Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with .net

Code Coverage reporting with .NET 1.1 without NCover

blue_beetle — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:34:32 -0800

Suggestion for Code Coverage reporting with .NET 1.1, now that NCover has become commercial, and closed source?

Any Umbraco developers out there?

joshjs — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:08:52 -0800

Has anyone used Umbraco? Microsoft Content Management Server is going away and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is too expensive. I'm currently wrestling with Ektron CMS400.NET, and due to numerous issues I'm starting to think about trying a different CMS.

So I'm looking at Umbraco, and was curious if any Mefites have used it. If you have, please let me know. I'm especially curious about any hurdles you've encountered.

Longtime Mac/Unix guy seeks Win XP for virtualization -- but which version?

namespan — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 12:49:13 -0800

The new Mac's on its way, the time has come to purchase a copy of Windows to run under virtualization on it. The question is, which version? And how to customize by size for my needs? What I want to use it for: primarily testing web stuff in IE 6 and IE 7. Secondary use -- I'd like to learn basic .NET development. Chances are I'll also be running a few miscellaneous PC-only apps over time.

The first thing I'm wondering is if it matters in the least if I choose XP pro over XP home. I see the different lists of features out there on the net, but other than Remote Desktop, none of them mean much of anything to me. Are there real pros to pro, and cons to home?

The second thing I'm wondering is how it's possible to get legal very stripped down installations of Win XP a lá TinyXP -- I see it discussed here and there, but I'm a bit of a torrent n00b who's wary of random ISOs from fishy tracker sites and isn't quite sure how these things fit with the concept of legally running your software. How can I either make sure that I get a nice trustworthy TinyXP version that runs smoothly, or how can I do minimal/stripped-down installs myself from a retail copy?

How do I write a .Net compiler

Luddite — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:22:40 -0800

Can anyone recommend a book (or online equivalent) that teaches the theory and practice of writing compilers, specifically those targeting the Microsoft CLR (ie .Net)? I'm trying to build a compiler for an evil custom language used at my workplace (hideous details available on request.) Lexing and parsing isn't a problem, but I don't really know where to go from there. .Net seems to have a whole suite of libraries to help with this stuff but, again, I don't really know where to start.

Any reading suggestions would be welcome. (I located the source for the lolcode.net compiler, which I suspect is about as simple as it'll get, and which convinced me I should really try and learn the theory rather than just hack my way blindly through it.)

How to get rounded corners on a dropdown menu?

desjardins — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:59:39 -0800

Please help me modify my flyout menu navigation to have rounded corners. Currently it's an asp .net control, which (apparently) does not allow this modification. I found this web page which purports to have solved this problem, but I can't get the sample files to work, and frankly, the whole article is a bit over my head. What I do understand is this: asp .net menus are square by default, and they require a programming background to change. I'd be happy using a background gif but the menu controls do not seem to allow this (you can use images for the separators but not the background).

I am using Microsoft Expression Web (yah, don't ask) but I am not married to asp .net. I don't care if this can be done in Javascript, CSS, or with a satanic ritual. All I need is 1) rounded corners and 2) a vertical fly-out menu, similar to the picture on the website linked above.

I also have access to Adobe CS2, including GoLive, if that helps.

Request TITLE via ASP

MaxVonCretin — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 16:54:47 -0800

ASP snippet to request contents of page's TITLE tag? Someone gave me the following line of ASP that will write/call the URL of whatever web page it's on:

< %=Request.servervariables(" SERVER_NAME" ) & request.servervariables(url)%>

Can anyone please tell me what an equivalent line would be that will automatically pull the contents of the page's TITLE tag? Or do I need to go another route?

I want to make custom links that pass on page data, such as
Yes, I'm clearly clueless re: even the basics of ASP.

How do I make Uber '07 an Uber experience?

DarkElf109 — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:13:10 -0800

I'm finally going to a developer conference! What do I bring? I'm going to be attending the 2007 Arizona .NET User Group Über Meeting tomorrow. It's a small conference, but I've never been to one before, and I'm not sure what to bring with me. I've got a MacBook Pro, but it IS a .Net conference, and I don't want all the Windows devs pointing and laughing at me. Should I bring that, or a pad and pen, or just try and trust my memory to grab everything? Anything else I should bring? Any general tips for this sort of thing? Thanks!

best forums and community software for .Net platform?

andytmp — Wed, 30 May 2007 12:30:58 -0800

Does anyone have an opinion on the best of breed web forums software and drupal-like or community software out there for an asp/.net environment? I'm relatively knowledgable on similar offerings in the *unix world but I now find myself needing to find equivalent software for an asp/.net environment. And I'm starting from scratch.

So I'm talking about classic web forums, and also user generated content with rating systems... that genre of thing.

I've found Community Server (http://communityserver.org/) and Carbon Communities (http://www.carboncommunities.com/) as two options.

But since I'm new to this particular platform I'm realizing there may be some great software (open source or otherwise) that I'm missing.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Programing exercises for the weak?

blackout — Tue, 22 May 2007 18:20:26 -0800

Somewhat of a budding programing looking for programing exercises. I'm kind of middle ground between not knowing anything and what you might call a novice. So really I know just enough to be dangerous and have ideas too big for my skills. What are some good exercises (mostly thinking C# [mono] here) that will help me develop into at least a novice? More after the break. I've developed a few applications for myself in the past. All in Visual Basic 6 and they were nothing too great but also nothing to scoff at either (a time clock where the users would clock in/out with a RFID tag read though a RFID reader connected via USB with the information being stored in a database, a custom slide show screen saver with a built in pong clock clone for a home made digital picture fame, as well as some odd programs here and there).
I'd like to start working with C# [via mono]. I'm very famillar with the C style syntax so that's not a problem. I work with PHP a fair bit. I've also read many many books on C, C++, and C# but the problem was I just read them I never did anything in them. I understand the basics of OOP (an object is both data and functions) but I'd like to really understand it.
So I'm looking for exercises that will keep me interested yet at the same time not start with a simple hello world application nor expect me to understand OOP totally or even some of the more advanced C#. I know the best exercises are the programs you yourself need to fit some problem but right now I don't have any of those.
Also please keep in mind that even though I have a windows 2000 box with a copy of C# 2005 express edition on it. I'd like to do all this with the cross platform version mono. I know that shouldn't be too much of a problem but I thought I should point it out.
Also I don't know if I made it sound like I've never worked with C# before, I have and have made a few simple, simple programs the biggest one would copy the mp3 files that are downloaded via Pandora rename them with the artist and track title and copy them to a directory of my choice.

How to learn applied .NET from top to bottom?

debacle — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:13:37 -0800

Looking for resources on specific programming topics, with a particular teaching methodology (basically, applied examples and real-world walkthroughs). Some of the topics are C#-specific. Some are more general, but would preferably be taught from a C# (or at least .NET) perspective. A) The resources would preferably be in book form, however I'll take anything that fits further criteria.

B) If I need to refer to several resources to learn what I want to about one topic, that is OK - as long as the resource doesn't confusingly mingle the topic material with other material.

C) *Very* important is the teaching style. I'm *not* looking for a syntax reference, or simple "Hello World" examples on how to use each of the language features, etc., that I want to learn about. For the most part, I am interested in learning how these features can be applied from the ground up to solve real-world problems; and how to identify how each feature can be helpful in solving such problems.

D) Any text will make certain assumptions about the prior knowledge and experience of its readers. Ideally, these resources would make assumptions that are as close as possible to my own knowledge and experience.
1. I have quite a lot of real-world experience with C++ (but little with multithreading, network communication, or UIs).
2. I have written some small- and medium-sized tools in C#, with and without simple GUIs.
3. I have done some (annoying) work in managed C++, bridging a C# application with unmanaged C++, both static and dynamic libraries.
4. I know some basic principles of multi-threading, but have little hands-on experience with it.
5. I have only implemented simple GUIs, and the few I have made from scratch have been C#.
6. I have not substantially utilized any of the "higher-level" features of C# in my code (attributes, delegates, etc.).
7. I have only just started working with the new features in C# 2.0. Basically, all I have used are the built-in generics classes.
8. My Managed C++ experience is in VS7, but I have recently ported some of my existing code into VS8, which exposed me to some of the new keywords and syntax rules in MC++ 2.0.
9. Most of my .NET programming experience has felt like I was writing a C++ application with C# syntax. I don't know how to properly use the extra features that C# offers, so I stuck with what I know, while enjoying the streamlined development process.

E) That being considered, here is my list of topics:
1. General best practices for C# (from the ground up).
2. Design patterns in C#.
3. The features of C# that set it apart from languages like C++. Including: attributes, delegates, events, etc.
4. The new features/syntax of C# 2.0.
5. Managed C++, with a focus on how to properly use it to bridge unmanaged C++ to C#.
6. The new features/syntax of Managed C++ 2.0.
7. General multithreading resources, from the ground up (preferably from a C# perspective).
8. Multithreading specifically in C#.
9. C# UIs, from the ground up. Ideally, would move on to available open source extension packages such as DotNetMagic.
10. How multithreading can/should be applied to UIs (preferably from a C# perspective).
11. General socket and network communication resources, from the ground up (preferably from a C# perspective).
12. Sockets and network communication specifically in C#.

F) When I say "from the ground up", I mean, from the basics and *all the way up*. Basically I want these resources to provide me with the power to work on my own to gain the experience necessary to become a "guru" in these areas. Again, if it takes several resources to provide all of this for one topic, that's not a problem.

I'm a .NET mess

arielmeadow — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 14:14:04 -0800

Why do I get 404s when trying to download anything from Microsoft.com? I recently tried to install an application that needed Microsoft's .NET framework. When I went to MS's site to download the .NET framework, the download simply wouldn't work -- instead, I just got a 404 page. I tried both Firefox and IE 7 and got 404s with both browsers. Then I tried downloading other things on MS's site to test -- and when I get to the download page (for example, this one) I always get a 404. This has persisted for weeks, and no one else I've talked to has experienced problems. What might be causing the issue on my end?

.NET build automation software recommendations?

mkultra — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:10:26 -0800

.NET build automation software experiences/recommendations? I'm coming up against the wall of VS 2005's limited "Web Deployment Project" capabilities. I like the unattended building and web.config replacement, but have several issues:

- Building over a VPN is slow as molasses. I have a single codebase that is replicated to multiple sites with merged site-specific configs. If I need to build two sites, it's 2X as slow. Clearly, this won't scale well. If I have 5 sites, I'd like to build once, copy 5x, and merge 5x.

- VS replaces the entire site rather than simply what's changed. As the scope of the app grows, again- scalability.

- VS won't update SQL schemas.

- To minimize production downtime, I'd like to have the site built first, then assigned as the relevant path in IIS, rather than building directly to the production path. Currently, if my build dies (which can happen if my connection isn't perfect), the site is down while I do another build from scratch.

- VS won't do scheduled builds.

- There are times when I'd like to push out a build using multiple VSS branches, some of which don't require compilation. Basically, I have static assets like images in VSS but not in my VS.NET project because the consume a ton of build time and change very infrequently.

I realize I could script some of these together, but I'm not interested in duct tape. Does anyone have experience with Visual Build Pro they'd like to comment on, or another tool? I'd like to cut out the VS.NET IDE from the process as much as possible.

Nothing but .net

lukemeister — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 06:02:19 -0800

Why don't the New York Times Reader, Doppler, and Juice work? Doppler and Juice started crashing on my XP (SP2) box after a period of normal use, and I can't get the Times Reader to run at all. The common thread seems to be that these applications use various versions of .NET. The Times Reader requires the NET 3.0 Framework, which supposedly was downloaded as part of the Reader install. Any suggestions?

Dear Sir: Please send me your domain name

Kibbutz — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 15:09:11 -0800

I'm establishing a site with a madeuppish name. I've got the .net and .org domains already, but somebody else . . . somebody else took the .com version out last year, and hasn't done anything with it. How do I politely approach and broach about getting the .com from him? I'm willing to pay for it--what's a reasonable price?

Can you help me find a good overview of .Net

willnot — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:58:01 -0800

Can you recommend a good class in the Los Angeles area or on the web that would bring somebody who has done some programming in the past up to speed on Microsoft's .Net? I have somebody who has done some programming and recently a lot of ASP types of web work. Now he needs to come up to speed as quickly as possible on .Net since our web pages are moving over to that.

I offered to send him to a class, but he is concerned about finding the right class since sometimes they assume too little knowledge, and sometimes the assume too much.

He's looked at some books and some web pages, but if you have any specific recommendations for good overviews that don't get too bogged down in syntax or general programming concepts that would be very helpful.

DirectShow without the hassle

bloo — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 01:37:22 -0800

ProgrammingFilter: Rendering videos to a texture. Like DirectShow, but without it. I'm building a 3D application with Managed DirectX in C#. I want to render a video to a texture. DirectShow's VMR interface seems to be made for this, and there is a .NET wrapper for DirectShow.

But from what I've heard, the VMR design is severely flawed which makes it hard to implement and more or less impossible if you want to show multiple videos at the same time.

That's why I've thought of using another video library instead of DirectShow. There are plenty, but the problem is that I not only want to show video files, I also want to be able to display live video from a capture device.

Is there any video library besides DirectShow which is able to help me with that?

Compiling a .NET program with Mono

puffin — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:02:32 -0800

Is it possible to compile a .NET program in Linux using Mono? Slug has always been my favorite blog posting client for Windows. Now that I have just about fully migrated to Ubuntu, I've been looking for a new client and failed to find any that I compare to Slug in terms of simplicity and functionality (editing of entries, multiple categories/tags selection, minimalism).

According to the Slug home page the program is written in C#. I remember I had to install .NET to get it to work on Windows. Running Slug under Wine doesn't work because (predictably) I can't successfully install .NET.

The Slug install comes with the source code, and there is .NET alternative for Linux, Mono which claims that it "provides the necessary software to develop and run .NET client and server applications on Linux." Does this mean I might be able to compile Slug from source using Mono, and then run Slug natively in Linux?

If so, how would I go about doing it? The install comes with a lot of what I assume are source files (AssemblyInfo.cs, Form1.cs, BlogRpc.cs, Slug.csproj, etc.) and I am not sure what to do with them. The only things I have compiled in the past are my own Java programs in an elementary programming class and tarballs that come with some kind of install script (usually ./configure, make, makeinstall).

Can anyone point me in the right direction, or should I give up now as someone with little-to-no programming knowledge (and none at all of .NET or C#)?

VB? WTF? :(

(lambda (x) x) — Wed, 17 May 2006 12:57:03 -0800

After spending so many years in *nix environments, I need to get up to speed with Microsoft products (specifically vb.net) without losing my sanity. I'm graduating this weekend with a BS in computer science and am on the prowl for employment. I've been working primarily in a Linux environment for most of my life and was employed as a *nix admin at my university during the entire course of my stay there, dabbling with Microsoft products only when absolutely necessary.

Unfortunately there are very few opportunities for tech work in my area, and I can't immediately jump ship for a number of financial and personal reasons. In other words, I'm looking for just about anything now, hoping that I'll be able to perhaps move and find something more ideal in two years or so. The best prospect I've found so far is an almost exclusively-Microsoft shop. The pay is decent and I know a few of the employees who seem to be pretty happy there, but I was told that if I were hired, one of my first projects would be assisting in porting a pretty large application from VB5(!) to VB.NET. So, I guess I'm going to need to learn pre-and-post .NET VB. There are going to be a few more experienced developers on the project, but I'd like to get up to speed as quickly as possible in order to do my fair share. They're aware of my lack of experience with the environment, but have expressed interest in me anyway.

I'm aware of VB's rather.. lackluster reputation and so I ask you, dear mefites, if you can suggest anything to make this process less painful. What are some good VB/.NET books? Are there any IDEs besides visual studio worth checking out? (currently, I use emacs + gnumake + sometimes ant) What's up with unit testing in a .NET environment? Any other words of wisdom?

I want to make it clear that I'm not totally inexperienced with application development in general, just with VB or pretty much anything else Microsoft. Most of the graphical standalone applications I've had a hand in were Qt based, written in either c++ or one of the higher level languages with qt bindings (python). Thanks!

Recommendations for Chart/Graph-creation software for ASP.NET?

mkultra — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 12:51:46 -0800

Recommendations for Chart/Graph-creation software for ASP.NET? I need to deliver via web page, but offer Excel downloads (I'd settle for CSV). I don't need to offer much in the way of end-user configurability (filtering/drill-down, but no "build-your-own-query" stuff). My app is in C#, and speaks XML.

I'm looking at ChartFX, which seems really nice, but the export feature requires the Pro version, which is a lot of additional money for a lot of other features I don't need. Crystal Reports is nice, but not "webby" enough for me.

.Net 1.1 and 2.0 don't play well together!

antifuse — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 02:59:48 -0800

How can I use a .Net 1.1 assembly in my .Net 2.0 application? Here's my scenario: I have a .Net 1.1 assembly, provided by our Denmark-based development office. My application has been written entirely in .Net 2.0, referencing other internal .Net 2.0 assemblies and using nice new 2.0-specific features. In theory, we could get the .Net 1.1 assembly migrated over to 2.0, but is there any way to just use it in my application without having to go through all that hassle? I don't really understand how things like assemblybinding in the config file works, so if there's some way to do it with that I'd be glad to use it. The reason that I want to make sure that this .Net 1.1 assembly uses the 1.1 Framework is because, well, it accesses protected memory if I try to use it in the 2.0 Framework (and it's confirmed to work in 1.1 :)) It would be great if I could just get it up and running without having to worry about getting it recompiled into 2.0 - we'd prefer to not have to worry about all that hassle.

Attributes in C#

yerfatma — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:47:32 -0800

Attributes in .NET (C#): From within a class, how do I find all the methods marked with an attribute and fire those methods? I've found a number of links on attributes in C#, but they all show how to mark items in a class with an attribute and then look that info up from a small console application. I've managed to create an attribute (amazing, I know), but what I want to do is create a method in an abstract parent class that will fire all methods in a sub-class marked with my shiny new attribute. And that part's not happening.

Advice on Web Application Data Correlation.

kenaman — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 04:32:02 -0800

What is the optimum way in an ASP.NET Web Application with SQL Server 2000 to perform the following data correlation? Apologies for the open ended nature of the question and the fact that it is all over the show. I am about to embark on building a prototype and just wanted to run it by you all. I am going to have a consultation with a .NET SQL Server expert next week but would very much value any input in advance.

Below I have outlined the parameters of a multiple criteria decision which must be made by a web application :

There are two sets of data

Set A :

Static data, containing values relating to criteria against which data in Set B should be measured
Table A1 contains over 1000 records.
For each record in Table A1 there a related 100 numeric values in Table A2.
These 100 values in Table A2 fall into 6 Categories (1-6).
The number of records per category in Table A2 varies from 6 to 50.

Set B :

Calculated data, containing values for cases which must be measured against criteria described in Set A.
Table B1 Contains one or more records.
For each record in Table B1 there are a related 200 numeric values in Table B2.
These 100 values in Table B2 fall into 6 Categories (1-6).
The number of records per category in Table AB varies from 6 to 50.

For each record in Table B1 and the associated categorized records in Table B2 there are 1000 directly related sets of values in Set A.

Now for the comparision. Take a record in Table B1 and perform a correlation between related values in Table B2 and those in Table A2.
This is done on a per category basis.
There are 6 in all (one per category) and the numbers of values in the correlation will vary between 6 (the smallest) and 50 (the largest).
The correlation used is the Pearson product-moment correlation, outlined here.
This gives rise to 6 values (correlation values 1-6) which range from -1 to +1.

Next z values for correlation values 1-6 must be obtained by applying Fisher's transformation to each.

Finally calculate the arithmetic mean of these 6 z values and then transform that mean z back to the correlational metric by taking its antilog. This will result in a value between +1 and -1 for each record in Table B1 against each record in Table A1.

Now to my 'question'? What is the optimum way to achieve the above in the following situation?

100 people are using the web application at the same time. Each user equating to a record in Table B1. They each request the result of the correlation between their data (Table B2) and all the data in Set A.

This would involves 100 (people) * 6 correlations (containing 100 values in total) * 1000 records in Set A.

The result thankfully does not need to be delivered immediately and I am going to perform the processing in a Windows Service on the webserver, processing the requests one at a time. There is a whole load of other stuff being

I am looking for reactions, considerations, advice, pointers, warnings relating to the task in hand. I want to keep the load on the webserver and the sql server to a minimum and basically implement it in the best way possibly.

Would you recommend upgrading to SQl Server 2005?
How should I access the data in Set A, Set B?
What are the questions I have not asked and what are the answers you would suggest?

Thanks in advance.

Can I got back to school and have a life at the same time?

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:37:10 -0800

How can I cut my work hours in half and have my pay scale down accordingly? I've been a full-time C# .NET programmer for a few years now. I enjoy it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be sick of it in a few years, so I'd like to go back to school and learn some other cool stuff.

I've tried going to school alongside working my 40 hours a week (which inevitably becomes 45-60 hours anyways), but that's too much for me to be doing at once -- it becomes very stressful for me, and I end up dropping the classes.

In a perfect world, I'd work half as much and get paid half as much, go to school with my extra time, and still have some time to relax.

So I'm looking for advice on what I can do to get myself in a situation like that (and whether it's even possible).

(I've thought about independently consulting, but I fear the non-programming work that would come along with that.)

Microsoft CMS and/or Wikis

sciurus — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 08:59:08 -0800

Are there content management systems or wiki software that are designed to run using ASP and/or focused on .NET functionality and use within a Microsoft/Windows Server environment? If so, what are some examples, reviews and or other information that would be worth knowing? Gracias.

Is there a way to display a calendar of less than a month in ASP.NET?

geeky — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 13:14:12 -0800

Is there a way to display a calendar of less than a month in ASP.NET? I'm working on creating a reservations system at work with ASP.NET and a database. Ideally, I would like to display a week or two at a time, with the dates listed across the top and each day having several reservations listed under it.

I have a way to display the reservations in the ASP.NET Calendar, but I would like to only display a week or two at a time, not the whole month. I feel like I've tried everything I can think of, including using a DataList and a Repeater, but nothing seems to be working. It seems like it should be fairly easy to display a weeks worth of dates with their corresponding reservations in a calendar format, but it's proving to be a lot more difficult that I had imagined.

I do have an alternate approach to this problem in mind, but I wanted to exhaust all possibilities for this approach first. Am I missing something here, or is this really as impossible as it seems?

(I am aware that there are 3rd party calendar components available for .NET that do weekly calendar views, but we do not have the budget to buy any of them)