Codoxide

Refactoring with NDepend (1 of N)

sameera — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:37:00 -1400

Almost for the last 2 years, I’ve been working on a substantially large and complex project. And like in any long haul project, some areas of the project’s code has been developing their own distinct smell. Much of the project is in good condition however, thanks mostly to my OCD. But, there’s this one library of code that’s been haunting me in my dreams, begging me to refactor it out of it’s misery. Then again, this is working code…

Refactoring a 2 year old code base is never going to be easy or pleasant. Without the right tools to help you, the task could be pretty daunting. NDepend is one such awesome tool. One glance at the many testimonials the tool has received is enough to realize that this no ordinary app. Check out what the Scott Hanselman’s got to say:

“NDepend is giving me insight into my applications that I haven't had before (...) Once I realized the depth and breadth of the information I was looking at it, I was like a kid in a candy shop.”

Personally however, I was a little intimidated by the complexity of NDepend at first. It’s definitely not the kind of app with which you can jump first and figure out on the way down. You might want to invest a couple of hours going through the documentation first. This post from Andre Loker is probably a good place to start.

Step 1: Figuring out where to start

When you have a large code base to refactor, the hardest thing to do is to figure out where to start. Generally, you’d want to start with the simplest steps. The built in CQL queries in NDepend are probably the best guides for this.

With just one click (“Run Analysis”), NDepends have come back with a report of how crappy the project’s code is. Not only that, it has made a quick list of 10 methods that I should look in to refactoring. So, there it is… my starting point.

Dear Comment Spammers,

sameera — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:40:00 -1400

First of all thank you very much for trying to boost my ego with all your "Nice Wok!", "Appreciate the effort you put in to this" comments. But, the fact of the matter is, it's getting a bit old and really annoying. So, cut it out.

tx,

- Sameera.

Getting ASP.NET Development Server (WebDev.WebServer.exe) on Vista

sameera — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:51:00 -1400

I came across a weird issue today with my ASP.NET Dev Server. I’m running Vista Home Premium with Firefox set as the default browser. I was consistently getting a “Failed to Connect: Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost:<port>.” error. Little bit of Goolge pointed me to several posts suggesting that I turn off IPV6 on my network adapter. Hmmm… Nope! I know a better way to fix this (fingers crossed). Navigated to %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc (C:\Window\system32\drivers\etc on mine). Opened up hosts file in notepad. Commented out the following line:

::1 localhost

It now it looks like

#::1 localhost

Save the file, restarted Firefox and Dev Server (not sure whether I needed to even do that). Presto! It works!

Trying out NDepend...

sameera — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:13:00 -1400

The good folks at NDepend were kind enough to ship me a Pro license last week. Interestingly, they had offered me a license back in 2007 and I had unfortunately missed it back then (long story short, BE.NET never delivered me that email). Anyway, after all these time when contacted the guys were more than helpful to grant me a license (Thanks Patrick!). Anyway, I'm now taking baby steps in trying to harness the power of NDepend. I know I'm gonna end up addicted this app :)

I will keep you posted!

Unboxing ASUS U-75HA 750W Power Supply Unit

sameera — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:16:06 -1400

Here you have it, pics of my new PSU. PSUs are hardly stuff to get excited over but, this one's an exception. Check out the review.

Warning to Students/Researchers: HighBeam.com is a scam

sameera — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:24:00 -1400

I have always been very careful as to which sites I trust with my credit card. But unfortunately, working under stress to complete an assignment for my MBA, I gave out my CC number in order to signup for a 7 day trial account for the seemingly legit HighBeam.com. There was one article which was interested in and the site was preventing me from reading the rest without a membership. So I signed up, read the article, had the membership around for 2-3 days till I completed the assignment. Then I went ahead and canceled it. First time I tried, the site stopped responding. So, I refreshed the page went ahead and clicked on the Cancel Account button again. This time the site, logged me off and returned me to the general articles page. So, I assumed everything was fine.

Just yesterday, my Credit Card company called me up and informed me that HighBeam has billed me $199. I immediately informed them to block any other transactions from the card and went ahead and checked the account. And sure enough the account was active. They have not canceled the account, nor had they sent any emails informing the end of trial period was coming up. Worse yet, I have not received a mail informing me of the money they charged me. I have dealt with many companies over the Internet and it's standard practice of each to send out clear messages informing you before they proceed with routine billing.

A section of their help reads 'If you are not able to successfully use the online tool, please contact our 24-hour toll-free customer support line at 1-800-860-9227.' So they run this 'trial' acknowledging their online cancellation is failing at times?? Isn't that exactly why they should be sending emails before they bill trial users?

Little bit of Googling suggested that I'm not the only person who's been ripped off by this dodgy company.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q5=highbeam

http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q5=highbeam.com

Codoxide Library | Updates and New Home

sameera — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:08:00 -1400

I have made several updates to the Codoxide.Common Library and moved the project over to SourceForge.net.

The project's new home is codoxidelib.sourceforge.net and the new SVN repository is https://codoxidelib.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/codoxidelib/trunk

Codoxide.Common Library Version 0.0.1 (Concept Phase): Database Wrapper, Basic Design Patterns, Configuration Handlers

sameera — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:18:00 -1400

Today I'm so excited to announce the first release of the Codoxide.Common Library. I haven't been over ambitious about the version numbering as I want you to treat this library to still be in concept stage.

Unfortunately, this release had taken longer than expected cos of my newly cramped up schedule. Worst part of that is I'm posting this code without proper documentation (yep, excuses!). Nevertheless, there's plenty of code in here to prove useful to many. So here goes!

Features/Components

Patterns

SharedInstance<T>
Singleton<T>
Factory e.g. Factory.Build<T>()

Configuration

ConfigurationManager<T>
ConfigurationSectionBase

Data

Database<CONNECTION_TYPE, COMMAND_TYPE, ADAPTER_TYPE>
Map<T>

SharedInstance<T>

SharedInstance is actually the most basic type of generic Singleton implementation that's been around in the C# community. This implementation was both simple and efficient. But, it violated the definition of a Singleton by depending on the presence of a public constructor and thereby allowing additional instances to be created. Therefore, I have refrained from calling this a Singleton resorted to the term SharedInstance.

E.g:

[code:c#]
SharedInstance<User>.Instance.Login("admin", "password");

User employee1 = new User();
employee1.Username = "emp001";
employee1.Password = "pass001";
employee1.Save();
[/code]

Singleton<T>

More advanced implementation of the generic Singleton implementation. Uses reflection, custom attributes and "lazy initialization" to provide a powerful way to create and initialize your singletons.

E.g:

[code:c#]
public class UserPreferences : IXmlSerializable, ISupportLazyInitialization
{
..

    public virtual void Initialize()
    {
        try
        {
            string location = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData) + "\\Codoxide\\preference.xml";
            if (File.Exists(location))
                using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(location))
                {
                    reader.ReadToFollowing("Preferences");
                    this.ReadXml(reader);
                    reader.ReadEndElement();
                }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw new InvalidConfigurationException("Exception occurred while loading the preferences from disk", ex);
        }
    }
    ..
}

...

Console.WriteLine(Singleton<UserPreferences>.Instance.BackgroundColor);
[/code]

Factory.Build<T>

This one's another powerful and unique implementation. Coolest feature of this class is that you can do something like the following:

[code:c#]
using (IDatabase db = Factory.Build<IDatabase>())
{
..
}
[/code]

This allows developers of class libraries to write their code using interfaces or abstract classes, leaving the library users to specify the concrete classes via configuration files.

Grab the Code

There's of course, plenty more to be documented regarding the library. And you can expect the project space to be updated in coming (err..) weeks .

Until then, you can:

Check out the code (using SVN): https://codoxidelib.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/codoxidelib/trunk

Browse the project space: http://codoxidelib.sourceforge.net/

Move over HP TX! Dell is taking over!

sameera — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:42:06 -1400

Two months after the second death of my HP TX1000 Crapilion Tablet PC, I'm have moved over to a Dell Inspiron 1720.

Codoxide version 2.0 | New Theme and Updated Engine

sameera — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:49:00 -1400

When this post finally goes live, it'll accompany a new theme and the latest revision of the BlogEngine.net.

I'm gonna call this theme "Dark Garden". With this, I'm retiring my old "Defiance" theme. I have resued the icon packs that I used for the Defiance theme. Therefore, most of the credits remain with the authors mentioned on that page. New additions are:

The gorgeous flower brushes are from Elbert de Lioncour at DA
The cool Web2.0 layer styles are from deziner folio.
And I might update the smilies to their latest version.

In honour of the artists (wish everybody had stamps like this):

Update:

This site could have saved me couple of minutes off my design time.. Oh well