Learn how to minimize inherent inaccuracies with Singles and Doubles when performing comparisons; learn how to use extensions, a .NET 3.5 feature, when targeting .NET 2.0 apps; and learn why you should avoid using Names that are used in a type you are extending.
- By Bill McCarthy
- 03/01/2008
Learn when and how to utilize Windows Communication Foundation to develop and maintain your
communications layer when creating a loosely coupled, scalable, interoperable services-oriented application.
Learn to pass anonymous types outside the method in which they're created; take advantage of closures when working with lambda expressions; drilldown on overloading; initialize static fields properly; and see where KeyedCollections improve performance.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 02/01/2008
Kathleen discovers a bug in the Visual Basic 9.0 compiler. Also, resolving recursion problems; binding properties in the Workflow designer; some guidelines on using extension methods; moving to .NET 3.5, and more.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 01/01/2008
VB 2008 includes some terrific new XML functionality that will make you both more effective and more productive when working with XML in your applications.
- By Bill McCarthy
- 01/01/2008
The latest iteration of C# introduces a host of new language features, most of which were created to enable functionality that you see in the .NET Framework 3.5's LINQ.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 01/01/2008
Take advantage of generics and reflection to determine whether a user has changed any data on a given form.
- By Paul D. Sheriff
- 12/01/2007
Developers are accustomed to thinking of an object as either existing or not, but the truth is the initialization process is complex enough that this isn't always so.
Learn how to initialize objects properly and avoid small missteps that can lead to big problems when creating and initializing objects.
AJAX has caught on tremendously as a method for building dynamic and interactive Web sites. Learn what AJAX is, what its benefits are, and how you can implement the technology in your own applications.
Learn how to share resources among several projects across project boundaries in Visual Studio 2005 and VS 2008. Also, learn about Microsoft's inclusion of IDataErrorInfo in the .NET 3.5 additions to WPF and drill down on how to handle non-standard searches in dictionary classes.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 12/01/2007
The VB IDE is a terrifically productive development environment out of the box. But it can be a lot better still. Learn how to customize the IDE for better productivity and performance.
- By Bill McCarthy
- 12/01/2007
Take advantage of the new PipeStream classes and XML features in .NET 3.5 and VB9 to resolve the age-old problem of creating a single-instance application.
- By Bill McCarthy
- 11/01/2007
User Account Control (UAC) issues usually result from improperly allowing administrator-level access in your applications. Learn how UAC works and make such problems a thing of the past.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 11/01/2007
You can't predict change, but you can prepare for it. Learn how to avoid cases where you need to remove work and rework too much of what you've already done.
Dan walks you through the properties and sample code for each, plus why you might want to use one over the other.
Listing 5. This procedure demonstrates a technique for combining an Insert statement and an Update statement into a single stored procedure.
Learn the details on the new anonymous types and nullable type features in VB 9 (VB 2008).
- By Bill McCarthy
- 10/01/2007
Visual Studio 2005 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 simplify the process of incorporating SharePoint into your Visual Studio applications.
- By Gustavo Velez
- 10/01/2007
Dan starts a new series of columns on Silverlight 1.0 by walking you through the fundamentals.
Your code is the expression of your design intent -- make sure you communicate
clearly.
Learn what enabling the application framework in VB actually does and what an invariant culture is and how you take advantage of it.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 10/01/2007
Dan Wahlin walks you through the steps and code for creating a Silverlight application from scratch.
Windows Presentation Foundation has been greatly underserved by Microsoft’s emphasis on glitz and glamour; learn how to take advantage of WPF in your everyday Windows business apps.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 09/01/2007
It requires a lot of plumbing to create, manage, and communicate with background threads. The System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker class already contains the functionality you need to follow best practices.
Use the declarative programming model to enable type-safe data access in ADO.NET.