tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70784834121843524682019-05-19T02:12:32.197-07:00A blog by Carl Bartlett, Software Developer and Comic Book GeekUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-32993914545090843912015-11-26T06:17:00.003-08:002016-05-28T06:07:55.785-07:00

Dear Microsoft On behalf of web developers everywhere, I’m asking, or rather begging, please stop making browsers. It’s not your core business, and you are just not good at it. Give it up! Let it go.Stop making my life a living hell of coding around the problems that you make for me. You can’t fix the problem because you are the problem. So stop trying, and for the love of all that is good,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-32053502158141619972013-04-28T03:18:00.000-07:002013-04-28T03:54:52.699-07:00

Hey guys, this is just a quick code example to show how you can get the auto incrementing Primary Key ID when inserting a new row using Entity Framework.   All you need to do is insert the record as you normally would, then after you saveChanges() just assign the ID to an integer as seen below. int TaskID; using (var context = new AppName.Data.Matters.MatterContext()) {

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-15227965358720027202013-04-10T09:49:00.001-07:002013-04-10T14:24:43.876-07:00

Why is the postback not working? When you use the jQuery UI Modal Dialog it pulls the referenced Div out of the form to create the Modal Dialog. As a result  ASP.Net elements such as the asp:Button and asp: TextBox will not function as they need to be in the form for your code behind to access them and the postback to work. How do we fix it? The easiest fix is to simply add the Div back

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-1146683852620145022013-03-17T10:56:00.003-07:002013-04-07T03:00:20.587-07:00

A very important part of being a good programmer is writing concise and clean code. There are many ways that we can eliminate unnecessary code so I will be writing a few articles about how to write better code, but I will start with the humble “If Statement”. I think a lot of developers zero in on Objects and Classes in C# because it is an Object Orientated development language, and they

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-7467869066768030032012-10-21T20:59:00.001-07:002013-08-22T23:32:16.472-07:00

The JavaScript indexOf() and lastIndexOf() methods return the position of the first and last occurrence of a specified value in a string You can learn more about them here These can be very usefull, but what if you want the Second indexOf() to get the second occurrence of a specified value in a string. There is no standard JavaScript method for this, so I made my own one; function

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-78591761053111888122012-10-07T09:16:00.000-07:002013-04-07T02:56:23.283-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite Visual Studio tips & tricks that I use to streamline my development; Record and play temporary macro Press Ctrl+Shift+R to record a new temporary macro, then press Ctrl+Shift+R to stop recording. Ctrl+Shift+P will play the recorded macro. Previous cursor positions Ctrl+- (i.e. Ctrl and Hyphen)  cycles you through the code positions that you have visited. Use

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-20303768873013346832012-09-16T09:33:00.000-07:002013-04-06T13:42:32.846-07:00

If you get the JavaScript error “Submit is not a Function” then you are probably trying to call the Form’s Submit() Method, but you also have a button whitch is called Submit. This results in a conflict in the JavaScript becuse the Submit Method is already bound to the button. The Solution is simply to change the name of the button so that name=”newname” (or what ever you prefer).

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-77191277121084693932012-09-09T11:33:00.001-07:002013-04-17T00:40:00.834-07:00

I was working on a project with the requirement that I copy files over a network connection that needed username and password  authentication. The big problem that I found was that the .NET framework did not natively expose the win32 API needed to do this, so I had to write my own wrapper using P/Invoke. You can learn more about P/Invoke on MSDN or check out the pinvoke.net wiki for tons of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-23446828029242813342012-09-01T07:52:00.000-07:002012-09-09T11:48:15.062-07:00

I would like to start by apologizing for not posting on this blog for such a long time, I have just started a new job in a new city and I’ve been hellishly busy as a result. The New Job This all happened because I was getting complacent at my old job, having been there for 13 years, and was not growing as a developer. At the same time, I was suddenly inundated with recruiters desperate for

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-89989263871778917242012-07-23T08:22:00.001-07:002013-04-29T10:10:37.086-07:00

  How do I get the primary ID key on SQL Insert in C# If you need to get the auto-generated Primary Key of a newly added record when inserting into SQL server, it can be a nightmare. Some people try to use timestamps and unique data to look up the record in a new query, but you don’t need to do all that. Update: I have different post for how to Get the Primary Key on insert using Entity

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-4451351780334638272012-05-13T09:14:00.000-07:002013-04-10T14:46:15.166-07:00

Hi guys, I just witnessed a massive marketing failure this last week on facebook (ok… I kinda, sorta, am partly to blame), and I’m going to tell you how it went down. So my favourite local meat deli decided that they needed to do some facebook marketing, and set up a group on facebook, and they even managed to get 680 members in the group. That’s pretty amazing for a local deli. The

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-78135383086820939422012-04-19T09:04:00.001-07:002013-04-17T00:00:23.832-07:00

Have you seen those websites with the cool slideshows that have items on each slide which link to other pages? Well, one of my customers had seen this, and that’s what they wanted, only they wanted to have 3 different links on each slide. There are a lot of WordPress plugins that provide this sort of feature, but not with the degree of control that I wanted. The solution that I found was

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-4762112682207607242012-04-04T05:32:00.001-07:002013-04-10T14:30:27.801-07:00

If your jQuery cycle is not cross fading or is choppy and you are using it in WordPress or the content section of your CMS then this post is for you... The Problem If you put your slideshow in the content of a page, you need to be aware that the standard WYSIWYG editor places tags in the code when presenting the page, but then hides then when you use the HTML view.  As a result, what

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-91714223850389678752012-03-29T07:52:00.003-07:002012-03-29T07:54:43.733-07:00

How to create a .sln file for an existing ASP.NET application From the Visual Studio menu choose "File | New | Project..." From the resulting dialog, under "Other Project Types" choose "Visual Studio Solutions" and create a blank solution. Then from the Visual Studio menu choose "File | Add | Existing Web Site" and point it to your web site to add it to your new solution. It’s that

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-80052082677717343532011-07-18T10:58:00.000-07:002013-04-29T10:31:35.692-07:00

PLEASE NOTE:  If you are looking for information on how to Disable Facebook Chat saving directly in your messages inbox, Click Here. This post is simply about how to stop people from messaging you in Facebook chat. The New Chat Sidebar First of all, lets deal with that pesky new Sidebar If you haven’t yet done so, click the “try now” Button. Don’t worry, It won’t do anything bad to your

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-14518815745257835422011-06-20T09:54:00.000-07:002011-07-11T08:05:26.790-07:00

This is just a quick post in case any of my more technical readers ever need this solution. An online friend of mine recently wrote a useful blog post on how to select rows between specific times but relative dates in SQL. He uses MySQL, so if you are using SQL server, you may need to tweak the solution.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-47491934204551127752011-06-19T02:38:00.000-07:002012-07-15T10:14:34.714-07:00

If you are trying to generate traffic using twitter, then you want to get retreated for 3 reasons; 1. Links that are re-tweeted more than twice car considered to valuable by search engines. 2. If someone with a lot of followers re-tweets your link you can get a lot of visitors from their followers. 3. Some people pipe their twitter feeds into other social networks or their blogs as feeds, this

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-25330420792816741172011-05-29T10:09:00.000-07:002011-07-18T11:03:16.520-07:00

Facebook have managed to upset users with their latest upgrade to the chat feature. PLEASE NOTE:  If you are looking for information on how to Disable Facebook Chat so that your pesky friends don’t bug you when you are on facebook, Click here. A lot of people are trying to find out how to disable the new Facebook “feature” that saves your full chat directly into the messages inbox as a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-60231486878023153092011-04-30T04:00:00.000-07:002012-07-15T10:16:14.523-07:00

Continuing on my Using twitter for SEO series,  in this post I will give you a few tips and techniques to improve your chances of getting retweeted. Time of the day: Peak tweet hours - business hours. Peak retweet hours - 3pm to midnight. If you want your tweets read, tweet in the morning; if you want to be retweeted, tweet at night. Pro Tip: Keep in mind the time zone of your target audience

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-64079464802682012122011-03-01T12:06:00.000-08:002012-07-15T10:16:20.757-07:00

Over my next few posts, I will be writing about how you can use twitter for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and to drive traffic to your website. In this post we will look at Hashtags. I will explain what they are and how they can both help and hurt your efforts to get more website traffic. What are Hashtags? By placing a the # symbol in front of a word in your tweet, you are telling twitter

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-17742454684172126112011-01-10T04:53:00.000-08:002011-01-10T04:53:35.248-08:00

Has this ever happened to you? You’re working on a project, and suddenly get inspiration for another project or task, perhaps you remember some other small job that needs to be done, or maybe you receive an email asking you to do something quickly for somebody else. It’s tempting to stop what you are doing and work on this other task, after all it’s just a small little thing and won’t take much

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-62733244929312273742011-01-05T08:14:00.000-08:002011-03-01T12:08:38.084-08:00

As the senior software developer in a development team I have a thousand and one different things that need to be done an any given time. We have all sorts of systems in place to ensure that I do all that needs to be done; job cards, MS Outlook calendar, project documents, etcetera. Surprisingly, the most effective is still the good old fashioned “To Do” list (or 2do list as I call it). The 2do

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-73137050693410202662010-12-19T04:45:00.000-08:002013-05-07T00:12:03.602-07:00

I have recently suffered through the dreadful ordeal of cleaning out my cupboards at home. Digging out the dusty relics of my past was fun at first, but by the end I had found enough crap and clutter to start my own junk planet. This gave me a sudden brain fart... I realized that the same thing probably happens with a lot of blogs. So I decided to get my Mary Poppins on and “Spring clean”

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-32599863406050942762010-12-17T03:04:00.000-08:002010-12-19T04:32:44.025-08:00

I am writing a Webmaster SEO Training manual for our clients, the following is an extract from the Introduction to SEO Chapter, any thoughts? SEO Juice Search engines provide search results based on how pages perform in a series of algorithms to determine the relative value of a result based on a search query. Basically, the search engine is trying to mathematically deduce who is the recognised

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7078483412184352468.post-19448674647114789512010-10-14T03:56:00.000-07:002010-10-14T03:57:11.832-07:00

Your blog may be providing some great content, but you feel like you are getting stuck in a rut and not making progress. You might want to consider diversifying a bit with guest writers (always let them link to their own blog/website in exchange for the write-up) or by using some of the following ideas; Lists: for example “5 brilliant Business Resources” or “10 Tips for Managers” or “10 New

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2