Greg's Cool [Insert Clever Name] of the Day

Posted 7/11/2007 04:07:00 PM

"Microsoft has come out with an update to what I consider their Gong Show release of eScrum. The new version (v1.0 as opposed to v1, go figure) has the following fixes:

MSI to provide a prerequisites separately during installation
Provided start menu link to documentation, to locate Help
Provided choice to install only the process template, and/or the web application
Rebuilt with latest Ajax Control Library Version
Automated copy of XSS library in MSI
Automated creation and configuration of application pool and website in MSI
Automated upload of process template in MSI
Automated share point template setup in MSI
Automated creation/configuration of cache and log paths in MSI

There are still some manual steps involved but it's a vast improvement and it all sounds good..." [Post Leached Almost in Full]

I guess it's good I haven't had a chance to play with this yet...

Related Past Post XRef:
Microsoft eScrum 1.0 for Team Foundation Server Released

Posted 7/10/2007 05:59:00 PM

Sysinternals Site Discussion - New Tool: AdExplorer v1.0 and Various Updates

"AdExplorer v1.0: We’re excited to announce the release of Sysinternals AD Explorer, a powerful Active Directory viewer and editor that includes advanced navigation and search features, plus an AD snapshot facility that enables off-line AD viewing and differential comparison.

..."

It's a happy day when we get a new Sysinternals utility. :)

Also the ever useful AutoRuns has rev'ed to v8.7

Posted 7/10/2007 05:51:00 PM

Ramblings of a SQL SERVER DBA - What's DAC?

"In the past there have been many instances where the SQL Server (database engine) has become unresponsive which could result in users / administrators not being able to connect to the server to troubleshoot issues etc. SQL 2005 has a new feature called " Dedicated Administrator Connection (DAC)".

...

A DAC connection is created in 2 ways

a. SQLCMD utility or
b. Using SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio)
you must use the -A switch when using SQLCMD
E.g.
D:\> SQLCMD -S <servername> -E (to use your NT authentication) or -U<usrname> -P <password> -A
..."

I want to remember this... There have been times in the past (on older SQL Server versions) where this could have come in handy.

It's very easy to use, which is nice...

Posted 7/10/2007 09:07:00 AM

Coding4Fun - Rapid Application XNA: now with more orange flavor.

"If you're a premium member of the XNA's Creator's Club, you now have access to Garage Game's Torque X and Torque X Builder for free! Previously, this cost $100!

What is Torque X? It is c# based game engine that allows 2D drag and drop game creation! It allows you to make use of physics and shaders effects to create a game quickly instead of from the ground up. ..."

Free is my wife's favorite price (for stuff I want ;)

I'm glad to see additional value being added for Premium Members...

Important Note from http://creators.xna.com/subscribers/torquex.aspx: "If you are an XNA Creators Club Premium member, your membership allows you to download Torque X for free here. XNA Creators Club Premium members have a license to use Torque X and Torque X Builder as long as their subscription is active. [GD: Emphasis added]"

So if you're creating XNA games for Windows, you'll still need to keep your XBox 360 XNA Creators Club active in order to remain legal. Not sure how I feel about that. I'm only interested in using XNA for the 360, so for me it's not an issue. But it still seems... ?

Anyway, something is better than nothing. Added to the Greg Work Item list ;)

Posted 7/09/2007 11:49:00 AM

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5)

"The goal of the Microsoft Robotics Studio is to supply a software platform for the robotics community that can be used across a wide variety of hardware, applicable to a wide audience of users, and development of a wide variety of applications. ..."

Microsoft PressPass - Microsoft Launches Update of Its Robotics Software Platform

"REDMOND, Wash., — July 9, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today announced an improved version of Microsoft^® Robotics Studio, just months after the December 2006 introduction of its robotics application development toolkit. The new Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 adds support for Windows^® Embedded CE 6.0 and Windows Mobile^® 6, which allows developers to more easily deploy advanced scenarios and software applications on embedded platforms of a wider variety and lower cost.

...

Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 includes improvements to its visual programming language and 3-D real-world-physics-based visual simulation environment, built on the AGEIA Technologies Inc.-based PhysX engine. New services have also been added, including support for vision and speech recognition, expanded documentation and a new editor that makes it easier to configure and target software services for robotics platforms.

..."

Microsoft Robotics Studio Developer Center - Welcome to Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5)

"In December 2006, we released version 1.0 of Microsoft Robotics Studio. Since that time, we've been at work on a number of improvements and enhancements. Thank you for the great feedback and suggestions we received. In April this year we started previewing 1.5 and now we are pleased to announce it as an official release to the Web. This release extends our objective to deliver to the entire robotics community, a toolkit that enables students, hobbyists, researchers, and commercial developers to develop applications and provide a catalyst for what we see as an exciting future (as reflected in Bill Gates' essay that appeared in the January 2007 issue of Scientific American). To that end we have loaded this new release with the following:

..."

Microsoft Robotics Studio v1.5 has RTW'ed.

Additional fun; Sumo Competition for Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5) and Soccer Simulation for Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5)

Related Past Post XRef:
Other Microsoft Products Released this past week, XNA Game Studio and Robotics Studio
"An Introduction to Programming Robots with Microsoft Robotics Studio"
Microsoft Robotics Studio June 2006 CTP Released

Posted 7/09/2007 07:38:00 AM

KNBC - Monroe Imitator Accuses Chewy Impersonator Of Assault

"HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- A Marilyn Monroe look-alike accused a Chewbacca impersonator Sunday of placing her hand over his crotch in a dispute over tourist tips on Hollywood Boulevard, police said.

...

The two impersonators, who are fixtures in the teeming tourist area, had gotten in a dispute over tips, police said

...

A crime report was not filed at the time, and the man playing Chewbacca was not arrested, Lopez said.

The two impersonators have a history of not getting along, he said.

..."

What more can I say?

I love LA! :)

Posted 7/09/2007 07:20:00 AM

WebWire - The Sedona Conference® Publishes “The Sedona Principles, Second Edition” Addressing Electronic Discovery

"SEDONA, AZ – The Sedona Conference®, the nation’s premier nonpartisan law and policy think tank, today announced publication of “The Sedona Principles, Second Edition, Best Practices Recommendations and Principles for Addressing Electronic Document Production.” Building on the success of first edition of “The Sedona Principles,” which appeared in January 2004, the second edition has been eagerly anticipated by lawyers and judges across the country looking for guidance in the fast-paced world of electronic discovery.

...

Withers pointed out that two principles, Principle 12 on “metadata” and Principle 14 on sanctions for the loss of electronic data subject to discovery, received heightened attention from the Working Group.

...

“The Sedona Principles, Second Edition” is available free of charge for individuals to download from The Sedona Conference® web site, www.thesedonaconference.org. ..."

These Principles are important for anyone in the legal (including in-house legal, general counsel, etc) and electronic data discovery (EDD) industries.

You're in IT, why should you care?

Electronic Discovery is very quickly becoming a keystone in litigation... Who do you think the lawyers are going to go to when they need to find all the documents (emails, files, etc) employee Bob created in the last 5 years? Or created by everyone in Department XYZ? Or... or... or... You or someone from the outside (or both).

That's where this document may help. You'll be able to see what the lawyers, judges, past precedence are saying and thinking about electronic data discovery.

Download it here, The Sedona Conference® - Publications or more directly, here.

(via Information Governance Engagement Area - The Sedona Conference® Publishes “The Sedona Principles, Second Edition” Addressing Electronic Discovery | WebWire)

Related Past Post XRef:
EDD Native File Production Matter...

Posted 7/08/2007 10:03:00 AM

I've just released v1.0.3.8 of my Blogger Backup utility.

This is another bug fix version (I wish I'd stop putting bugs in my code... ;)

Fixed in this version was a bug where backing up would not stop if the blog had a multiple of 25 (25, 50, 350, etc) posts. This bug led me to find and fix another in the "Get only the most recent ### posts" feature.

Thanks to Snyper for taking the time to post the bug/issue report.

Related Past Post XRef:
Blogger Backup v1.0.2.7 Released (Bug Fixes)
Blogger Backup 1.0.1.6 Released (and status change from Alpha to Beta)
Blogger Backup 1.0.0.5 Alpha Released
Blogger Backup v1.0.0.2 Alpha Release
Blogger Backup v1.0.0.1 Alpha Release
Blogger Backup Utility v1.0.0.0 Alpha Released
Blogger Backup using the C# GData Client Library...

Posted 7/08/2007 09:26:00 AM

Game Projects - xWinForms 1.0

"xWinForms is a library of controls similar in look to those of windows.

There are 12 available in this first version and they are :
Form, Button, Combobox, Label, Listbox, Listview, Numeric Up/Down, Potentiometer, ProgressBar, Radio Button, Slider and Textbox."

Sometimes you just need a textbox...

C# source is included in the download.

(via Ziggyware - xWinForms 1.0 - XNA GUI Library)

Posted 7/07/2007 08:29:00 AM

CodePlex - OneNote Web Exporter

"What is this for?
The OneNote Web Exporter allows you to export a OneNote notebook as html files that anybody can view through a web browser.
How does it work?
You give it a OneNote 2007 Notebook and it will generate an html page and a folder containing all of the notebook data.

..."

That's pretty cool... And it has build in scheduling, so you can set it up to automatically export a Notebook. Nice.

(via The Road to Know Where - New OneNote 2007 PowerToy Exports Notebooks as Interactive Website)

Posted 7/06/2007 05:03:00 PM

I've just released a new version, v1.0.2.7, of my Blogger Backup utility. This is a bug fix release, with no new functionality added.

The primary fix is that it now better handles Blog Titles containing characters that cannot be used in a folder name (like : < > ? * etc).

It also better handles "Stop" events when it's in the middle of a retry loop (Retrying to get comments, etc, now should exit correctly when Stop is clicked).

Thanks to Lisa (Speak Schmeak: things I'm thinking about speakers and speaking) and rupakg for their bug reports and help squashing them...

As for future new features, I'm working on a better path and post naming method. (Work Item #10840)

Then comes the major work on new output formats...

Related Past Post XRef:
Blogger Backup 1.0.1.6 Released (and status change from Alpha to Beta)
Blogger Backup 1.0.0.5 Alpha Released
Blogger Backup v1.0.0.2 Alpha Release
Blogger Backup v1.0.0.1 Alpha Release
Blogger Backup Utility v1.0.0.0 Alpha Released
Blogger Backup using the C# GData Client Library...

Posted 7/06/2007 11:14:00 AM

CodeProject - A T-SQL Regular Expression Library for SQL Server 2005

"With the advent of CLR integration into SQL Server 2005, it has become incredibly easy to extend the power of the T-SQL programming language. Two of the areas that can be improved upon by way of CLR integration are string matching and string manipulation.

...

My objective here is to wrap some of the more commonly used static methods of the RegEx class in the .NET Framework into something useable in a T-SQL environment. I felt the best approach was to develop this wrapper as a set of user defined functions that closely mirror the inputs and outputs of these methods in the RegEx class.

..."

Functions
ufn_RegExIsMatch The purpose of this function is to mirror the functionality of the Regex.IsMatch method. ...

ufn_RegExMatches While ufn_RegExIsMatch will tell you if there is a match of @Pattern within @Input, this function will tell you what the matches are, where they are located in the string and how long each match is. ...

ufn_RegExReplace This function mirrors the functionality of Regex.Replace in the .NET Framework...

ufn_RegExSplit Splitting a delimited string into its elements is a common task among T-SQL developers. The ufn_RegExSplit function does exactly that. This implementation uses the Regex.Split method ...

..."

Nice. With SQL 2005, CLR RegEx wrapping is often talked about, but rarely put together in as good a package as this. Not only is the library talked about, but its deployment as well...

Posted 7/05/2007 04:31:00 PM

Microsoft Expands Xbox 360 Warranty Coverage

"REDMOND, Wash. — July 5, 2007 —Microsoft Corp. today announced that it will expand its global Xbox 360™ warranty coverage. Any Xbox 360 customer who experiences a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights will now be covered by a three year warranty from date of purchase. All other existing Xbox 360 warranty policies remain in place.
As a result of what Microsoft views as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, the company conducted extensive investigations into potential sources of general hardware failures. Having identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures indicated by three red flashing lights on the console, Microsoft has made improvements to the console and is enhancing its Xbox 360 warranty policy for existing and new customers.
Microsoft stands behind its products and is taking responsibility to repair or replace any Xbox 360 console that experiences the “three flashing red lights” error message within three years from time of purchase free of charge, including shipping costs. [GD: Emphasis add] ...
For any customer who has previously paid for repair expenses related to the three flashing lights error message on the Xbox 360 console, Microsoft will retroactively reimburse them.
..."

Nice. I'm glad they are taking strong steps in responding to this 360 issue.

What I like the most is that they are owning up to the issue. I feel that we don't see that enough, where someone (person, company, government, etc) who has done something wrong, made a bad decision or just screwed up, stands up and says, "We screwed up. We are taking reasonability. We're fixing it..."

Anyway, my 360 is well out of its one year warranty, so I was sure it was due to die any day now. Now I need to tell it about this extension, so it knows to not die for another year and a half (cause all devices know to never die during their warranty period... ;)

(via Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition - Microsoft Admits Xbox 360 Failures, Extends Warranty)

Related Past Post XRef:
XBox 360 Warranty Extended to One Year, Retroactively...

Posted 7/04/2007 11:04:00 AM

SimoneB's Blog - Indexing and searching source code with Lucene.Net

"...

My idea was to create a homemade source code indexing and search service, so I started fiddling with Lucene.Net, CastleProject, C# Parser and a couple other open source projects to see what I could come up with. There are already a lot of services which allows to search source code online, see Krugle, Google Code Search and Koders among others.

Well, of course I couldn't use one of them as my course project, so I started implementing my own. I called it CS2 - C Sharp Code Search, and its source code is available under the MIT license on its Google Project Hosting website. I think it's a good example of the usage of Lucene.Net and CastleProject's IoC container in a wanna be real life project.

At the moment only the indexing part is implemented and you can see it working launching the console application project contained in the solution. ..."

Wow, do you see the brightly lit 30w CFC light-bulb floating over my head?

This post is the basis for a great idea. Internal/in-house/behind the firewall/IP protected source code full text indexing and searching.

Think how cool it would be to full text search ALL the source code hosted in a TFS server? Tie into the TFS event and a service could index code as it's checked in. With a web front end (or a Part in the SharePoint team portal), all the developers in-house (or connected to your network via VPN, etc) could search your source code repository.

And not just boring/normal (Window Search, Google desktop, X1, etc) full text indexing, but fully parsed indexing. So searches could be limited to methods, properties, etc ("method:DoSomeWork CONTAINS blablabla" or "property:SillyFlag" or "comment:TODO" or ProjectAssembly:InHouseAssembly.DLL or... )

Think about dependency searching (list all projects using a given assembly, etc) or re-use scenarios (find other projects/code snips where object/property/method XYZ is used) or refactoring (how may times has this same code snip been copied over and over) or code review or... or...

I mean, we don't have anything like this available to us now, do we (remember, I'm talking server based, full repository, in house parsed source code full text indexing)? Doesn't this seem like a no-brainer?

Hum....

(via DotNetKicks.com - Indexing and searching source code with Lucene.Net)

Posted 7/04/2007 10:40:00 AM

CodeProject - Resx To Xls Conversion for multi language support

"Do you need to localize your resx files and you don't want to open one file at a time, clean it from unused keys, localize it etc etc. ? Resx2Xls it's for you.

1) Open resx2xls. Just point you Project, go to resx2xls tab, the cultures that you nedd for localization, and Click on "Create new empty xls" button. Done!!

2) Fill your excel file with your localized key values or just send it to your translator

3) Now do you want to create the localized resx files from the filled excel workbook? Open resx2xls, go to the xls2resx tab, selected your xls file and click "Create resx files". Done!!

4) Have you updated your Project and your resource files have been modified (added, removed, updated)? No problem. Open resx2xls, go to the general tab and select your project root, go to the xls2resx tab, selected your xls file and click "Update xls from Project". Done!!

..."

Nice. When/if I add multi-language support to my Blogger Backup utility, this could be very useful.

Posted 7/04/2007 09:58:00 AM

Mastering PowerShell in your Lunch Break

This is a cool blog which is teaching PowerShell in bite sized chunks.

Here's a list of some of the recent posts...

Day 1: Getting Organized

"Hi, I am Tobias, maker of the WSH script IDE “SystemScripter” (www.scriptinternals.de) and I use WSH and VBScript for many years now.

PowerShell has a lot of faces and purposes. One is to be a much more powerful replacement for the very limited cmd.exe based console, and this is what we are exploring today. After this, you will be able to use PowerShell as replacement for cmd.exe. Other topics follow.

I'll focus on some simple things and facts and restrain myself from theoretical blabla and hysterical how great all of this is. Let’s just check out the basics in your lunch break and have some fun.

..."

Day 2: Writing Scripts and Translating VBScript

"On Day 1, we looked at PowerShell as a replacement for the cmd.exe console. Today, we’ll be shifting angles (and expectations) and examine PowerShell as a scripting language.

..."

Day 4: Ins and Outs of the Windows Registry

Day 5: Using WMI

Day 7: Manage Users

If you're interested in learning PowerShell, this is a series you might want to check out...

(via Brad Smith ::: MSFT - Mastering PowerShell in your lunch break -- Awesome!!)

Posted 7/04/2007 08:30:00 AM

Microsoft Downloads - 2007 Office System Sample: Isolating Microsoft Office Extensions with the COM Shim Wizard Version 2.3

"...

Learn about an updated set of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 wizards that automate the generation of COM shims for managed shared add-ins, with specific support for the new extensibility interfaces introduced in the 2007 Office system.
..."

Associated MSDN article, Isolating Microsoft Office Extensions with the COM Shim Wizard Version 2.3

"...
Extensions for the 2007 Microsoft Office System

If you need to extend the functionality of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, you can build an add-in or by build an extension. In addition, you can build the following different types of add-in:

VSTO document-level and VSTO application-level managed add-ins

COM add-ins, managed or unmanaged, without VSTO

Other extensions for Microsoft Office system applications, such as smart tag recognizer and action components, smart document solutions, and real-time data components

When you build a managed extension of any kind, you should ensure that your extension is isolated from other extensions that might be loaded into the application. The standard way to isolate your extension is to build a custom COM shim by using the COM Shim Wizard, a set of Visual Studio project wizards that helps you construct shims quickly and easily. This article describes the latest version of the COM Shim Wizard, which supports the new extensibility interfaces in the 2007 Office system.
..."

I know I'm going to need this one day (though I've been saying that for the last 3+ years... ;)

Related Past Post XRef:
Download details: Office Tool: COM Shim Wizards

Posted 7/04/2007 07:57:00 AM

Microsoft Downloads - Changes in Functionality from Windows Server 2003 with SP1 to Windows Server 2008

"...

This document describes new features and technologies, which were not available in Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), that will help to increase the security of computers running Windows Server 2008, increase productivity, and reduce administrative overhead.

These topics apply to the next release of Windows Server 2008, based on the functionality expected to be included in the Beta releases in 2007. They do not describe all of the changes that are included in Windows Server 2008. Instead, they highlight changes that will potentially have the greatest impact on your use of Windows Server 2008 and provide references to additional information.

..."

There are 318 pages in this Word "highlight" document...

Posted 7/03/2007 06:53:00 PM

Delay's Blog - An easy way to keep your windows where you want them [Releasing WindowPlacementTool with source code!]

"I wrote WindowPlacementTool in December of 2000 to solve a problem I had after beginning to use Terminal Services/Remote Desktop regularly. I made WindowPlacementTool available internally in 2001. Last week someone asked about getting access the source code to make some customizations and I figured I'd post the tool and its source here for anyone to use.

Download WindowPlacementTool and its source code by clicking here.
..."

From the WindowPlacementTool.txt;

"If you're picky about the layout of the windows on your desktop or if you connect to your machine with Terminal Services at differing resolutions, you're probably annoyed by having to re-layout your windows on a regular basis. It seems like something (or someone!) is always coming along and messing with your layout. But now that's a problem of the past; WindowPlacementTool can do all the work for you! Just run it once to capture the layout you like, and then run it again whenever you need to restore that layout. And because you can save multiple layouts, switching resolutions is a breeze. Yep, it's that easy!
...
Example Setup
=============
[Layout your windows however you'd like them]
[Capture the current layout to a file]
C:\Temp>WindowPlacementTool.exe -c 800x600.txt
[Optional: Edit the file to remove any programs you don't care about]
C:\Temp>notepad 800x600.txt
[Optional: Create a shortcut on your desktop for easy access to this layout]
[Here, the shortcut would run "WindowPlacementTool.exe C:\Temp\800x600.txt"]
..."

This is a cool little utility that might come in handy. Nothing to install, just grab the EXE from the zip and run it. The include source is C++.

Posted 7/02/2007 07:40:00 PM

[FULL DISCLOSURE: The team at SlickEdit sent me a NFR copy of SlickEdit Tools v1.1 and some trade show swag. I'm using this NFR copy at home and basing my comments on that NFR version...]

I've been using SlickEdit Tools v 1.1 for a couple weeks now and I have to say it's a keeper.

The install was smooth and easy and I had no problems or issues. I've also had no problems SINCE the install...

One thing to note, at the start of the setup they strongly recommend you backup/export your VS settings prior installing. I didn't have any problems with my settings, but their strong recommendation makes me think they've learned from past experience/problems, so that's one setup warning I'd listen too...

While there are a number of cool features (See Product Page and advertorials A Story About Bob and How He Saved the Day with SlickEdit® Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005, How We Use SlickEdit® Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005) I think the coolest feature so far (and one that as already saved me hours of work) is the Backup History feature.

They've hooked into the VS events and every time you save a file, a delta/diff is done and that diff saved. Then later that day/week/etc you can see all the saves you've made for a given file and roll back to an older version. Or do a Diff (using the included Diffzilla) and see the changes between those saves. Think of this as a "pre-source control check-in" thing.

For example, say you're editing a file. You makes changes to try something out, run (thereby saving), make more changes, run, make more changes, run, etc. Finally you realize that the stuff you're trying just isn't working and you want to get the code from 15 saves ago... Backup History will let you see all the saves for a given file (not project level, but file-by-file, for now. They are working on improving this feature, and are looking at adding "file set" like features..) and roll back to that save you made XX minutes/hours/days ago. So much easier than trying to remember all those changes you made and now have to manually undo.

It's nice to see they've built this feature intelligently. They don't just save off a copy of a file, they save the differences/deltas between the current file and the last one saved, saving a great deal of drive space. And of course, how many saves (the default is 20) and max file size that should be backed up are user configurable.

Oh yeah, and it works just fine for VB.Net files...

And that's just one of the features I'm interested in. The next one I want to check out is the Quick Profiling.

But in my opinion, a product is only as good as the company's customer service and support.

And there, so far, SlickEdit gets an A+. All my emails to them have been very promptly responded to (lol... Almost too promptly... Sometimes you fire off an email, hoping they don't respond too quickly so you can context switch to something else... but these guys respond to quickly for that... ;). Questions have been forwarded on, deeper into the company (i.e. to the devs) who also responded very promptly. And guess what? They not only ask for suggestions but actually take action on them! (lol... Everyone asks for suggestions, but seeing someone actually execute on them... well, sometimes it feels that doesn't happen enough, you know what I mean? )

I LOVE good customer service. I've dealt with software companies who, while providing a good product, provided such crappy customer service that I've returned the product and gone with another (we're talking about ten's of thousands of dollars in lost sales). I spend big bucks with a company, I expect good customer service.

And that's what I like about SlickEdit. I didn't have to spend big bucks to get big bucks customer service.

Also in my emails with them, I get the feeling that they really care about their company and products. That they get excited about their work. That it's not just job... I dig that. I dig someone who gets excited about what they do...

Okay, okay... enough for now... ;)

At $149 (there's a $50 discount offer going on, so it's currently only $99, plus there's a free trial version available) it's not all that expensive and if you find that killer feature (like I have with the Backup History), it can easily be worth it.

Here are some SlickEdit related links:
SlickEdit Tools v1.1
SlickEdit Tools Support Forum
A Story About Bob and How He Saved the Day with SlickEdit® Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005
How We Use SlickEdit® Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005

Related Past Post XRef:
New SlickEdit Developer Blog
SlickEdit VS2005 Gadgets Updated
Slick Edit Gadgets - Free VS2005 Utilities

Posted 7/02/2007 06:35:00 PM

Network Monitor - Network Monitor 3.1 Has Released!

"The NM3.1 is now available on http://connect.microsoft.com featuring wireless sniffing and an easier way to create filters using "Right Click Add To Filter". Here is a list of features that are new to NM3.1.

What's New in Network Monitor 3.1?

Wireless (802.11) capturing and monitor mode on Vista – With supported hardware, (Native WIFI), you can now trace wireless management packets. You can scan all channels or a subset of the ones your wireless NIC supports. You can also focus in on one specific channel. We now show the wireless metadata for normal wireless frames. This is really cool for t-shooting wireless problems. See signal strength and transfer speed as you walk around your house!
RAS tracing support on Vista – Now you can trace your RAS connections so you can see the traffic inside your VPN tunnel. Previously this was only available with XP.
Right click add to filter – Now there's an easier way to discover how to create filters. Right click in the frame details data element or a column field in the frame summary and select add to filter. What could be easier!
Microsoft Update enabled – Now you will be prompted when new updates exist. NM3.1 will occasionally check for a new version and notify you when one is available.
New look filter toolbar – We've changed the UI related to apply and remove filters. You can now apply a filter without having to UN-apply it first.
New reassembly engine – Our reassembly engine has been improved to handle a larger variety of protocol reassembly schemes.
New public parsers – These include ip1394, ipcp, ipv6cp, madcap, pppoE, soap, ssdp, winsrpl, as well as improvements in the previously shipped parsers.
Numerous Bug Fixes – We've taken your reported problems on the connect site and fixed many of the confirmed bugs.
Faster Parser Loading – We've significantly improved the time it takes to load the parsers. Now rebuilding takes a fraction of the time it used to.

..." [Almost entire post leached]

That about says it all...

Related Past Post XRef:
Network Monitor 3 (aka NetMon 3, aka NM3) Re-released for Vista
NetMon 3.0 RTW

Posted 6/29/2007 04:30:00 PM

CodePlex - TFS Migration and Synchronization Toolkit

"The purpose of the TFS Migration and Synchronization Toolkit is to enable customers of Team Foundation Server (TFS) to build custom tools that enable migration and synchronization with other version control (VC) and work-item tracking (WIT) systems. Customers have asked us for this toolkit to help them integrate TFS into their existing development environments. Please give it a try and let us know what you think.

...

Bi-directional synchronization of data between TFS and another system allowing teams to transition over time

Enables integration of TFS with other VC and WIT systems (i.e. using TFS for VC but a proprietary system for bug tracking)

..."

From the readme.txt;

"This is the 1.0 version release of the Migration and Synchronization Toolkit. Included in this release are the components to migrate and synchronize version control (VC) and work item tracking (WIT) data to TFS, components to synchronize links between changesets and work items, and two reference implementations. The first reference implementation synchronizes WSS documents to TFS VC, and the second synchronizes WSS task lists to TFS work items.

..."

Ed Hintz (MSFT) - TFS Migration and Synchronization Toolkit Released to the Wild

"...

If you download the toolkit, I encourage you to look at the reference implementation that migrates with SharePoint (WSS). This implementaiton migrates documents between SharePoint and TFS version control as well as migrating SharePoint task lists with TFS work item tracking. ..."

Interesting.

I have a number of users who are comfortable in SharePoint but not yet with TFS (or any of the TFS access points). I think it would be pretty cool to be able to provide them a WSS list interface to selected TFS Work Items (and there's NO way I was ever going to copy and manually/human sync WSS <-> TFS... that way leads to madness and I'm sure would quickly be put aside. No a automated sync solution is the only viable choice...).

Hum... Now just to find the time to dig into this...

Posted 6/29/2007 01:46:00 PM

Code Project - HTTP File Downloader Class for .NET

"This short article presents the component HttpFileDownloader for .Net
It was designed a few years ago, that is why it is written for .NET 1.1
However it can be used for newer frameworks or/and recompiled.
It shows the estimated time left and the progress.

..."

This, or something like it, might come in handy when I add picture support to my Blogger Backup utility...

Posted 6/29/2007 12:52:00 PM

InsideHTTP - Fiddler 2.1 Released

"Fiddler 2.1 is now available. ..."

InsideHTTP - Fiddler Developer Site Updated

"Fiddler 2.1 represents a significant architectural shift for Fiddler.
http://www.fiddler2.com/fiddler/dev/ has been updated with new documentation on the IFiddlerExtension, IAutoTamper, and IHandleExecAction interfaces. I've also posted new documentation on Fiddler architecture, including the new FiddlerApplication object. ..." [Post leached in near full]

Fine Fiddler fun...

Related Past Post XRef:
Fiddler2 (Fiddler + HTTPS) Alpha Released
Microsoft Fiddler 1.2 Released and now Officially Out of Beta
Fiddler PowerToy - Part 1: HTTP Debugging
Fiddler HTTP Debugger - Fiddler

Posted 6/27/2007 07:59:00 AM

First the tips, then the stories...

A) How do I start up the Process Template thing?

If you have have installed The TFS Power Tool and want to edit a Process Template or Work Item, go to the Team menu in the VS2005 IDE, and there should be a "Process Editor" menu.

If the Team menu is not visible, click on the "Team Explorer" window, connect to your TFS server. Once connected, the Team menu should be visible.

Story: By default, I have my IDE set to not automatically connect to my TFS servers on start-up. So since I wasn't connected, I was seeing the Team menu...

B) There's no Process Template in my Team menu?

The DSL Tools (or the correct RTM/1.0 version) may not be installed. Confirm that you have the "Microsoft DSL Tools Redistributable" (that's how it's listed in my Add/Remove Programs) installed. It that is not installed, then the TFS Power Tool will not install the Process Editor.

Story: I had a CTP version of the DSL Tools Redist installed and ran into this. I uninstalled the TFS Power Tool, Uninstalled the DSL CTP, installed the RTM/1.0 DSL Redist, installed the TFS Power Toy and now I had the "Process Editor" menu.

C) When I open a Work Item (QIT), via either "Open WIT from Server", "Open WIT from File" or via a downloaded Process Template, there's a no cool designer (as shown below), but instead just a plain, normal XML editor.

Check in your Add/Remove Programs and see if you have "WorkItemTypeDesigner" installed. If so try uninstalling it and reinstalling the DSL Redist and Repairing the TFS Power Tool.

Story: This post from Jason D. Camp (Re: Issue in Process Template tool ) is what finally got me going "... I uninstalled the WorkItemTypeDesigner tool and then reinstalled the TFS power tool and DSL redist. All is now well. ..."

I also had WorkItemTypeDesigner installed... So I uninstalled that, re-installed the DSL Redist and Repaired the TFS Power Tool and I was gold (i.e. I now had a Process Template menu in my Team menu)

Full Back Story:

Last night I finally got the "want to" to edit one of my TFS Work Item Templates (CMMI - Bug WIT). I wanted to add a simple field where I could enter what "build" I wanted to include a given WIT in. Just a simple grouping method to indicate that I planned on addressing this WIT in the Next build, or the Next+ build, Next++, blank/not assigned, etc.

Just a simple, easy to enter and report on field where I could enter some build guidance. I felt this was different than the already existing "Resolved in Build" field (it's a tense thing... future versus past tense). I wanted something a little like the "Release" field on CodePlex Work Items...

This was the first time I edited a Work Item, but had done a little research about the WIT Import/Export process (TFS - Work Item's and Customization).

I did not relish the thought of hand editing the XML, so I first gave the new TFS Power Tool Work Item Template Editor a try.

Once I had it all working, I was pleasantly surprised at the power of the Work Item Template Editor. This is a polished Designer (still v1, but hey, about 1 million times easier than editing the XML by hand).

I was able to grab a WIT directly from the server, add the field, update the layout, save it and I was done.

And after a bit of delay (I'm still not sure if the delay was on the TFS side or "Greg is doing some stupid" side) the new field showed up in every place where I could view the work item (in the Team Explorer, in TeamLook, in the VSTS Web Access, etc... It was pretty cool to see how all these different products, from different companies, picked up this new field...).

Very cool and in the end, pretty darn easy. (At least for a developer... I think someone with little or no development or VS2005 experience would have a something of learning curve... But then again, I doubt they are the intended users for this Power Tool... ;)

All in all, if you're editing a TFS Template, be it Work Item, or Process, you owe it to yourself to check out the TFS PowerTool.

Additional resources that helped:
MSDN Webcast: Using Visual Studio Team System Process Editor (Level 200)

Related Past Post XRef:
Tip for Offline Editing of Projects under TFS Source Control
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Power Tool (formerly known as Power Toys) - V1.2, February 2007
TFS - Work Item's and Customization
Visual Studio Team System Web Access (formally known as TeamPlain Web Access) now Free
Another look at Teamlook
Teamlook - Connecting Outlook and TFS

Posted 6/26/2007 08:34:00 AM

Dave Donaldson's Blog - TFS Offline Pending Changes in Visual Studio

"...

After some quick searching for how to handle offline changes in TFS, I quickly found this post that shows how to use the TFS Power Tool to do what I need. But I don't want to have to memorize yet another set of command-line parameters to do something that I should be able to do within Visual Studio. So allow me to make your life a *little* bit easier:
..."

Dave provides a great real world walk through in dealing with offline editing of projects/files under TFS source control, via the TFS Power Tool.

If you're using TFS for source control and are working in a partially connected environment (like on a notebook, at home via a VPN, etc), then take a few minutes and check out this post...

Dave makes it look so simple. ;)

(via FrazzledDad - More Regarding Offline Work With TFS)

Related Past Post XRef:
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Power Tool (formerly known as Power Toys) - V1.2, February 2007

Posted 6/25/2007 11:40:00 AM

Aaron Hallberg - Solution Configurations

"Team Build (v1 and Orcas) typically deals with solution configurations, which many people (including me circa 2005) don't understand. So - I figured I'd post a quick tutorial here on solution configurations vs. project configurations..."

I'm one of those many... I rarely use Solution/Project Configurations beyond switching between debug and release (that is when I even DO switch to release... :| ) so I appreciate Aaron's short tutorial...

Posted 6/25/2007 07:18:00 AM

I just got an email that my Blogger Backup utility has been listed on UptoDown.com, http://blogger-backup.uptodown.com/ (mostly Spanish language site, though with English listings too).

A few other people have also been talking/blogging about it too (Technorati) (Wow, there's more than I realized... How cool is that?)

For a little utility that I threw together "just because," I think that's kind of cool.

Anyway, as I was working on it this weekend (working on the new user /macro driven path/post naming feature) I was thinking about ripping out all the embedded text and sticking them into language resources. I've never built an international/multi-language UI application (well I have a suite I developed running in Canada, but... well... you know... they are connected... and all... um... yeah...) so I think that would be pretty cool to do.

Added to the list.

Posted 6/24/2007 11:30:00 AM

Pandora Recovery - Find and Recover Deleted Files of Any Type

"Pandora Recovery is a powerful free tool that provides its users an effective way to attempt recovery of permanently deleted files. And that does not mean restoration of a file from Recycle Bin. Pandora Recovery actually recovers files permanently removed from Recycle Bin, files originally deleted using Shift + Delete keys bypassing Recycle Bin and files deleted from DOS prompt.

...

...Pandora Recovery will scan your hard drive and build an index of existing and deleted files and directories (folders) on any logical drive of your computer with supported file format. Once the scanning is complete you have full control over which files to recover and what destination to recover them to. You can BROWSE the hierarchy of existing and deleted files, or you can use SEARCH functionality to find a deleted file if you remember at least one of the following:
- full or partial file name,
- file size,
- file creation date, or
- file last accessed date

On top of that,Pandora Recovery allows you to preview deleted files of certain type (images and text files) without performing recovery. This feature becomes really important if you are forced to recover deleted files to the same drive. Currently you can preview files having several image file types (BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, ICO,TIF, TGA, PCX, WBMP, WMF, JP2, J2K, JBG, JPC, PGX, PNM, RAS, CUR) and several text file types (TXT, LOG, INI, BAT, RTF, XML, CSS). Quick Viewer allows you preview file contents as text if it cannot find appropriate viewer for it. ...

As of version 1.1.20 Pandora Recovery implements surface (cluster) scan of targeted media, which allows:
- recovery of files whose MFT record has been reused by OS,
- Recovery of files from reformatted media,
- Recovery of files from discs with damaged or missing file allocation table.

...

Pandora Recovery requires Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server or Windows Vista for installation. Pandora Recovery currently only recovers deleted data from NTFS formatted drives. ...

..."

This looks like a very cool and complete free (for personal/non-commercial usage) NTFS/NTFS5/EFS undelete utility that I know I'll need in the future.

Special Note: The click-through license states "... The "PANDORA" Program(s) is made available for your personal, non-commercial use only. ..." So if you're going to use this at work you need to consider this...

(via Larkware News - The Daily Grind 1169)

Posted 6/24/2007 10:42:00 AM

xSQL Software - RSS Reporter

"...
Generate standard RSS feeds containing SQL Server job information
Aggregate information about multiple jobs from different servers
Drill down on a job to see the details of the execution
Access feeds anytime from any connected device
Filter and sort feeds by status, execution time, etc.
Supports SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000.
RSS Reporter for SQL Server is a simple, yet extremely useful, tool that allows SQL Server database administrators to generate standard RSS Feeds containing information regarding SQL Server jobs (SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000) – the current status of the job, job details, historical status etc.
..."

I'm not sure when I'll be able to actually install and play with this, but I REALLY dig the idea behind this package. I've been saying for a while that the enterprise, inside the firewall, is the next place for RSS/Web feeds.

Internal Feeds will not replace real-time notifications, but for those things that do not require real-time, Feeds are a great (perfect?) idea.

Think about Windows error logs, drive space reports, med/low priority security audit reports, usage reporting, mailbox quotas, TFS Build reports, weekly/daily bug reports, Web utilization reports, etc, etc.

Too much stuff goes into our inboxes today. I want to be able to opt-in to arrogated internal enterprise feeds.

I want my users to be able to pick and choose what information they want today and to be able to easily drop it tomorrow if it no longer applies. I want to make it easy for that information to be grouped into folders/etc so they can focus on the areas of interest to them "right now" and let them get to the other things when they have time too. I don't want information lost in their inbox pile. I want the reading to be easy and intuitive. I want it to be easy to setup, both client and server... Sounds like I want internal Feeds, doesn't it? ;)

And internal Feeds means you don't have to "discuss" opening outbound ports for SMTP, etc with your IT/Security group. ;)

Anyway, RSS Reporter is free, but according to the web site, only for a limited time (the free version is free, fully functional, no limits, etc)

(via Larkware News - The Daily Grind 1168)

Posted 6/24/2007 10:14:00 AM

Windows PowerShell - PowerShell Community Extensions (PSCX) V1.1.1

"Keith Hill reports in his blog HERE , that the PowerShell Community Extensions project has release Version 1.1.1.

If you aren't already turned on to PSCX, this is a good time to start. This is a maintenance release which resolves 30 issues but it also adds 5 new features. I'm going to include their Help topic below so you can get a feel for what it does. I think most people will find something there that will tempt them.
One thing to note, when you dot-source PSCX's profile, it customizes your environment to a pretty extensive degree. If you already have some customizations that you like (like your own prompt), they get overridden. As such, you might want to start out by editing the profile file and running each line by itself and checking its effects and then just comment out those sections that you don't want.
..."

Interested in reading/writing gzip/tar files? Want to Touch a folder or files date/times? Want to send SMTP mail? Stop a terminal services/remote desktop session? All from PowerShell? Then you should check out PSCX.

Check out the above post for a list of cmdlets (or the Codeplex project page) and such that can be found in PSCX.

And best of all? The source is available...

Posted 6/22/2007 08:54:00 AM

The Berkun Blog - Asshole driven development

"...

(There is a happy list of these I’m sure, but this is the cynical one).

Asshole Driven development (ADD) - Any team where the biggest jerk makes all the big decisions is asshole driven development. ...

Cognitive Dissonance development (CDD) - In any organization where there are two or more divergent beliefs on how software should be made. ...

Development By Denial (DBD) - Everybody pretends there is a method for what’s being done, and that things are going ok, when in reality, things are a mess and the process is on the floor. ...
..."

And here I thought my boss was saying I had Attention Deficit Disorder... (JK :) LOL

Make sure you also check out the comments for more...

(via Larkware News - The Daily Grind 1170)

Posted 6/22/2007 07:44:00 AM

Windows PowerShell - Hosting PowerShell in a GUI – the Movie

"You've just got to stop and take 4 minutes to watch David Aiken's demonstration of how easy it is to host PowerShell in a GUI. Seriously, it is a 4 minute video! Even if you aren't a developer, it is worth looking at so you understand the concept and the work involved and then you can use that to demand your vendors provide you this function! ...

You can watch the video HERE.

..."

This is a short video showing the quick and simple hosting of PowerShell in a WinForm app (In this case calling "Get-Service" and listing the results in a Listview).

Posted 6/21/2007 03:34:00 PM

CodeProject - XPTable: .NET ListView Update

"

XPTable is a customizable ListView written by Matthew Hall. Go here [Greg: And highlighted below] to see the excellent article on XPTable and to download the original source code and demo application. After using it myself and being jolly impressed with it, I thought there were still some features that would be great to have. So, I have added some extras onto the original. This article explains what features have been added and how to use them.

...

There are four new features now supported. Here they are:

Column spanning: just like Colspan in HTML
Word wrapping: the row height is increased so that all the text in a given cell can be wrapped and shown
Grouping of rows: this allows you to always keep rows together, like if you have Autopreview switched on for a mailbox in Outlook
Multiple sort indices

..."

CodeProject - XPTable - .NET ListView meets Java's JTable

"

For a project I'm working on I needed a highly customized ListView - one that would allow checkboxes and images in any column, ComboBoxes and NumericUpDowns for editing and it had to be easy to swap data in and out. Anyone who has tried customizing a ListView knows how painful it can be trying to bend it to your will, so I decided to create one from scratch. Having come from a Java background I decided to base it somewhat loosely on Java's JTable.
Features

Fully customizable visual appearance - from columns to rows and cells.
Supports Windows XP visual styles.
Powerful renderers that give cells the ability to act like controls.
Easy to add your own custom renderers and editors.
Columns can be hidden.
Rows, columns or individual cells can be disabled.
ToolTips for columns and cells.
Plus much more....

..."

These are both pretty darn cool OSS ListViews. I like the update/branch with its row grouping...

Posted 6/21/2007 09:23:00 AM

Windows PowerShell - Demo SQL Provider Code

"Hi,
Attached is the code we used today in the Web cast for the SQL demo provider. Please note this is not a SQL management provider. It simply allows you to query data from a SQL server directly from the cmd line.

...

You can use it as follows:

PS>cd SQL:
SQL:>cd MySQLServer
SQL:>dir

master
tempdb
model
msdb
pubs
Northwind

SQL:>cd Northwind
SQL:>dir

name
----
Categories
CustomerCustomerDemo
CustomerDemographics
Customers
dtproperties
Employees
...

SQL:>cd Employees
SQL:>Dir -filter {where EmployeeId=8}

EmployeeID      : 8
LastName        : Callahan
FirstName       : Laura
Title           : Inside Sales Coordinator
TitleOfCourtesy : Ms.
..."

Nice. I've been thinking about something like this since this post, Provider Explorer in PowerShell Analyzer.

The C# source is also provided. :)

Related Past Post XRef:
Provider Explorer in PowerShell Analyzer

Posted 6/19/2007 07:57:00 PM

SourceForge - MyGeneration Code Generator

"MyGeneration is an extremely flexible template based code generator written in Microsoft.NET. MyGeneration is great at generating code for ORM architectures. The meta-data from your database is made available to the templates through the MyMeta API."

MyGeneration - Code Generation, O/R Mapping, and Architectures

"...

MyGeneration's dOOdads Architecture Included for Both C# and VB.NET (Quickstart)
Supported Architectures - dOOdads, EntitySpaces, EasyObjects.NET/EntLib, Gentle.NET, Opf3, NHibernate, Microsoft's DAAB, DotNetNuke, iBatis
Support for Twelve Different Database Systems.
Microsoft SQL, Oracle, IBM DB2, PostgreSQL, Microsoft Access, FireBird, Interbase, VistaDB, SQLite, MySQL, Advantage and Pervasive
Template Based Code Generator Supporting Four Template Languages - JScript, VBScript, C# and VB.NET
Ability to Create Your Own Embedded User Interface in your Templates
Online Template Library for Publishing and Downloading Templates

..."

Interesting... I dig code generation as I'm a pretty lazy guy and hate writing cookie-cutter code. Heck I'll write SQL statements to generate my VB.Net code if I have too (which I have ;)

I'll have to find some time to check this out...

(via DotNetKicks - MyGeneration Goes Open Source on SourceForge.net

Posted 6/19/2007 10:06:00 AM

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

"...

Users of the Microsoft Office XP and 2003 programs Word, Excel, or PowerPoint—please install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack.

By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074.

..."

V3 of the Office Compatibility Pack for Office 2007 is now out.

If you can't upgrade to Office 2007 with this at least you can open Office 2007 format files (DocX, XlsX, PptX, etc).

You'll be seeing more and more Office 2007 format (Open XML) files soon. In my work life, we're seeing Office 2007 files already coming in (my work life is in EDD/Electronic Data Discovery, ESI/Electronically Stored Information, etc, business). Which feels like a pretty fast adoption rate...

Open XML also is so much easier to generate dynamically, on the server, at runtime, etc that it will quickly become a preferred document delivery method.

(via ActiveWin - Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats v3)

Related Past Post XRef:
MS Office Compatibility Pack for Office 2007 Files (Open, Edit, Save Office 2007 files in Office 2000,XP, 2003...)

Posted 6/18/2007 06:14:00 PM

Download them here.

From the Word document in the zip;

"The Database Operations team at Microsoft uses a suite of jobs for all servers on-boarded and supported by the team, for performing backups, automated database maintenance, improve performance and to improve disaster recovery.

...

The following are the jobs get installed with this package.

SQLBackupAll – Performs Full database backup for non-excluded databases by SQL native or Litespeed backup commands. The job has parameters to specify the desired backup location and compress (SQL Litespeed backup) or nocompress (SQL native backup) , whether to backup or not to backup read only database etc.

SQLBackupDiffAll - Performs Differential database backup for non-excluded databases by SQL native or Litespeed backup commands. This job is disabled by default. This can be enabled based on the customer’s needs for the recovery requirements.

SQLBackupTranAll – Performs Transaction Log backup for non-excluded databases by SQL native or Litespeed backup commands. The job has parameters to specify the desired backup location and compress (SQL Litespeed backup) or nocompress (SQL native backup)

SQLBackupChecker – Checks for backups that have not occurred in more than the specified number of hours in the job. There is a parameter to specify the desired number of hours to specify for the alert.

SQLDBCCAll - Performs database consistency checks on all system and user databases.

SQLIndexDefragAll – Performs Index defrag maintenance for non-excluded SQL 2000 databases. This job is disabled by default. It can be enabled based on the customer’s needs. This job helps to run the index defrag for all the databases in the SQL instance or any particular database or any particular table in a database.

SQLUpdateStatistics - Runs Update Statistics maintenance for non-excluded databases. This job is disabled by default. This job is disabled by default. It can be enabled based on the customer’s needs. This job helps to run the update statistics for all the databases in the SQL instance or any particular database or any particular table in a database.

SQLCleanupMsdbBackupHistory – Cleans up the backup history information from msdb database.

SQLCycleErrorLog - Cycle the SQL Error log periodically so the size is manageable for viewing through SQL tools.

..."

Having played a pseudo-DBA role is past lives, I can appreciate the the value in not reinventing the DBA Admin wheel these scripts can provide. Many DBA's may have already written their own "Index Defrag's" or "Update Stat's" proc's, but still, it never hurts to see how someone else has written theirs...

Plus coming from MS, their might be some cool or interesting insights/implementations/stuff.

(via Tales from the Doghouse - Cool DBA Automation Jobs)

Posted 6/18/2007 12:11:00 PM

Marquee de Sells - Genghis moved to CodePlex

"Shawn Wildermuth has moved Genghis to CodePlex because GotDotNet Workspaces is going away. I actually really like CodePlex, but not the state those pesky contractors left the Genghis bits is, so we'll be following up with another release in early July to bring sanity back. ..."

The very cool and long running (I first blogged about it 4 years ago) Genghis project appears to be alive an well (well getting well) on CodePlex. That's cool...

Here's a refresh about Genghis;

The Genghis Project

"Genghis is a set of extensions built on top of .NET and integrated with WinForms to provide application-level services in the same flavor as the Microsoft Foundation Classes. Genghis gets its name as the functional heir to Attila, a similar set of functionality built on top of ATL.

Please see http://www.genghisgroup.com for more information.

The current build (0.6) is the same build as existed on the GotDotNet.com site. We are planning on a 0.7 release somewhere near July 4th to include a full reconciliation with features that existed in the .NET 1.x version. ..."

Related Past Post XRef:
Genghis Project Updated for .NET 2.0
Cool .Net Classes... The Genghis Project

Posted 6/16/2007 10:58:00 AM

MSDN Ireland Blog - Ireland's Call on Guitar Hero X-Plorer for the PC and XBox 360

"Hiya! Rob here, just popping in on the team's new blog for a quick sec before I head off to Canada.

If you have the Guitar Hero X-Plorer controller for the XBox360, here's the XNA application that will let you play Ireland's Call (a.k.a. "The Rugby Song") on your PC or XBox360. ...

...

I wrote this in XNA by starting with the Particle3D sample found at the XNA Creators Club. It was fun tweaking the High-Level Shader Language used for the fireworks....

...

I've included playing instructions on my blog for your jamming pleasure.

And I've commented and posted the code as well.

..."

Sounds like cool starting point/example for creating your own GHII X-Plorer based game, doesn't it?

Posted 6/15/2007 09:32:00 AM

I just noticed that one of my favorite, must have, IE7 addin/addon/plugin/thing, IE7Pro, has rev'ed to v0.9.18.

Here's a snip from the homepage;

"Changelogs: IE7Pro v0.9.18 (01-06-2007):

Firefox style Spelling Check function added (thanks http://hunspell.sf.net).

Adblock default settings switch to off.

Fix some bugs.

Standalone spelling check dictionary installation package.

..."

What attracted me to this release was the inline spell check. While I doubt I'll be uninstalling the king of IE spell checkers, ieSpell, IE7Pro's makes a cool addition.

The upgrade from my previous version was very smooth, no uninstalling required...

One thing to remember, you need to turn IE7Pro's Spell Checking on form field by form field (which is a good thing), meaning you need to opt-in for spell checking a given field.

Related Past Post XRef:
IE7Pro - Must have IE7 Add-on?
ieSpell - Spell Checker add-on for Internet Explorer - v2.1.1 (build 325) released! 01/22/2005
ieSpell - Spell Checker add-on for Internet Explorer

Posted 6/15/2007 08:38:00 AM

Blogger Data API - ANN: Blogger / GData API adds bits of threading RFC 4685

"We've been following James Snell's Atom Threading Extensions RFC 4685:

http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc4685.html

as a way to link Blogger's posts feeds and comments feeds together.
With last night's push we added a bit of this, rel="replies".

Now entries for posts with comments enabled link to the per-post comments feed and the HTML comments form via <link> tags.
..."

This could help streamline comment processing in my Blogger Backup utility. I'll have to give this a look...

Posted 6/14/2007 03:08:00 PM

WindowsDevCenter.com - Windows Server Hacks: Remotely Enable Remote Desktop

"Remote Desktop is a cool feature of Windows Server 2003 that lets you remotely log on to and work at a machine as if you were seated at the local console (in Windows 2000 Advanced Server, this feature was called Terminal Services in Remote Administration Mode). Remote Desktop can be a lifesaver for fixing problems on servers at remote sites, but what if you forgot to enable the feature before you shipped the server out to Kalamazoo?...

...

Fortunately, there's a workaround. Sit down at your desk and log on to your Windows XP workstation using your administrator credentials and start Registry Editor by Start --> Run --> regedit --> OK. Then select the Connect Network Registry option under the File menu (Figure 2). ...

..."

This is a nice tip on hacking a remote registry to remotely turn on Remote Desktop (reboot still needed).

Also make sure you check out the comments, as there is a ton of great extra information there (like free utilities to do this, instead of hacking the registry, WMI methods of doing this, remotely turning on Remote Desktop for WndowsXP, etc)

(via Nikhil's Blog - Enabling remote desktop remotely)

Posted 6/13/2007 10:36:00 AM

IntelliAdmin - Show hidden software in Add/Remove programs

"While digging around for an answer to another issue, I came across this KB article

Essentially it boils down to this: Windows XP comes with a bunch of pre-loaded software. Lots of it you can't even find in Add/Remove programs. Why? Because Microsoft designed it this way.

By simply opening up the file Sysoc.inf (This is in the %SystemRoot%\Inf folder), and removing the word 'hide' you can force these programs to show up.

...

...This can really help when you want to trim down a system, but at the same time have the opportunity to bring something back if you need it."

Nice.

Want to Add/Remove WordPad? Pinball? The above post will walk you through making these appear in the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel applet.

Posted 6/13/2007 06:16:00 AM

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft eScrum Version 1.0

"...

eScrum is a Web-based, end-to-end project management tool for Scrum built on the Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server platform. It provides multiple ways to interact with your Scrum project: eScrum Web-based UI, Team Explorer, and Excel or Project, via Team Foundation Office Integration. In addition, it provides a single place for all Scrum artifacts such as product backlog, sprint backlog, task management, retrospective, and reports with built-in context sensitive help.

..."

Interesting. I wonder how this compares to other Scrum for TFS offerings (like Scrum for Team System from Conchango). Since MS is a partner/collaboration for that project, maybe eScrum is based on it? Guess I'll have to install it and see...

Related Past Post XRef:
Scrum 1.1 for Team System/TFS Released
Free Scrum Process Template for TFS

Posted 6/12/2007 11:19:00 AM

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Office Outlook Connector

"....

With Outlook Connector Beta, you can use Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 to access and manage your Windows Live Hotmail or Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages and contacts for free! Calendar, tasks and notes can also be accessed and managed in Outlook for accounts with a paid subscription. [GD: Emphasis added]
Outlook Connector Beta enables you to use your Live Hotmail accounts within Outlook:

Read and send your Office Live Mail/Windows Live Hotmail e-mail messages.
Manage your Live Mail Contacts.
Use advanced options for blocking junk e-mail messages.
Manage multiple e-mail accounts in one place.
With a paid subscription, Outlook Connector Beta enables these additional features:

Manage, share, and synchronize your Windows Live Calendar in Outlook.
Access your Tasks and Notes.

..."

What I'm interested to see is if I can now add Calendar reminders (in the past version I couldn't, it said it wasn't supported...). I live by my calendar/appointment reminders and not having them easily created killed me (well, got me in trouble a couple times ;)

I'll be downloading and playing with this tonight or tomorrow.

Related Past Post XRef:
Microsoft Office Outlook Connector (Think Outlook to Hotmail Connector)

Posted 6/09/2007 09:55:00 AM

Many years ago, Asheron's Call was my MMO of choice. It was my first MMO beta and first MMO, which gave it a special place in my heart.

One of the cooler third party utilities for AC was AC Explorer. This was a windows client map utility which connected to a central database of AC locations, items, and stuff. The map was generated from actual game data so was very accurate. This is back in late 1990's. Well before "map" sites and web services/SOA were all the craze.

In 2000 AC Explorer Pro came out. Seeing how much I was using it, paying $20 was an easy choice...

Fast forward seven years

Yesterday I saw a LOTRO map pack for zExplorer (the child of AC Explorer Pro) was released... Oh yeah, had to check that out.

What amazed me was that after seven years Zuggsoft still had my purchase record available. That after just a few seconds I was able to recover my license key and plug it into this latest version of zExplorer. And that it worked and was honored

Seven years.

How many major online software houses do you think there are where you could do that? That your purchase still "counted" toward a free upgrade? Where it was actually pretty easy to recover a seven year store info and license key?

This was just outstanding customer service. Zuggsoft, you rock.

All that gushing aside, zExplorer and the LOTRO map pack is very darn cool. Again the map is generate from the game's DAT files, so it's very complete and accurate. I mean amazingly complete (see it here). It shows all the areas in the file, even those not currently available (like where Moria will be in the south-west, etc ;). It appears that only about 1/2 of the total area is currently accessible in-game to date. And this is only one major zone, just that east of the Misty Mountains. This is by far the most complete LOTRO map available anywhere today...

Locations (NPC's, items, places, etc) are based on the real coordinates (i.e. /loc and not ;loc) so are also very accurate. And again, everything is tied to web service, so it's easy to add and get map and location updates.

If you're playing LOTRO, you owe it to yourself to give zExplorer a trial run...

(via LOTRO Warcry - zExplorer 5 - LOTRO Support)

Posted 6/08/2007 08:04:00 AM

US ISV Developer Evangelism Team - Search Me…

"Ashish pointed you at the Windows Live Dev center, so I thought I would give you an idea how easy it is to use the web services in your own applications by showing you how to leverage Windows Live Search to provide search functionality on YOUR web site.

...

For this example, we will call the search service when users click the "Search" button on our ASP .NET web site and then bind the results to a GridView control.

..."

I've been thinking of adding a web search to my WLW Related Post plugin for a while now. The above post has shown me just how easy doing it could be.

I guess it's time to code it. :)

Related Past Post XRef:
Windows Live SDK Released

Posted 6/07/2007 07:44:00 AM

BUGBUG: poor title - Outlook macro for work item and changeset hyperlinks -- updated for 2007

"When I upgraded to OL2007, Buck's great little macros stopped working. Today, I finally got the guts to ask the Outlook guys what they ~~broke~~ improved. The answer was simple enough. I'll let the code do the talking:
Sub LinkToWorkItem()
    Set oDoc = ActiveInspector.WordEditor
    Set oWord = oDoc.Application
    Set oSelection = oWord.Selection

    '' Convert the current selection to a work item hyperlink'
    oDoc.Hyperlinks.Add Anchor:=oSelection.Range, Address:= _
    "http://tfserver:8080/WorkItemTracking/Workitem.aspx?artifactMoniker=" _
    & oSelection.Text, _
    SubAddress:="", ScreenTip:="", TextToDisplay:=oSelection.Text

End Sub
..."

I email my users Work Item numbers all the time. For their future reference, so they know something has been logged, can track when one of their WI's has been released, etc.

This macro will come in handy, making it easier for me to provide them even better service and communication (links are good ;)

Update #1 6/7/2007 @ 8:10AM PDT:

OMG, I just had a major ID 10 T error (ID 10 T? Put it together... ID10T, aka Idiot ;) Also known as a Brain Cramp or Brain Fart...

I immediately wanted to give the above snip a try. So I added the macro, found an email I just sent with a WI number in it, selected the number, executed the macro and BAM, no joy. Out of Memory error.

So I spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out what was going on. Everything looked right, it all should have worked, I'm using Word as the email editor, the code was right, the range and selection was good, etc, etc, etc.

Then it hit me.

The email I selected the WI in was an email I previously sent. It wasn't one I WAS sending. It was in read only mode! DOGH! LOL

As soon as I opened that email for editing (by "Forward"ing it, in this case) the original macro worked just fine.

sigh... It's always the little things... :p

Posted 6/06/2007 07:32:00 AM

CodePlex - CropperTFSPlugin

"Project Description
A Cropper plugin for creating Team Foundation Server work items with the captured cropper image.

News
Version 1.0 is now available"

Sounds cool...

See this post (Cropper TFS Work Item Plugin) for some background on this plugin.

(via Not So Smart Builder - CropperTFSPlugin)

Related Past Post XRef:
Cropper Plugins 1.1 Released
Cropper 1.9.1 Released (Includes Vista Compatibility)