All Blog Posts
Simple ASP.NET Core web app using Dapper and SQLite
Here's a simple ASP.NET Core web app using Dapper to access a SQLite database containing authors, articles and tags associated with the articles.
Simple Blog Engine For ASP.NET Core Developers
I made a file-based, customisable and fast ASP.NET Core blog engine using razor views as the blog posts files.
Help with Spritekit position and anchorPoint
Spritekit nodes have position and anchorPoint CGPoint properties. I found the behaviour of these two properties confusing at first. Especially when adding multiple levels of children using SKNode’s addChild method. So here is a “cheat sheet” if you like, a visual helper that explains how it all works. If you’re as confused as I was then studying these examples should help.
Backbone.ModalDialog.js v0.3
Recently at work I gave my Backbone.js modal dialog a good run out on a fairly complex edit profile screen. Each distinct element of a user’s profile is editable separately in a modal dialog. I made a few changes along the way so now here’s the 0.3 release.
Backbone.ModalDialog.js v0.2
I’ve made a few changes to my Backbone.js modal dialog plugin. I’m using it in my own web app and I needed to make some changes and hopefully others will need them too.
Backbone.js collections can listen to their models’ changes
I wanted to know if Backbone.js collections can listen to their models’ events. It turns out they can. In your collection you just need to use the same binding mechanism that you would in a view.
Many-to-many relationships with PetaPoco
An example of a many-to-many relationship in a database are blog post tags. A blog post can have many tags and a tag can have many blog posts. So how do you do this in PetaPoco? I’ve added tag support to my PetaPoco A Simple Web App project on GitHub so I’ll explain what I did.
Using jQuery to display a form validation error
I’m obsessed with best practice form design and usability. There are lots of guidelines about validation messages. I’ve decided on a way of displaying validation errors and success messages on forms for my current project. I’ve turned this into a jQuery form error plugin on GitHub which provides some quick wins...
Creating A Modal Dialog In A Backbone.js Kind Of Way
I’m finally using Backbone.js. It’s brilliant and I can’t recommend it enough. Backbone is not trivial but it solves a difficult problem. So I needed a modal dialog. I messed about with a couple of modal dialog plugins but had problems getting them to work in a way that fits in with Backbone.js.
Javascript Sandbox for ASP.NET MVC 3
I’ve started reading more about Javascript this year. My home project is coming up to the point where I’m making some important client side decisions and I want to make sure I’m making the best choices. As anyone who has looked beyond the surface will tell you, Javascript is deceptively complex and capable. I have four books helping me out at the moment...
Added MVC Mini Profiler to PetaPoco – A simple web app
I saw a question on Stack Overflow asking how to setup Sam Saffron’s MVC Mini Profiler to work with PetaPoco and realised it would be a good idea to implement the mini profiler into my PetaPoco example app.
PetaPoco – A simple web app
I’ve put together a basic web app using PetaPoco to manage a one-to-many relationship between authors and their articles.
Help getting started with PetaPoco
I’ve recently spent some time working with PetaPoco. As always with something new I found problems early and often but not real problems with PetaPoco itself, just typical “What does this error mean?” and “How do I do this then?”
The move towards micro ORMs
Many of us know about the apparently recent appearance of micro ORMs thanks to Rob Conery’s Massive followed by Sam Saffron’s (and Stack Overflow’s) Dapper and more. However, having read around the web it is clear that micro ORMs have existed for as long as ADO.NET, but without the publicity.
Learning new stuff as a developer
Constant learning is vital to most careers but it is especially vital for developers. Learning is rewarding and addictive, but also difficult. It takes time, determination and motivation to push yourself out of your comfort zone and reach the next camp in the ascent of your career.
ASP.NET MVC [Remote] validation – what about success messages?
Since ASP.NET MVC 3 it’s easy to validate an individual form field by firing off a HTTP request to a controller action. This action returns either Json(true) if the value is valid or a Json(“error message”) if it is not valid.
MongoDB and ASP.NET MVC – A basic web app
I first heard about document databases (NoSql) last year thanks to Rob Conery’s blog post. At the time I couldn’t imagine a database without SQL but there really is such a thing and MongoDB is a leading example.
My desk
I am always fascinated when I see photos of other developers’ desks so I thought I’d share mine with the world. For years my desk has been an undervalued dump and, in an act of shameful correlation, I have been an under performing stig for years too.
My take on .NET CMS’s – Orchard
I threw myself at Orchard for 3 months from August 2010 to November just when version 0.5 had been released. Orchard is based on ASP.NET MVC and at the moment is an open source project financially backed by Microsoft. There are some very clever chaps working on Orchard.