April 2005 - Posts
Have you ever tried to build an addin for Visual Studio? I'm working on one
right now, and it's not much fun. I was hoping the VS2005 SDK (formerly VSIP)
would be a bit more user-friendly than the previous versions... but I was
wrong.
Microsoft should really take a look at Jamie Cansdale's ManagedAddin
Framework. He's done a great job of making it dirt simple to write an
add-in. Hopefully Jamie will update his code to run on VS2005.
Today I launched a project that has been a long time coming. LonghornBlogs.com launched new RSS feeds with AdSense
ads embedded in each entry. I'm very please to be the first (and currently the
only) site sanctioned by Google to test out this new product. I can't talk about
much more than that, but you can read a
bit more about it here.
Some initial responses:
Chris
Pirillo noticed it first.
Rok Hrastnik is totally on
point.
Iggy
talks RSS economics.
I'm in Seattle for WinHEC, and it's a gorgeous day out. I'm staying with Chris Pirillo while I'm here, having a great
time so far. His house is as geeked out as one might expect. He's got a great
view of the city... I just might have to get my personal blog back online so I
can post some pictures.
If you're up here too, drop me a line. If you want more info on what's going
on at WinHEC, be sure to check out www.LonghornBlogs.com/WinHEC.
Now that VS2005 Beta 2 is out, I'm wanting to move all of my development to
the new platform. To be able to do that, I need to be able to build to .NET 1.1
The problem is, my MSBuild
Compatibility Toolkit is incomplete at best. It needs a few things added,
and I don't have the knowledge or the time to do it all myself. I'm looking for
people who can help:
- Bring the code into compliance with Beta 2 conventions.
- Fix the assembly references and resolution issues (need to resolve 2.0
references to 1.1 references where possible).
- Make it easy to configure which Frameworks to build to on-the-fly (VIA
add-in or solution configuration mechanism).
When it's done, all the source for this tool will be released to the
community. Anyone interested in helping me get this system usable in a
production environment?
Microsoft has made a ton of killer improvements in the VS2005 Class Designer
since Beta 1. Here's a roundup of my favorites:
- Performance: The Class Designer runs TONS faster now. Earlier versions ran
at a snails pace.
- "View Class Designer" Solution option. In one click I can map out the
entire project. That's really cool.
- Easy access to common diagram commands - The right-click menu has a ton of
killer options
- Layout Class - tidys up your class design
- Adjust Shapes Width - automatically widens your shapes to fit all the
data inside them.
- Export diagram as image - !!!!
I was sitting here working on my diagram, and I was thinking... "wouldn't it
be great if I could copy these shapes and paste them as an image?" I right-click
on the diagram, and there's an option for it!!! Oh man, this
thing is so sweet!
One more right-click option I'd love to have: Expand and collapse options.
Like "Expand All", or something. Also, I'd like a shortcut to be able to expand
everything, widen everything, and they perform a layout cleanup. That would
totally rock.
It IS possible to use the new SourceSafe 2005 Beta 2 from Visual Studio .NET
2003. There are a few things to remember, however:
- VSS 6.0 and VSS 2005 do not live side-by-side. I think they can be
installed together (don't quote me on that), but you can't switch between
providers without unregistering and re-registering COM DLLs.
- You can use VS.NET 2003 to connect to your "Remote Access" VSS databases
too. You'll have to switch to the other VSS provider, using a tool like
this.
- If you want to use the Remote Access, the configuration program only works
on the "Default" web site in IIS. If you want it on another site, you have to
manually add the proper virtual directory.
Now, for some criticisms:
- Database configuration is still too much of a pain. Especially for the web
access. There should be a way to point a specific web location to a specific
database (If there is a way, I haven't seen it yet)
- Why isn't there an ASP.NET version of the Windows client?
Good stuff so far. More as it happens.
I'm on a quest to answer the question: "Can Visual Studio .NET 2003 work
with Visual SourceSafe 2005?" I'm learning some cool things about SourceSafe
along the way, so the next few posts will probably be SourceSafe
related.
The cardinals in the Vatican have picked a pope in 2 days and 3 votes. They'll announce who it is in about 45 minutes.
UPDATE: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI
I fail to understand why Microsoft STILL insists on installing the J# runtime with Visual Studio. Why can't it be an option? Would it really be that hard to add a check box to the setup routine? I'm never going to use it. I'm never going to develop in it. Why do I have to go through the extra work of uninstalling it later?
IMO that's as bad as the "bundling" that MS gets attacked for with things like WMP in Europe.
I'll be in Redmond May 20-21 to judge the Imagine Cup 2005 Finals. I
judged the regional and state competitions for Arizona last year, and I had a
blast, so this should be fun. Of course, I'll be blogging from the event,
complete with pictures and an interview with the winners.
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