhere to.MSDN: Top Rules for the Windows Vista User Experience

ASP.NET Ajax (Atlas) - JavaScript Hijacking

2007-04-03T08:03:00.001-07:00

I don't know much about this, but the paper is short and an interesting read. For me, it pointed out the issues to take care of when using an AJAX-like technology. So, if you use XmlHttpRequest, read this.Why is it .NET related? Well, as of the writing, supposedly many "AJAX frameworks" can be "hijacked", including Atlas.http://www.fortifysoftware.com/servlet/downloads/public/

WPF, how to hit the ground running

2007-03-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

I'll be increasing a few PageRanks by doing this, but here's how I started.First, go here:Building a WPF WorkstationIt's actually a little dated, but still works if you want to go the VS C# express route. The November CTP of WPF seems to be the very last that isn't integrated into "Orcas". And going "Orcas" means getting Virtual Server and billions of bits. I don't know I want that.Then, go

Url Rewriting with ASP.NET

2007-03-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm always hearing from my buddy Intern Joe about UrlRewriting. Someday I better read this post by ScottGu so I can discuss the technology from an ASP.NET point of view.ScottGu's Blog : Tip/Trick: Url Rewriting with ASP.NET

Training Videos

2007-03-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

Thanks to ScottGu for pointing out these free training videos. Free SQL Server Training Videos (and other good data tutorial pointers)Free ASP.NET AJAX "How Do I?" Videoskeywords: SQL Server SQLServer AJAX Atlas asp.net

HOWTO: Use Virtual PC's Differencing Disks to your Advantage

2007-03-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

We use VPCs all the time around the company to experiment with beta bits. Today I'm running into a problem trying to install the Orcas CTP on a VPC (running in virtual server) that has a dynamic disk. How can a dynamic disk run out of space? -- isn't it supposed to grow as needed? (I converted this one to dynamic from fixed, not sure yet if that has something to do with it.)Anyway - when

Localizing WPF Applications using Locbaml

2007-02-21T16:09:00.000-08:00

I am familiar with localizing WinForms and ASP.NET apps, but now that we're getting into WPF, here is a decent article on getting started. Looks like a lot of the concepts are carried over from WinForms...Localizing WPF Applications using Locbaml - The Code Project - Windows Presentation Foundation

Beginning SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

2007-02-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

When it's time to ramp up on Reporting Services, I should probably start here. This looks like a pretty decent 4-part writeup on SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services.Beginning SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Part 1)

TFS Registry Settings

2007-01-31T15:19:00.000-08:00

I am digging around today looking for some TFS info, and found these reg hacks, which would have helped a ton when working for our last client. I wouldn't always be connected through their VPN, so when firing up VS2005 it would take a long time to timeout on the TFS server connection.Rants of a Hippie Coder : A couple helpful Team Foundation registry settingsperma-info:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software

WinForms - DataBinding to Nullable Types

2007-01-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

Over on my IK blog, I posted a quick note on WinForms: DataBinding a DateTimePicker control (with ShowCheckBox=true) to a Nullable .

VS 2005 SP1

2006-12-25T22:22:00.000-08:00

Some things to think about and do before installing Visual Studio 2005 SP1.First off, a requirement:If you have installed the Web Application Project type from the MS downloads, you must uninstall it before installing the service pack. (Apparently the pack includes it)Post is here - talks about the following:disable patch cache (save 1.3 GB of disk space and lots of I/O time during install)

DataSet.Merge - Failed to Enable Constraints

2006-12-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

I've been working on an integration project for our client where we are wrapping some legacy data with a web service layer, and pointing an existing WinForms app at it. There is a bunch of client side code that calls DataSet.Merge and fails with the error Failed to enable constraints.Many times, the problem is what the error is trying to tell you - you have a relationship defined in the dataset

Install IE6 and IE7 on the Same Machine

2006-12-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

Well, after I realized this is using VirtualPC to run one of the versions, I was not as impressed. Given that, why are there 19 steps to this process? Anyway - some decent info about various settings, etc.

Top 30 Windows Freeware Apps

2006-12-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

via LifeHacker, here is a decent list of the top 30 Windows freeware apps. Things such as:Virus scanPhoto editingRSS readerMedia playerNote takingIM client(s)

Script Multiple Objects in SQL 2005

2006-11-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

This was not obvious, and I'll probably forget, so here it is ...To generate scripts for multiple objects (say, Stored Procs) in SQL 2005:Select the folder such as "Stored Procedures"Hit F7, brings up the summary windowNow here you can multi-select, right click, Script as ...Nice of them to bury that gem in this version.

What causes ASP.NET App Restart

2006-10-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a good definitive list of which events cause an ASP.NET AppDomain restart. These are important since and AppDomain restart will cause you to lose any inProc session you have for a given user.Things like adding, modifying, deleting assemblies from the bin folder, changing source code files in app_code dir, changing web.config, etc.ASP.NET Forums

Web Application Builds in VS2005

2006-10-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

Tips/Tricks from ScottGu about optimizing builds within VS2005 for Web Site & Application projects. Includes a discussion about which builds faster under which circumstances, and a list of things to look at for each type of project that can hinder the build times.Web site projects:Dueling assembly referencesKeeping app_code smallEnable on-demand compilationWeb application projects:Split large

TFS Dogfood Statistics

2006-09-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

Interesting TFS statistics - the volume of files Microsoft is shoving at TFS.bharry's WebLog : September TFS DevDiv Dogfood Statistics55 Million files, 295 GB of compressed file data, 14.6 million Get operations, ...

TFS and Team Build Fun

2006-09-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

I'm getting acquainted with TFS and Team Build for the first time. The first couple issues I've noticed, which brought up questions (and sometimes answers):Where are the labels in the history?bharry's WebLog : Why TFS labels aren't like SourceSafe labelsFinding the changes between 2 labels in TFSWhy is Team Build labeling AFTER the GetLatest step?Here is an explanation of the labeling system.

Writing Your First Avalon Program

2006-09-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Whenever I get around to cutting some WPF code, here's a decent writeup of what I'll need, where to get it, and what code I'll need.Sam Gentile : Writing Your First Avalon Program on Windows Vista RC1

So...I wrote this blog entry ..

2006-09-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

I can't remember when I first started noticing this pattern (maybe PDC last year?), and I know it's nothing new. I've been hearing more and more MS and related techies starting their sentences with SO... I've resigned myself to the realization that now ALL (ok most) MS employees do it, and now it's becoming more pervasive outside the MS camp. What's funny is that even in emails and IMs,

Deploying .NET 3.0

2006-09-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

This might come in handy someday - all kinds of detailed info about how .NET version 3 sits alongside .NET 2.0, including version folders, registry keys, etc.Whitepaper : Deploying Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.0

MSDN Content Web Services online

2006-09-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

Tim Ewald points out that they created a web service to serve up content from MSDN programatically.MSDN Content Web Services online...

Blog Suggestions

2006-09-06T22:28:00.000-07:00

Here's another post that's not necessarily exclusively .NET information. Nicholas Allen posts his "dirty dozen" blogs that he reads regularly. He has a good rule - he'll only have at most 12 blogs that he reads (bloggers come and go off his list), giving him a good mix of daily and periodic blogs to read.Nicholas Allen's - My Blogging Dirty Dozen

Using HTTP in System.Net

2006-09-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure when/if this will come in handy, but it just might :)Sample code for setting up HttpListener. In this case, he's using it on the server side, and then sending WCF client calls to it -- to inspect what message arrives at the front door.Using HTTP in System.Net

Workflow in SharePoint Services and MOSS

2006-09-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

David Chappell wrote a whitepaper about human workflow (i.e. approving a document) and its support in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The Office SharePoint Server 2007 comes with out-of-the-box scenarios for workflow.The client I just finished with has a need to do some "long running workflows" that involve human interaction. Rather than stuff this idea into WCF services, BizTalk, etc. -- it

Introducing the .NET Framework 3.0

2006-09-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

We all know the WinFX platform has been out for a while, and we all know that it has now been renamed to .NET 3.0. Here's an article by David Chappell that summarizes the .NET 3.0 technologies all together..NET Framework Developer Center: Introducing the .NET Framework 3.0

CoolCommands 3.0 for Visual Studio 2005

2006-08-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

In a large Visual Studio solution with lots of projects, it's sometimes useful to turn on "track active item in solution explorer". (this causes the current file to be found and selected in solution explorer as you view different files).This can sometimes be disconcerting, because it expands various project trees accordingly to show you the current file. I wanted to turn this OFF today, but I was

WCF Config File Intellisense

2006-08-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Brian (actually first Google) for this info. It's probably well known and all over the web ... but I just stumbled upon it today.In previous versions of the IDE and other XML files, you can describe the XSD for a given xml file in the standard way, with xmlns attribute in the root element. The VS IDE will then look in Visual Studio 8\Xml\Schemas\ directory and provide intellisense when

NLog - Compare to Enterprise Library

2006-08-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Someday when another project requires extensive logging like the one I'm rolling off soon, I'll have to give NLog a look. Compare it to Enterprise Library logging application block.At a super quick glance, they're similar. NLog supports async logging out of the box (sounds like it's just a background thread, so messages could be lost if process shutsdown quickly?), and apparently very

W*F Technology Samples

2006-08-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my co-worker Adam today about WPF. Someday when I have spare time (ya right), I would like to start learning some WPF. Chris Sells has a blog entry about some WinFX technology samples that show integrated code from all 3 techs (WPF, WF, WCF) working together.Marquee de Sells: Chris's insight outlet

Attaching Extensions Using Behaviors - WCF June CTP

2006-07-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

Behaviors in WCF have changed a bit since the Jan CTP that we were using. It's been a bit difficult to find any good info about what the changes are, and how to implement them in the June CTP.We are hosting in IIS, so web.config describes the behaviors.Here's an article about what the behaviors are, which pieces of the WCF pipeline they affect, and how to configure them.Attaching Extensions Using

Cool Project at IK

2006-07-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

I noticed this on a co-worker's blog. Thanks to Bill for the info.We work on some pretty cool projects at InterKnowlogy. We are a "Microsoft Gold Partner", providing custom software architecture, design, and implementation services to companies throughout San Diego, Orange County, and lately, around the country.Anyway - we typically work with either the latest released software such as .NET 2.0,

ASMX vs. WCF

2006-07-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

The question often comes up, what's the difference between ASMX and WCF? Aaron Skonnard summarizes the diffs nicely in this table.For more background on the diffs and migrating from ASMX to WCF, see the full MSDN article.Service Station: All About ASMX 2.0, WSE 3.0, and WCF -- MSDN Magazine, January 2006

New Release of WatirMaker now WatirRecorder

2006-07-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

Back to Scott Hansleman's blog to find some very cool tools for ASP.NET development.WATIR = Web Application Testing in RubyUsing WATIR as a startup program in ASP.NET projects.WatirRecorder - (WatirMaker) record your watir scripts

The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)

2006-07-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

A good read for a basic understanding of Unicode and character sets. Keep this reference to point others to when discussing Unicode issues.The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!) - Joel on Software

Solution Root in Visual SourceSafe

2006-07-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

I've always struggled with VS.NET 2003 and adding a solution to source control from within the VS.NET IDE. It always seems to add a folder for the solution root, then the projects in their own sub folders.Ta-da...found the article that explains it.VS.NET 2003 differs from 2002 in how this solution root is handled.Bottom line:there's a REG key that will make VS.NET 2003 NOT create the solution

Stuff to Catch Up On

2006-07-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy at our current client - since I've been falling behind on my MSDN reading, here are some articles for me to remember to get back to and read one of these days... Serialization in WCF. link Security in WCF. link Common ASP.NET pitfalls. link One of these talks about Asynchronous ASP.NET pages, with a link to more detailed info. Monitor your apps with

PM at Microsoft

2006-07-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

Wow - didn't have NEARLY enough time to get through this LONG post, but interesting enough to keep in my back pocket. Whenever you attend a MS developer conference, you see how many PM's there are doing almost all of the speaking. Ever wondered, what the hell is a PM at MS anyway?Steven Sinofsky's Microsoft TechTalk : PM at Microsoft

WCF Releases - Breaking Changes

2006-07-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

Update 7/14/06Now we're moving to the June CTP. Here's the latest list of changes:Vista Beta 2 to June CTPInstall bits - since they're usually buried when the next CTP is released: .NET 3.0 (formerly WinFX) Windows SDK (ISO image here) VS 2005 Extensions for Workflow VS Orcas Dev Tools (optional) Breaking changes summaryDetailed changes(Ed's blog has dead links, so I re-found the links

.NET Configuration Manager

2006-07-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

I was alerted to this via the Enterprise Library forums - it's a tool that you can use to edit .NET 2.0 web.config files.You can validate configuration, encrypt configuration files, and manage changes in configuration differences for deployment scenarios (this last point is great - we've had challenges at past clients where differences between test and prod environments require manual edit or

Dynamic Property Accessor - withOUT Reflection

2006-07-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Buddy Joel at IK found this - a faster way to dynamically retrieve property values without using reflection.This technique uses dynamic IL code generation to create the code for the property on the fly, then caches the IL for later use.Fast Dynamic Property/Field Accessors - The Code Project - C# Programming

TcpTrace | proxyTrace

2006-07-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

At a client, we've been doing a lot of WCF work, and are quite often inspecting SOAP messages "in the raw" as they travel between client and server. (Most of the time, this is a good way to prove that the UI is not correctly calling our services, so it's "their fault"). :)We've been using MSSoapT3 (part of the SOAP Toolkit), but here are a couple other options. Apparently they work using the

Using .NET to Build Cool Games for XBox

2006-07-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

My buddy Gomez (the ultimate Xbox know it all [at least in my book, heh] ) will be stoked to hear about this.Apparently someday it will be possible to build games for the Xbox (assuming 360?) using managed code and a new .NET API for the Xbox graphics engine. Not sure if they mean *anyone* can write games and download them to the console?ScottGu's Blog : Using .NET to Build Cool Games for XBox

Microsoft code-sharing site

2006-06-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

Code sharing site from MS. It sounds like this will be in competition with CodeGuru, CodeProject, etc. I wonder which nerds will post where?CodePlexMicrosoft to launch code-sharing site | CNET News.com

SQL Server Express Management

2006-06-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

SQL Server Express is the free version of SQL Server, and can be installed with Visual Studio .NET (some of the new features in ASP.NET 2.0 such as personalization use SQL Server Express on the local machine by default).When you install SQL Server Express, you dont get any management console - much like the "old days" of MSDE. Apparently now this has changed. Here is a free download of SQL

Code Snippets in Visual Studio

2006-06-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

...and here's another topic I'd like to expand on. These code snippets are easy to write, and save a ton of time when writing code.Lisa Feigenbaum - Code Snippets in Visual Studio

Visualizers in VS 2005

2006-06-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

I've been interested in writing a visualizer for a while, but never found the time (go figure). Here is a Channel 9 video about them, and a link to a dude that wrote a simple visualizer for DateTime.Scott Nonnenberg - Visualizers in VS 2005

PageMethods - ASP.NET URL management

2006-05-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

For my first trick, I was reading about this and may want to refer to it later. Not high-tech, not fancy, nothing about the deep internals of .NET.PageMethods enables reliable URLs.Linking to a web page is very easy, both in simple HTML and in ASP.NET.Linking to a page that really exists, passing the right parameters, and parsing these parameters, is a bit different.PageMethods takes care of your

ASP.NET Async Pages vs Async WCF Service Operation

2006-05-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

One of the consultants at our current client was talking last week about a bug in the ASP.NET 2.0 runtime when they handle async pages. I haven't played with those yet, so wasn't sure how they work, or that they exist at all. (The bug he was describing was that as the runtime decides to spawn a thread to process [the remainder of] a page, they copy all the thread principal, etc. However, they

All About ASMX 2.0, WSE 3.0, and WCF

2006-05-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

I saw this MSDN mag article by Aaron Skonnard a while ago, and am now revisiting it to understand the differences between WCF, ASMX 2.0 and WSE 3.0, especially as they relate to SOAP protocols and compatibility with older non WCF-aware clients (think VB6, ugh)There are some good Q&As in here, along with a table (figure 4) that describes the diffs. Service Station: All About ASMX 2.0, WSE 3.0, and

Enabling E2E Tracing for WCF

2006-05-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

We've been doing some heavy WCF debugging lately at my current client. The E2E trace files get big and very hard to read. You can use svcTraceViewer.exe to make viewing the data much more fun. Along with this, here's some more info about emitting call stacks in the trace output.kennyw.com » Blog Archive » Enabling E2E Tracing for WCF

Oracle 10g Express Edition - FREE

2006-05-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Now free to develop, deploy, and distribute. Not that I would opt for this over SQL Express, but since my current client is using Oracle, this is good to know...Oracle 10g XE (express edition) download here

nDoc woes with .NET 2.0

2006-05-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well, nDoc has fallen behind the times, not really supporting all of .NET 2.0 yet. Namely, generics are not supported in the latest released version of nDoc.Here are some tricks to work around it:nDoc Wiki has some info about .NET 2.0 support, but the Wiki is down for now.Using Google caching, I grabbed the page by searching for ".net 2.0" ndoc support then looking at the cache page.The above

The New Generation of Microsoft Certifications

2006-04-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

MS professional certifications have been revamped for the .NET 2.0 cycle. When hunting around the certifications site, I remember coming across this picture / block diagram of the new certs available. However, it's not link from any of the top level pages, only from the "related links" section of the new generation certs.Anyway, it shows the relationship between MCTS, MCPD / MCITP, MCA (

ClickOnce and FireFox

2006-04-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

Tim Huckaby (our CEO) had a disucssion with the DotNetRocks guys last week about click once deployment and how it fails in Firefox. Here's some more detailed info on why it doesn't work and what you can do about it.Saurabh Pant's Weblog : ClickOnce and FireFox

WCF Beta Bug - DateTime member causes exception

2006-04-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

Whew - I've been racking my brain most of the morning on this one. Trying to prove to myself that types such as DateTime, decimal, etc. (types whose textual representation are subject to culture/local settings) are represented using a standard/universal format in web services calls (both ASMX and WCF).I have a couple simple test services (ASMX and WCF) and clients (.NET web reference to ASMX, WCF

Pwopcatcher Alpha

2006-04-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

The dudes from DotNetRocks have created PWOPCatcher - a PodCast download and organization client. Eventually it will keep track of a "listened-to" attribute of downloaded podcasts, which is exactly what I've had to maintain a text file for :)It's written as a .NET 2.0 (of course) WinForms app that deploys with click once technology. It's got killer alpha-blending and skinable interface. There

VersionInfo

2006-03-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Back in the C++ days, you get file version info from a Win32 API call which returned you a VERSIONINFO resource. This structure would have things like the copyright, internal product name, etc.In .NET, the AssemblyInfo.cs source file contains attributes for each of these types of information. Here's how to get at the information at runtime. Assembly asm = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();

Fun With Nullable Types

2006-03-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

We were playing with Nullable types this week - came across some interesting methods that are available to interrogate Nullable types.To get at the underlying data type in the Nullable type:System.Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(type)And to find out more about a Type, whether it's a generic, whether it's a Nullable type, and what are the generic template arguments...string s = "23";object o =

WinFX February CTP

2006-03-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

At the client I'm currently working with, we are waist deep in the WinFX pre-release cycle. Here is a quick list of download URLs for the tech stack that we're currently working with. Includes WCF & WF (and then those UI weenies are adding Atlas to the mix as well)WinFX downloads -- February CTP WinFX Runtime Components Windows SDK (update - dead link, has probably been replaced with newer)

Enterprise Library (v2.0) Logging Block - Configuration-less Logging

2006-02-21T13:18:00.000-08:00

One way to programatically configure the Logging block. This can come in useful if you have many clients of the logging block, and dont want to sprinkle the required config sections in each of those calling apps app/web.config files. Currently, I'm looking into this programatic configuration as a fallback -- use the config based setup first, and if it's not there, provide some sensible defaults

Indigo / WCF Intro

2006-02-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

Decent intro to Indigo / WCF that walks through creating a simple service.15 Seconds : Indigo Programming Model

Video Game Dev - in C#

2006-01-30T18:49:00.000-08:00

Came across this link, thanks to the "Start Page" in the VS 2005 IDE. I usually have this turned off, since it just takes the IDE longer to load the browser, but on my home laptop, it's still on.Anyway - there's an 11 part MSDN webcast series on game development, using C#.Video Game Development: Learn to Write C# the Fun Way

Finding and Using User Controls in VS 2005

2006-01-30T16:52:00.000-08:00

Joel at work had this issue today. How to LoadControl on an ASCX file that is in your project? Since the project deployment model is all new in VS 2005, the user controls are either not findable in the IDE (so no Intellisense), or not findable via LoadControl, since they are housed in the assemblies that have the unpredictable filenames.Another problem that Paul pointed out is that User Controls

Dharma's Workflow Shell

2006-01-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a very cool Windows Workflow Shell program. I'll have to find the session that Dharma is referring to here (where he uses the shell).Makes use of the WorkflowCompiler class to build the workflow object on the fly from the XOML / XAML file. It even uses an anonymous delegate for the AssemblyResolve event that I recently discovered when looking at ASP.NET 2.0 resources. This event handler

Don Box on SOAP, XML and .NET

2006-01-13T21:40:00.000-08:00

This is a really old article, but found it today via Windows Workflow Foundation blogs, etc. It shows Don Box, back a few years, when he did the now infamous talk from a bathtub (SOAP...get it?)Don Box on SOAP, XML and .NET(ugh, that one now requires registration)here is another pic of it, along with a video. great stuff Don!

Unrecognized configuration section system.serviceModel

2006-01-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

Trying WCF + WWF, and get the following error about web.config (specifically about the httpModules element)Unrecognized configuration section system.serviceModelTo fix this, runxws_reg /i

Bad SSL Certs on Web Service Call

2006-01-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

Back in the Verizon Online days (couple jobs ago), we had a C++ COM object that we used to make our HTTP POSTs to the server. In the QA environment, the SSL certs were bogus (server name did not match), so we had a registry key we would look at, and if set, set some parameters on the Win32 API call to ignore the bad cert.Now at IK we're possibly running into the same thing. We get a .NET

Mark Schmidt's Abode : WFPad - Viewing/Editing Workflow's in XML

2006-01-04T22:01:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to learn Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation for our next client gig. Here is a very cool variation on XAMLPad, specifically for XAML as it relates to WWF.Mark Schmidt's Abode : WFPad - Viewing/Editing Workflow's in XMLWFPAD WWF workflow

Open Source Alternative to VS 2005

2005-12-30T16:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't checked this out yet, but the description (found via Digg.com) sounds pretty cool. An open source IDE alternative to VS 2005. Capable of creating .NET 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 assemblies.Downloads @ic#code

Code Access Security

2005-12-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be diving into some of the more obscure .NET topics in the next few weeks / months in preparation for the certification tests. Well, at least these are the obscure topics that *I* have not encountered along the way. Starting with Code Access Security Understanding .NET Code Access Security - The Code Project - .NET

Breaking Changes from 1.1 to 2.0

2005-12-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

Now that we're converting our 1.1 app to 2.0, here is a list of breaking changes. Not sure I'll have to dig through the obscure items in this list, but you never know...

Five Undiscovered Features on ASP.NET 2.0

2005-11-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

From MSDN mag, here is a list of 5 deep dark tidbits from ASP.NET.I ran across this when searching for more info about the __code keyword. Found out that __code will point to the assembly generated for the App_Code directory. When porting my ASP.NET 1.1 project to 2.0, I have a need to find the App_GlobalResources assembly. I have hacked my way around a way to find it, using typeof(

Resources in ASP.NET 2.0

2005-11-19T19:31:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to convert our ASP 1.1 project to 2.0, and running into some trouble with the way we did localization in the project vs. how 2.0 has some better built-in support for resources.Doing some research, and here is a decent thread on ASP.NET. A MS dev chimes in with some thoughts, as well as others debate resource files vs. DB vs. XML...Enterprise Localization Toolkit here. Includes web

OdeToCode

2005-11-18T20:06:00.000-08:00

Found an article on asp.net about the compilation models in ASP.NET 2.0 from Scott at OdeToCode He's got some decent articles and a blog here

Migrating Projects to Visual Studio 2005

2005-11-09T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here are some links related to migrating projects. My first try at this leaves quite a bit of questions. I see portions of my classes refactored into base classes, partial classes, etc. Some classes are moved to App_Code and subdirectories of it.

Visual Studio 2005

2005-11-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

Now that we're within a week of the launch date, here are more links to all things .NET 2.0Beta ASP.NET

Ultimate List of Developer Tools

2005-10-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

Scott Hanselman has this great list of tools that every developer should have. He comes from a .NET perspective, so some of the tools are even written in .NET.Quick list of my favorites: Notepad2 Cropper Reflector Process Explorer Check out Scott's list - it's extensive. I've learned about a ton of new utils in just 5 minutes of perusing his list...

Visual SourceSafe Compatibility Matrix

2005-10-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Trying to find out if VSS 2005 (8.0?) can be used from a VS 2003 IDE.Here's a start...Visual SourceSafe Compatibility Matrix - Microsoft Technical Forums...and here's a Q&A that says that the SCC APIs haven't changed, so you should be able to access a VSS 2005 server from within VS 2003 IDE.So this will get us through the next couple months until we can install and use the *released* version of

Defining Custom Item Templates in Web Projects with VS 2005

2005-09-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

ScottGu shows how in VS 2005 you can export and re-use project item templates. Defining Custom Item Templates in Web Projects with VS 2005

Save web page as MHT file

2005-09-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Short code snippet to save a web page as MHT file, that IE can understand. Contains all images in that single file, so good for emailing, etc.Original page is hereMake a reference to these two COM objects:C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\cdosys.dllC:\Program Files\Common Files\System\ado\msado15.dllCDO.MessageClass message = new CDO.MessageClass();message.CreateMHTMLBody("http://www.fanms.com/",

ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 Beta Hosting

2005-08-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hosting.com is offering free (after $1 setup fee) hosting of ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005. I haven't yet read the fine print on how long this offer runs, or what happens at the end (wonder if you're on the hook for a contination of the hosting?) ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 Beta Hosting

Security How To's

2005-08-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

Great compilation of all things security related. Some highlights: Custom accounts for ASP.NET Create DPAPI / encryption library GenericPrincipal objects for Forms auth Implement IPrincipal Prevent cross-site scripting Regular expressions to validate input ASP.NET 2.0 security items Code Access Security Web Services using Client Certificates, SSL ... and much, much more ...

101 Samples for Visual Studio 2005

2005-08-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Kevin at work for this link. All 101 aren't there yet, but supposedly coming. :) : 101 Samples for Visual Studio 2005 keywords: samples whidbey 2005 visual studio vs.net vsnet

Clean an Input String - Regular Expression Examples

2005-08-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quick example on a one-liner way to clean a string. This one strips out all nonalphanumeric chars except @ - (dash) . (period)Regular Expression Exampleshere's the one-liner in case the page is gone someday.Regex.Replace(strIn, @"[^\w\.@-]", "");here is one that will clean a string to be safe for SQL statement (prevent SQL injection). courtesy of RegExLib.com ^["a-zA-Z0-9\040]+

ASP.NET - Beware Of Deploying Debug Code In Production

2005-08-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Decent article explaining some of the impacts of deploying ASP.NET code into production with the debug="true" setting on. ASP.NET Resources - Beware Of Deploying Debug Code In Production keywords: temporary asp.net files resources precompile compile lock files

Securing ASP.NET Apps and Web Services

2005-08-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is pretty dated (June 2003), but is a good writeup of all the security considerations for ASP.NET applications and web services. At the bottom of the article is a good summary titled "Snapshot of a Secure ASP.NET Application". Improving Web Application Security keywords: processModel impersonation authentication machine key machineKey security privilege

ASP.NET

2005-08-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

This article discusses some of the techniques for using JavaScript along with ASP.NET pages.Some highlights:Body1.Attributes["onload"] = "document.forms[0]['TextBox2'].focus();";RegisterStartupScript (gets injected at the end of the server FORM element)RegisterClientScriptBlock (gets injected at the top of the server FORM element, useful for scripts that need to be