DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by xtremebiz

A fluent C# library for Twitter

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:16:10 GMT

This C# library allows you to compose queries to Twitter easily, as well as serialize responses into data classes, make asynchronous calls, and perform caching and URL shortening automatically. It covers 100% of the Twitter API.

The Future of .NET Languages

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:01:02 GMT

Wondered why Microsoft always seems to release different language features for each language? Discover how .NET 4.0 will reduce the disparity between C# and VB.NET with some great new features for both languages, plus a new dynamic language runtime and new functional and parallel programming languages.

Checking username availability with jQuery (screencast)

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:01:03 GMT

Abstract: "This screencast explains how to use jQuery and the ASP.NET MVC framework to quickly add a username availability checker to a user registration page."

Why Windows 7 Will Save Microsoft

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:16:02 GMT

I was doing some thinking over the past few weeks and I came to a realization. Windows 7, with all of it's improvements in performance, new features, and more streamlined development process, will actually save Microsoft and redeem them from the whole Vista crash. So I decided to write up WHY Windows 7 will tromp every previous Windows version and why we should pay close attention to it.

Lesser Known ASP.NET Performance Tips

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:01:18 GMT

A small collection of less-popular ASP.NET Performance Tips.

Removing unused CSS Classes from your web application

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:31:14 GMT

2 ways to clean up your Css by removing unused classes.

Windows comming soon to Amazon EC2

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:01:15 GMT

This is big news! Amazon are to enable Windows Support on EC2. this will allow users to kick of Windows images for running SQL Servers, IIS instances and anything else (even HPC stuff) in the cloud! SWEET!

$("Microsoft").append("excitement");

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:46:14 GMT

Right now is honestly the most excited that I have ever been about the .net platform. With IronRuby and ASP.NET MVC on the horizon and jQuery being integrated as part of the official Microsoft development platform, I think that Microsoft is finally "getting" web development.

Microsoft Announces Visual Studio 2010. Developers Respond.

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:01:13 GMT

Microsoft's development environment offers new tools for Agile development, software testing enhancements and improved support for cloud computing. Microsoft showed CIO.com a sneak peek, and the author invited developers to chime in with their feedback.

Avoid this tricky conflict between ASP.NET AJAX and jQuery

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:31:03 GMT

One example of how ASP.NET AJAX can conflict with jQuery's plugins, due to its modification of some JavaScript base types, and how to fix the problem in this particular case.

Introduction to jQuery Article posted

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:46:05 GMT

I've posted Part 1 in a 2 part series on jQuery today. Part 1 covers the client side features of jQuery from the basics all the way through creating simple plugins and extending jQuery. This is a long article that discusses a host of the really useful features that jQuery brings to the table for client side Javascript development. Part 2 will then follow up with server side ASP.NET integration.

jQuery to ship with ASP.NET MVC and Visual Studio

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:01:03 GMT

Microsoft is going to make jQuery part of the official dev platform. JQuery will come with Visual Studio in the long term, and in the short term it'll ship with ASP.NET MVC. We'll also ship a version includes Intellisense in Visual Studio.

jQuery and Microsoft

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:01:02 GMT

ScottGu announce that Microsoft will be shipping jQuery with Visual Studio going forward. We will distribute the jQuery JavaScript library as-is, and will not be forking or changing the source from the main jQuery branch. The files will continue to use and ship under the existing jQuery MIT license.

jQuery, Microsoft, and Nokia

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:16:03 GMT

news today: Both Microsoft and Nokia are taking the major step of adopting jQuery as part of their official application development platform. Not only will they be using it for their corporate development but they will be providing it as a core piece of their platform for developers to build with.

LINQ ElementAt and ElementAtOrDefault

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:18:41 GMT

We can use the ElementAt extension method of LINQ to return the element at a specified index (zero based) in a sequence. However the ElementAt extension method would throw the System.ArguementOutOfRangeException when the specified index is a negative value or not less than the size of the sequence. In such a scenario, we can use the ElementAtOrDefault extenion method which would return the default value of a type instead of throwing the System.ArguementOutOfRangeException. Read this article for code example (both in C# and VB.NET) with comments

Keep Your Link-Juice by Using a Custom HTTP Module for 301 Redirects

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:46:18 GMT

In my process of turning www.aspforblondes.com into www.crazeegeekchick.com I had some concerns regarding broken links, search engine rank etc. I decided to write an ASP.NET custom HTTP Module to achieve my goals. After reading tons of information about 301 permanent redirects.

T-SQL Function to Get Int From Varchar

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:07:04 GMT

I recently had to write a T-SQL function which cleans up all non numeric characters from a varchar variable and returns the int value of the remaining numeric characters. If no numeric characters exist, the function should return zero. I thought it would be nice to share this with you and I hope you find this useful ;-) Expected output of the function: PRINT dbo.GetIntFromVarchar('R1A2J3') -- returns 123 PRINT dbo.GetIntFromVarchar('COOL456CODER') -- returns 456 PRINT dbo.GetIntFromVarchar('789') -- returns 789 PRINT dbo.GetIntFromVarchar('GEEK') -- returns 0

LINQ Single and SingleOrDefault

Tue, 20 May 2008 21:09:20 GMT

This post explains about the Single and SingleOrDefault extension methods of LINQ, possible exceptions which can be thrown, and provides code examples both in C# and VB.NET along with code comments.

A Programming Job Interview Challenge #4

Mon, 19 May 2008 22:46:02 GMT

This is the fourth post in the series of programming job interview challenge. Today, I will provide the answer to job interview challenge #3, talk about readers answers (all of the comments are now approved) and give you a new challenge. So, lets get into business:

7 tricks to simplify your programs with LINQ

Mon, 19 May 2008 17:31:03 GMT

Ever since I learned about LINQ, I keep discovering new ways to use it to improve my code. Every trick makes my code a little bit faster to write, and a little bit easier to read. This posting summarizes some of the tricks that I came across. I will show you how to use LINQ to: initialize an array, iterate over multiple arrays in a single loop, generate a random sequence, ...

11 Top Tips for a Successful Technical Presentation

Mon, 19 May 2008 18:16:02 GMT

Over five years ago I posted Tips for a Successful MSFT Presentation. Yesterday I watched the video of my Mix Presentation all the way through. It's always very painful to hear one's own voice but it's even worse to watch yourself. I never listen to my podcast and I avoid watching myself. It's like watching a person in parallel universe and it inspires self-loathing. However, if you are someone who values continuous improvement - and I am - you need to do the uncomfortable.

Developers are Born Brave

Sat, 17 May 2008 04:04:51 GMT

Reality about software development. The image on this blog post says it all ;-) Cheers to every coder !!!

Coders versus Project Managers

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:21:14 GMT

Few months back, I got below joke emailed to me by my friend who is also a passionate coder. In my personal (and humble) opinion, below joke hits jackpot with the current state of 9 out of 10 IT companies in India, which are headed by people who have zero or very little technical background. And perhaps this explains why Indian IT companies still have to market themselves as low cost outsourcing destinations to win business any why we still dont have too many Product based IT companies in India :-) Is the story same in your country too? Let me know, I would love to hear :-)

Finally, a SelectedItems Option (yaaay)

Thu, 15 May 2008 01:46:04 GMT

The .NET framework does not include a way to get the selected items from a CheckBoxList, ListBox, DropDownList, or RadioButtonList, without iterating the Items collection. This post provides a generic extension method for retrieving the selected items from any ListControl.

How to manage ASP.NET validation from Javascript with jQuery

Wed, 14 May 2008 16:01:02 GMT

This article outlines how to enable and disable ASP.NET client side validation from Javascript using jQuery