Chris Szurgot's Blog

Based on the blogs.msdn.com site, IE7 Beta 2 Preview Release has been released.

You can get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx

Instructions for running it in standalone mode here: http://weblogs.asp.net/jgalloway/archive/2005/08/12/422335.aspx

(It is a little flakey and I am developing solely for IE6 right now) Oh, and weblogs.asp.net doesn't seem to detect it properly so you don't get the rich formatting box. Do you think they'll upgrade us to Community Server now?

Edit: I had to load this up in IE6 to edit it properly.

Edit 2: It's not IE7, it's a pre-release of Beta 2. <grin> Does that make it a CTP?

The second one I've done is called TrayRunner. (Ok, Stupid name) It's a small app that runs in the tray, and has allowed me to write a few simple plugins that don't need a UI, just an occasional menu item, and hotkey. Pretty easy to build for, and it was a fun way to play with AppDomains and a plugin architecture.

It's got one plugin I'm particularly pround of which is a Multi-Monitor background creator. Pretty straightforward, does just what it says, but it's not as simple as it sounds. The layout for a virtual desktop on multiple monitors is actualy somewhat strange since 0,0 is the upper left of the primary monitor, not the upper left of the virtual desktop, so it creates some strange BMP files for the final background.

Also a simple plugin to allow you to enable/disable the secondary monitors.

You can get it at my main site: http://www.szurgot.net/projects 

Probably could use some more work, but comments and suggestions are always welcome.

http://www.comics.com/comics/reality/index.html

A good laugh for the morning.

Seems I have 5 more invites to go out to Family and Friends.

You have to be my friend though, I guess. <grin>

Ok, all out. Not as much interest this time around.

Has any one else ever:

1. Tested for 2 + 2, an expected to get back 3.99997 or the like (or hoped not to)?
2. Put in Assert.AreEqual(2+2, 5); as a failure placeholder?

What sci-fi books are those two from?

Update: As noted in the comments #2 was from 1984. #1 was from The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein (When trying to make sure the ship works, they test 2 +2, to make sure it equals 4)

I'm upgrading my portfolio with some new programs/upgraded to VS 2005.

The first one I've done today is called Site Reader. It allows you to bookmark a web site, and as you browse through the website, it will maintain the last URL visited. (Sort of like a real bookmark. <grin>) It's a pretty simple program, I think the hardest part was giving up on using the HTML Control (Or WebBrowser control in VS 2003) and just using IE so it doesn't have to do any popup management.

You can get it at my main site: http://www.szurgot.net/projects

Seems I've got a few MSN Beta Invites to give away to friends. I already gave away the first batch, and I've got another 5 or so.

All out... Went pretty quick.

I said they were all out, but I keep getting requests. Annoying. <shrug>

With all the awesome things being announced at CES this week, I have a request that goes in a more "consumer" direction. Short patch cables (and power, etc...)

I was moving my HDTV entertainment system to some new furniture last night, and I think, as a rule, I have about 3 feet of cable for every foot I actually use. Why doesn't anybody make and sell cables for things sitting in a rack, where you only have to go one or two feet? You can get 6, 8, even 16 feet cable, but forget about getting one less than 3 feet.

And, man, what is it about component cables? Compound 6 feet by three high quality cables by about 4 components (DVD Player, XBox, PS2, TV) and you've got a lot of cables....

So everybody needs to use HDMI cables for audio and video, and sell a switch box or something so that we can tighten everything up. <grin> Maybe next year.

There is so much stuff, it's pretty hard to find it all...

In ASP.NET 2.0, there is a setting on the validation controls and buttons called "ValidationGroup" Basically, it means you can create a group of controls on a form (or on a User Control) set the validation controls, and input button to the same group, and It will only validate to those controls (and not validate those controls if another button is pushed) Pretty nice for creating multiple entry areas on the same page, and user controls that may be put on the same page with other inputs.

Every day I find new things in VS 2005 (and sometimes  even 2003)

Today I found that if an Enum is expected in a call, you don't need to enter the enum name to get intellisense, just enter the first letter(s) of the setting, and hit ctrl-space.... It will auto-complete to that member. Cool!