AJAX Patterns

If you are doing any web development and have or will be implementing AJAX, you should check out the AJAX Patterns site for some good guidance. This Wiki site has a lot of great content and resources about AJAX, here is an excerpt from the site:

There are 70+ Ajax patterns here, most linking to the original draft version for the design patterns book. Foundational Technology Patterns are lower-level patterns and a suitable introduction for people learning Ajax for the first time. Programming Patterns explain how these components are combined in a maintainable, performant, manner. Functionality and Usability Patterns guide on user-interface and usability concepts. Development Process Patterns look at typical developer activities like testing and debugging.

There is also information about Frameworks, Tools, JavaScript, etc. Whether you are new to AJAX or a seasoned veteran, there is probably something new/useful that you can find at this site. Check it out.

P.S. - I found this site via July 2007 MSDN Magazine article, Cutting Edge: Context-Sensitive Feedback with AJAX by Dino Esposito.

Useful .NET Utility Classes

Phil Haack just posted a great article, The Most Useful .NET Utility Classes Developers Tend to Reinvent Rather Than Reuse. This is a list of classes that you may not be aware of, but can sure make your life a lot easier. Here are the main classes that he discusses:

• System.Path.IO
• System.Web.VirtualPathUtility
• System.Web.HttpUtility
• System.Enviornment

If you are not familiar with these classes I would highly suggest that you read the article and try them out. I have used some of the System.Path.IO methods (like Combine) to make creating filenames a whole lot simpler. Also check out the comments as there are a couple of other good ones mentioned as well.

Run MS ASP.NET AJAX Extensions from web site Bin directory

When you install the MS ASP.NET AJAX Extensions and create a new Ajax enabled web site, by default your web.config file is configured to run the MS AJAX Extensions from the GAC; where they were installed. However, you may want to run the extensions locally when you deploy your web site. Please follow the steps below to setup your web site to run the MS AJAX Extensions from the Bin folder of your web site.

1. Copy the MS AJAX Extensions assemblies to your Bin Directory. The path listed below is the default installation location for the AJAX Assemblies.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft ASP.NET\ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions\v1.0.61025
- System.Web.Extensions.Design.dll
- System.Web.Extensions.dll

2. Modify the <pages> section of web.config. You do not need to reference the assembly by version, culture and publickeytoken now since it will not be accessed from the GAC.

Before:

<pages>

<controls>

<add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

controls>

pages>

After:

<pages>

<controls>

<add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions"/>

controls>

pages>

3. Modify the <compilation> section of web.config removing the following entry from the <assemblies> node. This is what was telling your web to look in the GAC for the MS AJAX Extensions assembly.

<add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

And that should do it. Now your site will reference the MS AJAX Extensions from the Bin directory of your web site and not from the GAC.

Programmer Personality Test

What type of programmer you are? Take this Programmer Personality Test. Be sure to answer honestly ;-) My results are listed below.

Your Programmer personality type is:

DHSC

You're a Doer.
You are very quick at getting tasks done. You believe the outcome is the most important part of a task and the faster you can reach that outcome the better. After all, time is money.

You like coding at a High level.
The world is made up of objects and components, you should create your programs in the same way.

You work best in a Solo situation.
The best way to program is by yourself. There's no communication problems, you know every part of the code allowing you to write the best programs possible.

You are a Conservative programmer.
The less code you write, the less chance there is of it containing a bug. You write short and to the point code that gets the job done efficiently.

I think that is a fair assesment. However, I feel that I *really* need to work at moving more towards the following traits:

Planner - There is a lot to be said for proper planning, it can sure save you a lot of headaches and extra work down the road, plus it makes future changes much easier. I have always been a doer and switching contexts is hard, but IMHO well worth it.

Team - The power of many. I work with a really great team at my company and would be lost without them. We had a really big and difficult project last year that we would not have been able to pull off unless we worked as a team. I need to learn to leverage that type of power more in my day to day routine, not just crunch time.

You can view the entire personality key here.