I'm not a happy coder right now.
I gave Eran, a new gifted programmer in my department, a task:

I have a simple table in my database, named Users, with the fields ID (int, identity) and Name(varchar).
I want to send xml to a web-service which looks like this:
<User>
    <ID>1</ID>
    <Name>Oren</Name>
</User>

I want the web-service to add this row to the Users table in some magic way. I thought that by using Typed DataSet, which will use the table's schema, and loading the xml into it will do the trick, but I was wrong. We tried many things but they didn't seem to work.

The reason I want to use schema is to verify the given data(xml) structure before I insert it to the DB (and of course, without it how the DS(DataSet) will "know" to load it properly?). In addition, if tomorrow I need to add Password field to Users table, the only thing I'll have to do is to re-generate the Typed DataSet and set the password via the xml (<Password>mypassword</Password>).

The code looks like this:

For some reason my ds isn't getting filled.

Do you have any idea what am I doing wrong ?

btw - I know I can always parse the xml by myself and create the required commands, but I thought it will be a maintenance nightmare and less comfortable than letting the schema & the Typed DataSet doing the job for me.

Update [20.09.2005]:

Amir Markowitz, again, came to the rescue and with his help we've managed to solve this one:

using (SqlDataAdapter adapter = new SqlDataAdapter("SELECT * FROM Users", connString))
{
   SqlCommandBuilder scb = new SqlCommandBuilder (adapter) ;
   UsersDS ds = new UsersDS();
                    
   XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(new StringReader(sXml));

   ds.ReadXml(reader);
   ds.ReadXmlSchema(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath (".") + "\\UsersDS.xsd");

   adapter.Update(ds.Tables["Users"]);
}

Now, the xml data (in "sXml" variable) looks like this:

I'm responsible for an hybrid ASP-ASP.NET application with an ASP log-in screen; This screen authenticate the user and set a unique session value in case he's valid. All the other ASP screens check this unique session value and let the user stay in the system as long as it exists. The problem was that there were ASP.NET pages that I had to use this security mechanism in them, meaning to check the session in my .aspx files in the same pattern (same unique session) as the other .asp pages did. In order to do that I had to access the ASP session from my ASP.NET pages, which is impossible due to the simple fact that they DO NOT share the same "room" (teenagers problems, you know). The solution came after googling a little bit and testing the suggested solution on my application.

The pattern goes like this:

Once again, I'm a happy camper.

I've encounter a numerous bad usages of try, catch and throw statements in my last 3 years in .NET so I thought to write here my "best practices" in this subject.

Before I begin, just to remind you about the "using" keyword

" The using statement defines a scope at the end of which an object will be disposed. " (MSDN)

Meaning, this code:

using (MyDisposableObject o = new MyDisposableObject())
{
   // use o...
}

Is equal to:

Searching Oren Ellenbogen in Google placed me on the third(3rd!) place !
It's a huge progress if you keep in mind that just last week I was at the 15th place (second page, at the middle)...

update [14.09.2005]:

I'm at the first place now ! Respect !

Man, I had a lot on my mind during the previous week.
The week began with installing my application in one of our client's server which was pretty hard task due to couple of unexpected incompatibilities - lack of local IIS(meaning - no debugger!) and AD(Active Directory) complicated tree structure. This two alone are a major headache for any programmer, but I'm glad that it's behind me now (another happy customer, I LOVE IT!). The week continued and I had to fix some nasty bugs in a couple of applications which I'm responsible for, which turns out nice - there is nothing better than a good bug and a good solution (IMHO anyway).

I spent the end of the week to prepare for my presentation on the next week. I'm going to talk about DHTML, XML and XMLHTTP with my co-worker Roee(which is going to talk about Javascript and the server-side .vs. client-side pros & cons) in one of IDF computers' unit. It's a huge time consuming task to organize a decent power-point presentation, a few demos and a set of exercises and most importantly - organize my time properly. But again, I can't complain because I love giving presentation and work a little on my speaking abilities and time organization abilities.

In addition, I'm working now on Localization and Member-Roles Management solutions for our new ASP.NET 1.1 application. I know those requirements have built-in solutions in ASP.NET 2.0, but the client demanded ASP.NET 1.1 so unfortunately I can't use them yet.

btw - I'll upload the presentations, demos and exercises about XML\DHTML\XMLHTTP at the end of next week, maybe it will save one of you some time.

OK, back to work...

Hey y'all,

I can't seem to stop, those add-ins bastards are too addictive !
Oh well, here are more great VS.NET add-ins you should all check them out:

1. GhostDoc - This great utility will able you to "auto" document your methods\properties with a single mouse click.
2. WhidbeyCommands 2 - Just read the man's post :) TIP: if you give presentations while using the VS.NET, you MUST download this baby (check out "Demo font" option) !
3. HandleWhiteSpace - Clean your files from unnecessary white spaces.

Sometimes we have to close the window after our screen logic has executed, so usually we're writing window.close(); in our page BUT this causes this message to arise -

If you want to avoid this message, simply write:

It's possible to use built in keywords in order to mark some lines in you code for later reference. For example, I use the "TODO" keyword as a remark over a set of lines I know I'll have to change later on -

As you can see, my TODO task is now appearing at my Visual Studio .Net "Task list" which is great for a constant reminder.
As default, the Task list shows only the "Build Errors" so in order to support other keywords you'll have to (mouse)right-click over one of the table headers ("Description" for example) -> Show Tasks -> All (or any other suitable option). In addition, you can select how to sort the results by (I use "Priority").

* If you want to change the custom tasks priority or names - go into Tools-> Options... -> Environment -> Task List.

It stroke me today at the train (on my way home) while I was reading a book named "Object Thinking" (by David West); I'm at chapter 7 which is talking about discovering the client domain, i.e what does he(the client) expect from the application. In short, although it's hard(especially if you're a technical person in your nature), you must understand the client's requirements without casting it to your world "I'll implement it with web-service" or "This is a classic multi-threading application"; You're job in this initiatory step is just to analyze the client's needs and trying to depict his world in simple "objects" world; What are my primary entities (for example: "Employee", "Employer", "Agreement" etc), what are the relationships between them and how the client expect to "activate" those entities (screens functionality).

I remembered my meeting with our last client and reading this stuff made me think about how well (?) did I managed to handle this task. While the client was depicting his world to me I was trying to understand and write his requirements and his special needs from the application. I've noticed that writing down the client's needs\remarks\requests sometimes stopped the conversation flow, caused needless repetition over the question & answers and sometimes even got me out of focus.

So, maybe tape-recording the entire meeting(well, the important stuff anyhow), concentrating on asking the right question and analyzing the answers later can create a better characterization ? better understanding of the client's domain ? shorter and more thorough meetings ?
It seems like a good idea, I think I'll give it a try on my next meeting.

What do you think?

Did I mention that I'm working with a well known hacker ?
Well, It's about time, so I present to you - Amir Markowitz aka "The Hacker".

Amir taught me today how to send javascript commands directly through the address bar !
Look at the "damage" he did to my site !

As you can see, he managed to change the background color in one simple command.

Think about changing Page_IsValid property or performing __doPostBack("","") through the address bar -

javascript:void(Page_IsValid=true); __doPostBack("","");

This could be deadly if you don't perform Server-side validation as well !

Read this post by the legendary Brad Abrams and watch the videos you're interested at. I've seen "Designing Inheritance Hierarchies" and "Enabling Development Tools" videos (for the moment) and I promise that you can learn a thing or two as well .

Happy learning...

update:
I thought it will be interesting to write my notes from the Designing Inheritance Hierarchies video, so here it is:

1. Interfaces don't allow backward compatibility ! Let's assume we have to following interface

         public interface IMyInterface
         {
              void MyMethod();
         }

   Now let's assume that I have MyClass which inherits from IMyInterface. If I'll decide to add a new 
   signature to the interface, MyClass will be broken (TypeLoadException will be thrown in compile time).

2. Base Classes version better than interfaces - if MyClass was inherited from MyBaseClass instead of IMyInterface I wouldn't have a problem to add new signatures to the class without causing the inherited classes to break.
3. If you must inherit from 2 "root" classes, the recommended pattern is:

         public class A {}
         public class B {}
       
         public class C : A // Let's assume that A is "more" root to C than B
         {
            public B BInstance
            {
               get
               {
                   // return B class instance.
               }
            }
         }

4. You can use Interfaces in "private" way via Explicit declaration:

I'm currently using a .resx file at my projects to contain my friendly client's messages. I'm reading from this file via ResourceManager class which allows me to supply consistent messages at my GUI layer, e.g for every successful delete in my application you'll get the same message format "The {0} was deleted successfully" - in my "Workers" form you'll see The worker was deleted successfully and in my "Cars" form you'll see The car was deleted successfully;

I've encounter the SR (String Resource) Generator a week ago and I thought to give it a try. So, what is SR generator ?

" This custom tool allows the generation of a resource class (and optionally .resx file) from either a .resx file, or the Microsoft SR.strings file. "

I think that a simple example will show the tool's capabilities.

1. I've downloaded the source which also includes the .msi file and installed it.
2. I've added a file named SR.strings to my web application:

            

3. I've used the "Custom Tool" option and call SRCodeGen - this is an EXE which will parse your .strings file.
            
    
4. Next I've edit the SR.strings file -       

     [strings]
     Worker = Worker
     ItemDeleted(string itemName) = The {0} was deleted successfully.
     ItemAdded(int itemId, string itemName) = The {1} was added successfully, it's new ID is: {0}.

     [strings.he]
     Worker = עובד
     ItemDeleted(string itemName) = ה{0} נמחק בהצלחה.
     ItemAdded(int itemId, string itemName) = ה{1} נוסף בהצלחה, מספרו החדש {0}.

5. I've saved the file in UTF-8 format, for Hebrew support.
            
    
6. Rebuild the web project, this will cause the SRCodeGen to generate required files:
                  
7. Now lets use the SR class which was generated for us, here is my usage of it 
         PageMessage.Text = SR.ItemDeleted(SR.Worker); // In my Worker.Delete()
 
         OR
         
         PageMessage.Text = SR.ItemAdded(newId, SR.Worker); // In my Worker.Add()
 
8. Finally we can select the SR.Culture we want to use, so the messages will be formated in the correct language. This can be done easily be calling:

         You can put this code in your Global.asax.cs in Application_Start method or 
         change it at any time, according to your needs.

This tool is a MUST in my opinion for two main reasons:

1. IntelliSense, IntelliSense, IntelliSense ! (don't you love it ?!?!).
2. Changing the messages Culture requires only one line of code, simple as that.

If you're trying to postback from a modal dialog window, you'll see that a new window will open up with the results. In order to stay at the same window, use <base> element inside the document's <head> element -

<html>
   <head>
      ....
      <base target="_self"/>
   </head>
   ....
</html>

As you aware by now, I'm kind of programming-gadgets freak. After sharing with you the magic of SlickRun I thought it will be nice (of you to listen, I'm gonna write it anyway) to recommend about another two tools.

• Visual XPath - After reading Justin's recommendation about it I thought to give it a try. In my every day work I'm handling a lot of xml, mostly via XmlHttp or sophisticated client side-work (like dependable DropDownLists, custom validations, building dynamic html) and this tool just give you great ability to test XPath phrases with no effort and nice GUI (always important). 

• VSTabs - My second recommended tool is actually an add-in for Visual Studio .NET; The greatest value of this add-in IMHO is the file wrapping tab. It "smart" enough to wrap your .aspx file with it's .cs file and put them all in one tab. Well, one image is better than 1000 words so -

          

I'm currently developing a "2-weeks-max" application for an Israeli bank (If you see "Israeli bank" instead of the name of the bank, you don't have sufficient privileges ). The characterization was written and approved on the fly, without a deep understanding of the client's domain, i.e what are the other applications that the users use in his every day work ? are they look the same ? does he "MUST" have some features that his already used to in his other applications ?

1. Requester drop down list: show all the users from a specific group in the AD (active directory).
2. A->B->C linked drop down list: 3  DDL (drop down list) which are connected meaning that when you select a different value in A DDL all the values in B&C DDLs must show all the children of A (changing B will change C values of course).

1. Don't give a fast reply for hours estimation just to move along and get the development process running, it WILL hurt you later on.
2. Always try to understand the solution domain as well as the client's domain. Ask him to show you other applications that he uses for his every day work, ask him if he wants the same GUI in his new application that you're going to develop for him. If he does, think about the amount of time you'll be needed in order to do that, do you need to use a specific "template" so the new application will look the same as his old ones (how are you going to integrate it with ease?), do you need to allow him some special features that his already used to (auto-complete drop down list)? do you need to support key combination (Ctrl+S will save his document) ? In a "clean"(without technical considerations) characterization it probably will not be shown, but you must consider it in the technical characterization(if you have one) and in your total hours estimation ! Don't forget that the user thinks that adding a new feature to the application is an easy task because he already saw those features in other applications he uses every day ("can't you simply copy it from here???") - you must remind him that it's not a trivial task, and allow him to choose if he wants to spend time on these features.
3. "Milk" the client for information, write all the possible scenarios that the client expect the system to handle. What screen X will show when I login as Administrator, what it will show when I login as Technician, as Supervisor ? Don't start programming unless you have the answers for those client "trivial" scenarios, refactoring will be a bitch !
4. update: just to clarify, I didn't write the characterization and neither was my PM (project manager), it was written by another co-worker a long time ago. This is a huge mistake IMHO, you must ask the implementors, if you're not one of them, for their opinion on the development process before you can give your hours estimation.