By Buck on August 26, 2010
LINQPad is a great tool for writing Linq queries but it also makes an excellent scratch pad for writing C# and VB bits. I am currently learning C# and I use it all the time to test out sample code.
You can also see your code in IL, which has been an interesting exercise for me.

Oh and you can query SQL Server, Entity Framework, Odata, and other data stores with it. Check it out and download it from here.
Posted in Dev Tools
By Buck on July 6, 2010
BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees, usually centered around design & technology topics. Read more and register here.
Posted in User Groups
By Buck on March 8, 2010
The Kalamazoo X Conference 2010 will be held April 10, 2010.
The X Conference is a one-day software development conference hosted in beautiful Southwest Michigan. While there are many great technical conferences in the region, their focus tends toward new technologies and programming languages. The Kalamazoo X Conference intends to uniquely complement those conferences by enabling attendees to boost their process, design, and communication skills in the following areas:
- Human interaction, including social, personal, and career development.
- Interface and graphic design.
- Development processes and best practices.
- Requirements analysis, architecture, design, and modeling.
I went to this last year and it was one of the best conferences that I have ever attended. If you are even remotely interested in a career in technology I would recommend that you try and make it to this one.
Details here.
Posted in User Groups
By Buck on January 26, 2010
Location: Blue Granite Corporate Offices (directions) Also to be broadcast via Microsoft Live Meeting. Call Information listed below if attending via Livemeeting. Date: Tuesday 1/26/2010 Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm
- 6:00pm – 6:30pm Welcome Mixer / Pizza / Beverages
- 6:30pm – 6:45pm General Announcements / WMSSUG Business
- 6:45pm – 7:45pm Presentation and Q&A
- 7:45pm – 8:00pm Closing remarks / Giveaways
View Map here.
Posted in User Groups
By Buck on January 4, 2010
SQL Dennis points out that Windows 7 as well as Vista has a god mode.
Basically you add a new folder to your desktop and name it GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. After that is done you will see a new icon on your desktop, which gives you access to most, if not all, Windows settings in one place.
See this for details and comments.
Posted in Windows
By Buck on December 31, 2009
First Declare a form level Dataset
Public Class frmCSV
Dim ds As New DataSet
Next connect to your data source and build your dataset. In this case I am going to build one on the fly with this
Private Sub BuildDS()
Dim dt As New DataTable
Dim dr As DataRow
Dim idColumn As DataColumn = _
New DataColumn("ID", Type.GetType("System.Int32"))
Dim FNColumn As DataColumn = _
New DataColumn("FirstName", Type.GetType("System.String"))
Dim LNColumn As DataColumn = _
New DataColumn("LastName", Type.GetType("System.String"))
dt.Columns.Add(idColumn)
dt.Columns.Add(FNColumn)
dt.Columns.Add(LNColumn)
dr = dt.NewRow()
dr("ID") = 1
dr("FirstName") = "Randy"
dr("LastName") = "Flag"
dt.Rows.Add(dr)
dr = dt.NewRow()
dr("ID") = 2
dr("FirstName") = "Tom"
dr("LastName") = "Servo"
dt.Rows.Add(dr)
ds.Tables.Add(dt)
End Sub
Now the code to loop trough your dataset and write the results to a file.
Private Sub WriteDS2CSV(ByVal ds As DataSet, ByVal FilePath As String)
Dim str As New System.Text.StringBuilder
For Each dr As DataRow In ds.Tables(0).Rows
For Each field As Object In dr.ItemArray
str.Append(field.ToString & ",")
Next
str.Replace(",", vbNewLine, str.Length - 1, 1)
Next
Try
My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText(FilePath, str.ToString, False)
MessageBox.Show("File Created", "Success", MessageBoxButtons.OK)
Catch ex As Exception
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Write Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK)
End Try
End Sub
All that is left is to actually build the dataset and then pass it as well as the file name and path to the WriteDS2CSV sub.
Private Sub btnWriteCSV_Click( _
ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnWriteCSV.Click
BuildDS()
WriteDS2CSV(ds, "C:\dsExport.csv")
End Sub
Posted in VB Bits
By Buck on October 27, 2009
A handy little function to remove the name part of an email address.
Public Class Form1
Public Function getNameFromEmail(ByVal strEmail As String) As String
' This purpose of this function is to return the
' name part of an email address. For instance
' joe@somewhere.com would return just joe.
' Use the IndexOf to find out how many characters
' in the @ sign is so I can use that number later
' to determine the amount of characters to select
' in the substring.
Dim i As Integer = strEmail.IndexOf("@")
Dim newstring As String = strEmail.Substring(0, i)
Return newstring
End Function
Private Sub Button1_Click( _
ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim emailArray() As String = { _
"me@somewhere.com", _
"you@anywhere.com", _
"them@nowhere.com"}
For Each emailName As String In emailArray
Dim strMess As String = CStr(getNameFromEmail(emailName))
MessageBox.Show(strMess, "Email Name Test", _
MessageBoxButtons.OK)
Next
End Sub
End Class
Posted in VB Bits
By Buck on October 13, 2009
This a nice little application that allows you to edit iPhone photos on the fly. It includes a simple toolbar-style drop-down menu that lets you choose from a list of editing tools and effects. There is an option to set up an online account at Photoshop.com but it can be used with your own library of pictures.
Just search photoshop at the app store.
Posted in iPhone
By Buck on September 30, 2009
Real World Azure presented by Dave Bost
What is the Windows Azure Platform? How can I take advantage of the Windows Azure Platform to scale my applications? We will answer these questions and more as we dive into the parts of the Windows Azure Platform and why it is the best cloud computing platform for .NET developers. We will discuss how to take advantage of Web and Worker roles to expose your application to your customers and to scale your computing power with a flip of a switch. We will also dive into the storage options found in the Windows Azure Platform including Table, Blob, Queues and the recently announced SQL Azure.
October 6th at the Michiana Area .net User Group. More information here.
Posted in User Groups
By Buck on September 29, 2009
About Microsoft Security Essentials
Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.
Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.
It must be those Mac adds have really got to them. Find out more and down load here.
Posted in Misc