DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by daveschinkel

Exploring Code Contracts: Taking a look at Object Invariant Conditions

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:45:00 GMT

Taking a look at the new Code Contracts library which is out of MS Research and will be part of .Net 4.0/Vs2010. Contracts allow for many different ways to perform language agnostic code validation and in this episode we are going to focus on how to utilize the Object Invariant checking to maintain an objects state.

Learning the Decorator Pattern

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:15:00 GMT

Taking at how we can use the Decorator Pattern in our application. The decorator pattern is a structural pattern which allows you to attach new or additional actions to an object dynamically. Using the decorator pattern provides a very clean and flexible alternative to subclassing (via inheritance) your object and thus creating an unwanted inheritance tree

Exploring Code Contracts: Taking a look at Pre/Post Conditions

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:15:00 GMT

jQuery Link Repository

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:18:00 GMT

This list is fairly short initially however I plan on updating my list here in this post indefinitely as I find more of what I think are some of the best links out there. The intention here again is not to post every conceivable blog post, video, presentation, site..but ones I personally feel are the most useful.

How to Create a Custom Performance Counter

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:00:03 GMT

Taking a look at how to create custom performance counters for usage in your application Part of the core .net framework allows you to create code which can hook into the underlying performance counters which the windows OS has. We will show how you can easily create hooks to take advantage of these counters.

Learning the Observer Pattern w/ Callbacks

Fri, 22 May 2009 18:06:09 GMT

Taking another look at how we can use the Observer Pattern in our application, but this time we will implement the pattern using call backs and events. The Observer pattern allows you to define a one-to-many relationship inside your application where the parent object (the one) has the ability to notify the child objects (the many) of any state change. You can utilize this pattern to make sure that a set of objects are keep in order when there behavior needs to change based on the state of your application.

Introduction to AutoMapper

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:16:11 GMT

take a look at how we can simplify our entity mapping by using AutoMapper. AutoMapper uses a fluent configuration API to define an object-object mapping strategy. AutoMapper uses a convention-based matching algorithm to match up source to destination values. Currently, AutoMapper is geared towards model projection scenarios to flatten complex object models to DTOs and other simple objects, whose design is better suited for serialization, communication, messaging, or simply an anti-corruption layer between the domain and application layer.

Testing MVC Routes

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:16:28 GMT

Taking a look at how you can test your routes in an MVC application. We will start the process of creating new functionality for our application in this episode by showing how to create the tests for the routes first by using MvcContrib project. In the next episode we will continue creating our routes to make the tests pass.

jQuery Tabs Plugin with Images

Sun, 03 May 2009 09:50:32 GMT

The jQuery tabs is a nice plugin. But depending on how creative your site is and how aesthetic it's function needs to be, a lot of times you're not going to use it as is because it simply looks like a "developer designed the tabs". So, to pretty up the tabs, you can simply set the images and then when you click just change out the image to show an active image using jQuery selectors. Here's how I did it:

Getting your Func<T> along with your Action<T> on

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:31:02 GMT

Taking a look at how you can utilize Func<T> along with your Action<T> to replace the usage of typed delegates in your application

Organize your Personal Resources - Just use a Wiki!

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:14:02 GMT

I don't know about you but I got sick of adding favorites, printing articles, trying to remember certain tools I used, techniques in code, or whatever the case was. I'd manage this information by adding them to favorites, writing this down on paper, tossing it in the garbage because I can't stand clutter and then wish I hadn't, etc. The point? Other than your team's Wiki (if you have one), just use a wiki for yourself to organize YOU at work and to keep a nice repository of information for the following items to keep your productivity up:

Getting up & Running Quickly w/ScrewTurn Wiki & SQL Server

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:21:51 GMT

The docs are "ok" at best so here are my quick instructions to help you understand quickly how to get ScrewTurn Wiki configured to use a SQL Server Database. Steps:

Navigate your codebase like a pro with ReSharper 4.5

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:46:03 GMT

Taking a look at how you can navigate your souce code using ReSharper 4.5

C# Regions are not Useful? Give me a Break

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:46:02 GMT

I often see arguments about use of regions in C# code. And this is one of the most annoying things I see on the Internet in my opinion when it pertains to code structure. Whoever says regions are not to be used, I'd love to see your code and know what standards you have established as a team with your code base. I bet you it's a mess and the reason you don't like regions is because the developers on your team has abused use of them and that there is no logical pattern or team standard established.

ASP.NET MVC: Using Custom ViewModels with POST action methods

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 06:16:02 GMT

One of the top good practices for ASP.NET MVC is not to use the ViewData Dictionary, but to put your data in a strongly typed ViewModel instead. Many people seem to be using Linq to SQL entities as a ViewModel, because it's a very comfortable approach. But what do you do if your view should contain data that is not included in any of your linq entities? This posting describes how to use custom shaped ViewModel classes for these cases.

Piggyback on Derik Whittaker's Post on Refactoring Project Structure

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:29:57 GMT

I agree 110% on my friend Derik Whittaker's post about maintaining & refactoring project structure not just code structure and I'm sure many will agree but most do not put in to practice weekly on their teams. One reason I like ASP.NET MVC also is because of physical folder structure out of the box with controllers and views. Logical folders for Views and controllers and you name each folder corresponding to function. It forces you to have a logical structure because the routing engine uses it. Excellent! ...

Subtext Admin Password Does Not Work

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:03:54 GMT

For some reason, some Subtext blogs may have an issue whereas no matter if you use the reset password or not, you can't log back into your Admin interface. That is, the url http://www.yoursubtextblogdomain.com/admin. I ended up having to actually update

Learning the Template Pattern

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:01:03 GMT

Taking a look at how you can use the Template Design Pattern in your applications. The Template Design Pattern is perhaps one of the most widely used and useful design pattern. It is used to set up the outline or skeleton of an algorithm, leaving the details to specific implementations later. This way, subclasses can override parts of the algorithm without changing its overall structure.

Building a Progressive Fluent Interface

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:31:32 GMT

Taking a look at how to build a Progressive Fluent Interface which is a DSL where the options can and will change as you progress through the syntax. This is a useful form of a fluent interface if the want to be able to skillfully guide the user down only one path at a time.

jQuery Link Repository

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:16:29 GMT

As I start on my venture to really start using jQuery a lot more outside of simple form validation, I wanted to share some really great links I found lately that once again got me fired up about jQuery. This is part of my initial research into more jQuery as we're going to be using it extensively in our new redesign for the .com I am working at so might as well dig more in now. I've used jQuery in the past and know its power & philosophy behind unobtrusive JavaScript and JQuery, but have not yet worked on anything extremely extensive outside aiding to help create a custom validation control in MVC using jQuery in the past. Personally (some agree, some don't) I think the jQuery Site's tutorials & API docs are only "fair" at this point in time, so you need a lot of links to supplement the learning process. While yes, jQuery makes things "easier", the learning curve is a bit steep at first for most good developers I've talked with. Don't expect to jump in and be a jQuery Guru overnight.

Creating SOLID Code: Interface Segregation Principle

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:16:13 GMT

Taking a look at how to create SOLID Code: Creating SOLID Code: Interface Segregation Principle (ISP). This is a fourth in a series where we will take a look at each of the parts the SOLID Principle

Shout Out to Derik Whittaker & Dimecasts.NET

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:45:55 GMT

I wanted to give a shout out to a friend of mine who started a really cool and useful site a while back called Dimecasts.net. This site was created by Derik Whittaker, a very good

Posting data to a REST service using C#

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:31:07 GMT

A short overview on how you can post data to a REST based service using C#.

Creating SOLID Code: Open/Closed Principle (OCP)

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:46:13 GMT

Taking a look at how to create SOLID Code: Creating SOLID Code: Open/Closed Principle (OCP). This is a second in a series where we will take a look at each of the parts the SOLID Principle

How to Setup Google FeedBurner for Subtext Blog RSS

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:29:58 GMT

1) Get your Subtext blog live 2) Create a Google FeedBurner account. It's tied to a Gmail account so you need to log in first when you arrive at feedburner.google.com/