The Joy of Excellence

  • Is My CodeCoverage.runsettings file wrong?

    Headlilne: Microsoft has a new .RunSettings file to replace the previous .TestSettings file so that you can use it with other systems (like NUnit), more easily support Team Build, and improve performance (among other motivations). But does it work yet? I cannot get the GeneratedCode attribute to prevent code coverage analysis of the code. There…

  • Don’t Swallow Exceptions

    You might be swallowing exceptions if: Your method returns a bool indicating success or failure Your method returns an integer code of some sort Your method has a try/catch block Your method has an out parameter Your method has a ref parameter Overview This post is my view of best practices for error handling in…

  • Providing Lync 2013 Feedback

    Headline: Go to http://input.microsoft.com/lync2013/sas/feedback to provide feedback. Details When I would select Help –> Give Feedback in Lync 2013 – both Beta and Release as shown below: I would get this error message: “Cannot perform the action because the related web page was not available from your Internet browser. If you have not selected a…

  • Visual Studio 2012 testmc Code Snippet

    Headline: This contains the code for the first code snippet I install when I have a new installation of Visual Studio along with the steps to get it into the right location. The Result The first time I saw this format for unit tests was in some work the Microsoft ASP.NET MVC (Model View Controller)…

  • Which Branch Do I Check My Code Into?

    I’m surprised how frequently I hear this question. To me it’s rather simple, but when I explain my mental model to others I usually hear, “Oh, that’s simple!” So it seems many do not share this model. I did a blog post on a more restricted site some years ago, and I’m doing a new…

  • My Surface After 3 Weeks

    Headline: My new Surface RT usage has been undermined by 1) it being an RT, and 2) my new Lenovo X1 Carbon. I let my instinct rule when using my various devices but take note of what I instinctively do – I observe myself. I’m currently on a train as I write this, and I’m…

  • Where is TestContext.BeginTimer()?

    This post outlines my (with help of others) solution to keeping my unit tests working in the absence of TestContext.BeginTimer() and TestContext.EndTimer(). These seem to be missing in Visual Studio 2012 and I can’t find any posts… so I assume no one else uses this pattern. What’s Broken? Here is a sample unit test that…

  • TFS Has an Additional Meaning

    Team Foundation Service! If you want to try out the new capabilities of TFS try the new Team Foundation Service (TF Service) rather than Team Foundation Server (TFS). For almost 8 years I’ve had my own Workgroup Version of TFS which permits up to 5 users. Now Microsoft has tfs.visualstudio.com that allows TFS in the…