Everyday I face another deadline. In my rush to keep clients happy, I sometimes over look the simplest of things. Yesterday I had a Datagrid that would not bind when the Datagrid’s page changed. I checked everything. I checked my list of common problems, double checked the code, rewrote the bind code, I copied and pasted the grid to another page, deleted it on the original page, saved it, and copied it back (VisualStudio has a weird Datagrid bug and this helps sometimes), then I spent 15 minutes searching Google for answers. Then it hit me, check the Viewstate. Surely it couldn’t be something so simple as disabled Viewstate. Duh! In my rush to improve performance I turned off Viewstate on everything including the Datagrid. I turned it back on and the Datagrid magically paged through all of the records.

Mistakes like this cost me time and time is money. Granted, after 10 plus years developing, I don’t have as many of these types of mistakes as I used to, but I still run into these problems every once in a while. So, I added “Check Datagrid Viewstate” to my database of common problems. I have things like check for null values on Request, Session and Viewstate values on the top of my list and some other stupid mistakes that I have had problems with. Anything that I messed up on more than once or that took me a long time to figure out makes my list. I also have a common development checklist that lists  things like spell check and reminders to update certain configurations. My problems database and checklist has saved me time in the long run and they are two of the most important items in my development toolbox.

So, what are your most common mistakes on your projects and how do you make sure you aren’t wasting time and money on silly little mistakes.

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