Rockford .Net User Group

I recently installed Visual Studio 2008 C# Express Edition and added Facebook .NET DLL's to my system. I haven't kicked the tires yet but I plan to soon. If anybody out there installed their free beta CD, let me know and let me know how programming with it goes. Lastly please post any questions you might have about C# 3 and I'll try to answer them.

Ross Albertson 

Good Luck Ross!!

 Have you checked out Coding 4 Fun??  It's a great site with some real neat projects.

http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/

Chris Hoffman

Hi Chris!

Thanks for the link. I am currently working on a C#/Linq-to-XML experiment using Visual Studio's dialog boxes for the first time. This is basically a home budgeting program which uses XML to store the data. If you guys (and gals) would like, I could post my code as I work on it. A "best practice" I developed was to put all my XML tag strings in a "constants" class, as "public static" so a "constants" object isn't necessary. That way, I can make sure my whole application reads/writes the same XML tags.

I have one question for the group to ponder: can C# Express Edition and VB.NET Express Edition peacefully co-exist? If they can, I might be able to present LINQ-to-XML with some assistance. Or, if you guys can tell me how to upload files onto this site, I could possibly upload a Powerpoint or Word file explaining that feature of .NET Framework 3.5.

Ross Albertson

Ross

 C# and VB Express can exist on the same machine.   C# and VB developers can even exist alright in the same room. :)

 If I may give a suggestion, XML may not be what I would use as a data store for a budgeting program because of security and it being in plain text.  I understand you are just experimenting and that's cool.  Maybe a "next step" to your project would be to use SQL Server Express or SQL Server Compact.  They are both free.  SQL Server Compact is really great for portability and really the next best thing for a light weight data store.  You can secure it and I believe it even supports data encryption.  Chris did a great presentation on it months ago.

 Keep up the good work.  It would be nice to see your implementation using Linq.  It's still very new but looks to have a very powerful future.

I have my reasons for using XML. My program is intended to be used by average PC users at home for domestic use. It's much easier to verify XML data. Plus, I can't count on my users having any programs in particular, including any database software. If I were writing business-to-business software, I would agree with you. Besides, I am working on a new version which allows the user to put his/her data where he/she wants, including another Windows hard drive partition... thus making it harder to find. 

Actually, the reason I installed VB.NET was for its new XML-support features - I was even thinking of rewriting my code in VB.NET for that reason. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered with VB.NET. C and Pascal were the first real languages I ever learned... I don't count Commodore BASIC. I guess I just carbon-dated myself... oh, well!

Ross 

Ross, I would agree with Dan that SQL Server Compact Edition (SSCE) would be a great choice for your app.  Your users to not have to install any server software or anything other than your app for that mater.  SSCE uses only 7 dlls and they all total only 1.4 megs of hard drive space.  Your application just includes the 7 files along with any other files your app uses, such as the .exe or xml file. 

SSCE can be encrypted with 128 bit encryption.

Just a thought

Chris 

Well, I do have one other reason for using XML: flexibility in structure. What I have in mind doesn't fit a grid very well. I suppose I could split my BudgetClass up into separate header and detail structures, but it would basically mean restructuring my whole app. I would pretty much have to start all over. I have already written VB.NET code that takes advantage of 3.5 XML handling; I might post it in the near future. What it enables me to do is generate XML in my code using a combined XML/ASP format. I can use variables both as tags and as actual data; can you do something similar with SQL? If you saw what LINQ-to-XML can do, you guys might see than XML does have its uses other than SOA. I might make an SQL Server version at a later date... if I do it will probably be in C#. I know I probably seem like a maverick by now, but I'm not as married to the status quo as I would be as an established programmer. Thanks for the suggestions, but unless you show me how to replicate something like

<Budget>
  <Header>
    <ItemCount>2</ItemCount>
    <AmountBudgeted>100</AmountBudgeted>
  </Header>
  <Details>
    <Item Name="CDs">
      <Percentage>10</Percentage>
      <Amount>10</Amount>
    </Item>
    <Item Name="Books">
      <Percentage>30</Percentage>
      <Amount>30</Amount>
    </Item>
  </Details>
</Budget>

in one structure using SQL Server, I'll stick to what I'm using.

Ross

Here is an example of what VB.NET can do now:

Public Function CreateEmptyBudget(ByVal fileName As String) As Boolean
        Dim good As Boolean
        Try
            good = True
            Dim doc As XDocument = _
            <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16" standalone="yes"?>
            <<%= Constants.RootTag %>>
                <<%= Constants.HeaderTag %>>
                    <<%= Constants.ItemCountTag %>><%= ItemCount %></>
                    <<%= Constants.BudgetAmountTag %>><%= AmountBudgeted %></>
                </>
                <<%= Constants.DetailGroupTag %>>
                </>
            </>
            doc.Save(fileName)
        Catch ex As Exception
            good = False
        End Try
        Return good
    End Function

This code is intended to create a "header" and a place to put the actual budget items. The item count might seem redundant, but I intend to use that data to control loops later on. I hope this code clarifies what I have in mind.

Ross