Scott on Writing

# re: Little Known, Invaluable Methods and Properties in the .NET Framework Base Class Library 5/24/2005 11:26 PM Brian

Great tips.

# re: Little Known, Invaluable Methods and Properties in the .NET Framework Base Class Library 5/26/2005 2:33 AM David

I like the TryParse method that have been added to most of the basic types.

bool foo;
Boolean.TryParse("falsse", out foo);

# re: Little Known, Invaluable Methods and Properties in the .NET Framework Base Class Library 5/26/2005 11:06 AM Scott Mitchell

Here are some methods/properties/classes I plan on talking about at some point in the future (put here as a sort of reminder for moi):

ColorTranslator
System.Uri (suggestion by Nick Harrison)
System.Environment.* and System.Diagnostics.FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(Path) (suggestions by Rob Chartier)
Obsolete attribute (suggestion by Phil Winstanley)
String.Format (suggestion by Scott Cate)

# re: Little Known, Invaluable Methods and Properties in the .NET Framework Base Class Library 5/27/2005 4:35 PM Cheng Yuan Yap Ye

What about ArrayList.ReadOnly?

# Interesting Finds this morning 5/30/2005 8:47 AM Jason Haley

Interesting Finds this morning

# re: Little Known, Invaluable Methods and Properties in the .NET Framework Base Class Library 5/30/2005 4:59 PM Dan F

+1 for obsolete, its very handy when refactoring. Not exactly what its *supposed* to be used for, but still brilliant.

# re: Little Known, Invaluable Methods and Properties in the .NET Framework Base Class Library 5/31/2005 11:04 AM Scott Mitchell

FYI, the article that discusses useful properties/methods for working with Colors is up:
http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/060105-1.aspx

# re: Little Known, Invaluable Methods and Properties in the .NET Framework Base Class Library 6/8/2005 7:35 AM Richard

Unfortunately, the ColorTranslator.FromHtml method has a nasty bug when trying to parse an invalid colour:
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/viewfeedback.aspx?feedbackid=b9ee3ad9-eb4e-4afd-b73b-eab959b24084

If the argument is 4 or 7 characters long and starts with "#", the method throws a System.FormatException; for all other invalid values, the method throws a System.Exception.

All the guidelines state that you should never throw or catch a general exception type, but in this instance, you have no choice.