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- Visual Studio 2008 simplifies JavaScript debugging
- One of the more cumbersome development tasks is debugging client-side JavaScript code. Tools such as Firebug are helpful, but in the case of Firebug, you're forced to use Firefox. Thankfully, Visual Studio 2008 provides a robust and developer-friendly environment for debugging JavaScript. Simplification Whenever I hear developers discuss...
- Tags: Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, JavaScript, Debugger, Breakpoint, Breakpoints, Figure B, Microsoft Development Tools, Scripting Languages, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-05-15
- Friendlier source code with two Firefox add-ons
- While Internet Explorer is popular with users, Firefox is the best browser for Web developers. I continue to discover and take advantage of the myriad of add-ons available for Firefox. I recently discovered two tools -- View formatted source and View Source Chart -- for viewing and working with the...
- Tags: Web, TechRepublic Inc., Source Code, Mozilla Firefox, Page, Web Browser, Tool, Add-on, CSS Rule, Figure D, CSS, Web Browsers, Productivity, Scripting Languages, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Internet, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-05-12
- Silverlight 2.0 offers paradigm shift from predecessor
- Most Web developers know better than judging a Microsoft product by its first iteration. For this reason, I was intrigued by the recent beta release of Silverlight 2.0. Silverlight provides a platform for Rich Internet Applications RIAs to build dynamic user interfaces that are platform and browser...
- Tags: User Interface, Microsoft Silverlight, Windows Presentation Foundation Windows Presentation Foundation, .Net, Microsoft Windows, Middleware, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Operating Systems, Software, Enterprise Software, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-05-05
- Develop secure software using the Microsoft SDL process
- Microsoft has put its first-hand knowledge of dealing with buggy software to very good use by releasing the Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle SDL to the general public. The document is based on the same process used internally at Microsoft. The Microsoft SDL documents a process for...
- Tags: Software, Application, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft SDL, Developer Education, Software Development, Security, Software/Web Development, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-04-28
- Demonstrate your .NET 3.5 prowess with certifications
- I talked to several developers recently who are wondering about Microsoft .NET 3.5 certification and how it relates to their .NET 2.0 and .NET 1.1 certs. Here's an overview of where Microsoft is going with its .NET certification and what a developer with .NET 1.1 or 2.0 certification should plan...
- Tags: Certification, Exam, Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Microsoft Corp., .NET 2.0 Exam, TS, .Net, Application Servers, Middleware, Quality, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Enterprise Software, Software, Business Operations, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-04-21
- Create custom Visual Studio 2005 code snippets
- Visual Studio 2005's built-in code snippets are great, but you can extend the concept by creating custom code snippets to easily reuse common code blocks in your application. This tutorial walks you through the process of creating custom code snippets. Creating the file Code snippets are defined in...
- Tags: Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Snippet, CodeSnippets Element, Code Element, Microsoft Development Tools, XML, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-04-18
- Take advantage of code snippets in Visual Studio 2005
- The auto-complete features of Visual Studio .NET are wonderful if you are a Visual Basic developer, but C# developers sorely missed out on the feature. (Of course, C# developers who never use Visual Basic may be unaware of its existence.) Fortunately, Visual Studio 2005 brings auto-complete for code snippets to...
- Tags: Folder, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft Visual Basic, Snippet, CodeSnippets Element, Declarations Element, Code Element, Microsoft Development Tools, C#, Programming Languages, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-04-15
- Customize your Web browsing experience with Greasemonkey
- After I wrote about the Firefox add-on Chickenfoot, TechRepublic members e-mailed me to point out other tools provide similar functionality. Based on member feedback, Greasemonkey is one of the more popular add-ons. Discover how you can use Greasemonkey to extend and customize the Web browsing experience. Extensibility Greasemonkey...
- Tags: Web, Script, Greasemonkey, Wrapper, Channel Management, Web Browsers, Marketing, Internet, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-04-14
- Don't sweat migrating legacy .NET projects to Visual Studio 2008
- I'm always a bit apprehensive when moving to a new development tool or a new version of an existing tool because of the possibility of breaking existing code and projects. Little did I know that migrating to Visual Studio 2008 would be such a breeze. Visual Studio...
- Tags: Project, Microsoft Visual Studio, Solution, Microsoft .NET, Version, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Conversion, Solution File, Wizard, Microsoft Development Tools, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-04-07
- Adapt to your audience with CSS media types
- In addition to worrying about browsers, Web standards, and more, you also have to consider the multitude of devices or media that may be used to view a site. The CSS media type provides the functionality to build Web applications whose presentation may vary with its target media. Here's an...
- Tags: Media, CSS Media Type, Media Type, Font Family, Emacspeak Browser, CSS, Advertising & Promotion, Scripting Languages, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Marketing, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-04-04
- Limit postbacks with ASP.NET 2.0 client callbacks
- Developers have been grappling with the stateless nature of the Web since its inception. That is, once a page has been requested and loaded, the connection to the server is gone. The AJAX movement has put the spotlight on the XMLHTTP object, which enables server communication in...
- Tags: Function, Method, Page, Callback, Microsoft ASP.NET, Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0, AJAX Movement, GetCallbackResult Method, AJAX, .Net, Servers, Middleware, Internet, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Web 2.0, Software Development, Hardware, Enterprise Software, Software, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-04-01
- Disclose data collection practices via privacy policies
- Since Web site visitors are understandably wary of providing personal data, a common practice for Internet sites is to provide a privacy policy. In addition, an Internet standard for such policies has developed as well. Let's take a closer look at providing a privacy policy on your site. Collecting...
- Tags: Web, P3P, Policy, Site, Privacy Policy, Cookies, Privacy Setting, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-31
- Implement custom paging with SQL Server 2005
- In previous columns, I covered the basics of using the .NET 3.5 ListView control and explained how to pair it with the DataPager control. Now I'll show you how to use these controls with a SQL Server 2005 backend to implement custom paging, in which only a subset of the...
- Tags: Function, Microsoft SQL Server, Data, Paging, Row, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, DataPager, ViewState, GetData Method, ID, newIndex, Servers, Databases, Enterprise Software, Hardware, Software, Data Management, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-25
- Automate and extend Firefox with the Chickenfoot add-on
- Chickenfoot is a Firefox add-on that allows you to automate user actions within the browser environment. It also lets you extend the browser interface to provide additional features to a Web page. Before I delve into how this add-on can make your Web development work easier, I...
- Tags: Web, TechRepublic Inc., Mozilla Firefox, JavaScript, Web Browser, Web Page, Tool, Chickenfoot, User Action, Search, Web Browsers, Channel Management, AJAX, Internet, Marketing, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Web 2.0, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-24
- Browse ListView data with .NET's DataPager control
- Microsoft .NET 3.5 introduces the DataPager control, which delivers a paging interface that is tied to the ListView control. DataPager also communicates with its corresponding ListView control regarding user input. Here's an explanation of how you can use the DataPager control to page through ListView data. DataPager's basic properties...
- Tags: Microsoft .NET, Page, Control, Data, Paging, Title, ListView, DataPager, Microsoft .NET 3.5, PagerControlID, PageSize, ID, Site Id, PageSize Property, ButtonType, Button, ShowNextPageButton, ShowPreviousPageButton, NextPreviousPagerField Element, NumericPagerField Element, TemplatePagerField Element, Servers, Hardware, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-18
- Moving to CSS-based layouts with the YUI Library
- While initiating a recent project to make substantial changes to an existing Web application, it was decided to dump the table-based layout used in its original design in favor of CSS. We opted to use the Yahoo! User Interface YUI Library after evaluating different approaches. The YUI Library provides core...
- Tags: HTML, Menu, Yahoo! Inc., Class, Column, Layout, Yahoo! User Interface Library, Header, Background Color, Yahoo! User Interface Grids CSS, CSS, Scripting Languages, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-17
- Display data with .NET's ListView control
- The GridView data control introduced in .NET 2.0 was an improvement over the DataGrid data control in .NET 1.x, but there were still drawbacks, especially with loading and paging through data. Microsoft recognized the shortcomings and addressed them with the introduction of the ListView control in .NET 3.5. With the ListView...
- Tags: HTML, Control, Data, Title, ListView, GridView, Templates, ItemTemplate, LayoutTemplate, ID, .Net, Servers, Middleware, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Hardware, Enterprise Software, Software, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-11
- Be aware of AJAX's drawbacks
- AJAX combines the power of existing Web technologies to build powerful user interfaces that offer benefits often found in desktop applications. Over the past couple of years, Web developers have embraced AJAX in their own development efforts as well as via third-party toolkits. Once you use an...
- Tags: Application, Data, Really Simple History, O'Reilly, Security Security, AJAX, Internet, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Web 2.0, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-10
- Look inside .NET DLL files with Reflector
- During a recent project, I found myself in an awkward though not unique situation. The client had code in a repository as well as in production, but they were unsure about what functionality had actually been deployed. After lengthy discussions, we decompiled the production Dynamic Link Library DDL files and...
- Tags: Source Code, Assembly, Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Intermediate Language, Microsoft Corp., Choice, Tool, Reflector, CodePlex Site, Spices.NET, Obfuscation, Productivity, .Net, Middleware, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Enterprise Software, Software, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-04
- Firefox 3 Beta 3 offers numerous features for developers
- There was a common thread to the reader feedback about my article on Safari 3: Developers are loyal to Firefox. Firefox's support for customization and standards, along with plenty of add-ons, has made it a favorite among developers; however, this support has been strained as other browsers have caught up....
- Tags: Developer, Web, Mozilla Firefox, Beta, Web Browser, Mozilla Corp., Feature, Firefox 3 Beta 3, Performance Firefox 3, Web Browsers, Internet, Tony Patton
- Blog posts 2008-03-03
