DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by sjclark76

LightSpeed 2.1 Released - includes new search API

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:01:02 GMT

LightSpeed 2.1, the performance minded object relational mapping framework, is fresh from the oven with new features like database independent full text search capabilities using Lucene.Net, Visual Studio integrated designer enhancements and a bundle of other new features.

Copy text from a MessageBox

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:31:02 GMT

How many times you wished you could copy text from the MessageBox. YOU CAN.

Some Thoughts on Oslo

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:31:10 GMT

The concept of modelling software in an abstract manner to ease the process of creating the real thing has been around for a while. And in all that time it's never really taken off in the mainstream. So it's pretty exciting to hear Microsoft has decided to give it a go - Microsoft have always been clever when it comes to examining the landscape, taking out the best bits, and building something that stands out from the rest. Let's hope they learn the lessons of others and produce something that's really different.

Separate Assemblies != Loose Coupling

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:16:07 GMT

read and learn

Getting rid of spaghetti code in the real-world: a Case Study

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:46:10 GMT

A case study of cleaning up entangled code by reducing dependencies. Tips of how to avoid more entangled code to be added. Plugs NCover.

Getting rid of strings (3): take your app settings to the next level

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:31:02 GMT

In the first article of this series I talked about the problems with strings in code. This article will show you how you can use lambda expressions and expression trees as another tool to avoid strings

Google Browser: Chrome

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:01:03 GMT

has a good comic book to explain their design and features.

Remotely Log Off Remote Desktop Users

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:16:02 GMT

How to remotely log off remote desktop (terminal service) users when you get that annoying: "The terminal server has exceeded the maximum number of allowed connections."

Json.NET 3.0 Released

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:46:02 GMT

The latest version of Json.NET brings lots of new features including Silverlight support.

ASP.NET MVC Tip #35 - Use the NHaml View Engine

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:01:08 GMT

In this tip, I explain how you can use the NHaml view engine as the view engine for an ASP.NET MVC application. I demonstrate how to create NHaml views that display both static content and database records. I also discuss how you can use master pages and user controls with the NHaml view engine.

Clone Detective for Visual Studio

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:16:03 GMT

Clone Detective is a Visual Studio integration that allows you to analyze C# projects for source code that is duplicated somewhere else. Having duplicates can easily lead to inconsistencies and often is an indicator for poorly factored code.

A Serious Challenge for Open Source?

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:46:02 GMT

. . . what Mindscape has done is really quite impressive. To evaluate, accept, and incorporate feedback that quickly into the product and to have the installer ready that afternoon is impressive - for anyone.

ASP.NET gets no Respect

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:16:11 GMT

Poor ASP.NET! Is it really that bad? I say No!

Free Visual Studio File Explorer Add-in

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:31:03 GMT

The Visual Studio File Explorer Add-in (sexy name we know, but hey, it's self documenting) is a free Tool Window add-in for VS 2008 that provides a Windows Explorer style file system view. It's particularly useful for performing routine file system tasks without the need to "context switch" away from Visual Studio, which can be time-consuming over the course of days and weeks. It is shell-enabled so extensions like TortoiseSVN work too.

What's wrong with SOAP? - REST and .NET 3.5 Part 1 - why REST based se

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:31:03 GMT

SOAP vs REST

Documenting Coding Standards - Less is More

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:31:11 GMT

A colleague and I were recently invited to provide feedback on a client's coding standards and were sent a 60+ page document to review. In preparation for the meeting I diligently started to go through each section providing comments and suggestions as I went. But after about page 30 my concentration began to wane and my comments grew more and more sparse. The moral of this story... If someone that's being paid to review your coding standards is struggling to get through them then you can bet your bottom dollar your development team won't be reading them either. This post reflects on the things to consider when documenting your company's standards.

LINQ to SQL - Am I Hitting The Database?

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:16:09 GMT

Like most other developers who have been using LINQ for a while (and in this particular case, LINQ to SQL) - I've unknowingly made a few 'bad queries' that performed great at first, but eventually made some pages crawl. This post isn't necessarily about performance, but if you don't know how to answer that question ("am I hitting the database"), then you'll likely find yourself in a world of problems down the road when you're using LINQ to SQL.

WCF Simplified to a Single Diagram

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:27:45 GMT

Anyone learning WCF for the first time will quickly become bewildered by the array of new terms and concepts they have to get their heads around. As part of a presentation I did recently I produced a single diagram that helps gain a quick overview of these terms and how they relate to one another. Check it out.

Elegant Invariant Checking with C# 3

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:16:03 GMT

Leveraging expression trees and extension methods to build a fluent invariant checking API.

Foundations of Programming - Learning Application

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:46:10 GMT

If you're anything like me, you probably learn a lot better by going through code rather than reading books. I'm happy to release the Foundations of Programming Learning Application - it's a complete solution meant to show what was covered in the Foundations series.

So What's Your Personal (Developer) Brand?

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:46:02 GMT

I am increasingly being asked by members of my team how they can further themselves within the company. While this is certainly an option - and a popular one - it is not the only track to follow. You could choose to become a technical specialist, an architect or even a technical salesperson. But whatever path you choose to follow your ability to achieve it will be dependent on how you develop your own personal brand - in other words the way you portray yourself to others will directly reflect the opportunities that are presented to you.

Jump between braces in Visual Studio.

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:01:09 GMT

Move fast between open and close braces. No more scrolling to find beginning of that illusive if statement.

Foundation of Programming FREE EBook - CodeBetter.Com

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:46:05 GMT

The Foundation Of Programming Series Free ebook By Karl Seguin

Exploring ShadeTree Features, Part 1: Static Reflection with Reflectio

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:31:08 GMT

Some beautiful code.

Mocking the Linq To Sql DataContext

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:31:02 GMT

A generic solution to mocking the Linq To Sql DataContext and how you can test your linq queries against an in memory database.