For a few months now I’ve been working on a VS2010 extension I’m calling Funky Search. It’s basic intent is to bring tag based search and replace functionality to Visual Studio. My first order of business when creating this extension was the need for an HTML Parsing Engine. I had used HTML Agility Pack (HAP from now on) in the past. One downside of it is that it uses XPATH for querying the HTML. While in it’s day XPATH was a decent solution for searching XML structures, there are better searching solutions available today namely LINQ.

I set out and updated HAP to have all of it’s Node and Attribute collections to inherit from IList<T> instead of implementing their own Enumerators. I then added many helper methods to mimic LINQ to XML. With this I could now work on creating dynamic LINQ statements to power my extension.

While working on this I got into the community of people using HAP and I came across a larger issue, it had not been updated in years and the creator and other developer on the project had seemed to abandon it. I sent many emails to the creator Simon Mourier (former MS employee, and current CTO of SoftFluent) over the summer with no reply. I finally found his work email and discovered he was on vacation until early September. I was finally able to get in contact with him today and he added me as a developer on the project.

This will mark the first time in about 5 years I’m a developer on an open source project. Before coming to Sierra Bravo I was huge into open source, also at that time MS had no free versions of Visual Studio. I was working as a PHP developer and had contributed to some small projects and even worked on part of the Mozilla project adding in an easier way to code-sign your Mozilla/Firefox extensions.

I’m looking forward to advancing HAP, fixing bugs and making it easier to use. It sits in a unique position as being the only freely available HTML parser that works. While it can be used for dubious purposes as a page scraper it can also be used for good. I’ve used it in the past where we had a client that had their hosting provider go out of business, their site was going to only be up for another day and we had no direct access to their database server. We had FTP access to get the code of the site and access to a readonly front end that displayed the contents of the tables in html with no export functionality. I wrote a scraper with HAP to get those tables and put them into an importable format. With it I was able to download and import their database and save their site.

With the advent of ASP.NET MVC 2.0 and the new templated helpers we’re once again having to write out our entire data objects. This is something that ORM tools like LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Entities were supposed to alleviate. Even better is we must now implement a class in 3 files.

Case in point: http://blog.pagedesigners.co.nz/archive/2009/08/06/asp.net-mvc-2-ndash-buddy-classes-for-your-models.aspx

The idea of “Partial Properties” follows the convention for Partial Classes and not Partial Methods. With Partial classes you can have the same class defined in two files. This is extremely helpful with extending generated code. With Partial Methods, one partial class file defines a method and another partial class file may if it choose implement that method. If the method is never implemented then the compiler completely throws away any code that may have referenced that method.

During a PDC talk Anders said that he couldn’t see a reason why we should implement Partial Properties but it’s becoming clear to me that we are starting to have the need.

Here’s the current situation:

1. You create your models with LINQ to SQL or LINQ to Entities.
2. You have no control over the auto-generated code so you implement partial classes for each class made in a separate file
3. You need to annotate the properties in the generated classes so you then have to create a buddy class
4. You take all the properties of the generated class and type them in and add attributes to them and thus mostly defeating the purpose of #1

//GeneratedClass.Designer.cs (the generated file)
public partial class GeneratedClass
{
	private string _name;
	public string Name
	{
		get{return _name;}
		set{_name = value;}
	}
}

//GeneratedClass.cs (your file)
[MetadataType(typeof(GeneratedClass_Metadata))]
public partial class GeneratedClass
{
	
}

//GeneratedClass.cs or GeneratedClass.Meta.cs (your other file)
public partial class GeneratedClass_Metadata
{
	[Required(ErrorMessage="Name Required")]
	public string Name{get;set;}
}

In the end you end up with 2-3 files and 3 implementations of your class. You also end up with the compiler generating more classes that their only use are for attributes.

With a “Partial Property” generated code could expose all of the public properties like so

//GeneratedClass.Designer.cs (the generated file)
public partial class GeneratedClass
{
	private string _name;
	public partial string Name
	{
		get{return _name;}
		set{_name = value;}
	}
}
//GeneratedClass.cs (your file)
public partial class GeneratedClass
{
	[Required(ErrorMessage="Name Required")]
	public partial string Name;
}

This may all be moot if we can at least get some tooling support for MetaDataType. We could use a Refactor –> Generate Buddy Class. This could auto-gen the metadata class for you so all you have to do is write the attributes in. Maybe even Class Diagram support?

I recently got a new laptop and was trying to get Mozilla Weave set up on it and I could not remember my passphrase. So I went to the site to see if I could recover it and could not. They will reset it and delete all of your data when you do. After that you have to resync from one of your working versions. My problem was that my only current working version was my desktop at work which was shut down due to me being on vacation.

Now today I’m back from vacation and I was wondering if there was some way to retrieve my passhprase. After searching my profile folder I realized, maybe they just use the password system built into FireFox. And sure enough there were two entries for weave.

After finding it in your list it just takes hitting “Show Passwords” to retrieve it. If you’re like me and have a Master Password set you will have to enter it again at this point.

I recently was directed to a nice trick on how to make the Visual Studio Web Development (WebDev.WebServer.exe) server run faster when accessing it in FireFox. I’ve long noticed it seem to lag quite a bit compared to running in IE.

Basically there is something that goes wrong when FireFox tries to connected the server via IPv6. The trick is to just disable it. Unfortunately this disables it for all sites and may cause problems in the future as more places switch over to IPv6. But for now it should be just fine. Changing the setting is quite easy

Type in “about:config” in your address bar (get passed the “are you sure you want to do this” nag screen) and search for ipv6. You should find a settings like below

The setting network.dns.disableIPv6 should be set to True. All it takes is double-clicking on the setting to change it. The effects should be immediate.

I recently sent the list below to a colleague. I figured I should share it further.

This is a list of user groups I attend fairly regularly.

1. .NET User Group
• First Thursday of the month.
• General .NET talks covering all areas of .NET
• Held at Microsoft offices in Bloomington.
• http://www.ilmservice.com/twincitiesnet/Membership.aspx
• (the site sucks, just sign up for the newsletter to find out about upcoming events.
2. Developers Guild 
• Second Tuesday of the month
• In depth talks on .NET, programming patterns, project patterns. Talks have been in depth azure, dependency injection/inversion of control
• http://www.twincitiesdevelopersguild.com/
• Held at New Horizons Mn in Edina
• I may be giving a talk here this fall
3. Languages User Group
• Second Thursday of the month
• Held at Magenic in Golden Valley
• A new language or part of a language every month. Talks on java, lisp, creating your own language. The next one is going to be great, esoteric languages.. the languages that are made for fun
• http://www.twincitieslanguagesusergroup.com/TCLUG/Default.aspx
4. Silverlight/WPF Users Group
• Third Tuesday of the month, held during the day noon to 12
• Covers Silverlight mostly, some WPF
• Held at Microsoft in Bloomington
• (site also sucks) http://www.ilmservice.com/silverlight/Membership.aspx
5. XNA User Group
• Third Thursday of the month
• Covers the XNA framework and general game development ideas
• Held at Magenic in golden valley
• http://www.twincitiesxnausergroup.com/
6. Twin Cities Code Camp
• Twice a year, sometime in spring and fall. Around March/October
• Large free event that's all about code and is always full of great talks and cutting edge topics. It takes place on a Saturday and ends with tons of prizes, normally an Xbox 360 or two in the top prizes. (done by random name selection of attendees). I've been to everyone so far and I always come away feeling like it was worth it, something I have not been feeling after going to conferences that I paid for.
• http://www.twincitiescodecamp.com/TCCC/Default.aspx
• I'm giving a talk this fall on Visual Studio 2010 extensions. I gave a talk in the spring about Visual Studio Tips and Tricks
7. Twin Cities Web Design:
• Meetings don’t seem to be on a schedule,
• Covers general web design things like JavaScript frameworks, CSS tools
• Meets at Sierra Bravo
• http://tcwebdesign.org/
8. MySQL/Drizzle user group
• No set schedule
• Covers MySQL topics and what not
• Sometimes meets at Sierra Bravo
• http://www.meetup.com/mn-mysql/

I’ve been so busy working on things at and out of work I’ve fallen behind with updating my blog. I’ve got many things I want to blog about but finding time for putting one together is becoming difficult. Things I’ve been working on lately

• Visual Studio Extension: I’m working on a VS 2010 extension that is going to be whole worlds of awesome for ASP.NET developers. Most of the work so far has been in getting the backend pieces in place for doing the actual “work” and figuring out where to get the things I need from Visual Studio.
• ASP.NET MVC: I’ve been working on my first ASP.NET MVC site so I can start using it at work. I was reading the ASP.NET MVC book put out by the scotts and others. The first Chapter of the book covers creating a site from start to finish
• Preparing for the WPF MCTS exam
• Wrote a bunch of SQL CLR code
• Testing Blend 3 and Sketchflow
• Preparing a talk on VS2010 Extensions for Twin Cities Code Camp 7

Upcoming Blog Articles

VS2010 Extensions Take 2
SQL CLR

I searched far and wide and was unable to find a good quick tutorial on getting  a Visual Studio 2010 extension up and running. There are a few things wrong in the verbiage used that can be quite confusing.

Obtaining the VS 2010 Beta 1 SDK

The first order of business is to get the Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 SDK, which will add the new templates for creating an extension.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d197feb6-ced5-40d4-949d-a51f02309ee8&displaylang=en

After downloading it and trying to install it you may run across an uncaught exception (like I did)

The error lies in the Bootstrapper (setup.exe). Since the VsSDK_sfx.exe is a self-extracting zip archive you can use your favorite unzipping utility to get the contents. (or you can take the hard way and get the files in your temp folder after it’s been unzipped). I prefer to use WinRar, it makes it extremely easy

After this there are only 5 files extracting.

We only care about 2 of them. vssdk.cab and vssdk.msi.
Launch the vssdk.msi . This is the main installer for the SDK. It gives little feedback and will auto close when it’s done installing.

Creating Your First VS2010 Extension Project

Launch Visual Studio 2010. In your New Projects dialog under <Your Language>/Extensibility you should now have “VSIX Project”

This project defines the basic extension for visual studio. Out of this you will be able to build your VSIX file for installation into Visual Studio.

After giving your new project a name you are given a barebones extension.

The Visual Studio Extension Manifest

First we’ll start off with an unfamiliar file, the extension.vsixmanifest file. This defines your extension, from title, to license agreement to pictures. While this file is a fairly simple XML file. The VS Team provided a nice interface for editing it.
 

While most of the form is pretty self explanatory, there are some specific points to make

• ID: This is your global ID for your extension. After you first publish your extension, it is probably a good idea to not change this.
• Version: this can be viewed as your installer version. It may not necessarily mirror your dll versions.
• Supported VS Editions: This is a big one and is also forward thinking. Here you can select from all the different versions of VS2010, including Express, Integrated and Isolated Shell. It can also be expanded later to include the next version of VS.

For more information on the vsixmanifest file, see the documentation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd393700(VS.100).aspx

The last two pieces are where things get interesting. There hasn’t been much said about how extensible Extensions are in VS2010.

Under References you can create references to other VS2010 extensions that your extension may depend on. Clicking on the Add Reference button gives you this dialog.

You’re given the options to select an extension you already have installed, add an external VSIX package or manually define one and a URL to download it from. The URL part is the real beauty. When installing your Extension it has the ability to get the latest and greatest of an extension. You can of course limit it as well to certain version numbers to avoid breaking changes. This creates a lean, mean on demand Extension.

The Content editor doesn’t seem to be fully baked. Here you can add extra content into your vsix package and have it registered upon install.  One example is a registering a Project Template. I’ve borrowed an example from the Card Game Starter Kit .

The Code

You will find one lone code file in your new project. Here is the CS version

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.ExtensibilityHosting;

/// <summary>
/// Empty VSIX Project.
/// </summary>
namespace MyFirstVs2010Extension
{

}

Not much in there. This is where your imagination comes in

Here is where I’ll leave you to fend on your own for now. Navigating the Visual Studio SDK assemblies is another post all in itself.  You’ll find all assemblies you need under the Microsoft.VisualStudio namespace in your add references dialog. It is also possible to tie into Team System via the Microsoft.TeamSystem .

For some full source examples of VS 2010 Extensions, check out the Editor Samples on codeplex
http://editorsamples.codeplex.com/

I gave a talk on Microsoft Small Basic last night at the Twin Cities Languages User Group. I promised to post my materials and here they are.

The zip contains the powerpoint presentation file, the example programs and the example extension.

For the guy that asked about mp3s. It looks like they will work as long as the computer it’s running on has an mp3 codec installed (which is very unlikely).

Just a quick post here for the people that attended my presentation. Thank you for coming to listen to me blabber about snippets and little tips and tricks. I hope you found it of some use.

1. UIPropertyMetadata needs to be replaced with PropertyMetadata
2. Color.FromScRgb needs to be replaced with Color.FromArgb and it's inputs run through Convert.ToByte
3. MagnifyEffect.cs and SwirlEffect.cs reference classes that do not exist in Silverlight like the Vector class. I could have got them from reflector but in sake of time I didn't (that and being able to release this code)
4. Getting the ps resources required a minor change to the Global static class. Basically changing the path to do a Relative URI lookup.

public class MyBag : DynamicObject
{
// überschreibt Getter / Setter
} 
dynamic b = new MyBag();
b.Id = 124;
b.Name = "Windows 7"
b.Price = 499.99m;
b.IsAvailable = false;

public void InsertCustomer( int customerId,
                          string companyName = "Neue Firma",
                          decimal creditLimit = 2000m )
{
}

InsertCustomer( 1, creditLimit: 2000m );  

InsertCustomer( creditLimit: 2000m, customerId: 1 );

1. Dynamic binding. We've introduced a new type, dynamic, which behaves much like object, but allows the operations performed on your object to be bound at runtime instead of compile time.
2. Named and Optional parameters. You can now specify default values for your parameters, allowing them to be optionally specified at the call site. We've also added the ability for your arguments to be passed by name, so that you can specify exactly which arguments you want to give, and refrain from specifying the rest (assuming they're optional).
3. Com interop features. We've done quite a bit of work to improve COM interop. These include:
• No ref for COM calls. For all COM calls that take ref arguments, you can specify an argument without a ref, and the compiler will generate a local for you and generate a ref to that local as the argument.
• No PIA. We have introduced the ability to deploy your applications which use Primary Interop Assemblies (PIAs) without referencing the actual PIA at runtime. This allows compiling against them, but not needing to ship them with your application.
• Implicit dynamic for COM types. We now give you the option of turning all objects returned from COM into dynamics so that you can perform late bound calls off of them instead of having to cast the result in order to make it useful.