DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by tokes

CodePlex Project of the Month audio interview: Json.NET

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:31:03 GMT

An audio interview about Json.NET, the March CodePlex project of the month. Interview covers what is JSON and Json.NET as well as the trials and tribulations of managing an open source project.

ButtercupReader - A Silverlight Digital Talking Book Reader

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:19:41 GMT

Launched at Mix09, ButtercupReader is a free Silverlight 2.0 application for viewing and playing digital talking books (DAISY) on the web by blind and partially sighted users.

Using the Silverlight 2.0 ProgressBar Control

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:00:54 GMT

There's a bit more to using the new Silverlight 2.0 ProgressBar control than you might think. This post looks at the control and how to use it in real world scenarios.

Json.NET 3.5 Beta 2 - JSON schema validation

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:29:45 GMT

The big new feature in Json.NET 3.5 Beta 2 is JSON schema validation. JSON Schema is a specification for defining the structure of JSON. Think of it as XML Schema for JSON except it is actually readable.

Preventing Double Form Posts

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:01:09 GMT

Most posts on this topic focus on disabling the submit button that causes the post. This works fine when you only have one submit control. But, if you have multiple buttons and/or link buttons that can cause a post and want to avoid potential conflicts if a user clicks a second submit control before the first one has been processed then this is really simply approach.

Speeding up ASP.NET with the Runtime Page Optimizer

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:31:08 GMT

An great new tool to automatically optimize your ASP.NET website.

ASP.NET MVC and Json.NET

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:31:02 GMT

Bringing Json.NET to ASP.NET MVC

Achieving POCO s in Linq to SQL

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:01:02 GMT

How to get rid of Persistence Related code and making L2S Still work !

Using jQuery to display a modal UpdatePanel confirmation

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:46:04 GMT

An example of using jQuery's BlockUI plugin to display the result of an ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel's partial postback as a modal confirmation dialog.

Some Thoughts on Oslo

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:31:10 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.

10 Programming Proverbs Every Developer Should Know

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:01:02 GMT

Proverbs are used to express universal truths or life lessons in a short and memorable fashion. I find that they are a great way to keep things in perspective, both in life and in work. Because of this, I have assembled 10 programming proverbs that every developer needs in their arsenal.

Best practices for creating websites in IIS 6

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:46:02 GMT

A list of steps that I always take while creating ASP.NET websites in IIS 6. It ensures better performance maintainability, and scalability of your application.

Check username availability with JQuery & ASP.NET

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:01:04 GMT

This article shows how to use jQuery in a real world practical situation - to check username availability - by making an AJAX call to a WebMethod. In this artcle we examine how to make the call, how get the desired username and pass it correctly as well as using jQuery to style and display firnedly notification messages.

Thought Driven Development a Methodology of Abile Development

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:46:03 GMT

Warning: This is a rant against TDD extremism! Sensitive TDD people better step out of this dark sleazy communist place right now! Why do I pick on TDD? Because it makes no sense. The development and design shall be driven by thought not by test. Yes some people are able to "think" better about their problems while using TDD. Kudos to them! But not all people are alike.

Want to Speed Up Your ASP.NET Web Site?

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:50:47 GMT

There are lots of tricks to optimising the speed of your web site. Most of them require you to follow certain design and implementation best practices. But, if you're looking for a quick and (really) easy way to make your site even faster then you should definitely check out the new Runtime Page Optimizer (RPO). Deployment is pretty much copying an assembly to your web server and adding a couple of lines to your web.config - it's that simple!

Supporting Leaderless Projects

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:25:47 GMT

Are you a junior developer working alone? Are you part of a team with no Development Team Lead (DTL)? Do you feel neglected, unloved and with nowhere to turn? Then this article is for you and your manager.

Json.NET 3.0 Released

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:46:02 GMT

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

Bad advice on exceptions from Joel

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:46:02 GMT

Starting from some comments on my exception handling series of articles I run into a couple of blogs pointing to this post on joelonsoftware.com. I think this is the worst advice on exception handling I have ever read, sorry Joel. I know this is an old post, I know Joel is entitled to his own opinion and I know he has the right to write his code as he sees fit. But as an opinion leader he influences others.

Starting with jQuery

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:16:02 GMT

This is the first of number of posts to come on getting started with jQuery with no previous knowledge of the framework. Over the course, various jQuery Plug-Ins will be used and discussed along with gradual integration with traditional ASP.Net 2.0 web applications components (i.e. Master Pages, User Controls, and ASP.Net AJAX).

Documenting Coding Standards - Less is More

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:31:11 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.

WCF Simplified to a Single Diagram

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:27:45 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.

Foundations of Programming - Learning Application

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:46:10 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?

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:46:02 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.

Mocking the Linq To Sql DataContext

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:31:02 GMT

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

An Open Letter to the ALT.NET Community

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:31:03 GMT

It seems as if everyone in .net land has chimed in on the whole Entity Framework "Vote Of No Confidence" petition recently, and up until now I have mostly stayed on the sidelines. As with any seemingly risky move, I was quite torn on the issue. And to a certain extent, I still am ...