The .NET Knowledge Sharing Thread

[dequadin]

UPDATE:
I've recently updated the contents and links on a few of the sections, as well as adding a couple of new ones. Thanks for the input guys!
Please report any broken likes to me via PM


.NET Knowledge Sharing Thread.

I often come across good tutorials, blogs and the like and often post them here, so instead of creating a new thread each time now there will be one place for them all. This is a knowledge sharing thread and not a how-to or please help me thread, lets try and keep it that way please. Also please do not quote my posts that contain links to articles (etc) and these will change over time and mess up the thread, the same goes for the grammar nazi's.

Most of the stuff will probably be C# related, not that it matters since it's easily converted to VB.NET check out any of these:

• Convert C# to VB.NET - A free code conversion tool.
• Convert VB to C# or C# to VB - Code Converter
• Convert VB.Net to C# with C-Sharpener For VB
• SharpDevelop

Contents

• The Global Assembly Cache (GAC)
• WinForms
• Reporting
• Iterator Blocks
• Multi-threading
• SQL Related
• Dynamically Compiled Assemblies
• .NET and COM Interop
• Web Development
• Language Specific

If you've come here looking for something and you don't find it, please try and search for yourself, and don't post your problems here there's a whole forum for that.

[dequadin]

Multi-threading

• Aviad's Blog (Multi Threading.) <- One of the few atricles on threading that also includes UML.
• Threading in C# - By Joseph Albahari (Free Threading e-book)
• Multi-threading in .NET: Introduction and Suggestions - By Jon Skeet

[Pr⊕phet]

Excellent .NET Threading Articles

Aviad's Blog (Multi Threading.) <- One of the few atricles on threading that also includes UML.

Threading in C# By Joseph Albahari (Free e-book)

Multi-threading in .NET: Introduction and suggestions By Jon Skeet

nice. i would also add this

How to Search the Internet efficiently

[FarligOpptreden]

Awesome idea for a thread. The interest and willingness of users to share would dictate its success though...

[Pr⊕phet]

Awesome idea for a thread. The interest and willingness of users to share would dictate its success though...

www.gotreportviewer.com; that is about what i have to share for now as i'm doing a ****load of custom reports via rdlc at bosses command (and no nice nice xml way round it like i know you would suggest )

ReportViewer is a freely redistributable control that enables embedding reports in applications developed using the .NET Framework. Reports are designed with drag-and-drop simplicity using Report Designer included in Visual Studio 2008 (Standard editon and above.)

See screenshots of some applications that have ReportViewer control embedded in them.

The ReportViewer control offers the following benefits:

* Processes data efficiently. The reporting engine built into ReportViewer can perform operations such as filtering, sorting, grouping and aggregation.
* Supports a variety of ways in which to present data. You can present data as lists, tables, charts and matrices (also known as crosstabs.)
* Adds visual appeal. You can specify fonts, colors, border styles, background images etc to make your report visually appealing.
* Enables interactivity in reports. You can have collapsible sections, document map, bookmarks, interactive sorting etc in your report.
* Supports conditional formatting. You can embed expressions in the report to change display style dynamically based on data values.
* Supports printing and print preview.
* Supports export to Excel and PDF.

The control can process and render reports independently using a built-in engine ('local mode') or it can display reports that are processed and rendered on a Report Server ('remote mode').

There is a WinForms and a WebForms version of the control.

[dequadin]

Awesome idea for a thread. The interest and willingness of users to share would dictate its success though...

Very true, that why you web dev guys (ASP.NET) also need to contribute as I know _nothing_ in that field. Luckly I have a very large bookmark collection as I'm a self taught .NET developer off the interwebs, so I have a decent amount to contribute.

[FarligOpptreden]

I'll see if I can find a few interesting resources to share. I very rarely save a bookmark of articles I read. When I struggle to do something in ASP.NET or C#, I search for help, follow said advice and memorize the solution for future use. I never read the same article twice.

[AcidRaZor]

www.gotreportviewer.com; that is about what i have to share for now as i'm doing a ****load of custom reports via rdlc at bosses command (and no nice nice xml way round it like i know you would suggest )

That's not really new but thanks for sharing. A lot of people fall into the trap that they need a web server for that. FYI, only caveat I had when working with that is that you need to know how to setup and process your own dataset's (and most programmers I've shown the offline reporting tool couldn't really grasp it... )

[Pr⊕phet]

That's not really new but thanks for sharing. A lot of people fall into the trap that they need a web server for that. FYI, only caveat I had when working with that is that you need to know how to setup and process your own dataset's (and most programmers I've shown the offline reporting tool couldn't really grasp it... )

i really don't have anything ZOMG as its just the normal boring maintenance and or duplication, besides most "new" things i read comes via RSS

[dequadin]

Iterator Blocks

Eric Lippert's series on Iterator Blocks

• Iterator Blocks, Part One
• Iterator Blocks, Part Two: Why no ref or out parameters?
• Iterator Blocks, Part Three: Why no yield in finally?
• Iterator Blocks, Part Four: Why no yield in catch?
• Iterator Blocks, Part Five: Push vs Pull
• Iterator Blocks, Part Six: Why no unsafe code?
• Iterator Blocks, Part Seven: Why no anonymous iterators?

[FarligOpptreden]

Not necessarily .NET related, but SQL Server 2005+ related:

If you every tried to join a table to a table-valued function and got the exception "Multi-part identifier xx.xx not found" (or similar ) there is still hope in the form of CROSS / OUTER APPLY. So, your initial query that looked something like:

SELECT
    TB.PK_Field,
    TB.Value_Field_1,
    TB.Value_Field_2,
    FX.Calculated_Field_A,
    FX.Calculated_Field_B
FROM SomeTable TB 
    INNER JOIN SomeFunction(TB.PK_Field) FX ON 1 = 1

...would now look something like:

SELECT
    TB.PK_Field,
    TB.Value_Field_1,
    TB.Value_Field_2,
    FX.Calculated_Field_A,
    FX.Calculated_Field_B
FROM SomeTable TB 
    CROSS APPLY SomeFunction(TB.PK_Field) FX

The difference between CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY is that CROSS APPLY acts as an INNER JOIN (returning only rows with non-null values resulting from the function), where the OUTER APPLY acts as a LEFT JOIN (returning rows even if the function results in null values).

This took me a good 2 hours to figure out, with INNER, LEFT and CROSS joins all thrown into the mix. I even tried views to simulate what I wanted, but couldn't get the correct results. So, to anyone struggling with a similar problem, CROSS or OUTER APPLY is the answer!

Hope this little info session helps...

[dequadin]

Reporting

• ReportViewer for .NET
• Export data to Office 2007's XML-based formats.

[dequadin]

SQL Related

• Beginners guide to accessing SQL Server through C#
• Practical Guide to .NET DataTables, DataSets and DataGrids <- Essential Read, even for the old timers.
• Struggling to access SQL with C#
• Joining a table to a table-valued function and handling the exception "Multi-part identifier xx.xx not found"

Tools

• sqlmap
  

  sqlmap is an open source automatic SQL injection tool. It is able to detect and exploit SQL injections and allows the user to enumerate data from the database, execute commands on the operating system, establish an out-of-band connection and much more.

[dequadin]

The Global Assembly Cache (GAC)

• Demystifying the .NET Global Assembly Cache
• Disadvantages of using the GAC? <- Discussion of why you shouldn't use it. I've has issues with deployment before

[FarligOpptreden]

Awesome stuff. I'll try and get this stickied...