Gabriel Mongeon

PR preview environments

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Sixth and final article in the series. We explore SWA’s preview environments: each pull request generates a complete environment with its own URL.

Local development with the swa CLI

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Fifth article in the series. We set up the swa CLI for local development with the proxy, the Functions API and authentication emulation.

SWA's built-in authentication

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Fourth article in the series. We explore SWA’s built-in authentication: the built-in providers, the /.auth/ endpoint, and how to get the user in Blazor and in the API.

Adding an Azure Functions API

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Third article in the series. We add an Azure Functions API to our Blazor WASM project, call it from the client without fighting CORS, and deploy the whole thing.

The staticwebapp.config.json file

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Second article in the series. We explore the staticwebapp.config.json file in depth: the fallback for Blazor, routes, redirects, headers and page protection.

What is an Azure Static Web App?

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400

First article in a series on Azure Static Web Apps with Blazor. We create a Blazor WASM project and deploy it to Azure in minutes.

dotnet watch: you use it for hot reload. You should do more with it.

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Every time I changed code, I’d Alt-Tab to the terminal, arrow up, Enter. dotnet test. Wait. Check. Back to the editor. Repeat.

It’s not the end of the world. But over a full day, it adds up, mostly in lost focus. The annoying part is that I already had dotnet watch in my workflow for hot-reloading a web app. I just never thought to ask what else it could do.

Microsoft Agent Framework: First Agent, MCP, and Multi-Agent Workflows

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Microsoft Agent Framework replaces Semantic Kernel and AutoGen. Here’s how to create a local agent with Ollama, connect an MCP server, and orchestrate two agents in sequence.

MCP in C#: Exposing Your Own Tools to Any AI Client

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

MCP standardises how AI clients call external tools. Here’s how to build a working MCP server in C#: with a complete weather example, ready to connect to Claude Desktop or VS Code Copilot.

A Tour of My Public GitHub Repositories

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A themed tour of my public GitHub repos, with a short description of each one.

Rebuilding My 15-Year Blog Archive Without Losing Its Memory

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

I rebuilt my 15-year blog archive using Hugo and Azure Static Web Apps. Here’s what mattered: don’t break old links, keep EN/FR working, and make deploys boring.

15 Years of Blogging: Lessons Learned

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Looking back at 15 years of blogging: why consistency matters less than quality, how bilingual content builds community, and what actually drives value for your readers.

Building AI Agents with Ollama and .NET

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Learn how to create AI agents that think, plan, and act autonomously using Ollama and .NET. Explore the ReAct pattern, tool calling, and practical agent architectures.

Local RAG with Ollama, LiteLLM, and Qdrant

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Wire up Ollama to LiteLLM and Qdrant for local RAG: ingestion, chunking, embeddings, retrieval, and basic evaluation.

Local AI Development with Ollama and .NET

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Learn how to run large language models locally using Ollama and integrate them into your .NET applications for enhanced privacy, reduced costs, and offline AI capabilities.

Modernizing Legacy ASP.NET Projects in 2025

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Practical strategies for assessing and modernizing legacy ASP.NET projects, from incremental migration to adopting modern patterns.

About

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Gabriel Mongeon

Welcome to my personal blog! I’m a developer passionate about technology and knowledge sharing.

What I Do

I’ve been working in software development for several years, focusing on Microsoft technologies, web development, and software architecture.

This Blog

This blog is a space where I share my experiences, technical discoveries, and thoughts on software development. You’ll find articles in both French and English on various technical topics.

Get in Touch

You can find me on:

Quality & Delivery: Testing, Security, Performance, and CI in Mes Recettes

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:20:00 +0000

Testing status, security roadmap, performance strategy, and CI/CD blueprint.

Inside the Architecture: Patterns, Data Modeling, and Extensibility in Mes Recettes

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:10:00 +0000

Clean layering, model mapping, deferred abstractions, and growth paths.

Mes Recettes: Building a Modern Recipe Index with Blazor WebAssembly & Supabase

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Why Blazor + Supabase, architecture highlights, what’s built vs planned, and early lessons.

Supabase and Table Relationships

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

For one of my .NET projects, I use Supabase to store my data. Supabase is an open-source alternative to Firebase. It is based on PostgreSQL and provides a REST API and websockets to interact with the database.

To connect my .NET project to Supabase, I use Supabase Sharp and you can also find the documentation on the official Supabase website.

The ease of use of the library is really interesting and it also allows me to use the Supabase website directly to manage my data without having to write code to do it in my own applications.

Blazor 8

Sun, 05 May 2024 20:00:00 -0400

Exciting New Features in C# and Blazor 8

The world of .NET web development is constantly evolving, and the latest version of Blazor 8 brings a host of new features and improvements that deserve our full attention. In this article, we will explore the key features of Blazor 8 and how they can enhance your C# projects.

Blazor 8: A Richer and More Interactive User Experience

Blazor 8 continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible with .NET web applications. With improved support for server-side rendering and client-side interactivity, Blazor 8 offers a richer and more responsive user experience.

Le Mot: Solveur

Thu, 26 May 2022 20:00:00 -0400

I created a small utility to help solve Le Mot (source), a game using the same concept as Wordle, but in French, created by @louanben.

The utility allows filtering a list of words through exact letters, potential letters, and non-present letters. Find Le mot: Solveur directly on my site.

Mattermost Stream Deck plugin

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 20:00:00 -0400

In my previous article (In French only), I discussed how to create a C# plugin for Stream Deck. Here I present a plugin for Stream Deck for Mattermost developed in C# and .Net 6.

The project is separated in two parts:

A client for Mattermost: Allows connection to Mattermost server and provides objects for interaction with it.
A Stream Deck plugin: Actions for Stream Deck, deployed in the Elgato store.

Currently, the plugin only contains one action:

Création d'un plugin Stream Deck

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 19:26:00 -0400

Here’s a tutorial for creating a plugin for Elgato Stream Deck.

Required Materials

Elgato Stream Deck: No matter which version you use, they all use the same software.

Creating the Plugin for the Stream Deck

To assist us with our Stream Deck plugin, we use tools developed by BarRaider that allow us to quickly start our plugin and also deploy it locally on our Stream Deck. I freely follow the BarRaider documentation as well as Elgato’s, but I will still try to give you a bit more information.

Windows 10 + Raspberry Pi 3 + Display

Wed, 02 Nov 2016 21:22:00 -0400

I’ve been playing with Windows 10 IoT and a Raspberry Pi for a little while now, so I got a touchscreen to improve my experience. Here’s my current setup:

Raspberry Pi 3
Rapsberry Pi 7” touch display
Raspberry Pi Clear Case
Windows 10 IOT Insider Edition

To get everything working, just connect the “display” cable (the big gray one) and the 3 small wires to the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO!

Custom NuGet Source for MSBuild

Tue, 14 Apr 2015 07:29:22 -0400

If you have a custom data source for your NuGet packages and you use MSBuild for your solutions, MSBuild will not be able to restore these packages.

To achieve this without adding specific configuration files to your .Net solutions, you just need to add a NuGetDefaults.config file in the %ProgramData%\NuGet\NuGetDefaults.config directory of your build server. This file will be opened at each build requiring package restoration and will allow you to see your enterprise or personal NuGet package sources.

Exclude TFS DLLs During Publication

Thu, 12 Feb 2015 00:00:00 -0500

In one of my projects, I use an ASP.Net MVC site to communicate with Team Foundation Server (TFS) to display metrics/graphs/reports. The site is hosted on the same server that hosts TFS and during publication, it publishes the file Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.DataStoreLoader.dll in the bin folder each time, which causes an ASP.Net error because the dll is already on the server.

It is possible in an ASP.Net MVC project to exclude files and directories by creating a .wpp.targets file. This allows you to define the exclusions as well as the source/reason for the exclusion.

State Change Date in TFS Scrum

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:10:00 -0500

While trying to take advantage of the new trend charts in TFS 2013.4, I realized that the state change date was not added to the item template in the TFS Scrum template. I had to resort to using the modification date, but this skews the results for items that haven’t actually changed in a long time but have had a property change (notably the priority when reordering the backlog).

I found this article which explained the changes to be made, but my version of TFS is in French, so here is the French version to add to tasks, bugs, and backlog items in the <FIELDS></FIELDS> section:

C# and JSON

Tue, 08 Apr 2014 22:34:00 -0400

If you need to use data formatted with the JSON standard, here is a simple trick to get started (but you can complicate it as you wish ;)). I use the Web Essentials extension and the NuGet package Json.NET. The JSON data file I use is this one: Example JSON File (source).

Here are the steps to take the JSON data, generate the necessary classes, download the data, and populate these new classes:

Install the Web Essentials extension
Create a new class file
Put a snippet or the entire JSON data into the clipboard (Copy or CTRL-C)
Right-click in the editor or go to the EDIT menu/Special Paste and select “Paste JSON as Classes”

Privacy Policy for Windows Store

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 18:45:00 -0500

I was aware of the requirement for a privacy policy for the Windows Store (requirement 4.1.1), but when publishing my application it was rejected on the grounds that I absolutely had to provide this policy because I was using the Internet connection. So even if you do not collect information from your users, simply being connected requires this policy. It is unfortunate that Visual Studio validation does not detect this issue and that it is detected later during submission.

Patiner on the Windows Store

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:16:32 -0500

After creating a similar app on Windows Phone, I had fun making a similar app on Windows 8: Patiner.

The app allows you to view the status of the ice rinks on the island of Montreal by navigating the map. It’s very simple and that’s intentional, but improvements are already planned for future versions.

The data comes from Patiner Montreal, which offers an excellent web portal and links to apps for other operating systems.

Back at it?

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:10:11 -0500

After almost a year without activity, this blog is almost on life support. A new job, the little family, and other elements have kept me away. But I will try to remedy that:

I updated the blog engine and fixed some issues.
Changed the theme.

I already have some blog ideas, so in some time they should appear on this blog.

Stay tuned…

Review of .NET Micro Framework and Gadgeteer at Alt.NET Montreal

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:35:53 -0500

Wow, a great evening: an attentive and interested audience. Here are some links that were discussed during the evening:

You can download the files and the presentation in zip format here and on the .Net Montreal group website.

I forgot Gadgeteer stickers at home, so if you want some, let me know and we’ll arrange to send them to you!

Thank you, if you have any questions feel free to contact me and I look forward to seeing your projects!

.NET Micro Framework and Gadgeteer at Alt.NET Montreal

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:33:00 -0500

On February 25th, I will be giving a presentation titled .NET Micro Framework and .NET Gadgeteer: Embedded Computing for Everyone at the Alt.Net Montreal meeting. I will go over the Framework and Gadgeteer with examples: things that blink, move, and provide useful information ;)

If you have projects you would like to show to the group, feel free to bring them along, we will be happy to discuss them.

Looking forward to meeting you there!

Create your first Azure Mobile Services application

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:10:03 -0500

It is very easy to create your first Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 or iOS application with Azure Mobile Services tools. In this post, I will demonstrate how to create a sample “ToDo” application. In fact, it will take you longer to read this post than to execute the steps in it!

Productivity Power Tools 2012

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:55:09 -0500

The productivity tools for Visual Studio 2012 are now available. In addition to the same features as the 2010 version, the new features of this version are:

Quick tasks
Power Commands
Color printing

All features can be individually disabled in the options. If you have never tried them, don’t hesitate, it could increase your productivity.

Happy coding!

SharePoint 2013 RTM

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:23:00 -0400

Microsoft announced yesterday that the Office and SharePoint teams have released the 2013 RTM version.

Availability for Volume Licensing (VL) customers as well as those with an MSDN or Technet account should be available by mid-November (Just in time for the SharePoint Conference). General availability is expected by early December.

Office 365 should also be updated by mid-November to take advantage of the new features.

Visual Studio 2012 Launches in September

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:30:00 -0400

I hope you are having fun with the RC version of Visual Studio 2012!!! The final version will be launched on September 12th, and Microsoft is preparing a virtual event to mark the occasion. Visit VisualStudioLaunch.com.

Happy coding

IRON SharePoint

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:51:32 -0400

Four colleagues at Alcero and me have register a team (Hot Box) for this year IRON SharePoint competition at SharePoint Summit in Toronto. We will be building a SharePoint solution in less than three during the summit (May 14-16) and present to the judges our solution.

Beyond the 5000$ price for the winning team, as per the IRON SharePoint page:

The winners will also enjoy IRON SharePoint immortality and be the envy of their peers.

Visual Studio 11: Caller Attributes

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:45:46 -0400

One of the new features of Visual Studio 11 and the .NET Framework 4.5 are the Caller attributes:

CallerMemberName: allows you to obtain the method or property name of the caller to the method.
CallerFilePath: allows you to obtain the full path of the source file that contains the caller. This is the file path at compile time.
CallerLineNumber: allows you to obtain the line number in the source file at which the method is called.

These attributes help to simplify the code in certain scenarios, such as logging or when using the INotifyPropertyChanged interface (as in MVVM) and you need to pass the name of the calling property.

WP7 App: InterUrbain

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:51:00 -0400

Here is a second application of my own creation: InterUrbain.

This utility application allows you to determine if calls between two phone numbers are local or long-distance. Simply enter the area code and the first three digits of the number to determine their distances. Simple, effective, and most importantly free!

If you have any suggestions, comments, or need support, do not hesitate to contact me (see the link at the top of this page).

Advertisements for Windows Phone 7

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:01:00 -0500

When developing applications, we always want to make our investment profitable and maybe even make a little profit. With Windows Phone 7 (WP7) there are 2 methods to generate revenue: app purchase and ad display. This article focuses on the second method.

Creating a pubCenter account

First, you need to create an account on the Microsoft Advertising pubCenter. pubCenter is the hub for WP7 ads and Windows 8 apps. Very simple and easy to use, so I will omit the account creation details in this article.

My First App – Sports MTL

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:38:42 -0500

After a few months of experimenting with programming for Windows Phone 7, but without really publishing the application, I decided to try to launch an application that would be published: Sports MTL. An application that allows you to know the status of various recreational/sports venues such as ice rinks, slides, and cross-country ski trails.

This application is available in French and English, in trial or paid version. If you have any suggestions or comments about this application, please visit the UserVoice site for Sports MTL.

Microsoft and UserVoice

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:08:00 -0500

For some time now, Microsoft use the UserVoice platform for gathering feedbacks from some of their products, which mostly target developers. UserVoice is really good for that task and its looks even better than Connect for feedback, which is still use for bugs and technical issues. But I don’t they are any list detailing theses site. So here’s my short list, and if you found one, let me know!

ASP.Net
Expression Encoder
Expression Super Preview
Expression Web
Microsoft Advertising
Silverlight
Visual Studio
WCF RIA Services (Thanks Colin!)
Windows Phone (Users)
Windows Phone (Developers) and the WP7 application for this site
Windows Phone Interoperability

Microsoft MVP C# 2012

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:29:00 -0500

For a fifth year in a row I’ve been renew as a Microsoft MVP Visual C#!
Even if I do not have a ring on my award to prove it…

Happy new year!

StackOverflow in French

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:26:26 -0500

More than a year ago, I proposed, on the newly created Stack Exchange Area 51, to have a version of Stack Overflow for French-speaking developers. To my great surprise, French-speaking developers followed this proposal and it is now in the “Commitment” phase, or engagement, without even having advertised it!

Do you want to commit as well? Click on the image below to support this proposal!

Graphical Tool for PowerShell SharePoint

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:03:16 -0400

Microsoft has launched the Windows PowerShell Command Builder for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products and Microsoft Office 365 allowing you to create PowerShell commands graphically and more easily than if you had to type them yourself.

It is a simple Silverlight application but it allows you to make queries (SharePoint Server 2010, Foundation 2010, and Office 365) that can be more complex:

The documentation is here!

Happy PowerShell

I’ll be at SPC2011

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:43:00 -0400

Next week, I will be at the SharePoint Conference 2011 in Anaheim. This Microsoft event is dedicated to SharePoint and related technologies.

If you attend this event, meet me at the Alcero booth, which will be an exhibitor all week. It will be my pleasure to discuss with you!

SharePoint 2010: bug with WebConfigModification

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:16:00 -0400

When you want to make changes to the web.config file of your SharePoint 2010 application, you can use two methods:

Create a webconfig.<your_name>.xml file that you add to the \CONFIG directory (Source on MSDN)
Do it programmatically and use the SPWebConfigModification and SPWebApplication.WebConfigApplication objects (Source on MSDN).

However, when you use the second method and remove the changes from the file using Remove(), the changes are not removed. Even if you use .Update() and .ApplyWebConfigModifications(). This may only result in your modification appearing multiple times in the web.config file, but if you insert more sensitive modifications to uniqueness, such as for an HttpModule, it creates an error that prevents the site from functioning (Error 500).

Microsoft Gadgeteer, the beginning

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:11:00 -0400

At the end of last year, I had published that Microsoft Research was working on a prototype electronic platform running on NETMF named Gadgeteer. Well, it now seems that it has moved out of the research phase to “commercialize” this platform: Microsoft .NET Gadgeteer.

GHI Electronics has released the first Gadgeteer kit named GHI FEZ Spider Starter Kit. This kit allows you to code your own electronic module using your favorite language (and I am talking about C# ;) ) without knowing the basics of electronics. In fact, it is a hardware abstraction to allow budding hobbyists to start without learning how to solder or connect various electronic components.

Windows 8 Video!

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:13:32 -0400

Here is the next generation of Windows, Windows 8, ideal for tablets and if you have a Windows Phone, you will easily find your way around:

Building “Windows 8” - Video #1

When is the release?

To learn more: http://bit.ly/iCTxY6

SharePoint 2010 and VS2010: Post-Deployment Scripts

Mon, 30 May 2011 22:51:00 -0400

Context

You are developing a SharePoint 2010 application using Visual Studio 2010 on a Windows 2008 64-bit server. You want to run a post-deployment script (PowerShell for example) for debugging:

The Problem

When you add a script, for example: powershell $(ProjectDir)\PowerShellScript\MySuperPowerShellScript.ps1

You always get an error when running the script:

Error occurred in deployment step ‘Run Post-Deployment Command’: The command "powershell $(ProjectDir)\PowerShellScript\MySuperPowerShellScript.ps1" exited with error code: 1.

This error is due to the fact that VS2010 runs in 32-bit mode, as well as its post-deployment scripts, and the SharePoint 2010 APIs run in 64-bit mode. This creates errors when executing the script.

User Experience Guide for WP7

Thu, 26 May 2011 22:52:00 -0400

Microsoft has just published the User Experience Design Guidelines for Windows Phone for Mango (Windows Phone OS 7.1). For anyone developing for WP7, it is a must to create pleasant applications for your users, as some miss the mark!

Here is an example from the guide:

Happy developing!

Another Substitute for .Net Reflector by Red Gate

Tue, 24 May 2011 12:49:00 -0400

In my last post, I suggested a substitute for .Net Reflector. Since then, I came across the beta version of JustDecompile by Telerik. The tool seems efficient and well-designed. The interest in this kind of tool is evident, as replacements did not take long to appear!

Happy decompiling!

A Substitute for Red Gate's .Net Reflector

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:04:00 -0400

If you are like me, you have already used .Net Reflector to decompile some .Net classes. The product has been owned by Red Gate for a few years now, and they have kindly eliminated the free version to make it paid. I came across this article by Corey Roth where he mentions that even the latest version of Reflector contains a Time Bomb, meaning you would be forced to upgrade to the paid version starting June 1st.

SharePoint Overflow Beta

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:29:00 -0400

As I mentioned previously, SharePoint Overflow has now reached the beta stage. So you can find the Stack Overflow environment you know but specialized in everything related to SharePoint.

Go consult the experts!

I received my Fez Panda II and an LCD

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:31:00 -0400

I finally received my Fez Panda II, running on NETMF of course, from Ghi Electronics after spending a gift certificate I had won on TinyClr.com!

I also ordered a 128x64 pixel backlit LCD screen, connected here via my Fez Panda II:

Well, I’m going back to play with my toys.

Happy coding!

Support SharePoint Overflow

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:14:00 -0400

If you develop/configure for SharePoint and also use Stack Overflow (if not, go check it out!), support the cause of SharePoint Overflow: Happy supporting!

Do you know Fritzing?

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 12:17:46 -0400

While looking at prototyping tools for my Fez Domino, I came across Fritzing, a software that allows you to easily diagram your electrical circuit! Here is a summary:

Open source, so free
A community of enthusiasts
Dozens and dozens of components, and the community continues to increase the available quantity
A shop for manufacturing your PCBs. (Coming soon)
Multiplatform
Multilingual
A really great visual, both of the software and the circuits!

Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:15:00 -0500

Visual Studio 2010 SP1 is now ready to be downloaded! MSDN subscribers can download it with their account, while others will have to wait until Thursday, March 10 to get it.

Happy updating!

Update: Here is the download link

SP2010 and SL: ClientContext.Current is null

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:34:00 -0500

When using Silverlight to develop web parts for SharePoint 2010, you might use the Silverlight Client Object Model to access SharePoint data. But what happens if you try to move out of the Silverlight web part and, for example, put Silverlight in a SharePoint dialog box? Answer: Unhandled Error in Silverlight Application Object reference not set to an instance of an object at ClientContext.Current.

The problem arises because the Silverlight web part injects the SharePoint context into the HTML object parameter for the proper functioning of the Client Object Model. Therefore, you need to inject the SharePoint site URLs where the Silverlight is currently displayed into the initParams (MS.SP.url):

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 18:13:12 -0500

The service pack 1 for Windows 7 is now available. If you have automatic updates enabled, you will receive it soon if you haven’t already, otherwise go to this site.

I have had it since Friday and no problems to report!

You can consult the SP1 documentation via the Microsoft website.

Follow MVPs Live

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 10:21:40 -0500

It is currently the Microsoft MVP Summit 2011, you can follow the MVPs on Twitter via MVPTweets.com.

GPS Emulator for Windows Phone

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 19:47:00 -0500

If you ever develop applications for Windows Phone using location services, there is a GPS emulator that allows you to simulate movement and thus test your application without going outside with your phone.

Other “recipes” for Windows Phone.

SharePoint Summit 2011–Québec

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:16:23 -0500

I will be present at the SharePoint Summit in Québec (April 11 and 12) as a speaker and exhibitor with Alcero.

Come see my session titled How to Extend Search Capabilities in SharePoint 2010 or you can simply meet me on site.

An excellent way to meet experts and other SharePoint users.

Version 1.0 of Orchard

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:20:00 -0500

The Orchard project recently released version 1.0 of their product. I had talked about it previously here, and I decided to install it again.

Installation

The installation is done via the Web Platform Installer and I also used Web Matrix on a virtual machine to do my tests. The installation is almost automatic and very pleasant. No need for obscure configuration.

Once installed, you just need to start the Orchard site with the Web Matrix interface to see the initial site configuration page (Site name, admin user, password, database). Again, it is very simple and intuitive.

BlogEngine.Net 2.0 is now available

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:30:00 -0500

BlogEngine.Net has just released version 2.0 of their engine, the same one that runs this site. You can see all the new features here.

I have already done the update, it took about 30 minutes including the backup, and it was a piece of cake!

Microsoft MVP 2011

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 12:52:32 -0500

For the fourth consecutive year, I have received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award in the Visual C# category.

I congratulate all the MVPs who have also been renewed for 2011 and the new MVPs!

I received a Windows Phone 7

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:12:00 -0500

Well, it may not be connected to a cellular network and it may be second-hand, but yesterday I received a Samsung Taylor for Windows Phone 7 (WP7) development!

I had fun with it last night and I am very satisfied with the device. Obviously, since it is a pre-production development device, it does not have all the features of a production phone. But all in all, it has all the functionalities of WP7.

Microsoft Gadgeteer

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:13:00 -0500

I just came across the Microsoft Gadgeteer website while doing some research for La Machine.

Gadgeteer allows you to quickly create prototypes without necessarily knowing electronics, just plug in, write a few lines (in NETMF of course) and you’re done. You can see a full demonstration on the Channel 9 website (Included below).

<object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="512" height="288"> <param name="source" value="http://channel9.msdn.com/scripts/VideoPlayer.xap?v=3.2"> <param name="initParams" value="deferredLoad=true,duration=0,m=http://ecn.channel9.msdn.com/o9/ch9/6d32/4015d252-f215-4945-9d48-9e0901306d32/dotNetGadgeteer_ch9.wmv,autostart=false,autohide=true,showembed=true, thumbnail=http://ecn.channel9.msdn.com/o9/ch9/6d32/4015d252-f215-4945-9d48-9e0901306d32/dotNetGadgeteer_512_ch9.jpg, postid=0"> <param name="background" value="#00FFFFFF"> <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=124807" style="text-decoration: none;"> <img src="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108181" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight" style="border-style: none"> </a> </object>

For now, this product is still within Microsoft Research, but we could hope to see it commercialized by spring or summer 2011.

The Machine

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:07:00 -0500

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had acquired a FEZ Domino. I then started the project of building a robotic platform from it and improving it over time. So here is the beginning of The Machine.

Components

I bought a few components from RobotShop to start the construction of The Machine:

4WD Arduino Development Platform from DFRobot. It includes 4 motors (4WD).
The 2A Motor Controller Shield for Arduino from DFRobot. With 2 outputs for the motors.
Some hardware pieces.
Some wires.

I also used a Logitech Dual Action USB game controller to control the robot. The Fez Domino supports joysticks, keyboards, and mice, so no driver needed.

ExoPC available in the Microsoft Store

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:45:00 -0500

The ExoPC Slate tablet, running Windows 7, from Rimouski is now available in the Microsoft Store or in some American Microsoft stores (I don’t think there are any in Canada), this will give a serious boost to the Quebec company! More details on the ExoPC website.

I received my Fez Domino

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:14:00 -0500

After a few weeks of waiting, I received my Fez Domino ordered via RobotShop!

This microcontroller running on the .Net Micro Framework (NETMF) is designed in the same format as the Arduino, allowing the use of its “shields”.

While waiting to play with it and give you my feedback, you can check out the following sites:

TinyCLR.com: Community around Fez and GHI Electronics products (managed by the manufacturer GHI Electronics)
Fezzer.com: Drivers and mini-applications developed by the community
microframeworkprojects.com: Contains projects/documentation created by the community.

C# 5.0: Asynchronous Programming

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:03:38 -0500

For those who are not aware, you can download the Visual Studio Async CTP to get a preview of what is coming in the asynchronous world! This is just the CTP version, so there may be changes between this version and the official release.

Also, visit Eric Lippert’s blog to learn more about the topic.

Pyxis 2–An OS for the .Net Micro Framework

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:44:00 -0500

Pyxis 2 is an OS running on the .Net Micro Framework (NETMF). It can theoretically run on any NETMF platform, but it is currently configured only for GHI Electronics (Tinyclr.com) products.

To learn more, read the NETMF team blog or visit the official site. The code is available as open source at pyxis2.codeplex.com. Here is a video to whet your appetite:

Pyxis 2 Beta Released!

SharePoint Can Take You to Disney

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:38:00 -0500

SharePoint can take you to Disney!

And also to the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Anaheim, California from October 3 to 6, 2011.

Reference Documentation

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:02:00 -0500

In the November edition of MSDN Magazine, Peter Gruenbaum explains how to write good reference documentation for APIs in his article titled “A Coder’s Guide to Writing API Documentation”.

My attention was particularly drawn to Figures 2 and 3, which explain how to comment while maintaining consistency throughout the API. I have reproduced them here:

Figure 2: Reference Documentation Style

Type	Guideline	Examples
Class	Start with a word like “Represents”	“Represents a user’s photo album.”
Methods and functions	Start with a verb	“Returns the number of contacts for the specified area.” “Pauses the video.”
Properties	Use a noun or start with verbs such as “Gets” or “Gets and sets”	“The user’s tasks.” “Gets and sets a collection of the user’s tasks.”
Events	Start with a phrase such as “Raised when” or “Occurs when”	“Raised when the response from server is received.”
XML elements	Use a noun-based phrase	“The city’s postal code.”
Boolean values	For Boolean properties, start with “Indicates whether”; for Boolean return values on methods and functions, start with “Returns whether”	“Indicates whether the control is visible.” “Returns whether two regions intersect.”

Figure 3: Reference Documentation Example

Visual Studio 2010 Wallpapers Background

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:51:00 -0500

If you want to show off your VS2010 love, then the VS2010WallPapers (not affiliated with Microsoft) site is perfect for you. It allow you to select from dozens of concepts!

French Book on C#

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:44:00 -0500

For those who struggle with the language of Shakespeare, Gilles Tourreau (another MVP) has recently released a book on C# in French! And God knows how rare French technical books are!

Click here to order it (Amazon Canada)

Back from Nepal

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 10:00:31 -0500

After 4 weeks of vacation, I am now back home. It must be said that it is not necessarily a restful vacation to go to the other side of the world and reach the foot of the highest peak in the world!

4 weeks without contact with a computer (ok ok, 2 minutes to say that we were still alive), it feels rather strange! And did you know that all along the climb to the Everest base camp they have installed cell towers? So it’s not surprising to come across a Sherpa in full conversation with his mobile phone!

[VS2010 Tips] Multi-line Insertion

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:31:00 -0400

While reading the MSDN article on converting VBA applications to C# 4.0, I remembered the famous ALT+[Selection] function that allows you to insert the same text/code on multiple lines at once. So, here is the English version of that part of the article:

Press ALT and select where you want to insert your code (selection in light blue in the image below):

Type your code and boom! All the selected lines have been filled with your code:

ASP.Net: How to Exploit the Vulnerability

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 20:15:00 -0400

As I previously highlighted, an ASP.Net vulnerability can be exploited by malicious individuals. Here is a demo exploiting it on the DotNetNuke platform.

48 Free Microsoft Applications

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 09:26:00 -0400

I just came across an article from Tech Radar offering 48 free applications from Microsoft that are often little known. Such as Expression Encoder and Windows Steady State!

Important: ASP.Net Security Vulnerability!

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 09:26:08 -0400

For all those who have ASP.Net sites, all versions included, please pay special attention to this security issue: details on this entry from ScottGu.

Free eBook: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:20:00 -0400

Thanks to Éric for publishing the news. A free book of over 300 pages, it’s not every day you get that!

Go directly to the eBook

Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools Available

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:28:00 -0400

The tools for developing for Windows Phone 7 are now available in the final version. You can download them here. For more information, read Scott’s excellent article.

Microsoft Ribbon in WPF now available

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:22:00 -0400

The WPF team recently released a new Ribbon completely in WPF (no wrapper around native code). So you can play with your XAML to give it the look and contextual menus you want!

Download the Ribbon

See Pete Brown’s article
WPF Team Blog: Introducing the Microsoft Ribbon for WPF

LightSwitch Beta 1 now available

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:52:00 -0400

I previously talked to you about LightSwitch, now you can download the Beta 1 version.

Go ahead, have fun!

Lazy Loading Images with BlogEngine.Net

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:05:00 -0400

Here is a small script that allows loading images only when they are displayed on a BlogEngine.Net site, commonly known as Lazy Loading.

Orchard Project Beta

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:35:00 -0400

The 0.5 beta version of the Orchard project has just been released. Here are 4 points that I really like about this engine:

ASP.Net MVC
Allows multiple Wikis under the same site
Management of static pages
AND ABOVE ALL, the ability to translate posts and pages into different languages!! Which is quite rare in this field.

You can download the source code or simply install it with WebPI

Unveiling Microsoft LightSwitch

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:04:00 -0400

Microsoft has just unveiled LightSwitch, a tool for developing business applications without having to touch the code. Jason Zander provides an excellent introduction on his site.

There will be a template for C# and VB. At first glance, the generated application seems to run on WPF for the Desktop version, and probably Silverlight or XBAP for the web version.

The beta will be available on August 23rd.

Stay tuned

How to Create Your StyleCop Rules

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:45:00 -0400

StyleCop is a free tool from Microsoft that allows you to check the style of your code (or others’). Additionally, StyleCop is now available as Open Source (on Codeplex), so I strongly recommend looking at the default rule implementations to help you create your own.

Create Your Rules

Here are some steps to create your custom StyleCop rules:

Install the latest version of StyleCop
Download the SDK of StyleCop (documentation .chm file)
Start Visual Studio
Create a new project of type “Class Library”
Add the following references - Microsoft.StyleCop - Microsoft.StyleCop.CSharp - Microsoft.StyleCop.CSharp.Rules

The updated Visual Studio 2010 keyboard shortcuts posters.

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:00:00 -0400

The Visual Studio 2010 keyboard shortcuts posters (in English only) have been updated (C++, C#, F#, and VB).

Source of the information

Customization of DataGridView

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:08:00 -0400

I have uploaded two source files that allow you to add a “Progress Bar” type column to a DataGridView.

Multimedia File Metadata

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:52:00 -0400

While retrieving a list of multimedia files, I ended up with a list of files with 4-character names that meant nothing. Grrr…. So I decided to create a small utility to rename the files according to a pattern I already had on my machine based on the artist, album, and song title.

But a problem quickly arose: How to retrieve this metadata (mainly from MP3 files)?

So I did what I often do when I have a question, I did a little search. And I found on this StackOverflow result a link to TagLib# (also working on Mono)! This library from Novell does all the work for me! It allows me to access metadata for many different types of files. Here is the basic example among several provided on their site:

Observable Collection Monitoring Item Changes

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:14:00 -0400

I encountered a situation while developing a WPF application that used the ObservableCollection class. Here is the description:

Problem:

A collection of items that contains several items (which themselves implement the INotifyPropertyChanged interface). I need to perform certain calculations: total items to be completed, total completed items, remaining items, etc. But when one of these items changed status and became completed, it was impossible to push the information (push) to a higher level.

PRISM and Telerik RadControls for WPF

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:08:00 -0400

For some time now, I have had the chance to experiment with PRISM and I really like what it brings to the table. But I also use some Telerik controls for WPF, and after doing some research, I noticed that Telerik has included in its documentation some elements about PRISM.

Here are some interesting links:

Telerik Sales Dashboard White Paper: Example of applications using PRISM and the MVVM pattern
Introduction to PRISM with the RadControls for WPF on TelerikTV
PRISM on the WPF forum by Telerik

If you have other interesting articles, let me know via the comments or my contact page

Visual Studio Power Tools, Code Compare and PowerCommands

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:21:00 -0400

Here is a collection of tools/plugins/utilities that allow you to work even more efficiently with VS2010. Here are the three that I install with VS2010. While you’re at it, take a look at the Visual Studio Gallery, you’re sure to find something interesting!

Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools

Newly arrived, the Pro Power Tools offer better tab management (by project, color coding, scrolling, stacking, …) as well as search in the Add Reference menu, which is quite nice, and I even noticed an improvement in the performance of this dialog.

I am a Geek... (the sequel)

Mon, 31 May 2010 08:36:00 -0400

I had previously talked about the difference between Geek and Nerd, but here is a common vision of the Geek and the Nerd by XKCD:

The TextFieldParser

Sat, 22 May 2010 22:55:00 -0400

Éric Moreau wrote an article about an interesting component that I didn’t know about (available since 2.0): the TextFieldParser. It provides methods and objects for parsing structured text files (i.e. .CSV).

Unfortunately, Microsoft included it in the Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll extension. Even though you can add this extension in C#, it is not really specific to VB.

Happy reading

Composite Application Library (PRISM) and Silverlight(WPF)

Wed, 12 May 2010 20:44:00 -0400

For some time now, I have been experimenting with Silverlight and PRISM. If you are curious like me, here are some links to help you get started:

The source code on Codeplex
To evaluate the Composite Application Guidance
The development activities, a more visual representation of all available modules/functions. In fact, it is a large list of well-explained How-To’s.
Enterprise Library on Codeplex
And most importantly: download the Composite Application Guidance, Project Linker, and sources.

Good luck, and if you have other links, feel free to leave a comment!

BlogEngine.Net 1.6.1.0 Now Available

Fri, 07 May 2010 22:50:00 -0400

A new version of my blog engine has just been released. I will wait a bit, as the changes are minor:

Do I need to upgrade?

If you are happy with the way comments work in your blog as they are - no. If you are still looking for better anti-spam protection - yes.

We’ll see later because it works well for me.

VS2010 RC to expire on June 30 2010

Thu, 06 May 2010 21:37:00 -0400

As I say in a previous post, VS2010 RC won’t last forever, it’s look like all RC version will be expiring on June 30 2010. So make sure to upgrade your version or go get theExpress editions (C#, VB, C++, Web developper and Windows Phone) !

ResourceBlender

Mon, 03 May 2010 23:10:00 -0400

ResourceBlender is a utility that allows you to translate your strings very easily (you can even use Google Translate automatically if you are lazy or do not have high translation quality standards).

It can generate RESX files (.Net), Java, XML, etc. In addition to having import functions and reusing already translated strings. See all features here…

The source code is obviously on Codeplex

VS2010 Keyboard Shortcuts Posters Available

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 10:57:00 -0400

The keyboard shortcuts posters (in English only) for Visual Studio 2010 are now available (C++, C#, F#, and VB).

Source of the information

Visual Studio 2010 Now Available

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:44:00 -0400

VS2010 is now available (Trial, Express and for MSDN subscribers). Scott Hanselman has written an excellent article summarizing all the new features of this new version, now it’s your turn to play!

I am a Geek...

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 10:28:00 -0400

Here is the proof, according to the site Great White Snark: I am intelligent and obsessed, but I think I tend to lean towards nerd as well.

VS2010 RC will expire in 3 weeks

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:35:00 -0400

If you show the About form of VS2010 RC, you will see that your version will expire soon, and for me it will be just in time to buy (or download) the RTM version!

ASP.Net Path

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:08:00 -0400

Rick Strahl saved my day with his post “Making sense of ASP.NET Path” especially the following line:

<script src="<%= Url.Content("~/scripts/new.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script>

Orchard Project on Web Platform Installer

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:53:00 -0400

The Orchard Project can now be installed via the Web Platform Installer (WebPI). Just follow the instructions!!

The source files are still available on CodePlex.

Orchard Project - Reusable Applications and Components for ASP.NET

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:53:00 -0500

The Orchard Project aims to create an application and reusable components using ASP.NET. Additionally, in the short term, it will provide a CMS application based on .NET.

Having tested it several times, it seems very promising, but still too immature to consider using it as my Blog engine. But we’ll see….

The source code is available on CodePlex

XKCD got it right...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:55:00 -0500

Alexhave pinned 2 XKCD flowcharts that are more than accurate and I think I should repost here:

You need this oneto understand the other one:

This iswhat any user should do prior to call support:

Hope you enjoyed and find a solution to your problem.

SqlDataSource and ORA-01036 Illegal variable name/number

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:47:00 -0500

If you ever use the Oracle ODP.Net component with SqlDataSource and get the ORA-01036 Illegal variable name/number error, it is mainly due to the fact that your number of parameters does not match the number in your Insert, Update, or Delete query. I had this problem using a ComposedKey with the ASPxDataGridView from DevExpress. You need to remove the ComposedKey field before executing the query.

Here is the conversation on ASP.Net that helped me resolve this issue.

Using ODP.Net 9 and 11 on the Same Machine

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:00:00 -0500

If you want to use Oracle’s ODP.Net 9 and 11 in parallel, you must absolutely uninstall version 9 of Oracle.DataAccess from the GAC. It was blocking me when I wanted to use the graphical tools of VS2008 (Server Explorer and DevExpress).

My question on StackOverflow

Atlassian at a Low Price and for a Good Cause

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:40:00 -0500

As Frédérick mentions, Atlassian offers some of their products (Jira, Confluence, GreenHopper, Bamboo, FishEye, and Crowd) for only $10 each!

In addition to enjoying excellent products, Atlassian donates the money to Room to Read, so you kill two birds with one stone!

Visual Studio 2010 RC 1

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:33:00 -0500

Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2010 RC 1 (release candidate) version. This free version is available here. You can start experience this new version before the official release.

New blog version / Nouvelle version

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:47:00 -0500

This is the first post of my newly website. I will transfer somehow all the interesting previous post I had in my previous site. This site will be more technology-driven then the previous one.

Since I did not find any blog engine that can satisfy my multilingual needs, I will post in both languages until I find a solution.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

_– title: ‘What’s New?’ publishdate: 2012-10-01T19:40:00-04:00 draft: false categories: [’.NET’,‘Tools’,‘C#’,‘General’,‘SharePoint’,‘Mobile’] tags: [‘Alcero’,‘SharePoint’,‘SharePoint Summit’,‘Microsoft’,‘Visual Studio’,‘VS2012’,’tfs’,‘JQuery’,‘Sports MTL’,‘WP7’,‘Windows 8’,‘Windows Phone’,‘Windows Azure’] aliases:

/post/2012/10/01/Quoi-de-neuf.aspx

I recently ran into an old acquaintance who asked me what I was working on, which inspired this post. Don’t worry, I won’t spread my personal life!

During the day, I work as a developer at Alcero:

I develop for Microsoft’s SharePoint 2010 platform, using Visual Studio 2012 and TFS 2012.
Currently, I do a lot of jQuery, which I am learning to love or hate, depending on the tasks at hand.
I try to look at what’s coming in the next version of SharePoint. You should too if you are currently working with SharePoint 2010.
As mentioned in May, we participated in the Iron SharePoint at the SharePoint Summit in Toronto. You can see me presenting my team or presenting our solution on the last day (after more than 50 hours without sleep and my first presentation in English).

In my free time: