Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET : .NET

Work With .NET Projects From a Network Share

interscape — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:03:41 GMT

I've tried a couple different methods from a bunch of different websites, and none of them worked. The only thing that worked for me was this post from the Microsoft Knowledge Base. It is the only place on the internet that gives the proper caspol command for issuing Full Trust to a network share. It is:

Drive:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\caspol.exe -m -ag 1 -url "file:////\\computername\sharename\*" FullTrust -exclusive on

Note the 4 slashes after the "file" and then the 2 backslashes for the full network path. Trust me, it will save you a lot of headaches.

Expression Web Doesn't Do Non-GAC'd 3rd Party Controls

interscape — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 02:19:04 GMT

This is just ridiculous. First Expression web is not for developers, then it goes great with Visual Studio (which is for developers), and now they don't do custom controls that aren't signed and installed in the GAC. What the hell? Did Microsoft have ANY idea what kind of deployment NIGHTMARE that would be? What if the people on your team are writing their own controls that are updated frequently. You mean that the designer has to know enough about the GAC to be constantly pulling the BINs from source control and copy them to the Windows\Assembly folder? Have they not ever dealt with Assembly Hell before?

I'd really like to see what other component vendors and developers have to say about this. Seriously, I don't know what MS is smoking over there, but this whole Expression Web thing is really starting to feel half-assed. I never thought the DevDiv could botch something this badly.

VSTE for DB Professionals MSDN Download Tip

interscape — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:22:17 GMT

I don't know if this has been posted about yet, but as an FYI to you MSDN subscribers out there, here's an installation tip. There are two downloads for "VSTE for DB Professionals": A 3.2GB full version and a 19MB "trial" version. The naming is a little confusing, but you can install the "trial" version on a fully-licensed VSTS install, and you'll get the full version of VSTEDB.

That will save you from downloading the full 3.2GB install... like I stared to.

HTH.

Microsoft, Yahoo Adopt Google Sitemaps

interscape — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 07:04:19 GMT

News.com is reporting that later today, Microsoft and Yahoo will announce that they are adopting the Sitemaps 0.90 format, formerly known as Google Sitemaps. Now, Community Server users can submit their existing Google Sitemaps feeds to be indexed by the other two top search engine players as well.

This is definitely the best thing to happen to search since OpenSearch.

Adding OpenSearch for your CommunityServer Site

interscape — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 15:45:00 GMT

So last night, I had this really random idea to create an OpenSearch Provider for LonghornBlogs.com. That way I could search my site from IE7's search box. In the process, I discovered that my search is broken there, so I decided to create them for several of the main Microsoft community sites instead:

Maybe Telligent will create an OpenSearch directory for all the CS communities out there. We'll have to wait and see. Anyways, if you want to write your own, I'll show you how!

Writing Your Own Provider:

Here's what a CS 2.0 OpenSearch provider looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">
<ShortName>Your Name Here</ShortName>
<Description>Your Description Here</Description>
<Url type="text/html" template="http://www.yoursitehere.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q={searchTerms}&o=Relevance" />
</OpenSearchDescription>

When you form your URLs, make sure they are UrlEncoded first, or they'll throw an error.

Installing Your OpenSearch Provider:

You'll have to add a hyperlink to the provider on your website. Just use the following syntax for your link: <a href="#" onClick="window.external.AddSearchProvider("http://www.yoursitehere.com/yoursearchprovider.xml");">

That's it! It's really very simple. Of course, you can add a lot more information to your OpenSearch provider. Amazon's A9 has all the details.

Where is the VSTS for Database Professionals CTP?

interscape — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:12:00 GMT

Microsoft’s homepage for the new Visual Studio Team Suite edition says that the CTP will be available on June 11^th, 2006. But it’s June 12^th, 2006, and nary a word from Microsoft. So where is the CTP?