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  • Step Away From That Computer! You’re Not Qualified to Use It!

    - by Michael Sorens
    Most things tend to come with warnings and careful instructions these days, but sadly not one of the most ubiquitous appliances of all, your computer. If a chainsaw is missing its instructions, you’re well advised not to use it, even though you probably know roughly how it’s supposed to work. I confess, there are days when I feel the same way about computers. Long ago, during the renaissance of the computer age, it was possible to know everything about computers. But today, it is challenging to be fully knowledgeable even in one small area, and most people aren’t as savvy as they like to think. And, if I may borrow from Edwin Abbott Abbott’s classic Flatland, that includes me. And you. Need an example of what I mean? Take a look at almost any recent month’s batch of Windows updates. Just two quick questions for you: Do you need all of those updates? Is it safe to install all of those updates? I do software design and development for a living on Windows and the .NET platform, but I will be quite candid: I often have little clue what the heck some of those updates are going to do or why they are needed. So, if you do not know why they are needed or what they do, how do you know if they are safe? Of course, one can sidestep both questions by accepting Microsoft’s recommended Windows Update setting of “install updates automatically”. That leads you to infer that you need all of them (which is not always the case) and, more significantly, that they are safe. Quite safe. Ah, lest reality intrude upon such a pretty picture! Sadly, there is no such thing as risk-free software installation, and payloads from Windows Update are no exception. Earlier this year, a Windows Secrets Patch Watch article touted this headline: Keep this troublesome kernel update on hold. It discusses KB 2862330, a security update originally published more than 4 months earlier, and yet the article still recommends not installing it! Most people simply do not have the time, resources, or interest, to go about figuring out which updates to install or postpone or skip for safety reasons. Windows Secrets Patch Watch is the best service I have encountered for getting advice, but it is still no panacea and using the service effectively requires a degree of computer literacy that I still think is beyond a good number of people. Which brings us full circle: Step Away From That Computer! You’re Not Qualified to Use It!

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  • What issues ensue from having multiple versions of Office installed?

    - by Michael Sorens
    My ultimate question is embodied in the title but I thought it might be helpful to others if I detail what instigated my inquiry and my examination of the problem. To me, the first rule of software updates is Primum non nocere -- first, do no harm. So with my Windows 7 system containing both Office 2003 and Office 2010 I blithely proceeded to install this month's updates from Microsoft, containing updates for both versions of Office. While Microsoft officially does not recommend running multiple versions (see, for example, Running Multiple Versions of Microsoft Excel it is possible; I have had two versions installed for a year or more and have never run into an issue before. One thing that is always mentioned is installation order, i.e., the one you want to open files by default should be installed last. I wanted 2010 as my default so I had indeed installed 2003 first then, years later, 2010. So with this round of Windows updates, either it installed patches to 2010 before 2003, knocking out the file association, or the 2003 patch was more comprehensive, in the sense of touching the file association while the 2010 did not. In any case, after updates, double-clicking a .xls file opened 2003 rather than 2010. Web search indicated either: Use the file associations control panel to re-associate .xls files with the correct version of excel. I looked at this first, but it showed what seemed to be an unversioned "Excel" associated with .xls files so I did not check further. (This turned out to be an error on my part; more later.) Re-install versions in the desired order; I find this unreasonable. Run the repair option of the Office installer on the desired version; still seems more work than one should need. Run excel from the command line with "/regserver" on the one to be the default and "/unregserver" on the other. Good idea, but further search indicated that neither 2007 nor 2010 support "/regserver" contrary to some posts (e.g. Default Program With Multiple Versions Installed). Since this was a Windows Update issue and Microsoft provides free support for such, I inquired there as well, but succeeded only in getting the suggestion to uninstall all other versions, period; not acceptable to me. What worked for me was going back to the file associations control panel and manually selected the Office 2010 version of Excel. While it appeared no different in the control panel, it did fix the double-click issue. So if all it takes is this simple fix after an update, I can live with that. What I am wondering is: Has anyone seen any other problems related to having multiple versions of Office installed?

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  • twitter's officially supported android application

    - by sorens
    i am developing an application for android and would like for my users to be able to post some information from my application to their twitter feed. i know how to make this work by building a VIEW intent and forwarding the user to the android built-in web browser (thanks to stack overflow!) However, now that there is an official Twitter application, I would like to be able to use the twitter applications activity (if it is installed) to make the post. However, I can not find any developer documentation on what the Twitter Intent for Android is called. Can someone provide a short snippet of sample code that includes that text of the Intent to use?

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  • WinForm to WPF: A Quick Reference Guide

    - by mbcrump
    “Michael Sorens provides a handy wallchart to help migration between WinForm / WPF, VS 2008 / 2010, and .NET 3.5 / 4.0.  this can be downloaded for free from the speech-bubble at the head of the article. He also describes the current weaknesses in WPF, and the most  obvious differences between the two.” I have posted this in my cube and it has already started making a difference. Read the full article here.

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  • Using LINQ Lambda Expressions to Design Customizable Generic Components

    LINQ makes code easier to write and maintain by abstracting the data source. It provides a uniform way to handle widely diverse data structures within an application. LINQ’s Lambda syntax is clever enough to even allow you to create generic building blocks with hooks, into which you can inject arbitrary functions. Michael Sorens explains, and demonstrates with examples. span.fullpost {display:none;}

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  • Using LINQ Lambda Expressions to Design Customizable Generic Components

    LINQ makes code easier to write and maintain by abstracting the data source. It provides a uniform way to handle widely diverse data structures within an application. LINQ’s Lambda syntax is clever enough even to allow you to create generic building blocks with hooks into which you can inject arbitrary functions. Michael Sorens explains, and demonstrates with examples.

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  • From WinForm to WPF: A Quick Reference Guide

    Michael Sorens provides a handy wallchart to help migration between WinForm / WPF, VS 2008 / 2010, and .NET 3.5 / 4.0. this can be downloaded for free from the speech-bubble at the head of the article. He also describes the current weaknesses in WPF, and the most obvious differences between the two.

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  • From WinForm to WPF: A Quick Reference Guide

    Michael Sorens provides a handy wallchart to help migration between WinForm / WPF, VS 2008 / 2010, and .NET 3.5 / 4.0. this can be downloaded for free from the speech-bubble at the head of the article. He also describes the current weaknesses in WPF, and the most obvious differences between the two....Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • Creating WPF Prototypes with SketchFlow

    Prototyping with Sketchflow transforms what was once a frustrating and time-consuming chore. With SketchFlow, WPF prototypes can be created and changed with amazing ease. SketchFlow is WPF's secret weapon. Well, it was secret until Michael Sorens produced this article.

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  • A TDD Journey: 3- Mocks vs. Stubs; Test Frameworks; Assertions; ReSharper Accelerators

    Test-Driven Development (TDD) involves the repetition of a very short development cycle that begins with an initially-failing test that defines the required functionality, and ends with producing the minimum amount of code to pass that test, and finally refactoring the new code. Michael Sorens continues his introduction to TDD that is more of a journey in six parts, by implementing the first tests and introducing the topics of Test doubles; Test Runners, Constraints and assertions

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  • TortoiseSVN and Subversion Cookbook Part 3: In, Out, and Around

    Subversion doesn't have to be difficult, especially if you have Michael Sorens's guide at hand. After dealing in previous articles with checkouts and commits in Subversion, and covering the various file-manipulation operations that are required for Subversion, Michael now deals in this article with file macro-management, the operations such as putting things in, and taking things out, that deal with repositories and projects.

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  • A TDD Journey: 1-Trials and Tribulations

    Test-Driven Development (TDD) has a misleading name, because the objective is to design and specify that the system you are developing behaves in the ways that the customer expects, and to prove that it does so for the lifetime of the system. It isn't an intuitive way of coding but by automating the specifications of a system, we end up with tests and documentation as a by-product. Michael Sorens starts an introduction to TDD that is more of a journey in six parts:

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  • A TDD Journey: 2- Naming Tests; Mocking Frameworks; Dependency Injection

    Test-Driven Development (TDD) relies on the repetition of a very short development cycle Starting from an initially failing automated test that defines the functionality that is required, and then producing the minimum amount of code to pass that test, and finally refactoring the new code. Michael Sorens continues his introduction to TDD that is more of a journey in six parts, by implementing the first tests and introducing the topics of Test Naming, Mocking Frameworks and Dependency Injection

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  • Practical PowerShell for SQL Server Developers and DBAs – Part 1

    There is a lot of confusion amongst DBAs about using PowerShell due to existence the deprecated SQLPS mini-shell of SSMS and the newer SQLPS module. In a two-part article and wallchart, Michael Sorens explains how to install it, what it is, and some of the excellent things it has to offer. Compress live data by 73% Red Gate's SQL Storage Compress reduces the size of live SQL Server databases, saving you disk space and storage costs. Learn more.

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  • A TDD Journey: 4-Tests as Documentation; False Positive Results; Component Isolation

    In Test-Driven Development (TDD) , The writing of a unit test is done more to design and to document than to verifiy. By writing a unit test you close a number of feedback loops, and verifying the functionality of the code is just a minor one. everything you need to know about your class under test is embodied in a simple list of the names of the tests. Michael Sorens continues his introduction to TDD that is more of a journey in six parts, by discussing Tests as Documentation, False Positive Results and Component Isolation.

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  • Practical PowerShell for SQL Server Developers and DBAs – Part 2

    Having shown just how useful PowerShell can be for DBAs in executing queries, Michael Sorens now takes us through navigating SQL Server space and finding meta-information - valuable information for anyone looking to be more productive in SQL Server. What can SQL Monitor 3.2 monitor?Whatever you think is most important. Use custom metrics to monitor and alert on data that's most important for your environment. Find out more.

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  • LINQ Lycanthropy: Transformations into LINQ

    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 Sorens' help, you can watch as your conventional C# code changes to ravenous LINQ before your very eyes. Join SQL Backup’s 35,000+ customers to compress and strengthen your backups "SQL Backup will be a REAL boost to any DBA lucky enough to use it." Jonathan Allen. Download a free trial now.

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  • PowerShell One-Liners: Collections, Hashtables, Arrays and Strings

    The way to learn PowerShell is to browse and nibble, rather than to sit down to a formal five-course meal. In his continuing series on PowerShell one-liners, Michael Sorens provides Fast Food for busy professionals who want results quickly and aren't too faddy. Part 3 has as its tasty confections - Collections, Hashtables, arrays and strings. "A real time saver" Andy Doyle, Head of IT ServicesAndy and his team saved time by automating backup and restores with SQL Backup Pro. Find out how much time you could save. Download a free trial now.

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  • Hype and LINQ

    - by Tony Davis
    "Tired of querying in antiquated SQL?" I blinked in astonishment when I saw this headline on the LinqPad site. Warming to its theme, the site suggests that what we need is to "kiss goodbye to SSMS", and instead use LINQ, a modern query language! Elsewhere, there is an article entitled "Why LINQ beats SQL". The designers of LINQ, along with many DBAs, would, I'm sure, cringe with embarrassment at the suggestion that LINQ and SQL are, in any sense, competitive ways of doing the same thing. In fact what LINQ really is, at last, is an efficient, declarative language for C# and VB programmers to access or manipulate data in objects, local data stores, ORMs, web services, data repositories, and, yes, even relational databases. The fact is that LINQ is essentially declarative programming in a .NET language, and so in many ways encourages developers into a "SQL-like" mindset, even though they are not directly writing SQL. In place of imperative logic and loops, it uses various expressions, operators and declarative logic to build up an "expression tree" describing only what data is required, not the operations to be performed to get it. This expression tree is then parsed by the language compiler, and the result, when used against a relational database, is a SQL string that, while perhaps not always perfect, is often correctly parameterized and certainly no less "optimal" than what is achieved when a developer applies blunt, imperative logic to the SQL language. From a developer standpoint, it is a mistake to consider LINQ simply as a substitute means of querying SQL Server. The strength of LINQ is that that can be used to access any data source, for which a LINQ provider exists. Microsoft supplies built-in providers to access not just SQL Server, but also XML documents, .NET objects, ADO.NET datasets, and Entity Framework elements. LINQ-to-Objects is particularly interesting in that it allows a declarative means to access and manipulate arrays, collections and so on. Furthermore, as Michael Sorens points out in his excellent article on LINQ, there a whole host of third-party LINQ providers, that offers a simple way to get at data in Excel, Google, Flickr and much more, without having to learn a new interface or language. Of course, the need to be generic enough to deal with a range of data sources, from something as mundane as a text file to as esoteric as a relational database, means that LINQ is a compromise and so has inherent limitations. However, it is a powerful and beautifully compact language and one that, at least in its "query syntax" guise, is accessible to developers and DBAs alike. Perhaps there is still hope that LINQ can fulfill Phil Factor's lobster-induced fantasy of a language that will allow us to "treat all data objects, whether Word files, Excel files, XML, relational databases, text files, HTML files, registry files, LDAPs, Outlook and so on, in the same logical way, as linked databases, and extract the metadata, create the entities and relationships in the same way, and use the same SQL syntax to interrogate, create, read, write and update them." Cheers, Tony.

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