Practical .NET


Extending XAML Applications with Custom Commands

In WPF and Silverlight,you can separate your UI logic into a set of Command classes that facilitate loose coupling, testable designs, and reusability.

Test-Driven Development, Generate from Usage and Continuous Testing

Use Test-Driven Development, generate from usage and a free Visual Studio add-in to let you spend more time doing what programmers want to do: writing code that works.

Integrating DataViews with Multiple Cascading DropDown Lists

Peter Vogel solves a reader's problem by integrating data from multiple dropdown lists, the FormView and some Ajax magic that calls code in a method in an ASPX page.

Integrating Ajax Code into the ASP.NET Validation Infrastructure

Here's how to integrate the ASP.NET CustomValidator control with client-side code to create a page that uses Ajax and server-side code to validate data at the browser.

High-Performance ASP.NET Caching

Crafting a caching strategy is critical to building effective Web apps. It's only possible when you know what options are available and how to integrate them.

Integrating Lambda Expressions and Events

Using lambda expressions is a more compact way of wiring up events in both C# and Visual Basic. It also provides a way of passing parameters to an event without having to redefine the event's parameters.

Recognizing Mobile Browsers

ASP.NET 4 upgrades the support for detecting browser capabilities with profiles for the latest mobile browsers. The good news is that you can use that new information with older versions of ASP.NET.

Insider: A Debugging Story

Peter Vogel looks at debugging from a different specific: One incident whose resolution depended, in part, on understanding who'd already searched for the bug and the history of the bug itself.

Debugging Tools for the .NET Developer

Visual Studio provides a rich set of tools for finding bugs, though most developers aren't aware or don't take advantage of all of them.

Insider: Facilitating SOA

Peter Vogel describes why he doesn't design service-oriented architectures for his clients: he "facilitates" them.

Updates in Entity Framework

A primer on how to update objects, including adds and deletes, in the Entity Framework.

WebSockets for Faster, More Scalable Ajax Applications

If you want to call a service you canโ€”but the service can't call you back. WebSockets offers the potential for real, two way communications -- and it's as simple as calling a Web Service.

Using MEF to Retrieve Connection Strings

Rather than try to ensure that he's getting the right config file for his production and test systems, Peter Vogel lets the application configure itself, using the Managed Extensibility Framework to enable automatic selection of the right connection string

Using the Form View with Any Data Collection

The ASP.NET DataViews are powerful tools when coupled with a DataSource. But you can skip the DataSource and use the DataViews to handle displaying and updating any collection of objects you want, with a few lines of code.

To Think in LINQ

If you start "thinking in LINQ" you'll get more done with less code, and what you write will be simpler than using SQL.

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