Fabrice's weblog
Tools and Source
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LINQ update: May 2006 CTP
LINQ (including DLinq and XLinq) has just been udpated!
There are many new features to discover. This update includes:- Productivity enhancements via DLINQ designer and debugger support within the Visual Studio 2005 IDE.
- Support for a broader range of development scenarios thanks to new databinding and ASP.NET support.
- Ability to integrate LINQ with existing code through features like LINQ over DataSet and DLINQ improvements including inheritance.
- Feedback driven features including deep stored procedure support, since the earlier CTP.
Get ready to see many posts about LINQ on this weblog. More on this soon...
[Linq home page, Linq CTP download] (The download link seems to have problems but should be back soon)
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Visual Studio 2005 Web Application Project model is released
As announced by Scott Guthrie, the Visual Studio 2005 Web Application Project model is now available as a final release. You can get it on the dedicated page.
It will be included in the first VS 2005 Service Pack, but you can start using it right now.
You may wish to read the introduction to this model to learn more. -
Attach to Visual Studio's Development Web Server easily using a macro
Something I have to do frequently is attaching to a running web application for debugging purposes. I don't always start my web applications in debug mode, but I often need to attach at some point when doing some testing.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this from Visual Studio. We have to attach to the server process "by hand". After some time doing this, you'll find it a bit boring...
Here is a quick-n-dirty solution. It's a simple macro that attaches to the first web server process it finds. Just copy the code below to your macros using the Macro IDE (Tools | Macros | Macro IDE...).
Once you have the macro, you can:- add a button to a toolbar by right-clicking on the toolbars, then "Customize... | Commands | Macros" and drag & drop the command on the toolbar of your choice
- map a shortcut key to it using "Tools | Options | Environment | Keyboard" and search for the AttachToFirstDevWebServer
Warning 2: the code searches for Visual Studio 2005's integrated Development Web Server. To attach to IIS instead (from VS 2003 for example), you'll have to adapt the code to attach to aspnet_wp.exe.
' This subroutine attaches to the first Development Web Server found.
Public Sub AttachToFirstDevWebServer()
Dim process As EnvDTE.Process
For Each process In DTE.Debugger.LocalProcesses
If (Path.GetFileName(process.Name).ToLower() = "webdev.webserver.exe") Then
process.Attach()
Exit Sub
End If
Next
MsgBox("No ASP.NET Development Server found")
End Sub
Update: you may have to replace "webdev.webserver.exe" by "webdev.webserver2.exe" - add a button to a toolbar by right-clicking on the toolbars, then "Customize... | Commands | Macros" and drag & drop the command on the toolbar of your choice
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MVP again in 2006
I'm not the first of the April gang to announce my nomination as an MVP for one more year, but count me in for a third year.
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New Atlas release with "go-live" license
As announced on the Atlas weblog, you can now produce ASP.NET applications using Atlas since there is a "Go Live" license coming with the March CTP release of Atlas.
You can get the new release and a lot of information directly from the Atlas web site.
There is even a contest you can participate in to win prizes if you build an application using Atlas.
"Atlas" is a set of technologies to add AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) support to ASP.NET. It consists of a client-side script framework, server controls and more. Atlas is a free add-on to ASP.NET. -
Vote for SharpToolbox at the asp.netPRO Readers' Choice Awards
If you like SharpToolbox, it's time to vote (before April 2)!
SharpToolbox is proposed in the "Community Resource" category of the asp.netPRO Readers' Choice Awards
Thanks for your help!
PS: The site for voting does not always work. Please try again later... -
PageMethods updates for VS 2003 and VS 2005
New versions of PageMethods have been released:
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Windows Forms and WPF interoperability preview
Those of you who are actively developing Windows Forms application may wonder what will happen when Avalon/WPF is ready. Will you have to rewrite your user interfaces completely in XAML? When and how will you have to migrate?
Mike Henderlight from Microsoft gives you hints with his presentations about Crossbow, which is a piece of technology to build hybrid Windows Forms and WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) applications.
Crossbow is part of the WinFX SDK and will be included in the February CTP.- Introducing Windows Forms - WPF Interoperability
- Feb 2006 CTP announcement on Crossbow
- Slides from PDC 2005
- Video "Crossbow" - Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation Interoperability
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NDoc project stalled, no version for 2.0. What is Microsoft doing?
NDoc is a very useful open source project that generates reference documentation from .NET assemblies and the XML documentation files generated by the C# compiler (or an add-on tool for VB.NET). NDoc generates documentation in several different formats, including the MSDN-style HTML Help format (.chm), the Visual Studio .NET Help format (HTML Help 2), and MSDN-online style web pages, which is much better than just the XML file we get from the compiler...
Unfortunately, NDoc has not been ported to .NET 2.0 yet. There are some commercial tools available - not even sure they offer support for .NET 2.0 - but I think support for generating and integrating documentation should be built in Visual Studio. Josh Ledgard (lead program manager at Microsoft's developer division) writes about this problem, and asks how Microsoft could lend a hand to NDoc and other non-MS developer tools. This is an interesting question. Make sure to read the discussion in the comments.
To get back to NDoc, if ever someone could help Jonas Lagerblad make progress...
Update: Kevin Downs - main developer of NDoc 1.3 and the titular admin of the project - writes in a comment that he is working on NDoc 2.0 and has an alpha version available for testers.
Update: NDoc 2 development stopped. Microsoft releases Sandcastle. -
Work with Visual Studio 2005, Build for .NET 1.1
Via Larkware: Microsoft has released MSBee Beta 1.
MSBee means MSBuild Everett Environment. Everett beeing the codename for .NET 1.1, MSBee is an extension for MSBuild that allows developers to build managed applications in Visual Studio 2005 that target .NET 1.1.
A small limitation to know though: "At this time, we are not planning to add IDE support. Since MSBee will be a shared source release, the potential is there for the community to provide this support.".
Update: Bruno Baia made the test, and yes, you can compile directly from VS 2005 if you add the following line after the existing import tag in a project file:
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\MSBee\MSBuildExtras.FX1_1.CSharp.targets" />
IntelliSense and help still present .NET 2.0 information, but this is not a big deal. I think the above statement about the missing IDE support is not clear at all.