ClosedXML: parse excel table based on column names instead of indexes

ClosedXML is a library which provides object oriented way to manipulate Excel 2007/2010 files. I used it in one of the projects to parse table of data from spreadsheet. However, I discovered that there was no way (maybe there is now) to parse the table using the column names. For a while I used column indexes but when the table comes in with rearranged columns the mapping breaks. So I came up with the following solution.

TSQL: count specific children in hierarchy

We have a project with hierarchical data: there are products nested in different categories and categories in its turn nested in segments. The goal was to count products and display this count on parent nodes. So basically we needed something like this:

As you can see there is amount of products displayed next to every node. Lets take a look on how to count those products using TSQL and CTE tables.

.NET: Custom minified script bundles with sourcemaps

I stumbled upon a situation where I had to create minified javascript bundle with a sourcemap for this bundle. There is no default implementation at the moment, however there are classes in Microsoft.Ajax.Utilities namespace which can be used to do it.

Drawing graphs with vis.js

First of all I want to give a shout out to the guys who made amazing visjs library - it is a great thing. It has a ton of different features, I used only network, but there are much more out there.

We had a task recently: our customer works with a chain of suppliers and factories often related to each other, and all this data is stored in the database. We had to find a way to visualize data and display it as user friendly graph. And we found vis.js :) So we took our data, mapped it properly and got this with no effort at all:

Let's take a look on how it’s done.

Tip: get rid of ads in skype

Skype ads are annoying...

Tip: POST request using Fiddler Composer

Quick reminder on how to compose requests using Fiddler.

Managing encrypted files

Imagine that we have a system which generates a certain amount of small .pdf or .xlsx reports and stores them on disk. The requirement is to encrypt those reports and store them as encrypted files. Original file must never hit the disk and all the encryption must be done in memory.

Exploring BMP format

Let's decode bitmap image file. Just because it's simple and I want to dig into something. And because BMP is relatively easy.

C#: Using Microsoft Unity dependency injection in Unit Tests

After working with Ninject and Windsor for a while I finally faced Microsoft Unity dependency injection container. And here is the way to build up an infrastructure for Unity container to use it for example in Unit tests.

MSSQL: Synonyms, Post Deployment scripts and Database Project.

MSSQL Synonyms allow to create proxy tables in one database for another database so we can query tables from both databases and even make joins between them. Obviously it can be done via cross-database queries, however sometimes second database is on the remote server and it is useful to have synonym for it in your database.

MSMQ reading and writing

MSMQ is a message queue implementation by Microsoft, which allows different applications to communicate with each other quite reliable. MSMQ supports sending objects and streams, does not require any additional software. However, it doesn't have embedded subscriber (or any bus management) implementation. We used MSMQ for logging, in order to reduce database load. So we needed a reliable way of reading from / writing to MSMQ. Let’s see how it can be done.

EF Code First: Create table out of Enum

Imagine you have a number of enums in your code. They are defining static data and you want those enums to be mirrored in database as tables with appropriate data. Here is the tip how to quickly map enums to your tables and to seed them with enum values.

Entity Framework Code First: Custom data context initializer

While working with Entity Framework Code First at some point you will probably decide to create custom database initializer which allow you to create/recreate database based on flag in configuration file and automatically seed this database with data, stored procedures, views etc.

How does WebActivator work?

WebActivator allows to execute some code before application starts (or when it's shutting down). Which becomes really useful when you are making your own packages and you want your package to do some actions when application starts/shuts down. And the person who will use your package does not need to do those actions manually.

Let’s look at the features of WebActivator and get inside the source code to see how it works and what does it mean when you meet in code something like:

[assembly: WebActivator.PreApplicationStartMethod(typeof(SomeClass), "SomeMethod", Order=1]

First of all lets look at the WebActivator structure.

Tip: skype chat commands

Recently I discovered the fact that Skype has a bunch of useful chat commands which can save time clicking around UI and overall come in handy.

Those should be used in latest Skype version and can be typed as a message, no one else will see it except you.

/get uri for example will return you an url that others can use to join the group conversation.

/remotelogout will sign out all other instances except the current one. Ain't it useful to log off Skype you left open at work? :)

/showplaces will show all the other instances where this Skype name is currently signed in.

/alertson and /alertsoff will enable/disable message notifications for current chat. By the way enabling notifications can be used with filter /alertson [text] specifying text which should appear in chat to trigger notification.

Complete list of commands can be found here or simply type /help in chat and it will give you the same link.

Tip: Using syntax highlighter

I know i should've used this amazing SyntaxHighlighter (many thanks to the developer!) from the very beginning, but for some reason i got to it only now. So here is my quick glance on this beautiful product. :)

Check Gmail inbox via Windows 7 PowerShell Part 2: message body

Here i wrote about how to quickly check gmail inbox messages using gmail rss feed and powershell. But what about getting the email body or applying some sort of filtering? Luckily, powershell allows us to execute c# code :)

Why multiple inheritance is bad?

I'm not against multiple inheritance. Anything can be a tool in the right hands, and multiple inheritance is a such tool. But it is common question: why multiple inheritance is not suitable for most situations? And really it is not very good. Almost any problem could be solved using single inheritance, interfaces or composition. Many languages deny multiple inheritance, and here is my point of view on this problem.

Imagine, we have two classes "cat" and "duck" :)

Tip: analyze .net stack and heap

Sometimes it is necessary to analyze values stored in stack and heap. Or maybe you need to answer the oldest question on earth: "do the array of ints stored in stack?". You can once again use SOS dll for it.

Tip: find memory leaks in .net application

Sometimes we face some nasty problems, while working with managed code. And one of them is memory leak. When you see in task manager, that an application slowly (or rapidly) consumes precious memory, it means that garbage collector can't release some resources, allocated in code. Sometimes it is easy to find the weak spot, sometimes it is not. Memory leak can be represented by something like holding the reference to managed object longer, than it's needed, or not releasing unmanaged resources.