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Problem solve

Get help with specific problems with your technologies, process and projects.

• Microsoft tools choices for DevOps

  Alva Powell, CTO at The Center for Autism and Related Disorders, discusses which Microsoft tools his organization uses for DevOps. Continue Reading

• WAPA: What does Microsoft offer now?

  Microsoft's Windows Azure Platform Appliance integrates private, hybrid and public clouds. Continue Reading

• Choosing the best strategy for Silverlight developers

  Learn why many Silverlight developers are trying to figure out the best way to transition their existing Silverlight applications to HTML5. Continue Reading

• Azure trends: PaaS market on the rise

  Microsoft Azure is doing well in the PaaS market as a strong competitor for AWS. Continue Reading

• Pay-as-you-go Windows Azure BizTalk services changes EAI and EDI

  Learn about the pay-as-you-go Windows Azure BizTalk Services that were released at TechEd 2013. Continue Reading

• Native versus JavaScript/HTML5 development for Window 8 apps

  Learn the advantages and disadvantages in using HTML5/JavaScript for deployment.Continue Reading

• Where can I find Visual Basic 6.0 DataEnvironment code samples?

  Get information on the best places to find Visual Basic DataEnvironment 6.0 code samples.Continue Reading

• Testing methods in Visual Studio 2010

  This is the second part in a two part series on unit testing in Visual Studio 2010.Continue Reading

• Unit testing in Visual Studio 2010

  Visual Studio 2010 contains a unit testing framework, and I’ll show you how to use it to automate your own unit tests.Continue Reading

• Understanding the testing tools in Visual Studio 2010

  Get an overview of the testing tools available in Visual Studio. You will learn which testing features are in which Visual Studio edition.Continue Reading

• Soliciting hand drawn feedback from your users

  There are many instances when using screen capture is essential in communicating. In this tip, contributor Walt Ritscher explains how to create hand drawn notes on screen captured images with WPF InkCanvas control.Continue Reading

• Navigating your code in Visual Studio 2010

  Once you get a couple pages of code written for a project, you'll want to use the Visual Studio navigation features to move intelligently through your code. Read this tip to learn about Visual Studio features that make moving through your code a ...Continue Reading

• Using the client networking stack in Silverlight

  There are many scenarios where you need to communicate with a webserver from your Silverlight application. For example you might want to lazy load files from your server to your application when the application is idle. Another common situation is ...Continue Reading

• Using the extension in Visual Studio 2010

  Visual Studio 2010 has implemented a great new extension with Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools. In this tip, contributor Walt Ritscher explains the multiple functions of this extension and provides several screenshots to demonstrate exactly how to...Continue Reading

• How to write scalable Silverlight applications

  There are many ways to scale a Silverlight application and these tips should provide a decent foundation to start from.Continue Reading

• Introduction to profiling Silverlight 4 applications with Visual Studio 2010

  Profiling Silverlight applications is a proactive step to ensure your applications are fine-tuned to deliver the best possible experience to the customer.Continue Reading

• Changing the cursor in WPF

  Expert Walt Ritscher discusses how in Windows Presentation Foundation you can set the mouse pointer for any element using the Cursor property.Continue Reading

• Setting defaults for null values in data sources in WPF

  Dealing with null values in data sources can be tricky. Windows Presentation Foundation has built in support for binding to null data sources.Continue Reading

• Getting a DialogResult

  When interacting with the user, you need to gather information for use later in the application. Dialog windows are a common way to solicit this information.Continue Reading

• Performance tips for Visual Studio 2010

  Find performance tips that may accelerate your experience while using Visual Studio 2010.Continue Reading

• Using TFS to manage distributed teams

  Microsoft Visual Studio the latest version of Team Foundation Service (TFS) is packed with features that facilitate the coordination and management of distributed teams.Continue Reading

• Managing large databases with SQL Server partitioning

  When you're dealing with really large data sets (think in terabytes of data) it's especially important to save time wherever you can. Partitioning, and the resulting partition elimination, can save hours of query time in these huge databases.Continue Reading

• Using search engines effectively in Visual Studio 2010

  Visual Studio provides a number of handy search tools. The most obvious place to use search is in your source code but Microsoft has also made search available in other parts of the IDE like the ToolBox and property grid windows.Continue Reading

• Moveable Tooltip for Silverlight

  Expert Walt Ritscher discusses using Tooltips and Popups for images in Silverlight.Continue Reading

• Introduction to Visual Studio’s new Scrum 1.0 template

  Visual Studio’s new Scrum 1.0 template is the perfect process template for agile managers. It combines a simple, flexible, and easy to use interface with powerful reports and work item types to help manage scrum-based projects.Continue Reading

• Tooltips in child elements

  A tooltip is a simple concept. You put a tooltip on a WPF control and whenever the mouse hovers over the control WPF launches the tooltip. This article explores some of these idiosyncrasies in WPF.Continue Reading

• Draw a bounding rectangle during selection

  The bounding rectangle's purpose is to provide feedback to the designer during the selection process. It's a convenient way to show what is currently selected before applying the next operation.Continue Reading

• Using images in tooltips

  The tooltip came from an idea regarding how to show contextual help in the user interface and is now considered an essential part of a UX designer's tool bag.Continue Reading

• Working with ColorDialog in WPF

  In Windows, there is a native ColorDialog window. This dialog is not very friendly to WPF applications however. This tip shows how to force the dialog to give you the color in the correct WPF format.Continue Reading

• WPF: Force a shape to fill area while keeping stroke thickness

  Enlarging a shape in WPF is simple enough. But if you want to auto-expand to fill a space you need to do some work. Using a ViewBox makes the shape expand, but it expands everything including the stroke drawn around the outside of the shape. This ...Continue Reading

• Create graph lines with GeometryBrush

  If you create an application where the user can drag content on the screen you should consider enabling alignment features. Learn about creating graph lines with GeometryBrush.Continue Reading

• Simulating hand stenciled signs with TextEffect

  With the advent of TrueType fonts on the computer, it's easy to find a stencil font on the Internet. Learn about TextEffect for manipulating text.Continue Reading

• Setting up the XAML editor in Visual Studio 2010

  Nothing stirs up controversy like discussing naming conventions or code styling. Learn some configuration settings for the XAML editor in Visual Studio 2010.Continue Reading

• Panning and zooming in WPF

  Adding panning and zooming to your application is a little more work but it's a nice feature to add to your application. Learn how to show an image to the user in Windows Presentation Foundation.Continue Reading

• Using the UniformGrid panel

  UniformGrid creates a mesh of equally sized cells. It's available in WPF and Silverlight and is very handy for creating game-boards for games like chess.Continue Reading

• Screen capture in a WPF application

  Using a screen capture tool is second nature to most computer users and your customers may expect to find screen capture features in your application. How much work is required to add this feature to a WPF application?Continue Reading

• ASP.NET Ajax tutorial

  This reference introduces developers to Microsoft's ASP.NET Ajax framework with a plethora of tips, tutorials and webcasts.Continue Reading

• XML Binding

  Working with XML data couldn't be easier in WPF. Just add an XMLDataProvider to your XAML and provide the location of your XML resource, using a local XML file as the source.Continue Reading

• Special characters in XAML

  XAML files are a form of XML. As such, they have to follow the rules of XML. There is one XML rule that can cause trouble when working with strings within attributes in XAML, known as special character.Continue Reading

• Working with Keyboard input in WPF

  Learn more about working with Keyboard input in Windows Presentation Foundation with this tip about Keyboard classes.Continue Reading

• Understanding Default values for Dependency Properties

  Understanding Windows Presentation Foundation Dependency Properties is a bit confusing when first learning WPF. Learn how to tap into the power of Dependency Properties.Continue Reading

• Understanding line stroke patterns

  WPF provides a number of useful shapes to use in your UI shapes. Learn how to best utilize line stroke patterns.Continue Reading

• PriorityBinding in WPF

  PriorityBinding derives from Binding and is a variation of MultiBinding, a type of binding where you specify multiple sources in your XAML.Continue Reading

• Creating an ordinal binding converter

  When creating an ordinal binding converter the possibilities are endless, as you can write code to covert from any .NET type to an alternate .NET type.Continue Reading

• Simplify your Binding Converter with a Custom Markup Extension

  Value Converters are a useful addition to a WPF. If a value converter is specified in a binding, the source data is funneled to the converter before arriving at the binding destination.Continue Reading

• Cloud computing causes confusion about services dependencies

  Learn why service dependencies is one of the scariest things that most companies don't understand about cloud computing.Continue Reading

• Static methods are a code smell

  Static methods work best as only utility methods. Learn what constitutes a code smell and how to best avoid these potential issues.Continue Reading

• Top 3 concerns when migrating to Windows 7

  Windows development tools and integration issues for emerging technologies expert, Mike Rozlog, identifies the top 3 concerns when migrating to Windows 7.Continue Reading

• Use Azure development storage from unit tests

  Learn the two options for your persistent data storage If you're writing an application that's going to use Windows Azure.Continue Reading

• Silverlight tutorial

  Silverlight is Microsoft's framework for building browser- and platform-agnostic Web apps. This resource will help developers see what Silverlight can do for them.Continue Reading

• Use the WPF blur effect to focus attention in your UI

  With WPF 3.5 SP1 Microsoft has rewritten the effects framework and dramatically improved their performance at the same time. Learn how to use the Blur effect to make your UI more effective.Continue Reading

• Trusted and sandboxed applications in Silverlight 4

  Silverlight is a Web technology, or at least is deployed via a browser. To mitigate security concerns Silverlight is constrained to run in a sandbox. This sandbox restricts what the Silverlight application can do to the local computer.Continue Reading

• How to encode video markers for consumption in Silverlight and WPF

  Do you want a caption to display beside a video at a certain point or for some animation to start once a video has reached an important part? Using a tool such a Microsoft's Expression Encoder you have the ability to encode time-based markers in ...Continue Reading

• How to access cross domain Web services from Silverlight without a policy file

  With the release of Silverlight 2 and now version 3 you are provided with rich Web service support. Silverlight provides support to access many types of Web services including POX, REST, and SOAP services.Continue Reading

• How to develop applications targeting both Silverlight and WPF

  With the release of Silverlight 2 and 3 Silverlight functionality is moving much more in line with that of WPF. Even still, many scenarios exist where WPF and Silverlight versions of an application are warranted. There are several patterns and ...Continue Reading

• Goin' mobile with Windows

  .NET Framework is a good start if you're interested in targeting the Windows Mobile platform, but you should also be aware of some important resources and caveats. Learn where you can find the necessary software development kits to begin programming...Continue Reading

• Microsoft leaving IE out of Windows 7 in Europe

  Microsoft has announced that it is leaving its Internet Explorer Web browser out of the version of Windows 7 it will offer for sale in the European Common Market countries.Continue Reading

• How to use jQuery to solve Javascript browser compatibility problems

  Javascript compatibility between Firefox, Internet Explorer and other browsers can make Ajax and Javascript effects a headache. Each browser does things just a bit differently, forcing Web developers to check which browser the user has and branch ...Continue Reading

• How to speed up Visual Studio 2008's slow WPF designer

  Large files can slow down Visual Studio 2008's designer for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) projects. Learn how to tweak VS 2008's settings to speed up its WPF designer in this tip.Continue Reading

• How to list fonts in WPF using markup extensions and data templates

  Learn how to pull static data into WPF with XAML's x:Static markup extension. In this tip, we'll show you how to list font families, with each font's name in its own font, in WPF. This method uses markup extensions and data templates.Continue Reading

• How to write an out-of-browser Silverlight 3 application in 3 steps

  Learn how to write out-of-browser (OOB) Silverlight 3 applications in this quick tutorial. Starting with Silverlight 3, applications can run out of the browser, meaning you can publish your app as a standalone with only a few easy changes to your ...Continue Reading

• Silverlight 3 beta SDK download lets developers try new RIA features

  Developers who want to get a head start with the upcoming Silverlight can download the beta SDK, complete with code samples and documentation. Microsoft showed off some of Silverlight 3's new features at MIX 09.Continue Reading

• Microsoft's Oslo modeling platform, the M language and .NET

  Microsoft's Oslo modeling platform aims to shift development practices away from low-level implementation and toward business' data. The relationship between Oslo and the .NET Framework isn't fully clear yet, but some hints are out.Continue Reading

• Test-driven development in .NET yields complete unit test coverage

  Unit testing has brought around a new way of writing programs: first you write the tests, and then you write code that passes them. The result is more complete unit test coverage and a self-documenting process.Continue Reading

• Introduction to ASP.NET's Model View Controller (MVC) Design Pattern

  Microsoft is working on an MVC framework, which will let ASP.NET developers decouple their data, events and views and enable a more flexible application architecture.Continue Reading

• Microsoft webcast series previews new Visual Studio 2010 features

  A new Channel 9 webcast series is focused on new features in Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0. In episode 2, Microsoft technical evangelist Jason Olson gives an overview of VS 2010's improvements to Web development, business application development ...Continue Reading

• New features in Windows 7 bring new UI considerations for developers

  A lot of the new features in Windows 7 are cosmetic, but programmers should update their applications to keep up with the new look and feel. And if developers haven't updated their code to elevate UAC privileges correctly, there's no time like the ...Continue Reading

• Free book from Microsoft brings patterns and practices to .NET

  The 400-page book on application architecture -- available free on codeplex -- is a good read that brings a long line of patterns and practices concepts to the .NET framework.Continue Reading

• User Account Control (UAC): How to develop code for standard users

  One of the most annoying features of Vista is the dreaded UAC prompt, but it's actually there for security reasons. Instead of telling users to work with UAC turned off, learn the top 3 tips for how to develop code that works in UAC's standard user ...Continue Reading

• How to write installers in Vista that work correctly under UAC

  UAC prompts, and their cousins the over-the-shoulder (OTS) prompts, present unique challenges to developers writing installers in Vista and Windows 7. Learn how to use UAC and OTS correctly to write safe, intuitive installers that work in standard ...Continue Reading

• How to elevate programs' privileges correctly using Vista's UAC

  The UAC prompt that Vista introduced gives programs privileged access to the operating system, but you need to ask for those permissions correctly if you don't want to annoy users. Read three ways you can use UAC to ask Vista for elevated privileges.Continue Reading

• Introduction to Vista's user account control (UAC) for developers

  Vista's new security model includes the user account control (UAC) prompt, which users know as the confirmation dialog box that pops up before applications can gain privileged access to the operating system. Learn what UAC is, why Microsoft included...Continue Reading

• Visual Studio's IntelliSense for jQuery doesn't autocomplete correctly

  Microsoft announced at PDC that Visual Studio's IntelliSense now supports jQuery, a powerful Ajax library. But it turns out it doesn't autocomplete all of jQuery's commands correctly. This tip explains what's broken - and what you need to do to use ...Continue Reading

• Visual Studio 2008 code metrics tools will help keep code clean

  Writing maintainable code isn't always easy, but Visual Studio 2008 code metrics may help. The new tools will help programmers see their code's maintainability, complexity and class dependencies, among other important characteristics.Continue Reading

• Downloadable MSDN library released for VS 2008 SP 1

  Microsoft regularly releases downloadable MSDN libraries that include their own searchable indexes, so developers can get all of the information they need without having to troll through the MSDN website. The latest, for VS 2008 SP 1, was released ...Continue Reading

• Widgetbox provides good example of how to use Facebook Developer Toolkit

  Web widgets are cropping up all over the Internet, and developers can use them to build applications for sites like Facebook and WordPress. Learn how Widgetbox used the Facebook Developer Toolkit to make building simple Web widgets quick and easy.Continue Reading

• Dundas Map for .NET kicks up geographic visualization

  Internactive map controls speed up the development process in Dundas Maps, a development toolset that works with both Windows Forms and ASP.NET to integrate map- and geographic-based visualizations with data-driven applications.Continue Reading

• A look at concurrency constructs and primitives in .NET

  Parallel and concurrent programming has gained new importance in .NET with the advent of parallel extensions for .NET 3.5. These are designed to take advantage of some of the new features in multi-core processors.Continue Reading

• VBScript Tutorial

  VBScript (Visual Basic Scripting Edition) is an interpreted scripting language from Microsoft. It is a subset of the Visual Basic programming language and follows the same syntax. Learn more in this introductory tutorial.Continue Reading

• Return to CodePlex: Into the Sandcastle…

  You can create documentation automatically as you program in .NET using Microsoft's Sandcastle open-source software. Microsoft's Sandcastle returned to the CodePlex Open Source Project Community web site after being taken away last month. ...Continue Reading

• Use PHP with Visual Studio to create Web sites

  PHP developers can use PHP preview engines from within Visual Studio in order to access a Model View Controller. It is also possile to do simultaneous, interactive debugging of both server side and client side code using a tool known as VS.Php.Continue Reading

• Best practices of the AJAX kind

  Some tips from online giant Yahoo have value for any would-be AJAX front-end developers, be they Microsoft community members or outliers.Continue Reading

• Scrum and Visual Studio Team System Add-ins

  This tip helps you to get a better understanding of what Scrum is, how it works, and how two of its add-ins work together to bring Scrum into the Visual Studio environment.Continue Reading

• Printing in Windows Presentation Foundation

  Learn how to use PrintDialog, PrintVisual and DocumentPaginator to print in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).Continue Reading

• Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 introduces ADO .NET Entity Designer

  Ed Tittel discusses ADO .NET Entity Designer -- a tool that permits direct mappings between a database schema and a conceptual schema.Continue Reading

• Check the MSDN Virtual Labs for regular, compelling new content

  Microsoft Developer Network offers a great resource to the development community through its Virtual Labs. These labs are updated monthly and will help you to stay abreast of upcoming happenings in the MSDN world.Continue Reading

• Microsoft Popfly turns online visual tools to good use

  Microsoft is venturing into online visual development environments. An excellent and free example of this approach at work -- and more important, available to anyone who wants to use it -- is the Microsoft Popfly technology available online at ...Continue Reading

• The Vista Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Toolkit extends the Coding For Fun (C4F) initiative

  In this article Ed Tittel explains how the Vista P2P Toolkit can benefit you, how it works, and how to get started working with it quickly.Continue Reading

• Visual Basic 2008 -- book excerpt

  Visual Basic coding is not rocket science, yet a lot of new programmers are intimidated by it. It is possible to be self taught, really.Continue Reading

• Windows XP SP3 pack includes new XML parser, enhanced IP security

  The latest XP update includes developer goodies including a new internal XML parsing engine, better IP security policy support, and a new management console.Continue Reading

• Designing Windows Communication Foundation service contracts

  Michele Leroux Bustamante describes the different types of contracts used with WCF services inlcuding ServiceContracts and DataContracts. She also shows the two approaches to developing contracts, Code-First and Contract-First.Continue Reading

• Book excerpt: Java EE and .NET security interoperability

  This chapter presents some best practices for managing Java EE and .NET security interoperability.Continue Reading

• XAML as an everywhere presentation format

  XAML, the Extensible Application Markup Language, lets .NET developers and designers define the key elements of a UI. What's more, it accommodates both WPF and SIlverlight.Continue Reading

• Where are the Visual Studio 2008 Tools for Office?

  VSTO has been integrated with Visual Studio 2008. It just takes a bit of digging to determine what VS 2008 editions actually contain Visual Studio Tools for Office.Continue Reading

• Introduction to Silverlight 1.0: Building your first Silverlight application

  This tip shows developers how to use Silverlight 1.0 and Expression Blend 2.0 to create their first Silverlight application.Continue Reading

• Book excerpt: .NET Framework Design Guidelines

  This book excerpt offers guidelines for designing your own .NET Framework base class libraries.Continue Reading

• Using the Visual Studio 2005 DataSet Designer to build a data access layer

  In this article Brian Noyes shows how to use the new features in the Visual Studio 2005 DataSet Designer to create Typed DataSets and Adapters to provide a data access layer for your applications. He then demonstrates how to extend the generated ...Continue Reading

• Book excerpt: Pragmatic unit testing in C# with NUnit

  This excerpt offers an introduction to unit testing and dispels some myths about its effects on productivity and an application's code base.Continue Reading

• Evaluating .NET smart client communications technology

  In this article, IDesign's Brian Noyes presents the different technologies available for communication in a Smart Client application and how to choose between the options based on your application's needs. He covers performance characteristics of ...Continue Reading

• Security interoperability with .NET/WSE and WebLogic Workshop 8.1

  In this article, Michele Leroux Bustamante shows how to create interoperable applications in .NET with WSE and WebLogic Workshop using web services that implement the WS-Security specification. In particular, she shows how to use UsernameTokens in a...Continue Reading