Chris Szurgot's Blog

I've been playing around with the express products, and all I have to say is “Wow” VCExpress is one heck of a full-featured IDE, especially for a “trimmed down” version for hobbyists, and SQL Express is pretty impressive, in that I was able to pick up a SQL 2000 database with no problem, and just a few lines of code changes. I can't wait to play with CLR Integration.

A lot of the new and updated components in .NET 2.0 are pretty sweet, especially ListView which does a lot of the things I've been trying to do with the current one (in place tool tips, grouping, etc..)

At the risk of spoiling a good thing, I think this is going to force MS to change their price point on the rest of Visual Studio. It sure will be hard to justify $1000+ for plain vanillia VS.NET Pro when you can get a good portion of it with VC # Express && Web Express, so I dunno.

A few comments:

1) The install is OK, but I always prefer to have a “real” install as opposed to a web install. I had to run the install 3 times before I finally got everything right. (It hung the first time for about an hour before I killed it, the second time I couldn't get the docs installed) Or a local cache you can run things from.

2) Nice, clean interface, very responsive, it's been pretty easy moving things over. I like the new controls (Menu, Toolbar, Tab Strip) I hope that this is a positive trend and that there are more controls of this caliber.

3) Some kind of Unit Testing would be nice. It would be nice if a MS Unit Testing solution was available as a separate product, or hopefully NUnit will be working soon, now that it's in beta.

I was having trouble understanding the GMail invite system. Why have users give out invites to a beta test, until it occurred to me that it's a brilliant viral marketing scheme to load test the system. Instead of handing out beta invites to disparate people, you have the people who use the system the most invite their friends in, who will communicate with their friends over GMail. And they just queue up more invites whenever they are ready to add more load to the system

Now if only people would stop handing out invites to total strangers. Oh, wait, I got my invite from  Tiernan, who I don't know, so strike that. <grin>

Now that MS is bringing back the IE Team, I've got a request. When a link is opened from a shortcut or an email, please let it open up a new window (or a new tab <grin>)

It always sucks when a link comes up in what was a popup window, or into the gmail window.

<update>Opps, seems it already does that. It's an advanced setting, but it's there. Cool. I still think it should be a default, but it might not be such a big deal as popups are defeated as an ad mechanism. </update>

Since this blogger is giving away GMail invites, I'm linking back to the blog in an attempt to get one.

http://blog.lotas-smartman.net

Hopefully, I finally will.

Thanks.

(Update: Yeah! I'm in.... Now I need to find something to do with gmail. <grin>)

The news that Tivo is adding more features is cool, I guess, but it really smacks of mis-representation. First off, they aren't new features. They are a set of great features that were really over-priced to begin with. I like the features that were in the Home Media Option, especially playing music, but I couldn't justify $100 for any of them. And now they are touting them as great new features when they've been available for months, and in fact, have been on trial on my Tivo for a month now, and I didn't even have to ask for it. (the trial) If they want to give me exciting new features, give me a way to view/edit my Tivo from my computer, or save things to my computer. (When trying to watch a syndicated show that runs at least an hour a day, it's easy to get behind, especially with 2-4 prime-time shows a week)

Here's a great list of suggestions that Tivo should try out: http://www.kottke.org/04/06/suggestions-for-tivo

(I just watched the promotional video downloaded to my Tivo.I think they should've sold the Home Media Features as optional features many of you have been enjoying in our free trial, not “new features”)

I've recently become a “convert” to Unit Testing. I was particularly resistant due to the nature of the samples. They all seemed like “Hello World”, simple programs designed to demonstrate rudimentary functionality, but stopping before they get into anything worthwhile. A couple of books later, I read “Test Driven Development in Microsoft.NET” by James Newkirk and Alexei Vorontsov, and I finally got it. (I got it before, I think, but I was frustrated about it.) This book explains with more complete examples of how to write a real-world class, and takes ti through every step of the way, not just one function.

At any rate, I'm still trying to adjust to the new methodology (always remembering to use it, especially when deep in a crisis) but I've setup a good portion of the framework necessary (automated build scripts with NUnit steps), and adding tests to “legacy” code.

I will admit, I can't quite get down to the level of never writing code without a failing unit test, especially the compile part. I fall somewhere in the middle. Coding up the stub of the function first, then the failing test, then the functionality.

Although it's a difficult case to test, I'm learning you need to test the case of machine shutdown, particular when using a Windows Forms program without an active interface (either a hidden form - Minimized to Tray or a program that is just a notify icon), it will not shut down properly. Either the form won't allow Windows to shutdown, or the application is shutdown without calling the proper functions for cleanup.

What's interesting is that SystemEvents.SessionEnding is not guaranteed to be called before form closing, so you have to drop down to WinProc to accurately determine shutdown.