June 2009 Entries
Considering how integrated Microsoft tools usually are the result is frustrating when you tell Visual Studio to open SQL files using Sql Server Management Studio (SSMS). I really don't like using Visual Studio to edit T-SQL files but in the past, before I discovered this tip, each SQL file I opened would open in a new instance of SSMS. Try it: Open a solution which contains SQL files Right-click any SQL file and select “Open With…” Click “Add” Browse to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe" or if you're...
The MVC / WebForms DebateYesterday I wrote about the stored procedure/dynamic sql debate - I must be feeling a bit argumentative lately, because today I was reading Tony Lombardo's post on WebForms versus MVC. I don't know Tony, I haven't read any of his other posts or met him in any forum so I don't hold anything against him. I'd be a hypocrite if I disagreed that you need to weigh the pros/cons and make an informed decision. I just made the same argument myself. However, at the end of his post he said this: “The best advice I've...
I've had many spirited discussions over time with my colleagues on this issue. And I will most likely invite a flame war from the developer community for this post, but after reading this post I was more than a little annoyed and decided to write a rebuttal.As a disclaimer I don't take issue with the decision to use ORM/ad hoc SQL over stored procedures. I use both in my applications and I have always maintained that this is a decision to made by you and your team (if applicable) after weighing the pros/cons against the requirements of your application. But...
A couple weeks ago it was finally time to add a context-sensitive, data driven menu system to our MVC application. As I thought about it I was stuck. I wasn't sure what the best way to implement it was. As is common with an MVC application there was no 1-to-1 relationship between actions and views. And even more difficult was that our *.master files could be used by views tied to different controllers. So it was looking like I would have to load the data I needed from the ViewMasterPage. I really didn't like this option and looked around a...
The World's Most Over-engineered “Hello World” DemoDownload SourceI wanted to build a demo/guidance application for Silverlight that merges everything I want to accomplish in a Silverlight 2 application. These were my goals: WCF integration Design-time data binding Independent, decoupled modules Commanding support I chose to use the Composite Application Library for WCF/Silverlight (aka Prism 2) since it came out of the box with commanding support and a framework for pluggable modules. Prism 2 was developed by Microsoft's Patterns and Practices (PnP) group.I've posted a copy of my solution for anyone who's interested in...