DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by nestor

Be sure to put in some default value when testing with Nullable types

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 07:11:01 GMT

Nullable types are a great feature in .NET 2.0 but even when the code compiles the functional behaviour can turn out to be completely different from what you would expect when comparing and the value is null.

Testing upon Nullable types in C# 2.0

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 04:51:01 GMT

Using nullable types in C# 2.0.

Developer Productivity Tools Video Part 1

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 08:21:02 GMT

Here is a 33min video of a presentation that Scott Hanselman gave on developer productivity tools to the Beantown.net INETA User Group.

Recipe: Enabling Windows Authentication within an Intranet ASP.NET Web

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:11:01 GMT

Scott Guthrie demonstrates how to enable Windows authentication on an Intranet application.

C#'s new ?? operator

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:51:01 GMT

From the post "I hadn't seen this in any of the C# 2.0 feature lists, but Fritz Onion brings this little gem to light for me. There's a new operator: ?? It's a lot like the old inline if statement."

Virtual PC 2004 Now Free!

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:01:01 GMT

First Virtual Server 2005 was free, and now Virtual PC 2004 is free (as of 9am PST). And, Virtual PC 2007 will apparently also be free. Download links in the article.

Build Contention Equation

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 10:41:01 GMT

We are exploring new ways to build our software at work. I was trying to convey a thought on validating the feasibility of a build process today with the following equation. Number of Change Packages = 8 Hours * 60 Minutes / (Build Time + Preparation Time + Buffer) Filling out the right side of the equation will show how many change packages can be process by the build on an average day. The Build Time is how long it take the build to complete. The Preparation Time is how long it takes a developer to get the build started. This could represent claiming the build token, submitting to source control and waiting for the build process to begin. In the proposed build process only one developer could submit at a time; the build is triggered by a submission to source control. The Buffer is the tricky variable. Read the entry to find out why.

Announcing Our Book! (Windows Developer Power Tools)

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:21:01 GMT

The book is around 1100 pages of goodness on open source and freeware tools you can use to improve your software development work. The book's all about using tools to bring value to the entire development cycle from writing code to testing to lifecycle management. We've got something like 170 tools from Anthem.NET to Sysinternals RegMon to Bugzilla. We chose tools which help improve the quality of code you write, or help improve your productivity as a developer. (We also chose stuff we thought was just plain cool, too.) What's really neat is that we've had a significant number of articles written by the tool creators themselves. This is great because 1) these folks know their own tools inside and out and can best write about the tools' value, and 2) they were passionate enough to write the tool in the first place and that passion (hopefully!) comes across in their articles. We've also had some terrific folks contribute articles to the book as well. James and I have still ended up writing probably 70% of the book ourselves, plus we edited every submission for consistency, style, and content.

Access Web Services Asynchronously in .NET Design Patterns

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 15:21:01 GMT

In the real world, client software usually communicate with web services asynchronously. An asynchronous call returns immediately, and receives the result separately when the processing is completed. This can avoid latency across network freezing the application UI or blocking other processes.

sharpBITS.NET - wrapper for BITS API - The Code Project

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:31:01 GMT

SharpBITS is a library to wrap the BITS SDK for use with managed code on .NET platform.

Announcing Our Book! (Windows Developer Power Tools)

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 09:31:01 GMT

Announcing the Windows Developer Power Tools book that features open source and freeware tools to improve the development lifecycle.

Building a simple RSS reader using WPF databinding

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 06:01:02 GMT

In this article, the author takes you through WPF databinding, while building a simple RSS reader.

ASP.NET 2.0 Page Life Cycle

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:21:01 GMT

A repost of the diagram by Léon Andrianarivony.

TestDriven.NET Enterprise & Professional

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 08:21:01 GMT

In order to help turn TestDriven.NET from a hobby into somethig that pays the bills, Jamie has released a Professional and Enterprise version of TestDriven.net. There's still a free version, non-crippled and non-nag, but he asks if you regularly use TestDriven.NET in one of the licensing scenarios, please byu a license.

Anyone Need A .NET Open Source Rss Library?

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 07:11:01 GMT

Phil Haack is looking to fork the RSS.NET library: "Ideally, I would like to start a new project that is essentially a fork in RSS.NET, perhaps called FeedGenerator.NET (call me the forkmaster). I could probably host it on CodePlex in order to give me an opportunity to try it out and provide feedback. Would anyone find such a library useful other than us blog engine developers? Anyone have a better name?"

Download new JSON stand-alone library for Microsoft .NET 1.1/2.0

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 10:41:01 GMT

Michael Schwarz has released the AJAX.NET JSON parser and serialiser as its own component. This is perfect for me and this site as I am currently only using the JSON serialiser from AJAX.NET. I am using the Dojo toolkit as the AJAX library.

.Net Compact framework on Symbian

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:41:01 GMT

Red 5 Labs here in South Africa are nearly the completion of their latest project. Running the .Net Compact Framework on Symbian 60 OS!!!!

Configuring Log4Net with ASP.NET 2.0 in Medium Trust

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 09:31:01 GMT

Discusses problems and solutions for using Log4Net in an ASP.NET 2.0 application running under medium trust.

Introducing Regulazy: Point & Click Regular Expressions

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 04:51:01 GMT

Roy Osherove has released a new Regular Expression (alpha) tool: "Regulazy is an attempt to build a small "Expert System" for creating .NET Regular Expressions. It lets the user create an expression based on a real life example of text they would like to parse. As the user interacts with Regulazy using the mouse, Regulazy offers the user possible expressions that would fit the currently selected text. As the user selects "rules" to apply on various parts of the text, a regular expression is built automatically in the lower application pane. The end result is a visual expression builder, that for most simple parsing operations, requires the user only to know what they would like to parse, and what the parsing rules should be - Regex Syntax is *not* needed."

More AJAX goodness for DotNetKicks.com

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 10:41:02 GMT

This weekend sees some more new features added to dotnetkicks.com. It is now possible to view the most popular stories in the past day, week, month and year. More features coming next week. Enjoy.

Tip/Trick: Using Server Side Comments with ASP.NET 2.0

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 03:41:01 GMT

Scott Guthrie shares another trick with us, this time Server side comments. I had no idea they existed. "ASP.NET supports a little known feature called "server-side comments" that you can use to completely disable code/controls/html in a page. Server-side comments in ASP.NET are delimited using a <%-- --%> syntax."

New Windows Standard Theme in Windows Vista

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 08:32:12 GMT

Many Vista testers have complained that the "Standard" or Non-Aero theme was very badly design. For those who couldn't afford or simply didn't want all the eye candy were out of luck. The latest builds will feature and new, much improved theme. From a dull gray, to a nice hue of blue.

Creating custom macros for dasBlog

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 11:51:01 GMT

An article about creating custom macros to be used with dasBlog.

Agile: Fixed Price Bids

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:51:02 GMT

Agile methodologies happen to have a fairly large impedance mismatch with the legal contracts associated with a project. Agile methodologies are all about trust, contracts are all about protection. The very concept of a contract requires heavy documentation as to what each side's responsibilities are in order to fulfill their end of the contract.

Free user interface toolkit for .NET 2.0 winforms

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:01:02 GMT

Controls include KryptonButton, KryptonCheckButton, KryptonSplitContainer, KryptonHeaderGroup, KryptonManager, KryptonPalette, KryptonGroup, KryptonHeader, KryptonPane.