Category Archives: Libraries

Anything related to .NET libraries–whether Microsoft or third-party.

Forcing a Database Update with DevExpress

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

How can you force DevExpress to update the database? Either change the module versions in the ModuleInfo table, or else obliterate the entire database. Then run the DB Updater (in either case) and it will regenerate the schema. Continue reading →

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If/Else Statements in MVC3 With Razor

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

How can you write an If/Else statement in ASP.NET MVC3? The answer is, surprisingly, with only one @-sign; although similar code would take five sets of angle-brackets in MVC2, Razor lets us write it with just one — which shows that their design goal of enabling a fluid coding flow was very successful. 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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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

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 →

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SQLite + ADO.NET + C# 4.0

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

C# 4.0 and SQLite ADO.NET don’t play together so well. You might get some crazy exception about the mixed mode assembly version can’t be loaded without configuration. Then, you’re flying! Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries, Tools, Wndows Forms | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Setting SELECTED in ASP.NET MVC DropDowns

Posted on December 29, 2009 by Ashiq Alibhai, PMP

Microsoft’s ASP.NET MVC framework has a nice little helper for creating drop-down lists called Html.DropDownList. But how do you tell it to pre-select a value, i.e. set the SELECTED attribute on the correct OPTION tag? The answer is to use an alternate constructor for your SelectList that sets the selected-value object. Continue reading →

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