Programming Archives - Jonathan Crozier

Operating on data via a SQL Server Stored Procedure efficiently with Table-Valued Parameters using C#

Sometimes when developing an application that interacts with SQL Server, you may find the need to process a data set such that only one round trip needs to be made to and from the database server. The operation that is being carried out may be intended to operate on one set of data, or batches…

How to dynamically build OR filters in an Entity Framework Core LINQ query

InProgramming

Entity Framework Core is an ORM (Object Relational Mapper) that allows us to leverage LINQ (Language Integrated Query) to abstract away the SQL (Structured Query Language) that would otherwise need to be written for interactions with a database. However, while LINQ is an awesome .NET feature, there are some limitations to be aware of when…

How to catch and parse a SQL Server Duplicate Key Exception

InProgramming SQL

When developing an application that connects to a SQL Server (or Azure SQL) database, you will often want to leverage the features that the database engine provides to help minimise checks that would otherwise need to be performed at the application level. By delegating these checks to the database, you can simplify your application logic,…

How to publish a .NET application as a standalone executable file

InProgramming

When you need to create a .NET application that can be easily deployed to a system without worrying about the installed .NET version or other dependencies, the publishing options that have been made available since .NET Core 3.0 are most welcome. If you are publishing a modern .NET application today, not only is it possible…

How to paste JSON as Classes in Visual Studio: A hidden gem!

InProgramming Tools

In the increasingly fast-paced world of software development, efficiency is a critical factor for success in the marketplace. Visual Studio, Microsoft’s flagship IDE (Integrated Development Environment), is packed full of features designed to make your programming experience as productive as possible. Among these is a lesser-known feature that is extremely useful; the ability to paste…

A better way to convert enums to strings with Entity Framework Core

InProgramming

By default, Entity Framework Core stores and retrieves .NET enumerations as their underlying integer values for SQL databases, primarily for performance and storage optimization reasons. Nevertheless, if there is a requirement to store enums within your data model as strings at the database level, it is important to have a suitable way to configure this…

Converting CSV files with values containing commas to JSON using C#

InProgramming

CSV (Comma-separated values) remains an extremely popular file format, and, in the context of programming, it is particularly useful for importing and exporting data between different software applications. One of the issues with CSV, or any other delimiter-separated file format, is that often the values that need to be parsed into separate ‘parts’ will contain…

Store and retrieve enums as strings with Entity Framework Core

InProgramming

C# enumeration types (enums) provide a highly extensible and type-safe way of storing values and they are used frequently in .NET software development. When enums are saved to a SQL database with Entity Framework Core, by default they are stored using their underlying integer values rather than as strings. There are several reasons for this…

How to replace accented characters with plain characters using C#

InProgramming

The majority of software applications developed today need to work with strings that contain accented characters such as à and é since many human languages use these to indicate variations in pronunciation and other subtleties. Even English borrows some French words that contain accents and other glyphs, such as café, déjà vu, and façade. These…

Substituting Moq for NSubstitute

InProgramming

In light of the recent controversy surrounding the .NET Moq library, many developers are reconsidering their choice of mocking framework for unit testing. The undisclosed inclusion of the proprietary SponsorLink DLL that reportedly extracts internal developer email addresses and uploads them to a remote server has undoubtedly been alarming to many. Beyond the immediate privacy…

Category: Programming

Operating on data via a SQL Server Stored Procedure efficiently with Table-Valued Parameters using C#

How to dynamically build OR filters in an Entity Framework Core LINQ query

How to catch and parse a SQL Server Duplicate Key Exception

How to publish a .NET application as a standalone executable file

How to paste JSON as Classes in Visual Studio: A hidden gem!

A better way to convert enums to strings with Entity Framework Core

Converting CSV files with values containing commas to JSON using C#

Store and retrieve enums as strings with Entity Framework Core

How to replace accented characters with plain characters using C#

Substituting Moq for NSubstitute

How to print SQL Server messages to the output immediately

Introduction to the SQL Server MERGE statement

Operating on data via a SQL Server Stored Procedure efficiently with Table-Valued Parameters using C#