DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by donthop

Don't Be a Validation Nazi

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:31:02 GMT

"Postel wrote that in an RFC that defined TCP, but it applies much more broadly. It's natural that developers, used to the exacting nature of writing code for a compiler, where even the most minor of typos can bring a program screeching to a halt, have a tendency to apply such exactitude on their users."

Reading other people's .NET code

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:01:02 GMT

Places to find great examples of .NET code

Showing Modal Progress Dialog in all Ajax Operation

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 08:01:02 GMT

Learn how to show a Modal Progress Dialog in all your ajax operation.

LINQ To Sql - Getting a Command Object from a Query

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 05:46:02 GMT

LINQ to SQL is all about returning object from database queries, but sometimes it's actually useful to use good old DataReaders or DataTables - especially in ASP.NET applications that use DataBinding. Entities are objects and databinding requires Reflection which is very slow, compared to a DataReader. Luckily LINQ to SQL provides the abillity to retrieve a Sql Command object that can be used to return an alternate result set.

Scott Hanselman's 2007 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tools

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:01:02 GMT

Scott's fantastic list of essential tools updated for 2007

Content-Aware Image Sizing - WOW

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 02:46:02 GMT

Cool video I found on YouTube about a software that resizes images with an content-aware algorithm. Must see...

Where are all the cool startups that run on ASP.NET?

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:16:02 GMT

"Sure there are Community Server, MySpace, DotNetKicks and DasBlog; there are all very fine products, but compare them to LAMP, Rails and Java lineup: Digg, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Flickr, Backpack and the Company, Delicious, all the Google Apps, Mint, Meebo, Twitter, Zillow and of course Infinite Cat Project. If you checkout the new startups on TechCrunch, it seems like every new startup is something Linux based and is not ASP.NET."

Creating a scrollable and grouped Repeater Layout

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:31:02 GMT

A couple of people asked me today about a layout I put together for an application. The layout is bascially a scrollable and grouped repeater that looks a little like a ListView control in WinForms. This sort of layout can be great for longer lists when paging is not really the right choice - a common scenario in AJAX applications actually. Here's a quick walk through on how this layout is put together.

Seamless inline text editing with ASP.NET AJAX

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:31:02 GMT

A demonstration of how to use ASP.NET AJAX to implement a Label that swaps to a TextBox for editing when clicked and then saves its value when editing is completed.

Silverlight Based Search Engine

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:31:02 GMT

New Stunning Silverlight Based Search Engine

Linq to Sql: Extension Methods

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:16:02 GMT

A brief discussion of the extension methods that get generated when a LINQ to SQL mapping is generated.

How to add Google Maps to your .Net site in 10 minutes

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 02:01:02 GMT

Add Google Maps to your .Net website in 10 minutes. Full code to display a map with a marker & also geocoding (supply address in text & have the map display it).

The Yield Statement in C#

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:16:03 GMT

The yield statement is another often overlooked keyword that was introduced in .NET 2.0. It is used to return items from a loop within a method and retain the state of the method through multiple calls.

The surprising behavior of "as" in C#

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 05:01:02 GMT

Type casting and the "as" operator are not the same in C#. Not by a long shot.

How to use YUI JS Compressor inside a NAnt build script

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:46:02 GMT

This post explains how to integrate JS minification inside a build script with NAnt

How to build a Fluent Interface in C#

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:46:02 GMT

Example code illustrating how to build a Fluent Interface in C#.

Unified C# 3.0 Specification Available

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:16:06 GMT

The unified C# 3.0 Specification is now available for download.

Using JQuery to Make Asp.Net Play Nice with Asp.Net

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:31:02 GMT

I have found that developing an Asp.Net application that makes heavy use of javascript is very difficult. One of the major pain points is dealing with the horrendously long ids that Asp.Net server controls generates. Here is how to overcome the difficulties with these Uber-long ids.

AOP, IoC, DI, NTY (No thank you)

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 10:01:58 GMT

Remember 20 years ago? All of a sudden, WYSIWYG word processors were all the rage. For a good reason. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET. Exactly!. Writing, editing, reading a document while you don't have to worry about what the end result will look like. It was heaven. The same is true for writing and reading code. Code should (more or less) do what it looks like it is doing. That's obvious. What does Dependency Injection do with your code? Nobody but the guy who implemented it knows. Now, THAT's comforting.

Learn the new NUnit 2.4 Constraint-Based Assert Model

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:57:25 GMT

Instead of using a different Assert method for each different type of assertion (e.g.: Assert.AreEqual() for equality comparison, or Assert.IsTrue() for boolean evaluation), the new Constraint-Based Assert Model introduced in NUnit 2.4 utilizes only one Assert method named Assert.That().

Free .NET parser for BBCode format

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:16:02 GMT

Codeparser.net is a free .NET based and highly configurable parser for BBCode. Since it is a component, it can be integrated with Windows as well as with web applications and web services. There are some extensions for frequent use cases that divest you from the responsibility of configuring coderparser.net so that you can use it without further ado.

Logging Bugs: Do's and Don'ts

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:31:02 GMT

Some thoughts about different do's and don'ts in regards to logging software bugs

Automated Community Server 2007 Install with NAnt

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:24:20 GMT

This weekend I got sick of repeating the CS installation process over and over again so I decided to write a NAnt script that would install or uninstall Community Server on my computer, from start to finish (and back again).

Tired eyes? You're looking at the wrong part of your computer monitor!

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:16:02 GMT

How to look at your monitor without straining or tiring your eyes.

LINQ / Part 3 / Lambda Expressions

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 09:21:24 GMT

I explain how to use LINQ with Lambda expressions and extension methods.