Tips

Tips

• 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

• Taming the help engine in Visual Studio 2010

  Learn a few pointers that are find handy when using the help engine in Visual Studio 2010.  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

• 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

• 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

• 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