DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by JGaroutte

Using Type.GetType in the .Net Framework

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:12:02 GMT

I was recently working on a project where we needed a System.Type object based on settings in the application configuration file. It seems like a simple thing to do but there is a catch that I keep forgetting when using Type.GetType. When I tried to get the type for a SqlConnection I was a little surprised that it was null.

Using build actions

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:20:00 GMT

Every so often you come across a project where you need to install a strongly typed assembly into the gac in order to run your application. What happens when you need to debug the application and you have modified the assembly?

Supporting OpenId in an asp.net MVC site

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:30:04 GMT

Introduction to OpenID on an asp.net MVC web site. On 3 minutes or so.

Dynamic Formula Calculation

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:29:33 GMT

resolving a math formula from a string.

Do you know about this undocumented Google CDN feature?

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:30:02 GMT

Information on an undocumented feature of the Google AJAX APIs CDN (jQuery UI themes hosted on the CDN, including images).

The Hidden Requirement

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:19:34 GMT

A lesson of how hidden requirements cause unexpected side effects....

Authenticating users with RPXNow (in ASP.NET MVC)

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:45:00 GMT

Don't you get sick of having to register at website X, at website Y, at website Z, .? It is really not fun to maintain all these accounts, change passwords, . Luckily, there are some large websites offering delegated sign-in (for example Google Accounts, Live ID, Twitter OAuth, .). You can use these delegated sign-in methods on your own site, removing the need of registering yet another account. Unfortunately, not everyone has an account at provider X. A while ago, I found out about the free service JanRain is offering: RPXNow. This (free!) service combines the strengths of several major account providers (Google Accounts, Live ID, Twitter, Facebook, OpenID, .) into one simple API. This means that people are able to log in to your website if they have an account at one of these providers! Here's how to use it in ASP.NET MVC.

Using an Object for an Id

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:01:14 GMT

How and why to use an object for an Id instead of an Int32.

Avoiding The Database Deployment Nightmare

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:01:25 GMT

So, I have written before about how to put your database into version control using database projects in Visual Studio. Even while having the scripts in the solution, there can be times when you can't exactly remember what you changed and needs to go out with your project deployment to the production database. Deploying files is easy because of tools like WinMerge, however deploying things to a database can get quite complicated. You could script both schemas and use WinMerge to see the differences between the development database and the production database. But even doing that, you will still have to write a custom script to get the production database schema up to date.

Variable boxing and the equal operator vs. the Equals method

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:19:06 GMT

An article about the difference between the == operator and the Equals method

Extending the ASP.Net Security model to use rights: Cassini

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:02:09 GMT

A little bit about the differences between IIS and Cassini, IHttpModules and page requests.

How To: Clean Up ASP.NET JavaScript Tags

Thu, 07 May 2009 18:35:19 GMT

In April of '08, I wrote a post about cleaning up the ASP.NET head tag using control adapters. I've got some great feedback from it, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one that is horrified when looking at the source of an ASP.NET rendered web page. From the comments of that article I was recently asked how to clean up JavaScript tags.

The HttpWebRequest and Using Client Certificates

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:20:31 GMT

So you may have found yourself in a similar situation, needing to make a TCP/IP request to a 3rd party API possibly using SSL. Well, that is a quite simple task. It can however, be complicated if this 3rd party requires the use of certificates for communication to its API server.

Ajax Popup Tooltips

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:43:47 GMT

Ajax popup tooltips

SQL Server Side Paging With A Validated Dynamic Order By

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:05:45 GMT

So this is what it has come to anymore. Everyone is all about server side paging via SQL Server. As well they should be! It is so much faster and more efficient than having ADO or ADO.NET bring back a ton of records and then chop it to page it. However, there has always been some problems when trying to accomplish this task, especially using a SQL database that is pre 2005.

InfoPanel v1.0 - The site wide messaging system control

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:21:06 GMT

If you have read any of my previous posts on site wide user notification patterns and controls, then you may know where this is going. I have compiled a server control to bring this functionality to the fingertips of my fellow ASP.NET developers!

The Dummy Provider: Testing membership and roles

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:19:19 GMT

Asp.net has a wonderful system built in for handling user accounts and roles. The administration interface is encapsulated in a separate web site that can be accessed from within Visual Studio but it is difficult to integrate into the site. This often leads to building a new user administration area in each site. The problem I have with this is going into the data store and deleting the incomplete test data and not having "known good" data for testing.

The private access modifier can do that?

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:06:57 GMT

If you look up accessibility levels on the MSDN web site, it will tell you that the accessibility of the private access modifier is limited to the containing type. I ran into an instance that showed me the direct meaning of this statement.

LINQ Distinct, a DataTable and the IEqualityComparer<T>

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:00:29 GMT

In a recent situation I was trying to pull some aggregates out of a DataTable using LINQ. I needed to get the rows of the DataTable with a Distinct clause, but my aggregates would be on other columns of the row.

WebService Documentation: Using a custom Site Map

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:34:09 GMT

How to use a custom SiteMapProvider to build a menu of WebMethods in a WebService.

WebService Documentation: Using a custom template

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:03:49 GMT

How to replace the default web service documentation asmx page with custom page.

The returning event delegate

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:44:28 GMT

An article about using a return type with delegates/events and the result.

The woes of SourceForge.net and SVN

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:37:16 GMT

A little information about the MergeInfo not supported message with Tortoise 1.5.x and previous versions of SVN servers like SourceForge.net

Beyond Generics, Interfaces, Providers and You : IReadByParentId

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:10:32 GMT

A follow up article about adding interfaces to get a collection of object by a parentId using the generic interface provider model pattern.

Generics, Interfaces, Providers and You - Part 4: Building the Classes

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:57:30 GMT

The 4th and final part in a series about using generic interfaces in a provider model.