Scaffolding is a great way of kick-starting model-view-controller (MVC) framework development. Visual Studio's MVC Scaffolding uses templates to generate the routine code that is common to all ASP.Net MVC builds, such as data access and Web API. It allows the developer to concentrate on what is unique to the application.… Read more
The C# language itself has changed little in version 6, the main importance of the release being the introduction of the Roslyn .NET Compiler Platform. However the New features and improvements that have been made to C# are welcome because they are aimed at aiding productivity. Paulo Morgado explains what they are, and how to use them.… Read more
Partial views in ASP.NET MVC allow you to reuse and customise components to act like user controls. They consist of both code and markup. They are an idea that is easy to grasp but they have great potential for the more adventurous developer who is prepared to experiment. Dino Esposito explains.… Read more
Whereas it is easy to provide inline documentation for a normal scripted
PowerShell cmdlet or function so as to provide comprehensive help at the command-line or IDE, the same isn't true of binary cmdlets written in C#. At last, there is an open-source utility to assist with this that is being actively
maintained and updated. At last, binary cmdlets need no longer be the poor cousins of scripted cmdlets in their documentation… Read more
Entity Framework can be useful for getting up and running quickly with a database application, but when it comes to deployment, EF's built-in data migration feature doesn't inspire confidence. Jon Smith relates his quest to find a better answer.… Read more
SignalR isn't just for web applications. It can also provide the basic real-time communications for a connected Windows Universal Application or even iOS and Android applications. Christos Matskas demonstrates how to get started with creating applications across a range of platforms that require real-time communication using SignalR… Read more
Even the most experienced programmers can be caught unawares by software they've used for years without trouble. Dino Esposito explains why and how the JSON method in an ASP.NET MVC controller class suddenly started to cause an exception on a production server, and how he fixed the problem.… Read more
In application or database development, testing is too often given secondary importance. There are advantages to the whole delivery process if testers can get involved in the initial stages of planning and design. Testers have a role throughout the development lifecycle, as Doris Robinson explains… Read more
Not only can you easily retrieve data from SQL Sources for analysis and visualisation in R, but you can also use SQL to create, clean, filter, query and otherwise manipulate datasets within R, using a wide choice of relational databases. There is no reason to abandon your hard-earned SQL skills!… Read more
Despite the fact that browsers were designed specifically to get information from the server only by requesting or 'pulling' it, developers have always yearned to be able to push data to browsers from the server. Typically, it would be to display, within a web page within the browser, the progress of a long-running task. Now ASP.NET SignalR and Bootstrap make it possible, with care. Dino explains how.… Read more
If you don't feel that you are getting helpful and comprehensive feedback from code reviews, it may well be your fault. Unless you are considerate to your reviewers in a number of ways, they might find it difficult to check your code and provide helpful advice. What ways? Michael Sorens outlines the eight golden rules that, if you follow them, might even even make your code a pleasure to review!… Read more
It isn't just the attraction of the huge range of statistical analyses afforded by R that attracts data people to R. The language has also developed a rich ecosystem of charts, plots and visualisations over the years. In his second article about R Basics, Casimir Saternos shows how to get started with the three best-established graphics systems in R.… Read more
Visitors to a website are put off by having to wait for pages to load. Additionally, Google uses the metric to rank your site. Why, when there are tools and techniques around to help reduce web page lethargy, do we still experience slow page-loads? David Berry provides the simple ways of finding and fixing the problems.… Read more
SignalR is great for all those tasks that one would otherwise need to rely on AJAX. However, it is much more versatile than this: it allows, for example, a server process to update users' browser windows selectively rather than broadcast to all, and can treat groups of users in different ways. Dino explains how this magic works.… Read more
Behaviour Driven Development requires the use of ubiquitous language to clearly state the requirements for a software project. As Sunil Pardasani explains, this clarity can bring substantial benefits to your organisation, reducing misunderstandings, competing visions, and setting clear goals that are directly tied to the development process.… Read more
In the past, working in .NET for non-Windows platforms has been dependent on third-party frameworks like Mono. Now, with VS2015 and DNX Microsoft have stepped up to provide everything you need to code multi-platform apps straight out of the box. Clive Tong introduces this new .NET technology.… Read more
SignalR, from Microsoft, solves many of the problems that come with developing web applications that need a communication channel with the server that is effective on a variety of server and client configurations. Christos Matskas gives an overview of the library and its potential.… Read more
SignalR is all about pushing notifications and data between web server and browser, but you can tap into a by-product of the work it has to do to keep track of the users who are currently online. This will provide a list of the users currently connected to a web community. SignalR has endpoints to push server events of any kind to the client, and thereby provides solutions for a number of common programming tasks.… Read more
In Behaviour-driven Development, the scenarios that you work out with the participants in the development in order to specify the acceptance criteria of a feature are recorded in a language that clearly describes the way that a feature should works. The same code can then, via a utility such as SpecFlow, create the unit tests that are subsequently used to write the code, and finally the user-acceptance tests.… Read more
If you are still storing passwords with MD5 hashing you're doing it wrong. The .NET platform provides a Cryptography library that allows you to develop PBKDF2 user authentication to the standards of the Open Web Application Security Project. Tom Fischer explains the background, shows a solution, and discusses the issues.… Read more
