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Share Common Files in Visual Studio
Under normal circumstances, when you add an existing file to a project, Visual Studio makes a copy of the file, local to the project. This is good for isolating breaking changes, but not so good if you...
View ArticleWCF Contracts Defined
A WCF service publishes the operations that it supports by using a service contract. This contract defines the operations that the service provides, without specifying how the operations should be...
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ASP.NET Panel GroupingText Property
I discovered the GroupingText property of the ASP.NET2.0 Panel control today. When the property is set, the control actually renders a <fieldset> tag to group child form elements together with a...
View ArticleMaintaining GridView Scroll Position in an ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel
Sometimes, it is inappropriate to use the paging feature of the ASP.NET GridView. Instead, a scrolling grid is more applicable and enclosing the GridView in a <div> tag with the overflow style...
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ASP.NET2.0 Page Life Cycle
Whilst investigating the ASP.NET AJAX Client Page LifeCycle in my previous post, I also revisted the server side ASP.NET Page LifeCycle. The overview on MSDN is definitive but this splendid chart,...
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Software Estimation Tips
These tips are taken from Software Estimation – Demystifying the Black Art by Steve McConnell, published in the Microsoft Best Practices series. This book has proved to be an invaluable resource and I...
View ArticleAdd AutoCompleteExtender to ASP.NET AJAX Web Site
There are migration guides on the ASP.NET AJAX homepage detailing how to convert Web Sites originally coded against the Atlas CTP to ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 Beta2. Unfortunately at this time, the...
View ArticleSelect ListControl Value
The SelectedValue property of a ListControl can be used to select an item in the list. However, if no items in the list control contain the specified value, an ArgumentOutOfRangeException is thrown....
View ArticleDelete All Files Using Powershell
Where have I been for the last two months? Looking after my first son, Andre Ashton, born on 30th December 2006. I have however, been doing a phenomenal amount of work on Movie Maker in Vista, it's too...
View ArticleLong Running WebMethod
By default when you call a Web service method, the HTTP connection is held open until the WebMethod returns its value to the caller. In certain circumstances, where you may need to call a long running...
View ArticleCommand Prompt AutoComplete
From a command prompt pressing tab will auto complete a file name or folder. For example:C:\>cd win (TAB) becomes cd windowsC:\WINDOWS>cd sys (TAB) becomes cd system32C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>cmd...
View ArticleList Running Web Applications
IISAPP.VBSYou can use the command-line script iisapp.vbs, which is stored in systemroot\system32, to view any worker processes that are currently running.http://microsoftmiles.blogspot.com/atom.xml
View ArticleUtilise the Obsolete Attribute
Rather than just commenting out code that is deprecated, use the Obsolete Attribute to decorate types and members of types that are obsolete and will cause compiler warnings to be generated if that...
View ArticleLocation of Configuration File
If you're unsure where your .NET application is looking for it's config file, check the AppDomainSetup.ConfigurationFile property.This property gets or sets the location and configuration filename for...
View ArticleDon Ferguson Quotes
"There is no point in building the Emerald City without building the Yellow Brick Road; and you have to build the road first.""Vision without execution is...
View ArticleFavourite Archipedia Entries
Another Useless Acronym (AUA)Another Useless Acronym (AUA) or what can happen when partially formed new architectural ideas emerge.AutomagicallyWhen something has the capability to perform an...
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The Winchester Mystery House
I've recently been investigating architecture, more specifically SOA and came across an Architecture Journal book entitled SOA in the Real World. I'm unsure of the author but Chapter 1 is certainly an...
View ArticleLeadership Qualities
This excellent list of leadership qualities is taken from the 'Aspiring Architects' webcast series by Mohammad Akif.Ask thought-provoking questions that result in actionable technological patterns or...
View ArticleSoftware Architecture Concepts
I'm currently reading Software Systems Architecture: Working with Stakeholders using Viewpoints and Perspectives. I already think this is a book I should have read years ago! In chapter 2, the authors,...
View ArticleStakeholders Defined
This post regarding stakeholders is again inspired by and contains excerpts from the book Software Systems Architecture: Working with Stakeholders using Viewpoints and Perspectives. Software systems...
View ArticleThe Quality Reduced Product
I revisited the concept of the quality reduced product today when a product manager insisted that the software development team take a really low cost option. I reminded the product manager that the...
View ArticleSoftware Construction Analogies
Software construction is often compared with building construction. In fact, Steve McConnell devotes a whole chapter to software metaphors in his seminal work, Code Complete 2. In recent times, I've...
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Disable Shutdown Event Tracker
I have recently read a couple of blog posts that promote using Windows Server 2008 as a Workstation. To avoid potential integration issues, I always think it's a good idea to build applications on an...
View ArticleUpdate Default Visual Studio 2008 Project Templates
To update existing Visual Studio project templates, follow the manual instructions here. Should you wish to change the default templates, they can be found at:C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio...
View ArticleTesting Definitions
After a recent project meeting, I realised that the participants had differing interpretations of what is involved in each phase of testing. I compiled the definitions below to ensure the team are...
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