Category Archives: Silverlight

Anything related to Microsoft Silverlight

Limiting the Number of Results from LINQ

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

How can you limit the number of objects returned from a LINQ query, i.e. only request the first N objects (similar to MySQL’s LIMIT keyword)? The answer is via the Take(n) LINQ method; it pulls the first N rows specified. Continue reading →

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Tools Update: BaseEncoder and Hasher

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

We’ve updated the Tools library again. You can now convert integers to an from an arbitrary base (binary, hexadecimal, base64, or any base you wish) as well as calculate SHA-1 hashes of strings with one function call. Useful! Continue reading →

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Unit Testing and Code-Coverage in Silverlight

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

You can run unit-testing and code-coverage on Silverlight applications (NUnit, PartCover, et all) with a bit of foresight and reorganization of your code. You can test core logic and classes, albeit not Silverlight-specific code. I show you how. Continue reading →

Posted in Core .NET, Silverlight, Tools | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Persistent Storage 1.1: Arbitrary Object Serialization

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

Persistent Storage 1.1 brings a much-needed feature: the ability to serialize any arbitrary object quickly and efficiently — even without specifying any attributes. Thanks to Mike Talbot of Alterian for his Silverlight serializer. Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries, Silverlight | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Optimization 101

Posted on June 22, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

How do you optimize your application? Should you? When? How? We go over the basics, with six “rules” that you can follow to help you effectively improve your application performance. Continue reading →

Posted in Core .NET, Silverlight, Uncategorized, Web, Wndows Forms | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Silverlight Audio Player

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

Playing audio files in Silverlight is non-trivial. Hence, the need for a library that allows you to do so; so this is another Tools update to include an AudioManager Silverlight-only class. What does it do? It allows you to play … Continue reading →

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Tools Update: Read Embedded Text Files in Silverlight

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

Tools now includes a EmbeddedResourceFileReader class that allows you to read the contents of text files at runtime; this is exciting for Silverlight development, where you may have lots of data you want to dump into a file and read at runtime. Well, now you can! Continue reading →

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Normal Distribution Random Generator Available!

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

We’re pleased to announce a new reusable library: a normally-distributed random number generator. It works like a standard integer random number generator, but produces a normal (bell-curve) distribution instead of a uniform (flat) one. We also packaged a Mersenne Prime implementation with it. Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries, Silverlight, Web, Wndows Forms | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The “using” Statement and IDisposable

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

The using statement allows you to create a block of text around an object (or multiple objects), that implements IDisposable, and to have the CLR automatically call Dispose on that object (or multiple objects). Continue reading →

Posted in Core .NET, Silverlight, Web, Wndows Forms | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

String.IndexOf vs. Regexp.Match

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

How fast is String.IndexOf vs. Regexp.Match? In a 10,000 word text, while searching for a single word located only once at the end of the text, the results were stunning: Regexp.match is more than 70x faster than the equivalent String.IndexOf. That’s a huge difference! Continue reading →

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