DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by ourcurrentfuture

CSS Design for the design-challenged programmer

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:59:30 GMT

Here is a great collection of tricks and advice for web programmers to make their web pages to be cleaner, more readable, and look more professional. Covers everything from a CSS reset through layout, font selection, colors and compatibility.

Introducing SemanticEngine.NET

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:16:15 GMT

Technologies or formats such as FOAF, APML, SIOC, XFN tags and microformats are some of the building blocks of the social aspects of the semantic web. They are used to create cross-site profiles of people and also represent relationships between them. XFN and microformats are somewhat easy to start using, but FOAF, APML and SIOC are a different story. Here's a new class library to make it easier..

BacktoBasics-Life After If,For and Switch - a Data Structures Reminder

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 12:07:52 GMT

Alternative code writing methods, sometimes using if, switch and for gets to much, this article shows some alternative solutions, e.g. using a dictionary as a map instead of using large if or switch statements.

Splitting Text into Words using C#

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:41:14 GMT

Often times, we need to split a chunk of text into its words. Here's one example of how to do that.

List of countries, cities, languages

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:31:03 GMT

You will find in the following links list of countries, cities, and their languages in CSV format, you can import into any database:

Protecting Your Cookies: HttpOnly

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:24:38 GMT

HttpOnly cookies don't make you immune from XSS cookie theft, but they raise the bar considerably. It's practically free, a "set it and forget it" setting that's bound to become increasingly secure over time as more browsers follow the example of IE7 and implement client-side HttpOnly cookie security correctly. If you develop web applications, or you know anyone who develops web applications, make sure they know about HttpOnly cookies.originated from, so there is no cross-domain posting of the cookies.

Remotely Log Off Remote Desktop Users

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:16:02 GMT

How to remotely log off remote desktop (terminal service) users when you get that annoying: "The terminal server has exceeded the maximum number of allowed connections."

CopySourceAsHtml Addin for Visual Studio 2005/2008

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:39:55 GMT

CopySourceAsHtml (CSAH) is a free Visual Studio Add-In created by Colin Coller that turns Visual Studio code - with its indentation, color coding, and line numbers - into corresponding HTML with a few points and clicks of the mouse. This Add-In is great for pasting code samples into blogs and online articles.

High Quality Image Resizing with .NET

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:16:02 GMT

Even though you just shrinks images, the quality of produced images is usually worse than the quality of original images. Learn how to use interpolation to resize images with a better quality.

Creating a Required Input Server Control

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:53:19 GMT

One of the most common tasks we perform as ASP.NET developers is adding validated fields to a form. Typically, this involves adding: * a label to tell the user what information is expected * a TextBox, DropDrown, CheckBox or other element to collect the data * a Validator to check whether the data entered is good or not Rather than always adding these three elements, we can combine them into a single reusable server control. The less elements we need to add to a page, the less time it takes to do so.

Finally released Comment Manager extension for BlogEngine.NET

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:20:27 GMT

I'm really pleased to announce that has been released an extension to editing ed managing comments on BlogEngine.NET. This extension is fully plug and play and it's not required any changes to core.

Working with .NET 1.1 in Visual Studio 2008 and Team Server

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:49:07 GMT

I was trying to write that post for so long that I've started worry that there will be new version of the Visual Studio before I will even start. Finally, I found some time and here it is. What I'm going to write about here is how to use the latest IDE to work with a .NET 1.1 applications. Before you will start asking why one would like to do so, there is an answer: because you can. But seriously speaking, I prefer to use much more matured IDE than the very 2003 version. There is also other, even more important reason - TFS. By importing your 1.1 projects into VS2008 you can use full benefits of TFS. That is worthwhile. So let's get started.

Localize text in JavaScript files in ASP.NET

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:46:10 GMT

Shows a very simple and powerful way of serving .js files with the right localized text strings.

ASP.NET Futures: Generating Dynamic Images w/ HttpHandlers Gets Easier

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:31:12 GMT

I've done a lot of HttpHandlers that generate images. It's usually pretty tedious. When I was working banking, I wrote an example HttpHandler that would take two Check Images (back and front) and composite them into a single image on the server side, then serving up the composite. Usually you're messing around in with MemoryStreams and Images, and then you serialize the result out to the Response.OutputStream, making sure the MIME Types are set appropriately. If you're really clever, you'll remember to do some client-side and appropriate caching, but I rarely see that in the wild.

Lutz Roeder's Weblog: The Future of .NET Reflector

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:16:02 GMT

After more than eight years of working on .NET Reflector, I have decided it is time to move on and explore some new opportunities. I have reached an agreement to have Red Gate Software continue the development of .NET Reflector. Red Gate has a lot of experience creating tools for both .NET and SQL Server. They have the resources necessary to work on new features, and Reflector fits nicely with other .NET tools the company offers. Red Gate will continue to provide the free community version and is looking for your feedback and ideas for future versions.

Clone Detective for Visual Studio

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:16:03 GMT

Clone Detective is a Visual Studio integration that allows you to analyze C# projects for source code that is duplicated somewhere else. Having duplicates can easily lead to inconsistencies and often is an indicator for poorly factored code.

7 principles of clean and optimized CSS code

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:01:02 GMT

With the popularity of CSS layouts and JavaScript-enriched web page experiences, it's not uncommon, particularly for large sites, for the CSS files alone to grow in size, but there are some principles to consider during and after you write your CSS to help keep it tight and optimized. Optimization isn't just minimizing file size - it's also about being organized, clutter-free, and efficient. You'll find that the more knowledge you have about optimal CSS practices, smaller file size will inevitably come as an direct result of their implementation. You may already be familiar with some of the principles mentioned in this article, but they are worth a review. Being familiar with this concepts will help you write optimized CSS code and make you a better all-around web designer.

40 CSS/JS Styling and Functionality Techniques

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:16:02 GMT

Designing effective web forms isn't easy, as we need to figure out more practical styling and functionality techniques to provide a great user experience. Recently there have been a number of noteworthy techniques such as styling different form fields, live validation, Context highlighting, trading options from field to another, slider controls and more - using CSS and different Javascript libraries. Below we present findings of search to more than 40 tutorials and demos to showcase the capabilities and robustness of CSS and Javascript.

Organize Usings Across Your Entire Solution

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:01:06 GMT

One of the features I worked on for the Visual Studio 2008 release was the new "Organize Usings" feature. This feature allows you to: Remove Unused Usings - Determines which using directives are not used in the current file and deletes them. Sort Usings - Sorts the using directives in a file.

Enabling Javascript Intellisense In External Libraries

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:01:10 GMT

To get JavaScript IntelliSense working in VS 2008 SP1, you need to tell IntelliSense the location of the libraries that you're using. You do that by adding a special comment at the top of the .js file. Here's How..

ASP.NET Browsers Filter!!

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:16:03 GMT

Yesterday .NET SP1 released and many new features for ASP.NET where added. But yesterday i also discovered a feature that ASP.NET has from version 2.0 Let's say we have a button. We can decide what value will the properties have for different browsers!!! And we can do that with this way...

Over 60 Free Controls from DevExpress

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:16:02 GMT

Once you register, you will be forwarded an Email with your login credentials to our product download portal. With this information in hand, you will be able to download and install all the controls and tools listed above free of charge. The applications you create with these controls can be distributed royalty free (see the EULA that accompanies the products for more information). Note that the installation you download will include evaluation versions of our entire product line. You can install these trials if you wish during the setup process. Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008 are fully supported.

ASP.Net Load Testing and Optimization Toolkit

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:46:02 GMT

A discussion of 9 types of tools every developer should have when stressing and optimizing applications.

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

No, inheritance is not the way to achieve code reuse!

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:01:03 GMT

I am not sure how so many people go through so many years of school, which is supposed to make us better at thinking, and they fail to differentiate the "why" and the "how". During interviews, when I ask their opinion about the purpose of inheritance in OOP, invariably I get this precooked answer (not so nicely expressed): inheritance is the way to achieve code reuse. No it is not!