MSDN Magazine December 2009
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Generation Test: Automated Unit Tests for Legacy Code with Pex Creating and maintaining a unit test suite for legacy code can be a challenge. Pex automatically produces a small test suite with high code and assertion coverage. Nikhil Sachdeva Code Cleanup: Using Agile Techniques to Pay Back Technical Debt Every codebase contains some measure of technical debt – code that is maddeningly hard to test and maintain. We outline some ideas for identifying and dealing with the high-interest debt in your code. David Laribee |
Data Access: Building a Desktop To-Do Application with NHibernate
Building an NHibernate-based desktop application isn’t any harder than building a web application, and in many cases NHibernate simplifies elements of session handling and concurrency. Oren Eini
Team System: Building a Visual Studio Team Explorer Extension
There’s no magic behind how the TFS Power Tools were integrated with Team Explorer, and we’ll show you how to expose your own custom features inside the Team Explorer window. Brian A. Randell, Marcel de Vries
SharePoint 2010 and BCS: Using Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint 2010
Kirk Evans shows how to take advantage of SharePoint 2010 Business Connectivity Services (BCS) to develop solutions with deep integration of external data and services. BCS builds upon its BDC predecessor in the key areas of presentation, connectivity, tooling and lifecycle management. Kirk Evans
Columns
Editor's Note: Shaping a New Era in MSDN Magazine
Diego is working with the new editor in chief, Keith Ward, to make some changes to the magazine. A key goal of that is to better align our content with your needs as a developer.Diego Dagum
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Toolbox: Database and OR/M Tools, Oren Eini and Custom Visual Studio Tabs
This month we look at tools for enhancing the LINQ to SQL and Entity Framework designers, Oren Eini’s .NET development blog, Visual Studio tab customization, and more.Scott Mitchell
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CLR Inside Out: In-Process Side-by-Side
The new .NET Framework 4.0 maintains backward compatibility while allowing core innovations by using a new feature called In-Process Side-by-Side. Learn about how it works and some problems it didn’t solve.Luiz Fernando Santos, Jesse Kaplan
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Cutting Edge: Live Data Binding in ASP.NET AJAX 4.0
Dino Esposito discusses various forms of client-side data binding as they are coming out in ASP.NET AJAX 4.0, focusing on some advanced features of data binding and observable objects.Dino Esposito
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Test Run: Pairwise Testing with QICT
In this month's column, James McCaffrey explains exactly what pairwise testing is and provides you with complete C# source code for a production quality pairwise testing tool named QICT.James McCaffrey
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Extreme ASP.NET: Looking Ahead to ASP.NET 4.0
When Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4 arrive next year, ASP.NET developers will have two mature frameworks for building Web applications: ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC. This article highlights some of the important new features for these two frameworks.Scott Allen
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Windows with C++: Layered Windows with Direct2D
Layered windows provide the unique ability to compose a window on the desktop using per-pixel alpha blending. We take a look at how you can implement this drawing technique in Direct2D.Kenny Kerr
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Going Places: Enhancing Windows Touch Applications for Mobile Users
This article describes how to use the Windows Touch API and related APIs to enhance mobile application. The discussion focuses on general usability, object selection and implementing a natural user interface.Gus Class
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Concurrent Affairs: Data-Parallel Patterns and PLINQ
Multicore processors are now ubiquitous on mainstream desktop computers, but applications that use their full potential are still difficult to write. Version 4 of the .NET Framework will deliver several tools that programmers can employ to make this task easier. This article explores the use of one of those tools: Parallel LINQ (PLINQ).Igor Ostrovsky
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Usability in Practice: More Than Skin Deep
While style and slick visuals are important in Web site design, they shouldn’t detract from a site’s usability and functionality. Here are some hands-on tips for look and feel, readability, discovery of affordances, and more, with plenty of examples of good and bad design.Ambrose Little, Charles B. Kreitzberg
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