When I look at that list today, SQL Server 2016 makes a pretty compelling case for most folks. It’s a good balance of new features, stability, and long shelf life. 

• C++ Linux project - Remote header sync is broken in Visual Studio 16.3
• Visual Studio 16.3 opens some files with notepad
• Fixed an issue with the Show Output window either closing too quickly.
• Fixed an issue where Visual Studio 2019 stops responding in several scenarios, including opening a solution, changing solution configuration, and closing a solution. 

<CascadingAuthenticationState>
    <Router AppAssembly="@typeof(Program).Assembly" PreferExactMatches="@true">
        <Found Context="routeData">
            <AuthorizeRouteView RouteData="@routeData" DefaultLayout="@typeof(MainLayout)">
                <Authorizing>
                    <p>Please wait, we are authorizing the user.</p>
                </Authorizing>
                <NotAuthorized>
                    <p>Not Authorized</p>
                </NotAuthorized>
            </AuthorizeRouteView>
        </Found>
        <NotFound>
                <LayoutView Layout="@typeof(MainLayout)">
                    <p>Sorry, there's nothing at this address.</p>
                </LayoutView>
        </NotFound>
    </Router>
</CascadingAuthenticationState>

{
  "iss": "https://localhost:5001/",
  "iat": 1616396383,
  "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/name": "vahid@dntips.ir",
  "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress": "vahid@dntips.ir",
  "Id": "582855fb-e95b-45ab-b349-5e9f7de40c0c",
  "DisplayName": "vahid@dntips.ir",
  "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/claims/role": "Admin",
  "nbf": 1616396383,
  "exp": 1616397583,
  "aud": "Any"
}

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Security.Claims;
using System.Text.Json;

namespace BlazorWasm.Client.Utils
{
    /// <summary>
    /// From the Steve Sanderson’s Mission Control project:
    /// https://github.com/SteveSandersonMS/presentation-2019-06-NDCOslo/blob/master/demos/MissionControl/MissionControl.Client/Util/ServiceExtensions.cs
    /// </summary>
    public static class JwtParser
    {
        public static IEnumerable<Claim> ParseClaimsFromJwt(string jwt)
        {
            var claims = new List<Claim>();
            var payload = jwt.Split('.')[1];

            var jsonBytes = ParseBase64WithoutPadding(payload);

            var keyValuePairs = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, object>>(jsonBytes);
            claims.AddRange(keyValuePairs.Select(kvp => new Claim(kvp.Key, kvp.Value.ToString())));
            return claims;
        }

        private static byte[] ParseBase64WithoutPadding(string base64)
        {
            switch (base64.Length % 4)
            {
                case 2: base64 += "=="; break;
                case 3: base64 += "="; break;
            }
            return Convert.FromBase64String(base64);
        }
    }
}

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.BlazorWebAssembly">
  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Authorization" Version="5.0.4" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

namespace BlazorWasm.Client.Services
{
    public class AuthStateProvider : AuthenticationStateProvider
    {
        private readonly HttpClient _httpClient;
        private readonly ILocalStorageService _localStorage;

        public AuthStateProvider(HttpClient httpClient, ILocalStorageService localStorage)
        {
            _httpClient = httpClient ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(httpClient));
            _localStorage = localStorage ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(localStorage));
        }

        public override async Task<AuthenticationState> GetAuthenticationStateAsync()
        {
            var token = await _localStorage.GetItemAsync<string>(ConstantKeys.LocalToken);
            if (token == null)
            {
                return new AuthenticationState(new ClaimsPrincipal(new ClaimsIdentity()));
            }

            _httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("bearer", token);
            return new AuthenticationState(
                        new ClaimsPrincipal(
                            new ClaimsIdentity(JwtParser.ParseClaimsFromJwt(token), "jwtAuthType")
                        )
                    );
        }
    }
}

namespace BlazorServer.Common
{
    public static class ConstantKeys
    {
        // ...
        public const string LocalToken = "JWT Token";
    }
}

namespace BlazorWasm.Client
{
    public class Program
    {
        public static async Task Main(string[] args)
        {
            var builder = WebAssemblyHostBuilder.CreateDefault(args);
            // ...

            builder.Services.AddAuthorizationCore();
            builder.Services.AddScoped<AuthenticationStateProvider, AuthStateProvider>();

            // ...
        }
    }
}

@using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Authorization

namespace BlazorWasm.Client.Services
{
    public interface IClientAuthenticationService
    {
        Task<AuthenticationResponseDTO> LoginAsync(AuthenticationDTO userFromAuthentication);
        Task LogoutAsync();
        Task<RegisterationResponseDTO> RegisterUserAsync(UserRequestDTO userForRegisteration);
    }
}

namespace BlazorWasm.Client.Services
{
    public class ClientAuthenticationService : IClientAuthenticationService
    {
        private readonly HttpClient _client;
        private readonly ILocalStorageService _localStorage;

        public ClientAuthenticationService(HttpClient client, ILocalStorageService localStorage)
        {
            _client = client;
            _localStorage = localStorage;
        }

        public async Task<AuthenticationResponseDTO> LoginAsync(AuthenticationDTO userFromAuthentication)
        {
            var response = await _client.PostAsJsonAsync("api/account/signin", userFromAuthentication);
            var responseContent = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            var result = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<AuthenticationResponseDTO>(responseContent);

            if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
            {
                await _localStorage.SetItemAsync(ConstantKeys.LocalToken, result.Token);
                await _localStorage.SetItemAsync(ConstantKeys.LocalUserDetails, result.UserDTO);
                _client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("bearer", result.Token);
                return new AuthenticationResponseDTO { IsAuthSuccessful = true };
            }
            else
            {
                return result;
            }
        }

        public async Task LogoutAsync()
        {
            await _localStorage.RemoveItemAsync(ConstantKeys.LocalToken);
            await _localStorage.RemoveItemAsync(ConstantKeys.LocalUserDetails);
            _client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = null;
        }

        public async Task<RegisterationResponseDTO> RegisterUserAsync(UserRequestDTO userForRegisteration)
        {
            var response = await _client.PostAsJsonAsync("api/account/signup", userForRegisteration);
            var responseContent = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            var result = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<RegisterationResponseDTO>(responseContent);

            if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
            {
                return new RegisterationResponseDTO { IsRegisterationSuccessful = true };
            }
            else
            {
                return result;
            }
        }
    }
}

namespace BlazorWasm.Client
{
    public class Program
    {
        public static async Task Main(string[] args)
        {
            var builder = WebAssemblyHostBuilder.CreateDefault(args);
            // ...
            builder.Services.AddScoped<IClientAuthenticationService, ClientAuthenticationService>();
            // ...
        }
    }
}

Blazor WebAssembly apps don't currently have a concept of DI scopes. Scoped-registered services behave like Singleton services.

This is the first release of a 64-bit Visual Studio and we’d love for you to download it, try it out, and join us in shaping the next major release of Visual Studio with your feedback. 

{
  "jti": "b2921057-32a4-fbb2-0c18-5889c1ab8e70",
  "iss": "https://localhost:5001/",
  "iat": 1576402824,
  "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/nameidentifier": "1",
  "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/name": "Vahid N.",
  "DisplayName": "Vahid N.",
  "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/claims/userdata": "1",
  "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/claims/role": "Admin",
  "nbf": 1576402824,
  "exp": 1576402944,
  "aud": "Any"
}

class App extends Component {
  state = {};

> npm install --save jwt-decode

import jwtDecode from "jwt-decode";
// ...

class App extends Component {
  state = {};

  componentDidMount() {
    try {
      const jwt = localStorage.getItem("token");
      const currentUser = jwtDecode(jwt);
      console.log("currentUser", currentUser);
      this.setState({ currentUser });
    } catch (ex) {
      console.log(ex);
    }
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <React.Fragment>
        <ToastContainer />
        <NavBar user={this.state.currentUser} />
        <main className="container">

const NavBar = ({ user }) => {

{!user && (
  <React.Fragment>
    <NavLink className="nav-item nav-link" to="/login">
      Login
    </NavLink>
    <NavLink className="nav-item nav-link" to="/register">
      Register
    </NavLink>
  </React.Fragment>
)}

{user && (
  <React.Fragment>
    <NavLink className="nav-item nav-link" to="/logout">
      Logout
    </NavLink>
    <NavLink className="nav-item nav-link" to="/profile">
      {user.DisplayName}
    </NavLink>
  </React.Fragment>
)}

this.props.history.push("/");

window.location = "/";

<NavLink className="nav-item nav-link" to="/logout">
   Logout
</NavLink>

import Logout from "./components/logout";
// ...

class App extends Component {
  render() {
    return (
          // ...
          <Switch>
            // ...
            <Route path="/logout" component={Logout} />

import { Component } from "react";

class Logout extends Component {
  componentDidMount() {
    localStorage.removeItem("token");
    window.location = "/";
  }

  render() {
    return null;
  }
}

export default Logout;

const tokenKey = "token";

export async function login(email, password) {
  const {
    data: { access_token }
  } = await http.post(apiEndpoint + "/login", { email, password });
  console.log("JWT", access_token);
  localStorage.setItem(tokenKey, access_token);
}

const { data } = this.state;
await auth.login(data.username, data.password);
window.location = "/";

export function logout() {
  localStorage.removeItem(tokenKey);
}

import * as auth from "../services/authService";

class Logout extends Component {
  componentDidMount() {
    auth.logout();

import jwtDecode from "jwt-decode";
//...

export function getCurrentUser() {
  try {
    const jwt = localStorage.getItem(tokenKey);
    const currentUser = jwtDecode(jwt);
    console.log("currentUser", currentUser);
    return currentUser;
  } catch (ex) {
    console.log(ex);
    return null;
  }
}

import * as auth from "./services/authService";

class App extends Component {
  state = {};

  componentDidMount() {
    const currentUser = auth.getCurrentUser();
    this.setState({ currentUser });
  }

export function loginWithJwt(jwt) {
   localStorage.setItem(tokenKey, jwt);
}

import * as auth from "../services/authService";
// ...
const response = await userService.register(this.state.data);
auth.loginWithJwt(response.headers["x-auth-token"]);

The lost art of writing SQL queries
I noticed that most (junior) developers no longer are able to write anything but the most trivial SQL queries.  Time to fix that! 

background-clip is one of those properties I've known about for years, but rarely used. Maybe just a couple of times as part of a solution to a Stack Overflow question. Until last year, when I started creating my huge collection of sliders. Some of the designs I chose to reproduce were a bit more complex and I only had one element available per slider, which happened to be an input element, meaning that I couldn't even use pseudo-elements on it. Even though that does work in certain browsers, the fact that it works is actually a bug and I didn't want to rely on that. All this meant I ended up using backgrounds, borders, and shadows a lot. I also learned a lot from doing that and this article shares some of those lessons.