DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by edburdo

Caching in for Fun and Profit

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:07:49 GMT

In this post I go over a how to cache an RSS feed to improve application response time as well as to prevent a heavily used application from making too many queries to other servers. Sometimes they don't like that.

Last date of the month. sql date process

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:11:20 GMT

I was requested to make a store procedure that is able to retrieve results from a log table based on the today's month, which has to start from the 1st day of the month to the last day of the month. After a no-brainer's action: Google it! some results were found and quite useful. but most of the version found on the internet does not cover the "time". (it has to return the first day and time , as well as last day and time such as 01/01/2008 12:00AM - 01/31/2008 11:59:PM)

.NET Reference Posters

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:02:31 GMT

Printable and viewable .NET resources posters (read Cheatsheet).

Using BlogEngine.net as a general purpose CMS part I

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:46:03 GMT

In this series of posts, I will show how I converted a small website from just standard .aspx pages into a site where all pages are editable by Windows Live Writer and via an online interface. In Part I of this series I will just set some background on how I am approaching the creation of this lightweight CMS.

Immediate Window - A forgotten tool

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:16:02 GMT

A little bit about the Immediate Window tool available in Visual Studio.

I Repeat: Do Not Listen to Your Users

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:01:03 GMT

Listening to users is a tricky thing. Users often don't know what they want, and even if they did, the communication is likely to get garbled somewhere between them and you.

CAKE3 - Free archiving library

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:31:42 GMT

Cake3 library supports compressing and extracting files to/from different archive formats .The library can be easily integrated to your projects .

How SQL Server short-circuits WHERE condition evaluation

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:01:02 GMT

As a developer you must be aware that SQL Server does not do short-circuiting like it is done in other programming languages and there's nothing you can do to force it to.

C# .NET Gmail Tools

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:01:02 GMT

Gmail class library for getting gmail atom feeds and for sending emails through gmail.

Do try...catch blocks hurt runtime performance?

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:31:02 GMT

This posts looks at the real runtime cost of writing a try...catch block in a .Net language. Drawing on his knowledge of .Net internals, the author looks at how such structures are represented in a compiled .Net assembly and what happens at runtime, so the performance characteristics can be understood.

T-SQL Query to Find the Second Highest Column Value in a Table

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:31:02 GMT

One of my favorite technical interview question on SQL Server is "What query would you write to find the second highest column value in a table?" The question seems easy, however most developers fail to answer to this. Read this post for the answer.

Jacob Nielsen: Top-10 Application-Design Mistakes

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:46:02 GMT

Application usability is enhanced when users know how to operate the UI and it guides them through the workflow. Violating common guidelines prevents both.

Microsoft Gives Students Technical Software at No Charge

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:28:32 GMT

DreamSpark offers millions of students access to professional-grade software developer and designer tools.

Microsoft Giving Away Development Software to Students

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:52:55 GMT

Dreamspark is the name of the Microsoft initiative to give students free developer tools so "you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career."

DreamSpark - VS for college students for free

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:35:42 GMT

DreamSpark allows college students to aquire multiple applications from Microsoft for free!

Microsoft releases Office binary file formats (doc, xls, ppt)

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:16:02 GMT

.doc, .xls and .ppt specifications are available. A few years too late for me, but good news none the less.

More on "The DotNetKick Effect"

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:01:03 GMT

A follow-up to the "The DotNetKicks Effect - Enjoy While it Lasts" post with some clarifications, numbers and solutions

Retrieving Values from a DataReader

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:44:04 GMT

There are several ways to retrieve values from a DataReader. The first method is by using the index and looping through the fields in order as retrieved within the Select statement. Starting with the 0 index, you may use the GetValue() Function.

The DotNetKicks Effect - Enjoy While it Lasts

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 01:46:05 GMT

DotNetKicks is great source of .NET related information but is it going to survive the shortcomings of "digg" concept?

Top 10 Best Practices for Production ASP.NET Applications

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:01:02 GMT

A list of some things to pay attention to when dealing with production ASP.NET applications.

Having a Wii bit of fun

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:31:02 GMT

A detailed step by step article on how to connect to a Wii controller and bind it to a WPF application

Lock Down SQL Server 2005

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 03:16:02 GMT

This article teaches you how to lock down a SQL Server 2005 installation. A step-by-step procedure is given along with the concepts behind it. It includes a world-accessible SQL2005 shell to let you experiment with a hardened database. Two SQL scripts are provided to automate hardening.

Capturing the Screen Contents in .NET 2.0

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:01:02 GMT

When supporting installed software, descriptions of problems can be enhanced greatly by viewing the contents of the user's screen. In this article we will explore how to perform a screen grab and display the captured image in a Windows Forms application.

Gallery of Visual Studio Programmer Themes

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:16:02 GMT

Scott Hanselman gives us a fantastic run down of some of the best Visual Studio themes. This is the best consolidated list I have seen and there are screen shots with all of them.

The Most Useful VS Feature No One Seems To Use

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:46:02 GMT

Speed up your debugging time by using the Exceptions dialog box.