How to set a Request Header in a JQuery Ajax Call by Mike Gold On Jun 02, 2010
I just came across the problem of needing to set information in a header using an ajax call. Here is how you do it in JQuery.

Single Responsibility Principle in Serialization by Mike Gold On Jun 02, 2010
The Single Responsibility Principle may be one of the most important design concepts in programming. This blog illustrates how Microsoft broke this pattern in MFC, and how they later redeemed themselves in .NET

Porting from C# to Java by Mike Gold On Apr 06, 2010
I am currently involved in a project of migrating a C# data layer to java in order to run on LINUX. Here are my thoughts on the activity.

Using anonymous delegates with extensions to create your own LINQ extensions by Mike Gold On Mar 30, 2010
One of the things that is so powerful about the whole LINQ infrastructure is you can add any filter, mapping, or list operator you can think of. Here is an example.

How to add Padding to a Button inside a StackPanel in silverlight by Mike Gold On Mar 15, 2010
Although not necessarily intuitive, the easiest way to add padding to a button in a stackpanel is through Margins.

Using a ValueConverter as a DataTemplateSelector in Silverlight by Mike Gold On Mar 02, 2010
Silverlight doesn't have a DataTemplateSelector like WPF. Here is a way to make a ValueConverter do the same thing.

Using the DelegateCommand to handle events in MVVM in Silverlight by Mike Gold On Mar 01, 2010
PRISM provides a mechanism for bringing event handling directly into your view model called the DelegateCommand. The delegate command can be used with XAML buttons to pass your data context into your view model upon clicking the button by the user

Using a ContainerBindingCollection in a Telerik RadTreeView in Silverlight by Mike Gold On Feb 25, 2010
A RadTreeView is a Telerik control that allows you to display and select from a hierarchal list. Telerik pays close attention to allowing the user to bind their controls to a ViewModel and having it function correctly. The following demonstrates how you can bind an IsSelected property in your view model to a selection in your RadTreeView using the ContainerBindingCollection

Altering a Style in Silverlight using a ValueConverter by Mike Gold On Feb 16, 2010
Just got through the challenge of having to alter the date format string in the chart control dynamically based on time scale. Here is how I did it.

A simple hex to color tool for Visualizing Color by Mike Gold On Feb 11, 2010
I recently needed to interpret colors produced by blend in a XAML file. I could have gone to Paint and examined the colors, but instead I threw together a quick utility to interpret the color in a Window Forms .NET application.

Throttling an ObservableCollection CollectionChanged event in Silverlight by Mike Gold On Feb 10, 2010
If you subscribe to an observable collection CollectionChanged event and you are doing some intense UI inside the event handler, this can become CPU intensive. A simple solution is to throttle the handler with a timer.

How to change the color of a caret in a textbox in silverlight by Mike Gold On Feb 07, 2010
Silverlight 3 defines a property for doing this called CaretBrush. But there is a bug to watch out for.

GetNames and GetValues for Enums in Silverlight by Mike Gold On Feb 05, 2010
These functions are unfortunatly missing from silverlight (maybe they are in 4.0), but not in 3.0. With the help of an existing blog, this can be overcome.

Binding your MVVM model to an AttachedProperty by Mike Gold On Feb 03, 2010
Just spent about an hour reading blogs and trying to figure out how to bind to attached property. In my many trial and error approaches, I finally came upon one that works, although it seems more like there is a bug in Silverlight 3.

Two ways to use a predicate in LINQ to Filter Results by Mike Gold On Jan 31, 2010
LINQ gives us a lot of flexibility on how we evaluate collections. Here is in example of two ways to use a predicate on a collection.

Positioning Silverlight Popups Relative to a Control by Mike Gold On Jan 29, 2010
I just went through the challenge of positioning a Silverlight Popup control relative to an existing control. Here is how I finally solved it.

How to trigger ItemControl updates of bound properties inside of an ObservableCollection by Mike Gold On Jan 26, 2010
Dealing with bindings to ViewModels using MVVM in Silverlight can sometimes be painful. This blog talks about the case of binding and ItemsControl to a ViewModel and Details View Model and how to cause notify property changed to work in this scenario.

A DistinctBy extension that takes a Lambda for Distinct by Mike Gold On Jan 21, 2010
After hunting the web, I found a combination of solutions that work well for an extension that just takes a comparison operator to get your distinct values. Here is my solution.

Sorting an Array with a Lambda Expression by Mike Gold On Dec 29, 2009
The following example, illustrated in Silverlight, shows you how to sort a list box through a bound ViewModel Property Collection

Rethinking the Switch Stataement with...A Dictionary? by Mike Gold On Oct 11, 2009
Sometimes its better to refactor an ugly switch statment into a more flexible pattern. The command dispatch pattern is such a pattern. Originally implemented using OO and polymorphism, the functional constructs gives you a cleaner solution.

Reversing a Dictionary in LINQ and C# by Mike Gold On Oct 06, 2009
Every once in a while you are posed with an interesting puzzle. Someone needed a dictionary reversed and this sounded just like the thing I would enjoy tackling with LINQ.

Detecting different browsers using jquery by Mike Gold On Jun 29, 2009
You can use the $.browser tag to detect different browsers in your javascript

Extending JQuery by Mike Gold On Jun 24, 2009
You can extend the jquery object yourself with the extend method and then use those methods you created as if it were any other jquery object.

Anti Pattern: Class Names with No Meaning by Mike Gold On Jun 23, 2009
The other day I came across a poorly named class. This blog leads me to my next anti-pattern and how to overcome it.

Anti Pattern: Multiple Purposes for the same method by Mike Gold On Jun 17, 2009
As I continue in my adventure of product support, I have come across some more anti-patterns that I would like to share with the community at large.