Mathew Nolton Blog

Software dementia unleashed...

  • Be Careful Generating XML Documentation with .Net

    If you are like me, you like to use the XML commenting feature that comes with .Net. Personally, I only turn this feature on when I am creating a release build. However, if you do this make sure that you turn-off the read-only property on the output xml file. Failure to do so can will cause your build to fail.

  • Using the <remove> tag with web.config can be helpful.

    Most people use the web.config file to define features or pieces of functionality to be used by their application. You may or may not know it, but there is a feature of the web.config file that enables you to remove definitions defined by a parent web.config file. This is especially important when an application (either rightly or wrongly) places a web.config file in the root web directory or your parent directory that adds functionality or puts a constraint on all child directories that you do not want or that will break your application.

  • WebServices are just an implementation of SOA

    I am guilty. Too often I equate a WebService and its implementation with the overall definition of SOA. (For example here). In reality it is nothing more then an implementation. A good implementation, but just an implementation. Clemens Vasters gave a nice definition of the tenets of SOA called PEACE.

  • Another List on SOA.....Ohh and SOA != OO

    The term Service Oriented Architecture (e.g. SOA) is thrown around quite a bit these days and it always amazes me the speed in which people jump into them and the assumptions they make. There is no doubt that SOA adds a positive dimension to any application architecture. I have been building and deploying webservices for close to 2 years now. Before that I worked on a number of other service based architectures and there are things to consider before jumping into them.

  • CodeMax-A component worth looking at.

    About 3-4 years ago I wrote a tool called TemplateX that enabled the building of an application or a piece of an application using a template and an ASP syntax. I did much of this prior to .Net and it had much of the functionality plus some of what Eric Smith's CodeSmith does (but Eric did a much better job of marketing his tool and taking it to the next level with actually compiling .Net code. He also realized that you must charge little as well as provide a large library of templates to get people to use it..kudos Eric). At the time I needed an editor and I selected CodeMax. This is an awesome component and worthy of consideration for anyone doing syntax highlighting. It now costs $199 (it used to be free) but if anyone has actually ever considered writing the code for an editor that does syntax highlighting for a large document you understand the complexity and performance considerations you must take into account. It can be found here. http://winmain.com/