The Secure Socket Layer is now essential for the secure exchange of digital data, and is most generally used within the HTTPS protocol. .NET now provides the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to implement secure communications directly. Matteo explains the TLS/SSL protocol, and takes a hands-on approach to investigate the SslStream class to show how to implement a secure communication channel … Read more
Because ASP.NET MVC has been designed with extensibility as its design principle; almost every logical step of the processing pipeline can be replaced with your own implementation. In fact, the best way to develop applications with ASP.NET MVC is to extend the system, Simone starts a series that explains how to implement extensions to ASP.NET MVC, starting with the ones at the beginning of the pipeline (routing extensions) and finishing with the view extensions points.… Read more
Although the technical approach to stock market analysis has been around since the 1800s, some improvements have obviously been made over time. With the introduction of computers, and specifically .NET libraries geared towards statistical analysis, huge, complex operations have been made easy.… Read more
Writing maintainable code is hard. It must be understandable, testable and readable. Any one of these can be tricky, and together they seem pretty daunting. Thankfully, Michael Williamson makes it look easy to become a code craftsman.… Read more
The best way to understand how interfaces improve software design is to see a familiar problem solved using interfaces. First, take a tightly-coupled system design without interfaces, spot its deficiencies and then walk-through a solution of the problem with a design using interfaces.… Read more
We asked Phil why his PowerShell tabular reports looked so nice. 'CSS structural pseudo-classes' he muttered mystically. Later on, without any further warning, he popped up with this article that explains for anyone who has missed them, how to go about doing intricate formatting of an HTML file, the contents of which you cannot alter.… Read more
Some programming conventions are best represented in a chart. Nobody will claim that XPath or CSS are entirely intuitive, as they are terse, economical ways of identifying elements in a hierarchy. However, a chart with recipes and examples is a different matter. Suddenly, apps like Selenium IDE are made easier.
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A .NET software component is a compiled set of classes that provide a programmable interface that is used by consumer applications for a service. As a component is no more than a logical grouping of classes, what then is the best way to define the boundaries of a component within the .NET framework? How should the classes inter-operate? Patrick Smacchia, the lead developer of NDepend, discusses the issues and comes up with a solution.… Read more
The Entity Framework can be easily used to create websites based on ASP.NET. The EntityDataSource control, which is one of a set of Web Server Datasource controls, can be used to to bind an Entity Data Model (EDM) to data-bound controls on the page. Thse controls can be editable grids, forms, drop-down list controls and master-detail pages which can then be used to create, read, update, and delete data. Joydip tells you what you need to get started.
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So often, a screendump will explain a great deal about a bug, and prevent much frustration in the process of error-reporting. For EAP testing or user-acceptance testing, it can speed up the whole process dramatically. Including a screendump with an automated error-report isn't hard either, as Jonathan Evans explains ...… Read more
Silverlight can now be used to write a complete business application that can be run outside the browser. Such an application will probably need to automatically check, and react to, changes to the network status, as well as automatically download and install updates from the server. It will need to be easily installed from the browser. Richard Costall explains how, with a complete example.… Read more
Should every Visual Studio project really be in its own assembly? And what does 'Copy Local=True' really mean? Patrick Smacchia is no stranger to large .NET projects, and is well placed to lay a few myths to rest, and gives some advice that promises up to a tenfold increase in speed of compilation.
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With the arrival of Parallel Extensions in .NET 4.0, the concurrent programming powers traditional reserved for the most elite of developers are now available to all of us. With multi-core processors increasingly becoming the norm, this is good news, and Jeremy Jarrell gives us the essential knowledge we'll need to get started.… Read more
LINQ is one of the few technologies that you can start to use without a lot of preliminary learning. Also, it lends itself to learning by trying out examples. With Michael's help, you can watch as your conventional C# code changes to ravenous LINQ before your very eyes.
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.NET 4.0 introduced the Dynamic keyword in C#4.0, making it simple to have your .NET code smoothly interact with dynamic languages. To find out just how easy it was, Zenon Ochal used C# and IronPython to build a very efficient mathematical expression plotter in double-quick time.… Read more
LINQ has the capabilities of providing a great productivity boost. LINQ Chaining is particularly powerful magic, giving your code greater clarity and brevity. Using it, and debugging it, can be tricky without the right tools and techniques, but Michael is on hand to explain and make suggestions.
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NHibernate can help to build a project more quickly if the database it connects to is sound. Otherwise, there are bound to be problems, but they are not problems of NHibernate's making. Nick Harrison gives some advice, and suggests some 'best-practices' for using it, fresh from the reality of developing an application based on NHibernate.
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It isn't widely known that you can use both WPF and Winforms with VS2010 to create a system tray application in .NET. Michael gives you a practical guide, illustrated by an example that is so effective it can be put to immediate practical use. HostSwitcher comes complete with source code and can be downloaded.… Read more
SQL Server's Table-Valued Parameters are useful, and easy to use, but you should be aware that something that looks loke a table, and seems to behave like a table, can't necessarily be used just like any other table. Leidago gives a developer's guide on how, and why, you should use TVPs in your application.
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Because Silverlight is a development of Windows Presentation Foundation, and the technologies are so interlinked, it would seem obvious that there would besuch a high degree of code compatibility that one could then develop an application for both platforms from a common code-base. Khawar describes how it can be done. … Read more
