I ran across this code today.  This would be a good example of how NOT to dispose a dialog form.  It seems that "someone" though it would be a good idea to dispose the form only when an exception occurred?!?  Genius.  Unfortunately, I was the genius.  I should really watch my caffeine consumption!  Oh well, it's good to laugh at your own "creativity" once in a while... right? :-P

---

Dim frm As MyForm

Try
   frm = New MyForm
   With frm
      .StartPosition = FormStartPosition.CenterParent
      .Width = 650
      .Height = 600
      .ShowDialog()
   End With

Catch ex As Exception 'this should "probably" be "finally"
   If Not frm Is Nothing Then
      frm.Dispose()
   End If

End Try

Ken McNamee has been thinking outside the SQL box.  I didn't realize that you can use a "case" statement in the "order by" clause:

---

DECLARE @orderBy varchar(50)
SET @orderBy = 'LastName'

SELECT
    *
FROM
    Employees
ORDER BY
    CASE
        WHEN @orderBy = 'LastName' THEN LastName
    END,
    CASE
        WHEN @orderBy = 'HireDate' THEN HireDate
    END

---

For more on this, see his post:
http://blogs.vertigosoftware.com/kenm/archive/2005/12/06/Dynamic_ORDER_BY_Clause.aspx

Jeff Atwood recently posted a list of windows tips and tricks on his blog.  The list included using Ctrl+C to copy the text out of message boxes.  This trick has been invaluable to me for a while, especially in place of "can you send me a screen shot of that?" 

But here's the kicker: Who knew that you could Ctrl-Click the taskbar to select multiple items and then perform actions (e.g. cascade,tile,close) on your selection?  Where have I been?  Jeff, you're the man.

When working with UserControls in VS, you can easily get yourself is a "crash loop."  The problem is that while debugging, your UserControl takes down VS.  When you re-open the solution, your buggy code runs again and again crashes the process.  It's difficult to fix the problem when VS keeps crashing, isn't it?

The fix is simple: go out to the file system and delete the .suo file.  Next time the solution is brought up, no solution documents will be displayed by default.  You can now fix the problem, but be careful not to use the designer until the underlying problem is fixed.  Using the designer before the code is fixed could expose you do another crash loop.

I plan to post more about this in the future (and hopefully some examples.)  For now, here are some resources:

• .NET must have: Start with this C# example.  Alternatively, use this VB.NET example.
  
• C#
  • Article: Using the WB with .NET
  • Article: Another WB Example
  • Article: Implementing IDocHostUIHandler
  • Article: Programmatically change printer settings
  • Article: Handle script/DOM events in .NET code
  • Example: Hosting MSHTML
  • Group: Fix problem where WindowClosing event does not fire
    
• C++
  • Article: Invoking hidden WB commands
  • Article: Implementing IDocHostUIHandler
  • Article: Updating back/forward buttons
  • Article: Use OLECMDID_ONUNLOAD to fire BeforeUnload before closing a form
  • Article: Travel Log Example
  • Article: Get an IWebBrowser2 interface from a document reference
  • Article: How to handle script errors as a WebBrowser control host
  • Group: Extend the DOM with IDispatchEx
  • BUG: IDocHostUIHandler2 Is Not Called from Within a WebBrowser Control
    
• Other
  • Helpful Delphi WB docs
  • Changing font size
  • Customizing print and print preview
    
• Documentation 
  • Programming and reusing the browser
  • VB WB Reference
  • MSHTML Reference