Rick Strahl's Web Log

Weblog Posts in February 2009

"Variable is assigned but its Value is never used" Warning
February 28, 2009 @ 2:42 am

It’s late, but here’s a little humor for ‘ya. I’ve been noticing recently that I’ve been getting some odd warnings in Visual Studio for variables that are defined and never used. Check out the following screen shot from C# code editor: Notice how the compiler is warning about isSelected not being used, but as you can see just a few lines down it is in fact being used in an assignment. At first I...

26 comments

Showing Syntax Colored Source Code in ASP.NET Content
February 25, 2009 @ 1:30 am

Code Syntax Highlighting in HTML pages and the ability to display source code for specific pages in samples is something I do a lot of. Here is what I use for code highlighting in text snippets and for displaying source code in samples easily.

5 comments

Now Packaged with Less Plastic
February 24, 2009 @ 8:46 pm

Really? I can only imagine what the packaging must have looked before “Now”. This bugs the shit out of me. Why do manufactures have to waste resources like this? This packaging for 3 lousy memory sticks is gel plastic and is the size of a 8x14 piece of paper. What the hell for? Marketing? You think people will actually stop and go – gee, look at that nice packaging? Wasted resources, increased...

32 comments

Using Enums in List Controls
February 20, 2009 @ 12:00 am

Using enums for display value in applications can be nice and easy with a little bit of help. While enums generally shouldn't be treated as data, in some situations it might just be more convenient to use enum definitions rather than database look up tables for data that is defined in the object/domain model. Here are a few ways you can easily use these enum values.

22 comments

Error Creating Control Errors in the ASP.NET Designer
February 16, 2009 @ 3:32 am

I've been suffering from ASP.NET designer errors that force a Visual Studio restart. I don't use the designer very much - just for a few special cases like using Extender controls - but when I do the designer is incredibly frustrating and here is another example just why.

16 comments

WSDL Imports without WSDL.exe
February 12, 2009 @ 4:01 am

A couple of weeks back I have been working on a Web Service client tool for COM clients. With the SOAP Toolkit DOA one of the things that old (for me most FoxPro apps of clients) apps need to do is access Web Services and .NET is really become the only viable option if calling a complex service is required. I’ve been swamped with work in this area recently (which isn’t a bad thing) but clearly a...

6 comments

Quality of Life Home Improvements
February 09, 2009 @ 4:39 am

You might be wondering why the level of postings on my blog has dropped a bit in the last couple of months. For the last nearly 3 months I’ve been involved in a major home renovation of my house here on Maui and it’s taken a lot of energy, even though I wasn’t doing the work myself. But there are a decisions to make with contractors running around constantly making noise and living with torn up...

12 comments

Html and Uri String Encoding without System.Web
February 05, 2009 @ 5:17 am

Url and Html encoding/decoding is provided on the HttpUtility class in System.Web but in non-Web applications it's not a good idea to force a reference to System.Web into a client project. Here are a few thoughts on alternatives you can use.

18 comments

FeedBurner and RSS feeds in IE 7 and 8
February 02, 2009 @ 12:44 pm

I’ve noticed that recently FeedBurner’s feeds no longer display in IE’s auto RSS styling format. Normally if you open an RSS feed in IE 7/8 the feed is rendered using an internal style sheet that pretty formats the RSS feed and provides a few filtering and subscription options natively. Here’s what my RSS feed SHOULD look like in IE 7/8: This feed is displayed from:...

14 comments