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

Friday, September 04, 2009

Compress and pack your next .Net deployment with open source NETZ

“NETZ is a free open source tool that compresses and packs the Microsoft .NET Framework executable (EXE, DLL) files in order to make them smaller. Smaller executables consume less disk space and load faster because of fewer disk accesses.

Unlike other portable executable (PE) packers, .NETZ uses a pure .NET solution and it is written in C#. .NETZ can be used to pack .NET executables written in almost every .NET language.

.NETZ supports both .NET EXE and non-shared DLL files, and it is intended to pack .NET desktop applications. The compressed applications can be used in the same way as the uncompressed ones, transparently to the end user.

…”

NETZ - Download .NETZ

NETZ - .NETZ Help and Usage Examples

“For a quick start read Packing EXE Files and Creating a Single EXE File (EXE+DLLs), to pack together DLLs and the main EXE file into a single executable.

The .NETZ tool can be used to transparently compress .NET standalone EXE files and non-shared DLLs (with some limitations). For best results, download a version of .NETZ compiled for the version of .NET Framework that you are using.

.NETZ is a command-line tool. All examples below should be typed in a CMD window (or placed in a batch *.BAT file for your project, that can be run as a post-build step from within Visual Studio IDE).

…”

I came across this yesterday and thought it was pretty cool. The coolest in my mind was that the C# source is fully available.

And I’ve always liked the idea of combining my DLL’s into my EXE (i.e. ILMerge) to simplify deployment. XCopy is cool, but it’s even cooler if all you have to redist is a single EXE…

(cough… it would be coolest if Visual Studio had something like this, or just ILMerge, baked in… so that VS would, optionally, do the merging/packing/etc without us having to use a third party/external utility… cough… ;)

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Some samples to get your gadgeting going – Your Windows Sidebar gadget, that is…

Microsoft Downloads - Gadget Samples for Windows Sidebar

“Sample gadgets that demonstrate the functionality of the Windows Sidebar scripting elements.

File Name: GadgetSamples.EXE

Version: 1.0.0.2

Date Published: 9/3/2009

Language: English

Download Size: 605 KB

Overview

These gadget samples are intended to demonstrate the functionality of the Windows Sidebar scripting elements. Most of the code snippets found throughout the Sidebar Reference documentation are extracted directly from the gadget code provided here.

Here’s a rundown and brief description of each of the gadget samples:

Hello World
Demonstrates a simple 'Hello World' gadget.

Flyouts
Demonstrates gadget flyout functionality.

Settings
Demonstrates gadget settings functionality.

Docking
Demonstrates the gadget docking functionality.

Debugging
Demonstrates gadget debugging functionality.

Text and Graphics
Demonstrates the g:background, g:image, g:text elements and the gimage protocol of the Windows Vista Sidebar.

…”

Samples are good, I like samples. With the success that Windows 7 will be, maybe Sidebar Gadgets will have a resurgence…

It’s a shame there are not some new, cool ones in the Win7 box. Is the fact that there are not an indicator that there’s no long term (post-Win7) gadget viability? Or just that Microsoft was focused on the guts more than the glitz in Win7?

If we see some “Gadget Packs” from Microsoft next year, that could answer the question (for if there’s no gadget love in 2010/2011 then I’d bet against Gadgets in Win8… but that’s just my WAG ;)

Vista Sidebar Gadgets for Developers

Vista Windows Search Indexer Sidebar Gadget – Do you know what your Indexer is doing?
Free SQL Server Monitor Gadget for your Vista Sidebar
Speedfan Vista Sidebar Gadget - Speedfan Meter

What’s new in C# 4.0 and four ASP.Net MVC posters added to DRP/www.drp.co.za

ZaydKara - New Posters added to www.drp.co.za

“Check out our new posters added to the DRP Site in the Development category, created by my fellow colleagues, Rein Hillman and Robert MacLean visit Robert's blog.

…

…”

DRP

“New Posters Added - Thursday, September 03, 2009

We are pleased to announce that the following new exciting Posters have been added under our Development category:

What's new in C# 4.0

ASP.NET MVC Controller Cheat Sheet

ASP.NET MVC Framework Cheat Sheet

ASP.NET MVC Proven Practices Cheat Sheet

ASP.NET MVC View Cheat Sheet

…”

DRP - Posters > Development

DRP has done it again with a batch of very cool posters.

While you’re there you have to spend a bit of time going through their other outstanding posters. (I’m telling you, you’ll kick yourself if you don’t… been there, done that, got the burse… ;)

Easy image resizing for the digital camera happy - Image Resizer Powertoy clone for Vista & Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)

AVIRAJ AJGEKAR'S BLOG... - ImageResizer for Windows XP & Windows Vista/Windows 7 (both 32-bit/64-bit)

“…

Many of them use these for sharing with their friends and families. Often users try to mail these pictures over the email or instant messenger by zipping them but it does not help much. Approximately a 5 MB images will be compressed to up to 4 or 4.5 MB but that is also the very high size per image sending via email or messenger. Sometimes we use our trustful Microsoft Paint application for resizing images, which is cool but again for a single or couple of images it is ok to open up the image and to “Save As” Well imagine what if you have around 20 30 40 50 100+ images for resizing. Then it is a painful task for doing manual resizing.

…

What’s the solution?

Well, the solution is to use a Image Resizer tool that we would talk about. An easy to use tool for resizing multiple images within few seconds. We are talking about ImageResizer PowerToy that was available for Windows XP and folks at CodePlex re-written the same application in C++ for Windows Vista & Windows 7 including support for 64-Bit version of Windows.

…”

CodePlex - Image Resizer Powertoy Clone for Windows

“Project Description
This is a clone of the Image Resizer Powertoy for Windows XP -- a PowerToy that allows you to right-click on one or more image files in Windows Explorer to resize them. This clone was created to extend support to non-XP and 64-bit versions of Windows (including Windows 7 & Vista)

…”

Image Resizer Powertoy Clone for Windows - Image Resizer 2.0

“…

ImageResizer-2.0.msi
application, 2111K, uploaded Apr 17…

ImageResizer-2.0_x64.msi
application, 1606K, uploaded Apr 17 …

ImageResizer-2.0.zip
source code, 30K, uploaded Apr 17 …

Release Notes

Version 2.0 of Image Resizer Powertoy Clone for Windows has been re-written in C++. Because of this, 64-bit is now supported! Also note that the Alternate UI application has been removed (as it should no longer be needed).

ChangeLog
Since the Beta:

Input validation.

12 MB smaller setup file. (Work Item #1230)

Since version 1.1:

Windows 64-bit support. (Work Item #480)

Alternate UI removed.

Simplified setup.

License changed to EPL.

…”

And here I was the other day manually resizing some images. I’d forgotten all about this utility… sigh. Funny that I first blogged about the original two years ago almost to the day.

(via @shanselman- tweet)

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Scott Hanselman has updated his monster (and must read) “Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows”!

Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's 2009 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 2009 Version of my 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007 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. I very likely made mistakes, and probably forgot a few utilities that I use often.

…”

ZOMG. I’m a giddy as a schoolgirl, an updated “Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows”!

To give you a feel of the full list (see… yeah… WOW… that’s a list!)…

As I said, a must read for all MS tech-sphere developers and power users…

Please note Scott’s call for charity donations to American Diabetes Association. If you like his list and find it useful then please pay it forward and donate (been there, done that, answered his call… :) This list is a labor of love, and you can share in that with a quick donation.

Unit testing database code via mocking/isolation and the Repository pattern - “Eliminate Database Dependencies in Test-Driven Development”

Visual Studio Magazine - Eliminate Database Dependencies in Test-Driven Development

“

Many developers are tasked with writing unit tests as test-first design and development becomes commonplace, even on teams that aren't strictly practicing Agile methodologies. Test-driven development (TDD) can produce cleaner code by requiring project teams to first write unit tests that fail, then program just enough code for a needed function, retest, refactor and repeat the cycle. If you haven't written code using TDD, starting from a failing test sounds awkward. But it's this extra bit of thought about what you want to achieve that gives you a clearer understanding of what you need to accomplish.

If you're writing an n-tier application using Visual Studio and you're using TDD, it's not uncommon that your unit tests for business-tier functionality read and write to a database. In order for these tests to run, you need a running database with the most up-to-date schema along with any supporting data.

…

In this article, I'll show you how to leverage the Repository pattern to eliminate the dependency on SQL Server from your unit tests and, in the process, improve your application's testability. The unit-testing features that I discuss in this article are all available in Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition and in all Visual Studio 2008 Team Editions. The sample application is written in Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite and requires an instance of SQL Server or SQL Express. See the readme.txt for information about how to set up the database and where to find the connection string.

…”

This is one of the challenges in our code base, it’s very old (sigh.. upgraded from VB6… sigh… but it works at least… ;) and was not designed for isolation nor unit testing. Not that we don’t test! We have thousands of tests in our CI process, but those are really “integration” tests and not “unit” tests. While I’m nowhere near a test zealot, I would really like to be able to execute some DAL testing without having to jump through database setup/rollback/etc hoops.

That’s why this article caught my eye. Added to my stack of stuff to read and grok… ;)

(via Benjamin Day Consulting, Inc.: The Blog - Article: “Eliminate Database Dependencies in Test-Driven Development”)

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Up to 25% off many Microsoft Exams – We’re talking 74 exam’s that are 15%, 20% or 25% percent off (worldwide, but limited time offer)

Microsoft SMB Community Blog - Get up to 25% off Microsoft certification exams! But act now!

“How would you like to save 15-25% off of your Microsoft certification exams? Well, that’s exactly what Microsoft if offering right now on select exams to make it easier for you to obtain your Microsoft certifications. Using these exams, here are just a few of the certifications you can work towards, plus much more:

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications – These provide the foundation for Microsoft Certification. These certifications are designed to validate your skills on the features and functionality of key technologies. You can show your depth of knowledge in one specific technology, earn multiple MCTS certifications to show breadth across different products, or build on the MCTS to earn a Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) credential or other Microsoft Certified Professional credentials.

The Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) credential: This validates that an individual has the comprehensive set of skills necessary to perform a particular job role, (for example, desktop support technician, database administrator, enterprise messaging administrator, or developer related skills). Some of the MCP certifications available include Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP), Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD), and Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA). These certifications build on the technical proficiency measured in the MCTS certifications.

Some things to note: This offer is available worldwide and is good until December 31, 2009, or while supplies last. To take advantage of this, you must register, schedule, and purchase your discounted exams by December 31, 2009.

Get your voucher code for your discounted exams - Register through Prometric to obtain your discounted voucher code; once you have obtained your code, plan and schedule your next exam. Vouchers can be redeemed only at authorized Prometric testing centers.

…”

Microsoft Learning - Career Campaign: Certification Exam Offer

“

Get up to 25 percent off select Microsoft Certification exams

Microsoft Certification can help you pursue a new career in IT, move from one job role to another, or become indispensible in your existing role. To make it easier, you can take advantage of discounts that Microsoft provides on select Microsoft Certification exams.

Microsoft Certifications are continually evaluated and updated to ensure their relevance in the marketplace. As a result, earning a certification not only helps you stay current on the latest developments in Microsoft technologies and platforms; it also enables you to demonstrate to employers your job skills.

…

Note This offer is available worldwide and is good until December 31, 2009, or while supplies last. Customers must register, schedule, and purchase their discounted exams by December 31, 2009. Microsoft does not guarantee that customers will pass their exams. This offer does not include Academic exams.

…

25% off is a very nice discount… And it’s worldwide… So go test baby, TEST!

A SketchFlow Two-fer day - “Shawn Wildermuth on SketchFlow/dnrTV” and “Prototyping a WPF-3D game design workflow using TrueSpace 3D, Expression Blend 3 with SketchFlow, and exporting the prototype to XNA Game Studio.”

Shawn Wildermuth - My SketchFlow .NET Rocks TV Episode is up (DNR-TV)

“URL: http://dnrtv.com/default.aspx?ShowID=148

I am excited to announce that my new DNR-TV episode is up at .NET Rocks. Carl and I visited while we were both at DevTeach to show off Blend's new SketchFlow functionality. If you have time, give it a spin!”

dnrTV - Shawn Wildermuth on SketchFlow

“In this the second or two episodes that Carl and Shawn recorded last month at DevTeach in Vancouver, Shawn shows us Microsoft's new SketchFlow. SketchFlow is a prototyping tool that will actually generate a framework of code that can be used to start your .NET project.

…”

AND

Development in a Blink - SketchFlow – Not just for Artists. It’s a revolution in your workflow

“UML can really reduce your costs. While SketchFlow is not UML it gives the same benefits and more…”

Designing for .NET - Prototyping a WPF-3D game design workflow using TrueSpace 3D, Expression Blend 3 with SketchFlow, and exporting the prototype to XNA Game Studio

“…

One Ring to Rule Them All…

What makes SketchfFow so very important is it isn’t just a feature of Expression Blend but a technology you can use elsewhere across the board in your development and designs. Whether you are doing 2D and 3D for a video game or you are doing Mobile phone development. SketchFlow isn’t dependent on you designing or developing for even the Windows platform.

Let’s take a fictitious project here from concept to finish..

Let’s take a look at how we could use this with some other tools..

XNA Game Studio 3.1 Development

While XNA Game Studio for Visual Studio is a great engine for developing 2D and 3D games for Windows, the X-Box 360 and Zune music player platforms, it isn’t always easy to visualize how a screen might get laid out or work.

What do people use today to created game storyboards? A Napkin? Visio, Photoshop? PowerPoint? If you ask someone they will tell you a number of different things. Everyone has a different concept of the work..

Let’s say I want to develop an arcade game where I have little creatures running around trying to eat me. While I run around and hop up and down some platforms in a sort of maze while avoiding dangers.. We have all heard this story before right? Well let’s update this a little bit.. And work through the concept.

…”

The important thing I’m walking away with is that SketchFlow is not just for designers…

Monday, August 31, 2009

Fourth Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk – See you there…

“The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is joining forces with MilitaryConnection.com to bring to our city the fourth annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk. Please join us as we remember the victims of September 11th, and honor our troops who continue to fight for freedom. The first 1000 people who register will receive a free "Freedom Walk"t-shirt and an American flag. Here is the link to register and information on this year's event.

http://email.helpingamericasheroes.org/mailer/lt.php?c=11&m=3&nl=12&s=294dfff33fbbdea592e0c7f450822193&lid=17&l=-http--www.reaganlibrary.com/details_t.aspx--Q-p--E-PE40004COEV--A-h1--E-0--A-h2--E-0--A-sw--E---A-lm--E-programandevents--A-args_a--E-cms--A-args_b--E-62--A-argsb--E-N--A-tx--E-1528

A short program prior to the walk will include JR Martinez, a wounded warrior who now travels the country speaking of his experience, and is also now an actor on "All My Children" and Bonnie Carroll who, after losing her husband in an Air Force plane crash, founded the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). This national organization provides Grief Camps at military bases for families of the fallen (in the war on terror).

Following the program, all guests and program participants will join in on a 1.8 mile walk which begins in the Reagan Library’s courtyard and concludes at Rancho Madera Community Park off of Wood Ranch Parkway. Complementary shuttle service will return the participants to their cars at the Library.

Also, from September 1st through September 30th the Reagan Library will be collecting donations for U.S. Soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Library’s main lobby. Items must be unwrapped and in original packaging, including: packets of trail mix, peanuts, gum, hard candy and beef jerky; snacks that are not heat sensitive and will not melt in hot temperatures; individual packets of lemonade or Crystal Light for water bottles; CDs and DVDs; used video games; AA batteries; stationery; and pre-paid phone cards. Only miniature hygiene items will be accepted.
…”

Join friends, family and neighbors as we gather to “never forget” and honor those who, with their blood and lives, keep us free.

The photo's for this walk are here.

Related Past Post XRef:
Third Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk, 9/11/2008
3rd Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk – See you there…
Second Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk, 9/11/2007
Second Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk
1st Annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk Pictures

“Cash for Clunky Editors” promotion from SlickEdit

SlickEdit Cash for Clunky Editors Program

I consider the SlickEdit team “Friends of the Blog” and when last week Jason sent me with a preview of their new promotion, it made me chuckle and thought it well worth sharing with you.

While we’re ALL tired (well at least those of us in the US) of the “Stimulus” and “Cash for …” knock-off’s I thought SlickEdit’s tongue-in-cheek approach pretty funny.

At first you might think they are serious (which they are about the discount) until you start actually reading it. So over the top you just have to laugh. I love a company that’s not so afraid of “we could be sued!” that then can sound and act almost… well… human… ;)

"This could lead to a potential boom, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the post-WWII expansion"

and

“Effect on the Nation: Productivity Boom
In terms of economic stimulus, this could have a much greater effect on the nation than the cash for clunkers car program. Consider that many programmers use minimalist editors that provide little help to analyze and navigate their code, don't include powerful completions, or features to cut the number of keystrokes necessary to type their code.
If these programmers switched to a more powerful editor, like...oh, let's say, SlickEdit...their productivity would go way up. Since software underlies almost every industry, this could lead to a potential boom…”

http://www.slickedit.com/promotions/cash4clunkers/slickedit-cash-for-clunky-editors-program

I tried to get them to give me a discount for Notepad, but they didn’t bite… :p

On a very related note…

I have a review/NFR copy of SlickEdit that I've been using for a bit and even thought I'm a VS guy, I'm still digging it. It works great on Win7 RTM and having it in my Send To list is perfect (which they thoughtfully do for you, optionally, on installation). I used to use Notepad for this, but “Send To”ing SlickEdit is providing much more value, with little performance price…

I’m slowly and not very steadily, working on a review of SlickEdit from a VS guy’s POV. I’ll try to get that wrapped up and out to you all one of these days (cough… I hope… I’ve been saying that I need to get this done for months now… sigh).

Sometimes you just need more mojo than a free editor can provide, and come on, SlickEdit is a top tier product and have been around for like forever.

Disclosure: No I don’t work for SlickEdit and no I was not paid for this post. I did receive a free review/NFR copy of SlickEdit recently. But in reality, I just like the team, their products and have always had great customer service and interaction with them. Jason shared the promotion with me and I’m now sharing it with you…

Sunday, August 30, 2009

A Feed You Should Read #1 – Jason Haley’s Interesting Finds

This is an idea I’ve been kicking around for a while. This is the start a weekly post series where I highlight a feed that I like, a feed that’s helped me find my “cool stuff,” a feed that I think you might also like, i.e. “A Feed You Should Read”

I’m thinking these posts will have information about the feed (imagine that! ;), what you can usually find it, what kind of feed/blog it is and while I like it.

I don’t intend this series to be a “review” of the given feed. It’s just that there are a billion feeds out there, there are some that I like, have found useful and have provided me (and thereby you) some cool information and links. Just think of this series as a pay it forward, as a means for me to share and give back to those who have given so much…

Enough of that, let get started.

To try to help you find your own list of cool things quickly, I’m going to start with a number of link bloggers.

Link blogs/bloggers can be thought of as “human aggregators,” people whom like me, scan the net for things they like or think others might like, which they then combine into a link post. If you’re feed reading time is short, then having a few link bloggers in your feed stream will save you massive amounts of time. The thing is to find the ones that are in your scope of interest.

We start off the series with a link blogger I’ve been following for a years.

Jason Haley - Ramblings of a .Net developer .ver 3:0:0:0

Background:

Jason’s Interesting Finds has been around for five and a half years and I’ve been following it for almost that long I think (looks like my first links to Jason’s work was in 2006).

Jason’s blog is not just a link blog. He has a number of interests which result in some interesting posts. Reflector, “innovation” are two recent ones that come to mind, mixed in with a few other things (like book reviews, etc).

Microsoft, Windows, .Net, databases and related are the general focus of his links (think “stuff a Microsoft tech using developer would find interesting”), but he’s not a zealot about it. Other cool stuff will find its way into his Finds too.

Why do I like this feed and think you might also?

Why do I like this feed? Because it seems he and I sometimes think alike and like much the same “stuff.”

It’s pretty funny (sometimes in a weird, creepy way… :p ). I read though my many subscriptions, opening posts that I think I might want to blog about. Then I hit Jason’s post. His Interesting Find will invariably contain many of the things I’d just opened. Like we share the “oh that’s cool” portions of our brain (see… like I said… creepy… ;)

The link list in the daily Finds are usually manageable and in a reasonable length (i.e. it’s not 5 billion links a day… more like his top 20-30’ish), and is well categorized.

In short, if you like what I blog about, have limited time, are in the Microsoft, Windows, .Net and related tech sphere, then Jason’s posts should be at the top of your feed stream…

Snap of today’s post:

Interesting Finds: August 30, 2009

Blog Information:

Name:	Jason Haley - Ramblings of a .Net developer .ver 3:0:0:0
URL:	http://jasonhaley.com/blog/default.aspx
Feed:	http://jasonhaley.com/blog/Rss.aspx
Post Types:	Primary – Links (Interesting Finds) Secondary - Personal development projects, other interests

Jason Haley, Mr. Reflector Add-in Guy, is at it again, this time Babel’ing - Reflector.Babel Addin v1 released
Creating a Reflector Addin? Check Out this Cool Walk Through from Jason Haley
The Reflector Add-in Starter Kit from Jason Haley - Hard to think of a way to make creating Reflector Add-in's much easier...

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Your Evacuation Plan – Do you have one? The time to make one is now, BEFORE you really need it…

LA Metblog - The 5+ Things I Would Grab In Case of an Evacuation

“Driving back from Fresno yesterday evening, I could see the hazy, hot pink sky and billowing smoke as I headed towards LA proper. Nasty. And scary. If you’re within striking distance of any of the four major fires and are packing your things in case of a forced (or unforced) evacuation, the Red Cross has a handy guide of important items to pack. Please don’t forget that your pets need evacuation kits too – the ASPCA has a great list here.

The Red Cross’ list includes:

MATERIALS

…”

American Red Cross - Your Evacuation Plan

“Local government officials, not the Red Cross, issue evacuation orders when disaster threatens. Listen to local radio and television reports when disaster threatens. If local officials ask you to leave, do so immediately!

If you have only moments before leaving, grab these things and go!

Medical supplies: prescription medications and dentures.

Disaster supplies: flashlight, batteries, radio, first aid kit, bottled water

Clothing and bedding: a change of clothes and a sleeping bag or bedroll and pillow for each household member

Car keys and keys to the place you may be going (friend's or relative's home)

If local officials haven't advised an immediate evacuation:

If there's a chance the weather may get worse or flooding may happen, take steps now to protect your home and belongings. Do this only if local officials have not asked you to leave

…

Gather essential supplies and papers.

You will need the following supplies when you leave your home; put them all together in a duffle bag or other large container in advance:

Flashlight with plenty of extra batteries

Battery-powered radio with extra batteries

First aid kit

Prescription medications in their original bottle, plus copies of the prescriptions

Eyeglasses (with a copy of the prescription)

Water (at least one gallon per person is recommended; more is better)

Foods that do not require refrigeration or cooking

Items that infants and elderly household members may require

Medical equipment and devices, such as dentures, crutches, prostheses, etc.

Change of clothes for each household member

Sleeping bag or bedroll and pillow for each household member

Checkbook, cash, and credit cards

Map of the area

Important papers to take with you:

Driver's license or personal identification

Social Security card

Proof of residence (deed or lease)

Insurance policies

Birth and marriage certificates

Stocks, bonds, and other negotiable certificates

Wills, deeds, and copies of recent tax returns

…”

The time to prepare is BEFORE you need to prepare. When it comes down to it, you’ll almost always be surprised and in a rush. To keep it from becoming a panic, try to prepare before hand (cough… like… um… now). The more you’re prepared, the less stressful it will be for you and your family. This will let you focus on the important things, like keeping everyone safe and sound…

CodeRush Xpress 9.2 Released – Better (memory usage), Faster (performance) and still free…

Charlie Calvert's Community Blog - CodeRush Xpress 9.2 Ships

“The free CodeRush Xpress from DevExpress provides C# and VB developers with powerful extensions to Visual Studio. These features include editing and refactoring tools that make it easier for you to quickly produce well designed code. Version 9.2 of CodeRush Xpress, which shipped on August 25, 2009, has greatly improved memory and performance characteristics.

…

The new features in CodeRush Xpress 9.2 include:

Faster Performance

Reduced Memory Consumption

Support for Preprocessor Directives

Background Processing Progress Bar

…”

Mark Miller - What's New in CodeRush 9.2

“Here's what you can expect in the CodeRush 9.2 release.

Faster Performance

A new symbol cache, built the first time you open a solution improves the speed of subsequent solution parses dramatically. Now the speed to go from opening a solution to being able to refactor anywhere in that code base increases by 200%-500% for large solutions. More details on the performance improvements can be found here.

Additional performance enhancements:

First startup after install is now significantly faster -- plug-in profile data now ships with the install and the plug-in profiling step is no longer part of the first startup.

Background parsing, if running, is now suppressed during a solution build.

…

Reduced Memory Consumption

CodeRush 9.2 uses dramatically less memory. Project symbols are now cached, and only loaded when needed. Recently-accessed members are kept in memory, while stale members are aggressively released. As a result, customers with large solutions can expect reductions in overall memory consumption by 100MB-200MB…

Manual Load and Unload

Normally CodeRush loads on startup, and unloads when Visual Studio shuts down. CodeRush 9.2 adds the ability to defer loading to another time after startup, and also adds the ability to unload CodeRush while Visual Studio remains running. This may be useful for developers running into memory issues

…”

DevExpress - CodeRush Xpress for C# and VB

“CodeRush Xpress is freely available to all Visual Studio 2008 developers and offers a comprehensive suite of tools that enable you and your team to simplify and shape complex code - making it easier to read and less costly to maintain.

Quick Info

File Name: CodeRushXpress-9.2.4.exe

Download Size: 32.5 MB

Date Published: 25-Aug-2009

Version: 2009.2.4

Supported IDEs: Visual Studio 2008

…

…”

Quick Info
File Name:	CodeRushXpress-9.2.4.exe
Download Size:	32.5 MB
Date Published:	25-Aug-2009
Version:	2009.2.4
Supported IDEs:	Visual Studio 2008

Some of my coding is done on a lower end machine, so performance and memory improvements are officially a “good thing” for me. :)

Turn your intranet into a training “Productivity Hub” – A SharePoint site collection prefilled with Microsoft Office and SharePoint training materials (optional reg-ware)

Chris Bortlik's Blog - Free Office, SharePoint and Windows training resources for your Intranet

“We have recently released the Productivity Hub as a free download. A number of my customers have been beta testing this Hub over the past few months and it has received great feedback and helped to accelerate the deployment, adoption and training for Office and SharePoint 2007.

The Hub is a SharePoint Server 2007 site collection that serves as a learning community and is fully customizable. It provides a central place for your training efforts, and includes training content from Microsoft’s core products. Microsoft also provides ongoing and updated content packs.

The Hub uses SharePoint Server’s social networking capabilities, such as blogs and discussion groups. In addition, it offers the Coach program, a change management feature to help you train end users to self-help, reducing the burden on your training and IT staff. The Coach program impacts productivity in a collaborative and positive way.

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Microsoft Downloads - Productivity Hub

“…

Version: 08-2009

Date Published: 8/28/2009

Language: English

Download Size: 35 KB - 465.4 MB*

*Download size depends on selected download components.

What the Productivity Hub is:

Format: Pre-loaded SharePoint site collection, optimized for Web 2.0 functionality and easily deployed within SharePoint Server 2007 environment.

Content: Convenient end user productivity training in a variety of formats (documents, videos, podcasts, etc.). Receive free quarterly updates of content that you will learn about through the Productivity blog.

Blog: The Productivity blog offers tips and tricks for end user productivity. Use it as is, or your training staff can use the posts as their own to help them get started in running an internal blog.

Train the trainer: Includes IT/Manager section to aid with deployment of the site collection, and guidance to develop the Coach program.

Products: Office 2007 System applications including SharePoint Server 2007. Windows 7 and others will be added in the future.

You can also download additional content packages that expand the training materials you can make available through the Hub.

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Add-on Content Package
This content package contains more than 200 additional training materials that you can add to the Microsoft Productivity Hub. The package includes materials for five new products -- Live Meeting, OneNote, Project, Publisher, and Visio -- as well as additional content for Access, Communicator, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Word. Install the Hub before using this content package.

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Files in This Download

The links in this section correspond to separate files available in this download. Download the files most appropriate for you.

File Name: File Size

Microsoft Productivity Hub Installation Guide.docx

35 KB

ProductivityHub.EXE

383.1 MB

ProductivityHub_August09_Content.EXE

82.2 MB

…”

File Name:	File Size
Microsoft Productivity Hub Installation Guide.docx	35 KB
ProductivityHub.EXE	383.1 MB
ProductivityHub_August09_Content.EXE	82.2 MB

Free training materials, help in training your users, training management, etc. Not a bad deal at all… :p

I do wish there was a sample site, example screenshots, etc, so I could see it without having to actually install it (since I don’t have a dev SharePoint Server nor the juju to try it on our stage/prod servers, so would have to get “others” involved, submit tickets, etc, etc, etc… sigh).

Friday, August 28, 2009

An official “bunch” free of SQL Server 2008 R2 / SQL Server 2008 Express web sessions and how-to’s videos coming starting in September

msdev.com - MSDev Courses (RSS Feed)

SQL Server 2008 R2: Building Your ISV ETL Application

Available On Demand Starting on November 9th!
The process of extracting, transforming and loading data from ERP systems to your BI environment is a critical step in any BI solution. This session will introduce how this process is managed in SQL 2008 R2.

SQL Server 2008 R2: Building Your ISV Operational Applications

Available On Demand Starting on November 9th!
This session will cover Microsoft's tools that can be used to support operational decisions, such as Reporting Services and SharePoint.

SQL Server 2008 R2: Building Your ISV Tactical Applications

Available On Demand Starting on November 9th!
This session will cover Microsoft's tools that can be used to support tactical decisions, such as Excel Services and PerformancePoint Monitoring and Analytics.

SQL Server 2008 R2: Building Your ISV Strategic Applications

Available On Demand Starting on November 9th!
This session will cover Microsoft’s tools that can be used to support strategic decisions, such as PerformancePoint Planning. We will also discuss different Corporate Performance Management methodologies.

SQL Server 2008 R2: Building Your ISV Corporate Performance Management Application

Available On Demand Starting on November 9th!
Corporate performance management is a very important component of how to measure overall strategy accomplishment. This session will cover Microsoft's PM vision and tools.

SQL Server 2008 R2: Report Builder 3.0

Available On Demand Starting on November 9th!
This session will look at Report Builder 3.0 in SQL Server 2008 R2 and the new features now available in this latest release.

SQL Server 2008 R2: What SQL Server 2008 R2 Edition is right for me?

Available On Demand Starting on November 9th!
This session will highlight key issues to consider when selecting the right SQL Server R2 Edition for your organization.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I execute multiple SQL statements in one transaction?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to execute multiple SQL statements in one transaction.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I secure a SQL Server by assigning dedicated permissions to different users?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to secure a SQL Server.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How can I increase the speed of a SQL query (CREATE INDEX)?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to increase the speed of a SQL query.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I profile SQL queries?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to profile SQL queries.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I update a Live SQL Server Database (when the Development Database has changed)?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to update a Live SQL Server Database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How can I test SQL queries?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to test SQL queries.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How to deploy a WPF application including a database?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to deploy a WPF application.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I search in PDFs which are stored in SQL Server?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to search PDFs stored in SQL Server.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I search in Office documents which are stored in SQL Server?

Available On Demand Starting on October 19th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to search Office documents stored in SQL Server.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I update data in a database?

Available On Demand Starting on October 5th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to update data in a database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I delete data in a database?

Available On Demand Starting on October 5th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to delete data in a database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I join data in a database?

Available On Demand Starting on October 5th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to join data in a database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I sort, group, etc. queries?

Available On Demand Starting on October 5th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to sort and group queries.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I create sub queries?

Available On Demand Starting on October 5th!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to create sub queries.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I install SQL Express tools after VS Pro install?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This short how-to-video will contain targeted information on installing SQL Server Express 2008 tools.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I backup a SQL Express database?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to backup a SQL Server 2008 Express database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I backup a remote SQL Express database?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to backup a remote SQL Server 2008 Express database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I restore a SQL Express database?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to restore a SQL Server 2008 Express database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I import data from another source (Excel, Access, XML, MySQL, ...) into a SQL Server Database?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to import data into a SQL Server database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I update SQL Server Express 2005 to SQL Server 2008 R2?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to update SQL Server Express 2005 to SQL Server 2008 R2.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I upsize from SQL Server Express 2005 to Workgroup 2005 or Standard 2005?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to upsize from SQL Server Express 2005.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I upsize from SQL Server Express 2005 to Workgroup 2008, Standard 2008, or Web Edition 2008?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to upsize from SQL Server Express 2005.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I insert data into a database?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to insert data into a database.

SQL Server 2008 Express: How do I query data in a database?

Available On Demand Starting on September 21st!
This how-to-video contains targeted information on how to query data in a database.

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From beginner to ISV, I thought the scope of all this free training was pretty cool.

Mapping your SkyDrive – Windows Explorer your SkyDrive

Windows 7 Hacker - How to Map Windows Live SkyDrive to Get Free 25GB Storage Space

“We have talked about getting Windows Live Essential tools for free, Windows Live SkyDrive is another great feel tool from Microsoft. It can store and backup your data up to 25GB free cloud space. Here is a way to make the most out of the 25GB free space, by mapping it on your computer as virtual directory.

Step 1

Download the freeware called Gladinet Drive

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When it done you should see the new Network Drive on your Windows Explorer.

…

”

Okay, that’s officially awesome!

Not being able to map a drive to SkyDrive has made it much harder for me to accept and use it day to day. Sure I use it, but only when I have to, know what I mean? If I could map a drive to it, then I’d be ALL over it (which may be why we can’t map a drive to it? :/ )

I’m going to have to give Gladinet Drive a try… (BTW, make sure you check out all the OTHER “cloud” services Gladinet Drive supports… Now that’s cool! )

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A couple interesting Visual Studio Add-ins - Markup Tamer to tame your XML layout and Configuration Section Designer, a visual design surface for Configuration Sections

Howard van Rooijen's Blog - 2 Visual Studio Add-ins you probably weren't aware of

“The Visual Studio Add-in ecosystem is not as rich as it should be, especially compared with Eclipse, but it looks like the work that is going in to Visual Studio 2010 is going to change that. Microsoft's investment in MEF and updating core components of Visual Studio from COM to the managed world should make extensibility a much easier affair. That said, there are a few wonderful add-ins out there and here are 2 that I've randomly (and delightfully) stumbled upon:

Markup Tamer

On previous projects, we've adopted the following convention for mark-up (extract):

…

It was a bit of a pain having to manually format the mark-up to make it merge friendly. Then I stumbled upon Markup Tamer, which can automatically apply this convention to ASP.NET, Silverlight & WPF. Thus

From:

To:

…

Configuration Section Designer

It’s a visual designer for creating ConfigurationSections, which generates the code, config xml and an XSD to give you IntelliSense, all through the wonder of T4 Templates:

…”

The Configuration Section Designer I’ve seen and posted on before but deserves a reminder. The Markup Tamer is what really caught my eye. As I get into WPF more XML markup is getting much more “eye time.” Having the WPF attributes mashed together on a single line is hurting my brain and manually reformatting the XML was killing me. Markup Tamer looks like just the thing I was looking for and didn’t know it… ;)

Related Past Post XRef:
Visual Configuration Section Designer

You’re IT! You are a tech pro, your company is involved in a legal matter and you’re now hearing all about “ESI” “EDD” and E-Discovery. So what is this E-Discovery thing?

Government Technology - E-Discovery: What Technology Professionals Must Know

“In 2006, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure - the court process for civil lawsuits - were changed because more than 95 percent of all information is now electronic. Many other states have followed suit, and litigation in the U.S. is now dominated by electronically stored information (ESI). ESI has spawned a new consulting marketplace of consultants, IT professionals and expert witnesses who specialize in the identification and control of ESI. As a result, IT professionals need to understand the Law of Evidence and Rules of Civil Procedure as much as they do the server technology and storage area networks. [GD: Emphasis added]

Lawyers, on the other hand, have yet to master IT, not just IT lingo, but how IT professionals manage their business. So there is confluence of IT and law that has subsumed litigation in the U.S. Outside the U.S. courts and arbitration systems, we do not subscribe to the open-end litigation which happens in the United States.

In the U.S., litigation is ruled by state or federal courts systems, or by private arbitrations governed by the rules of the American Arbitration Association, or some other organization like Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS), a private alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider.

This article gives some basic information about e-discovery to help IT professionals understand the law in a straight-forward manner.

What Is Discovery?

Generally after a lawsuit (or arbitration) is filed until just before the trial (or hearing, in an arbitration) is a period of time referred to as discovery. …

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Records Retention Policies

Because ESI has become fundamental to litigation, organizations need to have a records retention policy; otherwise, how can an organization without such a policy explain to a judge why certain ESI was retained and other deleted? …

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Disaster Recovery

Everyone in IT knows that each computer will fail at some time since every box has components with a mean time between failures, so failure or disaster are a fundamental part of the use of IT. Accordingly IT plans for these failures or disasters by doing routine backup of systems and data to avoid business interruption. As an example, when my office had a flood on the 33rd floor of our building and our data center was shut down, our business was not adversely impacted since we had good backup procedures already in place.

IT sees backup as a disaster recovery issue; however, judges and lawyers think that copies of ESI are easily available to them since IT does backups regardless of the systems involved. [GD: Emphasis added] …

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Conclusions

Since ESI is prevalent in litigation today, the discussion about IT and ESI is a part of every lawsuit, and at some in your career it will likely impact you. It is impossible to avoid. [GD: Emphasis added] This article should be a starting point for you to understand IT's role as more lawyers appear and ask for help.”

[Insert standard Greg comment about you, IT, EDD/E-Discovery and how you can’t hide from it, here]

[Insert standard Greg comment that as an IT guy or gal the more you know about EDD, the better of you’ll be when the poop hits the blender (Gross!… Sorry… but a sudden and unexpected EDD emergency can be just as gross as that image… )]

All kidding aside, as an IT professional you don’t live a closed data center anymore. People beyond your users want the data. All the data they can get… People who are looking for “smoking guns” and people who are trying to help but don’t understand technology or your systems. You just have to look at any case today and you’ll hear about “that email from…”

The more you know about ESI/EDD the less the pain will be, for you and your company.

(via EDD Blog Online - E-Discovery: What Technology Professionals Must Know)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Students and Librarians go Bing! 50 Bing tips for you and the students and librarians in your life too ;)

OnlineColleges.net - 50 Fantastic Bing Tricks for Students & Librarians

“Bing has made quite an entrance in the Internet search world. This new way of searching provides quick and easy shortcuts that don’t always require reading through lists of websites and clicking on each one to find what you want. Check out the following tricks to see how Bing can help students and librarians find the information they need in a snap.

Finding Information

From doing math without a calculator to getting definitions, use Bing to find this information quickly and easily.

Use the background image. Hovering over different locations on the background image provides an opportunity to learn facts about the image or related topics.

Do math. Enter a math calculation directly into the search box to compute anything from simple math to trig functions

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Research and Collaboration

Bing is great for Internet research and sharing that research for others. Find out how with these suggestions.

Save search results. Save your search results to a local folder online to have access to them without having to remember how you performed the search.

Share search results. If you have found important information you want to share, email your search results or share via Facebook.

Find specific types of files. Use a keyword and "contains: file type" (with file type being the file type you are seeking) to find PDFs, MP3s, and other files

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Images and Videos

Use images and videos easily and more quickly with Bing to find the information you need.

Easily find images. The image search on Bing provides many images that are easily scanable.

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Travel

Whether you are going home for the holidays or traveling to the next big conference, use these tips to help facilitate your travel with Bing.

Find low air fares. Enter "flights from x to y" (with x and y being the cities of travel) to find low air fares as well as predicted fare trends.

Get flight status. Enter your flight number along with "flight status" to immediately find out the status of your flight.

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Mobile

Just because you stepped out of the library or away from class doesn’t mean you can’t still access the benefits of Bing. Find out what you can do with Bing and your mobile.

Use their mobile site. The Bing mobile site is specially designed for mobile phone usage.

Download the app. From your mobile phone’s browser, go to http://m.bing.com/download/ to download their mobile app.

Get mobile with a text. Visit Bing for mobile to enter your phone number and receive a text with the link.

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Is this bing bling? Or just bing fun? Anyway there were a number of Bing searches and features that were new to me.

Now to remember them… oh wait, since I blogged about it all I have to remember is that I blogged about it. That works… ;)

(via LiveSide - The Bing Blog - 50 Bing Tricks for Students and Librarians (and you))

PDC09 font, how to install and use it in Windows, Blend, Silverlight, etc

How to install cool, custom fonts (like PDC09) into Windows and use it in your Silverlight application (or even Microsoft Word)

“Whether you are someone who leans more towards design or coding you have probably come across the need for some interesting fonts. Typography is a fascinating area with a long history dating back to the origins of print. When we look at creating an engaging user experience today we are often trying to make a connection with our audience. We “empathize” with our users needs and look to invoke certain feelings. Fonts can do that in amazing ways and its pretty easy to add them to your own applications.

The Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) site has a great art section where you can download wallpapers, blog bling and the font that they used. Maybe its because I’m such a video gamer but the font really connected with me and brought back memories of playing Wipeout and Star Trek.

Installing the Font into Windows

I keep a local folder in my documents directory of all the fonts I have found intriguing. Most of these go into my applications or demos I do for that extra sparkle. You can keep them anywhere you would like however I just find this method the easiest to use. That way I can zip up all my fonts if I need to use them on a different machine.

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