Tim Hibbard

Let me google that for you

Tim Hibbard — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:01:46 GMT

This is a great tool for those circumstances where ordinary sarcasm isn’t quite enough to get the point across.

http://lmgtfy.com

In action: http://tinyurl.com/d2yyxl

8GB RAM in laptop…mmmm

Tim Hibbard — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:00:06 GMT

Since my Dell D610 is three years old, I decided it was time for a new lappy. I finally decided on a E6400 from Dell.

Finally a machine that can actually run Vista. Here is my score:

So far I love it. I can have VS 2008 plus a couple virtual machines open and it doesn’t even blink.

Technorati Tags: Dell,E6400

Stackoverflow

Tim Hibbard — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:47:48 GMT

I asked my first question on stackoverflow today. I want to make sure I’m unsubscribing from PropertyChanged events properly. Please head over and put in your two cents.

Technorati Tags: PropertyChanged,.NET,StackOverflow

Simple class to parse Twitter with LINQ

Tim Hibbard — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:53:35 GMT

In ParaPlan 4.0, we use twitter to maintain a change log. I wanted to display this information to our users, so I wrote a little class that calls the RSS feed and uses LINQ to parse the data. All I need is the message and the date, so that is all it pulls out.

Here is the class:

     public class Twitter

    {

        public string Message { get; set; }

        public DateTime PubDate { get; set; }

        public static List<Twitter> Parse(string User)

        {

            var rv = new List<Twitter>();

            var url = "http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/" + User + ".rss";

            var element = XElement.Load(url);

            foreach (var node in element.Element("channel").Elements("item"))

            {

                var twit = new Twitter();

                var message = node.Element("description").Value;

                //remove username information

                twit.Message = message.Replace(User + ": ", string.Empty);

                twit.PubDate = DateTime.Parse(node.Element("pubDate").Value);

                rv.Add(twit);

            }

            return rv;

        }

    }

Our calling code looks like this:

    var changes = new List<string>();

    var fromTwitter = Twitter.Parse("ParaPlan");

    fromTwitter.ForEach(t =>

        changes.Add(t.PubDate.ToString("MM/dd/yy") + " - " + t.Message));

    var list = new ListBox();

    list.ItemsSource = changes;

Technorati Tags: Twitter,LINQ,WPF,ParaPlan,EnGraph

Benjamin Allan Hibbard

Tim Hibbard — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:26:35 GMT

On 12-20-2008, my wife Chelsea, gave birth to our beautiful baby boy Benjamin. It’s been a crazy exciting and busy couple of weeks so far. I’ve tried to respond to all the many people that have congratulated us on twitter and facebook, but if I forgot, thank you so much. All of your kind words and well wishes have been very appreciated!!

Many more pictures here.

Technorati Tags: Benjamin

WPF – Hide a listbox when it doesn’t have any items

Tim Hibbard — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:48:53 GMT

This code example will show how to hide a listbox from the user when it doesn’t have any items.

It involves binding the Visibility of the listbox to the Items.Count of the listbox. We run the Items.Count through a converter that will return a Visibility.Visible object if the Item.Count is not zero.

Here is the converter class:

     using System;

    using System.Collections.Generic;

    using System.Linq;

    using System.Text;

    using System.Windows.Data;

    using System.Windows;

    namespace HideAListBox

    {

        public class ZeroCollapsedNonZeroVisible : IValueConverter

        {

            public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)

            {

                var rv = Visibility.Visible;

                var val = 0;

                int.TryParse(value.ToString(), out val);

                if (val == 0)

                {

                    rv = Visibility.Collapsed;

                }

                return rv;

            }

            public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)

            {

                throw new NotImplementedException();

            }

        }

    }

Here is the window code:

    <Window x:Class="HideAListBox.Window1"

            xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

            xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

            xmlns:converter="clr-namespace:HideAListBox"

            Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">

        <Window.Resources>

            <converter:ZeroCollapsedNonZeroVisible x:Key="hideListBox"/>

        </Window.Resources>

        <DockPanel LastChildFill="True">

            <Button Content="Add Item" Click="addItemClick" DockPanel.Dock="Top"/>

            <Button Content="Clear Items" Click="clearItemsClick" DockPanel.Dock="Top"/>

            <ListBox Margin="3" BorderBrush="Blue" Name="myListBox" 

                     Visibility="{Binding ElementName=myListBox, 

                                  Path=Items.Count, 

                                  Converter={StaticResource hideListBox}}"/>

        </DockPanel>

    </Window>

The entire project can be downloaded here.

Technorati Tags: WPF,IValueConverter,Visibility

Visual Studio Team System Unit Testing Keyboard Shortcuts

Tim Hibbard — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:24:40 GMT

I try to use keyboard shortcuts as much as possible. Here are some that are handy when unit testing with Visual Studio:

Ctrl + R, A – Run all tests
Ctrl + R, T – Run tests in context (based on if cursor is in function, class, or namespace)
Ctrl + R, F – Runs all tests that are checked in Test Results – very handy because that window is impossible to navigate without a mouse

Ctrl + R, Ctrl + A – Run all tests in debug mode
Ctrl + R, Ctrl + T – Run all tests in context in debug mode
Ctrl + R, Ctrl + F – Run all checked tests in debug mode

Technorati Tags: VSTS,Unit Testing,Keyboard Shortcuts

Google Sync for Blackberry now syncs contacts

Tim Hibbard — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:52:43 GMT

The newest version of Google Sync adds a great new feature of syncing contacts. Now your Gmail contacts will stay up to date with your Blackberry contacts and vice versa.

Very nice!

Download page here.

Technorati Tags: Google Sync,Blackberry

TFS - Publish Web Service with TeamBuild

Tim Hibbard — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:39:00 GMT

TeamBuild is such a powerful tool. We use it to run our unit tests and publish our apps using ClickOnce. Recently we started using it to publish a web service. This code depends on MSBuildTasks from Tigris.

     <PropertyGroup>

      <DeploymentFolder>**SHARED FOLDER ON WEB SERVER**</DeploymentFolder>

      <DeployServerName>**WEB SERVER NAME**</DeployServerName>

      <ApplicationPoolName>ReportingWS</ApplicationPoolName>

      <VirtualDirectory>ReportingWS</VirtualDirectory>

      <WebBinariesLocation>$(BuildDirectoryPath)\Binaries\Release\_PublishedWebSites\ReportingWS</WebBinariesLocation>

    </PropertyGroup>

    <Target Name="AfterCompile">

      <RemoveDir Directories="$(DeploymentFolder)" ContinueOnError="true" />

      <Exec Command="xcopy /y /e /i $(WebBinariesLocation) $(DeploymentFolder)"/>

      <WebDirectoryDelete VirtualDirectoryName="$(VirtualDirectory)"

                          ContinueOnError="true"

                          ServerName="$(DeployServerName)"/>

      <WebDirectoryCreate VirtualDirectoryName="$(VirtualDirectory)"

                          VirtualDirectoryPhysicalPath="$(DeploymentFolder)"

                          ServerName="$(DeployServerName)"/>

    </Target>

Essentially, we just copy the executable files from the Web Service to a shared folder on our web server and map a virtual directory to that shared folder.

Technorati Tags: TFS,Team Foundation Server,TeamBuild,Publish,MSBuildTasks,Tigris

VS2008 code snippet for Properties that support INotifyPropertyChanged

Tim Hibbard — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:19:00 GMT

This code snippet extends the functionality found in prop code snippet. It will populate the backing field in the property, check for equality in the setter and call PropertyChanged. It assumes you have a base class that handles the implementation of INotifyPropertyChanged.

When the snippet is called, it will generate code that looks like this:

     private int myVar;

    public int MyProperty

    {

        get { return myVar; }

        set

        {

            if (!myVar.Equals(value))

            {

                myVar = value;

                base.OnPropertyChanged("MyProperty");

            }

        }

    }

To use this snippet, create a new text file at:
C:\users\<your user name>\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Code Snippets\Visual C#\My Code Snippets

Call it “propINP.snippet”

Populate the contents of the file with this:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

    <CodeSnippets xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">

      <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">

        <Header>

          <SnippetTypes>

            <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>

          </SnippetTypes>

          <Title>propINP</Title>

          <Author>Microsoft Corporation</Author>

          <Description>Code snippet for property and backing field and INotifyPropertyChanged</Description>

          <HelpUrl>

          </HelpUrl>

          <Shortcut>propINP</Shortcut>

        </Header>

        <Snippet>

          <Declarations>

            <Literal Editable="true">

              <ID>type</ID>

              <ToolTip>Property type</ToolTip>

              <Default>int</Default>

              <Function>

              </Function>

            </Literal>

            <Literal Editable="true">

              <ID>property</ID>

              <ToolTip>Property name</ToolTip>

              <Default>MyProperty</Default>

              <Function>

              </Function>

            </Literal>

            <Literal Editable="true">

              <ID>field</ID>

              <ToolTip>The variable backing this property</ToolTip>

              <Default>myVar</Default>

              <Function>

              </Function>

            </Literal>

          </Declarations>

          <Code Language="csharp"><![CDATA[private $type$ $field$;

    public $type$ $property$

    {

    get { return $field$;}

    set 

    { 

    if(!$field$.Equals(value))

    {

    $field$ = value;

    base.OnPropertyChanged("$property$");

    }    

    }

    }

    $end$]]></Code>

        </Snippet>

      </CodeSnippet>

    </CodeSnippets>

Technorati Tags: prop,Snippet,INotifyPropertyChanged

Something in the water

Tim Hibbard — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:13:53 GMT

On another personal note, Chels and I are expecting our first child (a strapping young man) on 12-26. My good buddy Matt, who stood at our wedding, and his wife are also expecting a few days before us. I wonder if our kids will ever figure out they were championship babies.

19:29

Tim Hibbard — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:54:44 GMT

For a while now, one of my goals has been to run a 5K (3.1 miles) in under 20 minutes. This morning I finally broke that number.

Technorati Tags: Running,Nike+,5K

What web search market?

Tim Hibbard — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:48:34 GMT

According to my Blogflux search engine results for the last month, Google has not just cornered the market, they have virtually snuffed out the competition.

Engine	Hits	Percentage
Google	17596	98
Yahoo	202	1
Ask Jeeves	36	0
AOL	35	0
MSN	18	0
Search.com	6	0

Technorati Tags: SEO,Search Engine,Blogflux

Installing Windows Live Writer on Server 2008

Tim Hibbard — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:09:00 GMT

I prefer to use web-based solutions when possible, but the other day the publish feature of google docs wasn’t working right, so I needed to install Windows Live Writer. I quickly found out that WLW doesn’t play nicely with Windows Server 2008.

Since WLW is written in .NET, I just installed it on an XP virtual machine and copied the Program Files folder over to my Server 2008 machine. Simple.

Technorati Tags: Windows Live Writer,Server 2008

Kansas vs Emporia State

Tim Hibbard — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:59:00 GMT

I went to the KU game last night with Kyle. We won very easily. On an odd note, the singer of the National Anthem was the daughter of the Emporia State coach, and was wearing a KU shirt.

Technorati Tags: Kansas University,KU,Basketball,Emporia State

WPF - Using SystemColors to add color to ListBox

Tim Hibbard — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:41:00 GMT

Using colors is a simple way make your application less boring. You can change the color of the selected and unselected item in a ListBox by using code like this:

<Style TargetType="ListBoxItem">

    <Style.Resources>

        <SolidColorBrush x:Key="{x:Static SystemColors.HighlightBrushKey}" Color="LightGreen"/>

        <SolidColorBrush x:Key="{x:Static SystemColors.ControlBrushKey}" Color="LightBlue"/>

    </Style.Resources>

</Style>

This style can be put in the resources of the ListBox to just affect that ListBox, or it can be put in resources of the Window and it will apply these styles to all ListBoxes in the window. You can also use the Application.Resources of App.xaml and all ListBoxes in your application will have the same look and feel.

Technorati Tags: WPF,ListBox,SystemColors

Getting BrightKite friends using C# and LINQ

Tim Hibbard — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:19:47 GMT

BrightKite is a location aware social network. It allows you to post notes and pictures at a specific place. It also will write to your Twitter stream so your friends can keep up with your latest activity.

They also have an API, which I had the chance to play with the other night. Here is some very simple code that will write out a list of all your friends:

        public static void ListFriends(string username, string password)

            string url = "http://brightkite.com/me/friends.xml";

            WebRequest WRequest = WebRequest.Create(url) as HttpWebRequest;

            WRequest.Timeout = 10000;

            WRequest.Headers.Add("Authorization",

                "Basic " + Convert.ToBase64String(

                Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(username + ":" + password)));

            using (HttpWebResponse response = WRequest.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse)

                StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream());

                XElement element = XElement.Load(reader);

                foreach (XElement node in element.Elements("person"))

                    string place = node.Element("place").Element("name").Value;

                    string person = node.Element("fullname").Value;

                    Console.WriteLine("{0} checked in at {1}",person,place);

My BrightKite = timhibbard

My Twitter = timhibbard

RAM usage when running SQL on development machine

Tim Hibbard — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:52:46 GMT

Like most developers, I run SQL on my main work computer. I find that the RAM usage gets quite bloated at times, so I have a handy bat file that I run to restart the SQL service, giving me my RAM back. Here are the simple steps to achieving this:

1) Right click on your desktop and create a new text document.

2) Rename file to restartSQL.bat

3) Click yes on confirmation to change a file name extension. If you did not get this error, you will need uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types" on the View tab of Folder Options.

4) Right click restartSQL.bat and select "Edit"

5) In the document that opens up, type

net stop mssqlserver
net start mssqlserver

*note if you have a named instance of SQL, change "mssqlserver" to what your instance is named

6) Close document and save changes when prompted

Now when your RAM is getting a bit high, just double click the file and it will give you your RAM back from SQL (for a little bit anyways).

P.S. I know I've been a really bad blogger and Jeff yelled at me the other day about it. It's annoying when people give a million excuses for not blogging for the last couple of months, so I won't do that :)

C# DateTime extension method

Tim Hibbard — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:43:03 GMT

Currently DateTime.ToShortDateString will not include any "0" prefixes. I think this makes any vertical lists of dates look funky:

Here is a very simple extension method that will append any needed leading "0" to the date:

namespace ParaPlan.Extensions
{
    public static class DateHelper
    {
        public static string ToShortDateEqualLengthString(this DateTime dt)
        {
            var rv = new StringBuilder();
            if (dt.Month.ToString().Length ==1)
            {
                rv.Append("0");
            }
            rv.Append(dt.Month.ToString());
            rv.Append("/");
            if (dt.Day.ToString().Length == 1)
            {
                rv.Append("0");
            }
            rv.Append(dt.Day.ToString());
            rv.Append("/");
            rv.Append(dt.Year.ToString());

            return rv.ToString();
        }
    }
}

Changing our dates to call .ToShortDateEqualLengthString will make our listbox look much more pretty:

Twitter + GeoRSS = GeoTwitter

Tim Hibbard — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:21:14 GMT

Al Pascual has been working on GeoTwitter, a website (open source on CodePlex) that add geographical context to your tweets. That is pretty cool and he is looking at ways to automate it (IP, cell GPS), but what I think is really cool is that he provides a GeoRSS feed of your tweets (with others).

Check out the site here.

He posts about the project, submitting it to open source and future ideas on his blog.