Patrick Steele's .NET Blog

Castle Windsor: Turn Off Automatic Property Injection

Suppose you have the following component:

public class SomeComponent

{

    public IEmailSender EmailSender { get; set; }

}

Further, you're using Windsor for IoC and have registered both this component and an IEmailSender in the container.  Whenever 'SomeComponent' is resolved, it's EmailSender will automatically be set by the container.  If you don't want this behavior, you can tell Windsor, on a per-property basis, to not auto-resolve the property with the "DoNotWire" attribute:

public class SomeComponent

{

    [DoNotWire]

    public IEmailSender EmailSender { get; set; }

}

Source: Turn off property injection/resolution

New Language for 2010: Java?

No, I'm not going to pick Java as a "language to learn" in 2010.  However, I did a little Java development in 2009 (Blackberry, specifically) and was also the developer for the Blackberry version of the CodeMash mobile-application "MobiMash".

My journey into Blackberry development started about March of 2009 when I got my first Blackberry, the Storm.  One of the first things I wanted to get was a Twitter client.  I had previously used PocketTwit on my WinMobile device and wanted something similar.  In particular, I wanted to see the entire tweet.  At the time, the most popular Twitter client for the Blackberry I found was TwitterBerry.  However, one thing that annoyed me was the inability to see the entire tweet.  You saw as much as was possible based on your device's width and then a "...".  You would have to click on the actual tweet to get a detail screen that showed the whole thing

Image Source: Matt Stratton

I tried a few other clients, but at that time, the Storm was still somewhat new and not many apps supported the large touch-screen.  So I thought, "Hey, I'm a programmer.  I could write my own twitter client!".

I spent some free time over the next month or so (maybe 6 or 8 hours a week) setting up RIM's Java Development Environment and learning about Java on the Blackberry devices.  It's definitely an interesting platform.  I had frustrations many times, but overall, it was a fun learning experience.

My Results

I never finished my twitter client.  TwitterBerry was eventually updated to view the entire tweet.  And since then, other twitter clients for the Blackberry have emerged – notably, UberTwitter.  This is what I'm currently using and I like it a lot.

After I abandoned my twitter client, I wanted another project to develop for my Storm.  Any time my kids were around their uncle, they bugged him to let them play Flood-It! on his iPhone.  I checked out the game and realized it was pretty simple concept with a basic UI and decided to tackle that.

After a few weeks, I released my version of Flood-It for the Blackberry Storm called "ColorFILL" (yeah, pretty imaginative, huh?).  I've gotten some requests to add features to it and I'd like to get back to it someday.  I still play it from time to time when I bored.

MobiMash

My most recent Blackberry project was MobiMash.  The MobiMash website can explain in more detail, but it was another very fun project and allowed me to lean more about some advanced layout options as well as XML parsing and data persistence on the Blackberry.  One thing that was tricky with MobiMash is that I had to make sure it worked with both the Storm and non-Storm (Pearl, Curve, etc…) Blackberry's.  I wanted a single codebase so I had to resort to preprocessing directives – how 1990's!

Java in 2010

So I'll probably continue to play around with Java development on the Blackberry.  The 5.0 Storm OS has a lot of nice UI improvements to help your apps "pop" (probably due to the competition from the iPhone).  I'd like to play around with those.  And I may even go back and polish up the MobiMash UI since it was thrown together pretty quickly.  Custom controls is definitely something to learn if you want your Blackberry apps to stand out.

Using the CodeDom With .NET 3.5 Features

Here it is 2010 and I just noticed while trying to use the CodeDom features of .NET that it defaults to using the .NET 2.0 compiler.  You have to specifically tell it to use .NET 3.5.  Thanks to LukeH and a Stack Overflow question, it was an easy solution:

var providerOptions = new Dictionary<string, string> {{"CompilerVersion", "v3.5"}};

CodeDomProvider provider = new VBCodeProvider(providerOptions);

Yeah, I had to do some integration with some VB.NET code…

Live Capture of Log4Net Logging

I recently had to whip up a small diagnostics application for a client.  We were having some connection problems with a component so we wanted to wrap a WinForms GUI around the component and display some debugging information to try and diagnose it.

The component was already configured to do some logging using log4net.  The GUI was going to do some additional logging of status information directly in the UI.  The end result was a textbox in the GUI and a log file generated with log4net.  Not bad, but the client asked if we could log everything (specifically, the log4net output) into the GUI – i.e. a single place to review all of the log messages.

It took a little bit of searching, but I found an easy way to programmatically add a root appender.  All I needed was an object that implemented IAppender.  Since this was quick-and-dirty and I didn't have a lot of time, my solution was as follows:

The main GUI form implemented IAppender:

public partial class MainForm : Form, IAppender

This interface has a single method – DoAppend.  Implementing this interface doesn't give you all of the bells and whistle's (like PatternLayout or filtering– derive from AppenderSkeleton if you're looking for that), but since this was done in the interest of speed, a quick String.Format was all I needed:

public void DoAppend(log4net.Core.LoggingEvent loggingEvent)

{

    ReportProgress(String.Format("log4net - {0}: {1}", loggingEvent.Level.Name, loggingEvent.MessageObject.ToString()));

}

The ReportProgress method simple appends messages to a textbox in the GUI.

Finally, in my application's "main", I initialize log4net and then add the main form to the collection of root appenders:

XmlConfigurator.Configure();

var mainForm = new MainForm();

((log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.Hierarchy)log4net.LogManager.GetLoggerRepository()).Root.AddAppender(mainForm);    

Application.Run(mainForm);

Success!  My log4net messages now appear live in the GUI as the components logs them.

Know Your Context

Another home appliance repair story that has parallels to software development.

A few days ago, I opened the dishwasher to remove the clean dishes.  However, I noticed the dishes weren't very clean.  They still had some food particles left on them.  We'd never had this problem with the dishwasher.  Then my wife pointed something out: "Oh look.  The soap dispenser didn't open".

That explained the dirty dishes.  Now I had to figure out why it didn't open.  There's a release button on the soap dispenser so I pushed that in and the dispenser popped open.  I slid the door shut and opened it again.  I did this a few times to make sure nothing was sticking.  Everything looked okay so I ran the dishwasher again.

Later that evening, I checked and the dishwasher and the dispenser had still not opened.  So now I had a new item on my to-do list.  I hopped on the computer and went to Repair Clinic.com.  It's a great site that helps you diagnose problems with your appliances.  In fact, they had a section specific to my problem.  I was leaning towards a possible problem with the linkage mechanism, but it was late and I didn't want to start taking the dishwasher apart.  I'll tackle it some night later in the week.

At dinner the next day my wife made a small comment: "I fixed the dishwasher today".  "Really?", I asked.  Not that I'm saying she isn't technically capable of taking apart the dishwasher, but appliance repair has just been something she's perfectly comfortable leaving to me.  "How did you fix it?", I asked.  She smiled and said "It was on the wrong cycle.  It was set for rinse and hold."

Now I look back and think of all the time I spent researching a problem in which I had not taken the time to know the entire context in which the problem was occurring.  A simple check to make sure the dishwasher was set for the proper cycle would have identified the issue right away.

If you're in a QA field, make sure your bug reports accurately describe the context in which a problem is occurring.  If you're in development, make sure you know the context under which a bug has been reported to make sure you're approaching the problem from the proper angle!

Looking Forward to 2010

Yes, the first month of 2010 is almost gone and I'm just now getting around blogging about the past year and the year ahead.  I guess time management should be on my to-do list for this year?

The CodeMash Website

One of the coolest projects I've worked on in 2009 was the CodeMash website.  Brian Prince and Jim Holmes asked SRT if they wanted to help design a new website for CodeMash.  Brian will be the first to admit that he's an evangelist first, a developer second and a web developer third.  They gave us pretty much free reign to come up with a new idea as well as the freedom to implement the solution however we wanted.

We worked with a Inner Circle Media to help plan the new look and feel of the site.  They deserve kudos for the new look.  On the back-end, I used ASP.NET MVC 1.0 along with SQL Server, Linq2SQL and Castle Windsor for my IoC container.  We also integrated with the existing Sharepoint installation for sponsor maintenance, news and session submissions.  User registration was all done in SQL.

This was a great learning project.  Registering for a conference is usually a simple process (from the registrants standpoint).  On the back-end, when you're dealing with varying registration costs (based on the current date), discount codes, PayPal, and other things, it can get pretty complicated.  A large suite of unit tests helped us catch a lot of stuff in the beginning, but a few bugs slippped through.  Luckily, nothing major!

I want to also thank fellow SRT developers Marina Fedner and Ben Barefield.  Marina helped me out on the user registration portion and Ben was responsible for the REST feed that we all used for our mobile CodeMash applications.

Stepping Down from GANG

After being involved with the Great Lakes Area .NET Users Group (GANG) for many, many years (webmaster, VP and this last year as President), I did not run for re-election.  There were some other projects I was taking on and last year's vice president David Giard was willing to take the reigns of the group.  Dave did an amazing job last year as VP and is continuing to do great things with GANG in 2010.  I'll still be around to help out from time to time, but Dave is the man in charge now!

VSM's C# Corner

After helming Visual Studio Magazine's C# Corner for a number of years, Bill Wagner decided he wanted to devote his time to other things.  He offered my name as a possible successor!  I talked it over with him and VSM Editor in Chief Michael Desmond.  Everything fell into place and I'm now honored to be following in Bill's footsteps as a VSM author.  My first column has been published (Interface-Based Programming in C#) and I've got some positive feedback so far.  My next article is in-process and I have to have the first draft done by February 1st or I'll be on someone's naughty list (and it won't be Santa's!).

Microsoft C# MVP

I was pleasantly surprised on January 1st to receive an email from Microsoft telling me I've received an MVP award for my C# and community work in 2009.  Thanks to Microsoft and other community members I work closely with!

2010 Plans

• One of the big conferences for 2010, CodeMash, has already come and gone.  It was a great conference and you CAN NOT beat the price.  The amount of content and learning available is unheard of for the price you pay.  I'm already looking forward to CodeMash 2.0.1.1.
• In February, I'll be attending the MVP Summit in Redmond.  A great chance to get in touch with new technologies, talk with Microsoft reps and mix it up with other MVP's.
• Michael Eaton is already planning this year's Ann Arbor Give Camp.  I've offered my assistance again this year and will post more on this even as it gets closer.
• Speaking: I'd like to do more speaking this year.  While I usually get compliments on my presentations, I'm very hard on myself.  I may be a good speaker, but I want to be a great speaker.  That will come with practice.  I've got some idea's for presentations on topics I'm passionate about (specifically, Inversion of Control and Mocking).

I'm really looking forward to 2010!