Ash Tewari

tool

Announcing New CodeDemo Feature – ZoomIt Integration

tewari

I am very excited to announce a new feature of CodeDemo. This feature integrates with ZoomIt and enables you to use ZoomIt much more fluently. ZoomIt is a great presentation tool. It helps speakers and presenters deliver very effective presentations. But many presenters are not using this great tool as much and as effectively as it can be used. The reason is that ZoomIt has a bit of a learning curve. It takes practice to use it fluently. You have a lot going on in your mind while you are doing a presentation. Using ZoomIt distracts you from your presentation. Practice helps you get over this distraction. A lot of presenters use ZoomIt very effectively with practice. But for the […]

Using DbUpdater with MySql

tewari

DbUpdater can be used with mysql. Here are the files you need to jumpstart the integration – DbUpdater-MySql.zip 1. You might need to change the path to mysql.exe in mysql-exec.bat. 2. Modify values in mysql-sample-command-line.bat. Make sure mysql.data.dll is placed in GAC or in the same directory as DbUpdater.exe. Connector binaries can be downloaded from here – http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/net/6.1.html

GUI Prototyping Tools

tewari

Special purpose UI prototyping tools, like the ones listed on C2 Wiki, offer a convenient blend of usability and flexibility. I have tried some of these tools. I was looking for something that – doesn’t become unwieldy when used to prototype a large and complex GUI allows me to use my own screenshots/images/icons allows me to modify the prototype without making it a hair-pulling experience. can prototype all aspects and artifacts of modern web and desktop interfaces, specially – tree controls  – you will be surprised how many prototyping tools don’t have this. Pencil, I am looking at you 🙂 tabbed panels  – can you position your tabs at the bottom ? on the right edge ? film strips ribbons NavBars The […]

ReSharper vs CodeRush + Refactor Pro

tewari

I have been playing with JetBrains ReSharper (version 4.1) and DevExpress CodeRush + Refactor! Pro (version 3.2.2) lately. I wanted to decide on which one to go with. Here are some notes – R# = ReSharper CodeRush = CodeRush + Refactor! Pro R# seems to be better for refactoring, because it does not assume that I follow a rigid work flow when writing code. For example, I don’t always decide on the class hierarchies upfront. I do discover them as I write code. So, when I discover that I need to extract a base class from the class I am working on, I can do so with R#. I couldn’t find a way to do extract a base/super class with CodeRush. […]

Database Schema Version Control Tool

tewari

It is essential to treat database schema as source code and apply all the norms and best practices applicable to it. From what I hear and read, database schema version control is non-existent in too many projects. Various techniques to accomplish version control of database schemas have been discussed and published. Martin Fowler and Pramod Sadagale has written a comprehensive article on Evolutionary Database Design. It is a must-read for everyone involved with database development. K. Scott Allen writes in detail about an excellent system here – Versioning Databases – Change Scripts. This approach is sufficiently light-weight (for my taste) and provides complete control over the whole process. I am providing a free tool here that you can use to […]