Datagrid Girl

Marcie, ASP.NET Datagrid Blogger Girl

VS.NET Likes & Dislikes

Those who know me very well professionally (or who go to my User Group presentations), know that I code everything in TextPad. But, I generally use whatever my clients are using, so I have used VS.NET some in the past.  This week I was working closely with two different clients who use it (VS), so I spent a lot of time in it.

Likes:

  • Press "Play" to run the app.  That's cool, saves me having to go type in the URL.
  • Intellisense (most of the time).  Other times it just irritates me.
  • I almost really liked the Datagrid Property Builder, but there are a couple of obvious things that could improved.  For one, when you convert a column to a TemplateColumn, or work with any columns that already are TemplateColumns, the Edit Template option should be right there (duh).
  • Database Server Explorer thingy.  Handy.
  • Automatic generation of proxies for consuming web services.
  • I'm actually indifferent to debugging, I'm so accustomed to using Trace for debug information.
  • I'm also indifferent to codebehind, I don't really care whether my script is in the same file as my HTML, or whether it's separate.

Dislikes:

  • All the boxes of "stuff" around my code.  I did VB 5 and 6 for about 5 years, so I'm used to the IDE, but TextPad has spoiled me into wanting my coding area maximized.  Particularly since I write more than half of my code on a small laptop screen, I want/need this space.
  • The database code VS generates.  Ugh.
  • "Messing with" my HTML code.  Even when you turn off all the formatting options, there are still some strange things going on here.
  • Kinda slow.  (This is VS.NET 2002 I'm working with, haven't tried 2003)
  • AutoEventWireup = "False".  I like AutoEventWireup, don't default it the other way, please.
  • Front Page Server Extensions (FPSE)
  • Any kind of wizard that generates code for me.  I'm too picky, don't even try :)
  • The HTML code generated not being XHTML compliant--this makes me insane!!!
  • Absolute positioning (GridLayout) by default.  Just a personal preference, but I don't like this.

Happy Datagridding!
Posted: Apr 18 2003, 08:46 AM by datagridgirl | with 8 comment(s)

Comments

Mike Gray said:

Related to GridLayout, I hated this too. Right click on your project in VS.NET, goto Properties, open Common Properties, goto Designed Defaults, change Page Layout to Flow. Any new files you create within the project will now default to Flow layout. Would be better to have a global setting...
# April 18, 2003 10:19 AM

Chad Osgood said:

As I've said in the past, I think knowing how to do things by hand is a good thing indeed. I'm often criticized for my love of doing things in UltraEdit. I've tried TextPad, MultiEdit, and a handful of others; I always come back to UltraEdit. I mostly agree with you with the exception being code-behind; I still always do code-behinds in UltraEdit.
# April 18, 2003 11:23 AM

TrackBack said:

vstudio and blutter : Andy Smith's Blog
# April 18, 2003 11:46 AM

TrackBack said:

Two VS.NET ASP.NET tweaks : IDunno
# April 18, 2003 11:46 AM

Nino Benvenuti said:

Yay! Another TextPad user. =) (did you know that TextPad 5.0 is going to be written (AFAIK) in C#?)

Living in VS.NET on a laptop that will only do 1024x768 (work issue, not my choice), I share your real estate pain too. Two options: Auto-hide all the windows or Shift-Alt-Enter to go into Full Screen mode.

hth,
Nino
# April 18, 2003 3:21 PM

Samer Ibrahim said:

Like Nino said you can unpin your windows to gain real estate. Personally I unpin all of mine. Here are some tips from Chris Sells that might make your life with VS.NET easier [0]

Also, just as an FYI, AutoEventWireup="false" by default for optimization. AutoEventWireup is less efficient than overriding the event methods in the base class or subscribing to the events. You rely on the runtime to find your Page_Load, Page_PreRender, etc methods.

-Sam


[0] http://www.sellsbrothers.com/spout/default.aspx?content=archive.htm#vs.netfunfacts
# April 18, 2003 4:58 PM

John Lemp said:

I'm a HUGE Textpad fan also. There are so many simple things that VS could learn from that program. Like block select mode, fill block and quick highlighting a word and using ctrl-f/ctrl-shift-f to jump around. I think the think that bothers me the most in VS is that if you hit ctrl-c with nothing selected, it will copy nothing and wipe your clipboard. What use could that possibly be, aside from driving you crazy.

# May 7, 2003 9:51 PM

TrackBack said:

xL8 - Grant Carpenter
# August 4, 2003 12:14 AM
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