Programmers on Fire

TypeMock Asp.Net Bundle

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Unit Testing ASP.NET? ASP.NET unit testing has never been this easy.
Typemock is launching a new product for ASP.NET developers – the ASP.NET Bundle - and for the launch will be giving out FREE licenses to bloggers and their readers.
The ASP.NET Bundle is the ultimate ASP.NET unit testing solution, and offers both Typemock Isolator, a unit test tool and Ivonna, the Isolator add-on for ASP.NET unit testing, for a bargain price.
Typemock Isolator is a leading .NET unit testing tool (C# and VB.NET) for many ‘hard to test’ technologies such as SharePoint, ASP.NET, MVC, WCF, WPF, Silverlight and more. Note that for unit testing Silverlight there is an open source Isolator add-on called SilverUnit.
The first 60 bloggers who will blog this text in their blog and tell us about it, will get a Free Isolator ASP.NET Bundle license (Typemock Isolator + Ivonna). If you post this in an ASP.NET dedicated blog, you'll get a license automatically (even if more than 60 submit) during the first week of this announcement.
Also 8 bloggers will get an additional 2 licenses (each) to give away to their readers / friends.
Go ahead, click the following link for more information on how to get your free license.

JavaScript Arrays via JQuery Ajax to an Asp.Net WebMethod

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:28:00 +0000

Long title, but this is a problem that has haunted me for a while now. I have an Asp.Net WebMethod that takes a List/IEnumerable/Array of stuff as a parameter, how do I send that stuff to that method using the JQuery Ajax method.

Now, without having to reinvent the wheel, do check out David Ward's articles on JQuery and Asp.Net WebMethods for a primer on how this is done.

But one item not mentioned is how to update methods that take lists.

If you want to know why this is hard, take a look at this sample. If you have a web method that looks like this:

        1: [WebMethod]

       2: public void SendName(string firstName, string lastName)

       3: {

       4:     

       5: }

You are going to call it with code like this:

       1: $.ajax({

       2:   type: "POST",

       3:   url: "WebService.asmx/SendName",

       4:   data: "{'firstName':'Chris','lastName':'Brandsma'}",

       5:   contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",

       6:   dataType: "json",

       7:   success: function(msg) {

       8:   }

       9: });

If you are still wondering where this issue is, look at line 4 of the second sample there.

data: "{'firstName':'Chris','lastName':'Brandsma'}",

The data that is being passed to the web method has to be converted to string first. And a JSON compliant string. Now, while there is a way to take a JSON string and turn that into functioning JavaScript code (via the eval method), there is no built in "turn this JavaScript object into a JSON string for me, m'kay". For simple data this is no problem, but for complex data this is a daunting task.

But there is a way.

Enter JSON2.js by the most excellent Douglas Crockford (go check out his book, JavaScript the Good Parts) who is one of the for-most luminaries on JavaScript these days.

JSON2.js gives you a method called JSON.stringify. Which takes an object and returns a string. All this in a class that can be minified to less than 2.5K.

Now, lets put this to work.

I'm going to create a new WebMethod:

       1: [WebMethod] 

       2: public void SendValues(List<string> list)

       3: {

       4:     

       5: }

Here is my JQuery code:

       1: var list = ["a", "b", "c", "d"];

       2: var jsonText = JSON.stringify({ list: list });

       3:  

       4: $.ajax({

       5:   type: "POST",

       6:   url: "WebService1.asmx/SendValues",

       7:   data: jsonText,

       8:   contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",

       9:   dataType: "json",

      10:   success: function() { alert("it worked"); },

      11:   failure: function() { alert("Uh oh"); }

      12: });

And it works! If you are worried that I'm sending too simple an object here (a simple list of strings in this example), I have tested this with much more complex object types as well, and it still works wonderfully.

Pasting from Word

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:47:00 +0000

Warning: this is not a programmer post.

I had a little bit of text that I wanted to spell check. I am a particularly bad speller, bad enough that FireFox's built in spell check is rarely helpful enough, as is Google. My tool of spell checking choice is Microsoft Word.

So I put the paragraph in to Word and found one misspelling. Copied the corrected word out of Word and into DotNetNuke's WYSIWYG editor. It looked kind of funny after that. The font was wrong.

So I checked the source via source view and this is what I saw:

        1: <p>

       2: <meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type" />

       3: <meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId" />

       4: <meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Generator" />

       5: <meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Originator" />

       6: <link href="file:///C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List" />

       7: <link href="file:///C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData" />

       8: <link href="file:///C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping" /></p>

       9: <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>

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<w:View>Normal</w:View>

<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>

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<w:TrackFormatting />

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<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas />

<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>

<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>

<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>

<w:DoNotPromoteQF />

<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>

<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>

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<w:Compatibility>

<w:BreakWrappedTables />

<w:SnapToGridInCell />

<w:WrapTextWithPunct />

<w:UseAsianBreakRules />

<w:DontGrowAutofit />

<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark />

<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp />

<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables />

<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx />

<w:Word11KerningPairs />

<w:CachedColBalance />

</w:Compatibility>

<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>

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<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math" />

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<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440" />

<m:intLim m:val="subSup" />

<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr" />

</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>

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    mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;

    mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";

    mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

.MsoPapDefault

    {mso-style-type:export-only;

    margin-bottom:10.0pt;

    line-height:115%;}

@page Section1

    {size:8.5in 11.0in;

    margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;

    mso-header-margin:.5in;

    mso-footer-margin:.5in;

    mso-paper-source:0;}

div.Section1

    {page:Section1;}

-->

</style></p>

<!--[if gte mso 10]>

<style>

/* Style Definitions */

table.MsoNormalTable

{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";

mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;

mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;

mso-style-noshow:yes;

mso-style-priority:99;

mso-style-qformat:yes;

mso-style-parent:"";

mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;

mso-para-margin-top:0in;

mso-para-margin-right:0in;

mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;

mso-para-margin-left:0in;

line-height:115%;

mso-pagination:widow-orphan;

font-size:11.0pt;

font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";

mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;

mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";

mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;

mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;

mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

</style>

<![endif]-->

<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">environments</span></p>

That was for ONE WORD! You can find it by scrolling down to line 400.

Just to reiterate: 400 lines of crap for one 12 letter word. Amazing.

iMakeDecisions is launched

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:44:00 +0000

I feel bad about not mentioning this earlier. Some of my buddies from MobileDataForce just launched their first IPhone application: IMakeDecisions.

www.iMakeDecisions.com

Description from the site:

Let iMakeDecisions help you choose where to dine, decide when your product should launch, pick the color of your bridesmaids’ dresses, determine who should pick up the tab, select the name for your child, choose which movie to watch, pick your mood for the day, determine the value of your house, accept or reject the job offer, turn left or right, pick a new hairstyle, determine if a country has weapons of mass destruction, choose your college major, create your stock portfolio, pick your vice presidential running mate, determine guilt or innocence, select who to fire or hire, clarify your love life and/or select a candidate. iMakeDecisions can make all those decisions and more! Imagine having a decision-free life both personally and professionally.

INETA Community Champion

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:21:00 +0000

I'm not bragging (really, I'm not), I'm just posting information...about me...winning an award. Crap, that is bragging isn't it. Oh well, the show must go on.

I'm an INETA Community Champion for 2nd Quarter 2008.

You can read more about what it take to become a Community Champion at INETA's web site (see link above).

On the Alt.Net Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:12:00 +0000

This post is a bit late, but I thought I should mention that I'm on the Alt.Net Podcast talking about JQuery in ASP.Net with Rick Strahl, Dave Ward, Bertrand Le Roy, Scott Koon, and Steven Harman.

This was a fun podcast to be on, even though we had a few hick-ups along the way (I kept disconnecting -- thank you Skype and Steve's hard drive crashed). But having Rick Strahl and Dave Ward there was great (if you like JQuery and work on ASP.Net, you need to read their blogs).

But having Bertrand there was absolutely wonderful. Bertrand is a Microsoft employee that was there for the conversations that led to the JQuery announcement.

Mike Moore is doing an excellent job on these. If you haven't seen this podcast before, I highly recommend it.

http://altnetpodcast.com/episodes/11-jquery-in-asp.net

LINQ in Depth: Understanding ToArray()

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:41:00 +0000

In my last post, I showed a bit of code that would take any list, array, diction, or IEnumerable implementer, and return a delimited string.

My solution created a StringBuilder, then looped thru the list, adding the values to the StringBuilder each time. Then, finishing up, remove the last delimiter.

The other solution is to use the LINQ ToArray method, the pass the result to String.Join.

You can see the code for both extension methods below.

        1: public static class Extensions

       2: {

       3:     public static string ToDelimitedString<T>(this IEnumerable<T> list, string delimiter, Func<T, string> action)

       4:     {

       5:         var sb = new StringBuilder();

       6:  

       7:         foreach (T t in list)

       8:         {

       9:             sb.Append(action.Invoke(t));

      10:             sb.Append(delimiter);

      11:         }

      12:         sb.Remove(sb.Length - delimiter.Length, 1);

      13:         return sb.ToString();

      14:     }

      15:  

      16:     public static string ToDelimitedString2<T>(this IEnumerable<T> list, string delimiter, Func<T, string> action)

      17:     {

      18:         return string.Join( delimiter, list.Select( action ).ToArray() );

      19:     }

      20:

Next I thought it would be interesting to see what the ToArray was actually doing. ToArray is a Linq function that converts anything that inherits from IEnumerable to an array.

An IEnumerable is a list of undetermined length, and an array has a definite length, so there has to be some sort of reallocation going on. Enter Reflector (now a RedGate product), with Reflector you can select a method and hit Disassemble to inspect the innards. When looking for LINQ methods, you look in the dll System.Core. Below is what you will find.

       1: public static TSource[] ToArray<TSource>(this IEnumerable<TSource> source)

       2: {

       3:    if (source == null)

       4:    {

       5:       throw Error.ArgumentNull("source");

       6:    }

       7:    Buffer<TSource> buffer = new Buffer<TSource>(source);

       8:    return buffer.ToArray();

       9: }

The interesting part is the Buffer class -- sorry, struct -- which is an internal object. When you start browsing the .Net Framework you will see lots of internal objects running around, some useful, some not. You get used to it.

Anyway, you can see below that Buffer creates an array, then loops though the source object (an IEnumerable of something), adding elements to the array. If the array runs out of space, a new array is created that is double the size of the original array (note that the initial array size is 4). This is standard collection behavior as well, you can look it up in the generic List.

       1: internal struct Buffer<TElement>

       2: {

       3:    internal TElement[] items;

       4:    internal int count;

       5:    internal Buffer(IEnumerable<TElement> source)

       6:    {

       7:       TElement[] array = null;

       8:       int length = 0;

       9:       ICollection<TElement> is2 = source as ICollection<TElement>;

      if (is2 != null)

      {

         length = is2.Count;

         if (length > 0)

         {

            array = new TElement[length];

            is2.CopyTo(array, 0);

         }

      }

      else

      {

         foreach (TElement local in source)

         {

            if (array == null)

            {

               array = new TElement[4];

            }

            else if (array.Length == length)

            {

               TElement[] destinationArray = new TElement[length * 2];

               Array.Copy(array, 0, destinationArray, 0, length);

               array = destinationArray;

            }

            array[length] = local;

            length++;

         }

      }

      this.items = array;

      this.count = length;

   }

  

   internal TElement[] ToArray()

   {

      if (this.count == 0)

      {

         return new TElement[0];

      }

      if (this.items.Length == this.count)

      {

         return this.items;

      }

      TElement[] destinationArray = new TElement[this.count];

      Array.Copy(this.items, 0, destinationArray, 0, this.count);

      return destinationArray;

   }

}

Now, in spite of the differences between the methods used to return the same results, my initial thought was that there would not be much of a difference, performance wise, in how the code ran. So to test that theory I ran the following tests.

My tests class create a large string list, which is then handed to each method after it is created. I used the same string for every item in the list, because uniqueness didn't interest me for this test. Plus, it limited the size of the lists I could create. If I used unique strings, the largest list I could create was 8,000,000 before I got out of memory exceptions. Using the same string I could get 20,000,0000.

       1: [TestFixture]

       2: public class ToDelimitedString_Tests

       3: {

       4:     private List<string> _list;

       5:  

       6:     public ToDelimitedString_Tests()

       7:     {

       8:         int count = 2500000;

       9:         _list = new List<string>( count );

      10:         for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)

      11:         {

      12:             _list.Add( "Item" );

      13:         }

      14:     }

      15:  

      16:     [Test]

      17:     public void ToDelimitedString_Mine()

      18:     {

      19:         string result = _list.ToDelimitedString("----", x=>x);

      20:     }

      21:     [Test]

      22:     public void ToDelimitedString_Theirs()

      23:     {

      24:         string result = _list.ToDelimitedString2("----", x=>x);

      25:     }

      26: }

Below you can see the results (charted and in a table) in seconds. Smaller numbers are better.

	ToDelimitedString	ToDelimitedString2
10,000	0.04	0.04
100,000	0.09	0.07
1,000,000	0.28	0.35
2,500,000	0.65	0.85
5,000,000	1.26	1.81
7,500,000	1.8	2.43
10,000,000	2.52	3.38
20,000,000	5.28	6.72

My conclusion from the data: my hypothesis was correct. There is a performance difference between the two methods, and mine does perform better. Also, as I suspected, there is not a true significant difference between the two methods. At least for the size of the string lists my current application will handle. Note that I had to get up to 1 million items before the times even got interesting, and even then everything happened pretty darn quickly. 10,000 items at 0.04 seconds is pretty darn good. Array sizes below that barely registered.

One interesting note though, I did try to do a profile of the two methods using dotTrace. When profiling the second method was actually faster than mine -- consistently. At this point I don't know why that would be. If you have any ideas please leave me a note.

ToDelimitedString Extension Method

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:28:00 +0000

This has probably been done before, but I thought I would post my implementation.

Take a given generic list (or something that implements IEnumerable, and convert it to a delimited string.

First, declare this delegate somewhere:

        1: public delegate string StringValueDelegate<T>(T obj);
  

Next, in a static class, (I have a class called GeneralExtensions for just this sort of thing), add this code.

       1: public static string ToDelimitedString<T>(this IEnumerable<T> list, string delimiter, StringValueDelegate<T> action)

       2: {

       3:     var sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();

       4:     foreach (var t in list)

       5:     {

       6:         sb.Append(action.Invoke(t));

       7:         sb.Append( delimiter );

       8:     }

       9:     sb.Remove(sb.Length - 1, 1);

      10:  

      11:     return sb.ToString();

      12: }

Now if I have a customer class with a FirstName and LastName properties, like this:

       1: public class Customer

       2: {

       3:    public string Id { get; set; }

       4:    public string FirstName { get; set; }

       5:    public string LastName { get; set; }

       6: }

And I have a list of them, and want to convert them to a coma delimited list, I would do it like this:

       1: var list = new List<Customer>();

       2: list.Add(new Customer { FirstName="Tom", LastName="Bin" });

       3: list.Add(new Customer { FirstName="John", LastName"Doe" });

       4:  

       5: string result = list.ToDelimitedString(",", c => c.FirstName + " " + c.LastName);

The result will look like this: "Tom Bin, John Doe"

Generic C# WinForms

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:38:00 +0000

When Generics was first released in .Net 2.0, I was kind of surprised how few built in generic types there were. A List, a dictionary, a event handler; but not much beyond that. Nothing like what you see with C++ STL, ATL, or WTL. (turns out there are some reasons for that, C++ Templates can do things that C# Generics just can't). But no matter, we can invent our own.

In my current desktop app, I have a reoccurring need for an OK/Cancel form. Plus I had a number of things I wanted preset for me.

The first problem is working with the Generic portion of the C# language. I want to be able to create the OK/Cancel form like this:

        1: var dlg = new OkCancelForm<MyDisplayControl>();

       2: if (dlg.ShowModal()== DialogResult.OK)

       3: {

       4:   // do something here...

       5: }

Also, I need to be able to retrieve, or load the user control that is being displayed. I created a property called DisplayControl. So now I can load and retrieve values from the display control. I'll expand my sample:

       1: var dlg = new OkCancelForm<MyDisplayControl>();

       2: dlg.DisplayControl.Data = MyData;  // dlg.DisplayControl will be of type MyDisplayControl

       3:                                    // data is a property of MyDisplayControl

       4: var result = dlg.ShowDialog();

       5: if (result == DialogResult.OK)

       6: {

       7:     var data dlg.DisplayControl.Data; 

       8:     // now do something with the data 

       9: }

OK, so that was how I wanted it to work, now onto some real code.

The Implementation

First thing to do is to just create a new form and call it OkCancelForm. Put on an OK and cancel button just like you normally would. For a bit of advice on this: I start with two panels, one on the bottom (containing the OK and Cancel buttons) docked to the bottom. And the other docked to Fill in the middle. This will host your custom control.

Now C# creates forms with 2 files, OkCancelForm.cs and OkCancelForm.designer.cs. We first want to look at the OkCancelForm.cs, and change the class declaration to what you see below:

       1: public partial class OkCancelForm<T>: Form where T: ContainerControl, new()
  

If you compile after doing that, you will see errors (if you are using ReSharper, you wont even have to compile, you'll just see errors). Turns out we have to change the other half of the partial file implementation that makes up a WinForms form. So open up the file named OkCancelForm.designer.cs, and change the declaration to match this:

       1: partial class OkCancelForm<T>
  

Even though the class names were the same, because one class was a generic class and the other was not, they did not match.

But, diving into the syntax a bit from the first sample. After the form declaration you see this code: "Form where T: ContainerControl, new()". This code tells the generic (T) that T must be of type ContainerControl, and must have a default constructor that takes now parameters -- because this class is going to create a new instance of T when OkCancelForm is created. You can't be passing in stuff through the controls constructor. It just wont work.

Now for some more changes to OkCancelForm.cs. Here you can see we are adding InitializeDisplayControl() to create a new copy of the display control, and we have added a property called display control of type T (which must be a ContainerControl, remember). The other little trick we are doing there is making the control full screen.

You will also see a reference to displayPanel on like 14. That is one of the two panels I mentioned previously that is docked to the form in fill mode (the other is docked to the bottom of the form and holds the OK and cancel buttons).

       1: private T _displayControl;

       2: public OkCancelForm()

       3: {

       4:     InitializeComponent();

       5:     InitializeDisplayControl();

       6: }

       7:  

       8: public T DisplayControl { get { return _displayControl;  } }

       9:  

      10: private void InitializeDisplayControl()

      11: {

      12:     _displayControl = new T();

      13:     _displayControl.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;

      14:     displayPanel.Controls.Add(_displayControl);

      15: }

That is the basics of what you need. Still undone in this sample is validation. But the tricky part (knowing how to make a partial class generic) is pretty well spelled out for you here.

Enjoy. And if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments.

I love FirstOrDefault

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:11:00 +0000

I know all of you who are using C# 3.0 (released with .Net 3.5) have found some of the goodness that is in System.Linq. My current favorite is FirstOrDefault. This little extension method returns the first element of a list, or the first element that meets a criteria, or returns the object's default value. If you have done work with generics, you should be familiar with default already. Default for nullable types is null. Default for value types is...it depends on the type.

Example 1:

Here is my old code:

        1: List<string> list = LoadList();

       2: if (list.Count > 0)

       3:    return list[0];

       4: else

       5:    return null;

This is the new code with FirstOrDefault:

       1: List<string> list = LoadList();

       2: return list.FirstOrDefault();

Example 2:

Old code:

       1: List<string> list = LoadList();

       2: foreach(var s in list)

       3: {

       4:   if (s == "My special text")

       5:   {

       6:     return s;

       7:   }

       8: }

       9: return null;

New Code:

       1: List<string> list = LoadList();

       2: return list.FirstOrDefault( s => s == "My special text");

ReSharper 4.0 Released

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:59:00 +0000

No more living life dangerously with beta versions and release candidates. You can now get the real thing.
http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/

Birds of Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:25:00 +0000

We just watched a show about the birds of paradise with the kids. The cool part is all of the mating rituals these birds have.

Which leads to an interesting problem. You're watching a show about mating rituals -- with children. The oldest is 7. I really don't want to tell them what a mating ritual is (the birds and the bees can wait for now)...but the kids were riveted by the show.

Luckily it didn't come up.

Microsoft Source Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:45:00 +0000

First question: do you use FxCop? Do I...not really. But I try not to tell too many people that either.

So there is a new tool out there for all of you who need help keeping your source code up to snuff, similar to what FxCop does for your API...just at the source code level. It is called the Microsoft Source Analysis for C# (sorry VB). BTW, there is also a blog.

I happen to have a project that I am in the midst of doing some spring cleaning anyway, so I decided to try it out. You right click on the project or class you want to check, and select "Run Source Analysis". Then in a tool window you will see a list of your failings as a developer.

Right off the bad I had a few issues with the list of failures. Every code file has to have a header.

Here is my "new" standard header to make it happy:

        1: // <copyright file="Axis.cs" company="DiamondB Software">

       2: //     Copyright 2008, DiamondB Software. All rights reserved.

       3: // </copyright>

Lucky for me ReSharper can make that easy to add, but the ReSharper standard "File Header Text" in the ReSharper options does not allow you to have macros, or that would have been a lot easier.

Also, the Source Analysis does not like underscores on field names. So this will get a red 'x'

    private string _name;
  

and that is just not right. In fact, I want just the opposite. (Note: although, this will make one cranky old dutchman that I know very happy -- he doesn't like underscores).

But lucky for me, it is easy to turn things off, which I do. Right-click on your project file and select "Source Analysis Settings" and you can change anything you want. The bad news, it is on a project by project basis. The good news is that the files are merge-able.

The other thing I like about it: it detects Hungarian notation (a prior sin that I am currently making penance for). "SA1305: The variable name 'oElement' begins with a prefix that looks like Hungarian notation." But, if you like that sort of thing, back in the options is a way to tell the tools which Hungarian prefixes are acceptable.

But this could get ugly

OK, there are a few other concerns looming here. I'm calling it Dueling Source Officers. One tool will say two spaces between methods, the next will say one space. One tool like spaces, the other likes tabs. (for the record, Source Analysis HATES tabs, and thinks multiple lines between methods is plane evil). The other officer: ReSharper Code Analysis and ReSharper Code Reformat. Lucky for us ReSharper's tools are very configurable...but it could take a while to get the two in sync.

Not throw in FxCop (now integrated into the Team Systems version of Visual Studio) and it can get very interesting.

Next steps

The next steps are simple:

1. Learn how to write your own rules (I want my underscores)

2. Figure out how to integrate into Team City and Cruise Control (Code Analysis ships with an MSBuild task), and get something meaning full out of it.

WPF startup vs NCover

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Wed, 21 May 2008 20:42:00 +0000

An interesting issue I've been trying to figure out lately, why is WPF so blasted slow on my laptop? How slow? It takes 90 seconds to open a Hello World WPF app. Heck, it takes 90 seconds to load a WPF window with no "Hello World" or anything else for that matter. But to make life more interesting, if I was to load a WPF app that actually does something, like on of the Prism samples, it also takes 90 seconds to load.

I talked with one of my buddies who is a budding WPF expert who told me I was crazy and needed to get a psychologist. He is probably right. But something was telling me that this was a system problem, not a WPF problem. But for the life of me I wasn't seeing it.

Every programmer needs a toolbox. Turns out there are several performance analyzing tools for WPF that ship with the Windows SDK. One of them is the WPF Performance Suite. While the tool is really cool...it didn't help at all. If you want to check the performance of your WPF application while it is RUNNING, this tool will be great.

My problem was start up. Here was the breakdown: 60 seconds before I saw a WPF window, 30 seconds before anything displayed. After that, everything ran fine. Time for a different tool. Namely: Process Explorer from SysInternal (via Microsoft.com).

I was able to find my Hello World WPF application in Process Explorer (on my system, all .Net processes are colored yellow), then displayed the lower pane to display the DLLs used by the process. (BTW: I just confirmed that Windows Live Writer is a .Net application).

I found one interesting dll that was referenced: NCover. A while back I had installed a trial version of the commercial product (this was not the open source version). I have no idea what it was doing there, but it was there. In fact, it was referenced in every WPF application that I loaded -- including WPF applications that I did not write, like the Subscription Center.

Long story made only slightly longer, I uninstalled NCover and now everything loads in about 10 seconds (a nine fold improvement), but I still don't know what NCover was doing. If you know, please let me know.

ReSharper 4.0 goes Beta (Candidate)

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:20:00 +0000

I just saw this on the wire: ReSharper 4.0 has ~~entered Beta~~ a Beta Candidate now as of build 804. If you want it, go get it here: http://www.jetbrains.net/confluence/display/ReSharper/ReSharper+4.0+Nightly+Builds

If you just want to see what is new: check out this page:
http://www.jetbrains.net/confluence/display/ReSharper/ReSharper+4.0+EAP+Notes

Finally, there is another deal going on at JetBrains. DotTrace has gone to version 3.1. For a limited time you can now buy the Personal version of DotTrace for $199.

Note: Ilya Ryzhenkov corrected me, this is just a Beta Candidate.

Using JQuery DatePicker in ASP.Net

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:12:00 +0000

I've had a number of uses for a more configurable date picker on my current application. I needed something that looked good, and I one that I could set constraints for (Min and Max dates). That last problem basically made the AJAX Toolkit CalendarExtender out of the running.

Luckily I found the JQuery DatePicker. This used be a separate download, you can find the original here, but it is now part of JQuery.UI.

But first, there are a few tricks to using it (or any other JavaScript control for that matter). First things first, this is not a separate server control that replaces the text box with a date friendly text box. This is a javascript library that extends a standard text box and gives it date functionality.

So the first thing you have to do is put a text box on your form.

     <asp:TextBox ID="DateTextBox" runat="server" />
  

Next on my list is to add the DatePicker JavaScript file, ui.datepicker.js. I still use the Microsoft AJAX Library which has the nice ScriptManager control, so typically I use that control to add my JavaScript files to the page.

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="~\Scripts\ui.datepicker.css" type="text/css" media="screen"  charset="utf-8" />

    <asp:ScriptManagerProxy ID="ScriptManagerProxy1" runat="server">

        <Scripts>

            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/Scripts/jquery.js" />

            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/Scripts/ui.datepicker.js"  />

        </Scripts>

    </asp:ScriptManagerProxy>

Note: I also included a link to the CSS file used to "skin" the calendar control.

Now everything is in place, we still have to tell the javascript which text box control (DateTextBox) to put a Calendar control on. I typically make a quick little JavaScript function that I can call to hook them up. It looks like this:

    function LoadDateControls() {

        $('#<%= DateTextBox.ClientID %>').attachDatepicker(); 

    }

This code block asks the ASP.Net page for the ClientId of the text box control (very handy when dealing with Master Pages or User Control), and then attaches the date picker to the text box.

OK, the final bit of hooking up we have to do is call this function once the page is loaded and ready. If we are using the Microsoft AJAX Library then you can use the pageLoad method like this:

    function pageLoad(sender, args) {

        LoadDateControls();

    }

If you want to stick with "pure" JQuery then you can do this instead:

    $(document).ready(function() {

       LoadDateControls();

     });

Either way works, it is up to you which you like better.

So lets review where we are now. We have added the JavaScript to our page, and pointed it at a text box to display a calendar. If everything has gone according to plan, you should see something like what you see to the right when you click on the text box.

I like it. And as far as I know all of the colors and fonts are configurable via css.

OK, that covers most of my requirements, but there was one other requirement that isn't here yet: Min and Max dates.

This one is a little harder. First we have to know what Min and Max dates to use, and that will have to come from the code behind. Assuming you know that, you can call this C# code:

    protected string MinDate;

    protected string MaxDate;

    private void UpdateDateRangeContols(DateTime minDate, DateTime maxDate)

    {

        MinDate = EncodeJsDate(minDate);

        MaxDate = EncodeJsDate(maxDate);

    }

    public string EncodeJsDate(DateTime date)

    {

        return date.ToString("U") + " UTC";

    }

Now I have a MinDate and MaxDate fields that I can access from my aspx page. To do that I'm going to rewrite my LoadDateControls function to look like this:

    function LoadDateControls() {

     <%

        Response.Write("$.datepicker.setDefaults({dateFormat:'m/d/yy', minDate: new Date('"+MinDate+"'), maxDate:new Date('"+MaxDate+"')});");

     %>

        $('#<%=DateTextBox.ClientID %>').attachDatepicker();

    }

One side effect of that bit of code is that I also use it to specify the date format.

But wait, did I really just use a Response.Write in my ASP.Net file? Isn't that old school and lame? Old school: yes. Lame: no (if used in moderation). I'm note writing an entire web site using Response.Write, just setting some JavaScript. Besides, if you want to be one of the cool kids and start using the MVC framework, you had better get used to Response.Write again. You're going to need it.

In my code behind, I set my calendar controls to only allow date entries that go back 2 weeks. Take a look at what we get.

Today's date is May 6 (highlighted in pink), so my date range is April 28 to May 11. When you are on the month of May, the Next button is disabled. And, if I hit the drop downs for Month I only see April and May, and for Year I only get 2008. Same for April, I can't go to March.

OK, so what if all of this is too much for you. This is too much code, to much work, all you want is darn server control to use. You are in luck. Head over to West Wind Technologies and pick up Rich Strahl's JQuery Calendar ASP.Net Control. Also subscribe to his blog, he is usually worth the read.

Using JQuery DatePicker in ASP.Net

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Luckily I found the JQuery DatePicker. This used be a separate download, you can find the original here, but it is now part of JQuery.UI.

So the first thing you have to do is put a text box on your form.

     <asp:TextBox ID="DateTextBox" runat="server" />
  

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="~\Scripts\ui.datepicker.css" type="text/css" media="screen"  charset="utf-8" />

    <asp:ScriptManagerProxy ID="ScriptManagerProxy1" runat="server">

        <Scripts>

            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/Scripts/jquery.js" />

            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/Scripts/ui.datepicker.js"  />

        </Scripts>

    </asp:ScriptManagerProxy>

Note: I also included a link to the CSS file used to "skin" the calendar control.

    function LoadDateControls() {

        $('#<%= DateTextBox.ClientID %>').attachDatepicker(); 

    }

This code block asks the ASP.Net page for the ClientId of the text box control (very handy when dealing with Master Pages or User Control), and then attaches the date picker to the text box.

OK, the final bit of hooking up we have to do is call this function once the page is loaded and ready. If we are using the Microsoft AJAX Library then you can use the pageLoad method like this:

    function pageLoad(sender, args) {

        LoadDateControls();

    }

If you want to stick with "pure" JQuery then you can do this instead:

    $(document).ready(function() {

       LoadDateControls();

     });

Either way works, it is up to you which you like better.

I like it. And as far as I know all of the colors and fonts are configurable via css.

OK, that covers most of my requirements, but there was one other requirement that isn't here yet: Min and Max dates.

This one is a little harder. First we have to know what Min and Max dates to use, and that will have to come from the code behind. Assuming you know that, you can call this C# code:

    protected string MinDate;

    protected string MaxDate;

    private void UpdateDateRangeContols(DateTime minDate, DateTime maxDate)

    {

        MinDate = EncodeJsDate(minDate);

        MaxDate = EncodeJsDate(maxDate);

    }

    public string EncodeJsDate(DateTime date)

    {

        return date.ToString("U") + " UTC";

    }

Now I have a MinDate and MaxDate fields that I can access from my aspx page. To do that I'm going to rewrite my LoadDateControls function to look like this:

    function LoadDateControls() {

     <%

        Response.Write("$.datepicker.setDefaults({dateFormat:'m/d/yy', minDate: new Date('"+MinDate+"'), maxDate:new Date('"+MaxDate+"')});");

     %>

        $('#<%=DateTextBox.ClientID %>').attachDatepicker();

    }

One side effect of that bit of code is that I also use it to specify the date format.

In my code behind, I set my calendar controls to only allow date entries that go back 2 weeks. Take a look at what we get.

New Date and Time types in SQL Server 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:54:00 +0000

I've been going through some of the new language features in SQL Server 2008. The easiest to find are the new HierarchyID, sparse data columns, and brand spanking new date and time types.

I'm just going to (briefly) discuss the date and time types.

Start with new Date and Time types. Not DateTime, or SmallDateTime (does anyone even use this type?). No, separate Date and Time types. I have no doubt these will make my life easier for a number of sql functions.

You don't have to stretch your imagination far to find a use for the Date. The Date type can take any date between year 1 and year 9999. The DateTime can only go back as far as 1753. Plus it only takes up 3 bytes (I'm not one to worry about things like that very often, but with large databases these things do come into play).

The Time type (no date allowed) is accurate up to 100 nanoseconds. I say up to because it can be configured to be less accurate -- and take up less space (anywhere from 3 to 5 bytes).

Next comes the interesting one: DateTime2. If you were wondering why we need a new DateTime type, there are two reasons. DateTime is not SQL standard compliant, and DateTime is not completely compatible with the .Net DateTime type. SQL compliance isn't a big concern for me, but better .Net compatibility is good.

So for details. DateTime2 is basically a combination of the new Date and Time types. The time portion is configurable again, and there are a lot of string formats that the DateTime2 will accept. More interesting, the current guidance out of Microsoft for .Net developers is to stop using the DateTime type in favor of DateTime2. This is mainly for the .Net compatibility.

So why didn't they just make DateTime compatible with .Net. Well, in databases, things just don't work that way.

Impact: But I still have a few questions about these types that are not answered as of yet. In .Net we don't have dedicated Date and Time types, just a DateTime. I can deal with the Date...but the Time will be interesting. It will be interesting to see how LINQ to SQL, NHibernate, and SubSonic all handle these changes.

More info can be found on Ravi s. Maniam's blog.

What is Elegant Code to me?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:58:00 +0000

This question keeps popping up around here ("around here" being the loose conglomeration that makes up the Elegant Code group). It isn't easy to describe. And really, the notion of what constitutes elegance in code changes over time. There is no static "this is good code" test, and I doubt there ever will be. Plus, what makes good code in one language, may not apply to the next.

So let me state for the record: today's elegant code is tomorrow's drivel. Don't feel bad, many writers have the same problems. What was super amazing back in the day is now rubbish or near unreadable. I am thinking of the Victorian writing that Hemingway usurped, and now Hemingway himself is almost unreadable (to me anyway). Tastes change with the times. That is a simple fact.

So what can you do about this? As I say that old writing sucks to read (read Washington Irvine lately?), great works of literature still abound (for instance, Hemingway is still a great writer -- even if I prefer Tolkien) . So take some notes from them, and from other crafts in looking for the answer. If you want a cliff notes version of what this is going to tell you, it is this: you must always push yourself to get better.

Find a good teacher. Nothing is better than sitting at the feet of a master who can nudge you along in the right direction. While early mistakes can often be corrected easily with a little bit of guidance, after they have had some time to fester all bets are off. I believe a fare number of "Anit-patterns" were created by self taught developers (find SQL Ejaculation on Elegant Code).
Read. Good writer are first good readers. Start with Code Complete, move into a good Patterns book, get MSDN Magazine, find some bloggers your like, but keep moving. You will NEVER be done reading. I imagine that even Martin Fowler has a "to read" booklist a mile long.
Read code. There are a plethora of open source project just waiting to be read -- do so. This is the single best way to expand your coding repertoire, find things your language can do that you didn't even know about.. Scott Hanselman has recently popularized this idea, and I thank him for it.
Practice. This means writing small applications at home. You get an idea that you want to try out -- do it. I don't mean you have to write finished applications, just have some exploring time. I remember talking with an 80 year old master woodworker (he lives down the street from me), who was telling me how many time he would practice making dovetail joints before he felt competent. It was years worth.
Pay Attention. Being good at anything really amounts to that. And don't just pay attention when reading, writing, or talking about code. Inspiration come from everywhere, any good artist will tell you that. Pay attention when you cook, when you work on the car, when you are wood working, playing an instrument, whatever it is that you do. This will help you in the end, event if it is just learning the amount of dedication it really takes to become good at something.
Beware of preferences. Any time I hear someone start a statement with "I prefer code to ..." you know things are going downhill. If you find someone who cares more about how your code is formatted then how it is written you have found yourself in a mess. More importantly, beware of them in yourself. Having code style standard is important, but it isn't worth loosing sleep over. This also pertains to inheritance, patterns, use of particular classes (e.g. always using the generic list class in C# when a Dictionary would be better).
No Sacred Cows. Believe no single source of information. This means not thinking that Microsoft, Sun, IBM, Richard Stallman, or anyone else will have all of the correct answers. Apply the scientific method and do some research, experiment, and question the authority. There should be no sacred cows in programming.
Talk with others. Join a user group, show up every now and then, heckle the presenter, and -maybe- speak. You want a broad range of people who you can talk to and bounce ideas off of. This will help you from becoming that crazy guy in the corner who vehemently states that all your code should be in one file. Having a mentor (mentioned earlier) is great, but having people around to push you from multiple directions is also good.
Learn languages. This gets back to the "read code" idea. Make that multiple types of languages as well. If you know C# or Java and SQL, learn Python or Ruby, get really good at JavaScript. If you want something really out there, learn MDX. This is also a repertoire thing. Seeing how other languages work will make you rethink your ideas about what your current code, in whatever languages you are working in, should look like.
Keep Thinking!!! That is possibly the most important point. Keep thinking. Don't just evaluate something once and never return, go back and reevaluate. Did the technique work? How could it have been better? The idea is continual improvement.
Switch jobs every now and then. When I announced I was leaving my first programming job out of college, the VP of R&D had me sit down with him and talk. He wasn't trying to keep me (he knew I was moving to be closer to family), he wanted to give me some advice. He told me to change jobs every three years. After you have been with a place for three years you have probably learned everything you are going to learn and it time to move on. This doesn't mean changing companies either. I've been with the same company now for four years, but I've had three different jobs. If you have been writing commercial applications, become a consultant - or vise-versa, become a test engineer, expand your boundaries. Again, this is about pushing yourself to be better.
Have a Hobby. But don't ask about me, I have too many. Creating software is about creating things. So I suggest picking a hobby that involves creating something. Popular hobbies amongst programmers I know include: cooking, music, woodworking, beer making, and BBQ (which is different than cooking). But don't discount sports (golf is always popular), computer games, and board games. Anything that promotes the development of skill levels can't be a bad thing.

And I'm stopping there. This is my beginner's guide to how to become the writer elegant code. If you have others you think I missed, add them too the comments.

ReSharper Value Proposition

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:46:00 +0000

I'm still one of those freaks that insists on having ReSharper around to code with. When I go to a client, I ask (politely) that they get it for all of their developers. When I talk at a user group I tell the attendees (not so politely) to get it.

But the one question comes up all the time: is it really worth it. Then someone else will state how they don't even use the features that are built into Visual Studio as is.

You need ReSharper. (note: if you are a CodeRush/Refactor user...carry on, it is also a fine tool)

Anyway, JetBrains just published a comparison matrix between ReSharper and naked Visual Studio. For me, the value is in these areas: Navigation, Coding Assistance, and Unit Testing. Everything aside from those is just gravy. (personal TODO: record a coding session using Camtasia)

Check it out.

For myself though, that isn't the comparison I want to see. I want to see a comparison between ReSharper and CodeRush (I'd do it, but I don't have the time). This is a comparison where I expect no clear winner, but I know these tools differ quite a bit.

Boise is #2

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Brandsma) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:59:00 +0000

I have been living in Boise, Idaho for the past 9 years now, and it has rarely failed to live up to my expectations (especially as a programmer). Now Forbes seems to agree with me, recently ranking Boise as the #2 best place for Business and Careers.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/1/bestplaces08_Best-Places-For-Business-And-Careers_Rank.html

In past poles, and in other magazines, Boise has also been ranked the best place for bicycles, and in the top 10 Tech cities.

Personally, I like the fact that Boise doesn't feel like a city (it does to the rest of my family, but my home town is only 2000 people). I don't like cities, I don't like the "downtown" or "urban" lifestyle/feel. I like to see nature and mountains, not buildings. Having zoo and lots of parks is really nice though (we have an aquarium coming as well). So, lucky for us, Boise can accommodate both types -- but New York/LA/San Francisco/Seattle it aint.

I do worry though, that Boise will get too big for me. At some point I'll have to leave to get the smell out of my clothes. But even then, I don't see myself leaving Idaho any time soon.