.Net coding discoveries, focused on reusability

Stand up Ninject on MVC against EF4

2012-01-13T11:32:00.000-05:00

Here's the bindings I used to get it done

    /// <summary>
    
    /// Load your modules or register your 
services here
    
    /// </summary>
    
    /// <param name="kernel">The kernel.</param>
    
private static void RegisterServices(IKernel kernel)
    {
      
  kernel.Bind<string>()
        .ToMethod(f =>
#pragma warning disable 0618 //disable obsolete warning as this is the ONLY place this method should be used in the application
          
  ProjectDb.Adapter.EfExtensions.CreateConnectionString(
#pragma warning restore 0618
          "data source=databaseSource;initial 
catalog=YourDbName;integrated 
security=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework"))
      .Named("efString");

      
kernel.Bind(typeof(Project.Shared.Behaviors.IRepository<>))
  .To<ProjectDb.Adapter.DEVEntities>()
  .InThreadScope()
        
  .WithConstructorArgument("connectionString",kernel.Get<string>("efString"));


    }

Best Software Writing - More than money

2011-11-29T10:33:00.001-05:00

I sent these excerpts to all on my team and many more developers and developer managers at work.

Thewhole chapter is VERY insightful on understanding what drives top developertalent.

Edisons
…That's not a new idea.Fred Brooks wrote about it in 1974,^[] and the studyhe quoted was published in 1968. But I think he underestimated the variationbetween programmers. He wrote about productivity in lines of code: the bestprogrammers can solve a given problem in a tenth of the time. But what if theproblem isn't given? In programming, as in many fields, the hard part isn'tsolving problems, but deciding what problems to solve. Imagination is hard tomeasure, but in practice it dominates the kind of productivity that's measuredin lines of code.Productivityvaries in any field, but there are few in which it varies so much. Thevariation between programmers is so great that it becomes a difference in kind.I don't think this is something intrinsic to programming, though. In everyfield, technology magnifies differences in productivity. I think what'shappening in programming is just that we have a lot of technological leverage.But in every field the lever is getting longer, so the variation we see issomething that more and more fields will see as time goes on. And the successof companies, and countries, will depend increasingly on how they deal with it.If variation in productivity increases withtechnology, then the contribution of the most productive individuals will notonly be disproportionately large but will actually grow with time. When youreach the point where 90% of a group's output is created by 1% of its members,you lose big if something (whether Viking raids, or central planning) dragstheir productivity down to the average.If we want to get the most out of them, we need to understandthese especially productive people. What motivates them? What do they need todo their jobs? How do you recognize them? How do you get them to come and workfor you? And then of course there's the question, how do you become one?

Morethan Money
I know a handful of super-hackers, so I sat down and thought aboutwhat they have in common. Their defining quality is probably that they reallylove to program. Ordinary programmers write code to pay the bills. Greathackers think of it as something they do for fun, and which they're delightedto find people will pay them for.Great programmers are sometimes said to beindifferent to money. This isn't quite true. It is true that all they reallycare about is doing interesting work. But if you make enough money, you get towork on whatever you want, and for that reason hackers are attracted by theidea of making really large amounts of money. But as long as they still have toshow up for work every day, they care more about what they do there than howmuch they get paid for it.Economically, this is a fact of the greatest importance, becauseit means you don't have to pay great hackers anything like what they're worth.A great programmer might be ten or a hundred times as productive as an ordinaryone, but he'll consider himself lucky to get paid three times as much. As I'llexplain later, this is partly because great hackers don't know how good theyare. But it's also because money is not the main thing they want.What do hackers want? Like all craftsmen, hackers like good tools.In fact, that's an understatement. Good hackers find it unbearable to use badtools. They'll simply refuse to work on projects with the wrong infrastructure.

…

I've found that people who aregreat at something are not so much convinced of their own greatness asmystified at why everyone else seems so incompetent.

Excerptstaken from TheBest Software writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spoelsky Page 97-106– (a collection of writing’s Joel gathered from other writers)

Composition Root

2011-10-24T11:08:00.000-04:00

I'm reading Dependency Injection in .Net by Mark Seemann

In response to http://blog.ploeh.dk/2011/07/28/CompositionRoot.aspx

I'm only up to reading mid-way through your chapter on doing it right (and jumped to the asp.net webforms composition root after reading this blog post), but here is more of my reasoning.

The catch comes when you look at the behavior, and you realize that there is hardly any behavior on these objects, making them little more than bags of getters and setters. Indeed often these models come with design rules that say that you are not to put any domain logic in the the domain objects. AnemicDomain Models - Martin Fowler

It becomes a 'real' domain model when it contains all (or most) of the behaviour that makes up the business domain (note I'm emphasising business logic, not UI or other orthogonal concerns). Anemic Domain Models - Stack overflow

I don't feel that this is headed into an Anemic domain model as the domain model assembly would contain all behaviors specific to the domain.

Designs that share very little state or, even better, have no state at all tend to be less prone to hard to analyze bugs and easier to repurpose when requirements change. Blog article - makes sense but i could be missing multiple boats here.

The domain would have zero state, and would depend on interfaces not DTOs. This would make test-ability and analysis simple.

Motivation for DTOs in the interfaces layer: presentation and persistence could all share the DTOs rather than having them duplicated in either place.
Barring that perceived gain, then the shared layer across all would just be interfaces.

The UI could depend on interfaces only, but the same assembly would contain DTOs that the presentation layer and any persistence could share without having to be duplicated/rewritten. So the domain is completely persistence and presentation ignorant.

Routing except webforms requests

2011-10-19T17:14:00.000-04:00

I have a legacy webforms (.aspx) project that I'm sliding routing and MVC3 into. I needed a route that would not prevent the default page from being handled by IIS, but would allow all other controller style routing. How do you make a regex that only fails uri's that have .aspx or .axd in them?

Then I thought well I still don't want anything that doesn't look like an mvc route (things that end in .foo or .fooo) Sounds like a crazy negative regex.
Here's the regular expression:

^(.(?!\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{3,}))*$

Match anything that doesn't look like a file extension

And here's the routeAdd in global.asax

static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
  {

     routes.MapRoute("mvc", "{controller}/{action}/{id}",defaults: new{action="index",id=""}, constraints:new{controller=@"^(.(?!\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{3,}))*$"});

  }

2011-09-29T15:49:00.002-04:00

Microsoft is embracing extensibility... using Stackoverflow.com for forums, and uservoice for VS feedback!

Where are the MSDN forums?

We have decided to migrate our forums to stackoverflow.com in order to better build a community around Pex and Moles. Questions about Pex should be tagged with 'Pex' and Moles with 'Moles'...

- from http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/pex/

Some F# early learning and reference

2011-09-19T20:29:00.000-04:00

I'm translating my bulk code detector from c# to f#, to learn f#.It's a linqpad c# program that recurses a directory tree organizing code

highest line count
highest line count by directory
highest line count by base filename (the stuff before the .)

includes

non-whitespace count
potential magic numbers count
" count


//path returns string
let path :string= 
  let userPath=Util.ReadLine("SourceDirectory?",@"D:\projects\")
  let exists=System.IO.Directory.Exists(userPath)
  if not(exists) then //guard clause
    raise(DirectoryNotFoundException(userPath))
  userPath
  
let doTestFileExclude = false

//fileExclude= Func<string,bool> a=>
let fileExclude  (a:string):bool = 
  a.EndsWith("designer.cs",StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase)||
  a.StartsWith("jquery-",StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase)||
  a.StartsWith("AssemblyInfo");
  
let pathExclude (a:string) :bool =
  a.Contains(@"\Database\")||
  a.Contains("Service References")||
  a.Contains("Web References") ||
  a.Contains("PackageTmp") ||
  a.StartsWith(@"~\Web\Scripts\Mvc3")

//record, class, struct, or discriminated union?  
type  CountSettings = {
  Path: string
  Patterns: IEnumerable<string>
  FileExclude: string -> bool
  PathExclude: string-> bool
  }
//instance of above type
let currentSettings:CountSettings=  {
  Path=path
  Patterns=["*.cs";"*.js"]
  FileExclude=fileExclude
  PathExclude=pathExclude
  }

//demonstrating access modifier  
let private testFileExclude() =
  let testCases = ["test";"test.designer.cs";"test.Designer.cs"]
  let mapped = testCases |>
    List.map(fun (fn:string) ->
      (fn,currentSettings.FileExclude(fn))
    )
  mapped.Dump("testFileExclude done")
  
if doTestFileExclude then
  do testFileExclude()

//set cwd (not a functional call, imperative?)
System.Environment.CurrentDirectory=currentSettings.Path
//public ~IEnumerable<T> visitDir(string dir,T1 dirFilter, T2 patterns, T3 fileFilter)
let rec visitAll (dir:string) patterns=seq{
  for pattern in patterns do
    yield! Directory.EnumerateFiles(dir,pattern)
  for subdir in Directory.EnumerateDirectories(dir) do
    yield! visitAll subdir patterns
  }
  
visitAll currentSettings.Path currentSettings.Patterns 
  |> Seq.length 
  |> fun x->x.Dump("LengthAll")


let rec visitDir (dir:string) dirFilter patterns fileFilter=
  seq{
  for pattern in patterns do
    for file in Directory.EnumerateFiles(dir,pattern) do
      if not(fileFilter(file)) then
        yield file
  for subdir in Directory.EnumerateDirectories(dir) do
    if not(dirFilter(subdir)) then
      yield! visitDir subdir dirFilter patterns fileFilter
  }
  
let visitDirResult= 
  visitDir currentSettings.Path currentSettings.PathExclude
    currentSettings.Patterns
      currentSettings.FileExclude
visitDirResult |> Seq.length |> fun x->x.Dump("visitDirLength")
visitDirResult |> fun x ->x.Dump("visitDirResult")

//Extension method on string
type System.String with
  member x.Right(index) = x.Substring(x.Length - index)

Local NuGet Feed on network drive

2011-09-06T14:31:00.000-04:00

This was so much simpler than I imagined. I followed this article from Hanselman.

Get the NuGet.exe command line here. Put it in the %path% or somewhere.
Create a directory for your package - I created mine on the network share directly
on the command line in your new folder nuget.exe spec

Depends on your nuget.exe being in the %path%

edit any fields in the new Package.nuspec file.
If you have assemblies

Add a lib folder

Add assemblies inside

If you have other content

Add a content folder

Add files inside

If you have transforms

Add filename.transform inside the content folder

For example web.config.transform

nuget.exe pack package.nuspec

Package created!

Now add that location in your Vs2010 Tools->LibraryPackageManager->PackageManagerSettings
In Package sources add the source, and name it. TADA!

Database Unit Tests - Config Transforms

2011-06-24T16:26:00.000-04:00

I wanted to have a configuration for the other environments to run the same tests.

started out adding the sit configuration to the solution and the test project.
I added the following to my Db.Tests.csproj:

top property group under projectguid:

<ProjectConfigFileName>App.Config</ProjectConfigFileName>

and just below outputType:

<OutputExtension Condition="'$(OutputExtension)' == '' ">dll</OutputExtension>

then in the item group with app.config:

<Content Include="App.Sit.config">      <DependentUpon>app.Config</DependentUpon>    </Content>

finally just before /Project tag:



<Import Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Sit'" Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" />
  <Target Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Sit'" Name="PostTransformAppConfig" AfterTargets="TransformWebConfig">
    <Copy Condition="Exists('$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\App.config')" SourceFiles="$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\App.config" DestinationFiles="$(OutputPath)\$(AssemblyName).$(OutputExtension).config" />
    <Copy Condition="Exists('$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\App.config')" SourceFiles="$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\App.config" DestinationFiles="$(OutputPath)\$(AssemblyName).vshost.$(OutputExtension).config" />
  </Target>
  <Target Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Sit'" Name="PostTransformAppConfig" AfterTargets="Build">
    <CallTarget Targets="TransformWebConfig" />
    <Copy Condition="Exists('$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\App.config')" SourceFiles="$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\App.config" DestinationFiles="$(OutputPath)\$(AssemblyName).$(OutputExtension).config" />
    <Copy Condition="Exists('$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\App.config')" SourceFiles="$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\App.config" DestinationFiles="$(OutputPath)\$(AssemblyName).vshost.$(OutputExtension).config" />
  </Target>

Here's my app.sit.config transform file:


<ExecutionContext xdt:Transform="Replace" Provider="System.Data.SqlClient" ConnectionString="Data Source=SitServer;Initial Catalog=Init1_SIT;Integrated Security=True;Pooling=False"
        CommandTimeout="30" />
    <PrivilegedContext xdt:Transform="Replace" Provider="System.Data.SqlClient" ConnectionString="Data Source=SitServer;Initial Catalog=Init1_SIT;Integrated Security=True;Pooling=False"
          CommandTimeout="30" />

Based on

http://vishaljoshi.blogspot.com/2010/05/applying-xdt-magic-to-appconfig.html and

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3004210/app-config-transformation-for-projects-which-are-not-web-projects-in-visual-studi

Workflow quirk: cannot access this inline location reference

2011-06-01T13:22:00.002-04:00

Activity '{0}' cannot access this inline location reference because it is only valid for activity '{1}'. Only the activity which obtained the inline location reference is allowed to use it.

Inside my assign activity:

' foundfiles is IEnumerable(of String)
foundFiles.Where(Function(file As String) FileNameBlacklist.Any(Function(blacklistItem) System.IO.Path.GetFileName(file).StartsWith(blacklistItem)) = False)

Not sure if this or the subsequent access was failing, however changing it to this fixed it:

foundFiles.Where(Function(file As String) FileNameBlacklist.Any(Function(blacklistItem) System.IO.Path.GetFileName(file).StartsWith(blacklistItem)) = False).ToList().AsEnumerable

Mashup: Team Foundation Server's API and Microsoft Active Directory

2011-05-31T16:55:00.002-04:00

I wanted to know the userID and name of anyone that checked out a file in the last 2 months for edit on a specific path inside Tfs. Some of this code was tested to work fine on Tfs2010, but no guarantees.

So it's a nice little bit of code to connect to tfs, get the changes and then pull the names in from active directory with a max of 1 attempt per distinct userID.

//imports: 
//Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client
//Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client
//System.DirectoryServices
void Main()
{
 
  Uri tfs08Uri= new Uri("http://tfs.yourtfs.com:8080"); //TODO:this will be specific to your query
  
  
  using(var tfsPc=new TfsTeamProjectCollection(tfs08Uri))
  
  {
  
    var vcs=tfsPc.GetService<Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.VersionControlServer>();
   
    var gtpm=vcs.GetItem("$/yourServerPath"); //TODO:this will be specific to your query
    
    
    var pendings=vcs.QueryPendingSets(new[]{gtpm.ServerItem}, RecursionType.Full,null,null);
    var pendingQuery=pendings.Where(p=>p.PendingChanges
        .Any(pc=>pc.CreationDate>DateTime.Today.AddMonths(-2))) 
      .OrderByDescending(p=>p.PendingChanges.Max(d=>d.CreationDate));
      
    var q= from pq in pendingQuery
        from pc in pq.PendingChanges
        where pc.FileName.EndsWith(".refresh")==false
        select new{pq.OwnerName,pq.Computer,pc.ServerItem,pc.CreationDate,pc.FileName};
        var users=q.Select(u=>u.OwnerName).Distinct();
        var joinedQuery= from pc in q
          join l in lookup(users).ToList() on pc.OwnerName equals l.Key into luLeft
          from lu in luLeft.DefaultIfEmpty()
          select new {Name=lu.Value??pc.OwnerName,pc.FileName,pc.ServerItem,pc.CreationDate,pc.Computer,pc.OwnerName};
          joinedQuery.Dump();

        
  
    
  }
}

public static IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string,string>> lookup(IEnumerable<string> ids)
{


using(var de=new System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry())
{
  var customPath="LDAP://DC=corp,DC=yourdomain,DC=com"; //TODO:this will be specific to your ActiveDirectory
  de.Path=customPath;
  de.AuthenticationType= System.DirectoryServices.AuthenticationTypes.Secure;
  
  using(var deSearch=new System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher())
  {
    deSearch.SearchRoot=de;
    var found=new Dictionary<string,string>( StringComparer.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase);
    foreach(var ownerName in ids)
      {
      if(found.ContainsKey(ownerName))
      yield return  found.First(k=>k.Key==ownerName);
      deSearch.Filter="(&(objectClass=user)(SAMAccountName="+ownerName+"))";
      string value;
      try
      {          
        var me=deSearch.FindOne();  
        value= me.Properties["name"][0].ToString();
        //value.Dump();
      }
      catch(Exception)
      {
        value= null;
      }
       found.Add(ownerName,value);
      yield return new KeyValuePair<string,string>(ownerName,value);
    }
  }
}
}
//references:
//%windir%\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v4.0.30319\System.DirectoryServices.dll
//%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\ReferenceAssemblies\v2.0\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Common.dll
//%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\ReferenceAssemblies\v2.0\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.dll
//%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\ReferenceAssemblies\v2.0\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Common.dll
//%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\ReferenceAssemblies\v2.0\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.dll

Done in LinqPad

Extra snippets/remnants leftover for anyone interested:

//var exclusionList=new [] {"*.suo","*.gpstate","svn","_svn",".svn","*Resharper*"};
    //  vcs.GetItems("$/yourServerSpec/*.suo/", Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.RecursionType.Full).Items //TODO: this will be specific to your query
    //    .Select(i=>i.ServerItem).Distinct().Dump();
    //var workspaces=vcs.QueryWorkspaces(null,null,null).Where(w=>w.IsLocal==false & w.LastAccessDate>DateTime.Now.AddDays(-15)).Where(w=>w.Folders.Any(f=> f.ServerItem.StartsWith("$/PST")));
    //workspaces.OrderByDescending(w=>w.LastAccessDate).Dump(1);
//  var checkins=vcs.GetBranchHistory(new ItemSpec[]{new ItemSpec( gtpm.ServerItem, RecursionType.Full)},VersionSpec.Latest);
  //  checkins.Count().Dump();

.wdproj fails to copy down .refresh binaries

2011-05-24T16:38:00.000-04:00

So I have recently been put on a team that utilizes web site projects and hooking up build automation.

Apparently the default target for copying down .dll.refresh files does in
C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\WebDeployment\v10.0
this for its copy inside the _ResolveReferences target:

 <Copy 
      SourceFiles="@(References->'%(FullPath)')" 
      DestinationFolder="$(_FullSourceWebDir)\Bin\" 
      Condition="!Exists('%(References.Identity)')" 
      ContinueOnError="true"
      SkipUnchangedFiles="true"
      Retries="$(CopyRetryCount)"
      RetryDelayMilliseconds="$(CopyRetryDelayMilliseconds)"/>

and References.Identity resolves to the source identity, not the target identity. So if the source exists it will not copy.

To work around it, and in case in some other usages for this target need this functionality I added a custom beforebuild override in my .wdproj file:

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  <Message Text="Doing custom BeforeBuild" />
<Copy 
      SourceFiles="@(References->'%(FullPath)')" 
      DestinationFolder="$(_FullSourceWebDir)\Bin\" 
      ContinueOnError="true"
      SkipUnchangedFiles="true"
      Retries="$(CopyRetryCount)"
      RetryDelayMilliseconds="$(CopyRetryDelayMilliseconds)"/>
</Target>

Workflow 4 Default types to designer initialization

2011-05-12T13:57:00.000-04:00

Dependency Injection way overboard?

I've been reflectoring, googling, stackoverflowing for weeks and just now stumbled upon the attribute injector code that runs to give ForEachActivity and SequenceActivity a designer.

Why weren't these attributes placed on the classes themselves? I have no idea.

Point your reflector at System.Activities.Core.Presentation in %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\(4 something)

It's in

System.Activities.Core.Presentation.DesignerMetadata.Register();
//Sneak peak
{
  AttributeTableBuilder builder = new AttributeTableBuilder();
  builder.AddCustomAttributes(typeof(ActivityAction),
    new Attribute[] { new EditorReuseAttribute(false) });
  SequenceDesigner.RegisterMetadata(builder);
  ForEachDesigner.RegisterMetadata(builder);
}

Tfs2010 string collection build argument snags

2011-05-10T14:16:00.004-04:00

So it's great that you can use custom types, or more advanced types in Tfs 2010 workflow builds than you could in MSBuild tasks. However the editor/designer support is severely lacking. If you want an editor or designer that everyone can open up and even see what's set there, a custom assembly or vsix package has to be run on every machine that would need to be able to see or edit that argument. Even for something as basic as List<string>

After weeks of posting, forums, research etc... And trying this post it turns out that the legacy string array is what functions.

I wanted to

Provide defaults in the template, so that the consumer could just leave it if they didn't want anything more specific.
Allow for full customizations, adding, editing, removing.
Visibility of what's set for anyone looking at the build definition, not just people with a special assembly loaded.

But if you have tried the others they may have saved to the tfs database and cause your attempts to edit or view them to fail as if the type you are now trying isn't working. Here's a list of things I tried:

Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow.Activities.StringList
System.Collections.Specialized.StringDictionary
- creating my own custom editor and adding it to the metadata
System.Collections.Generic.IList<string>
System.Collections.Generic.List<string>

As it turned out, I have no idea how many of these may have worked had the edit attempts I made not saved into the tfs database.

Once I finally changed the variable name and tried String[] Array. All of the sudden, everything worked just fine. Alternatively, clicking refresh in team explorer -> Edit Build Definition -> Process tab -> Show details arrow -> click refresh is supposed to work. I wound up renaming the variable.

So I went back to try all the types I listed and a few more... and the first 3 worked:

Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow.Activities.StringList
- No custom editor specified
- Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Controls.WpfStringListEditor
String[] Array

Entirely or partially failed to function:

System.Collections.Specialized.StringDictionary
IList<string>
List<string>
IDictionary<string>
Dictionary<string>
Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.KeyValueOfStringString
KeyValuePair<string,string>[]

What I want is a dictionary<string,string> but I'm getting pretty sure there's no support for it outside of a custom package deployed to all machines that want to view the arguments or edit them.

Copying a Tfs2010 Build template into same project

2011-05-10T13:57:00.002-04:00

So, if you want to have a project where you work on TFS 2010 workflow build templates, and decide you want to conceptually branch a template into 2 parts based on an existing. Copy, Paste, done?

Nope. If your project is set up as mine is with Build Action: XamlAppDef and Custom Tool MsBuild:Compile,
now there's a namespace/class conflict.

You get something like this

2 changes are needed. Right click the template and view code.
The first line that looks like

Which are the two points that need to be renamed. a sample rename would be:

Now your template compiles.

My first Rx Attempt revisited

2011-05-05T13:13:00.004-04:00

I have recently rediscovered my custom code analysis rules which included one that no longer compiles. The Rx team has made sweeping and breaking changes to the structure and namespaces in Rx. How difficult was the code update? 2 references removed, 1 added, and a single MethodName changed.

I cleaned up the code, and discovered many improvements along the way.
I do wish I could find a cleaner way to do this:

var whenMethodsFound = Observable.FromEventPattern<NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs>
 act => foundMethods.CollectionChanged += act,
  act => foundMethods.CollectionChanged -= act);

Idea:
Add a mapping extension in extension method class
Great for simple on the go, but manual for every class you want to do this with.

Which would look like this

public static IObservable<IEvent<PageEventArgs>> GetPublishingPageEvent(this DataFactory dataFactory)
   {
       return Observable.FromEvent((EventHandler<PageEventArgs> h) => new PageEventHandler(h), 
                                h => dataFactory.PublishingPage += h, 
                                h => dataFactory.PublishingPage -= h);
  }

public override ProblemCollection Check(TypeNode type)
    {
      Debug.WriteLine("Checking type:"+type.FullName);
      var initializer = type.Members.OfType<Method>( ).FirstOrDefault(x => x.FullName==type.FullName+".InitializeComponent");

      if (initializer==null)
        return null;
      Debug.WriteLine(initializer.FullName);
      var constructorsWithNoInitCall = type.Members.OfType<Method>( ).Where(m => m.NodeType==NodeType.InstanceInitializer).ToList( );
      var visitedMethods = new HashSet<string>( );
      var foundMethods = new ObservableHashSet<Method>( );
      var whenMethodsFound = Observable.FromEventPattern<NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs>(act => foundMethods.CollectionChanged += act,act => foundMethods.CollectionChanged -= act);
      whenMethodsFound.Where(e=>e.EventArgs.Action==NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add).Select(x=>x.EventArgs)
      .Subscribe(
        e =>
        {
            
              if (constructorsWithNoInitCall.Any( ))
                Parallel.ForEach(e.NewItems.Cast<Method>( ).Where(m => visitedMethods.Any(v => v==m.FullName)==false),
                  i =>
                  {

                    lock (visitedMethods)
                    {
                      if (visitedMethods.Contains(i.FullName))
                        return;
                      visitedMethods.Add(i.FullName);

                    }
                    Debug.WriteLine("Visiting:"+i.FullName);
                    var callers = (CallGraph.CallersFor(i));
                    constructorsWithNoInitCall.RemoveAll(x => callers.Any(c => x.FullName==c.FullName));
                    if (constructorsWithNoInitCall.Any( ))
                      foreach (var item in callers.Where(c => visitedMethods.Any(v => v==c.FullName)==false))
                      {
                        foundMethods.Add(item);
                      }
                  });
             
          
        }
        );
      foundMethods.Add(initializer);


      ReportProblem(constructorsWithNoInitCall, type);

      return Problems;
    }

ObjectDumper extended

2011-05-04T16:31:00.000-04:00

This should be functionally equivalent to Microsoft's version just my own refactorings to support extensibility: No behavior should be different.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections;
using System.Reflection;

namespace Utilities
{
/// 
/// From Microsoft's http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/cs2008samples/
/// modified for extensibility
/// 

public class ObjectDumper
{

/// 
/// StaticWrite
/// 

/// public static void Write(object element)
{
Write(element, 0);
}
protected static TextWriter DefaultWriter=Console.Out;
/// 
/// Static Write
/// 

/// /// public static void Write(object element, int depth)
{
Write(element, depth, DefaultWriter);
}
/// 
/// Static Write
/// 

/// /// /// public static void Write(object element, int depth, TextWriter log)
{
var dumper = new ObjectDumper(depth) {_writer = log};
dumper.WriteObject(null, element);
}


private TextWriter _writer;
int _pos;
int _level;
readonly int _depth;

protected ObjectDumper(int depth)
{
_depth = depth;
}
protected ObjectDumper(int depth, TextWriter log):this(depth)
{
_writer = log;
}
/// 
/// MethodWrite
/// 

/// protected void WriteString(string s)
{
if (s != null)
{
_writer.Write(s);
_pos += s.Length;
}
}

protected virtual void WriteIndent()
{
for (int i = 0; i < _level; i++) _writer.Write("  ");
        }

        protected void WriteLine()
        {
            _writer.WriteLine();
            _pos = 0;
        }
        
        protected virtual void WriteTab()
        {
            WriteString("  ");
            while (_pos % 8 != 0) WriteString(" ");
        }
        protected  void DescendIfDepthAllows(Action doIfDescend)
        {
            if (_level < _depth)
            {
                _level++;
                doIfDescend();
                _level--;
               
            }
        }

        protected virtual  void WriteObject(string prefix, object element)
        {
            if (element == null || element is ValueType || element is string)
            {
                WriteIndent();
                WriteString(prefix);
                WriteValue(element);
                WriteLine();
            }
            else
            {
                var enumerableElement = element as IEnumerable;
                if (enumerableElement != null)
                {
                    WriteEnumerable(prefix, enumerableElement);
                }
                else
                {
                    WriteWithReflection(element, prefix);
                }
            }
        }

        protected virtual void WriteWithReflection(object element, string prefix)
        {
            MemberInfo[] members = element.GetType().GetMembers(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance);
            WriteIndent();
            WriteString(prefix);
            bool propWritten = false;
            foreach (MemberInfo m in members)
            {
                var f = m as FieldInfo;
                var p = m as PropertyInfo;
                if (f != null || p != null)
                {
                    if (propWritten)
                    {
                        WriteTab();
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        propWritten = true;
                    }
                    WriteString(m.Name);
                    WriteString("=");
                    Type t = f != null ? f.FieldType : p.PropertyType;
                    
                    if (t.IsValueType || t == typeof(string))
                    {
                         WriteValue(GetValue(element, m, f, p)); 
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        WriteString(typeof (IEnumerable).IsAssignableFrom(t) ? "..." : "{ }");
                    }
                }
            }
            if (propWritten) WriteLine();
            WriteReflectionChildren(element, members);
        }
        protected virtual object GetValue(object element, MemberInfo m, FieldInfo f, PropertyInfo p)
        {
           return f != null ? f.GetValue(element) : p.GetValue(element, null);
        }
        

        protected void WriteReflectionChildren(object element, MemberInfo[] members)
        {
            if (_level < _depth)
            {
                foreach (MemberInfo m in members)
                {
                    var f = m as FieldInfo;
                    var p = m as PropertyInfo;
                    if (f != null || p != null)
                    {
                        Type t = f != null ? f.FieldType : p.PropertyType;
                        if (!(t.IsValueType || t == typeof(string)))
                        {
                            
                            object value =GetValue(element,m,f,p);
                            if (value != null)
                            {
                                _level++;
                                WriteObject(m.Name + ": ", value);
                                _level--;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        protected virtual void WriteEnumerable(string prefix, IEnumerable enumerableElement)
        {
            foreach (object item in enumerableElement)
            {
                if (item is IEnumerable && !(item is string))
                {
                    WriteIndent();
                    WriteString(prefix);
                    WriteString("...");
                    WriteLine();
                    if (_level < _depth)
                    {
                        _level++;
                        WriteObject(prefix, item);
                        _level--;
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    WriteObject(prefix, item);
                }
            }
        }
        
        protected virtual void WriteValue(object o)
        {
            if (o == null)
            {
                WriteString("null");
            }
            else if (o is DateTime)
            {
                WriteString(((DateTime)o).ToShortDateString());
            }
            else if (o is ValueType || o is string)
            {
                WriteString(o.ToString());
            }
            else if (o is IEnumerable)
            {
                WriteString("...");
            }
            else
            {
                WriteString("{ }");
            }
        }

       
    }
}

Note that this code currently throws an exception if the object passed into it is a Type, for example:

var type=typeof(string);
ObjectDumper.Write(type);

Throws: TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. So... the refactoring commenced and the derived class that handles types, and also KeyValuePairs

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;

namespace TechnicalDebtTaskLib.Utilities
{
    public class ObjectDumperExtended : ObjectDumper
    {

        public new static void Write(object element)
        {
            Write(element, 0);
        }

        public new static void Write(object element, int depth)
        {
            Write(element, depth, DefaultWriter);
        }

        public new static void Write(object element, int depth, TextWriter log)
        {
            var dumper = new ObjectDumperExtended(depth,log) ;
            dumper.WriteObject(null, element);
        }

        public static string ToDumpString(object element, int depth = 0)
        {
            using (var textWriter = new StringWriter())
            {
                Write(element, depth, textWriter);
                return textWriter.ToString();
            }
        }
        protected override void WriteObject(string prefix, object element)
        {
            if (element != null && element is Type )
            {
                WriteType(prefix, element as Type);
            }
            else
                base.WriteObject(prefix, element);
        }

        private void WriteType(string prefix, Type type)
        {
            switch (_typeStrategy)
            {
                case TypeStrategy.Custom:
                    WriteString(_writeTypeStrategy(prefix,type));
                    break;
                case TypeStrategy.Extended:
                    base.WriteObject(prefix,type);
                    break;
                default:
                    WriteString(prefix + type.ToString());
                    break;
            }
          
        }

        protected override object GetValue(object element, MemberInfo m, FieldInfo f, PropertyInfo p)
        {
            var blackList = new[] { "DeclaringMethod", "GenericParameterAttributes", "GenericParameterPosition" };
            if (element is Type && blackList.Contains(m.Name))
            {
                return "[UnsafeToReflect]";
            }
            return base.GetValue(element, m, f, p);
        }

        private static TypeStrategy _typeStrategy = TypeStrategy.Basic;
        
        public enum TypeStrategy
        {
            Basic=1,
            Custom=2,
            Extended=3
        }

        private static Func<string, Type, string> _writeTypeStrategy;
        public static void SetTypeStrategy(Func<string,Type ,string> formatter)
        {
            if (formatter == null)
                _typeStrategy = TypeStrategy.Basic;
            else
            {
                _writeTypeStrategy = formatter;
                _typeStrategy = TypeStrategy.Custom;
            }
        }

      public static void SetTypeStrategyBasic()
      {
          _typeStrategy = TypeStrategy.Basic;
          _writeTypeStrategy = null;

      }
        public static void SetTypeStrategyExtended()
        {
            _typeStrategy = TypeStrategy.Extended;
            _writeTypeStrategy = null;
        }

        public static Func<string> WriteIndentStrategy { get; set; }
        protected override void WriteIndent()
        {
            if (WriteIndentStrategy != null)
                WriteString(WriteIndentStrategy());
            else
                base.WriteIndent();
        }

        public static Func<string> WriteTabStrategy { get; set; }
        protected override void WriteTab()
        {
            if (WriteTabStrategy != null)
                WriteString(WriteTabStrategy());
            else
                base.WriteTab();
        }

        private ObjectDumperExtended(int depth,TextWriter log) : base(depth,log){}


        protected override void WriteValue(object o)
        {
            if (o == null)
            {
                WriteString("null");
            }
            else if (o is DateTime)
            {
                WriteString(((DateTime)o).ToShortDateString());
            }
            else if (o.GetType().IsGenericType)
            {
                var baseType = o.GetType().GetGenericTypeDefinition();
                if (baseType == typeof(KeyValuePair<,>))
                {
                    var argTypes = baseType.GetGenericArguments();
                    WriteKeyValuePair(o, argTypes[0], argTypes[1]);
                }

            }
            else if (o is ValueType || o is string)
            {
                WriteString(o.ToString());
            }
            else if (o is IEnumerable)
            {
                WriteString("...");
            }
            else
            {
                WriteString("{ }");
            }
        }

        private void WriteKeyValuePair(object o, Type keyType, Type valueType)
        {
            var key = o.GetType().GetProperty("Key").GetValue(o, null);
            var value = o.GetType().GetProperty("Value").GetValue(o, null);
            WriteObject(keyType.Name + ":", key);
            WriteIndent();
            WriteObject(valueType.Name + ":", value);
        }

    }
}

An ActivityDesigner for InvokeAction

2011-05-02T17:17:00.003-04:00

Building off of An ActivityDesigner for InvokeAction

The only changes needed to make it work for InvokeAction was in the Xaml

< WrapPanel name="ArgumentWrapPanel">

and the OnModelItemChanged override:

 //set ETB expression type
            var generics = invokeActionObj.GetType().GetGenericArguments();
            if (generics.Length > 0)
            {
                this.ArgumentETB.ExpressionType = generics[0];
            }
            else
            {
                this.ArgumentETB.IsEnabled = false;
                this.ArgumentETB.Expression = null;
                this.ArgumentWrapPanel.Visibility = System.Windows.Visibility.Collapsed;

            }

Command line shortcuts

2011-04-21T14:44:00.000-04:00

for service starting stopping or even remote event viewing...shortcuts

I made a batch file that does this

set /p compname=Enter the computer name:
start mmc compmgmt.msc /computer:\\%compname%
set compname=

The original had c:\windows\system32\compmgmt.msc but on my system it doesn't appear to be needed
you can replace compmgmt.msc with services.msc or eventvwr.msc

Also to pipe into notepad:

set /p compname=Enter the computer name:
sc \\%compname% query type= service | find "SERVICE_" > %temp%\tmpsvc.txt
start notepad %temp%\tmpsvc.txt
ping -n 2 127.0.0.1
del %temp%\tmpsvc.txt
set compname=

the ping is there because the delete would fire much faster than the notepad starting up, so it's a sleep hack.

EF4 + ESQL for not supported options

2011-03-21T21:09:00.001-04:00

So say you want to support wildcard searches against a SQL db. Yes this is probably horrible performance wise, but... useful or as an example how to do ESQL against an EF4 context.

Linqpad against my EF4 context:

  internal IEnumerable<IPlayerFull> SearchForPlayer(string playerNameLike, byte? universeId)

var q= from p in q.Players.Where(p => p.UniverseId == universeId) 
.Where("it.Name like @Name", new ObjectParameter[] { new ObjectParameter("Name", playerNameLike) })
.Where(p => p.UniverseId == universeId)
       orderby p.Name
      select p;
 return q;

bizarre eh? EF4 note, not related to ESQL:

Also note it does not automatically deal with null properly... for instance if the query was supposed to match exactly with the value in the universeId and that value was null... to get the proper handling you'd have to write out...

.Where(p=>p.UniverseId==universeId || (universeId.HasValue==false && p.UniverseId==null) )
or
.Where(p=>p.UniverseId==universeId || (universeId==null && p.UniverseId==null) )
but what I actually needed for this situation was more like: 
 .Where(p => p.UniverseId == universeId || (universeId == 1 && p.UniverseId == null))
because... the data and code were never properly and cleanly converted in the event of a legacy app connecting and trying to query. universeId should not be nullable on either side.

Class organization

2011-03-14T11:57:00.000-04:00

I am putting together a theory of class code readability organization with the assertions that

Classes consistently organized are easier to read and understand
Fields should be private
Consistent internal state is preferable to passing around invalid objects that can communicate they are invalid (immutability vs IDataErrorInfo)

This layout is my hypothesis of what a good consistent layout would be:

private fields
constructor(s)
Initializers and wiring

for example event wiring

non-public properties
public operations
public properties
explicit event plumbing

For example designer auto-generated event handlers

Other plumbing or utilities

As with any theory or concept, the main ways to learn from it are

to communicate it out for feedback

other people's viewpoints can help you find your blind spots
you can become aware of situations where the idea or solution doesn't fit and why

apply it
look at it with a critical eye for places or reasons that it works well and places it doesn't

keep an open mind that one size does not fit all

solicit feedback for applications of the idea

other people can better see past your blind spots
explaining it helps keep or find perspective
any critical thinking or discussion is likely to be beneficial to all involved parties

Long pages no more named anchors... link someone to a specific part?

2011-01-31T11:16:00.000-05:00

I've wanted to do this so many times.... Link someone to a specific part or section of a long web page and had no idea it was possible. It's become a hidden feature since in the old days people used named anchors (< a href="#anchorname">Browser anchor link text. This was easy to right click and select copy location or copy shortcut, etc..

I don't think there's a UI based shorthand any longer but apparently:

example showing usage (with the source I found this information)

http://w3fools.com/#html_links

Project Ideas Numbers - Fibonacci Sequence

2010-11-30T11:15:00.000-05:00

Tackling the Fibonacci project was far easier but still yielded new knowledge.

Recursion is horrible on performance compared to iterative or tail-recursion (assuming the compiler supports tail optimization).

public static class FibonacciSequence
  {
    public static long CalculateRecurse(int term)
    {
      if (term<1)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("term", "must be >0");
      const byte f0 = 0;
      const byte f1 = 1;
      if (term<2)
        return term;
      return CalculateRecurse(term-1)+CalculateRecurse(term-2);
    }
    public static long CalculateWhile(int term)
    {
      int i = 1, k = 0;
      while (i<=term)
      {
        k+=i;
        ++i;
      }
      return k;
    }
 
    public static long CalculateTail(int term)
    {
      if (term<1)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("term", "must be >0");
      return CalculateTail(term, 1, 1);
    }
 
    private static long CalculateTail(int term, int iter, int acc)
    {
      if (iter==term)
        return acc;
      return CalculateTail(term, ++iter, acc+iter);
    }
  }

Project Ideas

2010-11-30T10:43:00.000-05:00

I've stumbled on an interesting coder's project ideas list

Then tackled the first one in my own way. The goal is to

Find PI to the Nth Digit – Enter a number and have the program generate PI up to that many decimal places. Keep a limit to how far the program will go.

Rather than do exactly that, I wanted to start small, and work through some of the existing formulas I could find and put them into C#. That would be a step in the right direction towards the goal. I think the actual project idea is currently out of my range, with little to gain from going farther than I did. I learned much more about floating point math, decimal vs. double, and binary vs. decimal vs. hexadecimal math.

Code Follows:

/// <summary>
  /// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
  /// </summary>
  /// <seealso cref="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_point#Accuracy_problems"/>

public static class PiCalculator
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_approximations_of_%CF%80
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static double Euler( )
    {
      return 20*Math.Atan((double)1/7)+8*Math.Atan((double)3/79);
    }
    public static double MachinLike( )
    {
      return 4*(4*Math.Atan((double)1/5)-Math.Atan((double)1/239));
    }
    public static double Archimedes1( )
    {
      double archimedes1=0;

      //most accurate number this formula can give on a computer
      const double magicNumber = 16;

      double previousT=1.0/Math.Sqrt(3.0);
      for (double i = 0; i<magicNumber+1; i++)
      {
        archimedes1=6.0*Math.Pow(2.0, i)*previousT;
        previousT=(Math.Sqrt(Math.Pow(previousT, 2.0)+1.0)-1.0)/previousT;
      }
      return archimedes1; //gives the expected 8 digits of precision 
      // 3.1415926 wrong digits - 7174155

    }
    public static double Archimedes2( )
    {
      //most accurate number this formula can give on a computer
      const double magicNumber = 23;
      double archimedes2 = 0;
      double previousT=1.0/Math.Sqrt(3.0);
      for (double i = 0; i<magicNumber+1; i++)
      {
        archimedes2=6.0*Math.Pow(2.0, i)*previousT;
        previousT=previousT/(Math.Sqrt(Math.Pow(previousT, 2)+1)+1.0);
      }
      return archimedes2; //returns 13 digits of precision instead of the expected 15
      // returns 3.1415926535898 instead of 3.14159265358979

    }
    /// <summary>
    /// http://pi.lacim.uqam.ca/eng/approximations_en.html
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static double Plouffe()
    {
      return Math.Log10((double) 28102/1277)*(double) 125/123;
    }

    public static double Plouffe2()
    {
      return Math.Pow(276694819753963.0/226588, 1.0/158.0)+2.0;
    }

  }

EF4 ToTraceString Method

2010-11-29T20:46:00.000-05:00

So if your SoC is just a little muddy on the db-code to query-code like mine appears to be currently you might find yourself wanting to access the ToTraceString() method cleanly on the query side without bringing in EF4 using statements or references.

I accomplished this using the partial class feature.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Linq;
using System.Data.EntityClient;
 
namespace StarfleetCommanderSecure.EF4
{
    public partial class SfeEntities
    {

 public string ToTraceString(IQueryable query)
        {
            var objectQuery = (System.Data.Objects.ObjectQuery) query;
            return objectQuery.ToTraceString();
        }

}
}

Static reflection... or T4 with EnvDte?

2010-11-10T16:04:00.001-05:00

So I like static reflection for getting Class, Property or Method names for databinding, but a lot of people aren't comfortable with the possible performance implications, or for whatever reason (usually FUD). I've found an alternative using T4+EnvDte.

Code is included in the link...

    <#@ template language="C#" hostspecific="True" debug="True" #>
    <#@ output extension="cs" #>
    <#@ assembly name="System.Core" #>
    <#@ assembly name="System.Xml" #>
    <#@ assembly name="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.8.0" #>
    <#@ assembly name="EnvDTE" #>
    <#@ assembly name="EnvDTE80" #>
    <#@ import namespace="System.Collections.Generic" #>
    <#@ import namespace="System.IO" #>
    <#@ import namespace="System.Linq" #>
    <#@ import namespace="System.Text" #>
    <#@ import namespace="System.Text.RegularExpressions" #>
    <#@ import namespace="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop" #>
    <#@ import namespace="EnvDTE" #>
    <#@ import namespace="EnvDTE80" #>
   
        <#
    var serviceProvider = Host as IServiceProvider;
        if (serviceProvider != null) {
            Dte = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(SDTE)) as DTE;
        }

        // Fail if we couldn't get the DTE. This can happen when trying to run in TextTransform.exe
        if (Dte == null) {
            throw new Exception("T4Generator can only execute through the Visual Studio host");
        }
       
        foreach(var project in Dte.Solution.Projects.Cast<Project>()
            .Where(p=> p.CodeModel!=null && p.Name!="Solution Items"))
        {
            //var appRoot= Path.GetDirectoryName(project.FullName) + '\\';
            var rootNamespace = project.Properties.Item("RootNamespace").Value.ToString();
            WriteLine("//Project:"+project.Name);
            #><#
        WriteLine(string.Empty);#>namespace <#= rootNamespace #>.T4Helper{
        <#
           
                WriteLine("#region "+project.Name+ " properties");
                WriteLine(string.Empty);
            foreach(var prop in project.Properties.Cast<EnvDTE.Property>())
            {
           
                Write("//"+prop.Name+" : ");
                try
                    {           
                        WriteLine(prop.Value.ToString());
                    }
                    catch (Exception ex)
                    {
                        WriteLine("Exception : "+ex.Message);
                    }
            }
            WriteLine("#endregion");
            WriteLine(string.Empty);
            ProcessFileCodeModel(project);
            WriteLine(string.Empty);
            WriteLine("}");
        }
       
    #>


<#+
    //const string Kind_PhysicalFolder = "{6BB5F8EF-4483-11D3-8BCF-00C04F8EC28C}";
    bool AlwaysKeepTemplateDirty = true;
    static DTE Dte;

       
void ProcessFileCodeModel(Project project)
    {
        foreach(var item in project.ProjectItems.Cast<ProjectItem>())
        {
            WriteLine("//Found item:"+item.Name);
            if(item.FileCodeModel!=null )
            {
                WriteLine("//Found CodeModel:"+item.FileCodeModel.GetType().FullName);
                RecurseFindElements(item.FileCodeModel.CodeElements);
           
            }
           
        }
       
       
    }
    void WriteMapping(CodeClass codeClass)
    {
        WriteLine("///"+codeClass.FullName);
        WriteLine("public static class "+MakeIntoValidIdentifier(codeClass.Name)+"{");
        PushIndent("\t");
       
        WriteLine("public static string MetaName{get{return \""+codeClass.Name+"\";}}");
       
        RecurseFindElements(codeClass.Children);       
        PopIndent();
            WriteLine("}");
        WriteLine(string.Empty);
    }
    void WriteMapping(CodeProperty codeProperty)
    {
        WriteLine("///"+codeProperty.FullName);
        WriteLine("public static string Meta"+MakeIntoValidIdentifier(codeProperty.Name)+"{ get{ return \""+
            codeProperty.Name+"\";}}");
        //WriteLine("public static string MetaBinding"+MakeIntoValidIdentifier(codeProperty.Name)+"{ get{ return \""
            //+codeProperty.Parent.Name+"."+codeProperty.Name+"\";}}");
    }
    void WriteMapping(CodeFunction codeFunction)
    {
        WriteLine("///"+codeFunction.FullName);
        WriteLine("public static string Meta"+codeFunction.Name+"{ get{ return \""+
            codeFunction.Name+"\";}}");
    }
 private void RecurseFindElements(CodeElements codeElements)
    {
     
      var q=codeElements.Cast<CodeElement>( )
        //.Where(x =>x is CodeInterface||x is CodeClass || x is CodeNamespace) //&& ((CodeInterface)x).Attributes.Count>0)
        //.Where(x => x.Name.StartsWith("System")==false)
        //.Where(x => x.Name.StartsWith("Infragistics")==false)
        //.Where(x => x.Name.StartsWith("Microsoft")==false)
        //.Where(x => x.Name.StartsWith("ICSharpCode")==false)
        ;
        var functions=new List<string>();
      foreach (var element in q)
      {
       
        if (element is CodeFunction && functions.Contains(element.Name)==false)
        {
           
            WriteMapping(element as CodeFunction);
            functions.Add(element.Name);
        }
        if(element is CodeProperty)
        {
            WriteMapping(element as CodeProperty);
        }
        if (element is CodeInterface)
        {
          var c = (CodeInterface)element;
          RecurseFindElements(c.Members);

        }
        if (element is CodeClass)
        {
          var c = (CodeClass)element;
            //verify element is a project element not an external
          if (c.InfoLocation==vsCMInfoLocation.vsCMInfoLocationProject)
            {
                WriteMapping(c);
            }
        
        }
        if (element is CodeNamespace)
        {
           
            var ns=(CodeNamespace)element;
           
          RecurseFindElements(ns.Members);
        }
      }
    }

string MakeIntoValidIdentifier(string arbitraryString)
{
    var validIdentifier = Regex.Replace(arbitraryString, @"[^A-Za-z0-9-._]", " ");
    validIdentifier = ConvertToPascalCase(validIdentifier);
    if (Regex.IsMatch(validIdentifier, @"^\d")) validIdentifier = "_" + validIdentifier;
    return validIdentifier;
}

string ConvertToPascalCase(string phrase)
{
    string[] splittedPhrase = phrase.Split(' ', '-', '.');
    var sb = new StringBuilder();

    sb = new StringBuilder();

    foreach (String s in splittedPhrase)
    {
        char[] splittedPhraseChars = s.ToCharArray();
        if (splittedPhraseChars.Length > 0)
        {
            splittedPhraseChars[0] = ((new String(splittedPhraseChars[0], 1)).ToUpper().ToCharArray())[0];
        }
        sb.Append(new String(splittedPhraseChars));
    }
    return sb.ToString();
}

void EmitNamesInnerClass(List<string> names)
{
    if(names.Any())
    {
        WriteLine("\r\n\t\tpublic static class Names");
        WriteLine("\t\t{");
        foreach(var name in names)
            WriteLine(string.Format("\t\t\tpublic const string {0} = \"{0}\";", name));
        WriteLine("\t\t}");

        names.Clear();
    }
}

Project GetProjectContainingT4File(DTE dte) {

    // Find the .tt file's ProjectItem
    ProjectItem projectItem = dte.Solution.FindProjectItem(Host.TemplateFile);

    // If the .tt file is not opened, open it
    if (projectItem.Document == null)
        projectItem.Open(Constants.vsViewKindCode);

    if (AlwaysKeepTemplateDirty) {
        // Mark the .tt file as unsaved. This way it will be saved and update itself next time the
        // project is built. Basically, it keeps marking itself as unsaved to make the next build work.
        // Note: this is certainly hacky, but is the best I could come up with so far.
        projectItem.Document.Saved = false;
    }

    return projectItem.ContainingProject;
}

#>

Quick custom build task

2010-11-09T11:39:00.001-05:00

We needed something to delete all but the last 3 *.zip files for a particular app in a directory during a build. This was particularly simple because of 1 assumption the files would properly sort by filename alone. This is often not the case when Dates or times are involved unless you are using fixed width, padded, or formatted date/time strings.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.Build.Utilities;
 
namespace BMsBuildTasks
{
  public class RollingVersionCleaner:Task
  {
    [Required]
    public string Path { get; set; }
    [Required]
    public string AppName { get; set; }
    [Output]
    public ITaskItem[ ] Deleted { get; set; }
    public override bool Execute( )
    {
      if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(Path)==false)
      {
        Log.LogError("Directory does not exist:"+Path);
        return false;
      }
      var files = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(Path, AppName+"*.zip");
 
      var q= from f in files
             let fileName=System.IO.Path.GetFileName(f)
             orderby fileName descending
             where fileName.Contains(".")
             select f;
      if (q.Any( )==false)
      {
        Log.LogMessage("No files found "+System.IO.Path.Combine(Path, AppName));
        return true;
      }
      var toDelete=q.Skip(3);
      if (toDelete.Any( )==false)
      {
        Log.LogMessage("No files to delete "+System.IO.Path.Combine(Path, AppName));
        return true;
      }
 
      var deleted = new List<string>( );
      foreach (var item in toDelete)
      {
        System.IO.File.Delete(item);
        deleted.Add(item);
      }
      Deleted=deleted.Select(x => new TaskItem(x)).ToArray( );
      Log.LogMessage("Deleted "+deleted.Count+" file(s)");
      return true;
    }
  }
}

Experimental Technologies

2010-11-03T19:43:00.000-04:00

Before I lose track of all the things I've been touching in the last 6 months, I wanted to say something on the matter of each and keep track of where I've been and where I might want to go.

Mef - twice (both plug-in UI projects)

Vs2010 Add-ins -

checks all project reference to ensure none are absolute paths, one that d
ExtensionsProject for my team

parses all project files
locates .config files
checks for config values to be in compliance with team standards
checks your projects' FileCodeModel to confirm the code meets other team standards
will remove some project file customizations temporarily, confirm it builds in release mode, then brings up the svn commit dialog
allows you to store compliance information on your modules/projects on the team for easy access.

used a pluggable UI by importing an Action or using the default built-in messagebox if no extension is found.

FxCop/Code-check-in-policies

Team policy reminder/enforcers

warn on calls to forbidden methods

GC.Collect
GC.AddMemoryPressure
Messagebox.Show

warn if inheriting directly from Windows.Forms or Windows.Control
warn if a control or form subclass constructor does not call InitializeComponent()
warn if a control property is not set per team standards

DialogBorderStyle must be fixed

error if you do not override certain virtual properties (legacy need from vs2005 designer bug)
error if you have code that raises a NotImplementedException
warn if you don't have hungarian notation to name controls
warn if fields are not private

Policy to ensure a project does not call a Config value or index that does not exist.

Wpf

Mef extension UI
Web data scraper/exporter
datagrid context menu

Mvc

Mvc 2

Lots of projects 2 at work, many more at home

Mvc 3

Got 2/3 through a project and had to go back to MVC2 due to changing requirements, transfer went very well.

Dependency Injection

Unity - Nice DI framework from Microsoft.
Ninject - Very nice lightweight DI framework
Poor Man's - Did manual DI for the longest time, so happy to have finally switched to learning Ninject and Unity

MSBuild Custom tasks

Wrote a task that walks all found project files under a path and determines safe build DirectedAcylicGraphs

Detects Circular dependencies/references
walks project files in parallel

Wrote a task on the ordering task that will generate a properly parallelizing and multi-threading MsBuild project file.

Parallelization/threading/async

Rx - wrote a producer consumer where a consumer can produce additional items to be consumed
PLinq - used in Rx producer consumer to parallelize the Rx search
Async CTP - have not used it quite yet, but did attend the 2010 PDC broadcast

ORMs -

Linq-2-Sql - lots of personal projects
EF4 - now that I've used it, I actually like it much better than linq to sql

Javascript cross site script without Preflight / Cross Origin Resource Sharing - also Http Access Control

Wrote javascript that uses jQuery in a bookmarklet to allow users to save data from a page on one site cross-domain into a private secured store in a db, with group sharing options, aka Cross Origin Sharing requests

Unit Testing -

TypeMock - excellent for brownfield applications and no design for testability compromises

I'm sure I've forgotten some and did not get to looking at the future of where I want to go, but it's quite a nice start.

Run synchronous process with a timeout

2010-10-21T11:50:00.000-04:00

I have run into situations where the blocking call I'm making isn't guaranteed to terminate itself ever. I want control over how long I wait before giving up.

private static void RunSync(int timeout, Action toDo)
    {
 
      Exception threadException=null;
      Action wait = ( ) =>
      {
        try
        {
          toDo( );
 
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
 
          threadException=ex;
        }
 
      };
      var thread = new Thread(( ) => wait( ));
      thread.Start( );
 
 
      if (!thread.Join(timeout))
      {
        thread.Abort( );
        throw new TimeoutException("No connection found within timeout:"+timeout/100+" seconds");
      }
      if (threadException!=null)
        throw threadException;
 
    }

This function is set up to wait for another multi-threaded class to try to find a connection and use it. If the timeouts on that class are set improperly or the threading code is bad and just never does a timeout or return, this gives me the option to stop waiting.

Simple MsBuild Custom Task

2010-10-21T11:05:00.000-04:00

Here's a very simple custom task that reads in the number in a text file (which only contains a number) increments, passes it back out to the calling MsBuild, and then writes the new value to the text file.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.Build.Utilities;
 
namespace BMsBuildTasks
{
  public class IncrementerTask:Task
  {
    [Output]
    public ITaskItem OutputFullPath { get; set; }
    [Output]
    public int Value { get; set; }
    public override bool Execute( )
    {
      
      var path =OutputFullPath==null?OutputFullPath.GetWellKnownMetaData(WellKnownMetaData35.FullPath ):
        @"c:\temp\version.txt";
 
      int value;
      using (var file=new System.IO.StreamReader(path))
      {
        
        if (!int.TryParse(file.ReadToEnd( ), out value))
          return false;
 
      }
      value++;
      Value=value;
      using (var file=new System.IO.StreamWriter(path,false))
      {
        file.Write(value);
 
      }
      OutputFullPath = new TaskItem(path);
      return true;
    }
  }
}

    public static string GetWellKnownMetaData(this ITaskItem item, WellKnownMetaData35 value)
    {
      return item.GetMetadata(value.ToString( ));
    }

public enum WellKnownMetaData35
  {
    FullPath,
    RootDir,
    Filename,
    Extension,
    RelativeDir,
    Directory,
    RecursiveDir,
    Identity,
    ModifiedTime,
    CreatedTime,
    AccessedTime
  }

EF4 whitelist/explicit eager loading

2010-10-20T23:28:00.002-04:00

In linq to sql it was very simple:

   var loadOptions = new System.Data.Linq.DataLoadOptions();
   loadOptions.LoadWith<alliance>(a => a.Players);
   dc.LoadOptions = loadOptions;

where dc was the datacontext.

This specifies that any queries that are submitted to this DataContext that return an Alliance object/entity would also go ahead on the same db trip and fetch it's related Players.

In EF4.0 so far it looks like you have to resort to magic strings. Magic strings are a pet peeve of mine. Your compile time type safety goes out the window in this type of magic string use.

Here are 2 solutions I've found on my googling that can get rid of the magic strings for EF4.

http://j.mp/bub2FW

and

http://j.mp/bKX7X6

MSBuild: Copy a list of files to a list of directories

2010-09-15T14:06:00.003-04:00

I have config files in a master directory (team does not allow svn:externals, which I believed was designed for this task, perhaps I did not set it up correctly) that I need to svn update and copy to my modules.

 <PropertyGroup>
  <LocalBranchPath>C:\branches\November<\LocalBranchPath>

  <LocalSourcePath>$(LocalBranchPath)\Source<\LocalSourcePath>

  <TortoisePath>C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\TortoiseProc.exe<\TortoisePath>

  <ClientConfigPath>$(LocalSourcePath)\MasterDirectory<\ClientConfigPath>

  <TortoiseUpdate>&quot;$(TortoisePath)&quot; /closeonend:1 /command:update /path:<\TortoiseUpdate>

  <ReferencedAssembliesPath>$(LocalSourcePath)\ReferencedAssemblies<\ReferencedAssembliesPath>

  <DbProjLocalPath>$(LocalBranchPath)\Database\DBProjects<\DbProjLocalPath>

  <PropertyGroup>

<ItemGroup>
 <MyModules Include="$(LocalSourcePath)\CommonControls\LimitsInformation;
  $(LocalSourcePath)\CommonControls\BalanceInquiry;
  $(LocalSourcePath)\CommonControls\AuditTrail;
  $(LocalSourcePath)\Administration\Reassignment;
  $(LocalSourcePath)\IndividualControls\Configuration\ActivityList"
 />   
</ItemGroup>


 I need the config files in ClientConfigPath

to be copied to the subfolder of MyModules called ModuleName.UnitTest





let's get the svn update out of the way 





<Target Name="SvnUpdateClientConfigs">
 <Exec Command="$(TortoiseUpdate)&quot;$(ClientConfigPath)&quot;"
/><Target>

Very short and sweet, now the hard part, copying multiple files to multiple subdirectories. I had no idea FileName was a shortcut in this case for the final directory name only, it came in handy.





<Target Name="CopyClientConfigsBatched" Outputs="%(MyModules.FullPath)">
  <Message Text="@(MyModules -> '%(FullPath)\%(FileName).UnitTest')"/>
 <ItemGroup>
  <ClientConfigs
  Include="$(ClientConfigPath)\*.config"
  Exclude="$(ClientConfigPath)\P*.config" >
  </ClientConfigs>
 <ItemGroup>
 <Copy SourceFiles="@(ClientConfigs)" DestinationFolder="@(MyModules -> '%(FullPath)\%(FileName).UnitTest')"
   SkipUnchangedFiles="true"/>
<Target/>





The Outputs was necessary because Copy.DestinationFolder will not accept multiple items.
So first I build the list of files, which could have been done at the project level but this was the only target that needed it, and those files may not be present until the svn update was run.  The Exclude prevents PolicyCache.config from being part of the copy. SkipUnchangedFiles makes sure files that haven't changed aren't copied wasting time.

My first Rx attempt

2010-09-09T15:48:00.000-04:00

I think I overshot for a first attempt by far and I'm not sure how to validate the efficiency/concurrency of the code. However, here is Rx that so far as I've used it appears to correctly do recursive producer-consumer iteration of a call graph.

 public override ProblemCollection Check(TypeNode type)
    {
      Debug.WriteLine("Checking type:"+type.FullName);
      var initializer = type.Members.OfType<Method>( ).FirstOrDefault(x => x.FullName==type.FullName+".InitializeComponent");
 
      if (initializer==null)
        return null;
      Debug.WriteLine(initializer.FullName);
      var constructorsWithNoInitCall = type.Members.OfType<Method>( ).Where(m => m.NodeType==NodeType.InstanceInitializer).ToList( );
      var visitedMethods = new HashSet<string>( );
      var foundMethods = new ObservableHashSet<Method>( );
 
      var whenMethodsFound = Observable.FromEvent<NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs>(foundMethods, "CollectionChanged");
 
      whenMethodsFound.Subscribe(
        e =>
        {
          switch (e.EventArgs.Action)
          {
            case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add:
              if (constructorsWithNoInitCall.Any( ))
                Parallel.ForEach(e.EventArgs.NewItems.Cast<Method>( ).Where(m => visitedMethods.Any(v => v==m.FullName)==false),
                  i =>
                  {
 
                    lock (visitedMethods)
                    {
                      if (visitedMethods.Contains(i.FullName))
                        return;
                      visitedMethods.Add(i.FullName);
 
                    }
                    Debug.WriteLine("Visiting:"+i.FullName);
                    var callers = (CallGraph.CallersFor(i));
                    constructorsWithNoInitCall.RemoveAll(x => callers.Any(c => x.FullName==c.FullName));
                    if (constructorsWithNoInitCall.Any( ))
                      foreach (var item in callers.Where(c => visitedMethods.Any(v => v==c.FullName)==false))
                      {
                        foundMethods.Add(item);
                      }
                  });
              break;
            default:
              break;
          }
        }
        );
      foundMethods.Add(initializer);
 
 
      ReportProblem(constructorsWithNoInitCall, type);
 
      return Problems;
    }

Vs2010 Code Analysis Custom Rules

2010-09-09T15:42:00.000-04:00

I've written my first custom rules for visual studio to help me on my team with the written and unwritten rules. It was a long journey but I have the hang of it. These rules are set to run on every debug build I do and take about 8 seconds to run all.

As I understand it custom rules ( Inherited from Microsoft.FxCop.Sdk) can also be used as code check in policies on TFS or in the build process to produce a nice xml report.

Here's the base class (.net 4.0 class library project type)

using Microsoft.FxCop.Sdk;
 
public abstract class BaseRule:BaseIntrospectionRule
{
 protected BaseRule(string ruleName)
  : base(
   ruleName,
   //typeof(BaseRule).Assembly.GetName().Name+".Rules"
   "ProjectNamespace.RuleMetadata",
   typeof(BaseRule).Assembly
   ) { }
}

This class was defined without a namespace, I believe it did not work while it was in one. It's also quite important to note that the string literal Must match your project namespace+xml filename without the .xml on it. The commented method may work as well if your xml file is called Rules.xml. This file must be set to Embedded Resource.

Rules can be set as Messages, Warnings, or Errors and show up in the standard Error List control if code analysis is turned on in your project.

The general classes of rules I have written so far include:

Do not use method - Things like GC.AddMemoryPressure, MessageBox.Show (we use a custom dialog with styling)
Do not inherit - We don't want anyone inheriting from Windows.Forms.Form
Do not raise- We don't want code that has NotImplementedExceptions still present.
UseHungarian for controls

uses a dictionary to determine if the control has a preferred name we use on the team.

Fields should be private
Control Property must be set to x

For example, in most cases we want all dialog border styles to be fixed - I check the Initialize Component method of anything that inherits from Form for the property to be set there.

MustOverride - For legacy reasons (old Visual Studio bug they tell me) we have methods/properties that are virtual instead of abstract, and if they aren't overridden will throw a runtime exception.

Visual Studio find and replace with regular expressions totally sucks.

2010-08-20T10:25:00.000-04:00

The syntax for regular expressions in Visual studio's find and replace option are incredibly convoluted.

I wanted to replace all instances of width in a style sheet with something that was variable based.

so width:75px; would become width:@(width=75)px;

This syntax is using the new Razor view engine and the result is we set a local variable and render it to the page in a nice terse expression. Combined with:

left:@(leftStart+width)px;

we now have the beginning of a nice sliced row of images. Where all the things on a particular row would incrementally build, and then on the next row, I can reset leftStart.

This was the syntax for finding all lines of an html document and capturing the width:
width\:{[0-9]+}

And the syntax for the replacement?
width\:\@(width=\1)

I understand that c# syntax uses a ton of the same conflicting symbols, but... could you guys make something like rexexpal so that we can iteratively solve for the expressions we need?

WPF DataGrid Row-level styling

2010-08-18T11:17:00.000-04:00

It took me a very long time to figure out how to do this. The following code takes a WPF (and probably silverlight) datagrid and changes the row foreground color based on a single property in that row.

<DataGrid AutoGenerateColumns="True"  Name="dgProjects" >

    <DataGrid.RowStyle>
                <Style TargetType="DataGridRow">
                    <Style.Triggers>
                        <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Path=HasProblems}" Value="True">
                            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Red"/>
                        DataTrigger>
                    Style.Triggers>
                   
                Style>
            DataGrid.RowStyle>
DataGrid>

Vs Add-in solution explorer context menus with a little MEF

2010-08-16T17:59:00.001-04:00

My first MEF success. I wrote a visual studio add-in context menu for solution explorer where you can right click a project (or solution file for all projects) so that it:

reads the project file checking several problem areas

hint paths
copy local
pre/post build events
target framework version

then makes a backup copy
cleans those local customizations
invokes msbuild to make sure it still builds
brings up the Source control commit dialog
restores your local customizations that we don't want in the source.

I used MEF so that the UI was not hard coded into the add-in. It was amazingly simple. While I was developing a solution someone was nice enough to post on stackoverflow telling me you can't hydrate static properties. Which I did.

The composition code is longer than it needed to be, because I wanted a local default to run in case there was no extension available. I had long wondered how you could do preference/priority ordering of components. This isn't exactly the mental model I had for how it would work, but it works.

I compose my MEF parts in the static constructor for the class because I need to set static properties before anything else in the class happens:

static Connect( )
  {
   var batch = new CompositionBatch( );
   CompositionContainer container;
   var reflectionCatalog = new AssemblyCatalog(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly( ));
 
   var extensionPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "extensions");
   if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(extensionPath))
   {
    var directoryCatalog = new DirectoryCatalog(extensionPath);
    var defaultCatalogEp = new CatalogExportProvider(reflectionCatalog);
    container=new CompositionContainer(directoryCatalog, defaultCatalogEp);
    defaultCatalogEp.SourceProvider=container;
   }
   else
    container=new CompositionContainer(reflectionCatalog);
 
   container.Compose(batch);
 
   Display=container.GetExportedValue<Action<IEnumerable<ProjectLogicChecks>>>( );
  }

[Import]

public static Action<IEnumerable<ProjectLogicChecks>> Display { get; set; }

/// 
  /// Local default in case an MEF extension is not found
  /// 
  /// "_checkResults">
  [Export(typeof(Action<IEnumerable<ProjectLogicChecks>>))]
  private static void DisplayResults(IEnumerable<ProjectLogicChecks> _checkResults)
  {
   string result = string.Empty;
   foreach (var projectLogicCheck in _checkResults)
   {
    result+=projectLogicCheck.AssemblyName;
    if (projectLogicCheck.HasProblems)
     result+="*";
    result+=".";
   }
   MessageBox.Show(result);
  }
Note: the static part is not related to MEF, it's static for unrelated reasons.

MEF lives in System.ComponentModel.Composition, but this project also made use of System.ComponentModel.Composition.Hosting
My MEF Export (in a completely separate project) uses WPF to create a nice dialog to show the results of the add-in checks:
public class DisplayHooks
 {
 [Export(typeof(Action<IEnumerable<ProjectLogicChecks>>))]
  public static void Display(IEnumerable<ProjectLogicChecks> projectStatusList)
 {
  var projectLogicChecksDisplay = new ProjectLogicChecksDisplay(projectStatusList);
  
  projectLogicChecksDisplay.ShowDialog();
  
 }
 }
Note: Both the add-in and the display project have a reference to the 3rd project that contains ProjectLogicChecks
That's ALL the MEF code there was, 2 attributes, and some composition logic in the one class. In an app where you use MEF for more than just the one property you would likely put it in Global.Asax (or Application.cs, etc...) but for this the local few lines of code was all I wanted to Proof of Concept the Add-in.

Bookmarklet: Change the page title

2010-07-15T11:43:00.001-04:00

So on some sites, when you get a new ajax message (think facebook, gmail, or maybe meebo) the new message indicator never goes away in the page title on your tabs. Also some titles aren't nearly as clear on your tabs as to what they are, so you can use this to set the title on your tabs to the domain of the page.

So this is what I've come up with as a nice bookmarklet to clear the title without having to reload the page.

javascript:void(function(){document.title=document.domain;}())

or if you like you can set it to document.location

FixTitle

Recent POC experiments

2010-06-29T09:14:00.000-04:00

What's a POC? - POC

I don't learn details very well, I learn why or why not. So I keep a base of code to refer back to the details and how to repeat something that I haven't done enough times to memorize. I also try to keep a thorough history of sites which helped me reach the conclusion in case I forget some of the why, or miss a few hows on things I didn't need at the time.

Progress:

Asp.net Profile provider

I've successfully configured and used the default functionality here in asp.net Mvc2

I would love to figure out how to enable some items to be for even anonymous visitors and the rest for authenticated users only.

VSTO - outlook add in

Outlook 2007 for whatever reason does not allow you to add rules involving distribution groups

I wrote an add-on (far from release quality) that gets around that and has a WPF window with a WPF data-grid to sort mail involving distribution groups into proper folders.

WPF - this leads me of course to the fact I've now done my first WPF window
VS2010 Add-in

The process of unloading the project, then editing the project file to look at what hint path a reference has was a pain. In my position I need to check for the presence of bad paths. I wrote an add-in that will open the project file without unloading it, and report back if there are any of these bad paths present.

VS2010 - Guidance Package migrated from vs2008 to a .vsix extension.

We have a guidance package that just barely qualifies as such to help developers create new components for our incredibly huge (443 projects, not counting testing projects) application. It generates 4 projects for every component (common, control(s), service, test).

I converted it to a .vsix and made many improvements such as adding a default form instead of just the existing user control for components that have a full form pop or dialog.
I added class file template projects (both the .cs and the designer.cs) for adding another user control or dialog

MsBuild tasks- We do not have a solution file for our 443 project application! We build the projects individually then assemble them together. Our build process involves CC.net, 2 huge build scripts, no custom logger, a .net app to generate/build locally, and a lot of spaghetti Msbuild code.

I wrote a build task that takes the app's logic and my own Linq to XML to generate a proper build order on the fly by reading in the ITaskItem[] for all the project files, and comparing the list of assembly names against project references (intra-component references in our project depend on all dependencies going to 1 of 2 special folders instead of direct project references)
The next step was generating a project file that has the items in the right order already, with additional convenient message output.
I've been thinking of trying to generate a solution file or making the projects reference each other for MSBuild auto-dependency-detection and build ordering, but I've not hit enough dead-ends the way I'm currently going.

Entity Framework - I've made 2 poor attempts or perhaps good attempts that failed to use EF4.0 in the same way I'm used to with Linq to SQL.

Call chain that could be null at any step. Enter IfNotNull or Maybe.

2010-05-19T10:50:00.000-04:00

It could be called IfNotNull or Maybe, currently i'm going with Maybe.

Project available at http://Maybe.codeplex.com

So we've all had to write code like

if(one==null) return null;
if(one.two==null) return null;
if(one.two.three==null) return null;
return one.two.three.four;

Now there's code to do it all in one fell swoop.

return one.Maybe(o=>o.two.three.four);

It also handles primitives not just classes:

return one.MaybeNullable(o=>o.two.three, t=>t.four);

Source

Inspired by:

http://blogs.msdn.com/alexj/archive/2008/03/03/maybe-there-is-more.aspx

and

http://blogs.developpeur.org/miiitch/archive/2008/02/29/vendredi-c-est-expression-tree.aspx

Some reading on the subject:

http://abdullin.com/journal/2009/10/6/zen-development-practices-c-maybe-monad.html

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1196031/evil-use-of-maybe-monad-and-extension-methods-in-c

Note to self: Answer this once posted: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/854591/how-to-check-for-nulls-in-a-deep-lambda-expression/854619#854619

Javascript tooling

2010-04-20T21:14:00.001-04:00

So I've been working with Javascript for a week or two now. I still loathe it. However I would not probably touch it at all were it not for

JQuery - Feels like a .net framework for javascript
JQueryUi - Ah a (ightweight custom control library
JQuerify - Inject jQuery onto pages that don't have it for making bookmarklets.

I've used Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate primarily for the script writing because of the code/syntax coloring and built in (poor but still built in) {} () [] matching capabilities. Those aren't specific to Ultimate, or 2010 for all I know.

For debugging scripts I've used

FireBug
Google Chrome's built-in developer tool bar (alot)
JsBin - online javascript collaborative debugger (seemed slightly buggy, but still worth it)
Javascript Lint - nice online static analyzer for syntax and other problems.

On top of those as base scripts to help with life

qTip - Nice jQuery plugin tool tip script for web pages
Google's lovely api hosting content delivery network for jQuery, and jQueryUi.

Sidenote: apparently resizable, and who knows what else required I also reference "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1/themes/base/jquery-ui.css"

ClickOnce Bookmarklets...maybe click twice

2010-04-10T10:58:00.000-04:00

I have a set of bookmarklets that go to my website, and actually use the current version of the bookmarklet. So the bookmarklet on the bar is just a pointer to a script out on my site. So I can update the bookmarklets to my heart's content without the end user having to do anything at all. Unless I move where the bookmarklets live on my site. So if your bookmarklet living space can be more permanent here's the cross domain bookmarklet injection code:

var e=document.createElement('script');

e.setAttribute('language', 'javascript');

e.setAttribute('token', '@testToken');

e.setAttribute('src', 'http://imaginarydevelopment.com/Sfc/Scripts/ClientScripts/AjaxXmlHttp.js');

document.body.appendChild(e);void(0);

Notice the token code. That makes it so that in the child script I can pull in which user it is, and make posts to that user's account directly.

Macro Resources

2010-04-02T13:52:00.000-04:00

So for any that live primarily never paying any attention to the fact that Visual Studio supports macros like me. I thought in the spirit of my last post it would help to have some resources around other useful macros.

Additionally apparently macros can be auto triggered by 'Environment' Events such as solution open or close
Here's a nice list from the Stackoverflow community

Awesome Visual Studio Macros

Selected Text browser macros (whatever you have highlighted/selected in your code file)

google it
spellcheck the word
MSDN search

InsertNewGuidLiteral
AutoClose the start page when you open a solution
AutoOpen the start page when you close a solution
Automatic Build timer with every build to the output window
Dual monitor / Single monitor macro for switching back and forth on the fly
Outlining: Collapse to definitions but expand regions

VS2008 Macro problem

2010-03-31T23:38:00.000-04:00

Maybe I'm slipping in my VB skills since I've been using C# exclusively for around 2 years now, but this seems like a major user unfriendly 'feature' in Visual Studio.

Macros do not work, nor expand into macro explorer if the module in the file doesn't have the same name as the file it is in.

So when I pasted Jeff Atwood's wonderful FormatCodeToHtml Macro into a macro file in the macro editor called FormatToHtml, nothing happened. The macro file was added to the MyMacros project, but none of the actual macros expanded under it. Google was not helpful since the terms "Visual Studio 2008 macro not expanding" didn't turn anything helpful up. Apparently my code snippet on code keep is the 2nd google result for "jeff atwood rtf to html" sweet!

And the real kicker is... Visual studio doesn't complain, it doesn't show an error. It does not show any output when you click build on the macro project. It gives you no hints whatsoever.

Enum Extensions

2010-02-17T13:07:00.000-05:00

If you're a fan of Enums for readability in an application here are some resources for making them more usable.

The first item is used for places where you'd like some enum values to have a space in the name when displayed somewhere. You can use System.ComponentModel.DescriptionAttribute like so:

       [Flags] 

        public enum PermissionType
       {

           Select = 1,
           Insert = 2,
           Update = 4,
           Delete = 8,
           Alter = 16,
           Execute = 32,
           [Description("View Definition")]
           ViewDefinition = 64
       } 

and here's the extension method to make it easily usable: 

    using System.ComponentModel;
 
     /// from: http://www.moggoly.me.uk/blog/post/Enum-description-values.asp

     public static string DescriptionOrToString(this T value)
    {

        var da = (DescriptionAttribute[])(typeof(T).GetField(value.ToString()).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false));

        return da.Length > 0 ? da[0].Description : value.ToString();

    }

if you don't like the possible clutter of having every object have a DescriptionOrToString in your intellisense, change the signature to

 public static string DescriptionOrToString(this T value) where T:struct  

 This method is for enumerating enum values that are used as [Flags] (where a single value can contain many different values in the same enum)

    /// 
    /// Gets all combined items from an enum value.
    /// from: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/105372/c-how-to-enumerate-an-enum
    /// 
    /// 
    /// The value.
    /// 
    public static IEnumerable GetAllSelectedItems(this Enum value)
    {
        int valueAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(value, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

        foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
        {
            int itemAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(item, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

            if (itemAsInt == (valueAsInt & itemAsInt))
            {
                yield return (T)item;
            }
        }
    }

The next post will contain a usage example for GetAllSelectedItems.
 

MVC 2 reusable content options

2010-02-04T08:56:00.001-05:00

There are 2 main sources of reusable or dynamic page content in Asp.net MVC. Partial Views(using Html.RenderPartial), and HtmlHelpers. Other options include Html.RenderAction, and Ajax calls (for adding content after the page is loaded). Here's my understanding of them thus far.

Partial views can be strongly typed, but if the type is different from your hosting page(s) you lose the ability to do Html.DisplayFor, Html.TextBoxFor, and have it utilize that type's names. This can all be overcome by designing a custom DTO or ViewModel for the partial view, but that's more steps. Partial views internally work very similar to if they were inside a regular view, however the <%= %> does not seem to come up by default in intellisense. Instead, you get<%@ Assembly= %>. It's nice if you prefer to model your code in a similar way to how a view would look.

Another option is HtmlHelper, which is what you are using when you type Html.TextBox, or Html.TextBoxFor, etc... You write one of these by putting a static class in your project for extension methods. Then writing an Extension method that extends HtmlHelper like so

using System.Web.Mvc;
using BReusable; //For the Member class

 public const string JavaScript = " < script type=\"text/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\n"; 
  public static string JqueryLoadForId(this HtmlHelper helper, Expression<Funcobject>> memberName,
                                  string function)
{
    return JavaScript + "$(function() {\n$('#' + '" + Member.Name(memberName) + "')\n." + function +
           ";\n});\n\n";
} 

As you can see this code can start to look messy and probably suffers from pre-mature optimization. String.Format suffers a performance penalty, but using that would allow most of this code to sit in a .js or resource file instead of the poor formatting options that string literals leave us.

RenderAction is useful for returning one of the normal controller result types

ViewResult – Represents HTML and markup.
EmptyResult – Represents no result.
RedirectResult – Represents a redirection to a new URL.
JsonResult – Represents a JavaScript Object Notation result that can be used in an AJAX application.
JavaScriptResult – Represents a JavaScript script.
ContentResult – Represents a text result.
FileContentResult – Represents a downloadable file (with the binary content).
FilePathResult – Represents a downloadable file (with a path).
FileStreamResult – Represents a downloadable file (with a file stream).

Ajax options

Ajax class

use AjaxOptions parameter to specify many options

Example:

new AjaxOptions { 
        Confirm="Are you sure?",
        HttpMethod="POST",
        UpdateTargetId="divResultText",
        LoadingElementId="divLoading",
        OnSuccess = "myCallback"
    }

Ajax.ActionLink
using(Ajax.BeginForm()){}

javascript or jQuery Ajax calls to web methods

Jquery Article

UnitTesting made easy with the power of TypeMock

2010-01-28T15:56:00.003-05:00

I want to test the persistence layer of my code. One of the recently added requirements for the persistence layer is that it accepts a domain class that wraps around the user name to ensure consistent handling throughout the application of a username. This is because currently the decision is to strip the Windows Domain name off of a userName before using it or storing it. Should the decision be reversed, there's a central configuration alteration to make, without having to recompile the application. How nice are changes that require a simple text file to be changed?

So the call would be:

var result=repository.GetAssociate(new UserName(DependencyContainer.GetAssociate()));

Which you can't call from the persistence layer because

 The Dependency container is defined in an assembly not referenced by the persistence layer 
The UserName constructor is internal to the domain assembly
So to make the method repository.GetAssociate testable, we would have to alter the OOP design of the code to make it testable in most frameworks( because there is no public constructor for UserName).

You could of course messy up your code by using dependency injection on everything that needs testing. This concern does partly fall down if you centralize the coupling between your domain and external dependencies, but remains when you try to test individual methods inside a class, or anything internal, private, or that accesses static methods(most testing frameworks can not handle mocking out static methods, constructors, or factories, as I understand it TypeMock can)

You could make your code messier and more prone to issues in dependent code by changing username to a public interface and changing the persistence layer to accept that interface, but then automatic business logic enforcement goes out the window. If an object outside of the domain assembly can not create a copy of a domain object it has no reason to create, then it's tougher to accidentally not pass things through the proper domain classes/methods.

So how do I test this method?

Enter TypeMock.

I have the following code in the persistence assembly's test project which does not compile:
[TestMethod]

        public void GetAssociate_InvalidUser_IsNull()
        {
            var repository = new AssociateRepository();
            var result=repository.GetAssociate(new UserName("badUser"));
            Assert.IsNull(result);
        }

 Notice I said the persistence assembly, which makes the possibility of 

[IInternalsVisibleTo] a poor choice.
 I delete the `new UserName("badUser")` call and TypeMock springs up with a tooltip that says Alt+/ to Fake UserName.

Which immediately produces the following:

        [Isolated]
        [TestMethod]
        public void GetAssociate_InvalidUser_IsNull()
        {
            UserName fakeUserName = Isolate.Fake.Instance<UserName>();
            var repository = new AssociateRepository();
            var result=repository.GetAssociate(fakeUserName);
            Assert.IsNull(result);

        } 
and my cursor is sitting at the fakeUserName parameter with a new tooltip Set Object Behavior Alt+/
I hit that keysequence and it reflectively I assume shows me options for what this object could do, and what methods I might want to produce a value for. Since this is my first time, I don't know if it's automatically pulling in only the methods that the method I'm testing will make use of. I had only the method I wanted to fake in a drop down menu, going into that produced 3 options: Ignore Call, Return Value, Throw Exception. I enter return value and this is produced:

        [Isolated]
        [TestMethod]
        public void GetAssociate_InvalidUser_IsNull()
        {
            UserName fakeUserName = Isolate.Fake.Instance<UserName>();
            var repository = new AssociateRepository();
            Isolate.WhenCalled(() => fakeUserName.ToString()).WillReturn();
            var result=repository.GetAssociate(fakeUserName);
            Assert.IsNull(result);

        }
My cursor is already sitting in the WillReturn waiting for me to type in the parameter. I type in "badUser", run the test, and it passes. that's terrific. 

I did not have to alter my code to fit the tests. I did not have to think about testability when writing the code. I did not need any special assembly attributes. I want TypeMock. It makes life so much better.
  

Tools for the mobile developer

2010-01-14T09:23:00.000-05:00

I like to have the freedom to be have access to pretty much any application/functionality wherever I happen to be. In light of that here are several useful free websites, webapps, and small downloads that make that possible:

Project Management/bug tracking - PivotalTracker

Collaborative native
automatic emailing
allows you to use the same login to manage work vs personal projects
API so that you could write a webapp that reported bugs straight into your project tracker.

Version control

ProjectLocker

Subversion/Git
Also project management via wiki, trac, build locker, document management

GitHub

I had some speed issues uploading via their web interface through the corporate firewalls
Have not tried it with a client app

ToDo list - toodledo.com
LinqPad

linq to sql test bench
speedy code testing bench
free for all features except intellisense
Purchase license to enable intellisense (even for sql server 2005!)

Developer forums - stackoverflow.com
Regular expressions

RegExr - Online expression testing tool

UML/flowcharting

Creately.com

Mind mapping

Creaza.com

My .net mind map

Newocr.com

Collaborative

Scribblar.com

White board
live audio
text chat
image collaboration

Personal music library webapp

Tunesbag.com

T4 Generates my business objects for me

2010-01-13T16:47:00.002-05:00

I have finally started understanding/applying Oleg Synch's T4 code generation tutorials. I'm at least to the point where I've made something useful. My goal was to design a business object generator that would be reusable between persistence and ui changes (actual code changes, or swapping out to a completely different layer) without recompiling, or making any changes what-so-ever in the business module. It consists of a Template that defines what a business object class should look like, and related scripts for particular business object details.

The main difficulties were:

validation

centralized validation model
being capable of providing multiple field specific error messages, instead of just the first one that is discovered

mapping objects

looking for a way to cope with Linq-To-Sql's entities, while maintaining persistance indepdendence

What remains:

Validation

Investigate ways to push validation logic out to the client-side

Decide on an extensibility option

Partial classes

Would this allow someone to implement additional functionality in another assembly? That would be against the design.

Inheritance

Everyone nowadays is avoiding inheritance in favor of interfaces

Direct Script (not the generic template, the script specific to a business object type) modification
Make the class generic so it can hold another object for additional functionality

The template and script are included.

The template BusinessObjectTemplate.tt:

<#@ assembly name="System.Core" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Collections.Generic" #>
<#@ Import Namespace="System.Linq" #>
<#+

    public class BusinessPropertyT4
    {
        private readonly string _typeString;
        public string TypeString { get { return _typeString; } }
      
        public BusinessPropertyT4(string type )
        {
            _typeString = type;
        }
        public string BoolValidation { get; set; }
        public string RuleViolationMessage { get; set; }
        public bool CopyExclude {get; set;}
    }
public class BusinessObjectTemplate : Template
{
    public string BusinessName;
  
    public IDictionary PropertyList;  
    public override string TransformText()
    {
#>using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using BReusable;
namespace DefectSeverityAssessmentBusiness.<#=BusinessName #>
{
    public class Model<#=BusinessName #>:I<#=BusinessName #>
    {
  
        #region I<#=BusinessName #> Members
        <#+ 
        PushIndent("\t");
        PushIndent("\t");
        foreach (string item in PropertyList.Keys)
        {
            WriteLine("public "+PropertyList[item].TypeString +" "+ item+" { get; set; }");
        }
        PopIndent();
        PopIndent();
     #>  
        #endregion
  
        public IEnumerable GetRuleViolations()
        {
        <#+ 
        PushIndent("\t");
        PushIndent("\t");
        foreach (string item in PropertyList.Keys)
        {
            if(string.IsNullOrEmpty(PropertyList[item].BoolValidation)==false 
                && string.IsNullOrEmpty(PropertyList[item].RuleViolationMessage)==false)
                {
            WriteLine("\tif ("+PropertyList[item].BoolValidation+")");
            WriteLine("\t\t yield return new RuleViolation(\""+PropertyList[item].RuleViolationMessage
                +"\",Member.Name(x=>x."+item+"));");
                }
        }
        PopIndent();
        PopIndent();
     #>

            //if (Latitude == 0 || Longitude == 0)
            //    yield return new RuleViolation("Make sure to enter a valid address!", "Address");

            yield break;
        }
        /// 
        /// This is validated in a unit test to ensure accuracy and that it is not out of sync with 
        /// the number of members the interface has
        /// 
        ///  name="T">
        /// 
 name="dest">
        /// 
 name="source">
        /// 
 name="includeIdentifier">
        /// 
        public static Dictionary Action> GenerateActionDictionary(T dest, I<#=BusinessName #> source, bool includeIdentifier)
    where T : I<#=BusinessName #>
        {
            var result = new Dictionary Action>
                {
<#+ 
        PushIndent("\t");
        PushIndent("\t");
        PushIndent("\t");
        PushIndent("\t");
        foreach (string item in PropertyList.Keys)
        {
            if(PropertyList[item].CopyExclude==false)
            {
            WriteLine("\t{Member.Name(x=>x."+item+"),");
            WriteLine("\t\t()=>dest."+item+"=source."+item+"},");
            }
        }
        PopIndent();
        PopIndent();
        PopIndent();
        PopIndent();
     #>
  
                };

            return result;

        }

        /// 
        /// Designed for copying the model to the db persistence object or ui display object
        /// 
        ///  name="T">
        /// 
 name="creator">
        /// 
 name="source">
        /// 
 name="includeIdentifier">
        /// 
 name="excludeList">
        /// 
        public static T CopyData(Func creator, I<#=BusinessName #> source, bool includeIdentifier,
            ICollection excludeList) where T : I<#=BusinessName #>
        {
            return CopyDictionary I<#=BusinessName #>>.CopyData(
                GenerateActionDictionary, creator, source, includeIdentifier, excludeList);
        }
        /// 
        /// Designed for copying the ui to the model 
        /// 
        ///  name="T">
        /// 
 name="validation">
        /// 
 name="creator">
        /// 
 name="source">
        /// 
 name="includeIdentifier">
        /// 
 name="excludeList">
        /// 
        public static T CopyData(IValidationDictionary validation, Func creator,
            I<#=BusinessName #> source, bool includeIdentifier, ICollection excludeList)
             where T : I<#=BusinessName #>
        {
            return CopyDictionary I<#=BusinessName #>>.CopyData(
                GenerateActionDictionary, validation, creator, source, includeIdentifier, excludeList);
        }

    } // end class
    public interface I<#=BusinessName #>
    {  
<#+ 
        PushIndent("\t");
        PushIndent("\t");
        foreach (string item in PropertyList.Keys)
        {
            WriteLine(PropertyList[item].TypeString+" "+item+" { get; set; }");
        }
        PopIndent();
        PopIndent();
     #>
    }
}//end namespace
        <#+ 
        PopIndent();
        return this.GenerationEnvironment.ToString();
    }
}
#>

The first script ModelRegistrationTemplate.tt

<#@ template language="C#v3.5" hostspecific="True" debug="True" #>
<#@ output extension="cs" #>
<#@ include file="T4Toolbox.tt" #>
<#@ include file="../BusinessObjectTemplate.tt" #>
<#
    BusinessObjectTemplate template = new BusinessObjectTemplate();
    template.BusinessName="Registration";
  
    template.PropertyList=new Dictionary{
        {"UserName",new BusinessPropertyT4("string"){BoolValidation="String.IsNullOrEmpty(UserName)",
            RuleViolationMessage="UserName is required"/*,CopyExclude=true */}},
        {"Name",new BusinessPropertyT4("string")},
        {"Email",new BusinessPropertyT4("string")},
        {"MailCode",new BusinessPropertyT4("string")},
        {"TelephoneNumber",new BusinessPropertyT4("string")},
        {"OrganizationId",new BusinessPropertyT4("int?")},
        {"OrganizationSponsorId",new BusinessPropertyT4("int?")},
    };
    template.Render();
#>
 

And the final output:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using BReusable;
namespace DefectSeverityAssessmentBusiness.Registration
{
    public class ModelRegistration:IRegistration
    {
  
        #region IRegistration Members
        public string UserName { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string Email { get; set; }
        public string MailCode { get; set; }
        public string TelephoneNumber { get; set; }
        public int? OrganizationId { get; set; }
        public int? OrganizationSponsorId { get; set; }
  
        #endregion
  
        public IEnumerable<RuleViolation> GetRuleViolations()
        {
            if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(UserName))
                 yield return new RuleViolation("UserName is required",Member.Name<ModelRegistration>(x=>x.UserName));

            //if (Latitude == 0 || Longitude == 0)
            //    yield return new RuleViolation("Make sure to enter a valid address!", "Address");

            yield break;
        }
        /// 
        /// This is validated in a unit test to ensure accuracy and that it is not out of sync with 
        /// the number of members the interface has
        /// 
        /// 
        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 
        public static Dictionary<string, Action> GenerateActionDictionary(T dest, IRegistration source, bool includeIdentifier)
    where T : IRegistration
        {
            var result = new Dictionary<string, Action>
                {
                    {Member.Name<IRegistration>(x=>x.UserName),
                        ()=>dest.UserName=source.UserName},
                    {Member.Name<IRegistration>(x=>x.Name),
                        ()=>dest.Name=source.Name},
                    {Member.Name<IRegistration>(x=>x.Email),
                        ()=>dest.Email=source.Email},
                    {Member.Name<IRegistration>(x=>x.MailCode),
                        ()=>dest.MailCode=source.MailCode},
                    {Member.Name<IRegistration>(x=>x.TelephoneNumber),
                        ()=>dest.TelephoneNumber=source.TelephoneNumber},
                    {Member.Name<IRegistration>(x=>x.OrganizationId),
                        ()=>dest.OrganizationId=source.OrganizationId},
                    {Member.Name<IRegistration>(x=>x.OrganizationSponsorId),
                        ()=>dest.OrganizationSponsorId=source.OrganizationSponsorId},
  
                };

            return result;

        }

        /// 
        /// Designed for copying the model to the db persistence object or ui display object
        /// 
        /// 
        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 
        public static T CopyData(Func creator, IRegistration source, bool includeIdentifier,
            ICollection<string> excludeList) where T : IRegistration
        {
            return CopyDictionaryIRegistration>.CopyData(
                GenerateActionDictionary, creator, source, includeIdentifier, excludeList);
        }
        /// 
        /// Designed for copying the ui to the model 
        /// 
        /// 
        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 
        public static T CopyData(IValidationDictionary validation, Func creator,
            IRegistration source, bool includeIdentifier, ICollection<string> excludeList)
             where T : IRegistration
        {
            return CopyDictionaryIRegistration>.CopyData(
                GenerateActionDictionary, validation, creator, source, includeIdentifier, excludeList);
        }

    } // end class
    public interface IRegistration
    {  
        string UserName { get; set; }
        string Name { get; set; }
        string Email { get; set; }
        string MailCode { get; set; }
        string TelephoneNumber { get; set; }
        int? OrganizationId { get; set; }
        int? OrganizationSponsorId { get; set; }
    }
}//end namespace
        
The CopyDictionary class is as follows:


using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace DefectSeverityAssessmentBusiness
{
    internal static class CopyDictionary where T:TU
    {
        /// 
        /// 
        /// 
        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 
null for no exclusions
        /// 
        public static T CopyData(Funcbool, Dictionary<string, Action>> actionDictionaryFunc,
            Func creator, TU source, bool includeIdentifier,ICollection<string>excludeList)   
        {
            return CopyDataMaster(actionDictionaryFunc, creator, source, includeIdentifier,excludeList, kvp => kvp.Value());
        }

        /// 
        /// Attempts to copy data, stops on first error, adds to validation dictionary, throws the exception
        /// 
        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 

        /// 
null for no exclusions
        /// 
        public static T CopyData(Funcbool, Dictionary<string, Action>> actionDictionaryFunc,
            IValidationDictionary validation, Func creator,
            TU source, bool includeIdentifier,ICollection<string> excludeList)
        {
            var result= CopyDataMaster(actionDictionaryFunc, creator, source, includeIdentifier,excludeList,
                kvp =>
                    {
                        try
                        {
                            kvp.Value();
                        }
                        catch (Exception exception)
                        {
                            validation.AddError(kvp.Key,exception.Message);
                            //TODO: log error?
                        }
                    });
            if(validation.IsValid==false)
                throw new ValidationException("Validation contains errors");
            return result;
        }

        private static T CopyDataMaster(Funcbool, Dictionary<string, Action>> actionDictionaryFunc,
            Func creator,TU source, bool includeIdentifier,ICollection<string> excludeList,
            Action<KeyValuePair<string, Action>> action)
        {
            var result = creator();
            foreach (var kvp in actionDictionaryFunc(result,source,includeIdentifier))
            {
                if(excludeList==null || excludeList.Contains(kvp.Key)==false)
                action(kvp);
            }
          
            return result;
        }

    }
}
 
 

The Fallacy of ReUse

2010-01-07T16:58:00.000-05:00

I've read The Fallacy of ReUse and while it presents very good arguments against reusing things. Clearly there is a path to reusable code, otherwise why would we have frameworks or .net? Why would we have so many code snippet web sites and webapps? Microsoft wrote a book on this type of reusable code and I'm in the process of reading it. Design patterns are some of the best examples of reusable code that shines or perhaps has been through it's lifecycle and was retired for a better pattern. I'd hardly call a 3-5 yr life cycle something that wasn't reusable.

I think, like most concepts in programming, there is a time and a place for code reuse, designing for reuse, and refactoring/reworking code for the purpose of reuse.

Most businesses, concepts, inventions and products don't happen magically, they are born of failure after failure. Look at how many times Thomas Edison failed to invent various things.

If your position/team/manager leaves you no time for experimentation on tools, concepts, add-ins, macros, frameworks architectures that might improve your overall work speed or team productivity, then reuse attempts/ideas/experimentation is probably not appropriate. However, I don't imagine there's a team out there that couldn't benefit from allocating time for trying alternate ways of doing things, reviewing each others' ways of doing things, or brainstorming for reusable solutions to common problems.

I also don't imagine it's something everyone can do or excel at. Most people give up on most challenges in life, that's what leaves room to strive for excellence and get there (or enjoy the time spent chasing that elusive goal).

There's code that's valuable merely because it's called in 2 places in a class. Isn't this the heart of refactoring and Don't Repeat Yourself? Code reuse to me is shooting for DRY on a slightly higher level than simple class method refactoring, although I work hard at that as well.

It's to see how far out can this reusable code scale?
Many methods in a class can make use of this code? Nice. Many classes in a project can make use of this class? Cool. Many projects in a solution can make use of this code? Sweet. Some of my reusable code is useful in projects outside of my company? Awesome.

Or perhaps I'm just passing along code I found on the web that I believe to be useful. I enjoy that too. I enjoy being someone that might have a corner or edge-case solution that other developers seek me out for.

I enjoy pretty much anything I can do to lure developers into talking code with me and I think this is a valuable niche. So maybe I'm too biased. Either way I enjoy the pursuit, your mileage may vary.

The Most reusable code in my libraries

2010-01-07T16:33:00.000-05:00

First and foremost I think is the Member class

No more binding using brittle string literals.
Compile time member access name safety.

BDictionary

Allows for reference of a an item by key or by the index

String Transformations

Can take comma separated values,CR/LF, excel copied, SSMS results column copied and transform them into

a SQL in clause
an array initializer
a string array initializer

bThread(of T)

Threading implementation with strongly typed result value
Wraps processing in try/catch so the thread doesn't throw an exception

bMacros - originally named bVbMacros but the snippet section does C# now

takes a partially formatted string and creates a code snippet for use in Visual Studio
Takes a VB object constructor and automatically generates backing fields and public readonly properties to expose those values

DebuggerWriter:System.IO.TextWriter

Wrapper to allow you to stream output to the Debugger

XmlFont

Makes serializing a System.Drawing.Font simple

Windows Forms specific:

TextBoxWriter:System.IO.TextWriter

Wrapper to allow you to stream output to a WinForms Textbox

Control Extensions

Extension methods for thread safe operations on the UI
Extension methods for nullable value binding
An extension for populating a comboBox with an enum Type's values

ErrorProviderManager

Wrapper for the ErrorProvider class
Centralized repository that takes a control, a Func delegate and the associated error message.
hooks into the control's validating event to run all the Func associated error conditions, if it fails validation, the ErrorProvider is updated accordingly, and vice versa

That's a fairly small amount of really reusable code. To me, whether or not the reusable code I wrote gets reused much is important, but so is what I learned from aiming for framework-worthy code and learning from the failures.

Good reading

2010-01-06T12:05:00.000-05:00

Tech Republic's

Programming and Development: Best of 2009

10 tips to go from a beginner to an intermediate developer
Strategies for learning programming languages - what works and what doesn’t
Frustrated by a coworker’s use of old-school programming techniques
The current state and future of C++
Why did you try programming?

Development trends to watch in 2010

Oleg Synch's - T4: Text Template Transformation Toolkit

A complete overview and 10 incremental tutorials

Stackoverflow.com

Jeff Atwood's

Version 1 Sucks, But Ship It Anyway

Visual studio 2010 - Introduction to Code Contracts [Melitta Andersen]

Another web app based IDE

2010-01-06T10:13:00.000-05:00

http://www.ideone.com/

It runs code as somewhat like a console app and doesn't appear to allow command line style arguments.
Input can be fed in via Console.ReadLine, etc...

A sample including input is here where I reflect on the current or calling method name:
Sample reflection

It supports C#, Vb, 3 different types of Javascript, Ruby, Python, Perl, Lua, and many more.

Unit testing reference

2010-01-06T09:59:00.000-05:00

The parts of unit testing I'm trying to commit to memory but keep referring back to are as follows:

Good unit test properties

automated and repeatable
easy to implement
once written, should remain for future use
anyone should be able to run it
should run at the push of a button
should run quickly

Is it a good unit test?

Can I run and get results from a unit test written weeks,months, years ago?
Can any member of the team run and get results from unit tests written weeks,months, years ago?
Can I run all the unit tests I've written in no more than a few minutes?
Can I run all the unit tests at the push of a button?
Can I write a basic unit test in no more than a few minutes?

TDD overview:

Write a failing test to prove code or functionality is missing
Make the test pass by writing production code that meets the expectations of the test
Refactor your code
[blogger's note: I would run the tests again after the refactoring]

Definitions

Integration test

testing two or more dependent software modules as a group
If the method you are testing has external dependencies (filesystem, sql server, OS, etc..) that you are not able to provide fakes for then it is an integration test

Unit test

a piece of code (usually a method) that runs another piece of code (usually a single method/function in isolation) and checks the correctness of some assumptions afterward. If the assumptions are wrong, the unit test is failed.

SUT - system under test (sometimes CUT - class under test)

when we test something, we refer to the thing we are testing as the SUT.

Regression

a feature that used to work and now doesn't

Naming conventions

Project

[ProjectUnderTest].Tests

Classes

For each class, create at least one class with the name [ClassName]Tests

Method

For each method, create at least one test method with the following name:

[MethodName]_[StateUnderTest]_[ExpectedBehavior]

StateUnderTest

The conditions used to produce the behavior

ExpectedBehavior

What you expect the tested method to do under the specified conditions

example: IsValidFileName_validFile_ReturnsTrue

Typical test method body

Arrange objects, creating and setting them up as necessary
Act on an object
Assert the expected results

Types of unit tests

State based testing/state verification

you act on something, assert the state after acting on that something or its collaborators(dependencies)

Interaction testing

tests how an object sends input to or recieves input from other objects
how that object interacts with other objects

Stub

a controllable replacement for an existing dependency(or collaborator) in the system.
By using a stub, you can test your code without dealing with the dependency directly.
Can not fail a test - not asserted against

Mock

a fake object in the system that decides whether the unit test has passed or failed. It does so by verifying whether the object under test interacted as expected with the fake object. There's usually no more than one mock per test.
Asserted against

Fake

generic term for mock or stub

Things to look out for

Why are we doing multiple asserts in a single test? How hard would it be to separate them into separate tests
Complicated hand-written stubs or mocks should be overcome with a Isolation (Mock) framework

My first go at Unit Testing

2010-01-05T17:11:00.001-05:00

I've picked up "The Art of Unit Testing with examples in .net" and I'm almost halfway done reading it. It has provided a very good walkthrough of unit testing and based on what I understand from straight reading, I've implemented some tests using Visual Studio 2008 professional's built in test functionality and RhinoMocks.

       [TestMethod]
        public void IsValidCopyDictionary_IncludingIdentifier_EqualsReflectionCount()
        {
            var source = Rhino.Mocks.MockRepository.GenerateStub<IAmAnAssessment>();
            var destination=Rhino.Mocks.MockRepository.GenerateStub<IAmAnAssessment>();
            var dictionary = ModelAssessment.ActionDictionary(destination, source, true);
            var modelProperties=typeof (ModelAssessment).GetProperties();
            Assert.AreEqual(dictionary.Count, modelProperties.Count(), "CopyDictionary:include is invalid");
        }
        [TestMethod]
        public void IsValidCopyDictionary_ExcludingIdentifier_EqualsReflectionCount()
        {
            var source = Rhino.Mocks.MockRepository.GenerateStub<IAmAnAssessment>();
            var destination = Rhino.Mocks.MockRepository.GenerateStub<IAmAnAssessment>();
            var dictionary = ModelAssessment.ActionDictionary(destination, source, false);
            var modelProperties = typeof(ModelAssessment).GetProperties();
            Assert.AreEqual(dictionary.Count, modelProperties.Count()-1,"CopyDictionary:exclude is invalid");
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void IsValidCopyDictionary_FullCopy_EqualsReflectionCopy()
        {
            var source = Rhino.Mocks.MockRepository.GenerateStub<IAmAnAssessment>();
            source.AssessmentIdentifier = 1;
            source.AssociateSeverity = "1";
            source.ShareholderSeverity = "3";
            source.CustomerSeverity = "9";
            source.DefectCode = "ABC";
            source.InvestorRequirementsIds = new List<int>() {1, 2, 3};
            source.Nbk = "NBK1234";
            source.RegulatorySeverity = "9";
            source.RootCauseIdentifier = 4;
            source.ShareholderSeverity = "1";
            var destination = Rhino.Mocks.MockRepository.GenerateStub<IAmAnAssessment>();
            var dictionary = ModelAssessment.ActionDictionary(destination, source, true);
          
            var modelProperties = typeof(IAmAnAssessment).GetProperties();
            foreach (var info in modelProperties)
            {
                dictionary[info.Name].Invoke();
                Assert.IsNotNull(info.GetValue(destination,null),"Property value is null:"+info.Name);

                if (info.PropertyType.IsValueType == false)
                    Assert.AreSame(info.GetValue(destination, null), info.GetValue(source, null),
                        "Reference type did not copy reference:" + info.Name);

                if(info.GetIndexParameters().Length==0)
                {
                    Assert.AreEqual(info.GetValue(source, null), info.GetValue(destination, null), 
                        "PropertyValue is not equal:"+info.Name);
                   
}
                else
                {
                    Assert.AreSame(info.GetValue(destination,null),info.GetValue(source,null),"indexed property is not the same:"+info.Name);
                }

            }
          
        } 

A C# IDE that runs in your browser?

2009-12-01T08:19:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure how well done it is as I just found it and haven't played with it. But it does C#, Asp.net, Asp.net MVC, php, javascript, jQuery, and jQueryUI. all in a browser. Sounds amazing. Hopefully it's fleshed out and mature enough to function.

Coderun.com

Configuring IIS on XP to use Asp.net 3.5, and MVC

2009-11-04T14:04:00.001-05:00

Installing IIS (may require the XP cd or XP installer files to be available):

First Control Panel -> Add/Remove programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components
Select Internet Information Services (IIS), click Details. - Instructional site with screenshots

Out of the box Asp.net appears configured for .net 2.0 (at least it was on my machine where .net 2.0,3.5, and 4.0 were installed). So anything higher may not function. If your .net stuff isn't working try this next fix:

So to get it to run on my machine at work and at home I had to do the following:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>aspnet_regiis.exe -ua
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>aspnet_regiis.exe -I

Here's a complete rundown on that part of the solution

Also in some cases your application folder may not be set up as an application:

control panel ->Administrative Tool-> Internet Information Services

select your application folder and on the directory or virtual directory tab in the Application Settings section, Application name would be greyed out, and a button on the right will say Create. Click this.

Finally to get MVC to function properly (this is a security risk in some respects I hear, but should be fine for private personal network testing:

It's safer to do this to the specific MVC directory, but you can do it for the entire website

control panel ->Administrative Tool-> Internet Information Services

select your application folder ( Entire website if you prefer, which is less secure) , right click and go to properties. On the directory or virtual directory folder click Configuration.

Click Add. Click Browse on the new dialog that opened. Change the drop down type to dll files. Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_isapi.dll and click open. then in the extension section type .*

I had to click in the Executable path textbox to have it expand the path into the textbox.

Take OFF the checkmark for Check that file exists.

Click ok on this dialog, and the remaining 2 that are open. - Source