SharpDeveloper.NET (formally .NET Advice)

.NET Predicates

salibhai — Mon, 28 May 2007 23:59:00 GMT

YourGenericListOfInts.RemoveAll(new System.Predicate<int>( delegate(int val) { return (val == r.Index); }));

A predicate is a function that returns true or false and can be used for example to filter your results.. For example your .NET RemoveAll(...) function can actually do things like ...

.NET Advice now SharpDeveloper

salibhai — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:39:00 GMT

I decided to open up shop at my own domain - SharpDeveloper.NET

Check it out!

Creating SqlParameters Best Practices

salibhai — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:28:00 GMT

*NEW* See the updated post at Sharp Developer: Sql Parameters Best Practices

This article summarizes some nice ways to create SqlParameter arrays. When we use SqlHelper, or even without SqlHelper when we use SqlCommands directly, and we want to pass an array of SqlParameters to the function. The method I will discuss does not require you to hard-code the number of elements, nor does it require you to create a temporary list of some sort, but it requires you to have all the values up front that you want to insert into the list.

Using ?? and casting To Set Default Values

salibhai — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:23:00 GMT

Often we have some value that may or may not be null, and we want to give it a default value if its null.

An awesome way to do this is to use ?? (only works in C#) and add your default value, and cast the entire thing, for example as follows:

string strCustomerName = (string)(SqlHelper.ExecuteScalar(m_ConnectionString, CommandType.Text, strQuery, sqlParams) ?? string.Empty);

Read more about nullables and the ?? operator

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2cf62fcy(VS.80).aspx

Don't eat exceptions

salibhai — Tue, 15 May 2007 19:33:00 GMT

This is very bad!

try

{

//do something that will throw an exception, like try to commit data to a database with malformed sql

}

catch

{

//sweep the dirt under the rug ;)

}

Consequences/Results - Your boss will not see any exceptions or code crashes, but it might come back to bite you in the butt when the code doesn't do what it was supposed to!

Additional Sources

Here's an article by Steven Swafford discussing eating exceptions (among other things)
http://aspadvice.com/blogs/sswafford/archive/2007/05/10/Skills-versus-Passion_2C00_-are-they-the-same_3F00_.aspx

Use .TryParse instead of Try {} Catch {}

salibhai — Tue, 15 May 2007 19:25:00 GMT

In certain conditions, we should not be using exceptions. For example, Try Catch blocks can be avoided in certain cases. If you have some .NET 1.0 code, you might not be taking advantage of .NET 2.0 new TryParse functions, which avoid exception handling and are much faster.

For example:

try
{
iEditMode = Convert.ToInt32(strEditMode);
}

catch
{
iEditMode = 0;
}

In this case, we have TryParse functions which were added in .NET 2.0
Better to instead do:

if (!Int32.TryParse(strEditMode, out iEditMode))
{
iEditMode = 0;
}

Much better performance, no need to handle clunky exceptions :) Thank you to Brendan for correcting my error above. (missing out keyword)

MSDN in regards to exception handling states, "Do not use exception handling for flow of control, only for failure situations."

Resources

Use String.Format instead of Chopping Strings

salibhai — Tue, 15 May 2007 18:49:00 GMT

Here is a quick example of why string.Format is just so cool

For example:

text1.Text = string.Format("<a href=\"Mylink.aspx?abc=0&Color={0}\">my Link text</a>", myColor);

Isn't that much nicer than

text1.Text = "<a href=\"Mylink.aspx?abc=0&Color=" + myColor + "\">my Link text</a>", myColor);

Now with two parameters it's still so clean!

text1.Text = string.Format("<a href=\"Mylink.aspx?abc=0&ID={0}&wl={1}\">my Link text</a>", myColor, myWeight);

3 Benefits of Using ConnectionStrings Instead of AppSettings

salibhai — Tue, 15 May 2007 18:43:00 GMT

~~With .NET 1.0, we are using .AppSettings~~ In .NET 1.0 we used ConfigurationSettings instead of ConfigurationManager

Read the article on SharpDeveloper.net