What icon would you use for 'Clear'? (As in clear a text box)
On a windows form what icon would you use for 'Clear'? (As in clear a text box) Thanks ...
design
Do you just code, or just design, or some of both?
Since I hold the job of both coder and designer I wonder if a lot of others are in the same boat. What percentage of your time is each? For me it's as close to 50/50 as you can get and I think I do a pretty good job at each: RPMWare. That said, I know I'm neither the best coder or designer out there, but I can hold my own in each respec...
How to avoid dependencies between Enum values in code and corresponding values in a database?
I have a number of user permissions that are tested throughout my ASP.NET application. These permission values are referenced in an Enum so that I can conveniently test permissions like so: btnCreate.Enabled = PermissionManager.TestPermission(Permission.AllowCreate); However, I also have these permissions stored in the database becau...
How do you plan an application's architecture before writing any code?
One thing I struggle with is planning an application's architecture before writing any code. I don't mean gathering requirements to narrow in on what the application needs to do, but rather effectively thinking about a good way to lay out the overall class, data and flow structures, and iterating those thoughts so that I have a credible...
Looking for a free tool to do UI design
I'm gathering requirements and I'm looking for a free Visio replacement to do UI design. Does anyone know of a good tool I can use? All I need is to be able to put together something that would look roughly like what the user would see on his screen (menus, buttons, text fields, and all the standard widgets). I'm not looking for a UML...
Plugin architecture for file type recognition
I'm working on an app that is needs to be able to process "file paths" to import resources of different kinds. The issue is that in different situations (OS's for example), some of the file kinds are not applicable. What I want to do is define a very basic set of types that everything supports and then have a plug in architecture that su...
What are the common issues and best practices when using ASP.NET session state?
For example, I make extensive use of the session in my ASP.NET application but have heard somewhere that objects stored in session can be removed by the system where server memory runs low. Is this true? Is there any session 'callback' functionality to allow you to re-populate scavenged objects? More generally, what other potential pro...
URL Design for SSL-Secured SaaS Application
I am developing an application using the ASP.NET MVC platform, which will be exposed as a service over the web (the SaaS model). I am trying to determine the best way to partition the URL namespace for each user account. The application will need to be accessed securely via SSL, so my main concerns have been around coming up with a URL...
What program should I use to mock up GUIs?
I want to mockup a GUI system so that I can figure out how best to represent what I need. Normally, I would design a GUI in something like glade and then write a quick mockup in Python which implements only the GUI logic (ie, making menus/sub windows etc appear) and not business logic. Are there any tools which automate this? I mean, ...
What, in your opinion, is the best-looking webapp?
Going purely on aesthetics, what would you say is the best-looking webapp? Edit: Changed to community wiki ...
Adding rollover effect to skinned button in Flex
Using Flex 3, I have a Button which is skinned using PNGs specified in a CSS style sheet. Button.addextra { downSkin : Embed( source="img/add-extra-icon.png" ); overSkin : Embed( source="img/add-extra-icon.png" ); upSkin : Embed( source="img/add-extra-icon.png" ); disabledSkin : Embed( source="img/add-extra-icon-dis...
Choosing a language for an Open Source application
If i have an idea for a new program, and i would like to make it open source, what would be the best language to write it in, with regards to possibly porting it to other platforms, i.e. linux etc. I will be writing it for windows for a start. ...
What are the key factors that ensure successful ASP.NET application scalability?
When starting a new ASP.NET application, with the knowledge that at some point in the future it must scale, what are the most important design decisions that will allow future scalability without wholsesale refactoring? ...
What caching strategy would best suit this problem?
Hi, First of all, let me say I am very new to rails, have been working with it for only a couple of days. My first application is a little different from traditional: on one of my model classes I have parts of data that is pulled from a database and other part that is acquired by doing an HTTP REST request to an external resource. I h...
Pattern for splitting, traversing and tracking objects
Hi, can anyome help me find an elegant design for splitting, traversing and tracking objects. The diagram below shows an object with an initial size of 100 which is spilt into two (50, 75) then one of the child objects (75) is subsequently split into three (25, 25 ,25). My question is can anyone think of an elegant design that will all...
How do you bring Denormalized Values Into your Business Objects?
I have two Tables. Order - With Columns OrderID, OrderStatusID OrderStatus - With Columns OrderStatusID, Description I have an Order Object which calls to the database and fills its properties for use in my code. Right now I have access to Order.OrderStatusID, but in my application I really need access to the "Description" field. How...
Best Design for a User/Role Management System?
Here's a software design question I've encountered several times and have never found an ideal solution for (I'm also dealing with it now again.) Many applications need some form of user/role management. You have base users, groups that these users can belong to (not limited to just one), roles and permissions they have, organizational...
Editing in grids vs. detail forms - how smart are end users?
I love grids - especially the cool third party ones like Devex, C1 etc.. Our programmer doesn't think end users can handle them - so he always designs his forms with read-only grids (with read-only classes). Choosing to edit an item in the grid opens up a detail form that allows editing. This app is going to be used by general busin...
How to find good looking font color if background color is known?
There seem to be so many color wheel, color picker, and color matcher web apps out there, where you give one color and the they'll find a couple of other colors that will create a harmonic layout when being used in combination. However most of them focus on background colors only and any text printed on each background color (if text is ...
How to implement (UI-wise) a button
I am designing the (G)UI of a program, and have stumbled across a problem; The program will convert a number into different units, and the layout of a unit been cvonverted to is: [Unit name (when clicked gives information)] [Special status, if any][Output in textfield that can also be used for input (to convert to other units)] I want ...