Alex Meyer-Gleaves

Upcoming decorator enhancements in Autofac 4.9

Sun, 26 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 4.9 introduces new overloads of the existing decorator registration methods that allow for implicit ordering and conditional decoration of services using registration order, as well as support for open-generic registrations and relationship types.

Introducing the Autofac integration for Service Fabric

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT

The Autofac.ServiceFabric integration provides lifetime scoping support for Service Fabric services. It uses DynamicProxy interception and custom factory registration classes to track the lifetime of the services within a nested Autofac lifetime scope. This allows for disposal tracking and instance sharing for the service.

Autofac 4.0.0 is in the wild

Wed, 10 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 4.0.0 is the latest version of Autofac and supports .NET Standard 1.1 which includes .NET Core, .NET Framework 4.5, Mono/Xamarin Platforms, Universal Windows Platform 10, Windows 8, and Windows Phone 8.1. It also supports Microsoft's DI abstraction which allows Autofac to integrate with other frameworks such as ASP.NET Core. Issues should be raised in the relevant GitHub repository.

Autofac packages for Visual Studio 2015 release

Tue, 21 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac packages for Visual Studio 2015 have been released, with versioning and naming changes to better align with DNX. Documentation is available on the Autofac website.

Autofac 4.0 alpha1 for ASP.NET 5.0 beta3

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 4.0 alpha1 for ASP.NET 5.0 beta3 is now available on NuGet and can be used with Visual Studio 2015 CTP 6. This version supports the Core CLR without introducing breaking changes, and provides a single integration for the entire web stack. It also includes an Autofac module to encapsulate dependencies. Using this release, developers will be able to create a Web API controller and inject the dependencies they need.

OWIN support for the Web API 2 and MVC 5 integrations in Autofac

Mon, 17 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac has recently released pre-release packages for OWIN support for Web API and MVC 5 integrations. These packages enable dependency injection for OWIN middleware components, and extend the Autofac lifetime scope from the OWIN pipeline into the MVC and Web API integrations.

Using Autofac with Self Hosted WCF Services in a Windows Service

Tue, 21 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT

This article offers an approach to wiring up Autofac with WCF Self Hosting in a Windows Service. It describes creating an Autofac module, an IServiceHostInitializer interface and base implementation, and a ServiceBootstrapper to register and open the service hosts.

Fluent interface for Filter Overrides in the Autofac MVC and Web API integrations

Sat, 28 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac now supports overriding filters using the fluent registration API for MVC 5 and Web API 2. This feature is available starting at 3.1.0 of the Autofac.WebApi2 and Autofac.Mvc5 packages on NuGet, and allows for you to add global filters but exclude some from specific actions or controllers.

New features in the Autofac 3.1.0 updates

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 3.1.0 has been released and includes a number of updates, such as separate XML configuration packages, additional lifetime scopes for request based registrations, Web API HttpRequestMessage injection, and more useful assembly descriptions.

Autofac 3.0.2 update pushed to NuGet

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

On April 8th, 2013, we pushed Autofac 3.0.2 and some minor updates to the core Autofac package and a few of the integration packages to NuGet. These updates include a mix of enhancements and bug fixes across different packages such as SignalR Integration 3.0.1, Web API Integration 3.0.1 and Multitenant Support 3.0.2 and Castle DynamicProxy Integration 3.0.2.

Autofac 3.0 Final Release

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 3.0 is the final release, with the biggest changes being an official SignalR integration and plenty more documentation on the wiki. The NuGet packages and download zips are now available, along with a list of bug fixes, core and extra NuGet packages.

Autofac 3.0 Beta 2 packages available on NuGet

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 3.0 Beta 2 is now available on NuGet and includes a number of enhancements and bug fixes, such as the addition of AutoActivate() registration extension, better integration with MVC 4 and Web API filters, and various other improvements and updates to dependencies.

Autofac 3.0 Beta packages available on NuGet

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 3.0 Beta packages are now available on NuGet, and feature a Portable Class Library that supports multiple frameworks such as .NET Framework 4, Silverlight 5, .NET for Windows Store apps, and Windows Phone 8. It includes XML configuration options, metadata support, an improved registration extension, and bug fixes and enhancements.

New features in the Autofac MVC 4 and Web API (Beta) Integrations

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This post outlines the new features in the latest pre-release NuGet packages for the Autofac integrations with MVC 4 and Web API. These features include registering filters without attributes, registering per-controller type services, and supporting InstancePerApiControllerType lifetimes.

Autofac 2.6.2.859 and ASP.NET MVC 4 RC Integrations Released

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 2.6.2.859 was released and includes updates to the core library, ASP.NET MVC 4 RC integration, and ASP.NET Web API RC integration. The core library updates include a new module scanning feature and performance improvements. The ASP.NET MVC and Web API integrations are just recompilations but will have additional features included for the official release.

Selectively resolving services at runtime with Autofac

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This article explains how to selectively resolve a service at runtime with Autofac by making use of the IEnumerable> and Lazy relationship types. It also provides an example of how to refactor the controller constructor to receive the list of exports and how to query the metadata to select the correct export service at runtime.

Two simple tips for working with LINQ and IEnumerable

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This article provides two tips for working with LINQ and IEnumerable: use Any() instead of Count() to check for non-empty return values, and use Enumerable.Empty and never return null.

Worst validation message ever

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A web service validation message was found to be difficult to understand due to its extremely technical and legal-like wording.

Autofac ASP.NET MVC 4 (Beta) Integration

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac 2.6.1 has released a MVC 4 Beta integration, available for download via NuGet, with no breaking changes from the MVC 3 version. The minor change made in the internals allows the lifetime scope applied to a registration to be shared between MVC and the Web API. Users should report any bugs on the issue tracker or ask questions on Stack Overflow using the “autofac” tag.

Autofac ASP.NET Web API (Beta) Integration

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac has released a beta version of the ASP.NET Web API integration package for NuGet, which supports both web hosting and self hosting scenarios. The integration allows for services to be registered per API controller invocation. A HTTP module style implementation is not required due to the IHttpControllerFactory interface allowing for an abstraction between the two hosting modes. The implementation details are discussed in the article.

Private social network homepage clones

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Private social networking homepage designs are very similar, with a company email address input at the top and a list of customers using the product at the bottom. This makes it difficult to stand out from the crowd.

WSCF.blue V1.0.13 Update

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I have released an update for WSCF.blue, version 1.0.13, to fix a bug with the WSDL round-tripping feature that caused message headers not to be round-tripped when fault messages existed for the same operation.

DateTime precision with MongoDB and the C# Driver

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

When dealing with MongoDB, the C# driver provides options to store DateTime values with full precision, and querying for them requires comparing Ticks property of the reference DateTime to the Ticks property of the stored DateTime element.

BlogEngine.NET 2.5 Upgrade

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Upgrading from BlogEngine.NET 2.0 to 2.5 was a fairly straightforward process, requiring some custom files and an SQL CE upgrade script to be run. I also added some customizations for a mobile version of the site and updated the titles on the Recent Comments and Posts widgets.

WSCF.blue V1.0.12 Update

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue V1.0.12 Update is now available for download and contains one new feature, AutoSetSpecifiedPropertiesDecorator, as well as several bug fixes. The update is courtesy of user contributions from BartKoelman, cjberg, jamaica and MrGlover.

Windows 8 Videos

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Microsoft introduced Windows 8 at the D9 and Computex conferences, but the upgrade won't be available until next year. Android Honeycomb 3.1 is currently out, making it a better option for tablet users looking to buy now. There are two videos on Youtube providing a sneak peak of Windows 8.

Random links for April 2011

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from April 2011.

Random links for March 2011

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from March 2011.

FilterAttribute Property Injection in Autofac MVC 3 Integration

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The mechanism for performing property injection on FilterAttributes via ExtensibleActionInvoker had to be removed due to a bug. The new approach leverages the improved dependency injection support added to MVC 3 and requires calling the RegisterFilterProvider method before building the container and providing it to the AutofacDependencyResolver. A custom FilterAttributeFilterProvider and extension method was added to make this work.

Random links for February 2011

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from February 2011.

Upgrading through every version of windows

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This is a great video showing the upgrades of all major Windows versions from MS-DOS 5.0 to Windows 7. It brings back memories of the past, such as installing Trumpet Winsock for Windows 3.0 and the screeching modem sound of Gopher sessions. The video can be found on YouTube.

WSCF.blue V1.0.11 Update

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue V1.0.11 is now available for download, with a new feature and several bug fixes. It supports both Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010, and has passed the 10,000 downloads mark.

Random links for January 2011

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from January 2011.

My Blackberry Is Not Working!

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A sketch from "The One Ronnie" on BBC featuring Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfield is a funny skit about a Blackberry not working.

Random links for December 2010

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from December 2010.

View Page Injection in Autofac ASP.NET MVC 3 Integration

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

ASP.NET MVC 3 provides support for dependency injection on view pages via Autofac, a registration source which allows you to create an adapter that will dynamically provide a registration for a service. Your view pages must inherit from a custom base class and you need to add a registration source called ViewRegistrationSource in the application start event. This allows properties on the view page to be injected by the container.

Model Binder Injection in Autofac ASP.NET MVC 3 Integration

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac ASP.NET MVC 3 integration supports model binder injection with an improved dependency injection support offered by the IModelBinderProvider interface. Model binders can be registered with the RegisterModelBinders extension method and the AutofacModelBinderProvider is used to determine which model binder should be used for a particular type. This dynamic approach removes the need for a special wrapper around each IModelBinder component.

Random links for November 2010

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from November 2010.

WSCF.blue on endpoint.tv

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

On November 10, 2010, Ron Jacobs and Santosh Benjamin recorded a webcast on endpoint.tv discussing WCF contract first and WSCF.blue.

Random links for October 2010

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from October 2010.

ASP.NET MVC 3 Beta integration for Autofac

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Autofac MVC integration has been updated to provide integration with the ASP.NET MVC 3 Beta, making it easier for users by removing the need to add a reference to the Autofac.Integration.Web.dll assembly, implement the IContainerProviderAccessor interface on the HttpApplication, and register the ContainerDisposalModule in the web.config file. The core piece of the integration is the AutofacDependencyResolver which is an implementation of the IDependencyResolver interface that Brad Wilson outlines in his blog post series on ASP.NET MVC 3 Service Location. A HTTP module called RequestLifetimeModule is registered programmatically via the DynamicModuleUtility class to inform Autofac when the HTTP request has ended.

Random links for September 2010

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from September 2010.

Getting the Windows Product ID using WMI

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Windows Product ID can be retrieved using WMI via the Win32_OperatingSystem class and the SerialNumber property. The relevant documentation can be found on MSDN and an example of code to query the property value is given. It has been tested successfully on various versions of Windows.

CodeDomProvider and Compiler Warning Levels

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

By default, the CodeDomProvider does not return warning messages in the CompilerResults that are returned when compiling code in Visual Studio. The default warning level is 4, and you can use CompilerParameters.WarningLevel to set the warning level and CompilerParameters.TreatWarningsAsErrors to abort the compilation for warnings.

Random links for August 2010

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from August 2010.

Random links for July 2010

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article contains a list of interesting links from July 2010.

Attaching the Debugger only in Debug

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article discusses how to use the ConditionalAttribute to create a helper class that includes methods that should only be called when the DEBUG symbol is defined. This way, when you compile with the RELEASE symbol defined all calls to the methods will simply be excluded from the generated MSIL.

Fault Contract support in WSCF.blue

Mon, 31 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue has implemented support for fault contracts, allowing users to define fault messages in their WSDL using the WSDL Wizard. This feature was introduced with a new V1.0.9 update release on CodePlex.

Introducing Action Injection with Autofac ASP.NET MVC Integration

Sun, 16 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Autofac ASP.NET MVC Integration has introduced a new approach to dependency injection called Action Injection, which allows dependencies to be injected into action methods instead of the controller's constructor. This makes it easier to provide mock implementations for unit testing and reduces the number of mocks required.

Making Self-Hosting with Autofac WCF Integration easier

Sun, 16 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article explains how to use the Autofac WCF integration to make self-hosting WCF services easier. It provides code to extend ServiceHost with a new method called AddDependencyInjectionBehavior which takes an IContainer instance as an argument. This makes the code more concise and eliminates the need to write a separate helper method.

Self-Hosting WCF Services with the Autofac WCF Integration

Fri, 07 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This post provides a demonstration of how to use Autofac's WCF Integration to self-host a web service with a dependency that is injected through the WCF extensibility points. An example and instructions on how to create a client proxy are provided.

WSCF.blue Roadmap

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The WSCF.blue team has been discussing the features to include in the next release and a roadmap has been summarized on Santosh Benjamin's blog. Some of the key features discussed include the ability to persist settings, support for WS-Addressing, Fault Contracts and T4 templates. Microsoft's Feature Builder is being considered as the primary user experience. Feedback is welcome.

Refactor to the NUnit Fluent API with ReSharper Code Patterns

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

ReSharper 5 has a feature called Structural Search and Replace which allows you to perform complex searches on your code and then make equally complex replacements. I used this to create custom code patterns for refactoring to the NUnit Fluent API, which can be included in ReSharper's code inspections. An XML export of the code patterns is available.

Autofac 2.0 Podcast

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Nicholas Blumhardt talks about Autofac 2 on the Talking Shop Down Under podcast and can also be heard speaking about Autofac on the .NET Rocks! podcast. He discusses IoC containers in general, the service locator pattern, constructor injection, MEF and Autofac, and Autofac 2's new features.

Framework Design Guidelines Second Edition

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This review summarises the book Framework Design Guidelines Second Edition, discussing how it expands and improves on the first edition. It also mentions how Brad Abrams and Krzysztof Cwalina draw attention to mistakes they have made in order to help others avoid them. It talks about how important it is to create guidance from past issues to limit the accumulation of future technical debt.

Switching to reCAPTCHA for Comment Spam protection

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

In 2010, I switched to using reCAPTCHA for comment spam protection on my blog. I found an extension written by Filip Stanek that integrates it with BlogEngine.NET, but there were some problems with the extension when used with the DbBlogProvider. I made a few small changes to the code and was able to get it working properly.

MockingBird v2.0 Release Candidate Available

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Santosh Benjamin announced the Release Candidate of MockBird v2.0, a tool that allows you to mock web services through configurable message interception, is now available for download on CodePlex.

Setting your database Compatibility Level to match the SQL Server version

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article explains how to set the Compatibility Level of a database to match the version of SQL Server. It provides a script that can be used on SQL Server 2005 and 2008 instances.

Comment Spam protection for BlogEngine.NET

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This article discusses a comment spam protection for BlogEngine.NET, which uses Akismet and CAPTCHA solutions to protect from spam. The CAPTCHA solution requires some changes to the code of BlogEngine.NET and might have to be merged with newer versions when upgrading.

WSCF.blue now supports Visual Studio 2010 RC

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue version 1.0.7 is now available for download, adding support for Visual Studio 2010 RC in addition to Visual Studio 2008. There is an Issue Tracker and Discussions forum available for any problems or feedback.

WSCF.blue V1.0.6 Update

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue has released a V1.0.6 update with fixes for various reported bugs, including the data contract type filter not including all the required types in some complex contracts, adjusting the casing of enumeration members references, and an issue related to XmlChoiceIdentifier attributes. If there are any problems with the update, users should report them through the Issue Tracker.

.NET Reflector V6 Released

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

.NET Reflector V6 has been released by Red Gate, and is available in both a free and paid version. The free version offers support for .NET 4 assemblies and the ability to jump directly from Visual Studio to .NET Reflector. The paid version is an add-in for Visual Studio and provides additional features such as decompiling third-party assemblies and the ability to step through the decompiled code with full debugging capabilities.

More than 1000 downloads for WSCF.blue V1

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The first version of WSCF.blue was released on CodePlex in September 2009 and has since had over 1000 downloads. Christian and Buddhike helped to spread the word with an MSDN article. The team is now back from holidays and looking for feedback from the community on what they would like to see in future versions of WSCF.blue.

Registering open generic types in Autofac 1.4

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This post explains how to extend Autofac 1.4 to register open generic types, with support for both interfaces and classes. It provides an example unit test and the code used to implement the extension method.

ReSharper 5.0 Beta available

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

JetBrains has released the ReSharper 5.0 Beta, which includes features such as web development, code analysis and project-level refactorings. It is compatible with Visual Studio 2010 and Visual Studio 2008, but there are known issues with Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2.

Is64BitOperatingSystem and Is64BitProcess in .NET 4.0

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Environment class in .NET 4.0 contains two static properties, Is64BitOperatingSystem and Is64BitProcess, for checking bitness. The code for these properties is quite elegant and simple to follow, taking advantage of the fact that there are two versions of mscorlib.dll assembly: one for x86 and one for x64. It is also possible to check if the process is running under WOW64 (Windows-on-Windows 64-bit).

Registering open generic interface types in Autofac

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This post covers how to register open generic interface types in Autofac V2, using the new RegisterAssemblyTypes method and an extension method. Nicholas Blumhardt (the creator of Autofac) suggested that this would be easy to implement, and it was done with a few unit tests and implementation code.

Limiting CTE recursion depth in SQL Server

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article provides a few different methods for limiting the recursion depth of Common Table Expressions (CTEs) in SQL Server, such as reaching the default maximum recursion depth, setting the MAXRECURSION query hint, or manually controlling the recursion level.

Would you become a signatory of the SOA Manifesto?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The SOA Manifesto is a manifesto similar to the Agile Manifesto, sparking debate and discussion. There is a SOA Manifesto Dialog site to voice opinions on it. Those who agree with the benefits of SOA should become signatories of the manifesto.

Free database goodness: LightSpeed Express and SQLite

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article talks about the discontinuation of VistaDB Express, a free database engine, and how it can be replaced with other free databases such as SQLite, which is supported by LightSpeed Express, a free ORM. LightSpeed Express has features like LINQ to LightSpeed, an editor for Visual Studio, and the ability to create databases from existing models.

OM NOM NOM NOM

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A picture of Cookie Monster eating a cookie while wearing a Google logo was posted in 2009. The post encourages viewers to check out other Google logos from around the world.

Contract-First article on MSDN

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Christian and Buddhike wrote an excellent MSDN article on Schema-based Development with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). It is focused on contract-first web service development and how it can be achieved with WCF. A diagram was created to illustrate the steps of the process and it highlights the iterative nature of the approach.

WSCF.blue V1 Final Released

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue V1 Final has been released and includes features such as a WSDL Wizard, Data Contract Generator, Service/Endpoint Stub Generator, Client Proxy Generator, Generate Data Contract Code feature, Paste XML as Schema option, support for C# and VB.NET code generation, and improved WSDL error handling. It provides an invaluable resource to the .NET open source community.

Improved WSDL error handling in WSCF.blue

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This improvement to WSCF.blue allows for better error handling when a WSDL is selected for Client-side proxy or Service-side stub code generation, displaying the errors in a message box and directing users to the WSCF.blue pane in the Output window where they can view all the details.

Paste XML as Schema in WSCF.blue

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue's Paste XML as Schema feature allows users to paste XML from the clipboard and have it automatically converted into an XSD file for use in web services contracts. The menu item appears on the Edit menu in Visual Studio and is only enabled when a project is open.

Comparison keyboard shortcuts for Pending Changes in TFS

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article provides instructions for setting up keyboard shortcuts for comparing pending changes in Visual Studio with the Latest, Workspace and Previous versions. It also provides updated commands for Visual Studio 2012.

Data contract generation is now available in WSCF.blue

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Data contract generation is now available in the WSCF.blue V1 Beta 2 release, and as always user feedback and bug reports are welcome. The feature allows users to select one or more source XSD or WSDL files and generate data contracts using the XmlSerializer. Data Contract Code Generation Options are also available.

DomainDataSource Extension Methods

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A post by Jeff Handley explains how to add or edit an item in the DomainDataSource in .NET RIA Services, and a comment by David Yack on the forum provides his inherited DomainDataSource class which adds methods for adding and editing items. This code was then turned into a set of extension methods that can be used on any DomainDataSource.

Controlling your Service method implementation in WSCF.blue

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue has added new options that control how the methods in your service class are code generated. This will allow you to separate your service implementation into another file that remains untouched when you regenerate your service code.

ReSharper 4.5.1 Maintenance Release

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

JetBrains have released a 4.5.1 maintenance version of ReSharper which addresses a large number of bugs and has improved default Naming Style rules. This version of ReSharper is free to upgrade from any 4.x version and should be a stable and reliable release.

Silverlight 3 Breaking Changes

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Silverlight 3 has a list of breaking changes from both the Silverlight 2 and Silverlight 3 Beta versions that can be found on MSDN. It is important to check this list if what you are reading does not make sense.

What is a "turd" configuration file?

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A Microsoft Connect response suggested storing settings on a per-project basis or keeping a small "turd" configuration file next to the .sln as a workaround.

WSCF.blue Beta Released: Are you doing contract-first?

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

WSCF.blue is a Visual Studio Add-in designed to bring the benefits of contract-first web service development to those working with WCF (Windows Communication Foundation). It is the latest version of an earlier tool called WSCF and was created by a team of talented developers. The contract-first approach makes web services more interoperable, and the Beta version of WSCF.blue can be downloaded and tested.

Using REST in NAnt with a custom HTTP Task

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article describes how to make HTTP requests to a REST web service from a NAnt script using a custom task. The HttpClient class from the WCF REST Starter Kit is used, and the source code is available on GitHub. The assembly has been merged with the Microsoft.Http.dll dependency making deployment easier.

Velocity DataCache Extension Methods

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This post provides code samples to demonstrate extension methods for working with the Velocity DataCache. This includes a method called IsLocalCache, a Get method that uses generics and a Func delegate to create objects if they are not found in the cache, and a CreateKey method to create keys for cache entries.

Mocking support in Microsoft Velocity

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Microsoft Velocity does not have mocking support, making it difficult for developers to unit test code that uses the application cache. Microsoft should provide interfaces or make methods virtual to improve the API's support for unit testing.

C# wrapper for the Google AJAX Language API

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article discusses a C# wrapper for the Google AJAX Language API, which allows users to translate text using a REST based web service API. The WCF REST Starter Kit and DataContractJsonSerializer are used to make working with the API easier. The code is accompanied by a Visual Studio 2008 solution with full source code.

Bugs in the bit.ly REST API

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article discusses bugs found in bit.ly's REST API which prevent users from expanding URLs from its shortened representation by returning XML that includes the hash for the URL as one of the elements, which cannot start with a numeric or punctuation character. It also covers issues with serialization for .NET consumers and how other services in the bit.ly REST API do not suffer the same problem.

Compute any hash for any object in C#

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article explains how to create an extension method in C# that can be used to calculate the hash of any object using various hashing algorithms such as MD5 or SHA-1. The extension methods use the DataContractSerializer to turn the object into a byte array which is then passed into the Cryptographic Service Provider to compute the hash. The article also covers the two types of hashing functions and their implementations.

SQL Server 2008 SP1

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2008 is available for download, offering a rollup of cumulative updates and bug fixes. Despite lacking new features, the service pack is worthwhile due to the bug fixes it includes.

Introduction to the HttpClient

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The HttpClient class simplifies interaction with REST web services by providing constructors, a Send method, extension methods, and methods to receive content, use headers, and send requests asynchronously.

PreCode Plugin for Windows Live Writer v4.0

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

PreCode is a plugin for Windows Live Writer which adds HTML markup required for SyntaxHighlighter to identify code snippets that require highlighting. It supports the new SyntaxHighlighter v2.0 markup and options, has an updated UI, and can be used as a standalone desktop application.

ASP.NET MVC RTM

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

ASP.NET MVC 1.0 has been released and is available for download. Microsoft took a transparent approach with the development of MVC, and Phil Haack and ScottGu have written about its release.

Sysinternals Live

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Sysinternals Live is a service that enables you to execute Sysinternals tools directly from the Web without downloading them. It includes several useful tools such as ZoomIt, Process Monitor, Process Explorer, TCPView, PsExec, PsKill, PsShutdown and PsFile. There are many more available and it is worth checking out for any Windows user.

Content missing from FeedBurner feed

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

After moving a FeedBurner account to Google, content was missing from the feed and duplicates appeared in Google Reader. Switching to RSS 2.0 as the feed format solved the first problem and switching to a new base address for the FeedBurner feed solved the second.

JetBrains ReSharper 4.5 Beta

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

JetBrains ReSharper 4.5 Beta is now available for download and has claimed improvements. The installation went smoothly and it is time to take it for a test drive.

JetBrains ReSharper 4.5 Beta Uninstalled

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

After trying the ReSharper 4.5 Beta, the user experienced Visual Studio hangs and excessive CPU consumption, so they rolled back to version 4.1 with no issues. They hope the quality of the Beta will improve before the final release.

RoboZZle

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

RoboZZle is an online puzzle game released in 2009 that requires players to program a robot to pick up all stars on a game board. It has a blog and forums for players to keep up with the latest happenings.

SyntaxHighlighter 2.0

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

SyntaxHighlighter 2.0 has recently been released, featuring smart line wrapping, 100% standards compliance, additional themes and hosted versions of the source files, as well as good documentation on the new wiki. The effort put into this release by Alex Gorbatchev should be commended.

jQuery lightBox with BlogEngine.NET and WLW

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article discusses how to use jQuery lightbox with BlogEngine.NET and Windows Live Writer to enable images in posts to have the Lightbox effect, without adding extra HTML attributes to the content. It provides an example of the markup needed for the plugin and explains the anonymous function used to prevent naming conflicts.

Moving files between projects in TFS

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This article discusses how to move files between projects in TFS while keeping their history. It outlines a step-by-step process of using the Source Control Explorer and Solution Explorer to move and include the items, which results in all changes being contained within one Change Set. This keeps the version control database from becoming invalid while preserving the history of the moved files.

Renaming a computer running SQL Server

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

After renaming a computer running SQL Server, the value returned for @@SERVERNAME may not be updated. To fix this, run the sp_dropserver and sp_addserver stored procedures using the current @@SERVERNAME value for the old name and SERVERPROPERTY('ServerName') for the new. Restart the service for the change to take effect.

Code Tag Plugin for Windows Live Writer

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I made a plugin for Windows Live Writer that allows users to easily surround text with the HTML phrase tag. It's easy to install and comes with source code files.

We Have Ignition!

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

After setting up a blog with BlogEngine.NET, using a theme based on the Standard theme and VistaDB Express data provider, We Have Ignition! Hopefully this is the first post of many more to come.