Technical Blog

NUnit with TeamCity, Working with IFrames When Writing System Tests

2012-02-01T01:28:00.000-08:00

System tests are structured differently than normal unit tests in the sense that we won't have specific Arrange/Act/Verify sections. System tests have to test whether the whole process works correctly and can contain many steps.

[Test]
public void PasswordReminder_FromHomePageAndWithValidEmailAddress_ShouldSendPasswordReminderEmail()

{

this.gotoUkPaSiteFromHome();
// opens the modal
this.FireFoxWebDriver.FindElement(By.LinkText("Sign in or register")).Click();

// gets the modal
var newWebDrive = this.FireFoxWebDriver.SwitchTo().Frame("modal");
var activeElement = newWebDrive.SwitchTo().ActiveElement();

// clicks on a link on the modal
activeElement.FindElement(By.LinkText("Forgotten your password?")).Click();

// switches to the new page
activeElement = newWebDrive.SwitchTo().ActiveElement();

// enter email address ...

// verify you receive thank you message
Assert.IsTrue(this.FireFoxWebDriver.Url.Contains("ThankYou"));

// close the popup
this.FireFoxWebDriver.SwitchTo().DefaultContent();
this.FireFoxWebDriver.FindElement(By.Id("mb_close_link2")).Click();

// wait for 10sec
Thread.Sleep(10000);

// Find the email log from database

// extract the user password reminder url

// navigate to the password reminder url for the user

// enter a new password

// click submit

// go to the login page

// login using the new password

// verify whether the login was successful
}

Automated System/Functional/UI Testing

2012-01-25T01:44:00.000-08:00

What tools could we use to create automated system tests using C# code? Or sometimes to record/replay UI activity?

WatiN:

Free
Using which you can write C# test code and interact with the UI elements; entering text, clicking, etc.
Very easy to use for a C# Developer within Visual Studio.
Multibrowser support including IE.
Has no IDE.
Packaged with Nugget.
No native xpath support unlike Selenium.
Doesn't support record/replay natively; however, you could try using WatiN Test Recorder to record and replay your site by IE 6.0! Therefore, Selenium is better in this sense.
Unlike Selenium, it automatically waits for the page to finish loading, and can detect when it's finished loading.

Selenium WebDriver:

Free
Download the Selenium WebDriver from NuGet: http://www.nuget.org/packages/Selenium.WebDriver
You can write C# code and interact with the UI elements.
Built-in CSS selectors/XPath support
You can record/replay.
Supported browsers and programming languages are very limited.
The Selenium IDE only works with FireFox and unfortunately IE, Safari and Opera are not supported currently. The Selenium IDE is just a FireFox plugin, not an independent IDE.
Much more complex to learn than WatiN. So, you can't record and replay using IE.
It has various tools (Selenium IDE, RC, Grid, Web Driver)
More popular than Sahi.
Ajax support.
Selenium Documentation
It doesn't know when the page is loaded, unlike WatiN, which makes it very annoying. This means that you just have to use try/catch to retry and keep using "Thread.Sleep(1000);" until your element is available! haven't found a better way.
It doesn't work well with iframes unlike WatiN.

Sahi:

Free and Commercial: feature comparison table.
Supports all major browsers.
You can record and replay.
Has its own IDE
Test success/failure report in HTML
You can run the tests using batch file or ANT scripts.
Poor documentation.
Small community.

Visual Studio Ultimate/Premium Edition:

Commercial
They support CodedUI

LoadUI/SoapUI

Allows load testing functional behaviour and measure performance.
Allows us to record and replay user activity on the page

JMeter:

Good for load and performance testing

Code Reviewing

2012-01-05T02:11:00.000-08:00

Who does it?

The tech expert within the team or
All team members?

When is it done?

Every time a code is checked in by a team member or
Only once or twice a week at a certain time

Metrics?

Check whether the code design could be improved or is good enough?

Readability
Maintainability
Low coupling
Reusability
...

Check whether the code performance could be improved?
Check for any Code Smells

Code duplication
Long methods
Large classes
...

How is it done?

Manually or
By a tool depending on your source control e.g. TFS or Subversion

Tools?

TeamReview for TFS: http://teamreview.codeplex.com/

Free

Crucible for Subversion, etc: http://www.atlassian.com/software/crucible/overview

Commercial

SQL Query Performance

2011-12-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

http://sqlcat.com/sqlcat/b/technicalnotes/archive/2011/10/21/when-to-break-down-complex-queries.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff647793.aspx

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/stairway/72399/ - indexes

Allow Multipel Processors to be involved in running your stored procedure:

OPTION (MAXDOP 8)

Practical TDD Interview Test

2011-10-28T05:17:00.001-07:00

If you're given a task to be done in TDD, it's not usually whether you can resolve that problem. It's about testing whether you have the right mindset, process and coding style that TDD suggests:

Do you really understand the TDD Process? Benefits? Disadvantages?
Can you explain the TDD process?
Do you follow the TDD process in practice if you say you understand? e.g. if add something to the production code for which you don't have test, you have failed TDD!
Will you choose a small behaviour from the spec before writing any test or you think big and complex?!
Will you write a very small test method before writing any production code? how committed are you to this mindset?
Will you run all your tests after writing your test, after making a production change?
Would your test method names follow a proper pattern?
Will you make sure that you write the minimum amount of implementation code so that only one test passes? You may be able to write all the solution quickly but that’s not TDD! only write the minimum possible amount of code to pass your failed test. remember code quality is not important at this stage. Will you write the minimum possible amount of code for your tests and production code? or you make things complicated or write production code without having the test for it.
Will you refactor your production code after your tests passed?

When should you run all tests according to TDD?

After adding a test
After each change to the production code to pass 1 test
After each refactoring

How to fail TDD Process?!

A TDD practical test in an interview often means that you should rigidly demonstrate TDD:

If you write 1 single line of production code before you have a failing test for it, you have failed TDD!
If you don't run all your tests after you made a production code change, you have failed TDD!
If what you write is not minimized and focused only to pass your failed test and covers more scenarios than what tests you have, you have failed TDD!
If you don't run all your tests after your refactoring, you have failed TDD!

OUTER APPLY

2011-10-17T05:24:00.001-07:00

a good sample for OUTER APPLY:

Returning the latest record of a child table:

SELECT ST.[SystemDetailID], ST.[SystemName], LH.LatestLoadStatus
FROM [SystemTable] AS ST
LEFT OUTER JOIN 
    (
     SELECT LHInner.LoadStatus AS LatestLoadStatus, LHInner.SystemDetailID FROM [dbo].[LoadHistory] AS LHInner
        WHERE LHInner.LoadHistoryID in 
        (
            SELECT LatestLoadHisotoryID FROM 
            (
                SELECT MAX(LoadHistoryID) as LatestLoadHisotoryID, SystemDetailID FROM [dbo].[LoadHistory]
                GROUP BY SystemDetailID
            ) l
        )   
    ) AS LH ON ST.SystemDetailID = LH.SystemDetailID

A simpler/shorter approach is:

SELECT ST.[SystemDetailID],
       ST.[SystemName],
       LH.LatestLoadStatus
FROM   [SystemTable] AS ST
       OUTER APPLY (SELECT TOP 1 *
                    FROM   [dbo].[LoadHistory] LH
                    WHERE  ST.SystemDetailID = LH.SystemDetailID
                    ORDER  BY LoadHistoryID DESC) LH

More info: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175156.aspx

Symmetric Encryption with Rijndael Algorithm

2011-10-10T04:34:00.000-07:00

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Security.Cryptography;

namespace MyProject
{
    public interface IEncryptionManager
    {
        string Encrypt(string originalText);
        string Decrypt(string encryptedText);
    }
    
    /// <summary>
    /// This class uses the Rijndael Encryption Algorithm
    /// </summary>
    public class RijndaelEncryptionManager : IEncryptionManager
    {
        #region Fields

        /// <summary>
        /// The key can only be 16, 24 or 32 bytes.
        /// </summary>
        private static readonly byte[] EncryptionKey = new byte[] { 0x00, 0x11, 0x22, 0x03, 0x44, 0x55, 0x66, 0x77,
                                           0x88, 0x99, 0xAA, 0xBB, 0xC0, 0xDD, 0x0E, 0xFF };

        /// <summary>
        /// The vector also can only be 16, 24 or 32 bytes.
        /// </summary>
        private static readonly byte[] InitializationVector = new byte[] { 0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07,
                                           0x08, 0x09, 0x0A, 0x0B, 0x0C, 0xFD, 0x0E, 0x0F};

        #endregion   

        #region Methods

        public string Encrypt(string originalText)
        {
            using (var myRijndael = new RijndaelManaged { Key = EncryptionKey, IV = InitializationVector })
            {
                // Encrypt the string to an array of bytes.
                var encryptedBytes = EncryptStringToBytes(originalText, myRijndael.Key, myRijndael.IV);

                return Convert.ToBase64String(encryptedBytes);
            }
        }

        public string Decrypt(string encryptedText)
        {
            using (var myRijndael = new RijndaelManaged { Key = EncryptionKey, IV = InitializationVector })
            {
                // Encrypt the string to an array of bytes.
                var encryptedBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(encryptedText);

                // Decrypt the bytes to a string.
                return DecryptStringFromBytes(encryptedBytes, myRijndael.Key, myRijndael.IV);
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Encrypts the string to bytes.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="plainText">The plain text.</param>
        /// <param name="key">The key.</param>
        /// <param name="iv">The IV.</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        static byte[] EncryptStringToBytes(string plainText, byte[] key, byte[] iv)
        {
            // Check arguments.
            if (plainText == null || plainText.Length <= 0)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("plainText");
            if (key == null || key.Length <= 0)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("key");
            if (iv == null || iv.Length <= 0)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("key");
            byte[] encrypted;
            // Create an Rijndael object
            // with the specified key and IV.
            using (var rijAlg = Rijndael.Create())
            {
                rijAlg.Key = key;
                rijAlg.IV = iv;

                // Create a decrytor to perform the stream transform.
                var encryptor = rijAlg.CreateEncryptor(rijAlg.Key, rijAlg.IV);

                // Create the streams used for encryption.
                using (var msEncrypt = new MemoryStream())
                {
                    using (var csEncrypt = new CryptoStream(msEncrypt, encryptor, CryptoStreamMode.Write))
                    {
                        using (var swEncrypt = new StreamWriter(csEncrypt))
                        {
                            //Write all data to the stream.
                            swEncrypt.Write(plainText);
                        }
                        encrypted = msEncrypt.ToArray();
                    }
                }
            }

            // Return the encrypted bytes from the memory stream.
            return encrypted;

        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Decrypts the string from bytes.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="cipherText">The cipher text.</param>
        /// <param name="key">The key.</param>
        /// <param name="iv">The IV.</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        static string DecryptStringFromBytes(byte[] cipherText, byte[] key, byte[] iv)
        {
            // Check arguments.
            if (cipherText == null || cipherText.Length <= 0)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("cipherText");
            if (key == null || key.Length <= 0)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("key");
            if (iv == null || iv.Length <= 0)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("key");

            // Declare the string used to hold
            // the decrypted text.
            string plaintext = null;

            // Create an Rijndael object
            // with the specified key and IV.
            using (var rijAlg = Rijndael.Create())
            {
                rijAlg.Key = key;
                rijAlg.IV = iv;

                // Create a decrytor to perform the stream transform.
                var decryptor = rijAlg.CreateDecryptor(rijAlg.Key, rijAlg.IV);

                // Create the streams used for decryption.
                using (var msDecrypt = new MemoryStream(cipherText))
                {
                    using (var csDecrypt = new CryptoStream(msDecrypt, decryptor, CryptoStreamMode.Read))
                    {
                        using (var srDecrypt = new StreamReader(csDecrypt))
                        {
                            // Read the decrypted bytes from the decrypting stream
                            // and place them in a string.
                            plaintext = srDecrypt.ReadToEnd();
                        }
                    }
                }

            }

            return plaintext;

        } 

        #endregion
    }
}

Text Encryption and Decryption

2011-10-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

Encryption Algorithms:

TripleDES
MD5
SH1
RC4
CRC32

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/security/SimpleEncryption.aspx

All About Assembly Signing - Public and Private Key

2011-09-29T02:06:00.001-07:00

Why? Purpose?

To verify that an assembly came from a specified trusted source and have not been modified.

For example, you get an assembly from a colleague who says it is from Microsoft. If it's really from Microsoft, the public key that Microsoft has given you will make that assembly usable. Otherwise, if the public key doesn't work, then mean that assembly is not genuinely from Microsoft!

Another purpose is that you have to sign an assembly before it can be installed in the global assembly cache (GAC) where it can be shared by multiple applications

4 ways to sign an assembly:

To sign an assembly you'd usually need a public/private key pair.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xc31ft41(v=vs.71).aspx

Using Visual Studio/Project/Proeprties/Signing tab
Using AL.exe tool
Using AssemblyKeyFile attribute
Using AssemblyKeyName attribute

2 ways to create a public/private key pair:

Using Visual Studio/Project/Proeprties/Signing tab
Using Sn.exe (strong name) tool

How to extract the public key:

sn.exe -p KeyPair.snk PublicKey.snk

How to extract the public key token:

sn.exe -tp PublicKey.snk (this displays the public key in a slightly more sensible way!)

Connect to Host IIS from Virtual PC

2011-08-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

When you need to test your application with IE 6.0 using a virtual PC, you would need to make this configuration so that you can access the host application from the virtual pc.

The solution is quite simple as below:

Download the windows xp VHD and run it using VPC
Setup your web application on your local IIS
Configure Visual Studio to run the app from IIS rather the default VS Dvelopment Server:

Go to the Url and make sure that it's accessible from your host e.g. http://localhost/app1
Start the Windows xp VPC
Go to the settings and select Shared Networking (NAT) so that your VPC can access the host.

Find the ip address of the host machine by running ipconfig from the host
From the VPC, access the Host IIS Application using the ip address of the host e.g.

http://192.168.1.102/App1

Important tip:

The VHD expires in Aug 2011. This is a workaround that you can use to change the current date of the VPC and takes less than 30m to configure and test.

Useful JQuery Plugins

2011-08-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

Word-wrap to support IE 6.0: http://www.positioniseverything.net/explorer/sidepages/demo1.htm
News Slider: http://landofcoder.com/demo/jquery/lofslidernews/index.html
Shadowbox (commercial): http://www.shadowbox-js.com/

Method Caching Options

2011-08-02T06:35:00.001-07:00

Options to cache a method result

Using Postsharp as an AOP framework with this CodePlex Caching Manager:

hard to maintain if any bug appears
not very much reliable if a bug appears in the future

Using SPRING.NET as an AOP framework with Custom CacheManager:

most neat
less maintainability

CacheManager from Enterprise Library Caching Block and use it in each method

quickest to setup
Perhaps most stable
Duplicated code in every method (GET, ADD from/to cache)

My own Custom lightweight CacheManager and use it in each method

Lightweight and perhaps highest performance
More work
Duplicated code in every method (GET, ADD from/to cache)

Hierarchy Representation of Data

2011-07-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

During the past 4 weeks, I have been working to build a report engine to display Hierarchy information of different entities in my application. Everything gets generated at runtime programmatically and columns are customizable using external filters that user can choose on the screen. The Grids have exporting (Word, Pdf, Excel), paging and sorting enabled.

Using Nested Tables:

http://demos.telerik.com/aspnet-ajax/grid/examples/hierarchy/nestedviewtemplate/defaultcs.aspx

Using Master / Detail Structures:

http://demos.telerik.com/aspnet-ajax/grid/examples/programming/selectedvalue/defaultcs.aspx

Ajax Load Icon Generator

2011-07-04T15:55:00.001-07:00

An ajax Load Icon Generator: http://www.ajaxload.info/

How to Instantiate a Generic Type With Input Parameters at Runtime?

2011-06-17T14:24:00.001-07:00

Background:

There are times when we’d like to remove duplicated codes in instantiating types so we use generics to group similar classes and work with them easier.

Look at these classes:

public abstract class BaseType
{
 protected int A { get; set; }
 protected int B { get; set; }

 protected BaseType(int a, int b)
 {
     this.A = a;
     this.B = b;
 }
}

public class Type1 : BaseType
{
 public Type1(int a, int b) : base(a, b)
 {

 }
}

public class Type2 : BaseType
{
 public Type2(int a, int b) : base(a, b)
 {
  
 }
}

Type1 and Type2 both inherit from the BaseType abstract class both of which require the same name and type of arguments to be instantiated.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a generic method like

TypeCreator<T>(int a, int b) where T : BaseType

{

// instantiate type with a and b

}

Now I show you different ways to implement this.

Solutions

1) Using Activator.CreateInstance… – anti-pattern

The simplest way to implement this would be to use the Activator.CreateInstance method. There are numerous articles which says this approach has an awful performance and avoid it but I’d just like to show how it simply works:

public static class MyTypeFactory<T> where T : BaseType
{
 public static T Create(int a, int b)
 {
     return (T)Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(T), a, b);
 }
}

// and use it like this
MyTypeFactory<Type1>.Create(1, 2);

2) Using a Static Delegate

For this approach to work, you’d need to provide a delegate to all your types in a Factory then use it. So it’s a bit inflexible as it has to know which types it can instantiate but it should have a very good performance:

public static class MyTypeFactory

{
 static MyTypeFactory()
 {
     MethodRunner<Type1>.Func = (a, b) => new Type1(a, b);
     MethodRunner<Type2>.Func = (a, b) => new Type2(a, b);
 }

 public static T Create<T>(int a, int b) where T: BaseType
 {
     return MethodRunner<T>.Func(a, b);
 }

 static class MethodRunner<T>
 {
     public static Func<int, int, T> Func { get; set; }
 }
}

The static constructor of the MyTypeFactory class only runs once per application domain the first time the factory is accessed so it should also be thread-safe.

You can simply use it like this:

var type1 = MyTypeFactory.Create<Type1>(1, 2);

3) Using Expression Trees

In this approach, a lambda expression has to be compiled per type. So for each type a new compilation will be done initially then they're stored in a private field for further reuse. This has much better performance in comparison with Activator.CreateInstance.

Another good point about this approach is its flexibility; you don’t have to hard code the constructors like approach 2.

public static class MyTypeFactory<T> where T : BaseType
{
 private static readonly Func<int, int, T> MethodDelegate = InitializeMethodDelegate();

 private static Func<int, int, T> InitializeMethodDelegate()
 {
     var constructorInfo = typeof(T).GetConstructor(new[] { typeof(int), typeof(int) });
     var param1 = Expression.Parameter(typeof(int));
     var param2 = Expression.Parameter(typeof(int));

     return Expression.Lambda<Func<int, int, T>>(Expression.New(constructorInfo, param1, param2), param1, param2).Compile();
 }

 public static T Create(int a, int b)
 {
     return MethodDelegate(a, b);
 }
}

and you can again use it like

var type1 = MyTypeFactory<Type1>.Create(1, 2);

Be careful not to re-comiple the type each time as this may make the performance even worse than Activator.CreateInstance(). Only once per type as shown above.

4) Using Reflection

...

Conclusion:
The factors which should be important in your decision making are:

Performance

Simplicity of use

Flexibility

I think using Expression Trees in the way mentioned above provides the best result considering performance and flexibility.

Read Further:

a Comparison: http://bloggingabout.net/blogs/vagif/archive/2010/04/02/don-t-use-activator-createinstance-or-constructorinfo-invoke-use-compiled-lambda-expressions.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0zk36dx2(VS.80).aspx

Call a Page Method Using Drop Down List and JavaScript

2011-06-06T13:14:00.001-07:00

Purpose:

When an item is selected from the drop down list, a method on the server should be called. AutoPostBack = True can’t be used as posting back the whole page is not required.

Page Source:

<asp:Content ID="HeaderContent" runat="server" ContentPlaceHolderID="HeadContent">
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
   $(document).ready(function () {
       var selector = ".ddlCountries";
       $(selector ).change(function () {
           PageMethods.OnSelectedIndexChanged($(selector).val());
       });
   });
script>
</asp:Content>
<asp:Content ID="BodyContent" runat="server" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent">

 <asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" EnablePageMethods="true" EnablePartialRendering="true">
 </asp:ScriptManager>

 <asp:DropDownList CssClass="ddlCountries" ID="ddlCountries" runat="server" Width="100px">
 </asp:DropDownList>
</asp:Content>

Page Code Behind:

   protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
 {
     BindDummyData();
 }

 private void BindDummyData()
 {
     var countries = new [] {new { Name = "UK", ID = "1" },
         new { Name = "USA", ID = "2" }
     };

     foreach (var country in countries)
     {
         this.ddlCountries.Items.Add(new ListItem(country.Name, country.ID));
     }
 }

 [WebMethod]
 public static void OnSelectedIndexChanged(string selectedValue)
 {
     // process
 }

Patterns of Creating the Data Access Layer

2011-06-05T15:25:00.001-07:00

If you've decided not to use any ORM, then you'd need to decide about the pattern you'd like to use for creating your data access layer.

This is an old topic so I'm going to summarize them here:

Repository Pattern
Active Record
Data Mapper
Identity Map
Table Data Gateway
Row Data Gateway

Resources:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd569757.aspx
Patterns of Enterprise Applications Development by Martin Fowler

Find Out DNS Details of A Domain

2011-05-29T10:37:00.001-07:00

http://www.intodns.com/

http://www.mxtoolbox.com/

Behaviour Driven Design and Domain Driven Design

2011-05-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

1) DDD:

The purpose of Domain Specific Language (DSL) is to create a bridge between the technical and non-technical people. DSL is important in Domain Driven Design (DDD).

2) BDD:

BDD is pretty simple to understand:

Get the requirement/feature, from your Business Analyst, as a User Story.
For each user story, create behaviours/scenarios in Gherkin language as explained below.
For each Gherkin/behaviour, create a unit test (you can use SpecFlow tool).
Implement your code until your test passes.

Gherkin Language

Gherkin Language is a language used to represent specifications or scenarios in the following format: "Given -When - Then"

It is a language to define behaviour of the modules and basically test cases (scenarios) are created from these behaviours easily.

Example:

Given user opens a browser and navigates to the Google.com site

When user enters "BDD" or user enters "DDD"

Then result of the search are listed on the page.

Given I have gone to an interview well-prepared

When I answer all the challenging questions of the interviewers properly

Then I'll get a job offer!

SpecFlow

A free tool which can be used to convert Gherkin to unit tests
It can be integrated into Visual Studio

Resources:

Software Architecture Competency

2011-05-21T02:47:00.001-07:00

Everyone has played the role of an architect in their life.

Key skills to develop for being the best Software Architect:

Demonstrable leadership and motivational skills
Demonstrable interpersonal skills with different people with different religion, race, background, education and political views
Demonstrable communication and listening skills
Demonstrable previous success
Demonstrable envisioning a software; excellent with drawing tools
Creativity and Logical reasoning

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/assets/IASA_2007.pdf

Continuous Integration

2011-05-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Purpose:

The purpose of CI is to detect integration errors as quickly as possible by allowing team members to integrate code into the source control frequently.

Source Controls:

Subversion: free
Microsoft SourceSafe
Perforce
Microsoft TFS
CVS: free

Automating the Build and Test:

TeamCity: free
CruiseControl.Net: free
Microsoft TFS

Testing tools

Check Web Information

2011-05-17T12:44:00.001-07:00

http://www.alexa.com/

Open a Page in Multiple Browsers

2011-05-10T05:33:00.001-07:00

IETester

VPC:

IE Compatibility VPC Images here.
Configure VPC accessing the host machine web development server.

Expression Web SuperPreview

Adobe BrowserLab

http://amrelgarhy.com/30/10-ways-for-testing-website-browser-compatibility/

Scrollbar

2011-05-03T07:42:00.001-07:00

Top/Bottom scrollbars: http://jsfiddle.net/TBnqw/1/

http://jscrollpane.kelvinluck.com/

JQuery News Slider

2011-03-31T05:20:00.000-07:00

Demo: http://landofcoder.com/demo/jquery/lofslidernews/index.html

Download: http://landofcoder.com/our-porfolios/jquery-plugins.html

Cloud Folder Storage and Sharing

2011-03-19T06:04:00.000-07:00

Free:

https://www.dropbox.com
http://www.filesanywhere.com/PricingPage.aspx
Google Docs; Google's Cloud Storage. It should have been renamed to Google Files rather than Google Docs as you can now upload any type of file.
SkyDrive from Microsoft

Char Controls for ASP.NET

2011-03-17T02:33:00.001-07:00

Free ones:

Built-in asp.net chart control: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/02/07/built-in-charting-controls-vs-2010-and-net-4-series.aspx

ASP.NET Chart samples: http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/mschart

http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/mschart/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=4418

Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5

Commercial:

http://www.asp.net/community/control-gallery/browse.aspx?category=7

Speedometer:

http://www.dotnetcharting.com/gauge_dial_charts.aspx

http://plugins.jquery.com/node/14456 (FREE)

http://documentation.devexpress.com/#WindowsForms/CustomDocument4774

How to create and install SSL certificate in IIS

2011-03-08T08:06:00.000-08:00

C:\Program Files\IIS Resources\SelfSSL\selfssl.exe" /T /N:CN={0} v /V:180 /S:{1}

{0}: website name

{1}: website identifier

Sonar

2011-03-07T01:38:00.001-08:00

http://www.sonarsource.org/

Most Popular Content Management Systems?

2011-03-03T23:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.dotnetnuke.com/

http://wordpress.org/

http://www.joomla.org/

http://drupal.org/

CSS Frameworks and Tips

2011-03-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

Frameworks:

CSS Compatibility:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc351024%28VS.85%29.aspx

Reference:

http://devsnippets.com/article/complete-guide-to-css-frameworks.html

Tips:

http://trevordavis.net/blog/the-6-most-important-css-techniques-you-need-to-know

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/goingtoprint/

SharePoint WebPart Deployment

2011-02-07T03:25:00.000-08:00

SharePoint WebPart Solution Package (WSP):

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms413687(v=office.12).aspx

http://girishm.blog.com/2010/10/19/how-to-add-assemblies-into-gac-web-applications-bin-folder-using-wsps-created-using-visual-studio-2010s-sharepoint-projects-2/

Deploy a web part to the bin directory:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263271(office.12).aspx

Deploy a web part to GAC:

set url=http://serverName:Port

set wspFilePath= C:\Backups\ProjectName.wsp

CD\

CD c:/Program Files/Common Files/Microsoft Shared/Web Server Extensions/14/BIN

@echo adding the solution to the sharepoint solution store

stsadm -o addsolution -filename %wspFilePath%

@echo deploying the solution to the sharepoint site collection

stsadm -o deploysolution -name "ProjectName.wsp" -url %url% -immediate -allowgac -force

@echo executing so that deployment happens immediately.

stsadm -o execadmsvcjobs

pause

Domain-Driven Design (DDD)

2011-01-30T11:42:00.000-08:00

DDD is a collection of patterns and best practices to address software complexities and make them more understandable and manageable.

MSDN Introduction: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd419654.aspx
CodeProject Introduction (good one): http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/56767/Domain-Driven-Design.aspx
Book by Eric Evans
Community: http://domaindrivendesign.org/about

Image Optimizer

2011-01-29T10:42:00.001-08:00

http://mav.vipserv.org/webp/

http://www.imageoptimizer.net/Pages/Home.aspx

What Can't You Do With FireBug?

2011-01-28T02:31:00.000-08:00

Spend some time reviewing the great features of firebug here.

Regex and Regular Expressions

2011-01-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

Regex Editors:

Tutorials:

Examples:

Passing Values between JavaScript and ASP.NET

2011-01-23T04:40:00.001-08:00

Many good common ways are explained here:

http://www.codedigest.com/Articles/ASPNET/347_Pass_Values_from_CodeBehind_to_JavaScript_and_From_JavaScript_to_CodeBehind_in_ASPNet.aspx

How to Enable SessionState in SharePoint 2010?

2011-01-18T06:03:00.001-08:00

You'd like to use session object in your code but you receive an error saying that by default it's disabled.

You'd need to make these changes in the web.config of your application:

1) add the SessionStateModule assembly

2) Add a http module

</httpModules>

3) Enable session state

How to compress JS files?

2011-01-12T07:58:00.000-08:00

Using js-builder, you can combine and compress JS files and resources from a simple user interface which improves the performance and download time of these files.

ExtJS

2011-01-11T03:49:00.001-08:00

It's another javascript library like JQuery but perhaps with more features and controls and we currently use it!

Development API: http://dev.sencha.com/deploy/dev/docs/
Forum: http://www.sencha.com/forum/

How to Configure Url Rewrite Module in IIS 7.0?

2011-01-09T08:59:00.000-08:00

Url Rewrite module is a free IIS 7.0 module which helps you implement url rewriting.

Ok, what is url rewriting anyway? for example you might want to let users use this url {0} and in the background you'd like that request to be sent to this url {1}.

{0}: http://sitename/productId=1

{1}: http://sitename/products/productdetails.aspx?pid=1

More about Url Rewrite module: http://www.iis.net/download/URLRewrite
Video about how to configure it: http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/506/url-rewrite-module---video-walkthrough/
A good example for sharepoint: http://blog.mastykarz.nl/friendly-urls-sharepoint-site-4-steps-iis7-url-rewrite-module/
Reverse Proxy with Url Rewrite module: http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/659/reverse-proxy-with-url-rewrite-v2-and-application-request-routing/

Reverse proxy with url rewrite can be used when you need to rewrite an external url into your original url. By external url, I mean a url which is not on the same site.

Rules:

There are 2 ways to define the rules either using web.config or using IIS Url Writing section; both of these are sync with each other.

SSL Offloading:

When you enable SSL Offloading in IIS, then communication between ARR to the contents server will be using clear text rather than SSL.

http://blogs.iis.net/wonyoo/archive/2008/07/10/ssl-off-loading-in-application-request-routing.aspx

URL Rewrite vs URL Redirect

2011-01-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

http://recomparison.com/comparisons/101037/url-rewrite-vs-redirect/

URL Rewrite

Is a server side operation which means the rewriting is done at the server
May result in a static page, a dynamic page, or an image file

URL Redirect

Is a client side operation
Accepts the request then sends a response to the client immediately with the new URL
Therefore, it causes the client browser to make a second request with the new URL

How to Add Custom CSS and JS files to Your Visual Web Part

2011-01-06T02:17:00.000-08:00

Adding CSS

1. Add "Layouts" mapped folder to Visual WebPart Project.

2. Create a folder structure layouts/styles/themable

3. Add the css file to the styles folder .If you are using themable styles then also add it to themable folder too

4. Register the CSS file by adding following line into your visual webpart

<SharePoint:CssRegistration ID="cssId" name="/_layouts/projectName/cssName.css" runat="server" />

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.webcontrols.cssregistration.aspx

(Note: Another approach From sharepoint designer add css file to style library and refer it in css registration)

Adding JS

1. Add "Layouts" mapped folder to Visual WebPart Project.

2. Add you JS file to layout folder or your project specific folder

3. Add the script link to your webpart

<SharePoint:ScriptLink ID="scriptLinkId" name="ProjectName/jsFileName.js" runat="server" />

SharePoint Authentication

2010-12-22T05:31:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Kerberos (Negotiate)

Client obtains a ticket from KDC (Kerberos Key Distribution Center) then the ticket is presented to servers for authentication.
How Kerberos works: http://learn-networking.com/network-security/how-kerberos-authentication-works
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa378747(v=vs.85).aspx

Microsoft NTLM

Microsoft NTLM: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa378749(v=vs.85).aspx
Domain name, username and a hash-key is sent from the client to the domain controller; Password is not sent over the wire!
Domain controller is where the information about the user is stored; Active Directory

Forms-based Authentication:

Custom Login Page With Forms Authentication:

Custom Login Page With Windows Authentication:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chunliu/archive/2010/09/21/creating-a-custom-login-page-for-windows-authentication.aspx

Claims-baed authentication:

How to: Configure a Port with an SSL Certificate

2010-12-16T08:39:00.000-08:00

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms733791.aspx

Add a certificate:

netsh http add sslcert ipport=0.0.0.0:6080 certhash=bcb0d7372d065fdb4047d6fdde64b1c84f6e12c2 appid={00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} clientcertnegotiation=enable

Delete a certificate:

netsh http delete sslcert ipport=0.0.0.0:6080

MMS Video Live Streaming

2010-12-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

List of some live mms video streams: http://www.kensfi.com/watch-live-tv-channels-streams-with-vlc-media-player/

VLC Player can display mms video streams.

An Example for IE:

classid="CLSID:6BF52A52-394A-11D3-B153-00C04F79FAA6" standby="Loading

Windows Media Player components..." type="application/x-oleobject">

</object>

How to Modify the Url Programmatically

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/adsolutions2.aspx

More info about properties, methods and events of this Activex object, please refer to this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd564034(v=VS.85).aspx

SharePoint ULS Log

2010-11-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

ULS: Unified Logging Service

Location:

SharePoint logs are located here by default:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\LOGS

ULS Viewer tool: http://ulsviewer.codeplex.com/

Configure logging level in SharePoint:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee748656.aspx

A hotfix for Sharepoint Shared Services:

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB976462

How to Extend a SharePoint Web Application

2010-11-24T03:00:00.000-08:00

Video: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff679931.aspx

MSDN: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg276323.aspx

How to Deploy a SharePoint 2010 Web Application/Site from One Server to the Other?

2010-11-18T06:19:00.000-08:00

Option1

1. Use SQL Management Studio to backup the Content Database

How to: Back Up a Database (SQL Server Management Studio):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187510.aspx

2. Restore the Content Database to your new SQL server

How to: Restore a Database Backup (SQL Server Management Studio):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177429.aspx

3. Create a new web application in Central Admin on the new farm:

Create a Web application (SharePoint Foundation 2010):
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288705.aspx

4. Delete the content Database that get's created by the new web application(from step 4)

Central Admin > Application Management > Content Databases > delete the empty db from your web application (created in step 3)

5. Use SharePoint Management Shell(Mount-SPContentDatabase), Stsadm(-o addcontentdb) or Central Admin to add the contentdatabase:

Add a content database (SharePoint Server 2010):
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc825314.aspx

6. Make sure that your account has administrative permissions on the site collection(update site collection administrator)

Add or remove site collection administrators (SharePoint Server 2010):

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff631156.aspx

Option 2: Site Collection Backup

1. Create a backup of your site collection which gives you a .bak file using stsadm tool or using the Central Administration

2. use the following command line tool to restore this backup file

stsadm -o restore -url http://servername/sites/sitename -filename C:\Backups\siteCollectionBackup.bak -restoremethod overwrite -overwrite

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262087(office.12).aspx

Option 3: Deploy Custom WebParts

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/tips-tricks/how-to-deploy-sharepoint-webparts-000618.php
When built, it creates wsp file which can be used for the deployment
Use either stsadm tool or powershell tool to deploy the wsp file
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163379.aspx#S4
Addsolution parameter: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288721(office.12).aspx
Deploysolution parameter: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288449(office.12).aspx
Deploywppack parameter: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288159(office.12).aspx
Stsadm command-line tool
From msdn forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepointdevelopment/thread/5a51ea41-2075-4dcc-b99e-e1b10628b969

Option 3: Deploy Custom Html or ASP pages

One manual way is to create a virtual directory inside your web application and put the pages there.

Upload Videos

2010-10-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

http://vimeo.com

Ways to Add Cookie for WCF

2010-10-22T03:28:00.000-07:00

Approaches to add cookie for WCF responses:

Use HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies.Add

Use the MessageHeader section of MessageContract

Use WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse.Headers.Add

HTML 5.0

2010-10-21T09:49:00.001-07:00

HTML 5.0 elements and their examples: http://simon.html5.org/html5-elements

All About Telnet

2010-10-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

Frequently Asked Questions: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Telnet-frequently-asked-questions

StyleCopCmd

2010-10-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

StyleCopCmd provides a command line interface and NAnt task for interacting with StyleCop. StyleCopCmd also creates beautiful HTML reports, making it easy to integrate with continuous integration servers such as TeamCity.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/stylecopcmd/

Patterns of Naming Unit Tests

2010-10-01T10:41:00.001-07:00

How would you name your test project, test fixtures and test cases?

Make sure your naming approach is consistent throughout your project.
Make sure names are clear and specific.
Each person can invent his/her own pattern of course but these are some common ones:

1) Test Project

Pattern 1

Create a test project per production project and postfix it with "Tests" e.g. "Model.Tests" for the "Model" project. so if you have 10 production projects, create 10 test projects and put then inside a "UnitTests" Visual Studio folder for better grouping.

Example:

Project name: Model (as you don't put the name of the Company to the project name)
Namespace: Company.Model (namespace would contain the Company name)
Assembly name: Company.Model.dll
Test project name: Model.Tests
Test namespace: Company.Model.Tests
Test assembly name: Company.Model.Tests.dll

Pattern 2

Another pattern (or better anti-pattern) is to have one project containing all tests for all projects; I think Pattern 1 is better for simplicity and maintainability so that one would be my preferable choice.

2) Test Fixtures

1 Test fixture per production class.

Pattern 1: "Tests" or "Fixture" Suffix

"Model.Tests.CalculatorTests" or "Model.Tests.CalculatorFixture" for the production class of "Model.Calculator"

Pattern 2: "For." Prefix

"Model.Tests.For.Calculator" for the production class of "Model.Calculator".

The benefit of this naming is that you won't have to repeat the word "Tests" for your fixtures also it would have a nicer readability as you can read it like a sentence "Tests for Calculator" but at the same time, you're adding extra "For." for your classes.

Pattern 1 is often my preferred choice.

3) Test Names

Pattern 1: MethodName_ScenarioOrCondition_ExpectedBehaviour or GivenX_WhenY_ThenZ

This pattern has "_" that FXCop doesn't like.
It's simple to map which class or method to which test, however, if method names change, you'd want to change your test names as well. Another option is not using the "method name under test" but instead using "behavior under test".
This patterns says that, when someone looks at your test name, he should easily find out 1) what is the unit which is being tested? 2) under what condition is it tested? 3) what is the expected behaviour for this condition?

e.g.

public void AnalyzeFile_FileTooShort_ThrowTooShortException()

{

...

}

public void GivenAnalyzeFile_WhenFileTooShort_ThenThrowTooShortException()

{

...

}

The second option is easier to read, isn't it?

Pattern 2: WithXShouldY or WhenXExpectY

In this pattern, there is no "_" so it makes FXCop happy but of course it reduces readability.
The test name has no indication of what method or action therefore, you'd need to put the method name in the test class instead e.g.

Example:

WithEmptyFileNameShouldThrowException or

WhenEmptyFileNameExpectThrowException or

WhenEmptyFileName_ExpectThrowException

ProductionProjectName.Tests

.For.Foobar (test fixture for production feature/component/class/class)

.WhenAnalysing (method, action or behavior)

.WhenEmptyFileNameExpectThrowException (test method name)

Pattern 3: Separate Each Word!

This is a very old pattern.

Example:

AnalyzeFile_File_Too_Short_Throw_Too_Short_Exception()

Pattern 4: End method names with "Test"

Why would you want to add "Test" to the test name which is attributed with "TestMethod" already?
Not my choice.

Example:

AnalyzeFileTest()

How to Analyse a Running Process?

2010-09-28T06:24:00.001-07:00

ProcDumpt: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/dd996900.aspx

DebugDiag: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=28bd5941-c458-46f1-b24d-f60151d875a3&displaylang=en

WinDbg:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinDbg

Automatically Capturing a Dump When a Process Crashes: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/clrteam/archive/2009/10/15/automatically-capturing-a-dump-when-a-process-crashes.aspx

Microsoft OCS

2010-09-27T02:09:00.000-07:00

Office Communication Service (OCS):

Technical documentation to help understand, plan, deploy and operate OCS 2007 here.
Active Directory and Supported Forest Topologies: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd441359(office.13).aspx
Lync Server: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/default.aspx

Bug Fixing

2010-09-09T09:59:00.001-07:00

Bug fixing is most often easy and straightforward if you follow this pattern.

Bug Template:

Every bug should be written using the following template

Title:

[text]

Description:

[text]

Steps to reproduce:

[numeric list of the steps to clarify how to reproduce the bug]

Actual:

[what is the actual behavior which happens]

Expected:

[what is the expected behavior]

Supporting info:

[text, attachments, images, stack trace, etc]

Bug Fixing Strategy

The general strategy for bug fixing is as following:
Make sure the bug details is in your bug tracking tool (e.g. Jira, BugZilla, etc); if it's not add it using the bug template provided above
Assign the bug to yourself or the person who will be in charge of the bug fixing
Investigate and understand what the bug is - if it's not clear ask the person who raised the bug for further clarification and completing the template above
Investigate and understand how to reproduce the error
observe the bug is reproduced in code
Investigate and understand why the bug exists
Propose possible solutions
Choose the best solution; if required consult
Fix it and write unit test or integration test for it - in some cases you can write the test first which is a better practice if possible
Retest and observe that the bug doesn't get reproduced
Set the bug status in your bug tracking tool to "Fixed" and assign it to your testing manager

How to Check Multiple Email Accounts Quickly

2010-09-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Problem:
You have a number of email accounts with gmail, yahoo, msn, etc and each time you want to check your emails it takes some time logging into these accounts. Your bright mind tells you that there must be an easier and quicker way to check all these email accounts at once!

Free Solutions:

Desktop-based tools:
Thunderbird, YPOPs, Zimbra Desktop, WebMail

Web-based tools:
Fuser, Mail2Web

My notes:
Use a more reliable & popular tool such as Thunderbird or Zimbra rather than using any tools you see on search engines randomly + if you use these tools it would be slower than checking your emails directly on google for instance.

Updating UI Elements using ProgressChanged event of BackgroundWorker

2010-08-21T11:03:00.001-07:00

As you probably know, the only thread which can update a UI element, such as a Label, is the main thread which created that UI element.

In my previous article, I wrote about an approach to update the UI elements using the Dispatcher object of the UI element. Here I’d like to show you another approach which is to use ProgressChanged event of the BackgroundWorker:

public partial class Window1 : Window
  {
      BackgroundWorker aWorker = new BackgroundWorker();

      public Window1()
      {
          InitializeComponent();
          aWorker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
          aWorker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
          aWorker.DoWork += aWorker_DoWork;
          aWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += aWorker_RunWorkerCompleted;
          aWorker.ProgressChanged += new ProgressChangedEventHandler(aWorker_ProgressChanged);
      }

      /// <summary>
      /// Handles the ProgressChanged event of the aWorker control. this runs on the main thread
      /// </summary>
      /// <param name="sender">The source of the event.</param>
      /// <param name="e">The <see cref="System.ComponentModel.ProgressChangedEventArgs"/> instance containing the event data.</param>
      void aWorker_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
      {
          UpdateLabel(Int32.Parse(e.UserState.ToString()));
      }
          
      /// <summary>
      /// Handles the DoWork event of the aWorker control.
      /// This runs in a new thread
      /// </summary>
      /// <param name="sender">The source of the event.</param>
      /// <param name="e">The <see cref="System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs"/> instance containing the event data.</param>
      private void aWorker_DoWork(object sender, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs e)
      {
          for (int i = 0; i <= 500; i++)
          {
              Thread.Sleep(100);

              if (aWorker.CancellationPending)
              {
                  e.Cancel = true;
                  return;
              }
              aWorker.ReportProgress(0, i);
          }
      }

      private void aWorker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
      {
          if (!(e.Cancelled))
              Label2.Content = "Run Completed!";
          else
              Label2.Content = "Run Cancelled!";
      }

      private void UpdateLabel(int i)
      {
          Label1.Content = "Cycles: " + i.ToString();
      }

      private void btnStart_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
      {
          aWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
      }

      private void btnCancel_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
      {
          aWorker.CancelAsync();
      }
  }

Notes:

There are 3 easy steps you need to take to enable this:

Set WorkerReportsProgress property

Subscribe to ProgressChanged event

Call ReportProgress() method from the worker thread

WPF: How to Enable Journal When Using PageFunctions

2010-08-21T10:10:00.001-07:00

PageFunctions are xamle pages which enable us to create complex journal and navigations. Unlike Page, PageFunction can be used to return an object to the caller page.

Caller Page:

public partial class Page1 : Page
   {
       public Page1()
       {
           InitializeComponent();
       }
       private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
       {
           PageFunction1 apage = new PageFunction1();
           apage.Return += new ReturnEventHandler<object>(apage_Return);
           NavigationService.Navigate(apage);
       }

       void apage_Return(object sender, ReturnEventArgs<object> e)
       {
           List<string> alist = (List<string>)e.Result;
           foreach (string s in alist)
               listBox1.Items.Add(s);
       }
   }

Notes:

Return event of a PageFunction is raised when the data is returned back from the PageFunction

CustomContentState:

This class helps to store the state for the contents of the journal when navigating forward or backward in a PageFunction:

[Serializable()]
   public class CustomJournalEntry : CustomContentState
   {
       private List<ListBoxItem> atops;
       private List<ListBoxItem> ctops;
       public List<ListBoxItem> AvailableToppings
       {
           get
           {
               return atops;
           }
           set
           {
               atops = value;
           }
       }
       public List<ListBoxItem> ChosenToppings
       {
           get
           {
               return ctops;
           }
           set
           {
               ctops = value;
           }
       }
       public override string JournalEntryName
       {
           get
           {
               return "Custom Journal Entry";
           }
       }
       public delegate void ReplayDelegate(CustomJournalEntry c);
       private ReplayDelegate replaydelegate;
       public override void Replay(NavigationService navigationService, NavigationMode mode)
       {
           this.replaydelegate(this);
       }
       public CustomJournalEntry(List<ListBoxItem> available, List<ListBoxItem> chosen, ReplayDelegate replay)
       {
           atops = available;
           ctops = chosen;
           replaydelegate = replay;
       }
   }

Notes:

This class inherits from CustomContentState class and is Serializable

Replay method has been overridden and it’s called by the navigation engine when moving forward or backward on the journal

PageFunction class:

public partial class PageFunction1 : PageFunction<Object>, IProvideCustomContentState
   {
       public PageFunction1()
       {
           InitializeComponent();
       }
       private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
       {
           List<ListBoxItem> alist = new List<ListBoxItem>();
           List<ListBoxItem> blist = new List<ListBoxItem>();
           foreach (ListBoxItem lll in listBox1.Items)
               alist.Add(lll);
           foreach (ListBoxItem ll in listBox2.Items)
               blist.Add(ll);
           NavigationService.AddBackEntry(new CustomJournalEntry(alist, blist, ReplayCallback));
           ListBoxItem l = (ListBoxItem)listBox1.SelectedItem;
           listBox1.Items.Remove(l);
           listBox2.Items.Add(l);
       }

       private void button2_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
       {
           List<ListBoxItem> alist = new List<ListBoxItem>();
           List<ListBoxItem> blist = new List<ListBoxItem>();
           foreach (ListBoxItem lll in listBox1.Items)
               alist.Add(lll);
           foreach (ListBoxItem ll in listBox2.Items)
               blist.Add(ll);
           NavigationService.AddBackEntry(new CustomJournalEntry(alist, blist, ReplayCallback));
           ListBoxItem l = (ListBoxItem)listBox2.SelectedItem;
           listBox2.Items.Remove(l);
           listBox1.Items.Add(l);

       }

       private void Button3_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
       {
           List<string> alist = new List<string>();
           foreach (ListBoxItem l in listBox2.Items)
               alist.Add(l.Content.ToString());
           ReturnEventArgs<object> ee = new ReturnEventArgs<object>((object)alist);
           OnReturn(ee);
       }
       private void ReplayCallback(CustomJournalEntry c)
       {
           listBox1.Items.Clear();
           listBox2.Items.Clear();
           foreach (ListBoxItem l in c.AvailableToppings)
               listBox1.Items.Add(l);
           foreach (ListBoxItem ll in c.ChosenToppings)
               listBox2.Items.Add(ll);
       }
       public System.Windows.Navigation.CustomContentState GetContentState()
       {
           List<ListBoxItem> alist = new List<ListBoxItem>();
           List<ListBoxItem> blist = new List<ListBoxItem>();
           foreach (ListBoxItem l in listBox1.Items)
               alist.Add(l);
           foreach (ListBoxItem ll in listBox2.Items)
               blist.Add(ll);
           return new CustomJournalEntry(alist, blist, ReplayCallback);
       }

   }

Notes:

This PageFunction should implement IProvideCustomContentState so that GetContentState is implemented. This method is called when moving backward and forward

OnReturn() method is called when you want to return the result of the PageFunction to the caller page

NavigationService.AddBackEntry() is used to add a current state of the PageFunction to the journal.

Java

2010-08-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

C# and Java language syntax comparison: http://www.25hoursaday.com/CsharpVsJava.html

IPhone Development

2010-08-18T05:07:00.000-07:00

http://developer.apple.com/iphone/index.action

Environments/Tools:
Monotouch; perhaps not supported any more
Apple API
Sencha Touch: to develop rich web apps for IPhone.
Languages supported:
C, C++, Objective-C, JavaScript
Learn about Objective-C:

http://cocoadevcentral.com/d/learn_objectivec/

Free Task Board Softwares / Sticky Notes

2010-08-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

Task Board Softwares:

Sticky Notes:

How to Connect 3D Points With Each Other in WPF?

2010-08-02T15:58:00.001-07:00

Imagine you have some 3D spheres that you want them to be connected to each other such as:

Assuming you know a point in each of these spheres, the following Code uses a 3D cube to connect 2 3D Points with each other:

private void ConnectPoints(Point3D firstPoint, Point3D secondPoint, DiffuseMaterial diffuseMaterial, double thickness)
       {
           MeshGeometry3D linkCube = GetCube(firstPoint, secondPoint, thickness);

           GeometryModel3D mGeometryLink = new GeometryModel3D(linkCube, diffuseMaterial);
           mGeometryLink.Transform = new Transform3DGroup();

           ModelVisual3D modelVisual3D = new ModelVisual3D();
           modelVisual3D.Content = mGeometryLink;

           _models.Add(modelVisual3D);
       }

private MeshGeometry3D GetCube(Point3D firstPoint, Point3D secondPoint, double thickness)
       {
           MeshGeometry3D mesh = new MeshGeometry3D();
           mesh.Positions.Add(new Point3D(firstPoint.X, firstPoint.Y, firstPoint.Z));
           mesh.Positions.Add(new Point3D(firstPoint.X + thickness, firstPoint.Y, firstPoint.Z));
           mesh.Positions.Add(new Point3D(firstPoint.X + thickness, firstPoint.Y - thickness, firstPoint.Z));
           mesh.Positions.Add(new Point3D(firstPoint.X, firstPoint.Y - thickness, firstPoint.Z));

           mesh.Positions.Add(new Point3D(secondPoint.X, secondPoint.Y, secondPoint.Z));
           mesh.Positions.Add(new Point3D(secondPoint.X + thickness, secondPoint.Y, secondPoint.Z));
           mesh.Positions.Add(new Point3D(secondPoint.X + thickness, secondPoint.Y - thickness, secondPoint.Z));
           mesh.Positions.Add(new Point3D(secondPoint.X, secondPoint.Y - thickness, secondPoint.Z));

           int k = mesh.Positions.Count - 8;
           // Front face
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(0 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(1 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(2 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(2 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(3 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(0 + k);

           // Back face
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(6 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(5 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(4 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(4 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(7 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(6 + k);

           // Right face
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(1 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(5 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(2 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(5 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(6 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(2 + k);

           // Top face
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(2 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(6 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(3 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(3 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(6 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(7 + k);

           // Bottom face
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(5 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(1 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(0 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(0 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(4 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(5 + k);

           // Right face
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(4 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(0 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(3 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(3 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(7 + k);
           mesh.TriangleIndices.Add(4 + k);
           return mesh;
       }

Use SubInACL Grant Access to Windows Services

2010-07-27T06:27:00.001-07:00

If you ever need to grant access to a service account or user account over a windows service, SubInACL is the tool you need.

WCF Extensions

2010-07-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

Using WCF extensions you can change the default behaviour of WCF.

Programatically provide custom Json exceptions: http://blog.manglar.com/how-to-provide-custom-json-exceptions-from-as-wcf-service/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163302.aspx

WPF: Updating UI Elements Using Dispatcher and BackgroundWorker

2010-07-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

If you run a BackgroundWorker object and try updating a UI element in the DoWork method, you'd get this error message:

{"The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it."}

The reason is that DoWork() method runs in a new thread and the UI elements are owned by the main thread.

A workaround is to use the Dispatcher object as shown in the following example in WPF. When Start button is clicked, a background worker runs and updates the label message:

public partial class Window1 : Window
 {
     BackgroundWorker aWorker = new BackgroundWorker();

     public Window1()
     {
         InitializeComponent();
         aWorker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
         aWorker.DoWork += aWorker_DoWork;
         aWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += aWorker_RunWorkerCompleted;
     }

     private delegate void UpdateDelegate(int i);

     /// <summary>
     /// Handles the DoWork event of the aWorker control.
     /// This runs in a new thread
     /// </summary>
     /// <param name="sender">The source of the event.</param>
     /// <param name="e">The <see cref="System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs"/> instance containing the event data.</param>
     private void aWorker_DoWork(object sender, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs e)
     {
         for (int i = 0; i <= 500; i++)
         {
             Thread.Sleep(100);

             if (aWorker.CancellationPending)
             {
                 e.Cancel = true;
                 return;
             }
             UpdateDelegate update = new UpdateDelegate(UpdateLabel);
             Label1.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Normal, update, i);             
         }
     }

     private void aWorker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
     {
         if (!(e.Cancelled))
             Label2.Content = "Run Completed!";
         else
             Label2.Content = "Run Cancelled!";
     }

     private void UpdateLabel(int i)
     {
         Label1.Content = "Cycles: " + i.ToString();
     }

     private void btnStart_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
     {
         aWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
     }

     private void btnCancel_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
     {
         aWorker.CancelAsync();
     }
 }

Alternative to Resharper

2010-07-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Code Rush Express is a free refactoring tool from DevExpress:

Wi-Fi

2010-07-04T03:07:00.000-07:00

Wi-Fi Enabled Device:

A device which can connect to the Internet via wireless networks around it (Access Points, Hotspots) such as personal computer, video game console, mobile phone, MP3 player or personal digital assistant.

Wi-Fi Hostspots:

A wireless network which is to be used for anyone having a Wi-Fi enabled device and who 1) is within the range of the network 2) is allowed to use the Hotspot.

Free Wi-Fi Hotspots:

Some companies provide Wi-Fi free within their range.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-mobile-broadband#free

Ad-hoc Mode in Wi-Fi communications (Client to Client):

Devices can communicate with each other directly without a router for example a Wi-Fi enabled laptop can communicate directly with another Wi-Fi enabled laptop.

In this mode, no router or access point is needed, miracle!

This mode is mainly used with multiplayer handheld game consoles, digital cameras.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

Internet Explorer and Windows Compatibility

2010-07-02T04:11:00.000-07:00

Windows XP, Windowx Vista and Windows 7

IE 6.0, IE 7.0 and IE 8.0

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=21eabb90-958f-4b64-b5f1-73d0a413c8ef&displaylang=en

Active Directory, Domain, Forests

2010-06-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

Directory Services
Microsoft Active Directory (AD)
LDAP
Tree
Forest
DNS domain
Windows domain
Organizational Unit (OU)
Common Name (CN)
Schema
Group Policy Objects (GPO)
Global Catalog (GC)
Trust Relationships; One-Way, Transitive, Cross-Link

Links:

Don't Use .Count() on IEnumerable Lists

2010-06-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

Don't Use .Count() on IEnumerable Lists since it has a great performance penalty.

http://haacked.com/archive/2010/06/10/checking-for-empty-enumerations.aspx

Entity Framework Object Query Examples

2010-06-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Group By:

Count:

Order By:

Calling a stored procedure:

Calling a Function:

MoSCoW Technique

2010-06-15T01:45:00.000-07:00

MoSCoW is a prioritization technique which helps you decide what should be done and in which order:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoSCoW_Method

WPF Code Samples

2010-06-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/wpfsamples/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=3022

Project Management Tools

2010-06-05T02:38:00.000-07:00

Project Management Tools are tools built to help managing the work items, bugs, features, iterations of a project.

Jira:

Rich features
Agile support; iterations
Commercial
http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/

Bugzilla:

Only a bug tracking tool
Free open source
http://www.bugzilla.org/

Microsoft TFS:

Rich work item management features
Agile support: iterations, user stories
Commercial
http://pooyakhamooshi.blogspot.com/2009/06/tfs.html
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/bb693326.aspx

RallyDev:

Agile project management tool with rich features
Up to 10 active users free so excellent option if you have a small team
http://www.rallydev.com/

DotProject:

Free - open source
Not as rich as other options
http://www.dotproject.net/

Links:

Comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_project_management_software
Some free open source project management tools here and here

Changing WCF OperationContract Element Names

2010-05-28T03:01:00.000-07:00

Changing the root names of the request and response messages:

[OperationContract(Name=”RequestRootNameChanged”)]
      [WebInvoke(Method = "GET",
        UriTemplate = "/EntityData/{entity}",
        BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Wrapped,
        ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
      [return:MessageParameter(Name = "ResponseRootNameChanged")]
      List<ReferenceItem> GetSearchDropDown(string entity);

Removing the root names of the request and response messages:

[OperationContract]

      [WebInvoke(Method = "GET",

        UriTemplate = "/EntityData/{entity}",

        BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare,

        ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]

      List<ReferenceItem> GetSearchDropDown(string entity);

Changing the child names:

Object Mapping Solutions

2010-05-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

Imagine you have 2 sets of classes which have to be translated and mapped to each other (Source and Target):

Approach 1: Hard coding each mapping in Translator classes. One translator in each target class.

Approach 2: Using reflection to map the properties

This can be used only if the properties are exactly the same

Approach 3:

Using AutoMapper from CodePlex.

SQL Server 2008

2010-05-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

If you need to install SQL Server 2008, unfortunately you must uninstall all components of SQL Server 2005 if you already have them.

For other versions comparison check this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143694.aspx

The upgrade path: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143393.aspx

SQL Server 2008 Express Edition with Management Studio: http://geekswithblogs.net/campuskoder/archive/2008/10/08/125727.aspx

How to Control the Behaviour of a Running Windows Service?

2010-05-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

If you need to administer a running windows service, you can use ServiceController class to start, stop, restart the service:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.serviceprocess.servicecontroller.aspx

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/service_controller.aspx

PDF Distillers

2010-05-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

Create PDF from scratch using .NET. Adding compression, tables, graphs, images, hyperlinks, security and custom fonts.

http://www.pdfsharp.com/PDFsharp/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp/

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrdis/

http://www.aspose.com/categories/.net-components/aspose.pdf-for-.net/default.aspx

Ways to Install a Windows Service?

2010-05-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

Approach 1: Using Visual Studio Setup Project

In the Custom Actions section, you need to add the "Primary output from ..." to all the stages of Install, Commit, Rollback and Uninstall. Then your windows service will be installed.

Approach 2: Using InstallUtil.exe

Approach 3: Using sc.exe

Approach 4: Using WIX

to be continued...

Podcasts

2010-05-24T03:36:00.001-07:00

Channel 9 Podcasts: http://channel9.msdn.com/Media/Podcasts/

MSDN podcasts: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/dd440947.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/events/podcasts/

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThirstyDeveloperPodcast

Best Software Engineer Mindsets

2010-05-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

Personality, General

Add Only Value

Only add value and add only value, don't do something that doesn't add value. Only say what adds value and helps, don't say something that doesn't add value.

Guard Your Tongue

Specially when you get very angry and emotional, it's when that you might say things and do things which will hurt yourself and others. Guard your tongue firmly and have a proper strategy to express your emotions in a more healthy and productive way.

Be As Accurate As Possible

Sometimes, we want to generalize things which is an easier way to get around things. If you're asked specific questions, try to be specific and give details accurately because you will be accounted for what you say. In emails, conversations and in all communications, be as accurate as possible.

Say I Don't Know and I Am Not Sure Carefully

It might be true that you don't know but if you keep saying I don't know and I am not sure, you will look junior and unprofessional.

Always, remember to be positive and add value so if you don't know something clearly or you have doubts about things, be accurate. Say I don't know but I can look into it or I guess it should be like this. I will check or do you want me to look into it?

On the other hand, one of the worst things which can harm your credit is to say I know when you don't know. Always give yourself time and gap to find out if you can.

I guess...
I presume...
I assume...
I'll look into it
I'll find out
not sure; let me check or I can check
Hold on, I'd need to refresh my memory

Prefer the Best/Quickest/Optimized Action

If there is a quicker way to do something, take that way and remind everyone to focus on doing the quickest/best way possible which adds value.

Always ask yourself "What is the Best Option Now?" and talk about best options always with the team.

Do Your Homework; Research

Always, do your own researching before expressing your opinion upon something unknown.

Strengthen Your Memory

This is another very important hint. I almost always try writing down important information but I figured out that it is not good enough. You need to memorize things. Practice every day to memorize information, telephone numbers, about your work, technology, name of people, etc.

This is vital if you want to be a successful Software Engineer. What you need to remember is that relying on writing notes, finding information from google are very bad practice and make your memory lazy.

Use your memory more, the more you memorize the more you can memorize. Spend every day to memorize and review things.

Email Is Worst/Most Dangerous for Communication

Best way to communicate is via face to face or phone. Emails can be worst type of communication. People misunderstand each other in emails and read emails in bad tone of voice.

Use emails only to give important information to others and write emails in the most positive way because unfortunately the truth is that people read emails in the most negative way possible. I paid this price several times until I figured this truth out.

Read your emails at least 2 times; once with your own eyes, and once with the eyes of recipients- don't say what is unnecessary and doesn't add value. don't add emotions in emails; they will be misinterpreted - ask yourself is it appropriate/necessary to say this in email?

Always Use Well-Chosen Words

It's specifically important for a successful software engineer to use only well-chosen and wise words in emails, conversations and meetings. Your words are powerful and carry meanings which might be offending or misleading to others so this becomes a significant factor.

If English is not your first language like me, you'd need make a double effort and program to improve the standard of your spoken and written English.

This is also highly vital in your progress and climbing the ladder to become Leader or Architect.

I can't say enough about the significance of this importance; always remember to use words wisely or you will face its consequences.

Help Others If You Can

There is more blessing in giving than receiving you have heard. This is also true for a software engineer. The more you help others, the more you learn and you gain credit at work. At the same time be wise not to forget your own works.

Hope it helps
Does it help?
How can I help?
...

Don't Forget Meetings

It's bad for your credit not to attend meetings because you have forgotten. Basically, what you need is a system which helps you remember when you have which meeting. Best is to use a reminder application e.g. on your mobile that you're always reminded. IPhone has a free application called "aNote Lite" which can be used.

Don't forget meetings; have a proper reminder system.

Build Sense of Trust In Yourself

There are times that we don't know what to do and how to do things. Instead of panicking, build trust in yourself that you can handle it and you can and will find a way. Believe in your abilities and potential and have the confidence that you can figure that out. This doesn't mean not consulting with others when required but just means that you must trust yourself before anything else.

Technology

Become Member of Technology Forums

To gain advice and answers on your day to day challenges, join some good technology forums related to the area of your work e.g. msdn forum, stackoverflow, scrum forum, etc.

Develop Code Reading Skills

It's vital to be able to read other people's codes quickly and understand them so that later you can

Make a change
Fix a bug
Refactor the code

OK, how can you develop this skill?

Spend some time to read other people's codes; the more code you see from variety of people, the quicker you become to understand them. If you've been given the opportunity, become member of the code reviewing team in your Company.
Draw sequence diagrams and class diagrams for yourself if you've given a system which is very complex. In this way, you can easily understand what's going on and in your own language.
Use .NET Reflector or Visual Studio to analyse class relationships quickly; .NET Reflector has some good plugins for this.
Obviously reading articles and books would help also.

Do It Right The First Time

This might be an unachievable ideal but at least you should aim for it.

The reality is that you don't usually have time to change what you did initially or the budget is limited so make sure that you do it right in the first place.

So, always spend some time planning what you're gonna do and save future wastes. This requires that you master the requirements from the first place.

Automation:

Think about where you can automate things. Automated build, automated deployment, automated test, automated tools.

By automating things you make your life and your team easier.

Use TeamCity, or any other automated tool you're comfortable with, then configure your solution projects and tests to be built and run automatically. You can configure StyleCop to be built against too.

Commit Code into Source Control ASAP

Assuming you're using a source control such as SVN, you should be committing code as soon as it's tested. If you leave the code to commit late, you will have to sort out the conflicts with the other people codes. Folders might have been renamed or removed, etc and it can become complex and time-taking if you leave it too long.

Make all codes to be reviewed by one other developer before committing code into your source control

This ensures quality + many other things

Add Code Trace Log Always

You should be adding code tracing log to all your applications so that you can trace exactly when what happens. It's also great for debugging. There are tools which help doing so such as Enterprise Library Logging Application Block, Log4Net or native .NET Diagnostics classes (Trace and Debug).

Refactoring Techniques

Always there is space to improve the functionality and design of your code. Read articles and books about the techniques.

Don't be afraid of making changes.

Have Immediate Access to Technology Resources

Searching in Google doesn't give you the best results always.

Make sure that you have some websites (such as codeproject.com and microsoft msdn) or pdfs (C# 4.0 features) that you can access quickly. This would be needed when you want to develop something that you're not fully sure or have forgotten.

Design Patterns

Learn about a new design pattern every month; when all are finished (which is never reached) review them all. See where you can use a design pattern in your code to improve it not to complicate it.

Read Books

Always have a technical book to read about the area you're working in.

Read Blogs/Articles

Every week spend time to read few relevant blogs and articles.

Object-Oriented Design Principles

It's highly important to develop your OO design skills further so right now you can set SMART aims! There are SOLID principles and some other important practices you must be a ware of. It helps you design your application in a more maintainable way and also it's important in interviews.

Process Best Practices

Sign Off the Requirements

No matter what methodology or process you use, one thing must be done initially. Gather the requirements, document them in a "Project Acceptance Template" and get the client or manager sign that off.

This must be done before any coding/design takes place otherwise there can be serious issues.

Always Record / Track Issues

Always use a bug tracking tool such as SmartTrack, BugZilla, etc to track all issues.

Follow In-House Coding Standards

Wherever you work, at a client site or your own company, they have coding standards; find them, read them and follow them.

Reduce Key-Man Dependency

Get people who know most about the project, document their knowledge so that if they leave, you have those information available. It can never be perfect but it's important to emphasize on documenting the knowledge handover or assigning more than one person to key tasks.

Setup Dev and Test Environments Like Production

Otherwise, there is a high chance of issues occurring on production which could be identified in advance in Dev or Test.

Presentation Skills

Develop your presentation skills, you are expected to provide presentations in your job. This will be more important as you climb up the ladder to become more senior or leader:

Learn well how to use PowerPoint
Provide videos; you can capture video screen shots easily
Be organized, prepare in advance
Have a Presentation Template in PowerPoint
Use technology
Practice Practice Practice and Get Feedback, Improve Yourself, then Practice Practice Practice
...

Communication and Relationships

Your Networking skills are as important as Your Software knowledge

No matter how knowledgable you're and how many books you've read, without the support of others you barely can get anywhere. Any promotion, help for your issues, supports you need require other people's willingness and attitude to help you.

If not more important, your networking skills are as important as your coding skills.

I'm going to write a separate article about how to build networking skills as a Successful Software Developer.

Know the Personality and Expectations of Your Manager

The fact is not everyone is the same so not everyone has the same expectation. You are responsible to make an effort to understand your manager and his expectations. Some are good with emails, some hate emails and you should get hold of them using face to face communications mainly or phone calls.

Know The Key People

Know well who are the decision makers where you work; managers, architects and leaders

Be Clever in Extracting the Information You Need

To do your job, you need information and that information is not completely clear often so you need proper strategies to get information from others.

It's a skill how to extract information from others.

1. List what you don't know as Questions and send email to people you think might know their answer.

2. Chat informally with other people to get information; this would look less like a formal request of information and people are more open to answer in this way.

3. Any important information must be confirmed in email otherwise people might change their words and thoughts

4. If you have time, read documentations, wiki notes, etc.

5. Build personal relationships with colleagues that are more easy going.

Don't Be Lonely

Find at least 1-2 friends with whom you can build personal bond - If you're lonely, you will be very weak and others might want to kill your credit/personality! Numbers are important - Build personal bond with least 1-2 colleagues, have fun and avoid gossips. We're stronger together.

Numbers count and give you more power, so build your network of colleagues.

If you feel everyone dislike you at work, find 1-2 people who don't dislike you as much as others and build your network with them; have fun and avoid rumours.

Resolve Conflicts by Arranging Personal Meetings

You might feel annoyed by someone at the office or perhaps you feel others keep gossiping about you. The best approach would be to have the courage to arrange a kind meeting with that person and discuss the concerns you're having. Use your negotiation skills to make sure that everything is communicated properly in a calm and friendly atmosphere.

If you keep put things under the carpet, it will certainly come out one day and when it comes out it might not be so nice for you. So take control and the initiative. Invite that person for a coffee :)

Ask their expectations clearly, listen well and express your expectations with caution always. Be ready to compromise on what can be compromised.

This is the best approach ever rather than keeping it to yourself and hurting yourself; also in this way, you will help the other person too because most probably the other person is hurt from you too and this would give a chance to sort things out like 2 mature friends who care about each other and the quality of their relationships.

Perhaps 90% of problems are misunderstanding because people are different in personality, thought process, understanding, education, background, etc.

Record any Important Information from your Communications with Your colleagues

People deny what they say; perhaps they forget or change their mind. So make sure that any important information is communicated via email.

If necessary sum up what they say and send them an email to confirm that is what they said. it has another benefit that you can make sure what you have understand is correct.

Make the environment easy; e.g. say I just want to make sure I've understood correctly.

Be Proactive in Communications

This is very important. Don't wait until someone asks you something to answer. Don't wait unless another person introduces himself/herself to you, don't wait until others invite you to pub, etc. Be proactive and be initiative in your communication whether it's about building new connections or maintaining existing ones.

Invite others for lunch, coffee, tea or a walk; at the same time accept other people invitations openly if you can.
Express your comments about what others say even if they're not directly speaking to you - 100% opposite to my background culture!
Arrange social events yourself

Be aware of your environment

Listen to what other people say around you. That's part of your job; be aware of your environment. Notice what changes are occurring around you and add valuable comments if you have.

Don't be isolated in your cave and just work hard. Only Working hard and coding is a very bad practice. Work hard and Smart.

Develop Debating/Negotiation Skills

You need to develop debating skills and know how to challenge others and how to respond properly when they challenge what you say. How to convince others and how to be convinced gracefully. Know with whom you can negotiate and how. Aim, purpose of the debate or negotiation should be clear for you.

Research about the topic and practice. It's also a very sensitive matter because no one enjoys to be proved wrong.

See The World From the Other Person's Point of View

When dealing with other people (Manager, Client, Colleagues, etc), always spend some time forgetting yourself and instead understanding the other person's desires, views, goals, aims, point of view, expectations, etc. This would enormously help you make the best decision what to do or say.

This helps you be tactful more easily because you understand how the other person might perceive you, therefore you speak only what is necessary; short and polite.

Supporting Your Future Career

In this section, I'd write what you'd need to be aware of to support a prosperious future.

Setup a Professional Online Presence

Personal website, LinkedIn presence, blog.

What is the purpose? Remember the purpose is solely to help you find the next job easier, remove all other contents which wouldn't serve this purpose directly.

Keep in Touch With Ex-Colleagues and Your Connections

Both you and them would probably benefit from this. Also, support your colleagues.

Have Your CV and Profile Always Up-to-date!

Your CV and online profile should always be up-to-date so that you can respond to opportunities immediately, otherwise the opportunities might be gone quickly.

This means that e.g. every other week while you still have a job, you should be updating your profile accordingly with the latest changes.

To be continued...

Service Locator Pattern

2010-05-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

It's a design pattern for simplifying dependency injection
The ServiceLocator class would be a singleton class whose object contains a dictionary of all dependencies in the project
the main point of using ServiceLocator is to make the dependencies easily replaceable at runtime
It can be used along with other IoC containers - IoC containers are good to initialize dependencies whereas service locator can help replacing the dependencies at runtime after initialization when needed

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff921142.aspx

http://simpleservicelocator.codeplex.com/

The problem with this is that if there is any ref-type property, this doesn't work. Which means every ref-type property must implement its own Equals.

Disk Drive Analyzer

2010-05-06T03:00:00.001-07:00

JDiskReport: http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/

Unit Testing With Moq

2010-05-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

Download from here: http://code.google.com/p/moq/downloads/list

API Documentation: http://www.clariusconsulting.net/labs/moq/index.html

Tutorials:

http://www.codethinked.com/post/2009/03/08/Beginning-Mocking-With-Moq-3-Part-1.aspx

WPF - Modal Popup

2010-05-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

WPF has a Popup control for this purpose:

http://bhaidar.net/cs/archive/2008/06/29/modalpopup-dialog-in-wpf-browser-applications-xbap.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.primitives.popup.aspx

http://roecode.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/wpf-popup-control-part-1-the-quick-and-dirty-way/

http://roecode.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/wpf-popup-control-part-2-user-controls-as-popups/

http://www.highoncoding.com/Articles/470_Introduction_to_WPF_Popup_Control.aspx

Your Class Regions

2010-05-04T07:12:00.001-07:00

According to StyleCop, the order of class members should as below:

Fields
Constructors
Events
Enums
Properties
Methods

Notes:

A class doesn't have to have all these regions, only those which are required.
You can use Ctrl+K+S to add a region snippet quickly.

VPS Hosting Solutions

2010-05-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Service:

VPS Hosting Solution
Windows-based; to host asp.net applications
SQL Server support

Service Providers:

http://www.serverintellect.com/virtualservers/

Too expensive
$99 a month

http://www.easyspace.com/virtual_servers

£30 a month

http://www.virtualserverwarehouse.com/vps-hosting-standard.html

£40 a month

http://www.vpsland.com/windowsplans.html

$20 a month; not sure it is reliable

http://www.webhosting.uk.com/windows-vps-hosting.php

£21 a month
Supports only 2 dedicated ip addresses; £20 a year per additional ip address

http://www.eukhost.com/windows-vps-hosting.php

£21 a month
same as webhosting.uk.com

Reverse Proxy Server vs Forward Proxy Server

2010-04-27T09:08:00.001-07:00

The difference between a 'forward' and 'reverse' proxy is determined by where the proxy is running. For example, your ISP probably uses a web cache to reduce its bandwidth costs. In this case, the proxy is sitting between your computer and the whole Internet. This is a 'forward proxy'. The proxy has a limited set of users (the ISP's customers), and can forward requests on to any machine on the Internet (i.e. the web sites that the customers are browsing).

Alternatively, a company can put a web cache in the same data center as their web servers, and use it to reduce the load on their systems. This is a 'reverse proxy'. The proxy has an unlimited set of users (anyone who wants to view the web site), but proxies requests on to a specific set of machines (the web servers running the company's web site). This is a typical role for Traffic Managers - they are traditionally used as a reverse proxy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_proxy

Programming Quotes

2010-04-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

The fastest code is that which doesn't run.

The easiest code to maintain is the code that isn't there.

We are stronger together; when planning together, design together, develop together and deploy together.

Make it easy to do things right and harder to do things wrong.

Sometimes there is a silver bullet for boosting software engineering productivity. But you need to shoot the right person.

http://www.linfo.org/q_programming.html

WPF Controls Supperted by .NET Framework

2010-04-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

WPF Controls supported by .NET Framework: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754204.aspx

XPS

2010-04-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

You can view or generate XPS files using XPS Viewer which is developed by Microsoft, whereas PDF is created by Adobe obviously.

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0

2010-04-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Training Kit:

Visual Studio 2010 Training Kit published containing presentations, hands-on labs and demos of new features of .NET 4.0 and VS 2010:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=752cb725-969b-4732-a383-ed5740f02e93&displaylang=en

Training Materials on Channel 9:

http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/vs2010/
http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/10-4/

New VS 2010 IDE Features :

Generate From Usage, Call Hierarchy, Navigate To Window, Reference Highlighting, Box Selecting and Multiline Editing, Docking Windows and Zoom, Extension Manager

VS 2010 Extensions/Power Tools:

These extensions are to improve developer productivity so install them:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/d0d33361-18e2-46c0-8ff2-4adea1e34fef

T-SQL Intellisence

2010-04-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

SQLAssist: http://roundpolygons.com/Purchase/tabid/414/Default.aspx

SQL Prompt from Redgate: http://www.red-gate.com/Products/SQL_Prompt/index.htm

Built-in Support in SQL Server 2008: http://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/content/content.aspx?ContentID=6968

SSIS

2010-04-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

Which Versions/Editions of SQL Server Supports SSIS?

As can be seen from here, only Standard and Enterprise editions of SQL Server 2005 support SSIS; Express and Workgroup editions do not support it.

SSIS Studio Environments:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms140028.aspx

Virtual Labs:

Video Tutorials:

http://www.sqlshare.com/channel.aspx?cat=c871236d-8554-42e3-8683-4d422356c0bd&page=0
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd299421.aspx

Downloads:

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Toolkit

Other Resources:

On MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/cc511477.aspx
On Technet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/cc510302.aspx
On MSDN Forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqlintegrationservices/threads/

How to Run a Windows Service as a Console App in Debug Mode

2010-03-29T03:16:00.001-07:00

1. Right click on your windows service project, go to the properties and change the Output Type to Console Application.

2. In the Main method of your Program.cs file, write the following:

static class Program

{

///

/// The main entry point for the application.

///

static void Main()

{

Service1 service1 = new Service1();

if (Environment.UserInteractive)

{

service1.RunAsCommandLineApplication();

}

else

{

ServiceBase.Run(service1);

}

3. Add the following method to your Service1 windows service:

internal void RunAsCommandLineApplication()

{

this.OnStart(null);

Console.WriteLine("The Service is running.");

Console.WriteLine("Press return to quit application.");

Console.ReadLine();

this.OnStop();

}

4. Install your service using the svcutil.exe tool or using a Setup project

Now you can run your windows service as a console application in debug mode.

Buy .NET Components and Controls

2010-03-26T03:19:00.000-07:00

Why buying? you might find what you want free:

ASP.NET Ajax Control Toolkit: http://www.asp.net/ajax/ajaxcontroltoolkit/Samples/Default.aspx
Visual Studio Gallery: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/

Commercial components from: