This article presents code that augments any INPUT box with an auto-suggest feature, AJAX-capable

Register now for ASP.NET Connections and Visual Studio & .NET Connections on November 5 - 8 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Learn all about the new features in Visual Studio 2008 from Microsoft and industry experts.

David M. Kean , has posted a list of Code Analysis rules which runs internally against Microsoft's own code inside Microsoft.

Read the complete list @ FxCop Team Blog

One of the most common things I see on the SubSonic forums is people asking about the Membership and Role providers running SubSonic. And another common thing I see are people saying they are going to write those providers... but it doesn't happen. So, I did it :) I started writing the Membership and Role providers a few days ago... and I finally finished coding the providers today. And I'm ready to publish!

 

I chose to do this project on Google Code (http://code.google.com/p/subsonicproviders/).

 

So I am announcing Beta 1! The providers should just work (requires a little config). I think we should incorporate some feedback from the SubSonic user-base before calling it "Version 1".

 

The one thing I am EXTREAMLY proud of is that we are going to ALWAYS put out the code in C# AND VB. I am a VB dev at heart that is starting to fall in love with C#! (I'm taking the BIG step in developing the SubSonic ASP.NET providers in C#!)

 

Hop on over to the Google Code site for the beta download. Don't forget to report your feedback!!!!!

 

(Send me an email at zowens@eagleenvision.net if you would like to contribute. SubSonic guys would be a plus :)   )

QUEENSLAND software developer Technology One has moved to acquire content management firm Avand in a $10 million deal.

An InnoSetup install script that downloads (if setup files don't exist) and installs .NET Framework 2.0 and it's dependencies.

Environment Variables Manager (EnvMan) is a tool written in C# .Net intended to handle the administration of Windows Shell Environment Variables. It is designed to replace Control Panel System Environment Manager and easily manage long variable values.

[Cross posted from Telerik Watch blog]

One of the fun little activities that took place at the recent DevReach conference in Bulgaria was a panel discussion on the current state of WPF. The panel featured Tim Huckaby, Brian Noyes, and yours truly (and the famous .NET Rocks hosts, of course) discussing the merits of WPF, dispelling some of the myths, and clarifying some of the misconceptions about designer tools available for WPF. Tim brought to the table excellent first hand experience using WPF to deliver solutions; Brian brought an incredible depth of technical WPF knowledge; I brought a unique perspective that needs a little introduction.

Ever since joining the "programming world" about 6 years ago, I have been reluctant to mention my "hidden" past as a graphic designer. Yes, that's right. I'm the artist in the room of engineers. For years I did freelance logo design, brand development, and designs for all variety of print projects. I cut my proverbial computer teeth on Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, and the Macromedia design products. In fact, in my early hunt for colleges RISD (Rhode Island School of Design or "riz-dee" for the initiated) and similar topped my list of interests.

"What in the world are you doing in programming?!" say you. Glad you asked. I may be an "artist" but I am also thoroughly pragmatic. I had no intention of becoming a "starving artist". With entrepreneurship in my blood, Texas A&M's highly ranked business school replaced my desire to go hang with hippie artists and involvement in the school's Student Council lead me to programming. An ugly (and I mean ugly) ASP application was dropped in my lap one day and I didn't run away. Quite the opposite. The web suddenly became my playground for building things and it gave me a venue to continue to flex my graphic designer muscles.

The rest (as everybody says) is history. I spent much of my own time learning as much as I could about building things for the web- ASP Classic, ASP.NET 1.x, ASP.NET 2, and now about 5,000 different Microsoft platforms. I never left my designer roots, though, so when Microsoft starts touting tools that "designers will love" my ears perk up.

I'll let you uncover my opinions on that marketing message in the .NET Rocks episode. Either way, that's my true background and the source of my unique perspective on this panel. Hopefully you'll enjoy the new point of view.

This article discusses how to create an HTML Editor server control for use within an ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 environment.

Christophe Lauer has an interesting post (en français) that emphasizes how well-positioned .NET developers are to take on all sorts of platforms. For example, Silverlight job offers are just starting to show up on the radar in the Indeed.com Job Trends where Adobe Flex remains the leader. As Christophe says, you can learn ActionScript and start working as a Flex developer but what can you switch to with that language under your belt? On the other hand, if you know the basic .NET Framework libraries...(read more)

@ ALT.NET Conference ,ScottGu gave an hour long presentation on the upcoming MVC Framework and I took some guerilla video. ScottGu's presentation is here in Silverlight and it's about 60 minutes long.

This was the first time the MVC Framework was shown publicly.  Note that this was a Prototype, not the Production code and both ScottGu and I make that point a number of times to drive home that it's early. Some of the code was written on a plane, just to give you an idea.

Read more @ Scott Hanselman's Blog

Que has released a new book covering ASP.NET 3.5. I think this is the first ever book on ASP.NET 3.5

Microsoft Expression Web Developer's Guide to ASP.NET 3.5, The: Learn to create ASP.NET applications using Visual Web Developer 2008

http://www.packtpub.com/community-server/book

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1847190871

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1847190871/

I don't know why but I randomly decided to see how well my SinglyLinkedListCollection<T> fared against the LinkedList<T> collection in System.Collections.Generic.

First off, my implementation supports pretty much everything that the MS LinkedList<T> does, that includes full LINQ support and so on.

Anyway, I added 5000 items to each to see what that would do - I actually expected the BCL data structure to be superior to mine.  I had done no real magic in my implementation, I had simply coded the thing after working out the various algorithms on paper.

Memory allocation:  both data structures are allocated 48 bytes total per instance, however I can only assume that the node used internally by the BCL collection has maybe another pointer i.e. it has a next and prev pointer, giving the ability to use it as a DoublyLinkedList? (I've not looked at it yet).  This is where my implementation kind of wins, although I'm pretty sure at this moment that the BCL node supports doubly linked list style structures - in any case as my node is smaller than that of the BCL one my implementation after 5000 instances are created totals 160,000 bytes, the BCL one on the other hand stands at 240,000 bytes so quite a reduction there.

FYI: my node size is 32 bytes, the BCL one is 48 bytes.

Out of curiosity I also benchmarked my DoublyLinkedListCollection<T> against the LinkedList<T> of the BCL and my node size is still smaller, this time only by 8 bytes per instance but it still add's up.  Same scenario, 5000 items added my implementation has been allocated 200,000 bytes where as the BCL one has been allocated 240,000 bytes - still a considerable saving, all be it slightly less.

Again, the actual data structures were allocated 48 bytes.

If you want to rip my implementations to bits then you can go ahead and download it from here: DSA 0.2.2 (you shouldn't notice any difference between these implementations and the BCL ones - both in terms of API and design time debugging experiences).

If you are still using HTML <table> elements to create page layouts, Chris Pels shows you why you should start using Cascading Style Sheets and <div> elements. We then learn how to create a custom membership provider and a custom profile provider for your ASP.NET application.

One of my favorite speakers, whom I rarely get to see, is coming to Calgary. Courtesy of The Calgary .NET User Group this months speaker is Michele Leroux Bustamante, aka DasBlonde, will be presenting at the Nexen Conference Centre Theatre on October 29th at 5pm (my Birthday! Yay for me). Michele will be presenting about Windows CardSpace.

CardSpace is a client technology that is part of the .NET Framework 3.0 that allows users to create, manage and share their digital identities in a secure and reliable manner. CardSpace makes it possible to create personal identities that replace the common user name and password for an application - with the strength of certificates and without the complexity. CardSpace also supports installing identities issued by third parties for authentication. This session will provide an overview of the identity metasystem in which CardSpace plays a role, and describe how it helps to prevent identity theft and increase trust in online transactions. You'll learn how to create and manage information cards, how they are used to generate tokens with the help of a Security Token Service (STS), and the role of the STS when CardSpace is incorporated in the authentication story for ASP.NET Web applications and WCF services and clients. You'll also learn how to trigger CardSpace from ASP.NET or WCF applications and services.

Should be fun so come on out and welcome Michele to Calgary. You can register for the event (free) here.