.NET Articles

Working with the Enterprise Library's Data Access Application Block 09 Mar 2005 00:00 GMT

One of Microsoft's efforts over the past couple of years has been to provide developers with useful code libraries that illustrate best practices. I discussed Microsoft's latest foray into this arena in an earlier article, An Introduction to the Microsoft Enterprise Library. The Enterprise Library is a suite of classes - called application blocks - provided by Microsoft's Patterns and Practices Group that illustrate best practices for performing a myriad of common enterprise-related tasks. The Enterprise Library contains application blocks for caching, configuration, data access, cryptography, exception handling, logging and instrumentation, and security.

In this article we will examine one of the most commonly used application blocks in the Enterprise Library - the Data Access Application Block (DAAB). The DAAB has existed in a stand-alone form for quite some time (see John Jakovich's article Examining the Data Access Application Block), but the Enterprise Library has updated the DAAB of old so that it uses an abstract provider and offers greater integration with the other application blocks that make up the Enterprise Library. Read on to learn more about how to use the Enterprise Library's DAAB in your applications!
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Source: 4GuysFromRolla

On the Way to Mastering ASP.NET: Introducing Custom Entity Classes 08 Mar 2005 08:00 GMT
There are situations for which untyped DataSets may not be the best solution for data manipulation. This guide is explores an alternative to DataSets: custom entities and collections.
Source: MSDN

An Introduction to Developing Software for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 08 Mar 2005 05:00 GMT
At a recent consumer electronics show, Bill Gates suggested that the Media Center PC would be the centerpiece for combining online entertainment sources with existing video sources. As Sean Alexander (a product manager for Media Center) later suggested, Windows Media Center Edition will be the "hub for whole-home entertainment". Windows XP Media Center Edition allows you to do those things today. Michael Earls starts you out with how to write applications for Windows Media Center.
Source: O'Reilly

.NET Rocks! - NASA World Wind Development Team 07 Mar 2005 08:00 GMT
Chris Maxwell and Randy Kim from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration talk about their recent .NET project, World Wind, an educational and informational tool for viewing planet Earth (and other planets).
Source: MSDN

New DataSet Features in Visual Studio 2005 03 Mar 2005 08:00 GMT
Learn about the new features in the typed DataSet class and the new TableAdapter class generated by Visual Studio 2005, and the tools for designing them.
Source: MSDN

Extend the Common Dialog Boxes Using Windows Forms 1.x 03 Mar 2005 08:00 GMT
Describes techniques for placing Windows Forms controls inside the standard File Open dialog box.
Source: MSDN

Fun with DVR-MS 02 Mar 2005 08:00 GMT
Use Windows XP Media Center 2005 and DirectShow to record and store television files.
Source: MSDN

Display Local Weather Forecasts with the NOAA's Web Service 02 Mar 2005 00:00 GMT

In December 2004 the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) unveiled a Web service for accessing weather forecasts for locations within the United States. The Web service provides two methods:

NDFDgen(latitude, longitude, detailLevel, startTime, endTime, weatherParametersToReturn) - returns a range of weather information for a particular latitude and longitude between a start and end time. The weatherParametersToReturn input parameter dictates what weather information should be returned, such as: maximum temperature, minimum temperature, three hour temperature, snowfall amount, wind speed, and so on.
NDFDgenByDay(latitude, longitude, hourlyFormat, startDate, numberOfDays) - returns 12-hour or 24-hour weather information for a particular latitude/longitude starting from a certain date and extending a specified number of dates into the future.

Assuming the latitude and longitude are in the NOAA's database, the Web service returns an XML document that contains a variety of weather information for the dates specified, based on the parameters passed into the Web service. (For more detailed information on the NOAA's Web service, refer to http://www.nws.noaa.gov/forecasts/xml/.)

When reading up on this new Web service, I stumbled across Mikhail Arkhipov's blog entry titled Weather Forecast ASP.NET User Control, which provides a User Control written in C# for displaying the seven-day forecast for a particular latitude and longitude. While Mikhail's User Control definitely fit the bill for a simple forecast display in a C# Web application, I was tempted to provide similar functionality in a custom, compiled server control, which would allow the weather forecasts to be displayed in VB.NET Web applications as well. Additionally, I wanted to add some additional customization not found in Mikhail's solution.

The remainder of this article examines my custom control, MultiDayForecast (see screenshot below). We'll look at creating the proxy class for calling the Web service, techniques used to enhance the performance, how to customize the appearance of the MultiDayForecast control, and see how to use MultiDayForecast in an ASP.NET page. (If you are just interested in seeing how to use the MultiDayForecast control on an ASP.NET page and do not care to learn how the control works underneath the covers, feel free to skip to the Using MultiDayForecast in an ASP.NET Page section.) Read on to learn more!