Category: geek

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geek microsoft programming software tips

asp.net cache profile location attribute

Here’s something that confused me recently. I was debugging some caching issue, and it looked like the ASP.NET (framework) site wasn’t actually using the output cache settings.

The problem was that I was looking at the response headers, and it kept showing the Cache-Control no-cache header value. When I debugged the controller however, I noticed that it didn’t always hit the breakpoint, so cache was working.

Turns out the location of the cache profile was set to server.

<add name="somepage" duration="60" location="Server" />

Setting the location attribute to server makes ASP.NET cache the output in memory of your server, and it sets the response header to no-cache. That way, proxies like Cloudflare won’t cache the response, and you can do fancy stuff in your ASP.NET app using internal data to vary your cached responses (see VaryByCustom), and have them cached in memory on your server.

The upside is you can vary your output cache using information Cloudflare or Varnish don’t know. The downside is that this means your servers will get more hits and the more servers you are using in a load balancer setup, the less effective your cache will be.

If you drop the location attribute, the Cache-Control header will be set to whatever time you have set in your cache profile, and proxies can start caching the results.

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geek programming tips windows

global autocorrect in Windows

Autocorrect or auto-replace is a great productivity tool. You can use it to automatically fix misspelled words (“teh” instead of “the”), or have it autocomplete stuff like “krg” to “Kind regards, n3wjack”. Word and Outlook have it built in, and Vim has it too, but it’s kind of annoying that you have to set it up everywhere, and that some tools simply don’t support it.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have autocorrect working everywhere in Windows? Enter AutoHotkey!
This neat little tool allows you to set up autocorrect replacements that work in any text entry field. They work in Notepad, VS Code, even in text areas in your browser.

Once installed, you right-click the program icon in your system tray and choose “Edit This Script” to edit the active script. Add something like this to add some auto-replace rules:

::teh::the
::rg::Regards,{enter}n3wjack
::krg::Kind regards,{enter}n3wjack
:::flip::(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
::Lorem1::Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit...

You get the idea. The ::‘s are used to indicate you’re setting up AutoHotkey “hotstrings”. Simply put, it will auto-replace the first bit, with the last bit. There are more details in the excellent manual.

Afterward, save the file and choose “Reload This Script” on the system tray icon. Your autocorrects will now be available anywhere in Windows.

AutoHotkey is a full-blown automation tool, btw. The autocorrection is just a small tip of the iceberg. If you want to learn more, check out the manual to see what you can do with its scripting language.

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geek programming software tips tools

open a Git repositories’ website from the command line

Are you using Git a lot from the command line? Isn’t it annoying that you have to open a browser and click your way to the GitHub, GitLab or Azure DevOps repo website to create a pull request or do something else that can’t be done in your shell?
To solve that problem, I have a PowerShell function that opens the Git repository straight from your current folder in your shell, in your default browser. It checks the Git config for the origin URL, and opens it automatically. It’s super handy to quickly check the online repo, create pull requests etc.

Copy and paste the code below in a .ps1 script, and you’re set.

function Open-RepoInBrowser
{
    $url = git config --get remote.origin.url

    if ($url -like "*git@*")
    {
        # Get the URL from an SSH cloned repo.
        $url = $url -replace 'git@', ''
        $url = "https://" + ($url -replace ':', '/')
    }

    if ($url -eq $null) 
    {
        Write-Warning "No URL found. Make sure you are in the root of the Git repository."
        return
    }

    Write-Host "Opening URL $url"
    start $url
}

# Execute the function
Open-RepoInBrowser

Now navigate into a Git repository folder, run your script, and see that website open up in whatever your default browser is.
Note that PowerShell also runs on most Linux versions these days, so nothing is stopping you from using this easy shortcut.

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geek microsoft programming software tips tools

fix cascadia mono missing in visual studio without rebooting

Here’s a dumb problem I keep having on my work laptop. For some reason, Visual Studio 2022 shows me a notification that it can’t find the Cascadia fonts, and that a reboot will probably fix the problem.

That’s great and all, but I’m like in the middle of something and have a ton of other apps open and really don’t feel like rebooting right now (do we ever?). But being stuck looking at code in an ugly ass Courier font, isn’t what a self-respecting developer feels like doing either, right?

Last time I ran into this, I figured I might as well find the font and see if I couldn’t just reinstall it. VS should pick it up again after a restart. Turns out I was right. No reboot needed, here’s how you reinstall the Cascadia fonts on your machine:

  • Open the path C:\Windows\Fonts
  • Lookup the Cascadia fonts. There should be 2, CascadiaCode.ttf and CascadiaMono.ttf.
  • For each font file, double click it.
    A window will open, previewing the font. In the top toolbar, click Install.
  • Now restart Visual Studio. You’ll see your code represented in a pretty font once again.
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fun geek opensource programming software tips tools

pimp your powershell with some ascii art

ASCII art in a PowerShell console window.

Wouldn’t you like to be greeted with some random ASCII art when you open up a new PowerShell command window? I thought so!

Here’s a project just for you. Download the ASCII Art Message of the Day project, link the script in your PowerShell profile and bam!, random ASCII art awesomeness every time you open a shell.

Follow the installation instructions from the readme f ile, and you are set. You can even customize what color you want to use. I know, it’s fantastic.
The random ASCII art comes from asciiart.eu, so check it out if you want to have an idea of what you’ll be getting.