Archives
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GridView and DataKeyNames
If you're trying to create a gridview, automatically bound to either a SqlDataSource or an ObjectDataSource (the better of the two options), and want edit and delete functionality, do not forget to set the DataKeyNames property to the primary key of the table or object you are trying to delete. Otherwise Edit/Update seems to work, but Delete will complain that it cannot find the parameter, even if you are defining DeleteParameters in the DataSource itself.
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If you're not able to install the WinFX SDK (Feb CTP)....
...then you might be running into this issue with the installers, as reported by Jason Sacks. Keep your eye on his blog for a resolution to this. Here's the telltale sign in the install logs that you'd see:
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Check for the existence of a sql temp table
Here's an easy way to check if a temp table exists, before trying to create it (ie. for reusable scripts) from Simon Sabin's post :
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Watching the Olympics ... in 3D
I had ordered some 3D glasses for a very old TV show, based on the Pulfrich effect, in fact the show mentioned on that site, Doctor Who. I found a place online selling them for only 99 cents each, called Science Stuff. The cool thing is that they are great for sports with a lot of motion (like skiing, or what happens to be on the Olympic coverage now, replay of Figure Skating. The principle is that by tinting one side, you're slightly slowing the light hitting your eye, causing your brain to percieve 3D. There's the normal sensation with 3D glasses after you take them off, where your eyes feel wierd seeing the same amount of light in both eyes again!
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What's causing that bluescreen?
I found a great resource that is a knowledge base of extremely detailed info regarding stop errors, also irreverently known as Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors. For anyone thinking that they can't look up the error while the machine is in a blue screen, after a reboot, the stop error will be in the Event Log.
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Awaiting Windows Vista Feb CTP
I'm eagerly awaiting the rumored February CTP of Windows Vista. Bink.nu reports it will be made available today, February 22nd
21st. Also rumored to be in this build is the return of the prodigal sidebar. We shall see....
Update: apparently it's been pushed back a day, according to this article. Thanks for the update, Jesse Ezell -
Virtual Machine failure
While I've had plenty of experience in fixing seemingly dead physical machines, the death of my Team Foundation Server Dec. CTP machine has me flummoxed. It just sits there with a blinking cursor when I start the vitual machine up. This leads me to the following potential problems:
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Streaming with /mceDivX360
I finally found a way to stream DivX movies fairly reliably to my XBOX 360... This is a freeware addin for Windows Media Center called /mceDivX360.
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Free torrent source code
After being away for a couple of days on vacation & catching up, here's a bit more of a frivolous post.
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SQLCMD Mode (SQL Management Studio)
By entering SQLCMD mode in a SQL Server Management Studio query window, you can do some very handy things without needing to jump back out to the command prompt.
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Central NJ User Group Meetings
I just got back from the first meeting of the Central NJ .NET User Group, hosted in East Windsor, NJ area by Jason Beres (Infragistics). There was a pretty good showing, especially for a first meeting; I would estimate 20-30 people. There was good pizza, time to network, & a talk by Miguel Castro on intro ASP.NET 2.0 topics.
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How to increase Exchange Server Database past the 18gb limit
After hitting the 16gb limit in Exchange 2003 a while ago, we decided to use the temporary 1gb extension registry key to let the mail store start again so we could clean up old emails & have a mail store again.
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Making Musician Rehearsal tapes via Simulated Instruments
Through the use of Creative's SoundFont technology, you can get a pretty realistic sounding rehearsal tape for free, depending on the type of music you're working on. Here's a link to tons of different sounfont sites, with the key being the larger ones are usually better, including a few full orchestral sound fonts to let you play out full scores.
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Team System Training / Tutorials
I had found "Team System Rocks" a few days ago; the site is full of video / powerpoint combo tutorials to either or both show how to accomplish simple tasks in what is at first a daunting interface, or explain the architectural concepts behind the TFS (Team Foundation Server) API and framework.
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Team Foundation Server, For Free (Sorta)
As word gets out that Team Foundation Server has been signed off to RC (release candidate), which should be made available on MSDN soon, the plans for budget allocation and boss-justification must loom close for those who plan or hope to use it. Thankfully after a long, widespread blog dialog, involving key Microsoft decision-makers all the way up to "Soma" Somasegar, there may be a simple no-cost, free, limited solution for small teams. To appease the masses, MS is making available to those MSDN customers who currently have a "role" subscription (one of the premium MSDN subscriptions, aka a migrated Universal or Enterprise MSDN subscription) a free-for-five-users version of Team Foundation Server. They will still only have access to the development tools included in their role, and would need to purchase the Team Suite edition of Visual Studio to get the benefits of other roles, but at least now will have the following:
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Virtual Server, HD Size, & BartPE
After copying an old Virtual Server clean image to use as the basis of a new Team Foundation Server CTP image, I discovered the virtual hard drive set up was way too small for the first prerequisite: SQL Server 2005. That's when I discovered the ugly little "secret" of dynamically expanding hard disks. They are only expandable up to the initially specified size (in my case, it was only 5gb). Since I put a new 400gb drive in the box, I had the room & wanted to increase it to 30gb for that virtual machine.
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Lots to say, but I'll be spreading it out.
I'm going to try to force myself to write at least a little blurb daily, but we'll see just how long that lasts.