PowerShell Quick Reference & Graphical Help File(chm)

Microsoft Downloads - Windows PowerShell Quick Reference

"Quick reference guide to commonly-used Windows PowerShell commands. For best results, open the file in Microsoft Word, print the contents to legal-sized paper (8 inches by 14 inches), and fold the resulting printout in half, making a four-page booklet."

Microsoft Downloads - Windows PowerShell Graphical Help File

"View the Windows PowerShell 1.0 help (including cmdlet help and the About topics) in a fully-searchable, graphical format (a standard Windows .chm file). Also included in the help file is the VBScript to Windows PowerShell Conversion Guide."

The VBScript to PowerShell Conversion Guide sounds like it might come in handy...

ClickOnce Publish with TeamBuild

Tim Hibbard - Publishing a ClickOnce app with TeamBuild

"After much frustration, I've finally configured our TeamBuild proj file to publish our ClickOnce app, and increase the version number (kinda an important step).  The Vertigo blog talks about using SolutionToPublish, but that doesn't work for all situations.  Specifically, when your solution contains projects that reference other projects. 

So I started playing with the MSBuild Community Tasks Project, and came up with the following Xml for my proj file:

..."

Another background "want" I've had is to ClickOnce publish via TeamBuild. I guess if you wait long enough... (and read enough blog posts... ;)

Google Has Bought FeedBurner...

Google Blog - Adding more flare

"As you know, we're constantly looking for ways to identify and offer new tools for content creators and website publishers. Likewise, we constantly aim to give AdWords advertisers broader distribution to an even wider audience of users. For these reasons, we're very pleased to tell you that we've just acquired FeedBurner.

..."

That's a pretty logical move.

Microsoft, you need to pickup NewsGator now, before Google does. You know it's coming that someone will pick them up, and if MS doesn't I'd put money on Google (though there is a good bit of product/service overlap between NewsGator and Google).

I think MS needs them much more, since they don't have a good web based Feed platform, nor a mature Feed Windows client, nor a central feed repository, etc.

Think;
"Windows Live Web Feed Reader" (web, NewsGator Online)
"Windows Live Reader" (full client, FeedDemon)
"Windows Live Feed Service" (feed repository, NewsGator Online/Sync API)
"Windows Live Feed Outlook" (feed reading in Outlook, NewsGator Inbox)
"Windows Live Caststation" (podcasting, Feedstation)
"Windows Live Feed Mobile" (NewsGator Go)...

Then there's the enterprise Feed server/hosting (NewsGator Enterprise) which would be cool in Exchange or maybe SharePoint...

Ton's Of Cool XNA (XBox360) Examples

XNA UK Users Group - Rare Examples

"When Microsoft released version 1.0 of the XNA Framework they had a couple of parties, one of them here in England. If you were there then chances are you got hold of some of Rare's XNA tests that they coded up. If you weren't there then now you can.

We have several new downloads available, from simple examples to full-on 3D platformers with in-game editors. There's loads of good code to pore over. You can get them in our downloads section. Oh, one thing most of them are setup for the Xbox 360, but the code is still good for Windows." [Post Leached In Full]

Some very cool XNA/XBox 360 examples...

Below is a leached listing from the download section.

Asteroids [Xbox 360 Only] 1 to 4 player game. Plays like a cross between asteroids and gravity wars.
BetaBlocka [Xbox 360 Only] Breakout clone.
Deformable Height Map [Xbox 360 Only] Shows a real-time deformable height map terrain. You can deform the height map by firing at the ground.
Hello World [Xbox 360 Only] Basic example of getting started with XNA.
Jump'n'Run 2D [Xbox 360 Only] 2D platformer with paralax scrolling and in-game editor.
Knight In A Room [Xbox 360 Only] 3D puzzle/platformer with in-game editor.
Lava Mountain [Xbox 360 Only] Expands on the deformable height map example to provide a character that can be moved around the landscape and alter it by using different types of grenades.
Music Game [Xbox 360 Only] A rhythm action game demonstrating advanced sound techniques.
Particle System [Xbox 360 Only] Example of a 3D particle system. Uses an interesting generator technique for easily generating values for the various particle system parameters.
Reach For The Stars [Xbox 360 Only] Marble Blast like game where you control a rolling, jumping marble. Navigate 3D platforms that can be moving and spinning to reach for the star.
Rolly Ball [Xbox 360 Only] Roll a ball around avoiding red sectors and hitting green sectors.
Sample 3D Models A selection of 3D models in various file formats.
Sample Music Selection of music tracks from Rare's composers.
Sample Sprites Selection of sprite textures.
Simple Font [Xbox 360 Only] Shows how to draw text using a custom font renderer.
Simple Game Template Shows simple game state/screen management.
Space Invader [Xbox 360 Only] Um, it's space invaders but this time you (up to 4 of you) are the invaders!
Tanx [Xbox 360 Only] 2-4 player top down tank game.
Witching [Xbox 360 Only] Witchy, 2.5D bullet hell shoot 'em up.

(via Mykres Space - XNA Rare Examples for Download)

TreeViewAdv 1.6 Released (Free/OSS TreeView Component for .Net)

SourceForge - TreeViewAdv for .Net

"Extensible advanced TreeView. 100% management C# code. Features: Model/View architecture. Multicolumns. Multiselection. Different controls for each node: CheckBox, Icon, Label... Drag&Drop highlighting. Load on demand. Incremental search."

 

I've been keeping my eyes open for a new/upgraded/uber free/OSS TreeView control for .Net for future projects.
(I use Infragistics at work and have gotten used to using an advanced TreeView, but for home, OSS, and personal projects Infragistics is not really viable...)

TreeViewAdv is one I've recently started monitoring and I noticed today that v1.6 was released.

I've not played with this component yet, but it looks pretty interesting...

You May Want to Grab a Copy of Office XP/2003 From MSDN Subscriber Downloads

MSDN Subscriptions WebLog - 30 Days and Counting...

"Important news on Office 2003 and Office XP – Effective June 30, 2007, MSDN Subscriptions will no longer be offering any activation versions of Office 2003 and Office XP from MSDN Subscriber Downloads or on media. We are working with the Office team to provide non-activation versions to replace these editions, and wanted you to be aware now so that you may download any needed Office 2003 and Office XP bits from MSDN Subscriber Downloads before they’re removed later this month. [GD: Emphasis added]

Please note that the existing Volume License versions of these products will continue to be made available on MSDN Subscriber Downloads for MSDN subscribers who purchased their subscriptions through our various Volume Licensing programs.

..."

I'm not really sure what "non-activation version" means, but I assume its a version that doesn't need or require online activation? (I'd assume so, but you know what they say about the word, "assume" ;)

If non-activation versions are provided, that would be cool (if I understand the intent correctly), but just in case I'm downloading the Office 2003 ISO's now... (It's just drive space... I'll put them next to my VB6 ISO's  :)

WLW Beta 2 "Insert Previous Post" Thoughts...

I had missed the new Insert Previous Post (accessed via the Insert menu, Hyperlink selection, Link To button, Previous Post selection) feature until I saw it mentioned in Darren's post.

I like it, but as of this beta, I don't think it's going to put my WLW Related Post Plugin project out of business. But it could! It's so close...

What it needs is;

• The ability to search the listed posts (with the ability to list the last 500 posts, a simple search/filter is key)
• Preview a selected post (i.e. open it in a new browser session)
• Default the new hyperlinks' Text field to the Title of the selected post. (All of which my plugin does ;)

The one thing I like about WLW's is that it's not limited to the posts available in a given feed (as my plugin currently is), and it is automatically setup to get posts from all the Weblogs you have setup in WLW. Making post cross references much much easier...

It's sooo close... (BTW, just so you don't think I spouting off... I'm making these suggestions "official" on the new "Windows Live Betas" connect.microsoft.com connection)

BTW, if I haven't made it clear, I REALLY like Windows Live Writer. It's by far my favorite Windows blog posting client. My comments and suggestions are only intended to try to make it a little better (for me at least ;)

(via Office Rocker! - Live Writer beta 2)

WLW Beta 2 Notes

Notes:

• VERY NICE (but now I'm going to nit-pick ;)
• Install/upgrade (on vista) was smooth.
  (I ran the Install exe as Admin)
• Why does the WLW Install want to change my IE Home Page? I hate that
  (Easy enough to uncheck, and I understand this is a free, not even ad supported application, but still...)
• Remember to turn "Checking spelling before posting" back on.
• Backup your Ping Servers list before upgrading to beta 2
  (as my Ping list is now empty and I have to try to reconstruct it. Got to love betas  ;)
• Beta 1 plugins seem to work okay Beta 2
  (so far at least, though I do have one, my WLW Picture Post plugin, that now causes WLW to report an error... Looks like I have a coding task this weekend. )
• Still no support for picture uploading to Blogger
• Nice to see Blogger Labels/tags/categories supported
• The Toolbar and Menus seem a little duplicative
  (The View, Tools and Weblog menus are duplicated in the toolbar). Feels a little cluttered. And the two different toolbars seems a little weird (and the Insert menu is duplicated on the bottom menu, but in this case, I think it makes good sense).
• The new Paste Special rocks.  :)
• I dig the ability to save/post drafts to the blog.
• The new Sidebar UI (with collapse/expand button) is very nice.
• The table functionality is also very nice...

I think that's enough for now. All in all, WLW Beta 2 rocks. If you're using Windows Live Writer, upgrade to Beta 2 NOW.

Windows Live Writer Beta 2 Now Available

Writer Zone - Windows Live Writer Beta 2 Now Available

"The Writer team has been working hard on a new release and we're excited that it is now available for download!

This release incorporates a ton of feedback from our discussion forums and your blogs. Here are some of the new features you'll find in Beta 2:

New Authoring Capabilities

• Inline spell checking
• Table editing
• Ability to add categories
• Page authoring for WordPress and TypePad
• Support for excerpts and extended entries
• Improved hyperlinking and image insertion
• Paste Special

..."

Yeah!

Downloading now..

How sad... My Old PC Converted to a Media Center Edition PC just died...

There I was listening to music streaming from my Media Center PC when I suddenly stopped. Then a warning that the source file could not be read...

"Okay, time to reboot the MCE PC, I guess..."

Power down, wait, power up and... and... and... err... and... um... and... crap.

Won't boot, won't POST, won't do anything. Power light comes on, drives spin, fans whirl and that's it.

Crack open the case, blow out the inches of dust (err... um... heat build the root cause? Ya think?) check all the cabling, RAM seating, etc. No joy. Pull some RAM DIMMs, no joy. Let it cool off for a while. No joy.

GRRRR

And the family and I were really enjoying having a MCE PC. I had learned the joy of TV time shifting and the XBox360 streaming with very cool.

Now I'm going to have to watch TV on their schedule? Oh no, that's just not going to fly... ;)

Of course, the converted PC was VERY old (1 ghz Compaq Presario ;) so it was only a matter of time I guess.

Now comes the decision time. Rent a box from Time Warner (and finally get digital cable, HD, etc), build another cheap MCE PC, or buy an uber MCE PC?

I'm probably going to go with a Time Warner box (yeah, I know). But it's a "good" excuse to upgrade to Digital/HD and it's a much lower up front cost...

But I'm going to miss my MCE. :(

sigh...

SDC Tasks Project's New Home on CodePlex

CodePlex - SDC Tasks Library

"This is the latest version of the SDC Tasks for .NET 2.0. The SDC Tasks are a collection of MSBuild tasks designed to make your life easier. You can use these tasks in your own MSBuild projects. You can use them stand alone and, if all else fails, you can use them as sample code.

There are over 300 tasks included in this library including tasks for: creating websites, creating application pools, creating ActiveDirectory users, running FxCop, configuring virtual servers, creating zip files, configuring COM+, creating folder shares, installing into the GAC, configuring SQL Server, configuring BizTalk 2004 and BizTalk 2006 etc.

..."

Nice to see this project is alive and well...

(via Buck Hodges - SDC MSBuild tasks library is now on CodePlex (moved from GotDotNet))

 

Related Past Post XRef:
MS UK Enterprise Solutions Build Framework (SBF) Updated
More on the Solution Build Framework (SBF) (MSBuild Tasks) From MS UK
MS SDC.Tasks, a MSBUILD tasks library with over a hundred new tasks...

Paint.Net now has it's own, official blog...

Paint.NET - The new blog home for Paint.NET!

"This is the new blog home for Paint.NET! The old location was at http://blogs.msdn.com/rickbrew. If you were subscribed to that blog, then I invite you to subscribe to this one. ..."

Subscribed.

(via Rick Brewster's blog - Paint.NET blog has moved ! Also, there's a new BETA release (3.08))

VB6 Unicode Tutorial (aka "Ton's O VB6 & Unicode Fun")

CyberActiveX - Tutorial - Using Unicode in Visual Basic 6.0 

"...

Although Visual Basic 6.0 stores strings internally as Unicode(UTF-16) it has several limitations:

1. * Ships with ANSI only controls (Label, Textbox, etc.).

2. * Properties Window in IDE is ANSI only. Unicode strings are displayed as '????'

3. * PropertyBag automatically converts Unicode strings to ANSI.

4. * Clipboard functions are ANSI only.

5. ? Menus are ANSI only.

The purpose of this tutorial is to resolve these issues and provide working VB code solutions. The level of difficulty of these solutions vary but in general require intimate knowledge of ActiveX Controls and Classes. Subclassing and API programming are a must to gain functionality that Vb does not directly support.

...    

A coworker sent me this site today. It looks to be an outstanding VB6/Unicode resource. Last having been updated October 4, 2006, you can tell it's actively getting care and feeding.

To help you get a feel for all the great information available, I've reproduced the index below...

Index

01	Introduction	16	Custom Control Example	31	Input Methods	46	Win98
02	Flowchart	17	Unicode Aware Controls	32	Resource Files	47	MapString
03	Character Sets	18	Convert Utf8 - Utf16	33	Satellite DLLs	48	Byte Array
04	SBCS-DBCS	19	Export UTF-8 Example	34	XP Themes	49	IStream
05	Test Strings(Unicode)	20	Export To File	35	Menus	50	Calendars
06	Platforms	21	ClipBoard	36	Database	51	Sorting
07	LocaleLCID	22	Unicode Blocks	37	Grid Controls	52	References
08	Codepage	23	DrawText Align Flags	38	Misc Source Code	53	Links
09	Fonts	24	RTL(RightToLeft, Mirroring)	39	IsUnicode	54	Troubleshooting
10	Uniscribe	25	Hints	40	IdeographicDescChar	55	Final
11	Mlang	26	Why use a Type Library?	41	SurrogatePairs
12	RichEdit	27	Chinese GB18030 Support	42	DateTime
13	MSLU	28	PropertyBag	43	FileIO
14	GDI+	29	PropertyBag-UTF8	44	VbAccelerator ListViewTreeview
15	User Controls Owner/Custom Draw	30	Property Pages	45	Registry

Copy Checkin Policies - Free Command Line Tool to Copy TFS Checkin Policies from one Project to Another.

Tiago Pascoal - Team Foundation Server - Copying Checkin Policies between projects

"After creating a Team Project in Team Foundation Server, one of the tasks that we are supposed to do is configure the checkin policies. Whilst this is not a difficult task, it easily becomes a very boring task and time consuming task (specially if you configure the code analysis rules).

It is quite common that all projects share the same (or at least a common base) code analysis rules (specially if you a company/division/department/whatever wide policy regarding code conventions).

We have developed a command line tool called Copy Checkin Policies, ..."

As we (my employer) move to TFS and start using more Checkin Policies this may really come in handy...

(via Larkware News - The Daily Grind 1152)

Debugging an Application Crash 101

Ask the Performance Team - Basic Debugging of an Application Crash

"One of our common issues is troubleshooting application crashes (for example, the Print Spooler or a third-party application).  These crashes usually result in the infamous Dr. Watson error. 

First, let's discuss terminology.  A crash is when something experiences a fault and has no choice but to exit.  In the case of an user mode process that generally means a Dr. Watson popup and application exit, and in the case of the kernel, a Bugcheck.  A crash can be caused by something as simple as a value being set to zero when a function is expecting a non-zero response, or trying to access a section in memory that has either become damaged or that belongs to another process.

Determining the cause of an application crash can be very simple, or extremely complicated - depending on the failure.  You can do something as simple as viewing the Dr. Watson log, or you can do a full debug.  Debugging is very much an art, and a complicated one at that, so we are only going to touch on the really basic concepts in this discussion.  First, let’s go the easy route.

..."

I thought this was a great "Intro to Hunting Down the Crash" post... There's some information I KNOW I will need (for example when I need to hunt down a rare, and impossible to reproduce so far, print spooler crash that gets reported to me every 6 months or so...)

MSSecurityLibrary

Mohamed Sharaf's Blog - Back to MSSecurity library again

"If you have seen my previous post about the class library that I developed to encrypt text or files using symmetric encryption (Rijndael algorithm). So you would already know that it was developed using .NET Framework 1.1. I've upgraded the library to .NET Framework 2.0 and fixed a bug I discovered in the decryption methods.

I already described the methods in this library before so allow me to copy-and-paste them from my previous post

The library called MSecurityLibrary and it consists of only two classes

Encryption: does the symmetric encryption using Rijndael algorithm and a key size of 256 bits.

Hashing: hash any string with MD5 hashing algorithms

Encryption class has 11 public methods. I'll describe the main functions here.

public void encryptFile(string sourceFile,string distinationFile,string password)
public void encryptFile(string sourceFile,string distinationFile,byte[] key)

These two methods encrypt a file using either a password or an array of bytes as a key. ...

..."

How many times have you one-off'ed a MD5 hashing function? Or encryption/decryption? Sure .Net provides the infrastructure for hashing/encryption/decryption, but there's still a good bit of work required to actually use them.

Packaged as an easy to use and consume assembly (with C# source, and test application), the MSSecurityLibrary provides that simple to use security wrapper.