DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by DamienG

T4 (Text Template Transformation Toolkit) Code Generation - Best Kept

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:16:17 GMT

Very handy stuff indeed

Make Visual Studio Generate Your Repository

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:31:03 GMT

As many of you may know, I've been goofing around with Code Generation again with SubSonic's new MVC Addin. One of the things I really wanted to try and flex is Visual Studio 2008's code generation bits - T4. Not many people know it even exists, and to me it's one of the Great Hidden Secrets of Visual Studio 2008.

SQL Server 2008 Top 10 List for Developers

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:16:03 GMT

Well now that SQL Server 2008 has shipped, Zach and I are starting to put the finishing touches on all of our SQL Server 2008 early adopter initiatives and move on to planning for future releases. Before we do that I have some unfinished business to take care of.

Important questions a developer should ask a prospective employer

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:01:08 GMT

A list of questions that software developers should ask a prospective employer during their interview process. Similar to the Joel test, but more in-depth.

Custom LINQ to SQL code generation templates

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:16:07 GMT

Free templates to allow full customization of the DBML to C#/VB.NET code generation phase of LINQ to SQL without additional tool dependencies!

Ten commandments for developers

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:30:22 GMT

My personal top 10 list of annoyances that developers needlessly inflict on users.

Showing some support for LINQ to SQL

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:16:02 GMT

Great article detailing why LINQ to SQL deserves some attention particularly if you buy into the object oriented style of development or are currently working with an ORM such as NHibernate.

Architecting Linq to SQL, part 10

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:44:44 GMT

What Ian Cooper would like to see in the next version

Linq to SQL with WCF in a Multi Tiered Environment - Part 1

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:07:03 GMT

In many places, forums, blogs, or techy talks with some colleagues I hear some ongoing urban legends about Linq to SQL I came across: * You can not implement multi tiered applications with Linq to SQL * Linq to SQL can not be used for enterprise level applications I can't say that both of these statements are particularly wrong or right, of course Linq to SQL can not handle every scenario but in fairness it handles most of the scenarios sometimes even better than some other RAD oriented ORM s. In this post I will create a simulation of an enterprise web application, having its Data Access, Services, and Presentation Layers separated and let them communicate with each other (err.., at least from service to UI) through WCF - Windows Communication Foundation.

SQL Server 2008 RC0 NOW OFFERED TO PUBLIC!

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:08:22 GMT

SQL Server 2008 provides a comprehensive data platform that is secure, reliable, manageable, and scalable for your mission critical applications. With it, developers can create new applications that can store and consume any type of data on any device, enabling your users to make informed decisions with relevant insights.

Hanselminutes 116 - Distributed Caching with Microsoft's Velocity

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:16:10 GMT

Scott sits down with 2 of the architects of Velocity.

.NET Rocks! 349 - Microsoft Dynamic Data

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:46:32 GMT

"Carl and Richard talk with Scott Hunter on Microsoft's Dynamic Data Runtime. Scott Hunter is currently a program manager on the ASP.NET team. Scott spends a lot of his time working on server side data and Dynamic Data is the current feature around this area."

Custom Templates with SubSonic

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:00:47 GMT

A quick walkthrough on using SubSonic's custom templates for code generation - for instance, a data transfer object.

Silverlight 2 (beta 2) and Firefox 3... so happy together...

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:16:03 GMT

Silverlight 2 Beta 2 now works in Firefox 3. Here's some background on the Bugzilla thread detailing the epic struggle.

File Compression Using the .NET GZipStream Class

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:55:53 GMT

A great introduction to compressing files in .NET.

Team City Continuous Integration Build Server & VS.NET VCS Integration

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:14:29 GMT

Starting a new project always requires a certain amount of setup, one of the primary goals of any development group these days should be continuous integration. This is something that is not expensive or time consuming to setup. Recently for a grand price of about zero dollars (except for my regular pay, so I suppose not truly zero dollars) I setup Team City, started a build process going, and got back to coding and research on next steps all within about 3-4 hours. Mind you, two of those hours was stuck on a dumb problem because I "clicked" the wrong option in a drop down box.

LINQ To SQL and the Web.Config ConnectionString Value

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:16:02 GMT

This saved me a lot of time. Great post.

Managed Extensibility Framework Preview Available

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:44:55 GMT

The MEF provides developers with a framework to easily add extensibility to their applications and with minimal impact on existing code. The application developer can define extension points according to the functionality required of an extension, while the extension developer uses those points to interact with the application.

SubSonic: Using Migrations

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:01:02 GMT

Rob Conery has a nice post (and video!) of the new Migrations support that will be included in SubSonic 2.1 (Pakala)

LINQ to SQL Audit Trail

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:39:19 GMT

a yummy way to create audit trail histories

Linq to SQL with WCF in a Multi Tiered Action - Part 2

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:01:02 GMT

Second Part of Sidar's multi tiered walkthrough with Linq and WCF - Presentation issues and Data Layer implementation covered, source code is available to download too.

ASP.NET MVC Preview 3 Release

Tue, 27 May 2008 22:16:07 GMT

From ScottGu's weblog - "This morning we released the Preview 3 build of the ASP.NET MVC framework. I blogged details last month about an interim source release we did that included many of the changes with this Preview 3 release. Today's build includes some additional features not in last month's drop, some nice enhancements/refinements, as well as Visual Studio tool integration and documentation."

Envy Code R coding font update released

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:50:14 GMT

Latest version of my monospaced scalable progamming font now with 550 glyphs over man codepages, bold, italics and extensive hinting for that crisp-clear experience and distinguishable characters. Also includes a special hack to let you get italic syntax highlighting within Visual Studio!

Color Schemes for the Visual Studio Editor

Mon, 26 May 2008 20:15:11 GMT

Developers with a bit of time on their hands have built some beautiful color schemes for the Visual Studio Editor. You can save download these settings files to your ...\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Settings directory. You can then access them by following the instructions in this post

A good coding font makes a difference. Envy Code R, better than ever!

Tue, 27 May 2008 20:46:12 GMT

Am I the only one who believes a great programming font can boost your productivity and increase your coding joy? Check out Damien Guard's superb new release of Envy Code R, my favorite coding font.