Subversion is awesome I am a big fan of source control and subversion is my favorite.  I used it for several years before being forced into using TFS on my current project.  Subversion is great because it really doesn’t get in your way.  You hardly notice the code is under sour... [More]

Syed Ali discussed stored procedures and why use them.  I posted my comments there but thought it was worthy of an entry in the blog.  There are some things I hate about them as well but I feel they have some very distinct advantages too so they are a necessary evil.  I don't see how ... [More]

Many developers like to stick their data inside the database and load their combo boxes and other application data from it.  There are lots of reasons for doing so such as localizing your data or maybe you can't write to the local file system for whatever reason. In my case the local file system is off limits. [More]

YouMail is a free service that allows you to have voice mail on your cell phone.  So it is at this point where you say “Why in the world would I need something I already got?”  And the answer will astound and amaze you.  Your voicemail sucks! So now that I got your att... [More]

I am surprised how many people still don't know they can alias namespaces using the C# keyword using.  Resharper automatically adds this syntax for me and it seems like 1 person a month says that didn't know. 1: using Short = Company.Project.Task.Function; The reason for this p... [More]

SQL Server 2005 provides a mechanism called CTE or Common Table Expressions for pre-loading data or setting up for later use.  It is really fast compared to pre-2005 which did not have such a feature. To illustrate I'll take some hierarchical data and load it into a CTE.  This would be a ... [More]

Let's say you have a generic class with a new() constraint on the type parameter. This means that you are allowed to create new objects of the generic type, like this: 1: class GenericClass<T> where T : new() 2: { 3: public void SomeMethod() 4: { 5: ... [More]

The Visual Studio Solution Explorer can become difficult to navigate when a solution becomes quite large.  I have used a tool for some time now called SonicFileFinder.  It has become one of my favorite utilities. SonicFileFinder is a free add-in for Visual Studio that allows a fast and ... [More]

  I am a big fan of Resharper.  It helps me be more productive and that is better for me and my company.  One thing Resharper does is line highlighting in your IDE.  So whatever line you are on will stand out.  But I decided to try a dark theme with Visual Studio recently a... [More]

Do you use database projects in Visual Studio? If not, then now is a good time to start. It is the best way I have found to source control my databases without actually sticking the database file itself in the repository. It is very simple to add to your solution and creates a default directory structure for your create scripts, change scripts and queries. Best of all the project will be recognized by source control and added to the source code repository. This means you can keep versioned scripts for maintainability. It also gives you the option to do the dreaded rollback! [More]