.NET Answers

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

Dave — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:41:48 +0000

“Programmers are craftspeople trained to use a certain set of tools (editors, object managers, version trackers) to generate a certain kind of product (programs) that will operate in some environment (operating systems on hardware assemblies). Like any other craft, computer programming has spawned a body of wisdom, most of which isn’t taught at universities [...]

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master is a post from: .NET Answers

Embedding Google Search Appliance Results in ASP.NET

Dave — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:13:35 +0000

Several of the projects I’m involved with use the Google Search Appliance for their search engine. For each of these projects, we’ve wanted to integrate the results on an ASPX page so that the results look like they are part of the site rather than taking them to another site to display the results. [...]

Embedding Google Search Appliance Results in ASP.NET is a post from: .NET Answers

GridView and Updating A Row Manually

Dave — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:36:08 +0000

A couple of days ago I mentioned a project that I’ve been working on that is a bit out of the ordinary as far as GridViews go. One of the issues I’ve had is that the edit template doesn’t map to the view template very well. Ok, it doesn’t map at all. You see, the data [...]

GridView and Updating A Row Manually is a post from: .NET Answers

Where Does Live Writer Store Themes

Dave — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:06:00 +0000

I recently changed my theme to one that has a dark back ground with light content areas and discovered that Windows Live Writer, the blog editor I use to compose my blogs, doesn’t pick up the style for the content area when it decides what to display in the editor window. Surely, this can’t be [...]

Where Does Live Writer Store Themes is a post from: .NET Answers

Access a control by ID From Within a Databound Control

Dave — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:21:07 +0000

Databound controls are at once very easy and very frustrating. If you just need to do some simple databinding that gets a list of items on the screen and you need the ability to edit those items, you are all set. But once you need to do anything that deviates from that simple pattern, you are [...]

Access a control by ID From Within a Databound Control is a post from: .NET Answers

Essential Silverlight 3

Dave — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:46:34 +0000

Essential Silverlight 3 is the definitive reference and insider’s guide. It not only covers all the key features of the Silverlight 3 runtime and how to use them but, in Under the Hood sections, explains why each feature was developed and how each one works. These “insider” explanations often lead to concise, practical performance [...]

Essential Silverlight 3 is a post from: .NET Answers

DotNetNuke 5.x Can’t Move Module On A Page

Dave — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:44:49 +0000

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the move to DotNetNuke 5 has brought about a few changes. Some of them are design decision that are just frustrating, like not being able to see that a module is viewable by the administrators only. Others are bugs, like not being able to press the [...]

DotNetNuke 5.x Can’t Move Module On A Page is a post from: .NET Answers

Agile/Scrum Task Board for “Real Life”

Dave — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:34:25 +0000

The agile “Task Board” also known as a “Scrum Board” has become a staple of the agile programming world. “Getting Things Done” (GTD) is a process for managing task in the business world. I mostly like what GTD does, but the classic implementation doesn’t fit how I work. But, what if we could adapt the two? GTD [...]

Agile/Scrum Task Board for “Real Life” is a post from: .NET Answers

DotNetNuke 5.14 Search User Enter Key Issue

Dave — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:34:28 +0000

I recently upgraded a DotNetNuke installation and found several issues that are either different from the 4.x series or are now broken. Most annoying is that there is now no longer any visual indication that a module is viewable by the administrator only. Seems there should at least be a CSS class added to the module [...]

DotNetNuke 5.14 Search User Enter Key Issue is a post from: .NET Answers

Authentication – Assigning Permissions to Roles

Dave — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:24:52 +0000

Now that we’ve assigned roles to our users, we need to assign permissions to the roles. The easiest way to do this is through the web.config file, which will allow us to control which pages the roles can access. But how do we control items beyond pages? For that we’ll need to do a bit of [...]

Authentication – Assigning Permissions to Roles is a post from: .NET Answers

Ergonomic Office Chair

Dave — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:02:18 +0000

What?! A chair on a programming blog? Hey we all need one and if you don’t have a good chair, your programming WILL suffer! High Back Ergonomic Office Chair Extremely Well Padded Seat and Back Grey and Black Mesh Upholstery Height Adjustable Back Height Adjustable Arms Polyurethane Padded Arm Rests Multi-Function 3-Paddle Control Mechanism Pneumatic Seat [...]

Ergonomic Office Chair is a post from: .NET Answers

ASP.NET Substitution Control

Dave — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Tucked away on the toolbar is a little used and often overlooked control. Not using this control could be costing you in performance. The control I’m referring to is the Substitution control. The only time you’d use it would be if you had implemented page caching. You are using page caching, right? What? You aren’t [...]

ASP.NET Substitution Control is a post from: .NET Answers

DotNetNuke – Collecting Profile at Registration

Dave — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Yesterday I was asked a question that I thought was one thing and ended up being another. But the question I thought it was is one worth answering here because it takes so darn long to find the answer. How do you get DotNetNuke to collect user profile information while a user is self registering [...]

DotNetNuke – Collecting Profile at Registration is a post from: .NET Answers

SQL SELECT CASE Instead of IIF

Dave — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:25:00 +0000

I’ve had to do this a couple of times and I just realized I haven’t written about it anywhere. If you need to SELECT a field from a row that returns different content based on the content of the field, you’d think, based on previous programming experience that your code would look something like this. [...]

SQL SELECT CASE Instead of IIF is a post from: .NET Answers

ASP.NET Assigning a Role to a User

Dave — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:00:34 +0000

Another function that is not supplied by one of the existing controls in ASP.NET is the ability to assign a user to a role. For this, we will need to resort to using the APIs. Since we can assign roles to users using the ASP.NET configuration tool, we can assume there is an API available [...]

ASP.NET Assigning a Role to a User is a post from: .NET Answers

Logitech Webcam Pro 9000

Dave — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:35:17 +0000

Video calls have always offered the promise of connection to your distant friends and family. But for many of us, getting the hardware and 3rd party software to work has been a challenge. Isn’t it about time for an all-in-one webcam and software solution designed to make video calling easy for everyone? Wait no [...]

Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 is a post from: .NET Answers

jQuery Expand/Collapse Using Head Tags

Dave — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:50:30 +0000

I’ve spent a good chunk of the last two days working on an interesting project for one of my clients that I think the rest of the jQuery community could benefit from. The task started when my client came to me with an existing script that was being used in a DotNetNuke system to expand [...]

jQuery Expand/Collapse Using Head Tags is a post from: .NET Answers

DotNetNuke SecurityException AspnetHostingPermission

Dave — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:26:00 +0000

Yesterday I was setting up DotNetNuke for a designer on a computer at a corporate location so that he can start working on CSS for some of our custom modules. He had an earlier version of DNN installed, so you’d think that it would “just work” but there seems to be a new module [...]

DotNetNuke SecurityException AspnetHostingPermission is a post from: .NET Answers

Determine The Role of a User in ASP.NET

Dave — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:46:21 +0000

There are several controls that allow you to display content based on the role a user is in, including: - LoginView - LoginStatus And the web.config file allows us to control which pages can be viewed based on which role a user is in. But what if you need to determine the role a user [...]

Determine The Role of a User in ASP.NET is a post from: .NET Answers

HttpContext.Items[] vs Session[]

Dave — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Since .NET first because available, passing data around during a request has become a lot easier. The ability to set a property has made that so. Still there are times when setting a property just won’t do the trick. One such time is getting data from the middle tier back up to the view separate [...]

HttpContext.Items[] vs Session[] is a post from: .NET Answers

Acer Aspire Timeline Laptop

Dave — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:26:00 +0000

Averaging more than 8 hours of battery life, the Acer Aspire Timeline notebook PC series makes "all day computing" a reality. You’ll be able to remain productive as you work remotely from 9 to 5 without ever stopping to plug in and recharge, or keep yourself entertained throughout an entire coast-to-coast flight without worrying [...]

Acer Aspire Timeline Laptop is a post from: .NET Answers

CmdAgent.exe utilizing 100% CPU

Dave — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:10:54 +0000

Yesterday was a very bad day for me. No sooner had I posted yesterday’s article then my computer became impossible to use. Even though I have anti-virus software installed on my computer, every indication was that I had picked up some virus. Not just on the tower I use every day, but on the 2003 [...]

CmdAgent.exe utilizing 100% CPU is a post from: .NET Answers

Type Safe Session Variables

Dave — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:51:21 +0000

This may be obvious to everyone else on the Internet. Heck, it’s been obvious to me for several years. But, I can’t find anyone else writing about this and it makes so much sense that I’m kicking myself for not trying it earlier. So… The Problem We’ve all been there. We are coding away and [...]

Type Safe Session Variables is a post from: .NET Answers

Forms Authentication – Manual Authentication

Dave — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:45:05 +0000

I’ve had several occasions in the past where I’ve needed to do my own authentication or I’ve needed to add some additional methods to the authentication process. As easy as Microsoft has made the authentication process, you might think that in order to manually authentication you’d need to write all of your authentication code manually. [...]

Forms Authentication – Manual Authentication is a post from: .NET Answers

Programming ASP.NET 3.5

Dave — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:01:19 +0000

With Programming ASP.NET 3.5, you’ll quickly learn to create state-of-the-art applications using Microsoft’s popular web development technology and Visual Studio 2008. This updated bestseller provides comprehensive and easy-to-understand information to help you use several .NET 3.5 technologies for faster development and better web application performance-including ASP.NET AJAX for interactive user interfaces, LINQ for data [...]

Programming ASP.NET 3.5 is a post from: .NET Answers

How to Excel as a Programmer (or anything else)

Dave — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:10:22 +0000

From a very early age we have been conditioned to fail. I know that probably seems harsh, and probably seems like an over generalization but it is true. Here are some things you can start doing today to start succeeding. Even if you consider yourself successful, these tips will send you to the next level. Don’t [...]

How to Excel as a Programmer (or anything else) is a post from: .NET Answers

Blue Stack Form Enhancer Review

Dave — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:25:17 +0000

The folks over at BlueStack asked me to take a look at their new Form Enhancer product. Which I will provide. The basic just of this module is that by using jQuery and some images we can style the form elements on a page. It’s a pretty cool concept with some promising results. According to their sales [...]

Blue Stack Form Enhancer Review is a post from: .NET Answers

Dynamically Change class Attribute From ASP.NET

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:25:00 +0000

I recently received a question from another programmer I know who’s been using PHP prior to ASP.NET which made me think harder about a problem we’ve all had in ASP.NET. The basic problem is this: How do you dynamically change the class of a hyper link based on the page name so that they hyperlink [...]

Dynamically Change class Attribute From ASP.NET is a post from: .NET Answers

Forms Authentication – Managing Users

Dave — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:02:42 +0000

While there are a lot of controls available in ASP.NET that allow you to manage forms authentication, one control that doesn’t exist is something that will allow you to manage your user list. Most of the time you don’t need this, but when you do, there is an obvious hole. Since we need to write this [...]

Forms Authentication – Managing Users is a post from: .NET Answers

jQuery UI 1.6: The User Interface Library for jQuery

Dave — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:05:55 +0000

Modern web application user interface design requires rapid development and proven results. jQuery UI, a trusted plugin for the jQuery JavaScript library, gives you a trusted platform on which to build rich and engaging interfaces with maximum compatibility, stability, and a minimum of time and effort. jQuery UI has a series of ready-made, great-looking [...]

jQuery UI 1.6: The User Interface Library for jQuery is a post from: .NET Answers

The Case Against Location: File System

Dave — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:45:19 +0000

See this picture? That’s what could happen to your application if you decide to build your ASP.NET web site using the File System location instead of the HTTP location. To illustrate, let me relate a situation that came up when I first started using ASP.NET back with Beta 2 of 1.0. Prior to ASP.NET 1.0, I [...]

The Case Against Location: File System is a post from: .NET Answers

Coding Priorities

Dave — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:55:17 +0000

When I was a younger programmer (I refuse to call myself an “old” programmer quite yet) I made a lot of mistakes. Chief among them was focusing on the wrong things at the wrong time. Now that I’m older (and wiser?) I’ve created a short priority list that I find helpful as I write a [...]

Coding Priorities is a post from: .NET Answers

DotNetNuke – Retrieving Host Access

Dave — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:30:50 +0000

One of the most frustrating events that can happen in any system is forgetting your password and not being able to retrieve it. DotNetNuke has a retrieval system built in, but you have to make sure your system can send mail in order to make use of it. And even if it sends mail, it [...]

DotNetNuke – Retrieving Host Access is a post from: .NET Answers

Forms Authentication – Creating Users

Dave — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:36:32 +0000

Last week we installed the tables into our database and setup the database connection so that we could implement forms based authentication. This week, we need to put into place a way of creating users for our system. The easiest way to do that is to create a form that allows our user to sign up. You [...]

Forms Authentication – Creating Users is a post from: .NET Answers

Murach’s ASP.NET 3.5 Web Programming with C# 2008

Dave — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:28:42 +0000

Already know how to code C# 2008 desktop applications? Then, you’re ready to master web programming with the 3.5 edition of this best-selling ASP.NET book from Murach Books. It covers the 3.5 features that provide new functionality…like the ListView and DataPager data controls, LINQ data sources, new CSS-related tools, and ASP.NET AJAX…while it teaches you [...]

Murach’s ASP.NET 3.5 Web Programming with C# 2008 is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp Tables

Dave — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:43:14 +0000

PDF Tables in iTextSharp work enough like HTML tables that the slight differences between the two make programming tables for a PDF a bit confusing the first time you try. I hope describe some of those differences here so that your experience might be a bit smoother than mine was as you start to use [...]

iTextSharp Tables is a post from: .NET Answers

The case against i, j, and k

Dave — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:55:38 +0000

One of the greatest programming books of all time is Code Complete by Steve McConnell. I often recommend this book to new programmers and when I was running the IT department of the Dot Com I was working for, I made it required reading. In it, Steve makes a great case against using i, j, [...]

The case against i, j, and k is a post from: .NET Answers

Copy And Paste And Bugs

Dave — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:21:10 +0000

We all do it. I’m sure of it. It’s too easy. I need code that looks almost like something else I wrote so I just copy and paste it over to the new code. Done. But, at what cost? Is it really that much like the other code? Did you forget to change something? What happens when [...]

Copy And Paste And Bugs is a post from: .NET Answers

Setting Up Your Forms Based Authentication Database

Dave — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:41:24 +0000

I was recently asked if I would cover some topics related for Forms Based Authentication. The person who requested this information has some specific issues that he wants covered that I won’t be covering for a while because I think there are some other issues that need to be covered first. One of those is setting [...]

Setting Up Your Forms Based Authentication Database is a post from: .NET Answers

Automated Web Testing with the WebBrowserControl

Dave — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:55:36 +0000

Actually, I used this technique to automate submitting information to a set of web sites, but you could use this same technique to script any web site, including one you are currently developing, so that you can verify that the site actually does what it is suppose to do. You might already have a testing [...]

Automated Web Testing with the WebBrowserControl is a post from: .NET Answers

Hosting Issues.

Dave — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:12:52 +0000

I’m experiencing hosting “issues” with the post I want to put up this morning (this isn’t the first time I’ve had this “issue”). So, I’m going to move to one of my other hosting companies that knows how to deal with Apache servers correctly and hopefully resume posting tomorrow. For the record, avoid HSphere based hosting [...]

Hosting Issues. is a post from: .NET Answers

Storing An Image To a Database in .NET

Dave — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:36:16 +0000

Several weeks ago I mentioned that I store the images that the user uploads to the system into the database. Some of you have expressed an interest in how I do that. So I plan to cover that today. For the purposes of this article, I’m going to assume that you’ve already got the image uploaded [...]

Storing An Image To a Database in .NET is a post from: .NET Answers

CSharp VAR Misconceptions

Dave — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:39:21 +0000

I find it amazing that .NET 3.5 has been out for over a year and people still don’t understand the “var” keyword. Just last week I got a comment on one of my videos asking why I used “var” so much. Isn’t that only suppose to be used when you don’t know what the return [...]

CSharp VAR Misconceptions is a post from: .NET Answers

Head First Ajax – Book

Dave — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:11:00 +0000

Ajax is no longer an experimental approach to website development, but the key to building browser-based applications that form the cornerstone of Web 2.0. Head First Ajax gives you an up-to-date perspective that lets you see exactly what you can do — and has been done — with Ajax. With it, you get a [...]

Head First Ajax – Book is a post from: .NET Answers

Why You Should Click on the Ad If It Interest You

Dave — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:58:00 +0000

I posted a statement on twitter about how I am convinced that programmers are cheap skates and was met with a response that stated he “won’t click ads…” which is exactly what prompted my tweet in the first place. So I asked why? “Most of the time they aren’t relevant to me, and if they are, [...]

Why You Should Click on the Ad If It Interest You is a post from: .NET Answers

Unique BODY tags per page

Dave — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:50:15 +0000

Last week I talked about a situation where the previous programmer had placed the body tag inside the ContentPlaceholder in order to allow for a different body tag on the page. Since this is a project that I am actively involved in, I’ve been thinking about the easiest way to “fix” the code so that [...]

Unique BODY tags per page is a post from: .NET Answers

How to evaluate technology choices

Dave — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:42:23 +0000

My post yesterday about an easy way of implementing templated e-mail was met by a comment suggesting that using XSLT would allow for more flexibility. Which is true. Once it was suggested I started asking myself, “but is it the BEST method of implementing templated e-mail?” I think, as programmers, we tend to think that [...]

How to evaluate technology choices is a post from: .NET Answers

Templated E-Mail using .NET

Dave — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:57:12 +0000

One thing I’m pretty consistent about is letting the computer to most of my work for me. As a “programmer” I really don’t like to program. I prefer to solve problems. You’ve already seen the effects of this in how I program PDF files where I use form fields and fill them at runtime rather than [...]

Templated E-Mail using .NET is a post from: .NET Answers

Ajax: The Definitive Guide

Dave — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:51:44 +0000

Is Ajax a new technology, or the same old stuff web developers have been using for years? Both, actually. This book demonstrates not only how tried-and-true web standards make Ajax possible, but how these older technologies allow you to give sites a decidedly modern Web 2.0 feel. Ajax: The Definitive Guide explains how [...]

Ajax: The Definitive Guide is a post from: .NET Answers

Unrecognized Tag Prefix or Device Filter ‘asp’

Dave — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:15:10 +0000

One of the companies I work for recently took over a project from another vendor. As we started to maintain the site, we noticed that we could not drag and drop controls onto the page and get any more than a stub of the control, <asp:hyperlink runat=”server”></hyperlink> is ALL we got when we dropped [...]

Unrecognized Tag Prefix or Device Filter ‘asp’ is a post from: .NET Answers

Infinite DotNetNuke Skin Sets For One Low Price

Dave — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:22:00 +0000

Several months ago, I mentioned that I found a product that would allow you to create as many themes as you wanted for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, ASP.NET, or regular HTML. I also mentioned that it did not do DotNetNuke. Well, now it does. I think it was shortly after I wrote the original review that Artisteer [...]

Infinite DotNetNuke Skin Sets For One Low Price is a post from: .NET Answers

Test Sending Email without a Server in ASP.NET

Dave — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:00:16 +0000

By now, most people are familiar with the fact that ASP.NET will send mail from the codebehind by simply adding a few lines to your web.config file and adding another few lines of code in the codebehind file. But, it wasn’t until recently that I found that you don’t need to have access to a [...]

Test Sending Email without a Server in ASP.NET is a post from: .NET Answers

“I don’t exactly have random $$$ hanging about.”

Dave — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:42:28 +0000

I hear this statement a lot, or one like it, from various walks of life. For example, I hear it from clients. I hear it from people who “want” a new car. But, I’d like to address this strictly programming perspective here. I don’t know why it bothers me when another programmer says this. It’s [...]

“I don’t exactly have random $$$ hanging about.” is a post from: .NET Answers

HTC Touch HD T8282 World Phone

Dave — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:50:21 +0000

Enjoy music videos, films and streaming like you never thought possible on a mobile device. Experience internet browsing so exhilarating… it feels like you never left your laptop at home. Its all delivered to you on a pixel-packed 3.8 WVGA screen and seamlessly tied together with touch-responsive TouchFLOTM 3D. The ultrafast 3.5G technology lets you [...]

HTC Touch HD T8282 World Phone is a post from: .NET Answers

Programming SEO – Cross Linking Titles

Dave — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:17:20 +0000

Here is another interesting way to programmatically add link juice to web pages from within your own site. It will require that you have pages created dynamically from a database and that you have some some way of retrieving the title. You’ll remember that one of the ways of helping a page rank in the [...]

Programming SEO – Cross Linking Titles is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Finishing Up

Dave — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:19:24 +0000

In the last post I mentioned there were a few topics we need to close up today. The two topics we’ve left undone are, popping the attribute information off the stack when we hit a closing element and dealing with the paragraph gap that normally appears between paragraph elements. The first thing you’ll want [...]

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Finishing Up is a post from: .NET Answers

Upgrading Vista 32 bit to Windows 7 64bit

Dave — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:46:00 +0000

Since I own an MSDN subscription, I was able to get my hands on a copy of Windows 7 last Thursday. I didn’t actually install it until this past Sunday because Sunday is the only day I don’t need my computer and I needed a point in time where I could know I would have a [...]

Upgrading Vista 32 bit to Windows 7 64bit is a post from: .NET Answers

MSI GT735-024US 17-Inch Laptop

Dave — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:29:26 +0000

AMD Turion Ultra ZM-82 2.2GHz Processor 2GB x 2 DDR2 667/800 RAM, 4GB Max Memory Supported 320GB SATA Hard Drive, Super Multi Optical Drive Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium LCD 17-Inch WSXGA+/Glare 1680 x 1050, ATI HD3850 512MB, Chipset ATI RX781+ SB700, Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium; LCD 17 WSXGA+/Glare 1680 x 1050; [...]

MSI GT735-024US 17-Inch Laptop is a post from: .NET Answers

VB.NET Processing Before WinForm Display

Dave — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:52:55 +0000

I woke up this morning to an interesting question. “Using VB.net 2008, I want my project to be a Windows Forms Application but upon startup, I want to check a few files to see if they exist and if they don’t, I do not want the startup form to load. I just want the program to [...]

VB.NET Processing Before WinForm Display is a post from: .NET Answers

What is .NET’s Object.GetHashCode() Used For?

Dave — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:11:40 +0000

Here is a great question from a visitor. “What is the exact use of GetHashCode of an object in .net? Does it have any relation with garbage collection?” Let’s answer the second question first. No, it has nothing to do with garbage collection. According to the Microsoft documentation, “The GetHashCode method is suitable for use in [...]

What is .NET’s Object.GetHashCode() Used For? is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Writing the PDF

Dave — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:24:18 +0000

Last week we parsed the HTML and created code that keeps track of the various attributes we are going to need when we create the PDF. Today we will finish the code and create the Elements that we can include in our PDF document. One consideration we will need to keep in mind as we write [...]

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Writing the PDF is a post from: .NET Answers

Google Voice, Apple, and the FCC – One More Reason I Won’t Own an iPhone

Dave — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:46:02 +0000

Last year I provided a list of reasons why I won’t buy an iPhone. Since that time I’ve had a chance to play with one and I must admit, it is a pretty cool little toy. The keyboard is a lot more usable than I thought it would be. It has the ability to accept push [...]

Google Voice, Apple, and the FCC – One More Reason I Won’t Own an iPhone is a post from: .NET Answers

Logitech Illuminated Ultrathin Keyboard with Backlighting

Dave — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:36:04 +0000

I had been using the standard keyboard that came with my computer for years. It never even occurred to me that buying another keyboard might be a good idea. I mean, a keyboard is a keyboard, right? But then my keyboard died in an accident with a cup of coffee and I needed to get [...]

Logitech Illuminated Ultrathin Keyboard with Backlighting is a post from: .NET Answers

.NET Image Scaling in CSharp

Dave — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:04:15 +0000

One feature of .NET that I use regularly is image scaling. I typically use this on web sites that need image upload capabilities. I assume the user is going to send me an image that is significantly bigger than what I could use and then scale it down before storing it. I also use this [...]

.NET Image Scaling in CSharp is a post from: .NET Answers

VB.NET and CSharp Refactoring

Dave — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:38:38 +0000

I sent out the following tweet last week: “Where’s the refactor menu option?! Oh, wait. This is VB.NET, they don’t have that feature.” Almost immediately, I got responses. The most helpful was from @RoryBecker letting me know about CodeRush XPress by Devexpress.com This tool does way more than I was immediately looking for and it is free. Instead of [...]

VB.NET and CSharp Refactoring is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Parsing HTML

Dave — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:03:54 +0000

Now that we have the HTML cleaned up, the next thing we will want to do is to parse the HTML. In my actual code for this, I parse the HTML and create the PDF at the same time, but for the purposes of these posts, I’m going to deal primarily with parsing the HTML here [...]

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Parsing HTML is a post from: .NET Answers

Don’t be such a #@%#! Lazy Programmer!

Dave — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:47:34 +0000

I get several questions a week via the “Click Here to Ask a Question.” I would like to say I answer all of them, but I don’t. The number one reason I don’t answer a question is because I’ve already answered the question somewhere on this blog. Yes, I actually spend the time to make [...]

Don’t be such a #@%#! Lazy Programmer! is a post from: .NET Answers

Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000

Dave — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:01:00 +0000

Overview: The Microsoft® Wireless Desktop 6000 V3, inspired by Windows® Aero®, features a sleek, Comfort Curve keyboard with a next-generation translucent design, quiet touch keys, media controls, and instant access to Windows Flip 3D. The ergonomic mouse combines wireless freedom and the precision of High Definition Laser Technology with the [...]

Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 is a post from: .NET Answers

iText IN ACTION – Creating and Manipulating PDF

Dave — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:15:13 +0000

While this isn’t specifically targeted at iTextSharp, which we’ve been covering in recent posts, this is really the closest book you are going to find on the subject. The basics are the same. Keep in mind that the main difference is that setPropertyName and getPropertyName methods have been changed to .NET style properties (versus Java [...]

iText IN ACTION – Creating and Manipulating PDF is a post from: .NET Answers

Watching Trends = Job Security

Dave — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:30:58 +0000

I’ve been programming for 21 years now. Most of my career I’ve spent being on the bleeding edge. This has helped when it came time to find work because I normally am one of the few people companies can find who have the skills they are looking for. While I never intentionally set out to [...]

Watching Trends = Job Security is a post from: .NET Answers

VB.NET Nullable Value Types

Dave — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:57:31 +0000

SQL has long had the ability to specify that a value is NULL even if it is a primitive type, but the only way you could have a NULL value in VB.NET is if you were dealing with an object. That is, until .NET 2.0 Even though .NET 2.0 has been out for a while, I would [...]

VB.NET Nullable Value Types is a post from: .NET Answers

jQuery Splitter

Dave — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:58:20 +0000

Hey! This is pretty cool. I was just mentioning at the last jQuery presentation I did that there were some controls that were definitely missing from the jQuery UI suite of widgets–and then I found this. This other guy named Dave has created it for us. Here’s how we use it. The first thing you’ll want to [...]

jQuery Splitter is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp – PDF to HTML – Cleaning HTML

Dave — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:23:07 +0000

The last prerequisite step prior to actually converting our HTML into PDF code is to clean up the HTML. The method I use takes advantage of the XML parser in .NET but in order to use that we have to have XHTML compliant XML. For this exercise, what I am most concerned about is that the HTML [...]

iTextSharp – PDF to HTML – Cleaning HTML is a post from: .NET Answers

Toshiba Satellite A355-S6924 16.0-Inch Laptop

Dave — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:25:37 +0000

Replace your desktop PC with the Toshiba Satellite A355-S6924 laptop, featuring all the power and hard drive space you expect from a top-of-the-line desktop but in an easily mobile package. Stylishly designed, this Toshiba Satellite features a large, bright 16-inch LCD (1366 x 768)–with a true 16:9 aspect ratio and 720p native high-definition resolution. [...]

Toshiba Satellite A355-S6924 16.0-Inch Laptop is a post from: .NET Answers

Google NOFOLLOW Change (and why this isn’t news)

Dave — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:39:00 +0000

Or, Chicken Little and rel=nofollow Google recently admitted they have changed the way they pass page rank to pages from a page that has the nofollow attribute attached to one or more of the links on the page. Actually, it isn’t really all that recent, but I’m still seeing articles about the subject. In fact, someone [...]

Google NOFOLLOW Change (and why this isn’t news) is a post from: .NET Answers

Manually Adding Event Handlers in VB.NET

Dave — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:43:09 +0000

Typically when we write our code, the event handlers get wired up for us using the handles clause. So we never have to worry about wiring up our event handlers manually. But what about the case where we want to dynamically add a control to our Windows Form or our ASP.NET page? For example, add [...]

Manually Adding Event Handlers in VB.NET is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Prerequisites

Dave — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:40:39 +0000

Before we get into the nitty gritty of parsing the HTML so that we can create PDF code from it, it is important that we develop the concept of how text layout works in iTextSharp. So today we will cover those basics. The first type of element we want to deal with when we [...]

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Prerequisites is a post from: .NET Answers

WebHostForSEO – Fail!

Dave — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:44:14 +0000

This is just a quick post to warn anyone thinking about using WebHostForSEO.com that you are better off using just about anyone else. I signed up to put up some WordPress blogs. I’ve been with them for 5 months. I’ve had hosting trouble at least once per month since day one. This goes down in my book [...]

WebHostForSEO – Fail! is a post from: .NET Answers

Intel X25-M Mainstream 160GB SATA 2.5-Inch MLC Solid State Drive

Dave — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:58:27 +0000

The future of computer storage is here! With the Intel X-25M Mainstream SATA Solid State Drive, you'll experience dramatically faster disk performance and greater durability than traditional hard drives.

Intel X25-M Mainstream 160GB SATA 2.5-Inch MLC Solid State Drive is a post from: .NET Answers

Dispose, Finalize and SuppressFinalize

Dave — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:20:31 +0000

I got the following question recently. What is the difference between Dispose and SupressFinalize in garbage collection?” The problem with this question is it assumes Dispose and SupressFinalize have similarities, which I’m sure is not what is being asked here. So let’s rephrase it in terms that make sense. I see three [...]

Dispose, Finalize and SuppressFinalize is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Positioning Text

Dave — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:50:15 +0000

The next series of things I’m going to introduce about using iTextSharp are all going to lead toward taking HTML text and placing it on the PDF document. There are several items we need to cover before we even get to the part about converting the text from HTML to PDF text. The first is [...]

iTextSharp – HTML to PDF – Positioning Text is a post from: .NET Answers

Automate The Maintenance of your WordPress Blog – FREE!

Dave — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:51:00 +0000

Do you use WordPress as your blogging platform? Are you sick of the amount of time it takes to keep the plugins up to date? How about upgrading the core files every time WordPress issues an update? It may not be a problem for you if you only have one blog. But I have several blogs and maintaining [...]

Automate The Maintenance of your WordPress Blog – FREE! is a post from: .NET Answers

SQL For Programmers – New Question

Dave — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:40:00 +0000

I got this question last week that I thought would be worth discussing on the blog. I would like to create a table that lists contributions by date, amount, and designation. In some cases one gift was split two (or more) ways. For example, a contribution of $1000 was given, and $500 went to the [...]

SQL For Programmers – New Question is a post from: .NET Answers

ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK Black Netbook

Dave — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:40:00 +0000

The 10.1-inch Eee PC 1005HA-P Seashell shines as the ideal mini-notebook for the traveler looking to have it all. Utilizing ASUS’ exclusive Super Hybrid Engine, the Eee PC 1005HA-P boasts an astounding 10.5 hours of uninterrupted battery life so you can work on important documents and surf the Web longer [...]

ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK Black Netbook is a post from: .NET Answers

jQuery – Date Picker

Dave — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:28:00 +0000

Today we’ll start taking a look at the final control in the jQuery UI suite. The Date Picker. This control, as with all the other controls we’ve looked at, is relatively simple as long as you keep in mind that you need to use the jQuery UI Styles with it. So let’s begin. So assuming you’ve [...]

jQuery – Date Picker is a post from: .NET Answers

Using VB.NET From CSharp

Dave — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:40:00 +0000

Back when I was teaching .NET to other programmers regularly, I would frequently get the following question from a VB6 programmer moving to CSharp. “Is there any way of using some of the VB functions I’m used to using within CSharp?” The answer to this question has two parts, which we will explore today. The first [...]

Using VB.NET From CSharp is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp – Adding Images

Dave — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:33:00 +0000

Last week I showed how to use form fields to control placement of dynamic data. But what if you want to dynamically place images in your PDF? You can stuff them into a form field like you can with text. However, one of the items you can retrieve from the form field is its location on [...]

iTextSharp – Adding Images is a post from: .NET Answers

Hungarian Notation – Use What Works, Spit Out The Bones

Dave — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:35:00 +0000

I am about to embark on the “religious” topic of naming conventions. I was reminded of this topic by the short post, “Hungarian Notation, what do I think”, by Richard Dingwall. I’m sure there will be those of you who will disagree with me, but as I’ve stated in previous posts, these general guidelines I’ve [...]

Hungarian Notation – Use What Works, Spit Out The Bones is a post from: .NET Answers

Pre Order Windows 7

Dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:30:00 +0000

Product Description Windows 7 Ultimate is the most versatile and powerful edition of Windows 7. It combines remarkable ease-of-use with the entertainment features of Home Premium and the business capabilities of Professional, including the ability to run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode. For added security, you [...]

Pre Order Windows 7 is a post from: .NET Answers

jQuery Dialog – With Validation Controls

Dave — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:55:00 +0000

Chances are, you’ll eventually want to use a dialog box in combination with some form elements, and when you do, you’ll probably want to implement some validation. True, there are some great validation routines available in jQuery, but they only validate on the client side. They are, after all, Javascript. As you are probably aware, the [...]

jQuery Dialog – With Validation Controls is a post from: .NET Answers

iTextSharp – The easy way

Dave — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +0000

When I first started generating PDFs dynamically, I was overwhelmed by the complexity of the API. Not just with iTextSharp, but it seemed that all of the APIs were complex. In looking through the API and comparing it to what I was actually trying to accomplish, I found there was a very small subset of [...]

iTextSharp – The easy way is a post from: .NET Answers

Structure of my ASP.NET Web Applications

Dave — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:30:00 +0000

I’ve had some requests recently to describe how I structure my ASP.NET web applications. To be clear, this is not the only way to structure your application. It is MY way. It works for me and it works for all of my clients. If you don’t already have something that’s working for you, it [...]

Structure of my ASP.NET Web Applications is a post from: .NET Answers

35% Off Accronis True Image 2009 Home

Dave — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:23:00 +0000

Today until the end of the month, get 35% off Acronis True Image 2009 Home edition. Enter coupon code 1D4-FDN-MV6 to take advantage of the offer. Other Related Items: Pro ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008: Includes Silverlight 2, Third Edition DANNER Koi Net With Handle Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework 35% Off Accronis True Image 2009 Home is a [...]

35% Off Accronis True Image 2009 Home is a post from: .NET Answers

VB.NET Hide Module Name

Dave — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:07:00 +0000

Here’s a quick tip for those of you still using modules in your VB.NET applications. If you create a module and don’t want to see the module name in your intellisense, you can hide it with an attribute. This can be extremely useful when you have a lot of modules that would show up in [...]

VB.NET Hide Module Name is a post from: .NET Answers

ASP.NET/VB.NET – Video Training

Dave — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:25:00 +0000

Master the leading internet Web application programming languages Includes 5 levels of ASP.NET focusing on everything from server side programming concepts to globalization and data-binding Learn ASP.NET and VB.NET debugging procedures Includes 7 levels of VB.NET Visual Basic.NET programming levels Learn about everything from VB.NET error handling to polymorphism and upgrading applications to VB.NET [...]

ASP.NET/VB.NET – Video Training is a post from: .NET Answers

Does jQuery Make Us Lazy?

Dave — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:04:00 +0000

Yesterday I read a post that proposed that using jQuery as the answer to every JavaScript problem makes us lazy programmers. This is not what I was expecting to hear since the post was titled, “Is jQuery always the answer?” To that, I could easily agree, no it is not. But the article actually went [...]

Does jQuery Make Us Lazy? is a post from: .NET Answers

PDFs Using iTextSharp

Dave — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:06:00 +0000

There are several libraries on the market now that allow you to create PDF documents from your .NET applications. The one I’ve chosen to use is To use iTextSharp, you will need to add a reference to the library in your code, or simply drop the code into your bin directory of your ASP.NET [...]

PDFs Using iTextSharp is a post from: .NET Answers

Programming SEO – Ping

Dave — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Now that we have an RSS feed we can use the feed to ping the various RSS directories that are available on the Internet. This will create links back to your site including links back to your inner pages, which are the best links you can get. You also get the advantage of people searching [...]

Programming SEO – Ping is a post from: .NET Answers

Twitter From ASP.NET – Direct Messages

Dave — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:36:00 +0000

As you continue building up your Twitter application, you’ll eventually want some way of retrieving direct messages sent to you. In a lot of ways this will be very similar to retrieving the messages from your friends, but there is the optional parameters object that we can pass that will allow us to retrieve a [...]

Twitter From ASP.NET – Direct Messages is a post from: .NET Answers

Friday Books – JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:05:00 +0000

This Fifth Edition is completely revised and expanded to cover JavaScript as it is used in today’s Web 2.0 applications. This book is both an example-driven programmer’s guide and a keep-on-your-desk reference, with new chapters that explain everything you need to know to get the most out of JavaScript, including: Scripted HTTP and Ajax XML [...]

Friday Books – JavaScript: The Definitive Guide is a post from: .NET Answers