As .NET developers we have all implemented dictionaries. Often, its a small dictionary with strings or Guids as the key – which is simple and robust. However, sometimes we need to do something a little more ‘serious’ and implement a dictionary that has a complex key consisting of a combination of values. In this case, it is extremely important that the type we use for the key has the following characteristics: Instances of the key’s type must be immutable, as changing their state once they ... [More]

In the MVVM world, things like message boxes (MessageBox.Show) and Dialogs (open file, save file etc), don't naturally fit. These popups are closely tied to the ‘View’ part of MVVM, but they can only really be invoked from the ‘ViewModel’ which will break the clean separation in MVVM. If you google this issue, you will find a wide range of elaborate solutions, many of which are significant engineering projects in their own right. I am a huge fan of implementing simple solutions wherever poss... [More]