Recently i found out that there is a thing called "coding dojo". The point behind it is that software developers want to have a space to learn new stuff like processes, methods, coding details, languages, and whatnot in an environment without stress. Just for fun. No competition. No results required. No deadlines.Some days ago I joined the Zurich coding dojo. We were three programmers with different backgrounds.We gave ourselves the task to develop a method that takes an input value and returns its...
PowerShell Try Catch Finally I am a relative novice to PowerShell and tried (pun intended) to use the “Try Catch Finally” in my scripts. Alas the structure that we love and use in C# (or even – shudder of shudders - in VB) does not always work in PowerShell. It turns out that it works only when the error is a terminating error (whatever that means). Well, you can turn all your errors to the terminating kind by simply setting - $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop", And later resetting it back to “Continue”,...
Jet Brains have blogged "ReSharper 7 EAP Now Compatible with Visual Studio 2012 RC" at http://blogs.jetbrains.com/... today I will check compatibility Visual Studio 11 RC / Resharper 7 EAP / Stylecop...
Stylecop 4.7.28.0 was released 2/June at http://stylecop.codeplex.co... / Resharper 7 EAP is now working again using build 77 from http://confluence.jetbrains... Again I suggest you thank Andrew and his team at http://stylecop.codeplex.co...
Microsoft have released Visual Studio 11 RC at http://www.microsoft.com/vi... is a free download!"The available Visual Studio 2012 RC products and localizations are pre-release versions of the next release of Visual Studio. As such, they are not final and are subject to change prior to release. Before installing this pre-release software, you should review the associated readme files for system requirements and a list of known issues: "You should read the read me...
I wrote a very simple blog engine, and created a new blog, and wrote about the process. Enjoy. It has node.js and geddy and markdown and github gists...
At a .Net User Group meeting this week, I experienced two poorly prepared speakers floundering through presentations…. As a Lead Technologist at the company I work for, I have experience training technical staff and also giving presentations at code camps. Here are a few guidelines for aspiring speakers you might find helpful… 1. Do not stand in front of your audience and read your slides. This is offensive to your audience and not what they came for... Your slides are there to reinforce the information...
Nomad is a Visual Studio extension that allows you build apps for both Android and iOS platforms in Visual Studio using HTML5. There is no need to switch between .Net, Java and Objective-C to target different platforms - write your code once in HTML5 and build for all common mobile platforms and tablets. You have access to the native hardware functions (such as camera and GPS) through the PhoneGap library, UI libraries such as jQuery mobile allow you to create an impressive UI with minimal work....
Very excited to be in the KC Business Journal today. Stackify is focused on giving limited production access to developers to help them do application troubleshooting. We about ready to launch our product and we are looking for beta testers!Ex-VinSolutions exec pours sale proceeds into Stackify, other tech startupsRead the entire article on their website:http://www.bizjourn...
Hey all, just a quick note to let you know I'll be one of the speakers at the St. Louis Days of .NET this year. I'll be giving a revamped version of my Little Wonders (going to add some new ones to keep it fresh) -- and hopefully other presentations as well, the session selection process is ongoing.St. Louis Days of .NET is a wonderful conference in the midwest and a bargain to boot (only $175 if you register before July 1st! Hope to see you there.For more information, visit: http://www.stlouisdayofdotn...
There is a number of things going on this coming weekend, so this maybe pushing it … yet good to put it out there. June 2nd (tomorrow), presenting at SharePoint Saturday St. Louis. The topic is SQL Server Health in a SharePoint environment. http://www.sharepointsaturd... I will be presenting the same topic at a joint session of the PASS group and SharePoint User Group in Evansville on July 17, 2012. http://evansville.sqlpass.org/ http://evansville.sharepoin...
At http://www.space.com/15945-... there is an interesting article on why transits of Mercury and Venus continue to be important.A recent transit of Mercury was used to determine the diameter of the Sun...
Today's $10 Deal of the Day from APress at http://www.apress.com/97814... is Introducing Visual C# 2010."If you're new to C# programming, this book is the ideal way to get started. Respected author Adam Freeman guides you through the C# language by carefully building up your knowledge from fundamental concepts to advanced features." Adam Freeman is an excellent author. This is an excellent introduction to C# programming and a manual for those with experience. Having read through book, I am very...
At http://www.sqlmag.com/conte... there is an excellent article on the measures needed to defeat SQL Injection Attack. Read the article but also remember that the account the application uses to access the database adhere to the following points:NEVER EVER use the sa account even in development.Route access via a role on the database.The account should have the minimum privilege required for the job.The account...
I will be speaking at SPTechCon Boston 2012. This will be my 3rd time speaking at SPTechCon and 4th time attending. The conference has steadily been growing over the past few years and is one of the biggest non-Microsoft run conferences for SharePoint in the US. I’ll be presenting two topics which I have given before but this time around with some updated content. Registration is currently open and you can save $200 (on top of the current early bird discount of $400) by using the code "JACKETT” during...
Applications these days have more options than ever for a user interface, and it’s only going to grow. A successful product might require native applications for mobile devices, a regular web implementation, or even a gaming console. These systems often will be centralized and data driven. The solution is one that’s fairly solitary, a service layer! Simply put, take what’s shared and put it behind a physical or abstract layer that defines the boundary between the specific user interface and the shared...
At http://shop.oreilly.com/cat... Microsoft Press are offering a series of Web Development e-books at 50% off until 23:59 PT 7th June. I am reading Expression Web 4 and can recommend it as a training manual...
I had problems running scripts with Framework 4.0 assemblies I created. The error I was getting was Add-Type : Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\myDLL.dll' or one of its dependencies. This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded. I had to add the supported framework to the powershell.exe.config file.<supportedRuntime version="v4.0.30319"/>I still had a problem running the assembly so I had to recompile and set "Generate serialization...
I am extremely proud to announce that book I helped author is now out and available nationwide and online! Sams Teach Yourself Windows Phone 7 Application Development in 24 Hours It’s been a a great journey and I am honored to have worked with Scott Dorman, Joe Healy and Kevin Wolf on this title. Also worth mentioning the great work that editors from Sams and our technical reviewer Richard Bailey have put into this book! Thank you to everyone for support and encouragement! You can pick up the book...
Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is a relatively new programming paradigm. Originating at Xerox PARC in 1994, the paradigm was first made available for general-purpose development as an extension to Java in 2001. From there, it has quickly been adapted for use in all the common languages used today. In the .NET world, one of the primary AOP toolkits is PostSharp. Attributes and AOP Normally, attributes in .NET are entirely a metadata construct. Apart from a few special attributes in the .NET framework,...
Unfortunately these last few weeks have been crazy with getting things ready to move and house repairs. I am still working for the same company, just needed to move to an area with better autism services for my son with Asperger's Syndrome. More to come next week...
Yesterday the Tell Us Once project received it’s latest accolade. My partner in crime in the execution of the delivery of software for this project, Mark Usher, reports: It’s always great to receive recognition for the effort you put in when working on a project. It’s no secret that here at Solidsoft we are extremely proud of our association with the Government’s Tell Us Once (TUO) programme. Having already been selected by Microsoft as Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2011 Award Winners for Application...
These settings reflecting my Git-environment. It a result of reading and trying several ideas of input from others. Must-Haves Aliases [alias] ci = commit st = status co = checkout oneline = log --pretty=oneline br = branch la = log --pretty=\"format:%ad %h (%an): %s\" --date=short df = diff dc = diff --cached lg = log -p lol = log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit lola = log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit --all ls = ls-files ign = ls-files -o -i --exclude-standard...
Space.com have published a list of webcams for the Transit of Venus at http://www.space.com/14568-... Webcasts Around the World Here is a list of observatories and organizations providing live webcasts on June 5 of the Venus transit of 2012: NASA webcast from Mauna Kea, Hawaii: http://venustransit.nasa.go... Exploratorium (in San Francisco, Calif.) webcast from Mauna Loa, Hawaii: http://www.exploratorium.ed... Slooh Space Camera...
About 2 years ago I wrote a blog post describing what I would like to see in Workflow vnext: http://geekswithblogs.net/J... At the time WF 4.0 was a little rough around the edges – the State Machine was on codeplex and people were simulating state machines with Flowcharts. Last year I built a near- realtime machine management system using WF 4.0.1 – its managing the internal operations of this device: http://landanano.com/produc...
I’ve put up on GitHub a sample WCF error handler for REST services, which returns proper HTTP status codes in response to service errors. The code is very simple – a ServiceBehavior implementation which can be specified in config to tag the RestErrorHandler to a service. Any uncaught exceptions will be routed to the error handler, which sets the HTTP status code and description in the response, based on the type of exception. The sample defines a ClientException which can be thrown in code to indicate...
I don’t know about you, but when it comes to development, I prefer my environment to be as free of clutter as possible. It may surprise you to know that I have tried ReSharper, and did not like it, for the reason that I stated above. In my opinion, it had too much clutter. Don’t get me wrong, there were a couple of features that I did like about it (inversion of if blocks, code feedback), but for the most part, I actually felt that it was slowing me down. Introduction Another large factor besides...
Yesterday brought a lot of news coverage that Cisco has stopped funding and planning its Cius enterprise-grade tablet. Citing “market transitions” in which an increasing number of people bring their own smartphones and tablets to work, Cisco General Manager OJ Winge said in a post on the company's official blog that “Cisco will no longer invest in the Cisco Cius tablet form factor, and no further enhancements will be made to the current Cius endpoint beyond what’s available today.” Employees are...
Stylecop 4.7.27.0 has been released today 29/May at http://stylecop.codeplex.co... / Resharper 7 EAP is now working again using build 54 from http://confluence.jetbrains... I suggest you thank Andrew and his team at http://stylecop.codeplex.co...
Here are some step-by-step instructions regarding configuring SharePoint to sync with custom AD attributes:Add the custom attribute in Active DirectoryThis part will have to be your doing; here is some documentation regarding creating customattributes in AD:http://msdn.microsoft.co... Open up the miisclient.exe...
You may be wondering where to find Microsoft.SharePoint.Applic... , if you are creating a new SharePoint application page? But don’t worry, it resides in _app_bin folder of your SharePoint site’s virtual directory.Assuming your IIS inetpub is at C then the exact path of Microsoft.SharePoint.Applic... isC:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\Vi... Virtual Server>\_app_bin\Microsoft.SharePoint.Applic...Here is the full list of assemblies at _app_bin folder:Microsoft.Office.DocumentManagement.Pages.dllMicrosoft.Office.officialfileSoap.dllMicrosoft.Office.Policy.Pages.dllMicrosoft.Office.SlideLibrarySoap.dllMicrosoft.Office.Workflow.Pages.dllMicrosoft.Office.WorkflowSoap.dllMicrosoft.SharePoint.Applic...STSSOAP.DLL...
As I promised in my last post, I feel the need to give you a rundown on all the technical content I am looking forward to checking out at Tech Ed this year. We shall start with the content I know I'll be able to see. This would be some demo stations in the Technical Learning Center. I will DEFINITELY be checking out the Windows Phone Device Bar. I will admit that I am a bit of a phone snob, and I just want to manhandle all that sexy, sexy tech. I am also planning on talking to the Windows Phone team...
Greetings. I know I have been in work sponsored hiding lately. We are working furiously on a beta project to secure a contract, and I can't really talk about it yet. Hopefully, the contracts will be soon signed. Not only will we then have money, but I can talk about all this really cool tech with which I have been playing. However, since the contract is not signed, I need to bring you people up to date with where I will be during the summer. Let's face it, you can't be a speaker / blogger without...
When using SSMS 2008 I found it to be really slow when trying to save a file, even a small one with just some simple SELECT statements on it. The symptoms were the flashing save disk icons in the lower right corner and selecting the location to save in the Save File dialog would hang each time I picked a location (e.g. Libraries, a folder). This was the first I had seen anything like this where it was really, really slow. It ended up that a server had died last week and I was still mapping a drive...
I’ve used the following extension method in many places. public static bool IsNullOrEmpty(this Object[] myArr) { return (myArr == null || myArr.Length == 0); }Recently I’ve noticed that Resharper shows warning covariant array conversion to object[] may cause an exception for the following codeObjectsOfMyClass.IsNull... resolved the issue by creating generic extension method public static bool IsNullOrEmpty<T>(this T[] myArr) { return (myArr == null || myArr.Length == 0); }Related...
So, although you will be able to use your existing .NET skills to develop Metro apps, it turns out Microsoft are limiting Visual Studio 2011 Express to Metro-only. From the Express website: Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows 8 provides tools for Metro style app development. To create desktop apps, you need to use Visual Studio 11 Professional, or higher. Oh dear. To develop any sort of non-Metro application, you will need to pay for at least VS Professional. I suspect Microsoft (or at least, certain...
One of the questions that comes up frequently, is "Is it worthwhile to report errors?".Last weekend, after installing the latest StyleCop I loaded up my copy of Power Collections. I found that StyleCop was now correctly picking up a lot of missing "this." statements, however there were now a number of false positives. Anticipating the need to submit sample code, I cleaned the solution and zipped it up.I reported this at http://stylecop.codeplex.co... The stylecop administrator promoted...
I have been using Resharper 7 EAP for some time now. Jet Brains will soon be blogging about the new features in Resharper 7 EAP at http://blogs.jetbrains.com/... is a useful article there on Dot Net Peek, a free Dot Net Decompiler from Jet Brains...
I really love Linq and Lambda Expressions in C#. I also love certain community forums and programming websites like DaniWeb. A user on DaniWeb posted a question about comparing the results of a game that is like poker (5-card stud), but is played with dice. The question stemmed around determining what was the winning hand. I looked at the question and issued some comments and suggestions toward a potential answer, but I thought it was a neat homework exercise. [A little explanation] I eventually...
Production databases can get very large. This in itself is to be expected, but when a copy of the database is needed the database must be restored, requiring additional and costly storage. For example, if you want to give each developer a full copy of your production server, you’ll need n times the storage cost for your n-developer team. The same is true for any test databases that are created during the course of your project lifecycle. If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you’ll be aware that...
As I wasn’t voted in with my nominated sessions I presented a 20/20 talk on the new async functionality coming with the .Net Framework. This was based on the PechaKucha presentation format, where you have only 20 slides with only 20 seconds per slide, and it progresses automatically. It was the first I’d attempted, so thanks to the organisers for allowing me to have a go. Although creating the slide deck was definitely easier than a one hour presentation, it was much more stressful giving the talk...
Today's $10 deal of the day from APress at http://www.apress.com/97814... is Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services"Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services will show you how to pull data together and present it for reporting and analysis in a way that makes the data accessible to business users, instead of needing to rely on the IT department every time someone needs a different report."...
Last week version 4.0 of NDepend was released. NDepend is a Visual Studio add-in designed for intense code analysis with the goal of high quality code. A month ago I wrapped up my evaluation of the previous version of NDepend. The new version contains many minor changes, several bug fixes, and adds about 50 new code rules. The version also adds support for Visual Studio 11, .NET Framework 4.5, and SilverLight 5.0. But, the biggest change was the shift from CQL to CQLinq. Introducing CQLinq The latest...
Besides the web com at http://www.transitofvenus.c... that I have already blogged about, some more have come to light courtesy of an excellent Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wik... new ones are:http://www.skywatchersi...
At http://www.shloemi.com/2012... there is an interesting article on Dot Net Reflector and free de-compiler tools...
Before any coding we first make sure that the project is setup correctly. (Please note, that this blog is all about how I do it, and incase i forget, i can return here and read how i used to do it. Maybe you come up with some idea’s for yourself too.) In these series we will create a minigolf scoring cart. Please note that we eventually create a fully functional application which you cannot use unless you pay me alot of money! (And i mean alot!) 1. Download and install the appropriate tools. Download...
You have developers, applications, and servers. Stackify makes sure that they are all working efficiently. Our mission is to give developers the integrated tools they need to better troubleshoot and monitor the applications they create and the servers that they run on. Traditional IT operations tools are designed for network and system administrators. Developers commonly spend 30% of their time working with IT Operations remediating application service problems. Developers currently lack tools to...
It was really exciting weekend at Atlanta code camp 2012. This was my first code camp, I presented on “Windows Kinect for Enterprise”. Walked through couple of demos, how we can integrate Kinect with WPF application. One of the demos I walked thorough how you can integrate Kinect with Microsoft Lync 2010 and other one on Car console app. You can check the uploaded code here. I appreciate all the folks attended my session and thanks for all the organizers. Windows kinect for enterprise View more PowerPoint...
At http://shop.oreilly.com/pro... Microsoft Press are offering the Microsoft® Manual of Style, 4th Edition as a PDF for 50% off using the MSDEAL code."Maximize the impact and precision of your message! Now in its fourth edition, the Microsoft Manual of Style provides essential guidance to content creators, journalists, technical writers, editors, and everyone else who writes about computer technology. Direct from the Editorial Style Board at Microsoft—you get a comprehensive...
Cross join consists to perform a Cartesian product of two sets or sequences. The following example shows a simple Cartesian product of the sets A and B: A (a1, a2) B (b1, b2) => C (a1 b1, a1 b2, a2 b1, a2, b2 ) is the Cartesian product's result. Linq to Sql allows using Cross join operations. Cross join is not equijoin, means that no predicate expression of equality in the Join clause of the query. To define a cross join query, you can use multiple from clauses. Note that there's no explicit operator...
Geekswithblogs Gets a Facelift
Celebrating the five year anniversary of the first post on Geekswithblogs, the GWB team has launched a new look and functionality for the community designed to help the community continue to grow and increase interaction amongst bloggers.
The new design offers bloggers and readers the ability to quickly check recent posts, popular posts, Twitter users from the community, community news, and featured bloggers.
The redesign also makes it easier for bloggers to find tutorials on how to get the most from their blogs, support information, and a community-wide tag cloud.
We hope that you will enjoy the new features and look. Here’s to another five years and to everyone that makes up Geekswithblogs!
GWB Goes to PDC ’08 – Let Us “Tag Your Top”
Geekswithblogs is proud to be a Silver Media Sponsor for the upcoming PDC ’08! This will be a great opportunity for face-to-face interaction with the developer community.
If you happen to be going to Los Angeles for the PDC, and we highly suggest you do, make sure to swing by the Geekswithblogs booth (#100) in the Expo Hall to say hi! We will have some amazing looking Geekswithblogs stickers hot off the press ready to “tag your top” – so bring your laptop by to take it from drab to fab!
GWB Podcasting from PDC ‘08
Make sure to look for fellow Geekswithbloggers Chris Williams and D’Arcy Lussier roaming around the floor. They will be playing the part of on-site GWB ambassadors and roving reporters; stop and chat with them!
We’d like to know what you think about the upcoming podcast. We are thinking of firing PodcastStudio.net (the official podcast of GWB) back up after the event and would like to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
GWB and PDC ’08 – We’ll Make You Famous!
A major part of our display at our PDC booth is going to include a video featuring none other than the Geekswithblogs community members! We’re proud to have you as contributors to a large, healthy blogging community and want to give you some additional exposure.
Here’s what to do; record yourself saying “I’m a geek with a blog, and I…”. Simply fill in the rest with something interesting about yourself. It could be anything from what technology you love, what you like to do in your spare time, where you live, etc.
Examples include:
- I’m a geek with a blog, and I rock at ASP.NET.
- I'm a geek with a blog, and I support my development community by presenting at user groups.
- I'm a geek with a blog, and I love playing guitar.
- I’m a geek with a blog, and I volunteer to help the homeless.
- I’m a geek with a blog, and I chug energy drinks.
First 30 bloggers that send in a video with at least 5 statements get a ultra-stylish Geekswithblogs t-shirt with their blog URL on the back!
Stay tuned for FTP information for uploading your files!