Second Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk, 9/11/2007

I just got back from the second annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and let me say that this year's was a great program.

Each of the speakers were outstanding and very "real." There were a number of heart felt moments during the speeches (that was NOT a tear in my eye... the wind blew some dust into it... oh, there was no wind?... um... well... still... yeah) that I still feel the effects of.

Corporal Leavey and Deena Burnett Bailey's speeches were extremely touching. They received standing ovations and deserved every second of them.

The entire program moved quickly and with a purpose. The organizers did a great job.

A great touch was the "Service Anthems" where the outstanding 1st Marine Division Band played a medley of military branch anthems and as a given service's was played, they asked that active members, veterans, people with serving family members, or who've lost family members in that service to stand and be recognized. That made us all a part of the program, to be able say thank you, to be thanked and to feel the strength and love of the community.

9/11/2001 still effects me deep in my gut, and while I wish it never happened, this was a great way to share the pain and to show the world we will not forget and we stand together as Americans...

Anyway...

I've uploaded my pictures now to a LiveSpaces Photo Album (cause there's a bunch of them and with the new Live Windows Photo Gallery it's so to do, and I like LiveSpaces Photo Album viewing experience ... ;)

Here's a select few of them...

The handbill

 

Corporal Leavey

Deena Burnett Bailey

During the Service Anthems...

     

Playing with the Panoramic feature in the Windows Live Photo Gallery..

 

 

Never Forget

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Second Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk
1st Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk Pictures

Visual Studio Hyperlink to Code Addin

CodePlex - HyperAddin: A Visual Studio Addin which adds hyperlinking in your source code

"Visual Studio already had the ability to recognize and quickly navigate (with Ctrl LeftClick) to URLs embedded in the comments of the code. This is great, but what is really needed is a way of referring quickly and easily from one part of the code to another part of the code (or to architectural documents checked in with the code). That is exactly what the HyperAddin does: It makes creating and following hyper-links in your code trivial. Now you only have to explain something once in a comment and refer to it many times (got lots of overloaded methods? They should all refer to the 'master' that does the real work).

Hyperlinks in your source code are one of those features that once you have used it, you wonder how you ever got by without it. If you use Visual Studio, you really should try it. Anyone reading your source code (including yourself!) will thank you for it.

..."

vb:feeds - Hyperlink your source code -> Brad Adams - Hyperlink your source code

"...

Here are a few simple examples:

• You can refer to a function or type (or any other symbol), but using code:name.  For example

        // In this comment I wanted to talk about the code:MethodTable::Unbox method.
	// By Adding a code: hyperlink, readers can quickly navigate to it.  Any name
	// that can be found using the Edit.FindSymbol (Alt-F12) can be used.  If you
	// need to refer to an overloaded method, it is best to use an anchor (see below).

• You can generate your own URL anchors by simply putting #name in the comment somewhere. For example.

        // #mytopic
        //
        // ...
        // Somewhere else in the file you can refer to code:#mytopic.  Now readers
	// can quickly navigate to the #mytopic anchor.  

• Without further qualification, # anchors only work within a single  file. If you wish to refer to an anchor outside the current file (a common case), then you need to specify some programming symbol that is in the same file as your anchor.  For example:

        // I need to refer to #mytopic but it is not in the current file.  But I
	// know that this anchor is related to the class 'MethodTable' and thus will
	// be in the same file as that class definition by using code:MethodTable#mytopic
 	// I can refer to #mytopic anywhere in any code within the solution.

..."

That's pretty darn cool...

I really like the idea of being able to quickly navigate to specific code functions/methods/blocks/etc via easily added hyperlinks...

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (MSCVMM) 2007 Trial Available via VHD

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 VHD

"This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This download enables you evaluate Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007.

...

System Center Virtual Machine Manager provides centralized administration of virtual machine infrastructure and enables increased physical server utilization and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by the administrator and authorized end users."

I find it ironic that the Virtual Machine Manager trial is downloadable as a Virtual Machine...

Anyway, there's some pretty cool stuff on MSCVMM that I'd like to check out "one day." For me and my work life, the self provisioning and P2V sounds pretty cool.

A Couple Vista/UAC/VB2008 How To's from VB Helper

Some Vista related how to's that I thought I may need...

 

VB Helper - Add UAC shields to buttons, menu items, and picture boxes in Visual Basic 2008

"This example shows how to add UAC shields to buttons, menu items, and picture boxes in Visual Basic 2008 ..."

Looks like it might also work for VB 2005.

 

VB Helper - Launch a program while requesting privilege elevation in Visual Basic 2008

"This example shows how to launch a program while requesting privilege elevation in Visual Basic 2008. ..."

Done using ProcessStartInfo, the runas Verb and UseShellExecute. Again, should also work in VB 2005.

 

Mark a program to run with elevated privileges by using its manifest in Visual Basic 2008

"This example shows how to mark a program to run with elevated privileges by using its manifest in Visual Basic 2008."

Definitely only VS/VB 2008

Media Center WebGuide Now Free

Windows Home Server Blog - WebGuide

"The Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server teams are excited to have Doug Berrett join Microsoft.  At CEDIA Expo we announced WebGuide for Windows Media Center is now available free from http://www.asciiexpress.com  The press release  about all of the great Windows Media Center news is available on the Microsoft web site.

What is WebGuide?   WebGuide allows you to remotely view live and recorded TV programs and to remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, music, pictures and videos on your Windows XP Media Center edition or Windows Vista Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate PC.  

..."

WebGuide

"WebGuide allows you to remotely view live and recorded TV programs and to remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, music, pictures and videos on your Media Center or Windows Vista PC. Install WebGuide on your Media Center PC and access it from any machine that has a web browser, including your cell phone or mobile device.

Convenient	Live streaming TV can be viewed on any web browser Recordings can be scheduled from any web browser "Place-shifting" for your personal media library, including TV, music, pictures, videos and DVD's PocketPC and Smartphone enabled Windows Vista ready
Easy	Installation takes only minutes User-friendly MCE interface Languages include Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish
Fast	Live scheduling without delays Search by show, date or time Quick access to recent and upcoming recordings

..."

That's pretty darn cool (and free is nice too).

Time to resurrect my Media Center I think... :)

Looking Behind the Curtain to See the Magic Behind the New Windows Live Installer

www.istartedsomething.com - The cookie magic behind Windows Live Suite installer

"...

Unsatisfied with “it just works”, I decided to investigate further. I first analyzed the HTML to see what effect it had on the download link when I selected the different options, but no luck there, it pointed to the same “WLinstaller.exe”. To prove a point, I then downloaded the executable without going through the form to compare it with the other executable I already, it was the same. So if the executable didn’t change, then it can only be the website.

One more look at the HTML and specifically the Javascript reveals the secret, cookies. By clicking “Install”, the Javascript generated a unique cookie for me under the name of “wlxp” that contained sets of globally unique identifiers (GUID) which I now know are the references to the particular applications I selected.

..."

So that's how the main Get Live website (http://get.live.com/WL/all) communicates to the WLInstaller.exe on what options you selected.

Interesting. And looks like something that's easy to extend and is pretty flexible.

The only issue I see is for those who download and install without going through the website (I wonder if they would get some default apps pre-selected and installed? Or just a full list of the available applications to "Select any additional products you would like to install" frame and nothing automatically installed?)

Anyway, after a couple days, I'm still pretty darn happy with the install experience and the new set of Live applications (though I've only really used WLW).

(via shahine.com/omar/ - Windows Live Suite Installer)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Windows Live Suite Installer Released (Which includes Windows Live Writer Beta 3)

Vista Sidebar Gadgets for Developers

Oscar Berroteran - Sidebar Gadgets for Developers!!!

"Code Converter

 

MSDN Search Gadget

 

VS Recent Projects

..."

While I can't read the post, the pictures said it all...

Windows Live Suite Installer Released (Which includes Windows Live Writer Beta 3)

Jump into Windows Live (http://get.live.com/wl/all)

As you've probably seen everywhere in MS land, today the Windows Live Suite Install came out.

And I have to say... It's pretty darn nice. It is very convenient and for me worked like a charm.

My only beef (a very very tiny one... mostly just a whine issue) is that on the web page I deselected Mail and the Toolbar. When the actual installer started Mail and the Toolbar where selected in the "additional products" section (see picture). I was confused about about 1/4 of a second, thinking that somehow Mail & Toolbar were still going to install or something.

Well as soon as I read the actual title of the area and the button text, I figured it out. But if I had been button happy, those could have been easily added. My whine is that if they were deselected on the web page, they should be deselected in the Installer. I DO like the fact that I get a second chance to install them. I think that's cool. I just wish their selection status reflected those that I selected on the initial web page. No blood, no foul and not a a big thing...

Besides that it worked great, and best of all no reboot was required (for me at least).

 

Included in the Suite is Windows Live Writer Beta 3. Which means it's time to update my Plugin installers (and tweak my Picture Post plug as it's broken again... sigh).

Lets see if WLW B3 can upload pictures to Blogger... Here it goes!

Update:
YEAH! Uploading photo's to Blogger/Picasa works! ROCK ON! Good job guys!

(via Windows Live Wire - Test drive the new Windows Live suite)

New Information on Creating Custom Reports for Team Foundation Server

Visual Studio Team System Developer Center - Getting Started With Custom Reports for Team System

"To better track your team's progress in Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server, you can create reports that highlight the data that is most important for your project. By creating your own reports, you can drill down on specific information that is not analyzed by the default reports in Team Foundation Server. In addition, you can customize how your reports are run, displayed, and delivered to each member of your team.

...

Creating Reports

You can use the procedures in the following table to experiment with different approaches for creating a report.

Tool	Source of Data	Procedure
Excel	Analysis Services Database	How to: Create a Report in Microsoft Excel for Team System
Excel	Work Item Query	How to: Create a Work Item List
Report Designer	Analysis Services Database	How to: Create an Aggregate Report for Team System using Report Designer
Report Designer	Relational Database	How to: Create a Detailed Report for Team System using Report Designer

Managing Reports

After you have created your report, you can then share it and manage permissions and other properties of the report. For more information, see Managing Reports in Reporting Services for Team System and Managing Excel Reports for Team System in the Project Portal.

..."

Additional "How To" help for creating custom TFS reports.

(via Visual Studio Team System User Education - New Content Available on Creating Custom Reports)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Free Guide to Creating, Modifying and Installing TFS Reports and Understanding the TFS Data Warehouse
Understanding the Team Foundation Server Data Warehouse
Sample TFS Reports

Wintellect's PowerCollections is now on CodePlex

Roger Dahlman's Blog - PowerCollections on CodePlex

"I have recently taken responsibility for the Wintellect PowerCollections project. Wintellect has decided that that is time to make this a community project on CodePlex so that the library can continue to grow with contributions from others.

You can access the PowerCollection's site at http://www.codeplex.com/PowerCollections.

The PowerCollections have been available for download from Wintellect for some time but I am sure that many are not aware of their purpose. In a nutshell, PowerCollections are a set of collection classes that that utilize .NET generics to add to the collection classes already available in .NET ...

...

Below is a list of the current collections in the library:

• Set
• OrderedSet
• Bag
• OrderedBag
• BigList
• Deque
• MultiDictionary
• OrderedDictionary
• OrderedMultiDictionary

..."

Nice to see a good library continue to grow and improve... (and go OSS  :)

Related Past Post XRef:
"The C5 Generic Collection Library for C# and CLI"
Power Collections 1.0 Released
Power Collections version 1.0 is feature complete
Wintellect - Power Collections

ProcessExplorer v11.0 Released

Sysinternals Site Discussion - ProcessExplorer v11.0, AccessCheck Update, PageDefrag Article

"ProcessExplorer v11.0: We’re excited to announce the release of Process Explorer v11, which introduces major startup and UI performance improvements, new columns and process details for Vista I/O priorities, memory priorities, and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) DLL and executable attributes, an enhanced security properties page that shows raw SID values, fully asynchronous thread symbol resolution, integration with UAC, and more!

..."

Microsoft Sysinternals - Process Explorer for Windows v11.0

"...

• What's new in Version 11.0:
• New treelist control for better UI responsiveness
• Asynchronous thread symbol resolution on threads tab of process properties
• More flags on groups in security tab and SID display
• Thread IDs on threads tab
• On-line search uses default web browser and search engine
• Vista ASLR column for processes and DLLs
• Vista Process and thread I/O and memory priorities in process and thread properties
• Vista Process and thread I/O and memory columns
• PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION support on process permissions on Vista
• Run as limited user runs with low IL on Vista
• Reports information for all object types on Vista
• Show details for all processes elevation menu item on Vista
• Supports replacement of task manager on Vista
• /e to launch elevated
• /s switch to select a process at startup
• Compiled w/ASLR, DEP
• Faster startup
• Miscellaneous bug fixes and minor improvements

..."

Process Explorer, aka "We Don't Need No Stink'n Task Manager"... (Or was it aka Task Manager++? Or Task Manager's Big Brother? Or the Task Manager of Christmas Future? )

(Yeah... sorry about that... It's been a long Monday...  ;)

NRTFTree - C# RTF DOM/SAX Like Parser

SourceForge - NRTFTree Library

"NRtfTree library is a set of classes written entirely in C# which may be used to manage (read and write) RTF documents in your own applications. A java port of the library can be found in http://nrtftree.sourceforge.net/ ..."

NRTFTree Library

"NRTFTree is an open source (GPL) [GD: As of the 0.3.0 release it's now LGPL] library written entirely in C# which may be used to manage RTF documents in your own applications.

NRTFTree will help you:

• Open and parse RTF files.
• Analyze the content of RTF files.
• Add, modify and remove document elements (text, control words, control symbols...).

..."

NRTFTree provides both a DOM like and SAX like mode...

I use RTF quite a bit, mostly consuming and storing it. But in some cases I have to tweak the RTF and well that can be... um... fun... If/when I have play in RTF land again something like this library could come in handy.

Now being LGPL it's something I can use and contribute too (I'd likely need to create a COM Callable Wrapper for it and that would be cool to contribute... but that's for another day...).

(via dzone - NRtfTree Library 0.3.0 b1 released.)

[Humor] Now this is a No Parking sign...

LOL

(via Metroblogging Los Angeles -  Parking Lament)

Creating PowerShell Cmdlet's? Need Help with the Help? Check out the Cmdlet Help Editor

Windows PowerShell - New and Improved Cmdlet Help Editor Tool

"The latest version of the Cmdlet Help Editor has been posted on the same link. It contains a few fixes. I recommend you all upgrade to this version:

http://www.wassimfayed.com/PowerShell/CmdletHelpEditor.zip

..."

Windows PowerShell - Intoducing the Cmdlet Help Editor V1.0

"Cmdlet Help Editor enables you to create help topics for Windows PowerShell cmdlets in the XML format that Windows PowerShell reads. Help text created in Cmdlet Help Editor can be displayed immediately by a Windows PowerShell get-help command without any additional transforms or formatting.

By reflecting on a Windows PowerShell snap-in (PsSnapin) assembly, Cmdlet Help Editor creates a customized documentation interface that includes the cmdlets in the snap-ins, their parameters, and parameter attributes.

Cmdlet Help Editor was designed for Windows PowerShell cmdlet developers to make it easy to create excellent cmdlet help. This tool is made available free of charge, but it is not warranted or supported by Microsoft.

..."

When/if I start creating Cmdlet's, this will come in handy...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Using VB.Net to Create a PowerShell CmdLet
VS2005 PowerShell VB & C# Templates (Project, Cmdlet & PSCmdlet)
VS2005 (C#) PowerShell Cmdlet New Item Template

XSLT and XSL-FO Task Based Reference Site

www.dpawson.co.uk - FO Questions, &  XSLT Questions and Answers

I'll likely be using XSLT and possibly XSL-FO in my Blogger backup utility, so this caught my eye (since I have little practical experience using XSLT and none with XSL-FO).

What I like about this site is that it's not just a link site but a reference site. 

David Pawson (author of XSL-FO Making XML Look Good in Print) has put together this nice reference site, based on tasked based questions and answers.

For example, here is a couple entries from the XSLT - HTML page;

"1. How to use HTML as input documents?

2. Embedding HTML in XML documents using HTML dtd

3. HTML to XML conversion

...

5. How to embed HTML in XML

6. Including BR in an XSL template
...
10. HTML in XML
...
13. Parsing HTML as XML

..."

That's just a tiny bit of the information available...

(Joteke's Blog - Handy XSLT Reference Site focused on specific tasks)

[Humor] It's not a Bug but an Undocumented ...

This photo gave me a good chuckle...

(via Virtual Earth / Live Map - Only 1 in 5 Program Managers can place the Capital of North Korea)

Image Resizer PowerToy for XP and Vista - Easy Resizing of Images, Pictures, Digital Photos, etc via Windows Explorer

Cum Grano Salis - Image Resizer Download Page

"(Note: When reinstalling, you may need to log off and on after the installation to have everything work properly)

1.0.831.0 - Fixed issues with setting defaults. 

1.0.801.0 - Added submenu for resizing quickly. 

1.0.0.0 - See initial blog post for more info." [Post leached in full]

Cum Grano Salis - Image Resizer for Vista (and XP) - Just a right click away from Explorer

"I don't know about you, but I am sorely missing the XP toy for image resizing. Windows XP had its power-toys, but Vista does not. And while some functionality has been baked into the shell, explorer right-click has not. On top of that, a feature I have been wanting for a while was also missing from the Power Toys (Copy Picture to clipboard).

Because of that, I created an Image Resizer app that is tailored to what I need.. For the purpose of this post, I shall use my daughter in the capacity of a lolcat

..."

My daughter was just asking me about resizing for emailing some of her photos. Right-clicking in Windows Explorer is just about at her comfort level...

(via The Road to Know Where - Microsoft Updates "Image Resizer" PowerToy)

Did You Know WinImage Can Convert VMDK's to VHD's (and back)?

Dugie’s Pensieve - WinImage VHD and VMDK interchange

"This popped up in conversation, so I thought it was worth mentioning again.

The mighty fine tool WinImage converts VHDs to VMDK and visa versa (VMDK to VHD) 

WinImage will also let you do a file level restore from your CompletePC (VHD) backup in Vista. ..."

Nice! WinImage rocks. And I have some VMDK's that need converting too... :)

Also it looks like it can also create a Virtual HD from a Physical HD (I need to queue up playing with this)

(via A Continuous Learner's Weblog - Links (8/30/2007))

 

Related Past Post XRef:
WinImage (Beta) Supports VPC VHD's

"Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus" - Excellent Introduction Series to New VB9 Features

B# .NET Blog - Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Introduction

"It seems a little weird for a C# MVP to start a series on VB 9.0 Language Enhancements, isn't it? However, I have a strong passion of the CL in CLR and CLS: Common Language. Therefore, I'll focus in this blog series on various language enhancements that ship with VB 9.0 as part of the .NET Framework 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 release wave. If you're more of a CSharpish guy or girl, check out my C# 3.0 posts.

..."

For the last couple weeks Bart De Smet has been delivering a number of very cool posts on features coming in VB9. Each post is well written and provides a nice overview and introduction to the given feature.

If you're trying to wrap your head around all the new stuff coming in VB9, his posts are a good place to start...

Here's the list so far...

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - The If Ternary Operator

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Nullable types

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Partial Methods

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Expression Trees

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Lambda Expressions

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Anonymous types

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Object Initializers

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Extension Methods

Visual Basic 9.0 Feature Focus - Implicitly Typed Local Variables

For the the future posts (and the other coolness he blogs about) make sure you click on through...

Creating a Dynamic, Runtime, User Driven Query Builder with LINQ

The Visual Basic Team - Implementing Dynamic Searching Using LINQ

"A common requirement in forms-over-data applications is that users be able to search by any combination of fields to construct a dynamic query at run time.  For example, the search feature in this application allows the user to find all records that meet criteria defined on multiple columns:

This is easy at compile-time, but what if we want to check the date the order was entered instead of the date it was shipped?  In this case we’d have to write a separate query using order.OrderDate.  Doing this dynamically at runtime isn’t all that difficult if you’re just building up a SQL string, but how would we do this with LINQ?  Doesn’t LINQ require me to specify the criteria at compile time in order to construct the query?  Fortunately the answer’s no, LINQ supports constructing dynamic queries at runtime through the Expression Tree API and the Expression Compiler.

..."

This is a wheel that we seem to reinvent all the time, isn't it? A user driver query builder...

This post provides an interesting solution and uses many of the new cool VB9 features like expression trees, lambda expressions, LINQ, etc.

I'm going to queue this for a closer look when VS2008 RTM's.

Krypton Toolkit 2.6 Released

Krypton Toolkit

"Use the following link to download
http://www.componentfactory.com/downloads/KryptonToolkit260.zip

Toolkit Change Highlights
KryptonCheckBox control added
KryptonRadioButton control added
KryptonDataGridView control added
ToolTips added for button specs

..."

The cool free Krypton Toolkit continues to grow and improve...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Krypton Toolkit 2.5 Released
Krypton Toolkit 2.2 Released
Krypton Toolkit (Free WinForm UI Controls) 2.0 Released
Krypton Toolkit 1.0.0 Released
Krypton Toolkit 0.9.0 (Free Office-Like UI Controls)

Play Lord of the Rings Online Free for the Next 7 Days...

LOTRO Warcry - Play The Lord of the Rings Online for Free!

"Turbine Launches 7-day Free Trial Program for the Hottest MMO of the Year

WESTWOOD, MA - August 29, 2007 - Turbine, Inc. has launched the official 7-day free trial of The Lord of the Rings Online(TM): Shadows of Angmar(TM) (LOTRO). Beginning today, fans in North America, Australia, and New Zealand can play the best online game for free by visiting http://trial.lotro.com.

...

Eligible fans can participate in The Lord of the Rings Online trial program and play the game for 7 days, free of charge. At the end of the trial, players will have the option to continue to play LOTRO, and keep the characters created during their 7-day free trial time, by purchasing the game either online or at retail. To participate in the 7-day free trial or to find out where to buy LOTRO, visit http://trial.lotro.com.

..."

You're just a 4GB download away from playing my current addition.

One of the coolest thing about LOTRO (and all Turbine MMO's to date) are the free updates. LOTRO has had two major free content/new features/additional stuff to do/etc releases since its release already. And the next one (aka Book 11) will include player and kinship housing (I miss not having my AC1 house... ;)

Note for Windows Live Writer Plugin Writers - The Paths Are Changing...

Writer DevZone -  Changes That Affect Plug-in Developers

"In an upcoming release of Windows Live Writer, we are changing the location that Windows Live Writer’s program files are installed into as well as the location of our registry settings. These changes could have an impact upon plug-in authors, though we have done our best to maintain backward compatibility. The following describes the changes in more detail and specifically discusses the impact that this will have upon existing plug-ins.

Installation Directory

In an upcoming release of Windows Live Writer, the location where Writer’s program files are installed will change. In previous betas, Writer the files would be installed to

<program files>\Windows Live Writer\

Starting in the next release, they will be installed to

<program files>\Windows Live\Writer\

...

Registry Key Paths

In addition, the registry path where plug-ins should register themselves will also be updated from

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Windows Live Writer\PluginAssemblies
or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Windows Live Writer\PluginAssemblies

to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Windows Live\Writer\PluginAssemblies
or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Windows Live\Writer\PluginAssemblies

..."

About time to revisit our Plugin Setup's. I needed to tweak my setups anyway so it's no real biggie from my seat...

The good news is that it looks like a new WLW version is coming in the near future?

(via Writer Zone - Upcoming Changes May Affect Plug-in Developers)

MS Paint Development Video (Humor)

Full of I.T. - The Development of MS Paint

"This is hilarious.  It looks like one of the videos Microsoft creates internally as tongue-in-cheek fun ..."

This had me laughing way to hard for a Monday...

Learn to Master your Inner Robot - Introductory Courseware for Microsoft Robotics Studio

Microsoft Downloads - Introductory Courseware for Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5) CTP Sep 2007

"...

The robotics introductory courseware is a set of labs that can be completed individually or as part of an introductory course on robotics. The labs take you through common robotics concepts such as reading sensors, controlling actuators, designing simple behaviors, and having a robot interacting with its environment using Microsoft Robotics Studio.

Going through the labs you will learn how to write services for Microsoft Robotics Studio using a combination of Microsoft Visual Programming Language (VPL) and C#. While the labs are introductory, they do require basic knowledge of Microsoft .Net and C# to complete.

Many of the labs can be completed either using Microsoft Robotics Studio Simulation or actual hardware in the form of an iRobot Create. In Lab Tutorial 7 (C#) - Multirobot Coordination you will need two iRobot Creates or use Microsoft Robotics Studio Simulation to simulate the robots. In addition, some of the labs such as Lab Tutorial 5 - Using Vision to Estimate the Distance to an Object use additional sensors including cameras, microphones, and speakers that need to be plugged into your PC.

..."

I've not have a chance to check this out yet (my son has monopolized the machine with MSRS on it... stupid WoW... ;) but I thought it sounded pretty cool. I'll want to check this out when I get a chance (time to think up some chores or something... )

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5) Released
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

Creating a Reflector Addin? Check Out this Cool Walk Through from Jason Haley

JasonHaley.com - Ways to use .Net Reflector #2.1: Creating your own add-ins

"In this entry I walk through creating a Reflector add-in that exposes its own UI using a user control and works with the Reflector code model on a simple level.  This add-in will expose itself on the context menu of the assembly browser (enabled only in certain conditions) when clicked it will show the user control that uses the Reflector code model of the currently selected type to provide functionality to the user.

...

The final look of the control and context menu item is to be something like this:

...

Summary
In this entry I’ve walked through how to create a Reflector add-in that provides its own UI via a UserControl and how to tie it into the context menu of the assembly browser. I’ve also walked through the more interesting parts of the logic that listens to a user’s selection in the assembly browser and some of how to determine what the current type selected is and its properties. We also looked at the field declarations on a type and touched on expressions with the field’s Initializer property. ..."

Jason has written up a great walk through for creating a Reflector addin. Besides the C# source for this simple but useful plugin he's also provided a nine page DocX version of walk though (making it easier to view it offline, print it, etc).

If you're interesting in creating a Reflector addin, you should check his post out. He put a good deal of work into this write up and it shows...

Genghis 0.8 Released

theADOguy - Genghis v0.8 Released

"URL: http://www.codeplex.com/genghis

I've been helping Chris Sells and the Genghis Group for a couple of years. I am proud to announce the newest build of Genghis (version 0.8) that includes all the features of version 0.5 ported to .NET 2.0. ..."

Genghis is a project I've been following for about a thousand years or so now (well since 9/2003 anyway).

New in 0.8 is

"...

• CustomStateTreeView
• FileSearchEngine
• FindReplaceDialog
• HeaderGroupBox
• HtmlLinklLabel
• ImageIndexEditor
• InitialInstanceActivator
• ListViewSorter
• MappedDrives
• MultiSdiApplicationContext
• PathResolver
• ScreenSaver
• ScrollablePictureBox
• SpashScreen
• StatusBarExtender
• SystemShares
• TraceEx
• UserResizablePanel
• WebCommandLineHelper
• XPThemedControls

..."

If you're doing WinForm 2.0 development then you should check out this project...

The license is very reasonable;

"...This license based on the open source zlib/libpng license. The idea was to keep the license as simple as possible to encourage use of Genghis in free and commercial applications and libraries, but to keep the source code together and to give credit to the Genghis contributors for their efforts..."

Related Past Post XRef:
Genghis Lives (on CodePlex)
Genghis Project Updated for .NET 2.0
Cool .Net Classes... The Genghis Project

Looking for XAML Clip Art? Then make sure you look for SVG files as well...

Daniel Cazzulino's Blog - How to get a gazillion XAML clipart for free

"You surely know XAML subsumes pretty much all of SVG, right?

SVG has been around for quite more time than XAML, and even if hasn't taken off as fast as many expected, at least I could find a huge collection of freely available clipart.

Now all I needed was a way to convert all that stuff that you can get in a single gigantic download if you want to XAML.

I wish it was always this simple: go download ViewerSvg :).

Not only does the tool work great, it also comes with a library you can use too :). So instead of using the UI, I used the library to create a very simple console application (Svg2Xaml project) that will convert one or more files (or every file it finds recursively in one or more folders) to XAML.

..."

I don't know nearly enough about XAML (i.e. I know next to nothing) so I found it pretty cool to see that it looks to be pretty simple to convert SVG into XAML...

Given my artistic skills, or lack there of, clip art is a must for me.   ;) 

Related Past Post XRef:
Open Clip Art Library

It's that time... Scott's Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for 2007

Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's 2007 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows

"Everyone collects utilities, and most folks have a list of a few that they feel are indispensable.  Here's mine.  Each has a distinct purpose, and I probably touch each at least a few times a week.  For me, util means utilitarian and it means don't clutter my tray.  If it saves me time, and seamlessly integrates with my life, it's the bomb. Many/most are free some aren't. Those that aren't free are very likely worth your 30-day trial, and perhaps your money.

...

This is the Updated for 2007 Version of my Original List and 2005 and 2006 List, and currently subsumes all my other lists. Link to http://www.hanselman.com/tools when referencing the latest Hanselman Ultimate Tools List. Feel free to get involved here in the comments, post corrections, or suggestions for future submissions in the HanselForums. I very likely made mistakes, and probably forgot a few utilities that I use often.

• New Entries to the 2007 Ultimate Tools are in Red. There are dozens of additions and many updated and corrected entries and fixed links.

..."

Click through to http://www.hanselman.com/tools to see his outstanding and must read list...

Also this year we can all help him fight diabetes with a tax deductible donation to the American Diabetes Association via his Welcome to My Step Out to Fight Diabetes Web Page! 

Scott's blog and this list has been on the top of my reading list for many years... He asked, I gave...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Scott Hanselman's 2006 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows is Out
Scott Hanselman's 2005 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List
Scott Hanselman's [2003] Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tools List

Paint.Net 3.1 Released

Paint.NET - Paint.NET v3.10 – Final release is now available!

"Well, it’s finally here! You can get it from the website, http://www.getpaint.net/ , or via Paint.NET’s built-in updater (Help -> Check for Updates). This release adds two new effects originally written by David Issel (”BoltBait”), support for the DDS file type originally written by Dean Ashton, as well as numerous small bug fixes and some visual fit and finish.

..."

A couple new features, some improvements and lots o' fixes...

Marshall Fixed Length TCHAR Strings between Managed and Unmanaged Code

Neil Cowburn - HOWTO: Marshal fixed-length strings

"On Monday I got an internal question about marshaling fixed-length strings between managed and native code. The scenario is you have a native struct with a member defined something like this:

typedef struct SOME_STRUCT {
    DWORD size;
    TCHAR entryName[20];
}

How can you marshal the TCHAR string in managed code? You marshal it as a UnmanagedType.ByValTStr and specify the size like this:

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct SomeStruct
{
    public int Size;
    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 20)]
    public string EntryName;
}

...

On the other hand, if the native struct is defined like this:

typedef struct SOME_STRUCT {
    DWORD size;
    TCHAR *entryName;
}

You would marshal the TCHAR pointer as a UnmanagedType.LPTStr like this:

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct SomeStruct
{
    public int Size;
    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPTStr)]
    public string EntryName;
}" [Leached about 98% of the post, just in case and so I can find it again in the future... ]

I so needed this a few years ago. Had some unmanaged DLL's with struct's/TCHAR's that I needed to call with managed code. Caching here because I just KNOW I'll need this again sometime...

Moving TempDB on SQL Server 2005

Gregg Stark on SQL Server - Move TempDB Sql Server 2005

"I recently needed to move the TempDB on my Sql Server so I looked in Books Online and my initial thought based on what it said was that there is no way that will work.  Basically it says to find where the files are, and then move them to the new location followed by an alter statement to point the database at the new location.  Well of course this didn't work because the tempdb files are in use.  After thinking about it I just decided to try to alter the master database and point it at where I wanted the tempdb files to be and then just restart since Sql Server creates the tempdb again when you restart it.  Sure enough it worked.  Here are the steps I took.

..."

I seem to remember I had this issue/question, where I needed to move the SQL2k5 TempDB. I can't remember now if I ended up doing it this way, another way or gave up... Linking it here for future reference.

WinXP IE6 and WinXP IE7 VPC Images Refreshed

Microsoft Downloads - Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image

"...

A VPC hard disk image containing a pre-activated Windows XP SP2, and either IE6 or IE7 and the IE7 Readiness Toolkit.
This VPC image will expire on December 7, 2007.

..."

Two VPC/VHD's, one with IE6 and the other with IE7

 

Related Past Post XRef:
WinXP IE6 & WinXP IE7 VPC Images
WinXP SP2 IE6 VPC Image Refreshed
WinXP SP2 IE6 VPC Image

URL File Downloader Project - Download Files, including HTML, Asynchronously

Scott Dorman - URL File Downloader for .NET Updates

"It's been a while since I wrote the first version of my FileDownloader article and class. Since that time, there have been a lot of positive comments about the article and a handful of feature requests. I finally made the time to update the classes and the article and resubmit it to The Code Project. This update has the following new methods and properties:

...

DownloadHtml

Gets or sets a value indicating if HTML pages should be allowed to be downloaded.

...

DownloadAsync

Begin downloading the file at the specified URL, and save it to the current folder.

..."

The Code Project - An easy-to-use URL file downloader class for .NET

"For one of my projects at work, I needed the ability to download a file from a given URL. Unfortunately, the methods provided by the WebClient class don't do anything more than download the data. I needed something that gave the ability to provide progress feedback and that was resumable.

As I started my searches on the web for any existing code, I came across two articles on CodeProject that helped get me very close to what I needed. The first article was by John Batte, while the second article by Phil Crosby was a derivation of his work. Using both of these articles as a starting point, I was able to make another derivation that accomplished my goals.

..."

This is a cool project that I am looking at using in my Blogger Backup utility... Both for the image backup feature and the "As it looks like on the blog" HTML backup option.

More SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Coolness - Table Value Constructors (or better, Row Constructors)

The Zen of Database Development - Katmai: Looking into Row Constructors

"Thursday is   here at ZoDD, and today I’m going to be discussing the first in a series of posts covering features that show up in SQL Server 2008, using the latest Community Technology Preview, CTP4. This morning’s subject will be the new functionality they are calling Table Value Constructors, and sometimes, perhaps more clearly, Row Constructors. ...

...

But now, in Katmai, these multiple sets of values may all be assigned within a single VALUES clause. This syntax opens up this clause for some very table-like behavior. For instance:

INSERT INTO Contacts (Name, Age, SalesId)
VALUES(‘John Doe’,25,5), (‘Jane Doe’, 36,6), (‘Peter Doe’, 49,7)

But wait-there’s more!

Now that we have established how to use these Row Constructors in the INSERT statement, Katmai expands their usage to allow them to be used as a more general table source.

...

SELECT * 
FROM (VALUES(‘John Doe’,25,5), 
(‘Jane Doe’, 36,6), 
(‘Peter Doe’, 49,7)) psuedoTable(pName, pAge, pSalesID) 

Check out the new aliasing syntax. Now you can not only specify a name for the “table”, but you can name all of the columns in the table as well. This’ll come into heavy play later when we cover INSERT OVER DML. For now, suffice it to say that this effectively let’s you set up tables in script. Note that this aliasing is not necessary for use in the INSERT statement.

This can get more sophisticated:

SELECT *
FROM Employees emp
JOIN (VALUES(‘John Doe’,25,5),  
(‘Jane Doe’, 36,6),
(‘Peter Doe’, 49,7)) psuedoTable(pName, pAge, pSalesID)
ON emp.EmployeeID = pseudoTable.pSalesID

Think about how this can affect your application!

..."

That is just too cool. I can think of SO many ways to use this...

I'm thinking hard about skipping SQL Server 2005 and just going with SQL Server 2008.

 

Related Past Post XRef:
New SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Features - It's the little things that are cool...

"Basic Instructions"

Thomas turned me on to the Basic Instructions comic strip yesterday. I'm still digging through the archives and finding some real gems (I'm laughing so hard I think I coughed up a lung... I hate when that happens... :)

Some of my favorite lung producing and snort laugh posts;

How to Justify an Extravagant Purchase to Your Spouse

How to Train Your Back-Up

How to Write a Self-Evaluation (I had to do this yesterday, and I could have used these Instructions then...  ;)

How to Deal with a Crazy Spouse

How to Wash a Cat

 

(via Williams World (Thomas & Olivia Williams) - Basic Instructions)

"Open XML Explained" Free eBook (PDF)

Open XML Developer.org - Open XML Explained e-book

"Attached is a downloadable copy of "Open XML Explained" by Wouter Van Vugt, the first book on Open XML development. The sample documents for the book are also available for download here.

This 128-page book covers the basics of Open XML, including many of the topics covered in the Open XML developer workshops, as well as several additional topics. ..."

From the introduction;

"...

The purpose of this book is to provide you with the building blocks required to build your own document-centric solution. In this book you will discover the basics of WordprocessingML, SpreadsheetML and PresentationML as well as the DrawingML supporting language. Learn about the use of custom markup to enable custom solutions using WordprocessingML, the formulas of SpreadsheetML or the great visual effects that can be applied using DrawingML.

Who is this book for?
In this book you will be provided a detailed overview of the three major markup languages in Open XML. This book is written for those who have a basic understanding of XML or HTML. If you are a software architect or developer who needs to build document-centric solutions you can learn about how to build your value-added solutions based on the Open XML platform. Those new to document markup languages as well as those more experienced in document markup but new to Open XML will benefit from this book.

..."

If you're learning, or want to learn, Open XML then this commercial quality printable PDF is a great starting point.

(via Doug Mahugh - Open XML development book)

Outlook Connector Updated (From 12.0.4518.1047 to 12.0.4518.1058)

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Office Outlook Connector

Looks like an updated Outlook Connector has been released. Based on the version number change from the last, I'm guessing no major changes. I wonder if it was updated to address the recent Hotmail update? Seems like a reasonable guess... Also I don't see any "Beta" references in the download description. Maybe it's now RTW?

To install it you have to first manually uninstall the previous version (i.e. Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs - Uninstall ...). The good news is that the settings are left in place, so when you install this new version, you don't have to reconfigure or set it up.

So far, it seems to be running just fine...

 

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

The Pocket Guide to Electronic Discovery for Judges

Master the Business - A judges’ pocket guide to electronic discovery

"Ever wonder what the judges consider is important? What about with regards to the discovery of your information. The US Courts have published a pocket guide for judges on electronic discovery.

Download the .pdf of Managing Discovery of Electronic " [Post leached in full]

This 33 page printable PDF is pretty interesting (from a "this is the business space I'm in" point of view).

From the Preface;

"This pocket guide is designed to help federal judges manage the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). It encourages judges to actively manage those cases involving ESI, raising points for consideration by the parties rather than awaiting the parties’ identification and argument of the matters. The guide covers issues unique to the discovery of ESI, including its scope, the allocation of costs, the form of production, the waiver of privilege and work-product protection, and the preservation of data and spoliation. As you are reading, you may encounter some unfamiliar terms. Many of these terms are defined in a glossary at the end of the guide. ..."

(via Information Governance Engagement Area - A judges’ pocket guide to electronic discovery - Master the Business - Boise, Idaho)

VB.Net Library for Amazon's Flexible Payment Service

Phil801 - Geek Blog - Amazon FPS Library for VB.Net

"Amazon released a C# Demo for FPS, but not a VB.Net one. Since VB.Net is my preferred language, I converted the C# library to VB.Net.

It would seem that Amazon will probably continually release new versions of the WSDL in C# - to avoid having to convert it every time and to make future upgrades easy, I wrapped the WSDL in a separate DLL. In the future, all that will need to be done to upgrade it is to replace the WSDL source file in the DLL project and rebuild.

This isn’t a download and run project - FPS is much more complicated than that. Once you extract the zip file, make sure you follow the instructions in the ReadMe.txt file - there is much to do!

..."

I've been thinking about checking out Amazon's FPS. Not sure what I'd charge for, but still I like what I've been reading about it...

(via Amazon Web Services Blog - Amazon Flexible Payments Support Sees Community Support)

Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Power Packs 2.0 - Line/Circle/Square Shapes + PrintForm and Printer Compatibility Library Now all in One Assembly

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Power Packs 2.0

"Line and Shape controls, PrintForm component, and Printer Compatibility Library

Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Power Packs 2.0 includes a new set of Line and Shape controls and updated versions of the two previously released Visual Basic 2005 Power Packs, the PrintForm Component and the Printer Compatibility Library. All three are now included in a single assembly making them even easier to use and redistribute with your application [GD: Emphasis added].

...

The new Line and Shape controls included in this version of the Visual Basic 2005 Power Packs are a set of three graphical controls that enable you to draw lines, ovals, and rectangles on forms and containers at design time making it much easier to enhance the look of your user interface. These new shape controls also provide events such as click and double-click allowing developers to respond and interact with end users.

The Printer Compatibility Library allows projects that used the Printer and Printers Collection in Visual Basic 6.0 to be upgraded without having to re-write your printing logic...

The PrintForm component is designed to bring back the ability to easily print a Windows Form..."

Nice. I dig how they are all bundled into a single assembly. And I've missed my VB6 shape controls... ;) 

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Microsoft Printer Compatibility Library 1.0 (Providing a VB6 Printer like object in VB.Net)
PrintForm Component 1.0 - Directly Print a WinForm

IE7Pro v1.0 Released

IE7pro for Internet Explorer 7 - IE7pro v1.0 Released (14-08-2007)

"...

Changelogs: IE7Pro v1.0 (14-08-2007):
1. EasyHome added
2. Hotkey full customizable now
3. Single IE instance support
4. Tab session restore function added
5. Can use hotkey to dupliate tabs
6. DEP problem solved
7. Fix autofill in iframe bugs
8. Inline search improved
9. Spell checking improved
10. Plugin system improved
11. IE6 Quick Search Added
12. Update automatic notfiy now"

The very cool, must have IE7 addin/extension, IE7Pro is now officially a v1.0...

The new EasyHome feature is pretty darn cool. It's like a thumbnail, personal, quick access, portal page. You can setup nine different sites, which are shown as thumbnails on the EasyHome page. Clicking on a site opens it in a new tab or on the current tab. Below is an example I created with a couple Microsoft sites...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
IE7Pro v0.9.18 Released - Inline, Firefox like Spell Checking Added
IE7Pro - Must have IE7 Add-on?

"WordCloud - A Squarified Treemap of Word Frequency" - Something like this would be cool in a Feed Reader...

CodeProject - WordCloud - A Squarified Treemap of Word Frequency

"WordCloud is a visual depiction of how many times a word is used, or its frequency if you will, within a given set of words. It does this by: reading in plain text, filtering out "stop words", counting how many times a word is used, and displaying results in a Squarified Treemap. (In the images above, the larger a node and more saturated the color, the more frequent its use.)

..."

When I saw this, my first thought was, "Oh I want something like this in my Feed Reader."

Think high level analysis of the new, unread posts, with a user definable threshold (i.e. don't include words with less than ## occurrences). Then clicking on a word/square brings up the list of posts with that word. And a background thread updating the Map as you read through the posts...

Then of course, I'd also want Concept and Natural Language Processing (NLP) as well as just Word mapping.
(So pretty much an Electronic Data Discovery[EDD]/Electronically Stored Information[ESI] search, analysis and review tool for my web feeds... ;)

Hum...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Feed Stream Analysis - Web Feed/Post Analysis to Group Like/Related Posts
WordNet
"Statistical parsing of English sentences"
"A Model for Weblog Research"
AddressOf.com - MS Research TreeMap.Net

"Outlook Webmail Add-in for Windows Home Server"

Coding4Fun - Outlook Webmail Add-in for Windows Home Server

"Windows Home Server is a new product from Microsoft which allows home users to manage and share data, including photos, documents, videos, music, etc.  It also provides a very easy way to backup all computers on your home network to a central storage server.

Windows Home Server can also be extended via add-ins to enhance the experience and provide new and interesting functionality other than what comes in the box.

One feature not present in WHS that I would find useful is the ability to view my Outlook mail box from the web at any time.  I have 6 or 7 email accounts that are all setup to retrieve via POP3 to Outlook.  Most of these accounts do not support IMAP or have a web-based interface.  Therefore, Outlook is generally open all day and checking messages.  When I'm away from home for work or pleasure, it's very often inconvenient to have to remote desktop into the machine with Outlook running to read my email, so it would be nice to have a web-based version of my current Outlook folders so I can view all email (old and new) at any time simply by browsing to a web server at home.  Windows Home Server comes with Internet Information Services 6 (IIS6) and one can easily add a new web application to IIS on the server.

So, this article will attempt to show how to build a new web site using ASP.NET that can be added to your Windows Home Server installation that will allow one to view the Outlook folders running on whatever computer contains your current Outlook installation and message store.

If you wish to just use the application, download the sample from above and skip down to the deployment section for installation instructions.

..."

I don't have a Windows Home Server running (yet), but I'm pretty interested in it. Mostly due to its extensibility. This article a cool example of that...

This Coding4Fun project provides a working example of extending WHS, integrating with Outlook/MAPI, using WCF and wrapping it all up with an ASP.Net bow.

(via Brian Peek [MVP C#] - Outlook Webmail Add-in for Windows Home Server)

Blogger Backup v1.0.7.16 Released (Logging in no longer required, new BBSettings file, added logging and updated GData library)

I've just released a new, pretty major, release of my Blogger Backup utility, v1.0.7.16.

Based on community feedback, I've totally reworked how the list of available blogs is created, saved and used.

In short, you no longer have to log into Blogger just to backup you blog.

You build your list of blogs, either by logging into Blogger ONCE to grab your list of blogs, or you can manually enter your Blogger URL's. Then this list of blogs is saved in a new BBSettings file. Then next time you want to backup your blog, the list will be grabbed from the BBSettings file. i.e. no logging into Blogger every time just to list your blogs.

This also works as a backup to any login issues. I've seen some instances where a valid Blogger ID/Password doesn't seem to work, though it should. So now in that case, with the new manual URL entry, you can still backup your blog.

Also in this release, I've completely revamped how all the settings are saved. All settings are now saved in a BBSettings file. A file where you decide is saved. Also a file you can backup, copy to another location or machine, etc.

To see the rest of the changes, please see the project home page.

 

Next up I think it's time to finally start working on the extra save formats (PDF, HTML, etc). I'll very likely be providing a two versions of the save formats. A "As is looks like in the browser/on the blog" and "raw, formatting free, just the post and no extra flare from the blog" version.

 

Some v1.0.7.16 screenshots...

Free Guide to Creating, Modifying and Installing TFS Reports and Understanding the TFS Data Warehouse

Microsoft Downloads - Creating and Customizing TFS Reports

"This article provides an introduction to the important concepts and step by step instructions to Create and Customize Reports for Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team Foundation Server (TFS).

..."

Microsoft must have heard my cries of mental anguish and despair during my recent "Create a Team Foundation Server Report" quest and have provided this download as a map to future adventurers (lol... yeah, I've been reading too much fantasy recently, can you tell? ;)

If you creating or modifying TFS reports, or plan to, then you owe it to your brain cells and sanity to take a few minutes and check out this information...

 

The download includes 10 files, four PDF's, five sample reports (RDL) and a readme;

Creating and Customizing TFS Reports.PDF

34 page PDF introducing the TFS data warehouse, how to get started building a report, building a query/data source, and then actually creating a new Bug Rate (with parameters)

"If you’ve used Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team Foundation Server (TFS), you may have seen reports that you would like to customize. I recently volunteered to revise some of the standard reports for the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) team at Microsoft, and I have to admit that I didn’t realize what I had signed up for. It quickly became apparent that I’d volunteered for more than I was expecting. Working with reports can be very intimidating because it uses different technologies that you may not be familiar with. This article provides an introduction to the important concepts you’ll need to learn a “minimal path” through the technologies.

..."

How To Install a Report to TFS Project.PDF

10 page PDF covering how to manually install a TFS report on a Reporting Services server for a given TFS Project, hook up to the default, already existing data sources, etc

Bug Trends.PDF (Bug Trends.RDL)

Six page PDF providing a few details on the included Bug Trends report. How to use it, what it's all about and how to customize it.

Remaining Work.PDF (Remaining Work by Count.RDL, Remaining Work by Size.RDL)

Five page PDF providing a few details on the included Remaining Work reports. How to use them, what they are all about and how to customize them.

Status by Area.PDF (Status by Area.RDL)

Six page PDF providing a few details on the included Status by Area report. How to use it, what it's all about and how to customize it.

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Understanding the Team Foundation Server Data Warehouse
Sample TFS Reports

Access Code Project from within Visual Studio 2005 - A Cool VS Addin from SlickEdit (with Source of course)

Code Project - The Code Project Browser Add-in for VS 2005

"At SlickEdit, we've put several "advertorials" out now on Code Project about our Tools for Visual Studio® 2005 product. I'm one of the developers on the Tools team [profile], and I love Code Project for learning how to do new things, especially because I learn best by seeing examples of how something's done. However, in order to see the sample code for an article, you have to:

1. Download the sample zip file.
2. Browse to it and unzip the contents somewhere.
3. Go to Visual Studio and Open the project.

I also love convenience, and that's why I made this add-in. It let's you browse Code Project directly in Visual Studio 2005. When you click on a link that would normally download a zip file, it asks you instead if you'd like to open the sample up using the Code Project Browser. If you say yes, the add-in will download the file, unzip it to a base "My documents\My Code Project Samples" directory, then load it directly. It also provides a sidebar where you can view, reload and delete all of the projects you've downloaded. Finally, it allows you to keep Code Project favorites, just like any respectable web browser would.

..."

The rockin' guys at SlickEdit let me know that they just posted this very cool VS2005 addin.

As it says, it lets you browse, download, manage and open Code Project projects from within Visual Studio. The best about it is how it lets you download and open the CP project in VS in one step... A nice time saver.

It installed quickly and with no problems (on Vista) and worked the first time out. Also the source opened and compiled with no problems.

The article and source provides a number of great examples, how to create a VS2005 addin, logging into a web site like Code Project, using the BackgroundWorker class to download files in the background yet still provide progress status, some nice UI controls, etc, etc.

I dig that these guys are giving back by posting this project (and including the source). I feel it says allot about SlickEdit...

Related Past Post XRef:
SlickEdit Tools v1.1
New SlickEdit Developer Blog
SlickEdit VS2005 Gadgets Updated
Slick Edit Gadgets - Free VS2005 Utilities

Free SQL Server Monitor Gadget for your Vista Sidebar

SSIS Junkie - Announcing SQL Server Monitor Gadget for Windows Vista Sidebar

"It gives me great pleasure to announce that as of today, Conchango are making available version 1 of our SQL Server Monitor Gadget for Windows Vista Sidebar.

The gadget does exactly what it says on the tin; it monitors a specified SQL Server database for various metrics and displays them on the Windows Vista Sidebar. It is provided for use by SQL Server DBAs that require a nice'n'easy way of monitoring important metrics on their SQL Server installations. ..."

Time to put your Vista sidebar to work...

This looks like a very quick and easy way to monitor a SQL Server database. Something that might some in handy if you have a problem DB that needs size monitoring.

As an interesting side note, the download is being hosted on Microsoft's beta LiveDrive (aka SkyDrive), folders.live.com

(via SQL Server Code - SQL Server Monitor Gadget for Windows Vista Sidebar)

Funny how a little 4.5 Earthquake will wake you up...

Magnitude 4.5 - GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA

It funny how a 4.5 just under your feet (or there about) will kick you out of bed...

Shuttle Launch in HD = Wow!

Santa brought us a large Full HD TV last Christmas and a couple months ago I finally got around to signing us up for Digital Cable (with HD DVR/receiver of course ;).

As I write this, I am watching the Endeavor launch in HD on HDNet.

All I can say is... WOW!

Refactor! Pro (and Refactor! Free [VB.NET]) v2.5 Released

ctodx - Pssst! Wanna get some new software before the hip kids get it?

"OK, this is strictly hush hush, on a need-to-know basis. Don't tell everyone, but we've just uploaded CodeRush and Refactor! Pro 2.5 to the Client Center.

Yep, it's a significant new release, deserving of the bump in version number. We've got the world's first refactorings ever targeted for C# 3.0 and VB9. You read that right: not just Las Vegas' first refactorings for C# 3.0 and VB9, not just Nevada's, not just the United States', but the Earth's. And since the slime molds of Europa, moon of Jupiter, quite possibly don't exist and, even if they did, wouldn't care about .NET, we're talking about the first refactorings for C# 3.0 and VB9 in the Solar System!

..."

Though not specifically mentioned, when I went to their Client Center (and logged in), Refactor! Free (VB.NET) v2.5 was available for me to download...

(via Larkware News -  The Daily Grind 1203)