Regional Directors

New Features Tighten Up ASP.NET MVC 2

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:09:28 GMT

Richard Hundhausen writes "...The framework encourages developers to maintain a clear separation of concerns among the responsibilities of the application – the UI logic using the view, user-input handling using the controller, and the domain logic using the model. ASP.NET MVC applications are easily testable using..."

Bloggers : Richard Hundhausen
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : ASPNET

Code Bubbles: Disruption Comes to the IDE

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:09:24 GMT

Andrew Brust writes "... Code Bubbles is an IDE for Java development. Why didn’t Microsoft come up with something like this for .NET devs? Between the existing features in Visual Studio 2010, its WPF code editor, and the fact that OneNote’s UI bears some affinity to Code Bubbles’, it’s interesting that Microsoft still has not thought outside of its own “box” to get us something like this...ASP.NET site...is taking votes on this very issue...vote!"

Bloggers : Andrew Brust
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

Fix for SqlDeploy Task Fails

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:14:45 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...The short answer is that the account that your build server runs under needs to have the necessary permissions in SQL Server...If you’re certain the account has the necessary permissions, but you’re still getting the error, the problem may be that the account has never..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Clarifying the Ambiguous Term Solution Architecture

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:14:42 GMT

Sondre Bjellas writes "...I would like to air some ideas I have for the Solution Architecture talk and hopefully get some feedback...about the solution architect role, think about the role from a technical perspective, not a functional one. Here is a diagram that tries to illustrate some of the interactions..."

Bloggers : Sondre Bjellas
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Silverlight Discovery xap Caching in IIS

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:14:39 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...I was having a problem where my SL app was not updating. Looked at the IIS settings and finally stumbled on Output Caching. To see if this would work, i added a rule for..."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

Fix for Could Not Load Type Microsoft.Build.Framework.BuildEventContext

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:31:08 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...figured out that I’d missed a dropdownlist in the TeamCity project setup:...Originally I was using Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 for my MSBuild task. Changing it to..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

How the Dynamic Management View (DMV) Works

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:31:04 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...There's no progress reporting from the DMV (or DBCC SHOWCONTIG) but if you look at the reads column in sys.dm_exec_sessions you can see how far through the operation it is. This method works best for DETAILED scans, where [you] can compare that number against the in_row_data_page_count for..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

1-TB Table Population - Network Optimization

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:09:57 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...I've been playing around with the network setup to make sure things are optimized, and this post will describe what I did and what effect it had...I kept the dat aon the faster SCSI array and the log on the slower SATA array...By separating the network traffic and moving to two iSCSI NICs, I removed the network bottleneck I had...and replaced it with..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Fix for Changing or Removing Visual Studio 2008 from DVD

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:08:08 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...If you installed Visual Studio 2008 on a 64-bit operating system, you may have trouble when you try ad add or remove functionality by inserting the disk (or remounting the ISO image). I believe this is because of the path used to install the 32-bit Visual Studio program. When you run the setup.exe off of the disk, you get this..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

Code Sample Easing Animation with WPF and Silverlight

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:06:27 GMT

Christian Nagel writes "...With WPF 4 the animation classes support easing functions to change the animated values. The animation classes now defines the EasingFunction property of type IEasingFunction that allows assigning any object that implements this interface. The following code snippets animates an ellipse using the easing function from the ElasticEase class..."

Bloggers : Christian Nagel
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

Expression Blend Pro Tip How to Add Your Own Sample Data Lists

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:06:23 GMT

Barry Gervin writes "...you can do edit a simple csv file...In your Blend program directory, you will find a “SampleDataResources” folder. Inside this you will find an Images folder...You can edit this file in excel and simply edit the values or..."

Bloggers : Barry Gervin
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

How to Use a WPF ListView as a DataGrid

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:06:19 GMT

Paul Sheriff writes "...create a ListView that acts like a DataGrid. You are able to use a DataTable as both the source of the data, and for creating the columns for the ListView...You can download the complete sample code..."

Bloggers : Paul Sheriff
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

List of America's Most Wired Cities

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:11:24 GMT

Jim Duffy writes "...Raleigh, NC, on top of it’s most broadband connected cities in the U.S.!...Taken from the [Forbes] article:...Raleigh is a great place to live and I’d like to invite everyone to move here, but I won’t. Too many people have already...and I don’t need anymore of you getting in my way on the roads..."

Bloggers : Jim Duffy
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

SQL Server 2008 R2 - Free Learning Materials

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:06:42 GMT

Greg Low writes "...consumable bite-sized pieces of training. This involves videos, demos and hands-on-labs...released (for free) as part of the update to the SQL Server 2008 R2 Training Kit. You'll find details here:"

Bloggers : Greg Low
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Silverlight Whitepaper on NBC Sunday Night Football

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:04:58 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...This white paper is awesome as it dives into smooth streaming with Silverlight and the bits and pieces that were used to get it working...."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

NBC Sunday Night Football Powered by Silverlight - Case Study

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:02:30 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...Check out the new case study...The awesome support for smooth streaming is awesome. The video features are wild too. I did a demo for a customer and it took me 10 minutes to..."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

Diluting the Value Proposition for Microsoft Surface as a Brand

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:14:48 GMT

Neil Roodyn writes "...It astounds me to watch a company that employs so many really intelligent people repeatedly make the same mistakes around something simple like branding...When Microsoft themselves allow research projects such as the Mobile "Surface" and SecondLight projects to use the Surface brand it dilutes the message...To make matters worse..."

Bloggers : Neil Roodyn
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Tip on Opening Visual Studio Files as Administrator

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:53:54 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...The solution as suggested by...you can now go right into your project structure in Windows Explorer and open whichever solution or project files you want, and they will open in an Administrator privileged instance of Visual Studio, with the elevated privileges Azure and IIS require."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

Slick Silverlight Code for Merged Dictionaries

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:50:27 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...If you need to change a resource dictionary its easy to swap them out. I like to define the dictionary in XAML (App.xaml) like so...This gives me a default dictionary and lets the designers work with it. Then in code we can clear the merged dictionaries and change them..."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

Read and Recommended: Guide to Claims-Based Identity and Access Control

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:48:30 GMT

Christian Weyer writes "...fantastic official Microsoft guide. If you need to grok the concepts and technical details about how to do claims-based identity and access control on the Windows and .NET platform..."

Bloggers : Christian Weyer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Suggested Reading

What's Your Guess: In SQL Azure is Master Billable?

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:56:44 GMT

Guy Barrette writes "...Here’s a screenshot after I created a new database called Test...I was surprised that master is listed like a standard 1GB database and I feared that it might be billable...I went into my billings. Looks like only my Test database was counted as..."

Bloggers : Guy Barrette
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Azure

Eliminate Repetition with Action

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:51:08 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...But the significant improvement came in the area of logging the start/end of each method call, which I did by using an Action method. You can see in the original code there was a lot of repetition...I replaced each 3-line call with a single line method call that took in an Action parameter representing the method to invoke. The result is..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

How to Use Diskpart and wmic to Check Disk Partition Alignment

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:48:20 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...how to use the diskpart and wmic tools...but be careful not to play around with any of the destructive options on productions systems. The options I'm using below will not alter the disks in any way. Note: This stuff applies to MBR disks, not GPT or dynamic disks...Bring up a command prompt and type diskpart. You'll see something like:"

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

I Speak Your Language Thanks to Microsoft Translator

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:45:57 GMT

Neil Roodyn writes "...grand total of 30 languages!..find out about some new additions to the Translator and how you can build translation into your software using the same technology behind Bing Translator..."

Bloggers : Neil Roodyn
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

When You Read This Line I got an SMS Sent by Simple Lines of C# Code

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:47:24 GMT

Christian Weyer writes "...The other day I wanted to have a simple piece of code for some of my apps to send out a text message/SMS to mobile devices...we are going to use a HttpUrlEncodedForm object from the REST Starter Kit to set up our name/value pairs for the request message. The token from the STS needs to go into the Authorization header – and then we are ready to post the data to the service in order to send our SMS."

Bloggers : Christian Weyer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Mobile

Blazing Fast Code Filters a Wrap Panel in a WPF App

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:42:16 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...have a WPF app that puts usercontrols into a wrap panel. Works perfect. Since theres close to a 1000 items its hard to find a particular item. The panel looks like so...And its blazing fast at least on my system. I mean instantaneous..."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Error Solution to SQLite with NHibernate

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:06:08 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...The strange thing was, it worked fine from within Visual Studio, but it died when I used my ClickToBuild.bat file, which calls msbuild and runs my tests from the command line. A bit of searching led me to a similar problem on StackOverflow, which produced the answer...I’m assuming that since Visual Studio 2008 is still in the dark ages and..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

VS 2010 Small Tip Big Benefit

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:06:07 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...hover the mouse over a tab and a little x will appear. Click it and the window closes. This is awesome because you don’t have to..."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

How to Set Focus in XAML with no Code

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:06:05 GMT

Rockford Lhotka writes "...My solution is to create a FrameworkElement called SetFocus. This shows up in the Toolbox and so can be dragged directly onto the form using the designer. The SetFocus control has no visual aspect, so it doesn’t interfere with the layout or look of the form. Once SetFocus is on the form, the Properties window can..."

Bloggers : Rockford Lhotka
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

Sample Corrupt Databases Free to Use

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:06:03 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...for a few years now I've provided a zip file with a bunch of pre-corrupted databases in - so you can test your consistency checking jobs, and experiment with corrupt databases without having to create them yourself by destroying hard-drives, or less daft means. You can find the main zip file at the top of our..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Outback Steakhouse Using Azure - Case Study

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:05:54 GMT

Alexander Wechsler writes "..interesting that a steak house chain such as Outback nowadays is creating its own fan page using Azure cloud services (have look at the showcase to get more technical info). This is indeed web 2.0 coming in rather unspectacular. For me, the most interesting thing..."

Bloggers : Alexander Wechsler
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Azure

Growing List of Sync Standards Across Microsoft Product Set

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:35:10 GMT

Andrew Brust writes "...I continue to find it fascinating how many sync standards Microsoft has across its product set. Here’s a list of them (excluding Live Sync and Live Mesh), and I’m betting it’s not comprehensive...I’d like to see a common sync facility that every Microsoft product needing such services could build upon. Just (please) don’t base it on..."

Bloggers : Andrew Brust
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Still Have Azure CTP Running Instances? Get Ready to Pay

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:35:05 GMT

Guy Barrette writes "...during an Azure workshop, one fellow found out that his Hello World app...cost him $45 so far..."

Bloggers : Guy Barrette
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Azure

VS 2010 RC Code for a Simple Dialog Box

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:35:01 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...I needed a simple dialog box in a recent application and heres what i came up with. Took seconds to create with VS 2010 RC 0...The XAML looks like this:"

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

Solution to Untrusted Projects and Blocked Files in Visual Studio

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:34:55 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...in this case I know the project is OK so I click the box and tell it to get on with it. Next, I try to run the project, but I am faced with this:...Note that if you Unblock the zip file first, then everything you unzip out of it will also be unblocked, so this is the way to go. Another option..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

The Simplest Approach to Select From a Stored Procedure

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:17:28 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...There are several workarounds here, and the appropriate one depends mostly on whether you have any control over the use of the stored procedure, or how it works. For example, you could choose to use a VIEW instead of a stored procedure. Unfortunately, a VIEW usually won’t work if"

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Binding ObjectDataProvider Method Parameters in WPF is Magic

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:15:17 GMT

Paul Sheriff writes "...It is absolutely amazing how much you can do in WPF without writing a line of code. If you take full advantage of the data-binding features in WPF you will find that a lot of the code you used to write to move data from one control to another...can be completely eliminated! To illustrate...[how to] bind the TextBox control to the method parameter of the ObjectDataProvider..."

Bloggers : Paul Sheriff
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

WPF/Silverlight Using the ViewModel Approach

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:22:59 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...large WPF and Silverlight application. The application is built using .Net 4, VS 2010 RC...The view model is nice because it splits out lots of code from the code behind for a window / page / user control. And its nice to locate all your UI logic there..."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

Working with VS10 XAML Designer - Hunting for the Real Data Object

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:08:28 GMT

Rockford Lhotka writes "...I spent a substantial amount of time trying to get PropertyStatus, InvokeMethod and Execute to work nicely...writing controls that interact with the real data object isn’t something people do every day, but if you end up writing such a control hopefully this blog post will help save you some time and frustration."

Bloggers : Rockford Lhotka
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

Using the Generalize Configuration Pass

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:00:09 GMT

Alexander Wechsler writes "The Generalize leverages a tool called Sysprep.exe and can be at best compared with the System Cloning Tool we know from XP embedded or WES 2009. It takes care that a cloned image will have a new Security Identifier (SID) on its new target...In the Generalize pass one should target those settings that need to be identical throughout a device or.."

Bloggers : Alexander Wechsler
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Embedded

SharePoint 2010 Install Tips on Win08R2

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:00:04 GMT

Vinod Unny writes "...If you are planning to install it for testing on a Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 machine here are some small install tips for you that’ll take some small irritations away from installing the beta..."

Bloggers : Vinod Unny
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Office System

Master Data Management is Only as Good as the Consensus Across Business Units

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:59:58 GMT

Ciprian Jichici writes "...Unfortunately, many organizations believe that by simply implementing a MDM solution all of these challenges will be addressed. That’s a big (and potentially costly) mistake...you also need a serious shift in the organization’s data management mindset. Failure to drive the mindset change will..."

Bloggers : Ciprian Jichici
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Option Avoids Regions for Interfaces in Visual Studio

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:49:23 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...Another quick tip related to the use of regions in your C# code – you can turn off the default behavior of wrapping interfaced implementations..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

SQL Reporting Services Should Support Include Files

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:01:54 GMT

Greg Low writes "...The downside of placing code in an assembly is that I now have a deployment issue. It's very easy to deploy an RDL report file but quite another thing to deploy a .NET assembly that is referenced by it. What I’d really like to see is an in-between option. I think a good solution would be..."

Bloggers : Greg Low
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Applying MVVM in the VS10 XAML Designer

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:45:30 GMT

Rockford Lhotka writes "...I’m very excited about this designer, as I think the lack of a good designer has been the single biggest roadblock to WPF (and now Silverlight) adoption...I'm becoming increasingly convinced that the VS10 designer really will allow creation of XAML interfaces using patterns like MVVM and..."

Bloggers : Rockford Lhotka
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

LINQ with .NET 4 Zip

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:43:31 GMT

Christian Nagel writes "....NET 4.0 includes the new extension method Zip with the Enumerable, ParallelEnumerable, and Queryable classes. Zip allows to merge two sequences. Other LINQ operators that merge two sequences are Union, Intersect, Join, and GroupJoin. These operators have been available since .NET 3.5...more about the LINQ operators..."

Bloggers : Christian Nagel
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

WES 7 New Name and OfflineServicing Configuration Pass

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:40:20 GMT

Alexander Wechsler writes "...It seems to turn into a natural law that Microsoft changes the names for its embedded products every six to twelve months. Again, this is exactly what happened yesterday. Windows Embedded Standard 2011 now turns into Windows Embedded Standard 7. I do not think that this frequent name changing is beneficial in a market that adores stability and availability...have a look at the next configuration pass in WES 7..."

Bloggers : Alexander Wechsler
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Embedded

Analyzing the Windows Phone 7 User Experience

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:13:57 GMT

Sondre Bjellas writes "...how it compares to Surface and the technology capabilities of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight. The question I want to try to answer, is where are we going with the surface paradigm? I think I have some compelling ideas of a future vision that fits well with what has developed on the Zune devices..."

Bloggers : Sondre Bjellas
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Mobile

Code Sample Testing the New C# Optional Parameters

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:09:08 GMT

Michael Palermo writes "...I am testing the new optional parameters in C#. I am also testing the my new Windows Live Writer plug-in for code snippets...how to execute one way or another…"

Bloggers : Michael Palermo
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

Devil's Advocate - Windows Phone 7 Series

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:07:31 GMT

Andrew Brust writes "...There’s a lot of stuff we have not seen around this platform, and it would be naive to assume these things will just take care of themselves. So let’s enumerate them, and let’s put pressure on Microsoft to make sure they’re addressed by launch...Microsoft needs to keep heads-down on this and make the platform solid and fleshed out. It also needs to keep making integration deals, with services like..."

Bloggers : Andrew Brust
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Mobile

Tip Adding Acrobat Reader 9.2 on Windows Embedded Standard 2009

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:17:46 GMT

Alexander Wechsler writes "...Acrobat Reader 9.2 died pretty nastily on WES 2009 each time it was started, with an unknown error during font capture. With the help of Sysinternals File Monitor (filemon) we were able to track down the cause: Acrobat Reader is missing a file called..."

Bloggers : Alexander Wechsler
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Silverlight 4 Training Course Drills Down into Three Major Areas

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:17:26 GMT

Guy Barrette writes "...Silverlight 4...training course with hands-on-labs on some of the new features like the Rich Text editor and the Webcam and microphone support..."

Bloggers : Guy Barrette
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

Tips on Moving SVN Repositories to a New Server

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:17:10 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...once the server is moved and you’ve shut down access to the old location, what do you do with your existing working copies that are linked to the old location? There are two options:..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Testing for a Performance Gain by Separating SQL Data and Log Files

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:17:04 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...Over the last couple of weeks I've been running some tests with the log and data files on separate RAID arrays, and this post will explain what I've found...There's clearly a performance gain to be had from separating the data and log portions of the database...Here's a Task Manager trace..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

A New Developer Framework .NOT

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:08:18 GMT

Neil Roodyn writes "...This new .NOT framework represents ground breaking abstraction technologies that removes the need for a software developer to do any work...superbly scattered with memory leaks and unhandled exceptions, it is just like it was written by..."

Bloggers : Neil Roodyn
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Creating a SQL Azure Table

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:08:10 GMT

Sondre Bjellas writes "...Thanks to SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2...you can now connect without any hacks or tricks to your SQL Azure instance. This will make it much quicker and easier for you to connect, create and modify your SQL databases....The first thing you need..."

Bloggers : Sondre Bjellas
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

After Heavy Coding My First Impressions of VS 2010 RC

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:08:06 GMT

Ciprian Jichici writes "...I had some mixed feelings while using the preliminary releases like Beta 1 and Beta 2. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of the new VS...After one and a half day of use in heavy coding I have to say..."

Bloggers : Ciprian Jichici
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

Build Great Apps But Expect to Change Them

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:50:28 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...You know that how your application works today will not be the best way it could work next year, so don’t super-glue the pieces together. Write your software in a loosely coupled fashion that, like Legos, allows the various pieces to be broken apart easily and reassembled in a way that might make..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

First Impressions Installing Visual Studio 2010 RC

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:39:11 GMT

Sanjay Shetty writes "...To start with you need to un-install VS 2010 Beta2 and .NET 4 Beta2(everything associated with it) before installing the VS 2010 RC, in addition I’d advise to double check and remove other beta stuff like...the installation takes a long while so be prepared for it, as a friend of mine mentioned..."

Bloggers : Sanjay Shetty
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

Can You Still Develop Silverlight 4 Apps with VS 2010 RC?

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:24:34 GMT

Guy Barrette writes "...nice FAQ about Silverlight compatibility with Visual Studio 2010 RC...."

Bloggers : Guy Barrette
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

VS2010 RC First Impressions: Much Faster than Beta 2

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:22:20 GMT

Bill Wagner writes "... It’s only been one day. If I were making a ship decision, I’d say VS2010 RC needs a lot more soak time. I put VS2010 RC on the PDC Laptop. On that machine, the VS2010 Beta was rather painful. It worked, but..."

Bloggers : Bill Wagner
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

Cost Effective Backup Strategy for a Small Organization

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:46:14 GMT

Patrick Hynds writes "...how to cost effectively do backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) for a 50 or so person organization. Here is what I have found to be a pretty good way to go that won't break the bank..."

Bloggers : Patrick Hynds
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Interesting Idea - a Closed OS Launching Into the Browser as a Pure Web Device

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:46:12 GMT

Markus Egger writes "...So how about Google’s Chrome OS?...A solid state drive will make booting a very fast operation....So for many scenarios, users will be happy with web browsers, but at the same time, they are losing the ability to do anything on their machines. No Word documents to create, no Outlook, no games to play. Will users really be happy using..."

Bloggers : Markus Egger
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Technology Predictions for 2010

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:46:08 GMT

Sondre Bjellas writes "...My main major prediction for The Tens is that it will represents a dramatic shift towards subscription based models for everything...model will become more global, span country borders and become available to anyone, anytime, from anywhere – from any status in society...Another big area of development will be towards simplicity, in all it’s forms and shapes..."

Bloggers : Sondre Bjellas
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Read and Recommended: Inbound Marketing and Small Business Trends

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:45:50 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...inbound marketing differs from outbound in that you are helping customers who may be looking for you or a service like yours, rather than reaching out to potential customers and interrupting them during whatever they’re doing and trying to drag them to your site. There was a great quote from Dharmesh that actually prompted me to buy this book:..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Suggested Reading

Azure Walkthrough Setting up a Secure Site with SSL Certificate

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:45:27 GMT

Sondre Bjellas writes "...Installing and configuring HTTPS certificates is sometimes hard, but I hope this walkthrough...[shows] you how quickly...you can get up and running with a valid SSL certificate..."

Bloggers : Sondre Bjellas
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Azure

How to Prevent Resharper From Adding Regions

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:45:53 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...I look through the options and nothing jumps out at me about how to adjust Region settings for NUnit tests. I manually removed the region and checked in my code...the steps...This is why I never found what I was looking for...Once you see this:...you’re pretty much there. All you need to do is look for things that say:..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Three MS Technologies to Watch in 2010

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:34:31 GMT

Jackie Goldstein writes "...there are a few [three] other strategic...technologies that I think we need to be paying attention to...Azure platform is not only compelling, but has also evolved to address many “real-world” issues...Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework is clearly destined to become mainstream. Version 2.0 will be..."

Bloggers : Jackie Goldstein
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Fexibility and Challenges with Configuration Passes in Windows Embedded Standard 2011

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:07:52 GMT

Alexander Wechsler writes "...there is a new important thing embedded OS developers need to get used to: configuration passes. They describe the different phases the OS setup routine needs to go through while installing the image, preparing the hardware or even doing offline servicing. Here is an overview...There is great flexibility as well as some challenges introduced..."

Bloggers : Alexander Wechsler
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Embedded

How To Deploy a ZIP File to Windows Azure

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:07:46 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...the issue here is that a Build Action of “None” means the build and deploy features of Visual Studio will treat your file like a social pariah and ignore it completely...Visual Studio wants nothing to do with it...So the fix to get your ZIP files and other “content” to be deployed to the cloud as part of your Azure deployment package is to..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Azure

Windows Server AppFabric: The Architectural Point of View

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:37:19 GMT

Ciprian Jichici writes "...The 2nd edition of the Microsoft Application Architecture Guide has an excellent discussion...about crosscutting concerns. It is an excellent and powerful piece of the puzzle that software architects can take into consideration when designing software solutions..."

Bloggers : Ciprian Jichici
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

SQL Script Shows Open Transactions on the Server

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:33:40 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...Here's a little script I knocked up this afternoon to tell me who has open transactions on the server - not just the single oldest active transaction that DBCC OPENTRAN returns..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

IPad Detailed Analysis the Good, the Bad and Why I Bought It

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:51:13 GMT

Markus Egger writes "...I think Apple has put more marketing muscle into the iPad in the last 2 or 3 days than MS did for the entire Tablet PC and Origami efforts combined. At least it seems that way, and that is what marketing is all aboutl....Here is a list of pros and cons of the iPad as I see them:"

Bloggers : Markus Egger
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

How ICE is Used in Windows Embedded Standard 2011

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:44:21 GMT

Alexander Wechsler writes "..ICE is the replacement of Target Designer, which until WES 2009, has been the image configuration tool for all XP based embedded versions of the operating system...ICE is used to create an answer file to configure the embedded operating system image in a second step using the image builder wizard...The image is create by adding feature packs to the answer file. If you right-click in..."

Bloggers : Alexander Wechsler
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Microsoft Windows Client

How to Set up TRIM with Win7 and SSD Drive

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:31:46 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...there is a simple command you can execute to determine if windows is sending TRIM commands to your SSD drive..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Microsoft Windows Client

How to Display Data in WPF Applications

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:28:54 GMT

Paul Sheriff writes "...XML files are a great way to display data in WPF applications. I find XML files to be especially useful for prototyping as I find creating XML files much quicker than creating database tables and hooking up to those database tables from WPF. You have a lot of different methods to retrieve the XML data. In this article I showed you how to display the data using the XmlDataProvider, a CollectionViewSource and LINQ to XML..."

Bloggers : Paul Sheriff
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Optimizing Log Block IO Size and How Log IO Works

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:02:21 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...Let's go through each counter...and explain what's going on...The answer involves some deep internals of the transaction log structure and IO behavior. The transaction log is split up internally into sections called virtual log files..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Silverlight 4 Code Sample Shows Binding to an Indexed List

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:02:15 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...[I'm] Working on a client app where i need to bind to an indexed list of accounts where each account in the list is an Account object. I got this working today to bind to a generic list indexer:..."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

VS 2010 B2 How to Zoom Text In and Out

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:55:06 GMT

Ken Spencer writes "...We are using VS 2010 for a client project...Check this out. In the code editor, hold down...Text zooms in and out. Brilliant."

Bloggers : Ken Spencer
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

What Silverlight 4 Beta Does for Facebook

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:55:05 GMT

Michael Palermo writes "...can clearly see the advantage...If you are a Facebook junkie, you will want to experiment with this app..."

Bloggers : Michael Palermo
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Silverlight

How to Create an Azure Account Linked to Your MSDN Subscription

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:55:04 GMT

Guy Barrette writes "...If you just want to kick tires and don’t want to invest too much, Microsoft has an introductory special that has enough “hours” to do some basic testing for free...details..."

Bloggers : Guy Barrette
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Azure

Predictions 2010 ASP.NET MVC vs Webforms

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:55:01 GMT

Jackie Goldstein writes "...choosing between Webforms, MVC, and Silverlight. Each technology has its pros and cons, and each development project must be analyzed for its particular needs and tradeoffs. Still, I would offer the following observations:...While on the subject of MVC vs. Webforms, check out the interesting post by Scott Guthrie..."

Bloggers : Jackie Goldstein
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

Tuning into the Right Wireless Networking Channel

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:45:17 GMT

Derek Hatchard writes "...The hard core geeks know that to optimize your wireless networking experience you want to select a channel that is unused by other nearby wireless devices. If you run Windows 7 (or Vista), use the following command at the Command Prompt to see the channels and signal strength of nearby networks:...Find a hole, ideally at least five channels away from.."

Bloggers : Derek Hatchard
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

How to Create an MSDN Azure Account

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:45:14 GMT

Guy Barrette writes "...short walkthrough (PDF and PPTX) describing all the steps required to create an Azure account for MSDN subscribers..."

Bloggers : Guy Barrette
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Azure

DBCC CHECKFILEGROUP Bug Fixed in 2008 SP1 CU6

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:45:12 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...The bug was fixed ages ago in 2005 but has only just been fixed in 2008. The post which explains the bug in more detail is...This is an important feature to be able to split the consistency checks of a partitioned VLDB over a series of days...The KB article which describes the bug is..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Finally, C# 4 Has Named and Optional Parameters

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:45:01 GMT

Christian Nagel writes "...What’s the reason we had to wait so long for the named and optional parameters as this feature exists for such a long time in other programming languages? The reason was versioning, and this is still an issue. If the default values of optional parameters change with a new version, and the calling code is not recompiled, the calling assembly still..."

Bloggers : Christian Nagel
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

There is a Slick Image Builder Wizard in Windows Embedded Standard 2011

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:27:01 GMT

Alexander Wechsler writes "...The quickest way to get a Windows Embedded Standard 2011 up and running is to use the Image Builder Wizard (IBW). There is a very good post by...The basic steps are..."

Bloggers : Alexander Wechsler
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Embedded

Ringing Bing for a Feature Request

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:26:59 GMT

Michael Palermo writes "...I highly recommend Bing for you iPhone users out there. Here are the things that work great...I have only one complaint. Bing team – why did you not give me the ability to easily copy/save items from my search results? For example..."

Bloggers : Michael Palermo
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Windows Azure Compute Time is Calculated Like a Hotel Room

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:26:56 GMT

Steven Smith writes "...If you’re thinking about hosting your blog on Windows Azure, you should understand that it’s going to probably cost more than your ultra-cheap shared hosting plan at one of the many .NET hosting companies. But that’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison, since..."

Bloggers : Steven Smith
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Azure

CAS is Dead

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:24:37 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "...Code Access Security was a technology launched together with the NET Framework 1.0. The big deal about it was that it promised to implement what was called “evidence-based security”...I always thought that Microsoft treated CAS like an ugly and dumb step child...it’s nice now to have an “official position”. People won’t look me in a strange way when..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Security

Why a Baseline is Essential in Performance Testing

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:18:42 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...I first wanted to play around with different configurations of data files and backup files for a 1-TB database to see what kind of performance gains I can get invoking the parallelism possible when backing up and restoring the database...My aim is to give you improvements you can use in real life...I show a detailed perfmon and explain what's going on in my overloaded IO subsystem..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

Minus a Deep Understanding Developers are Binging & Googling Their Way to Solutions

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:17:53 GMT

Sanjay Shetty writes "...The challenge faced is how to keep up with this massive explosion of information, products and tools...There is a whole generation of supposed professionals who have binged/googled their way to finding solutions. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this approach. However, this has left people without a deep understanding of technologies...The challenge with companies like Microsoft is not just putting a whole lot of documentation, sample code etc. online, but enabling people to find and learn...Are there other solutions..."

Bloggers : Sanjay Shetty
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Microsoft BI, Late at the Office

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:17:36 GMT

Andrew Brust writes "...No matter how dedicated of a Microsoft shop some customers are, the time between release and broad deployment of Office and SharePoint will be non-trivial. Users of competing BI stacks...don’t have this problem, and that creates a competitive disadvantage for Microsoft. By tying much of its BI stack to Office, Microsoft limits its ability to refresh its stack to a frequency of once every three years or so. And because of the lag time..."

Bloggers : Andrew Brust
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Office System
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

How to Choose the Right StreamInsight Development Model

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:03:07 GMT

Greg Low writes "...One thing that seems confusing to people when they first look at StreamInsight is that there are several development models: 1. Implicit Server 2. Explicit Server 3. IObservable/IObserver...Picking the right model is something you'll need to do fairly early on in your..."

Bloggers : Greg Low
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

How to Set the MinWidth and MinHeight Based on SizeToContent Property

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:14:54 GMT

Paul Sheriff writes "...how to set an initial minimum width and height. Using dependency properties and data binding you can have a WPF window set its initial size using SizeToContent, save those settings, then set the MinWidth and MinHeight on the Window...You can download the complete sample code..."

Bloggers : Paul Sheriff
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

Watching Explosvie Log File Growth During a Perf Test

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:12:53 GMT

Paul Randal writes "...But why is the log growing in the first place? I'm in the SIMPLE recovery model and doing single-row implicit transactions...Just because you don't have any of the classic causes of transaction log growth going on, doesn't mean you're going to be immune. In this case my (deliberate) poor physical layout of the database files and..."

Bloggers : Paul Randal
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

Resolving WHS Conflicts - Great Tip

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:24:33 GMT

Christian Nagel writes "...I’m using home server to backup all my client systems, and running tons of network shares which are all duplicated. As an additional safety I’m running a Jungle Disk add-in within home server that backs up the most important network shares encrypted to ..."

Bloggers : Christian Nagel
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Microsoft Windows Client

Automatic INPC Using Dynamic Proxy and Ninject - Code Example

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:19:55 GMT

Jonas Folleso writes "...Some of this code might seem complicated, but I really wanted to cover the details of how to integrate it with Ninject, as similar approaches probably work for other containers. Once you got a framework for automatic INPC in place the usage becomes really simple. In the example..."

Bloggers : Jonas Folleso
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Payloads Carry Each Event in StreamInsight - Example

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:15:18 GMT

Greg Low writes "...One of the key decisions you'll make when working with StreamInsight is the payload...A payload will typically look like:..In addition to the fields and properties, I'd suggest a few other items are helpful. First, make sure you override the ToString..."

Bloggers : Greg Low
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

Windows Embedded Standard 2011 Benefits and Drawbacks

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:12:18 GMT

Alexander Wechsler writes "...great new things and functionality to discover, but there are also some drawbacks that need to be paid. Here is my first glance list on these...it has become easier to get your first WES up and running, But, if one digs in deeper there are some challenges understanding different settings for..."

Bloggers : Alexander Wechsler
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Embedded