DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by slabbadabba

Start menu context annoyances

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:31:02 GMT

Dave discusses some options when it comes to a context menu add-on used for finding out what files have a lock on them by team members, etc.

Avoiding the Dangers of Ambiguously Defined Data-Types

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:16:11 GMT

When you are handed a string, integer, or any value type, can you know what it really represents? Can you define the range of appropriate behaviors for that data? Can you tell if it's formatted correctly? The problem is, in all of these cases, you can't...

Late Binding in C# using Dynamic Compilation

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:16:02 GMT

Steve goes through his approach to using reflection, making the code easier to read, making it easier to maintain, discusses the "middle-class multiple inheritance", and provides a zipped project of the AdapterCompiler.

How to set up your own free VSLab-based Matlab/Mathematica replacement

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:31:02 GMT

VSLab has just been updated with full support for Visual Studio 2008 Shell and the F# CTP release. It has been a rough couple of weeks for the VSLab team as F# CTP changed a number of things and they have been working hard to put together a compatible release. In this article I talk about a bit about what exactly VSLab is and walk you through creating a free VSLab installation.

Visual Studio Shell 2008: Bringing More .NET Languages into the Fold

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:16:03 GMT

Visual Studio Shell was released in January of 2007 without much fanfare. Even though it's free to download, at the time it was not very useful for most developers as few packages had yet been written for it. Now eight months have gone by and quite a few projects are sporting free Visual Studio interfaces. In this article I discuss Visual Studio Shell itself as well as several of the languages which are currently developing shells.

What if it's not in Environment.SpecialFolder?

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:31:02 GMT

The correct way to find the location of system folders not listed in Environment.SpecialFolder.

Changing Your Garbage Collector Settings on the Fly

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:12 GMT

.NET 3.5 and 2.0 SP1 jointly included a new feature which lets you programmatically manipulate the way your garbage collector acts. This can be done through changing the value of a new property of the System.Runtime.GCSettings class named LatencyMode. In this article I will walk you through this new property and the different effects of each of it's possible settings.

Multilingual OCR

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:46:06 GMT

The challenges of accommodating multilingual OCR engines - and what does "multilingual" really mean anyway when it comes to technical implementation?

Managed C++ and IDisposable

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:01:10 GMT

Quick fix for IDisposable compiler error

Developer Error or TFS Shortcoming?

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:01:03 GMT

Steve summarizes a recent experience where he had to reinstall his system and apps to eliminate a problem with unmanaged debugging. Source control ended up not having all of his code which could have been a disaster. Steve was able to successfully restore his machine but it took longer than it should have - couldn't TFS have helped with this?

Menu item usability vs. learnability

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:16:02 GMT

Lou Franco gives his take on application UI, inclusion/exclusion of menu items, etc. "A user interface is well-designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would."

A Safe & Asynchronous One to Many Stream Copy Through IL & Inheritance

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:46:03 GMT

This post discusses ways to manage or work around problems arising from the statefulness of .NET Streams, including an explanation about how this is possible both through traditional inheritance and also through some indulgence in hacking of object protection levels by emitting custom IL.

Custom functions in NAnt

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:31:02 GMT

Some ideas about using NAnt for multiple builds. Code provided but is there a better way to do this?

Queuing up Your Remote Invokes

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:01:03 GMT

Serializing requests for remote invoke or multiple requests at will? Here is some sample code and a free download that can help with setting this up.

The Cursed History of Smalltalk in .NET

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:01:04 GMT

Digging up the history of Smalltalk for .NET - none of the 5 are currently in development

Visual C++ Compiler Bug Discovered

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:16:03 GMT

This bug exists in the optimizer in VC 2003 and 2005. It does not exist in VC 2008. Code, etc. included.

ompiling, Linking, and Linq-ing

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:31:04 GMT

Thoughts about LINQ vs. flat files

FlingScan - Free Searchable PDF Service

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:31:08 GMT

This web application generates a searchable PDF from any standard image such as a multipage TIFF or JPEG. The searchable PDF is emailed back to you where you can save it to your file system and search the content with one of many PDF search filters available for Microsoft's Desktop Search or Google's Desktop Search.

Color Scheme Generator Web Application

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:16:02 GMT

This application will generate a color scheme for you based on an image. After you upload an image, it will generate you a list of the most common colors that are significantly different from each other. Click anywhere on the image to pick other colors. There are zoom tools to pick the exact pixel you need. Web demo and Source Code Available

20 Years Later IRC is Still Useful; Are You Taking Advantage of it?

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:46:04 GMT

Why You Should Care About A 20 Year Old Protocol? IRC is much more than just a relic of an earlier age. It helps connect highly technical people, it has weathered the years better than any other high level internet protocol. It does not suffer from the spam and abuse that have overtaken other protocols and no Web2.0 technology has supplanted it.

Greeting Card Generator

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:31:03 GMT

Forgot someone's birthday or anniversary and don't have time to run to the nearest store? Now you can generate your own card, using your own pictures. After all, it's the thought that counts! ASP.NET demo and Source Code available!

Working in Opposite Land - The Logic of a Debuggin Strategy

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:31:11 GMT

"There are a number of interesting things that come up in computer science and computer engineering where reasoning suddenly jumps into opposite land. It seems that the more human the operation, the more likely we are to go to opposite land. For example, it has been measured that it is more efficient to send your engineers home at a reasonable hour when a project is late than it is to have them work long hours. Efficiency doesn't scale with time spent, but exhaustion sure does."

Full-Screening your WebImageViewer

Wed, 28 May 2008 20:01:03 GMT

How to automatically full-screen a browser for viewing images and documents in a browser-based image viewer. Addresses problems specific to IE.

PDF Image Grabber Application

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:31:04 GMT

The PDF Image Grabber allows you to take embedded images out of PDF Files. Simply open the PDF, choose the page, and then choose which image you want. Then click the Save button and pick a filename. The file saved will be the original image in the PDF at its original size. Application and Source Code provided.

iPod Ad Generator

Wed, 28 May 2008 20:46:02 GMT

The iPod Ad Generator creates a silhouette image of you and your friends. Free Windows Application.