Dot Net Project

Visual LINQ Query Builder - VS 2008 Add-In

2008-04-14T12:22:00.001-07:00

Visual Linq Query Builder helps you create Linq to SQL queries for your programs(Support for C# and VB projects is provided) and demonstrates how to create their own Visual Studio 2008 add-in by using WPF.

Here are some screenshots of Visual Linq Query Builder in designer mode

Download Visual LINQ Query Builder and documentation

Technorati Tags: linq,wpf,ui

JetBrains Omea goes Open Source

2008-03-16T14:02:00.001-07:00

Great news for those of you who are interested in good blog reader

Jetbrains Omea - both source and companion files - is now distributed under GNU GPL v2 License http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html

For technical details, visit the dedicated Confluence page: http://www.jetbrains.net/confluence/display/OMEA/this+link

Technorati Tags: blog,reader,jetbrains

System.Reflection - how to access and invoke private methods,fields or properties

2008-03-12T13:37:00.001-07:00

For demonstration purpose I've created a class that contains only private methods,fields and properties

/// <summary>
/// Holds blog information
/// </summary>
public class Blog
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the posts count.
    /// </summary>
    private static int PostsCount
    {
        get
        {
            return 10000;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the description.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns></returns>
    private string GetDescription()
    {
        return @"A weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling 
reviewing new Internet products and companies";
    }


    /// <summary>
    /// Changes the name of the blog.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="newName">The new name.</param>
    private string ChangeBlogName(string newName)
    {
        name = newName;
        return name;
    }


    string url = "http://techcrunch.com";
    string name = "Tech Crunch";
}

To access private fields I used the System.Reflection.FieldInfo class .For private properties I used System.Reflection.PropertyInfo .Note if you want to work with private members you should use System.Reflection.BindingFlags enum as shown in the example below .So for non-static class members the flags should looks like BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance .For static don't forget to add BindingFlags.Static .

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {



            Blog blog = new Blog();
            Type type = typeof(Blog);
            //create reflection bindings - will be used to retrive private fields,methods or properties
            BindingFlags privateBindings = BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance;

            // retrive private fields from our class
            FieldInfo[] fieldInfos = type.GetFields(privateBindings);

            // retrive private fields metadata
            foreach (FieldInfo fieldInfo in fieldInfos)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(fieldInfo.Name +" "+ fieldInfo.GetValue(blog));
            }


            PropertyInfo [] propertyInfos = type.GetProperties(privateBindings|BindingFlags.Static);
            // retrive private static properties metadata
            foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in propertyInfos)
            {
                // note that no instance need for static property to retrive it's value
                Console.WriteLine(propertyInfo.Name + " " + propertyInfo.GetValue(null,null) );
            }

            // call method using MethodInfo object
            MethodInfo miGetDescription = type.GetMethod("GetDescription", privateBindings);
            object retObj = miGetDescription.Invoke(blog, new object[]{});
            Console.WriteLine(retObj);

            // call method using MethodInfo object with input parameters
            MethodInfo miChangeBlogName = type.GetMethod("ChangeBlogName", privateBindings);
            retObj = miChangeBlogName.Invoke(blog, new object[] { "Yahoo blog" });
            Console.WriteLine(retObj);

            Console.ReadLine();



        }

The console output fallows

Technorati Tags: reflection,dotnet,development

Microsoft® Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition Power Tools

2008-02-26T12:44:00.001-08:00

Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition Power Tools is a set of enhancements and tools that complement and improve the user experience of VSTS Database Edition 2008

Features
• ChecksumCondition – You can use this test condition to verify that the checksum of the data set returned by a database unit test matches the checksum of an expected data set.
• ExpectedSchemaTestCondition – You can use this test condition to verify that the column names and data types of the returned data set match expected values.
Data Generator Improvements
• New Data Generator Wizard – This new wizard creates a data generation plan that is configured to copy data from a source database. You can use this wizard when you need to copy most of your data from a live source, but need to make small changes to ensure privacy.
MSBuild Task Improvements
• SqlAnalysis Task – You can use this build task to run T-SQL Static Code Analysis from MSBuild.
TSQL Static Code Analysis
• Static Code Analysis - A precursor to the functionality that will be in future versions of VSTS that will allow you to perform Static Code Analysis on T-SQL code.
Refactoring
• “Move Schema” Refactoring - Allows a user to right click on an object and move it to a different but existing schema
• SP Rename Generation - Generate a new script that will contain sp_renames for all rename refactored objects that the user can then execute.
• Wildcard Expansion - Automatically expand the wildcard in a select to the appropriate columns.
• Fully-Qualified Name Support - Automatically inject fully-qualified names when absent in a script
• Refactoring extended to Dataset - Refactor into strongly typed dataset definitions
MSBuild Tasks
• Data / Schema Compare Build Tasks - MSBuild tasks that can generate scripts as if the user had run the Data / Schema compare UI
Schema View
• API Access to Schema View - Insert / Update / Delete to schema View and list schema objects and their associated files
Dependency Tool Window
• Dependency Tree - Show the dependencies ( incoming / outgoing ) for selected schema objects in a new tool window
Miscellaneous Tools
• Script Preprocessor - Expand SQLCMD variables and include files and command line version (sqlspp.exe) & an MSBuild version ( wraps the command line version )

Download Microsoft® Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition Power Tools

Technorati Tags: microsoft,database,tools,vs2008

LINQ to Objects - 3 basic examples

2008-01-13T13:08:00.001-08:00

The examples below show how you can use aggregate operators in "LINQ to Objects"

// our test data array
string[] names = { "Sara", "Bill", "Alex", "Don", "Tom", "David", "Dana" };

// Find names starts with with character 'D'
int namesStartsWithD = names.Count( name => name.StartsWith("d",
    StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase ) );
Console.WriteLine("There are {0} names that start with character 'D' in the name list.", 
    namesStartsWithD);

// Find the longest name
int longestName = names.Max( name=>name.Length );
Console.WriteLine("The longest name is {0} characters long.", longestName);


// Find the first name that starts with  character 'D'
string firstStartsWithD = names.First(name => name.StartsWith("d",
   StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase)  );
Console.WriteLine("The first name that start with 'D' - {0}.", firstStartsWithD);

SVN via MS IIS

2007-10-10T07:20:00.001-07:00

SVN-IIS gives access to Subversion via MS IIS
The main goal of this project is to make a direct interface from a SVN repository to WebDav interface running on MS IIS.

Features

Practically no overhead
Tested on IIS5.x and IIS6.x
Tested on http and https (used a test certificate)
Support for HTTP 1.1 Chunked encoding
Runs on Windows XP\2000\2003\Vista
Apache like logging

Prerequisites

.NET Framework
Access from the IIS to a running Apache webserver, interfacing a SVN repository

[Via dotnetkicks.com]

Expression Blend 2 September Preview

2007-09-19T13:09:00.001-07:00

Expression Blend 2 September Preview is available for download

New features

Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 Support
Making Controls from Existing Objects
Split View and XAML Editor Improvements
Storyboard Picker
Storyboard and Keyframe Properties
Vertex Animation
Breadcrumb Bar
Font Embedding and Subsetting
Build Options
Object Manipulation

More details available at the Expression Team's blog.

Visit the Expression Blend 2 September Preview to download and install the latest build.

The set of useful methods that can make developer life easer

2007-09-15T07:44:00.001-07:00

Take a look at a list below and you may find a few methods that save your time.The sources and documentation are here.

Array

GetMissingItems
Gets a list of the items in an array missing from a second array.

RemoveDups
Removes any duplicate items for a list of items.

StringArrayToString
Converts an array of strings into a string.

Collection

CollectionToHtmlTable
Converts a collection to an html string having a table.

Color

ColorToHtml
Converts a color into an html hexadecimal string.

GetColorTable
Get an html table listing color, html hexadecimal, and color name.

GetRandomColor
Gets a random color.

DataSet

ArrayToDataTable
Converts an array of strings to a DataTable.

DataTable2ExcelString
Coverts a DataTable into an Excel string.

DataTableToArray
Creates a string array from a DataTable.

DataTableToString
Converts a DataTable to a string with an html table.

FilterSortData
Filter and sort a dataset.

DateTime

CountWeekdays
Counts the number of weekdays between two dates.

CountWeekends
Counts the number of weekends between two dates.

IsDate
Checks whether an object is a date.

IsWeekDay
Returns true of day is weekday, otherwise false.

IsWeekEnd
Returns true of day is weekend, otherwise false.

TimeBreakdown
Returns a string that enumerates years, months, days, etc.

File

ArrayToFile
Saves a string array as a text file.

FileToArray
Converts the contents of a file to a string array.

GetDirectoryFileInfo
Gets information about the files in a directory and puts it in an array of strings.

GetDirectoryInfo
Gets information about a directory and puts it in an array of strings.

GetFileInfo
Gets information about a file and puts it in an array of strings.

ReadFromFile
Reads from a text file, puts the contents of the file in a string, and returns the string.

WriteToFile
Writes the passed in string to a file.

Forms

SetCheckboxesSelect
Adds a check to the checkboxes whose values are passed in.

SetComboSelectedIndex
Sets which item is selected in a DropDownList.

Math

Triangulate
Sums the numbers from 1 to n.

UnTriangulate
Undoes the Triangulate method.

Network

DNSLookup
Gets DNS information about a url and puts it in an array of strings.

GetHttpHeaders
Gets Http Headers and puts them in an array of strings.

GetImages
Gets the images from a webpage.

GetLinks
Gets the links from a webpage.

GetServerVariables
Gets the ServerVariables and puts them in a string.

ReadWebPage
Reads a web page and returns a string with the contents.

SendMail
Sends an e-mail message.

SendNetSend
Sends a net send message.

Numbers

GetDoubles
Gets an array of double values from the start value to the end value.

GetInts
Gets an array of int values from the start value to the end value.

GetRandomNumber
Gets a random number.

IsNumeric
Check whether an object is numeric.

Stats

GetAvg
Gets the average of an array of doubles or an array of ints.

GetCorrelation
Gets the Correlation between two arrays of numbers.

GetStandardDeviation
Gets the standard deviation of a list of numbers.

Strings

CountStrings
Count how many times a string appears.

GetASCII
Gets a string with ASCII characters.

ProperCase
Converts a string to proper case.

RemoveWhiteSpace
Remove extra white space in a string.

Manage your Subversion(SVN) Repositories & Server conviently and effectively

2007-08-21T13:01:00.001-07:00

This utility provides you with the ability to completely manage your Subversion(SVN) Repositories & Server conviently and effectively without the hassle of command-line tools.

PainlessSVN compliments your current SVN Client and Server software, and is easily deployable.It doesn't require any time at all to setup for your current environment.

Features

Create and Delete Repositories
Create and Delete Directories
Create and Delete Users
Create Dump Files
Create Hot Copies
Manage access to repositories
It can manage repositories even when svnserve is not running
No command-line switches to remember
Ability to add repositories that reside in different directories.

Download PainlessSVN (beta)

SketchPath-XPath development and XML analysis tool

2007-08-21T12:42:00.001-07:00

SketchPath is an XPath development and XML analysis tool. It provides an integrated graphical environment for viewing XML files , developing XPath expressions against them and managing the expressions in file libraries.

File libraries of XPath expressions can be saved and loaded as .NET DataTable XML serialized objects. SketchPath supports XML Packages as used by Open XML and ODF.

This .NET tool was originally designed to assist XSLT developers at all levels, but should equally suit any developers or analysts who currently work with XPath 1.0 or who would benefit from using it to exploit XML.

Features

Easy to install: A single 350KB .EXE file (Needs .NET 2.0 Also)
XPath Location Step-Tracer - Predicate tracing
Auto-Generate XPath Locations by selecting from
XPath Result list
Regular Expression Result list
Element Tree View
Element Nodes List
XML Text Editor
XPath Variables List
XPath Step Tracer
Save XPath expressions for re-use as variables
Import XPath Expressions from an XML source (eg. XSLT)
Manage Xpath variables lists in groups
Save and load XPath variable groups in library files
‘As-You-Type’ bookmarking of nodeset results in Element Tree View
Manage Xpath environment
Manage Namespaces
Set the Context Node
Select the group of XPath variables required
Auto-Complete ('Intellisense') uses 'Look-Ahead' to list available location and value nodes when typing
An XPath 'Assist Pane' provides quick access to all XPath Nodes/Axes and Functions
Syntax checking and colorizing of XPath expressions
Uses .NET System.XML.XPath namespace to evaluate expressions
All XML panes synchronized, viewable panes & behavior controlled by modes
Use Regular Expressions (Regex) to resolve XPath locations
Simple User-Interface with just 3 main toolbars with minimal icon-clutter
Package Inspection feature for ZIP compressed XML file structures, support includes:

Word 2007 docx format
Excel 2007 xlsx format
Powerpoint 2007 pptx format
XML Paper Specification xps format
OASIS Open Document Format (ODF)

Fast XPath location generation usin an optimized 'Element Index' (updated as you type)
Free-flow XML Source Editor Pane with well-formedness checking

Download SketchPath

Watch Flash Demo of SketchPath

[Via Larkware News]

Refactor! For ASP.NET was released as free download.

2007-08-13T13:17:00.001-07:00

DevExpress has announced that Refactor! For ASP.NET is free for download.

Features

Add Validator
Extract ContentPlaceHolder
Extract ContentPlaceHolder (and create master page)
Extract Style (Class)
Extract Style (id)
Extract to UserControl
Move to Code-behind
Move Style Attributes to CSS
Rename Style
Surround with Update Panel

You can find more details on each refactoring from Mark's post.

Make sure to check out the informative 12 minute screencast on the ASP.NET refactoring.

Cyclomatic complexity measurement tool

2007-07-23T08:06:00.003-07:00

ccm is a tool that analyzes C/C++ and C# code and reports back on Cyclomatic Complexity.Cyclomatic complexity is computed using a graph that describes the control flow of the program. The nodes of the graph correspond to the function of a program. A directed edge connects two nodes if the second function might be executed immediately after the first function. This technique is useful to determine how complex the function of code is.

ccm is a command line tool that accepts the path to directory you want to analyze. Using an /XML switch it will output the result as XML, making it easy to integrate with other tools, such as CruiseControl.NET, etc.

Usage

Running ccm without any parameters tells you about the available switches.

C:\Dev\ccm\bin>ccm
Missing parameters.

Usage:
ccm directory [/r] [/xml] [/n:x] [/e:folderlist] [/v]
   switches:
     r            - act recursively on folders
     xml          - output into xml
     n:x          - list n-number of metrics (defaults to 30)
     v            - verbose
     e:folderlist - comma-separated list of folders or paths to exclude

ccm.exe ..\..\relativepath-to-sources /n:15

Download ccm

A list of programs for keyboard maniacs

2007-07-09T01:37:00.001-07:00

A list of programs for keyboard maniacs - they helps you rapidly find programs or documents from within the depths of the start menu (or other directories).

AutoHotKey - http://www.autohotkey.com/ - excellent Open Source (!) tool with support for scripts and hotkeys. Two scripts add similar start menu searching functionality, Seek and 320mph. More info can be found on their forum.
Tray Command Line - http://traycl.chat.ru/ - shareware, $10 Very nice, *tiny* application - the inspiration for this program; does not search for files, but allows you to manually create aliases to launch from they keyboard.
Key Launch - http://software.xfx.net/utilities/kl/index.html - shareware, $12 Similar to this program, incrementally searches through the start menu. Felt a bit clunky to me, and short on configuration options.
RunIt! - http://keleos.h11.ru/ - now freeware! Very good program - has similar search functionality as Find and Run Robot and additional features for terminating apps, etc. Runs as a toolbar.
ShellSearch - http://www.harmonyhollow.net/ss.shtml - freeware Very similar in spirit to Find and Run robot, but not quite as fast to use. Free though, and lots of nice other apps by this developer too.
WinConsole - http://galan.dogmalab.ru/index.php?lang=eng&look=soft&item=winconsole - shareware $10 Similar to Tray Command Line, with support for hotkeys and lots of options.
Meta Launcher - http://www.codesector.com/commandline.asp - shareware $15 Nice looking app which also comes with a startmenu replacer and app launch bar type feature
OpenExpert - http://www.baxbex.com/openexpert.html - freeware Adds context menu to open files with a menu of applications.
LaunchItNow - http://www.gemiscorp.com/english/launchitnow.html - freeware Launch bar type app.
Stargate Link Boss - http://www.lincolnbeach.com/stargate.asp - shareware $20 Launch panel app.
Shell Search - http://www.harmonyhollow.net/ss.shtml - freeware Similar to find and run robot.
MCL - http://mlin.net/MCL.shtml - freeware Similar to Tray Command Line but with some nice addons.
CMDBar - http://www.pitrinec.com/pcb_index.htm - shareware Persistent bar on screen that lets you type commands and has other functions.
Smart Launch - http://www.pxcompany.com/en/sl/index.shtml - shareware $18
1st TurboRun - http://www.turborun.com - shareware $25
CrossLaunch - http://methodik.pixelarmy.org/readme.html - freeware
JetStart - http://www.codesector.com/jetstart.asp - shareware $19.95
ESP - http://www.espsw.com/index.php - shareware $10 - very close in functionality and approach.
SlickRun - http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/ - freeware
Run! - http://crimsonfan.altervista.org/ - freeware
AppRocket - http://www.candylabs.com/approcket/ - shareware (.net) $18
QuickFind - http://mitglied.lycos.de/quickfind/ - freeware
Rock-It-Launcher - http://www.brunswim.com/RIL/
PC-Com - http://www.boletrice.com/pccom
Ava Find - http://www.think-less-do-more.com/avafind/
Luanch-n-go - http://www.tethyssolutions.com/launch-n-go.htm - shareware
FileTracer - http://www.filetracer.com/ - shareware
Task Tracker - http://tasktracker.wordwisesolutions.com/index.html - shareware
Instant Document Search - http://www.sowsoft.com/document-search.htm - shareware
Getchoo - http://alilm.needlemen.com/drupal/?q=node/2 - donationware
CuteType - http://www.tooto.com/cutetype/ - shareware
RunFast - http://www.idiogensoftware.com/runfast/index.htm - freeware
ZenKey - http://www.camiweb.com/zenkey/index.htm - freeware
KbStart - http://www.kbstart.com/ - shareware
Mayk - http://www.beotel.net/~darkdst/ - freeware
Locate - http://locate32.webhop.org/ - Freeware
FastFind - http://www.guyswithtowels.com/dev/apps/fastfind.html - Freeware
99 Useful Run Commands - http://www.fixmyxp.com/content/view/20/42/
Type and Run - http://galanc.com/index.html?page=5&lang=en - Freeware
Filehand - http://www.filehand.com/
Trip - http://trip.glenmurphy.com - freeware
Launchy - http://www.launchy.net/
VistaGlance - http://www.vistaglance.com/vg_screenshots.html
Triniaut - http://trininaut.sourceforge.net/
Faster Than Ever - http://www.yazalim.com/products/fte/index.htm - freeware
yubnub - http://www.yubnub.org/ - free web service
Semex - http://smx.wickedorange.com/?page_id=3
Direct Access - http://www.nagarsoft.com
FindOnClick - http://www.2brightsparks.com/foc/index.html
http://www.zchromosome.com/

Kill specific tasks from MsBuild

2007-07-02T07:15:00.001-07:00

This is an example that presents the way - how to kill the processes in MSBUILD script.It's very useful when you need to shutdown some application or services - to prevent the script from failing because the running processes are locked .I use well known OS command "Taskkill" with two arguments /F (Specifies to forcefully terminate process) and /IM (Specifies the image name of the process that has to be terminated. Wildcard '*' can be used to specify all image names).

Free Powershell book with examples

2007-06-14T12:11:00.001-07:00

MS offers PowerShell book for free.The book can be used with or without the demo files available at Frank Koch's(MS Technology Advisor ) blog.The book introduces you a short articles with many examples about the interaction with Windows PowerShell as well as some hints how to use other objects like WMI, .NET or COM objects like Excel or IE.

Technorati tags: book, microsoft, powershell

A new beta of JetBrains refactoring tool is available for download

2007-05-31T11:45:00.001-07:00

Now providing unparalleled support for C#, Visual Basic .NET, XML, XAML, and ASP.NET, including comprehensive cross-language functionality.

New Features

Unit Test Explorer
Go To Symbol
To-do List
XML and XAML Support
- Various quick-fixes and context actions in XML
- Code completion in XML
Code Analysis for C# Code

ReSharper 3.0 Beta is only a pre-release build of ReSharper 3.0. The final version 3.0 release is scheduled for the end of June, 2007. If you purchase ReSharper for VS .NET 2003 or ReSharper for VS 2005 now, you will qualify for free upgrade to version 3.0 when it becomes available.

Download Full Edition

Download C# Edition

Download Visual Basic Edition

System.Reflection - FieldInfo class

2007-05-30T12:54:00.001-07:00

A FieldInfo class provides detailed information about a single field of a class or an interface. The reflected field may be a static field or an instance field. The FieldInfoSpy example shows how to obtain the field information of a class including the access modifiers, type etc:

using System;
using System.Reflection;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
internal class FieldInfoSpy
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Type type = typeof (Car);

    //query type 
    FieldInfo[] fieldInfos = type.GetFields(
        //Specifies that instance members are to be included in the search. 
        BindingFlags.Instance |
        //Specifies that non-public members are to be included in the search. 
        BindingFlags.NonPublic |
        //Specifies that public members are to be included in the search. 
        BindingFlags.Public |
        //Specifies that static members are to be included in the search. 
        BindingFlags.Static); 


    foreach (FieldInfo fieldInfo in fieldInfos)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(
            "Name:{0},Type:{1},Public:{2},Static:{3},Readonly:{4}",
                          fieldInfo.Name,
                          fieldInfo.FieldType.FullName,
                          fieldInfo.IsPublic,
                          fieldInfo.IsStatic,
                          fieldInfo.IsInitOnly
            );
    }

    Console.ReadLine();
}
}

internal class Car
{
public bool broken;
private static string vendor;
public readonly string owner;
private int age;
protected string name;
}
}

A sample of the output follows:

Name:broken,Type:System.Boolean,Public:True,Static:False,Readonly:False
Name:owner,Type:System.String,Public:True,Static:False,Readonly:True
Name:age,Type:System.Int32,Public:False,Static:False,Readonly:False
Name:name,Type:System.String,Public:False,Static:False,Readonly:False
Name:vendor,Type:System.String,Public:False,Static:True,Readonly:False

New open source .NET blogging platform - BlogEngine.NET 1.0 Released

2007-05-24T10:26:00.001-07:00

Open source .NET blogging platform with nice set of features is available for download here

Variety of widgets
Commenting system
Syndication support (RSS, Atom, and Feedburner)
Support for Metaweblog API
Support for Trackbacks / Pingbacks
Blog search
Referrer stats
Theme creation

BlogEngine.NET Documentation Wiki

[Via Al Nyveldt blog]

A Spy++ like utility for WPF applications

2007-05-14T15:12:00.001-07:00

The nice tool called Snoop that I found useful while developing and debugging WPF Applications.

Features

Browse the visual tree of running WPF applications.
Inspect properties of elements at runtime.
Edit properties of elements at runtime.
Inspect RoutedEvents that are occurring, including the elements that handle them.
Magnify sections of the User Interface.
Locate and debug binding bugs.

Documentation
Download

Technorati tags: WPF, XAML, dotnet

Rhino Mocks 3.0 is available for download

2007-03-28T15:48:00.001-07:00

A dynamic mock object framework for the .Net platform. It's purpose is to ease testing by allowing the developer to create mock implementations of custom objects and verify the interactions using unit testing.
Rhino.Mocks is an attempt to create easier way to build and use mock objects and allow better refactoring support from the current tools. It's a hybrid approach between the pure Record/Replay of EasyMock.Net's model and NMock's expectation based model. Rhino.Mocks originated from EasyMock.Net and attempt to improve on their model to create easy to use and power mocking framework. It's free for use and modification for open source and commercial software.
Licensing: Rhino Mocks is Free Software which is released under the BSD license.

New features:

Generic Methods (at last!)
Support arrays of value types as out parameters
Support non-CLS Compliant value types such as UInt64
Better error messages when using generic delegate methods on generic types
Generally faster
Using Dynamic Proxy 2 - better performance, better code-base, full support for wierd generic scenarios.
Text.* constraints can now be used to evaluate non strings as well, by calling the ToString() method. Useful for things such as the Criteria API in NHibernate.

Download binaries and code

S3 Change Explorer

2007-03-13T11:30:00.001-07:00

Solidcore S3 Change Explorer is a change tracking and data analytics tool for your desktop. It keeps track of all changes on your system, and provides detailed analysis of those changes, including who made them, when, and how.

[Via Larkware News]

A collection of Microsoft.NET class libraries that implement web content syndication specifications

2007-03-06T13:30:00.001-08:00

Argotic is a collection of Microsoft.NET class libraries that implement common web content syndication specifications such as RSS 2.0 and ATOM 1.0. With the Argotic components, consuming syndication feeds or generating your own custom feeds has never been easier. Argotic has been designed to provide developers with a flexible provider model for storing and retrieving syndication feed information to and from the back-end database of their choice. Argotic also provides an extensible framework that allows developers to easily handle the large number of extensions in use by today's syndication specifications.

Features Overview

Complete implementation of the RSS 2.0 specification.
Complete implementation of the ATOM 1.0 specification.
Implements a provider model for storing/retrieving syndication information to your back-end database of choice.
Provides an extensible framework for processing any syndication specification extension.
Natively handles the RCF822 and W3C DateTime structures.
Support for auto-discovery of syndication feeds for a given web site.
Supports consumption of secure/authenticated syndication feeds.
Implementations of the most common syndication specification extensions.

Download Argotic

Propertygrid: How to show only specific file extensions?

2007-02-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

Use Editor Attribute

[DisplayName("Resume")]
[Description("Resume File Name")]
[Editor(typeof(DocFileEditor), typeof(UITypeEditor))]
public string ResumeFile
{
    get
    {
        return _ResumeFile;
    }
    set
    {
        _ResumeFile = value;
    }
}

Override InitializeDialog method and provide Filter string that describes allowed file extensions

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Windows.Forms.Design;

namespace WindowsApplication1
{
class DocFileEditor : FileNameEditor
{
    ///<summary>
    ///Initializes the open file dialog when it is created.
    ///</summary>
    ///
    ///<param name="openFileDialog">The <see cref="T:System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog">
</see> to use to select a file name. </param>
    protected override void InitializeDialog(OpenFileDialog openFileDialog)
    {
        openFileDialog.CheckFileExists = false;
        openFileDialog.Filter = "Doc files (*.doc)|*.doc|All files (*.*)|*.*";

    }
}
}

PropertyGrid: How to make specific property read only ?

2007-01-27T16:22:00.000-08:00

Use ReadOnly attribute or remove set accessor ...

[ReadOnly(true)]
public int Age
{
    get
    {
        return _Age;
    }
    set
    {
        _Age = value;
    }
}

source(russian)

PropertyGrid: How to group properties by category?

2007-01-27T16:17:00.000-08:00

Use Category attribute .Note that properties without the attribute will be shown uder category named "Misc"

[DisplayName("First Name")]
[Description("First Name of the person")]
[Category("Personality")]
public string FirstName
{
    get
    {
        return _FirstName;
    }
    set
    {
        _FirstName = value;
    }
}


[Category("Specific")]
public Color HairColor
{
    get
    {
        return _HairColor;
    }
    set
    {
        _HairColor = value;
    }
}

source(russian)

PropertyGrid: How to show description for specific property?

2007-01-27T16:06:00.000-08:00

Use Description attribute

[DisplayName("First Name")]
[Description("First Name of the person")]
public string FirstName
{
    get
    {
        return _FirstName;
    }
    set
    {
        _FirstName = value;
    }
}

source(russian)

PropertyGrid: How to change property name?

2007-01-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

To display property name in readable form you can use DisplayName attribute

[DisplayName("First Name")]
public string FirstName
{
    get
    {
        return _FirstName;
    }
    set
    {
        _FirstName = value;
    }
}

source(russian)

ASP.NET AJAX 1.0

2007-01-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 delivers a rich client-side AJAX library that provides cross platform, cross browser support for a core JavaScript type-system, JSON-based network serialization stack, JavaScript component/control model, as well as common client JavaScript helper classes. ASP.NET AJAX also delivers a rich server-side library that integrates AJAX functionality within ASP.NET, and enables developers to easily AJAX-enable existing ASP.NET 2.0 sites with minimal effort.
Download ASP.NET AJAX 1.0

MSN Search SDK Beta Version 0.60

2007-01-12T02:33:00.000-08:00

The MSN Search SDK provides documentation that describes the core concepts, requirements, development guidelines, and class library for the MSN Search Web Service. The SDK also contains sample code that demonstrates application development techniques using the MSN Search Web Service.

ReSharper UnitRun

2006-11-08T04:58:00.000-08:00

ReSharper UnitRun is a free add-in for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 that allows you to automatically run and profile unit tests. This user-friendly tool detects test fixtures of the supported unit testing frameworks and lets you run or profile them right from the code editor or from Visual Studio's Solution Explorer.

A dedicated window is provided to analyze test results, run or rerun any tests, and navigate from a failed test's output directly to the code line that originated the exception. Results are displayed in the Unit Test Tree View, which contains an overview of all tests in the build together with colored icons to indicate the state of each test. From this view you can start running, debugging or profiling tests.

Download ReSharper UnitRun

Technorati tags: nunit, unit, tdd, dotnet

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 IDE Enhancements

2006-10-31T01:07:00.000-08:00

Visual Studio 2005 IDE Enhancements are a set of Visual Studio extensions that are designed to make you more productive. These enhancements are directly integrated into the Visual Studio IDE. Previously, these enhancements were only available via the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. This installation does not require Visual Studio 2005 SDK.

Source Code Outliner : The Source Outliner tool is a Visual Studio extension that provides a tree view of your source code's types and members and lets you quickly navigate to them inside the editor.

Visual C++ Code Snippets:The Visual C++ Code Snippets tool lets you insert snippets in your code by using a pop-up menu that contains programming keywords. VB.NET and C# languages have this functionality in Visual Studio 2005.

Indexed Find : The Indexed Find tool is a Visual Studio extension that uses the Microsoft Indexing Service to provide improved Search capabilities to the integrated development environment (IDE). It sends the results of a search to the Output Window.

Super Diff Utility: The Super Diff Find tool is a Visual Studio extension that compares text files. It uses color coding and graphics to show the difference between the files in deleted text (red), changed text (blue), inserted text (green).

Event Toaster Utility: The Event Toaster tool is a Visual Studio extension that notifies users about specific events within the Visual Studio IDE.

Download Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 IDE Enhancements

Foxit Reader 2.0 is just released.

2006-10-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

"Foxit Reader 2.0 is a free PDF document viewer and printer, with incredible small size (only 1.5 M download size), breezing-fast launch speed and amazingly rich feature set. Foxit Reader 2.0 supports Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/2003. Its core function is compatible with PDF Standard 1.6."

New Features

Interactive form filler: Now you don't have to print out PDF forms first and then manually fill out paper forms. Instead, you can use PC to fill out interactive forms directly, and then print them out, save them, email them or export the form data into FDF file for further processing.

Multi-language UI that can be dynamically switched: The user interface of Foxit Reader now can be switched to different languages dynamically, thanks to the generous help from our user community.

On-demand download of add-on: With add-ons, the function of Foxit Reader can be extended unlimitedly. Advanced feature modules and seldom-used modules are packed as add-on to be downloaded when needed.

Self-upgrade: In the past, when you want to upgrade Foxit Reader, you have to frequently visit Foxit website, check for new release, and then manually download the new version, uninstall the old version and re-install the new version. Now this whole process is simplified and you only need to click on the menu item "Check for update now".

Javascript support: Advanced users are able to use Javascript to create complex logic for PDF forms, to validate user input and process data.

Improved printing speed: Printing a PDF file with many images on it to a PostScript printer used to be slow. Version 2.0 has been optimized for such printing.

Streamlined UI: Version 2.0 comes with a neat UI. Annotation tool buttons are grouped together and no longer being showed on several toolbars.

Download Foxit Reader 2.0

The Most Intelligent Integrated Team Environment - TeamCity

2006-10-04T02:47:00.000-07:00

JetBrains has released their integrated team environment.

TeamCity provides intelligent, automated running and monitoring of build processes, and facilitates integration of changes for developers working on both .Net and Java platforms.

Top features include:

Continuous Integration Support - remotely integrate and test code changes many times a day utilizing NUnit (.NET) or JUnit (Java) testing frameworks.
Effective Build Management allows running builds using such popular build tools as NAnt, MSBuild, Ant, and Maven, and immediately provides information about build results via the web interface or a special Windows Tray Notifier add-in. When a build fails, any developer can take responsibility for fixing it and quickly notify other team members that the problem is being handled.
Innovative "Build Grid" which can utilize multiple computing
resources anywhere on your network so developers' computers don't get bogged down. Each computer in the build grid can define its own environmental parameters and TeamCity intelligently distributes testing and builds among appropriate machines as resources are available.
Web-based Administration - developers and their managers can easily get build and test reports, see the current build status, and configure all the necessary build settings using the rich web interface. Build history and all built artifacts are also accessible.

[Via LarkWare News]

Technorati tags: integration, build, net, java

Replacing the DHTML Editing Control in Windows Vista and Beyond

2006-10-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

"The DHTML Editing Control will not be included in Windows Vista. Web pages and Windows applications that use the control must be modified to continue to provide a WYSIWYG HTML Editor."

To read more about this, check out the MSDN article at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnlong/html/htmleditinfuture.asp

Technorati tags: vista, dhtml, editing, html

Web Client Software Factory project Community site

2006-09-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

The Web Client Software Factory is a guidance offering currently under development that will provide comprehensive architecture guidance to help customers build web solutions using the Microsoft platform (ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX, Workflow Foundation, etc).

The factory will include:

Scenario documentation (a description of the requirements and technical challenges that the factory will address)
Architecture documentation
Design patterns
How-tos
Guidance Packages (Visual Studio 2005 extensions for automating common tasks)
Reference Implementations (complete sample applications using the Factory)
Training content (Hands-On-Labs, demos, etc)

Server Side Validation Library by Chad Finsterwald

2006-09-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

This article will introduce you to a server side validation library. The objectives of the library are to:

Provide a uniform and extensible approach for even complex validation scenarios.
Reduce the amount of code required for user input validation.
Create a consistent user experience with both visual and textual feedback regarding specific user input errors.
Centralize page-level user validation so that it is easier to maintain and comprehend.

[Via help.net]

XML Notepad 2006

2006-09-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

XML Notepad 2006 provides a simple intuitive User Interface for browsing and editing XML documents.

Features:

Tree View synchronized with Node Text View for quick editing of node names and values.
Incremental search (Ctrl+I) in both tree and text views, so as you type it navigates to matching nodes.
Cut/copy/paste with full namespace support.
Drag/drop support for easy manipulation of the tree, even across different instances of XML Notepad and from the file system.
Infinite undo/redo for all edit operations.
In place popup multi-line editing of large text node values.
Configurable fonts and colors via the options dialog.
Full find/replace dialog with support for regex and XPath.
Good performance on large XML documents, loading a 3mb document in about one second.
Instant XML schema validation while you edit with errors and warnings shown in the task list window.
Intellisense based on expected elements and attributes and enumerated simple type values.
Support for custom editors for date, dateTime and time datatypes and other types like color.
Handy nudge tool bar buttons for quick movement of nodes up and down the tree.
Inplace HTML viewer for processing xml-stylesheet processing instructions.
Built-in XML Diff tool.

Download XML Notepad 2006

Clean Sources

2006-08-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

This Application does one thing. It adds an explorer shell menu to folders that when selected will recursively delete the contents of the bin, obj and setup folders. If you have a .NET project that you wish to share with some one, this is useful to remove the unnecessary stuff from the folder before you zip it up and send it off.

Download Clean Sources

Code Formatter Plugin for Windows Live Writer

2006-08-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Features:

The ability to format the code 'live'
The ability to wrap lines
The ability to change the background color
The ability to just quickly paste what's in the clipboard as code

Download Code Formatter Plugin

tags: tool, plugin, live, blogging

Application Updater by Wilco Bauwer

2006-08-20T23:56:00.000-07:00

This new application updater is a new application updater component which is customizable and supports both WebDAV and BITS . BITS allows you to let the application download updates in the background, which means users would practically not notice anything, since BITS will use unused bandwidth.

Usage:
Add a reference to Updater.zip and implement the IAgent interface. Your IAgent implementation will be used for getting available updates and such.
When you've done that, you write your own download implementation in case you don't want to use WebDAV or BITS to download updates.
The next thing you got to do is initialize a new Updater, add eventhandlers, and that's basically all you got to do.
If you want to check for updates, you call the Refresh method on the Updater instance, when you've detected an update you call the Download method, and when you're done with updating and want to restart the application, you use the ApplyUpdate method.

Technorati Tags:
dotnet
updater
bits
webdav

Threading in C# - By Joseph Albahari

2006-08-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

Threading in C# An extensive article on multi-threading in C#. This tackles difficult issues such as thread safety, when to use Abort, Wait Handles vs Wait and Pulse, the implications of Apartment Threading in Windows Forms, using Thread Pooling, Synchronization Contexts, Memory Barriers and non-blocking synchronization constructs.

[Via Roy Osherove's Blog]

How can I prevent the SplitContainer from stealing focus?

2006-08-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

The default behavior for the splitter is to take focus once selected. If you want the splitter to be movable without taking focus you can do one of two things:
Insert the following code in your project, and attach these events to all of the SplitContainers that you don't want stealing focus.

// Temp variable to store a previously focused control
private Control focused = null;
private void splitContainer_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
// Get the focused control before the splitter is focused
focused = getFocused(this.Controls);
}
private Control getFocused(Control.ControlCollection controls)
{
foreach (Control c in controls)
{
if (c.Focused)
{
// Return the focused control
return c;
}
else if (c.ContainsFocus)
{
// If the focus is contained inside a control's children
// return the child
return getFocused(c.Controls);
}
}
// No control on the form has focus
return null;
}
private void splitContainer_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
// If a previous control had focus
if (focused != null)
{
// Return focus and clear the temp variable for
// garbage collection
focused.Focus();
focused = null;
}
}

Technorati : dotnet, faq, splitcontainer, winforms

Why isn’t the splitter visible when I run my application?

2006-08-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

If the splitter is not distinguishable from the rest of the split container, it is due to the SplitContainerPanels having the same background color as the splitter, and the BorderStyle being set to None. To make the splitter easily recognizable, change the BackColor for the SplitContainerPanels, or set the SplitContainer's BorderStyle.

Technorati : dotnet, faq, splitcontainer

How do I select the SplitContainer at design time?

2006-08-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

If you want to select a SplitContainer control at design time, click on the splitter. If you click on either of the SplitContainerPanels, you will select them instead. Also you can use the drop down menu in the property grid to select the SplitContainer by name. Finally you can use the Document Outline to select the SplitContainer and control the Z-order of the controls within it.

Technorati : dotnet, faq, splitcontainer

Client Settings FAQ

2006-08-11T04:16:00.000-07:00

How do I persist application settings in the registry?

For information on using the registry for settings, see the following SDK sample: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181001.aspx

How do I use a Web service client to retrieve application settings?

For information on using the a Web service for settings, see the following SDK sample: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms180994.aspx

Technorati : dotnet, faq, microsoft

How do I get the class to serialize correctly?

2006-08-11T04:12:00.000-07:00

While most common types can be serialized in one of two ways listed above, there are some types that may not. In such cases, you have a few different options:

Implement a TypeConverter for the type that can convert to and from string. The implementation can use a suitable serialization mechanism like one of the formatters/serializers that ship in the Framework or any custom mechanism you wish. You can then specify this converter on the type itself or on the property in your settings class.

Specify a particular SettingsSerializeAs enum value using a SettingsSerializeAsAttribute. For example, if you wish to serialize a setting in binary format, simply specify SettingsSerializeAs.Binary.

Technorati : dotnet, faq, windows

Is there any way to change or customize the path of the user.config file?

2006-08-11T03:05:00.000-07:00

The LocalFileSettingsProvider does not provide a way to change the files in which settings are stored.

Note: The provider itself doesn't determine the config file locations in the first place - it is the configuration system.

If you need to store the settings in a different location for some reason, the recommended way is to write your own SettingsProvider. This is fairly simple to implement and you can find samples in the .NET 2.0 SDK that show how to do this. Keep in mind however that you may run into the same isolation issues mentioned above.

Technorati : dotnet, faq, microsoft

How can I get the user.config file path programmatically in a non-Clickonce app?

2006-08-11T03:03:00.000-07:00

If you want to get to the path programmatically, you can do it using the Configuration Management API. For example, here is how you can get the local user.config file path:

Note: You need to add a reference to System.Configuration.dll

Configuration config =
ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(
ConfigurationUserLevel.PerUserRoamingAndLocal);
Console.WriteLine("Local user config path: {0}", config.FilePath);

Technorati : dotnet, faq, microsoft

Why is there a version number in the user.config path?

2006-08-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of reasons why the user.config path is version sensitive:

To support side-by-side deployment of different versions of an application (you can do this with Clickonce, for example). It is possible for different versions of the application to have different settings saved out.

When you upgrade an application, the settings class may have been altered and may not be compatible with what's saved out, which can lead to problems.

Technorati : dotnet, faq, microsoft

Why is the user.config path so obscure?

2006-08-11T02:59:00.000-07:00

The path construction algorithm has to meet certain rigorous requirements in terms of security, isolation and robustness. While we tried to make the path as easily discoverable as possible by making use of friendly, application supplied strings, it is not possible to keep the path totally simple without running into issues like collisions with other apps, spoofing etc.

Technorati : dotnet, faq, microsft

Where is the user.config file located in a non-Clickonce app?

2006-08-11T02:57:00.000-07:00

The path of the user.config files is structured as follows:
<Profile Directory>\<Company Name>\<App Name>_<Evidence Type>_<Evidence Hash>\<Version>\user.config

Where:

<Profile Directory> - is either the roaming profile directory or the local one. Settings are stored by default in the local user.config file. To store a setting in the roaming user.config file, you need to mark the setting with the SettingsManageabilityAttribute with SettingsManageability set to Roaming.

<Company Name> - is typically the string specified by the AssemblyCompanyAttribute (with the caveat that the string is escaped and truncated as necessary, and if not specified on the assembly, we have a fallback procedure).

<App Name> - is typically the string specified by the AssemblyProductAttribute (same caveats as for company name).

<Evidence Type> and <Evidence Hash> - information derived from the app domain evidence to provide proper app domain and assembly isolation.

<Version> - typically the version specified in the AssemblyVersionAttribute. This is required to isolate different versions of the app deployed side by side.

Note: The file name is always simply 'user.config'

Technorati : dotnet, faq, microsoft

Why can't I change application scoped settings at runtime?

2006-08-11T02:53:00.000-07:00

Application scoped settings are essentially read only from the application's point of view, and aren't meant to be changed by users, but rather only the administrator. An additional reason for this has to do with how the default SettingsProvider stores settings. Application scoped settings are stored in the exe configuration file, and user scoped settings are stored in user.config files located in the user data path. Generally, exe config files should not be written to at runtime by the application, since the user may not have access to them. In addition, it is normally not a good idea for a user to change a file that affects every other user of the application.

Technorati : dotnet, faq, framework, microsoft

What is the difference between application scoped and user scoped settings?

2006-08-11T02:49:00.000-07:00

There are generally two main types of settings that applications want to store:

Static data like connection strings and web references that don't change often, but should still be possible for an admin to change.

User preferences and customization settings that can change at any time.

Application scoped settings are useful in scenario (1) and user scoped settings are useful in scenario (2).

How do I use the WebBrowser as a HTML editor?

2006-07-19T02:25:00.001-07:00

You can access, and write to, the HTML behind a web page being displayed by the WebBrowser using the WebBrowser.DocumentText property.

Technorati : faq, webbrowser

Why does my application with multiple WebBrowser controls use so much memory?

2006-07-19T02:25:00.000-07:00

The WebBrowser control is a resource-intensive control. Be sure to call the Dispose method when you are finished using the control to ensure that all resources are released in a timely fashion. You must call the Dispose method on the same thread that attached the events, which should always be the message or user-interface (UI) thread.

Technorati : c#, dotnet, faq, webbrowser

Where can I find information on the native interfaces?

2006-07-19T02:23:00.000-07:00

The WebBrowser control is primarily a managed wrapper of the WebBrowser ActiveX object. There are four main unmanaged interfaces that are wrapped in one form or another:

IWebBrowser2 - The core WebBrowser interface.

DWebBrowserEvents2 - The WebBrowser events.

IDocHostUIHandler - Provides advanced functionality such as: custom context menus, disabling accelerators & providing custom objects to the html script. The WebBrowser control QI's it's Site to obtain this interface.

IinternetSecurityManager - Provides custom security for the browser control.

Technorati : c#, dotnet, faq, webbrowser

mentas Ribbon

2006-06-27T00:38:00.000-07:00

Basic and easy .NET 2.0 control to make your application feel like MS Office 2007 UI experience.

Download mentas Ribbon

Technorati : control, development, gui, toolbar, ui
Ice Rocket : control, development, gui, toolbar, ui

A free charting library for .NET

2006-06-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

ZedGraph is a set of classes, written in C#, for creating 2D line and bar graphs of arbitrary datasets. The classes provide a high degree of flexibility - almost every aspect of the graph can be user-modified. At the same time, usage of the classes is kept simple by providing default values for all of the graph attributes. The classes include code for choosing appropriate scale ranges and step sizes based on the range of data values being plotted.

ZedGraph also includes a UserControl interface, allowing drag and drop editing within the Visual Studio forms editor, plus access from other languages such as C++ and VB.

Example charts generated with ZedGraph

Technorati : c#, chart, development, net
Ice Rocket : c#, chart, development, net

TopMost Form

2006-06-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

"A topmost form is a form that overlaps all the other (non-topmost) forms even if
it is not the active or foreground form. Topmost forms are always displayed at
the highest point in the z-order of the windows on the desktop. You can use this
property to create a form that is always displayed in your application,
such as a Find and Replace tool window."

The well known issue that the TopMost Form stealing focus ...
The fallowing code can solve the problem.

private const int SW_SHOWNA = 8;
private const int SW_SHOWNA = 8;
[DllImport("user32", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private extern static int ShowWindow( IntPtr hWindow, int nCmd );

public void MakeTopMostForm(Form frm)
{
ShowWindow(frm.Handle, SW_SHOWNA);
}

BytesRoad.NetSuit Library 2.0

2006-06-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

BytesRoad.NetSuit Library 2.0 is a free network library for .NET platform distributed under GNU General Public License. The library is written in C# language and source codes are also available.

FTP functionality is exposed by FtpClient class . This class contains high level methods that allow you to communicate with FTP server. Also available SocketEx class. This class may be used instead of the .NET Framework's Socket class wish your application to be able to communicate through the proxies (Socks4, Socks5 etc).

FTP Implementation features

Fully compliant with RFC 959 (File Transfer Protocol) and related documents
Comprehensive reference for the component (as compiled HTML file) integrated with .NET Framework SDK v1.1 help
Support communication with FTP server through the proxies. Following proxies are currently supported:
- Socks4
- Socks4a
- Socks5, username/password authentication method supported
- Web proxy (HTTP CONNECT method), basic authentication method supported
All methods requiring networking hava synchronous and asynchronous versions
Implementation of asynchronous methods follows .NET Asynchronous methods pattern
Each operation may be configured with required time out period
"Store unique file" command can be customized by specifying regular expression
Directory listing parser supports common directory listing formats and can be customized by the user-defined parser
Exception oriented error handling
Provide events for monitoring the communication process:
- Event during data transferring
- Event during receiving ftp items
- Event on each FTP command sent
- Event on each FTP response received
Supported on .NET Framework v1.0 and later

Sockets implementation features

Comprehensive reference for the component (as compiled HTML file) integrated with .NET Framework SDK v1.1 help
Following proxies are currently supported:
- Socks4
- Socks4a
- Socks5, username/password authentication method supported
- Web proxy (HTTP CONNECT method), basic authentication method supported
All methods requiring networking have synchronous and asynchronous versions
Implementation of asynchronous methods follows .NET Asynchronous methods pattern
Each operation may be configured with required time out period
Exception oriented error handling
Supported on .NET Framework v1.0 and later

Download BytesRoad.NetSuit Library 2.0

Technorati : freeware, ftp, open source
Ice Rocket : freeware, ftp, open source

Free SharePoint 2007 Book

2006-06-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

"Future or current SharePoint developers should at least flip through the book to build a picture of how MOSS 2007 fits together and what the concepts are -- changes to the security model, site definitions, site features, Content Types, how Workflow is integrated, Excel Services -- there are a hundred small topics, you owe it to yourself to get a handle on the big picture."

Table of Contents

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Building Solutions with Office SharePoint Server 2007
Building a Basic SharePoint Site
Organizing List and Documents with Site Columns and Content Types
Working with Features in Windows SharePoint Services
Windows SharePoint Services Core Development
Creating Workflows: The Missing Piece of Office Productivity
Introducing Excel Services
Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 and Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007

Download

[Via Roy Osherove's Blog]

Technorati : book, free, microsoft, sharepoint
Ice Rocket : book, free, microsoft, sharepoint

Creating clonable menu items in .Net 2.0 ( Implementing CloneMenu method )

2006-06-14T05:37:00.000-07:00

In Windows Forms FAQ( .Net 2.0) I found that the CloneMenu method is not implemented ...:-(

"With the entire ToolStrip family of controls we do not have an integrated commanding
architecture nor do we support cloning of items to appear in multiple places.
We do support reusing the same ToolStripDropDown or ContextMenuStrip in multiple places (non-nested).
We understand this may require more state management and maintenance code and are looking
at ways to improve this in the future.
Erick Ellis, 6 January 2005 # (MS)"

Here's "fast and dirty" solution:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsApplication66
{
class CloneToolStripLabel:ToolStripLabel
{
public CloneToolStripLabel( string text )
: base(text)
{
}
public CloneToolStripLabel CloneMenu()
{
return ( CloneToolStripLabel )this.MemberwiseClone();
}
}
}

Usage:

CloneToolStripLabel menuItem = new CloneToolStripLabel("Kuku");
toolStrip1.Items.Add(menuItem);
toolStrip2.Items.Add(menuItem.CloneMenu());

Also you can read this post

Technorati : dotnet, ms, toolstrip, winforms
Ice Rocket : dotnet, ms, toolstrip, winforms

Save and restore the size,location and state of a Windows Form in .NET 2.0

2006-06-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

The fallowing example saves the properties (location, size and windows state) of a form to app.config
when the form is closed and restores the form state when it is loaded.

Create three properties called Size ,Location and WindowState in project settings dialog as shown in picture:

Modify Form.Load and FormClosing methods (Use DesktopBounds (instead Form.Location and Size)
to place form correctly on a multi screen desktop )

private void Form1_Load( object sender, EventArgs e )
{
// restore location and size of the form on the desktop
this.DesktopBounds =
new Rectangle(Properties.Settings.Default.Location,
Properties.Settings.Default.Size);
// restore form's window state
this.WindowState = ( FormWindowState )Enum.Parse(
typeof(FormWindowState),
Properties.Settings.Default.WindowState);
}

private void Form1_FormClosing( object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e )
{

Properties.Settings.Default.Location = this.DesktopBounds.Location;
Properties.Settings.Default.Size = this.DesktopBounds.Size;
Properties.Settings.Default.WindowState =
Enum.GetName(typeof(FormWindowState), this.WindowState);
// persist location ,size and window state of the form on the desktop
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
}

Technorati : c#, dotnet, microsoft, winform

PowerShell Editor and IDE.

2006-06-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

PowerShellIDE is the PowerShell Editor and IDE.

It is a graphical user interface that helps explore and exploit the vast power available with PowerShell. It contains a debugger, lets you step through PowerShell scripts, explore variables as you run your scripts and also supports many Intellisense-like functions.

Download PowerShellIDE

Technorati : ide, microsoft, monad, powershell
Ice Rocket : ide, microsoft, monad, powershell

MSBuild Sidekick

2006-06-10T03:08:00.000-07:00

MSBuild Sidekick is a GUI application for creating and editing build project files for Microsoft Build engine. The application provides full-fledged graphic user interface as alternative to editing build project files by hand. The full range of MSBuild schema elements is supported.

MSBuild Sidekick features:

Load and modify any file complying to MSBuild schema
View build project structure in a tree view that displays tasks used in build, property groups and properties, item groups and items, targets and targets tasks and imported build projects.
Show or hide presentation of imported definitions in a project tree view
View MSBuild project raw XML source as you modify the project
Modify project default targets
Add or remove tasks used in build project from external assembly
Add, remove or modify property groups
Add, remove or modify properties in property groups
Add, remove or modify item groups
Add, remove or modify items in item groups
Add, remove or modify targets
Add, remove or modify selected target's tasks, tasks order
Modify selected task properties (including output properties specification)
Import or remove external build projects
Open any imported project from the loaded project

Download MSBuild Sidekick

[Via Larkware News]

Technorati : dotnet, microsoft, msbuild, vs2005
Ice Rocket : dotnet, microsoft, msbuild, vs2005

How to prevent the UserControl class to appear in the Visual Studio toolbox

2006-06-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

You can prevent the UserControl class to appear in the Visual Studio toolbox by adding fallowing attribute to it

[System.ComponentModel.ToolboxItem(false)]

Remember that this attribute is inheritable ,so derived UserControls must place have a System.ComponentModel.ToolboxItem(false) attribute if they want to be available on the Visual Studio toolbox .

Technorati : c#, code, component, dotnet, vs
Ice Rocket : c#, code, component, dotnet, vs

Free Ebook about Windows PowerShell

2006-05-31T04:03:00.000-07:00

Download a free Ebook about Windows PowerShell( An Introduction to Microsoft PowerShell by Don Jones )

[ Via Anderson Patricio Blog ]

Technorati : ebook, microsoft, powershell, windows
Ice Rocket : ebook, microsoft, powershell, windows

SQL Prompt

2006-05-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

SQL Prompt provides Intellisense® style auto-completion for Microsoft SQL Server editors. It will tell you the exact formatting you should use for your SQL commands, while you are writing them and will therefore help you write fast, perfectly formatted SQL statements. SQL Prompt improves the productivity of all SQL script creation. SQL Prompt can be downloaded free until 1st September 2006.

SQL Prompt simply sits behind the scenes and provides unobtrusive help when you press Ctrl-Space or when you type "." after a table/view/alias name.

Features:

Table/View name completion
Column name completion
Stored procedure name completion
USE completion
JOIN/JOIN ON completion
Auto-uppercasing of keywords
Auto-popup after keywords

SQL Prompt works with Microsoft Query Analyzer, SQL Server 2005 Management Studio, Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio .NET 2003, SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager, UltraEdit32.

Get Free Copy Of SQL Promt

Technorati : database, intellisense, sql, tool
Ice Rocket : database, intellisense, sql, tool

{smartassembly}

2006-05-30T03:57:00.000-07:00

{smartassembly} is an innovative all-in-one improvement and protection tool.

Features:

Merges your Application dependencies with your main Assembly.
Automatically Detects and Removes the non-useful code and metadata.
{smartassembly} is a smart Obfuscator, which automatically detects which code can or can't be obfuscated. {smartassembly} also encodes the strings in order to improve protection.
The combination of the previous features leads to an improvement of your Application's performances.
Automatically adds missing exceptions handling, and Reports these exceptions with detailed snapshot information to the developer.
One-stop Improvement and Protection tool in one single post-compilation process.

{smartassembly} is available in 3 editions:

The Standard edition is perfect for a small and simple project.
The Professional edition, thanks to its advanced debugging capabilities, enables to improve and protect larger and more complexes projects.
The Enterprise edition, thanks to its customization capabilities, enables to improve and protect your enterprise projects.

Download {smartassembly}

[Via Larkware News]

Technorati : development, protection, reporting, tool
Ice Rocket : development, protection, reporting, tool

Front-end application for ILMerge

2006-05-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

Gilma is a front-end application for ILMerge: Microsoft's command-line utility that can be used to merge multiple .NET assemblies into a single assembly. ILMerge is freely available from Microsoft's web site. ILMerge's license does allow commercial usage.

[Via Larkware]

Technorati : dotnet, microsoft, tool

An easy way to find out if an application will cause troubles on Windows Vista

2006-05-28T06:12:00.000-07:00

The Standard User Analyzer helps developers and IT professionals diagnose issues that would prevent a program from running properly without administrator privileges. On Windows Vista, even administrators run most programs with standard user privileges by default, so it is important to ensure that your application does not have administrator access as a dependency.

Using the Standard User Analyzer to test your application can identify the following administrator dependencies and return the results in a graphical interface:

File access
Registry access
INI files
Token issues
Security privileges
Name space issues
Other issues

This tool also complements the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.0. ACT 5.0 will include a User Account Control agent that you can deploy to user desktops to identify applications that require administer privileges. The Standard User Analyzer is designed to be run on the developer or tester's workstation to test and troubleshoot a specific application. Issues identified with the Standard User Analyzer can also be entered into you ACT 5.0 database so you can track the application compatibility across your environment.

Download Microsoft Standard User Analyzer.

Technorati : analyze, microsft, tool, vista, windows

Live Gadget SDK version 0.5 (Beta)

2006-05-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

The Windows Live Gadget SDK provides everything you need to get started with developing Gadgets that run on Live.com.

The Windows Live Gadget SDK consists of the following:

Windows Live Gadget Developer's Guide If this is the first time you are developing a Live Gadget, we recommend that you start here.
API Reference Documentation on the complete the Windows Live Gadget API that you can program to.
Gadget Design Guide Guidelines to help you with building a beautiful Gadget that will follows our guidelines.
Windows Live Gadget Project Template A project template that you can install into Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Web Developer Express 2005 to make Live Gadget development much easier!
Additional Samples Extra samples to show you how to write code to accomplish certain tasks.
Developer FAQ Answers your most frequently asked questions.
Development Resources Other resources to help you be successful with building that awesome Gadget! Includes Community resources, references and tutorials on JavaScript & DOM, HTML & CSS, and much more!

Technorati : gadget, microsoft, sdk, windows

NUnit 2.4 alpha has been released

2006-05-23T03:48:00.000-07:00

NUnit 2.4 Alpha Release

General

The source code directory structure has been reorganized to separate NUnitFramework and NUnitCore.
A new nunit.common assembly isolates core interfaces.
The following assemblies are now strongly named: nunit.mocks, nunit.core.extensions and nunit.framework.extensions
NUnit may now be installed by non-administrators, subject to any security restrictions imposed by the particular site.
The .Net 2.0 builds of NUnit are now called "NUnit for .Net 2.0"
The NAnt build script has been simplified and now consists only of the nunit.build and nunit.build.include files.
The NAnt build script now has a target for building under the Mono 2.0 profile.
NUnit is now been built and tested using both Microsoft .Net (1.0, 1.1, 2.0) and Mono (1.0 and 2.0 profiles).

Core

When multiple assemblies are loaded, they may use a single AppDomain, as now, or a separate AppDomain for each assembly. The new option provides greater isolation of the tests and allows use of separate config files for each assembly.

Note: In the Alpha release, separate config files are required when this option is used, even if an NUnit project is loaded.
The automatic creation of test suites for each namespace is now optional. When the creation of these suites is suppressed, the fixtures are loaded as a simple flat list, without any hierarchy imposed.
When multiple assemblies are loaded, the tests may optionally be merged. If automatic namespace suites are enabled, namespaces are merged across assemblies. This option is only available if a single AppDomain is used.
The fixture object is created for the life of the test run and is no longer reused on subsequent runs. If the object implements IDisposable, Dispose is called before destroying it.
The current directory is set to the location of the test assembly before running each fixture. This change facilitates running fixtures in any order and eliminates interference between fixtures that change the current directory.
Non-public fixture classes are treated as non-runnable and display a warning message rather than being silently ignored.
A new SetUpFixture allows one-time SetUp and TearDown at the level of a NameSpace or for an entire assembly.
The TestRunner no longer passes "live" tests back to the gui or console. Instead, a data class that encapsulates the info about the test is sent.
Registry settings are now stored under nunit.org. Old settings are migrated automatically when the application is first run.
When the default config for a test project is set to "NUnitAutoConfig" the configuration of the current NUnit build is automatically selected for the tests, if available. This is intended for use by NUnit developers.

DebuggerDisplayAttribute

2006-05-23T03:41:00.000-07:00

The DebuggerDisplay attribute (System.Diagnostics.DebuggerDisplayAttribute) controls how a class or field is displayed in the debugger variable windows. This attribute can be applied to:

Classes
Structs
Delegates
Enums
Fields
Interfaces
Properties
Assemblies

The following code example shows how to use DebuggerDisplay

namespace ConsoleApplication11

{

[DebuggerDisplay("OnlineResource: {_Url} {_Port}.")]

public class OnlineResource

{

public string _Url;

public int _Port;

public OnlineResource(string url,int port)

{

this.Url = url;

this.Port = port;

}

public string Url

{

get

{

return _Url;

}

set

{

_Url = value;

}

public int Port

{

get

{

return _Port;

}

set

{

_Port = value;

}

Invasion of the Robot Context

2006-05-23T00:22:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is challenging developers worldwide to create conversational robots, or BOTs, for MSN® Messenger and Windows Live™ Messenger. The most original, useful robots collect $40,000 in total prizes.

Robots or "BOTs", are software programs that you can add to MSN® Messenger and Windows Live™ Messenger. If you add a robot to your contact list, it can chat, give you customer service support, perform searches, make suggestions, play games and more.

Registration is open until September 15, 2006

PHLAT

2006-05-21T03:13:00.000-07:00

PHLAT is a new interface for Windows Desktop Search (enabling search through a user's own email, files, and viewed web pages). PHLAT lets you easily specify queries and filters, attempting to integrate search and browse in one intuitive interface. In addition, Phlat supports a unified tagging (labeling) scheme for organizing personal content across storage systems (files, email, etc.).

Click here to read more about PHLAT!

Technorati : labeling, search, tagging, windows
Ice Rocket : labeling, search, tagging, windows

Sun Project Tango

2006-05-21T02:56:00.000-07:00

Project Tango develops and evolves the codebase for Web Services Interoperability Technologies (WSIT) that enable interoperability between the Java platform and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) (aka Indigo).
Project Tango uses JAX-WS and JAXB as a foundation upon which to build plugins to provide web services features such as bootstrapping communication, optimizing communication, reliable messaging, atomic transactions, security and trust.

Technorati : indigo, java, microsoft, sun, wcf, webservice
Ice Rocket : indigo, java, microsoft, sun, wcf, webservice

MSF 4.0 (Microsoft Solutions Framework) Resources

2006-05-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

This is the list of resources about MSF 4.0 (Microsoft Solutions Framework) by Lorenzo Barbieri.
MSF 4 it's the first version that will be available not only as a set of documents and templates, but also integrated in a Microsoft product (Team Foundation Server, part of the Visual Studio Team System family)

Technorati : design, development, microsoft, msf
Ice Rocket : design, development, microsoft, msf

C5 is a library of generic collection classes for C# and other CLI languages

2006-05-20T00:34:00.000-07:00

The C5 collection library provides the following collection concepts, described by C# interfaces: Directed enumerable, collection value, directed collection value, extensible collection, collection, sequenced collection, indexed collection, sorted collection, indexed sorted collection, persistent sorted collection, list, LIFO stack, FIFO queue, priority queue, dictionary, and sorted dictionary.
The C5 collection library provides the following data structures, described by C# classes: array list, doubly linked list, hash-indexed array list, hash-indexed linked list, hash set, hash bag (multiset), sorted array, wrapped array, tree set, tree bag (multiset), stack, double-ended queue, circular queue, priority queue (interval heap), hash dictionary, and tree dictionary.

The C5 collection library provides the following unusual functionality on collections and dictionaries: collection update events, multiple updatable list views, reversible enumeration, hash indexes on lists, snapshottable tree-based collections, priority queues with item handles, and in general a design with emphasis on orthogonality, flexibility, and preservation of invariants.

Go to The C5 Generic Collection Library Site

[Via Roy Osherove's Blog]

Technorati : C#, cli, collection, dotnet, library
Ice Rocket : C#, cli, collection, dotnet, library

Visual Studio 2005 add-in - x.doc

2006-05-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

x.doc is a Visual Studio 2005 add-in that provides a means to manage and visualize source-code comment documentation interactively in the IDE.

x.doc Features:

x.doc provides two windows:

The Visualizer window which is the window that provides the rendered XML documentation text using a defined set of XSL templates and a CSS. This window is interactively updated as the caret is moved in a code-editor window. If the documentation is not well-formed XML or an error occurs in the rendering, an error is displayed in this window. If the caret is not positioned in a documentation block, the message "No documentation" is displayed. This window is implemented to work as a standard 'Tool Window' in the IDE, and can be floated, docked etc. like any other tool window.
The Output window which is similar to the IDE build window in that it displays the error with the appropriate source-code file path and line and character position offsets. Double-clicking the error line in this window will move the caret to the referenced editor window and offset in the code at which the error has occurred. It shares the standard output window and its content is displayed by selecting the x.doc menu-item in the 'Show output from:' selector.

x.doc provides a menu tool-strip above the Visualizer window, and the available commands are described below as they are ordered on the tool-strip (from left-to-right):

Prior Documentation Item: This button command moves the caret to the prior documentation block in the code editor window and selects the block as shown in Figure 1 above.
Next Documentation Item: This command moves the caret to the next documentation block.
Collapse All Documentation: This command traverses the entire code document and outlines the documentation blocks. Each documentation block is shown only by three ellipses ('...') and is an effective way to quickly hide all the documentation.
Import Documentation Item: This button command imports the documentation from an external file and embeds it as a documentation block in the source-code. This will only happen if the caret is positioned over a single-line documentation block containing a well-formed <include> tag that points to a valid external documentation file with a name attribute that can be resolved to a documentation item in the external file.
Export Documentation Item: This command reverses the action of the 'Import Documentation Item' above. The documentation block is exported to the external documentation file and a suitably formed <include> tag is substituted in its place. . Note that badly-formed XML is exported "as-is", so it is best to check the Output window for errors before exporting the documentation block.
Import All Documentation: This command works the same as the "Import Documentation Item" above, except that it traverses the entire source-code file and imports all documentation.
Export All Documentation: This command exports all documentation to the external documentation file, reversing the action executed by 'Import All Documentation' above.
Documentation Display Style Selector: This selection list will accommodate any number of XSL/CSS templates which are imported from external .xsl and .css files when the add-in is first loaded. The XSL/CSS files x.doc.xsl and x.doc.css are included with the x.doc add-in installer and provides a pseudo-MSDN documentation look-and-feel. Obviously, these files can be modified or more style files added, which can then be individually selected, causing the documentation to be immediately re-rendered using the selected style. It is also possible to extend the VS IDE documentation tags and provide customized documentation functionality. NDoc already does this to provide the various standards of documentation-styles, including their MSDN style, which is exactly like the Microsoft H1 and H2 Help.

x.doc is completely NDoc compatible, in that the XML files that are generated by VS when you compile with the /doc:file option can be used as-is with NDoc. This applies whether the documentation is read directly from the source-code, or from an external file.

Technorati : addin, document, microsoft, ndoc, vs2005
Ice Rocket : addin, document, microsoft, ndoc, vs2005

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor beta

2006-05-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a small beta application that you can run on your current Windows XP-based computer to find out if it's ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista. When you run the Upgrade Advisor, it will scan your computer and generate an easy-to-understand report of any known system and device compatibility issues, along with recommendations on how you can get your PC ready for Windows Vista. Microsoft plans to add functionality to Upgrade Advisor, such as checking how your software applications will run with Windows Vista.

Download Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor beta

Technorati : advisor, beta, soft, tool, vista, windows
Ice Rocket : advisor, beta, soft, tool, vista, windows

Binding to Data Created at Runtime

2006-05-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

First, a class that represents an individual person should be declared.
The code below declares a class with the FirstName, LastName and Age public properties.
These properties will be data source fields.

class Person
{

private string _FirstName;

public string FirstName
{
get { return _FirstName; }
set { _FirstName = value; }
}
private string _LastName;

public string LastName
{
get { return _LastName; }
set { _LastName = value; }
}
private int _Age;

public int Age
{
get { return _Age; }
set { _Age = value; }
}


public Person(string firstName, string lastName, int age)
{
this.FirstName = firstName;
this.LastName = lastName;
this.Age = age;
}


}

Once the record class is declared, the data source object can be filled with records.
This example will use an ArrayList as the grid's data source. The code below fills a
List<Person> with records and assigns it to the DataGridView's DataGridView1.DataSource property.

List<Person> personList = new List<Person>();
personList.Add(new Person("Bill", "Gates", 55));
personList.Add(new Person("Joe", "Miller", 30));
personList.Add(new Person("Nataly", "Mix", 22));
this.dataGridView1.DataSource = personList;

After the above code has been executed, the DataGridView will look similar to the one displayed below.

Technorati : database, datagridview, dotnet, grid, microsoft
Ice Rocket : database, datagridview, dotnet, grid, microsoft

Compute Fibonacci numbers using yield statement

2006-05-18T01:37:00.000-07:00

A program to compute Fibonacci numbers using yield statement.

class YieldUsageExample
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int n = 8;
foreach (int i in Fibonacci(n))
{
Console.Write("{0} ", i);
}

Console.ReadLine();
}


public static IEnumerable Fibonacci(int n)
{
int previous = -1;
int result = 1;
for (int i = 0; i <= n; ++i)
{
int sum = result + previous;
previous = result;
result = sum;
yield return result;
}
}
}