:C#, VS Deployment and all geek talk

Check out

http://blogs.msdn.com/csharpfaq/archive/2006/03/20/556192.aspx 

for a FAQ on Hashtable lookup for value types.

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Check out http://www.developer.com/net/csharp/article.php/3589916 for my article on “Anonymous Types“, This cool new feature coming in C# 3.0 is surely going to go places.

Codeguru also contains the same article at http://www.codeguru.com/csharp/csharp/cs_misc/designtechniques/article.php/c11551/

Next stop, extension methods.

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Many a times, we use the catch block inside the try catch block for our clean up code.

Something like

try

{

 // Do something

}

catch

{

    // work failed, clean up code here
}

Rather than the above approach of using the catch block, it would be nicer to use the finally block, something like

bool workSuccessful = false;

try

{

   // do some work

   workSuccessful = true;

}

finally

{

  if(!workSuccessfull)

  {

    // cleanup code here.

  }

}

There is elegance in the latter method and I would certainly recommend that approach, if you cannot use “using“. See below for details.

PS: Use this approach only if better alternatives are not available. One of the automatic cleanup approaches available with C# is the using construct.

Something like,

using (TextReader tr = new StreamReader(“FileName”))

{

  // do my work here.

}

The “using” construct automatically clean up the unmanaged resource (TextReader) once the block has completed execution.

In the event that you cannot use “using“, the try-finally approach would be the best way.

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Visual Studio.NET Service Packs are due this year, but their site is up already (The site clearly mentions it is still in process)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/support/servicing/default.aspx

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Want to learn more about Visual Studio 2005.

MSDN magazine folks have come  up with a new issue dedicated solely to the new IDE.

Check it out online at http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/00/default.aspx

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One of the lightly used features of VS2003 and VS2005 continue to be Incremental search. Developers usually know the text which they are searching for.

Due to lack of awareness of the VS editor features, I have seen many a developers editing code in TextPad and other editors.

If you know the exact text which you are searching for, you can use the incremental search feature of Visual Studio.

Press Ctrl + I. and start typing the text you are looking for. Your cursor will start to look like binocular facing downloads, and the first text matching the pattern will be selected. As you keep typing the complete text, the selection will jump to the location with contains the complete text. The status bar will contain the text you are looking for.

Hot keys:

Start Incremental Search: Ctrl + I

Made a mistake in typing: Hit Backspace till the wrong text is removed

Found the text you were searching for: Hit Escape

Change the search direction: Ctrl + Shift + I

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While we are on the topic of System.Web.Mail, it is important to note a new namespace in version 2.0 of the .NET Framework.  There is a brand new namespace for sending mail via managed code, it is called System.Net.Mail.  Have no fear, System.Web.Mail is still accessible in v2.0 but it is deprecated.  (Which means v2.0 won’t break your code but you should strongly consider using System.Net.Mail in new development.)  The documentation for System.Web.Mail is updated to reflect this.

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Do you have some students who want to learn Visual Basic .NET or C# on their own? Or perhaps you want to learn them as part of your own professional development. Well if so, Microsoft has a free series of lessons for absolute beginners. They look pretty good to me. I am sure that may others will find them useful as well.

Visual Basic Express – http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/learning/default.aspx

Visual C# Express – http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/learning/default.aspx

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Download links

• WinFX Runtime Components (Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation) 
  
• WinFX SDK (documentation and command-line tools)
  
• VS2005 Extensions for WinFX Runtime Components (templates and IntelliSense for WPF and WCF in Visual Studio 2005)
  
• VS2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation (templates and IntelliSense for WF in Visual Studio 2005)
  
• WinFX RC Nov CTP “Readme” (general notes and warnings)

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