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

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Ruby.Net (fka Garden Point Ruby.Net) Moving to a New OSS Model (and works in Visual Studio 2005...)

ruby-talk-google - Ruby.NET moves to full open source community model

"The Gardens Point Ruby.NET project (http://www.plas.fit.qut.edu.au/Ruby.NET) would like to announce that we are moving to a new open source community model.

While we at QUT will continue to be heavily involved in the project, we plan to transfer full control and ownership of the project to the open source community. To signify this new beginning, the new project will be named simply "Ruby.NET" (rather than "Gardens Point Ruby.NET") and a new licence agreement will be developed (by the community). ..."

QUT - Gardens Point Ruby.NET Compiler

"New Beta Release 0.8.1 (June 2007)

We are pleased to announce the release of a new Beta (version 0.8.1) of the Gardens Point Ruby.NET compiler. Since the last release we have added support for interoperability with other .NET languages, so that components developed using other .NET languages can conveniently use classes implemented using Ruby.NET and vice versa. The following example shows how we can now write a Ruby.NET program that uses the standard .NET libraries:
...
Previous Release Annoucement (May 2007)

We are pleased to announce the release of a new Beta (version 0.7) of the Gardens Point Ruby.NET compiler. Since the last release we have added support for debugging (by generating pdb files) and have created a Visual Studio integration package allowing users to edit, build, execute and debug Ruby programs within Visual Studio 2005.
..."

Want to play with Ruby, but don't want to give up Visual Studio 2005? Then Ruby.Net may be your ticket to Ruby'ness...

(via TheServerSide.Net - GardensPoint Ruby.NET goes open source)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Understanding the Team Foundation Server Data Warehouse

Teams WIT Tools - Understanding the TFS Cube

"The initial learning curve for the TFS Cube is pretty steep. It is quite overwhelming to figure out the relationships between the large number of dimensions and measure groups in the TFS cube at first. In this blog entry I will explain some of the most commonly used perspectives and show how you can easily create Excel reports from them.

*Note* that this blog entry is still relevant to you even if you don't have perspectives on your cube. What I cover here will help you better understand the cube schema. In the demos below I connect Excel to cube perspectives. However you can create the exact same reports by connecting to the Team System Cube.
..."

sigh... I SO could have used this a few weeks ago.

I recently added a new field to my Agile/Bug work items (related post) and needed to add that to a TFS report.

None of the existing reports really had what I wanted so I decided to start from scratch. And so began one of those, "I thought this would be easy? What was I thinking..." tasks.

Starting with the SQL Server 2005 Report Builder, I was able to create a report pretty quickly (once I found out how to create a Model... One my of TFS books came through with that tip).

That worked, but while Report Builder is good ad-hoc report engine (it's primary purpose) it's somewhat limited. I wanted reports that had some of the functionality that the in-the-TFS-box reports had (like true URL based navigation not the Report Building drill down stuff, etc).

It was time to upgrade to the Visual Studio Report Designer...

Um... well... let me just say that there's somewhat of a learning curve there. While I expected a curve when learning the Report Designer, the killer was trying to understand the data model. That's where the curve turned into learning rock climb.

After a good bit of work, copying and pasting, swearing and fine tuning I finally have the report I wanted as well as a better (not good, but better) understanding of the TFS data warehouse.

And THAT's where this post would have saved me days of work (and will still save me time in the future). Understanding the TFS data warehouse/cube and using it for reporting and analysis is an area where the TFS books/guides could use additional coverage. Most talk about creating custom reports, but don't go into near enough detail...

BTW, one of the things that saved me is that Report Server reports are just XML files. When I wasn't able to figure out why something was working in one report, but not mine, I was able to open them both as XML files and dig through the details/source. This was a life saver. I come from the old school where we learned report build via Crystal Reports (i.e. proprietary binary file format). I would have killed to be able to see the true source of the reports... Thank you Microsoft.

(via marcus's Team System motivation and experience - TFS Warehouse Cube)

Windows Task Scheduler Wrapper (With .Net 1.1/VB.Net Source)

Namespace Edanmo - Wrapper Classes for the Windows Task Scheduler

"Use these classes to add, modify and delete tasks in the Windows Task Scheduler from your applications. The .zip file includes a sample project that shows how to use the classes.

..."

I'm thinking of adding scheduling to my Blogger Backup utility in the future, so when I saw this I had to check it out.

It downloaded, compiled and ran right off. It looks pretty good and something that might come in handy...

(via del.icio.us/.Net - DeveloperDan/.net)

RSS Reporter for SQL Server V2 Released (with Custom Query Support & Database Size Feed)

I just got an email that the cool RSS Reporter for SQL Server has released v2

"...we are happy to tell you that we added support for ad-hoc queries to give you full control over the feeds you want to generate. You can write any query you want and automatically generate an RSS feed out of its output.

Furthermore, we have added a helpful predefined feed that provides database size and space allocation information - simply choose a database and RSS Reporter generates the feed for you making monitoring of such information very easy and convenient.

..."

x SQL 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

Turn the output of a T-SQL query into a standard RSS feed

Conveniently monitor database size and space usage

Supports SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000"

Free download for a single SQL Server...

I've not yet had a chance to check this out, but I still think it's pretty cool and on my list of stuff to do.

Related Past Post XRef:
RSSReporter - SQL Server Job Status via RSS Feeds

Monday, July 16, 2007

A few of my of favorite things... Lego Mindstorms, Microsoft Robotics Studio and Xbox 360 (controller)

Coding4Fun - Microsoft Robotics Studio and Lego Mindstorms NXT

"In this article, Brian Peek will demonstrate how to use Microsoft Robotics Studio to control the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. A simple remote-controlled robot will be built and controlled using C# and the MSRS Visual Programming Language (VPL).

The Lego Mindstorms NXT kit is an amazing upgrade to the original Lego Mindstorms product. While the building blocks are the traditional plastic stud blocks everyone is used to, the new construction parts allow for some very complex designs. Additionally, Microsoft Robotics Studio supports the Lego NXT kit right out of the box, so it's quite easy to get up and going using MSRS with the Lego kit to start coding a robot in C# or VB.NET. With that in mind, this article will demonstrate how to use MSRS with the simple TriBot robot that can be easily built using the instructions included in the Lego NXT kit.
...

We have created a robot using Lego NXT and can control it with an Xbox 360 controller via Microsoft Robotics Studio by coding a service in C#, VB or VPL. As you can see, even a non-experienced coder can develop a MSRS service using the VPL language. If one requires more power and flexibility, a service can be coded directly in C#, or a VPL service can be converted to a C# project and continued."

Cool...

Now I wonder if I can sell my wife on the fact that I NEED the Lego Mindstorms NXT for... um... career building development activities? ;)

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Blogger Backup 1.0.4.10 Released with new Custom Path Builder feature

I've added what I think is a pretty cool and useful new Custom Path Builder feature to v1.0.4.10 of my Blogger Backup utility.

This feature gives the user full control over their resulting folder tree and post names. Now you can create the folder structure and post file names that best suit you.

It will default to [Backup Folder]\Blog Title\PublishedDate(ISO8601 YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS formatted)-PostTitle.XML (pretty much the way it was before).

But now YOU can tweak that path to best fit your style and needs.

Want to store each year's posts in a different subfolder?
Want to store each month's posts in a different subfolder?
Want to reverse that and store it my month/year?

Done, done, done.

Want to change the post file name? Say only using the post title?
Or Year-Month-PostTitle?
Or only use the ISO8601 date (YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS - 20070707T081012)?
Want to use custom static text value?

Done, done, done, done.

Want to use Updated dates instead of Published dates?

Done.

Want to play around and see how the different options will effect the final names?

Done.

Again, the new path build is meant to allow you the all the flexibility you may need or want.

This is the first time I've built something like this, so please bear with me as I may tweak it in future versions...

Screenshots

The new Custom Path Builder dialog

A number of folder name options to choose from...

Lots of file name options to choose from...

The Examples at the bottom of the dialog are "live", meaning as you change the different options, the examples update automatically. This should give you a good feel for how the options and their order will look.

Windows Explorer view of the results...

Why the USA Needs a Congressional Version Control System

O'REILLY Radar - Why Congress Needs a Version Control System

"...

These are really thought-provoking suggestions. I was particularly struck by Karl's suggestion of a version control system for Congress. They say you don't want to see either laws or sausages being made, but I think they are wrong. Imagine how much more transparency and accountability our government would have if it were possible to see what changes were made by whom, who inserted extraneous riders into various bills, and generally to track the influence of various interests by the new visibility into their actual control over the knobs and levers of government!

..."

Now that's an interesting thought... Using Web 2.0 to build Government 2.0.

(via ArtLung Blog - Daily Links)

Friday, July 13, 2007

Surprise XBox 360 Backward Compatibility Update Released

Major Nelson - July 2007 Back Compat update

"Whiule I've been crazy busy down here at E3, the team back in Redmond has been busy with a Back Compat update update. (yea, it was a surprise to me too!) The latest backwards compatibility update is now available over Xbox Live (or will be very soon.) This free update brings the complete list of original Xbox games that you can play on your Xbox 360 to way 300. Remember, your original Xbox games will look better than ever on Xbox 360 running in 720p and 1080i with anti-aliasing. You can also play cross-platform between Xbox 360 and the original Xbox over Xbox Live.
When I get back to Redmond next week, I'll kick out an updated PDF file that will contain ALL the updates. For now, here is what the July ''07 update contains:
..."

By my count, 65 games added or updated.

Available via XBox Live and as an ISO/CD-ROM image (for those not able to connect to XBox Live) download from Microsoft Downloads (Xbox Game Support Updates)

15 Second Introduction to Fiddler

15 Seconds - An Introduction to Fiddler

"Sometime when you're trying to track down a bug in a web application you need to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty. I was recently forced to dust off a tool I haven't used in a while to help me get to the root of a particularly nasty little problem I was having. As I was installing the latest version of the little gem, I realized that most of our visitors have probably never even heard of Fiddler. This article is an attempt to rectify that situation.
..."

A quick and short (with lots of screenshots) introduction to Fiddler.

If you've want to check it out but don't have to the time to install it or see it in action, then take a quick look at this article...

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Adding Flavor to the OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog

CodeProject - Extend OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog the easy way

"If you used WinForms, chances are that at some point you wanted to extent the OpenFileDialog or SaveFileDialog, but you have given up because there is no easy way to do it, especially if you wanted to add some new graphical elements. Even in the MFC days such a task was not as daunting as it is for .Net because these classes are sealed, exposing only 16 properties, 5 methods and 3 events that can be used to customize the dialogs. Martin Parry's article on MSDN [^] can give you an insight at how you can customize the OpenFileDialog using the OFNHookProc function. It would look like we have to roll back the clock to early 1990's way of programming and add quite a bit of PInvoke and marshalling to do anything. This is probably enough to give up or look to alternatives like third party libraries. However, CastorTiu's article[^] made life A LOT EASIER on those who chose to customize these dialogs. Using his great work on this topic I tried to take it even further and make customizing of these two dialogs even more painless. I will focus only on my refactoring and improvements to his original hard work, so if you need details please check his/her article.

..."

This is an interesting and cool Project...

Another of those I will want to look at the next time I need a OpenFileDialog or SaveFileDialog that just a little extra seasoning. (Can you tell I'm hungry? :)

Related Past Post XRef:
Customized .Net OpenFileDialog in C#(OpenFileDialogEx)

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

That was fast... FeedBurner Integration for Blogspot Blogs

Burning Questions - FeedBurner Integration for Blogspot Blogs

"Hot on the heels of last week's much-ballyhooed free FeedBurner for everyone, we are very excited to announce the immediate availability of one-click redirection for Blogger Blogspot blogs (note our fine use of both alliteration and first syllable congruence).

If you host your content on a Blogger blog with a blogspot.com address (or use Blogger's “custom domain” feature), you can now redirect your native Blogger feed to your FeedBurner feed (quite easily, might we add). Gone are the muggy, languorous days of wrestling with "autodiscovery" tags in foreboding corners of your Blogger template code or hacking through this tangled discussion thread for a glimpse of configuration clarity. Starting right now, you just log into your Blogger account, select Settings | Site Feed, enter your FeedBurner feed address and click "Save Settings." Zap! Pow! Kraaakkkk! Now you've got the complete picture of how your content is being consumed out here, out there, out everywhere.

..."

Nice.

I was wondering when something like this would happen (Blogger feeds redirected through Feedburner), but I sure didn't expect it this fast...

Microsoft eScrum for Team Foundation Server Updated - Many manual steps now automated...

Fear and Loathing - eScrum, part deux

"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...

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

New Windows Sysinternals Utility - AdExplorer v1.0 (Active Directory Explorer)

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

Using SQL Server 2005's Dedicated Administrator Connection (DAC)

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...

Torque X Free for XNA's Creator's Club Premium Members

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 ;)

Monday, July 09, 2007

Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5) Released

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)

Only in Hollywood - Marilyn and Chewbacca Get into a Tussle

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! :)

An Electronic Data Discovery Bible Gets Updated - "The Sedona Principles, Second Edition" (June 2007) Released

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...

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Blogger Backup 1.0.3.8 Released (Another bug fix version)

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.

WinForm Like Controls for XNA - xWinForms 1.0

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."