April 2005 - Posts

[Tools] CollapseAll Macro for Visual Studio .NET
29 April 05 01:03 PM | CSharpener | 1 comment(s)

Edwin Evans has created a very useful CollapseAll Macro for Visual Studio .NET.  For the umpteenth time, I had to go looking for it again so I'm quite certain that I want to put a link to it here for my use and yours.  You will find this simple tool extremely handy when you are trying to deal with very large solutions with lots of projects and sub-folders!

Filed under: [.NET General], [.NET C#], [Tools], [ASP.NET]

[Tools] RUnit - an NUnit test runner for ASP.NET
29 April 05 11:23 AM | CSharpener | 1 comment(s)

RUnit lets you run NUnit tests from within ASP.NET.  Having beaten my head bloody against doing something very similar, I am very impressed with this elegant piece of work.  Nice job!

Filed under: [.NET General], [Tools], [ASP.NET], [TDD]

[General] Again
26 April 05 10:41 AM | CSharpener | with no comments

Of Tobler.Tech(), someone kindly said, "But you're not a network tech!"  They're right; I'm not.  What do I do?  Well, software architecture.  Alfred Korzybski warned us against the semantic hazards of identification.  I am *not* Tobler.SoftwareArchitect.  Software architecture is something I do, not what I am.  So, let's try Tobler.SoftwareArchitecture().  Hopefully, this weblog name will stick for awhile.  Otherwise I may need to change it to "Nom de Jeur."

Filed under: [General]

[Tools] Using Virtual PC 2004
26 April 05 10:33 AM | CSharpener | with no comments

Simon Guest has a great article on the Top Ten Tips for Using Virtual PC 2004.  This is a major tool that can let you compute in multiple environments.  Really a "must have" for serious Microsoft-based software development shops.

Filed under: [Tools]

[Tools] The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility
22 April 05 08:30 AM | CSharpener | 1 comment(s)

So, I had this trial version of some software installed on my system.  The vendor's uninstall did not correctly remove it.  What to do?

I didn't know about this before, but there is a Microsoft tool for such quandaries, The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility.  If you're not cautious, you could probably cause yourself some grief with this tool, so "Caveat User!"

Filed under: [Tools]

[Tools] Code<Template>.NET
21 April 05 03:44 PM | CSharpener | with no comments

I am always interested in code generation tools and handy utilities to reduce the amount of time wasted repeating what has already been done.  I have found Eddie Velasquez's Code<Template>.NET a very handy VisualStudio,NETadd-in.  It just sits up there in the upper right-hand corner of my IDE.  I occasionally put templates into it.  I frequently push the magic button and get nicely formatted and debugged blocks of code that I can tweak a little instead of writing them from scratch.  Yes, there are other tools out there but this one is quite unobtrusive and helps me get the job done.  I strongly recommended having a look at it.  Of course, as always, YMMV.

Filed under: [.NET General], [.NET C#], [Tools]

[.NET General] SQL Server Express "incompatible components" failure
20 April 05 02:07 PM | CSharpener | 1 comment(s)

When trying to install the CTP release of SQL Server Express, you may get an error message informing you that "Setup has detected incompatible components, ..." blah, blah, blah.  It will tell you to run the "build uninstall wizard," sqlbuw.exe, but you may not have that installed anywhere on your system.  In fact, it may be rather hard to find. This problem has been discussed on nikop's WebLog. 

Having faced the same problem, the absence of sqlbuw.exe, I have found another solution that might help you get the necessary files.

1. Go through the same install to the point where the error dialog box is on the screen. 
2. Explore your hard drive and you should see a temporary directory where the SQL Server Express installation files are being cached.  It will be named with a bunch of hexidecimal numbers, probably right under the root on your C:\ drive.
   
3. In that directory, find subdirectory "setup tools."
4. In "setup tools," you should see a "build uninstall wizard" subdirectory.
5. Copy the "build uninstall wizard" subdirectory to some temporary location on your system.
6. Kill the install
7. Run sqlbuw.exe from the command line in the temporary directory you copied.
   

This worked fine for me.  YMMV.

Filed under: [.NET General], [Database]

Article: John Tobler's Law
20 April 05 07:55 AM | CSharpener | with no comments

I have re-framed my post, "John Tobler's Law" as an article.  It's permanent home is now here.

Filed under: [Human Factor], [General]

John Tobler's Law
19 April 05 03:00 PM | CSharpener | 3 comment(s)

It is time to stake a claim to my own law and its first corollary.  Here they are:

    John Tobler's Law:
        "Wherever in this world you stand, you will soon be in someone's way."

    Corollary to John Tobler's Law:
        "Wherever in this world you want to go, someone will soon be in your way."

I penned "John Tobler's Law" on December 21, 2004 and its corollary on April 19, 2005.  If you are aware that "John Tobler's Law" has previously been published under another name, please let me know as soon as possible.

For many years I have been an admirer of laws and rules, such as those published in Paul Dickson's famous 1978 book, The Official Rules.  Capt. Edward A. Murphy, for example, is frequently blamed unfairly for the operation of a principle he observed in effect at Edward's Air Force Base in 1949, while working as an engineer on Air Force Project MX981.  Capt. Murphy saw something essentially true and stated it in a way that, apparently, no one had before.  His project manager wrote it down and labeled it "Murphy's Law."  Actually, Murphy stated it somewhat differently than we usually see it now (see Murphy's Laws Origin for an excellent history).  Anyway, Capt. Murphy is neither guilty nor responsible for how Murphy's law has caused you difficulty; he just stated his observation and someone else restated it and named it in honor of him.  The law was in operation long before Capt. Murphy existed, as any historian will testify.

I have long thought about these elegant statements of significant observed principle that heretofore went nameless.  And, yes, I have hoped to join the list of those who discovered one.  Now, I believe I have. 

Why can't I just call it "Tobler's Law?"  Simply because "Tobler's Law" already exists, named for W. R. Tobler, in 1976, and also known as "Tobler's First Law of Geography."  That fascinating law states "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."   My namesake well deserves to have this wonderful law named after him and he has done the extended Tobler family proud!

Filed under: [Human Factor], [General]

[General] Renaming again!
14 April 05 10:14 AM | CSharpener | with no comments

Just not concise enough.  This is my technical weblog, so let's just name it "Tobler.Tech()".

Filed under: [General]