DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by rbanks54

How To Create a WCF Custom Code Analysis Rule for Visual Studio

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:02:47 GMT

Want to create your own code analysis rules for Visual Studio? Here's how.

Rhino Mocks Quick Reference

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:01:13 GMT

Concise examples of all the main features of the Rhino Mocks mock object framework

Living with TFS Version Control

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:22:27 GMT

Why is doing a "Get Latest (Recursive)" bad for your health and how does TFS version control really work? Read this to find out.

The waterfall trap for "agile" projects

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:03:44 GMT

Jeff Patton from Thoughtworks held a very interesting session at XpDay last month in London, focusing on a common misconception that causes "agile" projects to fall into the same trap that the waterfall ones typically do.

More Silk-style icons

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:46:05 GMT

Everybody's heard of the fantastic silky-smooth "Silk Icons" set from FamFamFam. This new set complements that original 1,000 png icon set with over 450 more of the same for use in Windows or Web applications.

Type casting - the difference between as and () operators

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:16:02 GMT

In C#, you have two different ways to perform type casting (a.k.a. explicit type conversion) - as and () operators. The difference between the two operators is not limited to just syntax, they work differently. It is subtle enough to trap even experienced developers

TDD with ASP.NET MVC 3.5 Extensions

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:46:04 GMT

Doing TDD using the new ASP.NET MVC 3.5 Extensions

Tips for Upgrading from TFS 2005 to TFS 2008

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:25:40 GMT

Thinking of upgrading your TFS 2005 installation to TFS 2008? The good news is that it's reasonably easy, but you'll want to have a read through this list of things to know and be aware of before upgrading.

How to use R# with VS 2008

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:07:21 GMT

Tips for immediately using R# 3.0.2 with VS 2008

Problems with the new MSDN Download Manager

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:09:56 GMT

Thoughts on the new download manager used for Visual Studio distribution and a hint as to where your downloads may actually be.

New SubSonic Provider: LOLCode.NET

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:16:11 GMT

SubSonic now supports LOLCode.NET

Introducing SyncLINQ (Databinding with LINQ)

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:16:03 GMT

SyncLINQ is a set of extensions to LINQ that enable data binding over LINQ queries. SyncLINQ alters LINQ queries so that they return INotifyCollectionChanged collections, meaning that when the sources are updated, the result of the LINQ query is also updated.

Report Services Automation With PowerShell

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 21:37:22 GMT

PowerShell script to take a Report Services .rptproj project file and output a command script to deploy the reports as per the project settings.

Conveying Agile Processes Concisely to Clients

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:46:17 GMT

When beginning a new project of any appreciable size and scope, I always start with a project charter to define the project vision, the business case for the product, basic scope and critical success factors. I also use the project charter to clearly define, to the stakeholders of the project, the agile processes that will be employed to manage project development.

Home Automation with Windows Workflow

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:30:13 GMT

There are some pretty good Home Automation packages out there on the market. Some of these are made for installers and are thus closed to easy customization by the end user. Then there are packages that are made for hobbyists. These have good core automation systems, and provide some add-in points for customization.

Getting Started with TFS Integrator

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:24:57 GMT

Ever wanted to get continuous integration (CI) working with TFS? Have a look at TFSIntegrator and find out how easy it can be.

Assembling A Free WPF Development Kit

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 08:58:01 GMT

Want to get started playing around with WPF applications, but you'd rather save your cash for some SLI video cards? Never fear - here's a list of free (as in gratis) tools for most facets of WPF development.

Extension Methods in C# 3.0 + Fluent Interface = Ruby-like syntax

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:27:31 GMT

Attain highly-readable Ruby-like date syntax with C# 3.0 Extension Methods and Fluent Interface design.

Confessions of a Terrible Programmer

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 02:01:07 GMT

I'm a terrible programmer. You would think that having done this for nearly 25 years that I should be pretty good at it by now. But nope, I still put bugs in my code, use the wrong types for variables or subprogram arguments...

Using Workflow Rules to Iterate and Remove Items From a Collection

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:13:43 GMT

Information on how to process collections and remove items from collections, all via the WF Rules engine.

How to use the Workflow Rules Engine By Itself

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:40:38 GMT

You can use the workflow rules engine on it's own without any workflows at all. Because the windows workflow foundation architecture is very loosely coupled the workflow rules engine is effectively a standalone component that workflows call out to when they have rules to evaluate. We can take advantage of this from our own .NET applications and call the rules engine whenever we want a set of rules evaluated against one of our objects.

Building .NET 3.5 Applications with Team Build 2005

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 09:30:52 GMT

Last week I posted up on how we had figured out a way of building .NET 2.0 code developed in Visual Studio 2008 under Team Build 2005 (a component of Team Foundation Server 2005). That post received quite ...

Development Nirvana

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 09:22:54 GMT

A list of freely available tools and utilities to make Visual Studio sing

"Unit tests take too much time".... WTF

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:16:10 GMT

Good little post that pretty well describes most of the people I work with, and their mantra goes something like this: "We don't have time for unit tests right now, we have to get this project done ASAP!! We can always refactor and clean up the code later"

Making use of multiprocessing in WPF

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:01:02 GMT

WPF 3.0 (and the version coming out with Orcas, 3.5) is definitely an STA(*)-based model, but here are a some observations/comments on how multiple processors can and should be used in WPF applications.