DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by GaussZ

Designing primary keys

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:26:58 GMT

Explains using Composite, Natural or Surrogate keys in a database.

SHFB - A NDoc like GUI for Sandcastle

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:15:08 GMT

Sandcastle Help File Builder makes building your code documentation with Sandcastle easy. Looks like NDoc and even has the ability to import NDoc projects. No one should try to use Sandcastle without this little but powerful tool.

XamlPadX V3.0 released

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 00:16:02 GMT

XamlPadX v3.0 is finally released. This tool now provides plugin support so that users can add their own add ins. Download it before the server comes down with the heavy traffic :)

Amazon SimpleDB

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:16:05 GMT

Amazon SimpleDB is a web service for running queries on structured data in real time.

Optimize Your Code For Multi-Core Machines

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:46:03 GMT

Use the Task Parallel Library (TPL) to easily benefit from multiple processor cores. This introduction gives great examples of how easy it is to rewrite your code for multiple cores and what performance gains await you afterwards.

Sorting for Humans : Natural Sort Order

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:16:02 GMT

This is a good article on the importance of human-oriented sorting and difficulty in implementing such a routine succinctly it in .NET and LINQ.

Mole II Released - A Visual Debugger for WPF

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:16:12 GMT

Mole II is a high performance, full featured Visual Studio Visualizer which allows you to inspect elements in the WPF visual tree or logical tree, as well as all properties of those elements. Based on the popular Woodstock Visual Debugger, Mole II adds numerous enhancements and is one of the most valuable tools for every WPF developer.

The XML Schema Definition Tool

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:23:42 GMT

If you don't already know this little helper from Microsoft be sure to check it out. It can convert XSD to C# classes or Datasets as well as create a XSD for your classes or XML files. It is one of my favorite tools and should be in every good programmers tool belt.

Manipulate Your Blog with MetaBlog API for C#

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:13:13 GMT

An example of how to use the C# wrapper for the MetaWeblog API (MWA), a programming interface that allows external programs to get and set the text and attributes of weblog posts.

Beyond Ajax: Software Development, Two Years from Now

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:46:03 GMT

An interesting look on what web development could have in store for the next two years, with predictions from some of the brightest web development tool builders out there, including Scott Guthrie and Dean Hachamovitch.

How To Model Inheritance in Databases

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:29:06 GMT

Guy Burstein gives an insight into the different strategies of modeling object inheritance in databases and the strengths and drawbacks of each.

A LINQ to Google Image Search Provider

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:00:59 GMT

Learn more about the inner workings of LINQ with this article about a custom LINQ provider that wraps the Google image search. It includes the source to use in your own applications and nicely demonstrates the power of LINQ.

A Physics Engine for XNA, Silverlight and .NET

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:01:04 GMT

Farseer is a free 2D physics engine to use in your XNA, Silverlight or.NET projects. It allows you to easily add multiple collision algorithms as well as a number of dynamic interactions from joints to fluid drags.

Visual Tree Debugger for WPF

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:44:53 GMT

"Woodstock" is a Visual Studio debugger visualizer, which allows to view the WPF visual tree. It provides detailed information about all properties on every element in the visual tree, and a snapshot image of each element, allowing to more easily debug complex WPF user interfaces. And it works in VS2008 already!

Service Packs for the .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:46:02 GMT

Service Packs for the 2.0 and 3.0 .net framework for everyone not installing 3.5 yet.

LINQ to SQL Breaking Changes from VS2008 Beta 2 to RTM

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:27:36 GMT

A list of all the breaking changes for early adapters of LINQ to SQL from Beta 2 to RTM.

Hands on Labs for: C# 3.0, LINQ and LINQ to SQL

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:23:31 GMT

C# 3.0, LINQ and LINQ to SQL Hands on Labs for Visual Studio 2008 are available to help you practice the new language features.

Getting AnkhSVN to work in VS2008

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 06:30:28 GMT

A simple fix to get the AnkhSVN add-in to work in Visual Studio 2008.

Improve your TreeView Performance in WPF

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:54:35 GMT

A three part series about the WPF TreeView its performance problems and how to solve them by Beatriz Costa. It gives an in depth view of the TreeView that should be read by any WPF developer.

Uninstalling Previous Versions of Visual Studio 2008

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:31:06 GMT

Here are the instructions to follow before you install Visual Studio 2008 RTM.

Learn all about VS2008

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:15:51 GMT

Now that final version of Visual Studio 2008 is released be sure to check out this introductory screencast by James Conard to learn about the new features it offers. It is the first session of the official Visual Studio 2008 training kit.

Visual Studio 2008 RTM available for download

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:46:03 GMT

MSDN subscribers can now download final RTM version of Visual Studio 2008.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:46:02 GMT

To improve impressions of mainstream software development - which, presumably, should be based upon the foundations of computer science - it comes upon the shoulders of each developer to educate him or herself with the knowledge necessary to give this discipline proper attention. Developers cannot push off this responsibility to management or "the priority setters." It is up to each of us to give software development the respect it deserves and educate those around us, accordingly.