Programming and other stuff

FlowDocument to XPS

2010-03-09T08:29:00.001-05:00

Link:

http://blogs.msdn.com/fyuan/archive/2007/03/10/convert-xaml-flow-document-to-xps-with-style-multiple-page-page-size-header-margin.aspx

Data Template Overview WPF

2010-01-08T14:10:00.000-05:00

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms742521.aspx

Silverlight Podcast

2009-09-15T15:15:00.000-05:00

http://www.sparklingclient.com/in-the-trenches-youre-making-applications-backwards/

DirectX in Code Pack

2009-08-25T07:46:00.001-05:00

Introducing DirectX features of Windows API Code Pack

http://blogs.msdn.com/msaleh/archive/2009/08/25/introducing-directx-features-of-windows-api-code-pack.aspx

MVVM podcast

2009-08-20T08:05:00.001-05:00

Herding Code 57: Presentation Patterns with Jeremy Miller, Ward Bell, Rob Eisenberg and Glenn Block (Part 1)

http://herdingcode.com/?p=208

Make a WAV in C#

2009-06-24T11:56:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/dawate/archive/2009/06/24/intro-to-audio-programming-part-3-synthesizing-simple-wave-audio-using-c.aspx

Live Geometry

2009-06-24T09:03:00.000-05:00

http://livegeometry.codeplex.com/

WCF / SL / Azure

2009-04-08T19:50:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/silverlightws/archive/2009/04/08/using-wcf-services-from-silverlight-in-azure.aspx

Flash vs. Silverlight

2009-03-02T07:25:00.001-05:00

Comparison of coding different effects in Flash and Silverlight. Online samples and source code included.
Flash vs. Silverlight

Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instanc

2009-02-25T21:58:00.003-05:00

The error message I had was "Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance."

The fix was this entry from Craddock on a Microsoft forum:

"If you don't want to follow the link above and read the details, the short answer is that SQLExpress creates a directory per user in "c:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS" that it uses to store information. I deleted the files from that directory and was able to connect succesfully using User Instances on the next try."

After adjusting for the Vista file structure and removing all the user instance SQL file, it worked.

Silverlight and FireFox sizing

2009-02-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

http://codebetter.com/blogs/peter.van.ooijen/archive/2008/12/18/silverlight-firefox-and-100.aspx

Edward's Web Developer Site

2009-02-17T13:20:00.001-05:00

Edward's Web Developer Site

Microsoft UX Blog

2009-02-05T07:57:00.000-05:00

Microsoft UX Blog

Silverlight Behaviors

2009-01-30T08:20:00.000-05:00

Silverlight Behaviors

VS XAML editor configuration

2009-01-29T07:18:00.001-05:00

Here is how to configure VS so that it will open XAML in the source code editor by default:

http://weblogs.asp.net/fmarguerie/archive/2009/01/29/life-changer-xaml-tip-for-visual-studio.aspx

Blog Roll

2009-01-19T06:23:00.002-05:00

Brian Noyes
Alina
Carl Franklin
Charles Petzold
Chris Sells
Coding Horror
Dave Relyea
Engineering Windows 7
Eric Sink
Expression Blend and Design
Inside RIA
Jaime Rodriguez
Jeff Prosise
Joel on Software
Jon Udell
Julie Lerman
JW on Test
Lester's WPF Blog
Mitsu
Visual C#
Murray Sargent
Never in Doubt
Nikhil Kothari
Ode to Code
Rockford Lhotka
Sara Rord
Scott Hanselman
Silverlight Tips of the Day
Simple Talk
smallbasic
The Gillmor Gang
old new thing
vstudio

The Outliers Meme

2009-01-12T07:45:00.002-05:00

The ten thousand hour idea that Malcom Gladwell talked about in his book Outliers has been picked up by the programming bloggers.

The spark is an article by Peter Norvig: Teach Yourselft Programming in Ten Years

WPF Mouse Tracking Transparent

2009-01-10T09:06:00.002-05:00

Sometimes in WPF you need to use the IsMouseOver property or the MouseEnter and MouseLeave events and you find that the mouse tracking is not reliable. One symptom to look for is that the mouse is detected only when the mouse is over a painted area.

The problem is that the mouse is not detected when it is over the background.

The solution is to use a "Transparent" brush in the background and then the mouse will be detected over the entire surface.

Entity Framework FAQ

2009-01-09T06:21:00.001-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/dsimmons/pages/entity-framework-faq.aspx

WPF Book ItemsControl

2009-01-02T13:46:00.001-05:00

Mitsu uses an items control to host a book simulation.

http://www.codeplex.com/wpfbookcontrol

WPF Test Helper Library

2008-12-12T07:27:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/llobo/archive/2008/12/08/wpf-test-helper-library.aspx

Unit testing Entity Framework

2008-11-29T12:28:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/diego/archive/2008/03/03/unit-testing-your-entity-framework-domain-classes.aspx

PathGeometry.CreateFromGeometry

2008-11-28T10:25:00.001-05:00

PathGeometry.CreateFromGeometry can be used to create a path outline from formatted text.

See Petzold AppsCodeMarkup Chapter 30.

Roll your own IoC

2008-11-26T15:52:00.001-05:00

http://www.dnrtv.com/default.aspx?showNum=126

Silverlight Tutorials

2008-11-26T15:19:00.001-05:00

http://channel9.msdn.com/Continuum/tutorials/

SilverlightContrib

2008-11-26T15:10:00.001-05:00

http://silverlightcontrib.org/

2.5D for Silverlight

2008-11-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/expression/archive/2008/11/17/2-5d-usercontrol-for-silverlight-2.aspx

Unit Test WPF

2008-11-26T08:13:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/llobo/archive/2008/11/25/testing-wpf-apps-using-nunit.aspx

Treemap

2008-11-24T19:19:00.001-05:00

Info about a Treemap control in Silverlight:

http://blogs.msdn.com/wadedor/archive/2008/11/24/treemap-silverlight-gasp.aspx

And the demo:

http://www.joinmicrosofteurope.com/TreemapDemo/

Silverlight Design Time

2008-11-24T19:15:00.001-05:00

How to add some design time information to your usercontrol:

http://silverlight.net/blogs/justinangel/archive/2008/11/17/silverlight-design-time-extensibility.aspx

Localization Issue

2008-11-24T18:52:00.002-05:00

One of the top localization issues I have seen before is where you have internal data with decimal points that you parse. If the machines culture is set to use a comma as a decimal separator then the parsing fails. Our solution was to ensure that all parsing of internal data used the "invariant" culture.

Jeff Prosise has a somewhat different but related problem in xaml:
http://www.wintellect.com/CS/blogs/jprosise/archive/2008/11/24/silverlight-enigma-simulator-updated-and-a-lesson-on-internationalization.aspx

Community Clips

2008-04-29T08:21:00.001-05:00

Microsoft Community Clips

http://communityclips.officelabs.com/download.aspx

ThreadPool Workaround

2008-03-14T12:39:00.001-05:00

The problem:

http://www.michaelckennedy.net/blog/PermaLink,guid,708ee9c0-a1fd-46e5-8fa0-b1894ad6ce0f.aspx

The Workaround:

Slow down adding threads.

http://www.michaelckennedy.net/blog/PermaLink,guid,f57cf127-7bf7-445e-bef4-14c3598f92eb.aspx

Entity Framework Drawing Sample

2008-03-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

A sample drawing program using the entity framework:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sbajaj/archive/2008/03/14/sketchpad-a-simple-drawing-editor2.aspx

Office Ribbon Story

2008-03-12T07:22:00.001-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2008/03/12/the-story-of-the-ribbon.aspx

WPF Zooming sample

2008-03-10T07:22:00.000-05:00

WPF Panning and zoomin sample

http://blogs.msdn.com/expression/archive/2008/03/09/deep-zoom-sample-with-mousewheel-pan-click-zoom.aspx

Splash Window

2008-03-09T13:45:00.001-05:00

Uses PInvoke to create a Win32 window so that fewer libraries need loading:

http://blogs.msdn.com/jgoldb/archive/2007/12/10/splash-screen-to-improve-wpf-application-perceived-cold-startup-performance.aspx

Virtual WPF

2008-03-09T13:40:00.001-05:00

A technique to scroll thousands of WPF elements without consuming huge memory:

http://blogs.msdn.com/jgoldb/archive/2008/03/08/performant-virtualized-wpf-canvas.aspx

Use CheckAcess() in WPF instead of InvokeRequired

2008-02-28T09:40:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/irenak/archive/2007/05/11/sysk-348-invokerequired-no-more.aspx

Procedure Cache Reuse

2008-02-22T14:54:00.000-05:00

Some tips on sql parameters for best procedure cache reuse:

http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/dang/archive/2008/02/21/Dont-Bloat-Proc-Cache-with-Parameters.aspx

Smart Clients with WCF

2008-02-19T08:32:00.000-05:00

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc294424.aspx

ASP.NET 3.5 Meadia Player Control

2008-02-19T08:25:00.001-05:00

Looks like a control that encapsulates a silverlight based media player.

http://quickstarts.asp.net/3-5-extensions/silverlight/MediaPlayerControl.aspx

Vista File Copy

2008-02-06T12:44:00.000-05:00

Changes for Vista SP1 file copy:

http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/02/04/2826167.aspx

WPF Application Guidlines

2008-02-04T19:59:00.000-05:00

WPF Application Quality Guide

http://windowsclient.net/wpf/white-papers/wpf-app-quality-guide.aspx

Preview Handlers

2008-02-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

See creating preview handlers

Shell style drag and drop in .NET and WPF

2008-02-02T20:16:00.000-05:00

Please see Shell Style Drag and Drop in .NET (WPF and WinForms)

http://blogs.msdn.com/adamroot/archive/2008/02/01/shell-style-drag-and-drop-in-net-wpf-and-winforms.aspx

VS Vertical Guidlines

2007-12-18T13:35:00.000-05:00

Add vertical guidelines to visual studio.

http://blogs.msdn.com/saraford/archive/2004/05/05/257953.aspx

Enterprise "Firestorm" Debate

2007-12-14T06:52:00.000-05:00

Scoble ignited an enterprise firestorm debate with his comment on why enterprise software isn't sexy.

Scobles original comments still seems correct. Even though enterprise software is of great importance and affects everyone, it doesn't fit the profile of what makes a popular topic.

Maybe the debate will find an angle that will make it a popular topic. Or maybe it will remain a special interest topic.

Open XML Blogger

2007-12-13T11:51:00.000-05:00

Eric White has some code samples for working with Open XML document files.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ericwhite/default.aspx

Is your database fragmented?

2007-12-09T19:57:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.msdn.com/jorgepc/archive/2007/12/09/how-to-check-fragmentation-on-sql-server-2005.aspx

Hi-Rez WPF printing

2007-12-08T07:34:00.000-05:00

Petzold has information on printing WPF screen info in high resolution on a printer.

http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2007/12/High-Resolution-Printing-of-WPF-3D-Visuals.html

VS 2008 training Ch 9

2007-12-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

http://channel9.msdn.com/Showforum.aspx?forumid=38&tagid=267

MS Downloads Preview

2007-12-02T07:22:00.000-05:00

The Microsoft downloads page has been redone using Silverlight:

http://blogs.msdn.com/rohant/archive/2007/12/02/microsoft-download-center-in-silverlight.aspx

Efficient Clipping of Arbitrary Polygons

2007-11-21T16:42:00.000-05:00

Efficient Clipping of Arbitrary Polygons

Dispose

2007-10-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

Details on the dipose pattern from the BCL Team.

http://blogs.msdn.com/bclteam/archive/2007/10/30/dispose-pattern-and-object-lifetime-brian-grunkemeyer.aspx

Music is Math

2007-10-19T10:29:00.000-05:00

From Michael Kaplan's random stuff of dubious value

Music is Math

Asynchronous File I/O

2007-10-17T07:39:00.000-05:00

On MSDN:

Asynchronous File I/O

Leaky Abstractions

2007-10-04T07:42:00.000-05:00

A Joel article to read again:

The Law of Leaky Abstractions

Platonic Solids Coordinates

2007-09-07T09:54:00.000-05:00

I have been reading a book about a geometer. Early on it talks about the platonic solids.

Here is a page that shows how to find the coordinates for the platonic solids:

http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/geometry/platonic/

Benefits of Art Study

2007-09-03T05:42:00.000-05:00

Benefits of studying visual art from a study by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland

- persistence
- expression
- connect to the outside world
- trained to look
- envisioning
- innovation through exploration
- reflection, selft-criticism

The same methods that are used with art can also be applied in many other scientific and technological fields.

Petzold Book Arrives

2007-08-23T05:42:00.000-05:00

Pezold's book on WPF 3-D finally arrived yesterday.

I don't know whether deleting and placing a new order for the book made it arrive any faster.

http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2007/08/101033.html

WPF Blogger

2007-08-22T07:30:00.000-05:00

A blogger writing about creating a board game in WPF:

http://wpfopoly.blogspot.com/

Petzold 3-D and Amazon

2007-08-12T05:52:00.000-05:00

Petzold suggested deleting and recreating the order for his book to get it sooner.

http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2007/08/101033.html

That technique didn't work for me with Amazon.ca.

Before I deleted the order the delivery estimate was for middle September.

After placing the order again, the estimate is for middle October.

When I placed the second order, it was as a preorder. Amazon.ca must not have the books yet.

Vista Estimated Time Remaining

2007-08-08T07:14:00.000-05:00

Scott Hanselman links to a fix for the Vista estimated time remaining bug.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VistaPreSP1PerformanceAndReliabilityFixes.aspx

Visual Studio box selection

2007-07-27T13:53:00.000-05:00

You can select columns of text in Visual Studio.

In addition to the keyboard method in the link, you can hold down the alt key and drag with the mouse to get a rectangular selection of text.

This is good when you want to quote some indented text without copying the space to the left.

http://blogs.msdn.com/saraford/archive/2007/07/27/did-you-know-how-to-do-box-selection-in-the-editor.aspx

Software Factories?

2007-07-20T12:07:00.000-05:00

So now software factories are being compared to car factories:

http://blogs.msdn.com/viking/archive/2007/07/20/software-factories-illustrated-storyboard.aspx

The analogy is weak because of a significant difference between cars and software. Manufacturing software is easier than cars because once the software has been designed, the manufacturing step is creating CDs or downloading from the Internet and installing.

The design of software is more analogous to the design of automobiles. Why does it take years to design and prepare for the manufacture of a car? Why does it take so long to design a fuel efficient car using new propulsion technology that no one has ever made before?

Purchasing a car and picking out the options that you want to use is just like using a spreadsheet program. Microsoft Excel is like a software factory for spreadsheet programs. You just pick from the options that you want to use.

A software factory seems to be an additional tool layered on top of the software creation process. It looks like software factories don't solve any real problems, just push the problem to another layer.

Vista Shift RMB to copy full path

2007-07-18T12:24:00.000-05:00

In Windows Vista shift right click to get the copy as path option.

There used to be power toys to add this menu option. Now it finally made to the big time, but hidden.

http://blogs.msdn.com/cumgranosalis/archive/2007/07/18/vista-time-saver-copy-full-file-name-to-clipboard-from-explorer.aspx

Oshawa Jazz and Blues Festival

2007-07-14T06:36:00.000-05:00

I saw some performances at the bandshell in downtown Oshawa last year.

Here is the link so that I don't forget it:

Oshawa Jazz and Blues Festival

Vista Snipping

2007-07-03T07:53:00.000-05:00

Vista has a screen capture utility:

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/06/29/10-things-snipping-tool.aspx

Orcas Express Install

2007-06-24T15:10:00.000-05:00

The next version of Visual Studio is in beta.

If you install the express version and want to try out a WPF Application, don't forget to follow step 2 on the download page and install the add-on for WPF design.

If not you may see an error such as: "The project file [path]\WPFApplication1.csproj cannot be opened. The project type is not supported by this installation."

Accountants don't use erasers

2007-06-14T13:51:00.000-05:00

Pat Helland is back and has a long blog entry about database principles:

http://blogs.msdn.com/pathelland/archive/2007/06/14/accountants-don-t-use-erasers.aspx

Vista Bridge

2007-05-14T14:54:00.000-05:00

Use the Vista Bridge to use the new Vista APIs from .net 2.0.

Code Monkey

2007-05-14T05:10:00.000-05:00

You Tube video of a song about a software writer:

Code Monkey

SQL Server 2005 Tools and Utilities

2007-05-11T07:33:00.000-05:00

SQL Server 2005 Tools and Utilities

WPF equivalent of InvokeRequired

2007-05-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

WPF equivalent of InvokeRequired

WPF Samples

2007-05-04T08:23:00.000-05:00

An introduction to WPF for academics

http://blogs.msdn.com/markjo/archive/2007/05/03/an-introduction-to-wpf-for-academics.aspx

Search dot net

2007-05-03T05:47:00.000-05:00

Search site for dot net programming

http://searchdotnet.com/

How to tell if admin

2007-04-29T19:08:00.000-05:00

Jigar Mehta says don't worry whether UAC is active.

He says the most important thing is to work for both admin and non-admin.

The program should fail gracefully if it can't get what it wants.

http://blogs.msdn.com/jigarme/archive/2007/04/28/how-to-programmatically-determine-whether-uac-is-enabled-or-not.aspx

WPF Reference Sample

2007-04-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

Tim Sneath talks about a WPF genealogy family tree application.

http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2007/04/27/our-first-wpf-end-to-end-reference-sample-family-show.aspx

Petzold: Lines with arrows

2007-04-20T07:56:00.000-05:00

Petzold does the math for putting arrows on the end of lines.

http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2007/04/191200.html

LINQ to Objects

2007-04-15T22:27:00.000-05:00

Here is a sample that shows how the LINQ syntax works with objects:

http://blogs.msdn.com/lukeh/archive/2007/04/03/a-ray-tracer-in-c-3-0.aspx

Vista Shortcut Keys

2007-04-13T08:12:00.000-05:00

Vista Shortcut Keys

Danger of Application.DoEvents

2007-04-08T05:41:00.000-05:00

jfo has some info on the dangers of Application.DoEvents in WinForms.

What happens if the user clicks the close button? Ooops! IndexOutOfRangeException! Clicking on the close box has invoked the form’s Dispose method, which has cleared the control collection. What's worse is that clicking close on the form didn't stop the list box processing from finishing up - while the form was no longer visible, this handler was merrily keeping the application alive.
This is just one example of codepath gone bad, there’s plenty of others – say the user clicked the button a second time – the button click event would be called again while you’re still processing the first!
Ask yourself, why are you calling Application.DoEvents?

jfo has solutions at:

Keeping your UI Responsive and the Dangers of Application.DoEvents

UAC required for IE Protected Mode

2007-04-04T14:58:00.000-05:00

Protected mode in Internet Explorer in Windows Vista offers a higher degree of protection.

If you turn UAC off you don't get this protection.

You may be tempted to turn UAC off because it can be annoying but it is best to keep it on.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/04/04/protected-mode-for-ie7-in-windows-vista-is-it-on-or-off.aspx

XAML to XPS

2007-03-30T12:21:00.000-05:00

Sample code for XAML flow doc to XPS

http://blogs.msdn.com/llobo/archive/2007/03/30/xaml-flowdoc-to-xps.aspx

Useful VS shortcut key

2007-03-18T11:24:00.000-05:00

Here is a handy keyboard combination to remember when you need to look through a big list of errors after a Visual Studio build.

View next error

Ctrl + Shift + F12

Static code analysis

2007-02-18T06:17:00.000-05:00

Scott Hanselman on static code analysis:

Article
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ExitingTheZoneOfPainStaticAnalysisWithNDepend.aspx

Podcast
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/HanselminutesPodcast51StaticCodeAnalysisWithNDepend.aspx

Clean up your temp files

2007-02-18T06:13:00.000-05:00

Scot Hanselman details techniques for cleaning you temp files. Old temp files can slow down your computer and take up disk space.

Clean up your Temp Files

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/CleanUpYourTempFiles.aspx

WPF Glass Button

2007-02-16T11:11:00.000-05:00

A tutorial on making a Vista style glass button in WPF.

Creating a Glass Button: The Complete Tutorial

http://blogs.msdn.com/mgrayson/archive/2007/02/16/creating-a-glass-button-the-complete-tutorial.aspx

3-D Chess program

2007-02-13T08:15:00.000-05:00

3-D Chess for Net 3.0

http://blogs.msdn.com/ericnel/archive/2007/02/13/3d-chess-is-back-for-net-3-0.aspx

Carl really likes Vista

2007-02-10T06:47:00.000-05:00

Carl Franklin really likes Windows Vista

It looks like Windows Vista is going to be good when the time comes to upgrade/buy a new computer. It would be nice to have the service pack for Visual Studio 2005 that addresses Vista issues. There are ways to get VS2005 to run on Vista without the SP.

Golden Rule of Windows Multithreading

2007-02-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

A multithreading example using WPF

Thou Shalt Not Break the Golden Rule of Windows Multithreading. Or, Why the Dispatcher Rocks.

http://blogs.msdn.com/wpfsdk/archive/2007/01/30/thou-shalt-not-break-the-golden-rule-of-windows-multithreading-or-why-the-dispatcher-rocks.aspx

Debugging DirectX

2007-01-31T19:54:00.000-05:00

Some tips for debugging DirectX (for XNA but should apply to regular DirectX too.)

http://blogs.msdn.com/shawnhar/archive/2007/01/31/debugging-xna-graphics-problems.aspx

The Problem With Threads

2007-01-29T19:21:00.000-05:00

Looks like a good discussion on threading that I take a closer look at later:

http://blogs.msdn.com/nigel/archive/2007/01/30/my-response-to-nat-s-threads-considered-harmful-post.aspx

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/01/threads_conside.html

http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2006/EECS-2006-1.html

How to find you MAC address

2007-01-28T12:58:00.000-05:00

Open a command shell: start menu, run, CMD

ipconfig /all

The physical address for each adapter is it's MAC address.

Source: wikipedia.

Pagination in SQL

2007-01-26T09:21:00.000-05:00

Here is an example of getting a page's worth of data in an SQL query.

http://blogs.msdn.com/irenak/archive/2007/01/26/sysk-275-pagination-in-sql-easy.aspx

One aspect of this example I am not sure about is whether it is concatenating a string SQL statement before executing it. This example may not follow best practice for preventing an injection attack.

Sysinternals Suite

2007-01-25T15:54:00.000-05:00

Sysinternals Suite

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/sysinternalssuite.mspx

Geometry

2007-01-25T11:19:00.000-05:00

The top result on Google for geometry questions has been Paul Bourke.

It looks like he has moved to a new university.

His excellent geometry pages can be found at: http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/geometry/

SQL Server Express WebLog

2007-01-23T14:22:00.000-05:00

SQL Server Express WebLog

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlexpress/default.aspx

Free Books

2006-12-13T14:08:00.000-05:00

Free books from APress.com