Archives
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ASP.NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 Enhancements
Scott Hunter brings a summary of the new features coming in ASP.NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. Learn why you'll never have to type runat="server" again!
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Controlling HTML in ASP.NET WebForms
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The Illusion of Persistence: Saving Test Data
I recently introduced the BookRepository, which is a set of a few classes designed generated fake data. The idea is that if you are writing a test or a demo and just need some data objects and don’t want to have to worry about the ins and outs of a real persistence layer – then the BookRepository is just for you.
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Productive Writing
A while back Scott Hanselman wrote about DarkRoom, a distraction-free writing environment. I tried DarkRoom for a while a number of years back, but quickly put it down in favor of all the features of Word.
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Silverlight: Live Mesh Integration, Surviving the Olympics and Future Expectations – Interview with Scott Guthrie
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Using jQuery to Call ASP.NET AJAX Page Methods – By Example
A commenter recently requested a more in-depth sample demonstrating the technique I used in my Using jQuery to Call ASP.NET AJAX Page Methods post. He wanted to see how you could use jQuery to send the contents of a GridView row to a WebMethod page.
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Poor Man’s Client Templates
Today I posted an article to my blog on the Infragistics site: Building an Ajax Master/Detail Page with the WebDataGrid.
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BookRepository: The Mock Data Repository for Testing and Demos
My schedule is packed lately with writing test beds and sample code for presentations. One of the problems developers face when creating code that is turned over to a third party is to answer the question: what do you do about a data source? Over the years we’ve seen efforts like Northwind, AdventureWorks and even recently the NotNorthwind movement crop up in order to create an easy-to-use relational database tests and demos. Often, however, developers just need data and shouldn’t be bothered with connection strings and other sorts of database setup.
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ASP.NET SEO
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Developer’s Guide to User Experience Design
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Using jQuery to Call ASP.NET AJAX Page Methods
I recently wanted to use jQuery to call an ASP.NET AJAX page method. While doing my research on Google I ran across this very helpful post by Dave Ward which shows you how to use jQuery almost exactly as I wanted.
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Silverlight 2.0: Beyond the Basics
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ASP.NET Caching and Performance
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4 Elements of Professional WPF Applications
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New ASP.NET Generated Image Control
The ASP.NET team released a new generated image control on to Codeplex today. You can download the bits here and read a very simple explanation of the control here.
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The Best 10 Years
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Hide Your Corporate Underpants - Using Personas in UX Design
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Installing .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1 - My Gotchas
I just finished installing SP1 for .NET 3.5 and VS2008. I thought I would share the hoops I had to jump through in the event it saves you some time. Actually the process wasn't too painful. Be careful to remain patient during the install process though - the installers churned VERY SLOWLY on my machine, but eventually I had a successful install.
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Learning to Build on Rich UI Platforms
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5 Ways to Know If Your Software Sucks
<p><a href="http://getpixel8ed.com/shows/sucks" mce_href="http://getpixel8ed.com/shows/sucks"><img src="http://download.infragistics.com/users/pixel8/images/pixel8podcast.png" mce_src="http://download.infragistics.com/users/pixel8/images/pixel8podcast.png" width="276" border="0" height="118"></a></p>
Listen to the Show!
<p><a href="http://suckbusters.com/">David Platt</a> is an author, speaker and developer who wants you to recognize that there is a problem in software interface design. Fear not - David is not alone. Computer World recently reported that "<a href="http://www.cw.com.hk/article.php?type=article&id_article=1617">the majority of end users (60 percent) find enterprise applications somewhat difficult, very difficult or almost impossible to use, hampering employee productivity</a>." Yes – there’s sucky software out there and it just might be in your source code repository!</p> <h3>Does Your Software Suck?</h3> <p>I am sure David may have 5 or 10 or perhaps 20 ways you can know if your software sucks, but the following are 5 ways I gleaned from our conversation:</p> <ol> <li><strong>Did you design from the toolkit outward or the user inward?</strong> Perhaps you are a .NET or Ruby or Java wizard, but does your proficiency in these platforms punish end-users? There are dozens of features in any platform that if not managed carefully can result in frustrating user experiences.<br><br></li> <li><strong>Are colors, motion and other visual elements used "just because"?</strong> Designers like to design and coders like to code. Professionals are drawn to their practice often because a sense of passion and desire for a creative outlet. This can be a problem though when software features bells and whistles where elegance and proactive design is more appropriate.<br><br></li> <li><strong>Does the user have to memorize dozens of menu hierarchies or key commands?</strong> Balance is always a problem in user interface design. How do you accommodate newbies without frustrating the power-users? No one said there are easy answers, but with a little thought many features can become apparent at just the time of necessity.<br><br></li> <li><strong>Do you use your final product to test out new design paradigms?</strong> This may seem silly, because people don’t think of what they do in these terms. Often a new feature is included a new build that passed QA and got the nod from the three other developers in the room – all to prove to be too confusing or simply out-of-place to end users. <br><br></li> <li><strong>Do users have to think about using your program?</strong> When someone is using your software, if they spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about how to use the software rather than the problem the software is hoping to solve – then your software sucks.</li> </ol> <h3>What Should We Do?</h3> <p>David’s advice is provocative. Instead of gunning off a list of do’s and don’ts David suggests the following remedy to sucky software:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Allow software engineering to split off from computer science in formal education.</strong> Software engineering is much more than high performance algorithms and compiler design. Areas of specialty like user interface design and user experience require a different need of focus all the while being in a close-knit relationship with the discipline as a whole.<br><br></li> <li><strong>Software engineering needs specialization.</strong> As hinted above no-one in this day and age can claim to be an expert general practitioner programmer. There is simply too much to know. When "back-end" folks aren’t expected to produce the front-end – then we’ve made significant strides.</li> </ul> <h3>Links</h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.codeplex.com/familyshow">Family.Show</a></li> <li><a href="http://uie.com/">User Interface Engineering</a></li> </ul> <h3>Books</h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Why-Software-Sucks-What-About/dp/0321466756/">Why Software Sucks... and What You Can Do About It</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Computer-Products-Information-Appliances/dp/0262640414/">The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution</a></li> </ul> <p><em>My favorite quote from David is when he uses "reptilian midbrain" in a user interface explanation without breaking a sweat! ;)</em></p> <h3>Progress in User Interaction Design</h3> <p>While producing this show I found an interesting post on <a href="http://techcrunch.com/">TechCrunch</a>, <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/29/microsoft-researchers-get-fancy-with-a-sphere-display/">Microsoft Researchers Get Fancy with a Sphere Display</a>. Here is a video of the demonstration.</p> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V3HGfIy_zCI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V3HGfIy_zCI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></object> <p>The "surface" appliances seem to be forging closer to the idea of having software that just works.</p> <p><a href="http://popularmechanics.com/">Popular Mechanics</a> did a spot on the surface table. In this video you see how wireless devices interface with each other using the surface table as an intermediary. The best part? You can take a picture on your digital camera and load it on your cell phone: no cables, no syncing and no hassle!</p> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kr1O917o4jI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kr1O917o4jI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></object> <p>The last video I have for you’re here is of the TouchWall. What I like best about this video is how they spend time explaining how the technology works.</p> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YPrfqdl55D0&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YPrfqdl55D0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></object> <p><a href="http://www.dotnetkicks.com/kick/?url=http://getpixel8ed.com/shows/sucks"><img src="http://www.dotnetkicks.com/Services/Images/KickItImageGenerator.ashx?url=http://getpixel8ed.com/shows/sucks" alt="kick it on DotNetKicks.com" border="0"></a></p>
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UI Decisions: Why & How
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ASP.NET MVC + ASP.NET AJAX
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Noe Excuses for Bad Speling
I recently created a number of screen casts that highlight the flexibility of one of NetAdvantage ASP.NET's controls - the WebSpellChecker. I share them here for your spell checking pleasure.
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Top Web Design Mistakes
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Developer's Guide to IIS7
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Full Disclosure Debugging
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Dynamic Data Deep Dive
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6 Steps to N-Tier ASP.NET Dynamic Data
Dynamic Data websites use a flexible template-based architecture that makes working with data driven websites a much more fluid process for developers.
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End-to-End Silverlight Development
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Sure, I'll Reformat My Machine for Your Software
Sometimes you have to wonder who is in charge of pressing the "publish" button...
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Architecting Web Scalability
<p>While at TechEd 2008 I had a chance to sit down with <a href="http://udidahan.com/" mce_href="http://udidahan.com/">Udi Dahan</a> and the architects of <a href="http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/velocity" mce_href="http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/velocity">Velocity</a>. Udi tells a story of what types of problems you may quickly run into while trying to scale your web applications and what you can do to help alleviate those problems. The Velocity guys give us and introduction to this new technology and tell us where we can find out more information.</p> <h3><a href="http://polymorphicpodcast.com/shows/scaletheweb/" mce_href="http://polymorphicpodcast.com/shows/scaletheweb/">Listen to the Show</a></h3> <hr> <h2 style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">"Enter Complexitor"</h2> <p><a href="http://caraworks.com/" mce_href="http://caraworks.com/">Scott Fletcher</a> does it again with a great new comic series. This week we are treated to the rise of Complexitor. This series is A LOT OF FUN - <a href="http://www.unthinkability.com/?cat=10" mce_href="http://www.unthinkability.com/?cat=10" target="_blank">check it out!</a></p> <a href="http://www.unthinkability.com/?cat=10" mce_href="http://www.unthinkability.com/?cat=10" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.unthinkability.com/comics/2008-06-18_IntroComplexitor_760.jpg" mce_src="http://www.unthinkability.com/comics/2008-06-18_IntroComplexitor_760.jpg" alt="Enter Complexitor" title="Enter Complexitor" width="380" border="0"></a>
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The Performance of Everyday Things
Each day we all use everyday things to accomplish everyday tasks. For programmers our everyday tools are arrays, loops and OOP constructs. We all use them, but are we all aware of the performance implications? In his talk, The Performance of Everyday Things, Jeffery Richter asks the question, "Do you know what goes on under the hood in .NET?"
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Rockstar Dynamic Data Customizations
Welcome to the Dynamic Data Scorecard series which shows you how to customize a Dynamic Data (DD) website beyond the traditional scaffolding demos. You will learn to use the DynamicControl inside a ListView to leverage the template-based flexibility of DD. Along the way you’ll see how easy it is to integrate third-party controls into the scaffolding system to make working with your data a simple process.
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Avoiding Ready-Fire-Aim UX Design
Adaptive Path’s Senior Interaction Designer Kim Lenox and Design Technologist Dan Harrelson share their experiences in how to think through the UX design process. Adaptive Path uses many tools to help guide their thinking like research-based design and injecting users directly in the design process.
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What’s New in ASP.NET for .NET 3.5?
On today’s show we chat with Devin Rader, Product Manager at Infragistics and co-author of Professional ASP.NET 3.5. Devin is responsible for the data source, user and server controls, LINQ, IO and modules and handlers sections of the book. We discuss the updates in .NET 3.5 and how they affect ASP.NET.
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John Gossman Architects WPF
John Gossman, Microsoft Architect for WPF and Silverlight, discusses his experiences watching WPF mature into the powerful framework it is today. John tells us about the trials and tribulations of building Expression Blend on a primitive WPF platform. He also discusses the value of the Model View ViewModel design pattern and gives hints on the best way to learn WPF.
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Introduction to Dynamic Data
Get started with ASP.NET Dynamic Data with some practical advice.
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Generic Access to ASP.NET Dynamic Data UIHint Attribute Values
Yesterday I published a post titled, Passing Arguments to a Dynamic Data Field Template from a UIHint Attribute. The purpose of that post is to show you how you can access the UIHint argument values in a dynamic data field template. Today I want to show you how to take the next step.
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Passing Arguments to a Dynamic Data Field Template from a UIHint Attribute
Update: Make sure to also check out: Generic Access to ASP.NET Dynamic Data UIHint Attribute Values
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Coining 'Ajax' and Seeing the Future
Craig Shoemaker talks with co-founder and president of Adaptive Path Jesse James Garrett about his experiences in creating the Elements of User Experience, the Visual Vocabulary and coining the term "Ajax".
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Update to Deep Zoom Composer
Helping to connect the dots a little easier when building a Silverlight Deep Zoom applications, the Expression team has released a new version of the Deep Zoom Composer.
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Smart People, Cool Clients & Surface at MIX
The saying, "the content isn’t what’s important at a conference – it’s the people" is approaching hallmark cliché status. The thing is with stereotypes, generalizations and clichés – they exist for a reason.
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What’s it Gonna Take to Get ASP.NET MVC to RTM?
While at MIX I ran into Mr. Phil Haack, Program Manager on the ASP.NET team to talk about ASP.NET MVC.
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Creating Immersive Silverlight Video Experiences
The web was a-buzz after MIX this year with the strong commitment the Olympic Games is making to Silverlight. The team demonstrated a stunning system that will perhaps for the first time make television on over the internet and on the computer not only a viable option, but a compelling alternative.
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WPF Designers Unite!
The Podder experience is about to get much more spicy!
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47 ASP.NET MVC Resources to Rock Your Development
Craig Shoemaker takes you on a tour of the best ASP.NET MVC resources available today.
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Why BSODs Make People Think You Are In Afghanistan
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Gu & Guy Speak, Controversy and MVC Contrib
Getting back into the swing of things after MIX08 has proven to be fun and productive. I have a number of podcasts that I hope you can find the time to check out. (It almost seems like we need to make our commutes longer just so we can consume all the new content that’s being created each week!)
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The Secret to Great User Experiences
Today is a landmark day. I am uploading the 50th episode of the Polymorphic Podcast all the while I get to announce the beginning of our new podcast series at Infragistics, pixel8!
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The Sweet Sound of a Million Microsoft Haters Heads Exploding
There was a time when you might not exclaim loudly that you are a Microsoft developer.
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Developer Face Off
There is a new developer face off going on over at CodeSqueeze: Scott Bellware vs JP Boodhoo. Exercise your democratic responsibilities and vote now :)
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Want to Read Microsoft's Yahoo! Acquisition Proposal?
So how, exactly, does one get a copy of an acquisition proposal from Steve Ballmer to the Board of Directors at Yahoo!?
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Podcast: Introduction to Volta
On today's show we talk to Live Labs Program Manager Dragos Manolescu [bio *] on the basics of Volta. Volta is a tier-splitting and re-targeting toolset for .NET developers aimed at taking the pain out of building distributed applications.
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Podcast: Debugging Made Easy
Josh Smith, former developer for the New York Times WPF reader talks to us today about his experiences in creating Mole, a debugger visualizer for Visual Studio. You can find details about Mole at http://moleproject.com/.
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WPF + MVC = :)
Josh Smith did a session at WPF Bootcamp in Redmond where he demonstrated using MVC with WPF. You can download his code here.
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Here's a Quick Way to Sound Smart a the Next Dinner Party
It's not often you run into an original blog in web dev/tech circles. I just subscribed to a blog today that is not only easy to read but showcases the rare art of aphorisms.
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Let's Meet Up at the Southern California Code Camp!
If you are in the Los Angeles area and have some free time during the weekend of January 26th and 27th the next Southern California Code Camp is being held at Cal State Fullerton.
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Podcast: Develop with Passion like Jean Paul Boodhoo
Today's show is a fun conversation I had with Jean Paul Boodhoo. I have great respect for JP as a technologist as well as someone who is willing to keep pushing himself to the next level. You don't meet people like this every day!
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Now You Can Listen to Podcasts Easier With This Cool New WPF Application
Josh Smith is a busy bee. If you don't know Josh yet you're going to like him because he is a prolific contributor to the .NET community. I'm not kidding - Josh boasts 40 Code Project articles, a blog and other community projects! (Josh, please let me know if you are ready to start that new hobby.)