Tools on Marko Apfel

Activating RDP access for Windows 10

Thu, 08 Jan 2015 18:56:00 +0100

Today I’ve installed the Technology Preview of Windows 10 onto my Xen Server. With the XenCenter program under an existing Windows 8.1 installation it was an easy task. But this Win 8.1 runs virtualized via Parallels and Bootcamp on my MacBook. That creates a double windowing – first the virtualized window of Win 8.1 with XenCenter and inside XenCenter the windows of the XenServer hosted Windows 10. This is not nice.

Productive work environments for F# development (under windows)

Sat, 04 May 2013 07:30:00 +0200

IDEs, Editors, ..

Here are my favorites in descend order

Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web yes! - it allows you free F# development, notably for libraries
LINQPad again and again a wonderful tool!
SharpDevelop sometimes a little bit idiosyncratic
Online Scratchpad on TryFSharp.org the fastest start …

Additional resources

Maybe the following packages are necessary or in minimum useful:

SharpDevelop, F#, missing “Send to F# Interactive” context menu

Wed, 01 May 2013 05:15:00 +0200

Situation, Problem

During playing a little bit with these WPF MVC F# projects inside SharpDevelop I stumbled over the situation, that I could not send F# snippets to the interactive window. The menu was not available.

SharpDevelop, F#, “Please ensure that the F# compiler is installed on your computer.”

Wed, 01 May 2013 04:18:00 +0200

Situation

My private machine has Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop. This Visual Studio edition doesn’t allow to develop with F#. So I installed additionally SharpDevelop.

But it took longer as expected to get F# projects running in this environment.

Entity Framework: Connecting to a mdf user database file via localDB during script execution

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 12:35:00 +0200

Problem

If you run the Generate database from model wizard and execute the generated script the destination database could be the wrong one (for instance master of the SQL Server).

Solution

To use an own mdf attachable user database some connection information must specified during script execution.

@Microsoft: please provide universal and professional concepts

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:35:00 +0100

Why such constructs are included in the csproj-Files?

<CodeAnalysisRuleSetDirectories>;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Team Tools\Static Analysis Tools\\Rule Sets</CodeAnalysisRuleSetDirectories>

<CodeAnalysisRuleDirectories>;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Team Tools\Static Analysis Tools\FxCop\\Rules</CodeAnalysisRuleDirectories>

So it every projects needs some manual steps to clean the project file so the solution could be build on a continuous integration server. That annoying!

Toolset agnostic build server and Silverlight projects

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:42:00 +0100

Problem

Normally I try to have my continuous integration as most a possible toolset free to ensure that no local stuff could have an impact to my build.

My Silverlight app references a special compile target in a folder outside my developer tree:

Setup license stuff for PostSharp 2.1

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:03:00 +0100

Problem

Normally PostSharp runs fine on unattended build servers. So on our global Jenkins continuous integration server PostSharp does the job.

But on my local TeamCity continuous integration server I got the following error:

MSB4067: The element beneath element is unrecognized.

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:32:00 +0100

Problem

Our global Jenkins continuous integration server throws this error during compile step. My local TeamCity continuous integration server runs fine. What is the difference.

Background

I integrate some static code analysis steps via MSBuild-targets in the csproj files.

Running StyleCop without an installation to empower continuous integration

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:32:00 +0100

Problem

A continuous integration server should only have a minimal toolset installed. This ensures that no unwanted libraries could affect the build and other steps.

Clearly that with this slogan also StyleCop should not be installed to the CI server. But we wanna have this analysis as an part of the whole build.

xUnit runner eats system diagnostic output

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:28:00 +0100

Problem

When using xUnit and constructs like Debug.WriteLine the DbgView-tool does not show the written output anymore.

Solution

Add a new Listener – for example:

Debug.Listeners.Add(new DefaultTraceListener());

Using NuGet in a MSBuild-target to have the packages at the last stand

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:15:00 +0200

Motivation

Encouraged from the article “Using NuGet without committing packages to source control” I decided to wrap the NuGet-call in a MSBuild target instead of using a pre-build event.

Because we also trigger FxCop and StyleCop via targets this fits better in our project management.

Let ReSharper and xUnit work together

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:41:00 +0200

Getting the ressources

First at all download

xUnit http://xunit.codeplex.com/releases/
xUnit Contrib ReSharper http://xunitcontrib.codeplex.com/releases/ This gives you a bridge between ReSharper functionality and your XUnit coding.

Installation und Configuration

Unzip both archives.

xUnit part

Configure the code to use xUnit

Normally I prefer a single checkout point for my developing solution – this whole bundle I name DevTree. One of the top folders in the hierarchy of this DevTree is a lib-Folder. Beneath this folder all of the 3rd party libs which I use in my solution are located – all of them in an own folder. So I copy xunit.dll to a folder <DevTree-Root>\lib\xUnit.

Code Contracts: For unit test a manual rebuild is needed for toggeling “runtime checking”

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 01:19:00 +0200

Toggeling the checkbox “Perform Runtime Contract Checking” lets run the next application start with the new set option. But for unit test an explicit new build will apply the option for the next run.

Suppressing Add-in-registration task during build process

Mon, 16 May 2011 07:17:00 +0200

If you develop ArcGIS Add-ins with Visual Studio under limited permissions you get during the build process an error, that the stuff could not be registered.

Normally its enough to run one times this build as an admin. Then all needed information are set and also taken for users with limited access.

Differences by pasting formatted text in Word and OneNote

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 08:54:00 +0100

By pasting formatted text in Word and OneNote both applications act a little bit different. Meanwhile Word supports RTF-formatting OneNote does not.

OneNote could only handle HTML-formatting.

In combination with presenting source code for Visual Studio the Add-in CopySourceAsHtml is available.

Installation experiences with NDepend under Win7/64 with restricted user permissions

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:10:00 +0100

Today Patrick gives me a new license for his static code analysis tool NDepend for my fresh machine with Win7/64. This platform is new for me, so some things are different to Win XP. Maybe that till yet some of these things are not well enough understood from me. So I stepped in some traps.

Searching the new FxCop-Release (10.0)

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:45:00 +0200

Today my FxCop-GUI stated, that a new release is available – but the link to this release is broken.

After googling a little bit i realized, that the new release of FxCop ist actually only included in “Windows SDK for Windows 7.1”.

My own set of SuppressMessage-lines

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:35:00 +0200

StyleCop issues

inheritedoc-comment

Using -comment is not recognized by StyleCop. So this needs a suppression:

// <inheritdoc />
[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.StyleCop.CSharp.DocumentationRules",
 "SA1604:ElementDocumentationMustHaveSummary",
 Justification = "InheritDoc")]

FxCop issues

Too few namespaces

[module: SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Design",
 "CA1020:AvoidNamespacesWithFewTypes",
 Scope = "namespace",
 Target = "EsriDE.Core.Service.Logging",
 Justification = "We want to have this namespace, but do not have enough classes to go in it right now to satisfy the rule.")]

ReSharper only supports non static test methods

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Performance",
 "CA1822:MarkMembersAsStatic",
 Justification = "ReSharper could not handle static test methods.")]

No strong name

[assembly: SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Design",
 "CA2210:AssembliesShouldHaveValidStrongNames",
 Justification = "Strong name is not needed for this.")]

Catching general exception

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Design",
 "CA1031:DoNotCatchGeneralExceptionTypes",
 Justification = "We do not know which exceptions could be thrown.")]

Justification for samples and fixtures

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.XYZ",
 "CAxyz:XYZ",
 Justification = "For fixtures this is OK.")]

Setter but no Getter (for example in IoC or NHibernate-context)

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Usage",
 "CA2227:CollectionPropertiesShouldBeReadOnly",
 Justification = "Setter is needed for nhibernate, otherwise a NHibernate.PropertyNotFoundException will be thrown.")]

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Xyz",
 "CAxyz:XYZ",
 Justification = "We only need a setter for setter injection.")]

Instantiation with IoC

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Performance",
 "CA1811:AvoidUncalledPrivateCode",
 Justification = "We need this for unit tests.")]

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Performance",
 "CA1812:AvoidUninstantiatedInternalClasses",
 Justification = "Class would be instantiated by IoC framework.")]

Incorrect naming

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.StyleCop.CSharp.NamingRules",
 "SA1310:FieldNamesMustNotContainUnderscore",
 Justification = "Windows message constants are commonly named as WM\_xxxxx")]

Incorrect casing

[module: SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Naming",
 "CA1709:IdentifiersShouldBeCasedCorrectly",
 Scope = "type",
 Target = "EsriDE.Data.Access.IDbFactory",
 MessageId = "<WrongCasedWord>")]

[module: SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Naming",
 "CA1709:IdentifiersShouldBeCasedCorrectly",
 Scope = "type",
 MessageId = "<WrongCasedWord>)]

Parametername should match base declaration

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Naming",
 "CA1725:ParameterNamesShouldMatchBaseDeclaration",
 Justification = "Rule CA1725 has a bug when inspecting parameters from methods from interfaces. So suppress it with class.")]

Throwing ApplicationException

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.Usage",
 "CA2201:DoNotRaiseReservedExceptionTypes",
 Justification = "ApplicationException is OK.")]

FxCop is too strict

[SuppressMessage("
 Microsoft.XYZ",
 "CAxyz:XYZ",
 Justification = "We decide that this is OK.")]

[module: SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.XYZ",
 "CAxyz:XYZ",
 Scope = "resource",
 Target = "EsriDE.PipelineManagement.Core.Properties.Messages.resources",
 MessageId = "Toolbar",
 Justification = "We decide that this is OK.")]

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.XYZ",
 "CAxyz:XYZ",
 Justification = "This is by design.")]

Code from untaught colleagues

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.XYZ",
 "CAxyz:XYZ",
 Justification = "Currently, we do not have enough knowledge or experience to fix this.")]

[SuppressMessage(
 "Microsoft.XYZ",
 "CAxyz:XYZ",
 Justification = "Cowboy-coding colleagues.")]

Specify a project-specific custom dictionary for FxCop build tasks and Visual Studio Team System static code analysis

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:27:00 +0200

Using a project-specific custom dictionary for FxCop and FxCop build tasks is very simple. The FxCopCmd call in the FxCop-target offers the parameter /dictionary:<DictionaryName> for that.

But for Visual Studio a little bit more steps are needed. And these steps must me gone for all projects.

Installing StyleCop for ReSharper

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:58:00 +0100

Installing StyleCop for ReSharper under an administrative account does not activate this ReSharper plugin under my developer account.

A system analysis show, that this plugin is installed under

%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\JetBrains\ReSharper\v4.5\vs9.0\Plugins\Microsoft StyleCop for ReSharper

AgentSmith: suppressing spell checking warnings

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:42:00 +0100

If AgentSmith throws a warning that some term is not spelled correctly for this term the spell checking could be suppressed with:

//agentsmith spellcheck disable
...
//agentsmith spellcheck enable

Working with Microsoft FxCop

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:06:00 +0100

Run FxCop as a post build event

Since FxCop 1.36 it is possible to include FxCop in a post-build event.

So FxCop runs after compiling in Visual Studio and allows you directly jumping to the warned line.

ReSharper is not available

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:23:00 +0100

Today a colleague ask me to help.

On his system all ReSharper menus are grayed out. Also the Visual Studio Add-In Manager does not show this add-in.

He tried:

a new installation: without success,
running with administrative privilegeg: without success,
looking in event- and application-logs: no entries.

After searching a little bit with old buddy google we found this message: Wild World of Visual Studio – Mysterious Component

Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 compatibility with ReSharper

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:57:00 +0200

In our team we have developers with Visual Studio 2005 and 2008. Often we have projects which must be coded by a mixed team.

Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 compatibility for project-files

Normally this is no problem because adding projects in Visual Studio 2005 and manually introducing the ToolsVersion=“2.0” attribut in the new csproj-file allows an coexisting working when using two sln-files for Visual Studio 2005 and 2008.

Using images and cursors in resources

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:30:00 +0100

Often i see code-constructs like

 1: try
 2: {
 3: string bitmapResourceName = GetType().Name + ".bmp";
 4: Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(GetType(), bitmapResourceName);
 5: }
 6: catch (Exception ex)
 7: {
 8: System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine("Invalid bitmap.");
 9: }

The corresponding codetree has the structure:

This works as so long as the bitmap is near the calling component and the names are similar. If the name of Form2 is changed (maybe through refactoring) the developer must remember, that there is a corresponding bitmap. The problems are preassigned!