http://visualstudiomagazine.com/rss-feeds/columns.aspx C# Corner columnist Patrick Steele offers a heads up on five gotchas that can trip up even veteran C# programmers. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/31/5-traps-to-avoid-in-csharp.aspx Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/31/5-traps-to-avoid-in-csharp.aspx Simplify the task of validating Web form input by using attributes. If standard validators don't meet your needs, you can create custom data annotations for richer validations. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/09/01/how-to-validate-forms-with-aspnet-mvc-2-data-annotations.aspx Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/09/01/how-to-validate-forms-with-aspnet-mvc-2-data-annotations.aspx Peter Vogel looks at the least important component of the ASP.NET MVC, the Model, and goes on to discuss a strategy for integrating the model, the controller and the view. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/31/managing-models-in-aspnet-mvc.aspx Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:58:43 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/31/managing-models-in-aspnet-mvc.aspx In the second installment of her series of tips and strategies for debugging code in Visual Studio, Kathleen Dollard looks into valuable resources like the TraceSource class. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/09/01/vs-debug-tips-2.aspx Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/09/01/vs-debug-tips-2.aspx Improvements in the latest Microsoft IDE and underused features in Visual Studio 2008 support common debugging strategies to help you write better code. (Part 1 of 3) http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/09/01/tips-for-debugging-your-code-in-visual-studio-2010.aspx Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/09/01/tips-for-debugging-your-code-in-visual-studio-2010.aspx Kathleen Dollard closes up her guidance on debugging code in Visual Studio with some troubleshooting of a disabled DataForm. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/09/01/vs-debug-tips-3.aspx Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/09/01/vs-debug-tips-3.aspx Console applications are alive and well in Administrator Land. Here’s how your console application can leave instructions for the command processor upon your exit. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/25/stuffing-the-console-keyboard-buffer.aspx Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:24:31 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/25/stuffing-the-console-keyboard-buffer.aspx Peter continues his look ASP.NET MVC for ASP.NET developers (using the brand new version of ASP.NET MVC) by linking a view to a controller. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/25/viewing-views-in-mvc.aspx Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:29:50 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/25/viewing-views-in-mvc.aspx Peter Vogel begins his series on introducing ASP.NET developers to ASP.NET MVC by looking at the C in MVC: Controllers http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/17/controlling-controllers-in-aspnet-mvc.aspx Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:59:29 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/17/controlling-controllers-in-aspnet-mvc.aspx Peter begins a series on educating traditional ASP.NET developers in the latest version of ASP.NET MVC. But first he looks at why he is not an ASP.NET MVC developer. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/10/aspnet-mvc-for-aspnet-programmers.aspx Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:39:32 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/10/aspnet-mvc-for-aspnet-programmers.aspx In the second of two Windows 7-themed columns, Patrick Steele looks at how to get the most out of thumbnails with the Windows API CodePack. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/04/windows-7-thumbnails.aspx Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:56:38 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/04/windows-7-thumbnails.aspx On VB author Joe Kunk shows how you can quickly discover the orientation of an unknown database using dynamic queries. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/02/get-oriented-with-new-database.aspx Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:09:04 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/02/get-oriented-with-new-database.aspx Daily coding is a lot easier when you know how to use Visual Studio effectively. To optimize your experience with the latest Microsoft IDE, try these practical tips and shortcuts. (Part 3 of 3) http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/tap-into-the-power-of-visual-studio-3.aspx Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/tap-into-the-power-of-visual-studio-3.aspx Daily coding is a lot easier when you know how to use Visual Studio effectively. To optimize your experience with the latest Microsoft IDE, try these practical tips and shortcuts. (Part 1 of 3) http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/tap-into-the-power-of-visual-studio.aspx Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/tap-into-the-power-of-visual-studio.aspx The rumor of the beeping server started out as a hushed whisper between network administrators. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/the-mysterious-beeping-server.aspx Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/the-mysterious-beeping-server.aspx Daily coding is a lot easier when you know how to use Visual Studio effectively. To optimize your experience with the latest Microsoft IDE, try these practical tips and shortcuts. (Part 2 of 3) http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/tap-into-the-power-of-visual-studio-2.aspx Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/tap-into-the-power-of-visual-studio-2.aspx Explore new ways to manage dependencies in your applications with Inversion of Control containers and Dependency Injection. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/inversion-of-control-patterns-for-the-microsoft-net-framework.aspx Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/08/01/inversion-of-control-patterns-for-the-microsoft-net-framework.aspx Windows 7 contains a number of UI improvements to the classic taskbar. One very useful feature for quickly launching an application with its associated files is Jump Lists. In this issue, we'll look at how you can utilize Jump Lists in your own Windows 7 applications. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/29/getting-the-jump-on-jump-lists.aspx Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:28:34 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/29/getting-the-jump-on-jump-lists.aspx Administrators get no respect, either, in this world of Least Privileged Users. Here's how you can set aside those precautions, and still get at the information your users need. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/27/create-admin-tools.aspx Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:10:34 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/27/create-admin-tools.aspx Sometimes, when the user clicks on a menu choice, you want to pass some data based on the page's content. Here's how to dynamically alter a menu control based on the data on the page. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/21/managing-menus-part-4.aspx Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:59:13 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/21/managing-menus-part-4.aspx Joe Kunk looks at how to manage a numeric system that extends to the entire alphabet. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/20/when-hexadecimal-is-not-enough.aspx Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:29:18 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/20/when-hexadecimal-is-not-enough.aspx As Microsoft shuts down its newsgroup server, the community resource lives on. You just need to know where to look for it. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/16/classic-vb-newsgroups.aspx Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:30:42 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/16/classic-vb-newsgroups.aspx If you'd rather keep your menu structure in a table in your database instead of a file in your Web site, here's all the code you need to implement a database-driven menuing system. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/15/drive-menus-from-database-table.aspx Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:01:06 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/15/drive-menus-from-database-table.aspx ASP.NET 4 adds a wealth of features for client-side developers, including new ways of instantiating controls, a new infrastructure for managing libraries and some minor but much-needed tweaks. And there's more. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/01/extending-client-side-programming-in-aspnet-4.aspx Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/01/extending-client-side-programming-in-aspnet-4.aspx We explore the WCF service boundary after upgrading sample applications to Visual Studio 2010 and Silverlight 4. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/01/calling-wcf-services-in-silverlight-4.aspx Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/01/calling-wcf-services-in-silverlight-4.aspx Creating your own module for managing menus is not only ridiculously easy, but opens the door for adding any other enhancements that you can think of. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/01/managing-menus-2.aspx Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/07/01/managing-menus-2.aspx Peter considers two solutions for keeping items in the sitemap off of your Menu or TreeView controls. But he's also wondering if there are more solutions out there. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/24/managing-menus-1.aspx Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/24/managing-menus-1.aspx On VB author Joe Kunk talks about his impression of C#. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/23/experiencing-csharp-from-a-vb-developers-perspective.aspx Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/23/experiencing-csharp-from-a-vb-developers-perspective.aspx Patrick Steele shows how you can realize major performance gains when working with large images by using memory-mapped files. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/23/memory-mapped-files.aspx Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/23/memory-mapped-files.aspx Patrick Steele looks into C# Code Contracts under .NET 4 and how they can streamline code validation. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/23/code-contracts.aspx Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/23/code-contracts.aspx Peter Vogel closes out his eight-part series on creating an AJAX-enabled ASP.NET application. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/16/is-there-a-future-in-server-side-code.aspx Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:42:54 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/16/is-there-a-future-in-server-side-code.aspx A reader sets up a Web service for tracing, but can't find the trace logs, despite the lack of any error message. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/16/ask-kathleen-trace-logs.aspx Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:06:56 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/16/ask-kathleen-trace-logs.aspx On VB author Joe Kunk provides a look into the code behind his automated source code backup solution. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/16/backup-on-build-2.aspx Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:36:20 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/16/backup-on-build-2.aspx An Overview of Project Management with Team Foundation Server 2010. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/15/alm-tfs-project-management-overview.aspx Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:16:46 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/15/alm-tfs-project-management-overview.aspx Jeff Levinson looks at how Team Foundation Server 2010 can streamline and improve the management of software projects. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/16/developers-and-alm.aspx Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:06:37 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/16/developers-and-alm.aspx On VB author Joe Kunk looks into how an automated source code backup utility can provide a vital, extra level of protection in team-based projects. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/15/backup-on-build-1.aspx Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:02:13 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/15/backup-on-build-1.aspx Mickey Gousset covers more utilities included in the Team Foundation Server Power Tools April 2010 Edition. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/15/inside-tfs-power-tools-part-2.aspx Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:31:50 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/15/inside-tfs-power-tools-part-2.aspx Kathleen Dollard explains the choices developers face when building applications in MEF. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/14/imported-fields-and-importing-constructors-in-mef.aspx Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:21:02 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/14/imported-fields-and-importing-constructors-in-mef.aspx Kathleen Dollard tackles a pair of questions relating to cryptic errors produced by Silverlight. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/10/how-to-qa-silverlight-troubles.aspx Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:06:10 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/10/how-to-qa-silverlight-troubles.aspx Peter moves on from working with one record to working with multiple records and explores Microsoft's current templating solution. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/10/handling-multiple-records-in-the-client.aspx Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:45:56 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/10/handling-multiple-records-in-the-client.aspx Mickey Gousset offers a tour of the April 2010 edition of Power Tools utilities that are available for free download for Visual Studio 2010 and Team Foundation Server 2010. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/07/inside-vsts-power-tools-1.aspx Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:03:38 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/07/inside-vsts-power-tools-1.aspx Jeff Levinson offers a tour of the new reporting cube functionality in Team Foundation Server 2010. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/03/inside-vsts-tfs-cube.aspx Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:05:16 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/03/inside-vsts-tfs-cube.aspx Peter moves on from simply retrieving data from the server using the dataContext and dataView to doing updates, deletes and inserts. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/03/updating-data-with-the-datacontext-and-wcf-data-services.aspx Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:10:28 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/03/updating-data-with-the-datacontext-and-wcf-data-services.aspx With the release of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4, it's time for Visual Basic developers to start leveraging the new capabilities of Visual Basic 2010. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/01/whats-new-in-visual-basic-2010.aspx Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/06/01/whats-new-in-visual-basic-2010.aspx Mickey explores what's involved in upgrading to Team Foundation Server 2010. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/27/upgrading-to-tfs-2010.aspx Thu, 27 May 2010 14:51:36 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/27/upgrading-to-tfs-2010.aspx Continuing his investigation of what works and doesn't work with the AJAX library and .NET 4, Peter Vogel continues to explore how to retrieve data from the client... and discovers that it can be very easily done. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/27/retrieving-and-displaying-a-single-object-with-dataview-and-wcf.aspx Thu, 27 May 2010 13:38:12 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/27/retrieving-and-displaying-a-single-object-with-dataview-and-wcf.aspx On VB columnist Joe Kunk shows you how to use the power of Silverlight 4 COM automation and local file system access to turn Microsoft Word into a report writer for Silverlight. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/24/microsoft-word-as-a-report-writer-from-silverlight-4.aspx Mon, 24 May 2010 16:06:15 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/24/microsoft-word-as-a-report-writer-from-silverlight-4.aspx Peter Vogel discusses what you can't do in marrying ASP.NET server-side controls with client-side data access. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/20/limitations-with-datview-and-datacontext.aspx Thu, 20 May 2010 13:48:35 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/20/limitations-with-datview-and-datacontext.aspx We all tend to obsess on optimizations at times, often needlessly. Here's how to figure out if all your extra work is paying off. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/18/performing-the-final-optimizations.aspx Tue, 18 May 2010 14:58:36 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/18/performing-the-final-optimizations.aspx Peter uses the new dataView and dataContext objects from the AJAX Toolkit to create a data-driven page without server-side code. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/13/access-server-side-data-from-client-side-code.aspx Thu, 13 May 2010 16:53:16 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/13/access-server-side-data-from-client-side-code.aspx If you want to integrate server-side Web service processing with AJAX objects in your browser, you should be considering WCF Data Services -- especially if you're working with the Entity Framework. Here's a quick introduction to the technology. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/06/creating-a-wcf-data-service.aspx Thu, 06 May 2010 16:26:01 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/06/creating-a-wcf-data-service.aspx Windows provides numerous ways to tell an application how to size and position itself on startup. Here's how you can honor those requests. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/04/honoring-startup-requests.aspx Tue, 04 May 2010 17:37:10 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/04/honoring-startup-requests.aspx How to work around some of Silverlight's subtle gotchas. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/01/ask-kathleen-3-binding-errors.aspx Sat, 01 May 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/01/ask-kathleen-3-binding-errors.aspx Patrick Steele illustrates useful techniques for modifying existing code while maintaining backward compatibility. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/01/make-good-use-of-code-maintenance.aspx Sat, 01 May 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/01/make-good-use-of-code-maintenance.aspx Value converters are extremely powerful and are valuable in minimizing the code required directly in the UI and in providing reuse of conversion logic. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/01/ask-kathleen-2-value-converters-in-silverlight.aspx Sat, 01 May 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/01/ask-kathleen-2-value-converters-in-silverlight.aspx Learn how you can store history information for the user on the local client PC in a sandboxed Silverlight 3 application. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/01/working-with-data-in-silverlight.aspx Sat, 01 May 2010 07:00:00 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/05/01/working-with-data-in-silverlight.aspx Peter Vogel returns to creating an AJAX-enabled ASP.NET application using the latest tools out of the AJAX library and .NET 4. However, it turns out that you can't there from here... at least, not right away. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/04/29/ajax-data-strategies-in-net-4.aspx Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:10:38 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/04/29/ajax-data-strategies-in-net-4.aspx Mickey Gousset shows you the different static code analysis configuration options in Visual Studio 2010. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/04/27/static-code-analysis-configuration.aspx Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:17:35 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/04/27/static-code-analysis-configuration.aspx Peter Vogel wraps up coverage of object-oriented programming for the single-tier developer by handling the difference between the data required by users and the object used by the business layer. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/04/22/converting-from-business-objects-to-user-interface-objects.aspx Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:34:34 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/04/22/converting-from-business-objects-to-user-interface-objects.aspx Sometimes your best option is to bypass the .NET Framework and make function calls to the native Win32 API. http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/04/20/call-win32-api-functions-in-vb.aspx Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:51:15 GMT http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2010/04/20/call-win32-api-functions-in-vb.aspx