We were working on a Windows Service for a large US bank when we discovered that there are potential issues while using Static Classes in .NET

We defined objects in a Static Dictionary object as:-

public static Dictionary<Int64, Student> StudentCollection =

               new Dictionary<long, Student>();

and added over 10,000 Student objects in it. At regular intervals of 5 seconds, we triggered a clean-up process :-

            lock (_lockObject)
            {
                   Program.StudentCollection.Clear();
                   GC.Collect();
            }

An ideal/expected output would be that GC would collect the released 10,000 Student objects and hence the number of objects in heap would reduce at every 5 seconds.  But this was not true!

Much to our surprise, there was a constant ramp-up in the Gen-2 objects (observed in PerfMon.) Later on making the collection non-static, we achieved the expected results.

A quick conclusion:-

GC does not collect static objects.

Detailed analysis

Static variables/objects live for duration of the application i.e. they live in Application Domain.  Hence, they are not subject to Garbage Collection. For each static field there is one copy per-appdomain - each appdomain can have a different value. The static variable itself is not garbage collected - it is just a memory location that contains a reference to an object. Static fields are considered to be GC roots, so any references in them will not be garbage collected as long as the field contains that references it. If you change the field to point to a new reference or set the field value to null then the object whose reference was stored there becomes eligible for collection.

For more read: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/rmcochran/csharp_memory_401282006141834PM/csharp_memory_4.aspx?ArticleID=411a0c5c-a0f6-4de2-8a17-e861d5aecd87

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We are currently engaged in some other assignments hence enhancements to myTracker is delayed. But we assure you there are many TO-DOs in our list that we will implement soon.  Another good news is that myTracker is now automatically listed on sites such as:

- www.softpedia.com 

- www.brothersoft.com

- www.softwarelist.us

- www.ezyspot.com

We will be back with a bang in June 2009 with lot of features and a mega release!

For those who have not downloaded the executable yet, please click on the link to your right.  Thanks!

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One of the common things our applications require is bind a data source with Collection-base UI elements like ComboBox. The best code any one could write would be: 

cmbTest.DisplayMember = "Name";
cmbTest.ValueMember = "ID";
cmbTest.DataSource = _employeeRecords; 

I would give this a perfect 10!

The combo box displays all the Employee Names in the combo box.  What if you wanted to sort these items?

Let’s use the Sorted property of ComboBox.

this.cmbTest.Sorted = true;

Dush!!!  The code stopped working.

You won’t see Employee Names in the combo box any more. What you would come through is items showing the namespace of the object

_employeeRecords

Now did you expect that?

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Its time to forget the old traditional message box with limited functionalities. buttons, icons, text area and what not! Microsoft has unleashed a new message box - new, yet not so new.

For those who have used SQL Sever 2005 GUI, might have probably noticed a message box that shows additional information, copying the text to clipboard, a checkbox on message box, different set of buttons and many more features.  This message box is now open for reuse in your applications. 

This is not a ‘big-bang’ release made by Microsoft.  It has come out very quietly. Yes the name ‘ExceptionMessageBox’ is confusing - but you can still use it in your applications. This standalone exception dialog box can be used in applications just like any other managed APIs.

Probably, you never know the next version of myTracker may use this message box too

Let’s hear it from Microsoft:

The exception message box is a programmatic interface that you can use in your applications for any tasks for which MessageBox may be used. The exception message box is a supported managed assembly designed to elegantly handle managed code exceptions. It provides significantly more control over the messaging experience and gives your users the options to save error message content for later reference and to get help on messages.

Download Link: 

http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/7/4/f74cbdb1-87e2-4794-9186-e3ad6bd54b41/SQLServer2005_EMB.msi 

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Carry out discussions, meet members on:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1809655

Happy Exploring myTracker!

Punit

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What a great response from you all!  157 downloads in less than 17 days is a great response..

Thanks to all!

But this also brings an additional responsibility to keep adding new features in myTracker so that the community keeps using it all the while.  Thats a said promise now!

Let’s keep on higher targets for the next month so that we build a community here.

For those, who have still not downloaded and tried myTracker : please visit

www.ganshani.com/mytracker

Keep your suggestions flowing so that we keep on improving

Punit.

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What you take away from this snapshot is an understanding of how .NET 4.0 will change the way LOB applications interact with human-interface, services and database – so let’s have a click of key features in this edition.

User Experience: WPF4 now supports Windows7 multi-touch, ribbon controls, taskbar extensibility features.  Surface 2.0 (based on Windows Surface) will also ship-in with WPF4.  Much of the plumbing work required for N-tier application development is already done by Microsoft – reduced efforts and associated costs are visible advantages.

Developer Experience: Migration of .NET 3.5 to .NET 4.0 does not require a mega-release - the wizard does it for you! VS 2010 editor is built in WPF, hence making it more appealing. DataGrid will also be a part of WPF4 – improving the quality of data-centric applications.  What more, Workflow Foundation (WF) now allows composing of workflow styles and WCF claims to become simpler by avoiding complex implementation logic – how more simpler it could be!

Architect Experience: VS 2010 identifies existing code/assets and the architecture in an ‘Architecture Explorer’ – a explorer that shows dependencies between assets in Layer Diagram, and Interaction View. This renders the capability of creating a picture of existing code; understanding how components fit and work together.  Validations like UI layer should not communicate with Data Layer can be easily tracked in the Architecture Explorer. StarUML/Visio will rarely be used to design diagrams such as Use Cases and Sequence/Activity diagrams.  

Testing Experience: The conventional mechanism of executing all the test cases will change for sure. Execute the test impacted by code change, from the previous run, will be the new ‘mantra.’ Record your key/mouse actions for non-reproducible bugs and playback to track your code and generate detailed reports.

Language Improvements: Memory mapped files can be used to edit very large files and create shared memory for Inter-Process Communication (IPC). An arbitrary precision data-type, BigInteger, has been introduced to deliver a higher performant big integer implementation. Parallel Extensions include an improved ThreadPool scheduling algorithm for tasks. .  DeflateStream and GZipStream no longer inflate already compressed data.  This means that in most cases we’ll see much better compression ratios when using these streams on .NET 4.0. 

ASP.NET Improvements: AjaxControlToolkit finally becomes a part of .NET 4.0. ScriptManager includes properties like EnableHistory, AddHistoryPoint, Navigate that enable the application developer to control browser history far beyond anything regular postbacks allowed. Microsoft goes few steps back and provides granular support in controlling properties of objects within containers: we can disable the parent and yet have the child controls enabled!       

That said, .NET 4.0 and VS2010 promises are features that will improve our productivity and provide better user-experience to our clientele – at the cost of installing Vista! Yes, Vista is mandate operating system for .NET 4.0 platform.

Happy Exploring!

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To install EL 4.0 and to make it compatible with SCSF on VS2008 - here are the steps:

1. Rebuild Block Assemblies
2. Update Guidance Package
3. Update SCSF Application
 

Rebuild Block Assemblies

1. Extract the Smart Client Software Factory Source Code.

2. Open the SmartClient.Offline solution located at the source code installation folder.

3. Remove from the SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary and SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Tests projects the references to the following assemblies:

     -  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common
     -  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data
     -  SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe

4. Add, In the SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary and SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Tests projects, references to the following Enterprise Library assemblies (located at Enterprise Library assemblies located at %Enterprise Library 4 installation folder%\Bin):

     -  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.dll
     -  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.dll
     -  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe.dll

5. In the SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary project, open SmartClientDatabase.cs file and replace the following using statement:

using Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe;

with:

using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe;

Updating the Guidance Package
 

1. Open the GuidancePackage solution located at the SC-SF source folder.

2. Open the App.config.template located under the folders located at Templates\Solutions\Projects\Shell.*.* (Shell.Basic.CS, Shell.Basic.VB, Shell.Extended.CS and Shell.Extended.VB) in the SmartClientFactoryPackage project.

3. Find and replace on each App.config.template file the string “Version=3.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a” with “Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35”.

4. Create a folder to store the new assemblies (e.g. at %SC-SF installation folder%\Lib with EntLib 4.0). In this folder, copy the Enterprise Library 4.0 assemblies and the Smart Client assemblies generated in Step 1. You should have the same assemblies you have at %SC-SF installation folder%\Lib but updated to use Enterprise Library 4.0.

5. Open the file CreateSmartClientFactorySolutionCommon.xml file located at Recipes\Common folder of the SmartClientFactoryPackage project. You will change the path where the Create Solution recipe looks for the required assemblies by default.

6. Find the SupportLibrariesPath argument and replace it with the following:

7. Save all.

8. Register the custom Guidance Package. To do this, right click the SmartClientFactoryPackage project and select Register Guidance Package.

Update existing SCSF Application

1. If your solution uses the Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.dll assembly, follow the steps described in the Rebuilding the Block Assemblies section to update this assembly and perform the following sub-steps:

1.  
   1. Find the Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.dll generated assembly located at %Source code installation folder%\Blocks\Offline\Source\DataAccess.EnterpriseLibrary\bin\Debug.
   2. Copy the previous assembly and replace them in the Lib folder of your solution.
   3. Update the references of your projects to use the updated Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.dll assembly
   4. Remove the reference to Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe.dll (it was replaced with the one provided by Enterprise Library 4) and add a reference to Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe.dll assembly located at %Enterprise Library 4 installation folder%\Bin.

2. Copy the Enterprise Library 4.0 assemblies (located at %Enterprise Library 4 installation folder%\Bin) and replace them in the Lib folder of your solution.

3. Update the references to the Enterprise Library assemblies in all the projects in your solution using the new assemblies copied into the Lib folder.

4. Open the App.config file and find and replace the string “Version=3.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a” with “Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35”.

5. Save all

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But, if you are a manager or some technology/team/project lead, you have two options with you: either close your browser/document/tear-off the print-out, or understand the way majority of people in our class (as I fall in one of these categories, as well) behave and speak. 

I welcome both types of readers to explore the new lingua franca of our leads!

We start our day with a cup of hot cappuccino in the cafeteria over gossips of how our evening had been.  Some freak out with their friends in the evening, some have few promises to keep and there is a different group of people who have lots of stories to tell; stories of their ‘yesterday’ that start with a similar cup of cappuccino and ends at their desk late night.  Don’t ponder much on this - they are highly efficient people in the organization and some of them are also called as ‘Geeks.’ So let’s see what managers (people-who-manage) say to convince these ‘Geeks’ to work more and deliver results.

He receives a mail in the morning:

You may want to review the work done by xyz.  This may help us achieve higher quality code.

The word ‘May’ signifies a pun: ‘you may’ means ‘if you want to’ and it also means ‘you have to’  Confused between what a senior wants to convey, this poor chap accepts the second meaning applicable to him.  Now this something extra that he is doing, which ‘may’ fetch him appreciations or which ‘may’ go un-noticed for a long while as well. 2 more hours of additional work that gets added to his KRAs (Key Result Areas)! 

For more read click: http://www.ganshani.com/downloads/The Language of Managers.pdf

Thanks 

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So, lets see the 5-step solution:

1. Go to Visual Studio Command Prompt
2. Generate a Strong Name Key File
   sn -k keyPair.snk 
3. Obtain MSIL for the assembly
   ildasm Assembly.dll /out:Assembly.il 
    
4. Rename the original assembly
   ren Assembly.dll Assembly.dll.old 
    
5. Create a new assembly from MSIL & Key File
   ilasm Assembly.il /dll /key= keyPair.snk 

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