My Fav Blogs

Going to keep a list here of my fav bugs & online posts

My all time favourite (a toss up by SSW rules & How to report bugs effectively)

How to Report Bugs Effectively
by Simon Tatham, professional and free-software programmer



SSW Rules to better



Scott Hanselman : Tools List

Beth Massi's blog (excellent stuff)



Non IT Related

Belfast food reviews

New Selection Editor Tips

None Slip editing enhancements (this update is mainly enhancements to slip editor although a few bugs have been fixed).

• Entry of Irish Lotto Results from SIS (fixed)
• Entry of 49s Results from SIS (fixed)
• Settling of Fav/2nd Fav (fixed)

Enhancements to bet slip editor

• Warnings on no rule4 applied before payout
• Warnings on amended result before payout
• Warnings on Stewarts Enquiries or Objections before payout

See bottom of document for screenshots.

The new results viewer is much easier on the eye

• Dead heats/Co Favs etc... highlighted in yellow

What you will notice 

• Some new shortcut keys (so it may take a bit of getting used too) 
• Switching sports (e.g. Ctrl + L is much faster)
• Filtering when typing selection names is much faster
• Numbers editor defaults to forty nines upon login, and then last edited numbers game, for subsequent ctrl + N calls until you log back out. 

Ctrl + E will return you to text entry textbox at any time (without having to refresh coupon)
Tip: You would use this if you had clicked elsewhere, and wanted to go back to editing another selection

If using the arrow up and down to enter a selection, use "+" key on keyboard to add that particular selection (rather then the enter key)

Entering Dogs/Horses by time & number (of fav)
Tab over to the time filter text box

• You can filter time by entering exact time (e.g. 3.05) or if you just enter 3 (it will show all races between 3pm & 4pm – and you can use up down arrow to select).  If only one race is shown the Market list box will go green. 
• If more than one race matches your search criteria use the up down arrows (or mouse) to select appropriate race.
• Once you are happy with the race click [Space] or [Tab] and enter your numbers of favourites
  • 2 3 (will select numbers 2 & 3)
  • 2 f (will select number 2 & the favourite)
  • 2 2f (will select number 2 & the second favourite)

How was this achieved in code?

• Enhanced reading from database (using stream data instead of database tables)
• Local caching of data, to prevent database calls, if stream data is not updated
• Enhanced filtering during editing using LINQ instead of dataview

Screenshot | 1 (Amended result + no rule 4 warning)

New Results Viewer

DatagridView : Sort Generic List on any property (minimal code)

Had been wrecking my head with this for a few hours but got a good solution (with very little code).
Okay so it using reflection and mightn't have order log n speed, but so what if you are sorting collections with normally less than 50 items.

I handle the Column Header Mouse Click
Get the data property name.
Then use some reflection to sort the generic list.  (before this I had to use select case, and sort by knowing the property name in code, but when I add new properties this was a pain to maintain).


    Private Sub SelectionsCollectionsDataGridView_ColumnHeaderMouseClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs) Handles SelectionsCollectionsDataGridView.ColumnHeaderMouseClick
        Try
            Dim col = Me.SelectionsCollectionsDataGridView.Columns(e.ColumnIndex)
            Me.selectedMarket.SelectionsCollections.Sort(Function(p1, p2) p1.GetType.GetProperty(col.DataPropertyName).GetValue(p1, Nothing).CompareTo(p2.GetType.GetProperty(col.DataPropertyName).GetValue(p2, Nothing)))
            Me.SelectionsCollectionsBindingSource.CurrencyManager.Refresh()
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox(ex.ToString, MsgBoxStyle.Critical)
        End Try
    End Sub