DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by QuantumBitDesigns

MVVM - Lambda vs INotifyPropertyChanged vs DependencyObject

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:15:59 GMT

There have been plenty of complaints about INotifyPropertyChanged and how developers do not like using strings, etc. Last year several bloggers presented type-safe alternatives that used either reflection or lambda expressions. Many are quick to point out the poor performance (same for reflection). Unfortunately 'poor performance' says little about usefulness of an implementation. The performance needs to be quantified and compared against all implementations so that 'poor' can be put in perspective. Speed is not the only issue, as memory should be compared as well....

Mindscape WPF Themes released

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Mindscape have released a suite of WPF themes to help developers deliver attractive applications faster than ever before. All source code is included so that UI tweaks can be made to create your own style or leave them as they are to have an Office 2007 style or Expression Blend look and feel.

Suspicious DNK Accounts

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:31:29 GMT

Conclusion There is an incentive for publishers that use DNK to setup phony accounts that will help get stories from certain domains on the front page. So guess what happens ... it would appear that a certain number of people are doing this.

Writing Visual Studio 2010 Shell In WPF Reflects Confidence

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:16:39 GMT

Since its inception as Avalon I have dedicated countless hours to the technology we now know as WPF. I can probably say that I am one of the few people who have worked on WPF at a commercial level at least in Australia. This is because the number of projects using WPF have been scarce. And I was fortunate to get involved because of my community work around WPF. I have also tried to convince clients to go with WPF as the preferred choice over Windows Forms. I will admit that I have not been very successful in doing this. The main reason I believe is that WPF has suffered with lack of confidence. While the push has been there from Microsoft, somehow it has not come across very well. We all know about demos about spinning text boxes and playing videos in buttons. These I must say have not conveyed the benefits of WPF to business gracefully. Even though Microsoft has used WPF for their Expression products, it just has not been enough.

WPF Toolkit adds Ribbon Control to .NET 3.5 SP1

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:31:03 GMT

The first release of the new WPF Toolkit was released today. This toolkit includes a new Ribbon control as well as the following: new WPF DataGrid, DatePicker/Calendar, and VisualStateManger. The coolest feature of this Toolkit (IMO) is the new Ribbon control. In .NET 4.0 there will be a ribbon control baked in, but thanks to the WPF Toolkit we have access to utilize the new Ribbon control today in WPF with .NET 3.5 SP1!

Updated WPFPerf Performance Profiling Tools for WPF

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:51:04 GMT

The WPFPerf tool comprises of a suite of performance profiling tools that allow you to analyze the run-time behavior of your WPF application and point to potential performance bottlenecks. We now added some new functionality as well as given the tool a major facelift. Below are highlights for some of the exciting improvements that are included in this update.

Changing Your Garbage Collector Settings on the Fly

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:01:12 GMT

.NET 3.5 and 2.0 SP1 jointly included a new feature which lets you programmatically manipulate the way your garbage collector acts. This can be done through changing the value of a new property of the System.Runtime.GCSettings class named LatencyMode. In this article I will walk you through this new property and the different effects of each of it's possible settings.

The WPF ah-ha Moment

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:31:04 GMT

In nearly every bit of WPF training material or weblog there is some reference to the "ah-ha" moment. The point at which all the new concepts you've been learning gel into a cohesive unit. For me, that moment was one or two months after I started developing WPF in earnest (by which I mean for users other than myself). The task was to display two different indicators of a business metric, a green up arrow and a red down arrow.

Lutz Reflector now owned by Red Gate

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:01:05 GMT

Lutz Reflector, the free .NET disassembler every developer developer should have, has been purchased by Red Gate software. Red Gate has stated they will continue to provide the tool for free.

Future Focus: Document Map Margin

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:57:19 GMT

We are continuing our series of posts about proposed features for the next version of Visual Studio. This post focuses on a new feature called Document Map Margins (DMM). Developers frequently work with huge source files that are difficult to navigate. The proposed DMM feature is designed to make it easier for you to find and track important features in your code and to visualize the overall structure of your file.

ASP.NET gets no Respect

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:16:11 GMT

Poor ASP.NET! Is it really that bad? I say No!

Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:16:07 GMT

It's finally here! I haven't seen an official announcement yet, but I did a search for "Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1" on Microsoft's Download Center and found the following downloads added today: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (exe) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fbee1648-7106-44a7-9649-6d9f6d58056e&DisplayLang=en Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (iso) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=27673c47-b3b5-4c67-bd99-84e525b5ce61&DisplayLang=en

How To Create a WPF Template For a Generic Class

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:16:03 GMT

Have you ever tried to create a DataTemplate for a Generic Class? Here is how you do it.

The Onion Architecture

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:16:08 GMT

The fundamental rule is that all code can depend on layers more central, but code cannot depend on layers further out from the core. This architecture is unashamedly biased toward object-oriented programming, and it puts objects before all others.

25 Resources for Tuning Your .NET Application Performance

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:46:02 GMT

A great list of resources, including MSDN links, guides, .NET blogs and how tos about improving .NET performance.

New C# and .NET oriented search engine

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:46:02 GMT

A new search engine is available. Created with the Google Custom Search you can: - Search in MSDN forums - Search in Microsoft newsgroup - Search in .NET related sites (including dotnetkicks.com) - Search in everywhere with the standard Google search - Find any .NET tools or components

Meet the C# 4.0 team

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:16:05 GMT

... and some dude from the VB team. Anders and the guys in room 2543, building 41 (where C# was born) talk about the new features that will be in the next version of C#. I so wanted to blogspam this one. Enjoy your direct link.

Chain of Responsibility Pattern

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:22:47 GMT

The post describe the chain of responsibility pattern including an example in C#.

A Thread-Safe IDisposable Base Class

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:58:57 GMT

Davy Brion came up with an IDisposable base class to provide the needed plumbing for IDisposable types. This implementation takes it a bit further and provides thread safety.

StringBuilder Secrets

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:31:02 GMT

Article goes beyond the basics and looks at some more detail of StringBuilder in C#, and a benchmark that can help you improve your code that already uses StringBuilder. With graph

Blogs Can Destroy Your House

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:46:42 GMT

It can happen to anyone. Trust noone!

Do You have the Time to Learn Everything?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:31:04 GMT

.Net is huge, and constantly. Do you have the time to learn everything? If no, how should you prioritize?

The Weird And Wonderful World Of Extension Methods in C#

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:46:18 GMT

Extension methods are the most controversial feature that Microsoft has introduced in C# 3.0. Introduced to support the LINQ query framework, extension methods make it possible to define new methods for existing classes. Although extension methods can greatly simplify code that uses them, many are concerned that they could transform C# into something that programmers find unrecognizable, or that C#'s namespace mechanisms are inadequate for managing large systems that use extension methods. Adoption of the LINQ framework, however, means that extension methods are here to stay, and that .net programmers need to understand how to use them effectively, and, in particular, how extension methods are different from regular methods.

Being Smart Does Not a Good Developer Make

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:31:08 GMT

Not every programmer needs to be a crazy mathematical genius who knows every algorithm and data structure known to man (although I think Steve Yegge would argue differently).

Microsoft cracking down on community extensions

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:01:02 GMT

Microsoft released a tool called Microsoft Source Analyzer, or StyleCop. It analyzes source code for standards violations. It's a 1.0 release, so it doesn't do some things ... like have a published API for custom rules or MSBuild integration. So the community dug in and figured out how to do these things and now MS is firing off license-violation emails. Don't they get it? The community wants to use the product, but it's too limited ... these extensions help make it better.