Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia

Check this MSDN mag article on pros and cons of developing an application using strongly typed DataSet objects.

“How big is too big a ViewState?” "The ideal size for a viewstate is around 7 KB ; it is optimal if you can keep it down to 3 KB or so. In any case, the viewstate, no matter its absolute size, should never exceed 30% of the page size." [ Dino ] ViewState is enabled on four levels: machine, application, page, and control. The machine and application levels are controlled by configuration file settings, while the page and control ViewState settings are controlled by properties. Most sites that use ASP.NET will use ViewState in at least portions of the site, so turning it off at the machine or application level often is not feasible. Therefore, ViewState must be handled carefully at the page and control levels .

Developers who wish to embed maps in their applications have 3 new options: * Google Maps * MSN Virtual Earth * Yahoo Maps The process of getting addresses translated into longitude/latitude is called Geocoding and this is an important requirement for generating a map. An SQL Script to generate latitude/longitude details of about 42,000+ locations based on Zipcode is available at EggHeadCafe

from Builder 1. Use one try and many catches 2. Order catch blocks from specific to general 3. Always ensure you reach a valid state 4. Document what you can throw 5. Throw the closest match 6. Never throw in the course of normal use 7. Extend the ApplicationException, not the base Exception, class 8. Use the inner exception property when rethrowing 9. Do not create lightly 10. Name appropriately

Smart clients are easily deployed and managed client applications that provide an adaptive, responsive and rich interactive experience by leveraging local resources and intelligently connecting to distributed data sources. Examples of well known smart client applications are Word, Excel, MS Money, Outlook Smart Client Ingredients Local resources and user experience Connected Offline capable Intelligent deployment and update More: Smart Client FAQ

" Quality code is carefully written, it's Object Oriented, it uses interfaces, structured exception handling, its easy to read, and its maintainable. To write quality code, you have to study. You have to RTFM and know where the F1 key is. And -- (gasp!) --you have to think. Viva la Quality Code!" Peter Bromberg