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What's the easiest way to create a managed visualiser in C#?

I have a background in C++ and recently I started working in C#.
I have written following pieces of code (in Visual Studio):
var list_Loads = database.GetData<Load>().ToList();
var test_list = list_Loads.Where(o => (o.Name.Substring(0, 3) == "123")).ToList();
When I run the program and I move my mouse over both lists, first I get the count, which is very useful, but when I ask for the entries, this is what I get:
0 : namespace.Load
1 : namespace.Load
2 : namespace.Load
...
Not very useful, as you can imagine :-)
So my question: how can I show the Name attributes of those objects?
I thought: no problem. I have a background in native visualisers, so it should be rather easy to turn this into useful information, but then it comes:
In order to alter the way that those objects are represented, there is the first proposal to add a [DebuggerDisplay] "tag" to the definition of that class in source code.
However, as those classes are part of a framework I'm just referring to, I don't have access to the source code and hence I can't modify this.
Then I found another solution, which comes down to: "Write an entire C# project, debug, test and install it and it might work" (see documentation on "Custom visualisers of data" on the Microsoft website).
I almost choked in my coffee: writing an entire project, just for altering the view of an object??? (While, in C++, you just create a simple .natvis file, mention the classname and some configuration, launch .nvload and that's it.
Does anybody know a simple way to alter the appearance of C# object, without needing to pass through the whole burden of creating an entire C# project?
By the way, when I try to load a natvis file in Visual Studio immediate window, this is what I get:
.nvload "C:\Temp_Folder\test.natvis"
error CS1525: Invalid expression term '.'
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance

OP (my emphasis):
In order to alter the way that those objects are represented, there is the first proposal to add a [DebuggerDisplay] "tag" to the definition of that class in source code.
However, as those classes are part of a framework I'm just referring to, I don't have access to the source code and hence I can't modify this.
Does anybody know a simple way to alter the appearance of C# object, without needing to pass through the whole burden of creating an entire C# project?
If you just want to specify [DebuggerDisplay] on a type, you don't have to have access to the source code. You can make use of [assembly:DebuggerDisplay()] and control how a type appears in the debugger. The only downside is that [assembly:DebuggerDisplay()] naturally only affects the current assembly whose code your mouse is hovering over. If you wish to use the customised display in other assemblies that you own, then you must repeat the [assembly:DebuggerDisplay()] definition.
Here's an easy before-and-after example with DateTime. I picked DateTime because we generally don't have access to the source code and it has some interesting properties:
var items = new List<DateTime>
{
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-2),
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1),
DateTime.Now
};
...which on my machine defaults to:
Maybe I'm fussy and I just want to see:
Day of the week and
Day of the year
...I can do that via:
using System.Diagnostics;
[assembly: DebuggerDisplay("{DayOfWeek} {DayOfYear}", Target = typeof(DateTime))]
...which results in:
Example:
namespace DebuggerDisplayTests
{
public class DebuggerDisplayTests
{
public DebuggerDisplayTests()
{
var items = new List<DateTime>
{
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-2),
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1),
DateTime.Now
};
}
}
.
.
.
}
Overrides
[assembly:DebuggerDisplay()] can also be used as a means to override pre-existing [DebuggerDisplay] on a 3-rd party type. Don't like what style they have chosen? Is the type showing far too much information? Change it with [assembly:DebuggerDisplay()].

How does one use C# in SCSS Conditionals?

I am currently trying to achieve something I think is quite simple:
Changing a background colour based on the role of the logged-in user.
I've got an if/if else setup in the SCSS already, but currently it's just using a hardcoded string.
I also know how to get the string value of the current user's role...
I do not know how to use C# things in SCSS though. When I discovered that '#{}' is used for implementing if/else etc, I naturally tried "#inject" and "#using"... but that didn't work, sadly.
How do I use C# code in SASS?

Generally this is done with a separate class on either the html or body elements. You can do this easily with Razor.
<html class="loggedin">
Then you just define custom overrides based on the selector.
html.loggedin
{
// do your custom stuff in this block.
}

Common Message/Error/Status to used across jquery or C#

There are times when we use same error or success message/checking of some status both in jquery & c#.
For consistency, we can define all message/status flag in as static class and use it wherever needed in c#.
Just an example:
C#
public class MyConstant
{
public static string Admin = "AdminRole";
public static string Approver= "ApproverRole";
}
if(userRole==MyConstant.Admin || userRole==MyConstant.Approver)
{
//more work
}
jquery:
if(userRole=="AdminRole" || userRole=="ApproverRole")
{
//more work
}
In stead hard coding msg/status in jquery, I would prefer approach similar to C#. Would be better to have common place to pull for client/service side.
How can I achieve similar in jquery? Better to say, How can I share common msgs/status flags between jquery & C#. I can think of following options:
Use Database. Cons: hitting DB every time may not be good idea.
Define some classes/property for msgs/status flags separately in jquery. Cons: duplicate; have to ensure all of them in sync.
maybe CMS but not necessarily, will be used in every application
Is there any better approach to share common Message/Error/Status to used across jquery or C#?
Thoughts?

One possible solution is T4 (text templates).
Just imagine a T4 which iterates each enumeration value (why classes of constants? use enumerations!) and creates an object literal like this in JavaScript:
var Roles = { "AdminRole": 1, "ApproverRole": 2 };
If you've never heard about T4, it's the text templating engine behind Visual Studio templates. For example, Entity Framework uses it to generate model classes.
Once you've created the text template, you can sync C# enumeration to JavaScript object literal from Visual Studio when you build your project or running the template manually (right-click on T4 and choose "Run custom tool").
Learn more about T4

I would consider enums for status codes, but you can stay with your strings (no problem). To better address JavaScript part use solution presented here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/2383215/3170952, that is:
my.namespace.Roles = {
ADMIN: "Admin",
APPROVER: "Approver"
}
Then you have one place where you define literals in JS. Better yet, you can weave C# literals into your JS (if you define it in one of ASP.NET MVC views or have other mechanism of incorporating C# into JS files). Then you have one place of definition statically checked during compilation time.

What does an #functions code block in a razor file do, and when (if ever) should I use it?

Whilst looking at a theme I downloaded from the Orchard CMS gallery, I noticed that a Layout.cshtml file had this block of code at the top of the file:
#functions {
// To support the layout classifaction below. Implementing as a razor function because we can, could otherwise be a Func<string[], string, string> in the code block following.
string CalcuClassify(string[] zoneNames, string classNamePrefix)
{
var zoneCounter = 0;
var zoneNumsFilled = string.Join("", zoneNames.Select(zoneName => { ++zoneCounter; return Model[zoneName] != null ? zoneCounter.ToString() : ""; }).ToArray());
return HasText(zoneNumsFilled) ? classNamePrefix + zoneNumsFilled : "";
}
}
I know what the declared function does (calculates which zones are populated in order to return the width of each column), my question is- what is the correct use of the #function block, and when should I ever use it?

The #functions block lets you define utility functions directly in the view, rather than adding them as extensions to the #Html helper or letting the controller know about display properties. You'd want to use it when you can meet these conditions:
The functionality is tied closely to the view and is not generally useful elsewhere (such as "How wide do I make my columns").
The functionality is more than a simple if statement, and/or is used in multiple places in your view.
Everything that the function needs to determine it's logic already exists in the Model for the view.
If you fail the first one, add it as a #Html helper.
If you fail the second one, just inline it.
If you fail the third one, you should do the calculation in your controller and pass the result as part of the model.

Others have explained what #functions does so I won't rehash that. But I would like to add this:
If your view is typed to a viewmodel, I think a viable option would be to move this logic into the viewmodel to avoid cluttering your markup with too much code. Otherwise your views start to look more and more like classic ASP and I don't think anybody wants that.
I don't think there's anything wrong with using #functions or #helper in your view, but once you get beyond a couple of methods in your view, or even if the function is somewhat complicated, it might be worth refactoring to the viewmodel if at all possible. If it's code that can be reused, it may be a good idea to to pull it out into a helper class or an extension to the HtmlHelper class. One thing that is a bummer is realizing you just rewrote a piece of code that already existed because you didn't know it was hidden away in some arbitrary view.

From msdn blogs, #functions block is to let you wrap up reusable code, like the methods and properties

In this particular case, the people who have created the theme you are using probably were trying to keep it as a simple theme (only views, css and images).
If you need to write some code for a theme for Orchard, you have to turn to a module (as stated here: http://docs.orchardproject.net/Documentation/Anatomy-of-a-theme) unless you write this code in the view.
I am not sure it is worth the time to switch from a theme to a module only to get the size of a column.

C# - Windows CE: form translation independent of OS culture settings

I am writing a program in C# for a Windows CE device and would like the application to be translated according to a language setting in the application itself.
I have already read some articles about localisation using resource files and translating forms using the 'Localizable' and 'Language' properties. From what I have read I understand that this type of form translation works with the OS language setting (correct me if I am wrong).
Now I am looking for a way to do the form translation dependent on my own in-program language setting, preferably using resource files.
I have already thought of doing this translation in the Load event of each form but maybe there are other solutions or best-practice for this. Any help is appreciated.

If you use the Language.resx, Language.[language]-[country].resx way of localizing, the generated class Language will have a property named Culture that can be set to override the current system culture.
Language.Culture = new CultureInfo("sv-SE");
label1.Text = Language.my_language_string;
If you want to use the ResourceManager-class it has a member GetResourceSet() that takes a parameter CultureInfo. I haven't tried to use GetResourceSet myself but it sounds like something you could use.
ResourceManager CultureResourceManager = new ResourceManager("My.Language.Assembly", System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
ResourceSet resourceSet = CultureResourceManager.GetResourceSet("sv-SE", true, true);
resourceSet.GetString("my_language_resource");
MSDN-link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.resources.resourcemanager.getresourceset(v=vs.80).aspxo

If you are going to put it in the Load event, consider making a template form. Somewhere in the template form, add your localisation checks. Then, have your other forms inherit the template, and they will get the Load event by default.