Friday Dev Tip
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How to visualize an image map so you can debug it
Image maps are a handy way to add clickable zones to your images. When creating an image map from scratch most people would fire up their image editor of choice and work out the click zones using the editor.
This can be ok when creating an image map from scratch but if you have to troubleshoot an image map issue or if you need to 'see' the clickable zones that really isn’t a workable solution.
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How to make gifs using LICEcap
There are tons of programs out there that can help you make gifs but over the years the one I keep returning to due to its ease of use is LICEcap.
For example, I use it to help me make gif's for this blog, for doing quick screen captures or to highlight bugs found when testing.
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How to search for a changeset in TFS using Visual Studio
Image taken from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2314179/how-to-browse-tfs-changesets
Sometimes the easiest thing in the world can take you a while to figure out. Take searching for a changeset in Visual Studio's TFS Source Explorer.
Luckily if super easy to do!
When you're in the Source Explorer, simply press Ctrl + G and the Find ChangeSet dialog will appear. From here you can type the changeset number and press OK.
Alternatively you can click on Find... to open up a more detailed dialog that will allow you filter by dates, by the dev who commited the changeset or by a specific file that was changed.
Easy when you know how!
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Use an app launcher to quickly open files or programs on your Windows PC
If you're a developer chances are that you use certain key strokes daily without even thinking about it like Alt + Tab to switch between opened programs.
MacOS users love using quick app launchers, like Alfred, but it's not something a lot of Windows users tend to know about or use.
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Quickly jump between methods in Visual Studio
When working on a large project where a single file could have hundreds or thousands of lines of code it can be useful to quickly jump from one method to the next in the current document you have open.
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Theme Visual Studio Code in seconds
I love Visual Studio Code but even the dark mode can be a bit drab and boring looking. Luckiliy there are tons of amazing themes you can install to really personalise it.
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Display pinned tabs on a separate line in Visual Studio
One of the first things I do when setting up my Visual Studio environment is to set up pinned tabs so they display on a new line.
It helps to visually separate out your tabs and gives your unpinned tabs more screen real estate which can only be a good thing when working in large environments where you'd have 30-40+ tabs opened at a time.
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Quickly open the command line to a specific path from Windows Explorer
Today's tip is an easy one to use and a very handy tip for quickly opening the command prompt to the location you're currently in on Windows Explorer. All you have to do is type 'cmd' into the Windows Explorer address bar and it will open the command prompt for you with the path already prefilled in.
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Always have a backup strategy
You know the scenario - you've worked through the night on a project that the boss needs first thing in the morning. It's 3am and you save your work locally on your PC. You decide not to check the work into your GIT repository or to copy the files into your Dropbox folder. You shut down the pc and go to sleep. A few hours later you wake up, go to fire up the PC and then....nothing.
How does technology know to fail on us when we need it most?!
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How to auto update your Windows programs using Chocolatey
If you're sick of manually updating your Windows programs it turns out that there's a package manager that can automate it all for you: https://chocolatey.org - and best of all, it comes with silent installations! No more "next, next, finish".