Blog

SQL Server Database Mail setup via SQL

Setting up SQL Server Database Mail is relatively simple when using SQL Server Management Studio, thanks to the graphical setup wizard it provides for most SQL Server editions. However, SQL Server Express, the free edition of SQL Server, does not offer the facility to configure Database Mail via a user interface. Thankfully, once you understand…

SQL Server Database Mail setup simplified

InSQL

Having the facility to send emails directly from your database engine is a hugely useful feature and this is exactly what the Database Mail functionality in SQL Server provides. With Database Mail, you can send email alerts when specific database events occur, or send query results and reports to users automatically on a scheduled basis….

How to create and load an IdentityServer signing certificate for Azure

InSecurity Web

IdentityServer is the de-facto security token service for ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core web applications and it is hugely popular within the .NET community. One of the most important security requirements to consider when setting up IdentityServer is the creation of a key (typically an X.509 certificate) which is used to cryptographically sign and validate tokens…

Monitoring application debug output with DebugView

InProgramming

Once your applications are running in a production environment, it is important to be able to monitor what is happening under the hood. Quite often this is achieved by logging output to a file, to a database, or to some other medium. However, it is also possible to intercept live debug and trace output using…

How to debug a .NET Windows Service from Visual Studio

InProgramming

While developing a Windows Service, it is important to be able to debug it like you would a regular desktop or web application. Debugging Windows Services isn’t quite as straightforward as debugging standard Windows, Console, or Web applications. However, when developing a .NET Windows Service it isn’t difficult to set up your project to support…

Find out how many IDs are left for your SQL Server database tables

InSQL

If you are administering a very large SQL Server database that uses integer IDs, you may have cause to be concerned about how many identity values you have left for your tables. This is a particular concern for heavy transactional tables where new rows are constantly being inserted and there are other reasons why identity…

How to dynamically load different versions of an assembly in the same .NET application

InProgramming

Have you ever come across the need to use more than one version of an assembly within the same .NET application? Assembly loading can be a somewhat tricky subject when there are multiple versions of the same assembly for a .NET application to choose from. This can result in problems for both static assembly references…

How to download files using C#

InProgramming

Downloading files programmatically is a common task that most programming languages expose different APIs for. I believe it is useful to have examples to refer to for how to accomplish this in your language of choice, both synchronously and asynchronously. This article covers how to download files with C# using the classes and methods that…

How to make a self-destructing file

InScripting

Have you ever wanted (or needed) to make a file that self-destructs after it has been opened? There are a number of ways to implement this, including some off-the-shelf tools. However, often a custom solution that can be tailored to a specific use case is what is required. This article covers a simple means of…

Simplify your local data storage with SQLite-net

InProgramming

Many apps today need to store data locally on the device they are running on in order to allow the user to continue to perform useful functions while offline or when network connectivity is unreliable. SQLite is an ideal solution for both simple and complex local data storage requirements. Whether you are storing small sets…

SQL Server Database Mail setup via SQL

SQL Server Database Mail setup simplified

How to create and load an IdentityServer signing certificate for Azure

Monitoring application debug output with DebugView

How to debug a .NET Windows Service from Visual Studio

Find out how many IDs are left for your SQL Server database tables

How to dynamically load different versions of an assembly in the same .NET application

How to download files using C#

How to make a self-destructing file

Simplify your local data storage with SQLite-net

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

Communicating with ASP.NET Core hosted services from API endpoints using Channels

Store and retrieve enums as strings with Entity Framework Core