C#, VS Deployment and all geek talk : VS2005

My Faq on "hashtable lookups for struct types" is published at http://blogs.msdn.com/CSharpFaq

Vipul Patel — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:48:00 GMT

Check out

http://blogs.msdn.com/csharpfaq/archive/2006/03/20/556192.aspx

for a FAQ on Hashtable lookup for value types.

My articles on "Anonymous types" is up

Vipul Patel — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:54:00 GMT

Check out http://www.developer.com/net/csharp/article.php/3589916 for my article on "Anonymous Types", This cool new feature coming in C# 3.0 is surely going to go places.

Codeguru also contains the same article at http://www.codeguru.com/csharp/csharp/cs_misc/designtechniques/article.php/c11551/

Next stop, extension methods.

Guidelines on clean up code

Vipul Patel — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 19:14:00 GMT

Many a times, we use the catch block inside the try catch block for our clean up code.

Something like

try

{

// Do something

}

catch

{

// work failed, clean up code here
}

Rather than the above approach of using the catch block, it would be nicer to use the finally block, something like

bool workSuccessful = false;

try

{

// do some work

workSuccessful = true;

}

finally

{

if(!workSuccessfull)

{

// cleanup code here.

}

There is elegance in the latter method and I would certainly recommend that approach, if you cannot use "using". See below for details.

PS: Use this approach only if better alternatives are not available. One of the automatic cleanup approaches available with C# is the using construct.

Something like,

using (TextReader tr = new StreamReader("FileName"))

{

// do my work here.

}

The “using” construct automatically clean up the unmanaged resource (TextReader) once the block has completed execution.

In the event that you cannot use "using", the try-finally approach would be the best way.

Visual Studio Service Pack WebSite

Vipul Patel — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 01:51:00 GMT

Visual Studio.NET Service Packs are due this year, but their site is up already (The site clearly mentions it is still in process)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/support/servicing/default.aspx

Visual Studio 2003 Service Pack 1 ships Q2, 2006

Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 ships Q3, 2006

.NET Tip - Getting logged in user name in ASP.NET web application

Vipul Patel — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 22:30:00 GMT

Frequently we desire to autopopulate some fields on our web form with the current logged in username and domain.

How to get that information?

Well, User.Identity.Name comes to the rescue.

Set the text property of the field to User.Identity.Name and it will show the logged-in username prefixed by the domain information

Visual Studio Tip of the day - Refactoring - Extracting method

Vipul Patel — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:39:00 GMT

You notice that you have a chuck of code which could easily be transitioned to a new function. How tdo you do that?

Again, Visual Studio Refactoring menu comes to the rescue.

Suppose you have the following code in your function

public void Myfunc()

{

Console.WriteLine("a");

Console.WriteLine("b");

Console.WriteLine("c");

// Do some processing here.

Console.WriteLine("a");

Console.WriteLine("b");

Console.WriteLine("c");

}

We realize that code containing Console.Writeline is replicated. Select one set of the Console.Writeline instructions and right click > Refactor > Extract Method...

Type the name of the new function you want to create containing the selected lines and Click OK.

A new method containing the selected lines is created. So your code will look like

public void Myfunc()

{

NewMethod();

// Do some processing here.

Console.WriteLine("a");

Console.WriteLine("b");

Console.WriteLine("c");

}

private static void NewMethod()

{

Console.WriteLine("a");

Console.WriteLine("b");

Console.WriteLine("c");

}

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl R + Ctrl M

Cavaet: You will have to delete the second set manually as currently VS editor is not smart enough to replace all the occurances of the selected lines. Maybe in the next version we can get that feature.

VB gets a LINQ equivalent

Vipul Patel — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:26:00 GMT

With the release of the LINQ CTP for Visual Basic, VB matches C# tooth and nail (purely from the LINQ perspective)

CTP version features Intellisense, Dlinq support, support for XML literals,

Download link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/future and http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/future/linq/default.aspx

How to: Determining programmatically if DLL is registered

Vipul Patel — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:02:00 GMT

Here is a C# code snippet to determine if a particular DLL is registered or not.

[DllImport("kernel32")]

public extern static int LoadLibrary(string lpLibFileName);

[DllImport("kernel32")]

public extern static bool FreeLibrary(int hLibModule);

public bool IsDllRegistered(string DllName)

{

int libId = LoadLibrary(DllName);

if (libId>0) FreeLibrary(libId);

return (libId>0);

}

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/asanto

Visual Studio Tip of the day - Format Document

Vipul Patel — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 22:35:00 GMT

Time and again we write code and our brackets get out of visual sync, i.e. they no longer appear as a coherent set even though they may be.

In Visual Studio, there is a feature known as Format Document which will align the code systematically.

It can be invoked by the key combination of Ctrl K + Ctrl D

Suppose you code looks like

namespace LogFileCheck

{

class Program

{

static void Main(string[] args)

{

TextReader sr = new StreamReader("mb20051116_05000600_BAYTRARPT03_k.msn.com_w3svc10000.log", Encoding.UTF8);

TextWriter writesr =

new StreamWriter("mb20051116_05000600_BAYTRARPT03_k.msn.com_w3svc10000_csResult.log",

false, Encoding.UTF8);

while (sr.Peek()

!= -1)

{

string line = sr.ReadLine();

if (Regex.IsMatch(line, "&di=78") && Regex.IsMatch(line, @"([^,]*,){19}66"))

writesr.WriteLine(line);}

sr.Close();

writesr.Close();

}

Press the magic keys Ctrl K + Ctrl D and voila, all your code looks pretty organized as under:

namespace LogFileCheck

{

class Program

{

static void Main(string[] args)

{

TextReader sr = new StreamReader("mb20051116_05000600_BAYTRARPT03_k.msn.com_w3svc10000.log", Encoding.UTF8);

TextWriter writesr = new StreamWriter("mb20051116_05000600_BAYTRARPT03_k.msn.com_w3svc10000_csResult.log", false, Encoding.UTF8);

while (sr.Peek() != -1)

{

string line = sr.ReadLine();

if (Regex.IsMatch(line, "&di=78") && Regex.IsMatch(line, @"([^,]*,){19}66"))

writesr.WriteLine(line);

}

sr.Close();

writesr.Close();

}

Want to format only a small selected section of the dirty code? Select the area you want to format and press Ctrl K + Ctrl F.

Visual Studio 2005 - A Guided Tour

Vipul Patel — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 00:30:00 GMT

Want to learn more about Visual Studio 2005.

MSDN magazine folks have come up with a new issue dedicated solely to the new IDE.

Check it out online at http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/00/default.aspx

Enterprise Library for .NET Framework 2.0 released

Vipul Patel — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 00:25:00 GMT

Wohoo! Enterprise library for .NET Framework 2.0 has just been released.

More details at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/EntLib2.asp

Direct download link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5A14E870-406B-4F2A-B723-97BA84AE80B5&displaylang=en

Visual Studio Tip of the day - Bookmarks

Vipul Patel — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 00:10:00 GMT

How often do you wish that you could put a mark at a particular location in your source code and then switch to that point with a simple click?

With Visual Studio, you can do that with the help of bookmarks.

A bookmark is a virtual placeholder which notes the position where you place one and you can quickly go to that position from anywhere in your source files by just a few keyboard clicks.

How to define a bookmark?

To create a bookmark, press Ctrl K + Ctrl K

This creates a book mark in the code. This is indicated by a blue button like indication on the left side of the line where you placed the bookmark.

Now to switch bookmark from any portion of your code, just press Ctrl K + Ctrl N

To go to previous bookmark, press Ctrl K + Ctrl P

To unmark a particular bookmark, navigate to that bookmark and press Ctrl K + Ctrl K (yes, this is the same combination you used to create a bookmark, what you are currently doing is toggling a bookmark)

To clear all your bookmarks, press Ctrl K + Ctrl L

If you have many files in your current folder and you want to navigate to the next bookmark in the folder, the shortcuts for next bookmark in folder is Ctrl Shift K + Ctrl Shift N and the previous bookmark in folder is Ctrl Shift K + Ctrl Shift P

All the above options are also available from the menu, Edit > Bookmark > ….

If you want to see all the bookmarks in one window, Go to View -> Bookmark Window (Ctrl K + Ctrl W). And click on the bookmark you want to go to.

Happy coding.

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Incremental search - VS2005

Vipul Patel — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 20:05:00 GMT

One of the lightly used features of VS2003 and VS2005 continue to be Incremental search. Developers usually know the text which they are searching for.

Due to lack of awareness of the VS editor features, I have seen many a developers editing code in TextPad and other editors.

If you know the exact text which you are searching for, you can use the incremental search feature of Visual Studio.

Press Ctrl + I. and start typing the text you are looking for. Your cursor will start to look like binocular facing downloads, and the first text matching the pattern will be selected. As you keep typing the complete text, the selection will jump to the location with contains the complete text. The status bar will contain the text you are looking for.

Hot keys:

Start Incremental Search: Ctrl + I

Made a mistake in typing: Hit Backspace till the wrong text is removed

Found the text you were searching for: Hit Escape

Change the search direction: Ctrl + Shift + I

Visual Studio Live

Vipul Patel — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 01:26:00 GMT

With Visual Studio Live being discussed in the developer circles, a natural question arises. What do developers think of when they hear about Visual Studio live? Darryl K. Taft has an articles dedicated to this at http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1912035,00.asp.

Here are the top demands:

Pair programming: A developer could work with a co-worker, without the coo-worker being actually with him physically.
Hosted VSTS: Another idea being popped around is that of Hosted version of VSTS (Visual Studio Team system). Boy oh boy. if we could have these [;)] it would be fantastic. Small businesses would not have to look for high performance machines to work with the pletoroa of benefist offered by VSTS. Keep it coming developers.

VS2005 for VB guys

Vipul Patel — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 20:11:00 GMT

Guys still in VB world can check out

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnvs05/html/VB05forVB6.asp

and see whats there for them in VS2005.

esp. Form1.Show works again...

FYI: System.Web.Mail is deprecated use System.Net.Mail

Vipul Patel — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:50:00 GMT

While we are on the topic of System.Web.Mail, it is important to note a new namespace in version 2.0 of the .NET Framework. There is a brand new namespace for sending mail via managed code, it is called System.Net.Mail. Have no fear, System.Web.Mail is still accessible in v2.0 but it is deprecated. (Which means v2.0 won't break your code but you should strongly consider using System.Net.Mail in new development.) The documentation for System.Web.Mail is updated to reflect this.

Absolute Beginner's Video Series to Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions

Vipul Patel — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:45:00 GMT

Do you have some students who want to learn Visual Basic .NET or C# on their own? Or perhaps you want to learn them as part of your own professional development. Well if so, Microsoft has a free series of lessons for absolute beginners. They look pretty good to me. I am sure that may others will find them useful as well.

Visual Basic Express - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/learning/default.aspx

Visual C# Express - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/learning/default.aspx

Why Upgrade to Version 2.0 of the .Net Compact Framework?

Vipul Patel — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:41:00 GMT

Steven Pratschner, Program Manager, .NET Compact Framework, lists down reasons why one should upgrade ot the latest version of the .NET compact framework.

Highlights:

Applications run faster
Developers are more productive
Developers are more productive
Developing secure applications is much easier
Access to Data is faster and more scalable
Developers can build more sophisticated user interfaces
Platform stability and security continues to increase

Need more information? Check out his blog post at https://blogs.msdn.com/stevenpr/archive/2005/11/30/498481.aspx

WinFX November CTP Released!

Vipul Patel — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:35:00 GMT

Download links

WinFX Runtime Components (Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation)
WinFX SDK (documentation and command-line tools)
VS2005 Extensions for WinFX Runtime Components (templates and IntelliSense for WPF and WCF in Visual Studio 2005)
VS2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation (templates and IntelliSense for WF in Visual Studio 2005)
WinFX RC Nov CTP “Readme” (general notes and warnings)

Developer Blogs to watch out for

Vipul Patel — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:03:00 GMT

With a plethora of blogs floating on the internet, it is hard to find the blogs which make a difference. Below is a collection of blogs of authors whose books we have read and blogs of people who make the technology.

I spent some time to find out such information and post it so that it will be useful for people who want to hear (read) from the horse's mouth.

Below are the links of blogs of personalities whose blogs I find interesting to read:

Name	Covers	Blog Link	RSS	Atom
Charles Petzold (Windows programming guru)	Windows programming, C#, Indigo	http://www.charlespetzold.com	RSS
Don Box	Windows Architech (Microsoft)	http://www.pluralsight.com/blogs/dbox/default.aspx	RSS
Stanley Lippman	C++ guru	http://blogs.msdn.com/slippman/	RSS	Atom
Somasegar	Corporate VP, DevDiv, Microsoft	http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/default.aspx	RSS	Atom
Brad Abrams	CLR, .NET	http://blogs.msdn.com/brada/	RSS	Atom
Scott Hanselman	ASP.NET guru	http://www.hanselman.com/blog/	RSS	Atom
C# Faq	C#	http://blogs.msdn.com/csharpfaq/	RSS	Atom
Sahil Malik	ADO.NET	http://codebetter.com/blogs/sahil.malik/	RSS	Atom
Robert Scoble	Various Technology	http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/	RSS
Larry Osterman	Core technlogies	http://blogs.msdn.com/larryosterman/	RSS	Atom

There are many others whose blogs I read and I will be updating this site as soon as I get some time. If you feel that there is more to the list, please leave me a comment and I will check it out.

Who’s who in the list above:

Charles Petzold: The guru of Windows programming. Since Windows 3.1, he has been writing books on Windows programming. If anyone can talk on Windows programming, he can.

Don Box: The architect of the next version of Windows (Vista) and the geek (not Greek) mythology that shadows it can be answered by him and him only. When not confusing (enlightening) me on the future of Messages & designing the next generation of Windows, he takes time to write a blog and is quite humorous in his style.

Stanley Lippman: C++ guys should watch out for his blog

Somasegar: When the Corporate VP of Developer Division at Microsoft writes, the developers across the blog read, coz what he writes about affects their bread and butter. His is the blog to look out for happening in the Microsoft Developer Tools camp.

Brad Abrams: No one speaks of the CLR internals with as much clarity as the Lead Program Manager of CLR team at Microsoft.

Scott Hanselman: ASP.NET guys and .NET developers in general cannot afford to miss this blog. His post in the questions every .NET developer should know (link) should be familiar to anyone appearing for interviews for .NET positions.

C# FAQ: The C# team at Microsoft has a FAQ blog, which is updated by C# team and C# MVPS.

Sahil Malik: Kiss-ass attitude is what I like about his blog. His latest book Professional ADO.NET 2.0 is selling wonders. His language may be rough, but he gets his point across.

Robert Scoble: Think blog! Meet Robert Scoble. No, RSS does not stand for Robert Scoble Syndication, but this guys writes all about Microsoft, good and bad. Hats off to him.

Larry Osterman: His is a very geeky blog and he explains everything in detail.

Comments are very welcome and if my limited reading should be expanded, please mention who I missed in this list.

PS:.As I am writing this, I know Robert will scold me for not formatting it nicely. Sorry Robert, but I am a HTML dummy.