Jeff Key

"..why it is so difficult to accomplish even the most modest business tasks with Java?"

This article is loaded with classic quotes.  Not everyone in the Java camp seems too impressed with the direction Java is heading.

"What’s the Deal with J2EE 1.4?" [Java Developer's Journal]
via
Alex Lowe's .NET Blog

NewsPage on every folder in NewsGator

You can have every folder in your NewsGator tree have its own NewsPage (the summary HTML page you get on your root folder) pretty easily, which is great for me since I have a number of folders and the default root NewsPage is a bit overwhelming since I have so many feeds. 

To set a NewsPage for a folder, simply go to the folder's properties, select the Home Page tab and set the home page to "%programfiles%\NewsGator\NewsPgSF.htm".  That's all!  (Here's a link with more information.)

Looking for VS.NET Add-In

I recall seeing a certain VS.NET addin several times of the last couple years, but now that I need it I can't find it.

Essentially, what I want to do is have the plugin notice when I type a certain combination of characters in the IDE and expand what I've typed to something I've defined in a template.  For example, when I type “dwsf” (or something similar), it will exapand it to “System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format(”.

Can someone point me in the right direction? 

Thanks!

Firewall as default in WinXP -- now

Interesting.  I had to create two new connections on my XP machine yesterday:  One DSL and one dial-up.  The odd bit is that both had the firewall enabled by default.  I heard that MSFT was considering this for SP2; looks like they've already done it in one of the hotfixes.  Could be they're considering firewalling existing connections, but whatever the case, I like it.

Has anyone else seen this?

Three new VS.NET shortcut keys for the mental toolbox

I love shortcut keys.  Today I learned of three new ones I'm looking forward to using soon:

CTRL+I:  Incremental search.  Finds what you type as you're typing it.

Shift+ALT+Enter:  Full screen mode.  Sometimes I have to work in a smaller resolution than I'd like and this will definitely come in handy.

CTRL+R, CTRL+R:  Word wrap.  Probably won't use this much, but good to know.

Visual Studio.NET - Top 10 Code Editor Tips and Tricks

via

Word-wrap in Visual Studio [Tosh]

TextBoxBalloonTip class

Turns out there's a really easy way to display a balloon on a TextBox on Windows XP.  I wrote a class that encapsulates it.

TextBoxBalloonTip class [sliver]

MSDN .NET documentation wish (Xml docs, too)

I would love the addition of an optional tag in XmlDocs and particularly in the .NET Framework documentation.  It would be used for any performance-related notes.  It's generally accepted that properties are lightweight and methods are not, but HOW expensive are these?  Do they do their own caching or must we?

Take the System.Environment.OSVersion property.  The first time it's called it calls the Win32 GetVersionEx and caches the result for subsequent calls.  Thanks, .NET Framework, for caching that for me, but I had no idea you were doing it until I looked at the decompiled source.

What else in the framework is helping me out?  I have no idea.  I could be caching stuff all over the place that isn't necessary. 

Is this a reasonable request?

BYO data type

It's not often you need to make a custom data type, but when you do, the options available to you in C# make it really easy.  I had to do such a thing a few weeks ago for a personal project and posted the source on my website.  Some of the fun things you can do:

Base62 num = "10";   // Results in an int value of 62
num == 62       // True
num == "10"     // True
num < 63        // True
num < "Z"       // False
num + 1 == 63   // True
num + "1" == 63 // True

View unhandled exceptions with $exception

Wow, the things we overlook.  I haven't used the Locals window since the beta days.  Found it was easier (and often quicker) to get what I wanted from the Command/Immediate window.  Oh, what I've missed!

Turns out that when an exception is thrown and the debugger breaks into your code you have a special reference called “$exception” that is, you've guessed it, the exception!  No more stopping what you're doing, wrapping the naughty code with a try/catch to get your error info, then removing the try/catch to continue.  Joy!

Free PCs!

Well, however many you can fit in RAM. 

Microsoft has released Connectix's final version of Virtual PC for download.  Thanks goodness; my Virtual PC and VMWare trials expired..

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