Colt Kwong Blog

Testing the ASP.NET Forums VNext

Recalling my blog about Internationalism of the ASP.NET Forum v2 few hours ago, Rob just post an announcement and he put this beta software on the ASP.NET web site and ask everybody to test the load of the forum app on the server.

Please help us load test this version by opening your browser and pointing it to:
www.asp.net/forumsbeta

PLEASE READ
- Login - you can login using the same credentials used for www.asp.net/forums
- Do not post - You cannot post - the forums are in 'read only' mode

The home page will auto-refresh and having many browsered opened will generate load on the server and allow us to see how this beta version works under pressure. We expect to have some execptions generated.

Internationalism of the ASP.NET Forums

The latest ASP.NET Forum v2.0 is a killer app and designed to be multi-language friendly. It is still under development (currently is in Beta), and lots of volunteers are working pretty hard while one of their focus is "internationalism", which is one of the awesome features of this app.

Currently, a Chinese forum was established and live, where all of the members over there are pretty happy for this addition. :)
(It's always be nice and friendly to read and write message in their mother language). Moreover, you can change the default language by editing your person profile after login as well (There're about 10 different languages available right now). As localization is somewhat an important feature in ASP.NET v2.0, studying this Forum app must feed the hungry ASP.NET 1.* developers (temporarily) right now. :)

Free ASP.NET Server Controls

I found a useful web site from a discussion on the forum tonight:

TimothyHumphrey.WebControls

Tim wrote a few of interesting and useful ASP.NET Server control:

• AntiSpamLink - I remember someone wrote a similar server control in the past.. but I forgot the link... (are you, Dave?) anyway, this topic had been discussed some times ago
• ContextMenu - similar to this one [via Darren]
• Frame - nothing new but just an <fieldset> element
• MainMenu - I can't tell the difference from the one used in DotNetNuke at my first glance
  [via SolPart]
• ...
• ...

You may have a doubt in your mind up to this moment... Ya, Tim provide these controls for free and the download come with Installer, Source, Documentation...etc :-D

Creating Non-Rectangular Applications with Windows Forms

“Mike Harsh on MSDN TV!” Well, I use a more technical title rather than “Mike Harsh on MSDN TV” of this blog and I hope Mike don't mind.

Anyway, there's a breaking news on www.WindowsForms.net recently (I'm not kidding, the title of the breaking news on WindowsForms.net is “Mike Harsh on MSDN TV“), where is the place I visit and moderate frequently beside of the www.ASP.NET web site.

Mike present about how to create a non rectangular windows form application by using his RegionMaster control easily. It's so cool and looks promising, he finish the show and demo within 6 mins!

I read a few pages on this topic from Chris Sells's WinForm book in the past, but Mike's approach is comparatively easier. My next project involve Windows Form development, and I may try Mike's RegionMaster control and give a surprise to my client later.

Undesired Code Generation in VS.NET

Like the unwanted feature in Web Matrix, VS.NET will destory any XHTML standard or insert undesire code without our notification. However, we do need and love VS.NET for our development, especially it automatically generate necessary control declaration or event handler when switching from Design View and Code View, that said, you'll switch to Design View(10% time) and then go to Code View (90% time) just because let it to generate necessary declaration code for you.

Moreover, VS.NET is naughty and it's not always under control. So how can we control it so that it would write code for me but DON'T modify my existing code? Bash post a tip on the ASP.NET Forum today and it worth reading.

ASP.NET Roadshow in Hong Kong?

I did a presentation about ASP.NET Whidbey 4 months ago, and I always think of any ways to propagate this wave and make my local developers happy about the latest technology...

Brian announced that the ASP.NET will be extended to several cities three weeks ago, but how can we get the latest information or technology if we're not in the States?

Fortunately, I got the Roadshow DVD and my Hong Kong .NET User Group will organize an event on 17 Apr, where we will play this DVD and let's my fellow user group members to watch and gather together! (I start preparing this event at the beginning of Mar in fact, but my UG committee agreed to reschedule it to the mid of Apr because a couple of folks were attending the MVP Summit right now :) (More people,  more fun!)

So, if you're a user group leader but living out of the States or currently you are not a MSDN Subscriber, I'd suggest you to take a look at this DVD from your regional .NET user group, check out www.INETA.org for more details. ;-)

*Update: Thanks for Brian to make this DVD happen and Grazi to make the beautiful graphic :)

RSS Feed for MSDN Subscriber

The boardband Internet service was setup in my new flat successfully today and I access to MSDN web site and update my MSDN subscription shipment information immediately, and I find this new thing:

New Content Notifications Now Available for MSDN Subscriber Downloads
Notification of newly published content is now available as an RSS feed. By subscribing, you will receive notifications of all new downloads available from MSDN Subscriber Downloads. For more information on our RSS standards, or on how to use an RSS feed, please visit the MSDN RSS Feeds page.   
More...

Anyway, I should read Roy's blog earlier. :)

ASP.NET in 80386 assembly language

Something new ( new?!  ) for me today...

<%@ page language="Asm80386" %>
<%
Str:  DB "Testing...", 0

  mov eax, -2
  cmp eax, 2
  jle Label1
  xor eax, eax
Label1:
  lea esi, Str
  push esi
  call "Response.Write(string)"
  pop esi
%>
<br>EAX: <%= eax %>

via [Mike]

This is the first time for me to see this kind of codes in ASP.NET Programming. :)