Colin Bacon, web developer.

I am blog

These are the things I write about

Recent posts

It's payback time! Technical debt rating with NDepend

It's payback time! Technical debt rating with NDepend

Tech debt, a.k.a the to-do list. A list of things we would like to have done differently/better but constraints meant we couldn't. Often tech debt is the result of other tech debt! NDepend want to help you tackle it with their new feature.

Adding code coverage data to NDepend is simple, so do it!

Adding code coverage data to NDepend is simple, so do it!

Generally, when we first use a new tool, we install it using the default or recommended settings. Then, as we start to use and understand the tool we tweak it. NDepend works brilliantly out of the box and comes into it's own once you learn and tweak it. However, the one thing I would recommend you set up straight away is test coverage data.

Xamarin Android - application could not be started

Xamarin Android - application could not be started

The steps I took to successfully deploy to an Android device after receiving "The application could not be started" error.

Disabling XAML debugging tools in Visual Studio

Disabling XAML debugging tools in Visual Studio

XAML debugging tools are a welcome feature in Visual Studio but you may not want them to load by default.

Disabling the Diagnostic Tools debugger window in Visual Studio 2015

Disabling the Diagnostic Tools debugger window in Visual Studio 2015

By default the Diagnostic Tools window opens automatically when debugging. Whilst this is a handy tool I do not want to it load every time I debug.

Unable to view iOS storyboards in Visual Studio - Xamarin

Unable to view iOS storyboards in Visual Studio - Xamarin

You double click on your iOS storyboard, it opens, and then nothing. A blank screen or maybe an error if you're lucky. There are two steps to follow to make storyboards load.

Customising Azure deployment: Running unit tests when deploying to Azure with Kudu

Customising Azure deployment: Running unit tests when deploying to Azure with Kudu

Don't make me remember to run all my units tests, do it for me. Adding unit tests to the Kudu deploy script.

Getting an SSL cert is just the first step on the road to HTTPS

Getting an SSL cert is just the first step on the road to HTTPS

When I considered moving this blog to HTTPS all I thought about was getting an SSL certificate. Actually the certificate is only the first step, there is plenty more to do.

Cannot enable SNI SSL for a hostname because current site does not allow it

Cannot enable SNI SSL for a hostname because current site does not allow it

Let me guess, you're trying to set up an SSL certificate on Azure. I know, it happened to me.

My desktop build

My desktop build

Tools matter. And when there isn't a ready made tool for the job you have to make your own. Enter the ultimate desktop build.