Bilal Haidar [MVP, MCT]

Think out of the box

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:35:00 GMT

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I choose to help a friend ....... but for sure I was thinking inside the box!!!

You are driving down the road in your car on a wild,
stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three people
waiting for the bus:

1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.

2. An old friend who once saved your life.

3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that
there could only be one passenger in your car? Think before you continue reading.

This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job
application. You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first. Or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.

YOU WON 'T
BELIEVE THIS...................

The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer. He simply answered: 'I would give the car keys to my old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams.'

Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations.

Never forget to 'Think Outside of the Box.'

Columns & Rows: Part II Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid Columns

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:21:00 GMT

Here is the second installment of my series Columns and Rows on the ASPNETPRO magazine.

Columns & Rows: Part II Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid Columns

If you haven't yet read the first installment, you can read the blog post here: Columns & Rows Part I: Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid Properties.

Hope you enjoy it!
Regards

Part I - Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid Properties

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:49:00 GMT

I would like to invite you to read the first installment of the Columns & Rows series on the Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid that is being published by ASPNETPRO magazine. Columns & Rows Part I: Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid Properties

Article Introduction
This article is the first in a series that will tackle most of the features of the Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid. There are several sections to discuss and explain regarding the Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid, including an overview of the DataGrid properties, auto-generating columns, defining columns in XAML, defining columns at runtime, implementing master/detail features, paging and sorting, and editing/deleting/adding rows using the DataGrid.

Through the course of this article, you’ll get an overview of the majority of the DataGrid properties that play an important role in configuring the DataGrid, like setting the column width and row color, and alternating colors, among other things.

Hope you enjoy and benefit from reading it.
Regards

Step-by-step Tutorial – RadControls for WinForms

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:36:00 GMT

Telerik provides a new step by step tutorial on Rad Controls for WinForms.

Check it out here: Step-by-Step Tutorial - RadControls for WinForms

Enjoy it,
Regards

RadDock for Winforms Q2 2009 Beta has landed

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:22:00 GMT

Check out Telerik's new RadDock for Winforms Q2 2009 Beta:

RadDock for Winforms Q2 2009 Beta has landed

Enjoy it,
Regards

The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:11:00 GMT

If it happens with you that you trying to login to a Windows Vista machine and get the following message on screen:

The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

The best Forum's post to look at is this:

How to fix the Error: "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded."

I tried the mentioned solution in that post and it worked fine for me.

Hope this helps,
Regards

SnippetManager by Karen Corby

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:53:00 GMT

A very fascinating SnippetManager I noticed yesterday while attending a Mix'09 session by Karen Corby, Program Manager in Silverilght team at Microsoft, that she used throughout her session to drag text from it into the Visual Studio working area.

The SnippetManager looks something like this:

To download this SnippetManager together with its WPF soure code, please check Karen's blog post here: SnippetManager

Hope you enjoy it,
regards

Columns & Rows: Part I Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid Properties

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:36:00 GMT

I invite you to read my latest article on ASPNETPRO magazine:

Columns & Rows: Part I Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid Properties

This is the first in a series of few articles to cover all features of the Silverlight 2.0 DataGrid.

Enjoy it!
Regards

Error. Setup is unable to find load htmllite.dll

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:26:00 GMT

I got the error "error. setup is unable to find load htmllite.dll" while installing the Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1.

All what you need to resolve this, is copy the "htmllite.dll" file from the contents of the VS 2010 CD into the Windows folder.

Hope this helps,
Regards

Telerik Sales Dashboard Demo for Silverlight and WPF

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:52:00 GMT

Telerik just release the Telerik Sales Dashboard Demo for both Silverlight and WPF.

Check this blog post for more info on the Dashboard: Telerik Dashboard for Silverlight and WPF

Hope you enjoy it!
regards

Telerik WebUI Test Studio

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:09:00 GMT

I want to invite you to check the article titled "Telerik WebUI Test Studio" on the http://www.aspnetpro.com magazine that is authored by my colleague Rawane Madi.

The article can be reached at: Telerik WebUI Test Studio

Good work Rawane! Keep it up.

Regards

Model-View-ViewModel in Silverlight

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:25:00 GMT

A very nice article to share that shows how to develop an MVVM Application in Silverlight 2.0.

Check the article here: Model View ViewModel in Silverlight 2.0

Hope you enjoy it,
Regards

XAML Power Toys for WPF and Silverlight 2.0 - V4.0

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:22:00 GMT

A very nice Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Add-in that you can find handy when developing with Silverlight 2.0 is the XAML Power Toys for WPF and Silverlight.

You can create a XAML business form by using a simple form that drives you step by step in selecting in creating your rows and columns.

You can also create a XAML business form based on a domain object in your project, and much more features.

If you are developing in Silverlight 2.0, it is a must to check this Add-in. XAML Power Toys for WPF and Silverlight 2.0 V 4.0

Hope this helps,
Regards

Internal Access Modifier on C# Namespaces

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:08:00 GMT

As part of a Silverlight applicatin I am currently developing, I have a small API that ships with the application that allows extending it with more features. I had few "Default" implementations inside the API and hence I placed them within a Namespace where all classes are marked as Internal.

Now, when I started working on the app, I created a Visual Studio Blank Solution. So the Silverlight application and the API are in the same blank empty solution inside VS 2008. When I access the main Namespace of the API, I always get to see the name of the default implementations, however as empty since all classes inside it are internal.

So how can I hide the Namespace that contains all those implementations? I read this blog here "http://www.bartlannoeye.be/blog/2008/08/06/MakeCNamespaceInternal.aspx" which helped me do what I want, but I thought of illustrating a bit more here in this post to clarify the idea more.

Rule 1: Make sure all the classes inside the Namespace you want to hide are marked as Internal.

Rule 2: If you add a reference to a project whose source code is in the same solution, you will always see the Namespace name however empty with no classes.

Rule 3: If you add a reference to a project whose source code is not present in the current application, the Namespace name that contains all internal classes will be hidden.

I tried it out and seems to work very nice.

Hope this helps,
Regards

Building A Data-Driven Expense App with Silverlight 3

BilalHaidar [MVP] — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:34:00 GMT

Check this amazing article on Data-Driven apps in SL 3.0

Building A Data-Driven Expense App with Silverlight 3

Hope this helps,
regards