Archives
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Build Error on Line that does not exist
Can someone pleases tell me how one can have a Build error on a line that does not exist?
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My Favorite IDE feature
Check out this screen shot:
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More IDE (Windows Forms) Woes
So, about 25% of our Builds now require us to Delete our obj and bin folders to get a clean build. We can change the name of a control, do a Build and it fails with 10+ errors that make no sense. Stuff like 'variable not declared' when in fact it is. So, we delete the bin and obj, do another Build and we will get 0 errors but the MessageBox, "there were build errors" pops up. We do another build and all works. We code away, do 2-3 more builds, all is well, then, it happens again; the same 10+ variable not declared build error.
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Ted Pattison's Latest Book
I finished reading 'Building Applications and Components with Visual basic .NET' last night. All I can say is Ted has done it again. His COM+ book was great....this one is even better. This guy writes as if he is sitting in front of you, beer in his hand, just chatting away. I guess you could say he writes the way I learn.
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Strong Naming
So I finally got around to strong naming all of our assemblies with a company .snk file. All worked perfect when running the app from the IDE (as an exe). However, when running the app from the download cache (NTD which uses one remoted type hosted by IIS) I am getting very vague security 'restriction' exceptions. Digging into this but not coming up with a lot.
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Our Case Study
Microsoft has posted our case study:
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Paths are hard coded in project references
This one kicked me in the butt for about 10 minutes when installing a patch for a 3rd party dll. Check out this link if you need to install patches or updated dlls.
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Dating Design Paterns..what the!
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Google and Microsoft
In case you did not know, Google has a MS specific search site. This will limit the results to pages that are specific to Microsoft technology
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Debug --> Exceptions --> CLR Exceptions
I stumbled on this IDE feature today.
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Did you know: wincv
wincv is a windows class viewer that comes with the SDK. From a command window, simply type wincv. The output is 100% C#.
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UseMnemonic
This one kicked me in the butt for a few minutes this morning. We have a custom address label which was making ampersands in names access keys.
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Richmond .NET UG looking for speakers for 2004
We are lining up our guest speakers for 2004. If you plan to be in the Richmond, VA or surrounding areas (DC, Maryland, North Carolina) and would like to be a guest speaker, please let me know.
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Configuring Code Groups with code
I have been configuring code groups with the Configuration Wizard. Today, I finally got around to coding this up to run with our MSI. In our code, we needed two code groups on each client workstation, one for Intranet and one of Internet access. The below code demonstrates how simple this can be. So, no I do not have to do this manually on all client workstations.
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Framework Bootstrapper plug in now available
http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/workspaces/workspace.aspx?ID=2F8F0A23-F529-4158-8E0A-D187D16F41F1
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Meetup.com
Anybody interested in starting a .NET one here?
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AddNew vs. NewRow
These 2 methods have confused me for a while. I assumed under the covers calls to AddNew created a new DataRow, marked as Detached, just like a call to NewRow does.
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Our First .NET UG Meeting
Well, we had over 45 folks attend our first Richmond, VA .NET Users Group meeting. Many thanks to Fahrenheit Technology (http://www.hottechnology.com) for providing pizza, drinks and a home for the first meeting. We have an awesome group. Tons and tons of talent and enthusiasm. Mike and I are working on a guest speakers for next year. I you are interested in speaking, let us know.
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Has anyone read this one yet?
Ted Pattison's latest:
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For the Washington DC area listeners
Ted Pattison teaching Smart Clients? Wow, too cool, we are there.
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Happy Halloween
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Richmond, VA .NET UG
This is a weekly reminder that our first meeting will take place next Thursday - November 6th, at 6:30PM. The meeting will be held at Fahrenheit Technology (http://www.hottechnology.com). They are located at the following location in Innsbrook:4501 Highwoods Parkway, Suite 270Glen Allen, VA 23060Phone: 804-935-5600If you have any questions or need more directions, please feel free to let me know. Again, we will be having two guest speakers, Paul Ballard from INETA (International .NET Association) and Pablo Saez from Microsoft. Paul will be discussing some different facets of using Windows Forms and Pablo will be talking about cryptography. Paul may also be talking about some of the exciting stuff that he has found out at the PDC this week (Longhorn!)Once again, feel free to bring your friends. We are really trying hard to have a nice turnout for our first meeting. -
more cool stuff coming
Developer Tools Roadmap
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PDC Bloggers
In case you missed this feed, it is a good one:
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Business Logic in your Data Tier....what the!
I have been waiting for MS's position on this. Seems they have stated their position:
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Cobol to .NET
I have been waiting for someone to write this:
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Use a FCL Exception or create my own
I debate this almost daily. As an example:
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DataAdapter.Update...how to handle inserts into multiple tables
When users add a new record in our app, we need to do an insert into 5 sql server tables. This insert needs to run in a transaction, and, if one insert fails, we need to do a Rollback on all the Inserts. The first 4 inserts return keys that are used as part of the last insert. Meaning, prior to doing the last insert, we need the key values from the first 4 inserts.
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DAAB V 2.0 and Updates
This version adds code for Updates like this:
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Richmond, VA .NET Users Group is growing
We are pleased to announce that the Richmond.NET User Group has been accepted to the International .NET Association (INETA).
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And I thought my grammar was poor....
Just saw this exception for the first time
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Describing .NET to clients
I saw a blog on this recently, but I cannot find it now. Can someone refer me to the blog, or, in your best laymen words, give me a paragraph or two on how you describe .NET to your clients? This is to a client who is not technical.
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DataBinding and ReadOnly attributes
It seems most our our woes with DataBinding and updates\inserts have been related to ReadOnly elements in our schema.
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Lets welcome aboard a new blogger
He is not an ASPNetWebBlogger, however lets welcome Michael Richardson to the blogging community:
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'Newly Added File' and VSS
So, we have a handful of files in our project that we do not want to check into VSS. We see this pretty little red check next to them stating 'Newly Added File' and, every time we do a project check in, we have to make sure we unselect these files.
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Richmond VA .NET UG Domain
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Follow up: Richmond, VA .NET Users Group
Thanks for the overwhelming replies! Wow, never knew there were so many .Netters in the area.
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W32/Swen@MM virus
So it seems this bastard infected my machine sometime on Monday. I spent most of the day yesterday pulling out my hair and deleting fake Microsoft e-mails.
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.NET Users group in Richmond, VA
We are in the process of starting a .NET Users Group in Richmond, VA. All those interested, send me an e-mail and we will get you on our distribution list.
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Inheriting from DataTable
Has anyone else done this yet? We are using DataSet\DataTable types throughout our application. We would like to add a couple of custom methods to DataTable. Looking over the docs, I do not see any reason why we cannot do this. However, prior to writing all the code and implementing this only to discover a great reason why we should not, I'd like to hear from anyone who has done this or can tell me why we should not do it.
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When will we get a good IDE for .NET?
2003 is out, but when will MS release a .NET IDE that works! We spend, and I kid you not, 1-2 hours a day messing around with IDE problems, shutting down the IDE because it locks, shutting down or machines, staring at hang ups, strange build errors that magically go away on the next immediate Build, etc...
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Download cache follow-up
In follow up to my original post, per Microsoft the download cache is a LRU cache that will automatically clear the least recently used assemblies. You should not have to manually clear the cache.
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Download Cache is Full
This has not happened, but I keep thinking about it. Is this possible?
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Windows Combobox Controls that share the same DataSource
We have a states Datatable (50 US States) that has 2 DataColumns, 'code', which equals the state abbreviation, and 'codedesc', which equals the state full name. We retrieve the data for the DataTable from SQL Server at app start-up and cache it for later use.
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Yet more IDE woes
So today I am working in the designer on a windows form. This form has over 100 controls (tabs with controls). I am resizing a combobox when all of a sudden the IDE flips, flicks and bam, ALL of the controls on the form are gone! I shut down the IDE, reopen, same thing. I had to do an Undo Checkout to get the old form and lose all my work.
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DataBinding is simply too impressive
The more I work wioth databinding, the more impressed I am.
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DataRelations in the future
Anyone know if MS has any plans to allow us to return 'DataRelations' from SQL Server vs. building them ourselves?
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No more DLL Hell, replaced with Visual Studio Hell
I am grateful for no longer having to deal with COM and Dll hell. Now, instead I battle daily with the VS IDE 1.1. How many times a day do I see this:
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Catch exception When
Using a When statement on an Exception Catch has been an invaluable tool for us. We have a Try Catch Block where we only want to catch a certain exception when some condition is true, so we added a When statement like this:
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In reply to my 'is this a .net weblog' post
I received quite a few personal "I agree" replies, thanks. I want to address those that chose to flame away.
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Is this a .NET weblog?
I have not posted in quite some time. The main reason is I have become somewhat disenchanted with this blog (and I am swamped at work).
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'HACK:
I love 'TODO: for commenting
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So, do you Wiki
They are calling this Social Software
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Learning ADO.NET
I have seen a few questions popping up on LISTSERVs about ADO.NET. Mainly concluding that ADO.NET is more difficult when compared to ADO 2.6 and RecordSets.
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'Our' Wrox Book
It is nice to see I am now part of the 'Wrox Author Team' vs. being an individual....
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Windows Forms Grids
If you are building a Windows Forms App that needs to use grids, run, do not walk to Janus Systems and purchase the GridEX NOW! I do not work for them. I do not even know them. This Grid is MONEY and worth every dollar you spend one it. The support is incredible and the functionality built into this Grid blows me away every day.
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VS 2003 IDE changes a referenced DLL when more than one version is available
We have seen cases where the IDE, on a Build, will somehow change the version of a reference dll. An example is this:
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Harddrive crashes....
Well, it is gonna be a long day for me. Came in this morning to a dead machine. Good think I have nothing backed up...... :-(
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Good VB.NET book
I am just about finished reading 'The Book of VB.NET' by Matthew MacDonald. I also have his Windows Forms book.
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Long time, no Blogs
So, I have been quite the quiet Blogger. Been on vacation and we are also cranking away trying to get our first release out. We have been living in ADO.NET, BindingContext, Threading, Stored proc and User|Custom Control world. One thing for sure, MS got it right with DataBinding and BindingContext. Wow, how sweet this is and how much time and effort it has saved us. We are using Janus's GridEX for our Grids. All I can say is buy it now. Do not waste your time with the .NET DataGrid (WinForms).
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ADO.NET and Access
I see a lot of questions on ADO.NET and MS Access. This white paper may help some folks:
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Yet more VS 2003 Woes
OK, so I am really disliking VS 2003. I plan to purchase a stop watch just to see how much down time I have with stupid IDE hang ups! My favorites this week:
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Caching Application Block
Now this looks promising:
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File Ref vs. Project Ref
So, in follow up to my previous post, it seems there is a documented bug with Project References. This is caused by a bug in the compiler. In our case, it related to Forms inheritance. Our workaround thus far is to use File References, and, so far so good. Good news is MS will not count this against our MSDN incidents when you decide to close the case.
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VS .NET 2003
So, am I the only one totally frustrated with this? We are building a Windows Form application and went from MS VS .NET to .NET 2003 last week. The application loads and runs fine. However, the IDE is crashing all over the place.
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Moving to V1.1
So, we finally moved to VS 1.1 Friday. Initially, all tests were successful. This week, MAJOR problems and headaches. Windows Forms are dropping controls on Builds, we can 'Get Latest Version' from VSS and more problems I do not have time to document. We have spent probably 5-10 hours of down down trying to work these out. Problem is, this is V 1.0 code that has not been edited in months. Now, Builds fail, VSS fails....GRRRRRR
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Not .NET related, but too cool
Too cool not to share
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Database modeling and code generator
Looks like OlyMars is up and running:
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Passing of a pet
Since Scott asked us to keep the topics related to .net, I will simply say, for those who I have developed internet friendships with, one of our pets, unexpectly and suddenly passed away yesterday. Details are on my personal blog. I am in shock and I am grieving more than I ever thought I would.
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DataBinding
If you are building a Windows Form app, take advantage of Databinding. Learn all you can about this. If you can use ADO.NET types as your dataSources, even better. Wow, what a nice job MS has done with this and what a time saver.
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wmp9 test
test
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VB.NET and Heaven in the same sentence....
Wow, I have died and gone to...well, VB.NET Heaven
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Wrox Books
Seems APress bought the title to the Wrox book I co-authored, but as they state 'things are very confused'.
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overflow checking
You learn something new everyday. This link has been tossed around over the past couple of days. Within 5 minutes of reading it, I discovered a potential performance issue in our apps. That is overflow checking. As the article clearly states, turn it off if an overflow is not considered an exception.
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Collapsing|Expanding comments
A colleague of mine just showed me this. At the start of each method we have a standard look and feel for commenting the purpose of the method, the author, date written, modifications etc. Well, you can move these comments to outside the method signature and the comments will be collapsible! Pretty cool. Just make sure the comments are before the method signature and after the last methods End (VB.NET of course)
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Why do we blog...hmmm...really
I have been giving this some thought lately. Usually as I go through 200+ blogs to read every morning captured by Mr. Newsgator. Which ones catch my attention and why? Think about this for a few minutes. Why do you blog and why do you read blogs?
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Pay attention to "#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "
We are building a windows form app. We have approx 30 controls on one of our forms. One of these controls is a custom ComboBox which has about 10 custom properties that can be set at design time. The main ones allow one ComboBox to be linked to another one.
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test
this is a NewsGator test
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DataBinding, BindingContext and BindingManagers
I have spent the past 2 days trying to figure all of this out. Our app DataBinds to many data sources, all ADO.NET types. Mostly from one dataset, but in some cases, like our drop downs that load from a code table, they are not related.
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Updating Multiple DataTables inside one Dataset
I have been working on a generic helper class that, among other database services, will take a modified dataset that contains multiple modified datatables and do an update. Long story made real short, all worked well on the first DataTable update, but not the following ones. The Command was getting built correctly, however I kept getting exceptions that informed me the parameter passed in was not a member of the stored proc (the code builds the sproc name dynamically per the Datatable info).
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Been quiet, been busy
I have not blogged for quite some time. We have been very cranking out code. I have learned a ton lately. Cool stuff I have learned:
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Intellisense in the Immediate Window
I just read where we now have Intellisense in the Debug|Immediate window with v 1.2. Too cool. I have had this on my wish list for quite some time.
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Passing data between logical tiers
My thing today is questioning the typical model of passing data between logical tiers as result sets, xml, arrays, strings, etc. This Microsoft article does a nice job outlining other options.
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Boxing and collections
Standard, out of the box .NET collections store references of type System.Object. We have a structure that we add to a collection. We add approx 2500 structure types to this collection.
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First borns name
I come from a vb background. I am the classic business dude who later in life developed an interest in programming. I guess I am a Mort, although I truly do not know the definition of a mort. Unlike a Mort though, I am more of a 'why and how does this work', so I love vb.net, however I like to dig into the framework and the internals of what .net is doing for me.
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On picking vb.net vs. c#...I tell my clients...
Picking VB.NET over C# is a little like picking which Playboy bunny will join you in the hot tub—you can’t go wrong either way.
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J2EE vs. .NET
So, here we go again:
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For those shortcut keyboard folks out there
11 tips and tricks worth trying out
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DefaultValue on DataColumn
I think I have discoverd a bug when setting the DefaultValue property on DataColumn and serializing a DataSet.
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I have been quiet...
I have not blogged here in a while, nor have I blogged on my personal site. Why, two-fold. One, I just hired a .net developer and I have been very busy with ramp up and training. Hopefully, he will be blogging here soon, Bill Sanders.
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Driving and SmartTags...grrrrr
This blog entry got me thinking
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CommandBuilder...why and why not
I spent last week developing our data management layer. Most of my testing was done with the CommandBuilder. Although it is a handy type, I found some limitations, so I developed our own custom model. I wish Bill's article would have come out a week sooner:
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Nifty loop for databinding all controls on a form
I found myself databinding each control on my form one by one. To much time, too much work. Instead, I did this:
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System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection
I needed a type that could handle an array of strings who's size I never knew. The StringCollection type handles this very well and has some handy methods for looking into the collection.
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Smart Client apps and security
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Using a Dataset for datasource updates
It took me a while to figure this one out, but I got it. I now have a piece of code that allows me to databind a dataset to controls on a client. The client can then modify the dataset and the changes are persisted back to the datasource without using any config files or external files to describe the stored procedure being used (required paramters, param types, values, etc.).
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The Smart Family
I know we are suppose to keep our blogs related to .net, however this is truly unbelievable:
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The DataGrid Girls?
OK, I have now seen it all
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MSDN on TV
This looks good:
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Looking for a .net developer
I am looking for a .net developer to assist me on the application I am currently re-writing. I am looking for someone who is as passionate about .net as I am and who is not simply looking for a paycheck, 9-5 position.
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VB.NET XML Comments Creator
Frustrated that VB.NET does not offer an xml based comments documentation tool. Check this out:
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I did nothing this weekend...
I did absolutley nothing related to work or .net this weekend...I had withdrawal symptons for the first few hours, but after a few drinks and some sun, ahhh life was good!
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.rem or .soap and SAO
I never understood the difference when setting up Server Activated Objects. Mike Woodring cleared it up for me:
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Reg Expression Validation Web Service
This looks pretty cool.
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.NET Marketing Ammo
A little marketing material to share with your clients...
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Assembly.LoadFrom and Serialization
For those that have followed my remoting woes, I, with the help of Wes, figured it all out today. The issue was with deserialzing my structure arrays. I am passing an array of structures to my remoted object. I start my app with an exe that loads an assembly dynamically with assembly.LoadFrom. I next use a type defined in the assembly, a form, to test my remoted object.
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VB6 and VB.NET to C# Converter
You be the judge:
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Visual Basic Win32 API Declarations
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VB on TV?
I know we are the minority, but we are on TV!
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.NET Remiting, htto vs. tcp cheat sheet
Rocky was kind enough to send this to me last night:
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Referral from http://127.0.0.1:5335/system/pages/news
Anybody else getting this?
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Multiple Start Up Projects
I did not know one could build multiple projects under one solution and have them all start when you Run. How and where is the helpful? Simply change Single Start Up to Multiple then select the order. When devloping a Remoting Host Exe and a Test Client exe, code them under one solition, set them both to start up on Run and have the host start first. Too cool.
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Working from home and the pets
I am working from home today as I need to test access to our app via a WAN. I am stressing, screaming, kicking as nothing is working as expected. All kinds of learning to do regarding assembly.loadfrom and the CLR Loader.
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Do you ever code what you planned to code that day?
Is it just me or does anyone else come in with a plan "I will code this today" and by day's end, you have not even touched it; rather you spent the entire day doing research or learning something new?
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Related Reading
I keep seeing this:
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Trace and Debug
So I was a little slow to catch onto these types...I was still writing to text files and adding message boxes all over the place. Here is a decent 'How To' link for those interested:
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Free Hands On Labs
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Whidbey...I was in the dark
Just announced Tuesday, I am no longer in the dark
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Fat Datasets and Renoting
We are passing some fairly large datsets around using remoting with IIS as the host. We have seen a lot of performance issues with doing this. My research has revealed that a DataSet hard-codes the serialization as a diffgram regardless of the characteristics of the underlying stream. I have heard that MS recognizes the design issue with this and is working on doing something.
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Performance Tips
I stumbled on this today. Rather dated, but none the less worth looking over.
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Snob posting follow-up
In follow-up, I think it is important to remember this is a public forum and all of us on here are intelligent, well-spoken folks who wish to share their experiences, else we would not be blogging. I do not see where any good can come from a blog that suggests one is a lesser because of a language choice, or for that matter, for anything we do in our development lives.
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Mr Rogers
I was saddened to hear the news
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Sick and tired of C# snobs
Why do I continue to read blogs from C, C++ and C# snobs that have to degrade and knock down VB developers? http://dotnetweblogs.com/AKrowczyk/posts/post.aspx?ID=3126
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DevelopMentor Technical Book Series
Looks like DM is giving some of these away for free:
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What, another Microsoft bashing
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Serializing & Deserializing an Array of Structures
I banged my head on this for 2 hours yesterday. I am passing an array of Structures over http to a remoted object using the Binary Formatter. Well, seems there is a bug with doing this.
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Passing SqlParameters to a remote object by value...kinda
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KISS
I just read an article where KISS states pyro techy stuff is safe. Hey, if KISS says they are safe, then they are safe, being the pyro experts that they are.
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Blog Compendlum
I found this rather interesting
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Top 10 ADO.NET Tips
Nice article by Dino Esposito
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SqlClient Types and remoting
I am going nuts over here. First, I run into all kinds of remoting issues with SqlParameter types. Now, I discover SqlConnection types are not remotable!!
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Database Projects Template
I just discovered the Database Project Template in the VS.IDE. So far, it looks very nice for organizing and managing our database objects and integrating with VSS.
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Remoting with SqlParameters
So, I have developed a very nice data access component (SqlClient specific) that we have been using locally with great success. This week, I started testing using this same component remotely over http (IIS as the host). Some of the methods of this component expect SqlParameter types.
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Snow Photos
I saw Sam's photos....wow...we were suppost to get that In Richmond, VA. We did not...thank God. Sam, I can mail you my shovel! Lucky for us our neighbor has one of those all terrain things with a snow blade and he loves to plow!
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I am still here
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Data Access Portal
This is a nice sample on building a DataAccess portal. It also provides some tips (indirectly) on how a smart client can determine if it needs to connect to a server object locally or remotely.
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How quickly things change...
Sowe lost our T1 connection today. I am using an Erols dialup. I think I actually saw dust blow out the back of my machine when the modem fire up. I had to spray some ether in the back to get it to go. Wow is this slow. I can remember 2-3 years ago modem was all I had and I never paid much attention to how slow it was.
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VB6 Code Advisor
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COMInterop quirks
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To web service or to remote, that is the question
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My book came in the mail...
Its official, my book copies came in today's mail. Wow, it is pretty cool seeing your name on the cover of a technical book. Someone actually allowed me to share my thoughts and actually published them...now that is scary!
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Developer Tools
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Reflection...finally
Besides the LoadFrom method call for our Smart Client, I finally get another chance to use reflection! I wanted to create a data driven About form for our app. The current one is all hard-coded. Rather than read this from a table or xml file. everything I needed was in the assembly file. So, easy enough I do this:
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Hackers
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IIS is winning the fight
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Finally, a Smart Client 'Real' Example
I think I have seen enough 'Show Form' smart client\no-touch deployment examples...here is a more thorough one on smart clients.
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Be a Better Programmer
So, even you can be a better programmer.
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Bug Catcher
A .NET Bug Catcher?
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Music, books and memory
Why is it I can drop a CD in my CD Player that I have not listened to in 10 years and know every meaningless word to every meaningless song, but I can read a technical book tonight, and forget what I read tomorrow and have to pick the book back up to recall? Can someone out there start writing songs related to .NET? Would it not be too cool to navigate over to Amazon, do a search on ".NET CLR" and get 10 hits under Music!!
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Why do we Blog
I read brad's posting http://dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com/archives/002085.shtml and it made me think, why do I blog, why do others blog? I have to agree with Brad, it is therpeutic. I also keep a personal blog, http://dotnetrocks.blogspot.com/ , so my family and friends can keep up with Amy and I. Its almost like letting the world know who you are and what you are all about. I hope this particular blog will get me to blog more about .net, however, I have a long ways to go there!
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Another test
This is another NewsGator test
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Test
This is a test to see if NewsGator is working.
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Win Forms Custom Controls
I have spent the past few days setting up a template for building custom controls, using inheritance. It took me a while to figure this out, but, with the help of some gurus, I now have a nice template. Here it is for those interested. Simply replace the Inherits statement with whatever win form control you want to be your base. I also built a DefaultProperties class which allows me to set the properties for all controls in one place. I only have this working for Font so far. Bits and pieces of this are well documented, it just me a while to put those pieces together...yeah, I am a little slow!
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How Honored am I
Wow, how honored am I to be able to blog here with the true .net gurus! Hopefully I can post some interesting stuff that someone out there will find helpful or, at least entertaining!
