Specialized Collections   22 Jun 2005 00:00 GMT

The .NET Framework 1.x contains a variety of built-in collection types that can be found in the System.Collections namespace. These built-in collections include the commonly used ArrayList and Hashtable collections, along with the CollectionBase class which serves as a great class to extend to build strongly-typed collections. There are also a variety of other collection classes in this namespace, such as: the Stack and Queue, which are essentially ArrayLists underneath the covers, but place restrictions on the order with which elements can be accessed from the collection; there's also a BitArray class for efficiently storing a collection of Boolean values. (For a thorough discussion of data structures, including a look at the most common collection classes in the .NET Framework, be sure to read An Extensive Examination of Data Structures; there's also a version for .NET 2.0.)

In addition to the classes found directly in the System.Collections namespace, there are a few more classes that can be found in the System.Collections.Specialized namespace. These classes, as the namespace name implies, are specialized versions of the classes in the System.Collections namespace. For example, there are a couple of strongly-typed collections found here - the StringCollection and StringDictionary classes provide strongly-typed versions of the ArrayList and Hashtable classes, respectively. There's also the ListDictionary and HybridDictionary classes that can be more efficient classes than the vanilla Hashtable class.

In this article we'll look at these specialized collection classes and see what features they offer over the base collection classes. Read on to learn more!
Read More >

Source: 4GuysFromRolla

Preventing Duplicate Record Insertion on Page Refresh   22 Jun 2005 00:00 GMT
A common concern of ASP.NET developers is, "How do I prevent previously submitted form data from being reinserted into the database when the user presses the browser's Refresh button?" This article outlines some possible solutions to this problem, highlights what works and what does not work, and then offers a recommended solution.
Source: AspAlliance

Free Online Book - Introducing Visual Basic 2005 for Developers   21 Jun 2005 18:06 GMT
If you use Visual Basic 6, see the adoption and code migration issues in moving to Visual Basic 2005, and find guidance for a productive transition. Or extend your .NET skills using rapid application development, debugging, deployment, and more.
Source: MSDN

Free Online Book - Upgrading Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET   21 Jun 2005 17:59 GMT
Upgrading Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET is is the complete technical guide to upgrading Visual Basic 6 applications to Visual Basic .NET, covering all upgrade topics from APIs to ZOrders.
Source: MSDN

Review: eBusiness Applications Web ComboBox, Version 3   21 Jun 2005 00:00 GMT
If you ever used Google Suggest or Gmail, you will have noticed the impressive lookup functionality of some textbox controls. With Web ComboBox, you can add the same AJAX-based technology to your own ASP.NET web applications.
Source: AspAlliance

Using Threading to Build a Responsive Application with Visual Studio 2005   20 Jun 2005 22:13 GMT
Building multithreaded applications is easy with the new BackgroundWorker component in Visual Studio 2005, and it allows you to create interactive applications with minimal work.
Source: MSDN

Write Ajax-style Applications Using the ASP.NET 2.0 Client Callback Manager   17 Jun 2005 22:28 GMT
With applications like Google Maps for inspiration, it seems everybody's been talking about what you can do with Ajax. But many don't know that writing Ajax-style applications that can do partial screen refreshes without a trip to the server are easy to write in ASP.NET using the built-in Client Callback Manager.
Source: DevX

Microsoft .NET Development for Microsoft Office: Chapter 2: Basics of Office Interoperability   16 Jun 2005 21:55 GMT
Learn about managed interop assemblies for Office XP and Office 2003 from this chapter of Microsoft .NET Development for Microsoft Office, and build some basic interop projects with Excel, Office 97, Office 2000, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
Source: MSDN

Choosing Between the CLR and T-SQL in SQL Server 2005   15 Jun 2005 05:12 GMT
The CLR integration features in SQL Server 2005 enable managed code to run inside the database, but developers now need to choose between CLR-based features and T-SQL when building applications. Find out when each is appropriate.
Source: DevX

Using Pixels in WinForms .NET   15 Jun 2005 04:16 GMT
This tip shows you a way to use pixels as a replacement for twips in your WinForms. This is especially handy for people who still need to use twips ocassionally (like, for Crystal Reports, etc.).
Source: DevX