At my last employer, I was able to use Jetbrains Resharper. I hesitate to say I was “lucky” because I thought I would MISS it after changing positions, but to be honest, I’m finding out things about Visual Studio I never realized it could do before! One of the HUGE benefits I THOUGHT with Resharper was the ability to JUMP quickly to a specific class. With the finger flicks of CTRL+J, start typing out your class name, arrow down to the one you see and want, hit enter, and you’re there! Bingo, Boingo, you’re coding and right at it!

At my new work, we in QA automation don’t have Resharper, and I had a few friends ask me if it was worthwhile spending the money to get Resharper? I answered with a “can you give me a bit of time to find see if stock VS has what we need?” Thankfully I’m finding out some really cool things about Visual Studio, and it has some nifty tricks up it’s sleeve.

Before we get to far, let’s put this whole Resharper thing in perspective. It costs ~$300 for the first year. If you amortize their prices out over three years, it works out to $0.85 per day for...

Are you debugging some automated C# code? Or maybe you’re just outputting some value to the console? Want to snoop in on something during runtime? How do you do it? Let me count the ways…. No, really, let’s count them,

using string concatenation (using + with multiple strings)using string.concat()using StringBuilderusing...

This week at work, I was looking at our automation solution and wondering about adding a non-code file for future coworkers to use as reference. Easy enough, add the file…but then is the tough question, do you want it to be included in the compiled output? What I mean is, do you or your intended audience (including your code) need access to this file or these files at runtime?

What’s the difference? Well, if you’re including a ReadMe.txt file, you likely won’t want that in the compiled code (in \bin\Debug or \bin\Release). However, if you want a JSON file or an XML file or even XLS or PDF files for comparison sake, then for sure you want those included. But how do you do it?

First off, I would suggest making a folder\directory for those files so they are not confused with other code files. Next place your file in there, then hit F4 or goto the file’s Properties.



If...

If you’re a QA or dev, you’ve had to write up a bug report, right? A GOOD bug report will have a steps to reproduce, along with expected and actual outcomes. You need to show what’s wrong and what you’re expecting after all.

If you’ve read an earlier article on this blog about screen captures (Who knew taking screen shots\captures could have so many options?) you’ll know how easy it is to get static, individual steps. Those are GREAT, a picture’s worth a thousand words right? Except, there are just some times…..you need MORE!

What’s more? You just want to show someone exactly what you’re seeing, motion included! Flashes, stutters, something that’s going on just now, only for you, in the heat of THAT moment of time!!!!! You need to capture it to show someone else you’re not NUTS for seeing something there!

But how do you do it? Impossible? Well, thanks to a colleague at work (thanks Mark), he showed me LICEcap. It’s a great tool which...

Imagine this scenario, you’re working on a remote server, and something goes sideways (aka something goes south, something bad happens, the s@#$%T hits the fan, something is FUBARd and you need to reboot the box), what do you do? I said you’re remote right? “Uh, Peter, just reboot the box by going to the Start menu, using Power and Restart. You know, like this.”



hhhmmm How do I bite my lip, be respectful, yet show them that I’m not some noob and that the problem is when you’re signed into a server remoted (in Windows), and chances are good your IT\Lan or network admins have locked out users from being able to restart\reboot the box.

Are you hooped? Well, yes, IF you don’t have access to the command prompt (cmd.exe).

If you have command prompt access, then you should be ok (if you have to ask what this is….then maybe you shouldn’t be playing with this stuff?). With cmd, you can

shutdown /? which likely shows you two\three\four screens of help. The key options you are probably going to want are /p to shut down NOW! (ie no warning), shutdown...

Are you using Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise? Did you know you have access to a too called Class Designer? It’s simply awesome! It will qucikly give you a a birds eye view of your classes and their inheritance structure. It’s awesome!

However, if you’re using Visual Studio Professional, you will have a hard time finding it. How come? Well, “technically” you DO have it, you just need to work a bit hard for it. Specifically you will need to go back to your Visual Studio application in Programs and Features in Control Panel and install it.

Here’s the Coles Notes version (hey, if you’re reading this, chances are you know what to do now LOL).



To...

If you are like a lot of people, you measure your lumber with the imperial system (inches and feet). Likewise, a lot of people use that same system when it comes to their word processing…..Microsoft Word. But the last few computers I’ve gotten, for some reason the first time I open WinWord, it’s in metric (page margins are in cms). I know I like my margins at either one inch (Imperial) or when I want to maximize printable surface area, I put the margins to 0.5 all around (it’s a good balance between unprintable\inaccessible printing area on most printers in general, laser printers or ink jet).

I can’t seem to remember, I can’t explain it, I just have a mind block to it. So here is the quickest way to remember to do it. The trick is, the change is in the Advanced area of WinWord Options.



Turns...

Are you taking screen shots for logging a bug? Do you need to get that “picture is worth a thousand words” screen cap? How hard could it be?

When I started doing Windows back in Windows 3.0 days (hey don’t judge me! LOL), I was completely astonished a coworker could grab the entire contents of the computer screen to a BMP file. Holy smokes, how do you do THAT magic? Turns out it was easy, hit the PrtScn button, paste into PBRUSH.exe (paintbrush if you’re too young to know what pbrush is) and then INSERT that file into something like WinWord. Simple right?

Well, fast forward to today, and we can easily draw a rectangle on the LCD and save it to the clipboard, goto your JIRA bug or TFS bugs and paste it into your browser to help with the “picture is worth a thousand words!” But how did we get here?

I mentioned above about the print screen, PBRUSH, and attaching that file. Next I fell in LOVE with TechSmith’s SnagIt. The good about it was it was fantastic, easy to use, easy to customize to launching with...

Are you trying to run a new Typescript project in your Visual Studio and getting 500.19 error in IE? I think I might be able to help you.

I want to be MORE of a positive player on my team, to my family, to my company, to my friends. HOW can I do this? I’m going to try a new trick!

Have you ever wanted to use your cell\mobile phone for a GPS but didn’t have an easy and affordable way to put it in plain site? Have I got a product to help you!

I’m starting to learn Typescript. You interested in learning too? Come learn with me!

After a few months of using my Android Nexus 5X, I think I’ve gotten pretty used to it. Here is a list of things I have NOT enjoyed so far.

Yes, I’ve jumped from Windows Phone to Android. Here is a list of things I miss.

I’ve moved away from Windows 10 Mobile\Windows Phone, what have I found with my new Android smartphone? Check it out!

I used to be a HUGE Windows Phone supporter! Huge. GINORMOUS! I changed jobs so that I could continue learning XAML to help me with WP! But lately the message is clear. It’s dead Jim. It’s dead.

Sometimes you just want to show someone what you’re looking at RIGHT FREAK’N NOW! But how do you do that with an android phone?

If I’m going to move away from Windows Phone\Windows 10 Mobile (sniff), what does the alternative absolutely HAVE to have? Read on, maybe the list will surprise you

Ok, Soooo, I’ve actually ALREADY made the switch to a (SPOILER ALERT!) Android Nexux 5X. BUT, before I did that, what type of criteria did I use to decide on switching away from Windows 10 Mobile\Windows Phone. I also created a mobile phone hardware grid of options which where important to me, so together, this list and that one, I decided on Android, Nexus 5X.

ABSOLUTE MUST HAVES (will return phone if not supported)

Notifications from calendar just have to be trustworthy This includes alarms No, this is not nearly as straight forward as you or I might initially think Apple screwed it up with Outlook Calendar events back in 2010 Modern OS and updatable Unlocked Carrier unlocked I don't want to have to pay MORE money if I want to take a trip and use the phone away from Canada RELIABLE Wifi just HAS to connect/reconnect automatically...

I LOVE the Android GPS program, and I’m going to tell you why! Simply cause they let you do ONE simple thing. Can you see what it is? I bet you can’t?!

I moved away from Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile\Windows Phone. Yes, H-E-double hockey sticks IS getting chilly now!