Since I started creating an android app I have been writing simple UI tests. I have been taking advantage of the Visual Studio App Center which allows you to test against hundreds of different devices in the Test Cloud. In order to write a UI test create a UI Test App, this makes use of the nuget package Xamarin UI...
It is 2018 so it must be time to think about what my plans and goals are for the new year. Buy a house This a huge goal for me. For many years I was content with renting and thought owning my own home wasn’t for me, but then I went and started a family and my career started going in the right direction and my thoughts...
As 2017 starts to draw to a close let’s look at some of the highlights from the past year. Edward In November I became a father again and celebrated the arrival of Edward into the world. Before the birth I was worried how well my first son James would adapt to the new arrival but I am happy to say I didn’t need to,...
Azure Table storage is cheap way to store data, however it has some drawbacks that you should be aware of. Azure Table storage is a simple way to store NoSQL data with key/attribute pairs. I am very familiar with storing data in SQL databases and would still choose SQL over Table storage, however Table storage is...
Source control is bread and butter for web developers, however not so much for SQL developers and other business people. One of my goals for the coming year is to get the whole of my team using source control processes. One of the arguments against using source control is there will always be a few exceptions where it...
Writing SQL queries is typically done with SQL Management Studio (SSMS). However this tool is a bit of a beast so let’s look at how you could use Visual Studio Code instead. Visual Studio Code is a free text editor but it is so much more than just a text editor. VS Code can be downloaded from...
A while back I blogged about learning about interfaces as I didn’t really understand the value of them. I do now. I created an application that used interfaces so I could learn how it worked. I created a Logger Interface and created multiple classes that implemented that interface so I could swap out the different...
DNS is the backbone of the internet. It converts domain names into IP addresses. But how can we do clever things with it? Making DNS changes has always been a pain. You have to remember what company you registered your domain name with, then locate the login details for their website, login and fill in some web form...
I tried to resist but I am going to have to write about the new Star Trek series Discovery. Warning this post is going to include SPOILERS. If you read on you have been warned. I watched the first two episodes of the brand new Star Trek TV show. As I am an international viewer I used Netflix, if you are from the US you...
In November 2015 it was announced that a new Star Trek series was going to be launched. It has been a long wait with multiple delays but Star Trek Discovery is finally here. Star Trek Discovery launches in the US on 24th September and in the UK on 25th September. Lets have a look back how we got here. Star Trek was...