By Kent Sharkey on 7/23/2008 3:48 PM

I have to admit: I've been a little slow to have a close look at Linq. I blame this on two opinions I developed on first looking at it. However, I guess it's time to start looking at it.

Read More »

By Kent Sharkey on 7/22/2008 2:09 PM

New Media Manitoba is holding their second DemoCamp next Tuesday (the 29th). Come to see great prototypes, or come to show  your own.

Read More »

By Kent Sharkey on 7/1/2008 8:34 AM

Are you test-driven? Agile? Are you up on all the latest three letter acronyms (IoC, BDD, DRY)? Or are you just a curious sort who wants to know more about developing using these technologies? If so, you should strongly consider heading to the ALT.NET Canada event. It's not your normal developer event, as it's actually designed by the attendees in a model that has become known as "Open Spaces".

Whoever shows up is the right group. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Whenever it starts is the right time. When it's over, it's over. 

The conference runs from August 15-17, 2008 in Calgary. Details at their Web site. I hope to see you there.

Read More »

By Kent Sharkey on 6/26/2008 2:57 PM

Give Microsoft a problem, and you'll soon find them developing multiple solutions. Take synchronization. We've already covered the Synchronization Services, but there are many other teams working on this problem. The Windows Live team have provided their answer, in the form of a Beta of Live Mesh.

Read More »

By Kent Sharkey on 6/9/2008 3:26 PM

Just about every application you can imagine needs some way of storing data, thus the importance of tools like Access, Oracle and SQL Server. Lightweight applications can make use of a simple text or XML file, while larger, more complex applications need a full-fledged database. There are some applications that sit in the middle: too much data for a simple file, while you don't want to go through the effort of installing a service just to store some data. Enter the latest edition of SQL Server: Compact Edition.

Read More »

By Kent Sharkey on 5/27/2008 3:44 PM

While not every application needs some degree of database flexibility, the need to change your database does happen some times. You may be attempting to create a reusable data access framework that may be used to connect to multiple different databases in different applications, or you may have a change in plans, leading to the requirement of connecting to some new database (or database version). When that happens, do you:

1. Rewrite all your code from scratch
2. Go through your data access code, changing it as needed for the new database provider
3. Make a change in your configuration file and continue without code changes

Avoiding code changes is the ideal scenario, and there are two main ways you can achieve it in your code.

Read More »

By Kent Sharkey on 5/14/2008 4:30 PM

The new ASP.NET MVC framework provides developers with an alternative to the traditional WebForm model. It enables developers to more easily create highly testable Web sites with clean URLs and structure.

Read More »

By Kent Sharkey on 5/2/2008 2:14 PM

You frequently need to store important information in your application's configuration files, such as connection strings, user IDs or paths to files. Therefore, it would be a good idea to secure these files — or at least the sections needing security — to prevent unauthorized access. With Visual Studio 2005 and above, you can encrypt the contents of your configuration file — either from the command-line or your own code — and the resulting configuration file works normally.

Read More »

By Kent Sharkey on 5/2/2008 2:09 PM

While many developers are comfortable creating Web sites with ASP.NET or other technologies, users continually want more responsive applications. Silverlight is a new technology from Microsoft that attempts to bridge the gap between the reach of a Web application, and the responsiveness of a Windows application.

Read More »